The effects of faking on non-cognitive predictors of academic performance in University students

This study examined the extent to which students could fake responses on personality and approaches to studying questionnaires, and the effects of such responding on the validity of non-cognitive measures for predicting academic performance (AP). University students produced a profile of an ‘ideal’ student using the Big-Five personality taxonomy, which yielded a stereotype with low scores for Neuroticism, and high scores for the other four traits. A sub-set of participants were allocated to a condition in which they were instructed to fake their responses as University applicants, portraying themselves as positively as possible. Scores for these participants revealed higher scores than those in a control condition on measures of deep and strategic approaches to studying, but lower scores on the surface approach variable. Conscientiousness was a significant predictor of AP in both groups, but the predictive effect of approaches to studying variables and Openness to Experience identified in the control group was lower in the group who faked their responses. Non-cognitive psychometric measures can be valid predictors of AP, but scores on these measures can be affected by instructional set. Further implications for psychometric measurement in educational settings are discussed.

Resisting the final word:challenging stale media and policy representations of students’ performative technological encounters in university education

This article explores powerful, constraining representations of encounters between digital technologies and the bodies of students and teachers, using corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). It discusses examples from a corpus of UK Higher Education (HE) policy documents, and considers how confronting such documents may strengthen arguments from educators against narrow representations of an automatically enhanced learning. Examples reveal that a promise of enhanced ‘student experience’ through information and communication technologies internalizes the ideological constructs of technology and policy makers, to reinforce a primary logic of exchange value. The identified dominant discursive patterns are closely linked to the Californian ideology. By exposing these texts, they provide a form of ‘linguistic resistance’ for educators to disrupt powerful processes that serve the interests of a neoliberal social imaginary. To mine this current crisis of education, the authors introduce productive links between a Networked Learning approach and a posthumanist perspective. The Networked Learning approach emphasises conscious choices between political alternatives, which in turn could help us reconsider ways we write about digital technologies in policy. Then, based on the works of Haraway, Hayles, and Wark, a posthumanist perspective places human digital learning encounters at the juncture of non-humans and politics. Connections between the Networked Learning approach and the posthumanist perspective are necessary in order to replace a discourse of (mis)representations with a more performative view towards the digital human body, which then becomes situated at the centre of teaching and learning. In practice, however, establishing these connections is much more complex than resorting to the typically straightforward common sense discourse encountered in the Critical Discourse Analysis, and this may yet limit practical applications of this research in policy making.

Ametropia and ocular biometry in a UK university student population

Purpose. The prevalence of myopia is known to vary with age, ethnicity, level of education, and socioeconomic status, with a high prevalence reported in university students and in people from East Asian countries. This study determines the prevalence of ametropia in a mixed ethnicity U.K. university student population and compares associated ocular biometric measures. Methods. Refractive error and related ocular component data were collected on 373 first-year U.K. undergraduate students (mean age = 19.55 years ± 2.99, range = 17-30 years) at the start of the academic year at Aston University, Birmingham, and the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire. The ethnic variation of the students was as follows: white 38.9%, British Asian 58.2%, Chinese 2.1%, and black 0.8%. Noncycloplegic refractive error was measured with an infrared open-field autorefractor, the Shin-Nippon NVision-K 5001 (Shin Nippon, Ryusyo Industrial Co. Ltd, Osaka, Japan). Myopia was defined as a mean spherical equivalent (MSE) less than or equal to -0.50 D. Hyperopia was defined as an MSE greater than or equal to +0.50 D. Axial length, corneal curvature, and anterior chamber depth were measured using the Zeiss IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss, Jena, GmBH). Results. The analysis was carried out only for white and British Asian groups. The overall distribution of refractive error exhibited leptokurtosis, and prevalence levels were similar for white and British Asian (the predominant ethnic group) students across each ametropic group: myopia (50% vs. 53.4%), hyperopia (18.8% vs. 17.3%), and emmetropia (31.2% vs. 29.3%). There were no significant differences in the distribution of ametropia and biometric components between white and British Asian samples. Conclusion. The absence of a significant difference in refractive error and ocular components between white and British Asian students exposed to the same educational system is of interest. However, it is clear that a further study incorporating formal epidemiologic methods of analysis is required to address adequately the recent proposal that juvenile myopia develops principally from myopiagenic environments and is relatively independent of ethnicity.

