Democracy, legitimacy and reconciliation.

This thesis aims to recover the central importance of the deliberative aspect of democracy which recent liberal theorising has neglected, and to capture common intuitions about the foundational nature of democratic institutions. The fundamental problem of political philosophy is that of justifying principles or institutions which can reconcile individuals and the political community on a moral basis. The use of political authority is morally legitimate when it is grounded upon such a reconciliation. Attempts to justify as legitimate a liberal constitutional framework are shown to fail, whether carried out on the basis of membership of a community, or as given by principles of justice, or on the grounds of utilitarianism or a perfectionist ideal. All these approaches must rely ultimately on a claim that there is or can be a consensus around some conception of morality or the good. However, none of them is entitled to claim that such a consensus can be reached without there already being in place a political process through which we can discover or construct a consensus, or find a way to go on when disagreement persists. The question then arises of how such a ground-level political framework can be justified and precisely what form it takes. The starting point is a notion of agents each with their own views about social and political issues. An argument is constructed from the logic of having such views to the conclusion that each agent has obligations to be prepared to participate in public discussion, and to accept democratic political decisions which are based upon such discussions. Failure to do so is self-undermining. Political legitimacy resides in the achievement of reconciling individuals to collective decisions. The practical implications of this notion of deliberative democracy for institutions and for individuals are drawn out

Harnessing Technology: new modes of technology-enhanced learning: opportunities and challenges

A report commissioned by Becta to explore the potential impact on education, staff and learners of new modes of technology enhanced learning, envisaged as becoming available in subsequent years. A generative framework, developed by the researchers is described, which was used as an analytical tool to relate the possibilities of the technology described to learning and teaching activities. This report is part of the curriculum and pedagogy strand of Becta's programme of managed research in support of the development of Harnessing Technology: Next Generation Learning 2008-14. A system-wide strategy for technology in education and skills. Between April 2008 and March 2009, the project carried out research, in three iterative phases, into the future of learning with technology. The research has drawn from, and aims to inform, all UK education sectors

Spotlight on the Digital: Characteristic discovery behaviours: literature review and analysis, 2013

This document summarises a review of literature on the research and resource discovery behaviour of three categories of higher education user: • Researchers (staff and postgraduate) • Lecturers/teachers (staff in their teaching capacity) • Students (focused on undergraduate as far as the literature allows). Other categories of users of online resources – including members of the general public, non-academic researchers and information professionals, and staff and students in further education, are not explicitly included but could be the subject of further research. In the case of the teachers category, it also reports on a dip-stick sample survey into teacher behaviours that probes gaps found in the literature. Produced as part of the Spotlight on the dgital project (2013-2018

eBooks Co-­‐Design Report

As part of the Jisc Co-Design programme, the KB+ project team, supported by the University of Huddersfield, undertook a consultation exercise to identify and assess the pain points relating to eBooks as reported by academic libraries and their users

Digital Archives Built by Students for Students : Inherited Learning at University of Hertfordshire

Inherited learning is the latest stage of a programme to develop digital history methods in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Hertfordshire’s history department. Involving more members of staff than before and a range of topics, it engages students in discovering visual and textual material from online archives in response to specific remits. Learners construct the results into new archival collections that are published on the open web and used as a resource on which subsequent student cohorts can build. Harnessing students’ propensity to use digital technology in their studies, as well as generally in their lives, it puts this to use in the service of techniques integral to the evolution of the discipline and the construction of genuine historical knowledge.Final Published versio

Digital in the Undergraduate History Curriculum : Spotlight on the Digital Case Study

The use of digital methods in historical research is now well established, and part of the common diet for graduate students. However ways of introducing such approaches and their benefits to undergraduates are less well developed. Some might say the methods involve a grasp of computing skills which would be a diversion from training in the basic skills of doing history, and the foundations of historical knowledge, which are the proper aims of undergraduate history. However it would be foolish to ignore that undergraduates do use digital methods to undertake traditional tasks in their study of history, often strategically and in ways which do not always enhance their understanding. It seems at least possible that by harnessing the familiarity of students with digital technology, and introducing techniques derived from digitally-based historical research, history students can be led into a more productive relationship to use digital technology for the study of history, as well as being introduced to methods which are at the forefront of the discipline today. The aim, therefore, was to explore how this could be done and with what success. A related issue is identifying what resources are needed to teach digital history at undergraduate level and what skills staff would need.Final Published versio