Academic integrity in web based distance education

Conclusion This paper has identified a major gap in the research revolving around academic integrity/dishonesty and WBDE. Statistical evidence and empirical data are almost nonexistent. However, the evidence and data that do exist, strongly challenge many widespread assumptions related to the lack of integrity and the widespread dishonesty that are assumed to exist in WBDE today. Considering the continuing unprecedented growth of distance education, the extremely limited amount of statistical data available on this topic and the implications associated with the (possibly incorrect) assumptions of academic integrity in this environment, it seems that there is a critical need for further study. In the meantime, educational institutions can feel confident about the academic security of their WBDE programs by implementing the few safeguards suggested in this article to protect against dishonesty     

Conceptualizing impact in academic development: finding a way through

This paper explores the notion of impact in the context of academic development programs and considers how it can be described and understood. We argue that impact has a range of meanings and academic development programs such as graduate certificates have a broad group of stakeholders and hence the impact is different for each group depending on how the program aims and objectives are defined and understood. In finding a way through the difficulties of evaluating impact in academic development we point to the importance of clearly conceptualizing the notion of impact, a careful identification of the assumptions underpinning any program and an understanding of who academic development will benefit and how. We suggest that impact in academic development cannot be understood without taking account of the range of possible impacts and the difficulty of attributing simple cause and effect to a complex environment.     

Do extra-curricular activities in schools improve educational outcomes? A critical review and meta-analysis of the literature

Secondary schools tend to sponsor a large number of extra-curricular activities (ECA) yet little is known about their contribution to students’ educational outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to determine what it is about ECA participation that supports positive educational outcomes. Furthermore, this study challenges the theoretical assumptions about the benefits of participation in ECA. 29 studies (all except for one based on data collected in the United States) met the search criteria for inclusion in the analysis. Most effect sizes on academic achievements yielded from non-specific ECA, academic clubs and journalism were small, as were participation in performing arts, sports and leadership activities on a range of educational outcomes. Although the results show associations between participation in ECA and educational outcomes, causal effects could not be confirmed. It is concluded that the lack of evidence supporting the causal effects, and thus the common theoretical assumptions about the effects of ECA on educational outcomes, is due to methodology limitations in these studies.     

Visualising expertise: towards an authentic pedagogy for higher education

The development of expertise is seen as a crucial element in higher education, but the nature of expertise has been clouded by assumptions of the centrality of intuition and tacit knowledge. In this paper the authors contend that much knowledge that has been described as tacit can be surfaced for examination through the application of concept mapping techniques. This approach allows experts to articulate their practice in a way that is transparent, making it available for scrutiny by students. Expertise is described here as connecting the chains of practice that denote competence with the underlying networks of understanding that are required to support academic development. This occurs across the academic disciplines with various degrees of subtlety. It is described in the context of clinical teaching as it is in this context that the separation of chains of practice from underlying networks of understanding is most pronounced.     

Rethinking our underlying assumptions about what we do and why we do it: academic development as a case

In this paper, academic developers from universities in three countries explore underlying assumptions about what we as developers do and why we do it in relation to evaluating development programs. Through addressing three questions, key ideas emerge that highlight what is often overlooked in day-to-day practice: the fact that academic development has a ‘signature pedagogy’ defined by the ‘learning paradigm’; the potential role of different stakeholders in setting criteria for evaluation; and the inclusion of non-traditional academic development literatures (e.g., adult education, educational change, organizational development) to avoid perpetuating established practices. Our intent is to intellectually challenge ourselves and others to move beyond sharing program and evaluation activities to explore ideas and literature not often considered in our day-to-day work. While the context is academic development, we believe the questions and the answers that emerged are of value to all involved in staff and professional development.     

