Mireilla Bikanga Ada, Mark Stansfield and Gavin Baxter
The purpose of this paper is to investigate an area of growing importance that is widely recognised in the literature relating to the issue of how to improve ways that assessments…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate an area of growing importance that is widely recognised in the literature relating to the issue of how to improve ways that assessments and feedback are provided to students within higher education. This paper reports on a study that aimed to explore the views of both educators (n=70) and students (n=540) on feedback and feed-forward at a UK university. The study also investigated their experience and attitudes to social media applications as a means of enhancing access to feedback within the context of mobile learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach adopted in this study predominately conforms to a quantitative research design though embeds elements of qualitative research via a “mixed methods” approach. The overall methodology of the paper adheres to an exploratory case study in a higher education environment to identify various issues and approaches that could be addressed or enhanced to aid ways that assessments and feedback are disseminated to students within higher education.
Findings
Participants’ views were sought in relation to students receiving learning materials, as well as feedback from tutors directly to their smartphones and mobile devices. In addition, the study explored possible reasons for students not wanting to use social media and mobile devices for their learning and feedback. Overall, the results indicated a positive attitude on the part of educators and students to using mobile devices and social media applications for teaching and learning purposes.
Research limitations/implications
The case study presented in this paper draws on findings from one higher educational institution. Further research is required to determine the generalisability of the findings to allow comparison of the findings to be undertaken within other higher education institutions.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper is that it provides detailed empirical evidence and findings that provide several important implications in relation to enhancing the student learning experience and providing considerable improvements to the way that feedback is provided that make it more likely that students will take more notice to feedback and act upon it. This in turn enables educators to better plan and manage their teaching and student experience online and through students’ mobile devices. The value of this study is that it explores views of both educators and students, whereas many other previous studies tend to focus on the views of either educators or students.
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Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Bearing in mind the advantages and pitfalls of implementing blogs, the authors propose a set of practical guidelines for management who may be contemplating using blogs in their organization but who are unsure of how to implement them successfully. The guidelines are generic, in that they can be applied to most industry sectors and are more specific to large‐scale organizations or SMEs.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
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Gavin J. Baxter, Thomas M. Connolly and Mark H. Stansfield
The purpose of this paper is to identify the theoretical link between blogs and organisational learning. It aims to provide a set of practical guidelines on how to overcome the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the theoretical link between blogs and organisational learning. It aims to provide a set of practical guidelines on how to overcome the challenges of implementing an organisational blog.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review will be used to examine blogs and their association towards organisational learning and an illustration of how one company reacted to using blogs will be provided.
Findings
It was discovered that implementing blogs within organisations can present challenges that might be overcome through properly informing and educating staff about their organisational benefits. A set of guidelines is presented as an implementation checklist for companies considering using internal blogs.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not examine the adoption of blog use within multiple organisations but reflects on the challenges of running blogs in one specific organisation. The problems identified might not apply to all types of organisations. Further research will be required to determine this.
Practical implications
The paper provides a set of guidelines that allows organisations to assess whether blogging is right for them and suggests steps to take that can stimulate an organisational blogging culture.
Originality/value
The paper offers practical advice and guidelines that help management to overcome difficulties associated with the introducing of organisational blogs internally. The paper provides a novel academic perspective in which organisational blogs might not be as straightforward to implement as argued in the literature.
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The European Commission green paper Improving the Mental Health of the Population, published in October 2005, is essentially a public mental health strategy for the European…
Abstract
The European Commission green paper Improving the Mental Health of the Population, published in October 2005, is essentially a public mental health strategy for the European Union. In this short article Jude Stansfield outlines the main elements of the strategy and discusses its relevance and implications both for the European Union as a whole and for policy and practice in England and the other individual member states. While the green paper is in many ways welcome in that it will raise the profile of public mental health at national and international government level, it has a number of flaws ‐ not least its primary focus on mental illness and mental illness services.
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Iraqi universities in the aftermath of invasion in 2003 experienced extremely high levels of “post”-war violence and insecurity. The most widely known dimension of this violence…
Abstract
Iraqi universities in the aftermath of invasion in 2003 experienced extremely high levels of “post”-war violence and insecurity. The most widely known dimension of this violence is the shocking assassination campaign that killed hundreds of Iraqi academics. This paper provides an analysis of violence and insecurity in post-2003 that takes a broader optic and considers multiple forms of vulnerability to attack including insurgencies, sectarian conflict, and criminal violence. It also considers the various responses to the security dilemma taken by Coalition forces – principally counter-terrorism and stabilization efforts – and by Iraqi policy-makers and higher education communities, including security measures, politicization, ethno-sectarianization, and displacement.
