Huntingdonshire Regional College - The Teacher/Learner Switch

It is said the best ideas are often the simplest ones. At Huntingdonshire Regional College, Ken McKerral, an Advanced Practitioner in E-Learning has developed a very simple idea to engage students and improve teaching and learning. Ken has named his method "The Teacher/Learner Switch". It is a process that uses a unique colour code system, to help differentiate learning outcomes and deliver ownership of time to the students to enrich learning experience.

When Worlds Collide: Changing Cultures in 21st Century Education

This publication captures the outputs of a JISC infoNet conference held in February 2004 in the Royal York Hotel, York. The event was entitled ‘When Worlds Collide’ because it aimed to explore the cultural differences between the different communities involved in developing and supporting learning environments hence the event was promoted in collaboration with ALT and UCISA. We defined learning environment in the broadest sense to encompass all of the structures, systems and processes that impact on the learning experience. For many this is summed up in the term Managed Learning Environment (MLE) although others favour alternative terminologies. The event was thus unusual in that it brought together people, from learning and teaching, MIS, library, administrative and senior management backgrounds, that don’t often get the opportunity to network with one another.

A view of the Assessment and Feedback Landscape: baseline analysis of policy and practice from the JISC Assessment and Feedback programme

Assessment and feedback lies at the heart of the learning experience, and forms a significant part of both academic and administrative workload. It remains however the single biggest source of student dissatisfaction with the higher education experience. The JISC Assessment and Feedback programme (Sept 2011-Aug 2014) is supporting large-scale changes in assessment and feedback practice, supported by technology, with the aim of enhancing the learning and teaching process and delivering efficiencies and quality improvements. This report summarises baseline reviews undertaken by a number of institutions as part of their programme activity.

Effective Practice in a Digital Age

Effective Practice in a Digital Age is designed for those in further and higher education who aim to enhance the student learning experience through apt and imaginative uses of technology. A visually rich publication, Effective Practice in a Digital Age outlines key aspects of designing learning in a technology-rich context and is structured to address the needs of experienced practitioners as well as those new to technology-based learning and teaching – the ten newly researched case studies offer a choice of pathways reflecting the diversity of approaches taken by practitioners in current UK practice.

Una estrategia educativa de éxito: los grupos interactivos

El presente trabajo trata de analizar la estrategia educativa de grupos interactivos. Para ello, se realiza una revisión de las bases científicas y metodológicas que rigen dicha estrategia. Posteriormente, mediante una metodología cualitativa, se lleva a cabo por un lado, la observación directa dentro de un contexto real educativo de la experiencia grupos interactivos y por otro, la observación de otra experiencia de aprendizaje basada, también, en el agrupamiento heterogéneo. El análisis de los resultados obtenidos nos permite comprobar las ventajas o beneficios de la estrategia de grupos interactivos para atender la diversidad en el aula.

A cost-effective atomic force microscope for undergraduate control laboratories

This paper presents a simple, cost-effective and robust atomic force microscope (AFM), which has been purposely designed and built for use as a teaching aid in undergraduate controls labs. The guiding design principle is to have all components be open and visible to the students, so the inner functioning of the microscope has been made clear to see. All of the parts but one are off the shelf, and assembly time is generally less than two days, which makes the microscope a robust instrument that is readily handled by the students with little chance of damage. While the scanning resolution is nowhere near that of a commercial instrument, it is more than sufficient to take interesting scans of micrometer-scale objects. A survey of students after their having used the AFM resulted in a generally good response, with 80% agreeing that they had a positive learning experience. © 2009 IEEE.

