Applying a model of viral transmission to the development of professional practice in learning and teaching in higher education: a case of Personal Development Planning.

‘Good educational practice’ is difficult to define generically, because it is always context-dependent. It must therefore be locally defined and developed, rather than be ‘transferred in’ from elsewhere. This principle of local adaptability replaces notions of practice ‘transfer’ with one of practice which is developed more locally and democratically. Such practice nevertheless draws on networks which transcend contextual (e.g. departmental) boundaries. Thus development can happen locally, but local definitions of good practice remain open to valid models from elsewhere. In the context of educational practice in higher education, the research problem can be characterised as how to reconcile good practice from one context with new practice being developed in another. This problem is addressed using a case study of the implementation of Personal Development Planning (PDP) programmes in a postgraduate institution. It uses action research to engage academic staff (including the author) in participatory activities across the institution, to propose a model of the process of good practice development. This model draws on a metaphor of viral transmission to explain how academic communities exposed to forms of practice may adopt, reject, or adapt them. The model is integrated with a framework of educational development orientations to suggest how receptivity to new practice may be enhanced at different phases of the adoption or development process. This can be achieved by prioritising different features of the relationship between members of the academic community concerned. Notwithstanding the role of PDP as a case study in the research, the primary focus thus falls on practice development in new contexts generically, rather than on ‘good PDP practice’ specifically. The study presents a novel model of academic practice development, which exploits and responds to the varied aspects of academic community relationships, enabling innovators to overcome cultural and structural obstacles to new practice

A multiple case study of the relationships between students’ plural academic progress and IELTS scores at an international postgraduate university

There is concern in the UK about declining degree standards due to the impact of internationalisation initiatives upon the expanded taught Masters postgraduate sector. Despite interest in the policy and managerial aspects of internationalisation of higher education, few studies have researched selection procedures that might illuminate current practices. A case study approach was employed to study student selection in various Masters programmes in a postgraduate UK higher education institution specialising in engineering and management. The research revealed various selection processes in operation, some dependent upon English test scores, others reliant upon expert linguist assessments. There were differences between Schools in entry requirements for NNES students and in selection practices. Whatever the process or requirements, there was substantial support for complex, holistic rationales underlying Course Directors’ selection decisions. Course Directors took into consideration academic qualifications and interests, motivation, readiness to adapt to UK HE culture, educational background and work experience. Course Directors were most concerned about students’ writing abilities which were difficult to assess reliably on entry and sometimes this resulted in failure to reach the required standard for the thesis. This impacted upon the workloads of thesis supervisors and cast doubts upon the reliability of entry assessments to predict academic writing abilities in this context

An Exploration of Diversity in a UK Postgraduate University

The global trend towards internationalisation in higher education has been endorsed in the UK by the Prime Minister through two initiatives in 1999 and 2006. In response, universities have developed and implemented internationalisation strategies, which have been successful in terms of student recruitment. During 2005-6, a third of postgraduate students (131,580) were from overseas. A growing literature about the educational needs and experiences of overseas students in the UK has accompanied this trend. This paper contributes to the topic but from the context of an established, international, postgraduate UK institution. Cranfield University is unusual, but not unique, within the UK higher education sector in being entirely postgraduate with a focus on applied knowledge in engineering, management and the services. Of 3000 current students, one third pursue research degrees and the remainder follow taught course Masters programmes. Over 100 nationalities are represented on campus with around 1300 UK nationals. The research study was internally commissioned to address a goal of the institutional learning and teaching strategy. The aims are to develop an understanding of the educational implications of the diverse student body and of student needs in order to translate this into practical means of improving the student experience and educational provision. An exploratory, inductive case study was adopted as the methodological model because of the risk that a more deductive approach, based upon predetermined variables, might fail to capture accurately the reality in the setting. Data were collected in two stages. In the first, academic and support services staff were consulted about their views of the influence of diversity upon learning and teaching. The findings from this stage guided sampling rationales and the enquiry process in the next stage in which data were collected from students in face to face and electronic, individual and group interviews. Concurrently, a nested study of disability was conducted in which individual disabled students were interviewed about the challenges they faced and their views on educational support provision. Additional data sources included the results of internal survey evaluation questionnaires and Registry statistics on the student population. The findings from the staff consultation emphasised the different lives and experiences of taught course and research students and the consequences for educational needs. For the former, competence in the English language, particularly written skills, was a major concern. Students’ preparedness for the autonomy and self-reliance of UK Masters studies was another issue which was attributed to cultural differences and the variety within undergraduate education. Although the latter issue arose in relation to research students, staff attached greater significance to research students' isolation arising from the lack of an immediate peer cohort in both social and research community terms. Staff saw diversity as offering educational opportunities and placed a positive value upon it. Disability and diversity concerns intersected on the topic of dyslexia, posing complex problems for the support of language development and disabled students in universities with overseas students

Does entrepreneurship education in the first year of higher education develop entrepreneurial intentions? The role of learning and inspiration

