MBA Students’ Quality Improvement: The Correlation Analysis of Students’ Personal Traits and Attitudes towards Teaching Methods at a Chinese University

MBA education has become the fastest growing segment of education in China in recent years and a segment that can now be considered indispensible. However, how best to teach it has long been a source of debate. One of the key issues is how to match student traits with teaching methods. While engaged as teachers of marketing management, the authors collected data by questionnaire, carried out empirical research and data comparison, and undertook contingency analysis. It was found that different personal traits in students lead to different attitudes towards teaching methods. A student’s major in college, gender, and sector of employment has little influence on attitudes towards teaching methods, while age, the most sensitive factor, plays the biggest role, followed by job and class. Therefore, these factors should be taken into consideration when arranging classes, developing the curriculum, and planning teaching methods.     

Promoting University and Industry Links at the Regional Level: Comparing China’s Reform and International Experience

Abstract

This paper intends to learn from international experiences in order to facilitating China’s ongoing regional university transformation with an ultimate goal to enhance the role of university in regional economic development and innovation. In so doing, this paper compares major models of universities of applied sciences (UAS) around the world from the perspective of the Triple Helix Model with an emphasis on the nature of university-industry relation implied by each model, and then exploring their relevance for China’s UASs transformation. It is concluded that the Finnish model is the most relevant to China. By comparing the Finnish and Chinese practices, a number of recommendations are solicited to Chinese policy-makers.     

Study Abroad as Self-Development: An Analysis of International Students’ Experience in China and France

This article explores the real life experience of international students’ and the importance of study abroad for their personal and professional development. The empirical data drawn upon for this article came from the author’s master’s research, with field research conducted in the 2010/2011 academic year. It begins with the study focus and research objectives and reviews the relevant theoretical literature and the methodology adopted in the research. In the third section, data from interviews with 16 international students in Capital University (pseudonym, China) and Romance University (pseudonym, France) are analyzed following in chronological order the experiences of their sojourn in their host country. The final section of the article sums up the results of the research and points out the complexity of the question of international student mobility and different perspectives that can be adopted in seeking to understand and interpret this phenomenon.     

“The Monkey King Meets the Spiderman”: Narrative Inquiry into Chinese Students’ Academic Socialization Experiences in a U.S. University

This narrative study explores four Chinese students’ academic socialization experiences in one research-intensive public university in the US. By drawing upon Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice and Gee’s (2000) theorizing on identity as the synthesized theoretical framework, this research uncovers four Chinese students’ academic socialization stories nestled in the shifting cross-cultural landscape. Meanwhile, this study reveals that the Chinese students’ academic socialization intersects a matrix of factors, which can be categorized into “personal landscape” and “professional landscape.” Last, this narrative case study concluded that the Chinese students’ academic socialization involves the continuous negotiations of their multiple identities embedded in the cross-cultural contexts.     

“I Want to Know About Everything That’s Happening in the World”: Enhancing Critical Awareness Through a Youth Participatory Action Research Project With Latinx Youths

Abstract

Through a yearlong, qualitative ethnographic study that incorporated a youth participatory action research project, this research identifies and documents the learning outcomes achieved when core principles of critical pedagogy are brought into practice with urban Latinx youths to develop critical awareness. Analysis reveals three themes around how critical awareness was raised: attention to current events, an ethic of care, and challenging traditional curricula.     

Students and Scientists Take a “Lichen” to Air Quality Assessment in Ireland

During the eighties second level students in Ireland were involved in the primary acquisition of data for scientists assessing air quality. The techniques and methodology devised by the scientists were pilot tested in Cork city in 1982. These included mapping lichen and leaf yeast distributions, and measuring acidity of precipitation. Local teachers were contacted about participating in the project. The teachers attended seminars on the techniques to be used, were supplied with background information, and were provided with the scientific equipment to conduct the survey. Following the success of the pilot project, other areas in the country were surveyed for air quality with the cooperation of students and teachers. In 1988, the research team from An Foras Forbartha and Trinity College Dublin collaborated with over 100 secondary science teachers and their students to assess the air quality of the Greater Dublin area. After the completion of each survey members of the team visited the schools, discussed the results with the teachers and students, and presented them with a copy of the final report. For various reasons the research team could not conduct further studies. However, some students in the cooperating schools did continue and have presented their findings over a number of years at a national student science competition. In addition, the survey methodologies are expected to reappear as part of a new second level curricular reform in Ireland.     

