Simulated internships in schools::Engaging learners with the world of work to promote collaborative creativity

School curricula have often struggled to authentically engage young people with the world of work. This chapter examines the potential of ‘simulated’ school classroom-based internships to support collaborative and creative learning and links to the workplace. It reports on design-based research in areas of low social mobility in England. This investigates how simulated internships give students access to authentic experiences of workplace practices in addition to enhancing skills associated with collaborative creativity. Through a challenge-based learning pedagogy implemented as part of regular classroom instruction, simulated internships involve small groups of students aged 11-13 studying Computing or Design and Technology. Over six-to-seven-weeks, together they design, model, or build a local solution to a global challenge presented virtually by engineers in two leading international telecommunications companies. An empirical ‘case study’, based on discourse and thematic analysis, is provided to evidence the scope and challenges of embedding a mutual focus on creative collaboration and supporting authentic insights into the world of work. Reported research is significant as it offers a proof of concept that identifies the potential of simulated internships in generating meaningful insights into the world of work. Focused on the development of collaborative creativity, this conceptualisation of simulated internships can inform and guide future pedagogical and research initiatives. Potentially this could expand to cover other curricular areas and, indeed, other educational settings

‘Collaborating2Create’: A conceptual tool to develop learners’ capacity for collaborative creativity through Virtual Internships in schools

Background: Many employers are clear about the skills future workers need: technical and practical skills, alongside transferable skills including an ability to effectively solve problems and to work creatively within a team. School-based ‘Virtual Internships’ offer potential to respond to these calls, enabling learners to engage in pedagogically-aligned challenges grounded in authentic workplace practices. Limited research has, however, investigated how schools may facilitate authentic workplace experiences virtually – through online interaction as well as role-play of workplace practices: to enable young people to develop important competencies around creative groupwork through curricular activities. Aim: In this paper we outline the development of ‘Collaborating2Create’ (C2C): a conceptual tool devised through the ‘Virtual Internships Project’ to support the teaching of group creativity, in a way that meaningfully links education to the world of work. Method: We offer a critical literature review followed by extracts from qualitative discourse analysis of classroom data, selected to evidence the value and practice of C2C in genuine classroom interaction. Extracts are presented with integrated analytic commentary, followed by a summary, to make salient features of dialogic interaction that promote C2C. Extracts from a teacher post-programme interview and student focus group, around the deductive theme of C2C, are incorporated to evidence how the programme was developed iteratively based on learning from trials. Findings & Implications: This paper argues that C2C conceptualised as a ‘complex competency’ within a broader Virtual Internship programme offers a conceptual tool that can be embedded and have value beyond the current project. Further, many charities and businesses are keen to establish links with education but their capacity to engage learners in schools is limited. It is argued that C2C could act as an effective ‘bridging concept’ between education and the world of work.Project funded by BT and Huawe

Developing learners’ dialogic collaborative problem-solving skills in a real-time 3D environment

Gaming2Development (G2D: 2020-21) investigated learners’ dialogic interactions in - and virtually around - a powerful real-time 3D creation tool. Led by a team of academics, charitable partners and technology developers, design-based research involving four teachers and 50 students (aged 13-19) was undertaken in the north of England during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working in small groups, students participated in 12-hours of G2D workshops in classroom and home contexts. Through innovative access to virtual machines with necessary processing power, working synchronously, students used the Unreal Engine to work dialogically on a collaborative challenge-based learning task. This presentation reports on an exploratory (embedded) single-case study of a two-day collaborative challenge involving one group of five Creative Digital Media students (aged 16-18) working remotely (non co-located). Data includes workshop observations, student-only discussion, student focus groups, and teacher interviews. Analysis involved systematically coding screen-/video-recorded workshops, sociocultural discourse analysis and thematic analysis. Findings reveal how alongside drastic shifts in learning due to the pandemic, students worked creatively to overcome technical barriers and adapted their means of dialogue to ensure each group member’s contribution was appropriately represented. However, while most students saw advantages of contributing to the group effort, some still perceived barriers to this. Analysis of student-only dialogue also demonstrates different patterns of interaction compared to facilitated workshops. Our conjecture is that engagement in the workshops provided an opportunity for students’ to develop transferable skills: technical skills related to the real-time 3D environment, alongside future skills of collaborative dialogue and problem solving. However, it is apparent that the digital, physical, and social boundaries of home- and education-life were unclear and that this may have impeded dialogue. While acknowledging methodological limitations, the significance of this research lies in demonstrating the potential role of real-time 3D development environments in enabling new opportunities for educational dialogue to support collaborative problem-solving online

Use of computed tomography imaging during long-term follow-up of nine feline tuberculosis cases

Case series summary: Feline tuberculosis is an increasingly recognised potential zoonosis of cats. Treatment is challenging and prognosis can vary greatly between cases. Pulmonary infection requires extended courses of antibiotics, but methodologies for sensitively monitoring response to treatment are currently lacking. In this case series, we retrospectively examined the serial computed tomography (CT) findings in nine cats that had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Changes in pathology (where applicable to tuberculosis) were correlated with the clinical presentation of each of the cats, the treatment protocol, and previous and contemporary diagnostic investigations. This study found that changes in CT findings during the medium- to long-term management of feline tuberculosis were highly variable between cats. The majority of cats had reduced pathology at re-examination during anti-tuberculous therapy, but pathology only resolved in a minority of cases. In some cases recurrence of pathology detected by CT imaging preceded clinical deterioration, allowing for rapid therapeutic intervention. Relevance and novel information: When considered in combination with clinical findings, CT studies can aid in decision making regarding tapering of antibiotic protocols, or reintroduction of therapy in cases of recurrence or reinfection. This series also highlights that, in some cases, persistent abnormalities can be detected by CT, so complete resolution of CT pathology should not always be a goal in the management of feline tuberculosis

