Direct or directed: orchestrating a more harmonious approach to teaching technology within an Art & Design Higher Education curriculum with special reference to visual communications courses

In this scoping study we have investigated the integration of subject‐specific software into the structure of visual communications courses. There is a view that the response within visual communications courses to the rapid developments in technology has been linked to necessity rather than by design. Through perceptions of staff with day‐to‐day experience of the issues arising from the incorporation of such technology, we were able to construct an account of potential directions. There is a necessity for continual review of course content to ensure that training in software is embedded in the creative aspects of the curriculum in order to maximise the potential of new technology, maintain currency and future‐proof the curriculum. We argue that curriculum developers in visual communications need to incorporate appropriate hardware and software within the studio environment.     

Issues of Equity in Special Needs Education from a Gender Perspective

This article is concerned with gender issues in resource allocation for special needs in mainstream schools. The ways in which categories operate in academic life and professional practice in schools raise dilemmas for the development of the concept and practice of equality of opportunity. Data are drawn from a recent ESRC study (R000237346) and used to illustrate some of the ways in which significant problems for the management of special needs services are revealed from the perspective of gender.     

The ‘no problem’ Discourse model: Exploring an alternative way of researching student learning

In this paper we explore an alternative way of characterising the student learning experience, drawing on sociocultural perspectives on learning. Here, learning is not merely the application of an approach to a cognitive task, but a social process of identity formation. In particular, we draw on Gee's concept of Discourse models to identify the implicit theories students use to make sense of their learning and assessment experiences. From interviews with third year engineering students, we identified what we termed the ‘no problem Discourse model’, in which students construct an upbeat portrayal of their experience of a course, despite experiencing crises induced by assessment events. Through a process of justification the seriousness of the crisis is denied. This Discourse model appears to have its roots in a popular Discourse of self-actualization. There was evidence of co-construction of this model during the student learning interviews. This suggests implications for the roles that teachers can play in either maintaining or challenging the Discourse models that are adopted by students.     

Transformative innovation in peri-urban Asia

This paper draws on two case studies from India and China to discuss how and why rapidly urbanizing contexts are particularly challenging for transformative innovation but are also critical sustainability frontiers and learning environments. We argue that lack of understanding and policy engagement with peri-urbanization in its current form is leading to increasing exclusion and unrealized potential to support multiple sustainable urban development goals. Peri-urbanization is often characterized by the neoliberal reordering of space and a co-option of environmental agendas by powerful urban elites. Changing land-use, resource extraction, pollution and livelihood transitions drive rapid changes in interactions between socio-technical and social-ecological systems, and produce complex feedbacks across the rural–urban continuum. These contexts also present characteristic governance challenges as a result of jurisdictional ambiguity, transitioning formal and informal institutional arrangements, heterogeneous and sometimes transient communities, shifts in decision making to distant authorities and the rapid growth of informal market-based arrangements with little incentive for environmental management. These unique features of peri-urbanization may reinforce a lack of inclusion and hinder experimentation, but they can also present valuable opportunities for transformative innovation. This innovation is unlikely to follow the lines of niche management and upscaling but rather should take advantage of peri-urban dynamics. There are possibilities to build new alliances in order to renegotiate governance structures across the rural–urban continuum, to reframe urban sustainability debates and to reconfigure socio-technical and social-ecological systems interactions.     

Civic learning outcomes: a step towards an inclusive higher education

An inclusive education goes beyond the acquisition of discipline knowledge or skills. Inclusion is concerned with the participation and integration of all students (regardless of their intrinsic characteristics), helping them to develop civic competences. Civic and democratic values, equality and social justice became critical dimensions in this broader concept of education. This paper argues that the incorporation of civic dimensions, such as civic knowledge, civic skills or civic values in academic curricula could be an effective step towards more inclusive education. Specifically, this work intends to explore what civic dimensions are emphasised as a learning outcome in Portuguese higher education programmes. Adopting a qualitative methodology, typologies and incidence of civic learning outcomes were analysed and compared across three academic levels (first, second and third study cycles). The results provide a better understanding of what civic dimensions are stressed by institutions. All types of civic learning outcomes have been reinforced, defining civic values, civic skills and civic knowledge as expectable learning results. Both civic values and skills are well represented while civic knowledge is the less mentioned category. The enforcement of such civic dimensions is a valuable approach to enhancing education as a collective societal endeavour and as a common good.     

The Effect of Whole-Body Vibration on Lower-Body Resistance Detraining in College-Age Women

Purpose: This study explored the effect of whole-body vibration (WBV) using accelerations of 2.56 g to 7.68 g on lower-body detraining. Methods: All participants (N = 20) were trained using a lower-body resistance-training program for 30 min twice per week from Week 0 to Week 6. At the end of the program, they were randomly assigned to a control group that performed no further training or a WBV group that performed a progressive static WBV program. Data for the 5-repetition-maximum (5RM) squat and extensors and flexors of the knee and ankle were collected at Weeks 0, 6, 8, 10, and 12 for all participants. Results: Two-way (condition vs. time) analysis of variance revealed that although the WBV group maintained strength in the 5RM from Week 6 through Week 8 and the control group had a lower 5RM in Week 8 from Week 6, no differences in the 5RM squat existed between the groups at Week 8. Two-way factorial multivariate analysis of variance revealed no differences between the groups at any of the time for torque of knee flexion, dorsiflexion, or plantar flexion. Conclusion: Static WBV of 2.56 g to 7.68 g did not attenuate detraining of the flexors and extensors of the knee and ankle.