UK Students Research Articles

CHALLENGES FOR INTERACTION DESIGN EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH: A CASE STUDY OF BOTSWANA

AbstractIn a long‐term partnership between a university in the UK and one in Botswana teaching interaction design, the Botswana cohort of students consistently performed less well than their UK counterparts. To investigate this, we conducted a pair of design protocol studies: one in the UK and one in Botswana. Our findings show that designer behaviour differs in the two contexts in terms of process, use of ideation techniques and solution and problem focus, when approaching the task. More specifically, UK students follow the approach taught in the module, while this process conflicts with Botswana students' behaviours. However, we also find that Botswana students prioritise the external context of the designed product rather than its interaction characteristics, which is problematic as interaction is the key feature of interactive products. These results are significant because without leveraging indigenous knowledge to design interaction that supports local user characteristics and context, sustainable and equitable development through technological innovation will be suppressed. In this paper, we highlight challenges for interaction design education in Botswana, which include how to recognise and support a diversity of design approaches while providing suitable pedagogic scaffolding. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding student radiographer attrition: Risk factors and strategies

IntroductionDiagnostic student radiographer attrition is reported at 14%, 6% higher than the average for higher education, however, little research has been undertaken on this subject. This study explored risk factors for attrition and strategies that enabled these to be overcome. MethodsA two-phase study was undertaken. Phase one: data for 579 former student diagnostic radiographers (468 completers and 111 non-completers) from 3 English universities were analysed. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for completion based on individual characteristics. Phase two: content analysis of data from an online survey of 186 current UK student diagnostic radiographers exploring their experiences was undertaken. ResultsPhase one: Attrition was 19%. Increased age, non A-level entry qualifications and poor academic performance were predictors of attrition (p < 0.005). Phase two: Challenges reported by groups identified as ‘at risk’ showed that for mature students and those with non-traditional entry qualifications, external responsibilities/pressures and financial pressures were likely to be the greatest cause of attrition and for younger students with traditional qualifications, academic difficulty and excessive workload were most significant. Scientific learning and academic writing were identified as the most common academic difficulties by all groups. Poor mental health may also be a risk factor. ConclusionAlthough characteristics were identified that increased the chance of attrition, the study concluded that attrition is most likely to be multi-factorial. Academic and personal support were identified as key in students continuing their studies when they considered leaving. Clinical placement experience is likely to influence continuation decisions. Implications for practiceTransparency around course expectations and academic requirements together with ensuring high quality clinical placements may assist in reducing attrition.

Developing UK and Norwegian undergraduate students’ conceptions of personal social issues in young adult fiction through transnational reflective exchange

ABSTRACT This article presents the results from an international collaboration between undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and Norway. Using Literature Circles and Google Documents in groups, the students liaised digitally over three young adult novels that are prominent within the UK school curriculum. This study explored the ways in which the students together related and responded to the depiction of social and personal issues in the texts. The themes that emerged as being significant to the undergraduates were gender, racism, social class, power distribution and the portrayal of serious illness. In particular, the students related to the portrayal of issues that they viewed as relevant to themselves and potentially to younger students who might read the novels. The online platform provided them space to discuss issues such as death, racism, inequality, war and contemporary politics as they are represented through the medium of literary texts.

A citizen science exploration of the X-ray transient sky using the EXTraS science gateway

Modern soft X-ray observatories can yield unique insights into time domain astrophysics, and a huge amount of information is stored – and largely unexploited – in data archives. Like a treasure-hunt, the EXTraS project harvested the hitherto unexplored temporal domain information buried in the serendipitous data collected by the European Photon Imaging Camera instrument onboard the XMM-Newton satellite in 20 years of observations. The result is a vast catalogue, describing the temporal behaviour of hundreds of thousands of X-ray sources. But the catalogue is just a starting point because it has to be, in its turn, further analysed. During the project an education activity has been defined and run in several workshops for high school students in Italy, Germany and UK. The final goal is to engage the students, and in perspective citizen scientists, to go through the whole validation process: they look into the data and try to discover new sources, or to characterize already known sources. This paper describes how the EXTraS science gateway is used to accomplish these tasks and highlights the first discovery, a flaring X-ray source in the globular cluster NGC 6540.

