In the past two decades, rapidadvances in information and communications technology (ICT) have encouraged someeducators to opt for technologicallearning environments to support teaching and learning. As aresultE-learning has grownto be an essential elementof vast Higher education institutions around the world with large investments to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In spite of all these investments on E-learning facilities, academics face challenges that discourage them from changing to this mode of delivery. The goal of this study was to explore and examine academics perceptions on the factors that inhibit the adoption of E-learning in Higher education in Oman. The key focus of the study is on the examination of how the institutional and individual barriers affect the adoption of E-learning by academics. Thirty academics from three teaching faculties at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) participated in this study. Through teachers’ semi-structured interviews and LMS use statistics, this study signifies the factors that hinder academics use of E-learning. The findings from this study reveal (a) that academics have positive perceptions of the use of E-learning in teaching and learning, (b) that academics perceive that lack of specialized training, lack of solid IT infrastructure, lack of accessible E-learning support, and lack of E-learning strategy are the main institutional barriers to academics’ E-learning adoption, and (c) that academics believe that lack of awareness of E-learning effectiveness, lack of knowledge of integrating E-learning in teaching, and resistance to change were the main individual academics’ barriers to E-learning adoption. Furthermore academics with more E-learning support structures have more positive attitudes and adoption level of E-learning. The findings from this study deepen our understanding of E-learning adoption in the higher education context in Oman through examining the issues associated with institutional barriers and their effect on individual barriers of academics’ adoption of E-learning technologies.

This research investigated transitional difficulties identified by learners moving from GCSE to A Level studies. A small-scale exploratory case study approach was used drawing on the principles of Grounded Theory. Research was bounded in the sixth form of a secondary school in Cambridgeshire. The sample included 147 participants aged 16-18 years. This was a purposeful sampling method including approximately 61% of the target population. 80 participants completed a questionnaire generating quantitative data, 40 participants completed a further questionnaire generating qualitative data, 19 participants took part in focus group meta-planning activities and discussions and 8 participants took part in individual interviews. My epistemological position takes an integrated approach using positivist and interpretivist perspectives to generate knowledge through the breadth, depth and richness of data collection and analysis. My ontological assumptions for this research are based on critical realism, triangulation and mixed methods approaches. Findings from integrated results using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design (adapted from Ivankova et al. 2006) identify themes emerging from the data providing a variety of causes of transitional difficulties identified by participants when moving from GCSE to A Level studies. Quantitative results were analysed using Complex Chi Squared non-parametric inferential statistical test. With 40 degrees of freedom and 0.005 level of significance, the critical value of chi squared (from the data) was 284.331 which was greater than the stated value of 66.766 Therefore, the results were significant. This means that the data gathered from the questionnaires does show that participants have experienced transitional difficulties when moving from GSCE to A Level studies. Qualitative data was analysed using a constant comparative method to identify themes emerging from the data. Responses were noted, compared, coded and categorised in a systematic way, compared further and put into responding groups based on the emerging themes. Results found there are both internal and external factors that contribute to transitional difficulties for learners moving from GCSE to A Level studies. These highlight issues that can inform policy and practice to improve transition and educational outcome and identify areas for further research.

This study investigates the relationship between college leader’s perceptions of sustainability and sustainable development in the English Further Education (FE) sector, and the nature of its practice within individual colleges and the sector as a whole. Previous research investigating perceptions and practice of sustainability within education has almost exclusively focussed on Higher Education (HE) institutions, with much research also focussing on describing institutional progress without investigating the facilitating leadership conditions. This study makes a unique contribution to knowledge by investigating a previously unexplored sector through the use of the Transition Management Framework as the study’s conceptual framework. A key outcome of this study is the adaptation of the Transition Management Framework that could be used by the sector and its leadership structure to facilitate a reassessment and reinvigoration of sustainability leadership within the sector. The research design is based on a Grounded Theory methodology that used semi-structured interviews and focus groups as the primary method of data collection, with content analysis of significant sector stakeholders’ websites and publications forming a secondary method of data collection. The first key finding of this research was that the relationship between how sustainability is conceptualised and how it is practised is weak, with perceptions often referring to two different interpretations, neither of which fully addresses the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development. Indeed, whilst perceptions focus on the environment, it is to this that the sector appears least accountable. This power pointing and a lack of accountability held by all levels of management within FE toward the environment was the study’s second key finding. Both of these findings are intrinsically linked to the third, which is that the Transition Management Framework’s focus on incremental change may sufficiently be able to change practices at a niche level, but unless operating within a more sustainable economic paradigm, the reach of incremental action may always be limited.

