scholarly journals 'You've been frameworked': evaluating an approach to digital and information literacy at the Open University

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Reedy ◽  
Robin Goodfellow
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Middle Managers ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Digital Skills ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Staff Engagement

This article explores the effectiveness of the Open University's (OU's) Digital and information literacy (DIL) framework (Reedy and Goodfellow, 2012) in promoting the integration of digital skills into modules and qualifications - a key strategic priority for the university - and in contributing to cultural change in the digital practices of teachers and learners - a key aim for the UK HE sector as a whole. We trace the history of digital and information literacy in the OU curriculum and elsewhere, leading up to the development of the framework. Four sets of interviews tell the story of academic and library staff engagement with it. These case studies are supplemented by two further interviews giving the perspective of OU middle managers responsible respectively for learning design and digital and information literacy development. We evaluate the success of the framework, and suggest how it might be further developed in future. Conclusions point strongly towards the need to involve students in shaping their own skills development, as found in other recent research (for example, Jisc, 2011a; 2011b).

The Unfinished Sexual Revolution

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Revolution ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
The World ◽  
Control Clinic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Editorial note. March 17th, 1971 was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening by Marie Stopes of her birth control clinic in Holloway, London, the first of its kind in the UK and possibly in the world. In recognition of this notable event, the Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation, in conjunction with the University of York, has established a Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture to be given annually for a term of years. The first of the series was delivered on 12th March in the Department of Sociology, University of York, by Mr Laurie Taylor of that department. In introducing the speaker, Dr G. C. L. Bertram, the Chairman, emphasized the great contribution made by Marie Stopes to human welfare and gave a brief history of the clinic, which was soon moved to Whitfield Street. On Marie Stopes' death in 1958 the Memorial Foundation was set up to manage the clinic, still in Whitfield Street, and as a working monument to a great women.Mr Taylor's script is printed below as delivered and it will be seen that the lecture was a notable one. Not only that, but it was delivered with the verve of a Shakespearean actor and the members of the large and appreciative audience will not readily forget the occasion.

scholarly journals Employing neo-Durkheimian institutional theory in cross-cultural accounting research

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1270-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Mark Linsley ◽  
Alexander Linsley ◽  
Matthias Beck ◽  
Simon Mollan
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Mary Douglas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory, developed by the Durkheimian institutional theory, as developed by anthropologist Mary Douglas, as a suitable theory base for undertaking cross-cultural accounting research. The social theory provides a structure for examining within-country and cross-country actions and behaviours of different groups and communities. It avoids associating nations and cultures, instead contending any nation will comprise four different solidarities engaging in constant dialogues. Further, it is a dynamic theory able to take account of cultural change. Design/methodology/approach The paper establishes a case for using neo-Durkheimian institutional theory in cross-cultural accounting research by specifying the key components of the theory and addressing common criticisms. To illustrate how the theory might be utilised in the domain of accounting and finance research, a comparative interpretation of the different experiences of financialization in Germany and the UK is provided drawing on Douglas’s grid-group schema. Findings Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory is deemed sufficiently capable of interpreting the behaviours of different social groups and is not open to the same criticisms as Hofstede’s work. Differences in Douglasian cultural dialogues in the post-1945 history of Germany and the UK provide an explanation of the variations in the comparative experiences of financialization. Originality/value Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory has been used in a wide range of contexts; however, it has been little used in the context of accounting research. The adoption of the theory in future accounting research can redress a Hofstedian-bias in accounting research.

Quality Processes in Distance Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 1728-1733
Author(s):  
Alistair Inglis
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Failure Rates ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Practitioners and providers in distance education owe a great debt to the founders of the UK Open University (UKOU). The history of distance education can be broken into two eras, each separated by the successful establishment of the UKOU. The UKOU had as strong an incentive as any institution to improve quality — its very survival is dependent on its success. Prior to the establishment of the UKOU, distance education (or correspondence education, or extramural studies or external studies, as it was then known) was characterized by high attrition and high failure rates (White, 1974). The UKOU planners recognized this fact. They realized that, for the University to succeed, the causes of the high attrition and high failure rates had to be addressed. The fact that the University continues to this day is testament to its success. The way in which the UKOU tackled the issue of quality, carries some lessons for distance education providers today. It did so, not by targeting one key area, but by tackling the range of factors that affect the quality of a student’s experience of studying at a distance: by investing heavily in the presentation quality of materials; by making innovative use of media, (particularly the broadcast media); by putting in place a new type of organisational structure to support teaching staff in the work of course design, teaching, and assessment; and by building up a range of other support functions: establishing local study centres, employing local tutors, and instituting a program of residential schools.