“Actually, I May be Clever Enough to do it”. Using Identity as a Lens to Investigate Students’ Trajectories Towards Science and University

We have followed a group of students in the potential pipeline for science through their last years of upper secondary school and in the context of a university mentorship program. The student group is defined by their choice of Mathematics at A-level which is mandatory for admission to tertiary STEM education in Denmark. Rich data (repeated interviews, questionnaires (pre-and post-) and observations) from 14 target students have been collected. Using Late Modern identity theory as a lens, we have analysed students’ identity narratives in order to establish their trajectories in relation to university in general, and towards science studies and science careers in particular. We find that the diversity of students’ educational identity narratives can be characterized and their trajectories understood in terms of a Four Factor Framework comprising: general identity process orientations (reflecting, committing, exploring), personal values, subject self-concepts and subject interests. In various ways these constructs interact and set the range and direction of the students’ searches for future education and careers. Our longitudinal study suggests that they have enough permanence to enable us to hypothesize more or less secured paths of individual students to tertiary science (or other areas of academia).     

Strategic navigation: a comparative study of Black male scholar athletes’ experiences at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and Historically White University (HWU)

The purpose of this study was to examine and contrast the experiences of Black male scholar athletes at a Division I historically Black college/university (HBCU) and historically White university (HWU) and identify key contributors to their positive transitional experiences (academic, athletic, and social) in college. Two focus groups, 8 individual interviews, and an eight-item demographic questionnaire were conducted with 12 Black male scholar athletes. An anti-deficit achievement framework and critical race methodology were incorporated to better understand the processes by which participants’ experienced positive transitional outcomes in two distinct racial, sociocultural, and educational milieus. Findings revealed key similarities as well as distinct differences in the navigational strategies and institutional influences that facilitated each group’s positive experiences. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study

This pilot study measures university students’ perceptions of graded frequent assessments in an obligatory statistics course using a novel questionnaire. Relations between perceptions of frequent assessments, intrinsic motivation and grades were also investigated. A factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four factors, which were labelled value, formative function, positive effects and negative effects. The results showed that most students valued graded frequent assessments as a study motivator. A modest number of students experienced positive or negative effects from assessments and grades received. Less than half of the students used the results of frequent assessments in their learning process. The perception of negative effects (lower self-confidence and more stress) negatively mediated the relation between grades and intrinsic motivation. It is argued that communication with students regarding the purpose and benefits of frequent assessments could mitigate these negative effects.     

Lecturers’ Attitudes to Inclusive Teaching Practice at a UK University: Will staff “resistance” hinder implementation?

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education institutions in the UK are required, by law, to make anticipatory reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. Inclusive teaching...     

“It Was Because I Could Speak English That I Got the Job”: Neoliberal Discourse in a Chinese English Textbook Series

The issue of neoliberalism has aroused sustained interest among English language teaching (ELT) and applied linguistic researchers who are politically minded. Neoliberalism is a dominant rationality with immense economic, political and ideological consequences in all aspects of social and institutional life in globalization, including foreign language education. This article presents a critical analysis of the neoliberal discourse on English language learning in the Chinese context with a special focus on teaching materials. Informed by a political economy perspective on English language education, the study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological principle. Specifically, it examines the way (a) competence in English is commodified as a desirable linguistic cultural capital, (b) English learning is portrayed as an individualized and asocial undertaking, and (c) a monolingual and monocultural dream is built to include learners in an imagined homogeneous discourse community. Implications for ELT pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.     