This study contributes to the existing body of research on academic reading practices in the 21st century, by focussing on on-screen reading in the technological age. The study offers an insight into the nature of on-screen reading, and reflects the authentic on-screen academic reading experiences of international postgraduate (five Master’s and fifteen PhD) Saudi readers in the UK educational context. This was achieved by investigating participants’ reading comprehension processes and strategies while reading on-screen academic research articles, compared with those employed when engaged in print-based reading. This study also scrutinises L2 readers’ use of digital affordances and their on-screen academic reading challenges. A further objective was to examine students’ preferences and perceptions of both reading formats. Case study and interpretive qualitative approaches have been adopted in the present research study. Process oriented techniques, namely demographic questionnaires, think-aloud protocol, field notes, stimulated recall and interviews have been employed to collect the data. Thematic and content analysis; and a constant comparative method (CCM) have been applied to analyse the data. The findings of this study suggest that in order to achieve effective on-screen reading, multiple literacies are required, and this includes a newly identified digital academic strategy literacy (DASL). The research also indicates that although readers develop capabilities over time, readers are not confident enough in their digital literacies to practise on-screen academic reading regularly. Not only did many of the readers in this study lack sufficient competences and capabilities in digital literacies to derive benefit from the advantages of on-screen reading, they were also not able to interact with on-screen text as they would do with printed text. Readers’ preferences for reading printed rather than on-screen text, their L1 and L2, their discipline and/or individual differences might contribute to their on-screen reading interactions. Although new on-screen reading strategies emerged from the data, the results, in the main, reveal a transfer of print-based reading techniques to on-screen reading. This demonstrates a move from a traditional literacy to a digital one in which readers manipulate the strategies that they are already aware of, and are capable of, in order to read a text on-screen. Surprisingly, readers were much more effective; and employed more strategies and interacted more deeply with printed text than with on-screen text. The results from this study have led to the proposal of suggested models for interpreting on-screen L2 academic reading interactions. A number of pedagogical practices are suggested and recommended for preparing L2 readers for further academic study; and these also could be equally applicable and useful for L1 academic reading lessons in the 21st century, including reshaping reading skill textbooks to accommodate and meet the needs of reading comprehension practices in the technological age and promoting learners’ digital academic strategy literacy. These may be useful to teachers when teaching on-screen reading strategies for specific academic purposes in digital universities.

This study investigates learning outcomes achieved by Foundation programme (Year 0) students preparing over one academic year to progress to a three year Bachelor’s degree in biological science, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, medicine, pharmacy or physics. The thesis reports the development of a range of teaching activities focussing on students’ chemical language. Knowledge of chemical language is vital to developing student understanding but is an under-researched area. The teaching activities comprise a range of language focused strategies. A unique corpus of student work (Foundation Corpus or FOCUS) from Year 0 to PhD level is developed that is used in a range of corpus linguistics based teaching activities. Other activities include word games, mini-whiteboards, modelling and directed activities related to text. Quantitative data were collected from eighty six students over two years by the development of a unique chemical language diagnostic test (CLDT). The test assesses understanding of a range of chemical language: scientific affixes, fundamental words (such as atom or molecule), acid and bases, kinetic theory, non-technical words, symbolic language and technical words. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from six students over four years by semi-structured interviews. The data consists of explanations of chemical scenarios and is analysed for students’ usage of chemical language. Twenty students undertake an eye tracker task that provides quantitative data on students’ eye movements when reading text. Outcomes indicate strong correlations between initial CLDT score and chemistry examination score at the end of Year 0. This suggests that students scoring poorly on chemical language face more challenges to reach the required grade to pass Year 0 than those with better linguistic skills. Evidence is provided for the existence of “chemical interlanguage” and discusses linguistic demand in multiple dimensions. The study reinforces the need to engage positively with chemical language acquisition, offering strategies for developing this and methods for its assessment.

