Photovoice as a research method for higher education research

ABSTRACT

Higher education (HE) research often draws on a range of qualitative research approaches. However, some methods developed in other fields are underutilised in HE research, even though they could be of great use for answering particular kinds of research questions, or for involving students more actively in the research process. In this article, we draw on a study that piloted different methodological approaches to explore students’ conceptions of good teaching and effective learning at university. The participants in our study included 33 high achieving international, Māori, Pacific Island, and (other) local students enrolled in Humanities subjects. Our study used photovoice as a visual data collection approach in conjunction with more traditional methods of data collection: open-ended focus group questions and critical incident technique. In this article, we review the photovoice literature, which is mostly from outside HE. Then, we describe our study, discussing the students’ responses to photovoice, and the different kinds of data it elicited. We note that, while most students expressed appreciation of the photovoice approach, some also found it restrictive and challenging in some respects. We conclude, photovoice offers a useful methodological addition to HE research, while noting, as with all data collection approaches, researchers need to be mindful of its limitations.     

International comparisons of themes in higher education research

ABSTRACT

The themes in higher education research in different countries vary to some extent. This research takes 15 SSCI journals of higher education as examples. A scientometric method was used to classify the themes in higher education research, and a vector space model was employed to calculate the similarities in different countries active in the research hot spots in the cognate area. The results show that the top five ranked keywords of higher education research are assessment, university, sustainability, feedback, and diversity. Higher education research was classified into 20 areas, and different countries were focused on different areas. The number of publications was mainly led by the USA, the UK, and Australia. The most similar countries in the higher education research field were Australia and the UK. European countries had a higher similarity in higher education research with each other, but the similarity between Asian countries was very low. The similarity between different countries exhibited different characteristics, which has important significance for the development of higher education research.     

Structural and pedagogic change in further and higher education: a case study approach

The article reports on case study research carried out in two education institutions introducing information learning technology (ILT) as an enhancement to the learning experience. The approaches to change in each institution, described as structural and pedagogic, represent different strategies emanating from what might be polar opposites in the organizational structure. The research focuses on a university, where change is promoted by the lecturing staff interested in pedagogic developments, and a college of further education, where the Senior Management Team drive through structural changes which impact on traditional methods of course delivery. A range of leadership theories are employed to discuss the two cases and a leadership model proposed which, within the context of pedagogic and structural domains of interest, encourages staff in education institutions to develop better understandings of the parameters, interests and issues impacting on their respective roles.     

Designing pedagogic strategies for dialogic learning in higher education

This article focuses on the pedagogic value of dialogue to strengthen pre-service teachers’ reflective practices and improve their knowledge about the power of talk for learning. Dialogic learning was introduced to a unit of study taken by a final-year cohort of students in an initial teacher education degree at an urban university in Australia. Various opportunities for dialogue were designed into the unit through blended learning such as face-to-face tutorials, social networks and Viva Voce contexts. In the face of mixed opinion on their efficacy, the author profiles the use of social networks as a means of incorporating more interactive discourse through Web 2.0 platforms in higher education. The mixed-methods study reports on data collected from focus group interviews run at the end of the semester. An analytical framework based on Alexander’s principles of dialogic learning is used to interrogate the data set. The results illustrate the positive impact that dialogue employed as a pedagogic tool had on the value students perceived of their learning experience. It is recommended that designs for learning in higher education incorporate iterative exchanges across a variety of blended learning contexts to encourage productive interactions between students, peers and tutors.     

Research Active Programme: A pilot inclusive research curriculum in higher education

Participation of people with disabilities in producing and using research is critical for monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Research Active Programme (RAP) is a module designed to build research capacity of students with intellectual disabilities. RAP was implemented over 11 weeks in 2 Irish universities. The mixed methods programme evaluation was completed from the students' perspectives, attending to curriculum content, pedagogical approach, the research knowledge and skills acquired by students. Twenty-five students completed interviews before and after engaging in RAP. Focus groups and quizzes were held after sessions to assess learning outcomes. Content analysis was used to interpret student perspectives. RAP was an effective approach for supporting students with intellectual disabilities to develop introductory research knowledge and skills; however, across the cohort, there were differences in demonstrated learning. Student expectations with respect to overall curriculum design, learning outcomes and delivery were reviewed. Specifically, learning outcomes, module delivery and assessment strategies were critiqued. Overall, the RAP curriculum supported research skill development in students. This module prepared people with intellectual disabilities to engage more fully as research partners in monitoring the implementation of the CRPD.     

