Auditing and Evaluating University–Community Engagement: Lessons from a UK Case Study

The growing importance of community and public engagement activities in universities has led to an increasing emphasis on auditing and evaluating university–community partnerships. However, the development of effective audit and evaluation tools is still at a formative stage. This article presents a case study of the University of Brighton's experience of evaluating such partnerships. Drawing on this experience, a review of the literature and an analysis of published measurement frameworks, the challenges of measuring community and public engagement are discussed and a typology of dimensions for university public engagement presented. A critique of the Brighton case study and the lessons learned provides a basis for clarifying the activities that universities might want to measure and the key questions they need to ask when determining which tools are appropriate.     

The roots of Paulo Freire’s Praxis

This paper examines how local knowledge is employed in environmental adult education in a community‐based ecotourism project in an island community in southern Thailand. The study is based on field research and analysis of project websites, media reports and documents. Situated at the intersection of global tourism and a local Thai–Malay Muslim fishing community, the ecotourism project functions as an alternative tourism development model challenging dominant practices of mass tourism. In the project, tourists stay as guests in local homes, and learn firsthand from family and community ecotourism guides. The informal ecotourism ‘curriculum’ for tourists centres on local knowledge of tidal and marine ecosystems, environmental conservation efforts, local culture, and traditional livelihood activities. Tourists learn experientially to understand and appreciate this local knowledge, and in the process, contribute to the sustenance of the community, to the preservation of culture, and to the conservation of the marine resources upon which the community depends. Members of the ecotourism project, for their part, have engaged in a wide range of adult learning over the project’s lifespan. This learning includes skills and knowledge in ecotourism management, environmental conservation, cross‐cultural exchange and political activism. Although the advent of mass tourism on the island now threatens to overwhelm the local community, the capacity for environmental adult education, adult learning and political activism built up over many years by members of the ecotourism project will likely help to moderate, if not control, the deleterious effects of future commercial development.     

大学生创业的SWOT分析及对策探究

随着高校扩招以及全球金融危机的影响,大学生就业形势不容乐观,自主创业成为目前缓解就业压力的一种途径。然而,大学生创业还面临着许多困难和问题。本文通过SWOT分析方法,对大学生创业过程中存在的问题进行分析,从政府、高校、大学生三方面就怎样提高大学生创业成功率作出相关的对策建议。     

Building Strong Community Partnerships: Equal Voice and Mutual Benefits

This article explores an urban partnership and service-learning project deliberately created to improve literacy and strengthen learning communities in an urban, Latino neighborhood of Chicago. The project aligns activities and objectives with resources and needs of university participants, a Latino community organization, and local public schools. The needs addressed include (a) improving literacy achievement in Latino students, (b) improving literacy instruction, (c) expanding students’ awareness and engagement with social injustices, and (d) exploring barriers to literacy access in students’ homes and community. This project serves as a model for developing partnerships and outreach between higher education institutions and the community.     

Towards the idea of the interconnected university for sustainable community development

Universities have long been considered to possess the capacity that can foster local community development in a developing context such as in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, it is not clear what disposition the university should adopt, given the complexity surrounding its mission in a changing landscape. Drawing on the meaning of community development and the centrality of the idea of ‘working together’ to effect ‘change’ associated with it, the research underpinning this article investigated how well the university can effectively respond to local needs and stimulate development. Interviews and focus-group discussions took place with university and community participants drawn from disparate backgrounds within a Cameroonian context on the nature of a local university's community engagement. The findings reveal that the university's capacity to enhance local development could be engendered through interconnections within its community, as well as with the wider community. This article maintains that the premise of the interconnected university can be drawn on African philosophy of Ubuntu and buttressed by narrowing existing power gaps through the fostering of transparency, decentralisation and democratic values so that constructive dialogue can ensue within the university and between it and the wider community.     

