Contrived collegiality versus genuine collegiality: demystifying professional learning communities in Chinese schools

Drawing on data from a larger study on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and School Leadership in China, this article investigates the practices of teacher collaboration and PLCs in two urban, high-performing secondary schools in Northeast China. Qualitative data were collected from observations, documents and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 participants. The findings reveal that intentionally arranged organisational structures support teacher professional learning and collective inquiry. Collaborative teams in two schools are characterised by genuine collegiality, promoting disciplined collaboration and shared responsibility, which is different from contrived collegiality imposed on teachers. Professional learning is ongoing, supported and fully integrated into the culture and operation of the school system. Emotional bonds, trust and an inclusive school culture contribute to genuine collegiality. These learning communities establish a system of focused collaboration, peer mentoring and collective responsibility, which leads to improved teaching and student learning.     

An exploration of important factors in the decision-making process undertaken by foundation degree students with respect to level 6 progression

Deciding what degree to study and where are very important decisions to make for a range of practical and economic reasons, and much research has been undertaken in this area. What has not been considered previously is the decision-making processes of students who have completed an associate degree, such as a Higher National Diploma or Foundation Degree, and are now considering where to complete their Bachelor education. Associate degrees are often provided by further education colleges (FECs) in partnership with universities, and the choices available to college-based higher education students are whether to continue at the college or move to university. A mixed-methods approach was adopted comprising of an online questionnaire and subsequent focus groups of students studying at HE at a southwest FEC. The findings showed that equal importance is placed on the practical issues of proximity and familiarity as on course suitability, with the only differences between those remaining at college and those moving to university being financially based.     

Faculty acceptance of a workload survey in one major university

The faculty survey or workload instrument becomes the focal point for both praise and criticism about measuring how faculty spend professional time. While research on the workload instrument often centers on the design and administration of the survey, NCHEMS has questioned how faculty react to such workload analysis, a researchable area seemingly overlooked. In a 1973 report, NCHEMS suggested that faculty reaction or acceptance may be related to the degree of faculty self-governance, experience in completing the survey, the positive use of data for departments, and the expectation that faculty are required to complete the survey for an external governing board. Faculty on one large state-supported midwestern university were asked how they felt about the workload survey administered on campus and whether the NCHEMS' factors were related to their acceptance of the survey. Multivariate analysis and a path model helped to analyze and interpret faculty responses to a questionnaire administered by this author. Results upheld one of the four NCHEMS relationships, namely, that a positive attitude toward a survey is related to perceived value of the data for allocating faculty resources and communication in the department. Several practical and methodological considerations are reviewed to extend research on faculty acceptance.     

ACED IT: A tool for improved ethical and moral decision-making

Numerous examples of unethical organizational decision-making highlighted in the media have led many to question the general moral perception and ethical judgments of individuals. The present study examined two forms of a straightforward ethical decision-making (EDM) tool (ACED IT cognitive map) that could be a relatively simple instrument for organizations to improve the moral and EDM of its members. Results revealed that participants utilizing either form of ACED IT were more likely to identify a moral dilemma than were control participants. Additionally, participants in the modified condition responded differently to the situation. Implications and other findings are discussed.     

高等教育国际化对中国高等教育发展的影响

随着经济全球化、信息社会及知识经济的迅猛发展,高等教育国际化成为包括中国在内的许多国家高等教育发展的主要特征和重要趋势。高等教育国际化给中国高等教育的发展带来了良好的机遇,同时也提出了严峻的挑战,需要我们冷静思考并认真面对,以保证中国高等教育事业的健康发展。     

Faculty training: an unavoidable requirement for approaching more inclusive university classrooms

Adequate policies for faculty training in diversity continue to be pending on the agendas of many universities. This paper presents the recommendations of 44 university students with disabilities not only for adequate faculty training, but also on informing them on both matters of the disability itself and how to respond to the needs derived from it. The data analyzed come from research funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness ‘University Barriers and Aids Identified by Students with Disabilities’, which has been underway since 2011. A biographical-narrative methodology was used. The university life histories of the students were compiled by making use of in-depth interviews, lifelines and photographs. The conclusions of the study discuss the main results along with other previous studies, and recommendations are made so universities can provide training plans leading to inclusive education and learning.     

