Higher Education in Kosovo: Major Changes, Reforms, and Development Trends in the Post-Conflict Period at the University of Prishtina

In this paper the author investigates the developments that took place at the University of Prishtina since the end of the conflict in 1999. It starts with a historical background on the University of Prishtina, and continues with the major changes during the past five years including the Declaration of Bologna. Included in this discussion are some insights on the major reforms at the University of Prishtina, and some of the problems that the university professors and other local stakeholders have faced in grasping the reforms. The paper highlights the need for local ownership of the reforms as the first step toward pushing the process further.     

Re-envisioning land-based pedagogies as a transformative third space: perspectives from university academics,students, and Indigenous knowledge holders from Manitoba,Canada

ABSTRACT

This research project examines experiences at the University of Winnipeg in facilitating land-based pedagogical (LBP) courses to ascertain the potential of land-based learning in strengthening students’ connection with Indigenous ways of knowing in Manitoba. The overarching aim of the research was to create empirical support for building bridges among the pedagogical approaches of land-based learning, two-eyed seeing, and transformative learning as a strategy for promoting transformative third space through land-based education programs. Transformative third space is utilized to conceptualize the process of weaving together Indigenous knowledges and academic knowledge to encourage intercultural dialogue and perceptual shifts in students’ understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing.     

Professors' and students' conceptualizations of the learning task in introductory physics courses

What are students expected to learn in physics courses? Eight expert physics teachers and researchers, two from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Stanford University in the United States of America, and Monash University in Australia, described their perceptions of learning in their courses. Students from the courses were then interviewed for their perceptions of learning in physics courses. In their courses, professors focused on the development of intellectual skills, assuming that students had a specific physics vocabulary. Students, however, were aware of their own limitations and suggested that professors should take nothing for granted. Students considered that to be a good teacher, a professor should know the perspective of the students and should start at the students' level. The results suggested that the intellectual challenge of learning physics merits early explanation.     

Both Sides Now: Examining Transformative Learning and Professional Development of Educators

The purpose of this mixed method research is to understand and support educators' continuing learning and growth better by using a lens of transformative learning to examine their experience and professional development practice and responsibility. Data from 58 participants and the course professor are analyzed to consider the occurrence of transformative learning and the related needs that emerged. This article also presents trends across the learning experiences and recommendations for practice and responsibility. Additionally, there are implications of the research for higher education professors, administrators, and developers reflecting on their concepts and planning of formal professional development.     

成人教育面临的机遇与挑战——“2005年成人教育创新与学习型社会建设国际论坛”综述

四月的上海春意盎然，在风景如画的华东师范大学丽娃河畔不仅洋溢着一片醉人的春色，而且到处可以感受到浓浓的学术气息。     

Explaining mathematics achievement of mature internal and external students at the University of Papua New Guinea

This paper explains the variance in matriculation mathematics achievement of mature internal and external students at the University of Papua New Guinea. The 1984 and 1985 intakes of the Preliminary Year and Matriculation Studies were taken as samples. Six instruments were developed and administered. Data were analysed using path analysis. Over 40% variance in mathematics achievement was explained both for internal and external students. Background variables seem to be more important in the learning of mathematics compared to mediatory variables for external students than the internal students.The author conducted the research for this Short Communication, when he was holding a position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, Waigani, Papua New Guinea.     

大学生文化意识培养策略

基于大学英语教学中培养学生文化意识的必要性与紧迫性,为研究现阶段大学生文化意识的现状,笔一者在浙江中医药大学2007级非英语专业的学生中进行了问卷调查。问卷调查结果表明．大学生在英语学习中缺乏文化敏感性,在学习语言过程中遇到了很多与文化相关的困难,没有形成真正的跨文化交际能力。为了解决培养学生文化意识的必要性与英语教学中文化意识的培养现状之间的矛盾．笔者提出了关于培养大学生文化意识的几点建议。     

Vibrant student voices: exploring effects of the use of clickers in large college courses

Teachers have begun using student response systems (SRSs) in an effort to enhance the learning process in higher education courses. Research providing detailed information about how interactive technologies affect students as they learn is crucial for professors who seek to improve teaching quality, attendance rates and student learning. This study investigates social, educational and emotional effects of the use of SRSs – clickers – at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Methods include participant observation, survey data from over 2000 students enrolled in three semesters of General Chemistry, and in‐depth interviews exploring the nature of student experiences with clickers. Findings suggest clickers significantly alter the social environment experienced by students as they learn. Clickers create learning environments characterized by greater activity, cooperation and conceptual application compared to traditional, lecture‐based instruction. Gender also influences whether students choose to work with peers during clicker‐prompted interaction. The qualitative analysis presented here extends upon themes identified in existing research on the effects of clickers for learning.     

On Teaching and Conducting Research on Police Managers: The Administrative Officer’s Course at the Southern Police Institute

The origins and structure of the administrative officer’s course (AOC) at the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville is presented. The focus is upon combining the teaching and research functions faced by criminal justice professors. Published research findings conducted on the assignments of AOC police manager students are reviewed and presented.     

