| 1. |
- Abrandt Dahlgren, Madeleine, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Learning for the professions : Lessons from linking international research projects
- 2008
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 56:2, s. 129-148
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At the core of higher education is the experience of students whose focus for learning is often directed towards their future employability. In this paper, we explore the intersections between two large international research projects involving over 500 students. Interviews with students yielded their conceptions of learning and work in specific discipline and professional areas. Analysis of the Swedish and Australian data sets showed the important interplay between students' individual ideas about learning and future work with their workplace. A meta-analysis of the two projects highlights the utility of higher education for students' future working life and suggests ways in which institutions and policy makers can critique current practice in a way that will incline curriculum and teaching development towards professional formation. © 2007 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
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| 2. |
- Abrandt Dahlgren, Madeleine, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Making the invisible visible. On participation and communication in a global, web-based master's programme
- 2006
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 52:1, s. 69-93
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study focuses on the discourse of an intercontinental on-line Master's programme in adult learning, using English as the lingua franca of the programme and involving four collaborating universities in Sweden, South Africa, Canada and Australia. The programme is highly interactive, emphasising communication between students. Taking the variation in participation as the point of departure, a discourse analysis aiming at analysing the contingencies contributing to the pattern of communication in the programme was undertaken. Data consist of a variety of texts on-line web-documents, written notes, and narratives that participants wrote about their lives related to participation in the programme. The use of English as the lingua franca contributed to a mistake anxiety, which for some students was hampering their communication in the programme. Aspects of the material world such as the vast differences in the efforts and costs for participating in the programme were also highly interrelated to the shaping of socio-culturally situated identities among the students and thereby contributing to the variation in frequency in participation. The results show that the official discourse of the programme as a text, with its emphasis on equity, change and development, gets subordinated to the discourses produced and reproduced by the students in the programme as a discursive practice and social practice. The students' accounts reveal that there are fragments of an alternative discourse emerging, based on mutual concern and friendship, which might suggest a potential for changing the communicative patterns in the programme.
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| 3. |
- Abrandt Dahlgren, Madeleine, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Questioning to learn and learning to question : Structure and function of problem-based learning scenarios in environmental science education
- 2001
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 41:3, s. 263-282
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In problem-based learning, scenarios relating to real life are used as a point of departure for the learning process. Even though the importance of suitable cases or scenarios in bringing about a fruitful learning process is emphasised in the literature, few studies focus on how they actually function in the learning process. This study focuses on how the scenarios used in a ten-week introductory course of a new four-year undergraduate programme in environmental science functioned in terms of the structure and content of the questions they evoked. Data were gathered through diary notes from nine groups of students, comprising 5-8 students per group. The data were subjected to a qualitative analysis aimed at describing the structure and content of the questions generated by the groups. Five different kinds of questions were identified and labelled, encyclopaedic, meaning-oriented, relational, value-oriented and solution-oriented. All scenarios generated questions pertaining to all five categories in all groups, but the emphasis varied. The results are discussed in relation to the design of scenarios, and in relation to students' approaches to learning.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Airey, John, et al.
(författare)
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The expansion of English-medium instruction in the Nordic countries : Can top-down university language policies encourage bottom-up disciplinary literacy goals?
- 2017
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 73:4, s. 561-576
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently, in the wake of the Bologna Declaration and similar international initiatives, there has been a rapid increase in the number of university courses and programmes taught through the medium of English. Surveys have consistently shown the Nordic countries to be at the forefront of this trend towards English-medium instruction (EMI). In this paper, we discuss the introduction of EMI in four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). We present the educational setting and the EMI debate in each of these countries and summarize relevant research findings. We then make some tentative suggestions for the introduction of EMI in higher education in other countries. In particular, we are interested in university language policies and their relevance for the day-to-day work of faculty. We problematize one-size-fits-all university language policies, suggesting that in order for policies to be seen as relevant they need to be flexible enough to take into account disciplinary differences. In this respect, we make some specific suggestions about the content of university language policies and EMI course syllabuses. Here we recommend that university language policies should encourage the discussion of disciplinary literacy goals and require course syllabuses to detail disciplinaryspecific language-learning outcomes.
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| 6. |
- Anderberg, Elsie, et al.
(författare)
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Micro processes of learning : Exploring the interplay between conceptions, meanings and expressions
- 2009
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 58:5, s. 653-668
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article describes qualitative variation in micro processes of learning, focusing the dynamic interplay between conceptions, expressions and meanings of expressions in students' learning in higher education. The intentional-expressive approach employed is an alternative approach to the function of language use in learning processes. In the empirical investigation, a dialogue model was used that both stimulates and documents students' ways of processing meaning. Results were grouped into three descriptive categories: vague, stabilising and developing ways of processing. Educational implications include, firstly, two distinct types of vague constitution of meaning in learning: one connected to fragmentary relationships between expressions and meanings, and another that triggers and creates close relationships and changes in relationships. Secondly, the categories display different unexplored ways of processing, related to deep and surface approaches in students' learning.
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| 7. |
- Annala, Johanna
(författare)
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What knowledge counts—boundaries of knowledge in cross-institutional curricula in higher education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 85:6, s. 1299-1315
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore knowledge in the context of creating a shared curriculum between research-intensive and vocationally oriented universities of applied sciences. Curriculum knowledge was explored from the accounts of 26 teachers from four institutions in Finland. Shared curriculum initiatives created an environment in which teachers were obliged to negotiate and make explicit their approaches to curriculum knowledge and knowledge practices. The phenomenon of blurring boundaries is approached with Bernstein’s sociology of education. The present findings show that institutions have a distinct foundation for curriculum knowledge, but cross-curricular initiatives brought pressure to change towards the knowledge practices of the other institution. Discrepancies were found between knowledge and learning outcomes, and between knowledge as a negotiated artefact and knowledge as enacted in curriculum implementation. Curriculum knowledge emerged with symbolic boundaries and an invisible pedagogic order. This resulted in practices where the official discourse appears to have similar learning outcomes, which are not similar from the perspective of knowledge. Focus on a harmonised degree, as stated in the European qualification framework, obscures the question of knowledge and requires more attention. This is especially the case if the boundaries between degrees and institutions are purposely weakened. If the rationale to weaken the boundaries is on the streamlined educational processes and their efficacy, there is a risk of gaps in knowledge provided for students in the higher education.