Curriculum Mapping in Higher Education: A Vehicle for Collaboration

This qualitative study makes the case for the implementation of curriculum mapping, a procedure that creates a visual representation of curriculum based on real time information, as a way to increase collaboration and collegiality in higher education. Through the use of curriculum mapping, eleven faculty members in a western state university Teacher Licensure program aligned and revised the teacher education curriculum across a sequence of courses. An increase in collaboration and collegiality among faculty emerged as an unintended outcome as a result of participation in the project. Kay Pippin Uchiyama  is currently the Assessment Coordinator for the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado. During this study, she was an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at Colorado State University and a co-primary investigator for the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Data grant. She received her Ph.D. in Instruction and Curriculum in the Content Areas with an emphasis on Teacher Education and Learning to Teach from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her interests include data driven instruction, assessment for learning, teacher education, professional development schools, and mathematics education. Her email is kuchiyam@psdschools.org. Jean L. Radin  is an adjunct professor at Colorado State University and a co-primary investigator for the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Data grant. She received her Ph.D. from Colorado State University. Her interests are brain-based teaching and learning, data driven instructional practices, teacher education and professional development schools. Her email is jradin@cahs.colorado.edu.     

The role of mentorship in the preparation and success of university presidents

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of mentoring and how it shapes university presidents in higher education. Using phenomenological case studies to understand the lived experiences of university presidents, we analyzed data from eleven interviews. Drawing on tenets of Zachary’s Four Phases of Mentoring, this study reflects the ways in which university presidents were mentored including the effect that mentoring has on executive leadership preparation and success. This study’s findings can inform our understanding of mentoring and the importance of graduate preparation programs, executive leadership programs and organizations, and professional associations for the university presidency.     

新时期高等教育发展的理性思考

中国高等教育的改革和发展正处在一个非常重要和关键的时期，要制定科学的教育决策并遵循信息准确全面原则、可行性原则、目标原则、系统原则、满足原则、民主化原则、创造性原则和行动原则。     

职业决策自我效能研究综述

自我效能感是指人们对自己实现特定领域行为目标所需能力的信心或信念，不同领域的自我效能感是有所差异的。在个体求职过程中，职业决策是一个关键的步骤，而对职业决策起决定作用的是个体的自我效能感。     

普通高校扩招对成人高等教育的影响及对策

普通高等学校扩招，使我国高等教育跨越式进入了一个新的发展阶段，扩招对成人高等教育而言是机遇也是挑战。我们要理清思想，研究对策，促进成人高等教育的发展。     

论网络对大学生思想道德素质的影响

高校道德教育必须适应并满足网络时代对道德教育的新需求，在教育目的，观念，内容，手段等方面进行改革和创新，兴利除弊，引导学生正确认识和利用网络发展自己，自觉抵御网络的消极影响，培养学生良好的道德品质，为更好地实现高校的育人目标服务。     

The Changing Shape of University Decision-Making Processes and the Consequences for Faculty Participation in Ireland

Abstract

Research shows that formative assessment can exert a powerful effect on student learning, yet the complexity of formative assessment is not well understood and some curricular structures and practices do not fully exploit its potential. This article outlines the background to the political promotion of employability and shows that institutional responses are influenced by multiple considerations. It discusses formative assessment and models it as a complex signalling system before considering the implications, for students’ employability, of accentuating the attention given to formative assessment. The potential for action is discussed with reference to three levels: those of the institution, the department, and the individual academic.     

Undergraduate students who are required to withdraw from university: The role of ethnicity

A large body of international research focuses on identifying reasons why students do not ‘persist’ (Tinto, 2006 ) within higher education. Little research has focused on students whose leaving is non‐voluntary and where narratives of ‘persistence’ are therefore not as pertinent. This paper seeks to refocus some of the attention onto the distinct group of students who do not elect to leave their studies but who are, instead, required to withdraw; such students leave under ‘Academic fail’ and ‘Exclusion’ categories. More specifically, it explores the relationship between student leavers’ ethnicity and their likelihood of being required to withdraw. Utilising a large dataset comprising UK‐domiciled undergraduate students enrolled to take a degree within an English higher education institution in 2010/11, it finds that most groups of Black and Minority Ethnic students are more likely to be required to withdraw than White students. Ethnicity exerts an independent impact on a student's likelihood of being required to withdraw, when other background and on‐course characteristics are controlled for, but this impact varies by disciplinary area. It is suggested that these findings implicate factors within the higher education sector itself as key drivers in the process that leads to students being required to withdraw. Lessons are drawn out for those tasked with managing the student experience within higher education.     

