Computer Museum, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich

Computer equipment, once viewed as leading edge, is quickly condemned as obsolete and banished to basement store rooms or rubbish bins. The magpie instincts of some of the academics and technicians at the University of Greenwich, London, preserved some such relics in cluttered offices and garages to the dismay of colleagues and partners. When the University moved into its new campus in the historic buildings of the Old Royal Naval College in the center of Greenwich, corridor space in King William Court provided an opportunity to display some of this equipment so that students could see these objects and gain a more vivid appreciation of their subject's history.

Including disabled children at school: Is it really as simple as 'a, c, d'?

This paper presents and discusses a social justice strategy that may progress inclusion in schools. The framework for this strategy is grounded in the theoretical discussions by Nancy Fraser and Trevor Gale about distributive, redistributive, and recognitive models of social justice. None of these theoretical frameworks, however, in themselves, offer a clear way forward for marginalised and misrecognised groups, such as disabled children, who need both educational resources and recognition in inclusive classrooms. The authors propose, however, that the work of Fraser and Gale combines into a social justice strategy, which consists of three elements (agency, competency, and diversity, or ‘a, c, d’) that can lead to inclusion. When disabled children are provided with the opportunity to exercise their agency, demonstrate their competence, and transform and affirm notions of diversity, then inclusion is more likely to occur in the classroom. Data from two research projects are presented using this framework to illustrate this argument, and the proposed ‘a, c, d’ social justice strategy towards inclusion.

The effect of month of birth on the attainments of primary and secondary school pupils

Background: Previous research has produced conflicting results regarding the effects of season of birth and age-position on cognitive attainments. In Northern Ireland the school year divides the summer season into two providing an opportunity to evaluate the relative contribution of season of birth and age-position effects. Aims: To investigate the relationship between attainment in literacy skills and month of birth for primary and secondary school pupils and to determine the relationship between motor skills and month of birth in primary school pupils. Sample: One thousand one hundred and twenty four primary school pupils participated, and results for key stage 3 (KS3) English and GCSE English Language, for 3,493 Year 10 and 3,697 Year 12 secondary school pupils, respectively, were obtained. Method: Primary school pupils were individually assessed using standardised reading and spelling tests, as well as tests of motor skill. They were also assessed using a standardised group reading test in their class groups. For the secondary school pupils, the results for two year cohorts, in KS3 English and GCSE English language, respectively, were analysed. Results: For the primary school pupils there was evidence of both a season of birth and an age-position effect on all of the cognitive measures, particularly in the early years of schooling. There was, also, evidence of a significant age-position effect at both KS3 and GCSE in favour of the older pupils. For the younger primary school pupils there was evidence of significant age-position effects on both motor measures. Conclusions: The findings from the present study suggest that month of birth may be related to both season of birth and age-position effects. These effects may be compounded, particularly in the early years of primary school, when summer born children are youngest in their year, as in England. In Northern Ireland, age-position effects are also evident in secondary school public examination results, which may have implications for long-term life choices. © 2009 The British Psychological Society.

The use of interactive video in teaching teachers: an evaluation of a link with a primary school

This paper presents an evaluation of the use of videoconferencing in learning and teaching in a United Kingdom higher education institution involved in initial teacher education. Students had the opportunity to observe naturalistic teaching practices without physically being present in the classroom. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with the co-ordinator of the link, the head of ICT services in Stranmillis University College and the teacher of the classroom being observed. Students were invited to complete an online questionnaire. The views of the students, the co-ordinator of the link, the teacher of the classroom being observed and the head of ICT services in Stranmillis University College were then triangulated to gain an overall view of the effectiveness of the videoconferencing link. Interviews suggested students benefited in terms of pedagogy. In the early stages of the project, the teacher thought it acted as a form of classroom control. Technical problems were encountered initially and camera control was modified in the light of these. The online questionnaire suggested that students viewed this experience in a positive way and were impressed with the content, technical quality, and potential benefits of the use of this example of new technologies.

