Google wikiloc trails

Interesting challenges posed by some of the trails on Google Earth wikiloc how about a quick cycle through the sea and up a cliff ....


Perhaps this one is how to get home after having far too much to drink....

Undergraduate Research

In a recent paper, [Undergraduate student as action-researcher: work-focused learning. Available from http://digitalcommons.bolton.ac.uk/iec conference/9] we analysed the data from final year undergraduate major project reports to identify the characteristics of the projects undertaken by BA LTR students with the aim of uncovering 'who they have become'.

From this analysis 4 key aspects of their work were identified:

1. Application of action research methodology and research methods - students were able to design and apply a rigorous approach to their inquiries.
2. Improvement to personal practice - students demonstrated critical awareness and ability to improve their working practices.
3. Significant contribution to relevant professional knowledge - contributing to the overall understanding of the business of the enterprise as a learning organisation.
4. Wider impact across the work-place - organisations recognise and value the growing capability of students to provoke others in the workplace to improve their practice.

In a nutshell we saw rigorous approaches to inquiry, we saw significant contribution to personal development and to professional knowledge in the workplace and, for some students, well beyond the workplace. We saw that workplaces recognise the value of the contributions undergraduates make. Further informal research on the BA LTR an BA LTT pathways since this paper was published has identified  that workplaces also respond to student's discoveries by implementing significant changes. Teaching Assistants studying at level 1, 2 and 3 have reported schools rewriting aspects of policy as a direct result of new knowledge gained through study. New initiatives have been introduced by management as a result of the work done by students working in universities and in small businesses. Increased responsibility in the workplace has been regularly reported and for some students promotion or new careers opportunities arise during rather than after their studies. 

The combination of rigorous approaches to applying research methodologies and methods coupled with the uncovering of new and significant local knowledge and the dissemination of this knowledge to create impact at organisational level would seem worthy of the label 'Research'.  That our undergraduate students are being recognised by workplaces as contributing significant new knowledge on a local scale indicates to me there can be considerable value in undergraduate research. What an undergraduate student is unlikely to achieve is a complete review of literature in their field; undergraduate study does not provide the time-frame needed to ensure all knowledge in the field is examined. Personally I feel it is likely that this is only rarely achieved at Masters or PhD level either. To expect undergraduate students to make a unique contribution to knowledge on a global scale as a result of studying modules lasting 12 - 18 weeks is not feasible. We live in a vastly complicated world and although our students are studying in one of the worlds most commonly used languages there is a vast amount of formally and informally published work in many languages. 

Replication of research in a social context is inevitable and desirable. I do not see a unified solution to learning or to organisational success, for example; every class in a school presents educators with a unique mix of learners and, although at the organisational level we can strive to provide a baseline that is likely to work for most of the pupils in most of the classes, the detail of what works best for this teacher, in this year with this class is likely to be different to what works well for this teacher with the next class. Our pathway aims to develop a lifetime habit of applying research strategies to continually evaluate practice and adapt strategies to suit changing populations and changes in workplace aspirations and requirements. Deploying the tools of reflective practice and action inquiry as ongoing strategies for assessing and responding to workplace needs ensures members of a workforce can maintain effectiveness in the light of changing circumstances. 

That methodologies are implemented in a systematic, unbiased and rigorous way and that they lead to significant new local knowledge is key to deserving the label 'Research'.  As to the question "Can Undergraduate students do research ?" I have no hesitation in responding; yes many of them can if the course is designed to develop research skills.  

I would like to hear more from the horse's mouth as it were - are you a student, an educator, are you in a workplace where undergraduates explore their practice; what are your views on the undergraduate student as researcher issue; what evidence do you have to support your views? 

Babanza Peninsula

We had a great little trip to the Barbanza peninsula a few hours South of Valdovino, this is the other part of Galicia we were considering moving too. There is a lovely Dolmen very similar to the Cornish ones. Sam and Rowan providing a bit of scale.

It was pretty hot, Callum and Lorena headed off to look for Haycorns and Cork tree seeds.

I forgot to take any pics at our first stop near the Rio Sierra at Xuno we had quite a night with a few young lads deciding to set up their own rave a few meters from were we camped, we moved upwind, I sank the van in very soft sand by not looking where I was going but it only took a few mins to get out after we helped dig another van out.. it was still a loud night from the other side of the site. Next day we moved on further down the peninsula where it is wild, windswept and wonderful this is looking towards the Faro at Corrubedo from where we camped we had to help a chap remove his Discovery from the rocks on the path, he escaped with only a few bent bits below.