University to business technology transfer — UK and USA comparisons

University to business technology transfer offers specific challenges, beyond those encountered in industry more widely. This paper examines the issues in university to business technology transfer in the UK and USA and presents the results of a survey of UK and US university technology transfer officers. Findings indicate significant differences in the motivations of universities in each country to transfer technology, the consistency of university technology transfer policies and the accessibility of university technologies to business. The study also looks at perceived barriers to university to business technology transfer and offers suggestions for possible improvements to the process. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A rhetoric-in-context approach to building commitment to multiple strategic goals

There are still few explanations of the micro-level practices by which top managers influence employee commitment to multiple strategic goals. This paper argues that, through their language, top managers can construct a context for commitment to multiple strategic goals. We therefore propose a rhetoric-in-context approach to illuminate some of the micro practices through which top managers influence employee commitment. Based upon an empirical study of the rhetorical practices through which top managers influence academic commitment to multiple strategic goals in university contexts, we demonstrate relationships between rhetoric and context. Specifically, we show that rhetorical influences over commitment to multiple goals are associated with the historical context for multiple goals, the degree to which top managers' rhetoric instantiates a change in that context, and the internal consistency of the rhetorical practices used by top managers. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.

Gender and feminine Identities - women as managers in a UK academic institution

The paper considers gender identities in higher education. It examines how people involved in university life engage in (re)creating gender identities and in (re)producing gender-related expectations (and stereotypes) of managerial behaviour. The process of construction of feminine identities is explored through the discourses of academics from a UK university (mainly women who hold managerial positions). The paper reports findings from a series of in-depth interviews with women managers (dean, associate deans and heads of departments) and with university academics (men and women) from a Business School, part of a large British new university. The school was of special interest because women held the majority of senior managerial posts. It appears that the process of construction of femininities is mainly developed around four (stereo-)typical aspects generally associated with feminine management practices (multi-tasking, supporting and nurturing, people and communication skills, and team-work).

Motivations to deposit:two approaches to Open Educational Resources (OER) within Languages and Social Sciences (LSS) at Aston University

In Spring 2009, the School of Languages and Social Sciences (LSS) at Aston University responded to a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and Higher Education Academy (HEA) call for partners in Open Educational Resources (OER) projects. This led to participation in not one, but two different OER projects from within one small School of the University. This paper will share, from this unusual position, the experience of our English tutors, who participated in the HumBox Project, led by Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) and will compare the approach taken with the Sociology partnership in the C-SAP OER Project , led by the Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP). These two HEA Subject Centre-led projects have taken different approaches to the challenges of encouraging tutors to deposit teaching resources, as on ongoing process, for others to openly access, download and re-purpose. As the projects draw to a close, findings will be discussed, in relation to the JISC OER call, with an emphasis on examining the language and discourses from the two collaborations to see where there are shared issues and outcomes, or different subject specific concerns to consider.

The information security policy unpacked:a critical study of the content of university policies

Ensuring the security of corporate information, that is increasingly stored, processed and disseminated using information and communications technologies [ICTs], has become an extremely complex and challenging activity. 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 security breaches, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal information security policy (InSPy). Whilst a great deal has now been written about the importance and role of the information security policy, and approaches to its formulation and dissemination, there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the structure or content of security 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 content of authentic information security policies, rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. Having established the structure and key features of the reviewed policies, the paper critically explores the underlying conceptualisation of information security embedded in the policies. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: (1) the wide diversity of disparate policies and standards in use is unlikely to foster a coherent approach to security management; and (2) the range of specific issues explicitly covered in university policies is surprisingly low, and reflects a highly techno-centric view of information security management.

