Learning to lead for business growth – implications for supporting SMEs in Wales

The Welsh private and third sectors are heavily dependent on SMEs. Consequently the performance of SMEs is critical to the performance of the Welsh economy. Substantial public funds, particularly from European Structural Funds, have been allocated to support these since 2000. The majority of programmes thus funded have been led from within the Welsh Government. This paper reports interim evaluation findings from one intervention led by two Welsh higher education institutions (HEIs), namely the LEAD Wales programme. The programme is an extended intervention to support the leadership skills of owner-managers and incorporates a range of learning methods, including formal masterclasses, but emphasizes situated and experiential learning through action learning, coaching and peer-to-peer exchange exercises. The programme’s impact is assessed on the experiences of 325 participants, of whom 217 have completed the programme. The paper concludes that situated learning methods, through which participants are able to draw from shared history and experience over an extended period are critical to programme success. By contrast, short-term thematic teaching, based around more formal, hierarchical learning is less likely to yield significant and sustainable economic benefits. The implications of this for business support in Wales are discussed.

Using problem-based learning in a chemistry practical class for pharmacy students and engaging them with feedback

Objective: To introduce a new approach to problem based learning (PBL) used in the context of medicinal chemistry practical class teaching pharmacy students. Design: The described chemistry practical is based on independent studies by small groups of undergraduate students (4-5), who design their own practical work taking relevant professional standards into account. Students are carefully guided by feedback and acquire a set of skills important to their future profession as healthcare professionals. This model has been tailored to the application of PBL in a chemistry practical class setting for a large student cohort (150 students). Assessment: The achievement of learning outcomes is based on the submission of relevant documentation including a certificate of analysis, in addition to peer assessment. Some of the learning outcomes are also assessed in the final written examination at the end of the academic year. Conclusion: The described design of a novel PBL chemistry laboratory course for pharmacy students has been found to be successful. Self-reflective learning and engagement with feedback were encouraged, and students enjoyed the challenging learning experience. Skills that are highly essential for the students’ future careers as healthcare professionals are promoted.

Farmer attitudes and livestock disease: exploring citizenship behaviour and peer monitoring across two BVD control schemes in the UK

The eradication of BVD in the UK is technically possible but appears to be socially untenable. The following study explored farmer attitudes to BVD control schemes in relation to advice networks and information sharing, shared aims and goals, motivation and benefits of membership, notions of BVD as a priority disease and attitudes toward regulation. Two concepts from the organisational management literature framed the study: citizenship behaviour where actions of individuals support the collective good (but are not explicitly recognised as such) and peer to peer monitoring (where individuals evaluate other’s behaviour). Farmers from two BVD control schemes in the UK participated in the study: Orkney Livestock Association BVD Eradication Scheme and Norfolk and Suffolk Cattle Breeders Association BVD Eradication Scheme. In total 162 farmers participated in the research (109 in-scheme and 53 out of scheme). The findings revealed that group helping and information sharing among scheme members was low with a positive BVD status subject to social censure. Peer monitoring in the form of gossip with regard to the animal health status of other farms was high. Interestingly, farmers across both schemes supported greater regulation with regard to animal health, largely due to the mistrust of fellow farmers following voluntary disease control measures. While group cohesiveness varied across the two schemes, without continued financial inducements, longer-term sustainability is questionable

Location, location, location: development of spatiotemporal sequence learning in infancy

We investigated infants' sensitivity to spatiotemporal structure. In Experiment 1, circles appeared in a statistically defined spatial pattern. At test 11-month-olds, but not 8-month-olds, looked longer at a novel spatial sequence. Experiment 2 presented different color/shape stimuli, but only the location sequence was violated during test; 8-month-olds preferred the novel spatial structure, but 5-month-olds did not. In Experiment 3, the locations but not color/shape pairings were constant at test; 5-month-olds showed a novelty preference. Experiment 4 examined "online learning": We recorded eye movements of 8-month-olds watching a spatiotemporal sequence. Saccade latencies to predictable locations decreased. We argue that temporal order statistics involving informative spatial relations become available to infants during the first year after birth, assisted by multiple cues.

Young people with intellectual disabilities attending mainstream and segregated schooling: perceived stigma, social comparison and future aspirations

Mainstream schooling is a key policy in the promotion of social inclusion of young people with learning disabilities. Yet there is limited evidence about the school experience of young people about to leave mainstream as compared with segregated education, and how it impacts on their relative view of self and future aspirations. Sixty young people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in their final year of secondary school participated in this study. Twenty-eight individuals came from mainstream schools and 32 attended segregated school. They completed a series of self-report measures on perceptions of stigma, social comparison to a more disabled and non-disabled peer and the likelihood involved in attaining their future goals. The majority of participants from both groups reported experiencing stigmatized treatment in the local area where they lived. The mainstream group reported significant additional stigma at school. In terms of social comparisons, both groups compared themselves positively with a more disabled peer and with a non-disabled peer. While the mainstream pupils had more ambitious work-related aspirations, both groups felt it equally likely that they would attain their future goals. Although the participants from segregated schools came from significantly more deprived areas and had lower scores on tests of cognitive functioning, neither of these factors appeared to have an impact on their experience of stigma, social comparisons or future aspirations. Irrespective of schooling environment, the young people appeared to be able to cope with the threats to their identities and retained a sense of optimism about their future. Nevertheless, negative treatment reported by the children was a serious source of concern and there is a need for schools to promote the emotional well-being of pupils with intellectual disabilities.

