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This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which UK higher education (HE) has become increasingly commercialised and commodified in the post-1980s. It critiques the strategies adopted by successive UK governments to reinvigorate the relationship between educational and economic life, and to facilitate a more corporate and entrepreneurial spirit within the academy in line with the pressures of a 'knowledge-based economy'. Arguing for a more critical exploration of teaching and learning within HE, the paper presents evidence from work carried out by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching in Learning (CETL) which adopts a research-based learning approach to teaching and learning at undergraduate level.1 Within the context of ongoing debates surrounding the relationship between teaching, learning and research in UK HE, the paper advocates a reinvention of curriculum design through an engagement with the broader principles of critical pedagogy, and in so doing, presents a critical engagement with the commercialisation of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem-based learning (PBL) curricula utilise authentic problems that are based in the real-world of practice. This very characteristic enables students to develop an intimate knowledge about the intricacies of practice, metaphorically, seeing the details of the forest floor. However, it is equally important for students to develop an overall conceptual framework of the curriculum and understand how the different aspects of the subject domain relate to each other, i.e. seeing the landscape. This paper explores the extent to which these two aspects of curriculum design, in particular the landscape, were achieved in an 'Education Theories' module for lecturers in higher education. It utilises Hung's 3C3R problem-design model to help develop these connections. The findings alert curriculum designers to pay more focused attention to the holistic problem from Hung's model and the model's relationship with other learning resources (lectures, etc.) in supporting connectivity in PBL hybrid curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the interaction between religious faith and academic study. It presents findings from a small-scale qualitative study of how first year theology undergraduates at Oxford experienced the relationship between academic study and their faith stance. The findings suggest varied developments in the extent to which students adapted to the learning environment, the strategies they formed in dealing with the interface between faith and academic study, and the expectations they discerned as implicit in the curriculum itself. The paper considers the findings in relation to Perry's nine stages of students' intellectual and ethical development, and proposes that, following Perry, the discussion of religious faith as one of the contexts within which undergraduate students make sense of their experience be restored to educational discourse. The article concludes by proposing that provision of curriculum space to explore the interaction between the existential and the academic is a key factor for subjects such as theology and religious studies, which contain a significant self-involving element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful graduates in today's competitive business environments must possess sound interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in team situations within, and across, disciplines. However, developing these skills within the higher education curriculum is fraught with organisational and pedagogical difficulties, with many teachers not having the skills, time or resources to facilitate productive group processes. Furthermore, many students find their teamwork experiences frustrating, demanding, conflict-ridden and unproductive. This paper brings together the perspectives and experiences of an engineer and a social scientist in a cross-disciplinary examination of the characteristics of effective teamwork skills and processes. A focus is the development and operation of ‘TeamWorker’, an innovative online system that helps students and staff manage their team activities and assessment. TeamWorker was created to enhance team teaching and learning processes and outcomes including team creation, administration, development and evaluation. Importantly, TeamWorker can facilitate the early identification of problematic group dynamics, thereby enabling early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details an action research enquiry into the efforts undertaken at Brookes Business School to bring integration to the international business curriculum and develop student autonomy via a synoptic module for international credit entry students. After outlining the general aims for student learning in higher education and the difficulties in achieving them by means of conventional didactics, an overview of the history, development and conceptualization of the generic synoptic module is presented. The main features of our international business synoptic are then illustrated, with a discussion of the pedagogical principles that informed the design and implementation of processes aimed at facilitating effective learning. In assessing what the module has accomplished, evaluatory evidence that also takes into account students' perceptions, provides support to its efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper adds to extant professional education literature by reflecting on apparent differences in pedagogy of similar professional programmes of study, allowing deeper insight into the unique strand of higher education influenced by the professions. A comparative international case study approach is adopted of an interpretive qualitative nature regarding curricular, teaching and learning and assessment strategies of an accounting department in South Africa (SA) and one in the UK. Findings point to significant differences in curriculum and assessment but less so in teaching and learning approaches. One department endeavoured to find a balance between vocational and academic activities, whilst the other favoured the former being inconsistent with both its governmental and institutional governing bodies. Explanations offered include differing strengths of coercive, competitive, mimetic and normative influence [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even as the notion of continuing professional learning or development (CPL) in academic practice has become more established, the concept of curriculum and the nature of the learning involved remains problematic. We argue for a focus on transformation of self, and posit this as an expanded version of one established curriculum model. Through a case study of a participant in one graduate programme offered as CPL for clinical medical academics wanting to formalise their educational qualifications, this paper explores ways in which prevailing institutional management orthodoxies as well as historical institutional epistemologies influence possibilities for growth and development. We suggest that institutions need to find ways to strengthen their sense of identity