Education research and policy making in higher education: the case of Dearing

In establishing a National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education in the United Kingdom (the Dearing Committee), the Government expected short-term problems and long-term developments to be examined in less than half the average time taken by previous inquiries. Conscious of the intellectual authority of its predecessor, the Robbins Committee, the Dearing inquiry commissioned a large number of research and analytical studies to inform its deliberations. The ways that research and other forms of evidence were collected and considered by the inquiry are discussed in relation to four themes: the context and conditions for the inquiry; the nature of the work commissioned; the treatment of public evidence and the use of research to inform key recommendations; and what the episode disclosed about the relationship between education research and policy-making in higher education. In the course of this commentary, it is suggested that the uneven engagement with research and academic literatures in the Dearing inquiry was not simply a function of its terms and conditions of existence, but reflected more general features of the contemporary research base and policy environment in higher education.     

Impacts of higher education quality accreditation: a case study in Vietnam

Quality accreditation in higher education exists in many countries, including Vietnam. As of May 2018, 80 higher education institutions in Vietnam have officially been evaluated and recognised using the national quality standards. This study examined the impact of institutional accreditation on the evaluated university. The qualitative research evaluates the impact of external quality assurance from the perspective of managers of the university. The self-assessment phase helped the university assemble evidence of activities carried out at the university and the status of being recognised was believed to increase its prestige. The process, on the other hand, was also believed to be burdensome, time and cost consuming, which led to no significant changes at the institution. Lack of institutional autonomy and competence of the review team were barriers to any attempts to improve quality of higher education in Vietnam.     

Identity and pedagogy in higher education: international comparisons

Teachers’ responses to language classroom incidents depend on many factors, including the extent of their teaching experience. The question of how much influence teaching experience carries is important given that pre-service teachers have had limited opportunities to respond to day-to-day incidents that arise in classrooms. This paper reports on a two-stage research study in Singapore that first explored 22 pre-service teachers’ understandings of language classroom incidents and their possible responses. Subsequently, a survey was conducted to compare pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions about anticipating and responding to classroom incidents. The findings from a total of 77 respondents indicate that perceptions of the experienced and inexperienced teachers are similar in many ways, yet some notable differences emerged as well as a few interesting individual responses. This work has implications for initial teacher education programmes in terms of considering the value of providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to discuss and reflect on potential language classroom incidents.     

高等教育质量研究——管理的视角

质量是评价高等教育水平的尺度,管理是维持和改进高等教育质量的方法,质量管理代表了人们通过管理提升高等教育质量的努力。作为一个介于主观与客观、抽象与具体之间的特殊范畴,高等教育质量不同于企业领域的产品质量或服务质量,高等教育质量管理也不同于企业领域的全面质量管理。在普遍重视质量的新时代,质量管理绝不只是高等教育管理的时尚,而是高等教育发展的新希望,高等教育领域必须加强对于质量管理的研究,并积极付诸实践。     

International comparisons and trends in external quality assurance of higher education: Commonality or diversity?

The paper explores international comparisons ofthe extent of commonality or diversity in themain national external quality assuranceframeworks for higher education. It has beensuggested, from an European survey, that thereare common features in national qualityassurance frameworks (van Vught andWesterheijden (Quality Management and QualityAssurance in European Higher Education: Methodsand Mechanisms) 1993; Luxembourg, Commission ofthe European Communities, Education TrainingYouth). The paper extends the survey, tappingother comparative reports.These comparisons show that a `general model'of external quality assurance does notuniversally apply, but that most elements of itdo apply in most countries. We conclude thatthe `general model' provides a starting pointfrom which to map deviations. In each country,there may be specific additions of elements oromissions from the model, but more usuallythere are modifications or extensions ofelements. These variations are determined bypracticalities, the size of the highereducation sector, the rigidity/flexibility ofthe legal expression of quality assurance (orthe absence of enshrinement in law), and thestage of development from state control of thesector. Some additions to the `general model'are suggested.The paper also considers efforts to produce aninternational scheme for external qualityassurance of higher education, and theapplicability of the `general model' to thetransfer of quality assurance frameworks fromcountry to country.     

Qualitative research and making meaning from adventure: A case study of boys' experiences of outdoor education at school

This article details the process and analysis of a case study, conducted over a six week period, involving an outdoor education class in an all-boys Catholic, New Zealand secondary school. The questions explored by the case study were the subjective meanings of adventure experiences in outdoor education and the benefits of qualitative research for assessing the value of outdoor education. The methodological techniques used were observation, involving some researcher participation, and in-depth interviewing. Subsequent data analysis was based upon theories of experiential education and adventure education, and concepts of leisure and human agency. The results of the study suggest that the meanings participants make of their experiences, and the value they derive from them, exceed those that may conventionally be sought and measured as an improvement in self-concept. These findings suggest that learning through adventure is potentially valuable as a holistic and life-long form of activity that enhances the capacity to enjoy and engage in living. This is an important extension beyond its often limited and compartmentalised applications, which are rationalised by specific outcome based objectives. A qualitative methodology was indispensable to an inquiry of this kind and warrants further attention in the process of understanding the meanings of adventure and learning.     

