Showing papers on "Higher education published in 2011"

E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice, 2nd edition

Abstract: The second edition of E-Learning in the 21st Century provides a coherent, comprehensive, and empirically-based framework for understanding e-learning in higher education Garrison draws on his decades of experience and extensive research in the field to explore the technological, pedagogical, and organizational implications of e-learning Most importantly, he provides practical models that educators can use to realize the full potential of e-learning This book is unique in that it focuses less on the long list ever-evolving technologies and more on the search for an understanding of these technologies from an educational perspective The second edition has been fully revised and updated throughout and includes discussions of social media and mobile learning applications as well as other emerging technologies in todays classrooms This book is an invaluable resource for courses on e-learning in higher education as well as for researchers, practitioners and senior administrators looking for guidance on how to successfully adopt e-learning in their institutions

Handbook of the economics of education

Abstract: What is the value of an education? Volume 4 of the Handbooks in the Economics of Education combines recent data with new methodologies to examine this and related questions from diverse perspectives. School choice and school competition, educator incentives, the college premium, and other considerations help make sense of the investments and returns associated with education. Volume editors Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford), Stephen Machin (University College London) and Ludger Woessmann (Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich) draw clear lines between newly emerging research on the economics of education and prior work. In conjunction with Volume 3, they measure our current understanding of educational acquisition and its economic and social effects. It is the winner of a 2011 PROSE Award Honorable Mention in Economics from the Association of American Publishers. It demonstrates how new methodologies are yielding fresh perspectives in education economics. It presents topics and authors whose data and conclusions attest to the globalization of research. It complements the policy and social outcomes themes of volume 3.

Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development

Abstract: The emerging academic field focused on sustainability has been engaged in a rich and converging debate to define what key competencies are considered critical for graduating students to possess. For more than a decade, sustainability courses have been developed and taught in higher education, yet comprehensive academic programs in sustainability, on the undergraduate and graduate level, have emerged only over the last few years. Considering this recent institutional momentum, the time is seemingly right to synthesize the discussion about key competencies in sustainability in order to support these relatively young academic programs in shaping their profiles and achieving their ambitious missions. This article presents the results of a broad literature review. The review identifies the relevant literature on key competencies in sustainability; synthesizes the substantive contributions in a coherent framework of sustainability research and problem-solving competence; and addresses critical gaps in the conceptualization of key competencies in sustainability. Insights from this study lay the groundwork for institutional advancements in designing and revising academic programs; teaching and learning evaluations; as well as hiring and training faculty and staff.

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Abstract: In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor's degree is now required for entry into a growing number of professions. And some parents begin planning for the expense of sending their kids to college when they're born. Almost everyone strives to go, but almost no one asks the fundamental question posed by Academically Adrift: are undergraduates really learning anything once they get there? For a large proportion of students, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa's answer to that question is a definitive no. Their extensive research draws on survey responses, transcript data, and, for the first time, the state-of-the-art Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test administered to students in their first semester and then again at the end of their second year. According to their analysis of more than 2,300 undergraduates at twenty-four institutions, forty-five percent of these students demonstrate no significant improvement in a range of skills - including critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing - during their first two years of college. As troubling as their findings are, Arum and Roksa argue that for many faculty and administrators they will come as no surprise - instead, they are the expected result of a student body distracted by socializing or working and an institutional culture that puts undergraduate learning close to the bottom of the priority list. Academically Adrift holds sobering lessons for students, faculty, administrators, policy makers, and parents - all of whom are implicated in promoting or at least ignoring contemporary campus culture. Higher education faces crises on a number of fronts, but Arum and Roksa's report that colleges are failing at their most basic mission will demand the attention of us all.

Facilitating change in undergraduate STEM instructional practices: An analytic review of the literature

Abstract: This article reviews current scholarship about how to promote change in instructional practices used in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. The review is based on 191 conceptual and empirical journal articles published between 1995 and 2008. Four broad categories of change strategies were developed to capture core differences within this body of literature: disseminating curriculum and pedagogy, developing reflective teachers, enacting policy, and developing shared vision. STEM education researchers largely write about change in terms of dis- seminating curriculum and pedagogy. Faculty development researchers largely write about change in terms of developing reflective teachers. Higher education researchers largely write about change in terms of enacting policy. New work often does not build on prior empirical or theoretical work. Although most articles claim success of the change strategy studied, evidence presented to support these claims is typically not strong. For example, only 21% of articles that studied implementation of a change strategy were categorized as presenting strong evidence to support claims of success or failure of the strategy. These analyses suggest that the state of change strategies and the study of change strategies are weak, and that research communities that study and enact change are largely isolated from one-another. In spite of the weak state of the literature, some conclusions related to the design of change strategies can be drawn from this review. Two commonly used change strategies are clearly not effective: developing and testing ''best practice'' curricular materials and then making these materials available to other facul- ty and ''top-down'' policy-making meant to influence instructional practices. Effective change strategies: are aligned with or seek to change the beliefs of the individuals involved; involve long-term interventions, lasting at least one semester; require understanding a college or university as a complex system and designing a strategy that is compatible with this system. ! 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 952-984, 2011

Peer Effects in Education: How Might They Work, How Big Are They and How Much Do We Know Thus Far?

