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FACE Conference 2003: Summaries Day 3
Friday 4 July
Paper Sessions 3A, 09:45 - 11:00 & 3B, 11:20 - 12:35
3A1 LOMOND: Chair, John Samuel
09:45 - 11:00
Tony Wailey
London College of Printing, London Institute
Changing Learners: The Pedagogy of Ap(e)l and PPD.
The links between Ap(e)l, in its forms of assessing learning experiences and personal and professional development in constructing part of the core curriculum is the question that is posed here. What constitutes learning and how do we assess it?
Ken Gibson & Rob Wood
University of Derby
Widening participation and access: room for vocational decision-making
This Paper considers the implications for Access courses and their students as new policy and programme initiatives impact on higher education. Reflecting on the decision-making process of Access students at the University of Derby, the Paper asks how well the constituency of non-traditional students will be served by these new arrangements.
3A2 MULL: Chair, John Storan
09:45 - 11:00
Lesley Richardson
University of Southern Queensland, Australia
The impact on course design of a changing learner population
This paper traces the evolution of an online course originally aimed at a coherent vocational/training group, through a phase catering for a multiplicity of student profiles before emerging as a course directed towards a coherent group of traditional Masters students. It reveals the complexity in course design when student expectations are diverse.
Alice Peasgood
The Open University
Gateway or obstacle? Reflections
upon the role of assessment in widening participation.
The United Kingdom Open University’s programme of introductory distance
education courses, Openings, was designed for a widening participation audience.
This practitioner-focused paper reflects upon the role of assessment in students’
participation, and the evolution of the assessment on a science course in response
to feedback from students and tutors.
3A3 OCHIL: Chair, Margaret Mullan
09:45 - 11:00
Annette Green
Charles Sturt University, Australia
Bridging two worlds: An alternative pathway to teaching
In 2003 a group of seventy beginning teachers with varied career experience took up duty in Australian schools. Unlike most of their colleagues, they have a trade background with extensive industry credentials. This paper will discuss their course, examining the first cohort who began teaching in 2003, in terms of participants, course design, context and implementation.
Karen Bunyan
Waterford Institute of Technology
Access to higher education
in the third age: the value of diversity
This paper investigates the impact of an age diverse learner population using
a qualitative methodology that focuses on the learner’s voice. The paper
also explores factors that promote and inhibit successful learning and the perceptions
of younger and older learners towards each other.
3A4 RANNOCH : Chair, Mike Osborne
09:45 - 11:00
Michelle Morgan & Paul Lister
University of Sussex
The Changing face of Induction
Recognising the need to improve the undergraduate student experience and retention levels at Sussex, staff worked to develop a new university-wide induction process. This session will explain the need for change, describe the internal changes required, give an example of change and look at the impact on the student experience and undergraduate retention levels.
Andrew McAuley
University of Stirling
Learning about learners: understanding the student experience
An evaluation of student learning in order to understand how students spend their time, make use of support materials and structure their learning. This will inform discussion on the changing needs of learners as institutions attempt to deliver successful learning experiences.
3A5 KINLOCHARD: Chair, Stuart Dean
09:45 - 11:00
Cheryl Lim
University of Hertfordshire
Developing higher education online short courses using learndirect materials.
This study examine student feedback on short courses developed as part of an initiative to widen access to Higher Education using online programmes. The study considers the barriers faced by students and the institution and considers students’ perceptions of the benefits of studying online.
Judith Ramsay, E McAteer,
R Harris, M Allan & J Henderson
Scottish Centre for Research into Online Learning & Assessment (SCROLLA)
University of Glasgow
Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU)
Networked learning in further education: a case study
This paper outlines research into the development of a tool for mapping web-based learning materials to the Scottish Further Education Curriculum. The tool supports outcome-based teaching activities characteristic of further education.
3A6 UIST: Chair, Steve Lake
09:45 - 11:00
Fiona Chapel, University of
Leeds
Lynda Storey, Park Lane College
Beyond GCSE? Pathways into Higher Education for mature students studying in
community education
This paper provides a report from a practitioner’s perspective on ‘Beyond GCSE?’; a project which aims to support mature learners from socially, excluded areas, who are studying in community settings at GCSE level, in order to encourage them to go onto Higher Education. The project is a partnership between the School of Continuing Education, University of Leeds and the Schools of Adult and Community Education within Park Lane and Thomas Danby Colleges in Leeds.
Anne Lines & Parminder Mann
National Foundation for Educational Research, UK
Bigger Pictures, Broader Horizons: Widening Access to Adult Learning
The paper presents findings from a study which aimed to ascertain adults’ perceptions of informal learning in the arts and cultural sectors and to examine the potential role of providers ands venues in offering learning opportunities.
