Search results

There is little further to be gained from focusing on the mere number of pupils in a class: from carrying out a crude measure of achievement, or from attempting to study in isolation features of the learning environment that are meaningless torn from their context.

This paper aims to observe, measure and record comparative cognitive processes in print and online to explain the differences, if any, in the readers’ information-gathering processes and their subsequent comprehension and retention of information. It also examined the strategies that readers adopt that differ from print when reading online. Standardized reading comprehension scores were also collected. The results indicated that the participants demonstrated functional equivalency in both media, but they had a preference for print. The linear individualistic mentality learned through print gave the study group participants the skills to successfully navigate through the dense web of information that constitutes the Internet. Story presentation and hierarchy, key elements of the print design process, are less evident or absent online. As a consequence, as previous research has demonstrated, online readers are more poorly informed than print readers – but not in this case. The research from this study demonstrates that when the authors of the print media are those who also control the integrity of online content, print and Web readers are equally well-informed.

Coded texts from The Guardian Newspaper, The Economist and The New Yorker were used in a media lab to measure the study group’s ability to read and retrieve information from the publications’ print and Web editions. They were scored on how well they retrieved the core information in the articles from both media. Focus-group sessions probed for information about reading in print and online at the end of the reading sessions. This gave valuable insight into the coping strategies that the participants used when engaging with online texts. There were two sessions, each of three hours, and the participants were university students.

The study results show that the group participants were functionally equivalent in both print and online reading. However, they had a profound distrust for online content in general, which they found to be inaccurate and unstable. Web sites, they conclude, never achieve “fixity”. When reading online, the study group scrolls through the text to retrieve facts and then goes to a print source to verify the accuracy of the content. They do not engage with the content online as they do with print. While acknowledging that the publications in the study were reputable and of a high quality, the group still found scrolling through the Web sites tedious. The printed page was to the study group, a cultural object.

This was a small study with 11 participants in a controlled environment on two evenings, each lasting three hours. While the readings were intense, the researchers saw no evidence of fatigue. The group were very vocal during the focus-group sessions and gave valuable insights into the reading process. The stories were exactly the same in both media, were well-written and edited. Typographic cues that give the reader priorities when engaging with the texts were transferred from the print to the online editions. HTML texts to this group are an impediment to the reading process, and the amount of texts require too much time to read. A larger study with a more diverse readership reading more general news is required to verify the findings. This is being planned. As one from the study group stated “I grew up with print but younger people do not have the benefits of print”.

Typography provides a language with visual form and through that form, conveys the meaning of a text. The print reader decodes what she reads on the printed page, allowing her to quickly absorb and parse large amount of text, discarding redundant content. The question now becomes which print-reading operations are being transferred to the process of extracting relevant facts. Five centuries of continuous improvement of print communications have yet to be successfully transferred to the Internet. The visual aspects of print, the color advertisement, the photograph and elements that aided the print reader’s navigation are an intrusion on the Web. A new form of navigation, one that is more elegant and intuitive than the present, is required.

The social implications of reading are a fundamental characteristic of any society. The codex provided the model for the book, the newspaper and the magazine. These became and still are trusted sources of information. When the study group gets a Twitter or Facebook prompt on a breaking news story, they check a trusted broadcasting source for confirmation of its accuracy. If the findings of this study are confirmed in subsequent research studies on the process of reading online, it will have profound implications for the industry. Publishing to be successful requires the reader to engage with and respond to a message. There is strong evidence that this is not the case with what the advertising industry would consider an important core audience, the Internet “reader”.

As a newspaper and magazine designer and teacher, the author been increasingly concerned with the transfer of information from the printed page to the computer screen. Many studies have been conducted on aspects of reading and designing for online reading. They are very often inaccurate and as such inconclusive. Reading is complex and measuring it difficult. The author conducted this study as both a designer and from an academic perspective. It is hoped that it encourages a robust debate.

This paper explores the impact of the numerical distribution of women at different levels of the organisation on the experiences of women managers. It aims to build on work in this area which argues that gender imbalance creates an organisational culture that is hostile or resistant to women. Findings of a research project on women managers, on the significance of gender mix for barriers experienced and on women’s sense of “organisational fit” are discussed. Gender mix was found to be an important factor determining career progress. The hierarchical level at which gender imbalances occur is also considered. When gender imbalance at the top (with men in the majority) is combined with greater sex integration further down the hierarchy, women experience greater “fit” within the organisation than when that gender imbalance permeates all management levels. At the same time, an integrated top management team in terms of gender mix is possibly the single most important factor in creating a culture in which women feel comfortable and valued

This lesson uses Dad, Jackie, and Me, a book that takes place during the summer of 1947 and focuses on Jackie Robinson as the new first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers as well as the first black player in Major League Baseball. In the book, a young boy shares the excitement of Robinson's rookie season with his deaf father, who sees Robinson's perseverance through prejudice on and off the field as a parallel to his own experience. This lesson focuses on the challenges and hardships of discrimination and how an individual can have an impact on society and future generations. This lesson can be used with upper elementary students to examine discrimination and various people that overcame the hardships brought on by discrimination.

