The direction of reflection: helping students make sense of work placements.

When students are asked to write an account reflecting on a work placement or internship, they have the opportunity to consider their period of work experience from a number of perspectives. For example, they could concentrate on the skills they developed or honed during the placement, which aspects of the role they found challenging, how they believe they benefited from the placement experience, the contribution they feel they made to the host organisation, the ways in which they applied learning from their studies to the workplace, and/or how the placement has influenced their thinking about their future career. However, the reality is that assessors are often left lamenting the quality of the reflective accounts produced by students. A common criticism is that students tend to be descriptive rather than analytical, focusing more on documenting the tasks they undertook while on placement, or simply listing skills without providing clear supporting evidence of how they were developed. It seems students often struggle with making links between their placements and other aspects of their studies and personal development. With a view to providing students with guidance and support to enhance their reflective practice and writing skills, a structured approach to compiling a reflective account of a placement or internship experience is underway. This approach concentrates on direction of thinking and on providing guidance on making links between work, study, career plans and so on. An overview of this structured approach is presented in the paper. It is anticipated that it will make an important contribution to helping students make greater sense of their work placement experiences in the wider context of their own development and preparation for graduate employment. The research presented in this paper forms part of a wider study on developing student skills in reflection

From Data Capture to Code Generation: Tools for Entity Modeling

The entity-relationship approach to conceptual modelling has long been at the heart of information systems design. Most automated tools and CASE environments created to support database design tend to start at the conceptual modelling stage. This assumes that somehow the analyst has been able to deduce, from the initial requirements specification, what entities are to form part of the system and how they are interrelated. We bring together in this paper two strands of our research to present a set of prototype tools to support the major stages of database design, starting with the tasks of document analysis and data capture, and progressing through to code generation. We conclude with a proposal for an integrated environment for database design

Access to learning opportunities for residents in care homes: reviewing the challenges and possibilities.

International, national and regional policy documents and key reports espouse the benefits of lifelong learning and people's rights to it, yet little attention has been given to the learning needs of frail older people in nursing (care) homes. People living in care have frequently been cited as a forgotten sector of the community and this is apparent in the provision of learning opportunities. It appears that the learning needs of this population are largely ignored. This paper suggests that when the door of the care home is opened, the door to learning closes. The aim of this paper is to add to a small but growing body of literature on meeting the learning needs of people in long-term care. To investigate the topic, a scoping review of the literature (2002-2020) and a search of policy and key papers (1990-2020) were conducted. The results show a paucity of literature on the topic, which leads to the conclusion that many residents in nursing (care) homes are marginalised when it comes to furthering their learning requirements. This can be ascribed to limited resources in the care home sector but also suggests a form of ageism. The results show four themes that may contribute to designing a learning culture in care: Culture of learning vs culture of care; Learning vs recreational activity; Surviving vs thriving in care; and Outside vs care home communities. The paper concludes by recommending that links to community learning opportunities are vital for people in care to have their learning needs met

Reading, writing and apprenticeships: developing an authentic reading and assessment strategy for graduate apprenticeships.

The recent launch of graduate apprenticeships in Scotland requires participating universities to collaborate closely with employers to design and develop innovative curricula to enable apprentices to acquire new knowledge and develop relevant skills both in a traditional university learning and teaching setting as well as in the workplace. This paper argues that the additional context of learning situated in the workplace provides a particular impetus to consider and reflect the requirement and deployment of authentic reading strategies and authentic assessment regimes as essential design elements in these programmes. We present a discussion of the approach we are adopting to designing curricula and preparing learning and assessment resources for graduate apprenticeships in Business Management and Business Management: Financial Services. We focus here specifically on our plans for helping apprentices on these programmes to navigate the plethora of information resources available to them and develop effective reading strategies and information literacy skills in both academic and professional contexts. We indicate how the enhancement of these skills forms an important precursor to tackling the authentic assessments designed for apprentices to evidence their professional and academic learning during their apprenticeships. Our planning and design activity draws first on aspects of our recent research into reading skills and strategies among professionals and business students, as well as on our established track record of delivering a variety of work-based learning programmes. It is envisaged that findings and lessons learned from our work will help guide and inform other institutions across the UK as they establish curricula for graduate or degree apprenticeships

Aligning the information security policy with the strategic information systems plan

Two of the most important documents for ensuring the effective deployment of information systems and technologies within the modern business enterprise are the strategic information systems plan (SISP) and the information security policy. The strategic information systems plan ensures that new systems and technologies are deployed in a way that will support an organisation’s strategic goals whilst the information security policy provides a framework to ensure that systems are developed and operated in a secure manner. To date, the literature with regard to the formulation of the information security policy has tended to ignore its important relationship with the strategic information systems plan, and vice versa. In this paper we argue that these two important policy documents should be explicitly and carefully aligned to ensure that the outcomes of strategically important information system initiatives are not compromised by problems with their security