Is Online Learning the Silver Bullet for Men of Color? An Institutional-Level Analysis of the California Community College System

The spread of online courses and programs in community colleges across the nation has contributed to a redefinition of open-access education. Accordingly, the growth in online courses has drawn attention to the value of different instructional modalities, particularly with regard to their effectiveness in learning, retention, and success. As a result, this study sought to determine whether or not there were differences in students’ academic success and course retention for community college men by racial/ethnic affiliation. This study used institutional data on men enrolled in California’s community college system to provide greater insight into the effect of online learning on student success. Findings illustrated that Asian, Black, Latino, and White men were more likely to have higher success outcomes when engaged in face-to-face modalities. There were no clear patterns in which online modality was better than others with regards to success, except for Black men. For these men, asynchronous with multimedia was identified as the second most effective online modality pertaining to success. This research has demonstrated the manifold benefits of face-to-face instruction. As such, face-to-face courses seemed to be the best type of modality for community college men. For that reason, careful consideration must be taken when promoting online learning to Asian, Black, Latino, and White men in community colleges. Though, further research is needed to better understand variation in the presentation of online learning materials and the structure of interactions within online classrooms.     

Implementing transfer and articulation: A case study of community colleges and state universities

This study examined the cultural aspects of a transfer articulation policy between public community colleges and state universities enacted by a newly consolidated state governing board for higher education in a northeastern state. A qualitative multisite case study design explored how key stakeholders, faculty, administrators and staff viewed the transfer policy from their unique perspectives. Tierney’s (2008) cultural analysis of governance was used to examine the effectiveness of communication and decision-making on the part of the board. The study also applied Handel’s (2011) theory of a transfer affirming culture along with Jain, Herrera, Bernal, and Solorzano’s (2011) research on the requisite services for pretransfer and posttransfer success of nontraditional students. The use of several theoretical frameworks provides “a more powerful lens than when using only one in helping to interpret and understand culture” (Kezar &; Eckel, 2002, p. 440). The study was guided by the following question: How do community college and state university faculty, administrators and staff perceive the Transfer Mobility Policy in relation to their campus cultures? The findings identified difficulties with community college curricula and student transfer advising as well as a cultural gap between the community colleges and the state university. They underscored the politics that surrounds higher education governance reform and resultant clash between political and academic cultures. This study may help policy makers promote statewide transfer and articulation initiatives and be instructive for faculty, administrators, and staff as they seek to improve the success of students who transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities.     

Universities,medical education and women: Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Examining the evolution of medical education for women in a major city, this paper details the combination of private and public initiative, and the role of nonconformist denominational networks in Birmingham, one of the largest industrial and commercial centres of the British Empire. From the 1880s women gradually gained access to both higher education and professional training in medicine. This was necessarily underpinned by the growth of school science for girls. In this, the role of the new endowed and proprietary schools for girls was very significant in Birmingham but that of the School Board and LEA was also important, not least in demonstrating class and gendered attitudes in education and medicine. In theory from the 1880s and 1890s it was possible even for girls from elementary schools to proceed by way of scholarship both to secondary school and to university. Such educational opportunities expanded in early twentieth-century Birmingham yet always remained slimmer for girls. From 1900 the new university ostensibly gave equal rights to women in medical education as in all other studies. The university itself had grown out of local interests and patronage and saw itself as serving the local community. Birmingham’s liberal leaders believed in scientific education and social reform, including greater equality between the sexes, although contemporary cultural and social currents could militate against such high aspirations. Nevertheless, the university did take a lead in opening up medicine to women, allowing participation in professional life, for some at the highest levels, and serving the local city and regional community.     

Do gooders or do betters? An analysis of the motivation of student tutors

Across the UK hundreds of undergraduate students are volunteering their time and skills to assist teachers in local schools. This research investigates the factors that motivate already pressured undergraduate students to give up their precious free time for community work. Specifically, it addresses the question: are they primarily seeking to better their community or themselves? This short report argues that the primary motivation for such apparently community‐focused activity among undergraduates, in the south‐east, is actually centred on a concept of self‐improvement. The volunteer student, by undertaking unpaid community work, is engaged in a conscious attempt to enhance his/her chances of success in seeking post‐education employment. The paper goes on to argue that this finding has significant implications for the administration of student tutoring schemes, as recruitment and funding are the two major obstacles to establishing and maintaining an extracurricular activity in higher education (Stadium, 1997). Therefore, when the factors known to motivate undergraduates to undertake additional responsibilities are incorporated into recruitment and fund‐raising strategies, the activities can be tailored to maximize potential.     

