The imagined and the real: identifying the tensions for academic identity

Changes within the higher education sector have had significant effects on the identity of the individual academic. As institutions transform in response to government‐driven policy and funding directives, there is a subsequent impact upon the roles and responsibilities of those employed as educational professionals. Academic practices are changing as multiple roles emerge from the reshaping of academic work. Institutional pressures to produce specific research outputs at the same time as teaching and undertaking managerial/administrative responsibilities are creating tension between what academics perceive as their professional identity and that prescribed by their employing organisation. Reconciling this disconnect is part of the challenge for academics, who are now seeking to understand and manage their changing identity. Narratives obtained from research in a university with a polytechnic background and an institute of technology (aspiring to be a university), provide some subjective reflections for examining this issue.     

Multimodal approaches to reflective teaching and assessment in higher education

Reflection is not a new concept in the teaching of higher education and is often an important component of many disciplinary courses. Despite this, past research shows that while there are examples of rich reflective strategies used in some areas of higher education, most approaches to, and conceptualisations of, reflective learning and assessment have been perfunctory and inconsistent. In many disciplinary areas, reflection is often assessed as a written activity ‘tagged onto’ assessment practices. In creative disciplines, however, reflective practice is an integral and cumulative form of learning and is often expressed in ways other than in the written form. This paper will present three case studies of reflective practice in the area of Creative Industries in higher education – Dance, Fashion and Music. It will discuss the ways in which higher education teachers and students use multimodal approaches to expressing knowledge and reflective practice in such a context. The paper will argue that unless students are encouraged to participate in deep reflective disciplinary discourse via multi-modes then reflection will remain superficial in the higher education context.     

Contract cheating and assessment design: exploring the relationship

This paper reports on findings from a large Australian research project that explored the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design. Using survey responses from 14,086 students and 1147 educators at eight universities, a multivariate analysis examined the influence of a range of factors on the likelihood that different assessment types would prompt considerations of contract cheating in students. Perceptions of likelihood were highest among students who speak a language other than English at home. Perceptions of likelihood were also higher among students who reported there to be lots of opportunities to cheat, and amongst students who were dissatisfied with the teaching and learning environment. Perceptions of likelihood for certain assessment types were also higher in commerce and engineering than in any other discipline. Overall, four assessment types were perceived by students to be the least likely to be outsourced, however these are also the least likely to be set by educators. The analysis indicates that educators are more likely to use these assessment tasks when they report positively on organisational support for teaching and learning.     

Shifting occupational identity: doing,being, becoming and belonging in the academy

Becoming more scholarly can be challenging for many in the academy, including for those transitioning from professional roles. This paper presents the initial findings of an ongoing action research project that set out to explore and develop aspects of identity among a group of Australian occupational therapy academics. Thirteen participants committed to collaboratively address a personal desire to become more scholarly and an institutional demand to be more productive in relation to research and publication. Through this first phase of an action research process, participants explored and qualitatively defined issues impacting on their occupation. Emergent themes that were explored using an occupational lens incorporating: doing, being, becoming and belonging, highlight identity confusion and regression, mixed perceptions about the comfort and camouflage of teaching and participants' desires to become and be more scholarly. Taking an occupational lens adds to the identity conversation, illuminating how doing within a supportive group nurtures belonging, being and becoming. Our findings, of relevance to academics following non-traditional pathways into the academy, suggest optimism around using action research for the active cultivation of scholarship and occupational theory to understand how academic identity may be developed within a supportive group.     

Influences on academics' approaches to development: voices from below

The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to explore faculty‐based academics' views on what influences their behaviours and attitudes towards their development. Informed by critical realist ontology, the data collection was carried out through narrative interviews with academics in two contrasting English universities. Findings, or areas for reflection, have emerged about the constraints and enablements academics perceive in respect of their professional development. In particular, themes such as: the significance of professional status; misaligned initiatives and priorities; the influence of supportive networks; and emergent personal, individual concerns have surfaced. The conclusion is drawn that the significance of agency raises the importance of responding to the ‘voices from below’.     