Transforming Researchers into Educators: Some Reflections on the University College Dublin School of Law Syllabus Design Workshop 2010

The priority given to the development of research skills during doctrinal legal education often neglects the importance of equipping PhD students with the pedagogical skills necessary to fulfill their important educational role as academics. Thus, in many instances there is a significant gap in the requisite skill base that PhD students acquire when they complete their doctrinal education. This paper outlines a first step that has been taken to address this deficiency in postgraduate legal education in Ireland. The PhD community of the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Law convened an internal Syllabus Design Workshop in April 2010 in order to provide doctrinal students with an opportunity to design a university module and to explore the issues which arise in undertaking such an exercise. The first part of this paper outlines how the workshop was conceived and convened, and provides an account of the considerations that each student had to take into account in the design of a syllabus. From here, we address the content of the workshop and reflect upon some of the important issues which were
raised. Finally, we offer a number of recommendations in relation to the development of doctrinal students as future educators. By highlighting the importance of uniting research and teaching, it is hoped that this paper will contribute to postgraduate legal education in Ireland,and also internationally.

Rewarding Merit in Judicial Appointments?: A research project undertaken by the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast for the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission

This research involved carrying out an online survey using a number of vignettes/scenarios to explore understandings and attitudes to judicial appointments. This sort of survey is relatively novel in this context and provided a useful way of understanding how a range of factors such as merit and seniority, career paths and connections, as well as gender and visibility, are perceived as operating within the appointments system. The research also involved a series of focus group interviews with a number of individuals with various professional backgrounds and at different levels of seniority. These, and a limited number of individual interviews, afforded an opportunity to explore more closely some of the themes arising from the scenarios as well as a chance to look in some depth at some of the views and concerns of a range of members of the legal professions.

Building upon the previous research project, this work was less concerned with revisiting earlier themes and more interested in exploring how the idea of “merit” as a governing factor in judicial appointment is seen as working in practice, and whether it is perceived as being most likely to be found within particular career profiles. We also investigated issues such as the possible development of formal and informal pathways to a judicial career and practical problems such as how an applicant might become known to the senior judiciary, and the importance of this. Overall our interest was primarily in developing an understanding of how gender is perceived to operate in the appointments process and how any barriers to recruiting women, particularly to the senior judiciary, could be further broken down.

Staffing, status and subject knowledge: what does the construction of citizenship as a new curriculum subject in England tell us about the nature of school subjects?

Almost a decade ago, the new subject of citizenship was created in the English National Curriculum and several universities were funded to train teachers in this new subject. This presented a rare challenge, namely how to train people to teach a subject that did not exist in schools, and in which they were unlikely to have a specialist degree. In this article we have taken the opportunity afforded by the
tenth birthday of the report in which Crick recommended this curriculum reform to reflect on that experience from the perspective of teacher educators. Through reflecting on the case study of citizenship education in England we highlight several themes that are of more general interest to teacher educators. The key issues that have emerged in this case study relate to the general problems of translating central policy into classroom practice; the nature and aims of subjects in the curriculum; and the identities of teachers in secondary schools. The article illustrates how teacher educators responded to the formidable challenge of creating (or at least contributing to) a new subject and a subject community.

Peer tutoring in a medical school: perceptions of tutors and tutees

Background: Peer tutoring has been described as “people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers helping each other to learn and learning themselves by teaching”. Peer tutoring is well accepted as a source of support in many medical curricula, where participation and learning involve a process of socialisation.
Peer tutoring can ease the transition of the junior students from the university class environment to the hospital workplace. In this paper, we apply the Experienced Based Learning (ExBL) model to explore medical students’ perceptions of their experience of taking part in a newly established peer tutoring program at a hospital based
clinical school.
Methods: In 2014, all students at Sydney Medical School – Central, located at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital were invited to voluntarily participate in the peer tutoring program. Year 3 students (n = 46) were invited to act as tutors for Year 1 students (n = 50), and Year 4 students (n = 60) were invited to act as tutors for Year 2 students (n = 51). Similarly, the ‘tutees’ were invited to take part on a voluntary basis. Students were invited to attend focus groups, which were held at the end of the program. Framework analysis was used to code and categorise data into themes.
Results: In total, 108/207 (52 %) students participated in the program. A total of 42/106 (40 %) of Year 3 and 4 students took part as tutors; and of 66/101 (65 %) of Year 1 and 2 students took part as tutees. Five focus groups were held, with 50/108 (46 %) of students voluntarily participating. Senior students (tutors) valued the opportunity to practice and improve their medical knowledge and teaching skills. Junior students (tutees) valued the opportunity for additional practice and patient interaction, within a relaxed, small group learning environment.
Conclusion: Students perceived the peer tutoring program as affording opportunities not otherwise available within the curriculum. The peer teaching program provided a framework within the medical curriculum for senior students to practice and improve their medical knowledge and teaching skills. Concurrently, junior students were provided with a valuable learning experience that they reported as being qualitatively different to traditional teaching by faculty.

