Making practice-based learning work

Do you: • Supervise students who learn in the workplace? • Deliver courses to prepare people for supervising students in the workplace? • Learn in the workplace? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then there is a Web site for you. The Making Practice-Based Learning Work project has developed a Web site that aims to enhance the quality of student experiences whilst on practice, i.e. work-based placements. Key parts are the learning materials and resource sections containing materials that can be used by anyone involved in many aspects of practice-based student supervision, including supervisor preparation and support. These resources were either commissioned by the project or externally sourced Web materials have been peer reviewed. The materials are freely available for anyone to use in enhancing the nature of practice education

Settlement history and sustainability in the Carpathians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

As part of a historical study of the Carpathian ecoregion, to identify salient features of the changing human geography, this paper deals with the 18th and 19th centuries when there was a large measure political unity arising from the expansion of the Habsburg Empire. In addition to a growth of population, economic expansion - particularly in the railway age - greatly increased pressure on resources: evident through peasant colonisation of high mountain surfaces (as in the Apuseni Mountains) as well as industrial growth most evident in a number of metallurgical centres and the logging activity following the railway alignments through spruce-fir forests. Spa tourism is examined and particular reference is made to the pastoral economy of the Sibiu area nourished by long-wave transhumance until more stringent frontier controls gave rise to a measure of diversification and resettlement. It is evident that ecological risk increased, with some awareness of the need for conservation, although substantial innovations did not occur until after the First World War.The Carpathian ecoregion, Habsburg Empire, settlement history

Enhancing teaching and learning with technology through collaborative research with students

There is increasing awareness that technological developments should enhance student learning experience and compliment traditional teaching methodologies (McGugan and Peakcock, 2005). The recently published JISC inquiry into the implications of Web 2.0 technology for higher education (2009), highlighted how learners make effective use of Web 2.0 technology in social contexts. However, at present our knowledge of how university students and staff engage with and use technologies, including Web 2.0 technology, both through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and outside of it is limited. This project aimed to explore how Sport Sciences students expect, use, and would like to see, technologies used to enhance their learning whilst at university. The project adopted a collaborative approach by involving students in development of the study, particularly in assisting with design of data collection tools, participant recruitment and interpretation of findings. The study involved interviewing twenty-one students about their familiarity and use of Web 2.0 technologies. These students also gave ideas for potential technological enhancements within the sport curriculum. This data then formed the basis of a staff and a student questionnaire used to ascertain broader views of technologies as well as the perceived potential of such technologies to enhance student learning. The findings from this wider survey of staff (n = 17) and students (n = 323) informed curricular innovations in teaching and learning that involved introduction of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and discussion boards in the institutional VLE as well as use of Facebook for specific student learning activity. The presentation will include a demonstration of how FAQs and Facebook have been utilised and report on initial staff and student evaluation of how these particular approaches to using technology enhance student learning. Issues associated with the use of these technologies are discussed

Two degree-of-freedom flutter solution for a personal computer

A computer programmed flutter solution has been written in the BASIC language for a personal computer. The program is for two degree-of-freedom bending torsion flutter applications and utilizes two dimensional Theodorsen aerodynamics. The aerodynamics were modified to include approximations for Mach number (compressibility) effects and aspect ratio (finite span) effects. Input options, user instructions, program listing, and a test case application are included

Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate collaborative student learning activity? Findings of an institutional evaluation

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are used extensively within higher education, primarily as an educational tool, but can also have additional functionality. There has been considerable debate, both internal to the university and in the external academic community, about the value of a VLE, e.g. MacLaren (2004), Sharp et al. (2005) and Conole and de Laat (2006). The focus of this debate is whether or not a VLE is primarily used as a transmissive tool, in which the teacher determines VLE content and communication and which tends to be teacher initiated while the student adopts a passive role (Jonassen & Land, 2000). Whilst a transmissive approach may be an important element in students’ learning experiences, there is little evidence to suggest such usage facilitates deep learning

Red Guide Paper 42: Managing a Module Part 1: Delivering a Module

This revised guide covers various aspects of the process for developing a new module and provides an overview of the general principles of module development

Development of high performance composite bend-twist coupled blades for a horizontal axis tidal turbine

Development of a design methodology for a composite, bend-twist coupled, tidal turbine blade has been undertaken. Numerical modelling was used to predict the response of the main structural member for the adaptive blade. An experimental method for validation is described. The analysis indicates a non-linear blade twist response

A RANS modelling approach for predicting powering performance of ships in waves

In this paper, a modelling technique for simulating self-propelled ships in waves is presented. The flow is modelled using a RANS solver coupled with an actuator disk model for the propeller. The motion of the ship is taken into consideration in the definition of the actuator disk region as well as the advance ratio of the propeller. The RPM of the propeller is controlled using a PID-controller with constraints added on the maximum permissible RPM increase rate. Results are presented for a freely surging model in regular waves with different constraints put on the PID-controller. The described method shows promising results and allows for the studying of several factors relating to selfpropulsion. However, more validation data is needed to judge the accuracy of the mode