Bundled or unbundled? A multi-text corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the relationship between teaching and research in UK universities

Creating and disseminating knowledge through research and teaching has long been regarded as the hallmark of the modern university. However, new university business models have called into question the ‘bundling’ of teaching and research, and sustained research on the relationship between teaching and research has found little evidence of an insoluble connection between the two activities. In this article, we explore the relationship between teaching and research from the perspective of universities’ institutional discourse. We use corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the relationship between research and teaching as presented in two sets of institutional texts currently influential in UK Higher Education: Research Excellence Framework environment statements and Teaching Excellence Framework provider submissions (a total of 2143 documents and 12,492,071 words). Our findings show that, while universities emphasise the value of research to their teaching, they do not always emphasise (or sometimes even decry) the influence of teaching on their research. We empirically evidence that, according to what universities themselves write in institutional texts, teaching and research are not always in a mutually beneficial entanglement, but often rather a one-way relationship in which research expertise and institutional prestige are used to bolster claims of teaching excellence. This has implications for the communication of both the vision and the purpose of a university in regulatory exercises and wider policy, but also speaks to the broader idea and practice of being a university in the twenty-first century.     

Facilitating flexible learning by replacing classroom time with an online learning environment: A systematic review of blended learning in higher education

Higher education institutions are trying to provide more flexibility and individualization, which is mainly realized through the use of new technologies and implemented in online or blended learning designs. This systematic review aims to investigate the impact of replacing classroom time with an online learning environment. The meta-analysis (k = 21 effect sizes) applied strict inclusion criteria concerning research design, measurement of learning outcomes and implementation of blended learning. The estimated effect size (Hedge's g) was positive, although not significantly different from zero and the confidence interval [-0.13, 0.25], suggesting that overall differences between blended and conventional classroom learning are small, and, at best, very small negative or moderate positive effects are plausible. This means that despite a reduction in classroom time between 30 and 79 per cent, equivalent learning outcomes were found. Consequently, blended learning with reduced classroom time is not systematically more or less effective than conventional classroom learning.     

Covid-19: Emerging Considerations for Body Sourcing and Handling. A Perspective View from Nigeria

The current Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has spread to about 220 countries of the world and has resulted in a significant number of deaths globally. Infections are still on the rise, and the impact on the global death rate could be devastating. There are fears over the likely impact of a large number of deaths on body sourcing and handling of cadavers for teaching and research. Historically, epidemics come with several challenges and have often led to some level of negligence of ethical practices and health and safety regulations associated with body sourcing and handling. The authors highlighted some emerging problems in this article, focusing on Africa and Nigeria in particular. These problems include a higher risk of coronavirus exposure for body handlers, shortage of cadavers for teaching and learning, a lack of standard regulations leading to unethical body sourcing and handling, and a lack of monitoring and collaboration needed for a well-coordinated Covid-19 pandemic response strategy. If these issues are ignored, the previous gains made in anatomical ethical practices may be destroyed. Some useful recommendations for policymaking geared toward prevention or curtailing these emerging issues have been instilled in this article.     

The Unintentional Effects on Body Donation Programs of a Competency-Based Curriculum in Postgraduate Medical Education

As medical programs place increasing importance on competency-based training and surgical simulations for residents, anatomy laboratories, and body donation programs find themselves in a position of adapting to changing demands. To better assess the demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens and evaluate the possible impacts that competency-based medical education could have upon the body donation program of McGill University, Canada, the authors tracked, over the course of the last 10 years, the number of soft-embalmed specimens, along with the number of teaching sessions and the residents enrolled in competency-based programs that are using cadaveric material. The results reveal that the number of soft-embalmed specimens used within residency training increased from 5 in 2009 to 35 in 2019, representing an increase from 6% of bodies to 36.5% of the total number of body donors embalmed in this institution. Correspondingly, the number of annual teaching sessions for residents increased from 19 in 2012 to 116 in 2019. These increases in teaching are correlated with increasing number of residents enrolled in competency-based programs over the last 3 years (Pearson r ranging from 0.9705 to 0.9903, and R² ranging from 0.9418 to 0.9808). Those results suggest that the new skill-centered curricula which require residents to perform specific tasks within realistic settings, exhibit a growing demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens. Institutions’ body donation programs must, therefore, adapt to those greater need for cadaveric specimens, which presents many challenges, ranging from the logistical to the ethical.     