Toward a Socioecological Conception of Health

Several academic fields in colleges and universities have claimed jurisdiction over research and practice regarding human health or specialized facets of it. Occasionally cooperating, but more frequently competing among themselves, these fields have been driven by underlying assumptions about a free-market, economic approach to health delivery systems and a still-dominant idea that health is merely a personal quality or state of being. With societal interest in health at an unprecedented high level, it is appropriate to examine critically this dominant conception of health and the market-oriented, competitive relationship that exists among these academic fields. The ensuing analysis begins with such a critique and then presents an alternative conception of health. This socioecological conception retains an emphasis upon individuals but expands the definition of health to include societal and environmental phenomena. Such a broad conception of health appears timely, and some of its implications are identified to support this observation.     

Examining the public face of academic development

Language is an important way of presenting an identity, either individual or group. This paper explores the language used in the presentation of the identity of academic development. The study is based on an analysis of websites from academic development centres in the UK and Australia and outlines the public ways in which academic developers present their work and the meanings that are attached to this presentation. It uses frame theory to analyse the language of academic development websites in order to explore some of the assumptions underpinning the public face of academic development. It explores the ways in which language is used to frame and persuade in order to establish the credibility of academic development as an expert and scholarly field.     

欧洲一体化的理性选择制度主义分析

理性选择制度主义作为新制度主义的重要分支,在制度内涵及核心假设方面都有其特点,自20世纪80年代末被应用于欧共体/欧盟研究以来,其学术研究不断取得新进展,特别是它对欧洲一体化为何制度化以及如何被制度化提供了一个比较精细的理解,受到学界关注.本文试图概括分析理性选择制度主义的基本特征及核心假设,阐析其对欧盟制度运作的经典解释,并就其理论解释优势及局限性进行思考和总结.     

Academic leadership in different disciplinary contexts

Conclusions In university settings good leadership seems to depend, among other factors, on the culture of the department and the nature of academic work in the field involved. Consequently, it is important to find solutions valid for the department involved. The development work of academic leadership should be carried out in voluntary co-operation with the academic staff, starting with the analysis of the current leadership culture. The departments may also have to change their cultures somehow in the future because of the rapidly changing environment. The longer and the more successfully the ideas, assumptions, and values dealing with the leadership have been working, the more difficult these changes might prove to be (Schein 1985). This is a shortened version of the paper delivered at the 16th Annual EAIR Forum (Amsterdam 1994): the full text can be obtained from the author.     

Listening to teachers–listening to students: substantive conversations about resistance,empowerment and engagement

This article examines contemporary research and debates about pedagogies of engagement that challenge the traditional assumptions and understandings of engagement. Three contesting epistemological constructions of student engagement are identified and examined through the contesting and resisting voices of teachers and students. The article's research suggests that an empowering and resistant pedagogy can (re)conceive student engagement so that it achieves the twin goals of social justice and academic achievement.     

Teaching social work students against the grain: negotiating the constraints and possibilities

Students who have followed routes to Western universities other than the ‘traditional’ one – that is, an uninterrupted path from school to university – face greater challenges to their democratic participation in higher education than their ‘traditional’ counterparts. Until recently, universities have predominantly expected students with diverse entry points to assimilate into existing curricula and academic modes of operating. Such expectation, when combined with reductionist managerial accountability, has largely marginalised non-traditional students. This paper reports on a project which aimed to reverse this marginalisation in an Australian Bachelor of Social Work degree. It is argued that students from diverse linguistic, cultural and educational backgrounds, having greater challenges in negotiating privileged academic and discipline literacies, are better served pedagogically by curriculum design that resonates with their lifeworlds and makes tacit assumptions in university literacies explicit. Using practitioner action research in a partnership between a social work and an academic language and learning academic, pedagogies that utilised students’ literacy practices as assets for learning were enacted over two research cycles. The possibilities and constraints that emerged to support student learning and more equitable participation were examined. The findings suggest that it is possible, even under current preoccupations with measurements and budget constraints, to signal key points of negotiation for pedagogic change to respond more inclusively and equitably to contemporary university students.     

