1,153 research outputs found
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Towards a more competitive environment for transnational education in Viet Nam
This research is an outcome of the Work Plan agreed between the British Council and MOET as well as part of the UK–Viet Nam Government MoU on education cooperation. In this research, we investigate the landscape of TNE in Viet Nam, benchmarking with selected countries, analysing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Transnational education has emerged as a key driver of educational reform and internationalisation in Viet Nam. As the country’s economic and social landscape continues to evolve, so does the demand for high-quality international education. The report highlights the potential for increased openness in the TNE sector and the valuable contributions that the UK can make through strategic partnerships
Indie encounters: exploring indie music socialising in China
Indie music, a genre deeply rooted in rock and punk music, is renowned for its independence from major commercial record labels. It has emerged as a choice for music consumers seeking alternatives to mainstream popular music, catering to a niche music preference. The minority nature of indie music not only provides its lovers with a profound space for individual expression and a sense of collective belonging but also introduces other challenges into their social lives. Recently, the field of music sociology has proposed a more diverse perspective to observe and analyse the intricate role of music for individuals and society. In this context, regarding Chinese indie music lovers with niche music preferences, how their indie music practices integrate into their social lives and how they navigate their niche music tastes have become worthwhile topics of exploration.
Drawing on interviews with 31 Chinese indie music lovers and extensive online ethnography, this thesis investigates how Chinese indie music lovers comprehend and engage with indie music, and how the power of indie music shapes them and their social behaviours.
I employ the theoretical framework of ‘music in action’ (Hennion, 2001; DeNora, 2011, 2016) and symbolic interactionism (Mead, 1934; Goffman, 1959; Blumer, 1969) to examine the dynamic and multifaceted roles of indie music in the social lives of Chinese indie music lovers. I develop a concept of ‘music socialising’ to delve into several key aspects of music lovers’ social practices. I contend that through various forms of musical activities such as music selection, live music attendance, and digital practices, indie music lovers exhibit strategic and reflexive characteristics in their music practices. These practices actively contribute to constructing and maintaining self and identity, negotiating social ties, and forming and mediating collectivity within a broader social landscape. It is through these processes that the music practices of Chinese indie music lovers are endowed with meanings, thereby shaping their social reality. This thesis presents a rich and nuanced picture of the social experiences of Chinese indie music lovers, uncovering the transformative power of their indie music practices. It presents a compelling argument for the significance of music as a social agency, highlighting the complex interactions between music, individuals, and society. By bridging theoretical insights with rich empirical data, this thesis contributes to our understanding of the socio-cultural dimensions of music, offering fresh perspectives on the role of indie music in contemporary Chinese society
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Design for Accessible Collaborative Engagement: Making online synchronous collaborative learning more accessible for students with sensory impairments.
This thesis looks at the accessibility of collaborative learning and the barriers to engagement experienced by blind/visually impaired (BVI) students and deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) students. It focuses specifically on online synchronous collaborative learning after establishing that this format presented the greatest barriers, and that these student groups were not engaging.
Taking a design-based research (DBR) approach, five studies were undertaken to identify these barriers and determine potential interventions. The product of the research, a result of collaborative design by the participants in the study, is a framework for accessible collaborative engagement represented in the form of an interactive website model, the Model for Accessible Collaborative Engagement (MACE).
The studies involved representatives of all stakeholders in the collaborative learning process at the institution (the Open University): students, tutors, modules teams, academics, support staff, and the student union Disabled Students Group. These studies took the form of an online survey of 327 students, 10 interviews with staff and students, 6 staff workshops and a collaborative design focus group. With significant representation of the target groups (BVI and DHH) in all studies, and taking an iterative approach to the design, evaluation and construction of the framework model, the studies established that barriers existed in four main categories covering different themes:
1. Communications: aural, visual, screen reading and navigation, text and captioning, lip reading and non-verbal communications, interpretation and third-party communications, mode control, and synchronisation.
2. Emotional and Social Factors: familiarisation, support networks, self-advocacy, opting out, cognitive load, and stress and anxiety.
3. Provisioning and Technical Factors: dissemination, speed and pacing of sessions, staff training, participation control, group size, technical provisioning, and recordings.
4. Activity and Session Design: Volume of materials, advance materials, accessible materials, accessible activities, and session formats.
