Integration of sustainable development in sanitary engineering education in Sweden

In the Swedish Act for higher education, as well as in the policies of technical universities, it is stated that sustainable development (SD) should be integrated into engineering education. Researchers argue that SD needs to be integrated into the overall course content rather than added as a specific course. In this paper, six engineering lecturers have been interviewed to give their views on how SD can be integrated into teaching water and sanitation engineers. Engineering lecturers seem unsure how to interpret SD in relation to their own specific courses. Students are said to request technical knowledge rather than fuzzy ideas of SD and lecturers struggle to open up the teaching to more problem-based perspectives. Sanitary professionals in work practice relate to SD as a core in water treatment processes and regret that responsibility for SD issues fall between traditional departmental structures in society.     

Giving up technology and social media: why university lecturers stop using technology in teaching

University lecturers use a wide range of technologies when teaching and there has been much research into how particular technologies are adopted. However, there are also many technologies that, despite early promise, are no longer being used in university teaching and have been abandoned by institutions or individuals. This article presents the results of a qualitative investigation into why university lecturers stop using technology. It used detailed episodic narrative interviews to explore the experiences of lecturers using technology in their teaching at three UK universities. While the data provides examples of technologies that were discarded as they became outdated and were replaced by new devices, this was not the only reason that technologies are rejected. The data also demonstrated that even relatively up-to-date or innovative technologies or practices (e.g. the use of Facebook) may be abandoned. The article discusses the participants’ experiences of ceasing to use technology and demonstrates the importance of context in decisions about using technology and social media in teaching. The article argues that studies of technology adoption should be accompanied by research that revisits the sites of these studies to consider how the implementation of technology continues over time and how it comes to an end.     

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.     

Moving out of their comfort zones: enhancing teaching practice in transnational education

This paper investigates the development of teaching practice of the multinational staff delivering UK programmes in a higher education institution in Oman hosting these programmes. It presents a tool to evaluate the teaching practice, and points to those elements of an academic development framework that were found to be most useful in supporting staff in moving towards a student-centred, learning-focused teaching approach. The majority of the lecturers made this shift. We therefore conclude by arguing for long-term CPD aimed at enhancing teaching quality to be part and parcel of a partnership.     

Teacher capabilities in a multicultural educational environment: an analysis of the impact of a professional development project

With more programmes being taught through English in non-Anglophone contexts, higher education lecturers are faced with new challenges. This article briefly presents a professional development initiative carried out at departmental level as an intervention for all English Medium Instruction lecturers. In order to assess the effect of such an intervention, a mix of different data sets are used, moving from self-assessment by participants to observations of individual teaching practices in the classrooms. It is shown how corroboration of surveys and observation reports in an explicit feedback template can be used to evidence the value of the intervention in context.     

Lecturers’ perceptions: The value of assessment rubrics for informing teaching practice and curriculum review and development

ABSTRACT

The assessment rubric is increasingly gaining recognition as a valuable tool in teaching and learning in higher education. While many studies have examined the value of rubrics for students, research into the lecturers’ usage of rubrics is limited. This article explores the lecturers’ perceptions of rubrics, in particular, its use and design, the role it can play in informing one's teaching practice and in curriculum review and development. The data shows that many lecturers use the rubric in a very mechanical and unconscious manner and view it mostly as a grading tool with limited instructional value. While acknowledging the rubric as a reflective tool for students, lecturers do not perceive it as having the same benefits for them. The findings, therefore suggest more conversations around the role that rubrics can play in informing one's teaching practice and course design. It also suggests further research into this area.     

Teaching quality matters in higher education: a case study from Turkey and Slovakia

Despite a growing number of studies on the effectiveness of teaching and quality in higher education, reports indicate that more work is needed regarding meeting expectations in teaching quality, in particular, in investigating lecturers’ application of pedagogical knowledge when transferring discipline-specific knowledge. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of both students and lecturers on teaching in higher education in two countries. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research problems and to obtain sufficiently detailed data. The results indicated a difference between students’ and lecturers’ perceptions regardless of country, highlighting a discrepancy over views on the pedagogical competence of lecturers. Although this was a small-scale study in two countries, the results pointed to the failure of university lecturers to meet students’ expectations in terms of teaching quality. The study suggested that, regardless of subject area, it would be beneficial to emphasize self-reflection, awareness, improvement of teaching skills, and consequent changes in students learning. University administrations should also have realistic expectations of lecturers.     

