Education as Service: The Understanding of University Experience Through the Service Logic

With the marketization of UK higher education, this paper develops a framework from services marketing that can assist universities in understanding what market orientation means and how students would value their offerings. Our study shows that the core service in a university experience is a learning experience that is cocreated and that the value is emergent, unstructured, interactive, uncertain, with a hedonic dimension. Our paper modifies the gap model of service quality to show that an ideological gap exists that may also impede the quality of the university experience. We propose that a one-sided expectation by students leads to student consumerism and disengagement. Paradoxically, we show that a true student-orientated marketing puts the university ideology at the center of marketing efforts and that marketing may well be an effective tool to communicate such ideologies.     

How do STEM-interested students pursue multiple interests in their higher educational choice?

Interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has lately received attention in research due to a gap between the number of STEM students and the needs of the labour market. As interest seems to be one of the most important factors in deciding what to study, we focus in the present study on how STEM-interested students weigh multiple interests in making educational choices. A questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items was administered to 91 STEM-interested students enrolled in a STEM programme of a Dutch University for secondary school students. Results indicate that students find it important that a study programme allows them to pursue multiple interests. Some students pursued multiple interests by choosing to enrol in two programmes at the same time. Most students chose one programme that enabled them to combine multiple interests. Combinations of pursued interests were dependent on the disciplinary range of interests of students. Students who were interested in diverse domains combined interests in an educational programme across academic and non-academic domains, whilst students who were mainly interested in STEM combined only STEM-focused interests. Together these findings stress the importance of taking a multiple interest perspective on interest development and educational choice.     

“Seeing Their Eyes in the Rearview Mirror”: Identifying and Responding to Students' Challenging Experiences

There is a noticeable gap in the educational research literature specifically focused on trauma and documenting effective educator practices. This case study captures the voice and perspectives of Mr. Sellers, an effective Black, male educator who, through making sense of the impact of his students' ecological realities, provides insight about trauma, traumatic experiences, and the ways in which he supports them. I conceptualize and name the experiences of these students as traumatic because this is the language that Mr. Sellers himself used to make sense of his students' situations. It is important to note that I focus on these occurrences not to highlight the negatives or deficits of this community; my point in naming these ecological situations is to point out how structural challenges can influence communities and, ultimately, the people (including students) in those contexts. Despite what established literature suggests about the unpreparedness of educators to respond to student trauma, this study documents effective practices of a successful educator in an urban school setting. In particular, the findings in this study offer three takeaways for educators to more adequately identify and respond to students grappling with trauma: (1) context-specific recognition, (2) trauma-conscious approaches, and (3) holistic responsiveness. The findings of this study also suggest that there is a need for broadening educators' capacity, adequately preparing them, and shifting the ways in which schools and policies understand an educator's role.     

高职《市场营销》课程渗透德育教学研究

在专业课程教学中,有机地进行德育渗透,是学生思想品德教育的一个十分重要的途径。文章以高职《市场营销》课程教学为例,提出德育渗透的主要内容与实施策略。     

Evaluating the alignment among curriculum,instruction, and assessments: Implications and applications for research and practice

Alignment has been defined as the extent to which curricular expectations and assessments are in agreement and work together to provide guidance for educators' efforts to facilitate students' progress toward desire academic outcomes. The Council of Chief State School Officers has identified three preferred models as frameworks for evaluating alignment: Webb's alignment model, the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum model, and the Achieve model. Each model consists of a series of indices that summarize or describe the general match or coherence between state standards, large‐scale assessments, and, in some cases, classroom instruction. This article provides an overview of these frameworks for evaluating alignment and their applications in educational practice and the research literature. After providing an introduction to the use of alignment to evaluate large‐scale accountability systems, the article presents potential extensions of alignment for use with vulnerable populations (e.g., students with disabilities, preschoolers), individual students, and classroom teachers. These proposed applications can provide information for facilitating efforts to improve teachers' classroom instruction and students' educational achievement. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Keeping Schools Out of Court: Legally Defensible Models of Leadership

This paper draws attention to a knowledge gap in leadership models regarding bullying, particularly cyberbullying, an emergent form of student harassment. Given that parents are suing schools for failing to protect victims of bullying, educators need guidance in addressing harassment and discriminatory discourse in popular youth culture.

