Gill Kirkup

Gender and Cultural Differences in Internet Use: A Study of China and the UK.

This study investigates differences in use of, and attitudes toward the Internet and computers generally for Chinese and British students, and gender differences in this cross-cultural context. Two hundred and twenty Chinese and 245 British students’ responses to a self-report survey questionnaire are discussed. Significant differences were found in Internet experience, attitudes, usage, and self-confidence between Chinese and British students. British students were more likely to use computers for study purposes than Chinese students, but Chinese students were more self-confident about their advanced computer skills. Significant gender differences were also found in both national groups. Men in both countries were more likely than women to use email or ‘chat’ rooms. Men played more computer games than women; Chinese men being the most active games players. Men in both countries were more self-confident about their computer skills than women, and were more likely to express the opinion that using computers was a male activity and skill than were women. Gender differences were higher in the British group than the Chinese group. The present study illustrates the continued significance of gender in students’ attitudes towards, and use of computers, within different cultural contexts.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in Higher Education Teaching--A Tale of Gradualism Rather than Revolution

The widespread adoption of information and communications technologies (ICT) in higher education (HE) since the mid 1990s has failed to produce the radical changes in learning and teaching than many anticipated. Activity theory and Rogers’ model of the adoption of innovations provide analytic frameworks that help develop our understanding of the actual impact of ICT upon teaching practices. This paper draws on a series of large‐scale surveys carried out over a 10 year period with distance education tutors at the UK Open University to explore the changing role of ICT in the work of teachers. It investigates how HE teachers in one large distance learning university have, over time, appropriated ICT applications as teaching tools, and the gradual rather than revolutionary changes that have resulted.

Academic blogging, academic practice and academic identity

This paper describes a small-scale study which investigates the role of blogging in professional academic practice in higher education. It draws on interviews with a sample of academics (scholars, researchers and teachers) who have blogs and on the authors own reflections on blogging to investigate the function of blogging in academic practice and its contribution to academic identity. It argues that blogging offers the potential of a new genre of accessible academic production which could contribute to the creation of a new twenty-first century academic identity with more involvement as a public intellectual.

Characterising the Different Blogging Behaviours of Students on an Online Distance Learning Course.

Since the early years of the twenty‐first century there has been an increasing interest in using Web 2.0 technologies to support learning in Higher Education. However, previous research suggests that the integration of blogging into courses can be difficult and cites problems with issues such as student compliance. We adopt a learner‐centred perspective and explore students’ (rather than their educators’) understanding of how blogs and blogging can support distance learning in Higher Education. We report on a study of UK Open University (OU) students on an online distance learning Masters course, that has enabled us to determine the issues that are important to these bloggers, and we describe five ways in which they appropriated blogging to suit their individual needs. We discuss the importance of making blogging activities flexible so that students can blog to meet their own needs whilst still attending to the requirements of their course.

Learners in transition: the use of ePortfolios for women returners to science, engineering and technology

In 2002 the UK Government produced a report highlighting the problems faced by women returning to employment in science, engineering and technology (SET) after a career break. In response to this report, a national strategy was developed, with funding from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry and the European Social Fund ‘Equal’ Programme, to address the issues highlighted by the report. One of the key parts of the strategy was the creation of a short (100 hours), online course by the Open University (UK) aimed at supporting and empowering women who were returning to employment in SET after a break. An ePortfolio forms an integral part of the course experience. This paper reports the experiences of the first group of 100 women who participated in this course. A range of data sources have been used to analyse the responses of participants to the course including questionnaires, emailed ‘critical incident’ narratives, discussion board postings and telephone interviews. This paper draws on that evaluation research to discuss the perceptions that women scientists, engineers and technologists had about the usefulness of personal/professional development planning (PDP) and an ePortfolio in helping them re‐enter employment, and their intentions to use it in future. Some of these findings can be generalised to other groups (either employed or not) who might benefit from a similar approach, i.e. developing an ePortfolio through a set of structured and guided e‐learning activities.

