3,851 research outputs found

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Taser and Social, Ethnic and Racial Disparities research programme

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    Report from the 'Taser use and its association with social, ethnic and racial disparities in policing (TASERD)' research project. The research project was initiated by the National Police Chiefsā€™ Council and commissioned by the College of Policing, after their Officer and Staff Safety Review (OSSR) in 2019 found there was growing evidence to suggest that Tasers were being used disproportionately in society. It was carried out by researchers from Keele University, UCL, The University of Exeter and Staffordshire University.National Police Chiefsā€™ CouncilLondonā€™s Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC

    How social media brand community development impacts consumer engagement and value formation; perspectives from the cosmetics industry

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    Social media and social media brand communities (SMBCs) are powerful tools for long-term consumer-brand relationship building. As a result, SMBCs are becoming significant marketing channels. Despite the wide use and adoption of SMBCs, further research is called for, as both practitioners and academics lack an understanding of the processes taking place within SMBCs. This study aims to contribute to knowledge of: (1) consumer engagement, (2) value formation in SMBCs, and (3) establishing the relationship between consumer engagement and value formation within the SMBC environment. This thesis adopts netnography, a method commonly employed to explore online communities in the social media environment. Three cosmetics brands were selected for this study. The selection was driven by geographical location, posting frequency and user activity. Data were retrospectively collected from Facebook SMBCs between 1st December 2019 and 31st January 2020. The data analysis employed thematic analysis techniques and was further guided by netnographic procedural steps, encompassing 25 distinct data operations. In total, 87 conversation threads were examined, which included 6,401 consumer comments. The findings present a typology of brand posts consisting of five overarching themes: presentation of offerings, belongingness building, engagement building, value-led, and educational. The research also identified a consumer comment typology consisting of four overarching themes brand-centred communication, cognitive-centred communication, conversation-centred communication, and personal experience-centred communication. Additionally, the thesis explores value formation processes within SMBCs, and the value types formed through consumer-to-consumer value formation interaction, brand-to-consumer value formation interaction, consumer-to-brand value formation interaction, as well as individual value formation processes, i.e., customer independent value formation and brand independent value facilitation. Through the findings, thesis broadens knowledge of the implication of SMBC development on consumer engagement. Additionally, this study extends the scope of value formation beyond service marketing, providing valuable insights into how value is created and perceived in the context of SMBCs. This research is also of significance for practice as it offers guidance and insight into how different brand posts can facilitate SMBC development, and, in turn, consumer engagement and value formation. The research provides a link between SMBC development and consumer engagement, highlighting the importance of SMBCs in the successful facilitation of consumer engagement. In particular, it provides evidence that the development of an SMBC has a significant impact on consumer engagement. The typology of brand posts that this study generates highlights the link between the types of posts published by the brand and SMBC development. In addition, the typology of consumer posts also suggests that there is a link between the types of comments published by consumers and the degree of SMBC development. As a result, the findings indicate significant growth in the variety of topics discussed within more developed SMBCs alongside a shift within the topics discussed. The study also investigates value formation within SMBCs, thereby enhancing the understanding of how SMBCs can facilitate value formation. By doing so, this research successfully extends the value formation lens predominantly applied in service marketing. In particular, the findings highlight the role of different actors in enabling the formation of different value types. Furthermore, the research emphasises the value of SMBCs as knowledge repositories as important virtual spaces for both brands and consumers. The findings facilitate understanding of the importance of SMBCs in value formation processes, contributing to advancing knowledge of the role of SMBCs in the development of consumer engagement and value formation. The thesis presents a contextualised conceptual framework of value formation within SMBCs, that captures different interactions taking place in the SMBC environment but also draws attention to the different value types generated through interaction between different actors. Finally, the thesis offers a conceptual framework of SMBCs, consumer engagement and value formation, which captures the correlation between the three researched concepts

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Developing great teachers through professional development: a comparative international case study in England, Israel, South Korea, and Turkey

