Transformations and self-discovery: mature-age women's reflections on returning to university study

Research has highlighted the challenges that women face as mature-age students in higher education. The challenges are particularly acute when a woman is the first in her family to go to university. Many women begin their journey as students with considerable self-doubt and lack of confidence. They may also face an ongoing struggle to find a way to combine their studies with other family responsibilities. This article presents the reflections of 18 women enrolled as mature-age students at an Australian university campus. Their triumphs, achievements and self-discoveries, as well as their struggles whilst undertaking their studies, are explored. In presenting the reflections of this group, the transformative nature of these experiences is highlighted, not only for the women themselves, but also potentially for their families, particularly their children. These narratives of achievement and transformation ultimately provide inspiration to other women contemplating such a step as well as insight for academic administrators and teaching staff regarding the significant personal change this decision can engender.     

Understanding autonomous peer feedback practices among postgraduate students: a case study in a Chinese university

Academic writing is a social practice in which the writer interacts with both texts and people and uses the interaction as a learning resource. While academic interaction in the classroom setting has been extensively investigated, student interaction that takes place without teacher supervision remains largely unexplored. Since autonomy is a key component of academic interaction, autonomous peer feedback practices among postgraduate students may be of some interest. This paper reports on an exploratory case study of peer feedback among a small group of postgraduate students in a master’s programme in translation studies in a prestigious Chinese university. The findings offer insights into the role of peer feedback in advancing academic literacy and forming scholarly communities in an emerging discipline. The case study provides an opening into the research area of autonomous peer feedback and suggests avenues for further, more substantial research.     

对电大英语教学的实践探索

要改变电大英语教学中学生“哑巴英语”的现状,必须确立以学生为主体的教学理念和教学策略,提高学生英语听说能力。前包括强化学生的主体意识、激发学生学习的兴趣、培养学生交际的能力、发挥教师的主导作用等;后包括营造一种轻松愉快的教学气氛、因材施教、坚持课前三分钟的Free Talk、利用电化教具等具体方法。     

研究生教育内部质量保障机制的现状及对策--基于北京某市属高校硕士毕业生的实证分析

完善研究生教育内部质量保障机制,坚持内涵式发展,进一步提高研究生教育质量是当前我国研究生教育工作的重要任务。以北京某市属高校2012届硕士毕业生跟踪调查数据为依据,藉此系统分析研究生内部质量保障机制的现状及存在的问题,提出以下建议：合理构建课程体系,加强实践环节;加强学位论文过程管理,严守撰写规范;加强导师队伍建设,提高师生交流效率等。     

Talking about teaching: a study of the professional uses of email by secondary school teachers in Uruguay

Abstract

Teacher collegiality has been highlighted as a crucial factor in educational change and professional development. Secondary school teachers have been consistently found to feel isolated from their colleagues, with few opportunities and mechanisms for collegial support and exchange. Research suggests that computer-mediated communication, and electronic mail in particular, may help overcome the logistical and cultural barriers that hinder teacher communication and collaboration. This article reports on some of the findings of a research study into the use of email by secondary school teachers in Uruguay. The aim of the study was to further understand the potential of email to support teacher collegiality. Content analysis was used to identify the purpose and usage patterns of 1356 electronic mail messages exchanged between 20 secondary school teachers in Montevideo, Uruguay, over a period of 37 weeks. The evidence suggests that a majority of the exchanges between teachers were related to teaching practice. However, communication in this study largely excluded discussions on teachers' theoretical stances and pedagogical beliefs. This may diminish the potential of email to challenge teachers' professional views and hence limit professional development opportunities to an ‘instrumental’ level.     

Learning about research: exploring the learning and teaching/research relationship amongst educational practitioners studying in higher education

The paper examines aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education in social science research methods, with particular reference to the subject area of Education. There are three main themes: reflections on how social science research methods should be (or are) taught; a review of current debates about the relationship between teaching and research, both in higher education and for school teachers; and finally, reporting how a group of educational practitioners (mainly school teachers) studying at Masters level experience learned about research methods. The paper is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of student experiences of research methods teaching on a Masters degree in Education in a research-intensive UK university. It is suggested that studying the journey embarked upon by taught postgraduate students inexperienced in research is helpful in understanding how learning about research methods takes place, which in turn can assist future research methods teaching.     

