Evaluating multi-institutional partnership sustainability: a case study of collaborative workforce development in renewable energy assessment

Partnership evaluation typically occurs during the final stages either to assess why a collaborative effort did not work or to identify the indicators of success. Partnerships are rarely evaluated at their incipient stage, which is a critical time to assess their potential for long-term sustainability. In this paper, we present an early-stage evaluative framework for assessing multi-institutional academic partnerships’ sustainability based on 3 dimensions: decision processes, problem orientation, and social capital. We apply the evaluative framework using case study research to the Renewable Energy Assessment (REA) Program, a workforce enhancement academic partnership that focuses on facilities and lands viability assessment. Using the evaluative framework, we identified critical elements present within and missing from the REA Program that could influence the partnership's long-term sustainability. This study demonstrates the need to conduct incipient stage and ongoing evaluations to foster partnership sustainability, and provides a framework for conducting such assessments.     

Reviving the ancient virtues in the scholarship of teaching,with a slight critical twist

This conceptual study argues that the scholarship of teaching is not just an evidence-based but also a virtues-based practice. To this end, it pursues two interrelated objectives. First, it seeks to show that the scholarship of teaching is supported by the intellectual virtues of ‘episteme’ (theoretical knowledge), ‘techne’ (productive knowledge) and ‘phronesis’ (practical knowledge). These three intellectual virtues stand in a particular relationship to one another and phronesis assumes a vital mediating function infusing the scholarship of teaching with the practical wisdom required in concrete situations. Phronesis, particularly a critically inspired phronesis, also enables the proper development and enactment of moral virtues, especially truthfulness, justice and courage, without which the standards associated with scholarship could not be upheld. It is further argued that the scholarship of teaching is usefully enriched by recognising two different versions of evidence-based practice: one is concerned with the evidence of instrumental effectiveness between strategies and outcomes; the other with evidence of the internal consistency between strategies and desired outcomes. It is proposed that analysing the scholarship of teaching through the lens of virtue helps appreciate what kind of a practice the scholarship of teaching is and the challenges involved in engaging with it well.     

Developing conceptions of teaching and the scholarship of teaching through a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education

There is increasing pressure toward professionalisation of university teaching, through the attendance of academic development courses and programmes. This is based on the expectation that such courses lead to more student‐focused perspectives on teaching and learning and more effective teaching and learning practices. In this study we interviewed alumni of a Graduate Certificate programme, to explore its effects on teachers’ self‐reported experiences of teaching and the scholarship of teaching. This suggested that the programme had been successful in fostering the development of more complex experiences for most interviewees.

En Australie comme à l’étranger, les pressions visant la professionnalisation de l’enseignement universitaire se font sentir, en particulier par la participation à des cours et des programmes de développement pédagogique. Ceci repose sur la prémisse selon laquelle les cours de développement pédagogique dans l’enseignement supérieur, du certificat postgradué au niveau master, mènent au développement de perspectives pédagogiques qui sont davantage centrées sur l’apprenant, de même qu’à l’adoption de pratiques pédagogiques davantage efficaces. Dans le cadre de cette étude, nous avons effectué des entretiens auprès de diplômés d’un programme de certificat postgradué de façon à explorer si le programme affectait les expériences d’enseignement et de Scholarship of Teaching de ces enseignants, telles qu’ils les rapportaient. Les témoignages autour de ces expériences suggèrent que le programme a réussi à favoriser le développement d’expériences davantage complexes pour la majorité des personnes interviewées.     

Teach Me and I May Remember,Involve Me and I Learn: Four Approaches to Peer Mentoring in Sport Psychology

ABSTRACT

Many students experience difficulties during their graduate education. Scholars have proposed mentoring as one potential strategy to support them. While often assumed to be the sole responsibility of faculty, graduate students are also in a position to provide meaningful mentorship to their peers. Thus, the purpose of the current article is to focus on the relationship between peer mentor and mentee and provide those interested in becoming peer mentors during their graduate training with a guide to deliberately structure their interactions and relationships with mentees. More specifically, the approaches of four former peer mentors are presented. These are all grounded in theory and have been labeled: (a) autonomy-supportive mentoring, (b) mentoring with resonance, (c) community-based mentoring, and (d) self-concept-based mentoring.     

