Innovations in Practice (LJMU)
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Book review of Stephen D. Brookfield (2017) \u27Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher\u27 (Second Edition)
No full textBook Review of Amanda Arbouin (2018) Black British Graduates: Untold Stories
No full textBlack British Graduates focuses on the experiences of ten graduates of African-Caribbean parentage and, as Arbouin declares, is “The first to document the life chances of black graduates in the UK” (p. 1). In this qualitative account, the research participants, who were in their thirties and forties and established professionals, review their compulsory and post-compulsory education, and their careers. The book chronicles the personal testimonies in relation to the barriers negotiated in the pursuit of academic qualifications. The ‘life trajectory research approach’ covers the participants’ schooling (spanning the 1970s and 1980s) and university (1980s, 1990s and 2000s). I was enraptured by this sense of social history and, as my own schooling and university experiences (as a young Asian) spanned the 1970s and 1980s, I could empathise with many of the comments. Overall, it is a book of extraordinary texture, intimacy and purpose.[Review continues
Sector reports review: February to August 2018
Full text linkThis paper provides a summary of selected reports and papers (‘grey literature’) published by key higher education sector organisations, ‘think tanks’ and other relevant bodies between February and August 2018. These include: Advance HE; Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); Chartered Management Institute (CMI); Department for Education (DfE); Equality Challenge Unit (ECU); Fair Education Alliance; Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); Institute for Fiscal Studies; Jisc; Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE); Learning and Work Institute; MillionPlus; National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE); National Education Opportunities Network; National Union of Students (NUS); Office for Students (OfS); Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA); Office for National Statistics (ONS); PA Consulting; Public First; Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA); The Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP); Student Minds; The Sutton Trust; UK Data Services; Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); Universities UK (UUK); Universities UK International (UUKi); and UPP Foundation.The themes in this paper include: review of post-18 education; formation of the OfS; vice-chancellors’ outlook on HE; the civic university; student satisfaction; applications and teaching excellence; contextual information in admissions; widening participation; part-time and mature learners; social mobility; supporting progression; non-continuation trends; feedback from assessment; HE analytics; financial concerns of students and perceptions of value-for-money; the student academic experience; student complaints; postgraduate experiences; supporting undergraduate research; mental health; student participation in sport; ethnicity and diversity; sexual misconduct; student drug use; Prevent duty; student poverty; student and employment outcomes; earnings after graduation; internationalisation; the HE workforce; and the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
Postgraduate students’ perception of research ethics training: a qualitative study
Full text linkUnethical practices undermine research findings, and destroy societal trust in research and researchers. Formal ethics training for researchers is widely supported, and has been adopted by many organisations, including the NHS. However, a wide variation in what constitutes ethics training is apparent. This paper outlines a study that explored the perceptions of research ethics training amongst postgraduate nursing students undertaking research on human subjects. A combination of six focus groups and four one-to-one interviews were undertaken. Three significant themes emerged, each representing different aspects of the teaching process. First, time and timeliness, underlining the importance of the timing of training, but with the need for ongoing access to resources. Second, content and delivery, where the differences between the principles and processes, and the mechanisms required to address both aspects, was raised. Finally, assessment, where the difficulties of useful assessment were discussed. Participants emphasised the need to differentiate between the principles and processes of ethics teaching. This paper argues that both aspects require different approaches to disseminating information, with timing of access to teaching and resources requiring critical consideration
Book Review of David Boud, Rola Ajjawi, Phillip Dawson and Joanna Tai (Eds.) (2018) Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education
Full text linkThe context that this book sets itself within is portrayed as one of increasing uncertainty. It presents a future in which graduates must develop skills for lifelong learning, adaptation and autonomy. It is argued that, contrarily, traditional assessment methods in higher education foster dependency, with teachers as experts – sole arbiters of judgements about the quality of work – curtailing key skills demanded by a constantly changing employment landscape. The editors’ definition of evaluative judgement, taken from Tai et al. (2018: 471), is “the capability to make decisions about the quality of work of self and others.” There are three particularly notable keywords at work here. First, that evaluative judgement is a capability, a skill, and not an activity; second, that it concerns quality – distinguishing the good from the less good with reference to a standard; and third, that it is applied to work, and not the self. At its core, this is an expansion of the established ambition in higher education for engaging students as active agents in their learning, through facilitating opportunities for them to participate in making and articulating judgements over their own work and that of others. Evaluative judgement is an empowerment of students to become active participants in understanding quality and developing connoisseurship regarding their work and their learning, thereby demystifying and potentially democratising teachers’ assessment of their work – a laudable aim in itself.[Review continues