左侧梭状回内文字的字形加工：中文正常阅读者，中文文盲、非中文母语被试的对比研究

Reading is an important human-specific skill obtained through extensive learning experience and is reliance on the ability to rapidly recognize single words. According to the behavioral studies, the most important stage of reading is the representation of “visual word form”, which is independent on surface visual features of the reading materials. The prelexical visual word form representation is characterized by the abstractive and highly effective and precise processing. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have investigated the neural basis underlying the visual word form processing. On the basis of summary of the existing literature, the current thesis aimed to address three fundamental questions involving neural basis of word recognition. First, is there a dedicated neural network that is specialized for word recognition? Second, is the orthographic information represented in the putative word/character selective region (VWFA)? Third, what is the role of reading experience in the genesis of the VWFA, is experience a main driver to shape VWFA instead of evolutionary selectivity? Nineteen Chinese literate volunteers, 5 Chinese illiterates and 4 native English speakers participated in this study, and performed perceptual tasks during fMRI scanning. To address the first question, we compared the differential responses to three categories of visual objects, i.e., faces, line drawings of objects and Chinese characters, and defined the region of interesting (ROI) for the next experiment. To address the second question, Chinese character orthography was manipulated to reveal possible differential responses to real characters, false characters, radical combinations, and stroke combinations in the regions defined by the first experiment. To examine the role of reading experience in genesis of specialization for character, the responses for unfamiliar Chinese characters in Chinese illiterates and native English speakers were compared with that in the Chinese literates, and tracked the change in cortical activation after a short-term reading training in the illiterates. Data were analyzed in two dimensions. Both BOLD signal amplitude and spatial distribution pattern among multi-voxels were used to systematically investigate the responsiveness of the left fusiform gyrus to Chinese characters. Our results provide strong and clear evidence for the existence of functionally specialized regions in the human ventral occipital-temporal cortex. In the skilled readers a region specialized for written words could be consistently found in the lateral part of the left fusiform gyrus, line drawings in the median part and faces in the middle. Our results further show that spatial distribution analysis, a method that was not commonly used in neuroimaging of reading, appears to be a more effective measurement for category specialization for visual objects processing. Although we failed to provide evidence that VWFA processes orthographic information in terms of signal intensitiy, we do show that response pattern of real characters and radical collections in this area is different from that of false characters and random stroke combinations. Our last set of experiments suggests that the selective bias to reading material is clearly experience dependent. The response to unknown characters in both English speakers/readers and Chinese illiterates is fundamentally different from that of the skilled Chinese readers. The response pattern for unknown characters is more similar to that for line drawings rather as a weak version of character in skilled Chinese readers. Short-term training is not sufficient to produce VWFA bias even when tested with learned characters, rather the learned characters generated a overall upward shift of the activation of the left fusiform region. Formation of a dedicated region specialized for visual word/character might depend on long-term extensive reading experience, or there might be a critical period for reading acquisition.

Redefining knowledge in an information world – a polemic

This paper looks at knowledge and information as different forms of the same ideas or "memes". Very different, for knowledge is live, and information is dead. Knowledge is personal, difficult to acquire; information is plentiful, a commodity. Dawkins coined the term meme to refer to a "unit of cultural transmission". I distinguish between forms of the meme that are live knowledge – the internal idea, or imago, and the external transient representation of it, the ephemeron – and those which are permanent information (artefact and permaphemeron). It is a mistake to talk of a "content-free" learning experience, as though content were "just information". Content is knowledge. The point of education is not just to regenerate live knowledge from one generation to the next, it is to extend and add to it through knowledge creation. And knowledge creativity does not operate in a knowledge vacuum. You need ideas to breed ideas.

Can the use of supplementary video and audio materials support student understanding of 3D animation? Some results, analysis and conclusions

A project within a computing department at the University of Greenwich, has been carried out to identify whether podcasting can be used to help understanding and learning of a subject (3D Animation). We know that the benefits of podcasting in education (HE) can be justified, [1]; [2]; [3]; [4]; [5]; [6] and that some success has been proven, but this paper aims to report the results of a term-long project that provided podcast materials for students to help support their learning using Xserve and Podcast Producer technology. Findings in a previous study [6] identified podcasting as a way to diversify learning and provde a more personalised learning experience for students, as well as being able to provide access to a greater mix of learning styles [7]. Finally this paper aims to present the method of capture and distribution, the methodologies of the study, analysis of results, and conclusions that relate to podcasting and enhanced supported learning.

Blended mathematical collaboration using a wiki, GeoGebra and Jing

A wiki, GeoGebra, and a screencasting service were combined to support the online mathematical collaboration of a Grade 10 class. This poster describes the tools employed and the steps taken to develop the skills and attitudes required for this blended learning experience.

¿Barreras invisibles? Actitudes de los estudiantes universitarios ante sus compañeros con discapacidad