A Gentle/S approach to robot assisted neuro-rehabilitation

Movement disorders (MD) include a group of neurological disorders that involve neuromotor systems. MD can result in several abnormalities ranging from an inability to move, to severe constant and excessive movements. Strokes are a leading cause of disability affecting largely the older people worldwide. Traditional treatments rely on the use of physiotherapy that is partially based on theories and also heavily reliant on the therapists training and past experience. The lack of evidence to prove that one treatment is more effective than any other makes the rehabilitation of stroke patients a difficult task. UL motor re-learning and recovery levels tend to improve with intensive physiotherapy delivery. The need for conclusive evidence supporting one method over the other and the need to stimulate the stroke patient clearly suggest that traditional methods lack high motivational content, as well as objective standardised analytical methods for evaluating a patient's performance and assessment of therapy effectiveness. Despite all the advances in machine mediated therapies, there is still a need to improve therapy tools. This chapter describes a new approach to robot assisted neuro-rehabilitation for upper limb rehabilitation. Gentle/S introduces a new approach on the integration of appropriate haptic technologies to high quality virtual environments, so as to deliver challenging and meaningful therapies to people with upper limb impairment in consequence of a stroke. The described approach can enhance traditional therapy tools, provide therapy "on demand" and can present accurate objective measurements of a patient's progression. Our recent studies suggest the use of tele-presence and VR-based systems can potentially motivate patients to exercise for longer periods of time. Two identical prototypes have undergone extended clinical trials in the UK and Ireland with a cohort of 30 stroke subjects. From the lessons learnt with the Gentle/S approach, it is clear also that high quality therapy devices of this nature have a role in future delivery of stroke rehabilitation, and machine mediated therapies should be available to patient and his/her clinical team from initial hospital admission, through to long term placement in the patient's home following hospital discharge.

Adaptive modelling with tunable RBF network using multi-innovation RLS algorithm assisted by swarm intelligence

In this paper, we propose a new on-line learning algorithm for the non-linear system identification: the swarm intelligence aided multi-innovation recursive least squares (SI-MRLS) algorithm. The SI-MRLS algorithm applies the particle swarm optimization (PSO) to construct a flexible radial basis function (RBF) model so that both the model structure and output weights can be adapted. By replacing an insignificant RBF node with a new one based on the increment of error variance criterion at every iteration, the model remains at a limited size. The multi-innovation RLS algorithm is used to update the RBF output weights which are known to have better accuracy than the classic RLS. The proposed method can produces a parsimonious model with good performance. Simulation result are also shown to verify the SI-MRLS algorithm.

MOOCs: a systematic study of the published literature 2008-2012

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a recent addition to the range of online learning options. Since 2008, MOOCs have been run by a variety of public and elite universities, especially in North America. Many academics have taken interest in MOOCs recognising the potential to deliver education around the globe on an unprecedented scale; some of these academics are taking a research-oriented perspective and academic papers describing their research are starting to appear in the traditional media of peer reviewed publications. This paper presents a systematic review of the published MOOC literature (2008-2012): Forty-five peer reviewed papers are identified through journals, database searches, searching the Web, and chaining from known sources to form the base for this review. We believe this is the first effort to systematically review literature relating to MOOCs, a fairly recent but massively popular phenomenon with a global reach. The review categorises the literature into eight different areas of interest, introductory, concept, case studies, educational theory, technology, participant focussed, provider focussed, and other, while also providing quantitative analysis of publications according to publication type, year of publication, and contributors. Future research directions guided by gaps in the literature are explored.

Particle swarm optimisation assisted classification using elastic net prefiltering

A novel two-stage construction algorithm for linear-in-the-parameters classifier is proposed, aiming at noisy two-class classification problems. The purpose of the first stage is to produce a prefiltered signal that is used as the desired output for the second stage to construct a sparse linear-in-the-parameters classifier. For the first stage learning of generating the prefiltered signal, a two-level algorithm is introduced to maximise the model's generalisation capability, in which an elastic net model identification algorithm using singular value decomposition is employed at the lower level while the two regularisation parameters are selected by maximising the Bayesian evidence using a particle swarm optimization algorithm. Analysis is provided to demonstrate how “Occam's razor” is embodied in this approach. The second stage of sparse classifier construction is based on an orthogonal forward regression with the D-optimality algorithm. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective and yields competitive results for noisy data sets.

Care, disability and HIV in Africa: diverging or interconnected concepts and practices?

Recent research and policy have recognised the central role of unpaid care-givers (often women and girls) in the global South. Disability rights perspectives, however, challenge the language of ‘care’ and ‘dependence’. Drawing on qualitative research with women living with HIV and children caring for them in Tanzania, and on learning from the National Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS in Uganda (NACWOLA), this paper explores the divergences and interconnections between the concepts and practices of care, disability and HIV in the context of East Africa. Despite the development of interdependent caring relations, both care-givers and people living with HIV in Tanzania experience ‘diminished autonomy’. The participation of people living with HIV, including disabled people, in home-based care and in peer support groups, however, can enhance ‘relational autonomy’ for both care-givers and care-recipients. We reflect on opportunities and challenges for mutual learning and cross-movement advocacy by disabled people, people living with HIV and care-givers.

Typo-resource: developing T&L support materials through collaboration

This paper reports on a collaborative project between staff and students in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading The Partnerships in Learning and Teaching (PLanT) project here described is a direct response to student needs for better online support materials. Methodologically, the project embeds user-centred design principles within an iterative process of design development and participant research. This process has underpinned the development of a prototype for an online interface called Typo-Resource. The resulting initial prototype addresses the usability and user experience dimensions of an online learning resource, moving beyond providing tutor-identified sets of resources to a multifaceted, collaborative, and visual platform for peer learning.