This thesis examines institutional change in higher education, through case studies of aspects of two broadly similar institutions in Poland and Romania. It finds that, during the 1990s, international programmes supported institutional change in these cases to a significant extent, although probably not with the results that the funding organisations anticipated. The case studies suggest that such programmes have been most effective in supporting change when they have encouraged relatively small-scale, academically-led initiatives, in contrast to national-level, externally-driven programmes. It is proposed that this difference in effectiveness in promoting sustainable organisational change relates to the extent to which international programmes have assisted in the formation of social capital within the institutions. Organisational social capital is formed through intense, local engagement in the activity concerned, leading to individual and institutional learning. Social capital created in one context may then be available to support other aspects of organisational development. Social capital theory thus provides insights into the process of organisational change, particularly in the complex structural and procedural circumstances of higher education. This thesis examines why social capital is an important, if often overlooked, factor in understanding change in these settings, particularly in Eastern Europe, where political arrangements before 1989 were not generally conducive to social capital formation. The particular organisational arrangements of the universities there are also important factors in understanding institutional change. A theoretical account of social capital formation and organisational change in higher education is offered, with proposals as to how this may be relevant to structural and operational matters in higher education institutions in transitional countries more widely. The thesis draws conclusions about how international projects in higher education might be designed so as to create social capital more effectively, and thereby to support sustainable institutional change.

This dissertation concerns aspects of Communication Strategies in the interim speech of second language learners. Communication strategies can be defined as attempts made by inventive learners to circumvent their linguistic inadequacies in the language they are learning when their limited command of target language structures makes it difficult for them to say what they mean. This study is innovative in that it uses both controlled elicitation tasks and uncontrolled, spontaneous natural speech of learners of English. The study is based on 15 hours of video-taped recordings of the communicative sessions of 150 Malaysian subjects at the University of Malaya, Malaysia, covering three proficiency levels -- Poor, Intermediate and Fluent groups of English learners at the university. These video-taped sessions are comprised of communication activities where the language that is generated is for the communication of ideas and the exchange of real information rather than for the performance of structured drills. Hence the data has most of the attributes of authentic natural speech. Analysis of the CSs is based on relevant parts of the taped data containing instances of strategic behaviour, which were transcribed along with any significant contextual information. Linguistic, contextual and pausological (hesitation and pause phenomenon to indicate communicative difficulties) clues are used to locate and identify strategic behaviour. The strategies are analysed and classified according to viable taxonomic criteria. They are then compared across proficiency levels in terms of their range, frequency of occurrence, and popularity. A rating coeffficient showing quantity of language produced as a function of time is worked out to ensure the comparability of the data across the three proficiency levels. The findings of the study appear to support some of the conclusions of earlier studies that used elicited data of a more restricted nature. However, there are also areas of differences. Some new communication strategies have been identified, a revised version of some earlier taxonomies has been proposed, and some important pedagogic implications of some level trends in strategy use have been suggested. Apart from investigating the possibility of including CS in the instruction and practice of L2, the findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of the second language acquisition process, the effective utilization of strategic behaviour in second language pedagogy, the role of strategic competence in communicative competence, the interrelation of the linguistic and communicative abilities of the Malaysian learners of English and finally, the comparison of native speakers and non-native speakers' use of the Communication Strategies.

This evaluation of United World Colleges (UWC) explored the relationships between the movement's aims and the processes and outcomes of learning in the colleges. The purpose of the evaluation was to establish how efffective the colleges were in meeting their aims and the factors that defined their effectiveness. The research focused on the perspectives of UWC students, graduates and staff in eight of the nine UWCs internationally. Semi-structured interviews provided the main source of evidence in the first phase of data collection, supplemented by student journals, informal observations and documentary evidence. The second phase of data collection comprised a large-scale postal questionnaire on UWC students to check the validity of initial findings amongst a larger sample. The evaluation established that UWCs were effective in meeting their aims, especially in relation to citizenship education. Howvever, while it was apparent that the normal curriculum was an important and often underestimated factor or influence, it became clear that informal learning experiences were more influential. These experiences were related to the way in which individuals interacted with day-to-day activities and with one another and hence much of what could be understood about the effectiveness of UWCs appeared to he rooted in how the colleges functioned as communities. By exploring the cultural norms that governed communal behaviour, it was possible to identify certain values and beliefs shared within and between UWCs. These values and beliefs could be traced back to the movement's founding principles and appeared to be the essence or its culture, providing the learning experiences encountered in its colleges with meaning and potency.

