Narrative inquiry in service learning contexts: Possibilities for learning about diversity in teacher education

This paper explores the experiences of pre- and in-service teachers through intentionally created narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006) spaces within three different service-learning engagements in Canada, Kenya, and Turkey. Because the contexts where our studies were situated were culturally different from participants' backgrounds, narrative inquiry spaces shaped windows in which participants could restory their understandings of others different from themselves. We argue thinking narratively suits the purpose of learning within service learning, highlighting the potential this kind of work holds for pre- and in-service teachers' professional identities in school contexts shaped by diversity.     

Internationalization of higher education in the crucible: Linking national identity and policy in the age of globalization

Nationalism’s rise represents a potential harbinger of doom for the internationalization of higher education (IoHE). Space exists for research to amplify our understanding of the interplay between internationalization and nationalism from a public policy theory perspective. The study identified and classified policies and policy ideas pertinent to IoHE, and furthermore, explored how political rivalries in Taiwan have influenced IoHE’s development under globalization. Analysis of documentary data from an online national database reveals how IoHE policy changes reflect the machinations of political actors to advance domestic political agendas and provoke controversy. The advocacy coalition framework informs our explanation of how the aforementioned changes reflect Taiwan’s inward-looking political climate, unique geopolitical circumstances, and longstanding controversy over national identity. The paper discusses the implications of context for IoHE development across three consecutive government regimes to provide insights for further comparisons with other localities and contexts.     

From school teacher to university lecturer: Illuminating the journey from the classroom to the university for two arts educators

This article aims to provide insights into the journey of two artist teachers who currently work as arts educators at the university level. Narrative inquiry has been used to discuss how the arts have informed their identities and subsequent transition into their current roles. The identities of artist, artist teacher and arts educator are considered in relation to how these have informed and continue to inform their teaching. The unique characteristics of those who work in the arts are also explored and provide important understandings in relation to the mentoring and support required for educators who work in this context.     

Use of Web 2.0 technologies in K-12 and higher education: The search for evidence-based practice

Evidence-based practice in education entails making pedagogical decisions that are informed by relevant empirical research evidence. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss evidence-based pedagogical approaches related to the use of Web 2.0 technologies in both K-12 and higher education settings. The use of such evidence-based practice would be useful to educators interested in fostering student learning through Web 2.0 tools. A comprehensive literature search across the Academic Search Premier, Education Research Complete, ERIC, and PsycINFO databases was conducted. Empirical studies were included for review if they specifically examined the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on student learning. Articles that merely described anecdotal studies such as student perception or feeling toward learning using Web 2.0, or studies that relied on student self-report data such as student questionnaire survey and interview were excluded. Overall, the results of our review suggested that actual evidence regarding the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on student learning is as yet fairly weak. Nevertheless, the use of Web 2.0 technologies appears to have a general positive impact on student learning. None of the studies reported a detrimental or inferior effect on learning. The positive effects are not necessarily attributed to the technologies per se but to how the technologies are used, and how one conceptualizes learning. It may be tentatively concluded that a dialogic, constructionist, or co-constructive pedagogy supported by activities such as Socratic questioning, peer review and self-reflection appeared to increase student achievement in blog-, wiki-, and 3-D immersive virtual world environments, while a transmissive pedagogy supported by review activities appeared to enhance student learning using podcast.     

Choosing a major in higher education: Profiles of students’ decision-making process

This study identified decision-making profiles of students who make a choice of a major in higher education. These profiles were examined in a sample of Belgian students at the end of Grade 12, when the educational system expects that these adolescents choose a specific major. Using latent class cluster analysis on adolescents’ scores for coping with career decisional tasks (i.e., orientation, exploration, decisional status, and commitment), four clusters were identified. As expected, these profiles paralleled Marcia’s (1966) identity statuses (i.e., the achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion status). Results provided support for the external validity of the identified clusters through differential associations with several person variables (i.e., career decision-making self-efficacy, career choice anxiety, and decision-making style) and with academic functioning in higher education (i.e., commitment, academic and social adjustment). Implications for current educational research and research on career decision-making are discussed.     

Opinions on computing education in Korean K-12 system: higher education perspective

The need for computing education in the K-12 curriculum has grown globally. The Republic of Korea is not an exception. In response to the need, the Korean Ministry of Education has announced an outline for software-centric computing education in the K-12 system, which aims at enhancing the current computing education with software emphasis. In this paper, we review the outline from a higher education perspective and provide insights into its constructive improvement based on our experience in computer science education in higher education and a study of global initiatives on computing education. We also consider the social environment for computing education in Korea. In the proposed implementation, we first discuss goals for software-centric computing education and identify areas of focus. The identified areas are discussed in terms of topics to be covered and appropriate exposure of knowledge depth in the three levels in the Korean K-12 system. We then discuss necessary preparations for the success of the plan from academic, governmental and social perspectives.     