Educators’ experiences in special education institutions during the COVID-19 outbreak

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a profound impact on education worldwide. As a result of the educational institutions closures, it is likely that the impact on special education would be more detrimental since special education population becomes more vulnerable in the aftermath of an outbreak. In the scope of this study, a researcher created survey was used to examine educators’ teaching experiences and their perceptions about the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on special education students. The sample included 215 educators working in the Special Education and Rehabilitation Centers (SERCs) in Turkey. Results indicated that a large majority of the SERCs were not able to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, there was a difference in educators’ experiences by their educational practices (normal weekly schedule, reduced schedule, most of the educational activities are suspended, and all of the educational activities are suspended). Perceived level of COVID-19 outbreak impact on special education students were found to be significantly higher for autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders, visual impairments, hearing impairments, specific learning disabilities and gifted students, respectively. The conclusion highlights the need of global collaboration, disaster preparation and management for students with special needs.     

‘Teaching’ the path towards university: understanding student access through storied-futures and meritocratic grand narratives

The notion that the stories of our lives shape dispositions towards imagined futures is another lens through which university underrepresentation should be viewed. A storied lens attends to how futures, like university attendance, are storied during childhood to the extent that some youth imagine, and therefore plan, these futures as natural progression. Such was the case for study participants, indicating that childhood stories contain answers for mitigating social reproduction connected to parental education and cultural forces within the home. Examining social mobility through the underexplored storied-futures grand narrative presents unique solutions that lay hidden within the dominant meritocratic grand narrative.     

中外情报学论文创新性特征研究

[目的/意义] 综合运用定性与定量相结合的方法对近年中外情报学论文的创新性进行分析和对比，揭示情报学领域研究的创新性特征，发现领域学术论文中创新句内部的知识关系，进行更细粒度的论文创新性分析，为研究领域创新点深层次利用提供条件，同时丰富科技论文创新性监测的途径，促进科学研究创新。[方法/过程] 从句子级创新性识别出发，选取中英文各两种情报学期刊作为样本，采用信息抽取和机器学习的方法，将创新句的抽取从现有的摘要扩展到全文，充分利用句子结构和句法特征识别领域创新内容，探讨近年中外情报学论文在创新对象、主题、类别等方面的特征，并做对比分析，最后通过对自动分类的论文集合进行定性的内容分析，总结归纳出中外情报学论文创新的表达范式。[结果/结论] 从创新的表达来看，中外情报学论文创新句的分布情况基本一致，英文期刊论文创新的表达更丰富。从创新性特征来看，英文情报学期刊论文创新主题较集中，而中文主题多样和分散；具体方法的创新是近年情报学领域的创新热点，而在研究方法上创新不足；中英文情报学期刊论文的创新性特点都反映了应用研究、实证研究的成果较多，而理论创新推动缓慢的趋势。     

Where do you come from,where do you go? Assessing skills gaps and labour market outcomes for young adults with different immigration backgrounds

Using PISA and PIAAC data from twelve OECD countries, we examine the gap in cognitive skills among immigrants and natives and evaluate how those differences have evolved over time. We also consider how demographics, family background and school quality explain the development of cognitive skills of young people with immigrant backgrounds. The results show, first, that some convergence in skills occurs between second-generation immigrants and natives over time. Second, demographics, family background and school quality variables all contribute to the achievement gaps across different groups.     

Individual and cultural factors in teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion: A meta-analysis

The success of inclusive education is dependent upon classroom teachers implementing adaptations for children with disabilities. Given that willingness to make such adaptations is influenced by teacher attitudes, the current study examined teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education through a meta-analysis of 64 samples that were found via a systematic literature search. The results indicated that teachers hold a positive attitude towards inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools and that these attitudes are moderated by an interplay of cultural and demographical factors. The findings offer a renewed basis for intervention research into improving educational opportunities for children around the world.     

Modelling the long-run learning impact of the Covid-19 learning shock: Actions to (more than) mitigate loss

This paper uses a calibrated “pedagogical production function” model to estimate the potential long-term losses to children’s learning from the temporary shock of Covid-19 related school closures. It then models possible gains from two mitigation strategies. Without mitigation, children could lose more than a full year’s worth of learning from a three-month school closure because they will be behind the curriculum when they re-enter school and will fall further behind as time goes on. Remediation when children return to school reduces the long-term learning loss by half, but still leaves children more than half a year behind where they would have been with no shock. Remediation combined with long-term reorientation of curriculum to align with children’s learning levels fully mitigates the long-term learning loss due to the shock and surpasses the learning in the counterfactual of no shock by more than a full year’s worth of learning. Systems need to begin planning now for remediation programmes, and as they do so they should build programmes and train teachers in ways that can continue to produce benefits beyond the period immediately following reopening.