Antecedents of academic emotions: Testing the internal/external frame of reference model for academic enjoyment

The present study focused on students’ academic enjoyment as predicted by achievement in multiple academic domains. Assumptions were based on Marsh’s internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model and Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions, and were tested in a sample of 1380 German students from grades 5 to 10. Students’ academic enjoyment, self-concept, and achievement were assessed in relation to mathematics and verbal language classes. In line with assumptions of the I/E model, mathematics performance assessed in the previous academic year positively predicted enjoyment in mathematics classes, and negatively predicted enjoyment in language classes. Language class performance positively predicted enjoyment in language classes, and negatively predicted enjoyment in mathematics classes. Corroborating assumptions derived from Pekrun’s control-value theory, achievement/enjoyment relations were mediated by academic self-concepts. Despite stereotypic gender differences in mean values, linkages between constructs were invariant across genders.     

Beyond the Divide of Teacher Research and Academic Research

Abstract

This paper explores ways to bridge the separation that currently exists between the worlds of teacher research and academic research. Currently, many teachers feel that educational research conducted by those in the academy is largely irrelevant to their lives in schools. On the other hand, many academics dismiss the knowledge produced through teacher research as trivial and inconsequential to their work. In this paper, it is argued that our vision of educational research should include both teacher produced knowledge and knowledge produced by those in the academy, and take the position that the processes of teacher development, school reform, and teacher education can greatly benefit from occasions when academic and teacher knowledge cross the divide that currently separates teacher knowledge from academics and academic knowledge from teachers. Two specific examples are discussed that illustrate instances where academic knowledge and teacher knowledge have improved teaching, together with the assumptions regarding voice, power, ownership and status which make them successful cases. One case deals with the teaching of mathematics in the elementary school and the other is concerned with the teaching of language minority students. Also discussed are several ways in which knowledge produced by teachers and others who work in schools can potentially benefit academic research and teacher education programs in colleges and universities.     

Problem-Based Learning is Compatible with Human Cognitive Architecture: Commentary on Kirschner,Sweller, and Clark (2006)

Academic emotions have largely been neglected by educational psychology, with the exception of test anxiety. In 5 qualitative studies, it was found that students experience a rich diversity of emotions in academic settings. Anxiety was reported most often, but overall, positive emotions were described no less frequently than negative emotions. Based on the studies in this article, taxonomies of different academic emotions and a self-report instrument measuring students' enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom (Academic Emotions Questionnaire [AEQ]) were developed. Using the AEQ, assumptions of a cognitive-motivational model of the achievement effects of emotions, and of a control/value theory of their antecedents (Pekrun, 1992b, 2000), were tested in 7 cross-sectional, 3 longitudinal, and 1 diary study using samples of university and school students. Results showed that academic emotions are significantly related to students' motivation, learning strategies, cognitive resources, self-regulation, and academic achievement, as well as to personality and classroom antecedents. The findings indicate that affective research in educational psychology should acknowledge emotional diversity in academic settings by addressing the full range of emotions experienced by students at school and university.     

Student estrangement in higher education: identity formation and the struggle against stigma

Abstract

While investigation on family estrangement is growing within academic circles, research regarding the interconnection between experiences of estrangement and higher education (HE) is still limited. Sociological understandings of these issues are even scarcer, with policy interventions and practical guidance forming early interventions in HE. Set within the context of Scotland, this paper explores the experiences of HE students who are estranged from their family, and interrogates the ways students develop a sense of identity in the context of their academic lives. The paper applies Goffman’s work on stigma and identity management in relation to Bourdieu’s concept of capitals to cast a critical eye on the identity formation of estranged students. In doing so, we challenge normative assumptions of what it means to be a university student in contemporary society and urge institutions and policy makers to rethink the complexity of students’ academic lives in more inclusive ways.     

