867 research outputs found
Editors' Introduction
Introduction to this edition by guest editors from the University of Greenwich Business School
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An investigation of self-efficacy: can it help us to understand and improve the retention and progression of our students in the era of TEF?
Retention and progression issues are complex problems which are facing the sector. Therefore the academic self-efficacy of our students is something we need to explore to determine if we can provide more suitable support mechanisms and delivery modes of our traditional degrees. This study examines the self-efficacy of year one students and is the initial phase of a longitudinal project, tracking students through their programmes to learn which factors affect students’ academic self-efficacy and the points at which our programmes have a positive or negative effect on the self-efficacy of particular sub-groups. We can then observe when and if any differences in self-efficacy arise across sub-groups, informing our understanding of the attainment gap for black and minority ethnic students (McDuff et al, 2018) and enabling us to monitor any difference in self-efficacy for the students with lower entry qualifications who progress to year one via the foundation year of our Extended programmes (Harwood, 2016)
Generating Adversarial Examples with Adversarial Networks
Deep neural networks (DNNs) have been found to be vulnerable to adversarial
examples resulting from adding small-magnitude perturbations to inputs. Such
adversarial examples can mislead DNNs to produce adversary-selected results.
Different attack strategies have been proposed to generate adversarial
examples, but how to produce them with high perceptual quality and more
efficiently requires more research efforts. In this paper, we propose AdvGAN to
generate adversarial examples with generative adversarial networks (GANs),
which can learn and approximate the distribution of original instances. For
AdvGAN, once the generator is trained, it can generate adversarial
perturbations efficiently for any instance, so as to potentially accelerate
adversarial training as defenses. We apply AdvGAN in both semi-whitebox and
black-box attack settings. In semi-whitebox attacks, there is no need to access
the original target model after the generator is trained, in contrast to
traditional white-box attacks. In black-box attacks, we dynamically train a
distilled model for the black-box model and optimize the generator accordingly.
Adversarial examples generated by AdvGAN on different target models have high
attack success rate under state-of-the-art defenses compared to other attacks.
Our attack has placed the first with 92.76% accuracy on a public MNIST
black-box attack challenge.Comment: Accepted to IJCAI201
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Self-efficacy, performance and the role of blended learning
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the mathematics self-efficacy of students who are non-maths specialists. The project explores the student experience in the context of a maths module with a blended design, comprising both online content and face-to-face teaching. The aim was to reflect on the role of blended learning in this context.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a mixed-method analysis, the study uses data gathered via student surveys and discussion forums, as well as module grades, to provide evidence regarding whether the online component of the module enables students to master the required maths skills. The data are examined under
four themes that emerged as critical to improving the self-efficacy of students: flexibility, the interactivity of the online platform, the module’s blended design and the functionality of the platform.
Findings – The findings are that the blended approach increases academic self-efficacy in the area of mathematics, also enhancing the student experience. These benefits arise from the combination of allowing the individual mastery of technical skills in the private and stress-free environment provided by the online platform and access to social resources in the classroom setting.
Originality/value – The paper details the influence of self-efficacy on academic performance and the effectiveness of a blended learning approach, in the area of mathematics. It provides insight into the importance of providing multiple opportunities for students to become autonomous as they develop academic self-confidence through the mastery of maths skills
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Extended programmes: widening participation by narrowing content
While the benefits of generic foundation years such as year zero on the Extended programmes including the efficient use of resources has been fully explored, in this piece we argue that a bespoke year zero design, with a focus on a narrower range of subject-specific topics enhances the experience of the students on our Extended programmes and is worth the investment
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Mentoring new teaching-only colleagues to develop teaching expertise
The increasing casualisation of teaching in higher education has been an issue for some time (Leathwood and Read, 2020). One example is the use of hourly paid lecturers (HPLs) on short-term contracts. In the summer of 2019, the Business School at the University of Greenwich commenced a major initiative to replace its HPL contracts with permanent (mainly part-time) teaching-only posts. Many of these colleagues have professional qualifications and current industry experience in the sectors which our students want to join after graduation. To add to this technical expertise, we support colleagues’ development as educators in various ways including through their inclusion in our peer supported development scheme. This means that they not only receive feedback on their teaching from a colleague to improve their practice, but they also give feedback to the same colleague in a two-way exchange (Bell and Mladenovic, 2015) which reinforces their position as valued members of the academic community.
We also provide mentors who support our new teachers to work toward a Higher Education Academy fellowship. For many, this will be Associate Fellow initially. Discussing an application, including a fellowship teaching observation, with a mentor, underlines an individual’s identity as a teaching professional. The UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) points fellowship applicants to scholarship in Teaching and Learning. For a new part-time lecturer, engagement with scholarship can be a hitherto unexplored area. However, Shulman (1986) argues that this type of engagement is necessary in the development of teaching expertise, and reflecting on the dimensions of the UKPSF under the guidance of a mentor points colleagues to the literature. We encourage them to work toward submitting a Fellowship application in the next few years where appropriate. This provides the opportunity to extend the mentoring relationship and promote continuing and increasing engagement with scholarship in Teaching and Learning, including as future authors.
Our presentation will reflect on the first year of employing teaching-only colleagues and include a preliminary review of the effectiveness of the peer-development and mentoring schemes which we provide to aid their development into teaching experts.
Bell, A and Mladenovic, R (2015), Situated learning, reflective practice and conceptual expansion: effective peer observation for tutor development, Teaching in Higher Education, 20(1): 24-36
Leathwood, C and Read, B (2020), Short-term, short-changed? A temporal perspective on the implications of academic casualisation for teaching in higher education, Teaching in Higher Education, 1-16
Shulman, L (1986), Those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching, Educational Researcher, 15(2): 4-1
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Creating a supportive learning environment for direct entry Chinese students to reduce the attainment gap
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