Education on the rails: a textual ethnography of university advertising in mobile contexts

ABSTRACT

As universities have succumbed to market discourses, they have adopted advertising strategies. It is not uncommon to see advertisements for them displayed in such mobile spaces as railway stations and alongside highways. Whilst it is true that such environments have always sought to take advantage of populations in transit, the fact that higher education institutions have turned to them as promotional sites, reflects the fact that the ‘transit’ demographic now includes large numbers of young people and high school students. In this paper, a sample of higher education advertisements found in Sydney’s transit spaces is analysed along with the ‘rationale’ provided by advertising companies responsible for their design. It is argued their existence reflects the fact that universities compete against one another for students and need to develop a persuasive ‘brand’. Thus in line with neo-liberalist constructions of subjectivity, they individualise the educational experience, and translate that experience into an economic asset, as a value-adding process. It is of note then that much of the imagery and copy of the advertising ‘visualises’ education as a journey and underpins the fact that mobility is an inescapable predicate of quotidian life.     

Cowboys,Angels, and Demons: American Exceptionalism and the Frontier Myth in the CW's Supernatural

The CW network series Supernatural (2005–) draws its text from the horror and fantasy genres as well as religious mythology. Concurrently, it transmits a core “American” mythos. As its protagonists keep watch along a supernatural frontier and eradicate threats to the American way of life, this program both reinforces and alters aspects of the frontier myth and the myth of American exceptionalism by depicting its main characters as representations of America writ large whose mission has grown from an appointment by God to being equals to God. In this manner, Supernatural forwards a new American exceptionalism through the notion that America is exceptional because it is not just divinely appointed by God, but is divine itself.     

Correlates between communication apprehension and listening style preferences

Research suggests that initial impressions are important and set the tone for future interactions; however, little is known about which teacher communication behaviors create positive initial judgments by students. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among a set of teacher relational communication behaviors and students' early judgments about the future outcomes of the course. Specifically, students reported perceptions of their instructors' use of power, confirmation, nonverbal immediacy, and communication skills in the beginning of a semester and their predictions about future interactions with that instructor. Results indicated that teachers' use of coercive and legitimate power were negatively related to students' predicted outcome value (POV) judgments, whereas the use of reward, referent, and expert power, along with confirmation and communication skills, were positively correlated with students' POV judgments. Hierarchical regression further revealed unique relational message predictors of these judgments.     

An analysis of book versus article productivity based on top researchers careers

This study analyzed the productivity of top scholars in the field in terms of published books in order to (1) equate the relative value of published books in comparison to published research articles, and (2) provide a scholarship ranking which takes into consideration both published books and published research articles. The list of the top 102 researchers in the field, as identified by Hickson, Stacks, and Bodon (1999) and 29 additional researchers identified by Funkhouser (1996) as the top “most cited”; researchers served as the parameters for this study. The total number of articles from those researchers (2,687) was divided by the number of books they had written (426), producing an article‐to‐book ratio of 6.3. Each book was multiplied by that coefficient and that number was added to the number of articles for each author to produce a ranking of the top 100 prolific researchers in communication, based on a combination of both articles and books published.     

Trends in Network News Editing Strategies From 1969 Through 2005

Four editing variables were tracked through a content analysis of U.S. commercial network editing that spanned a 36-year period. The analysis revealed that synthetic-montage increased and continuity-realism decreased from 1969 through 1997. Network news editors also embraced faster pacing, shorter soundbites, and more special effects between 1969 and 2005. When taken together, the results suggest that U.S. network television journalism has evolved from more “camera of record” and realistic news techniques in favor of a variety of synthetic editing strategies that convey complex audio-visual arguments.     

Using online technologies to extend a classroom to learners at a distance

The authors studied a course in which an instructor allowed individuals at a distance to participate. Although these students were not formally enrolled in the university where the class took place, the instructor gave them full access to all course materials and encouraged them to complete course assignments. The authors examined the time and technical proficiency required to involve learners at a distance. We surveyed these learners to determine their perceptions of the course and examined their work. Learners at a distance reported receiving some benefit from the course, particularly in terms of learner–content interaction. We surveyed students in the face‐to‐face classroom to determine whether having students participating at a distance in the same class affected their perception of the course. They reported no impact. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

The Current State of Criminological Research in the United States: An Examination of Research Methodologies in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals

A recurring concern within criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) is how to best investigate criminological theory and criminal justice policy. To assess the current state of research, we conducted a content analysis of articles that appeared in seven CCJ journals over a two-year period (2013–2014). We then examined types and frequencies of data sources, analytic techniques, methodological approaches, and subject matters. Findings demonstrate that articles are predominantly employing quantitative methodologies and data where there is no participant contact. From these findings, we discuss the current state of research and how this could be used to guide graduate education, by recommending a variety of subject matters that graduate schools should emphasize in training new academics.     

Digital Games, Gender and Learning in Engineering: Do Females Benefit as Much as Males?

The aim of this paper was to explore whether there is a gender difference in the beneficial effects of Racing Academy, which is a video game used to support undergraduate students learning of Mechanical Engineering. One hundred and thirty-eight undergraduate students (15 females and 123 males) participated in the study. The students completed a pre-test a week before they started using Racing Academy. The pre-test consisted of a test of students’ knowledge of engineering, and a measure of students’ motivation towards studying engineering. A week after using Racing Academy the students completed a post-test which was identical to the pre-test, except it also included a measure of how frequently they used Racing Academy and how motivating the students found playing Racing Academy. We found that after playing Racing Academy the students learnt more about engineering and there was no gender difference in the beneficial effect of Racing Academy, however there is some evidence that, female students found Racing Academy more motivating than male students. The implications for the use and design of video games for supporting learning for both males and females are discussed.     

Conducting Cross-Cultural Research: Controversy,Cautions, Concerns,and Considerations

In this article, the authors share concerns and considerations for researchers conducting cross-cultural research in gifted education. They contend that researchers should be mindful of the need to consider their own humanness—their beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, values, paradigms—and the limitations of their humanness when working with research participants from racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse backgrounds, especially those backgrounds that differ from their own. Furthermore, the authors assert that research is culture bound and that it is very difficult to conduct research where circumstances, demographics, and context can be ignored, minimized, negated, or in any way trivialized. Examples are presented of racially, culturally, and linguistically responsive researchers.