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SAILING ALONE A history RICHARD J. KING 476pp. Particular. 25 [pounds sterling]. When someone asked the late Prince Filippos of Greece and Denmark, aka Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl [...]

I won't deny that my memory sometimes lets me down these days, as Gregory Martin suggests (Letters, January 19). The quip I attributed to the late Duke of Edinburgh was, [...]

The focus of this article is on the role of academic developers in supporting and influencing undergraduate research and inquiry, a high-impact activity. We examine the levels at which academic developers can influence undergraduate research and inquiry practices by distinguishing between staff and student practices; disciplinary and departmental practices and policies; institutional practices and policies; and national and international practices and policies. Drawing on our experiences over the last 20 years, we discuss the widening of academic development practice and consider who are the academic developers when it comes to embedding undergraduate research and inquiry in mainstream higher education.

Organisational change in UK higher education has resulted in control of the student learning environment passing from specific disciplines such as psychology to central management teams and university-wide course frameworks. This poses the general question of how disciplines can exert influence upon broad pedagogic issues, when their control extends only to relatively local matters, and the specific methodological problem of how action researchers can investigate topics of general importance when they are only able to make local interventions. Though higher education managers emphasise accountability and evidence-based practice, their own decision-making processes rarely use pedagogic evidence. Examples from a research programme within one psychology department are described, that attempt to apply psychological research methods to generic issues of pedagogy. An important motivation for this programme is the belief that by generating evidence through research, psychologists can both intervene in debates outside conventional control, and assist management decision-making processes to move towards becoming evidence-based. (Contains 2 tables.)

In the Foreword to The War Against Cliche: Essays and reviews 1971-2000, a career-spanning collection of his journalism (literary and other), Martin Amis recalled how, when they started out in [...]

Philip Larkin LETTERS HOME 1936-1 977 Edited by James Booth 612pp. Faber. 40 [pounds sterling] (US $55). 978 0 571 33559 6 The young Philip Larkin was a bit of [...]

Faculty need to be supported and encouraged to integrate disciplinary research and scholarship into undergraduate courses and programs in ways that are beneficial to their students' learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

This article presents an analysis of the perceptions of built environment academics in four post-1992 universities in the UK on teaching/research relations. Whilst set in particular departments, institutions and disciplines, it addresses issues that are of central concern worldwide. This study indicates that securing effective teaching/research links is potentially vital for ensuring that students learn of the complexity of knowledge and develop high order academic and "professional" skills. However, it also demonstrates how issues of department organisation and culture - in particular the effective policy separation between teaching and research - result in failures to support staff to achieve potential synergies between these activities. Evidence is also provided that, in built environment disciplines there are distinctive features of teaching/research relations that need to be considered in department policies (and national funding). This study questions the policies of those governments and institutions that in effect seek to separate teaching from research. However, it leaves uncertain the extent to which all staff need to be involved in high-level research, or whether "scholarship" is adequate to effectively underpin student learning in these disciplines.

Undergraduate and graduate students in the United Kingdom participated in structured discussions of the effects of lecturer research activity on student learning. Both groups offered a preponderance of positive comments over negative ones. Articulated benefits of lecturer research included enhanced knowledge currency, credibility, competence in supervision, and enthusiasm/motivation. Negatives included reduced availability, competition with teaching, and curriculum distortions. (EV)

'The age of schoolchildren learning [Gray's Elegy] by heart ... may now be over', says M. C. (NB, November 5), but 'In the notebooks of traditionalist versifiers the world over, [...]

Interviewed graduates of a British university about the perceived benefits of their degrees. Found huge variation in long-term effects, which come from four main sources: individual student backgrounds, different reconstructions of the same academic experience, different personal circumstances while at college, and individual career experiences after graduation. (EV)

Investigated in three studies how undergraduates use and think about information and communication technologies. Data from questionnaires, computer diary records, and focus groups indicated that students would support policies encouraging them to purchase their own personal computer, but that universities should work to control costs, provide technical support, facilitate compatibility, and formalize expectations about computer use in courses. (EV)

Using documented materials, interviews, a questionnaire, and content analysis, Investigated the criteria used by faculty at a British university when grading undergraduate dissertations. Findings indicated considerable ambiguity regarding use, meaning, and application of criteria. (EV)

Addresses the relationship between teaching and research within geography. Focuses specifically on undergraduate teaching. Argues that the teaching-research relationship must be explored in the context of research and scholarly literature. Provides suggestions on how to deliver teaching-research relationships. Includes references. (CMK)

Describes David Kolb's experiential learning theory focusing on the main features of his theory. Applies Kolb's theory to the teaching of geography addressing ideas such as teaching how theories of gender explain aspects of suburbia, teaching a field course, and encouraging staff to rethink their teaching style. Include references. (CMK)

Five educators at a symposium suggested that giving academics training and support in their teaching roles might prioritize skills at the expense of disciplinary knowledge and threaten academic freedom. This article presents the contrary view that teaching can be improved by such courses and suggests that this point of view should be substantiated by research. (SLD)