Developing an action learning way of working within a leadership context in higher education: barriers and enablers

This account of practice considers action learning within an accredited leadership course at a post-1992 university. It outlines a more individualistic approach than that envisioned by Reg Revans and questions how this technique, inherited from a Staff Development colleague, could potentially be improved.     

以就业能力为导向的高职考试制度改革创新

考试制度改革是高职教育改革的重要内容,变革现有的考试制度早已势在必行。创新高职考试改革模式,要突出高职教育的职业性,并以提高就业能力为终极目的。为此提出了以就业能力为导向的学习过程监督的形成性考核方式,以提高学生综合能力为目的的终结性和鉴定性考试方法和科学多样的考核题型,以及获取提升就业能力的“双证书”制度。     

Action learning in virtual higher education: applying leadership theory

This paper reports the historical foundation of Northeastern University’s course, LDR 6100: Developing Your Leadership Capability, a partial literature review of action learning (AL) and virtual action learning (VAL), a course methodology of LDR 6100 requiring students to apply leadership perspectives using VAL as instructed by the author, questionnaire and survey results of students who evaluated the effectiveness of their application of leadership theories using VAL and insights believed to have been gained by the author administering VAL. Findings indicate most students thought applying leadership perspectives using AL was better than considering leadership perspectives not using AL. In addition as implemented in LDR 6100, more students evaluated VAL positively than did those who assessed VAL negatively.     

Gender in the neoliberalised global academy: the affective economy of women and leadership in South Asia

As higher education (HE) institutions globally become increasingly performative, competitive and corporatised in response to neoliberal rationalities, the exigencies of HE leadership are being realigned to accommodate its value system. This article draws on recent British Council-funded research, including 30 semi-structured interviews, to explore women’s engagement with leadership in HE in South Asia. A potent affective economy was discovered. Leadership was associated with affects such as competitiveness, aggression, impropriety, stress and anxiety, in ways that were intensified by highly patriarchal and corporatised HE cultures. Indeed, its difficulties and toxicities meant that leadership was rejected or resisted as an object of desire by many women. We illuminate how different forms of competition contribute to the affective economy of HE leadership. The research also raises wider questions about the possibilities of disrupting dominant neoliberal constructions of HE if those who question such values are excluded (or self-exclude) from leadership positions.     

Promoting diversity in creative art education: the case of Fine Art at Goldsmiths,University of London

Students studying art at university in the United Kingdom tend to be female, from higher social classes and from majority ethnic groups. This paper considers some of the complex and deeply-rooted social and economic factors that militate against wider participation in the arts and describes how we started to tackle under-representation at Goldsmiths using a participatory action research approach. Working in partnership with local colleges, the project aimed to increase student diversity and widen participation in the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art Degree. The need for university applicants to have the ‘right sort’ of cultural capital is particularly marked in Fine Art, indicating that standard widening participation aspiration-raising activities would not solve the problem. A range of interventions were developed to support potential applicants, underpinned by participatory action research. The flexibility and responsiveness of the research model allowed us to reflect on and respond to issues as they arose and to achieve immediate positive impact.     

对我国高校创新型人才培养的探索

创建创新型国家,呼吁创新型人才培养。高校作为创新型人才培养的重要阵地,有着丰富的教育资源,其学术自由的优良传统为创新型人才的培养提供了较为宽松的环境。然而,目前对于我国高校创新型人才培养体系的认识还存在诸多问题,难以适应时代发展和创新型国家建设的需要。为此,迫切需要根据时代发展的要求,重建我国大学创新人才培养体系,为培养创新型人才营造良好的教育环境,搭建创新教育的平台。     

Education for sustainability within early childhood studies: collaboration and inquiry through projects with children

This paper considers an Action Research project which was implemented to establish a shared understanding of the term ‘Education for Sustainable development’ within the context of an Early Childhood Studies degree. Students engaged in projects with children and local early years’ providers, and the research aligns with previous work undertaken by Siraj-Blatchford, Smith, and Samuelsson (2010. Education for Sustainable Development in the Early Years. Organisation Mondiale Pour ?Education Prescolaire (OMEP)), which explored the role of education for sustainability in the field of Early Childhood Education. With the lingering and persistent preoccupation with testing, results and outcomes in early childhood education, compulsory school education and higher education the research aimed to capture the idea of the student as a change agent with opportunities to work with children as agents of change. The main findings lean towards participatory action research as an emancipatory reminder that research does not need to be a technical activity and the voices and actions of children, students and early childhood educators can be foregrounded in a way that validates authentic involvement by all participants.     

