'The good paper – a handbook for writing papers in higher education' by Lotte Rienecker, Peter Stray Jorgensen, with contributions by Signe Skov : review

Book review'The good paper – a handbook for writing papers in higher education' by Lotte Rienecker, Peter Stray Jorgensen, with contributions by Signe Skov. Samsfundslitteratur

What students’ want in written feedback: praise, clarity and precise individual commentary

This research paper explores a sample of written summative feedback which was provided to undergraduate social science based students in 2014-2015. A series of focus groups were facilitated where students evaluated 95 pieces of individual written feedback and discussed their findings. Texts were scored, ranked and used to create mini corpora of high and low ranking feedback. A contrastive analysis examined frequency counts, keyword analyses as well as concordances, collocations and semantic analyses. This analysis was supported by student annotations of their evaluations and thematic coding of the verbal discussions which took place. This research has been able to outline the characteristics of feedback which students in this sample judged to be effective - specific praise, clarity and completeness, forward orientation, interpersonal positioning and clear and error free text. The contrastive analysis brought the metadiscoursal features strongly into focus, with distinct linguistic patterns emerging in the use of modals, personal pronouns and the mitigation of criticism. Findings confirmed the highly interpersonal nature of academic feedback and students demonstrated particular sensitivity to the tenor of the feedback and the way criticism was incorporated. There were also distinct preferences concerning the length and presentation of text, the quality of praise, and whether it contained a forward orientation

Towards the devolution of lifewide learning awards through verifiable digital badges

Lifewide learning has grown in importance amongst UK universities, with many now offering award programmes to both encourage students to take part in extra- and co-curricular activities and to recognise their efforts in these areas. However, the typical requirement to align these awards with the existing academic year means that the submission and assessment of the awards occur at one of the most demanding times of the year for both students and staff. This paper suggests that a model for lifewide learning awards where the assessment activities are devolved to trusted third-parties would help to reduce the burden on students and staff. The idea of Open Badges, a standard for creating and sharing secure, verifiable digital credentials and evidence, is proposed and discussed using a case study as a means to support a devolved approach to lifewide learning awards

Towards the devolution of lifewide learning awards through verifiable digital badges

Lifewide learning has grown in importance amongst UK universities, with many now offering award programmes to both encourage students to take part in extra- and co-curricular activities and to recognise their efforts in these areas. However, the typical requirement to align these awards with the existing academic year means that the submission and assessment of the awards occur at one of the most demanding times of the year for both students and staff. This paper suggests that a model for lifewide learning awards where the assessment activities are devolved to trusted third-parties would help to reduce the burden on students and staff. The idea of Open Badges, a standard for creating and sharing secure, verifiable digital credentials and evidence, is proposed and discussed using a case study as a means to support a devolved approach to lifewide learning awards

Embedding Academic Literacies through Growing Student and Staff Communities

In the UK, HE practical writing support has not kept pace with advances in our understanding of how students learn to write in their disciplines or greater comprehension of the nature of these discourses they are acquiring. Current institutional provision can be still be characterized as fragmented offering generic, deficit focused, skills-based instruction, despite such approaches being theoretically discredited. One alternative means to develop academic literacies in more inclusive and nuanced ways is to embed this work at a disciplinary level; while long recommended this model is unusual in the UK. This paper reviews approaches to embedding academic literacies work and reports on our attempts to embed writing development work within a social science department through an extended action research project which aimed to increase student mastery of academic literacies within one department. We focused on building opportunities for engagement using Writing Exemplars, Retreats and Writing Circles. Key features of our work are identified that appear transferable and may further facilitate successful interdisciplinary collaborations

Understanding the town centre customer experience (TCCE)

This research enhances the understanding of consumer behaviour and customer experience in the context of town centres. First, it defines town centre customer experience (TCCE) as a multifaceted journey that combines interactions with a diverse range of public and private organisations, including retailers and social and community elements; this results in a unique experience co-created with the consumer across a series of functional and experiential touchpoints. Second, combining qualitative and quantitative insights, this research reveals a series of specific functional and experiential TCCE touchpoints, which underpin the consumer internal response (motivation to visit) and outward behaviour (desire to stay and revisit intentions) in the town centre. In addition to enhancing town centre and customer experience knowledge, these findings offer important new insights to those managing town centres and seeking to retain customer loyalty in the high street. Above all, these findings can help identify the touchpoints that need to be reinforced and/or improved to differentiate a town from its competing centres and to create tailored marketing strategies. Taken together, such initiatives have the potential to positively impact the revitalisation of the high street and the town centre economy

Reflections on the 'History and Historians' of the black woman's role in the community of slaves: enslaved women and intimate partner sexual violence

Taking as points of inspiration Peter Parish’s 1989 book, Slavery: History and Historians, and Angela Davis’s seminal 1971 article, “Reflections on the black woman’s role in the community of slaves,” this probes both historiographically and methodologically some of the challenges faced by historians writing about the lives of enslaved women through a case study of intimate partner violence among enslaved people in the antebellum South. Because rape and sexual assault have been defined in the past as non-consensual sexual acts supported by surviving legal evidence (generally testimony from court trials), it is hard for historians to research rape and sexual violence under slavery (especially marital rape) as there was no legal standing for the rape of enslaved women or the rape of any woman within marriage. This article suggests enslaved women recognized that black men could both be perpetrators of sexual violence and simultaneously be victims of the system of slavery. It also argues women stoically tolerated being forced into intimate relationships, sometimes even staying with “husbands” imposed upon them after emancipation

Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) using a digital intervention in poorly controlled hypertension: randomised controlled trial

Objective: The HOME BP (Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure) trial aimed to test a digital intervention for hypertension management in primary care by combining self-monitoring of blood pressure with guided self-management. Design: Unmasked randomised controlled trial with automated ascertainment of primary endpoint. Setting: 76 general practices in the United Kingdom. Participants: 622 people with treated but poorly controlled hypertension (>140/90 mm Hg) and access to the internet. Interventions: Participants were randomised by using a minimisation algorithm to self-monitoring of blood pressure with a digital intervention (305 participants) or usual care (routine hypertension care, with appointments and drug changes made at the discretion of the general practitioner; 317 participants). The digital intervention provided feedback of blood pressure results to patients and professionals with optional lifestyle advice and motivational support. Target blood pressure for hypertension, diabetes, and people aged 80 or older followed UK national guidelines. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was the difference in systolic blood pressure (mean of second and third readings) after one year, adjusted for baseline blood pressure, blood pressure target, age, and practice, with multiple imputation for missing values. Results: After one year, data were available from 552 participants (88.6%) with imputation for the remaining 70 participants (11.4%). Mean blood pressure dropped from 151.7/86.4 to 138.4/80.2 mm Hg in the intervention group and from 151.6/85.3 to 141.8/79.8 mm Hg in the usual care group, giving a mean difference in systolic blood pressure of −3.4 mm Hg (95% confidence interval −6.1 to −0.8 mm Hg) and a mean difference in diastolic blood pressure of −0.5 mm Hg (−1.9 to 0.9 mm Hg). Results were comparable in the complete case analysis and adverse effects were similar between groups. Within trial costs showed an incremental cost effectiveness ratio of £11 ($15, €12; 95% confidence interval £6 to £29) per mm Hg reduction. Conclusions: The HOME BP digital intervention for the management of hypertension by using self-monitored blood pressure led to better control of systolic blood pressure after one year than usual care, with low incremental costs. Implementation in primary care will require integration into clinical workflows and consideration of people who are digitally excluded. Trial registration: ISRCTN13790648