Reflections on using journals in higher education: a focus group discussion with faculty

Reflective journals have become an increasingly popular tool used by numerous faculty across many disciplines in higher education. Previous research and narrative reports of journal writing have explored student perceptions of journal writing, but very little is understood about faculty perceptions. In this paper, we report on a study involving eight university faculty who teach courses with outdoor field components in the areas of outdoor recreation, experiential education, or outdoor education. We present the faculty member’s: (1) current practices of journal writing (types of journals, types of entries, process of journal writing), (2) perceptions of journal writing (rationale, quality, evaluation) and (3) recommendations to maximize the potential of journal writing. A mixed methods approach was used that included a 32‐item quantitative questionnaire and a focus group discussion. By and large, the faculty who participated in this study appreciated the pedagogical potential of journal writing. They were, however, cautious about certain aspects of the journaling process and offered numerous suggestions for improving the ‘journaling experience.’ This paper concludes with several recommendations for consideration by higher education faculty who use journal writing as an instructional technique.     

What characterizes a productive research department?

The correlates of average departmental annual research journal publication rates of faculty were examined in three disciplines: chemistry, history, and psychology. Variables studied included factual information about each department, faculty perceptions and ratings, and graduate students' perceptions and ratings. Content included academic programs, specific policies and practices, characteristics of students, faculty, facilities, etc., as well as the quality of teaching and human relations in the departments. Although the common results indicated the importance of able faculty and students, a strong emphasis on research and the provision of time and funds for faculty to pursue research, there were discipline-specific patterns of results. In chemistry the pattern of productive departments suggested large research laboratories, in history a scholarly apprenticeship approach, and in psychology an emphasis on research over practice. Discipline specific studies may be the best approach to understanding research productivity.     

PUBLICATION OUTLETS FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY FACULTY: 2010 to 2015

Many school psychology faculty are required to publish for purposes of retention and promotion. It is useful to have an understanding of the different outlets for scholarly publications. In the present study, we investigated the peer‐reviewed journals in which school psychology faculty were published between 2010 and 2015, the number of articles in each journal, and the acceptance rates and impact estimates for each journal. We identified school psychology faculty using the National Association of School Psychologists website and conducted a search of the publications using EBSCO databases. Results indicated that there were a total of 3,675 articles and a total of 832 peer‐reviewed journals in which school psychology faculty were published during the 6‐year span. Among the peer‐reviewed journals, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Quarterly, School Psychology Review, and Journal of School Psychology were the journals in which school psychology faculty members most frequently published. Acceptance rates ranged from less than 5% to 98%, with an average of 29.7%. H‐indexes ranged from 1 to 890, with an average of 52. These results illustrate the variety of journals that publish works from school psychology faculty and the need for school psychology faculty and other authors to consider a variety of options when seeking publication.     

What Journals are the Most Cited Journals in Criminology and Criminal Justice’s “Big Three” Journals?

Recently, scholars have sought to learn more about scholarly activity within the fields of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ). Research in this area has examined which departments have the most productive faculty, which scholars are the most productive, and which journals are the most prestigious. However, no study of which we are aware has determined what journals criminologists are most likely to cite in their scholarly research. In this study, we rank the most influential journals by the number of times those journals were cited between 2009 and 2013 in Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly. Our analyses suggest that Criminology is clearly the most influential CCJ journal in terms of citations, while the American Sociological Review, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and the American Journal of Sociology remain influential in CCJ as well.     

Factors in teacher assignments: Measuring workload by effort

Based on a national survey of 491 department heads in 25 major universities in the United States, this study examines what department heads perceive to be the component parts in making assignments to faculty members. The importance of evaluating faculty resources based on effort required rather than on time devoted to given tasks is stressed. Regression analysis is used to investigate how department heads interpret effort required to teach classes and how this effort varies by discipline (Biglan taxonomy), by class level, by number of students, and by type of instructional technique. The results are validated against reported time expenditures from a faculty activity analysis.Presented at the Twentieth Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Atlanta, April 1980.     

Faculty identity through spheres of teaching and research activity and associated genres

This study aims to understand how faculty identity development is related to a differential use of writing genres in the teaching and research spheres of activity and whether this development follows different paths, on the bases of faculty perceptions regarding what they consider their main goal at university and their preferred sphere of activity. Participants (N?=?67) answered the online survey Faculty identity and academic writing. A mixed-method design combining quantitative and qualitative data analysis was used. Results showed first that the most often used genres were written exams in the teaching sphere of activity. Second, activities related to the research sphere, such as writing-related activities and participation in events were the least reported while evaluative activities were mentioned in all spheres. Third, faculty’s perceptions regarding their main goal at university (research) were not in alignment with their preferences (teaching). Writing genres used and activities reported closely mirror preferred spheres of activity and mismatch faculty’s perceptions of their main goal at universities. In conclusion, sphere of activity preferences relate to different paths of faculty’s identity development.     