"院校研究"是什么,不是什么--解读美国"院校研究"

"院校研究"是流行于欧美高等教育领域的一个专门术语.就美国的经验而言,"院校研究"可以理解为"是研究者基于本校情境、针对院校运行中的实际问题所作的应用性研究,是高等学校为改进管理决策、促进院校发展而设定的一个专门的实践领域".作为一种独特的研究形式,"院校研究"有别于传统意义上的"高等教育研究".它是高等教育研究的一种新的范式,是现代高等学校实施科学化管理的重要手段.     

When practice takes precedence: conceptions of inquiry and the link to ethical posture

Using participatory action research (PAR), this paper explores the ethical practice of students engaged in practitioner research in a higher education context. Using narrative enquiry, the paper explores the participants’ experiences of practitioner research, including ethical dilemmas that resulted from a conflict of values between the practitioner and research roles. We postulate a multi-dimensional approach to ethical practice known as ‘ethical posture’ emerging from our consideration of conceptions of inquiry that resulted in contrasting ethical behaviour.     

家庭社会资本与高等教育选择的关系研究——以云南省为例

教育公平问题一直是教育界研究的一个重点、热点问题,归根结底是一个权利、机会等资源分配和再分配问题,尤其是分配标准在其中起到了关键作用。不同层次的家庭拥有的教育资源对高等教育机会分配产生的影响是迥异的。家庭社会资本能够作为家庭代际关系资本转移的桥梁,直接或间接地影响子女高等教育机会的分配。文章以法国社会学家皮埃尔.布迪厄提出的文化资本理论为指导,从家庭社会资本的维度出发,通过实证分析可知,家庭社会资本对子女高等教育机会分配方面有显著性影响。     

Cutting through the hype: evaluating the innovative potential of new educational technologies through business model analysis

In an era when novel educational technologies are constantly introduced to the marketplace, often accompanied by hyperbolic claims that these ground-breaking innovations will transform the educational landscape, decision makers in educational institutions need a methodological approach for examining the innovative potential of new educational technologies. This paper employs a framework based on business model analysis to evaluate the innovative potential of new educational technologies. A short discussion of organisational innovation is followed by a presentation of the business model concept and a framework for analysing the strategic impact of a novel technology on an organisation’s business model. The proposed framework is presented in the context of educational organisations in general, and that of higher education and the massive open online course phenomenon in particular. Decision-makers and researchers of innovation in higher education can use this business model analysis framework to systematically evaluate the potential strategic value of an educational technology to a particular higher education institution.     

浅谈高校教学秘书的工作职责及创新能力培养

随着我国高等教育的不断普及和教育事业的迅猛发展,高等学校教学秘书在教学管理过程中发挥着越来越重要的作用。本文就高校教学秘书的工作职责,工作中应具备的素质以及创新能力的培养几个方面进行了阐述和分析。     

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.     

问题及其确立:高等教育研究活动的逻辑起点

问题是整个高等教育研究活动的逻辑起点,也是高等教育研究的灵魂,能够发现并提出有价值的研究问题是高等教育研究者的必备素质。问题的特点有三,第一,问题是在已经存在的理论和现实事物基础上产生的;第二,问题与主体(人)密切相关;第三,问题是不断发展的。高等教育的研究问题主要来源于高等教育实践和现有高等教育理论之间的矛盾,来源于高等教育理论内部以及高等教育和其他学科理论之间所产生的矛盾和问题。高等教育研究者在选择并确定研究问题时,要注意处理好真问题与假问题、热点问题与冷门问题、有重大价值的问题与自己能胜任的问题、他人的问题与自己的问题这四对关系,从而保证选好研究问题,使研究活动有一个好的开端。     