Enhancing the link between higher education and employment

This study aims to improve the efficiency of fiscal assistance programs for higher education by investigating those variables that influence college graduates’ employment rates. An empirical analysis of 2010–2011 higher education statistics shows that two variables – educational expenditure per student and the number of students per full-time faculty member – consistently and significantly affect college graduates’ employment rates, even after location and type of school are controlled. Although scholarship rates also affect employment rates positively, the number of students per industry–academe liaison officer does not have a statistically significant effect. Moreover, as educational expenditure per student or the student/faculty ratio increases beyond a certain level, graduate employment improves at an increasing rate. The two variables also affect the employment rate interactively. At a relatively higher level of per-student expenditure, employment rates increase even as the student/faculty ratio rises. However, at a relatively lower level of per-student expenditure, employment rates decline as the student/faculty ratio rises.The policy implication is that fiscal assistance programs for higher educational institutions should accord a much greater weight to these key variables when selecting and assessing institutional recipients.     

Integrating ICT to higher education in China: From the perspective of Activity Theory

This paper is based on a study that explored the relationship between the implementation of ICT pedagogy and the factors that influenced seven teachers of English for Business Purposes in Chinese higher education concerning their adoption of ICT into their teaching. Activity Theory was used as an analytical tool to investigate the relationships and to identify contradictions in their teaching systems that could lead to teachers’ implementation of a student-centred ICT pedagogy. The study revealed that the main potential driving force for change lay in the conflict between the deep-rooted teacher-centred pedagogy in the educational system and the student-centred pedagogy that accompanied the introduction of ICT. If teachers, curriculum developers and policy makers understood this conflict, this would enable them to concentrate on such issues as how to change the teacher-centred pedagogy to support both teaching and learning for improved learning achievements. Activity theory proved a powerful tool to analyse and understand the contradictions in an activity system. Changes in ICT related policy are recommended.     

Reflection literacy: A multilevel perspective on the challenges of using reflections in higher education through a comprehensive literature review

It is well established that the use of reflections influences and supports learning in important ways. However, student-learning, teacher-pedagogical, institutional, and sociocultural factors can hinder initiatives to promote student reflection in universities. This literature review aims to provide an overview of the challenges of encouraging reflection in higher education through a multilevel perspective. Based on the analysis of 66 selected empirical and non-empirical articles, the results show that there is a reciprocal relationship between barriers that occur at the macro and micro levels. In addition, it is found that reflection literacy is necessary at all four levels to overcome the barriers identified. The multilevel framework is proposed as a model for coordinating institutional efforts to address the challenges of reflection and upon which a shared discourse can be developed by key stakeholders who are interested in promoting reflective practice in higher education.     

Threshold concepts in higher education: a synthesis of the literature relating to measurement of threshold crossing

In relation to teaching and learning approaches that improve student learning outcomes, threshold concepts have generated substantial interest in higher education. They have been described as ‘portals’ that lead to a transformed way of understanding or thinking, enabling learners to progress, and have been enthusiastically adopted to inform teaching approaches and curriculum design. A growing body of literature has critiqued the relevance and applicability of the threshold concept theory and identified threshold concepts relevant to specific disciplines. More recent research has identified how students cross these thresholds and provided measures of the successful acquisition of threshold concepts. This literature synthesis critiques existing evidence on threshold crossing and acquisition to provide a succinct and informative overview of the outcomes to date. Key questions relevant to educators and researchers investigating whether students acquire the threshold concepts associated with their teaching, arose from the literature synthesis. These were: whether or not threshold crossing can be measured; how variation in student learning can be addressed during measurement; tools that can be used for measuring threshold crossing; whether the way units or concepts are taught should alter prior to measurement, and the challenges and limitations of measuring threshold crossing.     

Academics as rent seekers: distorted incentives in higher education,with reference to the South African case

The behavior of academics and academic institutions is examined through the concept of rent seeking, in which organizations or individuals expend resources to obtain ‘artificially contrived transfers’. International ranking systems, publication-based incentives, and grant awarding processes, all encourage and reward rent seeking behavior: participants engage in distorted, costly behavior to obtain rewards, including public funds, without regard to the social value of these activities. This may be especially damaging in developing countries. Detailed examples from South Africa's higher education system illustrate such behavior and its relation to policy. The paper concludes by sketching an outline of some possible solutions.     

