Towards a skills development theory

HE Engineering Programmes are required to prepare students for practice and professional work skills are an important component. This paper reports on part of a PhD study [1] (to be published in September 2018) to investigate how work skills can be taught in HE with a focus on preparing students to solve real problems as opposed to academic problems [2]

Designing research for theory and practice

This paper reports on a doctoral study that has the dual aims of improving theory and practice within an Engineering Education context. The focus is on the development of students’ graduate-level work skills as part of their Higher Education programme and a specific practice example provided an ideal study opportunity. Engaged scholarship, a research approach from Management Science, was selected as it provided a way to study practice that can generate both theoretical and practical knowledge. This paper sets out the strengths and challenges of applying an Engaged Scholarship approach and summarises its philosophical underpinnings. The research design is then evaluated, concluding that the design is internally consistent and suitable for this study. The authors then reflect on the implementation phase and highlight some of the practical challenges that have been encountered. These include engaging stakeholders, consolidating perspectives and the schedule of the programme being studiedThis work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through a DTA student award.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Research In Engineering Education Network via http://www.proceedings.com/28655.htm

Short industrial placements -developing an activity framework to support teaching and learning

Purpose– This paper identifies the activities to be undertaken by students during short industrial placements. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of what students do during their placements and provide a framework that supports both teaching and learning. This research focuses on a masters-level programme that contains a series of four, two week industrial placements where groups of two students work on a real and significant issue for the host company.Design/methodology/approach– A framework, developed from literature, describes a placement in terms of 17 high-level activity groups. A multi-stage action research method was applied to test the framework and develop a more detailed level framework. This used insights gathered from students, tutors and researchers on all 80 placements undertaken during the 2012-2013 academic year.Findings– The 17 high-level activity groups and their configuration in the framework were confirmed. For the 12 process activity groups, 64 activities were identified and included into a detailed level framework. For the five through-placement activity groups some specific activities were captured and further work remains to capture the others.Originality/value– These complex industrial placements can now be described consistently to students, companies and tutors using an evidence-based framework. Literature searches have not identified any other equivalent research-based frameworks. Other HE programmes also use similar industrial placements and this framework will provide a basis to support these and add to the body of knowledge in work integrated learning.This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is published by Emerald Publishing Group in Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2014-0019?queryID=27%2F15276555). This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245875). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited - See more at: http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/writing/author_rights.htm#sthash.zhFajy0N.dpu

Linking practice and theory using Engaged Scholarship

This paper reports on a study aiming to develop theory and improve practice within an Engineering Education context. The focus is on the development of students’ graduate-level work skills during Higher Education programmes and a specific practice example provided an ideal study opportunity. Engaged Scholarship, a research approach from Management Science, was selected as it provided a way to study practice that can generate both theoretical and practical knowledge. This paper summarises the philosophical underpinnings of the approach and sets out the strengths and challenges in applying it. The research design is then evaluated, concluding that the design is internally consistent and suitable for this study. The authors then reflect on implementation, provide examples of findings and discuss some of the practical challenges encountered. Practice improvements implemented to date include improvements to reflection activities and skills definition, and a theory of developing work skills in HE programmes is emerging

Describing ‘generic’ graduate engineer skills

Being able to describe skills effectively is essential for teaching and enabling students to learn skills. A previous study [1], investigating the development of real industrial problem solving skills in a taught Masters course, found inadequate skill descriptions were a significant problem. On further investigation, it was determined that skills could only described at a high level, unless the task and associated context was known. Such high-level descriptions e.g. project management, do not communicate the skills graduates need for work

Detection of embryo mortality and hatch using thermal differences among incubated chicken eggs

Accurate diagnosis of both the stage of embryonic mortality and the hatch process in incubated eggs is a fundamental component in troubleshooting and hatchery management. However, traditional methods disturb incubation, destroy egg samples, risk contamination, are time and labour-intensive and require specialist knowledge and training. Therefore, a new method to accurately detect embryonic mortality and hatching time would be of significant interest for the poultry industry if it could be done quickly, cheaply and be fully integrated into the process. In this study we have continuously measured individual eggshell temperatures and the corresponding micro-environmental air temperatures throughout the 21 days of incubation using standard low-cost temperature sensors. Moreover, we have quantified the thermal interaction between eggs and air by calculating thermal profile changes (temperature drop time, drop length and drop magnitude) that allowed us to detect four categories of egg status (infertile/early death, middle death, late death and hatch) during incubation. A decision tree induction classification model accurately (93.3%) predicted the status of 105 sampled eggs in comparison to the classical hatch residue breakout analyses. With this study we have provided a major contribution to the optimisation of incubation processes by introducing an alternative method for the currently practiced hatch residue breakout analyses.status: publishe

Performing the identity of the medium: adaptation and television historiography

This article focuses on how histories of television construct narratives about what the medium is, how it changes, and how it works in relation to other media. The key examples discussed are dramatic adaptations made and screened in Britain. They include early forms of live transmission of performance shot with multiple cameras, usually in a TV studio, with the aim of bringing an intimate and immediate experience to the viewer. This form shares aspects of medial identity with broadcast radio and live television programmes, and with theatre. The article also analyses adaptations of a later period, mainly filmed dramas for television that were broadcast in weekly serialised episodes, and shot on location to offer viewers a rich engagement with a realised fictional world. Here, film production techniques and technologies are adapted for television, alongside the routines of daily and weekly scheduling that characterise television broadcasting. The article identifies and analyses the questions about what is proper to television that arise from the different forms that adaptations took. The analyses show that television has been a mixed form across its history, while often aiming to reject such intermediality and claim its own specificity as a medium. Television adaptation has, paradoxically, operated as the ground to assert and debate what television could and should be, through a process of transforming pre-existing material. The performance of television’s role has taken place through the relay, repetition and remediation that adaptation implies, and also through the repudiation of adaptation

Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in a UK university identifies dynamics of transmission

AbstractUnderstanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission in higher education settings is important to limit spread between students, and into at-risk populations. In this study, we sequenced 482 SARS-CoV-2 isolates from the University of Cambridge from 5 October to 6 December 2020. We perform a detailed phylogenetic comparison with 972 isolates from the surrounding community, complemented with epidemiological and contact tracing data, to determine transmission dynamics. We observe limited viral introductions into the university; the majority of student cases were linked to a single genetic cluster, likely following social gatherings at a venue outside the university. We identify considerable onward transmission associated with student accommodation and courses; this was effectively contained using local infection control measures and following a national lockdown. Transmission clusters were largely segregated within the university or the community. Our study highlights key determinants of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and effective interventions in a higher education setting that will inform public health policy during pandemics.</jats:p

Duty of Care : Crime Drama and the Medical Encounter

Peer reviewe

A Shameful Conquest of Itself : Images from the Empire in Post-war British Drama

Peer reviewe