New challenges to Korean universities: increase of older students

This article explores the implications of the recent increase in older students at Korean universities dominated by younger students. A case study design is used to gain an in-depth understanding of experiences of older students in a Korean university. Semi-structured interviews of twelve older students, three professors, two administrators, and four younger students at the university were conducted for the date collection. The results suggest that the experiences of Korean older students differed from those of counterparts in western countries since academic and extracurricular services of Korean universities were geared towards younger students and thus were unhelpful for older students with multiple responsibilities at work and home. Also, the results show that traditional hierarchical relationships between younger and older students created strains for older students who had to rely heavily on younger counterparts. This study's findings highlight the crucial roles of higher education systems and culture in the experiences of older Asian students.     

UK initiatives to promote inclusion in higher education for students with disabilities

ABSTRACT

The inclusion in higher education of students with disabilities and learning difficulties has become a matter of concern within the past eight years. Recent Higher Education Funding Council initiatives to promote greater inclusion have had some success in improving access to higher education (HE) and raising awareness across the sector of the need to ensure full participation by students with disabilities in the learning environment once they enter the university. Hopes that the new UK disability rights legislation would help promote equality of access to HE were disappointed when it became apparent that the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 excluded education from its main provisions. The only requirement affecting post‐compulsory education is that institutions publish a statement on their provision for students with disabilities and learning difficulties. These disability statements confer no legal rights and it appeared that they would have little impact on access to HE for disabled people. This paper reports the findings of a survey of the anticipated effects upon the higher education sector in England of the requirement to produce disability statements. There may be some positive effects not only upon the nature and form of information available, but also on the provision offered in the sector.     

高师学生心理素质教育课程建构及方法探寻

心理素质教育是高师素质教育的重要内容，加强高师学生心理素质教育既是他们健康成长的主观愿望，又是他们将来职业定向的客观要求。本文对高师实施心理素质教育提出课程建构和方法上的探索。     

面向师范生开展职业生涯规划课程的几点思考

近年来,随着国家对大学生职业生涯和就业指导的广泛重视,越来越多高校开设了职业生涯规划课程,但在课程具体教学实施中也暴露出一些问题,教学形式和效果不能满足学生生涯发展的实际需求。文章基于师范生职业生涯规划课程的教学实践,分析了实际教学中遇到的一些问题及成因,并相应的提出了对策与建议。     

Writers' retreats for academics: exploring and increasing the motivation to write

This paper examines the literature on academic writing and collaborative learning and proposes, in the light of this literature, that the introduction of writers' retreats for academics represents a valuable professional development opportunity. It is argued that such an intervention can be an important initiative, helping to support more productive patterns of academic writing among participating academics. Findings gathered during a writers' retreat are presented, focusing on the positive and negative perspectives that participating academics expressed about writing for publication. The format and the structure of the retreat are described, along with the impact that such an intervention can be argued to have made on participants. Finally, a conceptual map is presented which relates the experiences and insights of the retreat to the ‘motivation to write’ among academics.     

Investigating the experiences of foundation degree students progressing to an honours degree: an integrated approach

Progression from a foundation degree to an honours degree has become an increasingly popular pathway through higher education. The route creates dual institution scenarios in which students can progress from a further education institution to a higher education institution. This paper reports on research into the academic and social integration of progression students into a higher education institution to complete their honours degree. It highlights the ways in which progression students face many first year issues whilst completing the final stage of their higher education studies and possible ways of addressing these issues. The evidence presented here suggests an explicit need to recognise not only the academic and social issues of progression, but also how these relate to the wider physical and cultural changes experienced. It also suggests that these issues are often overlooked by research which focuses almost exclusively on variables affecting the retention and attrition of traditional first year students.     

大学生信息素养教育与文献检索课教学改革

通过分析大学生信息素养教育的内涵和文献检索课在新形势下面临的挑战,提出高校文献检索课教学创新的措施和方法.     

Participation and exclusion: A comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education

The dramatic growth in student numbersassociated with the shift from elite to masssystems across virtually all developedcountries is central to current transformationsin terms of structure, purpose, social andeconomic role of higher education. As a part ofthis process of expansion and heterogenization,new groups of students who, for a complex rangeof social, economic and cultural reasons weretraditionally excluded from orunder-represented in higher education, mightbe expected to participate in increasingnumbers. The paper develops the concept ofnon-traditional learners and demonstrateshow an examination of ways in which highereducation systems respond to such learners canprovide a fruitful basis for a comparativeanalysis of change in higher education acrossten countries – Austria, Australia, Canada,Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden,United Kingdom, and the United States. Theprimary emphasis in the study was on theinstitutional and policy issues which appearedto either inhibit or support participation bynon-traditional learners. On this basis sixfactors were identified which seemed to beparticularly influential with regard to theparticipation of non-traditional students andthe associated moves towards a lifelonglearning mode of higher education.The evidence suggests that, while progress canbe reported on a number of dimensions incomparison with a similar analysis ofparticipation by adults students in the samecountries undertaken just over a decadeearlier, high participation rates do notautomatically imply that the functions ofhigher education in social selection andreproduction are obsolete, or that issues ofaccess and equity can be regarded as featuresof the past.     

