Unearthing learners’ conceptions of reflection to innovate business education for the 21st century

The development of learners’ capacities for critical reflection is an important learning outcome for 21st century business education. Theories suggest that a learner holds a particular orientation to reflection, and that this perspective will be influenced by his or her underlying beliefs. This, coupled with an increased focus on the student experience, personal development, and self-regulation in higher education, offers scope for considering instructional design from a second-order perspective, or in other words, from the student’s point of view. This study sought to understand: 1) the ways that business students orientate to reflection, 2) the different conceptions they hold of reflection, and 3) whether there is a relationship between the two. Reflective learning questionnaires were completed by 112 business students studying at the University of Northampton. Survey results showed that while the research instrument was a good fit for investigating orientations to and conceptions of reflection, there did not appear to be a correlation between the two. Learning analytics such as these will be useful for considering how the University can design more meaningful business curricula. However, the disconnect between conceptions of and orientations to reflection needs to be explored through further research

Promoting reflection in asynchronous virtual learning spaces: tertiary distance tutors' conceptions

Increasingly, universities are embedding reflective activities into the curriculum. With the growth in online tertiary education, how effectively is reflection being promoted or used in online learning spaces? Based on the notion that teachers’ beliefs will influence their approaches to teaching, this research sought to understand how a group of distance tutors at the UK Open University conceptualised reflection. It was hoped that these findings would illuminate their approaches to promoting reflection as part of their online pedagogies. Phenomenographic analysis indicated that these tutors conceptualised reflection in four qualitatively different ways. Furthermore, the data suggested that these educators held a combination of two conceptions: one that understood the origin of being reflective and one that understood the purpose of reflection. Analysis of structural aspects of these conceptions offered insight into tutors’ own perspectives for what is needed to make online learning environments fertile territory for reflective learning

Quantum rotor description of the Mott-insulator transition in the Bose-Hubbard model

We present the novel approach to the Bose-Hubbard model using the $\mathrm{U}(1)$ quantum rotor description. The effective action formalism allows us to formulate a problem in the phase only action and obtain an analytical formulas for the critical lines. We show that the nontrivial $\mathrm{U}(1)$ phase field configurations have an impact on the phase diagrams. The topological character of the quantum field is governed by terms of the integer charges - winding numbers. The comparison presented results to recently obtained quantum Monte Carlo numerical calculations suggests that the competition between quantum effects in strongly interacting boson systems is correctly captured by our model.Comment: accepted to PR

On the Path-Integral Derivation of the Anomaly for the Hermitian Equivalent of the Complex PTPT-Symmetric Quartic Hamiltonian

It can be shown using operator techniques that the non-Hermitian $PT$-symmetric quantum mechanical Hamiltonian with a "wrong-sign" quartic potential $-gx^4$ is equivalent to a Hermitian Hamiltonian with a positive quartic potential together with a linear term. A naive derivation of the same result in the path-integral approach misses this linear term. In a recent paper by Bender et al. it was pointed out that this term was in the nature of a parity anomaly and a more careful, discretized treatment of the path integral appeared to reproduce it successfully. However, on re-examination of this derivation we find that a yet more careful treatment is necessary, keeping terms that were ignored in that paper. An alternative, much simpler derivation is given using the additional potential that has been shown to appear whenever a change of variables to curvilinear coordinates is made in a functional integral.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, no figure

Advancing Mobile Open Learning through DigiBot technology: a case study of using WhatsApp as a scalable learning tool

This article presents a case study that outlines the potential of DigiBot technology, an interactive automated response program, in Mobile Open Learning (MOL) for Business subjects. The study, which draws on a project implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa, demonstrates the applications of DigiBots delivered via WhatsApp to over 650,000 learners. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the article reports on live event tracking, qualitative observations from facilitators and learning technologists, and a learner survey (N=304,000). The research offers practical recommendations and proposes a model for scalable DigiBot Learning. Findings reveal that in this case, DigiBot MOL had the potential to effectively address two key obstacles in open learning: accessibility and scalability. Leveraging mobile platforms such as WhatsApp mitigates accessibility restrictions, particularly in resource-constrained contexts, while tailored micro-learning enhances scalability