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| 8. |
- Augustsson, Gunnar, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Online supervision : a theory of supervisors' strategic communicative influence on student dissertations
- 2014
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 67:1, s. 19-33
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Online supervision mainly focuses on written communication and electronic drafts, while offline supervision comprises physical and social clues, verbal communication, and drafts of texts. This article focuses on supervisors' written online communication about drafts of undergraduate student dissertations. Theoretically, these utterances form part of the communicative exchanges performed in the practice of supervision. This means that supervision is an emergent phenomenon that relates to its past, current, and future states. The setting was a dissertation course within a bachelor programme in behavioural science. The data consists of 423 utterances from four supervisors. The utterances were analysed and categorised, and the results show different qualities and degrees of identifications in the supervisors' communicated utterances. The study shows that the quality of supervisors' utterances embraces the difference between the application of comments, points of view, instructions, and questions. This implicates the importance of supervisors' awareness of the nature and the combination of their utterances if they want to increase the student autonomy when supervising online.
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| 9. |
- Behtoui, Alireza, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
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The “stranger” among Swedish “homo academicus”
- 2019
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 77:2, s. 213-228
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article deals with individuals of immigrant background in Swedish higher education—i.e., those who have a PhD and work in Swedish universities. The aim of the study is to examine whether and how factors other than academic qualifications—such as gender and migrant background—may affect the individual’s ability to find employment and pursue a successful career in a Swedish institution of higher education. The data used in the first section are Swedish registry data (LISA database and population), administered by Statistics Sweden. The second part of the paper is based on semi-structured interviews with 19 academics of migrant background. The results show that, given the same work experience and compared to the reference group (born in Sweden with at least one Swedish-born parent), individuals born in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America are, firstly, more likely to be unemployed and, secondly, if they are employed, to have a lower income (lower position). The ways in which such gaps arises are also examined. © 2018 The Author(s)
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| 10. |
- Bienkowska, Dzamila, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Creating entrepreneurial networks : academic entrepreneurship, mobility and collaboration during PhD education
- 2012
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 64:2, s. 207-222
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Network-building activities of PhD students are an important area of study in furthering our understanding of academic entrepreneurship. This paper focuses on PhD students’ participation in network-building activities defined as mobility and collaboration, as well as own interest in and perceived grade of support for commercialisation from various levels of the university hierarchy. The results of a large-scale survey (of 1,126 PhD students at Linköping University, Sweden, 41% response rate) presented here show that the majority of PhD students are engaged in collaborations with external organisations, though quite few (one quarter) have spent a part of their PhD education outside their home university. PhD students from all faculties are on average interested in commercialisation and in favour of it. However, PhD students from the faculty of Health Sciences state that it is difficult for them to combine research and commercialisation. Furthermore, interest in commercialisation of research results is relatively lowest amongst those PhD students who are undertaking mobility placements at other universities, thus pointing to an experienced incompatibility of research and academic entrepreneurship.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Björck, Ville, 1982-
(författare)
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Taking issue with how the Work-integrated Learning discourse ascribes a dualistic meaning to graduate employability
- 2021
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 82:2, s. 307-322
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Work-integrated Learning (WIL) is renowned for providing a bridge between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ that fosters ‘employable graduates’. This study critically argues that the WIL discourse continues to ascribe a dualistic meaning to graduate employability that primarily contributes to creating the so-called theory–practice gap for students. As an argument towards such a conclusion, a genealogical discourse analysis of how the graduate employability idea operates in 87 present and past official documents concerning the Cooperative Education (Co-op) WIL model is used. Two accounts of graduate employability, the antagonistic practice acclaiming account and the harmonious theory and practice account, recur in both the present and past documents. Both accounts contribute to creating the gap, while the latter also contributes to bridging it. The non-dualistic account, which involves knowing that the key to becoming employable is understanding how both research-based and informal theory shape daily occupational work, could be a useful alternative to these accounts. This is because it could encourage students to see how theory is a form of knowledge manifested in, rather than disconnected from, this work. However, the usual WIL design, whereby universities and workplaces outside universities are respectively institutionalised as the places where ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ is learnt, is not so much instrumental in spreading this non-dualistic account, but rather implies to students that ‘theory’ is absent from daily work until they apply it. Thus, I discuss how establishing physical and/or virtual countersites to the usual WIL design could potentially spread this account to students
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| 13. |
- Bonnevier, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Potentialities for learning in medical students' ways of approaching a diagnostic task
- 2012
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 64:3, s. 371-384
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study investigates medical students' ways of approaching a medical task. Fourteen medical students in their clinical years responded to a written patient case on chest pain. Variations in the students' responses to the task were analysed from a contextual and linguistic perspective. Students approached the task in two distinctly different ways. Either they treated the task as a problem situated within a purely academic context-listing concepts relevant to the symptom, applying the steps in the diagnostic process only once-or dealt with the task as a problem contextualised within a hypothetical clinical situation-testing alternative meanings of the symptom, elaborating on implications for the patient. It is not students' conceptualisations of medical theory that explain these outcomes but rather how students construct contexts in which these conceptualisations are embedded. The results highlight the importance of being sensitive to what students make of a given task, how their interpretations relate to what was intended by the teacher, the desired outcome of the curriculum, and the influences exercised upon students by the various educational settings confronting them in their studies.
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| 14. |
- Booth, Shirley, et al.