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    This comparative international case study explores teacher quality, that is, how teachers, who are regarded as great, train and develop. In particular, the thesis investigates ways in which participation in professional development programmes contributes to teachersā€™ professional knowledge and the personal virtues involved in teaching chemistry at secondary school level in England, Israel, South Korea, and Turkey as case study nations. The study employs a comparative case study approach. Empirical data collection was preceded by a document analysis and a comprehensive literature review which revealed three themes, namely community of practice, pedagogical content knowledge, and professional beliefs and virtues as impacting teachers in becoming great teachers. These themes were explored in practice utilising qualitative data collection methods, namely semi structured interviews with science teachers (mainly chemistry) who participated in professional development programmes and through observing lessons and professional development activities of teachers teaching science to 14-18-year-olds. Data was collected in South Korea, Israel, Turkey, and the United Kingdom (England) over a 1-year period. A volunteer sample of 40 science teachers (10 teachers for each country) were interviewed. Ten professional development activities were observed. The total length of observed PD activities was 1500 minutes. Nine science teachers were observed in four countries. The total length of observed lessons was 525 minutes. Four focus group interviews with the participation of 18 teachers were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The data shows that great teacher appears differently in the four nations. A great teacher is identified variously as an amalgamation of a lifelong learner (South Korea), a moral exemplar (Turkey), a reflective practitioner (England), and an educator (Israel). Great teachers as lifelong learners promote studentsā€™ practical wisdom and wise decision-making ability, skills which are required to live a good life. Moral exemplars transmit their personal moral values to their students. Reflective practitioner teachers demonstrate intellectual and performance virtues in practice. As educators, great teachers motivate their students to be good human beings. The results of the study reveal that practical wisdom is an essential lens for making teachers educationally wise people. Great teacher is perceived to empower practical wisdom, which helps teachers establish mutual understanding and let them have more space to draw ii upon intellectual, social, moral and performance virtues through collaboration, mutual engagement and sharing in community of practice. The teachers in the study who participated in community-based professional development programmes enhanced the intellectual, moral, performance, and social virtues, pedagogical content knowledge associated with being a great teacher. The study finds that nations whose educational systems build strong connections between teachers through development and application of learning communities tend to generate a higher proportion of great teachers and that those teachers have positive and extensive influences on each otherā€™s intellectual and personal development. This research also found that one of the most important dispositions that enable teachers to become responsible for students' learning is passion in science teaching. The teachers' passion, motivation, and love for teaching helped them to expand their professional knowledge and techniques of instruction in distinctive manners. The character traits that a great teacher must possess should receive a lot of consideration. Emphasise also should be on developing character strengths in the professional development. Community of practice has potential to achieve this through mutual engagement, shared repertoire and joint enterprise. The research emphasizes the vital role of teachers' passion for science teaching in enabling them to take responsibility for their students' learning. It advocates for the development of character strengths in teacher professional development, particularly through the cultivation of community of practice, characterized by mutual engagement, shared repertoire, and joint enterprise. This comparative study offers valuable insights into the dynamic interplay of teacher development, enhancing the quality of education across diverse contexts

    Protecting Privacy in Indian Schools: Regulating AI-based Technologies' Design, Development and Deployment

