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1 – 10 of 56Yue Zhao, Jenny M.Y. Huen and Michael Prosser
Hong Kong has undergone extensive curriculum reform and shifted from a three-year to a four-year university system. With a nuanced look at the impact of the curriculum reform, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Hong Kong has undergone extensive curriculum reform and shifted from a three-year to a four-year university system. With a nuanced look at the impact of the curriculum reform, the purpose of the present study was to compare two concurrent cohorts by examining the extent to which the students in each cohort perceived their learning environment and learning outcomes differently and to what extent their perceptions differed.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 3,102 first-year students enrolled at a Hong Kong university responded to the student learning experience questionnaire (SLEQ). The perceived learning experiences between the two cohorts were tapped through several latent factors and validated through tests of measurement invariance. Latent mean differences were then compared. A multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis approach was used.
Findings
The findings suggested that measurement invariance of the scales of the SLEQ was established and that the two cohorts of students perceived largely similar learning experiences. The latent mean differences were statistically significant on the scales of feedback from teacher, clear goals and standards, personal integrity and ethics, intercultural competence, global perspective and civic commitment.
Practical implications
The results facilitate the understanding of perceived student learning experiences with evidence-based implications for enhancing student learning experiences and refining the four-year curriculum under the new curriculum reform conditions.
Originality/value
This is the first institution-wide study that compares student learning experiences of two concurrent cohorts under curriculum reform initiatives of Hong Kong. It provides a meaningful and pertinent example for educators and researchers worldwide to analyze the impact of curriculum reform from the perspective of students’ perceived learning experiences. Similar studies adopting rigorous approaches in the measurement of students’ perceived learning experiences are relatively rare in higher education. Such efforts are encouraged for accountability and quality improvement purposes.
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Erika Martens and Michael Prosser
The evaluation and continuous improvement of the quality of teaching and learning in higher education is an issue of sustained concern. While most universities are implementing…
Abstract
The evaluation and continuous improvement of the quality of teaching and learning in higher education is an issue of sustained concern. While most universities are implementing systems of quality assurance, there is substantial variation in the principles underlying these systems. La Trobe University has developed and implemented a university‐wide system of quality assurance that ensures that each subject is systematically reviewed and enhanced by those teaching in the subject. While it incorporates compulsory student evaluation of teaching of each subject the result of this student evaluation is not the focus of the quality assurance system. The focus is on ensuring that those teaching the subject, reflect on and make recommendations for further improvement of the subject. Outlines the quality assurance system, the principles on which it is based and describes and analyses the processes engaged in during its development.
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Françoise Giraud and Olivier Saulpic
The relationship between research and teaching – sometimes referred to as the research–teaching nexus – is an important issue in education literature. However, although it is…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between research and teaching – sometimes referred to as the research–teaching nexus – is an important issue in education literature. However, although it is acknowledged that this question is specific to each discipline, it is rarely addressed in the management accounting (MA) literature. Outside MA, the literature focuses on the influence of research on teaching but rarely touches on the influence of teaching on research. This paper has two aims: to enhance the understanding of the research–teaching link in MA and to analyse the link from teaching into research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a reflexive analysis of a case in which the content of a management control course progressively changed over a period of 15 years. The authors structure their description of the case using Dewey’s concept of inquiry.
Findings
This paper first shows that designing the content of this course was a form of research and it produced knowledge. This analysis also suggests that the influence of research on teaching can take other forms than introducing research results or methods into teaching; designing teaching content is nurtured by not only scientific considerations but also pedagogical considerations and lecturers’ values; and linking research and teaching raises different issues dependent on the stance adopted by MA scholars in their research.
Research limitations/implications
The academic community should seriously consider that knowledge can be produced in a teaching context, through the design of a teaching content.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to an inquiry process by documenting how course content is actually designed, which has not yet been done in the MA literature.
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In an article Reading for Managers, (Education & Training July/August 1974), Terry Farnsworth recommended an instant bibliography. He wrote:.. it is doubtful whether more than 10…
Abstract
In an article Reading for Managers, (Education & Training July/August 1974), Terry Farnsworth recommended an instant bibliography. He wrote:.. it is doubtful whether more than 10 per cent of practising managers have ever read a book on management… His recommendations were of considerable merit, yet one wonders if they will perceptibly increase that proportion. Perhaps one should start at a different point.
Tom Parkinson, Tarek Zoubir, Shaher Abdullateef, Musallam Abedtalas, Ghana Alyamani, Ziad Al Ibrahim, Majdi Al Husni, Fuad Alhaj Omar, Hamoud Hajhamoud, Fadi Iboor, Husam Allito, Michael Jenkins, Abdulkader Rashwani, Adnan Sennou and Fateh Shaban
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to generate insight into the experiences of Syrian academics in exile in Turkey; and second, to explore approaches to collaboration…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to generate insight into the experiences of Syrian academics in exile in Turkey; and second, to explore approaches to collaboration and community building among academics in exile and with counterparts in the international academic community.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a hybrid visual-autobiographical narrative methodology, embedded within a large group process (LGP) design.
Findings
Findings are presented in two phases: the first phase presents a thematic analysis of narrative data, revealing the common and divergent experiences of 12 exiled academics. The second phase presents a reflective evaluation of undertaking the LGP and its implications for community building and sustaining Syrian academia in exile.