Networks of Encouragement: Who’s Encouraging Latina/o Students and White Students to Enroll in Honors and Advanced-Placement (AP) Courses?

Using affiliation network data collected at a large high school, this study examined differences between who encourages Latina/o and White students to enroll in advanced courses. Previous research has shown a positive association between emotional support and academic achievement, and thus, this study shifts the focus from who informs students to who encourages them. This study revealed that on average, Latina/o and White students have different networks of encouragement.     

‘Non-traditional’ and ‘traditional’ students at a regional Finnish University: demanding customers and school pupils in need of support

ABSTRACT

This article explores university students’ constructions of the ideal student at present-day university, that emphasises student-as-consumer culture and employability rather than education as a virtue in itself. The research is based on thematic narrative accounts (n = 67) generated in a generalist field in one regional Finnish university. We apply a narrative-discursive approach to analyse how ‘traditional’ young students (n = 34) and ‘non-traditional’ mature students (n = 33) position themselves in relation to the ideal good student in a present-day university and in relation to their university studies. Moreover, we examine some of the consequences of such positionings for the students themselves. Our analysis indicates that the present-day university student is constructed in line with the ideal student of the neoliberal order and student-as-consumer culture. However, whereas mature students positioned themselves as customers and were comfortable with the demands of today’s university for self-directedness and self-responsibility, younger students positioned themselves as ‘school pupils’ and were critical about being left on their own without adequate support. The study suggests that the terms ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ make differences related to age and different kinds of student positionings visible and, thus, also possible to reconstruct the ideals and normalities of the present-day neoliberal university.     

Na?ve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

This research involved na?ve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students’ conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate na?ve physics learners’ success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge.     

“I Have Seen the Opportunities That Science Brings”: Encouraging Girls to Persist in Science

Women are underrepresented in science careers. To overcome this, it is important to explore how to encourage girls to continue to study science. This intervention involved girls aged 12–14 attending interactive science sessions at a university. Girls completed questionnaires before and after the session. Through the intervention, girls became more likely to believe they could succeed in science and saw it as both more useful and interesting. However, the timing of this intervention appeared to be too late. Many girls had already decided on a career and stated that they would be unlikely to continue to study science if it was not needed in their chosen career.     

“I’m not a real academic”: a career from industry to academe

Over the past thirty years universities have increasingly extended their offerings of vocationally oriented degrees and have recruited into academe, practitioners from the professions. This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of 20 professionals-turned-academics in Australia; their expectations of academe and how they defined, resisted and took up the multiple and changing roles associated with academic work. Findings indicate that the majority experienced nostalgia for universities of the past which they imagined to be places of intellectual elitism and curiosity-driven research and scholarship. At the same time, they identified strongly as practitioners within their professional fields, were committed to field-oriented practical education and resisted taking up researcher identities, understanding ‘real’ research in narrowly defined terms. Our discussion of these findings highlights the tension between what is desired and what is real in academe and its impact on job performance and satisfaction for this group of academics.     

“I Want to Do Things With Languages”: A Male Karenni Refugee’s Reconstructing Multilingual Capital

This article discusses how a male Karenni refugee in the United States has constructed multilingual capital along the way of his multiple movements across national borders. As a member of an ethnic minority group in three different countries (Burma, Thailand, and the United States), he has invested in learning multiple languages throughout the movements. Based on a two-year ethnographic study on the participant’s multilingual practices, I argue that being multilingual is a fundamental part of his transnational identities, economic security, and agentive acts. His roles outside formal classroom settings as a language broker, refugee, and an ESL tutor have been shaped by a continuum, or horizontal relationship of languages. The study suggests the inclusion of adult students’ transnational identity and multilingual practices outside a language classroom. In addition, a career that requires multilingual skills and transnational knowledge should be encouraged and created for newcomers.