Talking across the Chasm: Opening up Higher Education against the Policy Backdrop of the Knowledge Economy

The focus of this chapter is on the implications of the discourse of marketisation in higher education (HE) for academics who practise (or wish to practise) open education in English universities. Academics in favour of open education often face barriers to implementing openness in practice as a direct result of national policy, which emphasises competition and exclusivity in contrast to the collaboration and inclusivity at the heart of the open education agenda. One recent policy development, in particular, is likely to increase these barriers: the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). To explore these differences, this chapter presents a comparative critical discourse analysis of the UK government’s White Paper for the TEF, and a Science for Policy report by the European Commission on opening up education

The role of America as a research space according to anales de historia natural

En el contexto tanto de la nacionalización de las culturas y ciencias europeas como de la prensa científica española —Anales de Historia Nacional (1799-1804)— se comenta la formación de un espacio epistemológico en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII: las colonias americanas. «Espacio epistemológico» significa un ámbito que aporta campos de investigación, que inicia la comunicación científica y que fomenta la transferencia cultural entre las naciones que lo integran o bien participan en él. En este sentido el Nuevo Mundo representa en los Anales una zona que se añade a la geografía epistemológica de Europa y que dentro del marco de la llamada «polémica sobre la ciencia española» se perfila como herencia y aliciente de la tradición científica de España

Refugees and Online Engagement in Higher Education: A Capabilitarian Model

There are almost 90 million forced migrants around the world, many of whom could benefit from online higher education, and yet there is evidence that displaced people face challenges in online learning environments. This paper reports on a study in the context of a UK university’s master’s-level distance learning program that offers Sanctuary Scholarships to forced migrants. The study’s aims were: (1) to identify practical ways in which higher education institutions can support displaced learners to engage in online learning, and (2) to add to our theoretical understanding of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ engagement in online degree programs. The methodology included a theoretical and an empirical component. In the theoretical analysis, the indicators from Redmond et al.’s (2018) Online Engagement Framework were mapped onto capability lists drawn from the literature on the Capability Approach, generating a set of proposed underpinning capabilities for online engagement. The empirical analysis, which was carried out in parallel, was based on semi-structured interviews with ten online Sanctuary Scholars. Thematic analysis of the empirical data showed how the research participants had enacted behavioral, emotional, cognitive, social, and collaborative engagement and revealed some of the ways in which engagement fueled further engagement, alongside the mediating role of personal agency. When combined with the theoretical analysis, the findings enabled the creation of a capabilitarian online engagement model. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for institutional policies and practices around learning design and delivery to support online engagement among displaced learners, and potentially also among other underrepresented students

Lecture capture literature review: A review of the literature from 2012-2015

Lecture capture literature review: A review of the literature from 2012-201

Treatment satisfaction and psychological well-being with insulin glargine compared with NPH in patients with Type 1 diabetes

Aims: To assess satisfaction with treatment and psychological well-being associated with insulin glargine and NPH. Insulin glargine, a new long-acting insulin analogue, provides constant, peakless insulin release following once-daily administration and is associated with fewer hypoglycaemic episodes, despite metabolic control equivalent to that achieved with NPH human basal insulin. Methods: The Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) and Well-being Questionnaire (W-BQ) were completed at baseline and at weeks 8, 20 or 28 by 517 patients with Type 1 diabetes participating in a randomized, controlled European trial comparing insulin glargine and NPH. Analysis of covariance was performed on change from baseline scores (main effects: treatment and pooled site; covariate: baseline scores). Results: Treatment Satisfaction improved with insulin glargine at all time points, including endpoint, but deteriorated slightly with NPH. These differences were significant throughout the study (change from baseline to endpoint: +1.27 vs. –0.56; p = 0.0001). Outcomes were better with insulin glargine for the DTSQ items, Perceived Frequency of Hyperglycaemia and Hypoglycaemia, with statistically significant differences at week 28 and endpoint for hyperglycaemia (p = 0.0373 and 0.0379) and at week 20 for hypoglycaemia (p = 0.0024). There was no difference in psychological well-being between the treatment groups, with mean scores increasing in both. Conclusions: Study participants had treatment-independent improvements in General Well-being. Advantages for insulin glargine were seen in significantly improved Treatment Satisfaction throughout the study, together with lower Perceived Frequency of Hyperglycaemia than for patients on NPH, without a significant increase in Perceived Frequency of Hypoglycaemia

Refugees’ Online Learning Engagement in Higher Education:A Capabilitarian Analysis

