The landscape of UK Higher Education has witnessed significant change in recent years, characterised by rapidly increasing numbers, widening participation, and a diminished per capita resource base. Developmental and enhancement agenda have placed greater emphasis on skills for lifelong learning, and the independent learner has thus become a prominent theme. In architecture education these factors are imposing pressures on the traditional studio-based teaching model, one that forms a universal cornerstone of architecture schools. Coincidentally, the same period has seen this model, endorsed by Schon in the 1980s, increasingly challenged. It is argued that the confluence of these factors, presents an opportunity to develop studio-based pedagogy around the notion of the independent learner, renewing studio's relevance and currency. The aim of this thesis was developed from a literature review that was divided into four sections. The first summarised developments within UK higher education, including research into the First Year Experience, and placed architecture education within this context. The second examined the origins of contemporary studio-based teaching, whilst the third discussed the theoretical roots of its pedagogy. The final chapter critiqued teaching and learning practices through comparison with the theoretical intent, revealing a number of contradictory and counter-productive aspects. From this, the position that the development of the truly independent learner in the discipline of architecture requires the formulation of new inclusive pedagogic strategies that explicitly accommodate the individual in the studio-based learning process, and address identified shortcomings in existing studio-based teaching practices, was developed. The methodology adopted an ethnographic approach that gathered data through a longitudinal study of student perceptions, together with interviews with selected academics. Analysis of the findings, whilst replicating many phenomena raised by the literature, also revealed in detail a range of perceptions of learning, and wider student life, giving insight into key challenges. In considering these against the agendum of creating the independent learner, the importance of the peer group as a vehicle for studio-based learning and pastoral support, emerged strongly. A number of recommendations were thus made aimed at reconstructing the role of the tutor in the development of future strategies, as well as harnessing the unrealised potential of the peer group as an agent in embedding independent learning in design studio. The originality of this thesis resides in the fact that it constitutes a holistic study of teaching and learning practices in first year design studio. This is viewed against the background of rapid change in UK Higher Education. Pivotal to the study was the undertaking of a longitudinal survey of student perceptions, presenting a vitally different perspective from, say, that of Schon. From a holistic standpoint, the study creates the theoretical and evidential basis for the future development of key pedagogic strategies relating to design studio. This lays the foundation for the development of learning practices that foster learner independence within the context of design studio.

This dissertation studies the design of an efficient adaptive digital baseband predistorter for modern cellular handsets that combines low power consumption, low implementation complexity, and high performance. The proposed enhancements are optimized for hardware implementation. We first present a thorough study of the optimal spacing of linearly-interpolated lookup table predistorters supported by theoretical calculations and extensive simulations. A constant-SNR compander that increases the predistorter's supported input dynamic range is derived. A corresponding low-complexity approximation that lends itself to efficient hardware design is also implemented in VHDL and synthesized with the Synopsys Design Compiler. This dissertation also proposes an LMS-based predistorter adaptation that is optimized for hardware implementation and compares the effectiveness of the direct and indirect learning architectures. A novel predistorter design with quadrature imbalance correction capability is developed and a corresponding adaptation scheme is proposed. This robust predistorter configuration is designed by combining linearization and I/Q imbalance correction into a single function with the same computational complexity as the widespread complex-gain predistorter.

In TVET colleges, the traditional face-to-face mode of knowledge delivery appears to be the norm. Knowledge is often shared in a teaching space during a particular period of time. Students and a lecturer need to be in a specified venue during an allocated time slot for the learning process to take place which includes obtaining knowledge from the lecturer, sharing views and storing knowledge in their minds. There is often no interaction with the lecturer beyond the classroom. As such, learners with learning difficulties have no alternative platform into which they can get support; which compromises the quality of education and students’ success rate. The use of e-learning permits students to finalise a course in their own time and at their own location. It also implies that students are at an advantage as they do not need to go to a particular learning institution, and they can proceed with the training at their own pace. This research investigated how e-learning may be used as an enabler of learning by overcoming barriers associated with face-to-face learning. This was achieved through the development of a proposed e-learning framework based on the existing literature. The proposed framework was then tested through a survey distributed among TVET stakeholders to offer an improved framework. Furthermore, the improved framework was used to develop an e-learning architecture and prototype which can help guide institutions who wish to adopt e-learning. / Information Technology / M. Tech. (Information Technology)