GLOBAL GIAN: Online and Off line Incubation of Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge: Towards Tianjin Declaration

The forces of globalisation are known to squeeze space for local initiatives, ventures and sometimes even innovations. The markets are dominated by large players whose scale of economy makes it difficult for new entrants, even with better products and services to survive. At the same time, there are certain sectoral and regional niches and need segments in society which remain unfilled even by the forces of globalisation. The growth thus does not become inclusive. India, China and Brazil among three major countries in the world are facing this challenge to varying degree. There are certain needs of small farmers, artisans, urban vendors, mechanics and other self-employed people or small and tiny firms which are not met by the local R&D and design institutions in public or private sector. When these needs remain unfulfilled for long time, they may give rise to either apathy, adjustment or even dissatisfaction. Sometimes, this dissatisfaction may evolve into social disaffection leading to tensions, feeling of deprivation and exclusion. An international conference was organised at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (TUFE), Tianjin, China to bring together the partners from China and Brazil besides representatives of 15 other countries. Tianjin declaration was issued at the end of the conference to invite stakeholders from all around the world to join this movement (see annexure 1). It is hoped that academics, industry associations, entrepreneurs, designers and technologists will join hands to strengthen the resolve of grassroots innovators to reach global markets. We have to ensure that disadvantaged people around the world are not deprived of opportunities of learning from creative people in different countries. The barriers of language, literacy and localism will have to be overcome.

Academic information literacies: finding and using information in research, teaching and academic professional development at the University of West London

How, why and when do academics use information in their work? In what contexts do they search for, critique and apply professional, scholarly and research information sources from books, research journals, professional organisations, social media and government regulators? How do they locate the resources that they need to develop teaching materials, write papers and books and formulate new research projects? How do they express, negotiate and experience their ‘Information Literacy? Despite the increasing breadth of research in this area, there is little evidence of the experiences of academics in the context of modern UK universities such as UWL. Such evidence could help inform resource acquisition and development policy and form the basis of learning tools to develop a higher and more consistent level of Information Literacy in its academic community, with the possibility of increased productivity and quality in scholarly and research activity

Online Learning Communities for Creative Practice

This research project proposes to model the activities and roles of a visiting Research Fellow and an Artist-in-Residence (AIR) with the intent of applying the key educational features and strategies to the online environment. Where feasible, the aim is replicate the role of a Research Fellow online by enlisting the services of well-known artists to contribute their expertise and creative input to the teaching activities of a University School of Art. The primary purpose is to support and enhance the delivery of quality learning outcomes for the Curtin BA (Art) Online degree. The project presents an opportunity to establish wider contact with audiences that have an interest in interacting with an online AIR site to access or contribute research materials and participate in creative activities.In the online environment students are empowered to learn both autonomously as well as actively explore opportunities to teach one another. This emphasis on independent learning is particularly prevalent when asynchronous discussion groups (bulletin boards) are used as an integral part of the learning experience. Students are given the incentive to explain, share, comment, critique, and develop course materials among themselves in ways rarely seen in a traditional classroom setting. The use of electronic alternatives to face-to-face dialogue often results in high quality discussions as students often refer to course materials and reflect on their answers before responding to the lecturer's questions or to classmates' comments. As a result, students have the opportunity to post well-considered comments without experiencing the immediate demands of in-class discussions.The potential of online learning communities will be examined in terms of fostering independent self-directed learning and to encourage online mentoring. Existing examples of practice in online learning will be considered with a view to devising a suitable model for application to online learning communities engaged in creative practices.Of equal importance, the project represents an example of how Curtin is able to form unique collaborations between divergent areas of interest. In this instance, the partnership combines the expertise of the Faculty of Built Environment (BEAD), the School of Art and Design, and the Learning Support Network (LSN)

Using Resilient Pedagogy to Rethink Consultant Training in the Writing Center Post Pandemic

