The distinction between academic standards and quality: implications for transnational higher education     

Keith Sharp 《Quality in Higher Education》2017,23(2):138-152

Although the conceptual distinction between academic standards and the quality of learning opportunities is fundamental to an understanding of the role of quality assurance in higher education, the distinction, and its implications, have not always been well understood in the case of transnational higher education. This paper explores both the source of academic standards and the criteria by which the quality of learning opportunities can be judged. It is argued that the distinction is of particular importance in the context of transnational education, because whilst judgements about quality may legitimately be susceptible to a degree of cultural influence, the same is not true of judgements about academic standards. It is suggested that a lack of attention to the logical distinction between standards and quality has hampered efforts by regulatory régimes around the world to develop coherent policies with respect to hosting transnational higher education provision.  相似文献   

Knowledge recontextualisation in academic development: an empirical exploration of an emerging academic region     

Ernst Buyl 《Teaching in Higher Education》2017,22(1):78-91

As an emerging field within higher education, academic development remains fragmented, both as a field of theory and practice. In the vibrant, on-going debate about the theoretical foundations and directions of academic development as a nascent field, some relatively wide-ranging claims which have been made seem to be lacking in supporting empirical evidence. With regards to this limitation, this paper contends that more systematic empirical explorations of the knowledge-base of academic development are vital to gain a better understanding of the field. Informed by Bernstein’s social realist frameworks on the structure of academic knowledge, the paper presents an analysis of knowledge recontextualisation processes in two English and two Flemish academic development units, based on semi-structured interviews with 30 academic developers. From the analysis, contrasting patterns of knowledge recontextualisation emerged between the four sites and between the national contexts in particular, pointing towards an increasing epistemological fragmentation.  相似文献   

Trajectories from academic intrinsic motivation to need for cognition and educational attainment     

Adele Eskeles Gottfried  Karen Nylund-Gibson  Allen W. Gottfried  Diane Morovati  Amber M. Gonzalez 《The Journal of educational research》2017,110(6):642-652

This long-term longitudinal study addressed the theoretical underpinning of academic intrinsic motivation (AIM) from childhood through adolescence, to need for cognition (NFC) and educational attainment (EA) during adulthood. AIM was measured from 9 to 17 years old, NFC and EA at 29 years old, and IQ at 8 years old. Latent change and growth mixture modeling were utilized. These models complemented each other, revealing that initial motivational status significantly related to both outcomes. Growth mixture modeling elaborated the findings by identifying distinctive subgroups in initial status and developmental change. In contrast to children with initially higher AIM, those starting lower declined resulting in lower NFC and EA. IQ was controlled in these analyses. Findings enhance understanding of trajectories across two decades of development, indicating that students’ early motivation relates to adulthood NFC and EA. Implications for educational practices are discussed.  相似文献   

The contribution of school-related parental monitoring,self-determination,and self-efficacy to academic achievement     

Gaetana Affuso  Dario Bacchini  Maria Concetta Miranda 《The Journal of educational research》2017,110(5):565-574

The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of school-related parental monitoring (SR-PM), self-determined motivation, and academic self-efficacy to academic achievement across time. The authors hypothesized that SR-PM would affect academic achievement indirectly via its effects on self-determined motivation and academic self-efficacy beliefs. The participants were 501 adolescents (220 boys; 281 girls) in Grades 6 and 9 as well as their mothers and fathers. We carried out a 2-year, multi-informant study in which the authors assessed SR-PM (maternal and paternal reports), self-determined motivation and academic self-efficacy (self-report), and academic achievement (school records). The authors used structural equation model analysis to test the hypotheses. The analysis shows that SR-PM was positively associated with self-determined motivation and academic self-efficacy and that self-determined motivation and academic self-efficacy affected academic achievement. Furthermore, analyses of indirect effects showed that SR-PM influences academic achievement via its effects on self-determined motivation and academic self-efficacy.  相似文献   

The Effect of Subconscious Performance Goals on Academic Performance     

Tanja Bipp  Ad Kleingeld  Heleen van Mierlo  Wilfried Kunde 《Journal of Experimental Education》2017,85(3):469-485

We investigated the impact of subconscious goals on academic performance in two field experiments. We show that unobtrusive priming of goals with regard to achievement motivation by means of a photograph improves performance in different educational contexts. High-school students who were exposed to an achievement-related photograph achieved higher grades than students in two control conditions. This effect was not affected by students’ prior performance. University students exposed to a photograph representing a specific, difficult goal reached even higher performance than students taking the exam with a general achievement photograph. For practice, subconscious goals may form a powerful, cost-effective tool to enhance academic performance. However, varying results across the experiments also prompt the need for further investigations of such effects.  相似文献   

