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The learning environment must change if we are to encourage learners to engage with learning opportunities and develop effective learning solutions which meet all of our needs. This book considers policy, pedagogy and practice to address how we might achieve this critical transformation.

IntroductionThe confidence of young people diagnosed with psychosis is often low. Positive self-beliefs may be few and negative self-beliefs many. A sense of defeat and failure is common. Young people often withdraw from many aspects of everyday life. Psychological well-being is lowered. Psychological techniques can improve self-confidence, but a shortage of therapists means that very few patients ever receive such help. Virtual reality (VR) offers a potential route out of this impasse. By including a virtual coach, treatment can be automated. As such, delivery of effective therapy is no longer reliant on the availability of therapists. With young people with lived experience, we have developed a staff-assisted automated VR therapy to improve positive self-beliefs (Phoenix). The treatment is based on established cognitive behavioural therapy and positive psychology techniques. A case series indicates that this approach may lead to large improvements in positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. We now aim to conduct the first randomised controlled evaluation of Phoenix VR.Methods and analysis80 patients with psychosis, aged between 16 and 30 years old and with low levels of positive self-beliefs, will be recruited from National Health Service (NHS) secondary care services. They will be randomised (1:1) to the Phoenix VR self-confidence therapy added to treatment as usual or treatment as usual. Assessments will be conducted at 0, 6 (post-treatment) and 12 weeks by a researcher blind to allocation. The primary outcome is positive self-beliefs at 6 weeks rated with the Oxford Positive Self Scale. The secondary outcomes are psychiatric symptoms, activity levels and quality of life. All main analyses will be intention to treat.Ethics and disseminationThe trial has received ethical approval from the NHS Health Research Authority (22/LO/0273). A key output will be a high-quality VR treatment for patients to improve self-confidence and psychological well-being.Trial registration numberISRCTN10250113.

Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive technology in which delivery of psychological therapy techniques can be automated. Techniques can be implemented similarly to real-world delivery or in ways that are not possible in the real world to enhance efficacy. The potential is for greater access for patients to effective therapy. Despite an increase in the use of VR for mental health, there are few descriptions of how to build and design automated VR therapies. We describe the development of Phoenix VR Self-Confidence Therapy, designed to increase positive self-beliefs in young patients diagnosed with psychosis in order to improve psychological well-being. A double-diamond, user-centered design process conducted over the course of 18 months was used, involving stakeholders from multiple areas: individuals with lived experience of psychosis, clinical psychologists, treatment designers, and VR software developers. Thirteen meetings were held with young patients diagnosed with psychosis to increase the understanding and improve the assessment of positive self-beliefs, help design the scenarios for implementing therapeutic techniques, and conduct user testing. The resulting Phoenix therapy is a class I United Kingdom Conformity Assessed (UKCA)–certified medical device designed to be used on the standalone Meta Quest 2 (Meta Platforms) headset. Phoenix aims to build up 3 types of positive self-beliefs that are connected to psychological well-being. In a community farm area, tasks are designed to increase a sense of mastery and achievement (“I can make a difference”); in a TV studio, users complete an activity with graded levels of difficulty to promote success in the face of a challenge (“I can do this”); and in a forest by a lake, activities are designed to encourage feelings of pleasure and enjoyment (“I can enjoy things”). Phoenix is delivered over the course of approximately 6 weekly sessions supported by a mental health provider. Patients can take the headsets home to use in between sessions. Usability testing with individuals with lived experience of psychosis, as well as patients in the National Health Service (aged 16‐26 years), demonstrated that Phoenix is engaging, easy to use, and has high levels of satisfaction.

The Community of Inquiry (COI) has become increasingly popular as a practical framework that promotes critical thinking and improves learning skills in online environments. In order to encourage the COI, this study proposes to investigate learning VALUEs based on teaching presence (TP), social presence (SP), and cognitive presence (CP), applying a VALUE creation framework as an assessment tool. A quantitative research approach was used to analyse 16 research works. Firstly, this investigation reviewed the activities of COIs as the vital link between COI and VALUE creation. Secondly, these activities were evaluated using Wenger et al.'s framework. The related results show that COI activities generate immediate, potential, and applied VALUEs, however, it does not positively promote reframing. The activities of TP positively promote immediate VALUE, especially its categories of promoting discourse and direct instruction. Most activities of SP promote both immediate and potential VALUEs, whose indicator of open communication positively creates immediate VALUE whereas the activities of CP promote multiple VALUEs. These findings address the research gap regarding how COI contributes VALUE by improving learning experiences in virtual environments and what determines the generation of the VALUEs. The benefits of this study will guide practitioners (teachers, online course developers, and instructional designers) who aim to design and match related activities of COI to maximise the VALUE creation.

