Chained and Engrained:Breaking the Powerpoint Dependency Cycle in English Education

This paper investigates the over-dependency on PowerPoint within English education. Taking an action research approach with a group of first year students, the authors taught one unit of an initial teacher training programme employing a range of teaching strategies excluding PowerPoint. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews at the end of the taught unit. The findings suggest that teachers were aware of the limitations of PowerPoint as a teaching tool yet still chose to use it. The justification for this was that it provided structure for the lesson and was what students and in some cases, employers, had come to expect. Despite being positive towards the teaching strategies employed in this research, the majority of participants were mindful of the need to meet the expectations of others and as a result were reluctant to change their approach

Please don’t put your phones away:the application of learning technology in United Kingdom higher education and a framework for implementation

The aim of this research is to identify best practice when adopting new learning technologies in UK higher education. Although technology is widely used in institutions and often has a positive impact on the students’ learning experiences, there is only limited research designed to help lecturers with its implementation. This research presents a critical review and assessment of the practices being incorporated in higher education teaching, learning from both students’ and lecturers’ experiences. The outcome of two case studies are presented where Tophat and Socrative learning technology tools have been used in the classroom. The findings highlight the challenges and best practice.. Based on the case studies and the critical review of other, similar research, a Learning Technology Conceptual Implementation Framework has been developed, which offers guidance on the implementation of learning technology in the classroom

Sticking together: how glue guys work in education

In North American sports they are known as ‘glue guys’. They are not the ultimate stars of the team so their names are less familiar than those of LeBron James, Sidney Crosby and Aaron Rogers, and their pay is dwarfed by the $700 million Shohei Ohtani will be paid in his current baseball contract, but every successful team needs them

A tale of two objectives: the challenge of meeting diverse targets in UK Business Schools

Business Schools in Great Britain are currently facing a number of major challenge due to the conflicting objectives that need to be met. The movement towards a metric-driven, performative approach that has occurred in the last decade has meant that the need to meet set measures that focus on the outcomes of students’ study have become imperative. However, focusing solely on these outcomes neglects a second set of objectives that relate to the journey students take during their studies. The need to ensure that both the process and the outcome of students’ studies are stressed is particularly challenging in British Business Schools which are often characterised by a large and diverse student and staff population. This think piece posits that by using a loose/tight cultural approach alongside a Schrödinger's leadership style, leaders can mitigate some of the challenges that are currently faced in the sector

Functional units: Abstractions for Web service annotations

Computational and data-intensive science increasingly depends on a large Web Service infrastructure, as services that provide a broad array of functionality can be composed into workflows to address complex research questions. In this context, the goal of service registries is to offer accurate search and discovery functions to scientists. Their effectiveness, however, depends not only on the model chosen to annotate the services, but also on the level of abstraction chosen for the annotations. The work presented in this paper stems from the observation that current annotation models force users to think in terms of service interfaces, rather than of high-level functionality, thus reducing their effectiveness. To alleviate this problem, we introduce Functional Units (FU) as the elementary units of information used to describe a service. Using popular examples of services for the Life Sciences, we define FUs as configurations and compositions of underlying service operations, and show how functional-style service annotations can be easily realised using the OWL semantic Web language. Finally, we suggest techniques for automating the service annotations process, by analysing collections of workflows that use those services.</p

Clear vision: a step towards unravelling student recruitment in English universities?

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose The recruitment of undergraduate students within English universities is of vital importance to both the academic success and the financial stability of the organisation. Despite the primacy of the task, there has been a dearth of research looking at related performance and how to ensure that the process is optimised. The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of variation both within a university and between different universities. The reliance that individual programmes and/or universities place on the Clearing process is key; given its uncertainty, resource demands and timing shortly before students take up their places. Design/methodology/approach The Nomogramma di Gandy diagrammatical approach utilises readily available data to analyse universities’ performance in recruiting students to different programmes, and the degree to which they each rely of the Clearing process. Inter-university performance was investigated on a whole-student intake basis for a sample of English universities, representative of type and region. Findings The study found that there were disparate patterns for the many programmes within the pilot university and also disparate patterns between different types of universities across England. Accordingly, universities should internally benchmark their programmes to inform both strategic and tactical decision-making. Similarly, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service benchmarking inter-university patterns could inform the overall sector. Originality/value The approach and findings provide lessons for analysing student recruitment which could be critical to universities’ academic and financial health, in an increasingly competitive environment

Irritability in young people with copy number variants associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (ND-CNVs)

A range of rare mutations involving micro-deletion or -duplication of genetic material (copy number variants (CNVs)) have been associated with high neurodevelopmental and psychiatric risk (ND-CNVs). Irritability is frequently observed in childhood neurodevelopmental conditions, yet its aetiology is largely unknown. Genetic variation may play a role, but there is a sparsity of studies investigating the presentation of irritability in young people with ND-CNVs. This study aimed to investigate whether there is a difference in irritability in young people with rare ND-CNVs compared to those without ND-CNVs, and to what extent irritability is associated with psychiatric diagnoses and cognitive ability (IQ). Irritability and broader psychopathology were assessed in 485 young people with ND-CNVs and 164 sibling controls, using the child and adolescent psychiatric assessment. Autism was assessed using the social communication questionnaire, and intelligence quotient (IQ) by the Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence. Fifty four percent of young people with ND-CNVs met the threshold for irritability; significantly more than controls (OR = 3.77, CI = 3.07-7.90, p = 5.31 × 10-11). When controlling for the presence of other psychiatric comorbidities, ND-CNV status was still associated with irritability. There was no evidence for a relationship between irritability and IQ. Irritability is an important aspect of the clinical picture in young people with ND-CNVs. This work shows that genetic variation is associated with irritability in young people with ND-CNVs, independent of psychiatric comorbidities or IQ impairment. Clinicians should be aware of this increased risk to inform management and interventions