Search results

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study aimed at understanding the different conceptions that University of Northampton teachers hold of “Changemaker”, an institutional initiative to develop capacities for social innovation.

The study took a phenomenographic approach to identify a small number of qualitatively different conceptions of Changemaker among teaching staff. Face-to-face, phenomenographic interviews were carried out with 30 teachers across the university. Transcript data were analysed using thematic inductive analysis.

Five different conceptions of Changemaker were found: Changemaker as university strategy; Changemaker as critical thinking, perspective shifting and problem solving; Changemaker as employability; Changemaker as social betterment; and Changemaker as personal transformation.

The outcome space of conceptions represents the beliefs of teaching staff at the University of Northampton. The approach to research and plans for the practical application of findings may be of direct benefit to other education providers as they develop their own models for teaching and learning.

The findings from this study will inform the next phase of the project, which involves the development of a skills/attributes/behaviours matrix for social innovation education.

An initiative, such as Changemaker, works to enhance the capacities of university students to work as agents of positive social change. By building a research programme around this initiative, the findings from this work can be disseminated and used by other higher education institutions.

The findings of this study will address the absence of literature on teachers’ conceptions of phenomena related to social innovation, social entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship. Understanding teachers’ beliefs of such phenomena is relevant to the growing number of universities that address these subjects in the curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an evidence-based, transferable framework of graduate attributes and associated university toolkit to support the writing of level-appropriate learning outcomes that enable the university to achieve its mission to Transform Lives + Inspire Change.

An iterative process of co-design and co-development was employed to produce both the framework and the associated learning outcomes toolkit.

There is tangible benefit in adopting an integrated framework that enables students to develop personal literacy and graduate identity. The toolkit enables staff to write assessable learning outcomes that support student progression and enable achievement of the framework objective.

While the framework has been in use for two years, institutional use of the toolkit is still in its early stages. Phase 2 of the project will explore how effectively the toolkit achieves the framework objective.

The introduction of a consistent, integrated framework enables students to develop and actively increase personal literacy through the deliberate construction of their unique graduate identity.

Embedding the institutional Changemaker attributes alongside the agreed employability skills enables students to develop and articulate specifically what it means to be a “Northampton graduate”.

The uniqueness of this project is the student-centred framework and the combination of curricular, extra- and co-curricular initiatives that provide a consistent language around employability across disciplines. This is achieved through use of the learning outcomes toolkit to scaffold student progression.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an attributes framework for embedding “Changemaker” – a university initiative for promoting social innovation and social impact – across the disciplines at the University of Northampton.

The study is based on the authors’ (2015) phenomenographic study that proposed five different conceptions of Changemaker held by academic staff: (1) Changemaker as institutional strategy; (2) Changemaker as critical thinking, perspective shifting and problem solving; (3) Changemaker as employability; (4) Changemaker as social betterment; and (5) Changemaker as personal transformation. The present study explores pedagogic literature to identify skills, behaviours and attributes associated with each of these five categories.

Findings from this literature review inform a set of Changemaker attributes, which offers a framework to consider skills and behaviours associated with the five conceptions of Changemaker.

The conceptions of Changemaker, that form the basis of the Changemaker attributes, represent the beliefs of teaching staff at the University of Northampton. Despite inherent limitations, the approach of using practice-based empirical findings to develop pedagogical tools may be of direct benefit to other education providers as they develop their own models for teaching and learning.

The Changemaker attributes will be used by the University of Northampton during the design, approval and review of courses to ensure that social innovation and social impact is embedded across the disciplines. Academic staff can refer these attributes when designing assessments and for inspiration towards innovative teaching practice.

The findings of this study will provide a point of reference for other higher education institutions as they look for guidance on embedding social innovation and social impact into their curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to create a conceptual framework to demonstrate the role of universities as knowledge partners in place branding networks.

This research adopts a case study strategy to explore the perceptions of institutional and community stakeholders in Northamptonshire. The objective is to examine the regional activities and engagement of a single-player university in a peripheral region and explore its potential for widening stakeholder participation. Qualitative data was collected through interviews and focus groups and thematically analysed.

The university played a complementary “partnership” role to other institutional stakeholders, particularly the public sector. As a knowledge partner, the university filled gaps in information (know-what), skills (know-how) and networks (know-who). The last two aspects are potentially unique to the university’s role in place branding networks and require further development.

The conceptual framework demonstrates the potential of a single-player university in a peripheral region to enhance the capabilities and skills of stakeholders in place branding networks and widen stakeholder participation. Future researchers can use the framework to develop recommendations for universities’ role in place branding based on their unique situation.

There has been limited research on how universities participate and influence participation in place branding. The exploration of this topic in the context of a rural, marginalised region is also novel.

This study aims to examine the relationship between sustainability initiatives and student satisfaction in accommodation services at the University of Northampton.

Four main sustainability factors, including energy consumption, waste management, environmental responsibility and green infrastructure, are explored in relation to their impact on student satisfaction. A quantitative research approach was used, using a structured questionnaire distributed to 224 students. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to assess the associations and predictive power of the sustainability factors on student satisfaction.

The findings underscore the pivotal role of sustainable initiatives in shaping student satisfaction with accommodation services. Particularly, energy consumption, environmental responsibility and green infrastructure emerged as significant factors influencing higher levels of student satisfaction. These outcomes align with the core principles of sustainability and emphasize the importance of implementing effective strategies in these domains to enhance student experiences. Existing literature supports these findings, indicating that sustainable practices significantly contribute to enhanced satisfaction levels. It is crucial to acknowledge that this study focused on a specific context, namely, the University of Northampton, and caution should be exercised when generalizing these findings to other settings.