3A7 HERMITAGE: Chair, Kevin Brosnan
09:45 - 11:00
Morven Easton, Allan Burns,
Janice Pattie, David Moyes & S Whitelaw
Crichton University Campus, Dumfries
Crichton University Campus: Evolutionary or Revolutionary
Over the past decade, the Education Sector in Scotland has gone through major changes requiring traditional approaches to education to be re-visited and re-defined. The paper, giving details of one of the newest and most innovative, the Crichton University Campus (Dumfries), provides essential background reading for the conference presentation.
END OF SESSIONS 3A
3B1 LOMOND: Chair, Mick Brennan
11:20 - 12:35
Joakim Palestro & Crister Skoglund
National Agency for Higher Education, Sweden
The new attitudes to widening participation in Sweden's higher education institutions.
Swedish HEIs have during the last few years become more positive towards widening participation work. This paper will present the efforts done to strengthen widening participation work in Sweden and analyse the factors behind the changes in attitudes by the HEIs.
Stella Green & Mark Fowler
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), UK
Measuring diversity: an analysis of the changing profiles of the higher education (HE) community across the UK
This analysis visually and interactively explores demographic data collected on all UK applicants accepted to full-time higher education in the UK to examine the extent to which the learner population really is increasingly diverse.
3B2 MULL: Chair, Michael Hill
11:20 - 12:35
Ginny Saich
University of Stirling
Constructive Community Engagement Within the Curriculum
Articulates the premises of a community service learning course; reviews the pilot of experiential learning in community-based placements within the context of current imperatives for employability, personal and professional development and stakeholder engagement.
Paul Grainger & Yanna
Rider
Widnes & Runcorn Sixth Form College
Thinking with Reason!Able
Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning demand good critical thinking skills. But not all strategies for cultivating critical thinking work. Informed by research findings, Widnes & Runcorn Sixth Form College aims to enhance critical thinking by using the Reason!Able software.
3B3 OCHIL: Chair Jim Ross
11:20 - 12:35
Angus Williamson, Dumfries & Galloway Council
Don Garford, NHS Dumfries & Galloway
Grow your own partnership – an organic approach
This paper is project based in a practical situation and focuses on some lessons from Dumfries and Galloway in the creation of an effective Adult Literacy and Numeracy learning partnership.
Polly Osborne & Zita Eckett
Southampton Institute
Gateway to Higher Education: widening access to adult returners
This paper examines some of the current problems of providing the pre-entry Gateway programme in a changing environment. It reports on recent critical analysis of the benefits of the course and developments intended to make the course more accessible to more students.
3B4 RANNOCH: Chair, John Field
11:20 - 12:35
Faizah Majid et al
National University, Malaysia
Selected Malaysian adult learners’ academic reading strategies: A case study
This is a case study which investigates the use of academic reading strategies amongst Malaysian adult learners who are in-service TESL students. Specifically it seeks to compare the strategies used by the proficient and non-proficient ESL readers. Three instruments namely student diaries, participant observation and informal interviews were used to elicit relevant data. Findings suggest that adults can maximize their potential as more efficient readers by exploiting their characteristics as adult learners.
John Laird, Cardonald College
Mitch Miller, Scottish Further Education Unit
Focus on Learning
This paper discusses the process of applying and harnessing action research in four Further Education colleges to encourage change and innovation in teaching and learning. Staff implemented and evaluated interventions based on current learning theories across the colleges. The process, and the findings have major implications for the development of learning in FE.
3B5 KINLOCHARD: Chair, Kevin Brosnan
11:20 - 12:35
Alastair Ferrie
University of Stirling
Castlecary Viaduct of Learning
This paper is based on ongoing research into the variable performance of former Access students studying in four different H.E. institutions in Scotland. It seeks to present a case for the importance of supportive relationships as a factor in learner identity transformation and hence creation of an optimum learning environment.
Mike Abramson & Peter Jones
University of Central Lancashire
Empowering under-represented students to succeed in higher education: initiatives in early engagement at a post-1992 university.
3B6 UIST: Chair, Mireille Pouget
11:20 - 12:35
Greg McCarra
Napier University
Using 'wrap-around credit' for professional development: this paper explores methods of broadening and deepening commercial/industrial courses so that participants may gain academic credit. Familiar methods of programme validation, accreditation and credit-rating were explored and were found inappropriate. A novel approach of' wrap-around credit' is proposed. One existing and one planned programme are discussed.
Susan Bates
Western Australian Department of Education and Training
Making connections: Insights from the implementation of the Course in Applied Vocational Study Skills project
The Course in Applied Vocational Study Skills is a new way of providing literacy support to industry students that is achieving some unexpected results. It is transforming literacy learning and teaching in Australia.