The perceived value of work placements and part-time work and its diminution with time

This paper explores the perceptions of degree students at two UK universities regarding their work placement and part-time working activities, to assess if the two activities converge. The research comprises three stages: interviews for preliminary exploration of students’ perceptions towards work placement and part-time work; interviews to examine how placement opportunities link with career aspirations; a survey of students who had completed a placement, and those currently on placement. Students acknowledged part-time working helped their placement activity, providing transferable skills beneficial to both study and career aspirations. A significant finding was with respect to time: the closer to the placement activity the data was collected, the stronger the impact of appreciating the value of placement. The paper therefore highlights the value of timing in the assessment of work placement. It also offers value for universities’ by providing insight into students’ perceptions regarding embedded external work activities that can enhance graduate employability and career prospects.     

E-technology and work/life balance for academics with young children

Since the late 1980s, research on post-industrialized economies shows that the boundary between work and family is increasingly becoming blurred. The continuing evolution of e-technology allows work for some to be done anywhere, anytime. This article examines the degree to which e-technology has transferred work into the home lives of academics and how this has affected their work/life balance. Drawing on a study in an Australian university of academics with young children, we utilise the terms ‘work extensification’ and ‘work intensification’ to explore whether these new technologies are a blessing or a curse in their work lives. At the same time we describe the deteriorating working conditions for Australian academics whose work has intensified and extended into their private lives with longer working hours in a speeded up environment. Our findings revealed the use of metaphors such as invasion and intrusion of e-technologies into academics’ homes and their need to establish boundaries to separate work and family life. Most felt that having e-technologies at home was of benefit to their work but they came at a cost to their family life—delivering a blessing and a curse.     

Extended business work placements for teachers: between lived experience and barriers to professionalisation

This article focuses on professional work placements for teachers of business and management. These one-year work placements seek to develop the teachers’ knowledge of the business world, allowing them to improve their teaching practice and produce new pedagogical resources. We examine here, from the teachers’ point of view, two questions: What are the particularities of the work placement as a context for learning (in terms of processes, roles and organisation, products)? What are the effects on their professional development? Two perspectives are articulated. On the one hand, a didactic perspective will examine the reconstruction of ‘business’ as an object to be taught by the teachers. On the other hand, the professionalisation dynamics point of view will examine the shifts in teachers’ perceptions.     

Engineering work integrated learning placements: the influence of capitals on students’ access

ABSTRACT

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is embraced in Australian higher education (HE) and is a feature of most Australian HE ‘entry to profession’ engineering education programs accredited by Engineers Australia. Accreditation guidelines articulate the need for curriculum-integrated engagement with professional practice (EPP) and encourage EPP in a separate workplace environment, e.g. WIL. This article reports on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with staff and student engineers from four Australian HE institutions with mandatory engineering WIL. Framed by a Bourdieusian theoretical perspective, the influence of capitals on student access to engineering WIL placements was investigated. The research found that students’ capitals influenced access to engineering WIL placements. Policy and educational practice recommendations are made.     

Studying the teacher's life and work

This paper is primarily concerned with exploring the question of which strategic focus might be employed when teachers (as researchers) and externally located researchers (normally residing in Faculties of Education) collaborate. The view is advanced that a narrow focus on “practice” in collaborating on research, a panacea that is politically and academically popular at the moment, will not take us too far. A much broader focus on the teacher's life and work is required and is herein advocated.In particular, the paper argues against the focus, currently employed by much of the literature on the teacher as researcher, upon practice. The paper takes a view contrary to this assumption because the parameters to practice whether they be biographical or political cover a very wide terrain. To narrow the focus to “practice as defined” is to make the focus of research a victim of historical circumstances, particularly current political tendencies. At the moment, the New Right is seeking to turn teacher's practice into that of a technician, a routinized and trivianized deliverer of predesigned packages. To accept those definitions, to focus on practice so defined, is therefore to accept a particular political compromise.It is argued that the way out of the cul-de-sac of practice as defined is to focus more broadly on the teacher's life and work. A range of strategies are identified and argued for. Work in this growing area is then reviewed.     

