Senior management perspectives of mathematics and statistics support in higher education: moving to an ‘ecological’ approach

This article explores the perspectives of three senior managers in higher education institutions in England regarding their mathematics and statistics support provision. It does so by means of a qualitative case study that draws upon the writing of Ronald Barnett about the identity of an ‘ecological’ university, along with metaphors associated with the notion of organisations as living ‘organisms’, suggested by Gareth Morgan. Using these ideas as a heuristic sheds light upon the view that whilst outwardly universities appear to represent a uniform landscape, mathematics and statistics support alternatively, can be seen as different ‘species’ within the higher education system. The study illustrates how three universities occupying contrasting ecological ‘niches’ are responding to the challenges they face by providing and planning different forms of learning support for mathematics and statistics. In conclusion, it is recommended that senior managers reflect upon the possibilities offered by the idea of ‘ecological’ identities in order to explore how they might respond strategically to a rapidly changing environment. This includes adapting various solutions and the further development of innovative ways of supporting students’ transitions throughout the academic lifecycle. In addition, an ecological approach could also aid the formation of the co-creational relationships and networks required for the future success of those developments.     

PERSPECTIVES ON ACADEMIC LIFE: AN APOLOGIA FOR MESO‐QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

The point of this article is to suggest that there are worthwhile but hitherto largely unexploited opportunities for research on higher education in the style which the author defines as meso‐qualitative investigation. Some examples of the genre are given as is also a consideration of characteristic methods and techniques as well as of associated difficulties, validity, data analysis, and presentation. A discussion of the rationale behind the development of middle‐range grounded theories follows, including a justification for such work in terms of the intrinsic satisfaction which it imparts to the researcher himself, its contribution to the state of knowledge about higher education, and its practical utility. Some suggestions for future research in terms of topics and possible lines of approach are given. Although studies of this sort cannot be replicated in the strictly scientific sense, this apparent limitation is, in humanistic terms, in fact, a strength which indeed becomes even stronger if such studies are given an international scope.     

The third place from truth: Plato's paradoxical attack on writing

This paper examines Eric Havelock's view of Plato's works as a turning point in the transition from a predominantly oral society to a predominantly written culture. There is a paradox between the influence of written abstraction on Plato's thought and the Platonic attack upon writing in the Phaedrus. Havelock's consideration of the influence of written technology upon Plato's thought is outlined and is contrasted with the view of writing expressed by Socrates in the Phaedrus and elsewhere. The essential paradox in associating Plato with the written tradition is that Plato criticizes the written word in the Phaedrus for the same faults attributed to the poets in the Republic. The dimensions of the paradox are considered along five lines. First, it is clear that writing and abstract thought are related in Havelock's view, and yet Plato attacks writing for being “the third place from truth.”; Secondly, memory is associated with the oral tradition which Plato attacks so strongly in the Republic, and yet memory is vital to Plato's epistemology. A third paradox is that Plato condemns the self‐identification of the individual with the poets of the oral tradition, and yet the dialectic which is the approved approach to truth takes place in oral dialogue. In addition, while Plato clearly expected his attack upon poetry to be unpopular, there is evidence that his attack on writing—on the same epistemological grounds—was an accurate reflection of popular sentiment. Finally, the poets appear to have been singled out in the Republic for special attention due to their relationship with the oral tradition, but the rhetoricians, logographers, and sophists associated with writing are criticized upon the same grounds as the poets and rhapsodes. The study concludes that these apparent paradoxes are consistent with Plato's pivotal position in the transition from a predominantly oral to a predominantly written culture as outlined by Havelock. Plato's paradoxical attack upon writing provides a remarkable paradigm of the employment of the strengths of both the written and the oral traditions, and urges us by example to consider the impact of modern media upon the quality of our thought.     

Get ‘Real’: Does Practicing Speeches Before an Audience Improve Performance?

Public speaking texts and instructors typically encourage students to practice speeches as a means of managing anxiety and enhancing performance. The effectiveness of various speech practice methods has received little attention. Participants completed the PRCA-24 and PRPSA-34, and indicated the number of times they used a variety of practice methods to prepare for a speech. Upon completing this questionnaire, participants delivered a videotaped speech. Students who practiced their speech before an audience received higher evaluation scores than did students who practiced without an audience. In addition, students who practiced their speech before larger audiences received higher evaluation scores than students who practiced before smaller audiences.     

The conversational frame in public address

Conversationalism has been hailed as the hallmark of modern eloquence, yet its political and ethical implications have received little attention. This essay explores the diverse forms and motives of the conversational frame in public address. By framing their remarks and transactions with their listeners as conversational, orators may attempt to reconstruct or seem to reconstruct speaker‐audience relationships and to position themselves and their audiences within networks of reciprocal rights and obligations.     

Using film in teaching and learning about changing societies

This paper discusses how using feature films in a graduate university subject for adult educators can pose questions about pressing social issues and develop critical thinking and consciousness. While a variety of film sources were used, the focus of this paper is on four feature films that were chosen to highlight a particular approach to learning. Firstly, films were chosen where the filmmaker’s intention was to pose questions raised in stories of everyday life and which wove together personal dilemmas and choice. These films were set in different countries and against a backdrop of particular histories. Secondly, films that sought to re‐present collective identities, and most importantly the diversity within working class identity, were selected. Thirdly, films that enabled viewers to examine common ‘truths’ against actual social conditions, and probed beneath that accepted or prevailing wisdom, were chosen to develop critical understanding or ideology critique. Drawing on theories of learning, storytelling and narrative the paper considers how films of everyday life can be used to facilitate a dialogic approach to understand changes taking place in different parts of the world and the impact they have on different groups of people, notably those exploited or marginalised by the new global market.     

Students’ perceptions of written feedback in teacher education: ideally feedback is a continuing two-way communication that encourages progress

A small but growing body of research has investigated students’ perceptions of written feedback in higher education but little attention has been brought to bear on students’ emotional responses to feedback. This paper investigates students’ perceptions of written feedback with particular emphasis on their emotional responses within a teacher education programme in a regional Australian university. Online questionnaires were used to gather qualitative data from cohorts of distance students and on-campus students. The study found that students’ emotions strongly mediated their perceptions of written feedback. The paper concludes that in order to accommodate students’ emotional responses, effective written feedback should be aligned with pedagogies which specifically include the development of rich dialogue within the teaching and learning context.