Re‐engineering conventional university education: Implications for students’ learning styles

There is no doubt that education is being fundamentally transformed and affected by information and communication technologies (ICT). The demand for online courses in higher education is growing. Education is also affected by the new approaches towards learning and instruction that have emerged during recent decades: student centred learning, distributed learning, and collaborative learning. These new instructional approaches reflect the adoption of constructivist approaches to learning. National and international studies support this approach, but also point to a number of problems, such as the lack of clear policies and implementation strategies. The adoption of new learning approaches has resulted in the re‐engineering of courses, curricula and in certain cases complete universities. Examples of the latter can be found at the Jones International University (www.jiu.edu) that started in May 1999 as a completely new and virtual university, and the Dutch Open University that transformed its educational model towards a competency‐based educational model implemented in a digital university setting (www.ou.nl). The transition from a traditional approach is not an easy process. The implementation of the new ideas can be hampered by a large number of variables and processes at micro‐ and mesolevels. The study, described in this article analyses such difficulties when implementing a specific re‐engineering of a course. The difficulties are described and analysed in terms of the learning styles of students. The major focus of the study is on incongruencies between the innovative course re‐design and learning styles issues. The authors expect that the results of the study will fuel the discussion about the necessity to consider innovation at the meso‐level (curriculum level) instead of solely at course level.     

Re‐asserting the place of context in explaining student (under‐)achievement

One popular view of student achievement is that the quality of teaching students receive plays an important part in whether or not they do well at school. In this article we draw attention to ‘context’ as a complementary explanation, particularly regarding achievement differences between students from different socio‐economic backgrounds. In making these observations, we utilise data from one Australian secondary school located in an economically depressed rural community. Drawing on the insights of Bourdieu, our focus is on the broader social and economic influences that can adversely position students and schools, as well as work to inform the institutional stance that schools take in relation to their students.     

Training the Physical Education Teacher: A Worried Re‐Think

Abstract

The increasing demand on nurses to adopt the roles and responsibilities of full professional status have been reflected in nurse training by the move into higher education. However, while there are undoubted benefits to this move, the authors believe that it has been at the expense of student involvement in their courses and a widening of the gap between theory and practice.

This paper presents three strategies for addressing those problems. Firstly, the authors argue for a student‐centred humanistic approach to education within the constraints of a curriculum for professional training. Secondly, they present a strategy for narrowing the theory practice gap through the use of reflective practice. Finally, they outline an approach to continuous and ongoing course evaluation in which findings are immediately applied to produce a flexible and responsive curriculum. The paper concludes by arguing that this broad approach could be successfully employed in any professional training within the further and higher education framework.     

“Re‐placing” Scholarship

A reconceptualization of the role of “academic scholar” is put forward in an effort to define a more balanced and comprehensive perspective for recognizing and rewarding the multiple roles currently undertaken by academics in the late Twentieth Century. The scientific paradigm has dominated universities for decades. However, the pendulum is beginning to swing, albeit slowly, to a more balanced view that recognizes that scientific research is but one aspect of many tasks undertaken by academics. This article proposes a new conception of the interrelatedness of academic endeavours and suggests a “re‐placing” of scholarship on the higher education agenda.     

Re‐mapping power in educational micropolitics

This article examines power as a concept that operates covertly and panoptically in schools. My goal in discussing stealth forms of power is to discuss methodological opportunities that result when formalizing power other than as a binary of authority–influence. The article offers four methodological axioms for consideration when researching stealth forms of power in schools. I conclude by arguing that micropolitical researchers should, at the very least, address units‐of‐analysis that describe how organizational structures are reproduced. More importantly, I argue that micropolitical researchers should identify units‐of‐analysis that explain how organizational interests are fabricated, or what other scholars have described as a process of libidinal production. It is here that I discuss four methodological axioms when mapping desire in education.     

Re‐examining factor structure of the attitudinal items from TIMSS 2003 in cross‐cultural study of mathematics self‐concept

The aims of this study were to examine the factor structure of the attitudinal questionnaire items from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 and to investigate low‐ and high‐performing students’ mathematics self‐concept in East Asian societies and in the USA. The participants were 24,119 eighth‐graders, 4856 from Japan, 4972 from Hong Kong, 5379 from Taiwan and 8912 from the USA. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted revealing a same factor structure across the four societies. The MANOVA results showed that (1) the US students reported a statistically significant higher mathematics self‐concept than students in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Japan; (2) across the four societies, high‐performing students had statistically significant higher self‐concept than low‐performing students; and (3) the US low‐performing students’ self‐concept was higher than Japanese high‐performing students’ self‐concept. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Re‐addressing the priorities: new teacher educators and induction into higher education

This article draws on research involving 28 teacher educators in the first 3 years of their careers in the English higher education sector. It discusses the areas of tension they found in making the transition from teaching in the school sector to working in universities, the priorities they identified for their induction and the induction structures and processes available to support them. Previous research on teacher educator induction has identified the need for more consistent and thorough structures. However, the findings of this study show that the current structures and procedures often do not meet the tutors' needs. Overall there is little articulation between different modes of induction, with most tutors still dependent on learning through practice, supplemented by informal ‘apprenticeship’ modes of learning. The article concludes with a discussion of issues and future developments.

