The dual-mode provision: successes and challenges. A case study of Women’s University in Africa (WUA)

Abstract

This paper presents the successes and challenges faced in implementing the dual-mode strategy in higher education in the context of feminist theory. Worldwide, women’s universities have been established by governments and private organisations to involve women more fully in the country’s economic, political and social activities. The establishment of women’s universities is underpinned by feminist theory, which seeks to address gender equality in all areas of society. A mixed methods study, using a case study design, was undertaken at Women’s University in Africa to understand the successes and challenges in implementing a dual-mode strategy in a feminist context. Questionnaires and interviews were used to generate data. Participants were dual-mode alumni, open and distance learning (ODL) students and staff. Findings were increased ease of access to university for women, increased enrolments and revenue due to ODL practice. Challenges were inefficient ICT system, underqualified ODL staff, difficult modules and lack of quality assurance policies.     

Procrastination in a distance university setting

Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what should have been done today, is a self-regulation failure that is widespread among students. Although plenty of research has emerged regarding academic procrastination, hardly any research endeavor regarding procrastination in distance university settings exists. This lack of research is even more astonishing when considering that the demands on self-regulation are higher in distance education settings than in traditional university settings. The present (questionnaire) study was intended to shed light on procrastination in an actual distance university setting by exploring its relationship to grades, learning strategies (e.g., cognitive, meta-cognitive strategies), and life satisfaction in students from a distance university in comparison to students from a traditional university.     

开展地方性高校校友会工作的若干思考——以台州学院校友会建设为例

随着知识经济时代的到来及我国高等教育大众化和教育管理体制改革的深入，地方性高校校友会工作已经成为高校发展的支撑力量之一。目前校友会工作存在认识不到位等困难，更新观念、找准定位，积极完善自身组织建设和制度规范，进一步参与地方经济社会发展。使校友会成为凝聚校友力量并促进学校发展的阵地，提升学校知名度和美誉度的窗口。     

略论地方普通高校校友的母校情结

地方普通高校处于中国高等教育这一金字塔的塔基。与塔顶名校软硬件设施齐备、师生优势巨大、优秀校友众多相比,它们经费有限、社会声望和品牌形象较弱,杰出校友数量稀少。必须充分挖掘运用相关资源、特别是努力培育母校与校友的深厚情感,发挥地方普通校友资源的群体优势,逐步改变自身的弱势和边缘格局。     

Mapping research trends from 35 years of publications in Distance Education

This article maps out trends in distance education research and scholarship from 35 years of publications in the Distance Education journal. Titles and abstracts of 515 full papers were analyzed using the text-mining tool Leximancer^TM to identify and describe themes in distance education research covered by these publications in the journal over the period 1980–2014. Analysis of titles and abstracts over 5-year periods reveals the following broad emerging themes over the seven time periods: professionalization and institutional consolidation (1980–1984), instructional design and educational technology (1985–1989), quality assurance in distance education (1990–1994), student support and early stages of online learning (1995–1999), the emergence of the virtual university (2000–2004), collaborative learning and online interaction patterns (2005–2009), and interactive learning, MOOCs and OERs (2010–2014). The place of these themes within waves of alternating institutional and individual research is discussed.     

Barriers to professional education of NSW correctional officers: A case of distance learning

This study aimed to determine whether NSW prison officers who attempt tertiary education are confronted with any unique cultural and contextual impediments during their studies and, if so, the effects of these impediments. Semi‐structured interviews were carried out, face‐to‐facc with 16 prison officers. The study also contrasts the experiences of commissioned and non‐commissioned correctional officers.

Three major thematic strands emerged from the data. The first clear theme involves the general barriers to learning encountered by prison officers engaged in tertiary studies. These barriers include time constraints and time management, family commitments and access to support mechanisms. The second major theme concerns the influence on the education process of the powerful occupational culture that has developed in the prison workplace. The third theme highlights the difficulties the occupation of prison officer presents for those individuals pursuing tertiary studies in the distance education mode. Geographically isolated work locations, a changing shift roster and high levels of job‐related stress all conspire against the success of prison officers as ‘distance learners’.     

