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Mobile methodology has long been adopted in social science as a data collection tool and there is an established industry focused on cemeteries and ghost walks as a novel and appealing way to engage audiences in mortality. However, death studies have rarely sought to embrace mobile methods as an opportunity for innovation in teaching to enhance Higher Education (HE) student learning. This paper will reflect on the value and potential of adapting mobile methods to become mobile learning, an innovative pedagogic approach enabling the teaching of mortality to become an immersive experience of ‘learning on the move’ using mobile technology. Learning on the move has, I will demonstrate, a range of benefits for participants. These include the stimulation of the thanatological imagination and the schooling of participants to communicate effectively and sensitively about death, dying and the dead. I will explore the significance of mobile learning through the York Death and Culture Walk (DaCWalk), an open access self-guided fully podcasted walk through the centre of one of the UK’s oldest cities. The walk is designed to enable HE student walkers to experience embodied learning as they come to both know and understand mortality in a historic urban space. Mobile learning is argued to be a powerful innovation as a pedagogic tool for teaching and learning about death, dying and the dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the contribution that Outdoor Learning Development (LDO) makes to a university postgraduate programme in Human Resource Development for international students with work experience. It establishes the rationale for LDO inclusion based on notable research contributions and differentiates the role and format of this event from conventional outdoor management development programmes through a focus on self-organized learning. The progression from individual learning to intra-group learning over the three days of the event is based on the interplay of action, theoretical inputs and self-evaluation. An emphasis is placed on purposeful conversation for shared learning, systems thinking and personal responsibility for seeking collaboration – essential elements in the life of real organizations. Individual reflective capability and group conversational processes for enhanced learning skills are stimulated in follow-up discussion after LDO with video input on key incidents. The learning achieved is generally observed to be beyond what conventional classroom activities can offer and sets in motion new thinking to consolidate and apply academic knowledge across the whole programme, providing a stimulus to career development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, transition to university has become regarded as the 'normative' next step for young people following completion of their post-16 education. This paper examines the views of 23 young people who, despite being suitably qualified to progress to university, were anticipating alternative pathways and options. The paper illuminates the centrality of young people's 'learning identities' in their decisions and the role of wider social contexts in structuring their opportunities to embark on higher education. Their 'learning identities' informed their views on the value of higher education and other options in securing future employment. The implications of these findings are highly significant in the context of congested and competitive UK labour markets in which obtaining a degree has become, in very many contexts, the bare minimum for securing employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present our development of a previously articulated approach to counselling education of transformational learning through a relational dynamic approach (Macaskie et al., 2013). We replace the idea of integration with a values-based approach and supplement the notion of transformational relational learning with a not-knowing attitude. This perspective on education and learning in counselling parallels the attitude within psychotherapy that we teach our students. We argue that this unites relational approaches to learning and psychotherapy across modalities and offers a trans-theoretical approach that could explain the common factors research in psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value for money of UK undergraduate degree courses is under increasingly critical scrutiny. Understanding the level of learning achieved by students on any particular course has therefore become of paramount importance as an indicator of teaching quality. The change to the learning that a student undertaking a course has acquired can be expressed as being their 'learning gain' and this paper applies a course level lens to investigate this using an innovative bottom-up approach which considers both the distance travelled by each student (explicit knowledge), and also their journey travelled (tacit understanding). Benchmarking learning gain data was collected from undergraduate marketing students, and gaps in perceived learning were identified. Changes to the teaching were implemented to address issues identified, and data was collected from the next cohort of students for comparison. Students reported significant improvements in learning after the changes in teaching had been implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a substantial, but hitherto largely unappreciated component of lifelong learning and education (LLL/LLE). CPD encourages analysis of the LLL/LLE of those with high education in early years. It draws attention to the influence of particular organisations, professional associations and regulatory bodies, not only as suppliers of LLL/LLE, but also as facilitators of perpetual cycles of learning and in so doing connect lifelong learning with individual identities as professionals. This study highlights the importance of bringing a sociological perspective into understanding participation in LLL/LLE through consideration of a wider range of stakeholders. Data is presented on these organisations' CPD policies from a large-scale survey carried out in the UK triennially between 2003 and 2018, in addition to interviews, focus groups and other surveys of employees of these organisations in the UK, as well as in Australia, Canada and Ireland reported in many publications. The development path of CPD and the changes this has led to for the exercise of professionals' lifelong learning and for the functioning of these organisations themselves is analysed. CPD policies and programmes are portrayed as a structured system distinct from university continuing education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature on military aircraft unit costs is based on US data. This article adds to our knowledge by using an original data set for UK military aircraft costs, profits and prices. A distinction is made between unit costs within a generation of aircraft and between generations. Four research questions are addressed. First, is the UK aircraft industry a decreasing cost industry; second, are new entrants higher cost suppliers; third, what is the evidence on profitability in war and peace and between new entrants and original developers; fourth, what is the UK evidence on Augustine-type cost escalation and on the efficiency of aircraft procurement in war and peace? The UK aircraft industry was found to be a decreasing cost industry reflecting both scale and learning economies. Typically, new entrants were higher cost suppliers and profit rates were higher in peace-time. There was substantial Augustine cost escalation for UK combat aircraft and doubts are raised about the efficiency of military aircraft procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degree apprenticeships in the UK represent a shift in approach to degree-level study. As the model matures, it is important to hear perspectives of apprentices. Using Q methodology, the study aims to identify the different apprentices' viewpoints of the apprenticeship, exploring aspects of belonging, support, challenges and views of the learning experience. Thirty-five second-year computing apprentices at a UK university participated in the study. Centroid factor analysis revealed three perspectives: aligned student-workers, busy professionals, and the cast adrift. Aligned student-workers were balancing work and study effectively, finding value in both. Busy professionals were already consolidated as professionals, using this degree apprenticeship to upskill. Finally, the cast adrift, reported a lack of support in the workplace that was affecting their view on the apprenticeship. This exploratory study, resulting in a new research instrument and approach, contributes apprentices' perspectives to research and practice, as apprenticeship models expand in the UK and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power relationships between undergraduates and academics are frequently overlooked. This article explores the construction of a 'traditional' power relationship between undergraduates and academics, through the theorisation of systemic and constitutive power and considers the prevalence of this dynamic within a higher education (HE) context. I draw from Fairclough's three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis to explore 32 interviews, 12 observations and 12 policy documents gathered from two post-1992 universities in England. Academics and undergraduates in this study perceived the existence of a traditional power relationship, constituted through the behavioural expectations of the established social roles of the traditional learner and teacher, which form the dynamic. I will discuss the behavioural expectations and distributed powers of the traditional learner and teacher roles, before addressing the prevalence of the traditional power relationship within the universities in this study and the barrier this creates for more collaborative dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]