Bundled or unbundled? A multi-text corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the relationship between teaching and research in UK universities

Creating and disseminating knowledge through research and teaching has long been regarded as the hallmark of the modern university. However, new university business models have called into question the ‘bundling’ of teaching and research, and sustained research on the relationship between teaching and research has found little evidence of an insoluble connection between the two activities. In this article, we explore the relationship between teaching and research from the perspective of universities’ institutional discourse. We use corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the relationship between research and teaching as presented in two sets of institutional texts currently influential in UK Higher Education: Research Excellence Framework environment statements and Teaching Excellence Framework provider submissions (a total of 2143 documents and 12,492,071 words). Our findings show that, while universities emphasise the value of research to their teaching, they do not always emphasise (or sometimes even decry) the influence of teaching on their research. We empirically evidence that, according to what universities themselves write in institutional texts, teaching and research are not always in a mutually beneficial entanglement, but often rather a one-way relationship in which research expertise and institutional prestige are used to bolster claims of teaching excellence. This has implications for the communication of both the vision and the purpose of a university in regulatory exercises and wider policy, but also speaks to the broader idea and practice of being a university in the twenty-first century.     

Covid-19: Emerging Considerations for Body Sourcing and Handling. A Perspective View from Nigeria

The current Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has spread to about 220 countries of the world and has resulted in a significant number of deaths globally. Infections are still on the rise, and the impact on the global death rate could be devastating. There are fears over the likely impact of a large number of deaths on body sourcing and handling of cadavers for teaching and research. Historically, epidemics come with several challenges and have often led to some level of negligence of ethical practices and health and safety regulations associated with body sourcing and handling. The authors highlighted some emerging problems in this article, focusing on Africa and Nigeria in particular. These problems include a higher risk of coronavirus exposure for body handlers, shortage of cadavers for teaching and learning, a lack of standard regulations leading to unethical body sourcing and handling, and a lack of monitoring and collaboration needed for a well-coordinated Covid-19 pandemic response strategy. If these issues are ignored, the previous gains made in anatomical ethical practices may be destroyed. Some useful recommendations for policymaking geared toward prevention or curtailing these emerging issues have been instilled in this article.     

The Unintentional Effects on Body Donation Programs of a Competency-Based Curriculum in Postgraduate Medical Education

As medical programs place increasing importance on competency-based training and surgical simulations for residents, anatomy laboratories, and body donation programs find themselves in a position of adapting to changing demands. To better assess the demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens and evaluate the possible impacts that competency-based medical education could have upon the body donation program of McGill University, Canada, the authors tracked, over the course of the last 10 years, the number of soft-embalmed specimens, along with the number of teaching sessions and the residents enrolled in competency-based programs that are using cadaveric material. The results reveal that the number of soft-embalmed specimens used within residency training increased from 5 in 2009 to 35 in 2019, representing an increase from 6% of bodies to 36.5% of the total number of body donors embalmed in this institution. Correspondingly, the number of annual teaching sessions for residents increased from 19 in 2012 to 116 in 2019. These increases in teaching are correlated with increasing number of residents enrolled in competency-based programs over the last 3 years (Pearson r ranging from 0.9705 to 0.9903, and R² ranging from 0.9418 to 0.9808). Those results suggest that the new skill-centered curricula which require residents to perform specific tasks within realistic settings, exhibit a growing demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens. Institutions’ body donation programs must, therefore, adapt to those greater need for cadaveric specimens, which presents many challenges, ranging from the logistical to the ethical.     

指向武术核心素养的中小学武术有效教学策略与方法设计

为了有效促进学生武术核心素养的培育,针对我国武术教学中存在套路内容“繁难”、教法单一、重“形”轻“击”、重知识灌输,轻自主性培养、重教师的“教”,轻学生的“学”“学生不喜欢武术课”等一系列问题,提出了有效促进武术认知、武术运动能力、武术人格培育的原则,基于此原则,对“化难为易”策略、“化浅为深”策略、“化无趣为有趣”策略、“化技术为实践”策略、“知新温故”等策略进行了具体探索性设计,并对上述策略的具体实施方法进行了阐述,为中小学武术教学改革提供现实指导。     

‘I would say nine times out of 10 they come to the LSA rather than the teacher’. The role of teaching assistants in supporting children's mental health

This research explored how seven primary school teaching assistants (TAs) experienced their role in supporting children's mental health. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The participants believed that they supported children's mental health and particularly referenced the close relationships that they formed with children. Throughout their accounts of supporting children, the TAs referenced helpful factors (e.g. support from other staff) and challenges (e.g. hierarchy) within the school system. Supporting children’s mental health was an emotional experience for the TAs; they discussed the rewarding element, however, the topic also elicited fear. The findings provide several implications for school staff and external professionals about how TAs can be supported in their role. These include involving TAs in training opportunities, providing TAs with supervision, considering communication systems in schools, and introducing a mental health policy.     

Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

小学体育兴趣化游戏教学的多维性探索

随着新一轮教改工作在我国全国范围内的深入开展,体育已经成为各地小学素质教育工作中的重点内容。就目前来看,为进一步提高小学体育教学效率,兴趣化游戏教学已经逐步被引入实际教学工作中,该教学模式可以冲破传统教条主义教学思维的拘束,进一步提高学生对学习的兴趣,使被动学习转变为主动学习,从而更好地实现当今时代小学体育教学工作目标。     

高中篮球模块教学的实践与探索

随着体育的发展,模块教学理念深入学校的体育教学之中。模块教学是以学生为主体的教学模式,学生能够根据自己的特长和爱好选择适合自己的体育运动项目,从而保障了学习体育的积极性。针对于今天的教学来说,教师的教学目的一定不是单纯地去追求学生的学习成绩,今天随着新课标的不断深入,教师需要把以往从学生纯净的追求转变为对于学生综合素养的追求。这个时候体育学科的重要性就会有所体现,身体是革命的本钱,学生在学习的过程中一定要有一个好的身体素质,只有这样他们才能够更好地应对接下来的生活。     

分层教学模式在高中体育教学中的运用

随着现代教育的不断推进,在阳光体育的背景下,体育备受教育部门和学校的关注。本文针对学校体育教学中存在的一些问题,结合学校体育的发展的特点,让分层教学模式走进学校体育的课堂,通过分层教学,打破了传统的"一锅煮"的教学模式,让不同层次的学生通过自己不懈的努力,体育成绩都能得到发展。通过这样的教学模式,不仅把学生的眼球吸引到体育教学的课堂,而且促进学生体育学习的积极性,使得体育课堂活起来,为学生的终身体育学习打下良好的基础。     

Professional knowledge or motivation? Investigating the role of teachers’ expertise on the quality of technology-enhanced lesson plans

In an expertise study with 94 mathematics teachers varying in their relative teacher expertise (i.e., student teachers, trainee teachers, in-service teachers), we examined effects of teachers' professional knowledge and motivational beliefs on their ability to integrate technology within a lesson plan scenario. Therefore, we assessed teachers' professional knowledge (i.e., content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological knowledge), and their motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy, utility-value). Furthermore, teachers were asked to develop a lesson plan for introducing the Pythagorean theorem to secondary students. Lesson plans by advanced teachers (i.e., trainee teachers, in-service teachers) comprised higher levels of instructional quality and technology exploitation than the ones of novice teachers (i.e., pre-service teachers). The effect of expertise was mediated by teachers' perceived utility-value of educational technology, but not by their professional knowledge. These findings suggest that teachers’ motivational beliefs play a crucial role for effectively applying technology in mathematics instruction.