Community College Student Perceptions of Their Experiences Related to Global Learning: Understanding the Impact of Family,Faculty, and the Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this mixed-method research study was to better understand community college students’ engagement in global learning. The study, supported by the Florida Consortium for International Education, was conducted during the 2015–2016 academic year in Florida across nine community colleges drawing from a 55-question survey with an 11% response rate (n = 175). Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with data analysis conducted using NVivo and SPSS software. An electronic survey was piloted with one institution, and a refined version was sent to select professors across nine community colleges in the state for distribution to students in the fall semester of 2015. A total of 175 students completed the survey. The majority of students responding were interested in global learning; however, they reported that this interest stemmed primarily from family encouragement and personal experiences rather than from their academic experiences. Students did report that professors were promoting global learning in their classes, although the results were not statistically significant. Students who did not express an interest in global learning felt as though it was not important because it was unrelated to their daily lives. It is the hope that this study will inform community college administrators and faculty to better understand how and why students become interested in global learning to more effectively promote their engagement both on and off campus.     

Eye‐rollers,risk‐takers,and turn sharks: Target students in a professional science education program

In classrooms from kindergarten to graduate school, researchers have identified target students as students who monopolize material and human resources. Classroom structures that privilege the voice and actions of target students can cause divisive social dynamics that may generate cliques. This study focuses on the emergence of target students, the formation of cliques, and professors' efforts to mediate teacher learning in a Master of Science in Chemistry Education (MSCE) program by structuring the classroom environment to enhance nontarget students' agency. Specifically, we sought to answer the following question: What strategies could help college science professors enact more equitable teaching structures in their classrooms so that target students and cliques become less of an issue in classroom interactions? The implications for professional education programs in science and mathematics include the need for professors to consider the role and contribution of target students to the learning environment, the need to structure an equitable learning environment, and the need to foster critical reflection upon classroom interactions between students and instructors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 819–851, 2006     

Measuring the demand for agricultural information

Abstract

Networked learning aims to foster students’ knowledge construction processes as well as the quality of knowledge construction. In this respect, it is crucial to be able to analyse both aspects of networked learning. Based on theories on networked learning and the empirical work of relevant authors in this domain, two coding schemes are presented to analyse the nature of learning processes and the quality of knowledge construction in networked learning. The coding schemes were used to analyse the learning processes and learning results of students in an MSc course on land use planning at Wageningen University in which networked learning played an important role. The inter-rater reliability of both instruments appeared to be satisfactory. The relation between the two coding schemes is discussed and recommendations for future research and educational practice are formulated.     

Designing the ideal school as a transformative process: an approach to promoting teacher identity in pre-service teachers

This paper presents an approach to planning academic courses for pre-service teachers and for researching development of teacher identity. The approach was implemented in a course, conducted in an Israeli Master Teach program, designed to foster pre-service teacher identity transformation. The research described here addresses two questions: (1) To what extent does the approach contribute to the understanding of teacher identity formation? (2) Using this approach, how can pre-service teacher educators support teacher identity transformation? Using a metaphorical tool, students designed their ‘ideal school’ at the beginning and at the end of the course. Identity transformation was evaluated by comparing their designs. Demonstration of this approach methodology is presented through an analysis of the designs of one female student. Findings highlight the potential of this approach to reveal and cope with obstacles inhibiting transformative learning: narrow, imbalanced, inconsistent, and shallow perspective; rigid patterns of thinking; and lack of emotional awareness.     

Americanisation,sovietisation, and resistance at Kabul University: limits of the educational reforms

The paper compares the American and Soviet transformations at Kabul University, Afghanistan, during the 1960s to the 1980s explained in terms of Americanisation and Sovietisation. Using new declassified documents from both American and former Soviet archives, the author reveals that both powers attempted to impose their rival models of university education in Afghanistan. However, resistance on the part of the Afghan university undermined both of their cultural influences, thus causing their policies of reform to eventually fail. The case of Kabul University demonstrates the inability of the superpowers to encourage the formation of pliable students and professors. Despite crucial transformations in the structure, administration apparatus, and content of disciplines, both superpowers were not able to change the traditions and values of professors and students. The university community has been proven to be the main cause for the success or failure of any reforms brought to a university by external powers.     

‘I wouldn’t have been culturally safe’: health science students’ experiences of transformative learning within Indigenous Studies

ABSTRACT

Despite a significant body of literature espousing the transformative impacts of Australian Indigenous Studies curriculum upon students, there remains a limited body of work related to how these students experience and learn within this complex environment. This is particularly notable for research aligned with Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Reporting on a qualitative study, this paper offers a perspective into students’ transformative experiences within a tertiary first-year Indigenous Studies health course. Thirteen non-Indigenous students were interviewed about their learning experiences within this context. Explicitly framed by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, thematic analysis findings suggest students consistently experience precursor steps to transformative learning including disorienting dilemmas, self-examination with guilt or shame, critical reflection on assumptions, exploration of new roles, and trying on new roles. The manifestation of these steps highlights the ways in which students experience learning in this space, and a range of elements influencing this – from students’ own positioning and approaches to learning, to the nature of the curricular and pedagogical approaches. This study offers nuanced insight into the complexity of students’ transformative learning experiences, suggesting students hold a range of contradictory perspectives at any one time. If curricular models are to be effective for the broader student body, we propose that (1) the complex intersection of students’ identity development, need for group belonging, learning approach, limitations in existing knowledge and capacity for complex thought requires further consideration in this context, and (2) greater institutional investment is necessary in both the development of educators in this space, and educational opportunities beyond first-year, lest we risk reinforcing extant beliefs and paradigms held by non-Indigenous Australians about Indigenous Australians, and a continuation of the health disparities these curricular offerings are designed to alleviate.     