Since becoming a writing consultant three years ago, I have been interested in how writing centers can improve their training practices. Specifically, I have always been interested in the invaluable nature of consultant-to-consultant relationships in comparison with standard consultant training manuals. Though my idea of consultant-to-consultant relationships and training was specific to the in-person writing center, the need to rethink this consultant interaction was reinforced by the recent pandemic when most writing centers transitioned to completely online operations. In March of 2021, I hosted a panel presentation and gathered data from writing consultants about the ways that their centers were responding to the pandemic. Using a resilient framework, I analyzed this data and previous consultant training initiatives in the literature to provide writing center professionals with recommendations for creating team building and collaboration-themed training programs for writing centers. Along with helping writing centers withstand future disorientation, this project will help to address additional issues within writing centers, like diversity and inclusion among staff and students

E-LEARNING, VIRTUAL LEARNING AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

E-learning opens new possibilities that may enhance the efficiency with which conventional education reaches its objectives. This is reflectedin the fact that, in general,the returns to investment in human capital, both at the individual and the social level, are increasedwith the help of e-learning. Whereas the impact of e-learningon the acquisition of human capital seems, therefore, to be positive, the same cannot be said with the same level of confidence regarding the acquisition of social capital.As it is arguedin this paper, the impact of e-learningonsocial capital at primary education, when developed as a substitute forthe conventional school(distant e-learning) may well be negative. Taking into account the importance of some components of social capital with regard to the benefits of education, also from an economic point of view, the introduction of distant e-learningshould not be donein an uncritical manner, but after a careful analysis of its impact onsocial capital.At graduate levels, however, e-learning provides an interesting kind of social capital worth analysingin some more detail

Art-At-Work: Creativity and Social Practice as Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Research

Art-At-Work describes the tools, vocabularies, strategies and experiences that render the emergent spaces of collaborative interdisciplinary research. This body of work generates a story board for the unfolding narrative of a studio-laboratory practice where artists research with scientists and scientists create with artists. The long-term goals and short-term deliverables of this research focus attention toward the process of building connection, tools and space for future work that creates channels for collaboration among disciplines. With each conversation, concept map, prototype, reflection and iteration, creatives and researchers are exploring the spaces among fields of practice by generating ways of sharing experiences that enrich our academic community and establish connections for future inquiry. Creativity and social practice inform the ways that art has engaged with science throughout this work and as this practice among fields continues to evolve, they will remain critical elements of future collaborations, research and development. The scope of the presented research is immersed in the growing dialogue between art and science and is undertaken with the intention of building capacity for practitioners to generate inter-inquiry agency and investigate the possibilities of working across studios, laboratories and knowledges. Activating different configurations of qualitative insight highlight the role that art can have in the development of transdisciplinary language and methodologies as well as the potential to consider outcomes that are informed by these processes. The findings of this research outline the critical role that time, space and support play in establishing ground for creatives and researchers to engage in the work that builds this new environment. While the disciplines discussed in this research include art and science, collaborative interdisciplinary research is not limited to these domains. Inquiry, creativity and iteration are connective elements among many disciplines and this research will ask readers to consider how innovative we dare to be through growing interdisciplinary collaborative activity by accepting the invitation to practice art at work

FDTL voices : drawing from learning and teaching projects

This publication draws on insights and experiences from individuals and teams within learning and teaching development projects in higher education. It considers lessons learnt from the processes, outcomes and tangible outputs of the projects across the spectrum of the FDTL initiative, with the intention that colleagues can draw on and benefit from this experience. The overriding theme at the heart of every FDTL project has been the desire to achieve some form of positive and meaningful change at the level of the individual, institution or discipline. The continuing legacy of the programme has been to create wider community involvement as projects have engaged with the higher education sector on multiple levels - personal, institutional, practice, and policy. This publication has remained throughout a collaborative endeavour, supported by Academy colleagues. It is based around the four themes emerging from the initiative as a whole: • Sectoral/Organisational Change • Conceptual Change • Professional and Personal Development Partnership and • Project Managemen

Online learning design in higher education: a holistic investigation of people, processes and pedagogy