An investigation into the uptake, content, dissemination and impact of information security policies in large UK-based organizations

Despite its widely acknowledged importance, the information security policy has not, to date, been the subject of explicit, empirical scrutiny, in the academic literature. To help fill this gap an exploratory research project was initiated that sought to investigate the uptake, content, dissemination and impact of information security policies in large UK-based organizations. The results of this research have indicated that whilst policies are now fairly common, at least amongst our sample, there is still a high degree of variety in terms of their content and dissemination

The application of information security policies in large UK-based organizations: an exploratory investigation

Despite its widely acknowledged importance, the information security policy has not, to date, been the subject of explicit, empirical scrutiny, in the academic literature. To help fill this gap an exploratory research project was initiated that sought to investigate the uptake, content, dissemination and impact of information security policies. To this end, a questionnaire was mailed to senior IS executives, in large UK-based organizations, and 208 valid responses were received. The results of this research have indicated that whilst policies are now fairly common, at least amongst our sample, there is still a high degree of variety in terms of their content and dissemination

Benevolent gang leaders, commercial escapees and sleepers: a conceptual framework for Scottish social enterprise leadership engaging with the 'new society'.

This exploratory research study examines the experiences of a purposive sample of leaders of Social Enterprises (SEs) in Scotland to discover how leaders deal with the challenges of running this type of organisation at a period of financial constraint, yet where SE is proposed by politicians as a panacea for dealing with social and community development. The method consists of semi-structured interviews undertaken with a purposive sample of leaders from a range of SEs. Findings suggest that respondents are aware of, and seeking to address, threats to their existence from funding cuts. There are differences regarding approach or emphasis, and the challenge of balancing philanthropy with commercial health seems significantly to impact on the design and purpose of organisations. The best leadership practice combines ideological fervour with commercial acumen. The ability of SEs to survive depends not only on the quality of their outputs, but also on flexibility of structure and culture and stakeholder commitment. Good leaders are aware of these complexities and seek to respond to them. Recommendations are made for development interventions to support SEs as they deal with the challenges described above. If the future of SE in Britain relies on its ability to operate commercially, this study offers original and useful insights into some of the challenges for leaders in achieving their aims, not least that of securing survival. At an early stage of the Conservative administration, and its promotion of the so-called Big Society theme, this study sheds unique light on the perceptions of those who might carry this vision forward, and the challenges they face. Further research with a wider sample is proposed to extend understanding of the issues

Journals and jottings on entrepreneurial learning journeys.

Review of relevant literature highlighted that entrepreneurs need help to reflect on, and make sense of, the challenges and opportunities that occur during the entrepreneurial process. For students who are unfamiliar with the entrepreneurial process, the notion of reflection can be even more daunting. The project outlined in this paper was set up to explore the design and development of learning resources to help students make sense of the complexities of an entrepreneur's learning environment, and to develop effective reflection habits as a means to improving their own entrepreneurial practice. A guided approach to reflective practice was devised for students for use as they enact the entrepreneurial process during their venture creation projects. Although a full evaluation of the project is not yet complete, initial results indicate that students are finding the approach helpful, their fluency in reflection is increased and their understanding of the value of 'chewing over' entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities has grown. The breadth and depth of their learning environment seems to be clearer to them, and the importance of developing the habit of reflection is taken on board. Wider application of the project outcomes and outputs is envisaged among nascent entrepreneurs in mentoring / business advisory contexts.;\\$aEntrepreneurship education; Experiential learning; Informal learning; Incidental learning; Professional development; Learning journal; Reflective practice; Enactmen

Reinforcing the security of corporate information resources: a critical review of the role of the acceptable use policy

Increasingly users are seen as the weak link in the chain, when it comes to the security of corporate information. Should the users of computer systems act in any inappropriate or insecure manner, then they may put their employers in danger of financial losses, information degradation or litigation, and themselves in danger of dismissal or prosecution. This is a particularly important concern for knowledge-intensive organisations, such as Universities, as the effective conduct of their core teaching and research activities is becoming ever more reliant on the availability, integrity and accuracy of computer-based information resources. One increasingly important mechanism for reducing the occurrence of inappropriate behaviours, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal ‘acceptable use policy (AUP). Whilst the AUP has attracted some academic interest, it has tended to be prescriptive and overly focussed on the role of the Internet, and there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the purpose, positioning or content of real acceptable use policies. The broad aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to fill this gap in the literature by critically examining the structure and composition of a sample of authentic policies – taken from the higher education sector - rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: 1) the primary role of the AUP appears to be as a mechanism for dealing with unacceptable behaviour, rather than proactively promoting desirable and effective security behaviours, and 2) the wide variation found in the coverage and positioning of the reviewed policies is unlikely to be fostering a coherent approach to security management, across the higher education sector