The scholarship of teaching and learning: challenges for Malaysian academics

This paper explores the adoption of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by 10 Malaysian university academics. SoTL was part of a pioneering sector-wide initiative for improving teaching and learning. The qualitative study showed that there had been no true learning phase for SoTL because academics had high expectations of rapid success in their new research area, including journal publication. Most of their peers did not understand or value SoTL and so SoTL researchers established minority self-sustaining groups across disciplines and universities. SoTL brought new ways of thinking about teaching that were transformational for the teacher but not necessarily welcomed by the students. Students resisted radical change, and teachers were drawn back to educational practices they no longer valued. SoTL was experienced in a hierarchical educational culture where questioning of self and others was difficult and this hindered teacher development. We conclude with recommendations about realistic expectations and the importance of social learning for those considering SoTL for academic development.     

The relation between research priorities and societal demands: The case of rice

To what extent is scientific research related to societal needs? To answer this crucial question systematically we need to contrast indicators of research priorities with indicators of societal needs. We focus on rice research and technology between 1983 and 2012. We combine quantitative methods that allow investigation of the relation between ‘revealed’ research priorities and ‘revealed’ societal demands, measured respectively by research output (publications) and national accounts of rice use and farmers’ and consumers’ rice-related needs. We employ new bibliometric data, methods and indicators to identify countries’ main rice research topics (priorities) from publications. For a panel of countries, we estimate the relation between revealed research priorities and revealed demands. We find that, across countries and time, societal demands explain a country's research trajectory to a limited extent. Some research priorities are nicely aligned to societal demands, confirming that science is partly related to societal needs. However, we find a relevant number of misalignments between the focus of rice research and revealed demands, crucially related to human consumption and nutrition. We discuss some implications for research policy.     

贝雷帽逸事

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Inter-Library Loan Service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Case Study of Medical Libraries

The last 20 years have seen a marked increase in co-operation among Saudi medical libraries, with inter-library loan service at the forefront. This is an investigation of the current situation of co-operative inter-lending and resource sharing among medical libraries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study discusses various methods for providing inter-library loan service including direct inter-lending, lending through union catalogs, and centralized lending. Other resource sharing activities are also described. The case study methodology was employed. Documents, interviews, and personal conversations were utilized to provide needed information. A number of medical libraries were chosen, and their inter-library loan requests for the year 1995 were thoroughly investigated. Results are analyzed, and some concluding remarks for future action are presented.     

Perceptions of higher education in Brazil in the first decade of the third millennium

This study aims at reflecting upon the Brazilian higher education situation in a context ot deep change regarding the contemporary way of life. This study stems from evidence generated from field research. The expansion of the higher education system in Brazil, for historical, political and economic reasons, has taken place mainly by means of private institutions following logic close to a market one, according to some theoretieians. The general objectives of this paper are to reflect upon the situation of the Brazilian higher education at the end of the first decade of the 21st century and to investigate the advances of the ＂research is learning itself＇ （Lucchesi, 2002） paradigm from its conceptual set through an analysis of the official discourse from higher education institutions. This paper aims at verifying whether such discourse has been translating the intention of rendering such paradigm concrete. By means of the analysis of the discourse manifested at advertising messages from the private higher education institutions, this study aims at understanding what they now believe to be the model for teaching and learning capable of meeting the Brazilian youth＇s needs. The authors have observed that the relationship between teaching and learning is promised by the private higher education institutions. Therefore, the scope of this study is the persuasive content of the message from the private higher education institutions to conquer new students.     

Can epidemic models describe the diffusion of topics across disciplines?

This paper introduces a new approach to describe the spread of research topics across disciplines using epidemic models. The approach is based on applying individual-based models from mathematical epidemiology to the diffusion of a research topic over a contact network that represents knowledge flows over the map of science—as obtained from citations between ISI Subject Categories. Using research publications on the protein class kinesin as a case study, we report a better fit between model and empirical data when using the citation-based contact network. Incubation periods on the order of 4–15.5 years support the view that, whilst research topics may grow very quickly, they face difficulties to overcome disciplinary boundaries.     

Guest Editorial

Knowledge Management Research & Practice -     

How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: A comparison between Innovation Studies and Business & Management

This study provides quantitative evidence on how the use of journal rankings can disadvantage interdisciplinary research in research evaluations. Using publication and citation data, it compares the degree of interdisciplinarity and the research performance of a number of Innovation Studies units with that of leading Business & Management Schools (BMS) in the UK. On the basis of various mappings and metrics, this study shows that: (i) Innovation Studies units are consistently more interdisciplinary in their research than Business & Management Schools; (ii) the top journals in the Association of Business Schools’ rankings span a less diverse set of disciplines than lower-ranked journals; (iii) this results in a more favourable assessment of the performance of Business & Management Schools, which are more disciplinary-focused. This citation-based analysis challenges the journal ranking-based assessment. In short, the investigation illustrates how ostensibly ‘excellence-based’ journal rankings exhibit a systematic bias in favour of mono-disciplinary research. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications of these phenomena, in particular how the bias is likely to affect negatively the evaluation and associated financial resourcing of interdisciplinary research organisations, and may result in researchers becoming more compliant with disciplinary authority over time.     

Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

Students' metacognitive skills and perceptions are considered important variables for high-quality learning. In this study, students' perceptions were used to identify histological threshold concepts (integrative, irreversible, transformative, and troublesome) in three health sciences curricula. A specific questionnaire was developed and validated to characterize students' perceptions of histological threshold concepts. A sample of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in the dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy degree programs participated in the study. Concepts assessed in the study were clustered to ten categories (factors) by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concepts linked to tissue organization and tissue functional states received the highest scores from students in all degree programs, suggesting that the process of learning histology requires the integration of both static concepts related to the constituent elements of tissues and dynamic concepts such as stem cells as a tissue renewal substrate, or the euplasic, proplasic and retroplasic states of tissues. The complexity of integrating static and dynamic concepts may pose a challenging barrier to the comprehension of histology. In addition, several differences were detected among the students in different degree programs. Dentistry students more often perceived morphostructural concepts as threshold concepts, whereas medical students highlighted concepts related to two-dimensional microscopic identification. Lastly, pharmacy students identified concepts related to tissue general activity as critical for the comprehension and learning of histology. The identification of threshold concepts through students' perceptions is potentially useful to improve the teaching and learning process in health sciences curricula.