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.     

针对高职学生思想实际,上好《思想道德修养与法律基础》课

《思想道德修养与法律基础》是高职学生必修的一门思想政治理论课,学生学习这门课的兴趣和偏好表现为:爱国主义情感饱满,爱党意识有待加强;重视个人理想、忽视社会理想;重视爱情道德、忽视家庭美德;强调法律权利、回避法律义务。对此,我们采取了相应的对策,保证了教学目标的实现。     

对"专升本"政策调整的思考

用限制专升本通道、以堵代疏的方式来规范专升本教育并不能从根本上解决 "专升本"存在的一些问题,理智的态度应是"疏导"而不是"堵塞",即应在提高政策制定的科学化、民主化水平的基础上,既要对现行的"专升本"制度进行改良,克服其问题与不足;又要在时机成熟的条件下,积极探讨其替代或部分替代方案.     

机械工程控制基础网络课程建设技巧

根据机械工程控制基础课程的培养目标和教学要求,结合网站开发软件Dreamweaver的特点,探讨在机械工程控制基础网络课程建设过程中文档、图片和表格的处理方法和技巧,探索充实美观地展示教学文档、课件、课堂录像等内容的方法和途径,通过不断地更新、优化和完善网络课程教学内容,实现了在线教学和资源共享。     

基于平台的无机材料科学基础网络课程建设

响应《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要》中要加快教育信息化进程,加强网络教学资源体系建设的要求,依托"洛阳理工学院网络课程教学平台",构建了材料科学基础网络课程,介绍了该课程性质、网络课程建设的必要性及网络课程主要内容。     

高职教材建设探讨

通过教材使用、研究、教学效果总结,认为高职教材应随着时代的发展与时俱进,开拓创新.提出教材改革的方向:现代化、实用化、教案化、讲义化、系统化、通俗化.     

Pathway from vocational education and associate degree to higher education: Chinese international students in Australia

Understanding factors influencing international students' decision to engage in international education is essential for education providers to better cater for students' educational expectations and enhance their attractiveness to international students. Whilst there has been extensive research on the reasons why international students undertake cross-border higher education, international students' motivations for enrolling in vocational education and associate degree programmes are still under-researched. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 international students from China, this research found that pathway to higher education appears to be the most important factor motivating international students to undertake vocational education and associate degree programmes. In addition, prospect of immigration, English language proficiency, previous academic performance, agent's recommendations and relatives' and friends' advice are amongst the important factors that students take into account in their decision to choose vocational education and associate degree programmes. This research also examines why Chinese international students have chosen vocational education programmes in a dual-sector university over vocational education colleges. It found that the flexibility to articulate to higher education, international reputation of the programme, practical training and favourable location are key issues that these students draw on when making their decision to study in a dual-sector university.     

高校计算机文化基础课程网络学习题库的研发

为了适应信息社会快速发展的需求,促进计算机教学改革的发展,设计开发了计算机文化基础课程网络学习题库,题库包括:用户管理、题库管理、学生学习和试卷分析4个模块。学生通过使用该题库可以提高自主学习能力和学习效率。     

Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education

ABSTRACT

Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and incorporation of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession.     

成人高教英语课程教学内容体系改革的研究与实践

成人高等教育是中国高等教育的重要组成部分,成人高等教育的教学改革是中国高等教育改革的重点之一。英语教学是成人高等教育的有机组成部分,因此,加强对成人高等教育英语课程体系的研究,大力改革和发展成人高等英语教育的教学方法,合理调整和更新教学内容,建设开放的、动态的、适应经济社会成人发展的成人高等教育英语课程体系成为必然。     

女生在体育与健康课程中的心理障碍及解除措施

文章从高中女生在体育与健康课程中的行为表现入手,对影响女生参加体育锻炼的心理障碍进行了分析,并提出了消除心理障碍的方法.     

Motivations for participation in higher education: narratives of non-traditional students at Makerere University in Uganda

The objective of this qualitative study was to establish motivations for participation of non-traditional students (NTS) in university education. The findings are drawn from empirical data collected from 15 unstructured in-depth interviews with NTS of the School of Computing and Informatics Technology at Makerere University, and analysed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti. Three major findings were established: (1) motivations were found to be multiple, multifaceted and varied for each individual; (2) the sociocultural context of the African society including societal perceptions of university education were found to be the major factor shaping motivations of NTS to upgrade their educational qualifications; and (3) most motivations were found to be extrinsic in nature rather than intrinsic and based more on push rather than pull factors. Yet, although the demand for university education is increasing, life beyond university can no longer guarantee some of the anticipated rewards such as employment and its related benefits. It therefore becomes important that the purpose of education within universities in Africa is directed towards achieving development of the whole human being. In this way, a graduate’s capacity to function will not be seen only in the economic and professional life, but also in other spheres of life.