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Impact is primarily economic and organizational, resulting from more effective leadership processes and practices by small firm owner-managers. The mechanism of impact was a programme known as LEAD (leadership, enterprise and development), which drew a significant community of owner-managers of smaller firms in Greater Merseyside into the Management School, to enable them to use research findings about managerial and entrepreneurial learning, leadership and business support in the running of their firms. The resulting impacts were on management practices and processes, and firm performances. Practitioners engaging with the University of Liverpool Management School (ULMS) LEAD programme experienced turnover increases averaging 21%. The beneficiaries are small firms, their employees and business support partnerships.
This case study describes impact arising from research into designing constructionist tools that provide personalisation, support and guidance to learners and teachers, resulting in software used in several schools, FE colleges and universities world-wide. Constructionist learning is founded on the principle of constructionism which argues for the pedagogical importance of building artefacts as a way of building mental representations. A key computational challenge in the design of tools that foster constructionist learning is to provide intelligent support that guides users towards productive interaction with the tool without constraining its creative potential.
Our research into learning through digital technologies has increased the focus on the importance of learning processes and context. The research developed new models of strategic evaluation and learning framework analyses as well as a new concept of MEGAcognition. These have shaped the development, customisation and implementation of more appropriate digital educational resources, nationally and internationally. Our research has involved and influenced key national and international companies and groups. Its users have been policy makers and developers, as well as teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools. The research has: 1) influenced policy and practice developments nationally and internationally (in UK government departments and the e-strategy agency, and in five major resource development companies and corporations with international reach); 2) increased awareness of and engagement in learning opportunities (in four local authorities); 3) built capacity (in three resource development companies and projects); 4) offered insights into ways to develop, refine and customise educational products for specific audiences (in six resource development companies and local authorities); 5) raised awareness and understanding of educational concepts to non-academic audiences nationally and internationally (through 35 public and private seminars and keynote sessions to national and international audiences); 6) raised awareness of learning and pedagogical practices (in six major resource development companies and corporations).
A persistent issue in UK government and policy has been national performance on development and improvement of workforce skills for international competitiveness, highlighted by The Learning Age (1998) and the Lisbon Agenda. Strengthening and alignment of workplace dialogue have been shown to lead to better understanding between those designing and those receiving training and development programmes. This case shows how research part-funded by trade unions has contributed to directly and indirectly shaping policy, leading to further funding targeted at changes in support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The result is improved performance in learning and training.
The delivery of interchangeable services across a range of educational platforms has been a long-term problem in the field of technology enhanced learning. The Institute for Educational Cybernetics (IEC) identified widgets as having a potential role in resolving this problem, and developed a widget server, Wookie, to provide a research tool to investigate this. The research is summarised in [4] and [6]. The work attracted international attention, and the server has been reused in a number of other projects to provide interoperable services, both in education and beyond, and including a number of European funded initiatives. The impact of the work was recognised and enhanced by its acceptance by the Apache Software Foundation as an incubator project. It has now graduated as Apache Wookie, and is a full Apache project.
The Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education (TLC) project, which UWE researchers led the design of and played a key role in undertaking, informed policy debates on a range of issues including the quality of teaching and learning in Further Education (FE) settings. Several FE sector teacher training programmes (e.g. Cardiff University) have changed aspects of their content as a consequence of this research, for example to help trainees better understand and develop a positive learning culture in their classrooms. This benefits the trainee teachers and, as a consequence, the learning outcomes for the students they work with. Processes to enhance the practice of established teachers in FE have been implemented as a consequence of this research, for example, City of Bristol College's peer mentoring scheme improves the skills of lecturing staff and outcomes for learners. The project also produced a book that has been widely adopted by FE managers and tutors to help them better understand and enhance the learning context in contemporary college and adult education environments, resulting in more effective teaching and learning. On a wider level the research findings have influenced national policy debates on issues around the funding, practice, and management of teaching and learning activities across the post-compulsory education sector, particularly in further education.
Professor Zhongyu (Joan) Lu's research contributed significantly to the development of a next-generation student response system (SRS) that is fully integrated with web services, Smartphones, multimedia and other ubiquitous technologies. By incorporating the use of widely available online equipment, the system has made SRS more affordable, easier to employ and applicable in a range of settings far more diverse than the traditional classroom scenario. It is now used in Europe and the US by both academia and industry and has served as the basis for a number of dedicated prototypes. Its success has also led to additional major funding streams for further research.
Research by the University of Nottingham's Education and Technology for Health team has benefited healthcare students, professionals, users, carers and institutions both in the UK and internationally by establishing a participatory methodology for high-quality, sustainable multimedia Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs). These learning tools are now used in 50 countries globally to facilitate individual access to knowledge, enhance learning within curriculums and deliver continuing professional development, with feedback showing satisfaction of up to 100% in some nations. They are also being used to train healthcare professionals in resource-poor countries, further strengthening the University of Nottingham's role as a global education provider.
This case study demonstrates clear and significant impact on placement learning in a range of universities, according with the following dimension of impact in REF 2014: `impacts within the higher education sector, including on teaching or students, are included where they extend significantly beyond the submitting HEI' (emphasis in the original). The research focuses on Community Engagement in Political Science Education, undertaken from 2007 by Associate Professor Steven Curtis. Curtis researches and publishes new models of placement learning, the learning and teaching uses of Web 2.0, and more effective approaches to feedback. Curtis's work — involving developing new approaches to the pedagogy of community engagement — enjoys both national and international recognition.
Research on unions and workplace learning has informed government and unions on the effectiveness and distinctiveness of union-led learning (ULL) in promoting adult learning and skills. On the basis of the research, the then Scottish Executive decided to provide funding for union-led learning from 2008 to 2011. The research findings have also contributed to priority setting for union learning funds, notably by directing funding towards the longer-term sustainability of ULL across Scotland, benefitting adult and particularly non-traditional adult learners. The research has also impacted on trade union policy on workplace learning and skills by informing strategic deliberations about how unions can generate member and union benefits from learning activities. It has also influenced union and employers' practices by linking skills acquisition and deployment, leading to improved working practices that benefit employers, employees and unions. Moreover, the evaluation framework developed in this research has informed approaches to evaluating ULL elsewhere in the UK, and robust evaluations using the framework have generated additional funds for learners in England at a time when other funding for adult learning has diminished.