The effects of early visual experience on cerebral RNA metabolism in the young chick.

1. A method for preparing nuclei in high yield from brain tissue of one-day old chicks was developed. These nuclei appeared to be essentially free from contamination by cytoplasm and endothelial cells. A further fractionation of nuclei according to size (i.e. of presumed neuronal arid glial origins) proved impractical. 2. The activity and some characteristics of the enzyme RNA polymerase in the nuclei were determined and compared to the data available on the same enzyme from other sources. The activity of the chick enzyme was higher than that from mammals but was basically similar in its response to ions in the assay medium. 3.The activity of RNA polymerase was measured in three brain regions of chicks either exposed for 30 minutes to an imprinting stimulus or kept in darkness. There was a 34% higher activity in the forebrain roof of the exposed than the dark-maintained birds. 4. A new set of equipment for exposing chicks to the imprinting stimulus or diffuse light was built and tested, both by the birds' behaviour after exposure and by their relative degrees of incorporation of 14c-uracil into brain RNA. These results were compared to those obtained previously on other equipment and found to be in general agreement. 5. Using the new equipment, the effects of different periods of exposure to the stimulus on the birds’ cerebral RNA polymerase activity were determined. These results were compared with those from the uracil incorporation experiments. 6. Possible extensions of the work are discussed in conjunction with other suggested directions in which such research could be pursued

Learning technology in Scottish higher education ‐ a survey of the views of senior managers, academic staff and ‘experts’

As part of an evaluation of the Scottish Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative (LTDI), a survey was conducted of the views of academic staff, members of computer‐assisted learning and staff development units, and senior managers in all Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs). Most respondents across all subject areas and types of institutions (including those who rated themselves as less experienced with use of C&IT in teaching than their colleagues) believed that learning technology (LT) had moderate to very high potential for improving the way in which students learn. Awareness of the various agencies which have been established to promote its use in HEIs was very high, with few staff being unaware of any of them. Senior staff largely agreed that the value of these approaches lay in the improvement or maintenance of quality rather than in creating efficiency gains. Whilst there was a mostly positive view of the value of learning technology there are still significant barriers to its uptake by staff, the most important being lack of time, infrastructure, software and training, plus a failure (perceived or actual) of institutions to value teaching. The rather pessimistic view of ‘experts’ of the willingness of their less committed colleagues to make use of learning technology contrasted with the generally positive responses obtained from a broad group of 1,000 academic staff on their awareness of and attitudes to it. An analysis of the SHEFC's Teaching Quality Assessment reports during 1992–6 revealed substantial variability between and within subject assessments as to whether specific comments were made about IT provision and its use in learning and teaching

Taking the lead: learners’ experiences across the disciplines

The first year at university is a time of significant flux for students, as they adjust to unfamiliar environments, encounter new approaches to teaching and develop fresh learning strategies on the road to becoming self-directed learners. This sense of uncertainty may be compounded by the need to interact with unfamiliar and frequently complex online systems and technologies, possibly even before arrival. Furthermore, although technology is embedded seamlessly into the personal lives of many of today’s students, recent reports have questioned the widespread assumption that young adults have the sophisticated information skills and digital literacy needed to become autonomous learners. In this paper we present findings from a recently-completed study addressing these important issues. We investigated the utilisation of ICT and learning technologies by first-year undergraduates from a variety of different entry routes and academic disciplines, including Physics, Divinity and Veterinary Medicine, at the University of Edinburgh. The focus of the work was on the impact of technology on students’ transition to university and how this changed as they progressed through their first year. The overall shape of the research was based on a student-centred approach, with students’ own views and opinions placed central to the study; and used a holistic approach in which students’ use of e-learning and technology was set within the context of their learning experiences as a whole. To capture the breadth and complexity of their experiences we used a mixed-mode approach, including a series of reflective diaries recorded by learners (in video, audio or text format) together with surveys and focus groups. Students do not form a homogenous group, and findings in this area are inevitably complex. They have high expectations and are generally confident with technology; however, they may not always recognise technology’s potential to support and enhance learning. The term e-learning does not mean much to them; there is simply learning with strands of technology running through. This is reflected in a strong desire for face-to-face contact, with technology used to supplement and enhance this. Students are social, with informal group learning often facilitated by technology. They find their comfort zones and ways of working that are personal to them, and use technology to suit their own way of learning

A STUDENT-CENTERED APPROACH TO IDEAS GENERATION FOR PROJECTS: IS IT A THREAT TO CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION?

The conceptual framework of the nature of learning in final year undergraduate projects (FYP) has not been clearly defined. Fostering creativity in undergraduate projects, and particularly in their proposals for the projects is challenging. Defining what is viewed by assessors as ‘creative’ can be less precise than other features, such as feasibility and resourcing. This study focused on supports given to students in developing high quality proposals for their FYP in computer science, and the supports for teachers to assess this new feature.  Providing these supports requires development of new approaches, as assessment of the proposal is not a common practice in other universities which offer undergraduate programme of Computer Science. A new assessment rubric for evaluating the proposals was developed for both teachers and students, and material extracted from past project proposals (of differing quality) was mapped to the assessment criteria and presented as an online support system.  Student and teacher feedback was gathered at all stages. The concept of combining and reorganizing existing knowledge to produce creative ideas is discussed, and both the literature review and the research findings from this study may be of value to researchers interested in FYP and teachers wishing to develop such modules. Keywords: final year project, student –centered, creativity, assessment, inquiry-based learning.Cite as: Haji Suhaili, W.S., Haywood, J. (2017). A student-centered approach to ideas generation for projects: Is it a threat to creativity and innovation? Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2(1), 13-26.  http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol2iss1pp13-2

