Critical incidents as formative influences on the work of educational researchers: understanding an insider perspective through narrative enquiry

Drawing on insights from phenomenological sociology and various strands of socio-cultural theory, this paper reports the findings of a qualitative investigation into critical incidents as formative influences in the research orientation and research cultivation of 22 academics working in research-intensive university education departments. The study first outlines the context in which educational research has taken place, focusing on evidence of tension and conflict associated with differences in epistemological and professional orientation. The research findings indicate two ideal-type categories of educational research professional: the ‘intellectual-academic’, motivated primarily by the intellectual virtue of research excellence and accountability to the academic community; and the ‘humanistic-professional’, motivated by service to the wider community. It is concluded that a synergy of both orientations is necessary in producing quality research that is both rigorous and meaningful to a constituency of stakeholders extending beyond the immediate interests of academe.     

大学英语四六级考试中翻译试题情况的调查研究

本文通过对大连大学130名非英语专业大学生的问卷调查和分析,旨在了解非英语专业的大学生在面对新翻译试题的态度与看法及其在翻译中所遇到的问题,进而想了解他们对翻译策略的了解以及应用、对翻译策略作用的看法。     

Crib sheets and exam performance in a data structures course

In this paper, we study the relationship between the use of “crib sheets” or “cheat sheets” and performance on in-class exams. Our extensive survey of the existing literature shows that it is not decisive on the questions of when or whether crib sheets actually help students to either perform better on an exam or better learn the material. We report on our own detailed analysis for a body of crib sheets created for the final exam in a junior-level Data Structures and Algorithms course. We wanted to determine whether there is any feature of the crib sheets that correlates to good exam scores. Exam performance was compared against a number of potential indicators for quality in a crib sheet. We have found that students performed significantly better on questions at the comprehension level of Bloom’s taxonomy when their crib sheet contained good information on the topic, while performance on questions at higher levels of the taxonomy did not show correlation to crib sheet contents. We have also seen that students at certain levels of performance on the final exam (specifically, medium-to-high performance) did relatively better on certain questions than other students at that performance level when they had good coverage of that question’s topic on their crib sheet.     

Beyond high-stakes exam: A neo-Confucian educational programme and its contemporary implications

Abstract

This article seeks to clarify the purpose of high-stakes exam and its relationship with teaching and learning by elucidating the educational thought of the eminent neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi. The paper contends that Zhu Xi views standardised testing as an essential means to evaluate the learning outcomes, honour exemplary scholars and select suitable persons for official positions. But he rejects exam-centred teaching and learning that promote rote-memorisation and neglect self-cultivation and self-transformation. The paper further delineates Zhu Xi’s broad-based and integrated educational programme that is aimed at learning for the sake of one’s self through experiential learning, personal inquiry and mindful reading. The essay concludes by highlighting the contemporary implications of Zhu Xi’s ideas: they inform the ongoing debates on the usefulness and impacts of high-stakes exam by situating standardised testing within a larger educational agenda that is geared towards self-improvement and personal transformation.     

关于“学、考、用三位一体”教学模式的构建与思考

＂学、考、用三位一体＂大致有两层意思：首先是学习、考试、实用要目标一体,实用是最终目标,考试以实用为目标,学习的目标是为了实用;其次是学习、考试、实用要方法一体,知识和技能如何实用,就如何学习和考试。这种＂三位一体＂的教学紧紧盯住素质教育的目标,扎根于学生目前的生活、学习及日后的工作实践,真正打破了课堂与社会实践的界线,能充分地利用课堂、扩大课堂,能极大地提高教学的效率。虽然要将它应用到各专业的具体教学中,还必须解决许多操作问题,但它值得广大教师去实践、去探索,对于把握教改的正确方向有着重要的意义。     

Rescaling expertise in EU policy-making: European think tanks and their reliance on symbolic,political and network capital

ABSTRACT

This article explores the strategies think tanks (TTs) from Brussels, London, Paris and Ljubljana use to exert influence on European Union (EU) policy-making. The paper argues that European TTs mobilise symbolic, political and network forms of capital built at the European level to enhance their legitimacy, credibility and visibility in the Brussels policy-making scene. The paper examines how TTs convert these forms of capital using the examples of the symbolic value of the ‘TT’ label, the role of expert providers, the strategic ‘presence’ in Brussels, and their membership in TT networks, and states the particular importance of symbolic and network capital in the EU policy context, which contribute to the legitimacy of the EU policy-making itself.     

