Sustaining competing professional identities: Measuring action learning 'outcomes' in an educational context.

This paper builds on an initial investigation of the process of action learning in a university Management School in New Zealand, where the focus is on sustainability and innovation. Students are encouraged to engage with entrepreneurial practice and develop critical thinking skills. In this study, we recognise the impact of the organisational context both on our own professional practice as teaching staff and on learning outcomes for staff and students. The emergent nature of action learning outcomes makes the measurement of their effectiveness problematic. Research questions cannot be determined at the outset but are generated in consultation with the research participants. Despite aiming to be collaborative, our focus groups and interviews made explicit the tensions existing in the professional identities of staff. Their expert knowledge as researchers and teachers was challenged by an action learning approach. Consequently, this paper is an example of ongoing critical reflective practice. We conclude that measuring the effectiveness of action learning outcomes is context-dependent and consider the implications for the teaching of critical management studies. The process of action learning must be considered a key outcome. Individual reflection on professional identity and practice may be as important as the organisational learning and explicit knowledge gained

Innovative learning in action (ILIA) issue three: Employability, enterprise & entrepreneurship

The theme of the 3rd issue of ILIA is Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, reflecting the University of Salford’s Learning and Teaching Strategy and our Goal “To produce graduates with the skills, creativity, confidence and adaptability to succeed in the labour market and make a meaningful contribution to society”. The creativity, problem solving and change orientation this implies recognizes Salford’s distinctive strengths in this regard, and provides us with a conceptualization of employability which embraces enterprise and entrepreneurship, manifest in the form of selfemployment, but equally relevant to those working within organizations i.e. to intrapreneurship. The contributions to this edition provide us with examples of excellent practice demonstrating how practitioners at Salford have responded to the challenge of providing a quality learning experience for our students. Consideration of the papers and snapshots reveal how colleagues have embedded employability into teaching and learning and assessment strategies, and into frameworks of student support, in differing and innovative ways, across the institution. As this edition of ILIA goes to print work is underway to develop an Employability Policy and Strategy for the University. Designed to provide a coherent and progressive approach to Employability, Enterprise and Careers Education and Guidance, this Strategy will be able to build on the good practice evident both in this edition of ILIA and across the institution. ILIA therefore has once again provided us with a range of perspectives on a key area of curriculum design and development. It also has provided an opportunity to reflect on practice and student learning, to share experience and hopefully to identify future areas for collaboration

Teaching electronics-ICT : from focus and structure to practical realizations

We present a four-year electronics-ICT educational master program at Ghent University in Belgium. The students develop knowledge and skills from novice to experienced electronic circuit designers. In the corresponding topics, the immersion into engineering problems is deepened. The horizontal and vertical alignment of courses in the four-year master program at our university is discussed. The curriculum of the four-year master program is highly projectoriented and all topics are clustered around a well-considered set of standards. This clustering supports the logical structure of the program, with students gradually acquiring the necessary competences. All standards and their mutual interaction are extensively discussed in the paper. We also focus on four design-implement projects included in the electronics-ICT program, explicitly following CDIO-guidelines. Whereas the first-year project has a limited level of difficulty, the challenges increase significantly in the course of the next years. Students learn that product design is an iterative process on different levels, where the design strategy can be changed continuously based on important and crucial feedback. Different evaluations have demonstrated that our students are not only aware of CDIO-principles, but are also convinced of the quality of the results obtained by following the standards

CPLD based controller for single phase inverters

The DC-AC converter, also known as inverter, converts DC power to AC power at desired output voltage and frequency. The DC power input to the inverter is obtained from an existing power supply. Nowadays inverters use high power switching transistors either IGBT's and/or MOSFETs. In addition, the voltage and frequency of the source can be adjustable. These single phase inverters and their operating principles are analyzed in detail. In this project, a full-bridge, single phase inverter that uses a digital Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to control the power switches at 18 kHz was constructed. The concept of PWM with different strategies for inverters is described. A type of filter is used to improve the distortion in the output waveform. A design and implementation of PWM by using complex programmable logic device (CPLD) from Altera MaxPlus II is constructed and programmed. The involved software, hardware, and suitable algorithm to implement and generate the PWM are developed in details. To verify the significant of this single phase inverter, the output voltage will be tested with resistive load and inductive load

Work of Art: Understanding Enterprise and Employability in Art and Design HE

A publication created to support learning and teaching in enterprise and employability in art and design higher education. We hope by sharing what enterprise and employability looks like in practice we can engage in discourse, develop an understanding across disciplines and use these aspirations to develop future strategies across UAL and within art and design practice

Teacher 2020. On the Road to Entrepreneurial Fluency in Teacher Education

No abstract available

Enterprise education:towards a framework for effective engagement with the learners of today

Purpose: The aims of this exploratory research are to examine young learner attitudes towards enterprise education within the context of a University led initiative to construct a sustainable framework which benefits identified stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: The research used self-completed questionnaires with 117 Business Studies students in Stages S4, S5 and S6 from secondary schools across Dundee and Business students from Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 at one University in Dundee, Scotland. Findings: The research reveals that respondents positively engage with enterprise education and felt that their project management, creative thinking, communication skills and confidence were enhanced by the activity of real-world business challenges. The findings support the notion that an enterprising spine embedded in the academic curriculum better equip the learner with the necessary hard and soft skills required for the employment market but not necessarily to be entrepreneurial. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of this research was the sample size, which although representative of the pupil and student cohorts associated to the various stages of education being studied at the particular time of data collection, and is suitable for an exploratory study, the research would have benefited from being both larger and complimented by more of a qualitative component beyond the inclusion of open-ended questions. Practical implications: As an exploratory study which informs a wider comparative study into enterprise education, the research examines learner’s perspectives and the measures they feel are required for effective engagement with enterprise education activities in schools and Universities. The findings should assist education providers deliver a better learning experience and the learners with improved enterprising and social skills, particularly the building of confidence. Originality/value: The research should prove useful to educational establishments who are considering the implementation of, or further engagement with, enterprise education and involvement with the business community and how such activities impact on their learners