Cet article s'inspire d'un travail de recherche auquel ont participé 28 formateurs pédagogiques dans les trois premières années de leur carrière dans le secteur d'éducation du troisième cycle anglais. II examine les sujets de tension qu' ils ont decouverts en effectuant la transition de 1'enseignement en milieu scolaire au travail en milieu universitaire, les priorités qu'ils ont identifiées pour leur période d'intégration professionnelle, et les structures et processus d'intégration mis a leur disposition pour les aider. Des recherches antérieures dans le domaine de 1'intégration professionnelle des formateurs pédagogiques a révéle la nécessité d'avoir des structures d'integration plus homogenes et plus approfondies. Mais les resultats de la présente étude démontrent que, souvent, les structures et les procédures actuelles ne répondent pas aux besoins des enseignants. En général, il y a peu de liens entre les différents modes d'intégration, la plupart des enseignants étant constraints à apprendre par la pratique, agrémentée de modes ‘d'apprentissage’informels. L'article conclue par une discussion sur les problèmes et les développpements futures.

Dieser Artikel basiert auf einem Forschungsprojekt, das mit achtundzwanzig Ausbildern von Englischlehrern für den Hochschulbereich, während ihrer ersten drei Jahre also solche, Der Artikel erörtert, die Spannungspunkte die sie in der Übergangsphase vom Lehren an der Schule zum Lehren an der Universität empfunden haben, die Prioritäten, die sie für ihre Einführung festgestellt haben, und den Einführungsprozess und die Einführungsstruktur, die zu ihrer Unterstiitzung zur Verfügung gestanden haben. Vorangehende Forschungsarbeiten iiber die Einführung von Ausbilder von Lehrern, haben das Bedürfhis nach einer einheitlicheren und griindlicheren Einführungsstruktur festgestellt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung haben jedoch herausgestellt, dass die momentanen Strukturen und Verfahren oft nicht mit den Bedürfnissen der Tutoren übereinstimnien. Im Grossen und Ganzen gibt es wenig Meinungsaustausch iiber die unterschiedlichen Art und Weisen von Einführungen, da die meisten Tutoren immer noch vom Lernen durch Praxis, ergänzt durch eine informelle ? Lehrzeit" abhängig sind. Der Artikel schlieBt mit einer Ausführung über Fragen und zukünftige Entwicklungen.

Este artículo aprovecha una investigacíon que se ha hecho entre 28 profesores educadores que han cumplido hasta tres ãnos de sus carreras en el sector de enseñanza superior inglesa. El artículo trata las zones de tension que se han discubierto al hacer el paso de la enseñanza en una esuela a la enseñanza en una universidad, las prioridades para su iniciaciõn que identificaron, y las estructuras y procedimientos de la iniciaciõn disponibles. Investigaciõnes anteriores sobre la iniciaciõn de los profesores educadores habían identificado la falta de estructuras más consecuentes y meticulosas. Pero los descubrimientos de esta investigación confirman que rnuchas veces las estructuras y procedimientos actuales no satisfacen las necesidades de los profesores. En general hay poca articulación entre los diferentes modos de iniciación y en muchos cases los profesores tienen que aprender por medio de la práctica complementado por modos de aprender informales y tipo "aprendizaje". El artículo termina iniciando una evaluación de las consecuencias de estos descubrimientos y unas posibles evoluciónes futuras.     

Basic skills provision for the have‐nots: a rights hoax? Re‐examining international standards on the right to education

In the present era of accelerating globalisation of the labour market and education, access to knowledge of value has become increasingly complicated. This study enquired into the rights to post‐compulsory basic education by analysing the contemporary standard‐setting instruments of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Community. An analytical scheme was developed that suggested four interconnected areas of education legislation, disregard of which cumulatively maintains exclusion of educationally disadvantaged individuals from knowledge and skills with proper value in the job market. The four thematic aspects identified were rights, recognition, resources and representation. Findings indicate that the international regimes examined are not unequivocal and thereby leave room for manoeuvre. The study concluded that legal strategies for the abolishment of skills deficiency traps should be rethought. Instead of relying on rights‐talk, we should increasingly move to the recognition of functional skills deficiency and its reduction.     

