Pursuing Internationalization as a Means to Advance the Academic Mission of the University: An Australian Case Study

Strategies for internationalization are central to the shape Monash University has taken and the goals it has set for its future. Using Monash as a case study, this article examines issues involved in the pursuit of internationalization through the internationalization of the composition of the student body, the establishment and enhancement of a presence overseas, and the internationalization of the educational experience. The guiding principle stressed throughout is that, in order to remain central rather than marginal, international activities must significantly advance the core academic functions of the university.     

Differential adoption of study approaches within individual students

It has been claimed that the study approach adopted by a student will vary dependent, in part, upon the nature of the learning task at hand. The same student will change approaches from one task to another. The prime evidence for this claim seems to derive from two sources; reports from interview studies, and questionnaire studies comparing separate groups of students enrolled in different courses. In the present study questionnaire responses were collected from students asked to report comparatively on their learning approaches in two course units taken concurrently, and on their perceptions of how those same two units had been presented. The general support which was indeed found for the approach versus learning context claim was thus qualitatively different to, and genuinely strengthened, that from interview studies and that from between-groups studies. Moreover, relationships found between marks and both approach and learning context, within each compared course unit, provided support for a context to approach to performance model of influence.The research reported in this paper was supported from the recurrent funds of the Higher Education Advisory and Research Unit, Monash University.     

The Teaching Community: Recreating university teaching

Over the past 5 years, in two Australian universities, a model for the professional development of university teaching staff has been evolving. In the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology (FCIT) at Monash University and in First Year Engineering at Swinburne University, the Teaching Community approach has resulted in remarkable changes in university teachers' understanding of their role, their teaching skill and, most importantly, their enthusiasm and motivation for the teaching component of their work. At Swinburne the rapid uptake of the model has exceeded expectations, while at Monash FCIT the model continues to grow and evolve years after the initiating project expired. The Teaching Community model has proved effective in bringing educational development and in coping with imposed change. This paper traces the growth of the Teaching Community model, elaborates some of the successes experienced, makes some suggestions as to why it has been so powerful in bringing about change in an area well known for resistance and proposes conditions required for this on-site, low cost approach to improving tertiary teaching.     

澳大利亚海外分校招生策略研究——以莫纳什大学马来西亚分校和卧龙岗大学迪拜分校为例

随着全球海外分校数量的不断上升,竞争也日趋激烈,不少海外分校陆续关闭的主要原因之一就是没有足够的生源。招生问题目前已成为各国高校在开办海外分校过程中遇到的棘手问题。澳大利亚莫纳什大学马来西亚分校和卧龙岗大学迪拜分校的招生状况一直处于较好水平,两所分校招生策略的独到之处在于:注重对输入国的社会环境进行详细分析,在此基础上明确招生目标群体的定位;重视从小型项目入手打造学校品牌,继而扩大规模;强调通过宣传、线上线下互动、利用校友关系等方式促进营销;在招生工作中充分关注学生的用户体验与需求。     

Investigating Differences in Cheating Behaviours of IT Undergraduate and Graduate Students: The maturity and motivation factors

Within the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering of Monash University concerns have been raised about the prevalence of cheating amongst the IT students. Many isolated reports from staff of different cheating incidents collectively present a view of a problem that is widespread and multifaceted. Although indications are that these practices exist across all year levels in both undergraduate and graduate programmes, the actual extent of the problem, and whether any particular groups of students are more inclined to cheating behaviours, is difficult to gauge. Many studies have investigated undergraduate cheating; however, there have been very few studies of graduate students. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of studies of the cheating behaviour of information technology students. In some reporting of student cheating there is a tendency to take a general view of the problem, and preventative or educative measures to address this problem do not differentiate between undergraduate and graduate students. It is of concern that strategies that do not focus on attitudes or behaviours that are exhibited by a particular group are not as effective as they could be. The results of the study reported here show that there are differences between the undergraduate and graduate IT students in regard to their attitudes towards cheating and practice of cheating. The study hypothesises a relationship between maturity and motivation, and cheating behaviour. The possible reasons for this are explored and implications for the design of future education programmes are presented.     

Developing Understanding: the use of teaching portfolios in preservice education

The premise that underlies the preservice‐teacher‐education programme at Monash University is the need to focus on the nature of learning (for example, Gunstone et al., 1993). One approach currently being used to enhance this process is the use of portfolios. The portfolio is an open‐ended task designed to explore teaching from many different vantage points. It is organised as a dynamic assessment task through which the student teachers work on developing their understanding of what it means to be a science teacher, and the teaching portfolio itself is a mixture of artefacts designed to help student teachers demonstrate this to others. This paper reports on the effectiveness and value of portfolios in helping preservice teachers learn about learning and teaching.     

