DEVELOPMENT AND UTILIZATION OF A FACULTY TIME ANALYSIS SYSTEM ‐AN AID TO ACCOUNTABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This article describes the development and utility of a time analysis system for higher education faculty members interested in self‐evaluation. Although many higher education institutions employ various student, peer, and administrative evaluations, an analysis of the types of services performed by faculty staff and the amounts of time allotted to these services can provide very useful information to a faculty person interested in self‐evaluation. A model is described herein and an example is provided.     

ASSISTING QUALITY ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF SLOVENIA

There are two universities in Slovenia which undertake research and teaching and offer professional services. The quality of the research performed by faculty members is assured by strict quantitative bibliographical criteria employed in the faculty rank award procedure. The criteria for teaching quality are less well defined. The new Higher Education Act of 1993, organized university staff development, the appearance of an integrated information system, and student evaluation of faculty teaching performance with the aid of student questionnaires can all be regarded as extrinsic assistance to intrinsic efforts on the part of faculty, students, and their organizations. Slovenia will endeavour to broaden and deepen its co‐operation with international organizations and foundations in the field of quality assessment and improvement of higher education institutions, particularly the quality of the teaching they offer.     

How has Mexican faculty been trained? A national perspective and a case study

This article depicts how faculty members at Mexican higher education institutions have been prepared in order to assume their professional responsibilities. It relies on three elements: First, a secondary analysis of a national faculty survey composed of 3,861 faculty members from 65 institutions; second, 34 interviews conducted in eight higher education institutions; third, a primary analysis of an institution faculty survey in a public autonomous university. Results are presented regarding the following issues: first, the central traits of anticipatory or formative in-site faculty socialization; second, the changes in the highest degree faculty obtained at entry into academic life as compared to the obtained degree at the time of the survey; third, the formative time patterns during faculty’s higher education training, fourth, the conditions of study under which faculty members obtained their graduate degrees; and fifth, the academic inbreeding phenomenon.     

CORRECTIONAL POST‐SECONDARY EDUCATION: THE EXPANDING ROLE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES

More than 75 percent of post‐secondary institutions offering education programs in prisons are community and vocational/ technical colleges. The predominance of community colleges among correctional education providers is a major change from the early 1970's when two‐thirds of such programs were provided by four‐year institutions.

Over 260 community colleges provide programs and services to the 26,000 inmates participating in higher education. Results of a survey on correctional post‐secondary education indicate that these programs are in many ways different from those educational institutions provide on their own campuses. For example, they generally, have different admission standards, are administered by part‐time staff, and rely upon part‐time and adjunct faculty.

Community and junior college administrators are urged to closely examine the operation and quality of their correctional programs and the need for evaluative research on the long‐term effects of these programs is also stressed.     

高校内部质量保证工作:学生评教

我国许多高校正在建立并开始运行校内教育质量保证体系。学生评教是其中的重要工作之一。本文主要针对高校教师和质量保证工作人员,详细阐述外国和中国香港一些高校学生评教的做法,力求在认识上有所启发,在工作上有所指导和参照。其中包括拟订学校对教师课堂教学的质量要求,精心设计问卷调查表,细心运作学生评教的调查全过程,关于学生评教可靠性与正确性的研究综述,强调培育和提升学校质量文化的重要性。     

Staff Self‐Appraisal at the Departmental Level: A Case Study

The introduction of academic staff appraisal in higher education institutions in Australia will require a considerable expansion in staff development facilities. An important issue will be the relative emphasis to be placed upon central staff development units as against structures at the faculty or departmental level. This case study, conducted at Macquarie University and aimed at improving teaching in higher education, explores the Self‐Appraisal Workshop as one such structure and suggests that it provides a very useful format at the faculty or departmental level because it brings together people teaching similar course units. As a result it is easier to integrate aspects such as curriculum design, assessment policies, academic content and teaching methods, than it is at the central level where staff development workshops usually have a cross‐faculty mix. An evaluation, based upon student ratings of teaching, interviews and staff reflection on the process, suggests that the Self‐Appraisal Workshop is a valuable technique for staff appraisal and development.     

“Pretty Darned Cold”: Single Mother Students and the Community College Climate in Post-Welfare Reform America

Feminist analyses of the “chilly climate” have documented the ways in which women have been and continue to be marginalized within institutions of higher education. Yet there has been little attention to the relationship between the “chilly climate” and the lived experiences of particular populations in specific educational settings. This article attends to that relationship and draws on a two-year ethnographic study that focused on single mothers attending a community college in the Midwestern United States. Situating their experiences within the particulars of post-welfare reform America and the dynamics of the institution they attend, I argue that the educational climate these women face is particularly chilly, something that is evident in the various attitudes, practices, and policies they encounter in their interactions with faculty, staff, and other students. In addition to analyzing the ways in which the “chilly climate” influences both academic and social aspects of single mother students' experiences, I offer specific suggestions for ways in which colleges and universities can create a more welcoming and supportive environment for members of this particular student population.     

