The service university in a service society: The Oslo case

This article aims at presenting the University of Oslo as a case of a Scandinavian university experiencing policy and structural changes as a consequence of changes in government's thinking on university finance. In this situation the active marketing of research based services might be a new source of revenue, and hence the following question comes up: How is the service function of the University perceived by the University and its clients in the Oslo region? The University of Oslo case is explored by reviewing available policy documents, statistics, regulations, charters and legal acts issued by the university itself and the Ministry of Education. In addition, information obtained through interviews with key actors at the university and key clients of the Oslo region, is presented. The study concludes that the University of Oslo is taking careful steps in the service direction.     

Missed Opportunities for Science Learning: Unacknowledged Unscientific Arguments in Asynchronous Online and Face-to-Face Discussions

We explored the scientific argumentation that occurs among university biology students during an argumentation task implemented in two environments: face-to-face in a classroom and online in an asynchronous discussion. We observed 10 student groups, each composed of three students. Our analysis focused on how students respond to their peers’ unscientific arguments, which we define as assertions, hypotheses, propositions, or explanations that are inaccurate or incomplete from a scientific perspective. Unscientific arguments provide opportunities for productive dissent, scientific argumentation, and conceptual development of scientifically desirable conceptions. We found that students did not respond to the majority of unscientific arguments in both environments. Challenges to unscientific arguments were expressed as a question or through explanation, although the latter was more common online than face-to-face. Students demonstrated significantly more epistemic distancing in the face-to-face environment than the online environment. We discuss the differences in discourse observed in both environments and teaching implications. We also provide direction for future research seeking to address the challenges of engaging students in productive scientific argumentation in both face-to-face and online environments.     

Mathematical problem solving by pre-school children

In this article we provide new evidence for mathematical problem-solving abilities of pre-school children. These problem-solving behaviours occurred in a study of sharing of discrete items by dealing, in which we examined the abilities of three categories of counters to solve a discrete re-distribution problem. We detail the problem solving strategies used in the context of sharing by dealing as a common action scheme of pre-school children in clinical interviews.     

Faculty Productivity Barriers and Supports at a School of Education

All programs in a midwestern university recently embarked on a path to help increase the scholarly productivity of faculty. The effort to develop a research emphasis within the School of Education required determining the needs of tenure-track faculty regarding meeting the new requirements. The purposes of our study were to investigate these needs and identify the individual, environmental, and leadership factors that affect faculty productivity. Findings revealed a need to transform the School’s service and teaching culture to a culture of research and scholarship. Recommendations for helping other schools of education to become more research-oriented are provided. While the study focuses on data from a particular School of Education, the implications may generalize to faculty productivity within other institutions, particularly within professional schools. Susan A. Santo  received a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia and is currently an Associate Professor of Adult and Higher Education at the University of South Dakota. Her research interests include faculty productivity in higher education and improving distance learning. Mary E. Engstrom  received an Ed.D. from the University of South Dakota in Curriculum and Instruction. She is currently the Associate Director of Extended Learning Services at the University of Montana. Her research interests include instructional design for online learning and professional development for educators. Linda Reetz  received an Ed.D. from the University of North Dakota in Teacher Education and serves as the Associate Dean of the School of Education at the University of South Dakota. Her research interests include higher education practices for teacher education programs and mild disabilities. William Schweinle  received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington in Psychology and serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota. His research interest area is in statistics. Kristine Reed  received a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in Curriculum and Instruction/Administration and serves as a faculty member in Curriculum and Instruction, University of South Dakota. Her research emphases include multicultural education and rural education.     

‘But this isn’t school’: exploring tensions in the intersection between school and leisure activities in classroom game design

While there are several positive outcomes from implementing game design in a formal learning context, there are also challenges that have to be considered in order to improve game-based learning. This is explored in the article, using the concepts of activity frames and stancetaking, focusing on the social organization of the game design activity. Building on video data from one 6th grade class and one 7th grade class designing computer games based on their social studies curriculum, this article shows that tensions arise when students fail to agree on what the activity they are doing is really about: The academic content and what students commonly perceive as school activities, or a game design activity informed by their leisure time. The main argument is that the students position themselves as students, game designers or characters, and that this may cause tensions in the students’ social interactions.     

Bereavement on the college campus: Establishing an effective ritual for the classroom and beyond

We often know an individual student who is dealing with loss, but what about when the whole campus is grieving? Kristine M. McCusker and Laurie B. Witherow describe how their campus created a support system for faculty to help facilitate healing.