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Reported benefits of research-informed teaching include enhanced student engagement and graduates that are better prepared for employment in an uncertain world. However, there are a number of academic risks that can have both positive and negative impacts on staff and students when implementing research-informed teaching. Mitigating such risks could smooth the way for, or even encourage, wider exploration of innovative teaching methods with associated benefits. This paper presents findings of an empirical study that identifies what risks were encountered or perceived from both student and staff perspectives when adopting a research-informed teaching approach. Risks were identified through semi-structured interviews with multi-disciplinary staff and a questionnaire survey with students. Two risk categories were revealed as particularly significant for student learning: curriculum bias and how research engagement impacts on student experience. Staff reported considerable positive impacts on well-being and motivation when adopting research-informed teaching. In light of this, the frequently encountered strategies for staff to reduce risks and negative impacts are presented, including raising awareness of key teaching styles or methods and fostering a sense of wider cultural support for innovative pedagogies within and between disciplines and departments. More could be gained by acknowledging and managing the risks associated with research-informed teaching than by strategically avoiding this type of activity.

Current changes to policy around higher education in the United Kingdom are leading to an increasingly marketised system. As funding is transferred from the United Kingdom government to the individual student, universities will be required to pay more attention to marketing. This paper draws on the literature relating to marketing of services to assess the extent to which higher education marketing addresses issues of covenant, quiddity and representation. Using a mixed sample of universities and associated further education colleges who provide higher education opportunities, this research investigates the marketing strategies of different types of higher education institution. Differences identified include the extent to which reputation, educational experience, research and student life are used in marketing. We conclude that newer universities and further education colleges appear to be more greatly influenced by contemporary government policy agenda than are the older more traditional institutions, which continue to trade largely on their established strong reputations. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This paper reports the findings of a science e-journal initiative to publish undergraduate research and assesses student evaluations of this experience. Students in this (post-1992, non-research-intensive) institution overwhelmingly reported that research was a key feature of their course at the point of the e-journal introduction and that they were involved in research in a variety of ways (especially honours projects, lab work and fieldwork). Research-informed teaching from the student perspective involved two specific categories of pedagogic activities: things that students did and things that tutors did. Students largely understood research-informed teaching as an activity where tutors impart knowledge about their own and others' research (a research-led approach). Yet, what students wanted was a more active involvement in the research process (research-oriented/research-based). The e-journal initiative enabled some students to acquire this additional experience and without great cost so could be adopted elsewhere. There is some debate about equality of access to research opportunities in higher education, and an e-journal has the potential to be more widely accessible than, for example, research apprenticeships (especially if students can be involved as reviewers and as active contributors via Web 2.0 technologies). However, there is still an element of elitism about selection for the publication process.

E-learning is increasingly being used in higher education settings, yet research examining how students use e-resources is frequently limited. Some previous studies have used the think-aloud method (an approach with origins in cognitive psychology) as an alternative to the more usual questionnaire or focus groups, but there is little discussion in the educational literature about the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. In this paper, we discuss our experience of using the think-aloud method in a recent study, and we reflect on its potential contribution as a research method. A number of concerns about the method arose during our study, including the level of guidance given to participants, observer influence, and the complexity of data analysis. We conclude, however, that the richness of the data collected outweighs these constraints, and that the think-aloud method has the potential to enhance research in this field.