Spur‐of‐the‐moment speeches

This study investigated the degree to which applicants' perceptions of interview behaviors differed from interviewers' perceptions. Data were drawn from 188 actual employment interviews conducted under the auspices of a university‐operated placement center. Data analyses revealed applicants rating themselves and the interviewers significantly higher than the interviewers' ratings of either themselves or the applicants.     

Technology and engineering education students’ perceptions of hands‐on and hands‐off activities

Technology and engineering education students responded to a survey regarding hands‐on and hands‐off activities. First, the students listed hands‐on and hands‐off activities and what characterized the two types of activities. Activities such as building or assembling something as well as working manually with tools were viewed as hands‐on. Passive activities such as listening or watching were perceived as hands‐off. Then, the students rated 30 different activities on a bipolar scale ranging from 1 (high degree hands‐off) to 7 (high degree hands‐on). A Principal Components Factor Analysis of the 30 activities revealed two independent factors. The hands‐off factor consisted of many modern technological activities such as computer‐aided design, using a three‐dimensional printer, and constructing functional prototypes using stereo‐lithography technology. The hands‐on factor consisted of more traditional activities such as rebuilding an engine and using a screwdriver. These results suggest that students perceive traditional activities as more hands‐on than modern activities.     

Re‐imagining doctoral education: Professional Doctorates and beyond

Portents of the demise of the Professional Doctorate have emerged in some recent policy and institutional circles in Australia, raising questions about the meaning and relevance of the Professional Doctorate in an era of ‘league tables’ and research assessment in Australia. This article argues that such portents, based largely on narrow market‐driven arguments, are premature, reactive and unhelpful, in that they foreclose on a set of critical questions concerning the future purpose, scope and practice of doctoral education. The article argues that the simple re‐assertion of the PhD as the default award represents a restoration of the logics and imperatives of disciplinarity and of older notions of so‐called ‘real’ research. Further, questions of the changing economies of knowledge and practice within, between and beyond the reach of the university, are subordinated and disavowed. The article presents a re‐reading of the emergence of Professional Doctorates, from the perspective of a decade‐and‐a‐half of development and change. It suggests the need to revisit that history critically in the light of the current developments in doctoral education, in knowledge production and in developing different relations around knowledge between universities and different social and professional domains. Such revisitings can bring out emerging issues for doctoral education at a time when anxieties may inhibit taking up opportunities for innovation and linking with new kinds of knowledge production that go beyond Euro‐centric and university‐centric traditions.     

Re‐presenting women and leadership: a methodological journey

Research on women's leadership has tended to focus upon detailed micro studies of individual women's identity formation or, alternatively, to conduct macro studies of its broader discursive constructions within society. Both approaches, although providing helpful understandings of the issues surrounding constructions of women's leadership, are inadequate. They fail to deal with the ongoing dilemma raised in both Cultural Studies and studies of discourse and identity, in relation to the negotiation of subjectivity and representation, that is, how broader societal discourses and media representations of women's leadership both inform, and are informed by, the lived experiences of individual women. In this article, a range of methodological approaches are outlined that were drawn upon in a study of a small group of senior women academics from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse origins. The authors examine how the women negotiated the frequent mismatch that arose between, on the one hand, societal discourses and media representations which often reproduced narrow and highly stereotypical accounts of women's leadership, and on the other hand, the individual women's subjective experiences of leadership which challenged such representations. It is contended that it is necessary to draw on a number of methodological perspectives in ways which trouble and unsettle homogenized versions of women's leadership in order to fully explicate more nuanced and complex ways of understanding how women's leadership identity is formed.     

Re‐orientations in moral education in Cambodia since 1975

In recent years, Cambodia has transitioned from a communist state to a liberal democracy following market economic practices. Transition in the political economy has, in turn, influenced education and, more specifically, moral education. In this article, I define moral education more broadly than many, as additionally dedicated to the preparation of students ideologically for participation in, or opposition to, political and economic movements at the world level. During successive communist regimes (Democratic Kampuchea, 1975–1979, and the People's Republic of Kampuchea, 1979–1989), Cambodian governments used education to prepare ‘new’ men and women capable of participation in, or withdrawal from, the international socialist revolution. Beyond advancing ways of thinking and acting appropriate in contemporary Cambodian society, moral education in the State of Cambodia (1989–1993) and the Kingdom of Cambodia (1993–present) is preparing students for participation in the world to which democratization and liberalization have led.