Designing informal learning experiences for early career academics using a knowledge ecosystem model

This article presents a ‘knowledge ecosystem’ model of how early career academics experience using information to learn while building their social networks for developmental purposes. Developed using grounded theory methodology, the model offers a way of conceptualising how to empower early career academics through (1) agency (individual and relational) and (2) facilitation of personalised informal learning (design of physical and virtual systems and environments) in spaces where developmental relationships are formed, including programmes, courses, events, community, home and social media. It is suggested that the knowledge ecosystem model is suitable for use in designing informal learning experiences for early career academics.     

Developing identity and agency as an early career academic: lessons from Alice

This paper draws on Lewis Carroll’s character of Alice as a metaphor for interrogating identity construction and agency amongst early career academics, a process which can seem like Alice’s pursuit of the White Rabbit in a strange land. Keeping in mind the effects of neoliberalism on the tertiary sector, we recognise the centrality of personal lives in decision-making about academic careers and the shaping of professional identities. We also foreground how communities of practice not only build agency amongst ECAs but can also be supported by academic developers.     

Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics

In the current research-focused climate, academics are facing increasing pressure to produce research outputs. This pressure can prove particularly daunting for early career (EC) academics, who are simultaneously attempting to master new teaching and administrative demands while establishing their own independent research trajectories. Previous reports suggest that academic writing retreats can be an effective way of increasing research outputs. Such retreats generally involve academics from a range of career stages and require expert facilitators. Through organising a series of structured writing events, this project aims to cultivate an enduring community of practice for academic writers. Reflecting on our EC retreat and subsequent writing days with academics from different career stages, we suggest that success hinged on three key factors: (1) A formal structure comprising bounded periods of intense writing, flanked by group reviewing and goal-setting; (2) Co-located writing with participants based in a shared space, away from their usual workstation and distractions; (3) Peer discussions involving participants at a similar career stage. Specifically we found that writing amongst ‘equals’ increased productivity and confidence amongst EC academics.     

Approaches to career development and support for sessional academics in higher education

Levels of career support for sessional academics vary widely. This paper surveyed 109 sessional academics and demonstrates that a lack of career development for them is a widespread issue. The study finds that some sessional academics receive career support opportunities, while others receive nothing. As the number of sessional academics continues to grow and they become an ever larger part of the higher education workforce, while at the same time tenured positions are still the objective of many in academia, this paper contributes to current scholarship by identifying a clear stratification in the sessional workforce that has implications for the academics who hope to secure tenured positions.     

Game-based career learning support for youth: effects of playing the Youth@Work game on career adaptability

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions that youth has to take but many young people find this a hard issue to engage with. Current career counselling practice does not appear very compelling or motivating to young people. Professional games could provide a more engaging and motivating way of acquiring professional awareness and competence for career decision making and learning. We present the design and effects of playing a game that aims to increase career awareness and adaptabilities in youth (13–19 years). In a Randomized Controlled Trial, 93 high school students from Iceland and Romania were asked to carry out career-oriented activities, with half playing an interactive game and the other half performing a paper-and-pencil version of the same activities. The students were compared on career adaptability, career learning and career awareness scores before and after these interventions. Main results show that engaging players in these career-oriented activities has short term effects on outcome scores for career adaptabilities and for perceptions of career learning competences. Students who played the game report significantly faster growth on career adaptabilities that deal with “concern”, “control” and “confidence”. It can therefore be concluded that introducing game-based learning in career decision support for youth is a promising endeavour.     

