Alicia Prowse

“I can’t be arsed”: A small‐scale exploration of students’ self‐reported motivation on entering a course of study and eventual “success”

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the university course trajectories of students from entry to a 3‐year full‐time undergraduate programme, to graduation with an honours degree, in the light of their self‐reported motivations to study. This small‐scale investigation took place at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI).Design/methodology/approach – A small‐scale survey using the Academic Motivation (to study) Scale was administered to 102 students on entry to a full‐time undergraduate degree course in an interdisciplinary information‐based department in a UK HEI. The students’ motivation profiles were assessed in relation to their trajectory through the degree course and selected students were interviewed just prior to graduation.Findings – The report focuses on the pattern of student motivations – in general students who achieved “good” degrees were likely to have lower motivation and students achieving “not so good” degrees were likely to self‐report higher levels of both autonomous and c...

Fostering Sustainable Communities and Resilient Cities Whilst Supporting ‘Life on Land’ Through a Colombian School’s Initiative

‘Quality education’ features in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in the United Nations declaration ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ (i.e. SDG 4). Furthermore, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can be interpreted as a thread that supports the potential achievement of all the other SDGs. For instance, schools based in cities could help making these more ‘inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ (i.e. SDG 11) whilst supporting ‘life on land’ (i.e. SDG 15) on the school grounds. This paper presents an environmental project, which aims to foster the integration of ESD in the curriculum through a tangible conservation and restoration initiative of some of the 70 ha of natural reserve in the Eastern hills of the city of Bogota, Colombia. First, the paper describes the project and its links to urban ecosystems in the context of city resilience. Second, it analyses empirical data from the project evaluation, which evidences the development of pupils’ competencies and impacts beyond school activity. Finally, it presents the challenges faced by educators when adjusting curricula for ESD, followed by some recommendations for the future of the project. The purposes of the paper are: to provide insights to improve the project, to evidence the valuable pedagogic outcomes of this kind of initiatives for ESD and to inform and promote the development of similar projects in the region and beyond.

Global Citizenship Education—Assessing the Unassessable?

This chapter explores the role of assessment in global citizenship education (GCE). We will consider what can be assessed, and how teachers can design and manage appropriate assignment tasks in relation to normative assessment practices. The ways in which assessment might inform curriculum, behaviours, and engagement with GCE are considered in relation to institutional practices. The role of the assessor is also discussed by considering the extent to which this role aligns with the assessor’s own behaviours. Finally, the potential of a Human Capabilities Approach is briefly explored in relation to the development and support of assessors in GCE.

Amplifying staff development through film: The case of a university staff visit to a sixth form college

Purpose The literature on student transition to university commonly investigates student expectations, perceptions and experiences and rarely focusses on university academic staff viewpoints. The purpose of this paper is to explore the staff development potential of a filmed visit of university academic staff to a sixth form college. Design/methodology/approach The project created a space for eight university colleagues from a wide range of discipline areas in a large metropolitan university and ten college students from one local sixth form feeder college to observe and reflect on their experiences of learning and teaching (L&T) in the two environments. Findings Staff development episodes were subsequently designed to allow staff who had not attended the visit to comprehend the experiences of L&T in colleges and promote a consideration of pedagogies for student transition. Observations and reflections from this “second audience” are presented. Research limitations/implications This was a case study of a visit of a small group of university academic staff to one Roman Catholic sixth form college who selected students to speak on film. The visit occurred just prior to final exams at the end of the academic year. Practical implications Packaging the visit via film and workshop activity enabled university staff to hear their own colleagues’ reflections on how students learn in college and the step up to university study. This combination of vicarious/peer learning could be used in a range of staff development and training settings. Originality/value This study explored a practical way of extending a small-scale episode of experiential staff development to a much larger staff audience via the use of filmed reflections of participants, combined with workshop activity and online comment and discussion.

Mighty negatrons and collective knitting: academic educators’ experiences of collaborative inquiry-based learning

Abstract This chapter explores the ways in which academic educators’ experience of collaborative inquiry-based learning (IBL) can illuminate student behaviours, particularly in relation to assessment and the affective domain. The facilitator of this IBL, in the setting of academic staff development in UK Higher Education, uses a reflective storytelling style to detail the learning of an annual cohort of staff at a university in the north west of the United Kingdom. Six separate academic staff cohorts enroled in a unit, as part of a Master of Arts in Academic Practice, to undertake this experiential, humanist way of learning, working with all the principles of collaborative inquiry. The chapter explores the ways in which the participants’ self-reported affective responses altered over the course of the unit, particularly in relation to the assessment. Participant reflections are integrated with pedagogic literature and extracts from the facilitator’s contemporaneous notes, assessor’s feedback and other material, detailing the ways in which the freedom of an IBL episode moves to anxiety associated with assessment, which can build as the assessment point nears. Reflections on group constitution, cohort characteristics and the role of the facilitator are considered in relation to the notion of ‘success’ of IBL episodes. This is interrogated particularly in relation to academic staff responses to the experience of the emotions of IBL, and how this may affect their own practice in designing teaching and learning experiences for students in Higher Education.