Globalization and higher education in Southern California: views from the professoriate

In this study, faculty at institutions of higher education in Southern California were surveyed to determine the ways they interpret the effects of globalization dynamics upon their various teaching and research activities. Faculty in the state’s three higher education tiers spoke positively about the intellectual benefits to be gained by exposure to different worldviews made possible by an increasingly diverse faculty and student body. Divisions were noted among the different tiers, however, with respect to their disparate levels of engagement with the private sector. The private sector was seen as having a negative impact upon the public sector’s research agenda while simultaneously being embraced by faculty at the community colleges. Faculty at the research institutions were typically critical of the overarching neoliberal paradigm and spoke in political terms about the ways this largely economic‐efficiency model was reorienting their teaching and research roles.     

French academics: Between the professions and the civil service

In France, where most higher education institutions are in the public sector, permanent academic staff at universities and other higher education institutions are tenured and enjoy a broad individual autonomy. The number of staff on short-term contracts is limited. Most part-time staff are drawn from professionals, business executives, and administrators – in both the public and private sectors. In recent decades, the number of teaching-only faculty expanded rapidly as tenured secondary school teachers were transferred to higher education institutions. As universities have acquired some autonomy, especially in academic matters, recruitment and promotion of staff combine elements of centralisation at the national level with local processes. Some degree of pay differentiation has been introduced through a growing use of supplementary compensation. As the system evolves toward increased self-governance of institutions, the autonomy enjoyed by the faculty is seen by administrators as an obstacle to the development of institutional policies.     

Veteran Ally: Practical Strategies for Closing the Military-Civilian Gap on Campus

Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was enacted in 2009, student veteran populations have nearly doubled while services that support their transition to higher education have dramatically increased. Despite a surge in resources, however, institutions are deficient in training faculty and staff about veterans’ issues, consequently leaving student veterans susceptible to inaccurate perceptions about their service and wellbeing. In an effort to provide an inclusive environment for service members, this article discusses findings from two focus groups and 14 interviews with student veterans. Recommendations for training faculty and staff and enhancing the visibility of veterans’ issues through Veteran Ally training and student veteran discussion panels are discussed.     

Mentoring circles in higher education

Traditionally, mentoring in higher education institutions has either occurred informally or as a planned program where junior staff members are matched with experienced staff members in a formal one‐to‐one program. While such programs have reported benefits to participants, many miss out on the opportunity. Further, mentoring dyads do little to enhance a more collaborative atmosphere in higher education settings. Alternative mentoring methods do exist and can provide advantages to the traditional approach. Mentoring circles are an innovative example of these alternative methods. The mentoring activity and subsequent evaluation described in this paper sought to explore the perceived benefits of a group mentoring model for academic staff.     

How academics view their work

Twenty-four members of the academic staff of an Australian university were interviewed in 1979 in order to seek their views on the ways in which their professional lives were being affected by the current recession in higher education. Their responses have been drawn upon to construct a picture of how this group of university teachers perceive their working environment and their own place within it. The comments cluster around seven topics: teaching, students, research, colleagues, career prospects, the university, and the quality of academic life. It is concluded that the responses suggest that there is a widening gap between academic ideals and institutional realities and that this will have a strongly negative effect upon the morale of the profession.     

Student faculty evaluation (SFE) at Jordanian universities: a student perspective

This study is the first to address student evaluation of faculty members (SFE) from a student perspective at a major Jordanian public university using a comprehensive (71-item) questionnaire administered to 620 undergraduates. Addressed are students’ perceptions of the SFE process in terms of: (a) their paper-based vs. online-format preferences; (b) their beliefs about the process; (c) the standards they adopt in the evaluation; (d) the fruitfulness of SFE outcomes; and (e) their opinions about the evaluation instruments currently used at their institutions. It also explores whether students’ beliefs vary according to their gender, GPA and college (Educational Sciences vs. Sciences). The results reveal that most students prefer online evaluation, adopt academic rather than interpersonal criteria in their evaluation, have a low level of satisfaction with the impact of previous evaluations on faculty teaching behaviours and the evaluation instruments used at their institution. Additionally, the findings suggest that gender has a less influential role in shaping students’ beliefs about the SFE process compared to their college or GPA. The findings of this study and their implications are very useful pointers for faculty and higher education administrators, faculty members and students towards further improvement at higher education institutions.     