The effect of work placements on the academic performance of Chinese students in UK higher education

The main controversy as a result of the commercialisation of international education markets is that international students especially those from China are unable to perform as well as UK students in UK universities. So far, research has yet to identify the influence of placements on the academic performance of Chinese students from entry to graduation. Using four cohorts of accounting and finance students in a UK university, this present work is the first to find that Chinese students who undertake placements in the third year are seven times more likely to achieve good degrees (2.1 or 1st) than those who opt out of work placements. It is also found that Chinese students who have a high prior academic achievement and better academic results from years 1 and 2 are likely to undertake placements. Finally, the results show that the academic performance of international students is influenced by domicile.     

The impact of compensation,supervision and work design on internship efficacy: implications for educators,employers and prospective interns

Internships are a growing, yet controversial, labour market phenomenon. In particular, the issue of unpaid internships has been the source of legislative, judicial and ethical debate. Some have criticised colleges and universities for promoting an expansion of internships for undergraduate students – with little regard for internship characteristics such as compensation, quality of supervision and work activities. Meanwhile, there is a paucity of research examining the role internship characteristics, such as compensation, supervisor behaviours and work design have on internship efficacy. Based on a survey of undergraduate students in the US, the results showed that supervisor mentoring, the developmental value of the internship and the job pursuit intentions of the intern with the host employer were lower for those reporting on their unpaid internship vs. paid internship. Meanwhile, supervisor support and supervisor mentoring are significant predictors of internship efficacy regardless of internship compensation, while work design has much less of an impact on internship efficacy. The implications of the findings for educators, employers and prospective interns are highlighted.     

Using digital representations of practical production work for summative assessment

This paper presents the findings of the first phase of a three-year study investigating the efficacy of the digitisation of creative practical work as digital portfolios for the purposes of high-stakes summative assessment. At the same time the paired comparisons method of scoring was tried as an alternative to analytical rubric-based marking because we believed that it was likely that a more holistic approach to scoring would be more appropriate. Researchers created digital representations of the practical submissions of 75 Visual Arts and 82 Design students graduating from secondary school in Western Australia. These digital portfolios were scored using the two methods, with the scores compared to those officially awarded to the physical forms. It was concluded that the digital representations of the Visual Arts submissions had adequate fidelity for the purpose of awarding high-stakes scores particularly using the paired comparisons method. However, the Visual Arts teachers and students were opposed to digitisation. For the Design portfolios teachers and students were supportive of digital submission, but the structure of the portfolios reduced the reliability and validity of scores, particularly from analytical marking.     

Using learning environments to create meaningful work for co-op students

For students in cooperative education (co-op) programs, meaningful work is a critical aspect of participation and a key component of program success. However, studies have not explored how meaningful work can be created for co-op students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between co-op students’ perceptions of a learning environment, perceived relatedness of the work experience (to their potential careers and to their academic studies), and self-reported meaningfulness of work. Data were collected from undergraduate co-op students in a Canadian university immediately following a co-op work term. Results from testing a parallel mediation model showed that both forms of relatedness partially mediated the influence of learning environments on self-reported meaningfulness. These findings offer insight into the ways in which work terms can be designed to enhance co-op students’ work experiences.     

实训月——一种工学交替教学的实现方式

本文结合深圳信息职业技术学院采取的一种“工学交替”实现方式——“实训月”教学的实践过程,介绍了“实训月”的思路、方法、意义以及与其教学要求相适应的教学管理配套做法,归纳了在不断的改革、探索下继续完善“实训月”的系列措施和取得的成效。     

A person-centred life in action. A perspective on my life and work

This is a personal perspective of the teaching experience of Haydn Davies. He has worked for 40 years as a teacher in Primary, Secondary, Further and Higher Education, delivering programmes, courses and lectures focused on social education, pastoral care guidance and counselling. He shares his conclusions about education and in particular identifies the work of Carl Rogers as offering the most important guiding principles. From these principles Haydn Davies has worked out a series of activities and outcomes that this article offers for others to explore.     

Systematic strategic planning at a State University: A case study of adapting corporate planning techniques

This paper is a study of the adaption of a typical corporate strategic planning process to a university setting. This midwestern state university with over 22,000 students and a number of doctoral, masters, and baccalaureate programs, found that an ongoing planning process with a yearly cycle offers it a number of advantages not avail-able with its prior approaches. It also found that strategic planning is a culture that takes time before it becomes pervasive in any organization.The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of any organization.     

人工生命进化规划算法浅析

在人工生命基本概念的基础上,对人工生命的生成方法以及生成人工生命的主要算法中进化规划算法的过程和工作流程进行了详细分析.随着进化计算学科的不断发展,各种进化算法相互交流,差异越来越小.