University of Cumbria Open Access Journals
Not a member yet
615 research outputs found
Sort by
University Satisfaction, Peer Communication, and Appearance Appraisal as Predictors of Global Self-Esteem in University Students
Get PDFThe current study set out to explore which constructs were most important in predicting global self-esteem in undergraduate and postgraduate students. A number of studies have highlighted the negative consequences of low self-esteem, including depression (Sharma & Agarwala, 2013), substance abuse (Bachman, O’Malley, Freedman-Doan, Trzesniewski, & Donnellan, 2011), and antisocial behaviours (Bandura, 1982). It is therefore imperative to determine factors that are associated with self-esteem in order to develop successful interventions. Past research has highlighted a number of possible constructs and thus, the following predictor variables were chosen: peer communication, family relatedness, university satisfaction, appearance appraisal, age, and relationship satisfaction (Aryana, 2010; Cabeldue & Boswell, 2012; Kutob, Senf, Crago, & Shisslak, 2010; Ojanen & Perry, 2007; Trzesniewski, Donnellan, & Robins, 2003). Multiple regression analysis revealed university satisfaction to be the strongest predictor of self-esteem; similarly, peer communication and appearance appraisal were also of significance. Interactions between these predictor variables and self-esteem warrant further attention as a means of establishing successful, domain-specific interventions
Joining the Pieces: using concept maps for integrated learning and assessment in an introductory management course
Get PDFThis paper reports on and evaluates the use of concept mapping as a learning tool in a large first year Management course. The goal was to help students make personal sense of course learning and to build their understanding of links and relationships between key course ideas. Concept mapping was used for three summative assessment pieces, including the final exam, and results indicated that concept mapping enhanced student understanding and personal articulation of connections between course ideas. The integration of concept mapping into all teaching and a number of assessments enabled the teaching team to ascertain students’ prior knowledge, monitor progress, and adapt teaching so as to be responsive to learners’ perspectives
Expanding and personalising feedback in online assessment: A case study in a school of pharmacy
Get PDFIn the Manchester Pharmacy School, we first adopted summative on-line examinations in 2005. Since then, we have increased the range of question types to include short answers, short essays and questions incorporating chemical structures and we achieve time savings of up to 90% in the marking process. Online assessments allow two novel forms of feedback. An anonymised spreadsheet containing all the marked exam scripts is made available to all students. This enables students to see a variety of answers than are awarded good marks, rather than a single model answer. Secondly, “Smallvoice” a novel app provides confidential personalised feedback. Feedback statements, though written by the instructor, are selected by a computer in response to various aspects of a student’s performance. Evidence of improved student satisfaction comes from the unit questionnaires and from the National Student Survey. Evidence of improved learning comes from comparing pre- and post-feedback assessments (typically course tests and end of unit examinations.)
A critical discussion upon the relationship between the Psychoanalytical perspective of developmental psychology and its adaptation to educating teenage mothers
Get PDFThis paper will critically explore elements of the psychoanalytic paradigm of developmental psychology in relation to the professional practice of working with teenage mothers in an educational setting. Particular focus will be given to the psychosexual and psychosocial staged theories of development. The framework for this critical analysis will examine each stage of psychosexual and psychosocial theory in relation to teenage motherhood. These perspectives have been specifically chosen due to the explicit links between staged childhood experience and adult behaviour in relation to sexual and social aspects of development, both aspects having fundamental links to teenage parenthood. Four case study examples are used to demonstrate how psychoanalytical theory may relate to this cohort. These are taken from my past professional work as a teenage parent programme lead. The examples are given to shed light on the impact of each psychosocial and psychosexual stage of development. This article concludes that whilst both the psychosocial and psychosexual models of development are useful in giving educators a perspective into behaviours that are displayed in adolescence, they are but one of many perspectives that should be taken into account when working with this cohort
Delivering the future workforce: A highlighting of the need to focus on the relationship between school teachers and technology
Get PDFDrawing on an examination of the research literature and centring a debate around three main themes - (i) the nature of the school teaching role with a focus on stress and modelling, (ii) the role of government and the influence of globalisation, and (iii) the effect of technological competence (with social media examined as an example of that competence in action) - this paper highlights the need to focus on the relationship between school teachers and the technology that is available for use. From the base point of acknowleding the role played by the school teaching community in delivering the future workforce, and highlighting the potential for an understanding of the nature of the relationship between school teachers and technology to have an impact beyond the profession\u27s boundary, this paper identifies that there are significant gaps in the understanding of that relationship and that those gaps have resulted in some compromises being made. Existing use of technology within the school teaching community is noted, along with acknowledgment that it need not be a positive relationship which exists between school teachers and technology. The ever changing nature and capabilities of technology are highlighted as having an influence on the relationship
E-cigarettes in pregnancy: Reducing or introducing harm?