Lovely sunset this is our campsite.

Lovely sunset again.

I love these flowers they smell so sweet - Dulce de Dunas I have heard them called.

The sea was perfect for boys

These Percebes fetch a high price but I would have to be starving to eat such things although a friend in Cedeira once tried to convince me they were vegetables.

I find it difficult to see why people would want to eat these wonderful intelligent creatures either.

It was still around 30C at sunset time and warm enough for the boys to go swimming at midnight although that is a pic of our campsite.

We saw dolphins and found a dolphin skull but forgot to bring it home for our museum :-(

Can undergraduates do Research ?

Our BA LTR and BA LTT pathways are designed to enable undergraduate students to operate as researchers designing inquiries to improve practice and discover new knowledge. Having facilitated the curriculum since 2003 I am confident to say that many of our undergraduates do discover knowledge that is new to them and when shared in the workplace and beyond it is not unusual for these discoveries to be valued by others. Their discoveries are not presented as unique or finite. For most they were uncovered through rigorous and systematic processes; as they are not claiming a PhD we are not looking for a unique contribution to their field of knowledge.

It is felt by some that undergraduates are not able to do "Research". Several factors are highly visible in this debate:

Undergraduates are unlikely to have the experience and academic acumen to achieve high levels of rigour.

They do not have time to read all of the literature in their field.

Their contributions to knowledge are unlikely to be significant or unique.

Can we be sure that all Masters and Doctoral students or those working at higher levels read all of the literature in their field; the sources published in Mandarin, Urdu, Spanish etc etc? Given the temporal parameters I agree it is likely that they will have read more than some undergraduates but I doubt that many people ever read all that is published.

Ehrenberg and Siday noted an odd quantum vector effect related to a doughnut shaped magnetic field in 1949 although their results went unnoticed until Aharonov and Bohm rediscovered the effect in 59 and it was not witnessed unambiguously until 86. Were Aharonov and Bohm not proper researchers because they were not aware of the earlier work; it was their name that stuck to the effect.

A fossil examined by many experts over many years yields only conformation that it is similar to other fossils of that genus and type until someone notices a structure and proposes, then confirms, it represents proto feathers and these were actually hairy looking dinosaurs - was it only the last person, the one who noticed something new, who was doing research, or is it possible that the systematic and rigorous confirmation of existing knowledge and the finding of nothing new is still a research process?

Scientists have searched for a unified theory of everything for a long time, GUT seems to ignore gravity, Superstring theory aims to include gravity and M Theory is progressing but parity violations in weak interactions in particle physics have continued to thwart hopes for perfection for 50 years - what if we find that the Universe is more like Gleiser's imaginings with asymmetry, imperfection and accident being fundamental characteristics. What if a unified theory is only a pipe dream based on the old idea of perfection in the mind of a deity leading to their being a definable blueprint for nature concept; what if we are only seeing a small part of the picture limited by our ability to perceive and conceptualise the physical world?

Many educators have striven for many years to develop effective practices relating to pedagogy, exploration of theory underpins much of this. Like the world of physics it is a complex field and children offer similar problems to the parity variations - they don't all fit into the right boxes or respond the same way to the same practice. There is no unified theory of education although many "right ways" have been proposed, successful approaches vary from teacher to teacher, from culture to culture and from child to child. The teaching assistants on our pathways read widely, draw on their experience and the experience of others to design systematic and rigorous inquiries that aim to improve practice by designing solutions to solve real world problems. Proposed solutions are honed and refined through cyclical inquiry with each iteration being examined through careful data collection and analysis leading to improved solutions for the next iteration. Solutions are not presented as finite, no unified final solution is in their sights; they are aware that what is best practice today can always be improved on tomorrow; that what works for one person might not work for another. The aim of our curriculum is to develop a lifetime habit of systematic and rigorous reflection and exploration- a habit I would describe as having the characteristics of ongoing practitioner research.

Does operating as a researcher exploring and contributing to knowledge locally count or do you really need to make a unique contribution on the global perspective to be labeled as a researcher? I had better keep reading.