(författare)
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On the constitution of SoTL: its domains and contexts
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 75:3, s. 537-551
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we present an analysis of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (SoTL) which contributes to SoTL both as a field of research practice and as a background to professional development in higher education. We analyse and describe the constitution of the field, and in so doing address its nature in the face of the dilemma of, on the one hand, its diversity and, on the other hand, its generally agreed set of purposes. Our analysis of SoTL knowledge is conceptualised as relational, connecting SoTL practitioners with the work they disseminate to the community at large. We describe and exemplify the internal horizon of the field in terms of five domains: the didactic and the epistemic, which we refer to as the knowledge building domains, and the interpersonal, the moral/ethical and the societal domains, which we refer to as the axiological domains. The external horizon is described in terms of four aspects of the context that can impact the production and implementation of SoTL knowledge: the disciplinary, the professional, the cultural and the political aspects. Methodological emphasis is equally on the axiological underpinnings of SoTL, its values and attitudes, as the ontological and epistemological underpinnings that are predominant.
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| 15. |
- Brinkworth, Russel, et al.
(författare)
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First year expectations and experiences : Student and teacher perspectives
- 2009
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 58:2, s. 157-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitioning from high-school to university can be difficult, and many university teachers feel students are often ill-prepared for the change. To investigate this 233 Humanities and Science students at the University of Adelaide were surveyed 6 months into their first year regarding experiences of teaching and learning at university. 189 students were also surveyed 18 months after commencement, to gain retrospective views of their transition year, as were lecturers and tutors of both groups. Results were compared to similar Orientation Week questionnaires that focused on expectations. Questions included reasons for selecting degrees, quality of teacher feedback and perceived impact of outside commitments. Even though student expectations, student experience, and teacher views differed, remarkable similarities emerged across the two degree programs (Science and Humanities). Our findings thus highlight a call for non-specialised transition programs to meet the needs of first year students and facilitate the transition from secondary to tertiary education.
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| 16. |
- Brodin, Eva
(författare)
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The stifling silence around scholarly creativity in doctoral education: experiences of students and supervisors in four disciplines
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-174X .- 0018-1560. ; 75:4, s. 655-673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The demand for developing creativity among doctoral students is found in a number of educational policies all over the world. Yet, earlier studies on Swedish doctoral education suggest that doctoral students’ creativity is not always encouraged. Based on a critical hermeneutic approach and cases in four different disciplines, the aim of this study was therefore (1) to explore different shapes of doctoral students’ creativity in Swedish doctoral education and (2) to reveal and find possible explanations to some of the conditions stifling doctoral students’ scholarly creativity. Interview data was collected from 28 participants, constituting 14 dyads of students and supervisors in four disciplines. Through hermeneutic interpretative analysis of the disciplinary cases, the results show that creativity kept on playing in musical performance, was an unexpected guest in pedagogical work, was captured in frames in philosophy and put on hold in psychiatry. Across the cases, students’ scholarly creativity was essentially encapsulated in silence. This silence seemed to emanate from controlling intellectual, political and economic agendas that enabled stifling conditions of the students’ scholarly creativity, where it was as follows: restricted by scholarly traditions, embodying supervisors’ power and unrequested in practice. Based on these findings, the article ends in suggestions for preventing such conditions, holding that it is important to establish a discourse on scholarly creativity in doctoral education, to view doctoral students as capable creative agents and to actually ask for their scholarly creativity.
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| 17. |
- Broström, Anders, Docent, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Negotiating meritocracy and gender equality across organisational spaces : the case of a tenure track system
- 2024
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Nature. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we study how meritocratic systems and gender equality concerns are negotiated across different organisational spaces in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Based on a case study of the organising of a tenure track system in a Swedish university, we suggest that the intersection of meritocratic processes and gender equality work can be analysed as a set of negotiated orders in these spaces. This fragmentation may imply problems for advancing gender equality agendas in relation to established notions of meritocracy but may also imply opportunities for change as existing organisational spaces can be reconstructed or new ones created. Our notions of fragmentation and negotiated orders thereby suggest that the current situation is both stable and legitimate and that re-negotiations need to involve reconstructions of the various spaces and not only interventions into them.
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| 18. |
- Broström, Anders, Docent, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Structured relations between higher education institutions and external organisations : opportunity or bureaucratisation?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : SPRINGER. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 78:4, s. 575-591
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the introduction of centrally coordinated initiatives aimed at formalising universities' relationships to external organisations. Such initiatives are referred to as structured relations. Based on a review of nine Swedish Universities, we identify three types of structured relation initiatives (network events, collaboration platforms, partnership agreements). In common for all structured relations identified are that they offer new opportunities to manage external expectations on universities, in particular as regards their ability to demonstrate their commitment to outreach activities. The formalisation of outreach activities challenges the academic tradition of giving individual professors discretionary mandates to enter and manage external relationships. Drawing on a collective action perspective, we analyse the tensions that are generated when universities introduce new elements of support and central coordination of outreach activities. The introduction of structured relations potentially contributes to changing the nature of the university as an organisation.
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| 19. |
- Brouwer, Jasperina, et al.
(författare)
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Emergent achievement segregation in freshmenlearning community networks
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 76:3, s. 483-500
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A common assumption about Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) is that academic relationships contribute to students’ success. This study investigates how students inlearning communities connect with fellow students for friendship and academic support. Longitudinal social network data across the first year, collected from 95 Dutch students in eight FLCs, measure both social and academic relational choices within and beyond the FLCs. Using stochastic actor-based models, the study tests two competing hypotheses. The alignment hypothesis states that students connect with their similar-achieving friends for both academic and social support, leading to an alignment of both types of networks over time. In contrast, the duality hypothesis states dissimilarity between academic support networks and friendship networks: students should connect with better-achieving fellow students for academic support and to more similar peers for friendship. The data support the alignment hypothesis but not the duality hypothesis; in addition, they show evidence of achievement segregation in FLCs: the higher the students’ achievement level, the more they connect with other students for both academic support and friendship, relating in particular to peers with a similarly high achievement level. The results suggest that lower-achieving students are excluded from the support provided by higher achieving students and instead ask similar lower achievers for support. They thus cannot benefit optimally from the academic integration FLC offer. The article concludes with recommendations of how to support students in an FLC so that they can reach optimal achievement potential.