Innovations at the boundary: an exploratory case study of a New Zealand school-university partnership in initial teacher education

21st century initial teacher education [ITE] requires teachers and teacher educators to work together in the design and delivery of innovative learning experiences for student teachers. This study investigates a partnership that enabled the co-construction of one core course within a graduate ITE programme in New Zealand. Our partnership aimed to help student teachers to make links between theory taught at the university, and day-to-day practices in classroom settings. Using case study methodology, data were generated from participants in three primary/intermediate schools and one university to identify strategies that supported their collaborative process. Seven affordances were identified to facilitate this school-university collaboration, which enabled the development of a learning community wherein professional values and expertise were made visible, power was shared, and relational trust and respect grew. The findings offer insights for teacher educators and teachers seeking to open up a boundary space between universities and schools within which they might co-design and deliver an ITE course.     

Using communities of practice to enhance interdisciplinary teaching: lessons from four Australian institutions

We report on the establishment of communities of practice at four Australian institutions and evaluate their effectiveness and durability as a means of building staff and institutional capacity for interdisciplinary teaching. A community of practice approach is a potentially valuable methodology for overcoming dynamics of fragmentation, isolation and competition within universities. The communities we established were anchored by a shared focus on the topic of climate change and they worked collaboratively to build relationships of trust and reciprocity between teachers in a wide range of disciplines. The aim of each community was to improve the teaching of climate change through enabling members to integrate diverse disciplinary perspectives, to teach collaboratively, to promote innovation through exchange and to demonstrate leadership within their institutions. The key factors that made our communities effective and durable are: (1) designation of two leadership roles, activator and facilitator, (2) provision for institutional autonomy in domesticating the model to fit local circumstances and (3) a pragmatic emphasis on opportunities for teaching innovation and leadership within existing administrative structures, teaching programs and workloads. We conclude that suitably designed and resourced communities of practice are a viable means of improving interdisciplinary teaching of complex problems by facilitating both staff development and institutional learning.     

Characteristics and Correlates of Supportive Peer Mentoring: A Mixed Methods Study

In this mixed methods study, we employed thematic analysis (TA) to examine peer mentors’ perceptions of benefits, challenges, and roles they experienced as mentors, as well as benefits and challenges experienced by first-year college students. We also utilized quantitative student ratings to classify mentors as highly, moderately, or minimally supportive in order to determine whether any subthemes from the TA appeared more or less frequently across the three groups. Highly supportive mentors reported greater camaraderie among their seminar students and fewer unmotivated students, but also fewer opportunities to provide support to students. Moreover, mentors’ and students’ perceptions in the minimally supportive group were discrepant; mentors in this group consistently reported providing more support than was perceived by mentees.     

理论与实践教学互动,提高学生工程实践能力

该文结合湖南工学院电工电子省级示范实验室建设及省级优秀实习基地建设的实践,从设计课程体系,合理安排实验、实习等工程实践环节,以开放实验室为依托,将理论教学与实践教学形成互动,校内实习与校外实习相结合等方面探讨了提高高职高专电气信息类专业学生的工程实践能力,实现就业中错位竞争的方法。     

Bringing down the fence through school-community partnership: a case for the Community Education Forum framework

Abstract

This article proposes that a metaphorical fence between schools and communities can be brought down by using democratically elected Community Education Forums (CEFs). The CEF concept was piloted in a participatory-action research project that was conducted in three rural communities in Limpopo, one community in Mpumalanga, one in Eastern Cape and in one informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal, between 2005 and 2006. In this pilot project, the CEF concept was found to be effective in providing a platform that would facilitate a dialogue among different stakeholders such as school governing bodies, community policing forums, educators and education officials. The CEF's strength is rooted in its inclusivity of all community structures and in giving an equal voice to all. Thus through effective community participation the CEF framework has a potential to break down that “fence” that separates schools from the communities they serve. The data from all sites indicated positive responses from participants, ranging from evidence of active collaboration to the willingness to collaborate. The signs of collaboration among different stakeholders in each site included the utilisation of human resources and skills to address urgent educational challenges cost-effectively. Such collaboration and partnerships are positive in terms of facilitating a relevant and integrated curriculum delivery.     