Embedding Enterprise in Engineering

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Handscombe ◽  
Elena Rodriguez-Falcon ◽  
Eann A. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
The Other ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Teaching Programme ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

A great deal of enterprise teaching is carried out in business schools and has been for many years. The challenge of the UK's Science Enterprise Challenge was to extend enterprise teaching more thoroughly to science and engineering students. While some of the centres launched under the initiative developed the activity of business schools, there were notable exceptions. This paper focuses on the attempts to implement the challenges of teaching enterprise to engineering students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. This was one of the most successful departmental interventions of the White Rose Centre for Enterprise (WRCE), formed in 1999 as part of the UK Science Enterprise Challenge initiative. WRCE's remit, like that of the other science enterprise centres, was to increase enterprise learning and entrepreneurship, thus bringing about a ‘cultural change’ in those universities involved in the collaboration. WRCE's approach was to embed enterprise in the teaching programme of the science and engineering departments. The general propositions of WRCE are reviewed in the light of the activities within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Some detailed qualifications of those propositions arise, with strong emphasis on the importance of pedagogic approaches and sequence of content.

UK-Australian Labour History Conference

2004 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 166-167
Author(s):  
Neville Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Labor History ◽  
Comparative History ◽  
Australian Society ◽  
International Conference ◽  
History Of ◽  
Metropolitan University ◽  
Labour History ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester

This international conference, the first of its kind to be organized in the UK, was held at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the International Centre for Labour Studies, the University of Manchester, on July 16–18, 2003. The conference organizers were Neville Kirk, MMU, on behalf of the Society for the Study of Labour History, Anne Morrow, on behalf of the International Centre for Labour Studies, and Greg Patmore, University of Sydney, for the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. The aim was to bring together invited speakers in order to advance our knowledge and understanding of the labor history of Britain and Australia. Feedback received by the organizers suggests that this aim was successfully realized. However, attendance on the part of British colleagues was somewhat disappointing, perhaps a reflection of the minority interest among British labor historians in comparative history.

scholarly journals Arbeit ist das halbe Leben…

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. R6-R12
Author(s):  
Sarah Herbe
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
University Of Vienna ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of The University ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Working World

 Arbeit ist das halbe Leben…: Erzählungen vom Wandel der Arbeitswelten seit 1945 (“Working is Half your Life…: Telling the Transformations of the Working World since 1945”), Kinder – Küche – Karriere: Acht Frauen erzählen (“Kids – Kitchen – Career: Eight Women Tell their Stories”), and Eigene Wege: Eine Bergbäuerin erzählt (“My Own Ways: A Mountain Farmer Tells Her Story”) are among the most recent volumes of the series “Damit es nicht verlorengeht…” (translated as “Lest We Forget…” on the website of the Department of Economic and Social History of the University of Vienna), edited by the association for the “Dokumentation lebensgeschichtlicher Aufzeichnungen” (“Collection of Biographical Records”) in Vienna. Both the collection and the series were founded in 1983 by the historian Michael Mitterauer, two years after the re-launch of the Mass Observation project in the UK (Sheridan 27), with the aim to document and archive the everyday lives of Austrians. The collection holds autobiographical manuscripts by more than 3,000 people, most of them born in Austria after 1900 (see Müller 2009, 93–94). Many of the contributions were elicited with the help of calls for contributions (“Schreibaufrufe”) that aimed at collecting material on specific topics. Günter Müller, the curator of the collection, stresses the close cooperation of the association with those who respond to such calls: every single submission receives a detailed personal reply, and the respondents are assisted in their attempts to keep alive their memories and experiences for posterity.     This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing on March 15th 2017 and published on April 27th 2017.

