The Times Higher Education ranking product: visualising excellence through media

This paper will examine the Times Higher Education's (THE) World University Rankings as a corporate media product. A number of empirical studies have critiqued the methodology of the THE, yet individuals, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and governments continue to use them for decision-making. This paper analyses the influence of rankings through the concepts of mediatization and visualisation. To this end, this paper will examine how media defines excellence in HEIs through rankings, and how HEIs use rankings to define themselves within a competitive educational marketplace.     

Administrative problems associated with regionalization

This paper focusses on the administrative problems related to the decision to regionalize the British Columbia Correspondence and Distance Learning Branch. The first pan of the paper provides background information about how the concept of regionalization developed both within the Branch and as a result of political pressures. The next part discusses the proposed changes in the administrative structure of the Branch once the regionalization process has been completed. This is followed by consideration of the problems occurring during the first transitional year. Particular attention is paid to the effects the changes are having on relationships between staff and management. Finally, in looking to the future, anticipated problems and changes after regionalization has been completed are considered.     

University Students with Reading Difficulties: Do Perceived Supports and Comorbid Difficulties Predict Well‐Being and GPA?

We examined the impact of the number of comorbid difficulties, social support, and community support on life satisfaction and academic achievement among 120 university students or recent graduates with self‐reported reading difficulties. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing perceived social support, perceived community support, the number of comorbid difficulties in addition to reading difficulty, life satisfaction, and academic achievement (grade point average). Results supported a main effect model in which the number of comorbid difficulties and social, but not community, support predicted life satisfaction. Social and community support did not moderate the relationship between the number of comorbid difficulties and life satisfaction, lending no support to the buffering effect hypothesis. However, a mediation model showed that social support partially mediated the relationship between the number of comorbid difficulties and life satisfaction. Academic achievement did not correlate with any included variable.     

The Impact of Exam Environments on Student Test Scores in Online Courses

While enrollment in online courses has tripled in ten years, little is known about the impact of different exam-taking environments on learning. A recent study of economics students found that online students taking un-proctored exams scored one letter grade higher than online students taking proctored exams. However, there were no apparent systematic safeguards against cheating in the un-proctored section. This study adds to the literature by comparing student’s performance in online classes with proctored exams to the performance of online students in a carefully controlled online testing environment (Respondus Lockdown Browser [RLB]). Methods: Data refer to 287 students enrolled in a criminology course at a Carnegie research-extensive university. The experimental group consisted of students in online sections who were called back to campus to take exams in a proctored environment. The control group took exams off campus using RLB. All sections were taught by the same instructor. The dependent variable is the score on the standardized final examination. The central independent variable is the type of exam environment: proctored vs. the RLB environment. Results: Controlling for other constructs, there was no significant difference between student exam scores in the proctored sections and the sections employing RLB. Conclusion: The results suggest that the judicious use of RLB can level the playing field between exam scores in proctored vs. nonproctored online sections. Technology such as RLB, which minimizes opportunities for cheating online, may provide tools for fairness in grading. Future work is needed for other courses, other fields, and other types of academic institutions.