Reflections on the 2017 HEA STEM conference: graduate employability challenges and solutions

Professor Marshall, in her conference opening remarks, asked ‘What is a university for?’ She then discussed the need for higher education to develop graduates who can offer solutions to global challenges, but that this needs to include not only core skills for each discipline but also wider graduate skills that employers require. Professor Wakeham, in his keynote, questioned whether our current approach to employability development is working, for STEM undergraduates, highlighting the poor employment rates for STEM UK graduates. In this Conference Reflection article, we will respond to the issues raised above by considering what the overarching challenges are for universities trying to teach employability and graduateness. Drawing on the conference keynotes, employer-led reports and using the reviews of Shadbolt and Wakeham, we will consider what problems and issues exist and what solutions are being devised, reflecting on the successes and difficulties reported on at the Manchester conference

Postfeminist Hegemony in a Precarious World: Lessons in Neoliberal Survival from RuPaul’s Drag Race

The popularity of the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race is often framed as evidence of Western societies’ increasing tolerance towards queer identities. This paper instead considers the ideological cost of this mainstream success, arguing that the show does not successfully challenge dominant heteronormative values. In light of Rosalind Gill’s work on postfeminism, it will be argued that the show’s format calls upon contestants (and viewers) to conform to a postfeminist ideal that valorises normative femininity and reaffirms the gender binary. Through its analysis of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I further intend to develop our understanding of the relationship between neoliberalism and postfeminism. It will be argued that neoliberalism conditions postfeminism and yet at the same time neoliberalism is in some ways dependent on postfeminism for its own survival. Thus, this paper will demonstrate the importance of caution with regard to superficially subversive cultural objects in an era which has witnessed the increasing entanglement of progressive and regressive politics

Edge-colourings of graphs

All the results in this thesis are concerned with the classification of graphs by their chromatic class. We first extend earlier results of Fiorini and others to give a complete list of critical graphs of order at most ten. We give conditions for extending the edge-colouring of a nearly complete subgraph to the whole graph and use this result to prove a special case of Vizing's conjecture. We also use other methods to solve further cases of this conjecture. A major part of the thesis classifies those graphs with at most 4 vertices of maximum degree and this work is generalised to graphs with r vertices of maximum degree. We also completely classify all regular graphs G with degree at least 6/7|V(G)|. Finally we give some examples of even order critical graphs and introduce the concept of a supersnark

Development of nanoflow liquid chromatography-nanoelectrospray ionization mass spectrometry methodology for improved urine metabolomics

Global metabolomic analysis of urine offers great potential for detection of early warning markers of disease. Current methods focus on rapid sample preparation and high throughput analyses at the expense of the detection of low abundance metabolites. The aim of this study was to develop sensitive analytical methods for metabolomic profiling. Methods were developed to use nanoflow ultra high performance liquid chromatography-nanospray ionization-mass spectrometry (nUHPLC-nESI-TOFMS), normally used for proteomics, for metabolomic analyses of urine samples. Compared with a conventional UHPLC-ESI-TOFMS, the use of a nanoflow-nanospray platform increased the sensitivity to a standard mixture of metabolites by 2-2000 fold. Highly repeatable results for retention time and metabolome peak area were achieved, where the coefficients of variation were <0.2% and <30% respectively for the majority of peaks present in the urine metabolome. To further increase sensitivity and enable small injection volumes, a sample preparation method was developed using polymeric anion and cation exchange mixed mode solid phase extraction with pre-concentration. Combined with the nano platform, this enabled the detection of low abundance signalling molecules (estrogens, eicosanoids and unconjugated androgens) not usually detected with conventional methods. A pre-analysis normalisation technique based on osmolality concentrations was used to reduce sample variability due to differing urine concentrations. These methods were used to investigate the metabolomic consequences of HIV infection and patient response to combined antiretroviral therapy (cART). No significant differences in metabolomic profiles between HIV positive and negative patients were observed. However, disruption of bile acid profiles and decreased concentrations of selected carnitines, steroid conjugates, polypeptides and nucleosides were detected in patients on cART therapy indicating disrupted lipid and protein metabolism but improved immunological function associated with antiretroviral medication. These finding highlight the importance of these newly developed SPE sample preparation and nUHPLC-nESI-TOFMS analysis methods for global profiling of the urinary metabolome

Investigation of a novel elastic-mechanical wheel transmission under light duty conditions