论大学生考试作弊的防治

考试作弊与贷款不还已成为当代大学生两大诚信危机。大学生考试作弊有着深刻的社会原因和心理原因,要彻底解决这个问题,必须坚持以人为本,改革教学方式、提高教学艺术,激发学生学习兴趣,改革考试方式,减少大学生作弊机会,从源头上防止作弊;充分发挥思想政治教育工作优势,提高大学生思想道德素质尤其是诚信素质,使其自觉地远离作弊。     

Riots and a blank canvas: young people creating texts,creating spaces

This article draws on research into the work of Greenshoots, 1 1 All young participants referred to in this article have been anonymised and pseudonyms provided. In discussions with Greenshoots and the mentors, they took the decision that they wanted to be named, and for Nottingham to be identified as the context of the place and its history is an important element of their work.
a small company of creative practitioners who provide opportunities for young people to work on projects involving visual and creative practices with a strong link to local heritage. Two specific projects form the focus of the paper: Riot and Blank Canvas. Both aimed to provide opportunities for young people to work with professional artists and performers to create a site‐specific exhibition and performance in a disused warehouse space on the edge of the developing Creative Quarter in Nottingham. The projects took place out of school, and the research focused on the creative processes and practices involved in the production of texts created by the young people as they inhabited the space and developed, within a community of peers and artists, representations of that urban space. This article explores the ways in which the projects open up the potential for young people to engage with literacy practices, which traverse the boundaries of space, of art forms and of notions of culture and heritage. Two theoretical frames are used in the paper: Lave and Wenger's “legitimate peripheral participation” (1991) and various scholars' explorations of place‐based approaches. In this way, the article aims to contribute to understandings of the diverse roles and potentials of young peoples' creative practices and literacies in and out of school contexts.     

论大学生考试作弊的防治

考试作弊与贷款不还已成为当代大学生两大诚信危机.大学生考试作弊有着深刻的社会原因和心理原因,要彻底解决这个问题,必须坚持以人为本,改革教学方式、提高教学艺术,激发学生学习兴趣,改革考试方式,减少大学生作弊机会,从源头上防止作弊;充分发挥思想政治教育工作优势,提高大学生思想道德素质尤其是诚信素质,使其自觉地远离作弊.     

Outcomes assessment: an examination of the ETS major field test and the comprehensive business exam

This study is the first to examine student performance differences between the major field test in business (MFTB) and the comprehensive business exam (CBE). Results reveal students performed at a statistically significant 50.8 percentile ranking on the CBE compared to a 38.0 percentile ranking on the MFTB. Additionally, this study finds that students transferring business core courses with a grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 or lower perform at a statistically significant lower level on both the MFTB and the CBE than those transferring business core courses with GPAs higher than 2.5. These findings have important implications for assessment of learning purposes.     

Survival skills: the impact of change and the ERA on Australian researchers

This paper reports findings from a study that focused on the experiences of research-intensive academics in relation to the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Framework. Interviews with academic staff at different career stages and across all academic faculties followed completion of a short survey in which respondents compared their publishing behaviour before and since implementation of the new Framework. Respondents were highly conscious that ERA had prompted a shift in publishing behaviour to meet often competing demands of individual research interests, institution, discipline and the international research community. Indeed, the study revealed academics to be positioned in contradictory ways in relation to their research and publishing, heightened by the instability of the Framework's assessment mechanisms. The experience of researchers up to, and including, the decision to abandon journal ranking provides valuable insights into the precarious and reactionary nature of academic research careers and the ability of both individuals and institutions to negotiate the rapid rate of change. These insights include tension between personal research priorities and ERA requirements, particularly in relation to writing for the most relevant audience, and concerns about the right to exercise academic freedom.     