The Impact of School Leadership on Parental Engagement: a Study of Inclusion and Cohesion

This article focuses on the role played by principals in enhancing parental involvement in primary schools. The schools involved in this research were characterised by a high presence of ethnic minority children and were located in a neighbourhood of low social and economic status in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Qualitative methods were employed in order to explore the influence of strong leadership on engagement of the parents. The study spanned a period of four years, giving an opportunity to examine sustainability of the activities introduced by the principals and staff. The findings reported are based on data collected from an Infant and Junior School involved in a number of extra-curricular and curriculum-enhancing projects. It argues that strong leadership fosters engagement of parents in school activities and thus academic achievement of pupils improved over time. The findings bring evidence that the role of the school principal is crucial in the introduction, implementation and sustainability of solutions focused on parental involvement, as well as bringing benefits to the social cohesion of the local community. Full Text:

Market analysis of a new business opportunity in mobile-casual gaming: Partnership between Nmusic and Rovio Entertainment Ltd

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Strategy definition of a new business opportunity in mobile-casual gaming: Partnership between Nmusic and Rovio Entertainment Ltd.

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Recommendations for Nova School of Business and Economics to target yhe Colombian market

The growing connotation Internationalization has worldwide, alongside the economic, political and socio-environmental changes, is empowering a progressively global education economy. Therefore, this Work Project aims to help Nova SBE to understand the decision making process of the Colombian tertiary education students, as this market constitutes an enriching opportunity to meet both business and educative objectives. In order to do so, a qualitative research was conducted to comprehend the rationale behind Colombian students to study abroad. The study points out that the reputation of a HE institution and the Portuguese culture are the key attributes to pursue a degree in Portugal.

Mentorships and co-op placements as a means of heightening the need for a secondary school diploma to the education of at-risk students.--

Both educators and politicians appear to be quite concerned about a dropout rate in Ontario's public schools of some 30 percent. With the basic understanding that a high dropout rate is costly both in economic terms and in human terms, something quite obviously needs to be done to reduce the dropout rate in Ontario schools and, in doing so, ensuring Ontario and its graduates an active role in a growing global economy. This study is an exploratory pilot study in that it examined mentoring and the role that mentoring can play in assisting a student in staying in school and graduating from secondary school. Also incorporated in this is co-operative education and the role it can play, through mentoring, in making students aware of lifestyle level of employment, and of the skills necessary to obtain gainful, meaningful employment. In order to gain information on student attitudes, needs and expectations of a mentoring situation, a series of three questionnaires was used. Also, a questionnaire was distributed to the various co-operative education employers. The intent of this questionnaire was to probe the attitudes, needs and expectations of a mentoring situation from the perspective of an employer. The findings of this study indicated that co-operative education and mentoring are a very valuable and useful component in education. There exist certain factors in a co-operative education setting that serve to enhance and to augment the traditional or "theoretical" setting of the classroom. In addition, a mentoring situation tends to add a sense of relevance to education that students seem to require. Also, an opportunity is offered that allows a student to practice and further refine the skills that have been taught over the course of the student's academic life. Results from this study suggested that a mentoring situation, occurring through a co-operative education situation, adds relevance and a sense of "application" to the traditional or classroom schooling situation. The whole idea of mentoring bodes well for the future of education and of the student. Many advantages are identified in a mentoring situation. One of the advantages is that the schools are able to work quite closely with the community and business in order to stay current and informed on the needs and expected needs of the business community. Co-operative education has now gone beyond being an "experimental" mode of education. All students can benefit from being involved in the program. Certainly at-risk students are aided with staying in school. Those students who are said to be not at-risk can also benefit from being enrolled in the program by gaining hands-on work experience and some of the necessary skills to ensure a place in a growing world economy.