and self-confidence if this situation is to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning outcomes have become widely used in higher education, but also misused to the point of being controversial and a bureaucratic burden. This paper distinguishes three kinds of learning outcome found in current literature: (1) those used in individual teaching events; (2) those specified for modules or short courses; and (3) those specified for whole degree programmes. The nature of each is explored and their use in assessment and auditing is discussed, together with related notions such as the 'corridor of tolerance', emergent outcomes, etc. It is concluded that learning outcomes used in individual teaching events (1) are the most useful kind if employed flexibly, but that they cannot be specified exactly or used for auditing performance, and their relationship with assessment is complex. Learning outcomes specified for modules or short courses (2) state little more than a list of contents; they cannot be stated precisely and have limitations in guiding assessment. Learning outcomes specified for whole degree programmes (3) is a misuse of the term 'learning outcome'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by reviewing some of the different models of third-party observation of university teaching that can be found in the literature. Having analysed these, it argues that - if 'peer' is taken to indicate equality of status - only one is genuinely a model of peer-observation. It proposes an alternative categorisation of third-party observations of teaching dependant on who controls the information generated by the process. A preferred six-dimensional model based on control by the person being observed of the data-flow, and other procedural aspects, is presented and explored. Evaluative comments, by university teachers who have undertaken the process, are presented to illustrate the benefits of adopting this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the widespread approach to enhancing student learning through separate study skills courses is ineffective, and that the term ‘study skills’ itself has misleading implications, which are counterproductive to learning. The main argument is that learning how to study effectively at university cannot be separated from subject content and the process of learning. The role of ‘study skills’ within universities’ skills frameworks, and as a component of students’ long-term development is discussed. Then, it is examined, with a focus on academic writing, what learning at university entails, and what is needed to support this learning. Finally, effective approaches to the enhancement of learning at university and beyond are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that learning outcomes need to be reclaimed from their current use as devices for monitoring and audit, and returned to their proper use in aiding good teaching and learning. We require a broader, flexible and more realistic understanding of learning outcomes, better suited to the realities of the classroom and of practical use to those teachers who wish to respond to the enthusiasm of their students. To this end, a new model is produced that starts from the idea of an articulated curriculum, and embraces both intended and emergent learning outcomes. The model employs the distinction between predicted and unpredicted learning outcomes, together with the distinction between those that are desirable and those that are undesirable. The resulting account is intended to aid understanding of the nature and proper use of learning outcomes in teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at a symposium sponsored by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) on Curriculum and Assessment in Higher Education. Topics include teaching in higher education, assessment for learning and design for learning. The symposium featured several academicians including Professor Katherine Isaacs, Professor Liz McDowell and Professor Phil Race.

Learning and teaching in the university sector is at an impasse. Almost every university one surveys seeks to produce graduates who are adaptive, creative, curious, and entrepreneurial. But the learning and teaching quality assurance frameworks upon which universities rely to prepare such graduates are comprised of rigidly prescriptive norms, wideranging managerial oversight, and time-consuming bureaucratic processes. The learning outcome and the rubric stand out as the two most prevalent technologies deployed in such systems. Much the same could be said about a comparison between the openness of transdisciplinarity and the relatively closed system of disciplinary learning and teaching. In an effort to move beyond such dilemmas, the learning and teaching model of the knowledge ecology can restore to the classroom the individuality and spontaneity that has gone missing while it can also prepare students for the demands and challenges of the precarious world they will enter upon graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of research into teaching is considered a desirable characteristic of higher education, and valuable for student learning. Nevertheless, not much is known about the prevalence of research integration in students' everyday experiences within higher education. This article reports on an empirical study on the prevalence of six research-related goals in 45 educational programmes in Flanders. The study aimed at identifying the patterns in the prevalence of these goals at programme level. For each programme, a profile was identified. A cluster analysis revealed three different patterns: a low-attention pattern (N=21), a results pattern (N=16) and a critical-thinking pattern (N=8). The prevalence of the patterns in the programmes included in the sample differs between distinct types of programmes, but not between disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated context-dependency of learning as an indicator for students' potential to continue learning after graduation. We used Maton's theoretical concepts of ‘cumulative’ and ‘segmented’ learning, and ‘semantic gravity’, to look for context-independent learning in students' assessments in a Journalism curriculum. We postulated whether the curriculum constrained or enabled cumulative learning. Students' responses to assessments were coded by their degree of context-dependency, or semantic gravity. We found that, firstly, students are overly successful in producing context-dependent answers but struggle to deliver context-independent responses. Secondly, students were not effective when they used higher level knowledge principles without the foundation of lower level ones. Lastly, the marking criteria were encouraging markers to reward context-dependent answers over context-independent ones. This study has implications for educators interested in curriculum design that enables cumulative learning in discipline specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Knowledge at work and knowledge in the university are recognised as being broadly, differently structured, differently acquired and used for different purposes. The idea of difference creates boundaries which delineate