Learning conversations: teacher researchers evaluating dialogic strategies in early years settings

Learning conversations, dialogic interactions with adults, are important opportunities for children to develop their thinking as well as their speech and language skills. This area of teachers' practice is informed by a well-established body of research evidence and professional guidance literature. The design and facilitation of this practitioner research project was framed by a metaphor for teachers' professional learning as ‘interplay’ between the vertical domain of public, published, knowledge and the horizontal domain of the teachers' practical wisdom. The teacher researchers used a framework based on the published literature to analyse video clips of their conversations with children in early years workplace settings. The study highlights the power of video analysis as a prompt for professional learning within a practitioner research framework. The use of conversation strategies by these teachers involves a balancing act between competing agendas within their workplace setting. In addition to mediating the strategies proposed by the research evidence base to suit their own early years workplace settings, in part by emphasising speech and language development, the teacher researchers identified a useful strategy, based on transportable identity, of ‘stepping out’ of being a teacher, for example by positioning themselves as a playmate or family member.     

Facilitating teachers as action researchers and reflective practitioners: new issues and proposals

ABSTRACT

In this article I reflect on my experiences facilitating teachers as researchers and reflective practitioners and the importance of enhancing the dynamic and complementary relationship between theory, research, practice and reflection at every step of action research. Given the complexity of teachers’ participation in action research, I drew on a reflexive research-based account within a second-order process of action research to support a group of teacher-researchers to rethink their understanding of participatory education and transform their own practices. This research-based account describes the challenges faced, the decisions made, and the actions taken, all shaped by ongoing dialogues with teachers’ beliefs and practices, with the goals of action research, and with the processes of gradual transformations observed in both the teachers’ thinking and practice and in my own as a facilitator. The present study adds to the discussion of the interrelationships between theory, research, practice and reflection by providing an example of their enactment at every step of action research in order to support participatory education.     

高师课程"中学数学教与学研究"试题一束

试题编制及测试是实施课程和评价教学的一个环节，它受课程目标、课程内容、课程组织和实施的制约，同时又是推进课程改革最直接、最有效的途径之一。课程改革中，应兼顾中学数学教与学的双重需要，突出理论指导下的教学实践，帮助高师生学习将数学知识的“学术形态”转化为“教育形态”，提高师资培训水平。     

Roles,requirements and autonomy of academic researchers

As an indicator of nations' prosperity and economic competitiveness, research impacts the mounting roles and requirements placed upon academic researchers. Internationally, researchers are expected to effectively operate in the fast-changing and demanding research environment. Such effectiveness corresponds mainly to their ability to establish international and interdisciplinary collaborations, secure internal and external grants, and most importantly deliver tangible research outputs. As such, this desired research excellence impacts researchers' academic appointments, recognitions and promotions. Driven by research productivity and pursuit of academic excellence, researchers' individual autonomy may become restricted. This work is based on (a) an international study exploring research productivity within higher education institutions across 15 countries and (b) a relevant international literature review. The voices of 32 participants portray competencies required from and requirements placed upon academic researchers at their respective universities. Findings show that the role of academic researchers is changing and the requirements pose challenges to researchers' autonomy. The research productivity quest along with opportunity-driven decisions may not only restrict researchers' autonomy but also compromise their academic integrity.     

Breaking out,breaking through: accessing knowledge in a non‐western overseas educational setting—methodological issues for an outsider

This paper is concerned with processes of international enquiry. It focuses upon the relationship between a research problem and access to conduct research in a country. It uses data from an ethnographic study of primary education in a Northern Indian District. Conceptually drawing upon the insider‐outsider debate within the sociology of knowledge, the paper raises issues about the relationship between the research problem, accessing knowledge and being an outsider to a research setting. It considers problems facing a particular form of outsider—a foreigner. The paper maintains that when researchers who are outsiders embark on designing research in non‐western international educational settings, then questions considering the relationship between the research problem, access strategies and the culture of the research setting are vital. Grappling with such questions allows for the development and promotion of new forms of partnership, alongside a deeper understanding of culture and context, when developing comparative and international research policy agendas.     