scholarly journals Innovative teaching in a new normal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keziah Gibbs ◽  
Hannah Pyman
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Online Tutorials ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Unusual Situation

With 2020 bringing unprecedented circumstances for us all, at the University of Essex we’ve been striving to move our previously in-person information literacy and research support teaching online. In doing this, we wanted to see the unexpected situationasan opportunity for improvement and increased engagement. This has required innovation and creativity, and has led us to deliver our training in a range of different formats. These formats include: online tutorials, YouTube videos, virtual workshop sessions, and mixed-media webpages using Springshare’s LibGuides software. By using a variety of solutions to reach our users, we have seen take-up for our teaching offer increase beyond our previous numbers. We believe this is in no small part due to our online resources’ ability to reach students in various locations and situations, including those working across campuses, outside of the UK, and those who may have other commitments alongside their studies. As well as this, we have been able to increase the accessibility of our teaching by ensuring our newly created online teaching materials meet UK web accessibility standards. In this presentation, we will share the lessons we have learnt in our shift to online teaching. We will explore the different technologies used to achieve this, discussing what has and hasn’t worked in our aim to increase the scope and interactivity of our information literacy and research support training. We will include feedback from participants, and will explore how we intend to broaden our offer further in the future. Ultimately, our presentation will demonstrate how the unusual situation of 2020 led us to innovate in newand interestingways.

The Economic History of India: A Bibliographic Essay

1961 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morris David Morris ◽  
Burton Stein
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Research Center ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

In october 1959 a small group of scholars met under the auspices of the University of Chicago's Research Center in Economic Development and Cultural Change to discuss problems of research in Asian economic history. Papers prepared by two participants explored work already done in Indian economic history. It was felt that these two papers might be useful to others, those concerned with Indian economic history and those interested in comparative analysis.

scholarly journals Outdoor education: the Romantic origins at the University of St Mark and St John

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Mark Leather ◽  
Gil Fewings ◽  
Su Porter
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Outdoor Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Romantic Poet ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

PurposeThis paper discusses the history of outdoor education at a university in the South West England, starting in 1840.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses secondary sources of data; original unpublished work from the university archive is used alongside published works on the university founders and first principals, as well as sources on the developments of outdoor education in the UK.FindingsBoth founding principals were driven by their strong values of social justice and their own experiences of poverty and inequality, to establish a means for everyone to access high-quality education regardless of background or means. They saw education as key to providing a pathway out of poverty and towards opportunity and achievement for all. Kay-Shuttleworth, founder of St John's, wrote that “the best book is Nature, with an intelligent interpreter”, whilst Derwent Coleridge, St Mark's first principal, had a profound love of nature and reverence for his father's poetic circle. His father, the famous English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor–Coleridge, made the first recorded use of the verb “mountaineering”. Coleridge was using a new word for a new activity; the ascending of mountains for pleasure, rather than for economic or military purposes.Originality/valueThe Romantic influence on outdoor education, the early appreciation of nature and the outdoors for physical and psychological well-being and the drive for social justice have not been told in any case study before.

scholarly journals Supporting the employability agenda in university libraries

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Mawson ◽  
Amy C. Haworth
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Uk Higher Education ◽  
Work Done

Purpose This paper aims to outline work to support the employability agenda in the Library at the University of Sheffield, set in the context of debates about the nature of employability, employability skills and information literacy in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach The paper starts with a brief review of literature on employability and student skills in the UK higher education sector, the place of information literacy as an employability attribute and information literacy in the workplace. It goes on to outline work done in the Library at the University of Sheffield to support the employability agenda. This includes the development of a commercial awareness workshop in collaboration with other services and the incorporation of student and alumni voices in an employability guide. Findings The literature reviewed highlights the differences between information literacy in the workplace and academia. This could present challenges and opportunities in promoting information literacy as an employability attribute. The case study highlights the benefits of working in collaboration with students and services beyond the library in the employability arena. Originality/value The approaches taken in Sheffield may be of interest to other institutions looking to develop support for the employability agenda.

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