Interventions were designed that could reduce the barriers in each of these categories and themes by adjustments and changes from both the student and institutional standpoints. MACE is designed to be utilised by both students and staff to provide guidance and suggestions on how to identify and acknowledge these barriers and implement interventions to reduce them.
This research represents an original and essential contribution to the field of investigation. As well as informing future research inquiry, the model can be used by all participants and stakeholders in online collaborative learning to help reduce barriers for BVI and DHH students and improve inclusivity in synchronous online events
Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy, and, as such, it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical questions in a completely novel way. The synergy with ground-based and space-born instruments in the electromagnetic domain, by enabling multi-messenger observations, will add further to the discovery potential of LISA. The next decade is crucial to prepare the astrophysical community for LISA's first observations. This review outlines the extensive landscape of astrophysical theory, numerical simulations, and astronomical observations that are instrumental for modeling and interpreting the upcoming LISA datastream. To this aim, the current knowledge in three main source classes for LISA is reviewed; ultra-compact stellar-mass binaries, massive black hole binaries, and extreme or interme-diate mass ratio inspirals. The relevant astrophysical processes and the established modeling techniques are summarized. Likewise, open issues and gaps in our understanding of these sources are highlighted, along with an indication of how LISA could help making progress in the different areas. New research avenues that LISA itself, or its joint exploitation with upcoming studies in the electromagnetic domain, will enable, are also illustrated. Improvements in modeling and analysis approaches, such as the combination of numerical simulations and modern data science techniques, are discussed. This review is intended to be a starting point for using LISA as a new discovery tool for understanding our Universe
Social interaction in an online cross-disciplinary research conference
This research study investigated the social interaction in an online cross-disciplinary research conference. The research study followed an online conference of researchers from disciplines of social sciences, law, and humanities. The online conference was initiated by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and was hosted by Centre for Educational Technology (CET) at University of Cape Town (UCT). The main aim of the research study is to identify social interaction enablers and inhibitors in an online cross-disciplinary conference. The Internet is being used for numerous purposes, such as extending one's social networks, participating in online communities, finding a marriage partner, learning, and developing successful business relationships. An online conference uses the Internet for social networking. The study followed an interpretive research approach and combined critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the social presence indicators template (SPIT) as its analytical framework. The focus of the study was on the analysis and interpretation of the online conference text messages (artefacts) to identify enablers and inhibitors of social interaction. The social interaction enablers identified in the study included sharing and seeking of information, social presence, time and geographical confidence and flexibility, facilitation, prescribed/relevant topics and increased confidence and reduced evaluation anxiety. Inhibitors of social interaction were lack of community, prescribed topics, minimal activities, lack of non-verbal and social cues and clarity of topics. The social interaction enablers that were not identified in the literature were prescribed/relevant topics and collaboration and lobbying. Lack of community, clarity of topics, prescribed topics and minimal activities were identified as inhibitors of social interaction in the study but were not identified in the literature. In addition, the research found that some social interaction enablers were also found to be inhibitors. A revelation in the research study was that prescribed topics both enabled and inhibited social interaction. While some participants contributed towards these topics, others did not. Although the study focused predominantly on a cross-disciplinary research conference the findings reported in this study could have useful applications on online social interaction in general. The study has found out that an online conference arguably has merits over a face-to-face conference, but these benefits can only be optimised when social interaction is deliberately fostered through convergence of the online conference tool, facilitation, and topic design
Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design
Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data
Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy, and, as such, it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical questions in a completely novel way. The synergy with ground-based and space-born instruments in the electromagnetic domain, by enabling multi-messenger observations, will add further to the discovery potential of LISA. The next decade is crucial to prepare the astrophysical community for LISA’s first observations. This review outlines the extensive landscape of astrophysical theory, numerical simulations, and astronomical observations that are instrumental for modeling and interpreting the upcoming LISA datastream. To this aim, the current knowledge in three main source classes for LISA is reviewed; ultra-compact stellar-mass binaries, massive black hole binaries, and extreme or interme-diate mass ratio inspirals. The relevant astrophysical processes and the established modeling techniques are summarized. Likewise, open issues and gaps in our understanding of these sources are highlighted, along with an indication of how LISA could help making progress in the different areas. New research avenues that LISA itself, or its joint exploitation with upcoming studies in the electromagnetic domain, will enable, are also illustrated. Improvements in modeling and analysis approaches, such as the combination of numerical simulations and modern data science techniques, are discussed. This review is intended to be a starting point for using LISA as a new discovery tool for understanding our Universe
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