Juggling institutional and social demands : a conversation analysis of engineering students’ interactions in self-managed problem-based learning

There has been an increase in the use of problem-based learning (PBL) - a student-centred approach involving authentic problem cases and collaboration - within the engineering disciplines in response to the demands of 21st century industry. The vast majority of PBL research over the years, however, has either focused on determining its effectiveness, or reported on staff and students’ perceptions about the approach. Much less attention has been given to the group practices that lie at the heart of PBL. Ironically, then, as a pedagogical approach that is so dependent on social interaction, we know very little about its interactional elements - about how it actually works. With the aim of opening this interactional ‘black box’, this study analysed almost 100 hours of naturalistic video-recordings involving seven groups of engineering students undertaking PBL at a UK university. This thesis reports on the findings of the floating facilitator PBL model, in which learning is effectively tutorless, with only intermittent tutor contact. Conversation analysis was used to examine students’ actual social interactions in this learning setting; to finely unpack the conversational mechanics behind PBL that have long been overlooked. Although the student-centredness of PBL made the educational experience less formal in nature, this democratisation of institutional structures also allowed ‘outside’ social norms to percolate through. Added to the absence of the tutor, PBL thus made matters more complicated for students, forcing them to balance wider social values with their newfound institutional responsibilities (i.e. to self-manage their group work). Ironically, the groups co constructed themselves as being largely detached from academia; as ‘playing it cool’ in blending in as (‘non-academic’) equals. At the same time, however, with no guiding tutor, the students also oriented to their collective need to ‘do education’. In managing this dilemma - and in an apparent resistance against being substituted for the absent tutor - they treated the workload as a collective burden to be eradicated, neutralised all displays of authority, and made use of subtle interactional strategies in self-managing the likes of knowledge disagreements and social loafing. Such findings show that students do not always engage with (tutorless) PBL as intended, and provide a case for the continued naturalistic study of such conversational intricacies.There has been an increase in the use of problem-based learning (PBL) - a student-centred approach involving authentic problem cases and collaboration - within the engineering disciplines in response to the demands of 21st century industry. The vast majority of PBL research over the years, however, has either focused on determining its effectiveness, or reported on staff and students’ perceptions about the approach. Much less attention has been given to the group practices that lie at the heart of PBL. Ironically, then, as a pedagogical approach that is so dependent on social interaction, we know very little about its interactional elements - about how it actually works. With the aim of opening this interactional ‘black box’, this study analysed almost 100 hours of naturalistic video-recordings involving seven groups of engineering students undertaking PBL at a UK university. This thesis reports on the findings of the floating facilitator PBL model, in which learning is effectively tutorless, with only intermittent tutor contact. Conversation analysis was used to examine students’ actual social interactions in this learning setting; to finely unpack the conversational mechanics behind PBL that have long been overlooked. Although the student-centredness of PBL made the educational experience less formal in nature, this democratisation of institutional structures also allowed ‘outside’ social norms to percolate through. Added to the absence of the tutor, PBL thus made matters more complicated for students, forcing them to balance wider social values with their newfound institutional responsibilities (i.e. to self-manage their group work). Ironically, the groups co constructed themselves as being largely detached from academia; as ‘playing it cool’ in blending in as (‘non-academic’) equals. At the same time, however, with no guiding tutor, the students also oriented to their collective need to ‘do education’. In managing this dilemma - and in an apparent resistance against being substituted for the absent tutor - they treated the workload as a collective burden to be eradicated, neutralised all displays of authority, and made use of subtle interactional strategies in self-managing the likes of knowledge disagreements and social loafing. Such findings show that students do not always engage with (tutorless) PBL as intended, and provide a case for the continued naturalistic study of such conversational intricacies

Stepping back from crisis points : the provision and acknowledgement of support in an online suicide discussion forum

Suicide is a global health concern, though little is known about the social practices that might support those who are contemplating suicide. Online forums provide a unique insight into the anonymous discussion of suicide, including sociocultural norms about suicide and the delicate management of online interaction. This article examines the provision and acknowledgement of support in an online discussion forum about suicide, using discursive psychology to analyse the textual interaction. The analysis illustrates how forum threads function as case studies, and enable members to gain support on numerous occasions. In this way, members can gain help at crisis points as and when these occur, while still maintaining authenticity as a valid forum member. The analysis also provides additional evidence for models of suicide which highlight the fluid nature of suicidality and contributes to the preventative work on suicide by demonstrating how support can be provided at crisis points. 2 Suicidal behaviours represent a global public health concern and substantial research effort has gone into identifying specific risk and protective factors (e.g., O'Connor & Nock, 2014) . The rise of technology provides a unique opportunity to examine suicidal issues in online spaces (Mishara & Kerkhof, 2013) , yet research to date has focused mainly on the motivations and individual characteristics of those using the internet for this purpose, rather than on the social practices in the online spaces themselves. Following Horne and Wiggins (2009) and Paulus and Varga (2015), this article focuses on the provision and acknowledgement of support in an o nline suicide di scussion forum. Specifically, the aim of this article is to explicate the interactional features of support in the suicide forums, and of the potential for members to be supported by others by being metaphorically talked back from the ‘edge’; i.e., representing a shift from being at a crisis point to a stance that might still be troubled but is not immediately suicidal. As such, the article provides additional empirical support for discursive accounts of managing health identities online as well as demonstrating the potential of qualitative analyses to contribute to preventative work on suicid