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    Education is one of the priority areas for the Indian government, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are touted to bring digital transformation. Several Indian states have also started deploying facial recognition-enabled CCTV cameras, emotion recognition technologies, fingerprint scanners, and Radio frequency identification tags in their schools to provide personalised recommendations, ensure student security, and predict the drop-out rate of students but also provide 360-degree information of a student. Further, Integrating Aadhaar (digital identity card that works on biometric data) across AI technologies and learning and management systems (LMS) renders schools a ā€˜panopticonā€™. Certain technologies or systems like Aadhaar, CCTV cameras, GPS Systems, RFID tags, and learning management systems are used primarily for continuous data collection, storage, and retention purposes. Though they cannot be termed AI technologies per se, they are fundamental for designing and developing AI systems like facial, fingerprint, and emotion recognition technologies. The large amount of student data collected speedily through the former technologies is used to create an algorithm for the latter-stated AI systems. Once algorithms are processed using machine learning (ML) techniques, they learn correlations between multiple datasets predicting each studentā€™s identity, decisions, grades, learning growth, tendency to drop out, and other behavioural characteristics. Such autonomous and repetitive collection, processing, storage, and retention of student data without effective data protection legislation endangers student privacy. The algorithmic predictions by AI technologies are an avatar of the data fed into the system. An AI technology is as good as the person collecting the data, processing it for a relevant and valuable output, and regularly evaluating the inputs going inside an AI model. An AI model can produce inaccurate predictions if the person overlooks any relevant data. However, the state, school administrations and parentsā€™ belief in AI technologies as a panacea to student security and educational development overlooks the context in which ā€˜data practicesā€™ are conducted. A right to privacy in an AI age is inextricably connected to data practices where data gets ā€˜cookedā€™. Thus, data protection legislation operating without understanding and regulating such data practices will remain ineffective in safeguarding privacy. The thesis undergoes interdisciplinary research that enables a better understanding of the interplay of data practices of AI technologies with social practices of an Indian school, which the present Indian data protection legislation overlooks, endangering studentsā€™ privacy from designing and developing to deploying stages of an AI model. The thesis recommends the Indian legislature frame better legislation equipped for the AI/ML age and the Indian judiciary on evaluating the legality and reasonability of designing, developing, and deploying such technologies in schools

    An Existential-Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of Being a White Undergraduate Psychology Student in a Multicultural Counseling Course

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    This existential-phenomenological study sought to explore the experiences of White undergraduate psychology students enrolled in a multicultural counseling course to gain an understanding of how White students described their lived experiences while enrolled in the course. This was accomplished by conducting virtual interviews with nine participants recruited through an online university announcement. Three key experiential constituents emerged from the data supporting previous research of the conflicts White students experience as they process understanding their racialized identities as members of the dominant ethnic-racial group in U.S. society in context to the topics discussed in the course. This lack of understanding was demonstrated through reliance on colorblind ideology, including the use of racially coded language and the ā€œOtherā€ to understand their White identities, the minimization of racism demonstrated through reliance on racial ignorance/innocence, and difficulty reconciling oneā€™s own personal beliefs that conflicted with some aspects of the course. This study adds to the literature on multicultural training highlighting the continued importance and usefulness of multicultural counseling in assisting budding White counseling professionals with understanding the cultural and ethnic-racial differences that may present between themselves and potential clientele and the effects such differences may have on the therapeutic relationship. This studyā€™s findings also revealed the continued need for support in interrupting studentsā€™ reliance on reinforcing Whiteness and the racial status quo as one goes through the process of developing a multicultural orientation. Recommendations for future research are also discussed

    Safe passage for attachment systems:Can attachment security at international schools be measured, and is it at risk?

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    Relocations challenge attachment networks. Regardless of whether a person moves or is moved away from, relocation produces separation and loss. When such losses are repeatedly experienced without being adequately processed, a defensive shutting down of the attachment system could result, particularly when such experiences occur during or across the developmental years. At schools with substantial turnover, this possibility could be shaping youth in ways that compromise attachment security and young peopleā€™s willingness or ability to develop and maintain deep long-term relationships. Given the well-documented associations between attachment security, social support, and long-term physical and mental health, the hypothesis that mobility could erode attachment and relational health warrants exploration. International schools are logical settings to test such a hypothesis, given their frequently high turnover without confounding factors (e.g. war trauma or refugee experiences). In addition, repeated experiences of separation and loss in international school settings would seem likely to create mental associations for the young people involved regarding how they and others tend to respond to such situations in such settings, raising the possibility that people at such schools, or even the school itself, could collectively be represented as an attachment figure. Questions like these have received scant attention in the literature. They warrant consideration because of their potential to shape young peopleā€™s most general convictions regarding attachment, which could, in turn, have implications for young peopleā€™s ability to experience meaning in their lives