Exploring the use of learner-focused teaching approaches in different academic disciplines

Teaching practitioners in all education sectors commonly face expectations to engage in ‘learner-focused’ teaching, although the term is defined and interpreted in a myriad of ways. In higher education, some studies have examined links between learner-focused teaching and academic disciplines. This article reports on a study which investigates the ways in which practitioners in different discipline areas conceive of, and report, different approaches to teaching. For 344 lecturers in a polytechnic in Singapore, data from the Approaches to Teaching Inventory indicated that these lecturers, as a group, reported paying more attention to teacher-focused approaches to teaching. Further, lecturers teaching a subject in a ‘hard’ discipline were more likely to report a teacher-focused approach to teaching for that subject. Conversely, those lecturers teaching a subject in a ‘soft’ discipline were more likely to report a learner-focused approach. The implications of this for staff development will be discussed.     

高等教育学学科建设的基本轨迹及其走向

本文从高等教育研究范式性的基本理论以及以高等教育学为主干的学科群建设、高等教育学学科的人才培养、高等教育学学科持续发展所需的社会条件等三个方面对高等教育学学科的发展脉络进行了分析。指出应从全局上把握高等教育学的基本走向 :在加强理论建设的过程中逐步建立和完善高等教育学的理论体系 ;在理论联系实际的过程中建设和发展高等教育学学科 ;提高研究生培养的质量 ,为高等教育学学科建设提供高素质人才 ;让中国高等教育研究走向世界     

论增进实践性学识的高等教育研究方法

高等教育研究要回归高等教育生活世界,解决实践问题,增进实践性学识。实践性学识具有内隐性、非系统性和缄默性等特点,获得实践性学识主要通过行动研究的方式进行。因此,质的研究是增进实践性学识的主要研究方法论,实地研究是其主要研究方式;在具体研究方法与技术上,主要通过观察、访谈、调查来收集资料,通过理解来分析资料,通过教育日志、教育叙事、教育案例、教育反思、教学课例等形式来整理资料和表达研究成果。     

建设精品课题,为进一步提高高等教育质量做贡献——全国教育科学“十一五”规划高等教育学科的新使命

高等教育学科在全国教育科学规划课题中占有十分重要的位置,“十五”期间,高等教育研究集中在“高等教育大众化、提高教育质量与效益、突出办学特色、教育公平和就业”等方面。“十一五”期间,高等教育规划课题将会在持续关注“十五”问题基础上,除重点研究“高校分类与学校办学定位、高校课程建设与学科发展、多元质量评价体系与学校文化建设、高校招生与就业制度”等问题外,“全国教育科学规划管理的创新,提升高等教育研究水平与质量以及高等教育研究的国际化”等方面也是“十一五”的重点研究领域。     

Chinese TEFL academics’ perceptions about research: an institutional case study

Research capacity building has become a prominent theme in higher education institutions in China, as across the world. However, Chinese TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) academics’ research capacity has been quite limited. In order to build their research capacity, it is necessary to understand their perceptions about research. This case study focuses on TEFL academics in a Chinese research university with the purpose of describing their motivation to conduct research, the value they accorded to research and their views about the institutional research requirements. Six TEFL academics from the sample university were interviewed. The findings indicate that the Chinese TEFL academics’ research endeavour was driven by external and internal needs. Research was recognised as having a multi‐dimensional value, but various concerns were expressed about the institutional research requirements. The findings suggest several implications for institutional and departmental research administrators to further support TEFL academics’ research capacity building.     

Disciplinary representation on institutional websites: changing knowledge,changing power?

This paper analyses shifts in the representation of history and physics as named organisational units on Australian university websites over the last 15 years in the context of broader questions about the production of knowledge in contemporary times. It derives from a broader project concerned with disciplinarity, changing university contexts and emerging conceptions of teaching and research. The paper points to a significant reduction in the number of departments and departmental webpages dedicated solely to those disciplines and the greater obscurity of disciplinary knowledge on the websites as a result. It suggests these findings are one symbolic sign of some changes in progress in universities, including a reduced strength of disciplinary voice in broader university management, some shift away from disciplines as the key reference points for knowledge production and some de-centring of their traditional strength in the academic labour market. The study also points to the methodological challenges of working with online sources of evidence.     