This research explores the challenges of one innovative ‘true collaborative learning’ environment in an Irish higher education classroom. It investigates the peer learning literature, focusing on four elements: ‘student’, ‘tutor’, ‘topic’ and ‘interaction’. Extrapolating from the literature, the study defines true collaborative learning in context and acknowledges the place of learning culture. The ethnographic insider approach to this research is acknowledged and explored. A single small-scale case study design frame was used to focus on gaining a deeper understanding of this setting. The researcher observed and recorded the sessions, maintained a reflective diary and in order to balance the findings, explored students’ perspective in a focus group at the end of the research period. The recordings were viewed holistically and analysed through the four elements, funnelling the data through verbal, non-verbal and multimodal themes. The findings revealed the importance of trust, communication, honesty and openness in the process, highlighting the role of a particular type of relationship between tutor and students, and student and student in the TCL classroom. The research concludes that the challenges associated with enacting true collaborative learning hinge on a subtle set of tutors’ skills, dispositions and educational goals, while balancing the cultural dynamics at play, components not easily aligned nor achieved.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the use of social networking (SN) website-based learning activities can promote students’ critical thinking (CT) skills and their participation in course activities. For this, an educational intervention was designed and implemented through several stages, drawing from the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) learning design model. The intervention is a type of learning activity design based on the WebQuest model, and included open-ended questions and different SN website sources. In order to answer a given question, students were required to browse, criticise and evaluate the source content and present their thoughts in an argumentative essay. I adopted the design-based research (DBR) approach within a mixed methods research design framework to evaluate the effectiveness of the research intervention. Research tools included a CT rubric and student questionnaires as the quantitative tools; and observations, student focus groups and student reflections as the qualitative tools. The main study was conducted in one semester course (16 weeks) with 24 undergraduate female students at King Saud University (KSU), in the first semester of 2014-2015. The quantitative and qualitative data were analysed at the same stage, at the end of the semester. The quantitative data was analysed using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pairwise Comparisons (post-hoc test) and some descriptive statistics. In addition, the qualitative data was analysed thematically using the research questions as a basis for the analysis themes. The intervention revealed positive findings in terms of students’ CT and argumentative writing skills as well as their attitudes. The findings also provide a deeper understanding of students’ perceptions of SN website usage and investigate the factors that affect students’ participation in these course activities. This study found that SN websites alone cannot promote student participation in course activities. SN website usage should be combined with other aspects/factors such as choosing activity topics, the teacher’s role in introducing and implementing activities and consideration of students’ time and other course’s requirements. This study contributes to knowledge by exploring how social constructivism propositions can apply to SN website-based learning activities to help Saudi students learn and apply CT skills.

The purpose of this study was to explore underachievement of male students at a tertiary institution in St. Lucia, and to understand the contributory factors giving rise to underachievement from the perspectives of the male students themselves. Male educational underachievement manifests itself in various forms, from educational disengagement, exclusion, truancy, and even resistance to education. Moreover, educationally underachieving students are more likely to be faced with limited opportunities to participate in both the job market and in academic advancements. While academic underachievement is a perennial problem that is experienced at the primary, and secondary levels of education, male academic underachievement is gaining momentum in tertiary levels of education. At this level, male students enter the institutions with above average grades, yet record high underachievement levels and higher dropout rates compared to female students. This research is informed by Bourdieu’s social and cultural capital concept (Bourdieu, 1986) which provides the theoretical framework for the research and considers academic underachievement to happen as a result of class inequalities within the education system. Using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, field and capital, this research attempts to understand the factors contributing to male academic underachievement in tertiary education and addresses a gap in the literature using this theoretical approach. A case study method of inquiry, using individual and focus group interviews allowed for multiple facets of male academic underachievement to be revealed and understood. Through the data analysis, the themes that emerged illustrated how underachieving male students conceptualize themselves as learners, and also revealed the factors that contributed to the poor academic outcomes of these students. The research drew on the experiences of 30 male students and 8 teachers and through their voices, this research was able to highlight some factors, other than cognitive factors, which caused male students to academically underachieve at the tertiary level of learning. The principal findings from this research are that young males in tertiary education are predestined to underachieve as a result of their limited composition of social, cultural and economic capital. Underachieving male students’ lack of investment in social capital facilitates their academic failure and limits their upward mobility. Moreover, the lack of financial information, access to financial support, institutional support, and teacher practices, lower student engagement and participation in tertiary education. Underachieving male students are more likely to be extrinsically motivated but are, in the absence of social networks, positively supported by their peers.

