Gender Transformations in Higher Education

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amy Bell ◽  
Lucy Hawkins ◽  
Lorraine Kelleher ◽  
Cath Lambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Academic Activism ◽  
Popular Appeal ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This paper offers a critical perspective on issues around gender and sexual transformation within the context of UK Higher Education. Drawing on qualitative data carried out by undergraduate and postgraduate students, the analysis explores some of the diverse and often challenging ways in which young/er women and men are thinking and talking about gender, sexuality and feminism, as well as their strategies for turning ideas into political action. The research focuses on the activities and opinions of students belonging to an anti-sexist organisation within one UK university, who are engaged in campaigns to raise awareness about the damaging effects of gender and sexual inequalities, as well as promoting the popular appeal of contemporary feminisms. Locating the voices and research findings of the students themselves at the centre of the discussion, the paper is produced collaboratively between students and teachers who are involved in both the activist and research elements of this project. The paper also argues for (and provides evidence of) the transformative potential of alternative and critical forms of student engagement and student/ staff collaboration in relation to gender informed academic activism.

Reviews in Translation

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-122
Author(s):  
Catherine Hua Xiang ◽  
Lijing Shi ◽  
Peter Skrandies ◽  
Rosemary Deller
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Teacher Reflections ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Active learning and the involvement of students as producers and partners play a key role in language teaching in today's UK higher education landscape. This chapter explores a “Reviews in Translation” project integrating “real” translations of online blog content into classroom-based teaching of Chinese and German in a UK university as part of a collaboration that sought to establish a “partnership learning community” across academic and professional service divisions. Drawing on qualitative data based on teacher reflections on classroom experience and student feedback, the chapter assesses the success of the project through two key lines of enquiry: the combination of pedagogical and real translation for language learning and engagement with students as active learners.

scholarly journals Making the case for oracy skills in higher education: practices and opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Heron ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Uk Higher Education ◽  
Opening Up

In this paper I make the case for embedding oracy practices in the HE curriculum through explicit teaching of oracy skills and a shared common language to describe these skills. Active learning and teaching approaches as well as growing expectations of graduate employability skills have resulted in greater demands on students in UK higher education in terms of their oracy (speaking and listening) skills. Whilst oracy skills have long been the focus of studies in compulsory educational contexts, there is little transfer of research findings to a higher education context. With the aim of opening up the discussion on oracy skills in HE, this paper reports on an exploratory study carried out to investigate how teachers on two undergraduate business modules incorporated oral communication skills in their content, pedagogy and assessment. Data were gathered from observations of lectures and seminars, course documents, and semi-structured interviews with tutors. With reference to an Oracy Skills Framework the paper concludes with suggestions for how oracy skills may be more explicitly embedded into the undergraduate curriculum.

scholarly journals “Peering through the window looking in”: postgraduate experiences of non-belonging and belonging in relation to mental health and wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Morris
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore belonging in relation to postgraduate wellbeing in the light of renewed concerns about the mental health and wellbeing this group of learners. It attends to postgraduates’ subjective wellbeing, identifying ways in which this is intertwined with a sense of belonging. Belonging is situated in relation to the social domains of postgraduate experiences. This paper seeks to contribute in-depth understandings of postgraduate experiences, to make recommendations for practice and to identify fruitful paths for further theorisation and research. Design/methodology/approach Two qualitative data sets situated in UK higher education are drawn on here: firstly, longitudinal qualitative data entailing 33 narrative interviews and written reflections of doctoral researchers were collected as part of a phenomenological study of doctoral learning. Secondly, interview data from 20 postgraduates (including masters, professional doctorates and PhD researchers) were collected as part of mixed method qualitative case study research into postgraduate wellbeing. Postgraduate participants were based in the social sciences, humanities, arts and professional disciplines at a cross-section of UK higher education institutions. Data were analysed thematically with a focus on interconnections between wellbeing, learning and belonging. Findings A sense of belonging arose as a key contributing factor to postgraduate wellbeing. Belonging emerged as multi-faceted, interlinking with spatial, relational and cultural factors which are likely to be experienced in different ways and degrees depending on positionalities. Experiences of belonging and non-belonging are understood as produced through academic cultures and structural inequities. They also pertain to the uncertain, in-between position of postgraduate learners. For postgraduates, and doctoral researchers especially, reaching a sense of belonging to academia was a profoundly important aspect of their journeys. Conversely, lack of belonging is linked with poor mental wellbeing and engagement with studies. Originality/value This paper engages with the neglected social domain of wellbeing. Attending to subjective perceptions of wellbeing enabled nuanced understandings of the links between wellbeing and belonging. It identifies spatial, relational and cultural dimensions of postgraduate belonging, contributing an understanding of how feelings of non-belonging manifest, how belonging might be nurtured, and how this potentially contributes to postgraduates’ wellbeing.

scholarly journals Chinese Students’ Use of Digital Resources for Their Learning in UK Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p50
Author(s):  
Tracy Simmons ◽  
Palitha Edirisingha ◽  
Mengjie Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Postgraduate Studies ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This paper explores Chinese students’ use of digital resources during their postgraduate studies in the UK. The study is important in contemporary Higher Education (HE) context where internet-based technologies, resources, online platforms and digital devices play a significant role in providing access to learning resources. A significant portion of students in HE also come from diverse cultures with arguably varying orientations to learning and using technologies. Based on qualitative data collected from focus group interviews with Chinese postgraduate students at Leicester, we explore some of the challenges that they face during their transition from learning in China (Nguyen et al., 2006; Leedham, 2015) to the UK HE learning environment. We identify the strategies that these students use, including a variety of digital tools and resources that they use to help in their formal studies during and beyond this transition stage. We also highlight their development of digital literacy skills and the responsibility that the UK HEIs have in this regard.

scholarly journals Postgraduate Students’ Perception of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Enhancing their Learning Experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Faizah Abd Majid ◽  
Rafidah Kamarudin ◽  
Ainul Azmin Mohd Zamin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Research Findings

MOOCs first became a phenomenon in the higher education landscape in 2008. Ever since, various researches have been conducted to explore the potential of MOOCs as an alternative in the learning and teaching process, and the way forward in delivering the courses effectively. Despite the growing interest in MOOCs applicability in higher education, very little is known about how postgraduate students perceive the use of MOOCs in their programme. Postgraduate students are synonymous with the concept of adult learners. One of the characteristics of adult learners is their motivation, which is driven by intrinsic and instrumental factors. As past research have concentrated on the undergraduates, this paper uncovers the postgraduates’ perceptions of MOOCs. A total of 51 respondents took part in a survey conducted in one of the Malaysian public universities. Quantitative data yielded findings similar to past research findings. However, what is new is the need for MOOC providers to cater to the needs of the postgraduate students who are adult learners particularly in determining the following; MOOCs’ attributes, learning process and learning outcomes. It is expected that the postgraduate students, their educators and the MOOC developers would find the findings helpful.

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