Research limitations/implications
While this is a qualitative study with a small participant group, and therefore does not provide a basis for statistical generalisation, it offers rich insight into Syrian academics’ lived experiences of exile, and into strategies implemented to support the Syrian academic community in exile.
Practical implications
The study has practical implications for academic development in the contexts of conflict and exile; community building among dispersed academic communities; educational interventions by international NGOs and the international academic community; and group process design.
Originality/value
The study makes an original contribution to the limited literature on post-2011 Syrian higher education by giving voice to a community of exiled academics, and by critically evaluating a strategic initiative for supporting and sustaining Syrian academia. This represents significant, transferable insight for comparable contexts.
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Johann Höchtl, Peter Parycek and Michael Sachs
The purpose of this paper is to depict the present situation of e‐participation initiatives of Austrian municipalities and derives recommendations to further enhance the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to depict the present situation of e‐participation initiatives of Austrian municipalities and derives recommendations to further enhance the e‐participation sophistication level.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings are based on hypotheses we verified against a dataset obtained from an electronic survey among all Austrian municipalities, conducted in 2008.
Findings
The technical basis for e‐participation in Austria is well developed, yet accessibility of municipal web sites and the phrasing of information leaves space for improvement. E‐participation in Austria is still in a nascent state and requires the convergence of technical, political, legal and socio‐economic factors, which has not yet fully arrived at the municipal level.
Research limitations/implications
The raw material of the survey did not allow a qualitative assessment of e‐services.
Practical implications
Change of law and reconsideration of opening hierarchical structures.
Social implications
Recommendations of implementing e‐participation on municipal level.
Originality/value
Owing to the broad fragmentation of e‐government strategies and relevant regulations, the detailed results of the survey are only of limited use for comparability to other surveys in this domain. The identified factors for e‐accessibility and the derived measures for e‐participation thereupon are a new approach and will help further research and surveys to define an e‐participation assessment framework.
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This review aims to examine how photography and video have been used in a variety of fields.
Abstract
Purpose
This review aims to examine how photography and video have been used in a variety of fields.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines how these visual methods have and can be used in marketing.
Findings
Photography and video have important strengths. They help us overcome the typically fleeting nature of observation. They also allow us to record behavior in its situational context, allow for reflection, informants, coding, and use of the behavior or situation for illustration. In addition to their analysis of behavior, visual methods can also be used for the purpose of analysis of environments. Photographs and videos can also reveal insights into the interpretive side of the equation – examining people's focus and interpretation of their behaviors and rituals. This visual information can be qualitative – aiming for naturalistic, descriptive, and “rich” data; they can also be used to quantitatively measure circumstances and events.
Originality/value
Understanding the potential uses of photography and video in observational research as well as their strengths and weaknesses will allow us to gain the most value from their application.
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Joanna Poon and Michael Brownlow
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender has an impact on real estate and built environment graduates’ employment outcomes, employment patterns and other…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender has an impact on real estate and built environment graduates’ employment outcomes, employment patterns and other important employment related issues, such as pay, role, contract type and employment opportunity in different states of a country.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used in this paper has been collected from the Australian Graduate Survey (AGS). Data from the years 2010-2012 was combined into a single data set. Dimensionality reduction was used to prepare the data set for the courses listed in AGS data, in order to develop the simplified classifications for real estate and built environment courses which are used to conduct further analysis in this paper. Dimensionality reduction was also used to prepare data set for the further analysis of the employment outcomes and patterns for real estate graduates. Descriptive and statistical analysis methods were used to identify the impact of gender on the employment outcomes, employment patterns and other important employment related issues, such as pay, role, contract type and location of job, for real estate graduates in Australia. This paper also benchmarks the employment result of real estate graduates to built environment graduates.
Findings
Recent male built environment graduates in Australia are more likely to gain full-time employment than females. The dominant role for recent female built environment graduates in Australia is a secretarial or administrative role while for the male it is a professional or technical role. Male real estate and built environment graduates are more likely to have a higher level of salary. Gender also has an impact on the contract type. Male built environment graduates are more likely to be employed on a permanent contract. On the other hand, gender has no impact on gaining employment in different states, such as New South Wales and Queensland, in Australia. The finding of this paper reinforces the view of previous literature, which is that male graduates have a more favourable employment outcomes and on better employment terms. The finding also shows that graduate employment outcomes for real estate and built environment graduates in Australia are similar to that in other countries, such as the UK, where equivalent studies have been published.
Originality/value
This is pioneering research that investigates the impact of gender on employment outcomes, employment patterns and other employment related issues for real estate graduates and built environment graduates in Australia.
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The argument is that good and bad teaching are asymmetrical. Eradicating what is readily thought of as bad teaching does not leave behind the purse gold of good teaching. Good…
Abstract
Purpose
The argument is that good and bad teaching are asymmetrical. Eradicating what is readily thought of as bad teaching does not leave behind the purse gold of good teaching. Good teaching is that which promotes student learning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between bad teaching and good teaching in graduate memories
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based in part on a survey of graduates from an earlier generation filtered through current theories of student approaches to learning.
Findings
Graduates reflecting on their education describe good teaching and bad teaching in significantly different registers. There is almost no overlap in the vocabulary with which they describe the two.
Originality/value
Graduates are a source of insight into the nature and value of quality education. The study offers some information about how articulate graduates think about their education 25 years later. Despite the years of public debate in Australia about higher education, this is one of the very few instances in which graduates have been invited to reflect on and speak about their experience as students.
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