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Earliest localism was sited on a tree or hill or ford, crossroads or whenceways, where people assembled to talk, (Sax. witan), or trade, (Sax. staple), in eggs, fowl, fish or…
Abstract
Earliest localism was sited on a tree or hill or ford, crossroads or whenceways, where people assembled to talk, (Sax. witan), or trade, (Sax. staple), in eggs, fowl, fish or faggots. From such primitive beginnings many a great city has grown. Settlements and society brought changes; appointed headmen and officials, a cloak of legality, uplifted hands holding “men to witness”. Institutions tend to decay and many of these early forms passed away, but not the principle vital to the system. The parish an ecclesiastical institution, had no place until Saxons, originally heathens, became Christians and time came when Church, cottage and inn filled the lives of men, a state of localism in affairs which endured for centuries. The feudal system decayed and the vestry became the seat of local government. The novels of Thomas Hardy—and English literature boasts of no finer descriptions of life as it once was—depict this authority and the awe in which his smocked countrymen stood of “the vicar in his vestry”. The plague freed serfs and bondsmen, but events, such as the Poor Law of 1601, if anything, revived the parish as the organ of local government, but gradually secular and ecclesiastical aspects were divided and the great population explosion of the eighteenth century created necessity for subdivision of areas, which continued to serve the principle of localism however. The ballot box completed the eclipse of Church; it changed concepts of localism but not its importance in government.
Alison Jane Stansfield, Alwyn Kam, Tara Baddams, Bethany Woodrow, Emma Roberts, Bhavika Patel and Conor James Davidson
Leeds autism diagnostic service is an adult autism diagnostic service for people of any intellectual ability which also offers consultancy to service users/carers or…
Abstract
Purpose
Leeds autism diagnostic service is an adult autism diagnostic service for people of any intellectual ability which also offers consultancy to service users/carers or professionals, as well as a wide range of autism training. The service was set up as a pilot in 2011 and a paper describing the service development was published in this journal in November 2015. The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach taken to measure the quality of the service the authors provide and accurately assess risk in adults with autism.
Design/methodology/approach
The process of evaluating appropriate outcome measures is described, along with considering appropriate risk assessment tools for use in the community. Over 200 people each year complete the autism diagnostic pathway, and 164 patients were invited to respond to service evaluation questionnaires in 2014.
Findings
To date, the most useful outcome measures for this group include a prospective service user questionnaire which enables service user opinion to influence service development. In the absence of any appropriate autism-specific risk assessment tools, the service has developed one which it is currently piloting. This has proved particularly useful in the consultancy setting
Originality/value
This paper is a follow-up paper looking at the day-to-day issues that the team have had to grapple with – how do you assess whether what you are doing is providing the best possible service for the people that you serve and how do you accurately assess risk in this population?
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A community-centred approach to health called Community Wellbeing Practices (CWP) is being offered to patients at all 17 GP practices in Halton in order to respond more…
Abstract
Purpose
A community-centred approach to health called Community Wellbeing Practices (CWP) is being offered to patients at all 17 GP practices in Halton in order to respond more appropriately to patients’ social needs, which are often an underlying reason for their presentation at primary care services. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Delivered in partnership with a local social enterprise this approach is centred on the integration of community assets and non-medical community-based support provided by the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. The core elements include community navigation, social prescribing and social action approaches.
Findings
The CWP initiative has supported more than 5,000 patients over the last four years and has evidenced demonstrable improvements in a range of health and social outcomes for patients.
Research limitations/implications
The initiative has been well received by clinicians and social care professionals and has contributed to a cultural transformation in the way health and care professionals are responding to the identified needs of the community.
Practical implications
Using community-centred approaches in this way may help to augment clinical outcomes as well as reduce demand on over stretched public services.
Social implications
Community-centred models such as the one in Halton have the potential to empower citizens to play an active role in creating healthier communities by catalysing a “people powered” social movement for health.
Originality/value
The CWP model in Halton is a good example of the way community-centred approaches to health can be integrated with health and care pathways to augment clinical outcomes and reduce demand on over stretched services.
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This chapter will explore the links between coercive control and ‘rough sex’. The chapter will highlight how easily sexual behaviour within a coercively controlling relationship…
Abstract
This chapter will explore the links between coercive control and ‘rough sex’. The chapter will highlight how easily sexual behaviour within a coercively controlling relationship can be presented as consensual. The chapter will explain how coercive control is typically about compelling a partner to comply with traditional gender norms and this makes consent within such a relationship particularly difficult to assess. However, it will be argued that there should be a strong legal presumption that if a relationship is marked by coercive control that sexual behaviour within it is non-consensual. The chapter will also explore in what circumstances rough sex should be regarded as lawful.