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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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]