Book Review of Robert Troschitz (2017) Higher Education and the Student: From Welfare State to Neoliberalism
No full textIn Higher Education and the Student, Robert Troschitz offers a thorough study of the modern British higher education system. Written from a historian’s perspective, this is an invaluable and introductory survey for all educational researchers. At 236 pages, Troschitz’s first published monograph is digestible but also displays his broad research interests, including cultural theory. Indeed, Troschitz attributes particular significance to language and meanings. I ought to confess that I studied History and was in the first cohort of students to have the maximum £9,000 tuition fees applied as I enrolled. This was back in 2010 and my experience was a far cry to my parents’ generation who reflected nostalgically on ‘grants’ rather than ‘loans’.Britain, and primarily England, is the focus; the book captures the social and political changes and exposure of the HE system to neoliberal market forces. The timescale encompasses the 1940s to the 1990s, although post-2010 developments are considered. This chronological approach accentuates the historical narrative, based upon secondary published sources that contemplate the nature and purpose of higher education, such as government documents, reviews, consultations and Acts of Parliament.Troschitz applies discourse analysis to investigate the role of students, interrogating terms associated with higher education to demonstrate their shifting nature. As he observes, the term “student” or “students” has proved particularly elusive. However, he is not concerned with the lived experience of students; his aim is to demonstrate “how the idea of higher education and the concept of the student have shifted over time.” This is framed within the contexts of ‘eligibility’ and ‘power’. Thus, the biggest impact of the marketisation of higher education, it is argued, has not just been the financial implications for students, but a shift within the debate around the essence of higher education is and shifting sense of ‘the student’. As we have recently observed by the Higher Education Research Act 2017 and formation of the Office for Students, the emphasis on value for money has more firmly cast the student as customer.[Review continues
Stepping out: transforming teaching with low threshold technology
Full text linkTo the actor, nonverbal communication is as important as their voice; the ‘claiming’ of the space in which they work is an integral part of a meaningful performance. In Michael Chekhov’s seminal The Techniques of Acting the rudiments of an actor’s presence in a space are delineated and stimulated, via a series of exercises: for instance, walking across the entire space, and the touching of walls. In turn, in this uninhibited process, confidence and authority evolves. As teachers, how often do we ‘claim’ the space, other than that behind the lectern? Or concern ourselves with the way we communicate beyond the spoken word? This short paper reflects on an innocuous, ‘low threshold’ technology that has significant transformative power in the classroom
Research-informed teaching: releasing the power of the student research conference
Full text linkIn May 2018 the School of Sport, Leisure and Nutrition ran an inaugural student research conference that was entitled ‘The Power of Sport’. Students at all levels of study can benefit in a variety of ways through being actively engaged in research and enquiry. Such student activity can also support the development of research in the institution as well as the impact of research in the community. Hosting the conference intended to provide a way of developing and promoting such approaches in the curriculum and to give students a safe environment in which to test and disseminate their work. In essence, it was an activity that blurred the lines between research and student education. The two core aims of The Power of Sport were: to enhance student learning and confidence through engagement in research and research conversations; and to assist programme teams to further implement research-informed teaching in the curriculum for presentation at the conference. This short paper touches on the theoretical basis for these two aims by considering both research-informed teaching and student empowerment in the context of the conference.
‘In-house’ journals and the scholarship of teaching and learning – thoughts from a discipline that is not a discipline
Full text linkThis paper offers a reflection on the practical and theoretical issues involved in the development of an in-house journal that publishes work in the area of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). While proceeding from the experience of running one such journal in the context of a research-intensive institution, the paper aims to offer a broader view on the impacts, both positive and otherwise, which such institutionally focused publications might make on the field of SoTL as a whole
Engaging with enterprise education: reflections on the Liverpool John Moores University experience
Full text linkEnterprise education is moving higher up the agenda for educators. However many practitioners still find themselves on the outside looking in as many often perceive barriers that defeat their best intentions. There are now tools to combat these barriers, including UK and European guidelines, frameworks and sources of support that can help an educator embed enterprise successfully. This Viewpoint was prompted, in part, to sector conversations on students’ perceptions on value for money, and new QAA guidelines on enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The paper draws on the experience of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, which has been supporting staff and programmes at LJMU to prepare students to meet today’s challenges in the workplace
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