Research Data Management Initiatives at University of Edinburgh

During the last decade, national and international attention has been increasingly focused on issues of research data management and access to publicly funded research data. The pressure brought to bear on researchers to improve their data management and data sharing practice has come from research funders seeking to add value to expensive research and solve cross-disciplinary grand challenges; publishers seeking to be responsive to calls for transparency and reproducibility of the scientific record; and the public seeking to gain and re-use knowledge for their own purposes using new online tools. Meanwhile higher education institutions have been rather reluctant to assert their role in either incentivising or supporting their academic staff in meeting these more demanding requirements for research practice, partly due to lack of knowledge as to how to provide suitable assistance or facilities for data storage and curation/preservation. This paper discusses the activities and drivers behind one institution’s recent attempts to address this gap, with reflection on lessons learned and future direction

LeActiveMath

LeActiveMath (Language-Enhanced, User-Adaptive, Interactive eLearning for Mathematics) is an interdisciplinary European effort that develops an internationalized Web-based intelligent e-Learning system for mathematics that can be used in high school and university as well as for self study. The many technological innovations serve a moderate constructivist and competency-based pedagogical approach. LeActiveMath integrates a number of services and tools and advances the state-of-the-art in semantic search and other usages of semantic representations, presentation of maths on the Web, course generation, coherence of material, exercise selection, modeling of motivation, modeling of competencies, annotation and structure of exercises, feedback and tutorial dialogues in exercises, First evaluations are completed and large ones ahead

Differences in online study behaviour between sub-populations of MOOC learners

Se ha recogido información de los alumnos que han seguido 6 cursos MOOC, ofertados por segunda vez en 2013-14, en la plataforma Coursera de la Universidad de Edimburgo. Se manejaron dos fuentes de información para este estudio: encuestas voluntarias que respondieron los estudiantes con información sobre sí mismos y sus intenciones de estudio, y datos sobre los comportamientos del alumno, incluyendo el rendimiento en los cursos, recogidos en el software de la plataforma durante las entregas de tareas en el mismo MOOC. Se analizaron tres aspectos sobre las características y el comportamientos del alumno: si los estudiantes que realizaron el mismo MOOC dos veces, la segunda vez lo cursa mejor; si los estudiantes logran alcanzar las metas que indicaron que tenían antes de que comenzara el curso, en particular, la consecución de una Declaración de Logro (SoA), y si los alumnos que permanecieron en los MOOCs y ganaron SOAS manifiestan diferentes comportamientos con respecto al uso de las funciones online de la plataforma MOOC. Por el reducido número de alumnos que repiten MOOC, la mayoría procedieron de los que habían estado activos en su primera experiencia de estudio, y de los que no estuvieron activos en su primera experiencia, tampoco fueron activos en su segunda experiencia, lo que sugiere razones estructurales ante su falta de actividad. Solo un pequeño número de estudiantes que repitieron MOOC obtuvo un segundo SOA. Se dio una muy fuerte relación entre edad y la probabilidad de obtener un SOA, ya que los estudiantes más jóvenes manifiestan menos éxito en obtener un SOA como resultado. En relación al uso de herramientas en línea, además de ver vídeos, en los que los estudiantes que no alcanzaron un SOA eran similares a los que lo hicieron, los estudiantes que obtienen un SOA utilizan las herramientas en línea con más frecuencia, con un modo particular de lectura y participación en los foros en línea. Se exponen las implicaciones para el diseño y desarrollo de estos cursos

Open learning recognition in traditional universities

En la actualidad existe un gran interés sobre los materiales educativos en abierto, en todas sus modalidades: repositorios institucionales OCW, recursos sueltos, o incluso más recientemente como cursos masivos abiertos (los también llamados MOOC). Todo este panorama ha generado un importante debate acerca de su efectividad en términos de aprendizaje, sostenibilidad y sobre todo el papel que en este contexto las instituciones de educación superior desempeñan. Entendemos que serán los propios alumnos interesados en sacar el máximo provecho a sus estudios (formales e informales) los que demandarán a las universidades que se les reconozcan sus competencias y habilidades. En este artículo nos ponemos desde el punto de vista de la universidad que se plantea actuar como entidad certificadora de cursos basados en OER, y describimos los distintos escenarios. Ante todo la institución debe saber a qué se enfrenta y cuáles son las casuísticas existentes. Desde la experiencia del proyecto europeo OERtest, en el que cinco instituciones de educación superior han realizado una experiencia piloto, podemos ofrecer unas conclusiones en cuanto a la viabilidad de certificar y reconocer créditos cuando un alumno de la propia institución (o bien externo) solicita a la universidad este servicio.At present, there is great interest over the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) in all of its forms: OpenCourseware repositories OCW, spare open resources, or even more recently as Massive Online Open Courses (also called MOOC). This panorama has generated considerable debate about their effectiveness in terms of learning, sustainability and especially the role that higher education institutions play in this context. We understand that most of the students are interested in making the most of their education (formal and informal), and that will require universities to recognize their skills and abilities. In this article we start from the point of view of the university as a certifying OER-based institution, and we describe the different scenarios that arises. First of all the institution should know what is facing and what are the existing scenarios. From the experience of the European project OERtest, in which five higher education institutions have conducted a pilot on this issue, we can offer some conclusions regarding the feasibility of certifying and award credits to a student (internal or external to the institution when this service is requested.Este proyecto ha sido parcialmente financiado con el proyecto Europeo de EACEA Lifelong Learning Program OERtest: Testing an Open Education Resource Framework for Europe (agreement 510718-LLP-2010-ES-ERASMUS-EVC)