Combining entrepreneurial and scientific performance in academia: towards a compounded and reciprocal Matthew-effect?

The increase of entrepreneurial activity within academia has raised concerns that the research orientation of universities might become ‘contaminated’ by the application-oriented needs of industry. Empirical evidence on this concern is scarce and ambiguous. We examine whether entrepreneurial and scientific performance in academia can be reconciled. Our empirical findings (KU Leuven, Belgium) suggest that both activities do not hamper each other; engagement in entrepreneurial activities coincides with increased publication outputs, without affecting the nature of the publications involved. As resources increase, this interaction becomes more significant, pointing towards a Matthew-effect. We finally suggest that balancing both activities further depends on the institutional policies deployed.     

The value and valuing of continuing professional development: current dilemmas,future directions and the case for action research

This paper explores and challenges the rationale for current, mainstream approaches to teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) within schooling systems. Such approaches are significantly influenced by neoliberal and managerial pressures, evident in advocacy for generic, individualistic models of teacher learning, often focused on specific state-sanctioned domains. The paper draws upon a précis of recent action research literature, and empirical research from Sweden, to argue for an alternative paradigm, based on the practices and principles of participatory and collaborative action research. Action research is not presented as a simplistic ‘method’ which can be ‘applied’ regardless of context, but is explicitly focused on situated, specific, local sites. While more managerial and neoliberal practices can close down debates necessary for effecting real improvements in practice, evidence suggests action research, in its emancipatory iterations, enables a rich conception of educational practice which cannot be ‘managed’ into existence by a simplistic application of ‘what works.’     

An undergraduate course to bridge the gap between textbooks and scientific research

This article reports on a one-semester Advanced Cell Biology course that endeavors to bridge the gap between gaining basic textbook knowledge about cell biology and learning to think and work as a researcher. The key elements of this course are 1) learning to work with primary articles in order to get acquainted with the field of choice, to learn scientific reasoning, and to identify gaps in our current knowledge that represent opportunities for further research; 2) formulating a research project with fellow students; 3) gaining thorough knowledge of relevant methodology and technologies used within the field of cell biology; 4) developing cooperation and leadership skills; and 5) presenting and defending research projects before a jury of experts. The course activities were student centered and focused on designing a genuine research program. Our 5-yr experience with this course demonstrates that 1) undergraduate students are capable of delivering high-quality research designs that meet professional standards, and 2) the authenticity of the learning environment in this course strongly engages students to become self-directed and critical thinkers. We hope to provide colleagues with an example of a course that encourages and stimulates students to develop essential research thinking skills.     

Not just another evaluation: a comparative study of four educational quality projects at Swedish universities

In this study, four recent self-initiated educational quality projects at Swedish universities are compared and analyzed. The article focuses on how the universities have handled the tension between external demands and internal norms. The aim is to contribute to an improved understanding of quality management in contemporary universities. On the one hand, the projects are found to be built on similar rationales associated with accountability, reputation building and strategic management. This is interpreted as a response to the shared external policy context. They are also found to mirror similar ambitions regarding raising the status of education. On the other hand, the projects are found to differ considerably in their actual design, methodology, implementation, stakeholders and outcomes. This is interpreted as an active adaptation to the unique internal academic norms and cultures that exist in each university.     

Morningness–Eveningness and College Advising: A Road to Student Success?

In addressing the challenges faced by E‐type (evening‐type) students, researchers have pointed to the need for school schedules that reflect chronotypic concerns and the recognition of the importance of sleep for academic achievement and well‐being. One approach to dealing with this issue for adolescent students has been to move the start of the school day later. In college, however, schedules become more varied and the social context in which these challenges occur differs requiring more individualized approaches to scheduling. In spite of this, morningness–eveningness is rarely considered by college administrators, advisors, or individuals involved in student services. It is important that faculty and staff who work with students be aware of chronotypical influences on classroom performance and other aspects of student life so that they can help them succeed in college and beyond.     

