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1.
The literature suggests that student attrition at the university level has been of growing concern in many countries. Student attrition has a number of implications for universities, chief amongst them are losses to revenue and investment in higher education. While many studies have examined causes for attrition from an institutional perspective, this study examines how the Bachelor of Education (Early childhood studies) that sits within the School of Education can support the retention of students from the students’ perspectives. Using a qualitative methodology that recorded up to 40 hours of interviews with 20 students provided insights into why they stay at university and what aspects of the Early childhood studies degree support them in staying. Conversely, the students also comment on those aspects that are not supportive and could impact on retention. The data revealed that a sense of belonging was very important and that particular course-specific activities at certain times supported developing this belonging. The students identified the importance of a mentorship program and how this program needs to be made available from the commencement of their course. Other factors contributing to retention included well-placed practicums, career choice, designated study times, as well as study groups and supportive and responsive lecturers.  相似文献   

2.
This study explores how academics create safe spaces in university classrooms to engage in dialogue about education protest actions in South Africa. Utilising the research methodology of narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Pedagogy of Compassion, this paper explores how academics reflect on their responses to change and protest actions and how they co-construct knowledge with students in light of this change. Data capture included a mix of focus group interviews, participant reflections, field notes and a researcher journal and was analysed by means of the content analysis method. Findings reveal that lecturers had to navigate through the institutional quagmire and were confronted by polarised thinking of students. Furthermore, it seemed that student protest actions had a negative effect on lecturers. However, despite the tide of negativity and resistance, lecturers became transformative intellectuals and created safe spaces for students to engage in dialogue and to shatter the ‘normative’ silence.  相似文献   

3.
ABSTRACT

In the current neoliberal environment in higher education, universities are viewed as a valuable source of income. To generate this income, universities need to attract students, and in order to do so, they need to perform well in global ranking tables. These tables are influenced to a large extent by staff research and postgraduate teaching. Foundation studies programmes (FS) do not usually have a great deal to offer in these categories and this places staff teaching on these programmes in a difficult position. This article explores the perceptions of staff teaching on FS programmes in New Zealand universities, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 22 lecturers from four universities. Although lip service is paid in higher education circles to the importance of widening access to university education for traditionally marginalised groups, it appears that staff teaching on FS programmes do not, on the whole, receive acknowledgement, support or reward for the work that they do. Despite their marginalised status, these lecturers are committed to helping second chance learners. However, their ability to make a positive impact on these students’ lives is limited by their lowly status in the university sector. This article discusses the insights of FS staff and considers the implications of their positioning in the university sector. It offers some suggestions as to how, in a small way, universities could address the difficulties these academics face in their attempts to widen university access.  相似文献   

4.
5.
Teaching large classes poses many challenges to lecturers where massification is a reality in higher education. There are implications for both teaching and effective learning in this context. The need for accountability to learners in education provision served as motivation for a study of large classes in the largest faculty of one university where enrolment figures had recently increased. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 lecturers who teach on average over 500 students in one class. Lecturers reported challenges and experiences related to the higher education environment, resources and support, and teaching and learning. The article provides pointers for supporting lecturers who are teaching large classes based on their identified tensions due to challenges they face. Taking cognisance of lecturers’ experiences could guide institutions towards relevant support for academics in the large-class setting and ultimately contribute to accountability and responsible massification of higher education.  相似文献   

6.
This paper focuses on a community–university partnership built around a programme of study co-created by residents of a disadvantaged community and situated, for the most part, within that community. The aim of this paper is to share lessons learned from this community engagement initiative, as identified through a research study which ran concurrent to the programme. The study involved 41 interviews (18 individual interviews and 23 focus groups) over a two-year period with 28 participants. Participants included students, lecturers and community and university stakeholders. The finding section focuses on the characteristics of the initiative which allowed it to positively impact those involved. The data indicated that (i) the authenticity of the partnership between the community and university, (ii) the suitability of the lecturers and (iii) the ability of the lecturers and management to adapt the programme to identified needs were all key to the success of the programme. The paper concludes with a discussion, incorporating relevant literature, regarding what can be learned from this programme for those interested in enacting truly engaged practice in Irish higher education.  相似文献   

7.
Abstract

This paper examines the way mismatches occur between what lecturers believe students understand when technical concepts are used and what the students actually make of those concepts. A hard look is given at certain ‘academic myths’ which block educational exchange, among them the notion shared by many that learning entails mainly the verbal regurgitation of what has been taught. How can lecturers achieve the empathy requisite for genuine teaching and how can students adopt attitudes that make genuine learning more possible? The paper answers these questions by sketching a notion of higher education as a willingness to modify what one thinks by an openness before the challenges of other values and beliefs; and by suggesting that an approach more self‐critically aware of the pedagogic process, utilizing methods such as the keeping of reflexive notebooks, can facilitate a more effective mode of learning.  相似文献   

