Freedom to learn: a radically revised pedagogy to facilitate lifewide learning in the academic curriculum.

Higher education has progressed fairly steadily to a common pedagogical approach which centres on the idea of alignment. In this arrangement, intended learning outcomes are identified and declared; learning activities which will enable the desired learning and development to be achieved are conceived and undertaken with the support of appropriate and effective teaching; and assessment which calls for these outcomes is (ideally) carefully designed and implemented. All three elements are aligned in advance. The same principles and practices underpinned by notions of alignment have been applied to date in most of the purposeful schemes for personal development planning. In this chapter I argue that lifewide learning, wherein learning and development often occur incidentally in multiple and varied real-world situations throughout an individual’s life course, calls for a different approach, and a different pedagogy. Higher education should therefore visualise lifewide learning as an emergent phenomenon wherein the outcomes of learning emerge later on, and are often unintended. Consequently, they cannot be defined in advance of the activities through which they are formed. The main purpose of this chapter is to offer some practical ideas to support the development of pedagogies that would enable programme designers to embed in their programmes the principle and practice of lifewide education.

Developing a Pedagogy for Interactive Learning.

Recent developments in higher education have seen the demise of much didactic, teacher-directed instruction which was aimed mainly towards lower-level educational objectives. This traditional educational approach has been largely replaced by methods which feature the teacher as an originator or facilitator of interactive and learner-centred learning - with higher-level aims in mind. The origins of, and need for, these changes are outlined, leading into an account of the emerging pedagogical approach to interactive learning, featuring facilitation and reflection. Some of the main challenges yet to be confronted effectively in consolidating a sound and comprehensive pedagogical approach to interactive development of higher level educational aims are outlined.

Traversing digital learning landscapes: an Institutional and faculty case study.

Within the UK, there is a growing awareness to better understand what online educational technologies can offer in relation to learning and teaching, and how social technologies are changing communication and collaboration out with formal education. The concept of the ‘digital university’ is being widely debated within the UK Higher education sector (McCluskey and Winter, 2012), becoming embedded in educational policy, and beginning to be explored within many institutions. This session will report on one such institutional initiative, undertaken at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. A Digital Futures Working Group was established to: benchmark best practice in key areas including digitally enhanced education and digital literacies development; identify areas for short term action; and to produce a robust ‘digital agenda’ to inform the future direction of the university. Pivotal to this was the recognition to evolve staff digital pedagogical practices and to harness emerging digital opportunities, meet learner expectations, and meet wider expectations for contemporary able citizens. This session will be delivered in two parts. Firstly we will provide an insight into the focus of the project and the rich picture methodology used to consult with staff and students. Secondly we will specify the outcomes produced, and provide a case study of how the Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences engaged with the process and the progression of their digitally enabled educational practices.

Growth of Motor Coordination in Early Robot Learning

M. H. Lee and Q. Meng, Growth of Motor Coordination in Early Robot Learning, IJCAI-05, 2005.

Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation

Urquhart, C., Durbin, J. & Spink, S. (2004). Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation. Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth. Sponsorship: South Yorkshire WDC (NHS)

Evaluating SWICE-R (South West Information for Clinical Effectiveness - Rural). Final report for South West Workforce Development Confederations (Knowledge Resources Development Unit)

Yeoman, A., Durbin, J. & Urquhart, C. (2004). Evaluating SWICE-R (South West Information for Clinical Effectiveness - Rural). Final report for South West Workforce Development Confederations, (Knowledge Resources Development Unit). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth. Sponsorship: South West WDCs (NHS)

Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health

Urquhart, C., Spink, S. & Thomas, R., Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health. (2005). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth Sponsorship: National Library for Health (NHS Information Authority)

Training for professional librarians in Slovakia by distance-learning methods: an overview of the PROLIB and EDULIB projects

Tedd, L.A., Dahl, K., Francis, S.,Tet?evov?, M.& ?ihlavn?kov?, E.(2002).Training for professional librarians in Slovakia by distance-learning methods: an overview of the PROLIB and EDULIB projects. Library Hi Tech, 20(3), 340-351. Sponsorship: European Union and the Open Society Institute

Staged Competence Learning in Developmental Robotics

M.H. Lee, Q. Meng and F. Chao, 'Staged Competence Learning in Developmental Robotics', Adaptive Behavior, 15(3), pp 241-255, 2007. the full text will be available in September 2008

A Content-Neutral Approach for Sensory-Motor Learning in Developmental Robotics

M.H. Lee, Q. Meng and F. Chao, 'A Content-Neutral Approach for Sensory-Motor Learning in Developmental Robotics', EpiRob'06: Sixth International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics, Paris, 55-62, 2006.

Construction of Robot Intra-modal and Inter-modal Coordination Skills by Developmental Learning

Q. Meng and M. H. Lee, 'Construction of Robot Intra-modal and Inter-modal Coordination Skills by Developmental Learning', Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 48(1), pp 97-114, 2007.

Staged development of Robot Motor Coordination

M.H. Lee and Q. Meng, 'Staged development of Robot Motor Coordination', IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, (IEEE SMC 05), Hawaii, USA, v3, 2917-2922, 2005.

Best practices for competency development and assessment in higher education

The main objective of this article is to present the results of a study aimed at determining, classifying and evaluating practices of interest for general competency development and assessment in undergraduate programmes. The study encompassed the following phases: (1) focus group in order to establish a starting point regarding competency development and assessment, counting on the opinion of some of the best-rated teachers belonging to the participating universities; (2) collection of best practices; (3) design and validation of a scale for the assessment of best practices; and (4) scale administration (evaluation of good practices) and data analysis.

Entrepreneurship and rural economic development: a scenario analysis approach

Fuller-Love, N., Midmore, P., Thomas, D., Henley, A. (2006). Entrepreneurship and rural economic development: A scenario analysis approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 12 (5), 289-305. RAE2008

The effect of market and learning orientation on strategy dynamics : The contributing effect of organisational change capability

McGuinness, T. and Morgan, R. (2005). The effect of market and learning orientation on strategy dynamics: The contributing effect of organisational change capability. European Journal of Marketing. 39(11-12), pp.1306-1326 RAE2008