Language specialists’ views on the academic language and learning abilities of English as an additional language postgraduate coursework students: towards an adjunct tutorial model     

Ben Fenton-Smith  Pamela Humphreys 《高等教育研究与发展》2017,36(2):280-296

As in other Anglophone nations, a large percentage of Australia’s postgraduate international students come from English as an additional language (EAL) backgrounds, and many require development of their academic language and learning (ALL) capabilities to successfully navigate a higher degree. This paper investigates those capabilities through the eyes of experienced ALL practitioners (n?=?42), whose views on the issue were sourced via an online survey. The paper further explains how the findings were used to implement a trial of an ALL enhancement strategy at one university in the form of adjunct tutorials within selected coursework masters programmes. Both the research and the pedagogical model depart from monolithic conceptualizations of international students by identifying the issues of vertical transition peculiar to EAL postgraduate coursework students, a task that is addressed through the tripartite perspective of the personal, the linguistic and the academic. Findings suggest that, while EAL postgraduates have previous study experience, motivation and maturity, they benefit from opportunities to address disjunctures between the knowledge base they bring to higher study and the expectations of that knowledge base held by universities. Successful transition is also facilitated by explicit (re)orientation to the academic norms of the host institution and nation. Academic writing was noted as a particular area requiring attention, along with the related matters of research skills, information literacy, academic integrity, independent learning, and time management.  相似文献   

Evaluating the non-academic impact of academic research: design considerations     

Andrew Gunn 《Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management》2017,39(1):20-30

Evaluation of academic research plays a significant role in government efforts to steer public universities. The scope of such evaluation is now being extended to include the ‘relevance’ or ‘impact’ of academic research outside the academy. We address how evaluation of non-academic research impact can promote more such impact without undermining academic freedom and research excellence. Five questions on evaluation design are considered: (1) What should be the object of measurement? (2) What should be the timeframe? (3) How should non-academic users of research inform evaluation processes? (4) How should controversial impacts be managed? (5) When in funding cycles should impact evaluation occur? We conclude that non-academic impact should be selectively promoted and evaluated. This is how greater gains from research might be best captured without imposing misguided and onerous reporting requirements on individuals and institutions.  相似文献   

Responding to university policies and initiatives: the role of reflexivity in the mid-career academic   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Angela Brew  David Boud  Lisa Lucas  Karin Crawford 《Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management》2017,39(4):378-389

How do academics make sense of university policies and strategic initiatives and act on them? Interviews were conducted with 27 mid-career academics in different disciplines, different research-intensive university environments and two countries (England and Australia). Data were analysed iteratively utilising a critical realist perspective, specifically, Archer’s modes of reflexivity. The paper argues that individuals’ responses to university policies and initiatives, to changes in policy and policy conflicts, can at least partially be understood through interrogating the modes of reflexivity they employ.  相似文献   

Agency and structure in academic development practices: are we liberating academic teachers or are we part of a machinery supressing them?     

Torgny Roxå  Katarina Mårtensson 《International Journal for Academic Development》2017,22(2):95-105

This text taps into an ongoing discussion about academic development. It challenges an image of academic development as precarious and liminal and explores academic development as powerful. Sources of power are described and put into the context of values, ideologies, and policies governing higher education of today. It is our hope that readers will be inspired to problematise their own academic development practices and to reclaim a phase in the history of the profession where members displayed more of a political awareness.  相似文献   

When do students ask why? Examining the precursors and outcomes of causal search among first-year college students     

Robert H. Stupnisky  Tara L. Stewart 《Contemporary educational psychology》2011,36(3):201-211

It has been theorized that students are most likely to ask why following unexpected, negative, and/or important events (Weiner, 1985); however, the unique contribution of these precursors to causal search and the resultant cognitions, emotions, and behaviors remain largely unclear. In the current study we examined causal search regarding test outcomes among 371 first-year college students. Responses to hypothetical scenarios indicated that unexpected events, and unexpected/negative events in combination, would elicit the most causal search. Based on performance on an actual test, precursors measured prior to the test indicated negative test outcomes elicited the greatest causal search. Alternatively, precursors measured following the test indicated a similar pattern to the scenarios. In each instance, event importance was also found to positively predict casual search. Overall, the results suggest that the exclusion of relevant precursors, self-serving biases, and divergent methodologies may have resulted in the discrepancies of previous research on causal search precursors. Finally, students who engaged in more causal search made more ability, test difficulty, and luck attributions, fewer effort attributions, experienced less pride and more shame, guilt, regret, and anger, and received poorer grades. The internal/uncontrollable attributional pattern suggests that first-year college students who are at-risk of de-motivating cognitions, emotions, and behaviors could be supported with cognitive interventions such as attributional retraining.  相似文献