8.
The number of students studying for university qualifications through the medium of English and for whom English is not their first language has increased significantly in recent years. This, along with efforts to widen access to those under-represented in higher education, has brought into focus the question of what academics see as constituting a ‘good’ piece of student writing. In this small-scale pilot study, Thurstone’s method of paired comparisons was used to establish a scale for ranking six essays in terms of how favourably each was viewed by academic lecturers when compared with every other essay in the set. Kelly’s repertory grid technique was subsequently applied to interviews conducted with the same lecturers to establish which traits they associated with the upper and lower end of the scale. Findings suggest that this methodology represents a promising approach to establishing what academic tutors regard as the key elements of good writing and thus provides an indication of what English teachers might fruitfully focus on in their teaching of the skill.  相似文献   

9.
This article presents an analysis of how lecturers respond to students with disabilities, the initial question being: do lecturers aid or hinder students? Findings pertain to a broader research project being developed by a multidisciplinary team employing a non-usual research methodology in higher education (HE) research and students with disabilities: biographical-narrative methodology. The general aim is to analyse – by listening to the students themselves – barriers and support identified as affecting access, academic performance and overall perception of the HE experience. The present paper analyses lecturer-centred data to focus specifically on one of the objectives of our research project: the role that lecturers play in the inclusive education of students with disabilities. Unlike other international research, this article explores the barriers and support differentiating between five fields of knowledge: health sciences, experimental sciences, social sciences (law and education), engineering and technology and humanities. Findings are organized in four topic areas: lecturer attitudes, practices in the classroom, curricular adaptations and faculty training. Key findings are discussed in the conclusions section, together with a discussion of contributions made by earlier studies.  相似文献   

10.
This study examines how pre-service teachers think about disconnections between what they believe about teaching, what they learn in their university coursework, and what they observe of behaviour management practices in public school classrooms. Based on the reflective writings of teacher education students at an urban Midwestern university in the United States, this narrative research leads to a deeper understanding of how teacher educators can support and challenge future teachers in their ability to think critically and thoughtfully in developing their identities as future educators.  相似文献   

11.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are largely built on the assumption that learning is an individual process best encouraged by explicit teaching that is, on the whole, separated from social engagement with those outside the university community. This perspective has been theoretically challenged by those who argue for a social constructivist learning theory and a more collaborative approach to learning. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) afford lecturers and students an opportunity for extending the boundaries of a learning experience, not merely beyond the lone individual, but beyond the limits of discipline boundaries within a specific university community and beyond the institution into the local community. This paper illustrates how a collaborative effort between lecturers and students from the Computer Science and Education Departments at Rhodes University, teachers from the local community, the provincial Department of Education and a non-governmental organisation developed into an unfolding virtual and physical community of practice which enabled ICT take-up in a number of schools in the Grahamstown District, South Africa. This discussion of what has become known as the e-Yethu project provides an example of how ICTs, underpinned by the insights of social constructivism, the notion of 'community of practice' and in particular Hoadley and Kilner's C4P Framework for Communities of Practice, can serve to help HEIs understand ways in which ICTs can provide opportunities for developing collaborative learning within HEIs, and between the HEI and the local community.  相似文献   

12.
In this article I report on a study into fine art lecturers’ assessment practices in higher education. This study explores the ways that lecturers bring themselves into the act of assessment (Hand & Clewes 2000). I interviewed twelve fine art lecturers who worked across six English universities. Lecturers were asked to relate to me how they learnt to assess student artwork and what informed their judgement making. My research explores the interfaces between fine art lecturers’ assessment practices, their values and identity/ies. My analysis offers a rendering of the ways that values underpin lecturers’ assessment practices. The article explores the ways that lecturers’ assessment decisions relate to their experiences as ex art students, their identity as artists, their own artistic practices, their conceptualisation of the arts arenas and the HE sector. My key overarching argument is that identity/ies and values underpin and enrich fine art lecturers’ assessment practices.  相似文献   

13.
Feedback plays an integral role in students’ learning and development, as it is often the only personal communication that students have with tutors or lecturers about their own work. Yet, in spite of its integral role in student learning, there is disagreement between how students and tutors or lecturers perceive the pedagogic purpose of feedback. Central to this disagreement is the role that feedback has to play in ensuring that students produce the ‘right’ kinds of knowledge, and become the ‘right’ kinds of knowers within their disciplines. This paper argues that, in order to find common ground between students and tutors or lecturers on what feedback is for, and how to both give and use it effectively, we need to conceptualise disciplinary knowledge and knowers anew. We offer, as a useful starting point, the Specialisation dimension of Legitimation Code Theory as both practical theory and methodological tool for exploring knowledge and knowers in English Studies and Law as two illustrative cases. The paper concludes that this analysis offers lecturers and tutors a fresh understanding of the disciplinary knowledge and knower structures they work within and, relatedly, a clearer view of the work their feedback needs to do within these.  相似文献   