How Graduates View General Education

An understanding of the views of general education within higher education can have a substantial impact on the marketing of an institution. The results from an explroatory study of 262 alumni of a comprehensive university in the midwest show fairly strong support for general education and the associated objectives of such a program. Some differences do exist between alumni of the different colleges (e.g., business and social sciences), sex, and period of graduation. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for effective recruitment, public relations and academic planning within higher education.     

Troubled times: the role of instructional design in a modern dual-mode university?

Reduced higher education funding and other austerity measures imposed by governments and institutions have resulted in cascading cuts in resources for programme design, delivery and revision. The instructional design function is often the first casualty of these cuts in many universities. This paper considers the roles and functions of instructional design, illuminates the differences in instructional design functions in on-site learning and in distance learning, and examines the broadening of skills and responsibilities encompassed in instructional design, especially in dual-mode institutions. Two case studies, illustrating different levels of instructional design in course development for distance learning in a dual-mode institution, lead to reflections on the value of instructional design in the current and future higher education landscape.     

大学生学习拖延行为的现状调查与心理分析

采用《大学生学习拖延问卷》对河西学院185名在校大学生的学习拖延行为进行了问卷调查。调查结果显示:有47%的大学生存在不同程度的学习拖延现象,大学生学习拖延现象较为普遍;大学生学习拖延行为存在显著的性别差异和年级差异,但不存在学科与城乡差异。男生的学习拖延行为多于女生,一年级学生的学习拖延行为少于其他三个年级学生。学习拖延对大学生的消极影响较大,这些消极影响包括情绪困扰、学业不良、生活不适等。     

美国院校研究中的校友研究

在美国院校研究中,校友分为学位校友、非学位校友、朋友(或准校友)三个群体.美国校友研究最初将校友视作学校服务的“消费者”,而后随着社会的发展,开始将其视为学校的“供给者”.校友研究产生于20世纪30年代,新公共管理运动后进入快速发展阶段,由主要关注学校内部公众,转为更多关注外部公众.近年来校友研究的主要内容是校友产出、参与及能力发展、校友捐赠.校友研究主要应用于经费筹集,招生就业,提高学校声誉,为政策制定提供信息,改善与政府、市场和社会的关系等方面.     

Task ambiguity and academic procrastination: An experience sampling approach

Procrastination is thought to be affected by trait-based and by situational, or task-specific determinants. Situational and task-specific influences on students' procrastination behavior have rarely been studied. Most research has examined trait-based individual differences in students' general procrastination tendencies. This study used an adaptive experience sampling approach to assess students' (N = 88) task-related perceptions of ambiguity and their situation-specific procrastination behavior during exam preparation six times a day for seven days (n = 3581 measurements). Results revealed that 30% of all intended study sessions were procrastinated. The risk that study sessions were procrastinated increased with students' task-related ambiguity perceptions. Individuals' average risk of procrastinating study sessions was further predicted by their procrastination tendency and conscientiousness assessed at baseline. The findings suggest interventions that promote students’ ability to self-regulate but also modify tasks and instructions. Further implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

远程教育系统的竞争和合作—论远程教育系统（三）

集中论述远程教育系统和院校间的竞争和合作，尤其是单一模式的远程教学大学与同时开展传统校园教育和远程教育的双重模式大学相互间接吻九合作关系，同时还探讨与此相关的论题。     

Autonomy through pedagogical research

This qualitative study describes a new professional stance, teacher as pedagogical researcher, provides a rationale for its emergence, demonstrates connections of pedagogical research to autonomy in teaching through the words and lived experiences of teacher researchers, and presents implications for teacher professional development and for teacher education programs in promoting autonomy through pedagogical research. A hermeneutic phenomenological theme analysis of interviews with three teacher researchers revealed seven themes of autonomy through pedagogical research.     