Three in-course assessment reforms to improve higher education learning outcomes

A current international concern is that, for too large a proportion of graduates, their higher order cognitive and practical capabilities are below acceptable levels. The constituent courses of academic programmes are the most logical sites for developing these capabilities. Contributing to patchy attainment are deficiencies in three particular aspects of assessment practice: the design and specifications of many assessment tasks; the minimum requirements for awarding a passing grade in a course and granting credit towards the degree; and the accumulation of points derived from quizzes, assessments or activities completed during the teaching period. Rethinking and reforming these would lead to improvements for significant sub-populations of students. Pursuing such a goal would also have significant positive implications for academic teachers, but be contingent on favourable contextual settings including departmental and institutional priorities.     

谈谈如何更好地发挥实践教学在高职教育中的作用

要更好地发挥实践教学在高职教育中的作用，促进学校上水平、上规模和跳跃式发展，应当加强和完善课程体系建设、实践基地建设、师资队伍建设、职业资格证书制度建设和实验教学改革等方面的工作。     

美国高校的学术反思与学术评价

20世纪 80年代末以来 ,美国高教界对美国高校中存在的学术评价日益窄化和教师奖励制度越来越片面的倾向进行了深刻反思。尤其是博耶在 90年代初发表的两篇文献 ,提出了包括发现的学术、综合的学术、应用的学术和教学的学术四种形式在内的新学术观 ,并构建了包括学者的品质、学术工作的标准、学术证明和过程的可靠性四条原则的新的学术评价体系。博耶的新学术观拓展了学术概念的内涵 ,涵盖了现代大学日益丰富的使命。他提出的学术评价四原则 ,对于纠正当前我国高校学术评价中普遍存在的简单化、公式化、数字化倾向具有重要的现实意义     

论比较教育的学科属性与学科体系

比较教育究竟是不是一门学科,一直引起人们的争议,随着比较教育研究范围的进一步拓展,这一问题更是遭到人们的质疑,其中主要涉及比较教育的研究对象和研究方法两个根本性问题.从比较教育学科发展来看,比较教育的研究对象和研究方法都具有明显的层次性,由此可以把比较教育的学科体系具体描述为"三圈层、多交叉结构".因此,比较教育是一门既具有学科独立性又与其他教育学科相交叉的教育学科.     

高校创业教育研究:回顾、分析及前瞻

采用质的研究方法对2000年至2006年7月国内核心期刊出现的高校创业教育研究进行检索、编码和讨论。从研究主题、内容和研究方法上进行回顾和分析,对未来国内高校创业教育研究提出展望。     

Changing approaches to classroom assessment: An empirical study across teacher career stages

Research indicates that there is considerable variability in teachers' approaches to assessment resulting in different learning cultures for students. The primary purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between teachers' approaches to assessment across a set of dimensions (including their conceptions of assessment purposes, processes, fairness, and measurement theory) and career stage. The results of this paper illustrate nuanced impacts of career stage on teachers' approaches to multiple dimensions of assessment and enable the generation of assessment profiles that provide empirical support for differences in teachers’ approaches to assessment both within and between career stages.     

推进素质教育的宏观抉择

素质教育是基于受教育者的基本素质,通过最佳途径,促进其主动地在各自层面上全面发展的教育模式。实施素质教育,应加快高等教育大众化、多样化的发展进程;坚持专业教育的核心地位;找准全面发展的切入点;实行分类培养,因材施教;优化课程结构,改革教学内容和教学方法;完善检测评价激励机制。     

以学术引领促动教育原创研究

原创性教育研究应该关注教育实践.研究对象应该是教育实践中的问题,在发现问题、解决问题的过程中创新研究方法,形成原创性的研究成果,并最终回归实践并指导实践,服务实践.教育理论刊物应结合自身特点,以倡导原创性研究为切入点和突破口,通过多种形式积极发挥教育理论刊物的学术引领功能.     

The nature and implications of the growing importance of research grants to Canadian universities and academics

This paper analyzes a significant but virtually unexplored recent development within Canadian higher education, namely the growing importance of research grants to universities and academics. It addresses three main questions. First, the paper examines why and how research grants are becoming more important to Canadian universities and academics, focusing in particular on the role played by federal higher education policy. Next, it explores how the growing importance of research grants is transforming relations between and among the key players in Canadian higher education and academic research, including university administrators, academics, government, and the broader community. The paper’s final section takes up some of the actual and potential implications of these changes and raises concerns about detrimental effects on Canada’s universities and citizens. Prospects and possibilities for reform are also addressed.