Giving up technology and social media: why university lecturers stop using technology in teaching

University lecturers use a wide range of technologies when teaching and there has been much research into how particular technologies are adopted. However, there are also many technologies that, despite early promise, are no longer being used in university teaching and have been abandoned by institutions or individuals. This article presents the results of a qualitative investigation into why university lecturers stop using technology. It used detailed episodic narrative interviews to explore the experiences of lecturers using technology in their teaching at three UK universities. While the data provides examples of technologies that were discarded as they became outdated and were replaced by new devices, this was not the only reason that technologies are rejected. The data also demonstrated that even relatively up-to-date or innovative technologies or practices (e.g. the use of Facebook) may be abandoned. The article discusses the participants’ experiences of ceasing to use technology and demonstrates the importance of context in decisions about using technology and social media in teaching. The article argues that studies of technology adoption should be accompanied by research that revisits the sites of these studies to consider how the implementation of technology continues over time and how it comes to an end.     

Strategic Use of FAFSA List Information by Colleges

Students filling out the FAFSA list colleges and universities where they wish their data, sent. Until recently, colleges were provided this list, and the practice was suspended, given concerns that colleges were using the list to strategically allocate aid. Using the, 2011–2012 NPSAS, we analyze student financial aid packages to determine if list position, affects aid. We find little evidence that it does.     

Openness and innovation—Home and export demand effects on manufacturing innovation: Panel data evidence for Ireland and Switzerland

Recent studies in the tradition of Schmookler have re-emphasised the potential role of demand in stimulating innovation. Here, we reconsider the role of ‘home’ and ‘export’ market demand in stimulating manufacturing innovation using comparable panel data for two small open economies - Ireland and Switzerland. Our analysis is based on the estimation of reduced form innovation production functions using panel data estimators over the sample period 1994-2005. For a range of innovation indicators, however, we find little evidence of any significant market demand effects, with innovation performance instead determined largely by firm-level capability effects and characteristics. In policy and strategy terms this suggests the continued value of measures to improve innovation capability regardless of market demand conditions. In more methodological terms our results suggest the validity of the usual assumption implicit in modelling innovation outputs that supply-side factors predominate.     

Achievement effects of multigrade and monograde primary schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands

This article reports on a study that compares the reading progress of students in multigrade schools with the reading progress of students in monograde schools. The research was conducted in a small island state in the Caribbean. The results of the study indicate that multigrade schools are particularly effective at promoting the reading progress of low-achieving students. It is hypothesised that this is partly because of differences in the approach to instruction in multigrade and monograde classrooms. Whereas monograde classrooms tend to be characterised by undifferentiated whole-class teaching, in multigrade classes students have more opportunity to engage in small-group work. The implications of the findings are explored for policy, practice and research.     

Classroom Learning Environment, Brain Research and The No Child Left Behind Initiative: 6?years Later

Six years have gone by since the passing of No Child Left Behind (2002) and due to the ‘high-stake’ riders attached to this legislation, educators at all levels have found themselves in a state of both emotional and cognitive dissonance. Recent research in the field of neuroscience combined with principles gained from constructivism support the importance of developing and implementing both a child-centered curriculum and a positive learning environment that is appropriate for young children. This paper addresses some of the difficulties that arise from the No Child Left Behind act and teaching from a constructivist model. Additionally, positive suggestions are provided for the early childhood educator in order to support current teaching philosophies despite the pressures of high-stakes testing.     

Three universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: the struggle against corruption and for social cohesion

Universities may contribute to a nation’s social cohesion through both direct and indirect means. In their syllabi they may include techniques necessary for understanding complex social problems. Faculty may model good behaviour in terms of listening and understanding points of view that may contradict their own. University administrators may illustrate ways to lead honourably, which can enhance the chances for achieving consensus with respect to future dilemmas. This project assessed typical areas of university tension, including academic freedom, equity of participation and academic honesty. Three different universities were chosen as sites for faculty interviews—a foreign private university in Kyrgyzstan, a flagship state university in Georgia, and a regional teacher training college recently upgraded to university status in Northeast Kazakhstan. Results suggest that the single most important arena wherein universities can influence social cohesion in these countries is the manner by which they address education corruption. The paper reproduces the statements of those faculty members who participate in corruption as well as those who refuse to participate. It concludes with some predictions about the future of the relationship of higher education to social cohesion.

Making Connections: Learning and Teaching Chemistry in Context

Even though several studies have reported positive attitudinal outcomes from context-based chemistry programs, methodological obstacles have prevented researchers from comparing satisfactorily the chemistry-learning outcomes between students who experience a context-based program with those who experience a content-driven program. In this narrative inquiry we are able to address the question: how do the recalled experiences of a student and her teacher in context-based and concept-based chemistry programs compare? From the student’s unique perspective of experiencing both programs with the same teacher, we have constructed our collective account around four themes; namely, the extent to which the student makes connections between chemistry concepts and real-world contexts, developing research independence through engaging in extended experimental investigations related to contexts, learning chemistry concepts through contexts, and conceptual sequencing in a context-based program. The student reported real-world connections between chemistry concepts and contexts, found her engagement in the context-driven tasks interesting and productive, and identified connected sequences of concepts across the contexts studied. Despite difficulties for teachers who are required to shift pedagogies, the student’s lived experiences and outcomes from a context-based program provide some encouragement in working through these issues.     

Theorising the academic viva in higher education: the argument for a qualitative approach

The argument made in this essay is that it is necessary to theorize a form of assessment—the academic viva in higher education. It is threatened with extinction because of its high cost compared with written exams, multiple choice and other forms of assessment. However, little empirical research, both in Norway and internationally, has been undertaken to reveal what is actually going on in the viva. This has partly been because it has been difficult to gain access to systematically observe the viva examination as it takes place. In the qualitative research presented by the author, on the higher education viva in Norway, permission was obtained to film a number of master’s in education vivas where candidates defended 50,000‐word dissertations. Three research questions were asked: how was the viva talked into being, what kinds of judgements were made by examiners, and, lastly, what would a validity argument look like for the viva? Answering these research questions moves some way to proposing a theory of the viva and hence providing a foundation for determining whether its continued existence is legitimate, at least from a theoretical and qualitatively researched point of view.