Prokrastination bei Studierenden des Lehramts und der Erziehungswissenschaften

A common phenomenon among university students is procrastination, the dysfunctional postponing of tasks. Based on expectancy-value theory, the present study examined the relations between procrastination and some specific motivational characteristics of university students. A total of 881 German university students of teacher education and educational sciences completed a questionnaire. Results showed that procrastination while studying was negatively related to self-concept, study interest, mastery goal orientation and performance-approach goal orientation, while it was positively associated with work avoidance. Moreover, male students reported higher procrastination than female students. Study interest and work avoidance were the strongest predictors of procrastination. Thus, enhancing students’ positive motivational characteristics could reduce procrastination while studying.     

悲欢离合中浸透着历史兴亡——《浣纱记》与《桃花扇》之异同

在明嘉靖年间和清初剧坛上,有两部不朽的历史传奇——《浣纱记》和《桃花扇》,这两部剧本虽然产生在不同朝代,面对的历史环境和社会背景也不相同,但是两者在许多方面却具有相似性：两者都是采用了历史题材的剧作,都将政治主题与爱情主题有机的结合起来,都写了一段经典的男女爱情故事,贯穿全文的线索都是男女主人公之间的定情信物等等。尽管如此,两者还是存在差别的,如两者具有不同的结局,一个喜剧结尾,一个悲剧结尾,爱情与政治主题所占比重各有不同,女主人公的形象各有千秋等等。     

《圣经》——《纳尼亚传奇》中的戏仿现象研究

刘易斯作品《纳尼亚王国传奇》对《圣经》的历史纪年、叙事结构,主题以及人物都进行了全面的戏仿.因此本文试图以戏仿理论为指导,以小说对《圣经》的戏仿为切入点,从文章的主题、叙事结构、人物形象入手,对《纳尼亚传奇》中的戏仿现象进行分析研究.     

论远程教育发展的内在逻辑——兼及开放大学的发展轨迹

远程教育的发展需要不断地适应环境的变化,不断地根据环境变化调整自身与环境的关系,需要把握远程教育发展的内在规律。人们从教学系统的内外环境变化等角度对远程教育发展内在规律进行了探索,由于对远程教育本质理解上的外在倾向,探索结论对实践指导的效果比较有限。应从远程教育质的分析入手,根据质的变化规律,探索远程教育发展的内在逻辑,并从资源配置的角度对远程教育发展各个阶段的表现形态和相互关系进行阐述,形成以传统面授教学和自我导向学习为起点和终点的远程教育发展轨迹,在此基础上,对未来以开放大学为表现形态的远程教育发展特征进行探讨。     

From Dual-mode to Flexible Delivery; Paradoxical Transitions in Australian Open and Distance Education

Distance education has been a fundamental element of Australian education from early in the 20th century. The prevailing practice in higher education has been to have dual-mode organizations. This has led to some paradoxes unfolding in the recent history of Australian distance education that are grounded in the history and politics of the development of educational institutions and systems. Dual-mode institutions developed in Australia only partly because they suited the geographical and demographic circumstances of a new and developing nation. Rather, distance education often was added as a means of supporting the viability of small, on-campus institutions that had been established for party political expediency in favored rural towns. Attempts by governments in recent years to “rationalize” distance education provision have produced a paradoxical position where “distance education” and “dual-mode” are less frequently used terms, and yet the practices and systems embedded in both terms have flourished under the guise of “flexible delivery.” “Flexible delivery” brings with it some new connotations and practices that reflect the domination of economic rationalist ideologies.     

Assessment of curriculum quality through alumni research

In today's output defined society, alumni are the output of higher education. This article shows how alumni research can be used as an important indicator of curriculum quality. This relatively unexplored area of engineering education research in Europe is highlighted using a case study carried out in the Netherlands, the outcomes of which have served as a useful input for curriculum development at the institute where it was carried out.