Drawing on entrepreneurship education (EE) theory, this article examines the role of learning and inspiration in developing students' entrepreneurial intentions in the First Year in Higher Education. This addresses the paucity of research on early university experiences of EE and their influence on entrepreneurial intentions. Using a longitudinal survey of business students at a British university, the authors identify four scenarios related to the participation/non-participation in EE and subsequent increase or decrease of entrepreneurial intentions. A sub-set of those surveyed are interviewed (n = 49) to better understand how their university experience has influenced their entrepreneurial intentions. Findings suggest that the influence of EE is variable, in some cases even leading to a decrease in entrepreneurial intentions. The results contribute to theories of EE and intentions in the early stages of higher education. The authors discuss implications for theory and practice

Sulfite : Cytochrome c oxidoreductase from Thiobacillus novellus - Purification, characterization, and molecular biology of a heterodimeric member of the sulfite oxidase family

Direct oxidation of sulfite to sulfate occurs in various photo- and chemotrophic sulfur oxidizing microorganisms as the final step in the oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds and is catalyzed by sulfite:cytochrome c oxidoreductase (EC 1.8.2.1), Here we show that the enzyme from Thiobacillus novellus is a periplasmically located alpha beta heterodimer, consisting of a 40.6-kDa subunit containing a molybdenum cofactor and an 8.8-kDa monoheme cytochrome c(552) smbunit (midpoint redox potential, Em(8.0) = +280 mV), The organic component of the molybdenum cofactor was identified as molybdopterin contained in a 1:1 ratio to the Mo content of the enzyme. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed the presence of a sulfite-inducible Mo(V) signal characteristic of sulfite:acceptor oxidoreductases. However, pH-dependent changes in the electron paramagnetic resonance signal were not detected. Kinetic studies showed that the enzyme exhibits a ping-pong mechanism involving two reactive sites. K-m values for sulfite and cytochrome c(550) were determined to be 27 and 4 mu M, respectively; the enzyme was found to be reversibly inhibited by sulfate and various buffer ions. The sorAB genes, which encode the enzyme, appear to form an operon, which is preceded by a putative extracytoplasmic function-type promoter and contains a hairpin loop termination structure downstream of sorB. While SorA exhibits significant similarities to known sequences of eukaryotic and bacterial sulfite:acceptor oxidoreductases, SorB does not appear to be closely related to any known c-type cytochromes

Exploring models of development of professional practice in learning and teaching in higher education: what can we learn from biology and marketing?

This paper summarises the principal findings from doctoral research at the Institute of Education. The research identified two models or frameworks, which it integrated as a mechanism for explaining how innovation in academic practice might be encouraged and developed within a Higher Education academic community. The first framework is a classification of orientations towards the process of educational development: educational developers have responsibility for promoting and supporting educational and curriculum development in universities. This framework proposes that such developers choose to adopt different approaches, in response to personal preference or institutional constraints. The second model is taken initially from biology and uses the mechanisms by which viruses spread between host organisms to illustrate how ideas and forms of practice might also be transferred between individuals and groups. A similar application of this model has already been used in the concept of ‘viral marketing’. Using an action research project in a UK postgraduate university as a case study, this research used these two models, through the emergent integrated framework, to suggest how new practice could be more successfully shared and deliberately developed within the university

Consumer Attitudes Towards Domestic Solar Power Systems

The success of the UK policy to reduce carbon emissions is partly dependent on the ability to persuade householders to become more energy efficient, and to encourage installation of domestic solar systems. Solar power is an innovation in the UK but the current policy of stimulating the market with grants is not resulting in widespread adoption. This case study, using householders in central England, investigates householder attitudes towards characteristics of solar systems and identifies some of the barriers to adoption. The study utilises Diffusion of Innovations theory to identify attitudes towards system attributes, and isolates the characteristics that are preventing a pragmatic ‘early majority’ from adopting the technology. A group of ‘early adopters’, and a group of assumed ‘early majority’ adopters of solar power were surveyed and the results show that overall, although the ‘early majority’ demonstrate a positive perception of the environmental characteristics of solar power, its financial, economic and aesthetic characteristics are limiting adoption. Differences exist between the two groups showing support for the concept of a ‘chasm’ between adopter categories after Moore (Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-tech Products to Mainstream Customers, second ed. Harper Perennial, New York). However, if consumers cannot identify the relative advantage of solar power over their current sources of power, which is supplied readily and cheaply through a mains system, it is unlikely that adoption will follow. Recommendations concerning the marketing and development of solar products are identified

Towards a contemporary approach for understanding consumer behaviour in the context of domestic energy use

Domestic sector energy use is increasing in the UK and currently accounts for 30% of total use. Policies of liberalised energy markets have allowed greater consumer choice but have not sought to reduce carbon emissions. Overall sales of energy efficiency products are rising, but UK housing stock standards are poor and do not facilitate improved efficiency and further, the sales of such products are influenced by their price, thus the higher capital costs of products such as boilers and solar systems make them initially unattractive to consumers. Previous market-based research into the adoption of energy efficiency products has often focused on single factors, for example demographics. This has limited the ability of policy makers to make informed decisions that address a broader range of factors, such as individuals’ cognitive abilities, values and attitudes, as well as external factors such as social networks, marketing, and products and services. This paper provides a wider critique of the theoretical base related to consumer behaviour, product attributes and socio-environmental theories that relate to energy use. The aim of the paper is to draw together theories relevant to energy use in order to aid policy making in the broader context and to develop the discussion around integrated theories of consumer behaviour