This paper contributes to the development of learning and academic analytics in Higher Education (HE) by researching how four graphical visualisation methods can be used to present student assessment and feedback data to five stakeholder groups, including students, external examiners and industrialists. The visualisations and underlying data sets are described, together with the results of a questionnaire designed to elicit the perspectives of the stakeholder groups on the potential value of the visualisations. Key findings of this study are that external examiners agree that the visualisations help them to carry out their role and students concur that they can assist with study organisation, relative performance assessment against the wider cohort and even module choice. All stakeholder groups were positive about the benefits of graphical visualisations in this HE context and supported an increased use of visualisations to assist with data interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships of peak oxygen uptake ( V̇O2peak), power at V̇O2peak and power at the anaerobic threshold (AT) with national ranking in a sample of British high performance junior surfers. Methods. Eighteen male surfers (aged 15.4 ± 1.4 years) from the British Junior Surfing team were tested for V̇O2peak and AT using an adapted kayak ergometer; national ranking was used to indicate performance level. The AT was identified as the point at which V̇E/V̇O2 started to rise without a concomitant increase in V̇E/V̇CO2. Spearman's rank (rs) and partial correlations (rp) controlling for age were used to identify the relationships between the physiological variables and national ranking. Results. Mean V̇O2peak was 3.1 ± 0.5 l · min-1 (47.7 ± 7.2 ml · kg-1 · min-1) and mean AT occurred at 48.1 ± 12.2 W. There were significant correlations between national ranking and power at V̇O2peak (rs = -0.549, p = 0.028), power at AT (rs = -0.646, p = 0.009), and age (rs = -0.579, p = 0.012). Significant partial correlations were established controlling for age between national ranking and power at V̇O2peak (rp = -0.839, p = 0.000) and power at AT (rp = -0.541, p < 0.046). Conclusions. The power outputs associated with V̇O2peak and AT were significantly related to surfer ranking in this sample. However, due to the low coefficient of determination associated with the AT/ranking relationship, AT does not discriminate well between the ranking of surfers. These findings support the inclusion of power at V̇O2peak in assessment batteries for junior competitive surfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents strategies to widen the engagement of students with undergraduate research journals. It mentions that dissemination of research can take many forms such as private wikis, workshops, presentations to research clients and formal journal articles. Students distinguish benefits from publication of their work, seeing it as a model of good practice to be followed by other students, believing to boost self-esteem and enhances their curriculum vitae.

gresty k.a. & cotton d.r.e. (2003) Journal of Advanced Nursing 44(4), 339–349 Supporting biosciences in the nursing curriculum: development and evaluation of an online resource The aim of this project was to develop and evaluate an online resource designed to improve the biosciences knowledge of preregistration nursing students. A number of studies have identified lack of biological subject knowledge and anxiety about studying biosciences as serious problems for nursing students. The availability of a contextualized biological information resource prior to and early in their studies might help to reduce this fear and anxiety. The project used an action research approach, involving an initial analysis of the extent of the problems with biosciences encountered by our nursing students, followed by the development and evaluation of a biology-based open learning resource (entitled Headstart) in collaboration with preregistration nursing students and nurse educators. The students in this study expressed a high level of concern about studying biology, and perceived this to be the most difficult aspect of their nursing programme (significantly more difficult than nursing practice). A significant correlation was also found between previous level of biological qualification and confidence in passing module tests. Evaluation of the new online resource illustrated the willingness of nursing students to use such a package, and general approval of its content and mode of delivery, despite a number of problems related to computer access and students’ inexperience with information technology. This project has provided further evidence of the need for additional resources in biosciences for nursing students. It has also illustrated the way in which a targeted online resource has the potential to provide substantial benefits in terms of supporting the nursing curriculum. Whilst further evaluation is needed, the findings suggest that Headstart has the potential to address a number of issues identified both by this study and by previous research in nurse education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthropometric profiles of male surfers and to investigate the relationship of these measures with performance and ability. Following institutional ethical approval, 79 male surfers underwent anthropometric assessment. These surfers composed of three sub-groups of professional (n=17; age: 34.12,s=3.81 years, stature: 177.28,s=6.29 cm; body mass: 78.57,s=7.17 kg), junior national level (n=15; age: 15.61,s=1.06 years, stature: 173.86,s=5.72 cm; body mass: 63.27,s=7.17 kg) and intermediate level surfers (n=47; age: 22.47,s=2.80 years, stature: 179.90,s=5.41; body mass: 77.83,s=9.43 kg). The mean somatotype values for the different groups of surfers were found to be 2.48, 5.00 and 1.03 for the professional surfers; 2.18, 3.72 and 3.24 for the junior national surfers and 2.79, 3.57 and 2.42 for the intermediate surfers. Professional surfers were significantly (P< 0.01) more mesomorphic and less ectomorphic than intermediate level surfers. Significant correlations were observed between endomorphy (r= −0.399,P< 0.01), sum of six skinfolds (r= −0.341,P< 0.05), and body fat percentage (r= −0.380,P< 0.01) and the rating of ability among the intermediate group of surfers. Across all participants, the rating of surfer ability was significantly correlated with endomorphy (r= −0.366,P≤0.01), mesomorphy (r= 0.442,P< 0.01), sum of six skinfolds (r= −0.274,P< 0.05) and body fat percentage (r= −0.268,P< 0.05). Findings suggest that the levels of adiposity and muscularity may influence the potential for progression between intermediate and professional-level surfing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]