El presente trabajo analiza los conocimientos, opiniones y actitudes de los estudiantes universitarios sobre sus compañeros con discapacidad. La integración educativa y social de estos estudiantes es objeto de preocupación y estudio en todo el sistema educativo español, incluida la enseñanza superior en la que 21.942 universitarios con discapacidad se encontraban matriculados en el curso 2013-2014. El estudio se realiza en el marco de dos Proyectos de Innovación Educativa[1] de la Universidad de Málaga en los que se examinaron las actitudes del personal docente e investigador, el alumnado en general y el alumnado con discapacidad de esta institución. En este artículo se recogen las perspectivas de los estudiantes sin discapacidad, necesarias para medir el grado de aceptación dentro de las aulas universitarias. Se empleó una encuesta suministrada mediante correo electrónico a la totalidad de la población de estudiantes de la Universidad de Málaga (N= 32.464). El tamaño de la muestra fue de 620 estudiantes, por lo que trabajamos con un margen de error del 3,9% para la estimación de los porcentajes con un nivel de confianza del 95%. Los datos, analizados mediante análisis estadístico, visibilizan la importancia de un elevado grado de información y conocimiento así como de una experiencia directa con la discapacidad. Ambas circunstancias se traducen en actitudes más positivas y favorables. Tan solo el 20% de los alumnos manifestó haber recibido en alguna ocasión cualquier tipo de información sobre este asunto por parte de la Universidad; no obstante, la mayoría valora positivamente la presencia de alumnos con discapacidad en la Universidad, la posibilidad de contar ellos como compañeros de clase y el enriquecimiento que supone esta convivencia dentro del aula. Se discuten posibles acciones para mejorar las actitudes hacia los estudiantes con discapacidad. Además, se plantea incluir una perspectiva que promueva el empoderamiento de estos estudiantes. [1] PIE 10-135 y PIE 13-103.

Extension of general practice training from three to four years: experiences of a vocational training programme in Southern Ireland

The aim of this study was to evaluate the experiences of trainees taking part in an extended (four-year) general practice training programme introduced in the South Eastern region of the Republic of Ireland to replace the previous traditional (three-year) programme. In a qualitative design, eight homogeneous focus groups were held to determine the value of the additional year of training. The first cohort of trainees was interviewed towards the start and at the end of their fourth year. Trainees finishing the following year were also interviewed, as were graduates from the final three-year programme. GP trainers and the four members of the programme directing team comprised two further independent focus groups. Trainees reported that the integration of hospital posts and general practice attachments over the four years was particularly beneficial. The exposure to a variety of different general practices and the opportunity to take part in specialty clinics were considered extremely useful. The fourth year of training was felt to be less pressurised than previous years. Professional and personal development was enhanced; improved readiness to practise and confidence were noted. Perceived disadvantages of extended training included a lack of acknowledgment for doctors in their fourth year and excessive emphasis placed on research during the final year of training. The addition of an extra year of vocational training improves professional and personal development and changes the learning experience for doctors. Doctors felt more confident and ready to enter independent practice at the end of the fourth year of training.

Holding eternity in an hour: A practical exploration of the arts in the health care of older people with dementia

This project involved creative artists working with older people with dementia and staff from two Belfast Health and Social Care Trust supported housing centres in a mixed programme of dance, painting, music and drama which culminated in an open workshop with relatives and friends of the tenants. The study steered away from traditional medical models of art/music/dance therapy where the participant is perceived as a ‘patient’ in favour of identifying the participant as a ‘student’ who avails of a life-long learning experience. A key premise was that access to the arts is a human right, especially in the context of advancing age and cognitive impairment. . According to one the tenants of Mullan Mews, the project served to ‘awaken - or reawaken - folk with dementia to the endless vista of possibility already in their lives if they will only look for it’. A phenomenographic analysis of video data generated by the project emphasises the importance of the individual experiences of participants in the programme. The evidence from these storylines gained strength from the development of a documentary-style film text that has proved successful in capturing and translating the live experience of the project participants into a supportive text that goes beyond the written word.

Playful structure: a novel image of early years pedagogy for primary school classrooms

Playful structure is a new pedagogic image representing a more balanced and integrated perspective on early years pedagogy, aiming to blend apparent dichotomies and contradictions and to sustain and evolve play-based practice beyond Year 1. Playful structure invites teachers and children to initiate and maintain a degree of playfulness in the child’s whole learning experience, even when the learning intentions demand a supportive structure. Thus, playfulness becomes characteristic of the interaction between adult and the child and not just characteristic of child-initiated versus adult-initiated activities, or of play-time versus task-time. The paper is based on intensive observations and interviews with teachers in Northern Ireland who participated in a play-based and informal curriculum. This paper explains how playful structure rests on complementary processes of infusion of structure into play-based activities and infusion of playfulness into more structured activities, illustrated by cameos. ‘Infusion’ suggests the subtle blending process that allows apparent dichotomies and contradictions to be resolved in practice.

Development of a multi-media book for clinical supervision training in undergraduate nursing

There is an increased interest in higher education in the use of e-learning resources for students. This can be attributed to many factors including, the availability of advanced technology systems, a growing student population that is technology focused, financial implications and the recruitment of international students. However, the introduction of technology and e-learning into teaching has given rise to issues regarding quality and quantity of educational practice . The challenge now is for educationalists is to deliver an optimal learning experience that is effective and appropriate for students’ learning needs.