MAKING STUDENT RETENTION AN INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITY

A study was conducted to determine the reasons behind the unusually high rate of student attrition at Mountain Empire Community College. The results, which suggested that work and family conflicts were the primary contributors to attrition, led to the formation of a task force that was charged with the development of a comprehensive student retention plan. A college‐wide retreat involving all faculty, staff, and administrators was conducted to inform all constituents about the college's retention effort and to involve the entire college community in working together to understand how to implement effective retention strategies. Finally, a standing retention committee was formed at the college to oversee implementation of the retention plan, a plan which is research‐based and reflective of the long‐term commitment the institution has made to the improvement of the student persistence rate.     

Engineering Education in Canada and the Cooperative Electrical Engineering Program at the University of Waterloo

Although cooperative engineering is practiced at several universities in the United States, that at the University of Waterloo is unique in Canada. The baccalaureate program requires five years of continual attendance, during which the student spends alternate three-month periods in school and in industry. A distinctive feature of the plan is the maintenance of a Coordination Department within the University organization. Staffed by senior professional engineers, this department acts as liaison between industry and the students. Two programs of study are offered in the undergraduate electrical engineering curriculum. One of these is designed for the heavy electromechanical and power systems engineer. The other embraces electronics, communication and computery disciplines, with a greater concentration of theoretical studies. Although the University is still in its infancy, both industrial and student acceptance of the cooperative plan has exceeded initial expectations. There is every indication that co-operative engineering education will rapidly assume a dominant role in the Canadian academic scene.     

Private higher education in Africa: The case of Monash South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to review the contribution of private institutions to higher education in Africa and use Monash South Africa as a case study. A literature search was conducted to gain perspective on the current situation with respect to private higher education institutions in Africa and how they are perceived in relation to public higher education institutions.

In comparison with public higher education institutions, private higher education institutions in Africa were successful in four areas: ? Widening access to higher education in the continent

? Improving the quality of education

? Improving student experience

? Increasing the recognition and marketability of their degrees

However, private higher education institutions in Africa have failed in two areas: ? Reducing the costs of higher education in Africa

? Assisting with retention of skilled human capital in African countries.

In fact, private higher education institutions in Africa, have exacerbated the two situations above.

Monash South Africa was the first foreign university to be established in South Africa and one of over 100 private universities in the continent. As a campus of Monash University in Africa, it has seen a steady growth with over 3,500 students in the past 10 years of its existence. Like other private institutions, the campus was successful in the four areas above and also fails in the area of costs and assisting in retention of skilled staff in Africa. The campus has been successful in blending its private provider status with a public purpose mandate by offering degrees in social science, business and economics, information technology and health sciences.     

Empirical studies and intelligent language tutoring

The research described in this paper addresses how a language tutoring system tackles a practical problem in learning a language — negative transfer (mother tongue influence). The empirical studies we have undertaken indicate that negative transfer is the most obvious explanation for most of the errors committed by first-year students in their study of Chinese grammar at the University of Durham. The results of our empirical studies accord with the views of experts on both negative transfer and the Chinese language. A language tutoring prototype (the Chinese Tutor) has been designed on the basis of the results of the empirical studies. The Chinese Tutor contains five models: the expert model, the student model, the diagnoser, the tutor model and the interface module. The five models work effectively together in order to ensure a successful tutorial session. A number of potential users from the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Durham have used the Chinese Tutor with positive results. In this paper, we will first address issues in relation to empirical studies: the significance of empirical studies and the results of the empirical studies. We will then move on to some of the important design issues, i.e., how the problem of negative transfer is tackled by the Chinese Tutor, which includes discussions on how the rules in the mixed grammar are used for detecting arbitrary transfer errors; how the types of error made by the student are inferred; and how an appropriate tutorial strategy is selected. Finally, a tutorial session run by one of the students who has used the Chinese Tutor is presented and what the Chinese Tutor can offer to the students will also be addressed.     

Exploring Understandings and Responses to Science: A Program of Longitudinal Studies

This paper will report on the development of a research program by a group of science educators at Kristianstad University, which has its roots in a longitudinal study I conducted concerning students’ developing understandings of ecological processes. Following the insights generated in this first study concerning the nature of student understandings, and the potential of the longitudinal design, a research group has developed at Kristianstad which has extended this work into related areas. This paper will describe my own work and its development, and link it with three projects that use a longitudinal design, which we have subsequently undertaken and in some cases completed. The emphasis within the paper will be on the findings generated by these studies on student learning and response to science, and the particular features of the longitudinal design that allow such insights to emerge. The paper will explore patterns of change, and continuity, as a way of appreciating the particular contributions of longitudinal studies.     