Reflection on teaching and the scholarship of teaching: Focus on science instructors

Summary Reflection on teaching in higher education remains poorly understood. This exploratory study had three goals. First, to test, empirically yet in an exploratory way, the applicability of a particular model of reflection. Second, to identify objective indicators of reflection on knowledge about teaching with the intent to make the process of reflection more concrete, visible, and its outcomes valid. Third, in line with the exploratory nature of the study, to shed light on some variables that might be linked to observed differences in reflection, which could be investigated more systematically through future research. The model of reflection guiding the study was based on Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. It distinguishes three kinds of reflection: on content, process and premises. These take place within three domains of knowledge about teaching: instruction, pedagogy, and curriculum. Thirty-six instructors of science participated in a semi-structured interview based on the model and completed a repertory grid, which incorporated their beliefs about teaching as identified through the Approaches of Teaching Inventory (ATI). While all instructors showed evidence of reflection that were in line with the model, differences were observed in the extent or kind of reflection they engaged in. Across all three knowledge domains, premise reflection was observed the least often. Results suggested that years of experience and beliefs about teaching might play a role in the extent to which academics are inclined to engage in reflection. The study also identified concrete indicators of reflection, which could be helpful for academic staff evaluation.     

The unintended consequences of grading teaching

This article examines the possibility of a ‘Teaching Assessment Exercise’ and attempts to quantify teaching quality as part of performance management schemes for academics. The primary sources of data are identified as student evaluation of teaching (SET) and peer observation of teaching (POT). The conceptual and empirical issues in developing valid and reliable teaching quality indices from SET and POT are critically reviewed. The difficulties of using such data for academic performance management are discussed, focusing on the tensions between using such data both formatively for professional development and summatively for decisions about employment.     

Student and teacher perceptions of learning and teaching: a case study

Exploring student and teacher perspectives on approaches to learning and teaching reveals interesting insights and new understandings for practice by involving the two key groups of participants in the learning and teaching story. Do students understand and experience learning and teaching similarly or differently from the way teachers intend them to? This paper describes the findings of a study that explored perceptions of learning and teaching in one discipline of an Australian dual-sector university from both a student and staff perspective. Teachers’ conceptions of teaching are also explored and provide extra insight and understanding of the approach to learning and teaching taking place. Key findings of this multifaceted study employing a case study with a mixed method approach include a difference between students’ and teachers’ perceptions of approaches to learning and teaching. Implications for broader practice are highlighted and explored.     

The problematic context of mentoring: evidence from an English language teaching department at a Turkish university

‘Mentoring’ has become the central issue of the ‘restructuring programme’ in education faculties in Turkey since 1998. This study aims to explore the participants’ perceptions and experiences about the concepts of ‘mentor’ and ‘mentoring’. A mentor and six English Language Teaching Department (ELT) students, who were in the final year of their training programme, participated in the study. A qualitative case study methodology was employed and data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with faculty students and mentors, semi‐structured journals kept only by the faculty students and debriefing notes kept only by the researcher. The findings demonstrate important issues about the nature, functions, benefits, and problems of the mentoring experienced by the faculty students at the particular department such as the need for developing selection criteria and training programmes for mentors and organising regular meetings and seminars about the partnership programme for mutual understanding and sharing opinions. Drawing on the data, recommendations and implications are suggested.     

Strategies to enhance learning and teaching in a research-extensive university

Challenges confronting those who seek to bring about change within large organizations include the need to engage with the values and beliefs held by those involved. In universities with academic cultures that have traditionally lauded and rewarded disciplinary research, attempts to enhance the status and effectiveness of teaching and learning practices must take account of the ongoing power of the research culture. In Australia and elsewhere, prestigious research-extensive 1 universities are now seriously committed to improving the educational experience of student learners from their first year on campus. The focus on teaching and learning is buttressed by another aspect of cultural change - one which values the scholarship of teaching alongside traditional disciplinary research. To the need to re-emphasize teaching, and the need to value that teaching as a scholarly, research-based activity is added a third dimension of change - a focus on the student rather than the teacher. This paper will utilize Fullan's (1991) model for educational change in outlining strategies for change within a large research-extensive university in Australia. While it is too early to ascertain whether those strategies have effectively enhanced student learning, indications are that the strategies have had an impact on the beliefs, behaviour and teaching practice of academic staff. It is suggested that the culture of a university can and will shift given the right conditions for institutional change.     

