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The Cinderella of academia: Is higher education pedagogic research undervalued in UK research assessment?
Get PDFAcademic research is increasingly driven by research assessment exercises (in the UK, by the Research Excellence Framework, REF). These aim to compare outputs of researchers in each university with those elsewhere, but evaluation efforts have suffered from widespread criticism. The status of pedagogic research in higher education (HE) – once described as the ‘Cinderella’ of academia, but now an increasing part of university research activity – has also prompted some controversy. Both policy-makers and academics have raised questions about whether such research is appropriate for submission, and confusion exists over the distinction between pedagogic research and ‘scholarship of teaching and learning’. This project, funded by the UK Higher Education Academy, explored the experiences of HE pedagogic researchers in REF2014, and found evidence of barriers to participation. These included concerns about quality, expertise of reviewers, and local and intra-institutional politics, all of which may have limited the inclusion of HE pedagogic research
Evidencing the impact of teaching-related CPD: beyond the ‘Happy Sheets’
Get PDFIn this paper we report the outcomes of a national survey of academic development staff in a range of UK HE Institutions to consider the approaches adopted to evaluate teaching-related continual professional development (CPD). Despite the increasing drive towards accountability, the majority of respondents undertook no benchmarking to establish existing knowledge, there was minimal use of existing data sets, and few evaluated provision longitudinally. We argue that in order to arrive at an evidence-informed approach, evaluation and teaching-related CPD must be clearly conceptualised, and aligned with institutional priorities. The involvement of students with staff CPD could also be usefully explored
Chapter 6: Transformative Evaluation
No full textRationale, Theoretical foundations, Transformative evaluation in practice, The four stages of Transformative Evaluation, Challenges associated with transformative evaluation,Tried and teste
Ecosystem restoration strengthens pollination network resilience and function
Get PDFLand degradation results in declining biodiversity and the disruption of ecosystem functioning worldwide, particularly in the tropics1. Vegetation restoration is a common tool used to mitigate these impacts and increasingly aims to restore ecosystem functions rather than species diversity2. However, evidence from community experiments on the effect of restoration practices on ecosystem functions is scarce3. Pollination is an important ecosystem function and the global decline in pollinators attenuates the resistance of natural areas and agro-environments to disturbances4. Thus, the ability of pollination functions to resist or recover from disturbance (that is, the functional resilience)5,6 may be critical for ensuring a successful restoration process7. Here we report the use of a community field experiment to investigate the effects of vegetation restoration, specifically the removal of exotic shrubs, on pollination. We analyse 64 plant–pollinator networks and the reproductive performance of the ten most abundant plant species across four restored and four unrestored, disturbed mountaintop communities. Ecosystem restoration resulted in a marked increase in pollinator species, visits to flowers and interaction diversity. Interactions in restored networks were more generalized than in unrestored networks, indicating a higher functional redundancy in restored communities. Shifts in interaction patterns had direct and positive effects on pollination, especially on the relative and total fruit production of native plants. Pollinator limitation was prevalent at unrestored sites only, where the proportion of flowers producing fruit increased with pollinator visitation, approaching the higher levels seen in restored plant communities. Our results show that vegetation restoration can improve pollination, suggesting that the degradation of ecosystem functions is at least partially reversible. The degree of recovery may depend on the state of degradation before restoration intervention and the proximity to pollinator source populations in the surrounding landscape5,8. We demonstrate that network structure is a suitable indicator for pollination quality, highlighting the usefulness of interaction networks in environmental management6,9
Sustainability and surfing in a risk society
Get PDFWhilst being an ambiguous and contested concept, sustainability has become one of the twenty-first century’s most pervasive ideas, as humanity’s increasing impact on the environment, as well as increasing social and economic inequalities, have local and global consequences. Surfing is a globally recognised cultural phenomenon whose unique connection with nature and rapid expansion into a multibillion pound industry offers exciting synergies for exploring various dimensions of sustainability.
This book is the first to bring together the world’s foremost experts on the themes of sustainability and surfing. Drawing upon cutting edge theory and research, this book offers multidisciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches on the social, environmental and economic components of sustainable surfing. Contributions provide unique discussions that bridge the gap between theory and practice, exploring topics such as sustainable surf tourism, surf-econometrics, surf activism, surfing governance, the surfing industry, and technological advancements. Each chapter produces in-depth insights to provide foundational insights of the relationship between sustainability and surfing.
This book will appeal to multiple audiences in different disciplines and sectors. Practitioners will benefit from the insights presented in this volume, while both undergraduate and postgraduate students will find this volume an invaluable companion, including those working in geography, environmental studies, sport sciences, and leisure and tourism studies. (summary of the book, taken from publisher website
DANNY O’CONNOR. Ted Hughes and Trauma: Burning the Foxes.
Get PDFAny book which departs from the comforting idea of Ted Hughes the nature poet—less an upstart Crow than a kind of benign Heathcliff gone soft round the edges, a figure in whom we find confirmed our green credentials—will today stand out. Danny O’Connor’s book, with its theoretical twists and turns, its grappling with the poems not as missives from the earth but as knotty Lacanian problems, which in the process of being unravelled lead only to conceptual impossibilities and contradictions, is admirably perverse