Quality criteria of research perceived by academics in social sciences at higher education

The purpose of this study is to examine the problem of research quality in social sciences at higher education. Quality of research produced at higher education started to be questioned more often as research became the major factor determining academics＇ promotion and fund allocation to universities. In the study, we aimed to reveal how academics perceive research quality and what they identify as the main problems that make it difficult to achieve quality in research. Data were collected through interviews with 25 academics from 7 disciplines （educational sciences, sociology, communicational sciences, law, history, management and political science） in 7 universities. Six of the academics interviewed were professors, 7 were associate professors, 10 were assistant professors and 2 were doctors. Interviews were carried out in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years, and each lasted about one hour on average. Data collected were analyzed through content analysis. Study findings revealed that academics referred most often to methodological issues as the most important quality criterion of research, followed by issues of theoretical background and originality. Academics definitions of sub-criteria related to these were tackled in more detail in the study. As the most important hindrances that make it difficult to achieve quality in research academics mentioned lack of a long-established research culture, problems of research resources and the pressure caused by academic promotion criteria. Some recommendations related to the problems were made to develop research quality in the light of the study findings.     

Spectrum Approach to Mentoring: an evidence-based approach to mentoring for academics working in higher education

Anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that mentoring can be a successful strategy for supporting professional learning, yet limited literature exists on approaches to mentoring designed specifically for academics working in higher education. The aim of this study was to create an approach to mentoring tailored to the needs of academics and underpinned by evidence from the literature. Participatory action research was chosen as the methodology for the project as this enabled a process of inquiry to be embedded within academic practice. The outcome was the development of the Spectrum Approach to Mentoring (SAM). This three-step approach is goal orientated, and encompasses mentoring relationships that may be ongoing and sustained over time through to those that are short-term and aligned with a particular task or focus. SAM provides a suite of resources that can be used by academics to promote valuable opportunities for professional learning through the initiation of mentoring relationships.     

Communities of practice in higher education: professional learning in an academic career

This article focuses on the life history of a university academic, and the ways in which he learned in different communities of practice during his career. This account raises questions about the applicability of situated learning theory to a knowledge-based organisation, and argues that both the external context and the individuals within the community impinge on learning. It suggests that the role of academic staff developers may vary depending on the CoP and should include developing networks, facilitation, providing relevant expertise, improving harmony within CoPs and harnessing the benefits of internationally dispersed CoPs.     

浅谈本科生职业生涯规划创新教育

随着我国高等教育迅速发展并进入大众化阶段,并且随着人们对学历及自我提高越来越重视,大学生的数量日渐升高,考生数目居高不下。数以万计的考生在大学求学阶段完善和丰富自身,在高等教育中成就自我。但全球经济危机的爆发和蔓延,使得我国很多大学生的就业形势愈发严峻,社会各方都已充分认识到这一问题若得不到妥善处理将引发的严重后果,这不仅会给我国社会和教育事业发展带来巨大冲击,并且严重影响大学生个人今后的发展道路及人生规划。高等教育既是高校专业知识体系教育的延伸和发展,也是连接高等教育与市场化就业的纽带,因此,大学生职业生涯规划与指导体系需要被社会各界关注并加以重视。根据从各知名高校的学生就业指导服务中心统计到的信息,并且对部分高校的大学生就业指导与服务工作的现状作了较为翔实的归纳与分析,一方面,各高校在学生就业指导方面有不少可取之处,比如将学生的生涯发展观念与高等教育资源的利用加以结合;另一方面也发现了高等教育在学生就业方面未涉及到的不足之处,比如,在高校开展职业规划与指导工作的过程中,院校专业化程度不高和资源供给不足给学生带来了不利的影响,需要积极改进和完善。因此,在归纳总结了多元化构建大学生职业规划与指导体系的经验内容时,并结合统计分析本科生对大学生职业规划与就业指导的现状与期望的数据,在本科生职业生涯规划与指导方面,以大众化高等教育需确立质量与效率的基础上,从大学生职业生涯规划的可行性、必要性、创新性入手,旨在探讨出更加符合当今高等教育中学生普遍存在的职业规划问题的有效解决方案。在高等教育迅速发展和变革并被普遍接受的时代,大学生职业规划与指导工作的意义显得更加复杂而深刻,并彰显着新时代的价值和特征以及对学生未来的美好期望,最大可能地满足大学生职业规划与发展个性化多元化的需求,以及提高高等教育的质量是目前高等教育院校最为关注的问题。本文从本科生职业生涯规划创新教育方面加以分析探讨。     