Humanising Writing centre Practice: Peer tutor Reflections at a University of Technology

Abstract

Traditionally, universities of technology (UoTs) have focussed on education to prepare students for the workplace. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is currently undergoing a pedagogical transformation with the inclusion of a general education curriculum that aims to prepare students for an increasingly complex globalised work environment. This critical paradigm shift in curriculum design foregrounds new ways of teaching, thinking and learning based broadly on humanistic principles. Writing centres in universities are positioned to sustain a teaching and learning environment in which students grow as critical citizens. This article reports on research that explored – through the thematic analysis of tutor reflections – how a humanising pedagogy underpins a responsive writing centre practice within the changing South African context. Thematic analysis of the tutors’ reflections revealed their self-awareness of the significance of communities of practice in their work. These communities of practice could be seen to cultivate a humanising pedagogy within writing centre work, which might contribute to the aesthetic, socio-political and cultural environments in which students live and work.     

Lesson study: A collaborative approach to scholarship for teaching and learning in higher education

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has become an important field of inquiry, focusing on the development of new and critical pedagogic approaches in higher education. It is a broad field leading to the emergence of a number of contrasting perspectives concerning the development of insights into teaching and learning. In this article, we explore the potential for Lesson Study to act as a framework for reflecting on and developing pedagogic practice in the university sector. Originating in Japan over a century ago, Lesson Study is a collaborative tool for analysing and developing understanding of student learning. This makes it an ideal tool for capturing and interrogating new and critical insights into teaching and learning. An outline framework is suggested for developing the use of Lesson Study in higher education and we discuss how it can form a positive methodology for extending the work of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.     

Establishing a method for analysing metaphors in higher education teaching: a case from business management teaching

ABSTRACT

It has been suggested that metaphors have a crucial influence on the way we perceive and construct the world. As a result, metaphor analysis has been used as a way to reveal, analyse and understand conceptions of teaching in higher education. This paper introduces a different way to analyse metaphors for teaching than the ones previously used in higher education. By focusing on temporarily stable, spontaneously uttered metaphors in conversation data, the unfiltered metaphors for teaching are analysed. Through a thorough analysis of eight interviews with lecturers from business management, it is established how teaching in this context is conceptualised as a vehicle on tracks and as having levels as well as depth and width. It is discussed how the identified metaphors open up a space of possibilities for the lecturers and to what extent these results can be generalised beyond this context.     

大学教学学术的机制及其教师发展意蕴

教学学术是一种独特的学术形式,它扎根于教学实践,并通过理论与实践的彼此互动来推动自身走向丰满;教学学术是一种由教学内容知识加以表征的学术活动,课堂教学研究在教学内容知识的发展上起着核心的作用。根据新的大学教学学术观,在观念层面,教师应成为教学的行动研究者;在策略层面,应通过多样化的教师发展模式来积淀教师的教学学术;在制度层面,应通过完善教师发展制度来营造教师潜心教学学术的外部环境。     

Peer to peer support: the disappearing work in the doctoral student experience

This paper reflects on the importance of study groups in contributing to a positive postgraduate experience and explores specific concepts, such as ‘disappearing behaviours’ in contrasting the ‘official’ languages of universities with the beneficial behaviours found through study groups. Additionally the paper advocates the systematic inclusion of strategies such as study groups in the postgraduate experience. Funding arrangements and research frameworks for higher education in Australia focus on student progress and completion, as well as comparison of research quality within and between universities. As a result, there is a significant emphasis on timely completion of postgraduate degrees. This paper posits that there is an apparent contradiction between the indicators of success in this area, such as completion rates and annual progress reports and the positive contribution that study groups can make to the doctoral student experience.