There are almost 90 million forced migrants globally, many of whom could benefit from online higher education; yet evidence suggests extremely low retention rates of displaced people in online learning. Since retention is often seen as being linked to engagement, this study aimed to understand the nature of student engagement by displaced learners in online higher education (HE) and to identify practical ways in which higher education institutions (HEIs) can support displaced learners to engage in online learning. The methodology included both empirical and theoretical components. The empirical study focused on a qualitative analysis of the lived experiences of ten online Sanctuary Scholars enrolled on an online master’s degree with a UK university. The theoretical analysis involved integrating concepts related to online engagement from the HE literature with those from the Capability Approach. A thematic analysis of the empirical data found that, while conversion factors such as trauma and “lifeload” presented obstacles for all the Sanctuary Scholars, some graduated, whereas others withdrew from the programme without completing it. The findings point to a nuanced web of interactions between resources, enablers and constraints (positive and negative conversion factors), capabilities, engagement and personal agency for each research participant. The original contribution of this thesis is that it proposes a Capabilitarian Online Engagement Model, which shows how engagement along four dimensions is underpinned by specific capabilities; it also illustrates how engagement fuels the capability for further engagement and highlights the role of student agency. The study contributes to theoretical understanding of displaced learners’ engagement in online learning, while practically, it offers insights to HEIs for fostering online engagement. Socially, the thesis adds to the growing body of open research in the social sciences

Findings from a Case Study on Refugees Using MOOCs to (Re)enter Higher Education

This paper presents a case study evaluating the online learning experience of ten refugees on MOOCs. Qualitative data were collected from the learners, generating a set of 43 statements depicting the learners’ experience of learning, which were analysed using an augmented Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework. The key findings show that learners particularly desired teaching presence in terms of facilitation and feedback on their progress; they viewed online social presence as being important but generally not well managed in MOOCs; and they expressed cognitive presence mainly in terms of the selection and use of information sources. Learning presence (the additional element of the “augmented” CoI framework) was described primarily in terms of the importance of goal-setting and planning. The implications for organisations supporting refugees and other learners in disadvantaged circumstances on MOOCs are discussed

The impact of mega sport’s events on tourism sector. The case of Euro 2012 in Pomerania region

The research reported in this paper focused on the relationship between UEFA Euro in Poland and the decisions taken by representatives of SMEs. In order to evaluate the link between organisation of the Euro 2012 in Poland and the entrepreneurs’ decisions, a questionnaire-based survey has been conducted. The main purpose was to identify the entrepreneurs’ stance with respect to the opportunities and threats connected with organisation of the Euro 2012. As many as 87% of the surveyed companies had not taken any action before the final tournament, even though they treated the event as a chance to develop. Because of football matches played in Pomerania the hotel business was an industry which expected the greatest benefits

Using a community of practice in higher education: Understanding the demographics of participation and impact

Research in the higher education literature argues that communities of practice (CoPs) can be effective staff development by helping academics to share teaching experiences and innovations. One of the key proposed benefits of CoPs involves the opportunity for early-career practitioners to learn from more experienced colleagues. This raises the question as to whether the benefits of a CoP differ across academics according to their teaching experience, seniority, or other demographic features. After establishing a CoP within a highly-ranked UK business school, this paper provides a statistical analysis of its ability to engage and influence different academics. As consistent with our hypothesis, the main findings show that that: i) junior staff were significantly more likely to participate in the CoP than senior staff, and ii) conditional on participation, junior participants were also more likely to engage with the CoP by transferring an idea they had learned into their teaching practice

América como espacio exploratorio en los Anales de Historia Natural

Against the background of the nationalization of European civilizations and sciences, the article focuses on the formation of a new epistemological space at the end of the eighteenth century: the American colonies of Spain. Special attention is paid to the scientific press —the Anales de Historia Nacional (1799-1804). A «new epistemologicalspace» includes opening up new fields of investigation with the aim of building scientific communities and promoting cultural transference between the nations that form part of that space. In the Anales, the New World is thus represented as an area, which is added to the European epistemological geography and which, considering the «polemics about Spanish sciences», is appropriate to profile the heritage and challenge of the own national tradition.En el contexto tanto de la nacionalización de las culturas y ciencias europeas como de la prensa científica española —Anales de Historia Nacional (1799-1804)— se comenta la formación de un espacio epistemológico en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII: las colonias americanas. «Espacio epistemológico» significa un ámbito que aporta campos de investigación, que inicia la comunicación científica y que fomenta la transferencia cultural entre las naciones que lo integran o bien participan en él. En este sentido el Nuevo Mundo representa en los Anales una zona que se añade a la geografía epistemológica de Europa y que dentro del marco de la llamada «polémica sobre la ciencia española» se perfila como herencia y aliciente de la tradición científica de España