The research environment of universities

Part‐time study is one of the foci of the widening participation agenda in the UK. The experiences of part‐time students, however, have received remarkably little attention from scholars, especially in a comparative context. This paper explores existing historical data going back over a decade to identify the main themes of part‐time experience at a number of UK higher education institutions and how it compares and contrasts with the full‐time experience. The surveys use the Student Satisfaction Approach. The main themes emerging from institutional survey data over time are the work/family/study balance, assessment and feedback, access to learning and catering resources, and students' financial situation. There is sometimes a question of identity, but unlike many studies of part‐time student experience, which focus on aspects of disadvantage, social, and cultural capital, the data for this paper indicate that many part‐time students have a sense of themselves as being ignored or at worst marginalised in contemporary higher education.     

From lifelong learning to youth employment: back to the future for higher education in Scotland’s colleges

This article explores aspects of the experience of higher education students in a Scottish college within the context of widespread contemporary concern about youth unemployment. Analysis of published data reveals a marked shift in the demographic profile of higher education students in colleges in favour of young people. An unseen consequence of this change has been a decline in opportunities for older students, particularly women wishing to study part time at an advanced level. Survey data from one college follows up an earlier case study and explores new dimensions of the work/life/study balance. In this study the respective experiences of school leavers, young adults and adults are compared. Over half of the students were in paid work, an increase compared with the previous survey. The relationship between work or family life and study was significant in influencing the quality of the students’ experience. Young part-time students, many of whom were following modern apprenticeships, achieved a more successful work/life/study balance compared with full-time students who were in paid work. It is recommended that colleges should devote attention to enabling students to maximise the benefits of combining work with study, to prepare them for transition into a difficult labour market. It is also argued that the different priorities of older lifelong learners should continue to be recognised as their numbers decline.     

Reconceptualise a dynamic framework of the learning constructs in higher education

This paper reconceptualised the interrelated learning constructs in higher education based on the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST). The university students' learning experience before, during and post the Emergency Online Learning (EOL) was investigated to explore the dynamic changes among the learning constructs in higher education. A case study of a Chinese university was conducted, and one hundred and ninety-three university students participated in the questionnaire. The data collected from this empirical research identify different hierarchical constructs of the conceptualised learning environment and reconceptualise the period of system reformation influenced by the EOL. The key findings include the identifications of the attractors and repellors framed by the DST and the impact on the changes in the learning constructs. The results of this paper contribute to further understanding of the university constructs' changes to better plan and support students' active learning in higher education.     

Acknowledging the affective in higher education

This article argues that we need richer conceptions of students as affective and embodied selves and a clearer theorisation of the role of emotion in educational encounters. These areas are currently under‐researched and under‐theorised in higher education. The first part of the article explores the literature on emotion. The second reports on a case study which aimed to map students' emotional journeys over their first year at university. These data highlight the importance of relationships, students' changing emotions over the year, their perceptions of their academic studies and understandings of life at university. The article concludes that it is important to understand the affective dimension in pedagogic encounters and the lifeworld of students, and that it is possible to do so without a collapse into therapeutic discourses.     

Coping mechanisms of part‐time students

A characteristic shared by the majority of adult students is that they are undertaking part‐time study. For these adult learners one of the major difficulties is how to find time for their study. This paper reports the coping mechanisms that part‐time adult students adopt to meet the additional demands that study puts on their existing commitments to work, family and social lives. Data were collected from 53 part‐time students in eight universities in Hong Kong through semi‐structured interviews. A model featuring three coping mechanisms (sacrifice, support and negotiation of arrangements) within four domains (self, work, family and social life) was used for the analysis. Whether or not these coping mechanisms are operationalized to a sufficient extent can have a significant impact upon the students' progress with their courses. The analytical grid provides a framework for counselling and advising adult learners. Part‐time adult students can also use the model to evaluate their own situations and determine which coping mechanisms will work for them to deal with time management issues.     

How students reason about matter flows and accumulations in complex biological phenomena: An emerging learning progression for mass balance

In recent years, there has been a strong push to transform STEM education at K-12 and collegiate levels to help students learn to think like scientists. One aspect of this transformation involves redesigning instruction and curricula around fundamental scientific ideas that serve as conceptual scaffolds students can use to build cohesive knowledge structures. In this study, we investigated how students use mass balance reasoning as a conceptual scaffold to gain a deeper understanding of how matter moves through biological systems. Our aim was to lay the groundwork for a mass balance learning progression in physiology. We drew on a general models framework from biology and a covariational reasoning framework from math education to interpret students' mass balance ideas. We used a constant comparative method to identify students' reasoning patterns from 73 interviews conducted with undergraduate biology students. We helped validate the reasoning patterns identified with >8000 written responses collected from students at multiple institutions. From our analyses, we identified two related progress variables that describe key elements of students' performances: the first describes how students identify and use matter flows in biology phenomena; the second characterizes how students use net rate-of-change to predict how matter accumulates in, or disperses from, a compartment. We also present a case study of how we used our emerging mass balance learning progression to inform instructional practices to support students' mass balance reasoning. Our progress variables describe one way students engage in three dimensional learning by showing how student performances associated with the practice of mathematical thinking reveal their understanding of the core concept of matter flows as governed by the crosscutting concept of matter conservation. Though our work is situated in physiology, it extends previous work in climate change education and is applicable to other scientific fields, such as physics, engineering, and geochemistry.     