Lecturers’ text competencies and guidance towards academic literacy

Embedding academic literacy into the curriculum and regular subject teaching has received little attention in Norwegian higher education (HE). The present article, drawing on the findings of two studies carried out in 2013/14, seeks to amend this. The first study, an action research study, exposes how lecturers in one of the faculties at Oslo and Akershus University College perceive their role in teaching and guiding students’ discipline-specific literacy, in particular academic writing. Collaborating with the faculty in a joint action research project, we seek to empower the lecturers, and develop pedagogical methods that are suitable for academic literacy teaching and guidance, and thereby make a change in the institution. The second study analyzes the academic literacy skills and knowledge of new students. We follow students in their final semester in upper secondary school, and identify how they are prepared for academic literacy in HE. Together, the studies reveal that despite the students’ preparation for higher studies, they are not fully qualified for meeting the demands of academic literacy. When entering HE, the students are still in need of guidance to establish textual meta-perspectives and to develop relevant disciplinary literacy practices. However, the lecturers are neither fully qualified for nor willing to include this topic in their content teaching.     

论基础教育课堂教学中师生与教学资源间关系的变化

当前，基础教育改革正在不断地深入发展，教学资源的多样化已越来越引起人们的重视。探讨由传统的教育理念转变到新课程理念下课堂教学中的师生与教学资源之间的关系所发生的变化，使教师和学生能很快地适应这种发展变化，能够准确给自己定位，从而实现个体的全面发展。     

Lecturers' approaches to teaching and their relationship to conceptions of good teaching

Previous research has established a close link between students'conceptions of learning, approaches to study and learning outcomes.Until recently, there have been few studies of lecturers' approaches toteaching in higher education and their relationship with conceptions ofteaching. This study aimed to characterise the alternative approaches toteaching of university lecturers, and to examine the relationshipbetween lecturers' approaches to teaching and their conceptions of goodteaching. This study adopted an open naturalistic approach. Seventeenlecturers in three departments in a university were selected forinterview based on their rank, years of teaching and industrial orprofessional experience. Lecturers were interviewed individually abouttheir conceptions of good teaching, motivational strategies andeffective teaching. The interview records were then content analysed bythe two researchers of the study. The study found that (a) it waspossible to characterise lecturers' approaches to teaching with onemotivation and five strategy dimensions; (b) the conceptions of teachingof the lecturers were best described by two main orientations oftransmissive and facilitative teaching; (c) lecturers who conceivedteaching as transmitting knowledge were more likely to usecontent-centred approaches to teaching, while those who conceivedteaching as facilitative tended to use learning-centred approaches. Thestudy concludes by suggesting that fundamental changes to the quality ofteaching and learning are unlikely to happen without changes tolecturers' conception of teaching.     

Evaluating academic development in the higher education sector: academic developers’ reflections on using a toolkit resource

The professionalisation of teaching is of increasing importance in UK higher education due to converging processes including the proliferation of managerialism, increasing quality agendas and changes to student fee structures. These have brought into sharp relief the need for greater understanding of how quality teaching evolves in university settings. One key element of this involves academic development and its impacts on teaching and learning. Current literature suggests that a plethora of ideas, frameworks and instruments claiming best practice exist but that take-up of these is inconsistent. This prompted a UK national research project which produced an evidence-based toolkit for evaluating academic development. As part of the toolkit augmentation, academic development representatives from across the sector were asked to create, review and test uniquely tailored evaluation instruments. These instruments were then piloted on university teachers who had participated in teaching-related continuing professional development activities. This paper reports on these individuals’ reflections of using the toolkit. It suggests that academic developers are interested in evaluating the impact of their work on teachers, students and on the wider institutional culture but that confidence and expertise varies. Using the toolkit generated ‘traditional’ evaluation data including satisfaction with the development activity and changes to lecturers’ conceptions and behaviours. However, it also prompted critical discussions around current evaluation practice. This included the need for transformational reform of institutional culture to support links between evaluation and good standing; and making explicit the thorny issue of evidencing student learning. This paper will be of interest to those with an interest or responsibility for evaluating teaching in higher education. The paper offers an important contribution to the international literature at a time when global higher education is faced with questions about teaching, learning and quality. Evaluation, and how to do it well, is timely and important business.     

Learning about university teaching: reflections on a research study investigating influences for change

This article reflects on findings from research involving case studies of four novice lecturers enrolled on a one-year university teaching development programme. The study sought to contribute to an understanding of the process of pedagogic change and the influences which affect it. Findings suggest that key aspects of the lecturers’ experience ‘disturb’ core beliefs, producing tensions between beliefs. As a result of this, the lecturers’ pedagogic perspective, that is their sense of what is possible, plausible and desirable, is adjusted. In this way the dialogue between an individual practitioner's lived experience and their pedagogic perspective can be said to play a significant role in the way in which the potential for change is individually defined. On the basis of my findings, I identify implications for the design and delivery of university teaching development.     

