Lyapunov exponents for infinite dimensional dynamical systems

Classically it was held that solutions to deterministic partial differential equations (i.e., ones with smooth coefficients and boundary data) could become random only through one mechanism, namely by the activation of more and more of the infinite number of degrees of freedom that are available to such a system. It is only recently that researchers have come to suspect that many infinite dimensional nonlinear systems may in fact possess finite dimensional chaotic attractors. Lyapunov exponents provide a tool for probing the nature of these attractors. This paper examines how these exponents might be measured for infinite dimensional systems

Learning to Put Everyday Creativity, Semiotics and Critical Visual Literacy Using Inquiry Graphics (IG) Visual Analysis to Work in Social Care

This article argues that despite CORU’s recognition of Creative Arts as integral to Social Care Practice, there are ‘pedagogical, theoretical and practice gaps’, which might be addressed through a ‘process orientated novel creative pedagogy’ (PONCP) introduced in this paper. The PONCP is built on two tenets, firstly that creative expression is not just for professional artists – everyone is capable of creative expression, though cultural messages make us believe otherwise, and secondly engaging in creative practice is therapeutic in varying degrees from passing time productively to psychoanalytic engagement. A curriculum is proposed comprising: edusemiotics (the interpretation and creation of meaning), multimodality (the use of different modes / tools of/for expression) and Inquiry Graphics (a tool for critical analysis of photographs) (Lacković, 2010, 2020). Through this PONCP the author hopes to establish a terrain for future research and elaboration, and to develop creative, reflective and analytic capabilities for effective, high-quality practice with service users. The PONCP aims to support social care creative work by promoting everyday creativity and imagination as an affirming expressive and adaptive ability through understanding how ‘signs’ construct meaning and therefore learning. By critically reading and analysing the visual world through ‘signs’, socially constructed ideologies and accepted visual meaning can be challenged revealing hidden truths. Overall this may serve to enhance professional practice as well as professional critical appraisal in keeping with the CORU Standards of Proficiency

Policy implementation in higher education: an ideographic case study

The research presented in this study considers policy implementation from an ideographic basis. The study focuses on a planned implementation initiative to introduce a learning outcomes paradigm within a university to implement policy related to Bologna and the implementation of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications. By adopting an ideographic approach to policy this study suggests that policy is not a static conception, policy is made and remade as it is encoded, interpreted and actioned by implementers. A processual/contextualist perspective to implementation is applied within this study drawn from the literature of organisational change. The research focuses on considering how policy is implemented in practice by those at two levels on the implementation staircase within the institution. The study is, therefore, a traditional implementation study focusing on the how of implementation; the study does not evaluate the outcomes of evaluation against the objectives of the reform. An objective of this study was to complete an intrinsic case study within the researcher’s university in the Republic of Ireland as a piece of independent institutional research. The findings of this study include the development of a case which adds to the empirical research into the institutional implementation of Bologna. A further finding of this study, relates to the application of processual/contextualist perspective to the study of policy implementation. This study suggests that this perspective provides a constructive means by which an ideographic policy analysis can be conducted

What to do with all these Bayes factors: How to make Bayesian reports in deception research more informative

Bayes factors quantify the evidence in support of the null (absence of an effect) or the alternative hypothesis (presence of an effect). Based on commonly used cut-offs, Bayes factors between 1/3 and 3 are interpreted as evidentially weak, and one typically concludes there is an absence of evidence. In this commentary on Warmelink, Subramanian, Tkacheva, and McLatchie (Legal Criminol Psychol 24, 2019, 258), we discuss how a Bayesian report can be made more informative. Firstly, this implies a departure from the labels provided by commonly used cut-offs when reporting Bayes factors. Instead, we encourage researchers to report the value of the Bayes factors, or to

From books to MOOCs and back again: An Irish case study of open digital textbooks

This paper reports a work in progress to investigate the current and intended future use of open digital textbooks in Irish higher education. It begins by establishing that open digital textbooks, as a subset of the wider Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, have not featured prominently in Irish higher education policy texts. A brief synthesis of the macro-level literature reveals the strong North American influence driving innovations in open digital textbooks over the past decade, particularly in response to increasing concerns about rising costs. At the mesolevel the research problem is framed by a gap in the literature and lack of information more generally about textbook use in Irish higher education, although more specifically the study aims to establish current and intended future usage of open digital textbooks. Five research questions that guide the study are then outlined along with the methodology for the first two parallel work packages: (a) an environmental scan and national baseline survey of open digital textbooks in the Irish higher education sector; and (b) a micro-level institutional case study of current practice around the use of textbooks and adoption of open digital textbooks more particularly. The final work package aspires to develop an open digital textbook initiative based on findings from earlier phases and the international literature. While the study is still at an early stage a critical perspective underpins the research as we seek to better understand the potential transformative advantages of open digital textbooks over and above the use of more conventional learning resources

Big course small talk: Twitter and MOOCs - a systematic review of research designs 2011-2017.

Although research on the use of Twitter in support of learning and teaching has become an established field of study the role of Twitter in the context of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has not yet been adequately considered and specifically in the literature. Accordingly, this paper addresses a number of gaps in the scholarly interface between Twitter and MOOCs by undertaking a comprehensive mapping of the current literature. In so doing the paper examines research design through: data collection and analysis techniques; scope and scale of existing studies; and theoretical approaches and underpinnings in the empirical research published between 2011 and 2017. Findings serve to demonstrate the diversity of this line of research, particularly in scale and scope of studies and in the approaches taken. By mapping the research using a systematic review methodology it is shown that there is a lack of qualitative data on how Twitter is used by learners and teachers in MOOCs. Moreover, a number of methodological gaps exist in published quantitative survey research at the interface between Twitter and MOOCs, including issues in the trustworthy reporting of results and full consideration of tweet and tweet meta-data collection. At the same time the paper highlights areas of methodological “best practice” in the research around these issues and in other important areas such as large-scale hashtag analyses of the use of Twitter in MOOCs. In reviewing the literature the findings aim to strengthen the methodological foundation of future work and help shape a stronger research agenda in this emerging area

A strategic response to MOOCs: how one European university is approaching the challenge

This paper briefly outlines some of the macro level claims, counter-claims, and unresolved debates surrounding the rapid growth of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Higher Education. It then reports insights, experiences, and perceptions of those charged with developing a strategic institutional response to the challenges and opportunities presented by the MOOC movement framed within a wider European context. A description of the key drivers, strategic deliberations, and major decision points in micro-level MOOC related discussions at Dublin City University (DCU) is provided along with brief analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of a range of platform options. In critically reflecting on the burgeoning MOOC literature in the context of this single institution experience, the paper aims to demonstrate the value of aligning key decisions with well-defined institutional drivers, which in turn are used to help review and evaluate the technical and pedagogical affordances of different MOOC platforms. Finally, a number of strategic questions are presented that may help guide future decisions about the adoption of MOOCs by other institutions

Translating y Cofnod: translation policy and the official status of the Welsh language in Wales

It might safely be said that no issue is as politically contentious in Wales as that of the status of the Welsh language in society in general and in public life in particular, along with its relationship to the English language. This article draws upon a range of papers from within the National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) and the Welsh Government, some of which have been made available only as a result of a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, in its careful examination of how the translation policy of the Welsh Assembly became the subject of a very excited and divisive public row. Moreover, the article shows how this translation problem evolved into a matter of constitutional difficulty, as yet unresolved, at the highest level of public life in Wales