The sound of silence! Reflections on inclusion and exclusion in the field of gender and education

The aim of this article is to start a debate about the inclusiveness/exclusiveness of the field of gender and education, and what change might be possible. While we focus on the field of gender and education as a whole (including its journals and academic practices), our main sources of evidence are our own experiences as gender researchers on different sides of the Anglophone divide, and a small survey of articles in this journal, Gender and Education, chosen because it is the main journal of choice for those hoping to make a contribution to the field. We examined articles published in three years, 1990, 1998 and 2007, in order to identify if and how the journal (and hence the field) has changed in orientation over time. Following a discussion of the survey outcomes, we draw attention in particular to the journal’s Anglophone orientation and the implications this has for the field as a whole. We further argue for greater reflexivity about our and other’s practices as feminist academics, and propose some strategies for action with the aim of making the field more inclusive.     

Teacher Candidate Dispositions: Perspectives of Professional Expectations

This study describes a programmatic effort to examine dispositions perceptions of teacher candidates entering the profession. Study participants included 114 master's level teaching candidates in their first semester of a nontraditional teacher education program. Teacher candidates scored themselves on a department disposition rubric designed to evaluate their professional behaviors and wrote reflective rationales to support their scoring. Results indicated that candidates positioned themselves as no fault, accepts fault, and assigns fault in writing their rationales. These positions were used as lenses to analyze candidates' positioning in relation to the program and faculty expectations. Candidates' disposition performance rationales relied on their novice status, the demands of work and family, and an admitted minimalist approach to some course demands. Insights gained from the study may allow teacher education faculty to better understand and support candidates' dispositional growth and development.     

高校学报封二、封三的版面利用与表现技巧

当前,高校学报重封一、封四的设计,轻封二、封三的现象较为普遍,造成了内封版面资源的极大浪费。其实,造成内封浪费的原因是多方面的:部门领导不够重视,办刊经费紧张,编辑人员审校工作量大等。要想合理利用封二、封三的版面,必须选择具有视觉冲击力的内容,采用丰富多彩的表现技巧,才能真正发挥封二、封三的宣传效应。     

Academic department prestige: A new measure based on the doctoral student labor market

Past rankings of academic departments have been based on a variety of factors including faculty publications, citations, and external perceptions. However well designed, these studies are conceptually flawed as means of assessing prestige. This paper views prestige as an ex ante condition related to an existing stratification system, rather than as an ex post result of productivity. As such, prestige can be measured by the academic department's ability to place its doctoral recipients. As a means of illustrating the use of this approach, an empirical analysis of accounting faculty placements from graduate schools in the United States was conducted. The resultant rankings were also evaluated for stability over time and against other program characteristics to illustrate the validity and the uniqueness of the measure.     

从《青岛职业技术学院学报》交流状况的统计分析谈改进学报交流与利用工作

近年来,我院学报编辑部很重视学报交流工作,采取了专人负责、突出服务与实用、动态管理等措施,收到了一定成效,特别是针对性有所加强,但仍然存在着学报利用率不高等问题。结合对全国不同地区的30所高职院校的学报交流情况的调查、统计、分析,认为今后各编辑部应从思想上更加重视此项工作,根据实际情况变化,随时调整学报的交流单位,同时对收到的学报,建议在编辑部进行统计、建档和学习研究之后将其转移至学院图书馆,由其进行管理,并向师生开放。另外,图书馆和编辑部关于学报的对外交流也应统一管理,避免重复,以企实现效益最大化。     

Professional currency among midcareer college faculty: Family and work factors

This study examined work and family factors that differentiate midcareer faculty members who were current from less current faculty with regard to the disciplinary knowledge base. The sample included 97 faculty (69 males, 28 females; 72 English, 25 Engineering) and their spouses. Cluster analyses of the work and family variables identified faculty subgroups within discipline. ANCOVAs showed a significant relationship between the clustered work-family profiles and levels of currency.Family differences: Current faculty and spouses reported spending more time on family-related responsibilities and experiencing greater stress from combined work-family responsibilities. Current Engineering faculty reported less flexibility in reallocating family responsibilities.Work differences: Faculty reported a greater commitment to their careers and to professional development: They reported higher scores on the Inner Work Standards scale; current English faculty read more professional journals and spent more time on research; current Engineering faculty spent more time on research and had more publications.     