Narrative-based evaluation demonstrates the value of a higher education professional learning network

Assessing and demonstrating value for money to agencies funding professional learning networks is a universal challenge. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a narrative-based approach to evaluation called story-building that can be employed to complement other more traditional approaches to evaluation. Story-building goes beyond the anecdotal by constructing individual reflective stories, a collective story and a value creation story that are authentic and resonate with stakeholders because they tap into the specific and particular knowledge of practitioners. A key characteristic which sets story-building apart from other approaches is that it collects and collates both individual and collective evidence of a network’s impact from different sources. Members of the New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory Promoting Excellence Network created and implemented this rigorous approach to evaluation and found story-building to be an effective practice to demonstrate the value and impact of a network.     

The critical, relational practice of instructional design in higher education: an emerging model of change agency

This paper offers an emerging interpretive framework for understanding the active role instructional designers play in the transformation of learning systems in higher education. A 3-year study of instructional designers in Canadian universities revealed how, through reflexive critical practice, designers are active, moral, political, and influential in activating change at interpersonal, professional, institutional and societal levels. Through narrative inquiry the voices of designers reflect the scope of agency, community and relational practice in which they regularly engage with faculty in institutions of higher learning.

From here to there and back again: the story of a mother,her son,disability, and school choice

Nelly and her children live in Queensland, Australia. When it came time for her second youngest son to start school, Nelly was not prepared for the difficulty that she had enrolling him at the school of her choice. In spite of her son's disability, Nelly thought that it was natural that he would go to his local school with his sister. It is not surprising that she expected this, given the legal and policy endorsement of inclusive education that exists in the Queensland education system. What unfolded in Nelly's life as she pursued this enrolment is the subject of this article. This is the story of a mother who believed in and hoped for inclusive schooling for her son but who found herself caught in a series of events and experiences which ultimately led to the decision to transfer him into a special school. This is also the story of how, disillusioned and regretful, she went on to undo that decision. Told primarily in Nelly's own words, this narrative provides a deep insight into one mother's efforts to exercise her parental authority, the difficulties she encountered in trying to do so, and the consequences for her son.     

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

This literature review considers the use of action research in higher education. The review specifically looks at two areas of higher education activity. The first concerns academic teaching practice and includes a discussion of research and pedagogy practice, and staff development. The second considers student engagement. In both of these core features of higher education, action research has proven to be a central approach to the investigation, reflection and improvement of practice. Each of these main foci includes a discussion of the limitations of the literature. The review illustrates the extent and range of uses to have benefited from an action research approach.     

我国高等工程实践教育的历史回顾与展望

从我国高等工程实践教育的重要性出发,简单回顾了我国工程实践教育发展的历史,提出了工程实践教育的主要内涵和存在的主要问题,并对我国工程实践教育的未来发展进行了展望。     

Supporting the self-regulated use of retrieval practice: A higher education classroom experiment

This study investigated whether an instructional intervention can increase students’ self-regulated use of retrieval practice in a higher education classroom environment. A lab-experiment by Ariel and Karpicke (2017) revealed that strategy instructions improved students’ self-regulated use of retrieval practice and subsequent test performance. Our goal was to determine whether these effects generalize to a classroom environment using key concepts from marketing communication. We compared two groups on their self-regulated use of retrieval practice using an online environment. An experimental group (n = 58) received strategy instructions on retrieval practice and a control group (n = 58) received neutral instructions. Instructions were provided during sessions 1 and 2; no instructions were provided in a third, transfer session, measuring self-regulated use of retrieval practice. In sessions 1 and 2, no significant differences between groups were found. In the transfer session, the experimental group tested themselves more (Hypothesis 1) and displayed a larger number of (correct) retrieval attempts per key concept (Hypothesis 2) than the control group. No correlations were found with performance (Hypothesis 3). With our experiment, we took a first step in supporting students in their self-regulated use of retrieval practice in a classroom environment with complex materials.     

Stability,performance and innovation orientation of a higher education funding model in Kazakhstan

This article is situated in a growing body of literature, focusing on higher education reforms in countries which emerged, or re-emerged, 25 years ago as the Soviet Union dissolved. With the focus specifically on Kazakhstan, this paper examines how the leadership of universities in this country views a higher education funding model– the state grants. The paper applies the lenses of stability, performance and innovation orientation to the examination of the state grants-based higher education funding model in Kazakhstan. This paper finds that despite recognition of the limitations of the existing funding model, there is limited interest to push for changes. This can be explained by the complex higher education policy environment which is also discussed in this paper.