Showing papers in "Higher Education Research & Development in 1988"
TL;DR: In this article, a broad notion of "the field" is defined and teachers using field-based methods work towards many different educational aims, some implicit and others explicit, and some types of field activity are seen to be better for achieving certain aims than others.
Abstract: Within a broad notion of “the field”, teachers using field‐based methods work towards many different educational aims, some implicit and others explicit. Particular aims are examined, and some types of field activity are seen to be better for achieving certain aims than others. Types of field excursion are classified and some special learning benefits of working in the field are suggested. Field teachers should set clear learning objectives and carefully plan and select the experiences they intend students to have, taking into account educational aims, time available, distance, student readiness, and availability of localities and resources. Thorough briefing and debriefing are important in maximising field learning.
146 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a focus (enhanced metacognition) and a method (Collaborative Action Research) for improving quality in education is presented. But the focus is not on the quality of the education itself, but on the development of intellectual independence of students.
Abstract: This article addresses what ‘quality’ in education is, and should be. Findings published previously in this journal and elsewhere are drawn together to consider the notion of quality and conditions for its improvement. It is argued that quality in education relates to development of intellectual independence. Both a focus (enhanced metacognition) and a method (Collaborative Action Research) for improving quality are presented. It is argued further that secondary and tertiary education should differ only in the extent of students’ development towards the desired goal. Accordingly, institutions of higher education must take the lead in fostering improvement in quality of education at all levels.
66 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that veterinary students entered the veterinary course with a relatively low appreciation of the importance to a veterinarian of the skills needed to interact effectively with people, but placed high importance on skills for dealing with animals.
Abstract: Veterinarians require effective communication skills for interacting with clients, colleagues and other people, but very little emphasis has been placed on these skills either in the professional literature, or in the curricula of veterinary schools. In this study questionnaires were used to assess attitudes of Queensland veterinary students and recent graduates to various aspects of communication. These revealed that students entered the veterinary course with a relatively low appreciation of the importance to a veterinarian of the skills needed to interact effectively with people, but placed high importance on skills for dealing with animals. As the students proceeded from first to fifth year, they became increasingly aware of the relative importance to veterinarians of understanding and communicating with people. Formal teaching of communication skills to veterinary students has recently been pioneered at the University of Queensland. This involves a sequence of subjects in the first, third an...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the social origins of 400 nursing students in hospital-based and 448 nursing students at college-based programs in New South Wales were compared using a specially constructed composite socioeconomic variable for comparison.
Abstract: This paper compares the social origins of 400 nursing students in hospital‐based and 448 nursing students in college‐based programs in New South Wales. Using a specially constructed composite socioeconomic variable for comparison, the preliminary analysis suggests that a middle class bias, presumed to exist by some in the selection of recruits to hospital‐based programs, does not operate in the selection of college recruits. The soundly equitable college recruitment pattern is more marked for females than males. There is a greater proportion recruited to college programs from the group who have delayed entry for more than ten years after leaving school. For students entering directly from school, no significant difference was found in the composite socioeconomic variable in hospital and college programs. The findings also suggest that college programs are more attractive than hospital programs to males entering directly from school.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of some learning tasks in the university, professors from three universities and six different disciplines, representatives of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, pure and applied, were interviewed.
Abstract: Recent evaluations of the state of higher education have suggested that students must not only learn subject matter content but must be able to think with it. Professors in tertiary education expect that their students will come equipped to handle certain kinds of information and certain kinds of learning tasks. To describe their expectations, faculty use phrases such as the ability to think logically, or to do independent work, or to use abstract terms. But to what extent do they suppose that their students will be able to think? In a study of some learning tasks in the university, professors from three universities and six different disciplines, representatives of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, pure and applied, were interviewed. Faculty expectations of students’ ability to think logically, independently, and abstractly were analysed to show consistencies and differences across disciplines.
9 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the spoken language which students often write together with the written language that staff tend to speak and found that the different modes of using language reflect different approaches to learning, so that students may benefit from staff reconsidering the comprehension gap as well as enquiring into other factors which inhibit the tutorial dialogue.
Abstract: This paper points to disparate expectations of language as one cause of staff‐student misunderstandings. It examines the spoken language which students often write together with the written language that staff tend to speak. The two are compared in terms of vocabulary, style of structuring, and orality (use of oral expression). Analysis indicates that the different modes of using language reflect different approaches to learning, so that students may benefit from staff reconsidering the comprehension gap as well as enquiring into other factors which inhibit the tutorial dialogue.