This study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence of the specific sustainability factors that influence student satisfaction in university accommodation. Findings offer valuable guidance for universities and accommodation providers in developing and implementing sustainable practices to create a conducive living environment for students.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to support the embedding of social innovation education in existing academic programmes.

By adopting Conole et al.’s (2004) methodological approach to reviewing, mapping and modelling learning theory, this study addresses four research questions: how can social innovation education be defined? Which learning theories best support social innovation education? How do such learning theories relate to existing models of learning in higher education? What implications does a social innovation pedagogy have for learning design?

Findings suggest that social innovation education is supported by a praxis that is grounded in critical learning theory, transformational learning theory and epistemological development. By extending Conole et al.’s (2004) model of learning theory, the present study proposes a “zone of pedagogical praxis for social innovation education” that supports learning design on a more critical plane.

The proposed model of learning may be of interest to other universities as they work towards stronger thinkers and stronger communities.

Using a theory-informed model for learning design nurtures a pedagogical praxis and underpins the development of a practical toolkit for designing social innovation education.

The findings of this study will provide a point of reference for other higher education institutions as they look for guidance on embedding principles of social innovation into their curricula.

The purpose of this paper is to consider why and how a research culture might be established in an academic library and to describe and evaluate efforts to achieve this at the University of Northampton.

Contextualised within current literature on this topic, the paper examines the top-down and bottom-up approaches taken to facilitate practitioner research in one academic library.

The approaches taken have led to a significant increase in practitioner research activity from library staff, resulting in a variety of enhancements to library services; a number of innovative practices being shared with the professional community through conference presentations and publications; and consequent rise in profile and reputation for individuals, the department and the university.

The paper offers a wide range of ideas and practical suggestions for encouraging and facilitating practitioner research in an academic library. These include incorporating research activity into job descriptions and annual performance reviews; facilitating peer support for research; and providing competitive research awards, research training opportunities and funding for staff presenting at external events. Many of these require relatively little resource, yet offer significant benefit to those involved.

It is rare, and maybe unique in the UK, for an academic library to attempt to instil a research culture throughout its staff and to provide ongoing resources, activities and practical support for this. The many positive outcomes from this work demonstrate its success and value. The experiences described in this paper are transferable to other academic and research libraries and, if replicated, have the potential to increase librarians’ engagement in research activity, promote research-informed practice and stimulate interest in library and information research across the sector.

This article describes the development and application of a Web‐based teaching & learning package, Liberation, by Learning Resources at University College Northampton. Rather than discuss the technical aspects of the programme it concentrates on the practical issues around creating and using such a product.

Paedophilic individuals are a highly misunderstood and stigmatised group, with the general public tending to equate paedophilia with child sexual abuse. Given that paedophilia is often conflated as a psychiatric/mental health disorder and an extreme violent offence, the current study examined whether the stigma towards paedophilic individuals is related to negative associations with severe mental illness and extreme violence. The authors also used the terror management theory (TMT) to provide further insights into why paedophilia is so highly stigmatised.

A sample of 126 participants was split into one of six conditions and provided punitive and moral character judgements, as well as salience of death thoughts. Conditions were divided into three main stigma conditions (paedophilia vs schizophrenia vs homicidal ideation), which were further divided into two conditions (offending vs non-offending).

Results showed that judgements were harsher in the offending conditions than the non-offending conditions. Results also showed that the stigmatisation of paedophilic and schizophrenic individuals may be mediated by terror management processes. These findings suggest that paedophilia is believed to be associated with severe forms of mental illness where an individual is not able to control their own state of mind.

Thus, addressing perceptions of dangerousness towards individuals with severe mental illness is a crucial step towards developing effective strategies to help reduce such stigma.

As one of the first studies to use TMT in this way, the current study provided much-needed insight into an important and under-researched area using available methods for such a sensitive topic.

Evaluation of employment skills programmes (ESP) delivered by work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for the benefit of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is often undertaken by the programme providers. This method of evaluation often lacks objectivity and academic rigour and tends to focus exclusively on output. The purpose of this paper is to reveal programme outcome benefits for NEET participants after completing a six‐week ESP, delivered by a WISE. The study highlights the participant perspective and adds an objective dimension to programme evaluation through an innovative, inductive evaluation process.

The research adopted an intervention method, within a qualitative paradigm, employing semi‐structured interviews conducted pre‐ and post‐participant engagement in the ESP. NEET participants were also asked to complete questionnaires designed to measure general self‐efficacy and attitude to enterprise. The questionnaires were introduced in order to test the suitability of this type of questionnaire with NEET groups in future larger‐scale studies.

Analysis of the interview data revealed ten overall participant perception themes: “experience”, “self‐confidence”, “the programme”, “perceived barriers” and “maturity” at Time 1 and “experience”, “self‐confidence”, “the programme”, “enterprise” and “future” at Time 2. Outcome benefits are demonstrated through differences in participant perception themes revealed at Time 1 and Time 2. Relationships between participant perception themes and questionnaire constructs are discussed in the context of future larger‐scale evaluations.

Adopting an intervention method employing semi‐structured interviews, allowed the participants to articulate the outcome benefits that were important for them rather than merely providing affirmation of the programme provider's expectations.