Patterns of online networking for women’s career development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how women working in science, engineering and technology use online networking, for career and professional development purposes.Design/methodology/approach – A combined qualitative and quantitative approach is taken, using interviews for the first phase of the research and online surveys for the second. The findings are discussed and presented with reference to theories on career development and in the context of recent work on womens networks and online social networking.Findings – The paper defines a typology of online networks and identifies the motives women have for engaging with the different types. The data imply that women are successfully using online networks to find support, advice and collaboration from women working in similar environments. However, the data only identify a few examples where the use of online networks has led to a specific new job opportunity.Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited by the samples us...

Women in Professional Engineering: The Interaction of Gendered Structures and Values

For more than a decade we have been engaged, as educationalists, in trying to improve the opportunities for women in engineering, technology and related, nontraditional fields. We reached a point where we felt we could not continue without knowing more about what it is like to be a woman working as a professional engineer. Excellent research had been done on the working lives of blue-collar women (Cockburn, 1985; Coyle, 1984; Walshok, 1981) and on the lives of women in other professions (Kanter, 1977; Marshall, 1984), but there was nothing specifically on professional engineers. Within that profession, particular questions needed to be addressed. How is gender manifest in the engineering profession, how is that gendering perpetuated, and, most importantly, how does this affect the life experience of women engineers both inside and outside their work? In 1986 we carried out a small research project based on interviewing thirty-seven women engineers in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, to find out why they had chosen engineering as a profession and what, for them, were the rewards and penalties. Engineering is still a predominantly white profession but our sample did include some women of colour.

Access to Computing for Home-Based Students

ABSTRACT A home computing policy was introduced by the Open University (OU) in 1988. Students registered to study specified courses are responsible for making arrangements for access to a microcomputer of a suitable specification (IBM compatible) as an essential part of their studies. Over 4,000 students enrolled on the three specified courses in 1988 and 11,000 enrolled on five courses in 1989. This is, then, the largest educational initiative in Europe using home-based computers. On the basis of evaluation data collected over two years, this paper discusses the impact of this initiative on students and a wide variety of OU staff, in particular the consequences for registered students in terms of their access to different parts of the institutions teaching system, e.g. additional help from central or regional staff to cope with the new demands of home computing. The paper suggests that differences in the student body that have always been significant in terms of access (particularly gender, income and g...

Providing computing for distance learners: a strategy for home use

Major changes are occurring in British higher education which will continue over the next decade. These include widening access to higher education, e.g. among mature adults and people from other European countries; developing distance and open learning for use in parallel with face-to-face teaching and the expansion of CAL to support various forms of pedagogy. These trends may conflict. Expanding the pedagogic uses of information technology, e.g. unless designed very carefully, may create new barriers to access for some potential students. Educational policy makers, course designers and teachers must address such potential conflicts. This paper draws on recent experience at the Open University (OU) of expanding the use of home-based computers for distance education students. In 1988 the OU implemented a policy in which students on specified courses were required to provide extensive access to personal computers in order to study their course material. By 1990 over 13,500 students were doing this. The experience of these students has been monitored and evaluated and lessons from it indicate some of the major issues such a strategy would involve for any institution considering similar developments.

The legacy and impact of Open University women's/gender studies: 30 years on

In 1983, the UK Open University (OU) offered its first womens/gender studies (WGS) course. Although a late entrant to the area, OU WGS courses were influential nationally and internationally for many feminists and WGS teachers and scholars. Not only did OU WGS courses have the largest WGS student cohort of any UK institution with over 8000 students in a 17-year period but also because the study guides and course books were sold commercially and used by many other institutions. The courses were produced and taught by a multidisciplinary team formed by the OU employing feminist scholars on secondment from other institutions to work as members of an interdisciplinary team of academics and media professionals. This paper looks at the challenges posed by the OU WGS courses as well as their legacy within the OU and beyond. It illustrates these with the voices of students reflecting on their experience of the courses up to 30 years later. It also argues that it is important to capture the lessons learned from second-wave WGS because these have something useful to say to third-wave feminism.