Search

This paper explores conceptions of curricular and extracurricular in UK higher education. Reporting on a case study of staff understandings of the extracurricular we argue that our data highlight the lack of debate about curricular matters. We found that there was considerable blurring of boundaries in conceptions of the curricular and extracurricular and argue that this is related to the lack of any stable or explicit conception of the curriculum in UK higher education. The paper highlights issues of recognition and non-recognition of the sorts of cultural capital which flow from traditional and other forms of extracurricular activities (ECA) and points to the continued gendering of caring and its valuing. Recognition of capital from within diverse communities and derived from activities which have not been traditionally conceptualised as ECA might contribute to graduate outcomes, but there are limitations to a politics of recognition. We argue that account also needs to be taken of the materiality of student lives and the constraints they face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United Kingdom the topic of the comparability of academic qualifications features prominently on the agenda in higher education. The paper summarises the debate and highlights key issues. It offers specific reflections on the experience of one university as it seeks to address the topic of postgraduate qualifications, disentangle the many strands of a complex and multi-faceted set of questions and further strengthen internal quality processes in order to meet the growing demands by external bodies and interest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has indicated that women are avoiding the `hard' end of computer studies on courses in higher education. In this paper we challenge some of the descriptions of computing and suggest that computing is best understood as a concrete science characterised by the acquisition of artistry. We report findings from a case study of men and women on IT courses in one higher education institution in the UK. Students followed common first-year modules involving the use of workbooks aimed at encouraging independent learning. Our methodology involved observations of the coaching styles of male and female tutors in computer laboratories. Thirty-four one-and-a-half-hour sessions were observed. Attendance was higher for the sessions led by female tutors, but male students had higher attendance rates overall. We found that the male tutors had more short interactions with female students and intervened more directly manipulating the keyboard or mouse, but that both male and female tutors spent longer with men in the class. However, women students we observed appeared confident, were more vocal and were sought out by their peers as advice givers. Women tutors adopted a more active coaching style, which encouraged collaboration between students and greater peer interaction. We conclude that we should use case studies to re-describe women's presence within computing and render it more visible. From our observations of women in computer laboratories it is clear that computing is not just for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]