14.
ABSTRACT

Formal education was used by the apartheid government to prepare black South Africans for manual labour, thus there was little curricular focus on the development of higher-order cognitive skills. With the abolition of apartheid in 1994, the education system was re-valued and re-evaluated to provide wider access to quality education; the focus of education policies moved towards the development of self-regulation and higher-order cognitive skills for all learners. There is now a generation of learners who have experienced their schooling in the transformed education system, and it would be useful to understand, from their perspective, what they value in their development of learning within the higher education space. This study answers the question ‘Post-apartheid, what learning methods and resources do first-years perceive to be valuable to their learning when they enter university?’ Participants included 344 students taking a Biology course provided to medical science students at a South African university in 2018. Two questionnaires were administered towards the end of a six-week lecture period, responses were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. The first survey, comprised of Likert-style questions, was conducted to determine the students’ views on the mechanisms which they used to support their learning. The second questionnaire comprised open-ended questions and focused on the students’ perception of their learning experience in the course. The findings show that there was a significant (p?<?.001) percentage of first-years who thought that rote-learning would suffice for examination preparation at university, and preferred to engage with their peers and the textbook before they engaged with their lecturers when navigating challenging concepts. Schwartz's model of social values is used to show that more needs to be done for the development of higher-order thinking and self-regulation when students enter university, and to mitigate alienation between students and staff.  相似文献   

15.
Bin Ai 《Educational studies》2017,43(4):484-496
Chinese students are now the largest group of international students in the Australian higher education sector. The patterns of Chinese communication and education affect the ways that Chinese students engage with their lecturers and manage their learning relationships. A case study of these patterns provides a small window through which to observe the progress of higher education internationalisation in Australia. In this study, the experiences of seven Chinese students in a multicultural educational context are explored, with a focus on their communication practices and relationships with their lecturers in Australia. This paper contributes to understandings of how student–teacher communication practices affect learning experiences for Chinese students in Australian or other international universities.  相似文献   

16.
The extent to which students profit from a university course depends on the lecturers?? approach to teaching, with a student-focused approach being more supportive for student gains in competences than a teacher-focused approach. Little is known, however, about how to foster a student-focused approach to teaching. In this paper, we want to investigate how to frame the feedback lecturers obtain from students?? course evaluations in such a manner that a student-focused approach to teaching is encouraged. In two studies using either a qualitative or a quantitative methodology it can be shown that providing lecturers with a feedback on students?? subjective gain in competences (output-focused teaching evaluation) is more effective in promoting a student-focused approach to teaching than a feedback on how satisfied students were with the lecturer (process-focused teaching evaluation). Results are discussed in the context of the Bologna reforms which demand a continuous evaluation of all university courses.  相似文献   

17.
Teachers’ instructional practices surrounding written assignments have been little researched, despite writing remaining the primary means of assessment in higher education, including postgraduate professional development programmes. In this paper, we report a study that explored what a sample of lecturers in a Master of Education programme at an English-medium university in Hong Kong did to support students’ assignment writing. We integrate perspectives provided by the relevant higher education literature, the academic literacies approach and North American rhetorical genre studies to shed light on the findings derived from our analyses of interview and documentary data. We showed that our lecturer participants both engaged in direct instruction on assignment writing and provided indirect support. Our study contributed to the existing literature and raised questions for future research.  相似文献   

18.
Assessment plays an important role in first-year students’ transition to university, influencing how they learn. Poorly designed assessment can be demotivating and may even cause students to withdraw from university. An early low-stakes assessment task is recommended in first year, to provide information to students and staff on student progress, provide students with a positive experience and help them prepare for future assessments. This paper reports on first-year students’ experiences of two different early assessment tasks for two disciplines, one using an online quiz and the other a ‘research challenge’ that served as a precursor to writing an essay. The paper also presents lecturers’ reflections on what they learned, what they would change and the implications for others planning early assessment tasks for first years. Finally, ideas for future research are provided.  相似文献   

19.
Teaching and learning a language are influenced by an imagined community involving interaction among members in possible worlds. From an empirical standpoint, relatively little is known about how Chinese language lecturers see their possible memberships to the communities wherein students from different countries participate, or how this perception affects their teaching practice and innovative pedagogies. In order to address this gap, this study explores the teaching lives of four lecturers who teach Chinese as a second language (CSL) to foreign students in China. Drawing upon a three-year longitudinal study of interview data triangulated with journal entries and classroom observation, the findings reveal that lecturers’ imagined identities may transform into practical identities due to the idea of treating foreign students as legitimate foreigners but illegitimate Chinese language users, and the intensified pressures and insecurities of being a part-time lecturer. However, the combined efforts of lecturers’ perseverance, knowledge and competence, institutional support, available educational resources, and positive evolution of identity may prevent lecturers’ imagined communities from collapsing, and possibly facilitate a shift in identification from “struggling teacher” to “determined teacher.” Relevant implications for teaching Chinese and teacher education are discussed.  相似文献   

20.
In this paper, I present a conceptual argument for ‘teaching-led research’ in which university lecturers construct courses that directly and positively influence their research, while at the same time, safeguard and enhance the student experience. A research-pedagogy for higher education considers the link between teaching and research, but rather than the more usual conception of research-led teaching, in which teaching is enhanced by research, it becomes teaching-led research in which research is enhanced by teaching. I argue that this idea is foundational to the modern research university, but also difficult to realize unless teaching and learning are designed for these ends. A potential model is teaching undergraduates as researchers with students learning by doing research and I present a case study from a science degree programme. I conclude by anticipating the likely cultural and political barriers to teaching-led research and suggest how tensions can be managed.  相似文献   

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