The focus is on three important considerations: (1) the need to avoid criminalizing children and adolescents; (2) the need to clarify educators' legal obligations to protect students from psychological harm; and (3) the need to delimit educators' legal obligations to sustain school environments that reduce bullying and create equal opportunities for learning. Improved law-related courses, grounded in compatible theories on leadership, social justice, and ethics of care, are recommended for education students. Educators who take courses in these disciplines show great promise in helping schools navigate the unprecedented dilemmas of technology and pluralism through ethical and legally defensible alternatives.     

Re‐credentialling experiences of immigrant teachers: negotiating institutional structures,professional identities and pedagogy

Teachers immigrating to Canada with credentials from non‐Canadian jurisdictions are regarded as desirable immigrant professionals because of their high levels of education and yet, nevertheless, are required to redo some or all of their professional training. This research examines sociocultural notions of voice, agency, authorship and identity in considering how a group of 28 teachers with diverse professional and personal backgrounds, and with initial teaching credentials from outside Canada, perceive and respond to the institutional/structural constraints imposed by mainstream ‘gate‐keeping’ institutions. Analysis of data from interviews and questionnaires indicates that teachers initially credentialled outside of Canada potentially have much to add to the education of students in Canadian schools. However, to achieve this potential it is necessary that these educators' encounters with Canadian educational institutions engage rather than silence their voices.     

HOW EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS ARE ADVOCATES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS

The aim of the present study was to examine prospective early childhood educators' attitudes towards teaching multicultural classes using the planned behavior theoretical framework. One hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups. The first group comprised students who attended courses on multicultural education, whereas the second group comprised students who did not attend those courses. A specifically designed questionnaire was administered to assess attitudes toward teaching multicultural classes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-assessed knowledge. Results showed that the planned behavior model can be applied to the multicultural domain. Self-assessed knowledge significantly increased the predictability of the prospective students' intentions only for the first group (R ² = .61). It was concluded that prospective early educators' participation in courses regarding cultural diversity facilitated their attitudes towards teaching children from various cultural backgrounds.     

产品推销实务课程教学内容改革探析

文章基于高职产品推销实务课程的学科特点、行业企业发展需要、岗位的实际需要,以及高职学生学习效果的需要,抓住高职推销课程的教学内容的设计,对其进行了针对性研究。     

“Maybe That Helps Folks Feel Better About What They're Doing”: Examining Contradictions Between Educator Presumptions,Student Experiences,and Outcomes at an Alternative School

The use of alternative schools as exclusionary discipline for students found guilty of committing behavioral infractions raises questions about the effectiveness of these schools in producing improved student outcomes. Educators' justifications for alternative placements are highly relevant, because decisions regarding placements are often subjective and based on ill-defined criteria. This mixed-methods study investigates educators' perceptions of one disciplinary alternative school in the Southeast and educators' justifications for its use. The study examines the district's alternative school students' outcome data and analyzes whether these data support educators' explanations for why they assign students to the alternative school. Findings show that educators often hold mixed beliefs about alternative schools, seeing them as both a punishment and as providing needed support and services. Students, however, do not demonstrate dramatically different academic or behavioral performance as a result of their placement, bringing into question educators' justifications for placing students in these schools.     

Factors Influencing Word-of-Mouth Recommendations by MBA Students: An Examination of School Quality,Educational Outcomes,and Value of the MBA

Word-of-mouth recommendations from current students are an important source of influence when prospective MBA students are selecting a school. Based on a sample of 16,297 graduating MBA students, this paper uses multiple regression analysis to identify the factors that affect a school recommendation and to assess their relative importance. Separate models are developed based on prior research on service quality, educational outcomes, and perceived equity; then, variables from the separate models are combined into an overall model. Implications are discussed for school administrators and the marketing professionals who support them.     

Underlying Consumer-Valuing Structures of Baby Boomers as Older Adults in Community Colleges: A Grounded Theory

The purpose of this study was to present a grounded theory that fills in gaps in the higher education literature on the concept of educational consumer value and perceptions that support consumer value. Specifically, this study focuses on the learning experiences of Baby Boomers (40–60 year old adults) as older adult students attending community colleges. This study examines value as a factor in the consumer behavior of these students. An understanding of Baby Boomer consumer behavior, the processes which drive this behavior, and the aging Baby Boomers' potential as continuously returning learners, could help develop programs and marketing plans for community colleges interested in attracting and retaining the Baby Boomer market.     

