118,147 research outputs found

    SME leaders’ learning in networked learning : an actor-network theory and communities of practice theory informed analysis

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    This thesis brings a Communities of Practice perspective together with Actor-network theory to provide a rich understanding of the social learning processes of SME leaders within a networked learning programme. Networked learning as an educational approach is a growing area in higher education. The networked learning programme under investigation forms part of the knowledge exchange initiatives at Lancaster university management school. The research explores the learning process through a qualitative, inductive approach underpinned by an (online and offline) ethnography and is supported by qualitative interviews, the researcher‟s own reflections and other secondary data. The study focuses on three main issues. Firstly, it provides an in-depth understanding of the way a learning community comes together. Secondly, it shows how delegates learn through co-constructing knowledge and the practices within the learning community. It is proposed that the learning community constructs, learns and challenges the situated curriculum. This takes place through the process of legitimate peripheral participation. Gaining fuller participation leads to an increased identification with that of „leader‟. Thirdly, the study theorises four conceptual learning spaces to show where the delegates learn. They are conceived of as an effect of the delegates‟ engagement with the integrated learning model underpinning the networked learning programme. The thesis concludes with a discussion presenting a set of learning and design principles. These can be used to inform the design and thinking around networked learning and knowledge exchange. Combining the theoretical frameworks of Actor-network theory and Communities of Practice theory is unique in the context of exploring the learning processes within networked learning. This combination stretches aspects of the main tenets of each theory and offers contributions to all three theoretical frameworks

    Small business cyber security workshop 2013 : towards digitally secure business growth

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    This report identifies the key findings which were developed during a workshop involving a number of regional micro, small and medium enterprises from a range of industrial sectors and experts in the field of cyber security and business. The purpose of this dialogue was to establish the issues that businesses classed as an SME face with respect to Cyber Security. The output from this workshop, along with this report identifies the market failures that key stakeholders, such as universities and government, need to address in order to support the industry and help to grow a secure digital economy. This workshop follows on from CSC2012 and also the report SBCSS2012 which highlighted the significant problems SMEs are facing with regard to receiving support with regard to cyber security. Security Lancaster partnered with the ICT KTN and sought to work with a diverse group of SMEs in facilitated teams, taken through a series of guided exercises, to first and foremost identify their concerns around cyber security and subsequently capture any potential ways forward

    Joshua Davis: Author of Spare Parts

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    Citation: K-State First (2016). Joshua Davis: Author of Spare Parts [Flier]. Manhattan, Kansas: K-State First.Flyer advertising Joshua Davis's author talk at Kansas State University

    Recommendations for changes in UK National Recovery Guidance (NRG) and associated guidance from the perspective of Lancaster University's Hull Flood Studies

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    This report was commissioned by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) following the publication of Lancaster University‟s Hull Flood Project and Hull Children‟s Flood Project. Its principal purpose is to identify how findings made as a result of the two research projects could be integrated into the Cabinet Office‟s National Recovery Guidance (NRG), as a means to improve affected communities‟ ability to recover from emergency events. The report, in effect, details a desktop analysis of UK Civil Protection (CP) guidance, from a bottom-up perspective (i.e. using as its critical lens, the lived experiences of members of the public who were tested by the Hull flooding of 2007 and its aftermath)

    Steven Johnson Author Talk Poster

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    K-State Book NetworkA poster advertising an author talk by Steven Johnson at Kansas State University on September 3, 2014. Steven Johnson's book "The Ghost Map" was the 2014-2015 common book

    Intelligent student systems : an application of viewpoints to intelligent learning environments

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    Intelligent Student Systems are a class of Intelligent Learning Environments that place the learner in the role of a tutor rather than a student. In an analogy with the educational practice of peer tutoring users learn by teaching the computer -- inverting the predominant `computer as tutor' metaphor. Intelligent Student Systems emphasize the learner's viewpoint in educational interactions in preference to the system's conception of the domain. These systems are considered to be less complex than Intelligent Tutoring Systems and to have the potential to generate novel human-computer educational interactions. Viewpoints also have an integral part in knowledge representation in Intelligent Learning Environments and they are utilised in the design and implementation of an Intelligent Student System in economics. Testing of the system produced insights into the future application of Intelligent Student Systems

    Espresso education : evidence of impacts of digital resources on learning

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    The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the evidence base for Espresso Education digital resources impacting on the learning of pupils in primary schools

    Small-scale heterogeneity in sediments : experimental and modelling investigations

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    This thesis consists of several studies relating to small-scale heterogeneity in sediments. The principal aim was to further our understanding of processes occurring at microniches. The individual studies consist of: 1) a critical review of previous studies of microniches that used probes with high spatial resolution and modelling approaches; 2) an experimental study of analysis of oxyanions in sediment at high resolution that applied a newly developed preparation method for a combined AgI/FeOOH binding phase, to investigating processes occurring at a sulphidic microniche within a freshwater sediment; 3) analysis of the relationship between trace metal (cobalt) and iron and manganese in a marine sediment using DGT, although this is not directly related to microniches, these data are useful in modelling the release of microniche trace metal from authigenic oxides; 4) the development and application of a three-dimensional diagenetic model to investigate conceptually the geochemical behaviour of microniches under different conditions, and to interpret modelled observations in terms of data from the literature and known trace element geochemistry. The key results/conclusions from both the laboratory and modelling studies are: 1) for a freshwater sediment, depletions in anions (of P, V, As) at a microniche of elevated sulphide were observed and the behaviour of phosphate at this niche was attributed to uptake associated with elevated activity of sulphate reducing bacteria; 2) modelled scenarios, with varying microniche properties, were shown to be relevant to experimental observations reported in the literature. The preferential deposition of FeS at the edge of microniches (with lifetimes of 2.5-5 days), forming ‘crustal’ deposits was demonstrated. The modelled data indicated that microniches may be significant in terms of the formation of some trace element sulphides. This thesis also contains an assessment of the significance of microniche processes and a discussion of priorities for future work

    Matrix : a statistical method and software tool for linguistic analysis through corpus comparison

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    EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
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