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Investing in degree apprenticeships: Analysing experiences through Conservation of Resources Theory (2023)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Bratton, A. (2023). Investing in degree apprenticeships: Analysing experiences through Conservation of Resources Theory.

Degree apprentices have reported finding work-life-study balance challenging. This study uses the Theory of Conservation of Resources (COR) to investigate the resources invested and gained by apprentices in the achievement of their goal of a degree w... Read More about Investing in degree apprenticeships: Analysing experiences through Conservation of Resources Theory.

Students’ gendered experiences of male-dominated Computing and Engineering courses (2023)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Fabian, K. (2023). Students’ gendered experiences of male-dominated Computing and Engineering courses.

How does it feel to be in a gender minority on a STEM programme? Does it have an impact on individual students? Via an online survey (n=255), undergraduate students on Computing and Engineering programmes were asked whether they felt that gender had... Read More about Students’ gendered experiences of male-dominated Computing and Engineering courses.

Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape (2022)
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 academic community. This route provides opportunities for more people to gain HE... Read More about Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape.

Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech (2022)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Barnett, C., Smith, S., Barr, M., & Shankland, C. (2022). Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech. In UKICER '22: Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555016

The gender imbalance in the tech industry [21], mirrored in computing education [13], is problematic in terms of providing appropriate products and services for the whole population. This lack of diversity and inclusion is also self-perpetuating thro... Read More about Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech.

Degree Apprentices’ Lockdown Survey: Reflections on working and studying from home (2021)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., & Fabian, K. (2021). Degree Apprentices’ Lockdown Survey: Reflections on working and studying from home. In SRHE International Conference on Research into Higher Education

During the first UK lockdown period, degree apprentices in two universities in Scotland were invited to complete a short qualitative survey with their reflections on starting to work and study from home. They were encouraged to complete the survey o... Read More about Degree Apprentices’ Lockdown Survey: Reflections on working and studying from home.

How are we positioning degree apprenticeships? Analysis of adverts (2021)
Conference Proceeding
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., & Smith, S. (2021). How are we positioning degree apprenticeships? Analysis of adverts. In SRHE International Conference on Research into Higher Education

Degree apprentices are recruited by employers, rather than universities, reflecting their status as paid employees, first and foremost. This study analysed job adverts for IT degree apprenticeship roles to investigate the: skills, attributes, and qua... Read More about How are we positioning degree apprenticeships? Analysis of adverts.

Computing degree apprenticeships: An opportunity to address gender imbalance in the IT sector? (2020)
Conference Proceeding
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Fabian, K., Barr, M., Berg, T., Cutting, D., …Zarb, M. (2020). Computing degree apprenticeships: An opportunity to address gender imbalance in the IT sector?. In 2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274144

This paper explores the potential for new work-based apprenticeship degrees to encourage more women into computing degrees and the IT sector. In the UK, women are currently under-represented on computing courses. Meanwhile the IT industry requires mo... Read More about Computing degree apprenticeships: An opportunity to address gender imbalance in the IT sector?.

Facilitating computing students' transition to higher education (2019)
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 find university life more challenging compared to students who have been at... Read More about Facilitating computing students' transition to higher education.

Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Are computing degree apprenticeships the answer? (2019)
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 skills need. Government policy reports, from around the world, set out plan... Read More about Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Are computing degree apprenticeships the answer?.

Identity and belonging for graduate apprenticeships in computing: the experience of first cohort degree apprentices in Scotland (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Smith, C. (2019). Identity and belonging for graduate apprenticeships in computing: the experience of first cohort degree apprentices in Scotland. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference on Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE’19) (2-8). https://doi.org/10.1145/3304221.3319753

In September 2017, our university’s first graduate apprentices began degrees in Software Development, Cybersecurity, and Information Technology Management for Business. This study explores how apprentices experience their association with the univers... Read More about Identity and belonging for graduate apprenticeships in computing: the experience of first cohort degree apprentices in Scotland.

Democratic Participation through Crocheted Memes. (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, C. F., & Smyth, M. (2018). Democratic Participation through Crocheted Memes. In SMSociety '18 Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society (178-186). https://doi.org/10.1145/3217804.3217910

In a UK city, various crocheted protest banners have appeared, containing political statements concerning planned developments in their locations. Photos of these banners are shared across social media, raising awareness and potentially playing a rol... Read More about Democratic Participation through Crocheted Memes..