the two knowledge domains, in general, as distinct communities of practice. The question raised here is how the boundary can successfully be crossed such that the emergent curriculum knowledge looks both ways, satisfying both work and academic requirements. To answer this question the article analyses examples of work/academic curriculum interactions through a socio-cultural learning theory, and in particular activity theory, lens. Conditions for successful interactions, involving raising and brokering differences and mobilising other boundary-crossing devices, are then proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College teachers in the sciences and professional studies have endorsed collaborative learning group strategies for teaching undergraduate statistics courses, but few researchers provide empirical evidence that students' quantitative skills actually increase as a result of the collaborative experience. Assessment of the efficacy of collaborative learning group techniques is frequently subjectively based, and often relies on casual comments from students or faculty. Despite this shortcoming, instructors searching for new and effective ways of teaching quantitative courses continue to experiment with collaborative pedagogy. Consequently, an exploration of the effectiveness of collaborative teaching modalities on students' statistical knowledge seems warranted. This study examined the relationship between performance on collaborative learning group assignments and students' examination scores in statistics. Data were derived from 270 students enrolled in nine sections of a social statistics course, taught between 1996 and 2004. The results both challenge and support the efficacy of collaborative learning groups, and suggest that faculty modify such techniques when evidence of student learning cannot be empirically linked to the collaborative experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that students' epistemological beliefs impact on approaches to learning and consequent learning outcomes. Epistemological beliefs have been shown to influence students' approaches to study and problem-solving, motivation and persistence in information seeking. There are also some preliminary research findings that suggest the structure of learning environments can influence students' epistemological beliefs. A study was designed to investigate the impacts of a new course on students' epistemological beliefs. The new course structure was based on engaging students in web-supported independent activities prior to small-group workshops that focused on active learning. Findings indicate that students' epistemological beliefs changed during the course implementation, and that students with more complex epistemological beliefs achieved better results in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In responding to The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA [now the Disability and Discrimination Act, Part 4]), UK universities have made significant efforts to address issues of access and inclusivity via structural changes to campus environments and developments in student support. However, little attention has been given to ensure students are well-equipped to understand issues of disability. Moreover, staff training is needed before disability issues can be successfully incorporated into the curriculum. It is essential to consider more than the practicalities of equal opportunities and rights of access alone. Despite the fact that the emerging disability philosophy embraces the social rather than medical model, the approach to managing and teaching disability issues remains rather mechanistic. A heightened awareness of disability issues can be achieved through a problem-based learning approach. However, effort is required to ensure such activities are not undertaken in isolation, given that the goal is towards inclusivity across the entire curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This self-study was designed to explore problem-based learning (PBL) as an instructional approach in the contest of a pee-service science education methods course. Through the development and implementation of PBL curriculum, the author's goals were to improve her classroom practice and her understanding of that practice, to contribute to the knowledge base of teaching and learning, and to immerse students in authentic learning experiences that would encourage them to adopt an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. In studying her own practice, the author adopted classroom-based action research as a strategy to explore PBL. Data collection methods and sources included field notes, interviews, and student-generated documents. The author describes how many aspects of her pedagogical content knowledge (conceptions of the purposes for teaching subject matter, knowledge of students' understanding, curricular knowledge, and knowledge of instruction and assessment) and classroom practice were transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research looks at student experiences of learning in a clinical teaching situation. At the end of a course, students took part in a class that was led by a user of the health system, rather than their usual lecturer. We chose to study this class because we knew that it provided a very different learning experience for the students and therefore gave us an opportunity to contrast this with their normal science teaching experiences. The study highlighted how embedded learning and teaching had become in a science curriculum that supported the transmission of authorized factual knowledge. It was shown that students could recognize alternative forms of knowledge and that these were valued in different ways. Furthermore, they acknowledged that they could learn in new ways although both these ideas were poorly understood. The study allowed us to reflect on our own learning and expose an important paradox in the choices we made in course design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand for well-qualified health care professionals (including pharmacists) is projected to increase over the next 10 to 20 years. In many jurisdictions, immigration will become an increasingly important human resource to replace aging, retiring workers and drive ongoing economic prosperity and growth. Higher education has been an underutilized resource for foreign-trained professionals seeking re-qualification. Bridging education provides a structured system for continuing professional development of professionals, linked to existing curriculum, assessments and standards in higher education. The International Pharmacy Graduate Program in Ontario (Canada) has developed a model that has been recognized by the provincial government as a ‘best-practice’ for bridging education. This model consists of four elements: prior learning assessment and recognition; university-benchmarked skills enhancement education; mentorship; and asynchronous learning opportunities. Success rates on licensing examinations for those completing all components of the program currently exceed 95%, indicating the value of bridging education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]