Spanish and UK post-PhD researchers: writing perceptions,well-being and productivity

Post-PhD researchers working at universities are contributors to a country’s productivity and competitiveness mostly through writing, which becomes a means to establish their scholarly identity as they contribute to knowledge. However, little is known about researchers’ writing perceptions, and their interrelations with engagement in research, productivity and the influence of workplace climate, which, if negative, can result in burnout and abandonment intentions. In this paper, we explore these issues for the first time. Using a cross-sectional design, 282 postdoctoral researchers answered a cross-cultural questionnaire focusing on engagement, scientific writing, researcher community and burnout, and socio-demographic variables. Data analysis included exploratory factor analysis, T-test, ANOVA or Mann–Whitney U (SPSS, v.22). Results showed that adaptive perceptions of writing were related to higher levels of engagement, lower levels of burnout and productivity; maladaptive perceptions of writing were related to burnout experiences. The consideration of research writing as a developmental process that can take many years beyond the PhD is discussed. Critical to understanding such development is the extent to which a shift in perception of writing to knowledge creation may be a precursor to more adaptive functional behaviours. Educational insights related to constraints in writing, publication processes and related research conditions are also considered.     

(Re)creating spaces for uMunthu: postcolonial theory and environmental education in southern Africa

Colonialism goes beyond territorial conquest: it affects one’s epistemological stance, worldviews and perceptions. Although most African countries gained independence in the 1960s, the impacts of colonialism continue to be present through modern-day globalization as a form of neocolonialism. Education systems in many countries in southern Africa continue to be grounded in Western viewpoints, marginalizing local Indigenous ways of knowing and being (I capitalize the word ‘Indigenous’ because it is a proper noun referring to particular people, their knowledges, ways of living, etc.). An increased number of scholars in southern Africa are engaging with counter-hegemonic strategies as frames of analysis to counter the impacts of neocolonialism. This paper reviews environmental education studies in southern Africa that have applied postcolonial theory as a frame of analysis either explicitly or implicitly. Postcolonial theory provides a platform to challenge the dominant truths espoused by Western thought. In doing so, it paves the way for other truths to have space in the knowledge discourses, including the sub-Saharan African worldview of Ubuntu/uMunthu. While many scholars are engaging with counter-hegemonic strategies, the review calls for the need for further research from postcolonial frames not only in southern Africa but also other parts of the world as well.     

Virtual carrots,sticks and student engagement: supporting student researchers

This article describes a three-year research project which aimed to introduce a technological innovation in working with three cohorts of undergraduate students to support them in completing their final-year dissertations through the use of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). An additional aim of the project was to establish, amongst the students, a Community of Enquiry. Drawing on evidence from module evaluations, focus group interviews and user logs, the article highlights how students engaged with the VRE to support their research projects and their peers. By examining the activities of the three cohorts the authors were able to apply the seven key factors for building an educational Community of Enquiry outlined in previous research by the first author and colleagues to assert that the third cohort worked collaboratively to the degree that they could be said to have formed a Community of Enquiry.     

Evidence-based practice: the use and abuse of research

The authors of this position paper argue that there is currently very little evidence-based practice in relation to learners with severe learning disabilities (SLD) and profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), and that which there is, has often been badly used and/or abused. More specifically, we argue that relevant educational research undertaken so far has a strong tendency towards: (i) conflating the need for common strategies to be universally used in teaching, with the ‘need’ for a common curriculum; (ii) quoting research that applies to children with certain types of SEND as though it applies to all children with SEND; (iii) assuming there is a homogeneity of learning disability among people with the same condition (for example Down's syndrome, autism) and (iv) encouraging assumptions that any academic progress, no matter how small the gain, is axiomatically superior in value for all pupils. The authors conclude that there is need for a new look at ‘evidence-based practice’ for these populations.