Get PDFElectronic cigarettes use has become increasingly prevalent with around 17.6% of population using these products. The serious harm to health caused by cigarette smoke is well publicised, and government advice has promoted the message that e-cigarettes are 95% safer; however e-cigarettes are not risk free. Given the high prevalence of e-cigarette usage, pregnant women are likely to look to midwives for guidance on whether e-cigarettes are safe, however advice to midwives is inconsistent. The current paper therefore explores whether e-cigarettes are suitable for pregnant women who want an alternative to traditional cigarettes. There is a paucity of evidence to confirm the long-term impact of e-cigarettes in pregnancy but research indicates that their expose users to a number of harmful substances. Nicotine and other chemicals including Diacetyl, Acetoin and 2,3-Pentanedione are detrimental to the health of both mother and child. Harm reduction methods aim to improve the health of individuals with an addiction where abstinence is not a feasible goal; this means that in the first instance pregnant women should be advised to quit smoking and avoid products containing nicotine. If women are unable to abstain from smoking, traditional nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as gums and patches are likely to be safer than e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes contain a greater number of harmful chemicals and are likely to provide a greater dose of nicotine
The Strategic Approach to Studying, and the Value of Assessment
Get PDFIn this paper I seek to reflexively theorise the following pedagogical problem: why do so many students adopt a strategic approach to studying and value assessment for the grade awarded rather than as a learning opportunity? Firstly, I differentiate my sociological perspective from the phenomenographic perspective, and argue that the strategic approach is worthy of serious analysis. Secondly, I deploy the concepts social character and the social individual to argue that the strategic approach is a product of extrinsic rather than intrinsic forces: it emanates from within the social relations of contemporary capitalism. Thirdly, I frame the strategic approach as academic labour using concepts from Marx’s labour theory of value: use and exchange value, concrete and abstract labour. This enables me to explain how assessment has become commodified and why students have a limiting quasi-market concept of value that privileges grades over learning. Finally, I argue that Marx’s dialectical method of enquiry enables practitioners to not only deconstruct the strategic approach to studying but also to challenge it.
Making a transition: The development of academics’ role and identity in online teaching
Get PDFThis paper explored the journey of three academics as they moved from face-to-face teaching to online teaching over a period of twenty months. From the findings of this study, it is recommended that for an academic to make an effective transition they need to be supported effectively to embrace the changes to their role and to their practice and consequently to their identity. It is hoped that this study may assist in discussions around staff development training and in supporting academics on the transition
Student teachers\u27 perceptions of seminar learning contexts in ITE (initial teacher education)
Get PDFThis paper outlines how examining student teachers’ perceptions of the use of seminars in HE led to reflections about the role and significance of seminars in initial teacher education (ITE). Whilst the generic literature on student learning provides useful insights about how they approach their learning and tutors’ teaching strategies, we know little about students, and in particular student teachers’[1] perceptions of seminars (a learning context that can nurture important HE attributes such as reflection, reasoning and judgement). The study focuses on student teachers and reports on the findings from a series of in-depth interviews with five second year undergraduate primary teacher education student teachers in a post-1992 English university. Their accounts present seminars as rich and multi-layered learning contexts that draw on their peers’, tutors’ and families’ practices, and characterised by instrumentalist judgements about the extent to which seminars ‘enabled’ or ‘disabled’ participation and teacher preparation. This paper\u27s contribution is in problematising seminars, a common learning context for student teachers, and highlighting the ways in which the study led to pedagogical reflections about the purpose, value and potential of university-based seminars for teacher preparation. [1] The term \u27student teacher\u27 is used to refer to those undertaking a teaching degree although \u27student\u27 is sometimes used for stylistic purposes. All other references to \u27students\u27 refer to those on non-teaching degrees.