Tom Bourner

Assessing reflective learning

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main problems in assessing reflective learning and to seek ways of tackling them. Lessons are sought from HE’s long engagement with critical thinking that can be transferred to reflective learning. A solution to the problems is offered that is based on a questioning approach to reflective learning. In so doing, the paper explores the nature of reflective learning and advances the idea that the distinction between “surface” and “deep” learning can be generalised to the domain of reflective learning. It concludes with some implications for the development of reflective learning.

First-year undergraduate experiences of group project work

This paper is about the evaluation of group project work for students who are new to higher education. It reports on the experiences of first-year undergraduates undertaking work assessed on the basis of a group project. After completing the group project students were surveyed using a questionnaire developed from earlier work undertaken by Garvin et al. Conclusions are drawn in terms of the positive and negative experiences of the students, comparisons with the research of Garvin et al. and implications of the research for tutors involved with group project work.

Teaching methods for learning outcomes

Focuses on learning outcomes in debates on teaching methods in higher education (HE). Presents six core learning outcomes and ten common teaching methods for each of the learning outcomes. Concludes that the search for any universally best teaching method is bound to be fruitless and should give way to the search for better ways of achieving particular learning outcomes. Recommends the widening of the repertoire of teaching methods available to academic staff as a means of diminishing the severity of the trade‐off between teaching effectiveness and teaching efficiency as the unit of teaching resource continues to fall.

The DBA: what is it for?

The 1990s have seen the emergence and development of professional doctorates in the UK and, in particular, the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). This article identifies the rationales offered for DBA programmes and their intended learning outcomes. Research findings are based on programme documentation produced by the 16 universities offering the DBAs in 1999. Analysis of these documents shows that these programmes have been designed to provide research‐based career development for experienced and senior professionals in management positions. Whereas the PhD is aimed at developing professional researchers, the DBA aims to develop researching professionals. Rather than viewing research as an end itself, the new DBAs have placed research at the service of the development of professional practice and the development of professional practitioners. The learning outcomes of the DBA programmes identified in this paper are appreciably broader than the intended learning outcomes of the traditional PhD in business/management.

Student-Community Engagement and the Changing Role and Context of Higher Education.

Purpose – The purpose of this Editorial is to introduce key themes in the area of student‐community engagement (SCE) and the papers included in this special issue.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses dominant trends in the current context.Findings – The selection of papers in this issue represent the range of programmes that have been developed over the past five or so years and indicate what they have, and have not been able to achieve. However, the recent context indicates an acceleration of the expectations placed on higher education to develop socially responsible citizens and to create graduates who will be able to solve the complex problems of an increasingly complex world.Originality/value – The paper provides a background to SCE and the changing role and context of higher education.

Action learning comes of age ‐ part 2: action learning for whom?

Examines recent changes in further education colleges and colleges’ greater responsiveness to the needs of employers and students. Explores the development of a model of responsiveness, the main ways in which responsiveness is changing and future directions for colleges. Concludes that colleges’ responsiveness to employer needs will continue to be influenced by financial and commercial decisions, and the needs of wider communities.

Action learning comes of age: questioning action learning

Questions where and for whom action learning might not work and seeks to find the limits of the method. Suggests that by better understanding the situations in which action learning works least well, its more effective use will be more fully understood.

What Action Learning Is Not in the Twenty-First Century.

This article is about what action learning is in the twenty-first century. In 1983 Reg Revans explained how action learning differed from seven phenomena with which it had been confused. This article explores how action learning differs from seven further phenomena with which it is currently confused. The article details similarities and differences between action learning and self-directed teams, coaching, focus groups, action research, seminars, problem-based learning and experiential learning.

The Practice of Self-Managed Action Learning.

This paper describes how an innovation in the practice of action learning, self-managed action learning (SMAL), was developed and then applied in practice on a number of management development programmes for a Health Board in Ireland. The nature of action learning set facilitation is discussed. The paper describes how the term set facilitator was replaced by set manager, since it provided a more accurate description of the role needed to sustain action learning sets. The skills necessary for effective action learning set membership and facilitation are considered and are found to be the key skills for facilitative management and the ‘soft skills’ for managing change. A new SMAL set process and its support structures are outlined. Details are given of how SMAL has been used on management development programmes involving more than 380 managers. The key beliefs and values that underpin SMAL are also explained.

The DBA: form and function

This article is about the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degrees that were developed in the UK during the 1990s. It looks at the range of programme structures, content and learning support used. The article is based on a content analysis of the 16 DBA programmes in the UK at the end of 1999. The main conclusion is that there is a tension in the form and function of DBAs through their relationship with the traditional PhD. The tension is captured in the question: To what extent do programme developers follow the design of the ’‘gold standard” PhD and to what extent do they design a programme aimed at meeting the learning outcomes of the DBA that distinguish it from a PhD?