中国高等教育研究:进展、问题与前景

中国高等教育研究经历了萌芽阶段、“非制度化阶段”后 ,在 2 0世纪 70年代进入蓬勃发展的新时期 ,取得了丰富成果。中国高等教育研究起步晚、起点高、发展快、全方位、多层面、队伍大 ,许多研究成果具有全局性、深刻性、前瞻性。在取得巨大成就的同时 ,中国高等教育研究还存在一系列不容回避和忽视的问题 ,亟待进行理念、方法、科研管理体制以及评价体系的创新。展望未来 ,中国高等教育研究在高等教育学理论体系的探索方面将取得新的进展 ,将更加关注重大理论和现实问题 ,研究主体将进一步多元化 ,研究成果表达方式将多样化 ,研究方法将更加科学化 ,中国高等教育研究将走向世界。     

The emergence of online teaching practices: a socio-material analysis

The aim of this article was to analyse relations between online teaching practices and their virtual material arrangements. Two higher education online settings were studied using an online ethnographic approach in which observation of the teaching process was of central importance. The first setting was a course in education carried out on itslearning^© (a learning management system) and the second setting was a language course in Second Life^® (a virtual world). A socio-material perspective based on practice theory was used in the analysis, and the focal point was the co-constitutive relation between teaching practices and material arrangements in online settings. A number of relations between practice and arrangement were identified and analysed in the results section. It is argued that the relation between online arrangements and practice is not fixed and determined beforehand, but emerges and alters as the teaching unfolds.     

The I3E model for embedding education for sustainability within higher education institutions

This paper presents an evidence-based model (the I3E model) for embedding education for sustainability (EfS) within a higher education institution. This model emerged from a doctoral research that examined organisational learning and change processes at the University of Southampton to build EfS into the university curriculum. The researcher aimed to learn from real practice through acting as a facilitator for curriculum development in EfS within an interdisciplinary group of academic staff members. A critical friend position was also acquired within a community of practice to implement a programme which attempted to embed sustainability within the student experience. The I3E model identifies four overarching components that can support universities in their aim to embed EfS within the undergraduate curriculum. These integrated components are: Inform the university community about sustainability; Engage the different university stakeholders in the change process towards sustainability; Empower individuals and groups to make change happen within their sphere of influence and action; and Embed sustainability within existing university structures.     

高等教育人力资本集聚对技术创新的空间效应——以湖北省地级市为例的实证分析

基于湖北省2007—2018年12个主要城市的面板数据,分析高等教育人力资本集聚对技术创新的空间效应。研究发现,湖北技术创新水平在市际尺度具有显著的全局和局部空间自相关特征。考虑空间相关性后,无论使用相邻矩阵还是地理反距离矩阵,静态和动态空间杜宾模型回归结果表明,高等教育人力资本集聚对技术创新水平存在显著正向空间溢出效应;动态空间杜宾模型回归结果及其空间效应分解结果表明,城市高等教育人力资本集聚显著促进了本地城市发明创造类技术创新水平的提升。此外,城市经济发展水平、政府投入和产业结构也是影响技术创新水平空间差异的重要因素。因此,政府应激发基础产业技术创新水平,鼓励跨区域人才合作与协同创新。     

Research Experiences of Staff within a Specialist UK Higher Education Institution: Challenges,opportunities and priorities

The study discussed here was based on a collective case approach involving a specialist UK higher education institution. Six individual interviews were carried out with a cross-sectional sample of the institution’s staff members. Additional information was gained through observations and examination of relevant documents. These data were interrogated with the purpose of exploring how the institution had made the transition from a teacher training college to a teaching-led higher education institution with a particular commitment to developing research capacity. This analysis yielded a number of key findings: first, the institution had experienced a cultural shift, with research forming a more noticeable profile; second, practitioner-oriented research was the dominant research endeavour; and third, there appeared to be an incomplete understanding of the potential of research to change a staff member’s career and teaching practice. The article concludes by giving consideration to the implications of the findings.