Academic sell-out: how an obsession with metrics and rankings is damaging academia

Increasingly, academics have to demonstrate that their research has academic impact. Universities normally use journal rankings and journal impact factors to assess the research impact of individual academics. More recently, citation counts for individual articles and the h-index have also been used to measure the academic impact of academics. There are, however, several serious problems with relying on journal rankings, journal impact factors and citation counts. For example, articles without any impact may be published in highly ranked journals or journals with high impact factor, whereas articles with high impact could be published in lower ranked journals or journals with low impact factor. Citation counts can also be easily gamed and manipulated, and the h-index disadvantages early career academics. This paper discusses these and several other problems and suggests alternatives such as post-publication peer review and open-access journals.     

Building a support system toward tenure: challenges and needs of tenure‐track faculty in colleges of education

This article describes the experiences, perceptions, and available support systems of untenured faculty from a south eastern United States public university system in their progress toward tenure. Survey results were used to develop a model support system for new faculty. Data were collected from an online survey sent to 191 tenure‐track faculty in colleges of education, yielding a 50% (n = 96) response rate. The following research questions guided this research: (a) What are the expectations for teaching, research and service in the colleges of education surveyed? (b) In what ways are untenured faculty supported and/or mentored? (c) What kind of support system(s) need(s) to be in place to assist new faculty in balancing teaching, research, and service expectations? In this mixed‐methods study, respondents were asked about their workload, expectations for tenure, and formal and informal support they received on the tenure track. Untenured faculty reported stressful and unbalanced lifestyles, and work expectations exceeded assigned workloads for several institutions. A new faculty comprehensive support system model is suggested.     

Student and faculty perceptions of plagiarism in health sciences education

Academic misconduct is a problem encountered by many academic programmes, including programmes in the health sciences. The primary purpose of the present study was to assess doctoral student and graduate faculty perceptions of academic misconduct, specifically plagiarism. We used a cross-sectional survey design, and separate surveys were developed for students and faculty. The student survey measured student perceptions of the prevalence of plagiarism among students in general and assessed the occurrence of each student’s plagiaristic behaviours. The faculty survey measured faculty perceptions of the prevalence of plagiarism among students in general and among students in their courses specifically. Two hundred and thirty-eight students and 92 faculty completed the surveys. Students were doctoral health sciences students enrolled in a campus-based, online or hybrid programme. Compared with the self-reported behaviour of students, faculty believed more students were involved with plagiarism. Self-rated knowledge about plagiarism was significantly higher among online students and faculty than among campus-based students and faculty (p<0.001). Both students and faculty believed the most common plagiaristic activity was citing and referencing a full-text source when only the abstract was read, but only a few students reported personally doing this. Additionally, more campus-based students than online students reported working closely with another classmate on an assignment when they were not authorised to do so (p<0.001). In the present study, surveyed students and faculty believed plagiarism was prevalent among the general student population; however, few students self-reported this behaviour.     

The relationship between departmental power and faculty careers on two campuses: The case for structural effects on faculty salaries

The correlates of the rate of faculty advancement through steps within ranks were examined in a sample of 40 departments on two campuses of a large state university system. The proportion of departmental faculty moving through steps at faster than normal speed was positively correlated with the political power of the department on the campus and, in some cases, with the proportion of the faculty in the department who were at more senior ranks. The rate of departmental growth, the level of the department's scientific paradigm, or departmental national prestige had no effect on faculty career speed. The evidence suggests that it is important to broaden the study of faculty salary and other rewards to include structural as well as individual variables, including departmental affiliation and characteristics of the department.     

An analysis of research studies in which “homemade” achievement instruments were utilized

This article will have as its focus a problem described by Anderson, namely, the quality of the construction and reporting of research that contains “homemade” achievement tests. The current status of homemade achievement tests was examined in this study. Research reports in two science education journals were analyzed, using Anderson's eight categories of information that a high quality research report should include. The journals examined were Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Science Education from January 1975 to January 1980. The findings indicate that reliability estimates and the procedures for selecting test items were mentioned more frequently in the science education journals than in Anderson's study. However, there was little or no improvement in describing the relation of test items to instruction. These findings should be of interest both to researchers who are utilizing “homemade” achievement tests in their studies and to journal panels who are reviewing studies for publication.     

新冠肺炎疫情背景下的学术期刊办刊思考

新冠疫情期间,学术期刊办刊遇到一些问题。期刊管理部门应出台或完善相关应急政策,牵头推进赋予纸质刊与网络刊同等效力的工作。期刊编辑部应科学处理延期出刊等问题;以抗击疫情、全面认识社会经济运行方式的变化为契机,做出有影响力、助推问题解决的选题策划;利用专业资源、专业知识、专业媒介、专业人才等向大众科普与疫情有关的知识,澄清是非,击退谣言;与数字出版平台有效对接,缩短内容上网时间,促成论文成果及时传播。