The quarterly big interview with Dr Sally Wiggins

Having completed her PhD at Loughborough University in 2002, Sally worked first at Nottingham Trent University, then at the University of Strathclyde for over 12 years. During this time, Sally established herself as a social psychologist with expertise in discursive psychology through a wide range of projects including analyses of family mealtimes, weight management treatment within the NHS, online suicide help forums, and student tutorial group interactions. In 2016, Sally moved to Linköping University (Sweden), where she is currently senior lecturer in social psychology. In 2017, she released the methods textbook, Discursive Psychology: Theory, Method and Applications. I became enthralled with social psychology thanks to Sally’s undergraduate teaching and was delighted to catch up with her in October 2018 as part of The Quarterly’s Big Interview series

Formation of an engineering identity : industrial role models & problem based learning

In vocational disciplines such as engineering, industrialists can provide students with access to real-life projects and artefacts that expose them to practice knowledge and employability skills. Assistance from Alumni role models can help students to imagine and reflect on their future self as graduate engineers. In this paper, two initiatives that aid the students’ transition from ‘novice to becoming’ civil engineering graduates are examined. (1) Graduate mentoring of student mentees during their third-year of studies and (2) a hybrid problem/ project-based series of workshops know as Civil Engineering 4 Real (CE4R). Both initiatives fostered a collaborative academic-industry partnership whereby undergraduates were introduced to an engineering practitioner community of practice. Both initiatives have exposed students to the breadth of civil engineering practice and sub-disciplines within the profession. Whilst the feedback from the students is overwhelmingly positive, there is a need to ensure both initiatives are considered with respect to the wider course curriculum

Discovery of [11C]MK-6884: a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent for the study of M4 muscarinic receptor positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) in neurodegenerative diseases

The measurement of receptor occupancy (RO) using positron emission tomography (PET) has been instrumental in guiding discovery and development of CNS directed therapeutics. We and others have investigated muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 4 (M4) positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) for the treatment of symptoms associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. In this article, we describe the synthesis, in vitro, and in vivo characterization of a series of central pyridine-related M4 PAMs that can be conveniently radiolabeled with carbon-11 as PET tracers for the in vivo imaging of an allosteric binding site of the M4 receptor. We first demonstrated its feasibility by mapping the receptor distribution in mouse brain and confirming that a lead molecule 1 binds selectively to the receptor only in the presence of the orthosteric agonist carbachol. Through a competitive binding affinity assay and a number of physiochemical properties filters, several related compounds were identified as candidates for in vivo evaluation. These candidates were then radiolabeled with 11C and studied in vivo in rhesus monkeys. This research eventually led to the discovery of the clinical radiotracer candidate [11C]MK-6884

A Phylogeny and Timescale for the Evolution of Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) in Australia and New Guinea

Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) is a family of endemic Australasian arboreal folivores, more commonly known as ringtail possums. Seventeen extant species are grouped into six genera (Pseudocheirus, Pseudochirulus, Hemibelideus, Petauroides, Pseudochirops, Petropseudes). Pseudochirops and Pseudochirulus are the only genera with representatives on New Guinea and surrounding western islands. Here, we examine phylogenetic relationships among 13 of the 17 extant pseudocheirid species based on protein-coding portions of the ApoB, BRCA1, ENAM, IRBP, Rag1, and vWF genes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods were used to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Two different relaxed molecular clock methods were used to estimate divergence times. Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods were used to reconstruct ancestral character states for geographic provenance and maximum elevation occupied. We find robust support for the monophyly of Pseudocheirinae (Pseudochirulus + Pseudocheirus), Hemibelidinae (Hemibelideus + Petauroides), and Pseudochiropsinae (Pseudochirops + Petropseudes), respectively, and for an association of Pseudocheirinae and Hemibelidinae to the exclusion of Pseudochiropsinae. Within Pseudochiropsinae, Petropseudes grouped more closely with the New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. than with the Australian Pseudochirops archeri, rendering Pseudochirops paraphyletic. New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirops are monophyletic, as are New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirulus. Molecular dates and ancestral reconstructions of geographic provenance combine to suggest that the ancestors of extant New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. and Pseudochirulus spp. dispersed from Australia to New Guinea ∼12.1–6.5 Ma (Pseudochirops) and ∼6.0–2.4 Ma (Pseudochirulus). Ancestral state reconstructions support the hypothesis that occupation of high elevations (>3000 m) is a derived feature that evolved on the terminal branch leading to Pseudochirops cupreus, and either evolved in the ancestor of Pseudochirulus forbesi, Pseudochirulus mayeri, and Pseudochirulus caroli, with subsequent loss in P. caroli, or evolved independently in P. mayeri and P. forbesi. Divergence times within the New Guinean Pseudochirops clade are generally coincident with the uplift of the central cordillera and other highlands. Diversification within New Guinean Pseudochirulus occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene after the establishment of the Central Range and other highlands

A macrologic array for simulation

Ph.D.Cecil O. Alfor