PurposeAlternative credentials are rapidly evolving. The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities arising from this evolution with particular reference to their role in education and employment.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores the credential initiatives with a unique perspective from introducing alternative credential initiatives that have been influential in recent national policy developments. The paper is led by the experiences of the former General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group, former Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. His experiences and lessons learnt reflecting on alternative credential development during the last 30 years provides a unique insight in seeing the “signals” and moving beyond the “noise” of micro-credentials for successful integration into educational institutions.FindingsA number of key findings are identified in terms of current development challenges that impact on alternative credential use and identifying further developments. Relevant examples and references are provided throughout, with a particular focus on North America, Europe and Australasia where the most progress has been made in alternative credentials.Research limitations/implicationsImplications for those wishing to develop badging and microcredentialing solutions, especially in higher education, are identified for all seeking to maximise the success of alternative credential systems.Originality/valueMartin Bean has a unique perspective having explored credential initiatives whilst General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group and whilst Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. Martin Bean has also been influential in recent national policy developments in Australia. Martin Bean’s experiences and lessons learnt witnessing alternative credential development during the last 30 years across three continents, and within both public and private sectors, are summarised here to provide context for discussions of some of the key global concepts and related work.

PurposeRetention is one of the key performance indicators in university quality assurance processes. The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes leading to low retention rates for first-year undergraduate computing students in a UK higher education institution (HEI).Design/methodology/approachThe study applies Tinto’s student integration theory, and connects it with the behavioural patterns of students. Data were collected from 901 students using Pascarella and Terenzini’s questionnaire (integration scales). This data were combined with student enrolment information and analysed using the structural equation modelling technique.FindingsThe study results indicate that Tinto’s student integration theory is useful in analysing student retention, but this accounts for only a modest amount of variance in retention. Nevertheless, important relationships amongst student’s initial and later academic goals and commitments have been identified through this new approach to analysing retention. The largest direct effect on retention was accounted for by initial goals and institutional commitments, followed by later goals and institutional commitments. In addition, the results show that academic and social integration constructs can have an influence on the student retention processes. When all, or some, of these relationships are operating towards students’ benefits, appropriate services or programmes, such as student support systems, can have their maximum benefits.Originality/valueThe authors mapped behavioural-related retention factors using a learning community lens. The study explored students’ social and learning experiences within the context of a UK HEI by employing Tinto’s model. This is the first time the model has been tested in this context.

This article learns from student voices about how their education abroad experiences were shaped by their agency. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 22 U.S. community college and university students and with U.S. faculty and U.K. senior staff who worked at a Study Abroad Center in London. The study focuses on what the students said were the impact they had from studying abroad, what they said about institutional support that they needed prior to studying abroad, and what they said about their changing sense of being while studying abroad. Counterbarrier construct and agency theories were used to ground the findings. The findings showed that these students used their agency to influence their decisions to study abroad, to find the strength to transcend weak institutional support services, and to recognize their own personal, social, and critical skills development as a result of studying abroad.

Low self-confidence in patients with psychosis is common. This can lead to higher symptom severity, withdrawal from activities, and low psychological well-being. There are effective psychological techniques to improve positive self-beliefs but these are seldom provided in psychosis services. With young people with lived experience of psychosis we developed a scalable automated VR therapy to enhance positive-self beliefs. The aim was to conduct a proof of concept clinical test of whether the new VR self-confidence therapy (Phoenix) may increase positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. Twelve young patients with non-affective psychosis and with low levels of positive self-beliefs participated. Over 6 weeks, patients were provided with a stand-alone VR headset so that they could use Phoenix at home and were offered weekly psychologist meetings. The outcome measures were the Oxford Positive Self Scale (OxPos), Brief Core Schema Scale, and Warwick-Edinburgh Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Satisfaction, adverse events and side-effects were assessed. Eleven patients provided outcome data. There were very large end-of-treatment improvements in positive self-beliefs (OxPos mean difference = 32.3; 95% CI: 17.3, 47.3; Cohen's =3.0) and psychological well-being (WEMWBS mean difference = 11.2; 95% CI: 8.0, 14.3; Cohen's =1.5). Patients rated the quality of the VR therapy as: excellent ( =9), good ( =2), fair ( =0), poor ( =0). An average of 5.3 ( =1.4) appointments were attended. Uptake of the VR intervention was high, satisfaction was high, and side-effects extremely few. There were promising indications of large improvements in positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. A randomized controlled clinical evaluation is warranted.

The internet has become a key resource for students’ higher education studies due to both its availability and currency. Previously within higher education, lectures, books and course materials were the only sources of information. This change, to more open access to information and more online materials being accessed outside of those provided by lecturers, and indeed institutions, is likely to accelerate and change the way students are learning. This study aims to help institutions understand better the impact of these changes on the student–lecturer relationship by exploring students’ perceptions of their studies in terms of power and students’ academic engagement in the classroom. The importance of the internet (online learning resources) to students’ achievements, the importance of lecturers and the student–lecturer relationship have all been widely investigated. However, limited research has been undertaken examining the impact of students’ use of the internet on the student–lecturer relationship, or comparing this across different countries and cultures. To address this, data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires distributed to undergraduate students from three countries: United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. Quantitative data were analysed using a simple statistical analysis approach and qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The results showed that students’ use of the internet has improved students’ academic self-confidence, academic self-reliance and student–lecturer connectedness, but students’ use of the internet has increased the gap in the student–lecturer expert relationship and referent relationship. The impact and reasons for this differed between the countries involved in this study.