Computer-mediated communication has become a common part of higher education and of designers' professional practice in the twenty-first century. This research sets out to investigate student-centred group enquiry-driven learning in a distributed environment. The aim is to examine how students and instructors interact in online learning environments in the conduct of online collaborative design work in international educational settings, and thus provide the basis for the identification of factors that contribute to successful online collaborative work in design education. Through the study of three examples of online collaborative design work, the research addresses the following specific questions: (i) how do distributed groups of students use synchronous and asynchronous interaction when seeking collaborative solutions to design problems? (ii) how do instructors use the facilities provided by an online collaborative environment in interacting privately and publicly with students and with each other? (iii) how do students handle the challenges of group dynamics and partnership in online collaborative group work? Together, addressing these questions enables design educators to develop an understanding of the ways in which the use of online collaborative work can be of particular benefit for design education, for instance in facilitating the forms of international and inter-disciplinary collaboration that lie at the heart of contemporary professional design practice. This practitioner research suggests that, in the hands of committed design teachers, technology can support innovations that will improve student performance, help students develop cognitive design skills and can introduce a real-world design context for student learning. The findings indicate that a balance between dynamic synchronous and reflective asynchronous engagement is critical in establishing successful online collaborative design environments. The importance of privacy issues in the space used by design students is another interesting finding that can inform restructuring of collaborative interfaces for future design education.

As each change in computing becomes more generally available or popular as a form of educational technology in higher education, an associated set of visionary and dystopian responses has arisen, in which new technology is presented as an inevitable change mechanism, and as the answer to several problems such as the issue of wider access, the globalization of education and budget constrictions. But how are these new forms of educational technology used in practice, and how do the outcomes of their adoption differ from the expectations of those who fund new developments? Using the social shaping of technology as the main theoretical basis, this thesis investigates different scales of educational technology adoption, as well as the cyclic nature of the policyadoption nexus, demonstrating how differences in adoption processes are amplified by specific forms of technology and examining the extent to which technology lends itself to control by specific groups. There are three parts to the thesis. The first section presents the theoretical framework, a discussion of method in educational research, including specific methods employed in this work, the context for the research (a historical mapping of technology and policy), and the identification of important issues arising in the adoption of educational technologies during funding initiatives of the 1970s and 80s. The middle section of the thesis consists of two case studies, both of which occurred during the period of interest in learning environments and web-based systems: that of a small, single-subject project and, in contrast, the university-wide adoption of a virtual learning environment. The third section consists of the critique, in which the issues arising in different phases of educational technology adoption are compared, noting when these differences can be shown to be strongly influenced by a particular form of technology or a particular group of people. The are four main findings from the work of this thesis. First, the results suggest that there are distinct cycles of technological change and associated policy intervention, in which previous forms of educational technology are subsumed. However, analysis suggests that the rhetoric of the previous cycle often persists in succeeding phases. Second, that it is possible to identify to what extent technology rather than social process predetermines the adoption outcome, as in the case of the second case study. Third, the thesis demonstrates the existence of an implicit assumption concerning computers and computing as educational technology that there is little if no difference between university education and distance learning. Finally, an alternative history of successful educational technology adoption exists, which is not of interest to many of the groups identified in the thesis, does not produce the same level of rhetoric about innovation or change, and hence does not feature directly in policy statements and funding initiatives, but is one that has been more directly controlled and shaped by educators.

No description available.

