Resilience in higher education students: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

The health, wellbeing and employability of university students are key considerations within higher education. In response, interest in student resilience is on the rise. Reviews of contemporary resilience literature highlight both conceptual and methodological weaknesses, issues which hamper attempts to design effective resilience interventions. To inform the design of a student resilience program, to be piloted at three Australian universities, a scoping review of resilience specific to the higher education context was undertaken. Searches of three electronic databases (PsychINFO, CINAHL and ProQuest) were conducted. Seventy-two peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2017 were included in the review. While the review reaffirms the conceptual and methodological issues found in previous resilience research, it provides a useful critique of key issues in relation to university student resilience and interventions to enhance students’ resilience. Recommendations for educators and researchers are provided.     

Coloured overlays and their benefit for reading

Children in mainstream schools compared text on white paper with identical text covered in turn by each of ten differently‐coloured plastic overlays. More than 50% reported improved perception with one or more colours, and were given the best colour to use. About half used the overlays for more than three months and their reading speed increased when the overlays were used. In Study I children were examined twice using different methods and examiners. 47% chose the same colour on both occasions, and showed the greatest improvement in reading fluency, reliable at retest. In Study II children were issued with a random colour, and the greatest improvements in reading speed occurred when the random colour was the same as that previously chosen. Phonological reading strategies were not related to visual symptoms, or the benefit from overlays. Across individuals, reading speed varied by a factor of more than three, for good and poor readers. Study III provided estimates of the prevalence of improvements based on a sample of 426 children from 12 schools: 5% of children read more than 25% faster with a coloured overlay.     

Sports History: Reflections on My Journey So Far

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on my journey into sports history and my career path so far. I also discuss my experiences as part of the British Society of Sports History.     

The accuracy of computational fluid dynamics analysis of the passive drag of a male swimmer

The aim of this study was to build an accurate computer-based model to study the water flow and drag force characteristics around and acting upon the human body while in a submerged streamlined position. Comparisons of total drag force were performed between an actual swimmer, a virtual computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the swimmer, and an actual mannequin based on the virtual model. Drag forces were determined for velocities between 1.5 m/s and 2.25 m/s (representative of the velocities demonstrated in elite competition). The drag forces calculated from the virtual model using CFD were found to be within 4% of the experimentally determined values for the mannequin. The mannequin drag was found to be 18% less than the drag of the swimmer at each velocity examined. This study has determined the accuracy of using CFD for the analysis of the hydrodynamics of swimming and has allowed for the improved understanding of the relative contributions of various forms of drag to the total drag force experienced by submerged swimmers.     

Getting in,getting on,going further: Exploring the role of employers in the degree apprentice to graduate transition

Transitions from education into work, or as part of career change and development, are increasingly central to policy debate and academic inquiry. However, the role that employers play in shaping transition is often overlooked. In this paper, we examine this issue through the experiences of a graduating cohort of ‘degree apprentices’. We present original analysis of new empirical data from what we believe to be the first substantive qualitative longitudinal research conducted with those experiencing this new vocational pathway in the English Apprenticeships system. Through analysis of repeat semi-structured interviews with 22 degree apprenticeship graduates (44 interviews in total), we provide early empirical insights into experiences of this new pathway and add to existing theoretical conceptualisations of transition within the educational literature and the employer's role within it. We show that the degree apprentice to graduate transition can be broken down into three key stages: ‘getting in’, ‘getting on’ and ‘going further’, and that employers—at both strategic and relational levels—shape experiences at each stage.