From work-integrated learning to learning-integrated work: motivations and apprehensions of Graduate Apprentices (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, C., & Varey, A. (2018). From work-integrated learning to learning-integrated work: motivations and apprehensions of Graduate Apprentices. In Proceedings of the 3rdInternational Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Stuttgart, Germany (199-207)

Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) degrees bring new collaborations between universities and employers and new opportunities for apprentices—to gain a university degree, while also being in formal employment. In 2017, Scotland introduced funding for GAs: s... Read More about From work-integrated learning to learning-integrated work: motivations and apprehensions of Graduate Apprentices.

Non-public eParticipation in Social Media Spaces (2016)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., & Smith, C. (2016). Non-public eParticipation in Social Media Spaces. In SMSociety '16 Proceedings of the 7th 2016 International Conference on Social Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1145/2930971.2930974

This paper focuses on the importance of non-public social media spaces in contemporary democratic participation at the grassroots level, based on case studies of citizen-led, community and activist groups. The research pilots the concept of participa... Read More about Non-public eParticipation in Social Media Spaces.

Participation spaces. (2012)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E. (2012). Participation spaces. In Proceedings of Fourth international conference on eParticipation (ePart 2012) (223-230)

A wide democratic view of participation and eParticipation informs research centred on citizens’ experiences of participation. Case studies of participation are conceived in the vein of work place studies: ethnographic approaches to studying current... Read More about Participation spaces..

Web 2.0 for collaborative production. (2010)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., & Cruickshank, P. (2010). Web 2.0 for collaborative production.

In this paper, we explore the possibilities of using Web 2.0 for collaborative production of government services in the UK. Can co-production be used to deliver eGovernment services in the UK? What kind of services could use Web 2.0-supported co-prod... Read More about Web 2.0 for collaborative production..

Social networking tools supporting constructive involvement throughout the policy-cycle. (2010)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., & Lindner, R. (2010). Social networking tools supporting constructive involvement throughout the policy-cycle. In P. Parycek, & P. Prosser (Eds.), Proceedings of EDEM 2010 - Conference on Electronic Democracy, May 7-8, 2010, Danube-University Krems, Austria

This paper describes the context and background of the conference workshop “Social networking tools supporting constructive involvement throughout the policy-cycle”. EParticipation initiatives are increasingly applying social networking tools and sit... Read More about Social networking tools supporting constructive involvement throughout the policy-cycle..

Using social networking tools to promote eParticipation initiatives. (2009)
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., & Lindner, R. (2009). Using social networking tools to promote eParticipation initiatives. In A. Prosser, & P. Parycek (Eds.), Proceedings of EDEM 2009 - Conference on Electronic Democracy, September 7-8, 2009, Vienna (115-121)

This paper describes the context and background of the conference workshop “Social networking tools and widgets to promote or expand eParticipation initiatives”. Social networking tools form many people’s main Internet destination and communication m... Read More about Using social networking tools to promote eParticipation initiatives..

Organised use of e-democracy tools for young people. (2006)
Conference Proceeding
Smith, E., Macintosh, A., & Whyte, A. (2006). Organised use of e-democracy tools for young people. In M. Wimmer, H. Scholl, Å. Grönlund, & K. Anderson (Eds.), Electronic Government: Communications of the Fifth International EGOV Conference 2006 (260-267)

This paper concerns use of an online policy debating forum: part of a suite of e-democracy tools for a local youth parliament. These e-democracy tools have been used and developed over the last 5 years and are vital to the parliament, as it serves a... Read More about Organised use of e-democracy tools for young people..

Young People and e-Democracy: Creating a Culture of Participation (2004)
Conference Proceeding
Masters, Z., Masters, Z., Macintosh, A., & Smith, E. (2004). Young People and e-Democracy: Creating a Culture of Participation. In R. Traunmuller (Ed.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Electronic Government (15-22). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30078-6_3

Research originally suggested that new technologies, particularly the Internet, provided a useful mechanism for engaging young people - an otherwise largely disenfranchised group. Subsequent to the evaluation of a number of pioneering projects in thi... Read More about Young People and e-Democracy: Creating a Culture of Participation.

Culture and context in an online voting system for young people (2004)
Conference Proceeding
Whyte, A., Macintosh, A., & Smith, E. (2004). Culture and context in an online voting system for young people. In P. Duquennoy, A. Zuccato, J. Holvast, & S. Fischer Hübner (Eds.), Proceedings of the IFIP WG 9.2, 9.6/11.7 Summer School on Risks and Challenges of the Network Society (107-114)

This paper describes the design and evaluation of an e-voting system used to elect representatives to a local youth parliament, in the Highland region of Scotland. The system was designed with a team of young people, based on their input and the eval... Read More about Culture and context in an online voting system for young people.