An exploratory study into work/family balance within the Australian higher education sector

The higher education landscape is undergoing major transformation, with a significant impact on the work and family practices of academics and professional staff. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the extent to which (1) time-related, (2) strain-related and (3) demographical variables impact on the work/family balance of academic and professional staff in Victorian universities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes. Our findings reveal that university employees experience greater work/family imbalance. The results of this research demonstrate how the three constructs contribute to work/family imbalance in academia, especially within the university sector. This paper is believed to be the first to explore work/family balance from an Australian cross-sectoral perspective. It provides an agenda for future theory and research to increase understanding of work/family balance from a cross-sectoral perspective.     

Understanding the Lived Experience of a Sioux Indian Male Adolescent: Toward the pedagogy of hermeneutical phenomenology in education

Currently, there is a resurgence of interests in phenomenology in education. This article sheds light on the importance of hermeneutical phenomenology in teaching and learning based on the lived experience of a Sioux Indian adolescent boy, elicited from an ethnographic case study conducted at an alternative high school in the US. Employing narrative inquiry, this article seeks phenomenological ways of understanding students' lived experiences and explores the meaning of the pedagogical practice of hermeneutical phenomenology in education. I delve into how hermeneutical understanding of the phenomena of students' lived experience can catapult both students and teachers into the personal growth and development in a reciprocal way. It is my hope that such an understanding will facilitate an educational aim that focuses on the ontology of being and becoming while students' existence is brought to the center of teaching and learning.     

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.     

Engaging with Higher Education Academic Support: a first year student teacher transition model

The need for a redefinition of first year experience in higher education is advocated with the aid of two models, which, although focused on a sample of Australian pre-service teaching students, is proposed as generalisable across the first year. Introduction to the mores of higher education is generally supported by teaching institutions during Orientation days and into the first few weeks of study on the assumption that students are then prepared for academic study. Institutions have invested significantly in providing a range of resources and services to support this process but their effectiveness relies on their timely and appropriate use by students. It is proposed that first year students' transition be identified as the FYST, a unique and important experience and the first of a series of transitions that occur throughout tertiary study. It is also argued that student engagement should be explicitly linked to critical points in the academic programme. Student teacher focus group feedback suggests that Timely, Individualised, and Prioritised Survival [TIPS] support may be key to aiding students' transition to higher education and valuable to student retention.     

The influence of flow on learning outcomes: An empirical study on the use of clickers

Flow is a state of total absorption and concentration in an activity that is desirable for students, as it enhances the learning experience. Due to the importance of flow for learning, this research investigates the influence of three flow preconditions—namely balance of skill and challenge, feedback and goal clarity—on students' flow, operationalized as heightened concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience, while using clickers—a type of polling device. The study also explores the impact of concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience on students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Based on a survey of 204 undergraduate students who use clickers in the classroom, the findings show that balance of skill and challenge has a positive influence on students' concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience. Both feedback provided by clickers and goal clarity have a positive influence on concentration and sense of control, but do not influence the autotelic experience. Findings also corroborate the positive impact of concentration and sense of control experienced by students on perceived learning. Finally, autotelic experience predicts both perceived learning and satisfaction.     

Botswana secondary students' perceptions of the education/employment nexus

This paper arises from a study of final-year Botswanan junior and senior secondary school students' perceptions of the education/employment nexus through the generation of peer reference groups and the soliciting of career aspirations and income expectations. It was found that students generally had accurate perceptions of post-school prospects. There was an overwhelming desire at both levels to pursue tertiary education and training and enter secure professions which it is argued relates to the awareness of the generally unattractive economic consequences of direct entry into the work force, particularly for girls and junior secondary school leavers. The study is discussed in the context of current ‘world of work’-oriented educational reforms and gender differences are highlighted.     

Unlocking the gates: how and why elite universities are opening up access to their courses,by Taylor Walsh, 2011, Princeton,New Jersey,Princeton University Press, 296 pp., $29.95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-69-114874-8

This paper presents a case study of the nature of an online community that exists amongst students in a full‐time teacher education program delivered at a distance. Students differentiate between two principal areas of their community—learning and support—and appear to act differently in relation to those areas. The nature of those differences is explored through the students' words as a way of enriching understanding of the complex nature of online learning communities.     

