The accessible electronics laboratory

The Disability Discrimination Act requires schools, universities and colleges not to discriminate against disabled students and to make reasonable adjustments. Laboratories are an integral part of all engineering courses. Therefore they have to be accessible to all students and reasonable adjustments should include making laboratories accessible and not excusing disabled students from them. Adjustments to make laboratories more accessible to disabled students generally benefit all students and staff. Making laboratories accessible increases the pool of talent that can be attracted into the engineering profession. Many disabled people have had to exercise a lot of ingenuity to cope with an inaccessible world. The engineering profession could benefit from this ingenuity

Developing a quality assurance metric: a panoptic view

This article is a post-print of the published article that may be accessed at the link below. Copyright @ 2006 Sage Publications.There are a variety of techniques that lecturers can use to get feedback on their teaching - for example, module feedback and coursework results. However, a question arises about how reliable and valid are the content that goes into these quality assurance metrics. The aim of this article is to present a new approach for collecting and analysing qualitative feedback from students that could be used as the first stage in developing more reliable quality assurance metrics. The approach, known as the multi-dimensional crystal view, is based on the belief that individuals have different views on the benefits that the embedded process in a system can have on the behaviour of the system. The results of this study indicate that in the context of evaluation and feedback methods, the multi-dimensional approach appears to provide the opportunity for developing more effective student feedback mechanisms

'I think that it's a pain in the ass that I have to stand outside in the cold and have a cigarette': representations of smoking and experiences of disapproval in UK and Greek smokers

Smokers in Greece and the UK are habitually exposed to different levels of social disapproval. This qualitative study explored the accounts of smoking and disapproval offered by 32 UK and Greek smokers. Accounts were framed with reference to a highly moralized construction of smoking. Participants were sensitive to social disapproval of their smoking. While disapproval from those close to them was accepted, disapproval from the general public was not. Two discursive repertories 'smoking works for me now' and 'the struggle to quit' were identified as resources that participants drew upon to enable continued smoking while acknowledging the health issues. While there were many similarities in the accounts provided, there were important differences that seem to reflect the different 'smoking worlds' inhabited. Copyright 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution

'I think that it's a pain in the ass that I have to stand outside in the cold and have a cigarette': representations of smoking and experiences of disapproval in UK and Greek smokers

Smokers in Greece and the UK are habitually exposed to different levels of social disapproval. This qualitative study explored the accounts of smoking and disapproval offered by 32 UK and Greek smokers. Accounts were framed with reference to a highly moralized construction of smoking. Participants were sensitive to social disapproval of their smoking. While disapproval from those close to them was accepted, disapproval from the general public was not. Two discursive repertories 'smoking works for me now' and 'the struggle to quit' were identified as resources that participants drew upon to enable continued smoking while acknowledging the health issues. While there were many similarities in the accounts provided, there were important differences that seem to reflect the different 'smoking worlds' inhabited. Copyright 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution

A briefing on assessment of large groups

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:02/41259 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Assessment A guide for students

Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:02/41141 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Assessment A guide for lecturers

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:02/41140 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

A briefing on key concepts Formative and summative, criterion and norm-referenced assessment

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:02/41144 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

A briefing on self, peer and group assessment

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:02/41146 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo