Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., & Fabian, K. (2022)
Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape. In SRHE International Conference 2022
Students who study for an HND at further education college and then join the university directly into the 3 rd year of their honours degree are a valuable segment of our acade...
Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning
Presentation / Conference
Fabian, K., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Meharg, D. (2022, September)
Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning. Paper presented at Association for Learning Technology Annual Conference, Manchester
Moore’s (1993) transactional distance theory recognises that communications and psychological distance between learner and teacher are affected by course structure, dialogue b...
Identifying factors influencing study skills engagement and participation for online learners in higher education during Covid-19
Journal Article
Fabian, K., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Meharg, D. (2022)
Identifying factors influencing study skills engagement and participation for online learners in higher education during Covid-19. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(6), 1915-1936. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13221
The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted education across the world as campuses closed to restrict the spread of the virus. UK universities swiftly migrated to online delivery. The exp...
Earn as you learn: Widening participation through apprenticeships as debt-free degrees
Presentation / Conference
Meharg, D., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Khristin, F. (2021, March)
Earn as you learn: Widening participation through apprenticeships as debt-free degrees. Presented at Advance HE Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2021, Online
Apprenticeship Degrees provide opportunities to study for a degree without incurring debt. Collaborations between employers and HEIs enable new or established employees to ear...
Associate Student Project: Facilitating computing students’ transition to higher education
Presentation / Conference
Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., Fabian, K., & Varey, A. (2021, March)
Associate Student Project: Facilitating computing students’ transition to higher education. Presented at Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2021, Online
The Associate Student (ASP) project supports Computing students who study two years at a Further Education college (achieving an HND) then transfer directly into third year, s...
An exploration of degree apprentice perspectives: A Q methodology study
Journal Article
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., Meharg, D., & Varey, A. (2022)
An exploration of degree apprentice perspectives: A Q methodology study. Studies in Higher Education, 47(7), 1397-1409. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1897094
Degree apprenticeships have recently been introduced in the UK, representing a significant shift in approaches to degree-level study: from traditional models of higher educati...
Facilitating computing students' transition to higher education
Conference Proceeding
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., & Varey, A. (2019)
Facilitating computing students' transition to higher education. In UKICER: Proceedings of the 1st UK & Ireland Computing Education Research Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351287.3351298
Students who progress to higher education from further education colleges are faced with academic, social, and logistical challenges during their transition. In general, they ...
Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Are computing degree apprenticeships the answer?
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., Fabian, K., Berg, T., Meharg, D., & Varey, A. (2019)
Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Are computing degree apprenticeships the answer?. In ITiCSE '19 Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. , (126-132). https://doi.org/10.1145/3304221.3319744
This paper describes a study investigating whether apprenticeship computing degrees in Scotland are attracting additional entrants who will become IT professionals and fill a ...
Enhancing learning confidence for direct entry computing students
Presentation / Conference
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., & Varey, A. (2018, December)
Enhancing learning confidence for direct entry computing students. Paper presented at The Changing Shape of Higher Education: Can excellence and inclusion cohabit?, Newport, UK
Previous studies have shown that students who transfer into university from college (direct entrants) face several challenges when they enter university. In response, the Asso...
STEM Apprenticeship Degrees: Motivations and aspirations of apprentices
Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., Smith, C., & Varey, A. (2018, June)
STEM Apprenticeship Degrees: Motivations and aspirations of apprentices. Paper presented at Horizons in STEM Higher Education, Hull
Using the Apprenticeship Levy, England piloted Degree Apprenticeships in 2014 and Scotland followed with Graduate Apprenticeships in 2017. In Scotland, the apprenticeships are...