Believing in Neuromyths Makes Neither a Bad Nor Good Student‐Teacher: The Relationship between Neuromyths and Academic Achievement in Teacher Education

Neuromyths have been discussed to detrimentally affect educational practice, but the evidence for this assumption is still very scarce. We investigated whether 255 student‐teacher' beliefs in neuromyths are related to their academic achievement (overall grade point averages and first‐year practical courses). Believing or rejecting neuromyths that make no direct assumptions about learners' educability was not related to academic achievement. Believing in neuromyths that explicitly deny the educability of learners was only marginally related to academic achievement. We conclude that self‐reported beliefs in neuromyths do not differentiate between high‐ and low‐achieving initial teacher education students.     

MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Students enter college chemistry courses with different sources of motivation, appropriate or inappropriate assumptions about their probability of success and how to study. This study is theoretically aligned with self-regulated learning research. Clearly, academic performance is closely related to student motivational beliefs and learning strategies. This study investigated the motivational beliefs and learning strategies of 2 years of college students in the second semester of organic chemistry. Responses to the Motivational Beliefs and Learning Strategies Questionnaire indicated that student self-efficacy was highly correlated with academic performance (semester grades). Gender differences were quite pronounced. Male academic performance was associated with intrinsic motivation as well as the importance placed on the learning task. Test anxiety was negatively associated with male grades. Extrinsic motivation was negatively correlated with female grades. Responses to students’ sense of control over learning, the value of the learning task, and self-efficacy were significantly higher for males compared to females. Faculty who attend to these different patterns may influence beliefs as well as learning strategies. Correcting erroneous assumptions about how to learn chemistry may help students shift both their attitudes and their learning practices. The notable gender difference suggests that female chemistry students may especially profit from focused faculty intervention.     

A longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal relationship between academic procrastination,study satisfaction,and dropout intentions in higher education

Student dropout is a multi-causal process. Different theoretical models on student dropout consider dysfunctional study behavior (e.g., academic procrastination) and low study satisfaction as possible determinants of students’ dropout intentions during their university studies. However, these models neglect contemporary conceptualizations that assume reverse relationships between dropout intentions and other determinants of the dropout process. Until now, empirical evidence on these assumptions is scant. The present three-wave longitudinal study explored the reciprocal relationships between academic procrastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions over one semester. To this end, we used data of N = 326 undergraduate students enrolled in mathematics and law. Our latent cross-lagged panel model replicated existing empirical cross-sectional findings between the variables (i.e., academic procrastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions). Regarding the longitudinal relations, as expected, the cross-lagged effects showed that higher dropout intentions significantly related to subsequent higher academic procrastination and lower study satisfaction. Unexpectedly, academic procrastination did not significantly relate to subsequent dropout intentions. Additionally, higher study satisfaction significantly associated with subsequent higher dropout intentions—possibly due to unfulfilled expectations. Further, higher study satisfaction significantly related to subsequent higher procrastination—possibly due to more confidence among satisfied students. Our results broaden the view on dropout intentions as part of the dynamic interplay of student dropout determinants and the need to refine dropout models’ assumptions accordingly. Practically, realistic expectations seem important to reduce dropout intentions. Further, student counselors should have a closer look at the reasons for academic procrastination to develop individual solutions for this dysfunctional behavior.

     

Transition to School: Developmental Trajectories and School Experiences

Because of the premium now placed on a formal education as well as the changing demographics of American society, school failure is now more costly than ever. Given that academic difficulties experienced by children are traceable to problems in underachievement that begin during the first years of early schooling, a thorough understanding of the transition-to-school process is needed. We suggest two principal assumptions in examining this transition-to-kindergarten period. First, multiple risk factors associated with certain child, family, and child care characteristics are expected to predict early school experience, both in and out of the classroom, and, thereby, social and academic success and failure in the early school years. Secondly, it is expected that day-to-day experiences in the classroom and on the playground will exacerbate or mitigate risk, resulting in some children performing better than would otherwise be expected and others functioning worse than anticipated. Thus, a critically important problem involves the identification of child, family, child care, and schooling factors and processes which account for risk being realized or not realized with regard to subsequent academic and school performance.