Teaching in Higher Education

Brown, Kim

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1680538pmid: N/A

Doctoral students’ understandings of collegiality and their collegial practices warrant specific attention, yet are often addressed as implicit to peer learning and research communities, and ensconced in transferable skills as ‘teamwork’. This article reports on research involving 43 doctoral students at one New Zealand university. Using a hybrid methodology that synergised social practice theory and phenomenography, the students participated in focus groups and paired hierarchical card sorting activities. The resultant conversations indicated that collegiality among doctoral students can manifest as four types of collegial practices: professional, intellectual, social, and emotional collegiality. Collegial practices offer doctoral students purposeful interaction, professional relationships, and respite from some of the emotional challenges of the doctorate. Accordingly, I argue that students, academics, and academic developers could adopt a more comprehensive approach than present to cultivate an environment of collegiality among doctoral students, and that collegial practices should be considered integral to doctoral professional development.

Sewagegn, Abatihun A.; Diale, Boitumelo M.

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1681391pmid: N/A

The purpose of the study was to investigate the practices and challenges of modular/block teaching in higher education institutions of Ethiopia. A descriptive survey design was used with instructors and students. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data and analysed quantitatively (descriptive and inferential statistics) and qualitatively (thematic analysis). The results showed variations in practice across different universities. It was found that modular/block teaching helps students to concentrate on one subject at a time but does not place emphasis on practical skills; this means that the theory and practice of the theory stay separate, which does not make learning credible. Additionally, it was found that due to the limited time given for one course, it was difficult to implement active learning. Generally, instructors and students faced challenges in the practice of modular/block teaching. Practically, the authors have made suggestions for the better implementation of modular/block teaching.

Dunworth, Katie; Grimshaw, Trevor; Iwaniec, Janina; McKinley, Jim

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1686698pmid: N/A

Within the currently diverse UK higher education environment, one important aspect of learning is the development of intercultural competence. The study that informs this paper investigated the ways intercultural competence was perceived as being enhanced or inhibited through current language and educational practices at a university that positions itself as internationally engaged and globally recognised. The project employed a multiple-case study design, examining eight academic programmes drawn from four different broad disciplinary groupings: social sciences, science, engineering, and management. Data were collected through individual, focus group and stimulated recall interviews, the latter using class observation recordings as a stimulus. The study revealed the ways in which language was exploited by both staff and students to convey particular meanings within an intercultural context. It was found that language choices, register and style were perceived as contributing to the pragmatic impact of either reinforcing barriers to or promoting intercultural competence development.

Esterhazy, Rachelle; Nerland, Monika; Damşa, Crina

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1686699pmid: N/A

In the wake of a growing emphasis on students taking a more central role in shaping their own learning, it has become increasingly important that course designs cater for productive feedback. This study explores how feedback opportunities were incorporated into two course designs that in different ways aimed at engaging students actively in knowledge construction, and what might have contributed to making feedback in those contexts productive. A thematic analysis of course documents and interviews with teachers and students reveals that both courses included productive feedback opportunities. These were generated by arranging task and responsibilities in such ways that students could make use of feedback in their immediate work and their future learning. Our findings suggest that planning for productive feedback entails more than generating good feedback comments. Instead, teachers should view feedback as integral to their course designs and consider the practices of their disciplines during the planning process.

Chamchoy, Paveena; Burford, James

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1686700pmid: N/A

University initiation rituals have long been a source of international concern. However, few English language accounts about such rituals in Southeast Asia are available, and fewer still consider the roles that teaching staff might play. This article investigates a rab nong ceremony in Thailand, arguing that initiation rituals have multiple and contradictory possibilities. While they can enable humiliation and other harm, they can also generate a sense of belonging among freshmen. The authors apply a collaborative autoethnographic methodology, analysing their experiences of leading a rab nong ritual at a newly established faculty of education in Thailand. Given the absence of senior students to initiate freshmen, faculty members took up this role instead. This interruption of the normal reproduction of the ritual enabled academics to creatively re-work ritual practices. The article outlines possible adaptations to Thai initiation rituals to make them more religiously inclusive and to destabilise conventional university power hierarchies.

Glazier, Rebecca A.; Hamann, Kerstin; Pollock, Philip H.; Wilson, Bruce M.

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1686701pmid: N/A

Four-year institutions of higher education in the United States are experiencing two major trends: 1. a growing number of transfer students and 2. students taking an increasing proportion of their courses online. Here, we look closely at the extent to which these two trends impact student success. Using the University of Central Florida as our case study, we examine the success of political science majors, taking into account demographics, achievement, transfer status, and the mix of course modalities students take (n = 1,173). Through descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and predicted probabilities, we demonstrate that students are less likely to be successful, as measured by fall-to-fall retention, as they take a greater proportion of their course load online. This decline is particularly dramatic for transfer students. As universities seek to address these two major trends, our data indicate that they need to be particularly sensitive to the combined effects of transfer status and online course modality.

Keenan, John; Kadi-Hanifi, Karima

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1688781pmid: N/A

The question of why the works of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Derrida are often attributed to France by HE lecturers and students when the origins or developments of their key ideas come from northern Africa is examined from critical and personal standpoints. The article joins the call for the decolonisation of the HE curriculum and describes how the theory of these oft-cited thinkers and philosophers comes ‘out of Africa’ through an examination of their experiences in the Moorish regions of Tunisia and Algeria. Reasons for the attribution of the ideas to France include Eurocentrism, Wikipedisation of theory and the mythologisation of France. The article combines theoretical debate with personal reflection on what it means to be Algerian and witness a homeland disenfranchised in teaching and learning at HE. It also provides a way of contributing to the decolonisation of HE syllabuses through accurate attribution of knowledge.

Steenkamp, Christine M.; Rootman-le Grange, Ilse; Müller-Nedebock, Kristian K.

doi: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1692335pmid: N/A

The development of learning practices that enable students to transfer knowledge across contexts, is a dominant topic in Physics Education Research. Assessment is a key activity in the learning process. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the value of analysing introductory physics assessments using the Semantics dimension of Legitimation Code Theory. We discuss the tools used to analyse the test and exam question papers of two consecutive calculus-based introductory physics modules. An analysis of past question papers over 5 years revealed various weaknesses. The outcomes of an intervention based on critical self-evaluation of question papers, using the same tools, are presented. The results indicate that the intervention increased focus on core concepts and context and supported learning that enables transfer. We argue that the use of semantic gravity to analyse assessments is a useful starting point for change in educational practices in order to support transfer.