大学生创业意向与动机研究

大学生创业对缓解目前我国严峻的就业形势及推动经济发展等方面都具有积极作用,大学生群体的创业意愿与动机值得关注。文章通过对大学生创业意愿、创业动机、创业意向和创业制约因素的调查统计,分析了大学生创业意识的现状,并就如何提高大学生自主创业意识和能力,从学生、学校和社会三方面提出了对策与建议。     

Engagement and academic promotion: a review of the literature

Universities in Australia are becoming increasingly concerned with their reputation as ‘engaged’ institutions. Yet there is significant confusion about what this idea of ‘engagement’ means and no clear way of measuring or reporting it. In part, this is because of the nature of engagement itself which is dependent on local context, partnerships and communities. This presents a difficulty for academic staff undertaking engaged work within institutions and stresses the need for institutions to develop internal processes that clearly articulate definitions of engagement, set out performance expectations and provide processes for the reward and recognition of the scholarship of engagement. In a sector increasingly concerned with the outputs of research as measurable by publication bibliometrics and grant income, the sometimes difficult to measure outcomes of engaged work can become relegated and dismissed. As part of a project to articulate performance expectations in the area of the scholarship of engagement for academic promotion at the University of Wollongong, researchers undertook an extensive international literature review to learn what had been done in this area previously and to identify issues of concern. This paper sets out the findings from this review, considers the implications of engaged scholarship for academic promotion and suggests some possible ways forward for institutions and staff working in this area.     

Who ‘owns’ the university? Institutional autonomy and academic freedom in an age of knowledge capitalism

The neoliberal reframing of universities as economic engines and the growing emphasis on ‘third stream’ commercial activities are global phenomena albeit with significant local variations. This article uses the concept of ‘ownership’ to examine how these processes are impacting on institutional self-understandings and academic–management relations. Drawing on ethnographic research from New Zealand, including recent disputes between academics and management, we ask, ‘who owns the modern university’? In conclusion, we show how debates over ownership provide a lens for examining wider tensions around institutional autonomy and academic freedom.     

“I Could Not Believe That Would Happen”: Challenges and Opportunities in a Critical,Project-Based Clinical Experience

As part of a youth summer program—a partnership between a large Southeastern university and the local school district—middle-school-aged youth, preservice teachers, and doctoral candidates interested in arts-based literacy practices spent their mornings in June 2016 engaging in activities that both explored and expanded thinking around their communities, schools, and families. Whereas the youth were enrolled in a monthlong creative arts and tentative unschooling experiment that ran roughly the length of a typical school day, university faculty and graduate students were engaged in a course on the application of youth participatory action research (YPAR). This article is an examination of the experience of preservice teachers, through an analysis of their reflections on events within the course, to suggest ways forward through the promises and perils of project-based, clinical preservice teaching experiences. In our exploration of the experiences of focal preservice teachers when engaged with youth coresearchers in a monthlong YPAR project, we found the work to have been filled with contradictions, unexpected shifts, and moments of great understanding, community affiliation, and suffering.     

Developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities in Vietnamese universities: student engagement and inhibitors of their engagement

This article reports a study that investigated student engagement and inhibitors of their engagement with developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities in Vietnamese universities. Content analysis of 18 interviews with students and statistical analysis of 423 students’ responses to a paper-based survey showed that despite a variety of extra-curricular activities being frequently organised, students engaged in these activities just above a moderate level. The analysis revealed that students with different motivations as well as students from different university types, disciplines, and university years engaged differently with developing employability skills via this channel. Five inhibitors of their engagement were identified, including students’ working part-time, a lack of information about extra-curricular activities, students’ beliefs about participating bringing no benefits, competition with curriculum-based activities, and unprofessional organisation of these activities. The article discusses ways to improve student engagement with developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities.     

