Undergraduate students’ performance in mathematics : Individual and combined effects of approaches to learning, self-efficacy, and prior mathematics knowledge

Paper VII is not published yet.This dissertation concerns an exploration of factors that affect the learning outcomes of students in higher education mathematics. It is framed within a quantitative research paradigm in which the existence of personal factors such as prior knowledge, self-efficacy, and approaches to learning are assumed and that these factors may be operationalised and measured. The aim of this study is to investigate effects of prior mathematics knowledge, approaches to learning and self-efficacy on students’ performance in a first-year introductory calculus course for students on engineering programmes. Further, the interrelatedness of these factors and their combined effects on performance are also investigated. Two well-established psychological theories are combined to form the conceptual framework for justifying appropriateness and usefulness of chosen constructs under investigation coupled with hypothesised relationships among the constructs. These theories are student approaches to learning theory and self-efficacy theory. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted with a focus on engineering students aimed at addressing three research questions. These research questions are formulated as follow: 1. Do approaches to learning mathematics differ with respect to the prevalence of deep and surface approaches among first-year engineering students? 2. Does self-efficacy influence adoption of either deep or surface approach to learning mathematics among first-year engineering students? 3. What are direct and indirect effects of prior mathematics knowledge, approaches to learning, and self-efficacy on performance in mathematics among first-year engineering students? The data used for the present study were collected in two phases (pilot study and main study) using questionnaires, a pre-test of students’ basic mathematical knowledge and final examination scores in an introductory calculus course. The pilot study data were collected in Spring 2019 and used to develop and validate the questionnaires. The main study data were collected in Autumn 2019 and used to investigate hypothesised structural relationships between prior mathematics knowledge, approaches to learning, self-efficacy, and students’ performance in the course. Eight research hypotheses were formulated and tested using structural equation modelling techniques. The resulting findings were well-documented and published in seven peer-reviewed journal papers and one peer-reviewed conference paper.publishedVersio

North Trafford College of Further Education: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 33/95 and 33/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1994-95 and 1997-98

Uxbridge College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 37/95 and 68/99)

Comprises two Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) inspection reports for the periods 1994-95 and 1998/99

Uncovering the impact of organisational culture types on the willingness to share knowledge between projects

Current literature has established that organisational culture influences knowledge management efforts; however, it is only recently that research on project management has focused its interest on organisational culture in the context of knowledge sharing and some preliminary studies have been conducted. In response, this paper adds a significant contribution by providing rich empirical evidence of the relationships between culture and the willingness to share knowledge, demonstrating which cultural values are more and which are less likely to improve inter-project knowledge sharing behaviours. The use of interviews and the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron & Quinn, 2005) in the cross-case examination of culture in four participating cases has resulted in rich empirical contributions. Furthermore, this paper adds to the project management literature by introducing the Competing Values Framework (CVF) of Cameron and Quinn (2005) to evaluate knowledge sharing in the inter-project context

Threshold concepts: Impacts on teaching and learning at tertiary level

This project explored teaching and learning of hard-to-learn threshold concepts in first-year English, an electrical engineering course, leadership courses, and in doctoral writing. The project was envisioned to produce disciplinary case studies that lecturers could use to reflect on and refine their curriculum and pedagogy, thereby contributing to discussion about the relationship between theory and methodology in higher education research (Shay, Ashwin, & Case, 2009). A team of seven academics investigated lecturers’ awareness and emergent knowledge of threshold concepts and associated pedagogies and how such pedagogies can afford opportunities for learning. As part of this examination the lecturers also explored the role of threshold concept theory in designing curricula and sought to find the commonalities in threshold concepts and their teaching and learning across the four disciplines. The research highlights new ways of teaching threshold concepts to help students learn concepts that are fundamental to the disciplines they are studying and expand their educational experiences. Given that much of the international research in this field focuses on the identification of threshold concepts and debates their characteristics (Barradell, 2013; Flanagan, 2014; Knight, Callaghan, Baldock, & Meyer, 2013), our exploration of what happens when lecturers use threshold concept theory to re-envision their curriculum and teaching helps to address a gap within the field. By addressing an important theoretical and practical approach the project makes a considerable contribution to teaching and learning at the tertiary level in general and to each discipline in particular

The strategic use of patents and its implications for enterprise and competition policies

This report was commissioned as a study into the strategic use of patents. In the course of its case investigations and legislative reviews the European Commission became aware of changes in the use of intellectual property, in particular the use of patents. It was noted that firms’ uses of intellectual property are becoming increasingly strategic. This raised concerns about the implications of firms’ patenting behaviour for enterprise and competition policy. The following report contains a comprehensive review of patenting behaviour, the extent to which patenting is becoming more strategic and the implications this has for competition and enterprise policies

Design: One, but in different forms

This overview paper defends an augmented cognitively oriented generic-design hypothesis: there are both significant similarities between the design activities implemented in different situations and crucial differences between these and other cognitive activities; yet, characteristics of a design situation (related to the design process, the designers, and the artefact) introduce specificities in the corresponding cognitive activities and structures that are used, and in the resulting designs. We thus augment the classical generic-design hypothesis with that of different forms of designing. We review the data available in the cognitive design research literature and propose a series of candidates underlying such forms of design, outlining a number of directions requiring further elaboration

Lackham College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 46/96 and 97/99)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1995-96 and 1998-99