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| 20. |
- Cervin-Ellqvist, Maria, 1994, et al.
(författare)
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Metacognitive illusion or self-regulated learning? Assessing engineering students’ learning strategies against the backdrop of recent advances in cognitive science
- 2021
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-174X .- 0018-1560. ; 82:3, s. 477-498
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowing how students approach learning in higher education contexts is key to promote learning strategies that are effective in the long run. Previous research has concluded that students often use ineffective learning strategies but believe them to be effective—a phenomenon known as metacognitive illusion. In a bid to broaden the perspective on students’ use of learning strategies, this study draws on the notion of self-regulated learning as a theoretical lens. A questionnaire, comprising both open-ended and closed-ended questions, was developed to gather data from 416 engineering students. The questionnaire was geared towards (1) mapping what learning strategies students use in a real-world setting, in real courses, (2) probing their metacognitive awareness of the effectiveness of various learning strategies and (3) investigating why students choose certain learning strategies. We also compared which learning strategies the engineering students chose across programs and types of courses. The findings reveal a complex picture of why students sometimes use seemingly ineffective learning strategies, and we conclude that this is not always due to metacognitive illusion. It is instead often linked to attempts to regulate behaviour, motivation and/or learning context, sometimes in response to the context. This study adds to the current HE research investigating students’ abilities to reflect on, assess and take control of their learning in an effective way, confirming that students need explicit guidance.
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| 21. |
- Chiodaroli, Marco, et al.
(författare)
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“Every morning I take two steps to my desk…” : students’ perspectives on distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning became the predominant teaching method at most universities, exposing students and teachers alike to novel and unexpected challenges and learning opportunities. Our study is situated in the context of higher physics education at a large Swedish university and adopts a mixed-methods approach to explore how students perceive shifts to distance learning. Quantitative student survey responses comparing distance learning during the pandemic with previous in-person learning are analyzed with k-means cluster analysis and with a random-intercept multilevel linear model. Combined analyses produce a consistent picture of students who report having experienced the greatest challenges. They are on average younger, report being less autonomous in their learning, and find it harder than peers to ask questions to the instructor. They are also less likely to have access to a place where they can study without interruptions. Variation across courses is small with students being largely subjected to the same set of challenges. Qualitative data from semi-structured focus group interviews and open-ended questions supports these findings, provides a deeper understanding of the struggles, and reveals possibilities for future interventions. Students report an overall collapse of structure in their learning that takes place along multiple dimensions. Our findings highlight a fundamental role played by informal peer-to-peer and student-instructor interactions, and by the exchange of what we refer to as “structural information.” We discuss implications for teachers and institutions regarding the possibility of providing support structures, such as study spaces, as well as fostering student autonomy.
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| 22. |
- Ekman, Marianne, et al.
(författare)
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Universities need leadership, academics need management : discursive tensions and voids in the deregulation of Swedish higher education legislation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 75:2, s. 299-321
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inthisarticle,wediscusshow‘managerialist’and‘leaderist’discourses(O’Reillyand Reed Public Administration 88:960–978, 2010; Organization Studies 32:1079–1101, 2011) are drawn upon in the context of the deregulation of Swedish higher education. As of 2011, there has been new legislation that frames Swedish universities as ‘autonomous’ and transfers most of the regulative responsibilities from the government level to university vice-chancellors. The aim of this article is to inquire into how tensions within and between managerialist and leaderist discourse are handled in the promotion of New Public Management reforms and the conse- quences thereof in terms of how leadership in the higher education sector is constructed. We analyse how these discourses are employed in the core documents leading up to the 2010 Riksdag decision to enact most of the proposed deregulations, and the subsequent evaluation undertaken by the social democratic government that took over in 2014. Based in this analysis, we suggest that the texts indeed draw upon notions of leadership and leaders as necessary for Swedish universities to survive and thrive in the future, but that the envisaged practise of this ‘strong leadership’ can either be characterised as a discursive void or described in terms of de- personalised, instrumental managerial surveillance and control.
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| 23. |
- Ellström, Per-Erik, 1947-
(författare)
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Four Faces of Educational Organizations
- 1983
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 12:2, s. 231-241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article attempts to explore the presumed distinctive character of educational organizations. This is done by explicating and proposing an integration of four organizational models. The models are called: the rational-, the political-, the social system-, and the anarchistic model, respectively. A basic assumption is that the models represent four complementary dimensions of organizations, rather than four mutually exclusive alternatives. A typology is outlined, indicating a set of conditions under which the four dimensions are assumed to be differently salient. In conclusion, it is argued that educational organizations may be conceived of as involving an interplay of four dimensions characterized by the keywords: truth (the rational dimension), trust (the social dimension), power (the political dimension), and foolishness (the anarchistic dimension).
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| 24. |
- Englund, Claire, et al.
(författare)
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The influence of sociocultural and structural contexts in academic change and development in higher education
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 76:6, s. 1051-1069
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Teaching quality improvements frequently focus upon the ‘development’ of individual academics in higher education. However, research also shows that the academics’ context has considerable influence upon their practices. This study examines the working environments of teachers on an online pharmacy programme, investigating contextual conditions that facilitate or impede academic change and development. Interview data and institutional policy documents are examined within a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory framework. Distinct differences in the teachers’ sociocultural context were identified as influencing change and development. Departmental teaching cultures and patterns of communication influenced practice both positively, by offering collegial support, and negatively by impeding change. The findings have significance for academic development strategies. They suggest that departmental-level support should include communicative pathways that promote reflection upon and development of conceptions of teaching and learning.