试论养成教育在学校管理中的作用

养成教育是学生良好行为习惯的教育，是中小学德育中的主体工程，贯穿在德育的全过程，我们已经充分认识到养成教育的重要性。首先，养成教育是学风、校风形成的关键。校园文化是在一个学校内经过长期发展积淀形成的，校园文化一旦形成，对教师、学生的熏陶，良好品质的养成将产生不可估量的影响，而养戍教育在校园文化的行程中有着非常重要的作用，最终使得学风浓，校风正。其次，养成教育有利于学校管理。通过养成教育，培养学生自我管理、自我约束的能力，从而养成良好的行为习惯，有利于学校各项工作的落实和管理。再次，养成教育有利于学校、家长共同管理。播种一种行为，养成一种习惯，播种一种习惯，收获一种人生。让养成教育的影响扩大到家庭、社会，建立学校一家庭一社会多重育人网络，从而达到学校、家庭、社会共同管理的目的。最后，养成教育有利于学生终身发展。行动养成习惯，习惯形成性格，性格决定命运。如果想让学生扬起理想的风帆，乘风破浪，我们必须加强养成教育，从而使学生们受益终身。     

Clienteles for distance education in Australia

We present data from an array of sources on the characteristics of external (distance education) students in Australian higher education in comparison with internal full‐time and part‐time students. Profiles of the three populations are drawn up in terms of age, gender, marital status, home location, social background, education and employment history, field of study, and level of course. Also examined are students’ reasons for studying externally, the relationship between employment and study and various effects of education on employment, attitudes and life‐style.     

Soft and hard variables in determining pre‐service teachers' intentions and decisions to pursue a special education career

This study examined the roles of hard variables and soft variables in determining college teachers' intentions to pursue a special education career and education majors' actual decisions to major in special education. This study surveyed 243 college students taking special education courses at a state university, including 213 education majors. The survey questions included four blocks of variables, pertaining to demographics, training and work experience, soft variables (i.e., personal connections to people with disabilities, personal value and commitment and perceived social support) and hard variables (i.e., estimated salary, workload, professional development opportunities and job security). Results suggest that (1) after controlling for other variables, hard factors such as salary did not add significant contributions to college students' intention or education majors' actual action to pursue a special education career; (2) soft variables, such as value, commitment to special education and perceived social support, significantly predicted college students' intention to pursue a special education career, but did not significantly influence education majors' actual decision to choose a special education program, and (3) workloads significantly affect education majors' decisions making decisions of enrolling in a special education program. Implications are discussed about the importance of enhancing soft‐variable aspects of working conditions for special education recruitment and retention.     

如何提高学生的在线自我调节学习？——基于先前在线学习经历与家庭背景的比较

在线教学中学生要具备一定的在线自我调节学习能力才能取得好的学习成效,而学生的在线自我调节学习受诸多因素的影响。本研究从先赋性背景和后致性学校过程性因素的视角,基于“新冠疫情期间研究型大学本科生学习体验调查”项目中某大学的数据,考查学生家庭背景和先前在校在线学习经历与在线自我调节学习的关系。研究发现：家庭背景和先前在校的在线学习经历都显著影响学生在线自我调节学习,且先前在线学习经历的影响独立于家庭背景。超过七成的学生在新冠肺炎疫情前有过在线学习经历,且主要是来源于本校的正式在线学分课。这一研究结果的实践启示是：高校可以通过提供正式在线学习的机会抵消学生家庭背景的负面作用来培养学生的在线自我调节学习,这将有助于他们应对紧急情况下大规模在线教学时可能面临的挑战。     

Aspects of Fiscal Federalism in Higher Education Cost Sharing in Latvia

This case study explores devolution of low-income student subsidies, via the national student loans program, from the central to local governments in Latvia by means of decentralizing political and financial responsibility to provide public assistance to low-income students in obtaining funds for higher education. It describes municipal engagement in providing primary loan guarantees and in assuming full risk for low-income student loans. This article argues that although there are venues for local governments to support low-income students' access to higher education, the central government should sponsor this policy politically as well as financially.     

Higher education professionals' perspectives on international student experiences of life and learning in Ireland: a qualitative study

Although numerous studies have explored international students' experiences, there is a dearth of research exploring the perspectives of professionals who have contact with international students. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by providing an analysis of higher educational professionals' (n=11) perspectives of international students' experiences and analysing the challenges which arise when working with international students. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from a large Irish Higher Education Institution. Participants described a range of difficulties experienced by international students, including sociocultural and psychological difficulties, and outlined a number of challenges which exist when dealing with international students, most of which relate to cultural differences and lack of interest in internationalisation. The findings have important policy and practical implications for higher education service provision and point to the need to consider internationalisation as a process which can be enriching for international students, host students and staff members alike.     

‘I'd rather be seen as a practitioner,come in to teach my subject’: Identity Work in Part‐Time Art and Design Tutors

This article explores issues of identity as part‐time tutors engage in teaching in further and higher education. It is based on a phenomenographic research approach that examines variation in experience. Based on interviews with 16 creative practitioners who also teach, it draws on the narratives of identity resulting from the interview process. The five possible ways that the relationship between practice and teaching can be experienced can also be associated with five different experiences of identity. The research also draws on case studies more aligned with one category of experience than another, enabling aspects of identity work to be related to the worlds of practice and teaching and to individual histories of participation in these worlds. Factors that help to contribute to particular forms of identity are therefore discussed, as well as the impact that tutor identity can have on the students' learning experience.