Body iron is associated with cognitive executive planning function in college women

Evidence of the relationship between altered cognitive function and depleted Fe status is accumulating in women of reproductive age but the degree of Fe deficiency associated with negative neuropsychological outcomes needs to be delineated. Data are limited regarding this relationship in university women in whom optimal cognitive function is critical to academic success. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between body Fe, in the absence of Fe-deficiency anaemia, and neuropsychological function in young college women. Healthy, non-Anaemic undergraduate women (n 42) provided a blood sample and completed a standardised cognitive test battery consisting of one manual (Tower of London (TOL), a measure of central executive function) and five computerised (Bakan vigilance task, mental rotation, simple reaction time, immediate word recall and two-finger tapping) tasks. Women's body Fe ranged from - 4·2 to 8·1 mg/kg. General linear model ANOVA revealed a significant effect of body Fe on TOL planning time (P= 0.002). Spearman's correlation coefficients showed a significant inverse relationship between body Fe and TOL planning time for move categories 4 (r - 0.39, P= 0.01) and 5 (r - 0.47, P= 0.002). Performance on the computerised cognitive tasks was not affected by body Fe level. These findings suggest that Fe status in the absence of anaemia is positively associated with central executive function in otherwise healthy college women. Copyright © The Authors 2012.

The state of the nations:current and future developments in technology enhanced learning

Right across Europe technology is playing a vital part in enhancing learning for an increasingly diverse population of learners. Learning is increasingly flexible, social and mobile and supported by high quality multi-media resources. Institutional VLEs are seeing a shift towards open source products and these core systems are supplemented by a range of social and collaborative learning tools based on web 2.0 technologies. Learners undertaking field studies and those in the workplace are coming to expect that these off-campus experiences will also be technology-rich whether supported by institutional or user-owned devices. As well as keeping European businesses competitive, learning is seen as a means of increasing social mobility and supporting an agenda of social justice. For a number of years the EUNIS E-Learning Task Force (ELTF) has conducted snapshot surveys of e-learning across member institutions, collected case studies of good practice in e-learning see (Hayes, et al., 2009) in references, supported a group looking at the future of e-learning, and showcased the best of innovation in its e-learning Award. Now for the first time the ELTF membership has come together to undertake an analysis of developments in the member states and to assess what this might mean for the future. The group applied the techniques of World Café conversation and Scenario Thinking to develop its thoughts. The analysis is unashamedly qualitative and draws on expertise from leading universities across eight of the EUNIS member states. What emerges is interesting in terms of the common trends in developments in all of the nations and similarities in hopes and concerns about the future development of learning.

Polymer degradation and stability

This edition of Polymer Degradation and Stability is dedicated to papers which were presented in the session on ‘Chemical Modification’ at the Third International Conference on Modification Degradation and Stabilisation of Polymers (MoDeSt) held in Lyon in August 2004. This was the third meeting of the MoDeSt Society which was set up in the year 2000 under the chairmanship of Professor Franco LaMantia; the earlier meetings were held in Palermo (2000) and Budapest (2002). The overall goal of the MoDeSt Society is to promote the latest research carried out in University laboratories, in public organisations and in industry through publications, and organisation of biannual scientific conferences and workshops that act as forums for scientific developments and for promoting networking between academics and industrialists from across the field of polymer modification, degradation and stabilisation. In September 2004, Professor Norman Billingham was elected as Chairman of the Society. The conference was organised by Dr Alain Michel and Veronique Bounor-Legare of the University Claude Bernard, Lyon 1, attracting over 250 delegates with the ‘Chemical Modification’ Session alone enjoying 54 oral presentations and many more poster presentations. We are all very grateful to the organisers for running such a successful and enjoyable meeting. I wish to thank my co-editors, Professors Philippe Dubois and Domenico Acierno and Dr Alain Michel, for their cooperation in the editorial task of the papers published in this special issue. On behalf of the editors of this issue, I wish to express our appreciation to the Editor-in-Chief of Polymer Degradation and Stability, Professor Norman Billingham, for the support and help received during the preparation of this special issue.