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| 25. |
- Erdocia, Iker, et al.
(författare)
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English language and the career progression of academics in Anglophone universities
- 2023
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to contribute to the ongoing scholarly debate about linguistic privilege in academia. The article pushes this debate forward by considering the role of English in the career development of academics in Anglophone universities. More concretely, our study empirically explores the career trajectories of multilingual scholars in Ireland who speak English as an additional language (EAL). Adopting a Bourdieusian lens, the article conceptualises academia as a locus of competitive struggle over authority, recognition, and prestige, in which scholars avail themselves of different kinds of capital, including linguistic capital, and deploy strategies to flourish. Through a qualitative approach, the article examines data from university documents and procedures, from interviews with EAL scholars in different disciplines and at different stages of their career, and from interviews with academics holding senior management positions in three universities in Dublin. We analyse the language-related challenges that EAL scholars encounter and the affordances with which Anglophone universities provide them, as well as the ways in which language impacts on their career progression. The empirical data reveals a complex and nuanced interplay between language and other academic factors. Our findings suggest the need to go beyond simple hierarchies of academic privilege or disadvantage based on a scholar’s first or additional language alone.
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| 26. |
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| 27. |
- Geschwind, Lars, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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To be or not to be a technical university : organisational categories as reference points in higher education
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Nature. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Classifications of higher education institutions into categories that are more or less clearly differentiated through prestige and status are legion in the world of higher education. The notion of parallel categories with comparable statuses, such as those of different types of universities, is however much less well understood. This paper investigates how universities navigate between such alternative categories. We examine boundary work and institutional change involving Swedish higher education institutions with significant activity in engineering sciences in order to analyse how actors relate to ideas regarding the category ‘technical university’ as an ideal potentially distinct from that of the broad, comprehensive university. Analysis of two cases in the second half of the twentieth century shows that for engineering faculty, a focused technical university was an attractive alternative to the institutional model of the broad university. In contrast, analysis of two twenty-first-century cases suggests that aspirations to be recognised as a technical university were largely driven by adaption to external stakeholders’ interests. We discuss these findings in light of the emergence of the global hegemonic category ‘research university’. We also suggest that the organisational identity of a HEI may be tied to ideas about an organisational category through imprinting and path dependency. Moreover, we propose that changes over time in how categories are perceived may serve as an impetus to organisational change.
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| 28. |
- Haake, Ulrika, 1968-
(författare)
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Contradictory values in doctoral education : a study of gender composition in disciplines in Swedish academia
- 2011
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science + Business Media B.V.. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 62:1, s. 113-127
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contradictory values in the Swedish doctoral education system are analysed through an interview and survey study of different academic disciplines: female-dominated, mixed and male-dominated. The focus is directed towards how the selected disciplines conduct application and selection processes in doctoral education and special attention is given to values regarding doctoral ideals, what a successful thesis should be like, how gender balance or imbalance is explained, and how activities aiming at gender equality are carried out. In the findings of this study, some specific patterns that show gendered discipline cultures in relation to doctoral education are apparent. The analysis shows an unclear or ambivalent view on gender and gender equality work in doctoral educations. In many of the issues investigated, essentialist views on gender emerge and a focus on gender differences is evident. The implicit assumption is that men and women are different and contribute to the discipline in disparate ways. The effectiveness of genderspecific doctoral strategies and to what extent gender equality work is viewed as a support strategy for women only, is discussed.
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| 29. |
- Hagvall Svensson, Oskar, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Authenticity work in higher education learning environments: a double-edged sword?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 84, s. 67-84
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational authenticity occupies a strong position in higher education research and reform, building on the assumption that correspondence between higher education learning environments and professional settings is a driver of student engagement and transfer of knowledge beyond academia. In this paper, we draw attention to an overlooked aspect of authenticity, namely the rhetorical work teachers engage in to establish their learning environments as authentic and pedagogically appropriate. We use the term “authenticity work” to denote such rhetorical work. Drawing on ethnography and critical discourse analysis, we describe how two teachers engaged in authenticity work through renegotiating professional and educational discourse in their project-based engineering course. This ideological project was facilitated by three discursive strategies: (1) deficitization of students and academia, (2) naturalization of industry practices, and (3) polarization of the state of affairs in academia and in industry. Our findings suggest that authenticity work is a double-edged sword: While authenticity work may serve to bolster the legitimacy that is ascribed to learning environments, it may also close down opportunities for students to develop critical thinking about their profession and their education. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for teaching and propose a nascent research agenda for authenticity work in higher education learning environments.
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| 30. |
- Hammar Chiriac, Eva, 1961-
(författare)
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A scheme for understanding group processes in problem-based learning
- 2008
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 55:5, s. 505-518
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study was to identify, describe and interpret group processes occurring in tutorials in problem-based learning. Another aim was to investigate if a combination of Steiner's (Steiner, I. D. (1972). Group process and productivity. New York: Academic Press.) theory of group work and Bion's (Bion, W. R. (1961). Experiences in groups. New York: Tavistock Publications Limited.) theory of work and regression in groups may be a fruitful way to interpret and explain group dynamics in problem-based learning. Data have been collected through a multi-strategy approach. The principal method for data gathering was qualitative. The quantitative method was used as a follow-up study. The data gathering methods used were observation, questionnaire and interviews. The results disclose that it is possible to give a comprehensive and descriptive picture of the group processes that occur in tutorials. The results also show that a combination of Steiner's and Bion's theories may be a fruitful way to describe, interpret and explain group dynamics in tutorial groups. By combining the theories a scheme for understanding group processes was created. The combination, in form of a new model, can be considered as a way of developing the theories and at the same time, it offers a theoretical tool for research purposes. The combination represents a new way of categorising group processes and can hopefully provide a better understanding of interactional dynamics in groups and account for greater explanation value with respect to group processes. © 2007 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
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| 31. |
- Hansen, Hanne Foss, et al.