The Psychology of Existential Risk: Moral Judgments about Human Extinction

The 21st century will likely see growing risks of human extinction, but currently, relatively small resources are invested in reducing such existential risks. Using three samples (UK general public, US general public, and UK students; total N = 2,507), we study how laypeople reason about human extinction. We find that people think that human extinction needs to be prevented. Strikingly, however, they do not think that an extinction catastrophe would be uniquely bad relative to near-extinction catastrophes, which allow for recovery. More people find extinction uniquely bad when (a) asked to consider the extinction of an animal species rather than humans, (b) asked to consider a case where human extinction is associated with less direct harm, and (c) they are explicitly prompted to consider long-term consequences of the catastrophes. We conclude that an important reason why people do not find extinction uniquely bad is that they focus on the immediate death and suffering that the catastrophes cause for fellow humans, rather than on the long-term consequences. Finally, we find that (d) laypeople—in line with prominent philosophical arguments—think that the quality of the future is relevant: they do find extinction uniquely bad when this means forgoing a utopian future.

The difficulty in evidencing family estrangement to attain statutory finance in UK Higher Education

AbstractAcquiring statutory funding to study in Higher Education brings complex difficulties for UK students under the age of 25 who are estranged from their family, but have not been part of the care system. This paper explores the experiences of 564 estranged students and their experiences of providing evidence of family estrangement in order to access statutory student financial support. It finds that those who disclosed their family estrangement to a professional found it easier to access statutory student finance. However, the stigma around family estrangement was a barrier to disclosure as participants felt shame and humiliation when approaching a professional to support their application. These difficulties led to substantial delays in receiving statutory finance for estranged students which subsequently had an impact on their retention and equitable student experience at the beginning of the academic year. The paper concludes with key recommendations for improvements to the process of proving family estrangement. It will question the parental means‐testing system itself, outlining key disadvantages for students experiencing family disruption.

International Group Work for Sustainable Chemistry

As part of a transnational degree programme, students in the UK and China were linked together to carry out group work. This was enabled by having two versions of our FHEQ Level 4 Sustainable Chemistry module; in person for UK students, and by distance learning for Chinese students. Groups were instructed to discuss issues relating to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in their respective countries and report back individually. Students who found the assignment interesting were more likely to indicate they would keep in touch, while those students who had fewer interactions or found the assessment guidelines unclear found the assignment less interesting and were less likely to wish to remain in touch. This kind of assignment is an example of what can be done with links to other institutions around the world.

Science career aspiration and science capital in China and UK: a comparative study using PISA data

ABSTRACTThe concept of science capital has a growing influence in science education research for understanding young people’s science trajectories. Popularised in the UK, this paper aims to extend and evaluate the applicability of science capital in the context of China by drawing on PISA2015. More specifically, we make use of existing items in the PISA2015 survey as a proxy for operationalising the construct of science capital to explore the science career aspirations and attainments of 15-year-old Chinese and UK students (n = 23,998). Our findings indicate that science capital has more explanatory power for understanding UK students’ science career aspirations than for Chinese students, where science attainment seems most important. We raise the potential challenge for Chinese students to convert their science capital into scientific self-efficacy and science career aspirations as we highlight the importance of recognising cultural and national differences in operationalising science capital.

Millbank tendency: The strengths and limitations of mediated protest ‘events’ in UK student activism cycles

UK students’ desire to create disruptive, media-friendly ‘events’ during the 2010–11 protests against fees and cuts is reflective of wider cycles and processes in student activism history. First, constant cohort turnover restricts students’ ability to convert campaigns into durable movements, necessitating that they must periodically ‘start from scratch’. This informs a second process, namely the need to gain the attention of mainstream media, as this can potentially amplify students’ grievances far beyond their own organizational capacities. Both have shaped student activism over the past 50 years, compelling contemporary students to create protest events that live up to their radical history. These processes were evident in autumn 2010, when an NUS demonstration saw students attack and briefly occupy Conservative Party headquarters at 30 Millbank. The protest’s mass mediation was central to activists’ ‘eventing’ processes, and provided the spark for the radical UK-wide campaign that followed. Yet once the fees bill was passed by Parliament, students’ dependency on mainstream media cycles was quickly exposed. With ‘mediatization’ tendencies having dogged student activism since the 1960s, this article argues that creating ‘events’ epitomizes students’ longstanding strengths and limitations as society’s ‘incipient intelligentsia’.

Isn’t this just about lesbians? Teaching hegemonic geographies of sexualities and genders here and now

ABSTRACT While feminist and queer pedagogic literatures can celebrate the inclusion of “other lives”, and the successes of their endeavours, this paper seeks to focus on the “here” and everyday hegemonies of heterosexualities and masculinities and the “failings” inherent to teaching practices. When engaging Irish and UK students in learning about geographies of genders and sexualities teaching about hegemonies seeks to perform a political pedagogy of questioning privilege from our positionings. The teaching that I discuss is informed by student and popular presumptions about places such as Ireland and the UK as “sorted” and, indeed, “leaders” in terms of progress about sexualities (and gender identities). Such presumptions not only create specific geopolitical regimes, but have specific classroom manifestations. In this paper, I reflect on my presumed “outness” and deliberate non-namings in shared/communal spaces, extending the discussion of “here” to include how personal-institutional-national nexus create, and are created by, teaching spaces. Thus, the paper explores diverse possibilities for teaching social difference and how pedagogies are always geographically created.

Professional identity formation in contemporary higher education students

ABSTRACT The study examines the prevalence of emergent professional identity (PI) among different groups of higher education students as well as the determining factors in the formation of PI. Drawing on evidence from a survey among Australian and UK students (N = 433), from two institutions and across a range of disciplines, empirical and conceptual insights are developed on the formation and impacts of students’ professional identity. The article shows the significance of identity formation as a crucial bridge between higher education and future employment and its mediation by other key resources – in particular social and cultural capital – that students acquire before entering the labour market. The relative strength of identity formations can impact on students’ sense of familiarity, proximity, and confidence around targeted employment areas. The article finally discusses the implications this has for individuals and institutions.

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Purpose Half of British university students experience assault and harassment behaviours; few report them. Bystander intervention training has been recommended as a means of reducing these behaviours, but there is little evidence about their potential effectiveness in UK contexts. The purpose of this paper is to understand UK students’ attitudes towards reporting and intervening in sexual assault, harassment and hate crimes. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods cross-sectional survey (n=201; 75.6 per cent women) was conducted in one British university. Open text data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Students considered harassment and assault unacceptable, and were confident to intervene in and likely to report incidents. However, fear of backlash was a barrier to intervening and reporting, and they felt that victims should decide whether to report incidents. Students perceived perpetrators as being ignorant about what constitutes consent, harassment and assault. They identified a need for university community education about this and how to report incidents and support peers. Research limitations/implications This cross-sectional survey was conducted at one UK University. The data might not reflect other students’ attitudes, and may be subject to response bias. University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Practical implications University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Originality/value This is the first study to investigate UK student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours.

Career values and proactive career behaviour among contemporary higher education students

ABSTRACT The paper draws on evidence from a survey of Australian and UK students (N = 433) on students’ career values and their relationship to their proactivity in career self-management. Much of the dominant approaches to careers have focused on career competencies and adaptability in the context of increased movement from traditional to more self-managed career trajectories. Limited attention has been given to the role of career values in shaping individuals’ approaches to career management, particularly among higher education students. This study reveals data on a range of career values among students on a continuum between intrinsic and extrinsic careers. It revealed a preponderance of intrinsic career values and a clear relationship emerged on the strength of career values and levels of proactivity towards career management. Further, higher levels of intrinsic and extrinsic career values were reported for certain student groups. The article discusses the implications of these data for enhancing students’ career planning and engagement.

Climate change: Whose responsibility?

Climate change: Whose responsibility?

Pre-partying Amongst Students in the UK: Measuring Motivations and Consumption Levels Across Different Educational Contexts

We sought to explore the motivations for pre-partying amongst UK student drinkers who reported pre-partying at least once per month. Two distinct educational settings were included: colleges, where the majority of students are below the legal age for drinking, and university, where all students would be legally allowed to drink. A cross-sectional correlational design was adopted. Ninety-four college (16–18 years) and 138 university students (18–28 years) from the UK completed an online survey, of whom 54.7% and 86.9% reported pre-partying at least once per month, respectively. Alcohol use was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C) and pre-partying motivations were assessed using the Pre-partying Motivations Inventory (PMI). Frequency of pre-partying behavior and the number of units consumed was also recorded. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that, for college students, AUDIT-C positively predicted pre-partying frequency, while gender and AUDIT-C positively predicted the units of alcohol consumed but Barriers to Consumption (BC) negatively predicted units consumed. Among university students AUDIT-C and Interpersonal Enhancement predicted pre-partying frequency, and AUDIT-C predicted the amount of pre-partying units consumed. Different motives for pre-partying motives were identified across two distinct educational settings. The finding that BC negatively correlated with the amount of alcohol consumed amongst younger college students requires further study, as it contradicts previous work in this area, but is consistent with findings that availability predicts alcohol intake. Understanding differences in drinking behavior between age groups is a key finding, which will allow future research to track developmental influences on the effectiveness of interventions.

Teaching models in the clinical years of medical education.