Weaving Together Undergraduate Research, Mentoring of Junior Faculty, and Assessment: The Case of an Interdisciplinary Program

Scholars in teaching and learning value student research and program assessment as strategies to promote excellence in undergraduate education. Yet, in practice, each can be complex and difficult to sustain. This case study demonstrates how undergraduate research, mentoring of junior faculty, and assessment can be integrated in ways that enrich the educational experiences of students and the professional development of faculty and improve research on teaching and learning. The authors describe a lively undergraduate research project that became tied to the mentoring of assistant professors and then to program assessment. We conclude with recommendations for implementing such a project in other academic settings. Elizabeth Thomas is Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and teaches courses on inquiry in the social sciences, community psychology, and psychology and the arts. Her research examines sociocultural contexts for learning and development with a particular focus on the role of the arts and the potential of participatory action research strategies. Diane Gillespie is Professor and Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) at The University of Washington, Bothell, received her Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln in Cultural and Psychological Studies in Education. She teaches multicultural social science courses and qualitative research. Her recent publications explore the importance of narrative for reflective teaching and learning, learning in small groups, and the role of human rights in nonformal education.     

福建教会大学出版活动探析——以福建协和大学为例

1916年创办的福建协和大学始终重视出版发行专著、小册子和报刊等各类文献。协大教授所撰写的学术专著是其主要出版物,这些专著不仅是协大学术研究成果,而且还代表着中国某一学术领域的最高水平。此外,协大出版了大量的报刊,其中,约占总数30%的报刊为学术期刊,因而“颇受国内教育界的欢迎”。协大出版物的著述者不再是一心传播福音的神职人员,而是以郑作新等为代表的大学教授与接受现代知识教育的学生。由于教会大学出版物的世俗化,所以,其影响范围较之其他教会出版物更为广泛。     

大学里好课之魂、体、气、力

课堂对于大学具有核心地位,学界大师们对什么样的课是好课常有论断,视角虽有不同,观点实多聚焦.一堂好课应该是精神的享受,知识的盛宴,交流的舞台,切磋的论坛,思辨的场地.好课凝魂,好课新体,好课聚气,好课发力,好课乃“精气神”之焕发蓬勃,乃关注人之终极价值,因而使得大学机体健康强壮.     

二外日语学习动机现状研究

学习动机是直接推动学生学习活动的内部动力,它能够说明学生为什么而学习,能够说明学生的努力程度,能够说明学生愿意学什么的原因。本文通过实证研究,对贵州省铜仁学院的英语专业大学生进行了日语学习动机调查分析,弄清了当前大学生的主流动机,并提出了一些激发大学生日语学习动机的教学建议。     

Teaching theory and applications together: An exploratory teaching program, in the liberal arts

An exploratory approach to teaching and learning is described. The program incorporates real-world projects as class activities, which dramatically alters the traditional motivational structure of both students and professors. The approach is based on the principle that learning is most effective when the goals of instructors and students are congruent. The literature indicates that the traditional liberal arts classroom format makes such congruence unlikely. In this program, the key element to harmonizing student-teacher goals and objectives involves the inclusion of outside clients. They provide projects to be completed by student teams assisted by their professors and adjunct experts. In the process students gain opportunities to learn by doing and assume greater responsibility for course organization. Professors engage their undergraduate students in a manner more like graduate students and become more focused on educational outcomes than on lecture content. We conclude by discussing the major successes and problems incurred in attempting to integrate such a program into a standard liberal arts curriculum.Professor Wichman received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University, Long Beach and his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School. He was on the founding faculties of Delta College in Michigan and California State University, San Bernardino. Currently he is Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College and Director of the Aerospace Psychology Laboratory. Trained in both social and physiological psychology, he conducts research on the effects of stress on aviators and the performance of astronauts while in orbit. As a Sloan Foundation Fellow he worked on the design of the space station. He is author of the bookHuman Factors in the Design of Spacecraft and is currently designing passenger compartments for a new rocket being developed by McDonnell Aerospace. Dr. Wichman holds commercial pilot and flight instructor rating and teaches flying as an avocation. Professor Teeples is Boswell Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College, where he has taught since 1970, serving as department chairperson from 1977–1981 and again from 1992–1995. He holds an M.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from UCLA, both in Economics. At the inception of Claremont McKennas' Practicum Program in 1991, he became its first Director and continues in this position. His published work includesProgram Budgeting for State and Local Government and a variety of econometric studies estimating cost functions for urban water delivery systems and the cost implications of private versus public ownership of water utilities.