(författare)
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Balancing accountability and trust: university reforms in the Nordic countries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - Stockholm : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates the accountability mechanisms introduced in the universities in the Nordic countries by building on a typology of accountability types. By utilising survey data, it analyses how academics experience the changes in accountability mechanisms and how they perceive the impact of these changes on their performance. The analysis shows that especially political/bureaucratic and managerial accountability demands have been strengthened. This development has fostered debates on how to measure academic performance. Some academics, more in Denmark than in the other countries, have experienced the development as a sign of mistrust.
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| 32. |
- Harring, Niklas, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Higher education, norm development, and environmental protection
- 2020
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 79:2, s. 291-305
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a debate on whether higher education in the social sciences generates stronger democratic and environmental norms among students. In our study, we focus on students’ perceptions about legitimate rule in the case of environmental protection. We contribute to this debate by using a unique longitudinal data set from seven universities and university colleges in Sweden. Our results show that higher education in the social sciences does not generate stronger democratic or environmental norms, at least not in the case of environmental protection. We discuss why this is the case and refine our results further by looking at individual-level factors, such as gender and ideology.
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| 33. |
- Heiden, Marina, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Telework in academia : associations with health and well-being among staff
- 2021
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 81, s. 707-722
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the development of technical aids for telework has progressed, work has become more flexible in time and space. Among academics, the opportunity to telework has been embraced by most, but it is unclear how it relates to their health and well-being. The aim of this study was to determine how frequency and amount of telework is associated with perceived health, stress, recuperation, work-life balance, and intrinsic work motivation among teaching and research academics. An electronic questionnaire was sent to junior lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors at Swedish public universities. It included the General Health Questionnaire, Work Stress Questionnaire, items for assessing recuperation, the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work scale, and parts of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, as well as questions about the frequency and amount of telework performed. In total, 392 academics responded to the survey. Multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between groups of academics with different telework frequency (p < 0.05). Univariate analyses of variance showed that ratings of stress related to indistinct organization and conflicts were higher among academics that telework several times per week or more than among academics that telework less than once per month. In regression analyses of associations between amount of telework (in hours per week) and the dependent variables, no significant effects were found. Although it cannot be concluded whether stress is a cause or an effect of frequent telework, the findings warrant further attention to academics who telework frequently.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
- Jedemark, Marie, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Four different assessment practices : how university teachers handle the field of tension between professional responsibility and professional accountability
- 2021
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 81, s. 1293-1309
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Various efforts have been made in higher education in Sweden to meet the demand for more transparent governance and increased efficiency and quality. The purpose of this article is to investigate how university teachers handle standardized models for assessment and examination and orientate in this field of tension between professional responsibility and professional accountability. This study examines school-based courses in teacher education programs at a university and is based on observations from 20 seminars, 10 interviews with university teachers, and 11 focus group interviews with 55 students. The results show that university teachers interpret governing documents in different ways leading to a lack of equivalence. Within one course, four assessment practices are identified: governance as confirmation, governance with need for reinforcement, governance as distrust, and governance as others' responsibility. This study reveals the variation in university teachers' professional assessment practices that challenge and interplay with the context of a curriculum in different ways. Aspects of the university teachers' professional obligation are under tension in the context of a more pronounced accountability. University teachers' professional assessment practices emerges as fragmented in terms of what professional responsibility includes and what professional discretion involves.
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| 36. |
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| 37. |
- Kitagawa, Fumi, et al.
(författare)
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Managing differentiation of higher education system in Japan: connecting excellence and diversity
- 2010
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-174X .- 0018-1560. ; 59:4, s. 507-524
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents recent reform processes in Japanese higher education, concerning the tensions emerging within the system regarding 'excellence' and 'diversity'. The article particularly focuses on how Japanese universities have reacted to the recent 'competition' and 'differentiation' policy promoted by the government, drawing on recent survey results conducted with academic managers at Japanese universities. It is interesting to examine the case of Japan, a historically diversified and differentiated national system, which has been changing rapidly with recent national 'top-down' policy reforms, followed by more recent and new bottom-up institutional initiatives. The study shows that universities are trying to achieve excellence, fulfilling different functions at the same time, aspiring to be excellent in teaching, research and social contribution without having institutional capacity to meet these expectations. Appropriate internal governance and external mediation mechanisms need to be created at the institutional level to manage diversification of the higher education system as a whole.
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| 38. |
- Kuteeva, Maria, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Disciplinary differences in the use of English in higher education : Reflections on recent language policy developments
- 2014
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 67:5, s. 533-549
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In post-Bologna Europe, there has been a noticeable increase in English-medium instruction. In this article we take the case of Sweden as an illustrative example of the wider disciplinary issues involved in changing the teaching language in this way. By 2008 the use of English in Swedish higher education had risen to such an extent that it had to be regulated at the governmental level and through university language policies. Such policies have attempted to provide generalised pragmatic guidelines for language use across educational programmes. In this paper we argue that such general policies fail to take into consideration fundamental disciplinary differences and their potential impact on language use. We present a theoretical argument about the knowledge structures of disciplines, relating these to the disciplinary literacy goals of educational programmes. We then illustrate our argument using data from an extensive survey carried out at a major Swedish university. We conclude that the disciplinary variation in the use of English can be seen as a product of different knowledge-making practices and educational goals. This conclusion problematises “one-size-fits-all” language policies which only deal with general features of language use and do not allow for discipline-specific adjustments.
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| 39. |
- Laakso, Liisa, et al.