    The development, feasibility, and acceptability of a breakfast group intervention for stroke rehabilitation

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    Background: There are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK and the number is projected to increase significantly over the next decade. Research suggests that between 50% and 80% of hospitalised stroke survivors experience difficulties with eating and drinking. Presently, rehabilitation approaches to address these difficulties involve individual rehabilitation sessions led by uni-professionals. Recent national stroke guidance recommends that stroke survivors receive three hours of daily rehabilitation and emphasises the importance of addressing the psychosocial aspects of recovery. Implementing these recommendations presents a challenge to healthcare professionals, who must explore innovative methods to provide the necessary rehabilitation intensity. This study aimed to address these challenges by codesigning a multi-disciplinary breakfast group intervention and implementation toolkit to improve psychosocial outcomes. Methods: The Hawkins 3-step framework for intervention design was used to develop a multidisciplinary breakfast group intervention and to understand if it was acceptable and feasible for patients and healthcare professionals in an acute stroke ward. The Hawkins 3- steps were 1) evidence review and consultations 2) coproduction 3) prototyping. In collaboration with fifteen stakeholders, a prototype breakfast group intervention and implementation toolkit were codesigned over four months. Experience-based Codesign was used to engage stakeholders. Results: The literature review is the first to investigate the psychosocial impact of eating and drinking difficulties post stroke. The key finding was the presence of psychological and social impacts which included, the experience of loss, fear, embarrassment shame and humiliation as well as social isolation. Stroke survivors were striving to get back to normality and this included the desire to socially dine with others. Two prototype iterations of the intervention were tested with 16 stroke survivors across three hospital sites. The multidisciplinary breakfast group intervention was designed to offer intensive rehabilitation in a social group context. The codesigned implementation toolkit guided a personalised and tailored approach. A perceived benefit of the intervention was the opportunity to address the psychosocial aspects of eating and drinking rehabilitation as well as providing physical rehabilitation. Stroke survivors highly value the opportunity to socialise and receive support from their peers. The intervention was acceptable to both patients and healthcare professionals, and the workforce model proved practical and feasible to deliver using a collaborative approach in the context of resource-limited healthcare. Conclusions: The breakfast group interventions, developed through codesign, were positively received by patients and staff and feasible to deliver. They introduce an innovative and novel approach to stroke rehabilitation, personalised to each individual's needs, and offer a comprehensive intervention which addresses both physical and psychosocial aspects which target challenges related to eating and drinking. Unique contributions of this study include a theoretical model for breakfast group interventions, a programme theory and practical tool kit for clinicians to support the translation of research findings and implement breakfast groups in clinical practice

    Running to Your Own Beat:An Embodied Approach to Auditory Display Design

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    Personal fitness trackers represent a multi-billion-dollar industry, predicated on devices for assisting users in achieving their health goals. However, most current products only offer activity tracking and measurement of performance metrics, which do not ultimately address the need for technique related assistive feedback in a cost-effective way. Addressing this gap in the design space for assistive run training interfaces is also crucial in combating the negative effects of Forward Head Position, a condition resulting from mobile device use, with a rapid growth of incidence in the population. As such, Auditory Displays (AD) offer an innovative set of tools for creating such a device for runners. ADs present the opportunity to design interfaces which allow natural unencumbered motion, detached from the mobile or smartwatch screen, thus making them ideal for providing real-time assistive feedback for correcting head posture during running. However, issues with AD design have centred around overall usability and user-experience, therefore, in this thesis an ecological and embodied approach to AD design is presented as a vehicle for designing an assistive auditory interface for runners, which integrates seamlessly into their everyday environments
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