Abstract: This chapter summarizes the recent literature on peer effects in student outcomes at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Linear-in-means models find modest sized and statistically significant peer effects in test scores. But the linear-in-means model masks considerable heterogeneity in the effects experienced by different types of students. Using nonlinear models, one prevalent finding is larger peer effects in which high ability students benefit from the presence of other high ability students. Studies that stratify students by race and ability often find that students are affected both by the racial composition of their peers and by the achievement of their same-race peers. At the university level, several studies find modest sized effects from dormmate and roommate background on own academic performance. For both university and high school students, the measured peer effects on “social” outcomes such as drinking are larger than the effects on academic outcomes. Many authors find substantial peer effects in drinking, drug use, and criminal behavior. This chapter suggest areas for future investigation and data collection.

Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines.

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Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Abstract: Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa University of Chicago Press, 2011 This book has much to say that is perceptive about today's undergraduate higher education in the United States. It will be valuable to review the authors' insights. At the same time, it will be as instructive to note the book's weaknesses, and especially what is omitted from the discussion. It is a discussion that is truncated intellectually by the authors' close adherence to the selective awareness that so greatly typifies the mindscape of the contemporary American "establishment" in academia and throughout the commanding heights of American society. That mindscape allows a recognition of many things, but not of others. The authors are both faculty members at major American universities. Richard Arum is a sociology professor at New York University with a tie to the university's school of education. He is the author of several books on education and director of the Education Research Program sponsored by the Social Science Research Council. His co-author, Josipa Roksa, is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia. That the book is published by the University of Chicago Press attests to its presumptive merit. Academically Adrift furnishes an example of something that has long been common in social science writing: a rather thin empirical study serving as the work's own contribution, combined with considerable additional material coming out of the literature on whatever subject is being explored. The function of the authors' own research is thus often to serve more or less as scientistic windowdressing. The reason we say the empiricism for this book is "thin" is that the "longitudinal data of 2,322 students," while seemingly ample, involves students spread over "a diverse range of campuses," including "liberal arts colleges and large research institutions, as well as a number of historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions," all "dispersed nationally across all four regions of the country." This must necessarily mean that the "sample" from any given institution or program was quite small. We are told that the authors didn't concern themselves with the appropriateness of each sample, but left the recruitment and retention of the sample's students to each of the respective institutions. The authors acknowledge that the study included fewer men than women, and more good students than those of "lower scholastic ability." So far as this book is concerned, however, the thinness doesn't particularly hurt the content, since so much of what is said doesn't especially depend upon anything unique found by the authors' own research. A brief summary is provided when the authors say that "we will highlight four core 'important lessons' from our research." These are that the institutions and students are "academically adrift" (which is the basis for the book's title), that students gain surprisingly little from their college experience, that there is "persistent and growing inequality" in the students' learning, and that "there is notable variation both within and across institutions" so far as "measurable differences in students' educational experiences" is concerned. Following the lead of former president Derek Bok of Harvard and of the Council for Aid to Education, the authors' ideal for higher education is that it will enhance students' "capacity for critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing." These are the three ingredients measured by the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), which the authors value most among the various assessment tools. The CLA results, they say, show that "growing numbers of students are sent to college at increasingly higher costs, but for a large proportion of them the gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication are either exceedingly small or empirically nonexistent. …

Developing sustainable feedback practices

Abstract: Feedback is central to the development of student learning, but within the constraints of modularized learning in higher education it is increasingly difficult to handle effectively. This article makes a case for sustainable feedback as a contribution to the reconceptualization of feedback processes. The data derive from the Student Assessment and Feedback Enhancement project, involving in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with a purposive sample of award‐winning teachers. The findings focus on those reported practices consistent with a framework for sustainable feedback, and particularly highlight the importance of student self‐regulation. The article concludes by setting out some possibilities and challenges for staff and student uptake of sustainable feedback.