The design and provision of online learning by universities has gained traction globally as a strategic move towards flexible education maximising students’ learning opportunities. A promising approach for designing high-quality online learning is collaborative design where educators work with interdisciplinary digital learning professionals. However, to date, studies that have taken a holistic approach to examine the nature and outcomes of the design work between these key university actors in a single project are lacking. This thesis addresses this gap by investigating the decision-making processes of educators and digital learning professionals during online learning design, the factors influencing their decisions, and the rationale behind their pedagogic choices. Cultural-historical activity theory was adopted as the theoretical framework to enable a thorough investigation of educators’ and digital learning professionals’ online learning design work within their broader sociocultural context. A multiple case study was employed as the overarching methodology with data collected from seven design teams (‘cases’) across six UK-based universities involved in ongoing online learning design cycles. One-to-one interviews in two stages (before and after the design of online modules) and non-participant observation of design meetings were conducted to capture participants’ insights. Relevant documents were also analysed as secondary evidence sources. Findings revealed participants’ decisions were made through framing, sharing insider knowledge and expertise, forward-looking, and breadth-first design processes. Their decisions were influenced by four levels of interacting and interdependent factors: individual, team, community and network, and institutional. The pedagogic rationale behind participants’ decisions indicates their practice re-culturation and has been conceptualised in this research as holistic, multivoiced, and connected. Collaborative design also proved to support educators’ professional development in (co-)design, pedagogy, and learning technology. These findings contribute to a multifaceted and contemporary understanding of online learning design and highlight practical implications for educators, digital learning professionals, university leadership, industry partners, and researchers.Open Acces

The humanities value chain: a framework for knowledge transfer in the modern university

The research described in this thesis presents a body of material generated over four years of close observation of research and knowledge transfer practices in one Russell Group university institution. It attempts to contextualise knowledge transfer (hereafter KT) within the arts and humanities environment, as well as situate learning about the reception and adoption of KT with reference to the individual scholar and the organisation in which they operate. Within this context, little has been written explicitly about the character of the arts and humanities, and particularly the historical antecedence of the disciplines and their close relationship to current KT challenges. In the early chapters of the thesis we address the growing interest in KT specific language, the key words that have become landmarks in the extension of the ‘Two Cultures’ debate. In defining some of the parameters by which KT has come to be recognised, we also begin to signal changes in both the lexicon and landscape in which KT has evolved. We suggest that both the institution and their academic inhabitants play an intrinsic part in this evolution, framed by both the political and scholarly tensions of the time. In the latter part of the thesis there is a distinct shift in emphasis from the foundations of the KT debate, to its current inflections at a more grass roots level within the academic institution. We frame this shift in the context of the key investor in research within these disciplines and suggest that the Arts and Humanities Research Council is equally challenged to articulate and underpin the adoption of KT and its impacts at the heart of academic practice. In order that we might better animate how these practices are emerging, we observe one particular case study that lays down a possible framework for closer observation of KT in what we term the ‘Humanities Value Chain’. In focusing on a collection of players connected in the successful pursuit of collaborative research, we attempt to uncover a the perspective of individuals within the institution and the way in which organisations might support or hinder their pursuit of KT based research. In concluding the thesis we suggest that the culmination of this knowledge might offer a useful framework for considering how KT occurs in arts and humanities led teams, and at the same time how 3 it might act as a possible tool from which KT players and practices might be better observed. In presenting a possible framework for consideration, we suggest that the current preoccupation with impacts might at the same time be better understood by observing more closely the roles researchers play during the collaborative research process

Higher Education and Society: A research report

This report draws on a substantial body of research undertaken by the Open University's Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI) on the changing relationships between higher education and society. Higher education currently faces many changes, some externally driven by government policies and changing patterns of social and economic demand and some internally driven by changes in the way knowledge is produced and organised within universities and other 'knowledge organisations'. CHERI examines these changes through empirical research which is policy relevant though not policy dictated, frequently international, and broadly focused on the social impacts of higher education. Does higher education make a difference and to whom? In their different ways, the articles in this report seek to provide answers to this important but difficult question