Institutional Change towards a Sustainability Agenda: How far can theory assist?

Peter A. M. Maassen Governmental Steering and the Academic Culture. Utrecht, The Netherlands: Uitgeverij De Tijdstroom, 1996. Paperback ISBN 9 03521 772 1 Price 52.50Dfl. £17.50 194 pp

M. Cave, S. Hanney, M. Henkel and M. Kogan The Use of Performance Indicators in Higher Education: The Challenge of the Quality Movement (3rd Edition). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1997. Paperback. ISBN 1 85302 345 0 Price £17.95 160 pp Higher Education Policy Series 34 Leo Goedegebuure     

Mentoring: A Typology of Costs for Higher Education Faculty

In this theoretical paper, we apply a social exchange framework to understand mentors’ negative experiences. We propose a typology of costs, categorized according to psychosocial and career mentoring functions. Our typology generates testable research propositions. Psychosocial costs of mentoring are burnout, anger, and grief or loss. Career costs of mentoring include diminished reputation, decrease in productivity, and risk of ethical transgressions. The typology focuses on faculty in higher education because of the prevalence and importance of mentoring in that work setting. However, the typology may be extended to career arenas such as law, medicine, and the military. The theory presents a framework for acknowledging negative experiences and the costs associated with mentorship.     

Pathways to student engagement: beyond triggers and mechanisms at the engagement interface

Higher Education - This paper, while conceptual in nature, is informed by both research and practice. Exploring the “engagement interface” as the site for student engagement (SE), we...     

Training versus instruction in the acquisition of cognitive learning strategies

As various cognitive learning strategies have been identified and shown to be useful, the question of how best to teach an individual to use these techniques becomes important. Two studies compared simple instruction to more extended training. In Experiment 1 training was found superior to simple instructions with the method of loci for serial recall learning. Training in generalizable strategies involving imagery, verbal elaboration, and grouping was compared to simple instruction for a reading comprehension task in Experiment 2. Training was found to be more effective than instruction with a short-answer test over easy reading material, but not with difficult readings or multiple-choice tests.     

Getting Grandma Online: Are Tablets the Answer for Increasing Digital Inclusion for Older Adults in the U.S.?

Using information and communication technologies (ICTs) can improve older adults’ quality of life. ICT use is associated with decreased feelings of loneliness and depression, along with increased feelings of independence and personal growth. However, limited access and low technological self-efficacy are key reasons why some groups, especially older adults, are excluded from being fully engaged in the digital world. In this study, we focus on older adults’ technological self-efficacy, which is related to their actual use of technology and the second level digital divide. Specifically, we examine: (a) how older adults decide to use a new technology, tablet computers; (b) how they conquer the barrier of technological self-efficacy through using tablets; and (c) the impacts of using this new technology in their lives. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with older adults residing in independent living communities in a medium-sized city in the Deep South region of the United States. Observational and enactive learning played important roles for older adults in using tablets. Seeing others use tablets, getting recommendations from family members, or having tablets given to them were the primary reasons they started to use tablet computers. The ease of use feature of tablets helped solve the problem of lacking technological self-efficacy. Using tablets helped increase a sense of connectedness. Tablet computers may be one way to increase digital inclusion among older adults.     

Faculty as Mentors in Undergraduate Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work: Motivating and Inhibiting Factors

In this study, we sought to contribute to research about the high-impact practice of undergraduate research from the understudied faculty perspective. We relied on focus group data from faculty members (N = 41) across five institutions to better understand the supporting and inhibiting factors that contribute to faculty members’ engagement in mentoring undergraduate research. We offer implications for research and practice.     

Early Care and Education Choices of Women in a Parent Support Group in a Working Class Neighborhood: Three Women Coconstruct Notions of Appropriate Settings

In the process of choosing early out-of-home care and education for their young children, 3 mothers living in a working class neighborhood in New York City coconstructed understandings of care and education settings and practices offered within their community. A feminist-pragmatist framework guided the analysis of data that highlighted the processes by which they sought information and support to make those choices. Data indicated that their appreciation of child development theories and educational practices arose from experiences derived from their active participation in the development of a parents network. This grassroots network acted as an invaluable source of childrearing information, supported reflection on identity formation, and prompted political participation at varying levels. These 3 women coconstructed knowledge of early care and education settings by bringing thought to action—from inception, to development, and culminating in fulfillment.     

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural,multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Writing groups for doctoral students are generally agreed to provide valuable learning spaces for Ph.D. candidates. Here an academic developer and the eight members of a writing group formed in a Discipline of Public Health provide an account of their experiences of collaborating in a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group. We consider the benefits of belonging to such a group for Ph.D. students who are operating in a research climate in which disciplinary boundaries are blurring and where an increasing number of doctoral projects are interdisciplinary in nature; in which both academic staff and students come from enormously diverse cultural and language backgrounds; and in which teamwork, networking and collaboration are prized but not always proactively facilitated. We argue that doctoral writing groups comprising students from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds can be of significant value for postgraduates who wish to collaborate on their own academic development to improve their research writing and communication skills; at the same time, such collaborative work effectively builds an inclusive, dynamic research community.