Coventry University: E-Journals
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Balancing Preference and Practicality: Student Choice of Study Mode in a Hybrid-Flexible Academic Writing Course
Get PDFHow – and why – do students engage with an increasingly diverse range of learning opportunities in the digitised university? This paper investigates students’ motivations for choosing in-person, online or asynchronous study modes and explores the implications for academic writing provision. I reflect on student and teacher experiences on a non-credit, Masters-level academic writing course at a UK university which was delivered through a ‘hybrid-flexible’ approach (Beatty, 2019). Students could opt to learn through synchronous in-person (on-campus) classes, synchronous online classes or asynchronous activities delivered through a virtual learning environment; all study modes supported the same learning outcomes and students could switch between them as they choose. Course evaluations reveal students have different motivations for choosing in-person, online or asynchronous learning, and suggest that learning preference and practical motivations are not always aligned. I reflect on the opportunities and challenges I encountered as a teacher designing and delivering hybrid-flexible academic writing content. I conclude by exploring how tensions between learning preference and practical motivations might be addressed in the design and delivery of in-person, online and asynchronous learning activities
Curriculum review in addressing challenges in legal education: Reflecting on Strathmore Law School’s curriculum development process
Get PDFLegal education is constantly evolving while simultaneously trying to hold onto the fundamentals of training professionals in the field. This balancing act primarily plays out in the process of curriculum development and review in several stages. Firstly, at the inception of a school, where the prospective contents of the programme are rigorously vetted, agreed upon and implemented. With time, a review of curriculum takes place. Strathmore Law School is undertaking its second major review of its Bachelor of Laws programme. At the core of the process is the need to understand generally what the role of legal education is in the formation of a more equitable society, the need to meet market demands for proficient practitioners and professionals and, the need to broaden the range of practice areas available to the market among others. This paper will tackle the place and utility of curriculum development in the provision of a wholesome legal education, at first taking on a broad theoretical perspective on curriculum development and review. The paper will then consider what goes into curricula at the inception stages of a law school and the goals and primary considerations that go into subsequent review processes. The need for an effective and goal-oriented review process will be proposed as a means to resolve dilemmas that law schools face in deciding what to prioritise when teaching students
Toward an Eductive Pedagogy for Academic Writing in Doctoral Education
Get PDFDoctoral education often treats academic writing as a solitary, human-centered activity, guided by conventions that emphasize structure, clarity, and discipline. These frameworks rarely consider how other-than-human entities shape the writing process. This article explores how multispecies assemblages inform doctoral writing, proposing that knowledge production can be understood as an eductive process – an unfolding of latent ideas through relationship with the so-called “natural” world. Drawing on examples from my own work, I share an excerpt from a multispecies duoethnographic project that seeks to recognize and incorporate other-than-human perspectives. I reflect on how these encounters have shaped my scholarly voice and academic identity, challenging dominant assumptions about writing as an isolated human endeavor. Reimagining writing as a relational, evolving practice, I offer reflections for integrating multispecies sensibilities into doctoral training and invite educators, researchers, and students to view academic writing as a collaborative process shaped by entanglements of human and more-than-human life
Student Evaluative Judgements of Writing and Artificial Intelligence: The Disconnect between Structural and Conceptual Knowledge
Get PDFThis paper reports on how undergraduate students evaluated writing outputs created with and without generative artificial intelligence (AI). The paper focuses specifically on two aspects of writing and AI: how prior writing knowledge influenced students’ thinking about AI tools, and how the writing skills to which they were exposed in the writing classroom helped them work with AI-generated materials. This research builds upon Bearman et al.’s (2024) work on evaluative judgement as a pedagogical tool to support learners as they work with AI-mediated texts. The paper uses this lens to identify challenges that learners have in applying writing knowledge to AI-mediated situations and to devise pedagogical means to support student learning in these contexts. We found that, while students could typically evaluate structural components of writing, they struggled to evaluate conceptual ideas both for AI and human generated texts. The findings speak more generally to the need for students to develop their evaluative abilities, as well as ways that AI may reveal and amplify existing challenges that learners have with evaluating the quality of writing, engaging with source materials, and applying genre knowledge to create meaning
Teaching Academic Writing Skills: A Narrative Literature Review of Unifying Academic Values through Academic Integrity
Get PDFAcademic integrity continues to concern educators worldwide. Furthermore, general guidelines for ensuring academic integrity do not seem to encompass all the angles that are required to be taken into consideration when exploring the factors that contribute to multicultural students’ decision to adhere to the norms and values of academic integrity. This literature review focuses on how academic values can be unified through academic integrity, and specifically explores factors and perspectives of utilising academic integrity to unify academic values when teaching academic writing. The dimensions of academic values explored in this paper are: a) beliefs and attitudes of multicultural undergraduate students and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), b) the value of academic performance in academic writing classes, c) exploring the development of multicultural students’ authorial voice while maintaining academic integrity, and d) using technology to encourage academic integrity in academic writing classes. Over 56 identified sources were chosen carefully to ensure unbiased approaches to the issues of academic integrity and development of academic writing skills. The authors explored the issues from a variety of perspectives. The gap noticed in the review of literature is the disconnection between academic values and academic integrity. The authors make recommendations for future research.
Generative AI for Academic Writing: Case Studies Beyond Simple Chatbot Interactions
Get PDFThis teaching practice paper shows how students may choose to work with ChatGPT, generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to produce essays and written assessment solutions in a manner that may be considered as either acceptable or as a breach of academic integrity depending on individual and institutional views. Following a brief introduction to how chatbots work, case study examples show how modified prompts can be used to generate writing in alternative styles, how a writing tutor review can be simulated, and how LLMs can be run locally and without Internet access. The paper is intended to inform academic writing tutors, instructors, and assessors what is possible using generative AI for writing as of January 2024. It is not positioned to make a judgement regarding what is acceptable, but rather to illustrate how technically proficient users can accomplish more than is often indicated by writing beginner level prompts for a chatbot. Such techniques are accessible to many students and the Academic Writing Development community will need to consider its response
A Reflection On: Preparing the Dietetic Workforce of the Future – Developing Innovative Placements in Social Care Settings
Get PDFA Reflection On: Developing the Role of the Clinical Academic Nurse, Midwife and Allied Health Professional in Healthcare Organisations
Get PDFResearch impact training and development support for doctoral students
Get PDFThis research-in-progress case study in one UK university setting looks at how supportive PhD supervisors are of impact work, what motivates PhD students to access impact support and whether there are barriers to PhD students from carrying out impact plans and what those barriers are.
A mixed-method approach was used to collect quantitative data on student participation in impact training and qualitative data on their thoughts on impact work, supervisory support and motivators and barriers for doing impact work.
Clinical science students found it easier to understand the direct impacts of their work compared to life science students. Over time, students developed a better understanding of the potential impacts of their work. The majority of students discussed their impact with their supervisors but did not discuss time, budget or monitoring plans for impact activities. The majority of students talked about a lack of supervisor support for impact work and a need for better supervisor training. Students identified motivators and barriers for doing impact work.
The study suggests that there is a gap in training and support for doctoral students to develop the societal impact of their research. Impact work helps students to develop skills and experience valued by employers. However, PhD students may not receive impact training as part of their degrees. Supervisors may be unsupportive of PhD students doing impact work because it may distract from core research activities. Based on the study findings, the author has made recommendations for addressing this gap