School funding and education policy-making models in Ontario /

The purpose of this thesis is to examine various policy implementation models, and to determine what use they are to a government. In order to insure that governmental proposals are created and exercised in an effective manner, there roust be some guidelines in place which will assist in resolving difficult situations. All governments face the challenge of responding to public demand, by delivering the type of policy responses that will attempt to answer those demands. The problem for those people in positions of policy-making responsibility is to balance the competitive forces that would influence policy. This thesis examines provincial government policy in two unique cases. The first is the revolutionary recommendations brought forth in the Hall -Dennis Report. The second is the question of extending full -funding to the end of high school in the separate school system. These two cases illustrate how divergent and problematic the policy-making duties of any government may be. In order to respond to these political challenges decision-makers must have a clear understanding of what they are attempting to do. They must also have an assortment of policy-making models that will insure a policy response effectively deals with the issue under examination. A government must make every effort to insure that all policymaking methods are considered, and that the data gathered is inserted into the most appropriate model. Currently, there is considerable debate over the benefits of the progressive individualistic education approach as proposed by the Hall -Dennis Committee. This debate is usually intensified during periods of economic uncertainty. Periodically, the province will also experience brief yet equally intense debate on the question of separate school funding. At one level, this debate centres around the efficiency of maintaining two parallel education systems, but the debate frequently has undertones of the religious animosity common in Ontario's history. As a result of the two policy cases under study we may ask ourselves these questions: a) did the policies in question improve the general quality of life in the province? and b) did the policies unite the province? In the cases of educational instruction and finance the debate is ongoing and unsettling. Currently, there is a widespread belief that provincial students at the elementary and secondary levels of education are not being educated adequately to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The perceived culprit is individual education which sees students progressing through the system at their own pace and not meeting adequate education standards. The question of the finance of Catholic education occasionally rears its head in a painful fashion within the province. Some public school supporters tend to take extension as a personal religious defeat, rather than an opportunity to demonstrate that educational diversity can be accommodated within Canada's most populated province. This thesis is an attempt to analyze how successful provincial policy-implementation models were in answering public demand. A majority of the public did not demand additional separate school funding, yet it was put into place. The same majority did insist on an examination of educational methods, and the government did put changes in place. It will also demonstrate how policy if wisely created may spread additional benefits to the public at large. Catholic students currently enjoy a much improved financial contribution from the province, yet these additional funds were taken from somewhere. The public system had it funds reduced with what would appear to be minimal impact. This impact indicates that government policy is still sensitive to the strongly held convictions of those people in opposition to a given policy.

The teaching practicum as an opportunity for professional growth: perceptions of three associate-teachers /

The purpose of this study was to examine the student-teaching practicum as an opportunity for professional growth for associate-teachers. Three associate-teachers from one school board in southern Ontario were purposefully selected to participate in the study. Participants were interviewed before and after one 4-week teaching practicum. They were asked to keep a reflective journal during the practicum, and provided with questions to guide their reflection. The literature suggests that meaningful professional development is contextual and requires reflection on practice. For example, Schon's (l987b) hall of mirrors phenomenon occurs when teachers reflect on their own practice while observing and guiding the practice of others. Findings from this study suggest the teaching practicum has the potential to be a valuable professional development opportunity for associateteachers, but that the university and the school board affiliated with the participants do not conceptualize it as such. As well, the research suggests that although all participants found the teaching practicum valuable, the extent to which they were able to grow professionally depended on their professional personality. In addition, it was found that the reflective journal enhanced opportunities for associate teacher reflection. This research suggests that universities and school boards may wish to consider the studentteacher practicum as a professional development opportunity.