Simulated consulting: A win-win experience in transport engineering education

Students undertaking a final year elective subject in transportation planning at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, worked on a practical project for which there was an interested outside 'client'. From the students' perspective, this was essentially a 'simulated' consulting project which focused on transport planning issues faced by an inner metropolitan municipality in Melbourne. The overall experience, from everybody's perspective, proved to be so positive that the model for the project will be used in the course in future years. This paper has been written to inform engineering educators of how the project was implemented and to highlight some of the educational issues which this type of experience raised. Of particular interest to educators are issues associated with the functioning of some of the student groups and the opportunities provided by projects of this nature to establish strong links with industry.     

云南电大大学英语（B）网考现状及存在问题

目前云南电大大学英语（B）网考合格率远低于全国电大的平均合格率。因此,分析大学英语（B）网考中存在的问题并提出有效对策,深入探索适合云南电大非英语专业本科学生英语学习的教学方法,提高学生的学习能力以及英语运用能力,提高云南电大英语网考合格率显得尤其重要。     

Single-sex schooling and subject choice: Pattern of enrolment at Monash University

Using data collected from incoming students at Monash University from 1972 to 1990, this study assesses the impact of single-sex versus coeducational schooling on the faculty choice of both female and male students. A clear pattern emerges of students from co-educational schools being over-represented in Science and Engineering and under-represented in Law and Medicine and, in recent years, in Economics and Politics. This is true for both females and males. However, further analysis establishes that this is more likely to be caused by socio-economic factors than by the gender composition of the school attended, since most students from co-educational schools come from the government sector and most students from single-sex schools from the independent sector.     

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Developing Placement Services for Liberal Arts Undergraduates

In Fall 2002, the University of Missouri-Columbia began a new initiative to develop placement services for liberal arts students. Placement services had never before been offered to this student population and the MU Career Center was designated as the principal creator, administrator and provider of these career services. The Career Center staff decided the most effective approach would be to develop a strategic plan that reflected the needs, values, and desires of our faculty, student, and employer constituents. We conducted an environmental scan, collected substantial data and gathered campus feedback. After careful analysis, we developed a dynamic and responsive strategic plan that would meet our goals and achieve success with our financial, organizational, and human resources in mind.     

山西电大"一村一名大学生计划"的实践与思考

“一村一名大学生计划”是教育部发展农村高等教育的一项新的举措.山西电大在开展教育部“一村一名大学生计划”试点工作中,结合省情,立足服务“三农”,将高等职业教育延伸到县及乡镇,把电大办到了农民的家门口,使农民真正得到实惠.     

A Decade of Research in Handwriting: Progress and Prospect

Abstract

In mid-1970 the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) initiated development of a training program for supervising teachers who work with student teachers. After three years of development work, UCSB produced a self-contained Instructional Supervision Training Program (ISTP) which has demonstrated its capability for advancing selected supervisory skills in both college and local school system contexts. A preliminary version of ISTP was tested in nine field sites across the U.S. in 1972-73. All told, sixty different scores were available for the analysis of training effects; fifty-three of the scores are in the desired direction and forty five were statistically significant. The preliminary version was subsequently modified on the basis of field test results and feedback from field test users.     

Evaluation of a technology unit in a girls' primary school

Rapid advances in technology are changing the structure of the workforce. There are elite highly-paid hi-tech occupations and low status poorly-paid jobs. Women are unfortunately more likely to be found in the latter category. To allow them to qualify and compete for the higher-status positions, girls need to participate in the physical sciences and in technology studies. However, they are rarely attracted to them in secondary school, possibly because they are already alienated from them by the time they leave primary school. This paper reports some of the outcomes of a curriculum unit taught in two primary school classes in an independent school for girls. The unit was cross-curricular, involving technology, science and other fields of knowledge; it made extensive use of LEGO Technic materials. The evaluation of the unit, based on observations, a teacher journal and pupil questionnaires, focussed upon the issue of whether it assisted the girls to feel happier about working with unfamiliar technology and feel more capable of doing so. Implications for teaching technology are also discussed. M.Ed. St student, Monash University.Specializations: primary school science and technology for girls. Dr. Paul Gardner, Reader in Education, Monash University, 3168.Specializations: science and technology education, technology teacher education, educational evaluation, measurement of attitudes and interests.     

The Design of the Mathematics Curriculum for Engineers: A Joint Venture of the Mathematics Department and the Engineering Faculty

The Mathematics Department at Monash University, Caulfield Campus, has the responsibility of designing and implementing the mathematics curriculum for the Bachelor of Engineering (Applied) course. In an attempt to answer the question of what mathematical skills are most needed by the engineering students and at what point in their course, a survey to all coordinators of engineering subjects was conducted. Findings indicate that to achieve cohesion and to make the course more meaningful to students, the design of the mathematics curriculum must be done in close collaboration between the mathematics department and the engineering faculty.