新时期加强高校教师人力资源开发的思考

高校间的竞争，其实就是教师人才的竞争。高校要提高自身的整体竞争力，就必须加大教师人力资源开发力度。要从战略高度出发，统一思想认识，做好高校教师人力资源开发规划；要根据高校实际情况，制定一整套包括选人、用人、育人和留人等政策和措施；要突出重点，围绕学校学科建设的需要，增强人才引进的针对性和有效性；要与时俱进建立与教师人力资源开发配套的机制。     

Lived experiences and reflections of joint NCATE‐state reviews

Abstract

Teacher education faculty members, state certification officers, and NCATE staff share what they have learned from their NCATE‐state joint review and accreditation visits. Dilemmas concerning the joint review are addressed and include (a) proactive versus reactive measures for institutions of higher education and state affiliations of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, (b) issues of partnership versus separateness, and (c) process versus product frameworks in planning and documenting growth. Conceptual and practical suggestions are offered for working collaboratively to develop high quality teacher education programs and successful joint review and accreditation visits.     

澳大利亚TAFE教师发展的实践模式及其启示

作为澳大利亚高等教育的重要组成部分,澳大利亚TAFE一直在寻求教育质量提升的有效途径,在教师发展方面进行了许多尝试,形成了自己的特色。本文以笔者赴澳培训掌握的一手资料为基础,以澳大利亚TAFE新南威尔士州悉尼学院为案例,对TAFE教师发展的实践现状进行梳理和分析,总结出TAFE以教学发展、个人发展和组织发展为内涵且三位一体的教师发展实践模式。     

An English Perspective on Change in Initial Teacher Education

This paper describes the changes which have taken place recently in England with respect to the control, the content and the location of secondary initial teacher education. It identifies ways in which control of initial teacher education has been moved away from higher‐education institutions, which prescribe content more and emphasise competence‐based course requirements, and how the location has moved significantly from the higher‐education institution into the school. Some implications for Australian practice are considered in the context of recent criticism of the current situation.     

Considerations for Faculty Preparing to Develop and Teach Online Criminal Justice Courses at Traditional Institutions of Higher Learning

Criminal justice programs at traditional institutions of higher learning have been moving toward offering courses online and, in some cases, placing entire programs online for the better part of the past decade. In competition with for‐profit institutions, many traditional colleges and universities have expanded their distance education programming to include online courses and programs to attract students. As a result, the number of criminal justice students has increased, as have the profits for home institutions. With this growth in the online education market, the criminal justice faculty member has been thrust, willingly or unwillingly, into the world of online teaching—a method of instruction foreign to many instructors. From the authors’ experience at their current (and in the case of the lead author a second) institution, this paper addresses many issues that must be considered by faculty members before embarking on this type of time‐intensive initiative.     

远程教育教师发展途径的成效分析

随着远程教育的快速发展,教师发展问题已经受到远程教育机构越来越多的重视。如何更好地促进远程教育教师的发展,即教师发展途径的问题,在理论和政策上已有诸多探讨,但这些探讨大多是从应然的角度对远程教育教师和教育机构提出的理想化要求,并没有切身关注教师的实际需求、期望和实效。以这一研究视角为切入点,通过调查某开放大学全体专职教师对教师发展途径实效的看法,结果发现：在我国远程教育系统目前主要存在的8种教师发展途径中,＂学历深造＂的认可度最高,＂自我反思＂是最具弹性和自主化的发展途径,＂同行交流与互助＂比＂专家指导＂具有更大的实效,＂校外培训＂比＂校本培训＂的实效更好,＂教研活动＂的实际帮助程度较低,＂竞赛和公开课＂的实效最低。为了促进远程教育教师持续而系统的发展,远程教育机构应积极探索新的远程教育教师发展系统,既要明确身份和定位,从制度和组织层面进行系统规划,又要为教师发展途径的选择提供弹性和灵活性,更要注重教师发展途径具体的实践性和情境性,以此来重构、重组和优化远程教育教师发展系统的可能空间。     

The Rise of the Australian Comprehensive University

Australia is now moving into a unitary system of higher education following the current merger of the advanced education sector with the universities. As Australia will be without a non‐university higher education alternative, the resultant institutions are appropriately termed comprehensive universities. This article examines government policies which resulted in this extensive restructuring and discusses inadequacies in the conceptualisation of the post‐Dawkins university. Responses to the prospect of nationwide amalgamations and the ways in which they are being carried out are also discussed. Reference is made to the main challenges which will confront the new comprehensive universities.

Some have called the new changes in Australian higher education “a revolution”, a characterisation which is not altogether hyperbolic.