6 citations
TL;DR: The technique of meta-analysis has been credited with resolving research issues in the areas of class size and the efficacy of psychotherapy, yet meta-analyses have failed to form a consensus regar... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The technique of meta‐analysis has been credited with resolving research issues in the areas of class size and the efficacy of psychotherapy, yet meta‐analyses have failed to form a consensus regar...
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the author's experiences in an introductory course in international relations with a simple simulation are described. And the authors encourage others who have not yet done so to try using simple simulation.
Abstract: This paper examines the author's experiences in an introductory course in international relations with a simple simulation. The objective is to encourage others who have not yet done so to try using a simple simulation. After a brief review of the literature on simulations, it shows how the simulation is an easy and effective way to motivate students, improve social relations among students, and enhance learning. By participating in the simulation, students gain insights from their personal experiences. They gain insights into some of the problems confronting foreign policy makers and into the essence and limitations of the dominant approach to the study of international relations which provides the underlying assumptions upon which the simulation rests. Because it is a simple simulation it is easy to use early in an introductory course, but its very simplicity means it must not be used later in the course when a more complex simulation would be required. The paper encourages others to try simple...
4 citations
TL;DR: The establishment of two Senior Colleges in Western Australia in 1983 provided adult students with an alternative route to conventional schooling for completing matriculation requirements for entry to higher education as mentioned in this paper, and an evaluation of the Colleges involved large samples of students and staff and the triangulation of information obtained by different researchers working independently and using a variety of methods.
Abstract: The establishment of two Senior Colleges in Western Australia in 1983 provided adult students with an alternative route to conventional schooling for completing matriculation requirements for entry to higher education. An evaluation of the Colleges involved large samples of students and staff and the triangulation of information obtained by different researchers working independently and using a variety of methods (interview, questionnaires, nominal groups, classroom and school climate assessments). The study attested to the success of the Senior Colleges in creating a positive ethos suited to its adult students and in allowing previously unqualified people to enter higher education and succeed.
3 citations
TL;DR: The AVCC working party report on teaching methods in Australian Universities of which he was a co-author was published 25 years later as mentioned in this paper, and he re-examines the AVCC report.
Abstract: The author looks back on his career as an academic in Australia, tracing both his own and higher education's descent into pragmatism. In particular, he re-examines 25 years later the AVCC working party report on Teaching Methods in Australian Universities of which he was a co-author.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, students were asked to rate the quality of the teaching they had previously experienced during their first year at the University of Sheffield and found a positive and significant relationship between student grades and their rating of teaching.
Abstract: As part of a Faculty Review, students currently enrolled at the University were asked to rate the quality of the teaching they had previously experienced during their first year. About 900 students in four separate entry cohorts were involved, yielding a total of 28 separate ratings. These ratings were correlated with students’ examination grades. Between classes, there is an indication that rating of teaching is related to examination performance. Within classes, there is a positive and significant relationship between student grades and their rating of teaching only when the teaching is rated above average. The results are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a discussion of strategic planning, performance indicators, and research policy for higher education systems throughout the world, and discuss the joint influences of continuing reduced resources, demand for research to solve short term economic problems, and the perceived value in the application of business models of management.
Abstract: Higher education systems throughout the world are coming under the joint influences of continuing reduced resources, demand for research to solve short term economic problems, and the perceived value in the application of business models of management. These influences have given rise to several related movements: strategic planning, performance indicators, research policy. The paper provides a discussion of each of these movements.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the trends and issues related to the teaching improvement efforts at the National University of Singapore as a whole and in the Medical Faculty in particular, mainly based on the returns of a questionnaire evaluating the Teaching Methodology courses conducted in conjunction with the Institute of Education, Singapore in the past seven years (1981 - 1987).
Abstract: This study reports the trends and issues related to the teaching improvement efforts at the National University of Singapore as a whole and in the Medical Faculty in particular. The university‐wide study is mainly based on the returns of a questionnaire evaluating the Teaching Methodology courses conducted in conjunction with the Institute of Education, Singapore in the past seven years (1981 – 1987). The perceptions and meanings regarding teaching improvement efforts that are derived from interviews with a purposive sample of Medical Faculty members confirm the advantages of the developmental approach of instructional and faculty development. The main issues derived from the study centres around questions about academic staff needs of educational courses, the effects of improved teaching on learning, and the ability of media and information technology to improve the quality of teaching. The study shows the emergence of the following trends: 1) There is an increasing recognition that all lecturer...