This study provides an account and analysis of students' perceptions of quality teaching in higher education in the UK, in the context of higher education policy demands and the debate about quality of teaching and learning in higher education. It is an investigation of how MA students in Education perceive quality teaching and what criteria students use to establish their judgements. In this study, I examine power relations in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. I also analyse the implications of these perceptions and criteria for policy and practice relating to quality teaching and learning in higher education in the UK. This study is based on a qualitative research design in which the objective was to describe, understand and explain students' perceptions of quality teaching in higher education. The empirical data was gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 43 post-graduate (horne and international) MA students of Education in higher education in the UK. The qualitative data analysis is based on a Foucauldian analysis of power relations in the teaching and learning process aided by pedagogical, sociological, cognitive psychological and psychoanalytical theories. In this study, I create a space for students to voice their perceptions of quality teaching in higher education in the UK. I conclude, based on the findings of this study, that good quality teaching in higher education means different things to different students: what good quality teaching is for some, is not for others. The findings demonstrate that students know what their learning needs are, as they know what does and does not motivate them to engage in the teaching and learning process. They also demonstrate that students associate good quality with a teacher's teaching style when they learn in the teaching and learning process. When they do not learn, they associate poor quality with a teacher's teaching style. I argue (1) that some students are not able to evaluate the quality of teaching at the point of delivery; (2) that it is not possible to have a single way of measuring quality teaching in higher education; and (3) that quality as a concept cannot be applied to teaching and learning in higher education

Adult literacy teachers search for effective, engaging and distinctly 'adult' ways to develop adult emergent reading. Reading circles are used in adult English Language Teaching to develop a range of reading and other linguistic skills, and for at least the past two hundred years adults have formed themselves into reading circles to read and discuss novels on a weekly or monthly basis. Why then are reading circles rarely used in formal adult literacy provision? This thesis uses a case study of a reading circle within a London adult literacy workshop to investigate what a reading circle approach can offer adult emergent reading development, as well as what adult literacy learners can tell us about novel reading and the reading circle experience. A qualitative analysis of individual interviews, focus groups and taped reading circle sessions produces six themes for exploration: reading as five acts, reading identity, the nature of knowing words, how a novel is 'built up' by the reader, the relationship between fiction, truth and learning and why it may be 'nice' to read in a group. Areas for discussion include reading as a communal cognitive process (as well'as a communal practice), reading circles as self- and peer-differentiation, and novel reading as a political act. Implications are discussed for both the teaching and learning of adult emergent reading and for our understanding of novel reading processes and practices.

No description available.

Higher education in the UK, and in the most European countries, has undergone major changes in the last two decades. These changes were in part external - economic, social, technological and political - and in part internal. Most of the external changes, due essentially to global trends, were not exclusive to the UK. Different countries have used different approaches to adapt their higher education systems to the economic and financial uncertainty present in their environment. Value-for-money and efficiency and performance indicators have all become concerns in higher education. Mass higher education, the emergence of the knowledge society, the marketisation of higher education and the turbulence of globalisation have brought revolutionary changes to the university's mission and purposes. New conceptions of what counts as a university are developed. The external pressures on universities have been reflected in an increased concern with their management and governance systems. Strong pressures for academic autonomy, managerial efficiency and market competition underlie the changing patterns of control in the context of higher education. What characterises the changing external and internal environment is the issue of power among the different interest groups: the academy, the state, the market. Under recent pressures for stronger institutional management and the resulting loss of departmental power in favour of the institution, the post of university department head represents one of the most complex positions and is characterised by high levels of role conflict. Two distinct dimensions of role conflict were identified in the contemporary university environment, according to the results of the present research survey. "Janusian" and "value" conflict were the forms of role conflict experienced by heads of departments in the post-binary sector. On the one hand, heads' efforts to provide the critical link between the managerial requirements of the modern university and academic staffs' values of their departments, in addition to the performance of their academic core activities led to the development of "janusian" role conflict. On the other hand, the emphasis on market mechanisms in higher education and the departure from the traditional academic work values, in an era of post-modernity, characterised by change, uncertainty and complexity contributed to the appearance of the -value" conflict among heads of departments. However, both of these conflict dimensions were relative to the type of institution (new/old university category). In order to assist heads of departments to cope with the conflicts, challenges and threats, specific strategies are suggested.