The role of feedback in cross-cultural learning: a case study of Chinese taught postgraduate students in a UK university

Insufficient attention has been given to the role of cultural differences in feedback communication with the UK’s increasingly internationalised student body. This issue is particularly significant for international students taking short – one-year – postgraduate taught courses and we illustrate this in a study of Chinese students at a UK university. We draw on Holliday’s notion of ‘small cultures’ and Berry’s model of cultural adaptation to analyse how they perceive, react to and gradually adapt to the provision of formative feedback as a key aspect of the new academic culture. Our data reveal that such feedback presents the students with cognitive challenges and psychological and emotional struggles, especially in the early months of their courses. Avoiding culturally essentialist explanations for this, we focus on differences in the ‘small cultures’ of academia in China and the UK. Feedback is not only a part of the new academic culture itself, but can act as a bridge between norms, rules and practices of the two cultures. This bridge is often poorly constructed. Tutors need to be more aware of the nature and sources of stress that such students face and to which feedback may often be adding rather than contributing to enhanced learning.     

反思性学习策略在大学英语写作教学中的实证研究

该研究设计了一次旨在运用反思性学习策略提高大学生英语写作能力的教学实验,在为期14周的写作教学中,教师改变传统英语写作教学作文的批改模式,让学生自改、互改,认识错误的根源,建立错误档案,通过反思、内省的方式让学习者对自身写作中存在的困难和问题加以反思和总结,从而提高英语写作水平。定量和定性的分析结果表明：在英语写作教学中运用作文＂自改、互改—教师修改—再修改＂这种反思学习策略,学生在词汇、语法和句法类型出错的机率都显著降低,从而有效地提高了英语写作水平。     

Using peer feedback in a Master's programme: a multiple case study

This article draws on the findings of a longitudinal case study, which investigated the writing experiences of five students who spoke English as an additional language (EAL). The major interest was in examining what it was like to be an EAL writer and what changes occurred in EAL students' perceptions of academic writing and of themselves as academic writers during their one-year Taught Masters course at a major UK University. This article reflects on the perceptions of peer feedback held by research participants and their engagement with providing and receiving peer comments. Although peer feedback is often viewed as an attractive tool for supporting student writing, most participants did not fully capitalise on the benefits of these practices. Such factors as students' lack of prior peer feedback and their perceptions of peers' ability to provide valid feedback constituted potential barriers to the success of peer feedback. The article suggests that the use of well-structured collaborative activities and tutors' intervention are required for peer feedback to be effective.     

Teacher change: ideas emerging from a project for the teaching of university mathematics

This paper reports the changes that occurred in the didactic approaches of three professors who participated in a project intended to develop new ways of teaching mathematics to second year university students. An enactivist perspective is used to address the process of change that emerged as a result from interactions during project meetings. We describe changes in the participants' actions by looking at data obtained from the meetings and the classrooms. Teachers were able to ‘see more’ and modify their teaching practices incorporating a more open and flexible approach in accordance to their structural state which depended on their previous history. Therefore, the results varied. It was possible to observe, however, similar changes in all members of the group which included the use of vocabulary from learning theories and the inclusion of in-depth reflections on teaching and learning.     

基于课程体验的大学课堂教学质量评估问卷的开发

以澳大利亚的《大学生课程体验问卷（CEQ）》为雏形,采用整群分层随机抽样的方法,以291名大学生进行问卷调查样本,制作《大学课堂教学质量评估学生问卷》。通过探索性因素分析确定正式问卷共25个项目,结构包括4个因子：良好的教学、学习量合理、课堂质量及课堂收获。试测表明问卷具有良好的信度和效度。     

Prerequisites for the successful group mentoring of first-year university students: a case study

In this article we present a case study on a group mentoring practice proven successful in earlier studies in terms of student self-regulation and collaboration. The purpose of our study was to uncover the factors behind the success by interviewing the mentor teachers. The findings showed that the group mentoring focused on four main themes: (a) promoting social relationships, (b) providing personal support, (c) providing study guidance, and (d) strengthening the agency of students. The findings suggest that the leading ethos of group mentoring was related to a humanistic approach to mentoring. However, successful mentoring also seemed to require both situated apprentice and critical constructivist perspectives in addition to the humanistic approach. It is concluded that the combination of multiple goals and contents in group mentoring is the main contributing factor behind the success of the mentoring model examined. Additionally, the teachers reported a variety of positive impacts of group mentoring on teachers’ work.     

