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.     

‘Teaching’ the path towards university: understanding student access through storied-futures and meritocratic grand narratives

The notion that the stories of our lives shape dispositions towards imagined futures is another lens through which university underrepresentation should be viewed. A storied lens attends to how futures, like university attendance, are storied during childhood to the extent that some youth imagine, and therefore plan, these futures as natural progression. Such was the case for study participants, indicating that childhood stories contain answers for mitigating social reproduction connected to parental education and cultural forces within the home. Examining social mobility through the underexplored storied-futures grand narrative presents unique solutions that lay hidden within the dominant meritocratic grand narrative.     

Breaking Down Barriers for Student Parents and Caregivers with Family-Friendly Library Spaces

Abstract

In 2016, J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte opened a reservable study room where student parents and caregivers can study with their children on campus. In 2018, the library opened a second family-friendly study room to meet the needs of our growing campus community. To inform the room design, the library conducted a mixed methods research study that included a user survey, an examination of room reservation and usage data, and one-on-one user interviews. This paper focuses on the user-centered design process used to inform the development of the second, family-friendly, library study room.     

The Mystery Room: discovering the flexibility of an information literacy-based educational escape room

Abstract

The Mystery Room is an educational escape room based on information literacy and applied to multiple audiences, including first-year students and library student employees. In this article, we explain how we developed the game, its theoretical underpinnings, and why it’s a flexible workshop for a variety of audiences.     

Proclaiming Library Worth in a Program Prioritization Process at a Mid-Sized Public University

Abstract

In an economic climate when colleges can no longer presume that legislators see institutions of higher learning as tacit public goods, institutions around the country are facing budget cuts. This article presents a case study of the experience of a mid-sized public state university and its Library in a budget crisis undergoing a university-wide program prioritization process. The authors review the process of writing three reports on the Library’s value, along with the approach to engaging staff in the process including a retreat. This article raises questions about what every library should consider assessing and provide tools for libraries navigating similar terrain.     

对江西省高校大学生体育健身需求的调查

对江西 18所高校大学生体育健身内容需求现状进行了调查 ,通过对大学生 15项体育健身内容需求程度的统计分析 ,提出建立高校大学生体育健身体系及对策。     

甘肃省大学生心理健康状况调查

运用问卷调查、文献资料调研和数理统计等方法 ,对甘肃省 9所高校的 94 3名男、女大学生进行了心理健康状况的调研分析 ,据此提出了若干建议。     

高年级大学生课外体育活动参与特征调研

采用问卷调查、文献资料调研、数理统计等方法 ,对高年级大学生课外体育活动参与特征进行了分析与研究。结果发现 ,目前高年级大学生参与课外体育活动的人数量少 ,体育活动项目多样化 ,校园为主要的活动场所 ,每周活动次数 1～ 2次为主 ,每次活动时间 6 0 min以上 ,以中等活动负荷为主 ,呈多元化的活动目的动机 ,活动受主、客观因素的影响。据此提出了一些对策和建议。     

论高校体育教学的创新与大学生负性情绪的调控

关注学生的心理问题，是创新高校体育教学的又一核心问题。笔者拟透视“情绪”这一视角，来分析当前高校体育教学对大学生情绪的影响，以求切准大学生带有社会性的整体情绪状态，来创新高校体育教学，以实现大学生身、心、群的全面发展。     

大学生体质健康状况发展变化规律的研究

采用文献研究法、调查研究法和数理统计法等,对延安大学98年入校的本科学生的身体形态、机能、身体素质进行了4年追踪研究,得出延安大学学生在校期间体质健康状况发展变化的特点、规律、趋势及存在的差异和原因,并针对存在的问题提出了改进措施与建议。