The professionalism of the higher education teacher: what's ICT got to do with it?

HE professionals generally work in an ICT rich environment. There are expectations that the existence of ICT benefits them, their students and the overall learning environment. This paper investigates and debates the complex interplay between two aspects of HE that have witnessed rapid change: the HE teacher’s professional role and the use of ICTs for teaching and learning. This paper reviews writing, research and theory in these areas and draws out key themes. A Masters course run at the Institute of Education, University of London is used as a practical context to evaluate aspects of this debate and assess their contemporary relevance. It establishes the importance of professional learning communities that include ICT ‘enthusiasts’ and an integrated pedagogic approach to ICTs. The paper suggests these factors can be key in enhancing the capacity of the HE teacher to engage positively, collaboratively and critically with the growth of learning technologies

Eight out of ten isn't good enough: challenging teachers' perceptions of assessment

One of the more challenging aspects of training teachers is demonstrating that assessment is a great deal more complex than simply marking students' work. It is necessary to show that assessment takes a number of forms, that it is used for a variety of purposes and that it must be applied in a systematic and structured way in order to be effective. This paper describes the techniques used at the Institute of Education, University of London, to encourage training teachers to look at assessment in a new way. The whole-year programme is outlined, but emphasis is placed on an introductory session held at the start of the course. Ostensibly a simple ice-breaking exercise, the game in fact demonstrates many of the pit-falls of assessment and brings to life terms which the trainees will encounter more formally later on in the course

The role of course teams in online task design [IOE Research Briefing N°41]

This research investigated both student and staff perspectives on e-learning tasks. IOE Research Briefings are short descriptions of significant research findings, based on the wide range of projects carried out by IOE researchers

The role of online discussion in the context of the Master of Teaching (MTeach)

This research concerns the professional development of teachers in their first\ud year of teaching. It seeks to find out more about how online discussions (ODs)\ud undertaken by teachers, as part of the MTeach, contributed to this development\ud process. During the MTeach teachers in this study worked in online tutor\ud groups. These were made up from teachers from different schools, phases\ud (primary and secondary) and subjects. Their accounts of participation in the\ud ODs, written towards the end of the first year of teaching together with\ud interviews conducted with a selection of these teachers at a later stage in their\ud career, formed the data gathered for the research. The research was guided by\ud the main question: how have the ODs facilitated new teacher development\ud within the context of the MTeach? It appeared that the ODs enabled new\ud teachers to participate by writing for an audience of peers, and by providing a\ud sense of community, which through an underlying practitioner focus developed\ud their criticality. These new teachers developed a collegiality, reflexivity and an\ud engagement with wider and longer term perspectives about their professional\ud practice. The research concluded that the gains from the online discussions\ud were the result of careful 'pedagogic design' at several levels. The overarching\ud finding is that by foregrounding the situated experiences and interests of the\ud teachers, a 'way in' is provided for them to understand more fully the\ud complexities, dilemmas and strategies encountered in their own and others'\ud professional practice

Electrochemical characterization and regeneration of sulfur poisoned Pt catalysts in aqueous media

Understanding the poisoning and recovery of precious metal catalysts is greatly relevant for the chemical industry dealing with the synthesis of organic compounds. For example, hydrogenation reactions typically use platinum catalysts and sulfuric acid media, leading to poisoning by sulfur-containing species. In this work, we have applied electrochemical methods to understand the status and recovery of Pt catalysts by studying the electro-oxidation of a family of sulfur-containing species adsorbed at several types of Pt electrodes: (i) polycrystalline Pt foil; (ii) Pt single-crystal electrodes; and (iii) Pt nanoparticles supported on Vulcan carbon. The results obtained from polycrystalline Pt electrodes and Pt nanoparticles supported on Vulcan carbon demonstrate that all sulfur-containing species with different oxidation states (2-, 3+ and 4+) lead to the poisoning of Pt active sites. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis was employed to elucidate the chemical state of sulfur species during the recovery process. The degree of poisoning decreased with increased sulfur oxidation state, while the rate of regeneration of the Pt surfaces generally increases with the oxidation state of the sulfur species. Finally, the use of Pt single-crystal electrodes reveals the surface-structure sensitivity of the oxidation of the sulfur species. This information could be useful in designing catalysts that are less susceptible to poisoning and/or more easily regenerated. These studies demonstrate voltammetry to be a powerful method for assessing the status of platinum surfaces and for recovering catalyst activity, such that electrochemical methods could find applications as sensors in catalysis and for catalyst recovery in-situ

Electrochemical characterization and regeneration of sulfur poisoned Pt catalysts in aqueous media

Fil: Agüero, Ricardo Oscar. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina

Sixty years from discovery to solution: crystal structure of bovine liver catalase form III

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86968/1/S0907444911024486.pd

Identifying Trends in Masterplanning: A Typological Classification System

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Robert Adam, and Claire Jamieson, ‘Identifying trends in masterplanning: A typological classification system’, URBAN DESIGN International, Vol. 19 (4): 274-290, December 2014. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2013.24.This article reports research carried out to develop a new typological method for the analysis of masterplans. This quantitative method of analysis can be used to produce comparative data that will help in the comparison of urban design typologies and their development over time. This article sets out the research to date, describing how the initial aims have developed from simple analysis to the creation of an analytical tool with wide applications. Comprising a detailed taxonomy of urban design features gathered from a wide database of recent and emerging masterplans, the system provides opportunities for further study such as trends, qualitative comparison against quantitative measurement, and comparison of aims and outcomes. This article will describe the methodology and process of research, while elaborating on the potential of the tool.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio