Improving Student Learning: Diversity and Inclusivity

The proceedings of the 12th Improving Student Learning symposium, held in 2004 in Birmingham.

This book includes the three keynotes: 'Cultural difference in western universities: intercultural and internationalised responses to a changing world' by Christine Asmar, ' Diversity, inclusion and equality: revisiting critical issues for the widening participation agenda' by Louise Archer, and 'Increasing the chances of student success' by Mantz Yorke, as well as papers on the subjects including assessment, learning and teaching methods and learning environments.

Contents

Keynotes

  1. Cultural difference in western universities: intercultural and internationalised responses to a changing world, Christine Asmar
  2. Diversity, inclusion and equality: revisiting critical issues for the widening participation agenda, Louise Archer
  3. Increasing the chances of student success, Mantz Yorke

Part II: Course and programme design

  1. Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation Ray Land, Glynis Cousin, Jan HF Meyer and Peter Davies

Part III: Learning and teaching methods

  1. How lecturers experience student-centred approaches to teaching, Norrie Brown
  2. Variation in approaches to learning and teaching in disciplinary contexts: how to accommodate diversity? Linda Drew
  3. The Reflections on Teaching Inventory (1): initial item trialling and an exploratory conceptual domain, Jan HF Meyer, Malcolm G Eley and Ursula Lucas
  4. Note-making as active learning, Charlotte Mbali
  5. Diverse student needs: the challenge of teaching international students. A business school case study. Joanne Smailes and Pat Gannon-Leary

Part IV: Assessment

  1. Ethnic minority students: diversity and the practicalities of assessment regulations, Raj Dhimar and Peter Ashworth
  2. How valid are group marks as a proxy for the individual learning that comes from group assignment and project work? Malcolm G Eley, Paul Lajbcygier and Christine Spratt
  3. Negotiating academic assignments: the experiences of widening participation and traditional students, Liz McDowell and Kay Sambell
  4. Supporting students to improve their essay writing through assessment criteria focused workshops, Lin Norton, Katherine Harrington, James Elander, Sandra Sinfield, Jo Lusher, Peter Reddy, Olaojo Aiyegbayo and Edd Pitt
  5. Transparent opacity: assessment in the inclusive academy, Susan Orr
  6. Diversity in high places: variation in highly achieving students’ experiences of course work assignments, Nicola Parker
  7. The limitations of difference. Exploring variation in student conceptions of the link between assessment and learning outcomes. Alison Shreeve, Jonathan Baldwin and Gerald Farraday

Part V: Skills development and lifelong learning

  1. Information literacy in the curriculum: selected findings from a phenomenographic study of UK conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy, Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston

Part VI: Learning environments

  1. Influencing inclusive practice: the role of VLEs, Barbara Newland, Juliette Pavey and Victoria Boyd
  2. Student involvement and learning outcome in professional education in Norway, Anton Havnes and Per O Aamodt
  3. The dynamics of motivation, life experience and conceptions of knowing of students from non-standard academic backgrounds, Jenny Morris
  4. Aligning teaching-learning environments with students – a new perspective on constructive alignment in the light of student diversity, Nicola Reimann

Part VII: Supporting learners

  1. Different students, different needs, different times: a retheorisation of tertiary transition, Maureen Burke, Soheil Ahmed and Malcolm McKenzie
  2. Chinese students in a UK business school: hearing the student voice in reflective teaching and learning practice, Yvonne Turner

Part VIII: Institutional strategies

  1. Associations between research students’ experiences and learning outcomes, Paul Ginns, Paul Ramsden and Linda Conrad

Part IX: Departmental strategies

  1. Research and design of programmes that attract and fulfil the needs of Britain’s ethnic groups, Helen Higson, Sushmita Jha and Catherine Foster

Part X: Staff development strategies

  1. Complex coherence and the teaching researcher – metaphors of professional life, Elaine Martin, Gillian Lueckenhausen, Michael Prosser and Heather Middleton
  2. Closing the gap between educational research and educational development: a model of engagement, JHF Meyer

Part XI: Scholarship of teaching

  1. Towards a reconciliation of phenomenographic and critical pedagogy perspectives in higher education through a focus on academic engagement, Paul Ashwin and Monica McLean

Part XII: Theories of learning and teaching

  1. Contrasting conceptions of oral assessment, Gordon Joughin

Part XIII: Symposia

Assessment: helping diverse students understand the tacit demands of studying in higher education, Sue Bloxham (Convenor)

  1. Enhancing the academic cultural awareness of international students on an economics programme, Amanda Chapman
  2. Helping sport studies students understand the rules of the game: a case study in raising achievement in student writing, Sue Bloxham and Amanda West
  3. Developing reflective skills: enhancing the use of assessment portfolios in a foundation degree, Peter Boyd

Changing the student experience: retention and inclusivity – translating strategy into success, Michelle Haynes (Convenor)

  1. Building success for all our students: enhancing the first year student experience, Deeba Parmar
  2. An investigation of factors which influence the retention and success of undergraduate students in computing science, Pirkko Harvey, Carl Reynolds and Ray Adams
  3. Academic needs and academic support for students on subdegree programmes, Alan Page, Jenny Jacobs and Charles Seechurn

Studying the impact of assessment on student learning in physical science and bioscience courses, Stephen Swithenby (Convenor)

  1. Evaluating the effectiveness of written feedback as an element of formative assessment in science, Evelyn Brown, Chris Glover, Stuart Freake and Valda Stevens
  2. Online summative assessment with feedback as an aid to effective learning at a distance, Sally Jordan and Stephen Swithenby
  3. Perceptions of the value of different modes of tutor feedback, Chris Glover, Ranald Macdonald, John Mills and Stephen Swithenby