Vocational Students Experiences with Assessment in Workplace Learning

Vocational education, as part of the Norwegian upper secondary education, includes both school-based learning and workplace learning. While school-based learning is characterized by formal structures and guided by aims in the curricula, workplace learning is often informal, incidental and directed by the daily work-tasks. Assessment in workplace learning is mainly formative and different stakeholders are involved in the assessment; namely students, teachers and workplace instructors. However, the guidelines for assessment are vague and call for a close cooperation between the stakeholders. This is demanding and has resulted in a variety of assessment practices. The study presented in this article is a qualitative study of students’ experiences with assessment in workplace learning periods in their first year in vocational education. The aim of the study is to give voice to students` experiences with assessment and illuminate how assessment supports their learning processes. Data was collected through focus group interviews with two groups of students in the Programme for Health and Social Care. The main findings indicate different assessment cultures in school and workplaces. This is expressed through the students’ perceptions of assessment, assessment criteria, tools for assessment and vocational knowledge. It is recommended that an open dialogue about the discontinuity in assessment between schools and workplaces is one of several measures necessary to bridge the gap between the stakeholders.     

The Double Public Good: A Conceptual Framework for ``Shared Experience' Values Associated with Heritage Conservation

This paper introduces the double public good model as a representation of the simultaneous externalities that complicate decision making in the cultural heritage sphere. Social welfare is modeled as depending on both public and private benefits of households' production of individual heritage experience, which in turn depends on the stock of historic assets (a public good) and access effort (a private good). The public benefit of private experience arises from ``shared experience' that fosters cultural identity and social understandings. The model generates marginal efficiency conditions for the amount of physical preservation, amount of access, and intensity of access. The model highlights the need for dual-level policy making in order to avoid unbalanced heritage preservation efforts that have been of some concern in the literature.     

Integrating multidisciplinary engineering knowledge

In order to design two distinct engineering qualification levels for an existing University of Technology programme, empirical evidence based on the current diploma is necessary to illuminate the nature of and the relationship between the contextual and conceptual elements underpinning a multidisciplinary engineering curriculum. The increasing focus on contextual application could result in decreasing opportunities to develop the conceptual disciplinary grasp required for a dynamic, emerging region at the forefront of technological innovation. Using the theoretical tools of Bernstein and Maton to analyse final year student practice, the research addresses the question of how multidisciplinary knowledge is integrated by students, and what this reveals about the nature of such knowledge. The paper presents a conceptualisation of multidisciplinary knowledge integration practices as a dynamic process along two axes simultaneously, shifting between different forms and levels of conceptual and contextual knowledge.     

A nano to macroscale study on structure-mechanics relationships of archaeological oak

Mechanical properties of wood at different length scales of its hierarchical structure are governed by structural and compositional properties on smaller length scales. This opens up the possibility to use microstructural data for estimating mechanical properties, which are difficult to assess by conventional, destructive testing but are nevertheless of high relevance for conservation practice. Herein, we investigate such microstructure-mechanics relationships for a particular example, namely the load bearing archaeological oak of the Oseberg Viking ship, displayed at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. In order to identify the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior and their relations to the microstructure, recent oak specimens of different geographical origin (Norway and Austria) are investigated as well. Wood exhibits a cellular structure. Its cell walls are composed of an amorphous polymer matrix consisting of lignin and hemicelluloses and embedded, stiff cellulose fibers. At the cell level, experimental studies comprised microscopic investigations of the cellular structure, chemical analyses of the composition of the cell walls, as well as nanoindentation tests on single cell walls. The same samples were also analyzed on the macroscopic level, where additionally mass density and annual ring data were measured together with ultrasonic stiffnesses. The chemical data clearly indicate deterioration in the archaeological oak, affecting mainly hemicelluloses and amorphous cellulose. At the cell wall scale, however, this does not necessarily lead to a weaker material behavior. The nanoindentation modulus, as a measure of the cell wall stiffness, was found to even increase. This is counterintuitive to our understanding of the effects of chemical degradation. It might be due to possible modification of lignin in the Oseberg oak, and thus have a stronger effect on the indentation modulus than the concurrent weakening of the interfaces between the load-carrying cellulose fibers and the connecting cell wall matrix when analyzing wood at the microscopic level. A similar effect is also observed for the transversal stiffness of macroscopic samples, which increases. In tension-dominated loading modes, however, the degradation of the interfaces is the dominant effect, resulting for example in a considerable reduction of the macroscopic stiffness in longitudinal direction. This underlines the utmost relevance of the loading condition on the remaining load-carrying capacity of degraded wood. On the macroscale, effects of the geographical origin (i.e. growth conditions) on ring characteristics of the oak tissues override the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior. They have to be carefully extracted in order to come up with conclusions on the effect of degradation from macroscopic test results. The identified microstructure-mechanics relationships provide the basis for–in further research steps–building mathematical models describing the relations between microstructural characteristics and macroscopic mechanical properties and, thereon, for structural analyses of historical wooden objects.