The overarching question of this paper is, “What are the advantages of being an upwardly mobile academic?” The extant academic research on working-class academics has usually emphasized various kinds of “deficits” of working-class academics. In this paper, the author demonstrates that although class positions can constitute a formidable burden, they can translate into specific advantages in academia.

This study is based on the narrative, phenomenological approach, which has been applied in working-class studies and higher-education research. The empirical material comprises the collection of 25 narrative interviews conducted and analyzed according to the biographical narrative interpretive method (BNIM).

This paper looks at the experience of working-class academics from a holistic perspective, including both the downsides and upsides of being an “outsider within,” or “insider without.” It uncovers four assets of a working-class background – referred to as “navigational capital,” “revolutionary potential,” “wisdom” and a distinct “working-class pedagogy.”

The working-class pedagogy can be turned into support programs for working-class individuals. Their navigational capital can foster evolutionary changes and small improvements for the benefit of the entire academic community. Their revolutionary dispositions can trigger major reforms, and their unique experiences can be utilized as case studies in teaching.

This paper engages with the literature on the cultural mismatch and cleft habitus in the academic context. It analyzes the positive but rarely discussed aspects of being an upwardly mobile academic with a working-class background. By recognizing these unique assets, it engages with the literature on inclusive universities and can help make higher education more inclusive and sustainable.

The number of young people using e-cigarettes (commonly referred to as vaping) has grown at an alarming rate, creating the need for urgent action. This paper demonstrates rapid step-by-step iterative application of the Co-create, Build and Engage (CBE) framework to showcase how marketing was applied in response to emerging trends that have negative health and environmental consequences. This paper aims to demonstrate how CBE is applied iteratively, ensuring student feedback leads module development.

In Study 1, a pure seven-step co-design implementation, 19 high school students were invited to co-design a vaping prevention approach that would work for them and other people like them. During the sensitisation phase of co-design, students completed one Blurred Minds Vaping module. Feedback grids were provided, with students identifying likes, dislikes and ideas. This likeability data was used, together with input from technical experts and pedagogical best practice, in a 12-week research and development project that aimed to develop a new online learning module focused on vaping and their environmental impacts for the Blurred Minds Academy. The new module was tested with 20 high school students. Feedback grids were provided once again, allowing a comparison of results.

Examination of feedback grid data demonstrates that the newly developed Vaping and the Environment module was improved. Considerations taken on board in the new module design (e.g. increased variability within the module) overcame criticisms expressed previously (e.g. it was boring and too long). Other criticisms remained evident, albeit at a much lower proportion suggesting the new Vaping and the Environment module, and future Blurred Minds module development, would benefit from iterative CBE application.

Conduit et al. (2022) note that marketing academia has been criticised for having an increasingly less relevant managerial agenda. This paper outlines a rapid step-by-step application of marketing in response to one of society’s most pressing health challenges – vaping. The iterative application of CBE is outlined, demonstrating that the student experience can be enhanced when marketing’s continual improvement mindset is used. This is the first vaping prevention programme that has included substantive information around the negative impacts of vaping on the environment.

This chapter offers an insight into library provision and user engagement at a Secure College in Northern Ireland. It draws on findings from doctoral research carried out by Finlay (2020) which examined the role of the library in the learning experiences of people in prison. The case study described in this chapter took a multi-method qualitative approach to exploring engagement with the space, resources and informal learning programmes offered by the library. Acknowledging the many roles and functions of a prison library, this chapter focuses particularly on its relationship to formal and informal prisoner education. The strong educational ethos of Hydebank Wood College made it an ideal setting to explore the transformative educational possibilities of a well-managed and well-funded library. Following a description of the library and its services, the chapter will consider first steps into learning, informal and self-directed learning opportunities, library services in a divided society, and the importance of interpersonal relationships.

Since the completion of this doctoral research, a newly renovated Learning and Skills Centre has opened at Hydebank Wood College. This chapter includes findings from recent interviews with staff members which reveal the impetus for these changes and how the redesign of the library space has impacted upon the learning experiences of both the women and young men held at Hydebank. Taken alongside the doctoral findings, this discussion helps to show how the library space is valued within the institution and the significant role played by the library and library staff in the lives of incarcerated individuals.