From anxiety to enthusiasm: emotional patterns among student teachers

Studying to become a teacher is a highly emotional experience. Nevertheless, little is known about emotional patterns and emotional change. The aim of this study is to enhance the understanding of student teachers’ academic emotions by exploring patterns of emotions experienced in emotionally loaded episodes. A total of 19 primary school student teachers were interviewed. The qualitative content analysis revealed five different emotional patterns: positive, negative, ascending, descending and changing. Most of the emotional patterns were positive or changing in nature. Yet all the emotional patterns were highly focused on studying and learning. Moreover, the patterns were experienced equally in short, medium-length and long episodes. Our study showed that emotional patterns were triggered by various task-related elements of teacher education: most commonly, fulfilled or unfilled expectations, sufficient or insufficient abilities, and experiences of social support received or not received.     

Differential effect of university entrance score on first-year students’ academic performance in Portugal

The main goal of this study is to show that the association between university entrance score and first-year students’ academic performance varies randomly across courses after controlling for students’ sociodemographic, schooling trajectory and motivational variables. The sample consists of 2697 first-year students who were enrolled in 54 courses at a Portuguese public university in 2015/16. Multilevel modelling of academic performance suggests that 34% of variability in grade point average is due to differences among courses and that 80% of such variability is explained by the field of study, whether the university is the student’s first choice, and the student’s gender, age and parents’ level of education. In addition, the results corroborate that the university entrance score is the strongest predictor of first-year academic performance.     

Defining the dynamic role of Australian academic skills advisors

ABSTRACT

In the Australian university context, Academic Language and Learning (ALL) entails advisors working with academics and students to enhance learning. It is a relatively new area, beginning around the mid-1980s, and ALL units developed within their respective institutions. Since early 2000s, there has been an increasing amount of literature discussing the work of these centres. Significantly though, academic support services remain on the periphery of higher education. This article seeks to define the dynamic role of academic skills advisors. In late 2016, we distributed a questionnaire to ALL unit managers at each of the 39 Australian universities, receiving 29 responses. Combining multiple-choice and open-ended questions, the survey investigated the location of the unit, the role of ALL advisors, the qualifications and experience asked for at recruitment, the training required, and pedagogy when working one-to-one with students. A consistent picture emerged in the responses. One key point is a growing demand for advisors with eLearning and eTeaching skills, indicative of broader changes in Australian universities. This article describes the unique set of professional and personal attributes that ALL advisors bring to the role. The survey results found that ALL advisors are responsive to change; broadly use constructivist approaches; have an extensive range of skills, experience and competencies; and are knowledgeable across a range of disciplines. Further investigation comparing the scope of work done in countries such as the UK, New Zealand and Canada could shape and define the changing role of ALL advisors in Australia.     

Supporting academic literacies: university teachers in collaboration for change

This article deals with an action research project, where a group of university teachers from different disciplines reflected on and gradually extended their knowledge about how to support students’ academic literacy development. The project was conducted within a ‘research circle’ [Bergman, L. 2014. “The Research Circle as a Resource in Challenging Academics’ Perceptions of How to Support Students’ Literacy Development in Higher Education.” Canadian Journal of Action Research 15 (2): 3–20], in which the teachers engaged in a continuous dialogue where experience-based and research-based knowledge could meet. The two-year long process was divided into three phases: exchange of experiences and knowledge, small-scale empirical investigations in the participants own teaching, and presentations of the outcome of the research circle work. The main focus in this article is the second phase. The choice of small-scale-investigations, and how they were discussed and developed in the collaborative work, will be foregrounded as well as the changes that occurred in the participants’ teaching practices and how the participants value the outcome of the research circle work.     

Exploring the nature of disciplinary teaching and learning using Legitimation Code Theory Semantics

Teaching and learning is a growing field of research and practice globally, and increasing investments are being made in developing academics as teachers. An inability to adequately account for disciplinary knowledge can lead to academic development inputs that are unable to fully address the needs of students, educators, or disciplines themselves. Semantics, from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), provides insight not just into the hows of pedagogy but also the whats and whys, particularly the ways in which knowledge needs to be connected up in meaning-making. This paper argues for the use of semantic profiles to open up conversations with educators about teaching, learning, and the nature of knowledge in their disciplines. It raises important questions about the practical uses of LCT tools in higher education and shares initial ideas, informed by lecturer feedback in one case study, of how these tools can be used in academic staff development.     

To Be or Not to Be an Academic: The Academic Professional Intentions of PhD Students and Influencing Factors

Abstract

Using survey data on academic PhD students, influencing factors for PhD students’ academic career intentions are explained from the perspectives of individual features and the academic labor market. The study found: (1) There is a diversification of PhD employment, with nearly one-third of academic PhDs going to nonacademic organizations; (2) female PhDs tend to favor stable academic professions, and rural and low-income PhD groups are more inclined to choose employment in academic organizations to become academic elites and realize upward social mobility; (3) PhD students who identify with academic majors tend to choose academic professions, but a considerable portion of top quality PhDs go to nonacademic organizations; (4) academic interests and enthusiasm are important influences on choosing an academic profession; (5) worsening job environments in academic institutions and weakening professional attractiveness had a cooling effect on the academic employment intentions of PhDs.     

Academic differentiation,school achievement and school violence in the USA and South Korea

Whilst school violence is a major public concern and a focus of educational reforms both in the USA and South Korea, few studies have comparatively examined the rates of school violence and school factors associated with them. Analysing nationally‐representative data from eighth graders, their mathematics teachers and principals in 150 South Korean schools and in 216 US schools, the authors found that: 1) the rates of school violence are higher in the US than South Korea, 2) student‐reported violence rates are not associated with school‐reported violence rates in both nations and 3) South Korean schools with academic tracking and low‐achieving US schools are more likely to have higher rates of school violence. Policy and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

院校管理中的学术管理与行政管理

高等院校的管理实际上是一种知识管理或知识生产管理 ,是学术管理。科学地认识学术权力 ,在有关学术管理的制度设计中明确学术权力 ,给学术权力以应有的地位和权威 ,确立以学术权力为主导的权力机制 ,合理规范学术权力与行政权力各自发挥作用的领域和范围 ,使二者建立一种有机的分工合作与制约关系 ,是当前高校制度建设中一个亟待解决的问题。本文从管理创新的必要性入手 ,阐述了现代院校的特点及其复杂性 ,分析了院校管理中学术管理与行政管理两种权力的关系及其协调     

Using social network analysis to measure the impact and value of work that takes us beyond institutional boundaries

In educational development, accountability is paramount, in particular for activities that take educational developers away from their institutional boundaries to local, national, and international venues. Educational developers must demonstrate the benefits of such work to the home institution and its constituents. We asked educational developers from around the world to comment on the nature and value of their external work. Their responses made clear that such work expands valuable social networks and, concomitantly, builds social capital. Using these observations, we explain how social network analysis can be used to assess and demonstrate the impact of external work.     

遏制高校学术造假行为之思考

高校学术界造假事件接二连三地被曝光。居然有人做这样的“高空惊险动作”,原因是什么。笔者试图探明造假的原因,为遏制造假行为提出有效的解决途径。