高等教育大众化与高校就业教育

根据人才市场的需求及其变化,以提高学生适应就业需要的素质和能力为目标,开展全程性、全方位的就业教育,体现了大众化背景下高等教育市场化的特征。地方高等学校要以强化就业教育为契机,积极应对高等教育大众化的挑战,开展自身教育理念、教育机制和内涵的变革与创新。     

关于高校开展创业教育的几点看法

我国高校开展创业教育刚刚起步,很多理论与实践问题例如创业教育的内涵、创业教育的意义、创业教育的内容及创业的政策扶持等,亟待探索和研究。     

Three pathways to support the professional and career development of casual academics

Almost half of current academic staff will need to be replaced within three years in the Australian academic workforce. Literature suggests that casual academics are a potential solution, yet they are frequently excluded from the career development opportunities that would allow them to fulfil an ongoing academic role. Most academic development programmes designed for and delivered to casual academics are constructed by academic developers with little or no input from casual academics themselves. This paper documents what casual academics determine to be their academic development needs and how they could be addressed using three pathways of professional and career development.     

Structure and agency in learning: a critical realist theory of the development of capacity to reflect on academic practice

Theories of learning typically downplay the interplay between social structure and student agency. In this article, we adapt a causal hypothesis from realist social theory and draw on wider perspectives from critical realism to account for the development of capacity to engage in reflection on professional practice in academic roles. We thereby offer a theory of professional learning that explores how social and cultural structures and personal emergent powers combine to ensure variation in the emergence of such reflective capacity. The influence of these factors on professional learning is mediated through reflexive deliberation and social interaction, with the exercise of one's personal powers specifically identified as a stratum of social reality. We consider further the role of concerns, intention and attention in professional learning, drawing together issues that are rarely considered within the same theory. We thus offer a comprehensive account of professional learning, showing how a focus on structure and agency increases the explanatory power of learning theory.     

International minority ethnic academics at predominantly white institutions

Using critical race theory, this article examines the racial positioning of British international minority ethnic (IME) academics in predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Empirical data, in the form of 28 in-depth interviews with IME academics, is used to analyze the complex raced and gendered positionalities of IME academics in institutions of higher education in the United States. We argue that the institutional contexts of predominantly White universities continue to re-affirm White privilege in ways that reflect the struggles in higher education to diversify faculty at PWIs. As scholars call for more diversity across higher education campuses, we suggest that it is important to understand the interconnections between policy and practice surrounding attempts to recruit and retain IME academics.     

Limited legitimacy among academics of centrally driven approaches to internal quality assurance in Vietnam

For more than 15 years, Vietnam has worked to develop a quality assurance (QA) system as part of its effort to reform higher education. The government’s effort seeks to respond to widespread criticism over the quality of training in higher education. The appropriation of western QA mechanisms and the effectiveness of the QA system as it has been implemented, however, is still viewed with scepticism. This paper reports on a study of academics and QA practitioners’ perceptions of quality assurance. Documentation and in-depth interviews were used in the study. The findings show that QA remains a new concept in the country, which appears to have promoted a compliance-driven approach to mandated policies rather than a system that promotes academics’ engagement in continuous improvement. Moreover, the appropriated mechanism may be seen as contradictory to the values respected by academics and rooted in a Confucian society.     

高等教育大众化背景下的大学生职业生涯教育影响因素解析

大学生职业生涯教育是我国快速实现高等教育大众化过程中应运而生的教育新理念,也是借鉴西方发达国家经验积极化解大学生就业困难以及提高人才培养质量所主动进行的实践探索。在我国高等教育大众化的发展进程中,大学生职业生涯教育的影响因素主要有：社会经济发展方面的动力因素、政府推动方面的主导因素、高校自身发展方面的关键因素和学生成才就业方面的主体因素。