LSU (Theses)https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/19372024-03-28T11:58:12Z2024-03-28T11:58:12ZApparent randomness and chaotic non-linearity: change over time in the essays of a cohort of philosophy undergraduateshttps://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/20302016-06-20T17:09:27Z2013-01-01T00:00:00ZApparent randomness and chaotic non-linearity: change over time in the essays of a cohort of philosophy undergraduates
For most degree programmes in third-level education, the primary form of assessment is by written work submitted by the student to an assessor, either through formal, time-limited examinations or take-home essays.
This research examines a sample of the take-home essays from a selection of students in a single cohort within a degree programme in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. This research focuses on philosophy modules taken by the students, and in particular a set of essays written for a single assessor. These essays form a corpus of 94 texts submitted at six different points over the course of a degree programme.
By looking at the use and distribution of linguistic items, this research shows that change in the writing of the students displays an apparent randomness and is not linear. Each text within the corpus is unique and each individual writer responds to the influences of genre, task and audience in unique ways. This unique response is because the essay texts are composed through a set of instantial decisions by the writers. It is argued that this uniqueness, apparent randomness and non-linear change is best understood by viewing the change in writing over the course of the degree as a dynamical system that closely approximates that advocated by chaos theory.
2013-01-01T00:00:00ZThe development of internationalisation policy in UK higher educationhttps://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/19392019-04-11T09:59:06Z2002-01-01T00:00:00ZThe development of internationalisation policy in UK higher education
This study is concerned with examining the process of the intemationdsation of education and
teaching within UK higher education in general, and in particular, with the impact on the
working practices, values and norms of professionals in higher education. The research was
placed within a conceptual framework which draws on models of higher education which
contrast the classic model of the autonomous higher education institution and academic
profession with more dependent institutions and professionals who respond to exogenous
values and policies.
The fieldwork included 65 interviews with academics and senior administrators at four
universities in the UK. The findings examined the existence of institutional polices and plans
related to internationalisation, the organisational structure and whether this had resulted in a
shift in working practices and power relations within universities. The content of the curriculum
and delivery styles were also examined to see whether internationalisation had caused any
changes to these.
The results show that current internationalisation policies are a development in higher
education which is the result of exogenous new public policy concerns which may be in tension
with those working in higher education as it is a movement away from traditional academic
values and norms. These concerns include the need for universities to increase nongovernmental
income through increasing fees from overseas students and attracting external
research funding from such bodies as the European Commission.
The thesis examines existing models of the internationalisation of higher education. It
concludes with an examination of possible future trends of the internationalisation of higher
education.
2002-01-01T00:00:00Z