Protein proximity networks and functional evaluation of the casein kinase 1 gamma family reveal unique roles for CK1γ3 in WNT signaling

Aberrant activation or suppression of WNT/β-catenin signaling contributes to cancer initiation and progression, neurodegeneration, and bone disease. However, despite great need and more than 40 years of research, targeted therapies for the WNT pathway have yet to be fully realized. Kinases are considered exceptionally druggable and occupy key nodes within the WNT signaling network, but several pathway-relevant kinases remain understudied and dark. Here, we studied the function of the casein kinase 1γ (CSNK1γ) subfamily of human kinases and their roles in WNT signaling. miniTurbo-based proximity biotinylation and mass spectrometry analysis of CSNK1γ1, CSNK1γ2, and CSNK1γ3 revealed numerous components of the β-catenin-dependent and β-catenin-independent WNT pathways. In gain-of-function experiments, we found that CSNK1γ3 but not CSNK1γ1 or CSNK1γ2 activated β-catenin-dependent WNT signaling, with minimal effect on other signaling pathways. We also show that within the family, CSNK1γ3 expression uniquely induced low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 phosphorylation, which mediates downstream WNT signaling transduction. Conversely, siRNA-mediated silencing of CSNK1γ3 alone had no impact on WNT signaling, though cosilencing of all three family members decreased WNT pathway activity. Finally, we characterized two moderately selective and potent small-molecule inhibitors of the CSNK1γ family. We show that these inhibitors and a CSNK1γ3 kinase-dead mutant suppressed but did not eliminate WNT-driven low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 phosphorylation and β-catenin stabilization. Our data suggest that while CSNK1γ3 expression uniquely drives pathway activity, potential functional redundancy within the family necessitates loss of all three family members to suppress the WNT signaling pathway

Staff and student perspectives of online teaching and learning : implications for belonging and engagement at university : a qualitative exploration

A sense of belonging within higher education (HE) enhances educational engagement and attainment. The rapid shift to online provision has implications for reducing students’ sense of belonging at university. We have previously shown that students consider belonging in HE to be important and that their personal sense of belonging was high. We also found that sense of belonging had elements of people and place: relationships with peers and staff were influential and the physical campus facilitated social relationships. In the first lockdown, we showed that sense of belonging in both staff and students at our large widening-participation London university was reduced. In this paper, we report on a continuing project to explore the impact of sustained provision of learning online, focusing on qualitative interviews carried out with forty-three students and twenty-three staff. Both groups identified advantages and disadvantages of online provision. Advantages included flexibility and accessibility, with savings – financial and time – owing to reduced commuting. However, both groups identified a negative impact on social relationships, student motivation and engagement. Future development of blended learning should be planned, supported and structured to optimise the benefits

Sarah: historiografkinja prošlosti i sadašnjosti žene francuskog poručnika

The article argues that Sarah, the title character of Fowles’ novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969), resists the oppressive ideology of her time by writing her own historiography. In the process, not only does she emplot a tragic past for herself but she also insists on being identified as a depraved woman in the present. The analysis attempts to highlight the fact that Sarah, like a historiographer, selects the referents for her historiography—Mrs. Poulteney and Charles—and imposes her emplotment and prefiguration on her historiography of both her past and present. Employing Hayden White’s theories of postmodern historiography and Linda Hutcheon’s concept of historiographic metafiction, the paper illustrates ways in which Sarah historicizes her own past through tragic emplotment and metaphoric prefiguration of her narrative in order to convey her anarchist ideology, at the same time portraying herself as the “Woman” who has been abandoned by the French Lieutenant. Furthermore, by means of her historiography of the present, she imposes her liberal ideology through satiric emplotment of her fictional construct and ironic prefiguration of the referents of textualized oppression in society. She ironically puts Mrs. Poulteney and Charles in the situations in which their oppressive ideology is unraveled; in this way, she satirizes the codes of behavior of her present time.U članku se tvrdi da se Sarah, naslovni lik Fowlesova romana Ženska francuskog poručnika (1969), opire opresivnoj ideologiji svojega vremena pišući vlastitu historiografiju. Na taj način ona fabulira tragičnu prošlost za sebe i inzistira na tome da ju se percipira kao izopačenu ženu u sadašnjosti. Analiza pokušava istaknuti činjenicu da Sarah, poput povjesničara, odabire referente za svoju historiografiju – gđu Poulteney i Charlesa – i nameće svoju fabulaciju i prefiguraciju historiografije vlastite prošlosti i sadašnjosti. Koristeći se teorijom postmoderne historiografije Haydena Whitea i konceptom historiografske metafikcije Linde Hutcheon, rad prikazuje načine na koje Sarah historizira vlastitu prošlost kroz tragičnu fabulaciju i metaforičku prefiguraciju svoje pripovijesti kako bi istaknula svoju anarhističku ideologiju i istodobno sebe prikazala kao „žensku“ koju je napustio francuski poručnik. Nadalje, pomoću svoje historiografije sadašnjosti ona nameće svoju liberalnu ideologiju satiričkom fabulacijom svog fikcionalnog konstrukta i ironičnom prefiguracijom referenata tekstualiziranog društvenog ugnjetavanja. Na ironičan način, ona gospođu Poulteney i Charlesa stavlja u situacije u kojima se njihova represivna ideologija razotkriva; na taj način satirizira kodove ponašanja u svojoj sadašnjosti