What are universities for

Abstract: Governments worldwide rightly regard universities as fundamental to the achievement of many national priorities. But it is the paper’s contention that many misunderstand their true benefit to society. Investments in universities are increasingly based on the belief that the science labs in particular of research-intensive universities can be the source of a continuous stream of people and ideas that will spawn innovative and fast growing companies to form the nexus of the knowledge-based economy. This belief is a source of misconceived policies that offer only ultimate disillusion. It is the totality of the university enterprise that is important, as the only place where that totality of ourselves and our world is brought together, and which makes it the strongest provider of the rational explanation and meaning that societies need. In research, universities create new possibilities; in teaching, they shape new people. Its graduates learn to seek the true meaning of things: to distinguish between the true and the merely seemingly true, to verify for themselves what is stable in that very unstable compound that often passes for knowledge. It is the complex, interacting whole of the university that is the source of the separate economic, social, cultural and utilitarian benefits valued by society. It needs to be understood, valued and managed as a whole. These perceptions are a direct challenge to not only to governments but to university administrators who have been either cowed or seduced into the slipshod thinking that is leading to demands that universities cannot satisfy, whilst obscuring their most important contributions. The challenge to both is to permit autonomy without oppressive accountability, and to give staff and students the freedom to think, speculate and research. These are the very conditions of the personal and collective creativity that are the sources of a university’s deepest benefits to its society.

The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out

Abstract: FORUM FOR THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION Historically, higher education has avoided competitive disruption. One reason for this past immunity is the power of prestige in the higher education marketplace, where the quality of the product is hard to measure. Now with more focus on outcomes and the steady improvement of low-cost online learning technology, the prospect of competitive disruption is real.

Students as co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers

Abstract: Within higher education, students’ voices are frequently overlooked in the design of teaching approaches, courses and curricula. In this paper we outline the theoretical background to arguments for including students as partners in pedagogical planning processes. We present examples where students have worked collaboratively in design processes, along with the beneficial outcomes of these examples. Finally, we focus on some of the implications and opportunities for academic developers of proposing collaborative approaches to pedagogical planning.

Mining Educational Data to Analyze Students" Performance

Abstract: The main objective of higher education institutions is to provide quality education to its students. One way to achieve highest level of quality in higher education system is by discovering knowledge for prediction regarding enrolment of students in a particular course, alienation of traditional classroom teaching model, detection of unfair means used in online examination, detection of abnormal values in the result sheets of the students, prediction about students' performance and so on. The knowledge is hidden among the educational data set and it is extractable through data mining techniques. Present paper is designed to justify the capabilities of data mining techniques in context of higher education by offering a data mining model for higher education system in the university. In this research, the classification task is used to evaluate student's performance and as there are many approaches that are used for data classification, the decision tree method is used here. By this task we extract knowledge that describes students' performance in end semester examination. It helps earlier in identifying the dropouts and students who need special attention and allow the teacher to provide appropriate advising/counseling. Keywords-Educational Data Mining (EDM); Classification; Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD); ID3 Algorithm.

Student Mobilities, Migration and the Internationalization of Higher Education

Abstract: The last ten years have seen the deepening and expansion of the process of internationalization in relation to higher education. This process is multi-faceted and has included the development of education 'brands' as governments and educational institutions become increasingly entrepreneurial in their approach to higher education. The number of students who choose to study abroad has also increased considerably. Although there is a growing academic literature on the internationalization of higher education, students' own perspectives - on their motivations, objectives and experiences - are sorely lacking. Student Mobilities, Migration and the Internationalization of Higher Education is intended to address this gap. Its strong empirical focus, drawing on case studies of mobile students from East Asia, mainland Europe and the UK, helps to develop an in-depth understanding of both the commonalities and differences in the experiences of students from different parts of the world who choose to move abroad to pursue a higher education. It discusses the implications of their movement for contemporary higher education and for our understanding of migration more generally.

The Road to Academic Excellence : The Making of World-Class Research Universities

Abstract: For middle-income and developing countries as well as some industrial nations a major challenge for building and sustaining successful research universities is determining the mechanisms that allow those universities to participate effectively in the global knowledge network on an equal basis with the top academic institutions in the world. These research universities provide advanced education for the academic profession, policy makers, and public and private sector professionals involved in the complex, globalized economies of the 21st century. In addition to their contribution to economic development, these universities play a key societal role by serving as cultural institutions, centers for social commentary and criticism, and intellectual hubs. The positive contribution of tertiary education is increasingly recognized as not limited to middle-income and advanced countries, because it applies equally to low-income economies. Tertiary education can help these countries to become more globally competitive by developing a skilled, productive, and flexible labor force and by creating, applying, and spreading new ideas and technologies. A recent study on how to accelerate economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa spells out the crucial contribution of tertiary education in supporting this endeavor (World Bank 2008). It observes that the key for success in a globalized world increasingly lies in how effectively a country can assimilate available knowledge and build comparative advantages in areas with higher growth prospects and how it can use technology to address the most pressing environmental challenges. The main chapters of this book are nine case studies that illustrate what it takes to establish and sustain research universities and help validate the analytical model outlined above, including the paths to building research excellence.