Questioning special needs-ism: Supporting student teachers in troubling and transforming understandings of human worth

This paper is offered to spark discussion about teacher educators' contestation of ‘special needs’ ideology, to disrupt discriminatory thinking that diminishes educational opportunities for labeled students. Following discussion of the overarching purpose of education and evidence of the tenacity of special needs-ism, I explore multidisciplinary pedagogical tools that may facilitate engagement with student teachers, to trouble and transform hegemonic beliefs. These include notions of dysconsciousness, critical consciousness, threshold concepts, and pedagogies of discomfort, all of which highlight the role of emotion in realizing new understandings. Recognizing the inherent human worth of all students is considered fundamental in addressing educational inequities.     

大学生参与传销的心理动因分析

近年来,各地先后爆发出不少大学生参与非法传销的事件,既荒废了学业,又给其身心带来巨大伤害。因此,从投机心理、无知心理、成就心理三个层面分析大学生参与传销的心理动因,提出从学校、学生个人、社会三个方面做好防范,把日常思想教育和心理健康教育相结合,双管齐下,防止更多的大学生上当受骗,保障大学生健康成长。     

Factors related to a college student's career optimism and their perception of career services

A student's expectation for a positive outcome for their future career development is referred to as career optimism. Career Services, a common university department, utilizes the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to understand how students form career interests and make educational and vocational choices. Then Career Services can assist students in finding a career that matches their interests. We hypothesize that students' perception of the assistance provided by the Career Services department when the SCCT is applied, impacts the student's career optimism. In addition, we hypothesize, and results support, that different factors, such as a student's chosen major, impact student perception of Career Services and career optimism.     

Internationalisation,higher education and educators' perceptions of their practices

Internationalisation of higher education is big business in Australia, yet, despite the growing body of literature informing learning and teaching of international students, challenges remain. While language and pedagogical differences are well documented from the students' perspective, less known are the challenges to educators and their practices in responding to these named issues. This article explores some implications for educators and their practices, when international students come to study in an English-language university in Australia. A small research project focusing on educators' perspectives reveals the pedagogical challenges, difficulties and differences in approaches to teaching large numbers of international students. Implications for educators are discussed, focusing on the need to respond to policy and institutional demands to participate in these international collaborations, and to engage in building sound and equitable educational provision.     

Adapting Social Work Education to Student Diversity

ABSTRACT

Basic differences in temperament, learning styles, motivation, and interaction styles have major impacts on people yet receive little attention in social work education. Faculty must understand the different ways students learn and be receptive to new patterns of teaching in order to achieve educational excellence. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one tool that identifies specific preferences among individuals that explain difference in learning styles. This paper discusses educational considerations in implementing a “type-sensitive” curriculum in social work education, including strategies for using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to differentiate learning styles and strategies for facilitating educators' and students' ability to appreciate these differences. It examines the ways in which differences in type can complement each other in the educational process. Understanding difference can provide insights into personal, academic, and professional performance, as well as an appreciation of the diversity of client types.     

An exploration of the effect of servicescape on student institution choice in UK universities

In recent years there has been increased discussion of the subjective, emotional and sociological factors influencing student choice of university. However, there is a dearth of information exploring what constitutes these feelings. This exploratory paper uses the conceptual model of the servicescape to provide insight into the emotional factors driving student choice. In-depth interviews with prospective students revealed that first impressions really do count. Students are deterred by poor physical environments and excited by enthusiastic staff and students. Most significantly, the study revealed the necessity of a restorative servicescape to provide both a sense of escape and feeling of belonging. This paper contributes to broadening the application of the servicescape model and to a greater understanding of the impact of the environment on prospective students, and creates an opportunity to inform policy by providing university marketing decision makers with a better understanding of what constitutes the university environment and what makes it appealing to prospective students.     

The note of discord: Examining educational perspectives between teachers and Korean parents in the U. S.

This study examined and compared the educational perspectives of Korean parents of elementary school students and their teachers. 430 parents and 143 teachers in the New York metropolitan area participated in the survey and 16 teachers, administrators, and parents were interviewed. The findings indicated that the teachers not only misunderstood the parents' perspectives on the goals of schooling, but also underestimated the parents' ways of supporting their children's education. Regarding the current school/teacher practices, the two groups also expressed different perspectives. We discussed the urgency of educators' critical reflection on diverse cultures and the considerations for increasing parents' school involvement.