Online Learning as a catalyst for reshaping practice – The experiences of some academics developing online learning materials

While tertiary teaching staff are familiar with teaching strategies used in traditional course delivery, the design and delivery of courses integrating new technologies such as online materials poses new challenges for many. Hence, although technology may be used, its use is often at a superficial level, failing to have significant impact on teaching practice. Motivated by the authors' belief that the development of online learning materials is an endeavour aimed at improving the quality of the learning environment, this paper explores the experiences of several lecturers within Griffith University as they engage in the design and development of online materials as part of the university's flexible learning initiative. Insights into the experiences and perceptions of teaching staff developing online materials are used to highlight issues that can then be used to inform appropriate professional development support for tertiary staff. This in turn will enable the integration of technology into the learning environment to act as a catalyst for positive changes to teaching practice.     

How much role conflict is there in the job of university lecturer? An international comparison

Teaching members of two South African and two Nigerian universities were asked to rate the importance of four roles in their jobs; teaching, administration, research, and character building of students. The Nigerian lecturers rated teaching and character building as more important than did the South African lecturers, who rated research as more important than did the Nigerian lecturers. In both countries the emphasis on research was positively related to the prestige and size of the university; while that on teaching and character building was greater in both countries among lecturers in the humanities than among those in the natural sciences. The results are interpreted in the light of the growing conflict faced by lecturers between the research role (to secure promotion, tenure, and salary increments) and the teaching and character development roles (to satisfy students).     

Social constructivist teaching methods in Australian universities – reported uptake and perceived learning effects: a survey of lecturers

Pragmatic social constructivist teaching methods require students to construct knowledge by engaging collaboratively with realistic problems, cases or projects. It is hypothesised that they are more effective than traditional didactic teaching methods in developing undergraduate students’: (1) theoretical knowledge; (2) profession‐specific skills; and (3) knowledge creation capacity. Results of a survey show the second and third learning effects to be salient among Australian university lecturers, but not the first. Lecturers report that these teaching methods have been adopted more widely in human service‐related faculties and design‐related faculties than in business‐related faculties, possibly owing to the lesser emphasis placed by business lecturers on developing students’ profession‐specific skills and knowledge creation capacity. A corresponding survey of business practitioners revealed a surprising gap between the value that business practitioners place on new graduates’ knowledge creation capacity and the rather limited emphasis that business lecturers place upon developing that capacity in their undergraduate students.     

Analysis and evaluation of lecturers’ activity in Learning Management Systems: Subjective and objective perceptions

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become the principal resource for the distribution of educational material and collaboration among lecturers and students in Higher Education. The potential of these platforms does not limit to a simple manager of contents, but they also offer a wide range of tools that support the development of different methodologies according to the learning modality, namely on-campus, blended or online. This work analyzes the use of LMS and the interactions with their different tools from the lecturers’ point of view, in order to detect possible incidents, check the tools’ utility and evaluate their complexity. All these metrics represent valuable information to the Degree Coordinators, if they are presented in a suitable manner, to detect and resolve deficiencies in the methodology. For the analysis of the teaching activity two methods are employed: (1) surveys, to measure the subjective perception of lecturers when using LMS tools; and (2) visual analysis of the real lecturer’s activity through OnlineData, a graphical analytic tool developed as part of our work to monitor LMS tools metrics. The results of both methods show differences among the perceived self-usage and actual usage, especially for the e-learning methodologies     

‘I'm a dancer’ and ‘I've got a saucepan stuck on my head’: metaphor in helping lecturers to develop being-for-uncertainty

University lecturers need to help their students to develop ways of being that will allow them to flourish amidst uncertainty. Professional development workshops involving artwork and reflection provide a space where lecturers themselves can hold, examine and develop tolerance for uncertainty. Artwork and exploration of metaphors enable them to reflect on who they are as teachers, and what teaching means to them; two enquiries that are likely to involve some encounters with uncertainty. Two series of art workshops were offered to 11 nurse educators over two periods of three months. The workshops were characterised by exploration of metaphors, which allowed participants to draw on and move beyond naïve inquiry. Photographs of their artwork are presented, which demonstrate that participants were enabled to make a restorative space in their workplace, stay with ambiguity and re-embody their thinking.     

Exploring impact of accreditation on higher education in developing countries: a Vietnamese view

This study investigates the viewpoints of higher education managers, staff, lecturers and students on the impacts of accreditation in institutional quality management. These views are explored via a case study approach involving semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders at a leading university in Vietnam. The study’s results suggest that accreditation influences most of the university’s management activities, including programmes, teaching activities, lecturers, supporting staff, learners and facilities. We argue the influence of accreditation contributes significantly to enhancing the university’s quality of teaching, learning, research and management. Recommendations for improvement in the use of accreditation results are proposed.     

CDIO工程教育模式下高职教师角色转变研究

CDIO工程教育模式的教学改革中,要求高职教师的角色进行转变。要求教师具有良好的工程实践能力、教学能力和良好的职业道德。教师的角色从课堂的讲授者转变为引导者、设计者,必须采取各种措施应对教师角色的转变,不断提高教师的工程实践能力、教学能力、学习能力、项目开发能力以及对学生的考核能力等。