Teaching models in the clinical years of medical education Anmol Bipin Patel, Harkaran Singh KalkatDepartment of Undergraduate Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK Students are exposed to a range of teachingmethods during the pre-clinical and clinical years of medical school. At Imperial College London, the pre-clinical years involve a predominantly lecture-based approach, with the aim of efficiently disseminating large volumes of knowledge to a large cohort. As clinical years approach, there is a swift move towards hospital-based teaching, where students have the independence to make the most of learning opportunities during placements. As learning objectives during medical studies, a corresponding change in teaching method is necessary. However, a sudden transition between teaching models or an overreliance on any one can be detrimental.

Comparison of beliefs about teaching and learning of emotional expression in music performance between Spanish and English HE students of music

Despite an increase in research on emotional expression in music and its teaching and learning, little is known about the beliefs and conceptualizations that students hold regarding musical expression, and how they differ depending on educational context. To address this gap, a comparison was made between a sample of 79 UK and 117 Spanish higher education students of music, who were asked to indicate their beliefs about expressivity, most useful instructional methods to develop expressive performance, and factors that influence expressiveness and its teaching and learning. Results indicated agreement, but also several significant differences across cohorts. UK students endorsed the idea more strongly that musical context (i.e., piece and instrument) influences expressivity and the choice of teaching strategy, while Spanish students linked expressivity more strongly to particular music-emotional characteristics. Both groups considered using technical explanation as the better method for teaching expressivity, whilst modelling was considered the worst. On the other hand, they agreed that the choice of the teaching approach should depend on the age of the student with modelling being preferred for younger age groups, and technique for adults only. These results highlight differences in the understanding of musical expressivity that parallel academic debates on emotional vs. stylistic expressiveness.

Geriatric medical education for medical undergraduate students in UK and its implications to China

In the United Kingdom, undergraduate education of geriatric medicine focuses on helping students understand or describe relevant contents, with only a few ability requirements. At most medical schools, the teaching of geriatric medicine is integrated with other clinical curriculums, such as mental health and internal medicine. The pedagogy of geriatric medicine that consists of formal and informal ones, tends to become varied and has some innovations in terms of simulation education, interdisciplinary education, and student-centered education. Based on the relevant experience in the UK, it is suggested that China should study and formulate the teaching requirements of geriatrics for undergraduate clinical medicine specialty in order to standardize and promote related work. Medical colleges and universities can better integrate geriatric knowledge into the existing curriculum system, constantly innovate geriatric teaching methods, actively use simulation teaching, student-centered education and other ways to improve the teaching effect. Key words: Undergraduate medical education; Geriatric medical education; UK

Equality law obligations in higher education: reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 in assessment of students with unseen disabilities

Abstract8% of UK students have an ‘unseen disability’: a specific learning difficulty, autistic spectrum condition, or mental ill health. A department with 1000 students has, on average, 80 students with such unseen disabilities. These students have a variety of potential sources of legal redress if they consider a university has failed properly to accommodate their disability. The most plausible is a claim under the Equality Act 2010. We have experienced a lack of clarity in understanding the nature and extent of those Equality Act entitlements, and the corresponding obligations that fall upon universities, and their staff. These confusions occur in many contexts, but the one that is most important to students is their entitlements where assessments are concerned. We set out to explain the relevant law, and to consider how it applies to some, perhaps typical, unseen disabilities in the context of a range of approaches taken by universities in assessing their students. Our principal and important conclusion is that there is no ‘quick fix’ approach according to which someone may say that they are Equality Act compliant. However, there are several considerations which will increase (or decrease) the likelihood of compliance. In brief, these constitute: effective communication; procedures that secure individual decisions, rather than blanket policies or approaches; and what amounts to no more than good inclusive educational practice for all students.

What sustains doctoral students’ interest? Comparison of Finnish, UK and Spanish doctoral students’ perceptions

ABSTRACT Interest plays a major role in the doctoral experience. However, previous research has not considered how the national context might influence interest. This study focused on exploring cross-national variation in doctoral students’ experiences by comparing Finnish, UK and Spanish doctoral students’ research interests. Participants (n = 2.426) responded to the Doctoral Experience survey. Spanish students sustained higher levels of researcher and instrumental interest compared to both UK and Finnish students. Finnish students displayed the lowest levels of instrumental interest while UK students combined the lowest level of development interest with the highest level of cynicism. Interest was determinant for experienced exhaustion, cynicism, study satisfaction and reducing risk of abandonment across the three contexts. Results suggest that national differences in labour market, career expectations or programme structure can be powerful enough to overcome the incredible variation that has been proven to exist at the more local levels of doctoral nested contexts.