Sciences Technology Bloger

    Sciences Technology Bloger

Do you teach qualitative methods, text analysis, data mining or mixed methods at undergraduateThe Internet is an integral part of blogs, Twitter and others all create enormous quantities of data – texts, images and video – that social scientists are now beginning to analyse. But traditional methods of qualitative analysis that are used to do this and that are still taught at undergraduate level are not always up to the task. Fortunately, the development of software to assist in qualitative data analysis now includes functions that can complement standard approaches with techniques adapted from textual analysis and data mining.The use of software in qualitative analysis is common in postgraduate training and many researchers are now using its new functions of word frequency counts and cluster analysis to complement their analyses. However, at undergraduate level there is so far little use of software in teaching, unlike the standard use of statistics programs in quantitative analysis.The project is surveying the state of activity in qualitative research teachers’ use of these approaches and will identify examples of good practice. It will try to tackle one of the barriers to the development of teaching in research methods which is the lack of good resources and data sets by making available those in use by teachers who are ‘leading the field’.Can you help? The questionnaire will take between to complete but it can be saved part way through if you want to complete it later.The event aimed at discussing the use of participatory approaches in creating a shared pedagogical space in the form of an Early Childhood Resource and Research Room by consulting and listening to students’ views, within a Higher Education Institution. The room is being developed as a curriculum enhancement space for the Early Years and Early Childhood Studies degree courses within the Department of Education, at Anglia Ruskin University. The project offers opportunities for students’ participation and sustained education experience.Mallika Kanyal has carried out similar work in using participatory approaches with young children to understand their perceptions of the learning environment. The event was an opportunity to extend this work and consider the application of participatory approaches in Higher Education with an emphasis on developing a pedagogically and socially relevant space for students. Her work with young children has been published in the following two books:The event started with an overview of the work of ‘Early Childhood Research Group’ within the University and an outline of the inception and value of Early Childhood Resource and Research Room in our curriculum. Kathy , emphasised the importance of students’ voice work and its recent addition as one of the main ‘strands’ i work. This led to the introduction of the students’ participation project in Anglia Ruskin University, with Mallika Kanyal outlining its aims and objectives, and also sharing the evidence of the work being done in consultation with students. There was contribution by student participantswho also shared their experiences and perspectives on their involvement in the project.Mallika’s presentation can be accessed Being a participatory project, both students and staff shared their ‘stories’ and perceptions of an Early Childhood Resource and Research Room within a Higher Education Institution. This opened up discussion on making links with the wider community, for example, with Early Years settings, schools, Further Education colleges and neighbouring Universities. Networking continued over lunch time where delegates exchanged ideas and contact details for any future work.Presentations continued after lunch and Judy van Heerden, one of the external speakers for the event, from University of Pretoria, South Africa, gave an inspiring online presentation on ‘Using a Model Class in the Training of Undergraduate Early Childhood Development Students at a University’. The presentation was extremely helpful as it gave examples, through the use of images, of a similar room being used in action in another university.

                                                                                       There was discussion on using the ‘room’ for curriculum enrichment by making it an integral part of modules delivery.Vickie Thomas and Nicole Rippingale from Early Years Workforce Development team, Essex County Council, presented another interesting dimension to students work by giving an overview of the Essex Early Years support for training. The talk was especially targeted for student practitioners and Further Education and Higher Education tutors, who teach current practitioners. This instigated discussion on the support and funding available for student practitioners, highly relevant for their Continued Professional Development.The discussion continued with yet another thought provoking presentation by Dr Gerry Czerniawski and Warren Kidd, from University of East London. They opened a wider debate on participatory work by reviewing the landscape of student voice. Issues related to policy and trust in students’ voice work were reviewed and raised, for example, the need for radical pedagogy and critical consideration of problems for research, practice and democracy.The event concluded with a short presentation on the impact of students’ participation on their learning and personal development by Mallika Kanyal and student participants, Dominic Abbott and Gemma Lewis.Mallika Kanyal gave a general account of the possible impact of participatory work on student learning and personal development and Dominic Abbott and Gemma Lewis gave specific examples of the impact at a personal level. The presentation finished by opening up a debate on the critical use of participatory approaches and their claim to be empowering, participative and transformative.Malika comments “I found these two pieces of work very helpful while working on students participation project”: Doing student voice work in Higher Education: an exploration of the value of participatory methods. British Educational This work discusses the use of participatory methods in a UK Higher Education Institution, illustrated with the help of two case studies. The case studies give examples of student’ voice work and how it can help to ‘transform the familiar’ and ‘empower students’ by listening to the explicit as well as implicit voices of students. Hearing the student voice: promoting and encouraging the effective use of the student voice to enhance professional development in learning, teaching and assessment within higher education.Available Accessed SeptemberThis work encourages the use of students’ voice for effective academic professional development, including learning and teaching and assessment, and students learning experience. It is an ESCalate project and represents the work of four universities who collaborated on the project.I would like to further develop this work and document and share the outcomes in the form of a ‘working’ Early Childhood Resource and Research Room. I would like to document continued participation by students and also explore the challenges of sustaining students’ participation in similar projects.I would also like to further explore the links developed with other academics, for example, Warren Kidd Judy van Heerden (University and Manabu Sumida (Ehime University, Japan), who have either engaged with students voice work or opened up similar Practice and Research based room(s) in their education institutions. It will be great to develop some collaborative project(s) and share our passion for participatory work in Higher Education.If you are interested in being updated about future developments, please contact Malika via the email address above.The model of initial teacher educatios changing in England, with a shift in the philosophy around the leadership of This shift is moving away from providers (often located in universities) and towards ‘school-led provision’. At the same time as the changes the school curriculum is undergoing change with a relaxation on the direction of content for some school subjects; Design and Technology is one of these subjects. Teacher Educators this is an exciting time of change. More flexible ways of delivering ITE are being developed, with an emphasis on the three way partnership between university, school and the students. On-line learning tools are also being developed to enables trainee teachers (students) to personalise their learning within and outside the university. This event was designed to provide a space for D&T Teacher Educators to come together and discuss ideas related to the above: how universities are engaging with changes to ITE and the curriculum fo within secondary education; and how blended learning can be used to support these changes.The event was opened with an engaging panel-led discussion on the theme of ‘new ways forward in the changing environment’. The panel consisted of important education. John Everson, Partnerships Manager Owen-Jackson, Senior Lecturer in Educationat The Open University and David Spendlove, Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester. The panel raised a variety of points for discussion around the move for ITE towards ‘school-led provision’. After the panel-led discussion, groups discussed the various implications for university providers under the themes of: funding & fees; school led routes; qualifications for the profession; the new teaching standards; and the role of Of sted.and third editions, the new text combines the best of the old, while also reflecting important changes in ways of thinking critically about, understanding and responding to crime and deviance. Chapters begin with box text outlines of key themes subsequently covered, thus setting up signposts for the reader and preparing them for what follows. Selected further readings are suggested at the end of chapters.Tierney adopts a linear approach to discussion, helping to demonstrate how theories evolve and are refined over time. The book is divided into six parts (Preliminaries and Early History; World War Two to the New Millennium), enabling the reader to consider criminological thinking in relation to social, political and economic contexts. If the reader wants to follow the development of a particular strand (e.g. feminism) they can do so with ease. In terms of pitch and writing style, discussion is generally pitched at a level that should be accessible for most students, although for some aspects of theory new students may find preliminary reading of a basic introductory text enhances their understanding.Presentation is monochrome, unlike many recent texts that use colour for emphasis. Sciences Bloger