(författare)
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‘The unofficial curriculum is where the real teaching takes place’ : faculty experiences of decolonising the curriculum in Africa
- 2023
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper analyses faculty experiences tackling global knowledge asymmetries by examining the decolonisation of higher education in Africa in the aftermath of the 2015 ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ student uprising. An overview of the literature reveals a rich debate on defining ‘decolonisation’, starting from a critique of Eurocentrism to propositions of alternate epistemologies. These debates are dominated by the Global North and South Africa and their experiences of curriculum reform. Our focus is on the experiences of political scientists in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. These countries share the same Anglophone political science traditions but represent different political trajectories that constitute a significant condition for the discipline. The 26 political scientists we interviewed acted toward increasing local content and perspectives in their teaching, as promoted in the official strategies of the universities. They noted that what was happening in lecture halls was most important. The academic decolonisation debate appeared overambitious or even as patronising to them in their own political context. National politics affected the thematic focus of the discipline both as far as research topics and students’ employment opportunities were concerned. Although university bureaucracies were slow to respond to proposed curricula changes, new programmes were approved if there was a market-based demand for them. International programs tended to be approved fastest. Political economy of higher education plays a role: dependency on foreign funding, limited national resources to conduct research and produce publications vis-à-vis international competition, and national quality assurance standards appeared to be most critical constraints for decolonising the curriculum.
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| 40. |
- Lott, Lars
(författare)
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Academic freedom growth and decline episodes
- 2023
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Academic freedom is under threat across the globe and a wave of substantial academic freedom declines affects not only autocracies but also (liberal) democracies. However, although the development of academic freedom has generated scholarly attention, this article presents the first systematic conceptualization and measurement of academic freedom growth and decline episodes. In particular, this article systematically analyzes the development of academic freedom across the globe and shows that global development follows waves of growth and decline. The first growth wave started in the mid-1940s and was succeeded by a second growthwave that started around 1977 and lasted for more than 30years resulting in the greatest improvement in academic freedom that has been recorded since 1900. However, since 2013, we see an ongoing decline wave in academic freedom. Overall, this article highlights how academic freedom developed over time and across the globe in waves of growth and decline.
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| 41. |
- Loughlin, Colin, et al.
(författare)
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The use of lectures : effective pedagogy or seeds scattered on the wind?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 85:2, s. 283-299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This case study of large-class teaching at a UK university focuses on the place of large-scale lectures in academics’ approaches to teaching, their use by students in their studies, and their relationship to institutional quality assurance policies. The case is a second-year module comprised of 180 students, and it includes two-hour lectures as the primary mode of teaching. The data is drawn from a range of sources including observations, interviews, focus groups, institutional documentation, and a student survey. Observations revealed largely transmissive lectures with little student interaction. The analytic framework of constructive alignment and outcome-based education is used to examine the promoted educational values and the practice experienced by students. The results are further explored in relation to two texts celebrating 50 years since publication: Donald Bligh’s What’s the Use of Lectures and Benson Snyder’s The Hidden Curriculum, Both highlight the dissonance of espoused approaches to teaching, and the realities of large-class environments. While the institutional literature foregrounds student-centred, ‘active learning’ approaches, the teacher-centred practice observed would have been very familiar to Bligh and Snyder; the principles of constructive alignment were visible only at the policy level. The implicit reward mechanisms of the hidden curriculum ensure that the majority of students succeed and are satisfied with the educational offering. The students who attended the lectures appeared to enjoy them and indicated that the primary benefits are the structure offered by live lectures and the support of the peer networks which develop as a result of attendance.
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| 42. |
- Luna-Cortés, Gonzalo
(författare)
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Managing students’ illusion of control in higher education : effect on unrealistic optimism and expectancy disconfirmation
- 2024
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prior studies showed that optimism has positive benefits for students in higher education. However, research indicates different types of optimism, including the unrealistic optimism associated with the illusion of control. The literature review showed a lack of research on the effect of the illusion of control among students in higher education. Two studies were conducted to fill this gap. In Study 1 (N = 210), university students responded to two surveys: one before oral presentations in class (measuring illusion of control and unrealistic optimism) and another after they received their grades for the presentations (measuring disconfirmation and satisfaction). The results show that the illusion of control is positively associated with unrealistic optimism, which leads to disconfirmation and dissatisfaction. Study 2 was a between-subjects design experiment (condition (N = 102) vs. control (N = 102)) that tested a stimulus to mitigate the illusion of control in this context. The results of Study 2 show that explaining to students their inability to control some variables during the presentation helps to reduce the illusion of control. This influences lower unrealistic optimism and disconfirmation, leading to higher satisfaction after the presentations. When testing moderating effects of demographics among these relationships, we found that gender moderates the effect of the stimulus used to reduce the illusion of control, with females showing a significantly higher decrease in this bias in comparison with male students. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations that can help to decrease the illusion of control in the context of higher education, with benefits for students and educators.
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| 43. |
- Löfmark, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Supervising Mentors' Lived Experience on Supervision in Teaching, Nursing and Social Care Education. A Participation-Oriented Phenomenological Study
- 2009
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 57:1, s. 107-123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research concerning the supervisor role in separate educational programmes has been undertaken, but cross-professional studies are few. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of supervising mentors in Sweden during the practice-based, off-campus sections of the education in teaching, nursing, and social care. The study used a participatory phenomenological approach in which four researchers and nineteen supervising mentors worked together in the research process which was accomplished in four different phases. The data collecting method used was interview. The results constituted a main essence entitled "Struggle of power and control of professional quality enhancement" built upon four themes: "Constitutes a motivating force", "Feelings of responsibility", "Feelings of frustration" and "Wishes for alteration". Conclusions from the study are that communication, information and contact between the professionals in the fields and university teachers need to be strengthen to keep up supervising mentors' motivating force and to give them support.
