Exploring the Retention of Students Studying Higher Education at Partner Colleges

The study considers the retention of 708 students studying for higher education awards at further education colleges in 2008-2009. The study challenges the relevance of literature on retention at higher education institutions, to students studying at partner colleges. Using data provided on registration and end of year status, the study considers individual factors identified by Yorke & Longden (2008) that relate to withdrawal in the first year of study. The findings of the study suggest that the diversity of students and high degree of variability between courses, means that the institutional habitus (Thomas 2002) of partner colleges is highly contextual. Consequently, the relationship between individual factors and withdrawal is seen as both complex and contextual

An Evaluation of Practical Work in Chemistry at the Higher Grade of the S.C.E

In the early 1960's, a new syllabus in Chemistry which embodied recent thinking in chemical education was introduced into Scottish schools. This was revised in 1969, and is used unchanged at the present time (1975). The syllabus consists of three parts, the first part covering the first two years of secondary education, the second two further years to 'O' grade, and the final part one year to 'H' grade. The present work was concerned with the practical content of 'H' grade. The research programme was begun by evaluating this practical work by surveying schools to find out what practical work was being done, how it was being done and how useful teachers found it. This allowed identification of areas of the syllabus where practical work was unsatisfactory. An attempt was then made to produce experiments which could be used at these unsatisfactory points in the syllabus; eleven experiments were produced. Details of these experiments were circulated to schools, and these were evaluated by both teachers and pupils. The evaluation was done using a set of course objectives for practical work drawn up by the author and ranked by a representative sample of experienced teachers. The evaluation was done by making two different sets of comparisons - (a) The objectives achieved by each experiment as seen by the teachers were compared with those as seen by their pupils, to find out if the teachers were able to communicate their objectives to their pupils. In general they were, and this was thought to validate the set of objectives and the approach used. (b) The objectives achieved by all eleven experiments taken together (as seen by the teachers) were compared with the teacher course objectives previously developed. There was reasonable agreement. However, the main point here is that this is the basis of a potentially useful tool for the evaluation and development of syllabus practical work. Practical work need not be chosen to "fit the content" alone, but can be selected to meet a specification for course practical work drawn up in terms of objectives

Mobile technology platforms for flexible access to information resources : considerations in the use of ebook readers, smart phones, netbooks and iPads

Smart phones are everywhere, people are taking eBook readers on holiday, the iPad has queues of people wanting to buy one, and some netbooks can fit in a pocket. The technology is attractive and increasingly affordable – how can it help an individual in their access to and use of texts, journals, databases, clinical sources, the web and day-to-day information? The Library has been investigating and trialling mobile devices during 2010, and has received interesting feedback from staff and students on the effectiveness of the technology in the University and personal environments. Each device has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the needs of the individual or activity it is supporting – productivity, research, study, clinical or recreational. The presentation will explore these issues along with some of the practical implications at Deakin, and international experiences in academic environments

The Motivations and Outcomes of Studying for Part-time Mature Students Completing Higher Education Programmes at Further Education Colleges

Part-time students account for 31% of higher education students in the UK and 56% of part-time undergraduate students are over the age of 30 on entry (UniversityUK 2013). Whilst the motivations and successes of part-time mature students have been previously considered (Swain and Hammond 2011, Jamieson et al 2009, Feinstein et al. 2007) these studies have focussed on students who are either studying at university or by distance learning, and did not consider students on higher education courses at further education colleges. Parry et al (2012) identify that 7% of UK undergraduates study at a further education college and that 283 colleges offer courses at this level. However the literature relating to higher education students at further education colleges is very limited (Wood 2012), and there are no studies on the experiences and successes of part-time mature students in higher education at further education colleges. This research addresses the gap in the literature by considering the motivations and successes of part-time mature students at a sample of further education colleges in the West Midlands. It adapts approaches from Jackson and Jamieson (2009) relating data on age, gender and qualifications on entry to student achievement and retention, and uses interviews to explore the reasons for studying, barriers to study and the experience of part-time studying. Thus the research seeks to develop understanding of the experience of part-time study for mature students in a format that allows some comparison with existing studies of part-time mature students at university and by distance learning

Suburban Tiny Home Development

This project aimed to capitalize on a future trend in housing that allows for new sustainable housing solutions. Due to advancements in the virtual workplace catalyzed by COVID-19, virtual work and virtual work platforms have been normalized, allowing people who live in cities greater flexibility in where they choose to live. Many companies, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, have implied that they will likely keep remote work as an option indefinitely, allowing for increased flexibility in workers’ living situations. This change allows for employees to venture outside of the city to suburbs or even rural areas. The goal of this project was to assess one possible sustainable living option given this likely trend: a suburban tiny home community. The scope of this project included the design of a model tiny home structure, the design of water resource systems to meet in-home community water demands, the municipal design of the development, and a construction cost estimation of a single tiny home. It did not deeply explore further details such as the electricity or agriculture, which may be expanded upon in future iterations of this project

Botrytis in wine grapes in Western Australia

Botrytis, causal agent Botrytis cinerea, is a fungal disease of grapevines that is commonly referred to as Botrytis bunch rot or grey mould. Botrytis is most prevalent where warm, wet conditions are frequent, but symptoms can occur in cool, wet weather and high humidity. All grape varieties are susceptible. Varieties most at risk are those with berries that are thin-skinned and/or have tight bunches. Some white wine grape varieties infected with Botrytis may decay, in certain conditions to produce noble rot . Wine produced from these infected bunches produce unique aromatic characters with high residual sugar and are usually sold as dessert wines.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1092/thumbnail.jp

Physiological Responses to Acute Silver Exposure in the Freshwater Crayfish (\u3cem\u3eCambarus diogenes diogenes\u3c/em\u3e)—A Model Invertebrate?

Adult crayfish (Cambarus diogenes diogenes) exposed to 8.41 ± 0.17 μg silver/L (19.4% as Ag+) in moderately hard freshwater under flow-through conditions for 96 h exhibited ionoregulatory disturbance, elevated metabolic ammonia (Tamm) production and substantial silver accumulation in the gills, hemolymph, and hepatopancreas. The ionoregulatory disturbance included both a generally reduced unidirectional Na1 influx and an increased unidirectional Na+ efflux, leading to a substantial net loss of Na+ from the silver-exposed crayfish. The Na+ uptake in silver-exposed crayfish differed overall from controls, while the increased Na+ efflux recovered to control values 48 h into the 96 h of exposure. The general inhibition of Na+ uptake could be explained by a reduced sodium/potassium-adenosine triphosphatase (Na/K-ATPase) activity in terminally obtained gill samples from the silver exposed crayfish. The silver-induced effect on Na+ uptake and loss translated to reduced hemolymph Na+ concentrations but not significantly reduced hemolymph Cl- concentrations. Hemolymph Tamm and Tamm efflux both increased in silver-exposed crayfish, indicating an increased metabolic Tamm production. The present study demonstrates that the toxic mechanism of waterborne silver exposure in freshwater crayfish resembles that of freshwater teleost fish. The crayfish might therefore be a useful model system for extending current environmental regulatory strategies, currently based on teleost fish, to invertebrates