试论毛泽东的高等教育思想

毛泽东主席很关注我国高等教育的发展，并有着自己的一套理论，开始他提出“以俄为师”，按照苏联的模式来构建新中国高等教育框架的思想。毛泽东1958年的“大跃进”思想又导致了脱离实际地盲目发展高等教育，毛泽东的高等教育思想有两大特点：一是强调阶级斗争，政治挂帅；二是强调生产劳动，实践经验，他的高等教育思想中，既有重视大学生的政治教育和社会实践活动的合理内核，又有过分突出政治教育和忽视理论知识学习的不足之处。     

The influence of student learning characteristics on purchase of paper book and eBook for university study and personal interest

First-year university students (n = 199) completed an online questionnaire that queried their purchase of paper books and eBooks for university study and personal interest. The questionnaire also required students to rate their learning characteristics including reading strategies, study self-regulation, learning control beliefs and achievement motivation. Self-reported student learning characteristic scores were associated with self-reported book purchases. For example, as student extrinsic motivation scores increased, number of paper books purchased for university study tended to increase. As student learning control belief scores increased, purchase of eBooks for university study tended to increase. Collectively, such results lend support to the conclusion that education students who embrace emerging technologies such as eBooks and who read for leisure perceive themselves as more able learners than students who do not embrace emerging technologies such as eBooks and who do not read for leisure.     

The Social and Political Structuring of Faculty Ethicality in Education

This study examined the experience of faculty ethicality in education. Research questions focused on faculty characterizations of professional ethics, related socialization experiences, and responses to dilemmas. Interviews were conducted with 32 faculty members and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Findings describe the experiential dimensions of faculty ethicality and the influence of a higher education ethos on professional reasoning and decision making. The tenure and promotion process is the most influential dimension; but faculty reward systems in general, as well as personal and family identification, also help to structure ethicality. Four elements of academic ethicality are discussed: standard, information, diversity, and integrity.

Thinking Pluralistically: Dynamic Decision Making in Kinesiology

In this age of postmodern supercomplexity, universities face increased demands from many precincts in our society to respond to such issues as broader access, graduation rates, costs, and relevance, to name just a few. The cultivation of professional conditions that will help higher education and its kinesiology professoriate to not only to survive, but flourish, in an age of supercomplexity is a necessary adaptation for the future. No obvious single, coherent moral framework exists to use as a guide for today’s (and tomorrow’s) faculty. This article argues, then, for a pluralistic way of thinking by applying reason to the diverse moral frameworks in kinesiology in higher education. The purpose of this article is to explicate a moral positioning in kinesiology based on this pluralistic approach so that decision making can extend beyond the current boundaries of pragmatic thought, now prevalent in higher education. Specific examples of this approach and some accompanying strategies are offered.     

Taking stock of taking equity: The last frontier of university technology transfer

This paper addresses the question of what potential success factors are relevant when developing and managing higher education–business partnerships. To shed light on this question, the paper presents a review of research literature on the possible success factors in university–industry relations. To shed further light on the factors identified in the literature, this paper reports on an empirical study of cross‐sector collaboration between four regional universities and energy firms in Norway. The empirical study should be seen as a “relevance check” of the factors identified in the extant literature on university–industry collaboration, within the particular context of education‐related partnerships. Based on the review and case studies, implications for management and further research are discussed.     

试述全球金融危机对中国高等教育的影响及对策

金融危机对我国高等教育的学校经费、学生就业、教学和科研、留学市场等都产生了一定影响,我国高等教育应作出积极应对：多渠道筹措高等教育经费;注重提升大学生的就业能力;优化教学和科研结构,提高教学资源的使用效率。