Exploring knowledge processes based on teacher research in a school–university research network of a master’s program

School–university research networks aim at closer integration of research and practice by means of teacher research. Such practice-oriented research can benefit both schools and universities. This paper reports on a multiple-case study of five participants in a school–university research network in a Dutch master’s program. The research question was: In what way is knowledge based on practice-oriented research by master’s students developed, shared, and used in school–university research networks in which education is primarily offered within a university setting? Twenty interviews were conducted, on the basis of logs, over a period of 10 months. Results show that (1) for master’s students, the most significant motive for developing, sharing or using knowledge was that the content knowledge about their research topic could be useful to school practice and colleagues; (2) research supervisors reported more than master’s students about the procedural knowledge that they had developed and shared. This knowledge focused on the collaborative process of supporting research and knowledge processes in school and university; (3) activities of knowledge sharing and use appeared to depend to a significant extent on individual purposes and leadership initiatives of master’s students and their supervisors; and (4) in the school–university research network, master’s students and research supervisors continued—to a limited extent—knowledge processes based on master’s students research after their graduation. Outcomes indicate that use of existing network structures in master’s programs is complex, but could be a promising avenue for creating successful school–university research networks.     

Expert versus novice users: Power rules in virtual space

This study sought knowledge of the decision-making used by learners when interacting with multi-media environments. Mounting evidence on related thinking processes appeared to expose a gap in the prior knowledge, vocabularies and values used when entering cyberspace. We were curious to know about the decision making judgements made by learners and any associated rules or strategies they had developed to interact with new and emerging information technology environments. How decisions are undertaken are considered major issues for educational institutions at local, national and global levels with ramifications for civic and community life. In a sample drawn from a senior high school and university we investigated students’ responses to different questions including: What ways of knowing are used by learners? What codes of behaviour apply? Are they age and gender related? The responses provide a rich and fascinating insight to the ways in which people are interacting with the new media environments. ‘Experts’ versus ‘novices’ appeared to provide the major distinction.     

Exploring quality of life through an online international collaboration

ABSTRACT

In today’s classrooms, learning does not have to be bounded by physical space. By having access to a range of digital communication technologies, students and teachers can synchronously and asynchronously engage in authentic learning opportunities extending beyond the local community. They can be learning and interacting with others from around the world. This occurred with Grade 3 students from a school in Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Peru who investigated how their physical environments influence their quality of life. Over a seven-week period, the two groups engaged in synchronous and asynchronous activities in addressing this topic. A case study approach was used to research the project. Four key findings emerged from the data to inform teaching practice for designing and facilitating online international collaborative learning.     

If first-year students are afraid of public speaking assessments what can teachers do to alleviate such anxiety?

Public speaking and oral assessments are common in higher education, and they can be a major cause of anxiety and stress for students. This study was designed to measure the student experience of public speaking assessment tasks in a mandatory first-year course at a regional Australian university. The research conducted was an instrumental case study, with a student-centred focus. Surveys were designed to elicit student perceptions of their emotions and experience before and after engaging in public speaking skill development exercises and a public assessment task. After undertaking public speaking desensitisation and assessment, students experienced increased satisfaction and decreased fear, indecision and confusion. However, students’ perceptions of their confidence to control nerves, maintain eye contact, use gestures and comfortably speak in front of 25 people reduced – an unexpected outcome of the research. The reasons for this remain unclear, which provides a window for further research. Public speaking assessment tasks should be aligned with learning activities, and opportunities to minimise the impact of barriers to students engaging in the learning activities or tasks should be incorporated into curriculum.     

Exploring a systems approach to mainstreaming sustainability in universities: a case study of Rhodes University in South Africa

This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university’s functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an understanding of morphogenetic change processes, have the potential to enable universities to mobilise their operations to respond to local sustainability challenges. In this instance, the success of such an approach is shown to depend on commitments from the university community and the availability of enabling inputs, such as financial and human resources. The paper concludes with reflections and recommendations to inform further development of a newly emerging systems approach in sustainability mainstreaming at Rhodes University, and other institutions pursuing similar approaches and goals.