The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer

Abstract: 1. Introduction to the Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer Frank Furedi Section I: Marketisation of Higher Education in Context 2. The March of the Market Roger Brown 3. Markets, Government, Funding and the Marketisation of UK Higher Education Nick Foskett 4. The Marketised University: Defending the Indefensible Ronald Barnett 5. Adopting Consumer Time and the Marketing of Higher Education Paul Gibbs 6. Complexity Theory Lewis Elton Section II: The Marketised Higher Education Institution 7. Vision, Values and International Excellence Helen Sauntson and Liz Morrish 8. From Accrington Stanley to Academia? Stella Jones-Devitt and Catherine Samiei 9. Branding a University Chris Chapleo 10. Access Agreements, Widening Participation and Market Positionality Colin McCaig 11. 'This place is not at all what I had expected': Student Demand for Authentic Irish Experiences in Irish Studies Programmes Katherine Nielsen 12. The Student as Consumer Felix Maringe Section III: Students, Consumers and Citizens 13. The Consumer Metaphor Versus the Citizen Metaphor Johan Nordensvard 14. Constructing Consumption Joanna Williams 15. 'A degree will make all your dreams come true': Higher Education as the Management of Consumer Desires Helen Haywood, Rebecca Jenkins and Mike Molesworth 16. How Choice in Higher Education can Create Conservative Learners Lizzie Nixon, Richard Scullion and Mike Molesworth 17. Pedagogy of Excess Mike Neary and Andy Hagyard 18. Arguments, Responsibility and What is to be Done About Marketisation Richard Scullion, Mike Molesworth and Lizzie Nixon 19. A Concluding Message from the Vice-Chancellor of Poppleton University Laurie Taylor

Higher Education in East Asia and Singapore: Rise of the Confucian Model.

Abstract: The paper reviews Asia–Pacific higher education and university research, focusing principally on the “Confucian” education nations Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong China, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. Except for Vietnam, these systems exhibit a special developmental dynamism—still playing out everywhere except Japan—and have created a distinctive model of higher education more effective in some respects than systems in North America, the English-speaking world and Europe where the modern university was incubated. The Confucian Model rests on four interdependent elements: (1) strong nation-state shaping of structures, funding and priorities; (2) a tendency to universal tertiary participation, partly financed by growing levels of household funding of tuition, sustained by a private duty, grounded in Confucian values, to invest in education; (3) “one chance” national examinations that mediate social competition and university hierarchy and focus family commitments to education; (4) accelerated public investment in research and “world-class’ universities. The Model has downsides for social equity in participation, and in the potential for state interference in executive autonomy and academic creativity. But together with economic growth amid low tax regimes, the Confucian Model enables these systems to move forward rapidly and simultaneously in relation to each and all of mass tertiary participation, university quality, and research quantity and quality.

Is there still a glass ceiling for women in academic surgery

Abstract: Despite the dramatically increased entry of women into general surgery and surgical subspecialties, traditionally male-dominated fields, there remains a gross under-representation of women in the leadership positions of these departments. Women begin their careers with fewer academic resources and tend to progress through the ranks slower than men. Female surgeons also receive significantly lower salaries than their male counterparts and are more vulnerable to discrimination, both obvious and covert. Although some argue that female surgeons tend to choose their families over careers, studies have actually shown that women are as eager as men to assume leadership positions, are equally qualified for these positions as men, and are as good as men at leadership tasks.Three major constraints contribute to the glass-ceiling phenomenon: traditional gender roles, manifestations of sexism in the medical environment, and lack of effective mentors. Gender roles contribute to unconscious assumptions that have little to do with actual knowledge and abilities of an individuals and they negatively influence decision-making when it comes to promotions. Sexism has many forms, from subtle to explicit forms, and some studies show that far more women report being discriminately against than do men. There is a lack of same-sex mentors and role models for women in academic surgery, thereby isolating female academicians further. This review summarizes the manifestation of the glass-ceiling phenomenon, identifies some causes of these inequalities, and proposes different strategies for continuing the advancement of women in academic surgery and to shatter the glass ceiling.

