433 research outputs found
Mediation, translation and local ecologies: understanding the impact of policy levers on FE colleges
This article reports the views of managers and tutors on the role of policy âleversâ on teaching, learning, and inclusion in colleges of Further Education (FE) in our research project, âThe impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the Learning and Skills Sector (LSS)â.i Using data from five research visits conducted over two years in eight FE learning sites, we explore the processes by which colleges âmediateâ and âtranslateâ national policy levers and how this affects their ability to respond to local need. The paper tentatively develops three related concepts/metaphors to explain the complexity of the policy/college interface â âthe process of mediationâ, âacts of translationâ and âlocal ecologiesâ. We found that policy levers interacted with a complex set of national, local and institutional factors as colleges responded to pressures from the external environment and turned these into internal plans, systems and practices. We conclude by suggesting that national policy-makers, who design national policy levers, may not be fully aware of these complexities and we make the case for the benefits of greater local control over policy levers, where these interactions are better understood
'The heart of what we do': policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector
One of the stated aims of government policy in England is to put teaching, training,and learning at the heart of the learning and skills system. This paper provides a critical review of policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector over the past five years. It draws upon data collected and analysed in the early stages of an ESRC-funded Teaching and Learning Research Programme project. Using evidence from policy sources, we argue that despite policy rhetoric about devolution of responsibility to the 'front line', the dominant 'images' that government has of putting teaching, learning and assessment at the heart of the Learning and Skills Sector involves a narrow concept of learning and skills; an idealisation of learner agency lacking an appreciation of the pivotal role of the learner/tutor relationship and a top-down view of change in which central government agencies are relied on to secure education standards
Diversity, Dilemmas and Transformation in Post-Compulsory Education: an Introduction to the Special Issue on Work Based Research
As governments recognize the central place of post-compulsory education in regenerating and modernizing the economic and social fabric of society (BIS 2008), it is appropriate for us as educational researchers to question whether this recognition beckons a different role for research in post-compulsory education. Much of this research is work based, using a broad interpretation of this term, and the majority of articles received by this journal (though the proportion published is a lower one) reflect this balance. Work based research in education poses particular challenges for the researcher and the practitioner, whether the focus is practitioner research, in which case the dilemmas can centre on potential role conflict between practitioner and researcher roles, or whether the work based research is observational â analyzing othersâ professional practice, in which case the dilemmas can centre on power relations between researcher and researched, the politics of research, and ethical questions around care for participants and the degree of their involvement or non-involvement in the total research enterprise. This article reviews the prospects for work based research in post-compulsory education and introduces the articles in this special issue
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Status of the Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) diagnostic system
This paper presents the current status of the Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) diagnostics system. For the initial instruments active on TMX-U, the expansions or upgrades that have been implemented are outlined. For the newly added systems, more implementation details are presented
âFurther education, future prosperity? The Implications of Marketisation on Further Education Working Practicesâ
© 2017 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education (ARPCE). This paper examines how the marketised funding system of vocational further education is affecting lecturersâ working practices and professional integrity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a number of lecturing staff and managers within two vocational areas at an English FE college to examine the implications of working under the current funding regime. The conclusions drawn reflect the complexity of working within FE showing how lecturers are frequently placed in a professional dilemma between securing future funding (by ensuring high levels of retention and achievement) and compromising their professional integrity and working practices in order to do so. A key finding here was the inherent tension between professional integrity and funding requirements apparently directly opposing âgoodâ practice. This means FE professionals experience what Whitehead called âa living contradictionâ in their working lives, increasing stress levels and diminishing their sense of professionalism
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Artifical intelligence techniques for tuning linear induction accelerators
We developed an expert system that acts as an intelligent assistant for tuning particle beam generators called MAESTRO, Model and Expert System Resource for Operators. MAESTRO maintains a knowledge base of the accelerator containing not only the interconnections of the beamline components, but also their physical attributes such as measured magnetic tilts, offsets, and field profiles. MAESTRO incorporates particle trajectory and beam envelope models which are coupled to the knowledge base permitting large numbers of real-time orbit and envelope calculations in the control-room environment. To date we have used this capability in three ways: First, to implement a tuning algorithm for minimizing transverse beam motion. Second, to produce a beam waist with arbitrary radius at the entrance to a brightness diagnostic. And finally, to measure beam energy along the accelerator by fitting orbits to focusing and steering sweeps
Winking at Facebook: capturing digitally-mediated classroom learning
In this article I present an innovative combination of methods, used in a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a Sixth Form College in north-west England. Through a project in which teacher-researcher and student-participants co-constructed a Facebook group page about the studentsâ scaffolded research into dyslexia, the study examined the educational affordances of a digitally-mediated social network. Combining multiple data-collection methods including participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, video recordings, dynamic screen capture (Cox, 2007), protocol analysis (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) helped to capture in detail multiple perspectives on the learning that happened in the classroom over the five weeks of the research project's lifetime. Aggregating the resulting data in turn enabled meticulous, comprehensive analysis and rigorous theorising. The article presents and analyses excerpts from the data which help to illustrate the insights gained into one participant's learning trajectory. I argue that the combination of methods employed could be used with any range of research participants in other studies exploring learning through Facebook and other Web 2.0 spaces. The article concludes by suggesting further refinements to the methods used
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Machine and plasma diagnostic instrumentation systems for the Tandem Mirror Experiment Upgrade
To evaluate performance of a second generation Tandem Mirror Machine, an extensive instrumentation system is being designed and installed as part of the major device fabrication. The systems listed will be operational during the start-up phase of the TMX Upgrade machine and provide bench marks for future performance data. In addition to plasma diagnostic instrumentation, machine parameter monitoring systems will be installed prior to machine operation. Simultaneous recording of machine parameters will permit evaluation of plasma parameters sensitive to machine conditions
Audio versus written feedback: exploring learnersâ preference and the impact of feedback format on studentsâ academic performance
Very little is known about the impact of the different types of feedback on studentsâ academic performance. This paper explores studentsâ preference in the use of audio and written feedback and how each type of feedback received by students impact on their academic performance in subsequent assignments. The study involved 68 students who were divided into two groups that received either audio or written feedback in their first assignment which was then recalled and applied into the second assignment. An analysis of results obtained in the second assignment was conducted and comparisons made between students in the audio and written feedback group. Students were also surveyed using an online questionnaire to ascertain their perceptions about the type of feedback they had received. The study established that the type of feedback received did not impact on studentsâ grades in the subsequent assignment. In addition, while students were broadly positive about audio feedback, they indicated a strong preference for written feedback in future assignments. The study recommends, among other things, further investigation into the link between studentsâ learning styles and their preferences for different types of feedback
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