Canadian Journal of Higher Education 

About: Canadian Journal of Higher Education is an academic journal published by Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Higher education & Government. It has an ISSN identifier of 0316-1218. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 1041 publications have been published receiving 12304 citations. The journal is also known as: Revue canadienne d'enseignement supérieur.

“I just didn’t feel like I fit in”: The role of habitus in university dropout decisions

Abstract: In recent years, there has been an increasingly pervasive discourse regarding the need for high levels of post-secondary education for life course success in a knowledge economy. Correspondingly, most Western industrialized nations have seen a drastic increase in university enrolment. Although we do know that access to university continues to be constrained by social class, we know little about factors contributing to dropping out of university. Using qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews, in this paper I investigate whether first-generation student status and social class affect individuals’ university experiences and decisions to drop out. Key fi ndings suggest that fi rst-generation students are more likely to leave university early – often despite solid academic performance. Reasons for leaving university without graduating are centred around class-cultural discontinuities, such as not fi tting in, not “feeling university,” and not being able to relate to other students. These discontinuities are interpreted as a clash between an old and a newly developing habitus. Un discours de plus en plus dominant souligne l’importance de poursuivre des etudes post-secondaires pour reussir dans une economie basee sur le savoir. On note egalement une croissance drastique des inscriptions universitaires dans la plupart des pays occidentaux industrialises. Nous avons deja que l’acces aux etudes universitaires est contraint par la classe sociale, mais les facteurs contribuant au decrochage sont moins connus. Sur la base de donnees qualitatives obtenues par le biais d’entretiens semi-directifs, j’examine dans cet article le lien entre le fait d’etre le premier ou la premiere de sa famille a acceder a l’universite « premiere generation », la classe sociale et la decision de quitter l’universite. Les principaux resultats de la recherche suggerent que les etudiants dits de premiere generation sont plus susceptibles d’abandonner l’universite de maniere prematuree, souvent malgre une bonne performance universitaire. Les raisons expliquant leur depart se centrent sur des discontinuites de classe et de culture, par exemple le sentiment de ne pas etre a sa place ou de ne pas appartenir a l’universite, ainsi que des diffi cultes a entrer en relation avec les autres etudiantes et etudiants. Ces discontinuites sont interpretees comme un confl it entre un ancien habitus et un habitus en developpement.

The Effects of a Peer Mentoring Program on Academic Success Among First Year University Students

Abstract: The present study examines the effect of participation of first-year university students in a full-year peer mentoring program as well as indi- vidual differences in motivation in relation to outcome measures of retention and achievement. A sample of 983 first year students com- pleted the Academic Motivation Inventory (Tremblay, 1998) and agreed to provide final grades; 537 students were randomly assigned to partici- pate in the program, while the remainder served as a control group. Mentored students who continued to participate mid-way through the second semester had significantly higher final grades than did students in the control group. There was no effect on retention from year one to year two, however data are being collected on retention and grades for all groups for the length of their undergraduate careers. Students high in anxiety in the mentored group showed achievement comparable to that of low anxiety program participants, whereas students in the control group with high anxiety scored significantly worse on achievement than did their low anxiety counterparts.

Understanding Academic Misconduct.

Abstract: Research suggests that the majority of U.S. undergraduate students have engaged in some form of misconduct while completing their academic work, despite knowing that such behaviour is ethically or morally wrong. U.S.-based studies have also identified myriad personal and institutional factors associated with academic misconduct. Implicit in some of these factors are several institutional strategies that may be implemented to support academic integrity: revisiting the values and goals of higher education, recommitting to quality in teaching and assessment practice, establishing effective policies and invigilation practices, providing educational opportunities and support for all members of the university community, and using (modified) academic honour codes. There is a dearth of similar research in Canada despite growing recognition that academic misconduct is a problem on Canadian campuses. This paper suggests that Canadian higher education can learn much from the U.S. experience and calls for both a recommitment to academic integrity and research on academic misconduct in Canadian higher education institutions.

Academic Misconduct within Higher Education in Canada

Abstract: Despite a plethora of research on the academic misconduct carried out by U.S. high school and undergraduate university students, little research has been done on the academic misconduct of Canadian students. This paper addresses this shortcoming by presenting the results of a study conducted at 11 Canadian higher education institutions between January 2002 and March 2003. We maintain that academic misconduct does indeed occur in Canada – amongst high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Common self-reported behaviours were as follows: working on an assignment with others when asked for individual work, getting questions and answers from someone who has already taken a test, copying a few sentences of material without footnoting, fabricating or falsifying lab data, and receiving unauthorized help on an assignment. Possible factors associated with these behaviours include student maturity, perceptions of what constitutes academic misconduct, faculty assessment and invigilation practices, low perceived risk, ineffective and poorly understood policies and procedures, and a lack of education on academic misconduct. Canadian educational institutions are encouraged to address these issues, beginning with a recommitment to academic integrity.

Faculty Adoption of Teaching and Learning Technologies: Contrasting Earlier Adopters and Mainstream Faculty

Abstract: The adoption of teaching and learning technologies is an innovation that challenges the structure, culture and practice of modern research universities. This paper documents quantitatively and qualitatively the attitudes, skills and behavior of the faculty related to the use of instruc- tional technology at a large Canadian research university. The data was gathered from a survey (n = 557) of teaching faculty. The data is ana- lyzed with respect to Roger's (1995) categories of adoption of innova- tion differentiating "Earlier Adopters" (EAs) from "Mainstream Faculty" (MF). The paper discusses four factors that have tended to create a "chasm" between these two groups and discusses strategies for reducing the chasm and providing support and incentive for all faculty in the adoption of instructional technologies.