Qualitative research and making meaning from adventure: A case study of boys' experiences of outdoor education at school

Abstract

This article details the process and analysis of a case study, conducted over a six week period, involving an outdoor education class in an all-boys Catholic, New Zealand secondary school. The questions explored by the case study were the subjective meanings of adventure experiences in outdoor education and the benefits of qualitative research for assessing the value of outdoor education. The methodological techniques used were observation, involving some researcher participation, and in-depth interviewing. Subsequent data analysis was based upon theories of experiential education and adventure education, and concepts of leisure and human agency. The results of the study suggest that the meanings participants make of their experiences, and the value they derive from them, exceed those that may conventionally be sought and measured as an improvement in self-concept. These findings suggest that learning through adventure is potentially valuable as a holistic and life-long form of activity that enhances the capacity to enjoy and engage in living. This is an important extension beyond its often limited and compartmentalised applications, which are rationalised by specific outcome based objectives. A qualitative methodology was indispensable to an inquiry of this kind and warrants further attention in the process of understanding the meanings of adventure and learning.     

Criticality in international higher education research: a critical discourse analysis of higher education journals

The current study utilizes the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211 Ajzen 1991) to examine an instructor confirmation-interaction model in the instructional communication context to discover a means by which instructors might cultivate positive student attitudes and increase beliefs that interactions with instructors would be beneficial in the future. Specifically, the model examines how teacher confirmation (Ellis 2000) influences students’ behavioral intention to communicate with instructors. Surveys were distributed to 343 college students (41.7% male and 58.1% female) in a basic communication course. Results were primarily consistent with the proposed model; teacher confirmation was significantly related to attitudes toward communicating with an instructor, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were also positively related to students’ behavioral intention to communicate with the instructor. However, results reveal attitudes toward communicating do not predict students’ behavioral intention to communicate with instructors. It is recommended that future models examine a more contemporary, hi-tech representation of attitude toward student-instructor interactions as it may produce a significant association with students’ behavioral intent to communicate with them. The study concludes with theoretical and practical implications to examine student classroom communication via the confirmation-interaction model and the theory of planned behavior.     

Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: a case study

This paper reports on the results of an embedded, multiple case study that investigated the views of both lecturers and students on written staff-student feedback in three postgraduate programmes at one UK university. The study sought to uncover how ‘quality written feedback’ is perceived in the higher education environment under investigation. It found that tutors and students were broadly aligned in the features that they identified as constituting quality, which could be categorised within three dimensions: the affective or interpersonal, the orientational and the transformational. The findings suggest that feedback needs to incorporate each of these dimensions if it is to be perceived as being of good quality.     

Qualitative inequality: experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education

This article examines the lived experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education (HE) as a counterpoint to understandings of gender equity informed only by data on admission, progression and completions rates. Drawing on a critical qualitative inquiry approach, we analyse and interpret data drawn from focus group discussions with female students and academic women in two public universities in Ethiopia. Individual accounts and shared experiences of women in HE revealed that despite affirmative action policies that slightly benefit females at entry point, gender inequality persists in qualitative forms. Prejudice against women and sexual violence are highlighted as key expressions of qualitative gender inequalities in the two universities. It is argued that HE institutions in Ethiopia are male-dominated, hierarchical and hostile to women. Furthermore, taken-for-granted gender assumptions and beliefs at institutional, social relational and individual levels operate to make women conform to structures of disadvantage and in effect sustain the repressive gender relations.     

Formative assessment in higher education: Moves towards theory and the enhancement of pedagogic practice

The importance of formative assessment instudent learning is generally acknowledged, butit is not well understood across higher education.The identification of some key features offormative assessment opens the way for adiscussion of theory. It is argued that thereis a need for further theoretical developmentin respect of formative assessment, which needsto take account of disciplinary epistemology,theories of intellectual and moral development,students' stages of intellectual development,and the psychology of giving and receivingfeedback. A sketch is offered of the directionthat this development might take. It is notedthat formative assessment may be eitherconstructive or inhibitory towards learning. Suggestions are made regarding research intoformative assessment, and how research mightcontribute to the development of pedagogicpractice.