This study is concerned with Saudi PhD students’ construction of writer identity in academic writing in the context of British higher education. In response to a growing need to understand the process of students’ intercultural adaptation and the approaches that can facilitate the students’ learning experience in the UK (Gill, 2007), this study aims to explore if active social participation in their academic community can facilitate students’ writer identity construction. The key argument of this study is that such active participation can be a process of learning the relevant conventions of writer identity. The study draws on Wenger (1998a) emphasising the role of ‘community’ and active participation in learning. Thus, the study aims to uncover the students’ expression of identity in academic writing (ID-AW), their enactment of social identity in their academic community (ID-AC), and the possible relationship between them. This study explores the ID-AC and ID-AW of four Saudi PhD students at UK universities. I conduct a qualitative case study utilising diaries of interaction, semi-structured interviews, the students’ academic written drafts, and stimulated recalls. Informed by Norton Pierce’s (1995) and Norton’s (2000) theory of social identity, the investigation of the Saudi students’ ID-AC reveals how they use and avoid opportunities to interact presenting an interplay between power relations and the students’ participation. The study exhibits that Saudi students’ interactions in their academic community can be directed by their desire for success, desire for mutual identification, desire to exhibit knowledge, cultural dispositions, feelings of foreignness, language disadvantage, and imagined future goals. Drawing upon Hyland’s (2005, 2012a) model of keys of academic interaction and Svalberg and Gieve (2010) content types, the investigation of the Saudi students’ ID-AW reveals how the students interpret, adapt and fail to adapt conventions of academic English writing. It is shown that the students have different level of awareness to their constructed ID-AW. The students’ ID-AW results from several factors that appear to have a more powerful impact on their ID-AW than their active participation in their academic community. The findings of the study draw attention to the need to explicitly bring issues of ID-AW to the students’ attention. Starting from addressing the students’ initial beliefs about writer identity, deconstructing expert texts, and enabling them to take a more autonomous role in their learning.

The original contribution of this thesis is a new theorisation of a ‘bubble’ to develop understanding of student experiences, and more besides. This thesis applies the ‘bubble’ to student perception and experience of risk, during their transition to, through and beyond university. There is a growing body of research detailing wider changes in the HE landscape (neo-liberalisation, consumerisation, marketisation, 1990s expansion, widening participation policies since 1997, tuition fee rise). There is less in human geography which attends to students’ everyday lives. That which exists, often seperates traditional and non-traditional experiences, predominantly focusing on the latter and on first year, often homogenising the traditional student experience. This PhD uncovers complexities of ‘traditional’ student experiences, concentrating on undergraduates’ perceptions and experiences of risk. This thesis draws on data from a participatory research project, involving undergraduates as co-researchers, and participants, all self-identifying as ‘traditional’ students (in ways contrasting to literature). Contextually, this research was conducted during the tuition fee rise in the UK, so includes students paying lower and higher fees. The major findings and contributions of this thesis rest in a four-fold conceptualisation of the university bubble. Firstly, the bubble as a tantalising place of play, presenting risk as an exciting, new opportunity. Secondly, the bubble as spatially and relationally bound, protecting from risk, but acknowledging these boundaries may be stretched and malleable. Thirdly, the bubble generates risks through affective atmospheres, but these atmospheres overlap and interact. Fourthly, the temporary and fragile nature of the bubble, highlighting experiences of intense time, time out of time, imagined futures and how elements of the bubble persist. Through this conceptualisation of a bubble this research extends work on risk to consider a more relational and emotional approach to students’ lives, offering fluidity in meaning. It builds on existing transitions literature, assessing student experience of risk in relation to understandings of ‘emerging adulthood’, and how in a period of heightened anxiety the move to embrace risk extends far beyond this ‘youthful’ period, as we are offered constant opportunities to re-shape our identities. It questions this notion of transitions to focus on the everyday experiences and temporalities as a university student.