Employers' perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates

Abstract: The [Scottish Council for Research in Education] SCRE Centre (University of Glasgow) investigated employers’ perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates, and the steps which universities take to develop them. The research found that the majority of employers are satisfied with their graduate recruits, but there is a notable minority who are not. Employers expect graduates to demonstrate a range of skills and attributes that include team-working, communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and often managerial abilities or potential. Several recommendations are made, including: employability should be at the centre of [higher education institutions’] HEIs’ strategic planning, both centrally and at the level of individual faculties and departments; and partnerships between HEIs and employers need to be effective, sustained and equitable.

Student-Centered Learning in Higher Education

Abstract: In her book, Learner-Centered Teaching, Maryellen Weimer contrasts the practices of teachercentered college teaching and student-centered college teaching in terms of (1) the balance of power in the classroom, (2) the function of the course content, (3) the role of the teacher versus the role of the student, (4) the responsibility of learning, (5) the purpose and processes of evaluation. She then gives some suggestions on how to implement the learner-centered approach. Using Weimer’s five specifications, it has been possible to identify from the pedagogical literature several examples where college teachers are seeking to move toward more student-centered classrooms. This essay reports on innovations used by teachers across the academic and professional spectrum, as well as on their evaluations of their successes.

Student perceptions of quality feedback in teacher education

Abstract: Many reports have identified a perceived lack of quality in regard to assessment feedback in higher education contexts. One research study in 2007 on undergraduate university students found that less than half of the students (46%) collected their formative feedback, suggesting that from their perspective feedback clearly was not fulfilling the role it should. This is a study of 465 graduate students and 101 undergraduate students studying teacher education at a major Australian university. The study investigated what students perceived to be effective, quality feedback based upon their extensive higher education experiences. Students identified preferences in regard to form, detail and timing of assessment feedback. The data were collected by means of pen and paper survey and identified which strategies the students perceived to be the most effective, particularly within the context of large cohort teaching and written assessment formats. Findings agreed with research elsewhere regarding problems with as...

The state of sustainability reporting in universities

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and assess the state of sustainability reporting in universities.Design/methodology/approach – Analysis of the performance level of 12 universities sustainability reports using the Graphical Assessment of Sustainability in Universities tool.Findings – The results show that sustainability reporting in universities is still in its early stages (both in numbers of institutions reporting and in level of reporting) when compared to sustainability reporting in corporations.Research limitations/implications – The research is limited by the limited number of universities that publish sustainability reports. However, the results show that universities could learn from the experiences of corporate sustainability reporting efforts, and incorporate them into their efforts as learning organisations to better align their systems with sustainability.Practical implications – University leaders and champions need to consider publishing more information on the social and edu...

Investigating factors that influence social presence and learning outcomes in distance higher education

Abstract: There are many factors that influence distance learning especially in higher education where collaborative and communicative discourse is necessary for pursuing knowledge Social presence, among other factors, is an important concept to be facilitated, developed and sustained in distance higher education as it promotes and supports discourse based learning This study examines the relationship among demographic and other variables, social presence and learning satisfaction Results showed demographic variables, such as gender, online learning experience and work status were not significant factors in terms of influencing on either social presence or learning satisfaction While media integration and instructor's quality teaching were significant predictors of both social presence and learning satisfaction, interactivity among participants was a predictor of social presence but not of learning satisfaction Along with the study findings, some implications were discussed for online learning practitioners in higher education setting

English-medium teaching in Korean higher education: policy debates and reality

Abstract: This study critically examined the effectiveness of English medium instruction (EMI) policy within the context of Korean higher education, putting a special focus on its implementation strategy. The data for this study were mainly drawn from student opinion surveys and focus group interviews conducted by the CTL (Center for Teaching and Learning) at KU. The research teams also carried out supplementary interviews with both professors and students. The results indicate that, although the EMI policy seems to have produced, in general, positive outcomes (i.e., with the overall satisfaction level with EMI or its overall effectiveness in improving students’ English proficiency), the compulsory enforcement of EMI without regard to students’/instructors’ language proficiency, the lack of a much-needed support system and appropriate instructors to conduct EMI classes, and the unilateral implementation of EMI across academic disciplines have brought about a number of side effects. Based on these findings, the study recommends for future EMI policy implementation (1) a more flexible approach, considering students’ language proficiency and career plans and the characteristics of various academic disciplines and (2) more thorough preparation to implement the EMI policy (i.e., examination of the human and financial resources available for the institution concerned).

Students at the heart of the system

Abstract: The white paper on higher education was published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in June 2011. Separate publications have now appeared for all parts of the UK. They sha...