Development and validation of a theoretically based,multidimensional questionnaire of student evaluation of university teaching

The authors describe the development and validation of a multidimensional instrument of students’ evaluation of university teaching (the Pedagogical Questionnaire of the University of Porto). The goal was to develop an instrument based on a sound psychometric analysis and simultaneously supported by the learning theory. Based on the data from 4875 questionnaires, the present study examined the fit of the proposed multidimensional model of university teaching to the whole sample and to various specific university programmes of study using confirmatory factor analysis (AMOS 5.0). Results clearly supported the applicability of the proposed model for the whole university and across programmes of study, demonstrating the validity and reliability of the instrument in evaluating several distinct dimensions of the quality of university teaching.     

对外汉语阅读课教学中有效提问的研究

课堂提问是对外汉语阅读课教学的重要环节,是提高教学效果的有效手段。本文以辽宁省六所高校的六位对外汉语教师为研究对象,对课堂提问的类型和数量、课堂提问后等待的时间、提问技巧的运用和反馈形式等方面进行实证研究,针对分析的结果指出存在的问题并提出相应的教学建议。     

提升新建本科院校工程教育研究水平的实证研究——基于福建工程学院2005-2014年研究文献的可视化分析

利用CiteSpace软件,通过定量分析CNKI平台上收录的文献,首次对福建工程学院教师发表的工程教育期刊研究论文进行计量学研究和可视化分析,以此了解学校教师对工程教育研究领域的关注度及研究的发展轨迹,指出存在的问题及与国际工程教育研究关注热点的差距,并就提高学校教育研究水平提出建议。     

The change in epistemological beliefs and beliefs about teaching and learning: a study among pre-service teachers

This study investigated the change in Singaporean pre-service teachers' epistemological beliefs and beliefs about learning and teaching over the course of a teacher preparation program. An online survey was administered during the first week of a nine-month program and the same survey was administered after the 413 participants had completed all their course work and teaching practice. Participants exhibited significant changes in epistemological beliefs and beliefs about learning and teaching – participants indicated more relativistic epistemological outlooks and less constructivism in beliefs about teaching. At the end of the teacher preparation program, they seemed to less value effort in learning and believed more in innate ability.     

Conversations about sexuality on a public university campus: perspectives from campus ministry students and leaders

Little is known about university campus religious organisations’ influence on students’ sexuality-related attitudes and behaviours. This study sought to better understand sexuality-related communication within the context of campus ministries by exploring students’ and campus ministry leaders’ conversational experiences at a public university in the south-east USA. Data sources included an online survey of undergraduates participating in student religious organisations (n = 57), focus groups with campus ministry students (n = 36), and individual interviews with campus ministry leaders (n = 19). Findings indicated student satisfaction with the focus and frequency of conversations about romantic relationships and sexual health within the context of campus ministries. However, both campus ministry students and leaders indicated discomfort in discussions of sexuality. Leaders acknowledged their need for better strategies to engage students; students focused on how to integrate religious messages about sexuality with messages from other sources. These findings suggest campus ministry leaders may benefit from focused training and support to communicate more effectively with college students about sexuality.     

Learning study as a clinical research practice to generate knowledge about the learning of historical primary source analysis

There is a demand for educational research that addresses questions found in teachers’ practice. This line of research can be referred to as practitioner research, and it is motivated by the realisation that teacher professionalism is one of the most influential factors in determining student achievement. One question is whether the primary purpose of practitioner research should be to improve teaching practices, or to contribute to theoretical knowledge. Some argue that the primary concern should be contributions to changing practices, whereas others suggest that contributions to theory are equally important. The purpose of the article is to discuss how Learning study, regarded as a clinical research practice, can contribute to developing teaching practices and theory of history didactics in conjunction. Learning study is commonly described as an interventionist, iterative and collaborative research approach, focusing on the teaching of an object of learning, which in this case was the learning of primary source analysis in history. Examples of how the Learning study contributed to practice and theory are presented. Contributions include the suggestion that knowing primary source analysis involves the ability to distinguish and separate three critical aspects in a temporal, human and contextual dimension, and that the students’ personal perspectives are vital and should be regarded in the design of tasks and teaching. Based on the findings it is argued that practitioner research could aim at developing educational practices in conjunction with contributions to theory, and that practice and theory are necessarily entwined in the research process.