A novel 'Elastic Engagement and Friction Coupled' (EEFC) mechanical transmission has been proposed recently in which the power is transmitted through elastic tines on the surfaces of the driving and driven wheels. This study introduces new variations of EEFC mechanical wheel transmission ( broadly emulating a gear-pair) with small contact areas for use under light duty conditions. Because a drive of this type inevitably has a strong statistical component, theoretical analysis of the geometrical and mechanical relationships has been attempted by using linear modeling and empirical weightings. Several simple forms of the EEFC wheel transmission are tested under limiting ( slip) conditions for transmission force and transmission coefficients against normal load. Normalized standard deviation of these parameters is used to summarize noise performance. Models and experiments are in reasonable agreement, suggesting that the model parameters reflect important design considerations. EEFC transmissions appear well suited to force regimes of a few tenths of a newton and to have potential for use in, for example, millimetre-scale robots

Online assessment: supported learning or “just do it”?

In this paper we address moves to online assessment using interactive computer marked assignments (iCMAs). At the Open University, these tests offer the student 3 tries at each question with increasing amounts of feedback, and also multiple attempts at each assignment are allowed. The research (HEA funded) aims to investigate students’ motivations towards and views on the tests, and their patterns of engagement with them. Focus group data on a small sample, survey data on a larger sample and VLE statistical data across the whole cohort (2500 students) were all acquired. A bare majority of respondents were using the iCMAs to review learning, but engagement with feedback was less certain. Most students did not attempt to increase their score after the first attempt. Whilst completing iCMAs was found to be fun, this did not adequately replace tutor feedback and interaction

Consistency v autonomy: effective feedback to a very large cohort

In this paper, we report on an on-going project to change the culture of tutor feedback at the Open University, based on a new Level 1 Computing and IT module, My Digital Life, which currently has 4000 students enrolled, supported and assessed by a network of over 200 regional tutors. At Level 1, effective feedback on assessment is essential for students’ retention and progression. However, the OU’s need to deal with such large cohorts has led to an assessment culture that tends towards consistency across multiple markers, with highly prescriptive marking guides, heavily geared to the allocation of marks, rather than encouraging tutors to provide focussed and constructive feedback. The project attempts to redress the balance towards tutor autonomy with a new style of assessment material, intended to develop students’ core skills and self-directed, reflective learning, and a new style of marking guides, focussed on promoting future-altering feedback. This new strategy is being evaluated through structured interviews with a group of tutors

The experiences of teachers working with a collaborative teaching strategy

M.Ed.Several strategies have been mooted as means of improving teaching and learning in South African schools. The National Department of Education’s Foundations for Learning Campaign, launched in 2008 and the recent announced Schooling 2025 strategy are examples. In this research report I argue that the success of any school improvement plan aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning hinges on the extent to which teachers are able or willing to implement the measures required of them. I argue that changing the way teachers learn to teach by establishing communities of practice and working in collaborative groups in schools, offers a possible panacea. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore the experiences of teachers working in a Collaborative Teaching Strategy (CTS) aimed at improving teachers’ performance in the classroom. This qualitative research project was grounded in an interpretive paradigm and made use of semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group interview to generate data. The constant comparative method of data analysis was used to search for categories and sub-categories of meaning in the data. The findings indicate that while there are significant benefits for teachers working in collaborative groups, there are also several serious constraints. On the positive side, participants in the research experienced the mutual support and the sharing of ideas that emerged from collaborative interactions as affirmation of their expertise and knowledge. In addition, teachers viewed working in collaboration with others as a professional and personal development opportunity. Finding time to collaborate and the emergence of some resistance to collaborative work were identified as constraints. Some teachers felt their individuality and creativity to be restricted by collaborative work. Further, individual personalities impacted negatively on collaboration with tensions emerging between teachers as a result of differing personal experience, expertise, knowledge, authority and values, approaches and benefits about teaching and learning. This resulted in instances of pseudo-collaboration. Also misconceptions about what it means to collaborate about teaching created difficulties for some teachers. The main implication arising from the research project is that availability of time is critical to effective collaboration. In addition, detailed guidance in terms of how and what teachers should be doing during collaborative activities appears necessary. Next, due consideration should be accorded to personality types and working relationships so that collaborative partners and groups can be mindfully structured and provided with training to enable effective work in teams. Equitable workloads and equal access to teaching resources is essential. Finally, mutual respect for each other regardless of experience, expertise, position, belief or opinion is a prerequisite for successful collaboration about the various and varied tasks of teaching