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| 44. |
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| 45. |
- McGrath, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Hidden expectations: scaffolding subject specialists’ genre knowledge of the assignments they set
- 2019
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-174X .- 0018-1560. ; 78:5, s. 835-853
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Subject specialists’ knowledge of academic and disciplinary literacy is often tacit. We tackle the issue of how to elicit subject specialists’ tacit knowledge in order to develop their pedagogical practices and enable them to communicate this knowledge to students. Drawing on theories of genre and metacognition, a professional development activity was designed and delivered. Our aims were to (1) build participants’ genre knowledge and (2) scaffold metacognitive awareness of how genre knowledge can enhance their pedagogical practices. The findings reveal that participants built a genre-based understanding of academic literacy and that the tasks provided them with an accessible framework to articulate and reflect upon their knowledge of disciplinary literacy. Participants gained metacognitive awareness of misalignments between what they teach and what they expect from students, their assumptions about students’ prior learning and genre- based strategies to adapt their practice to students’ needs. Our approach provides a theoretically grounded professional development tool for the HE sector.
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| 46. |
- Morley, Louise, et al.
(författare)
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Internationalisation and migrant academics : The hidden narratives of mobility
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - Netherlands : Springer Netherlands. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 76:3, s. 537-554
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Internationalisation is a dominant policy discourse in the field of higher education today, driven by an assemblage of economic, social and educational concerns. It is often presented as an ideologically neutral, coherent, disembodied, knowledge-driven policy intervention—an unconditional good. Mobility is one of the key mechanisms through which internationalisation occurs, and is perceived as a major form of professional and identity capital in the academic labour market. Yet, questions remain about whether opportunity structures for mobility are unevenly distributed among different social groups and geopolitical spaces. While research studies and statistical data are freely available about the flows of international students, there is far less critical attention paid to the mobility of academics. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 migrant academics from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Roma and Latin American communities, and the theoretical framings of the new mobility paradigm and cognitive and epistemic justice, this article explores some of the hidden narratives of migrant academics’ engagements with mobility in the global knowledge economy. It concludes that there is a complex coagulation of opportunities and constraints. While there are many gains including transcultural learning, enhanced employability and inter-cultural competencies, there are also less romantic aspects to mobility including ‘otherness’, affective considerations such as isolation, and epistemic exclusions, raising questions about whose knowledge is circulating in the global academy.
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| 47. |
- Nelson, Anders, 1969-
(författare)
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Exploring the transformation of actorship among students at a small Swedish University : background, actorship and achievement
- 2016
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 71:2, s. 289-305
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With an aim to better understand higher education’s potential for fostering personal development and social change, this study explores how students’ actorship in studies and civic engagement changed over time while enrolled in undergraduate programs at Halmstad University, Sweden. Additionally, it explores the relation among these students’ actorship, structural and psychosocial influences, and consequences in terms of formally obtained and self-reported achievements. Data were collected using three questionnaires in a time-step designed study, initially including 2004 students from 16 programs. Analyses revealed a trend of stable or decreasing actorship. Actorship was found to be strongly associated with gender and what programs the students attended, but not with social background factors such as parents’ education and family type. Psychosocial influences and actorship were marginally related to students’ achievements in terms of obtaining credits, but were more positively related to students’ own reports about gaining the knowledge and skills that would be useful for their future life and work. This, in combination with the students having high intentions to actively influence their future work, was interpreted as an indication of readiness to be social actors. This in turn suggests that readiness is a significant dimension in higher education, which might be further interpreted by applying theories about the Zone of Proximal Development. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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| 48. |
- Pereira, Diana, et al.
(författare)
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Students' perceptions of assessment : A comparative analysis between Portugal and Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 73:1, s. 153-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper aims at investigating students’ perceptions about assessment, especially the ways in which it is put into practice. Data were collected through questionnaires in different programmes in Portugal and Sweden. In total, 173 students from Portugal and 72 from Sweden participated in the study. Findings showed that students had similar ideas about assessment, such as verification of knowledge and learning, tests and grades. Their experiences of assessment methods used varied in the two countries, which can partly be explained by differences in national education systems. A learner-oriented perspective is prominent in the use of assessment methods, but at the same time student influence on assessment is perceived as low in both countries. Implications of the findings are analysed, namely issues regarding a learner-oriented perspective and the effectiveness, influence, trust, times and methods of assessment.
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| 49. |
- Perez Vico, Eugenia
(författare)
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When Average Joe met the Inexperienced Superstar—a case study of the consequences for a university of a partnership with IKEA
- 2021
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - Dordrecht : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 81:4, s. 795-813
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore how consequences from a university-wide partnership unfolded at various levels within a university and induced intra-organizational dynamics. This was achieved via an in-depth investigation of “The Bridge,” a collaborative partnership between the young mid-range Swedish Linnaeus University (“Average Joe”) and the home furnishing retail giant IKEA, which despite its global reach has only limited research capacity (the “Inexperienced Superstar”). Based on previous research that conceptualizes consequences of collaborations as changes in wide-ranging resource categories over time, this article develops a conceptual framework that advances the understanding of the consequences of collaborative efforts at both the level of faculty individuals and groups, as well as on a university-wide level. The study identified both differences and similarities between the two levels related to material, knowledge, and social resource mobilization, and revealed consequent tensions within the university due to an imbalance in material resource mobilization and social resource mobilization. The resource-based multi-level perspective that this study puts forward enables a more fine-grained and dynamic understanding of the conditions for undertaking and organizing university-wide long-term collaborative efforts.
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| 50. |
- Pettersson, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Approaches to studying in first-year engineering : comparison between inventory scores and students' descriptions of their approaches through interviews
- 2018
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Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 75:5, s. 827-838
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This combined interview and survey study explored the relationship between interview data and data from an inventory describing engineering students' ratings of their approaches to studying. Using the 18-item Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) students were asked to rate their approaches to studying in relation to particular statements. A subsample of nine first-year engineering students participated in subsequent interviews exploring their experiences of studying and learning. The students' views were examined and interpreted into inventory scores which were compared to the students' actual ratings. The interviews confirmed the scales measured in the inventory and provided illustrations to them. While students who were extreme in either approach were easier to interpret, others provided a good example of the complex combination of approaches that can exhibit itself in one individual. The study illustrates how combined data sets can contribute to achieve a holistic understanding of student learning in its context.
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