Professional Learning for Higher Education Academics: Systematic Tensions

2019 ◽  
pp. 223-244
Author(s):  
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen ◽  
Thu Dinh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning

Attending to the Teacher in the Teaching: Prioritizing Faculty Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Brianne H. Roos ◽  
Carey C. Borkoski
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

Purpose The purpose of this review article is to examine the well-being of faculty in higher education. Success in academia depends on productivity in research, teaching, and service to the university, and the workload model that excludes attention to the welfare of faculty members themselves contributes to stress and burnout. Importantly, student success and well-being is influenced largely by their faculty members, whose ability to inspire and lead depends on their own well-being. This review article underscores the importance of attending to the well-being of the people behind the productivity in higher education. Method This study is a narrative review of the literature about faculty well-being in higher education. The history of well-being in the workplace and academia, concepts of stress and well-being in higher education faculty, and evidence-based strategies to promote and cultivate faculty well-being were explored in the literature using electronic sources. Conclusions Faculty feel overburdened and pressured to work constantly to meet the demands of academia, and they strive for work–life balance. Faculty report stress and burnout related to excessively high expectations, financial pressures to obtain research funding, limited time to manage their workload, and a belief that individual progress is never sufficient. Faculty well-being is important for the individual and in support of scholarship and student outcomes. This article concludes with strategies to improve faculty well-being that incorporate an intentional focus on faculty members themselves, prioritize a community of well-being, and implement continuous high-quality professional learning.

scholarly journals Digital educational environment as a factor of foreign language competences development

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 232-248
Author(s):  
Marina V. Rybakova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Teaching Experiment ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Foreign Languages

The modern era of digital economy lays new claims to the system of education and professional learning. Digitation of higher education reveals new prospects for using digital resources to ensure accessibility, continuity and quality of education. The purpose of our investigation is to assess the effectiveness of the use of digital educational resources by students studying foreign languages. Principal methods of our research are as follows: bibliographic method of studying regulatory documents and scientific and methodological literature; the analysis of foreign language competences, mastering of which is the aim of foreign language teaching in a University; the study and generalization of working experience using digital technologies in foreign language teaching; experiment involving 24 students from MIREA – Russian Technological University. As a result of the study frequency of thematic terms and notions use in scientific-teaching literature and Internet search requests was defined; the analysis of modern digital educational technologies forming students’ foreign language competences was made; foreign language competences analyzed in the experiment were described; an experiment involving the comparison of application efficiency in using traditional and digital techniques for forming foreign language competences was carried out. The experiment showed the following: absence of statistically important differences in the level of formed foreign language competences in control and experimental groups at the beginning of the experiment as t = -0.99, p = 0.43. At the end of the experiment p < 0,05: t = -5.19, p = 0,000014. It testifies that the compared groups significantly differ that proves the effect of web-quest technique in teaching foreign languages. Digital educational resources contribute to mastering a foreign language as a means of professional communication and increase the motivation of students to study this subject. Prospects for further research can be related to the development of new forms and methods of applying innovative digital technologies with the aim to put them into foreign language teaching practice at the higher education level.

A Model to Build an Intercultural Professional Learning Community in a Latin American Higher Education Network

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Piergiuseppe Ellerani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Video Research ◽  
Education Network

This chapter concerns the research project carried out in a confederation of Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) in seven Latin American countries. Considering the intercultural background of IHE, the universities defined a new profile of their teachers and other human resources by setting up a new model of teaching and learning based on a “learning process” and shifting the paradigm of learning to “centered teaching.” In this chapter, three characteristics of this process are presented: the first one refers to the profile built as the “product” of an Intercultural Community of Thought; the second one refers to a participatory process, called “the value cycle,” as a working model that allows one to co-construct profiles of university teachers, administrative staff, and human resources staff; the third one presents the tools and the technologies using both of them (Personal and Social Virtual Learning Environment based on Web 2.0, the Human Resource Management Tool, Video-Research, E-Portfolio). The project, carried out through action-research, defines a shared idea of the quality of teaching, a research based and supported by tools, that allows teacher self-assessment as well as the possibility to monitor the quality of universities and to develop plans for continuous improvements by building a community of learning. Qualitative and quantitative studies' data are given.

scholarly journals Building professional learning communities of foreign language teachers in higher education

2020 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Qiufang Wen ◽  
Hong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Leadership Management

In recent decades there has been increasing interest in identifying the critical features of effective professional learning communities (PLCs). This identification is useful for evaluating the quality of a PLC, but not for building one. This study aims at describing a conceptual model for developing a new PLC, illustrating its application with an example. The model is explained in terms of four constitutive elements (PARTICIPANTS, OBJECTIVES, MEDIATORS, and MECHANISM), and their interactive relations. The development of a PLC of foreign language teachers (PLC-FLTs) at Beijing Foreign Studies University is used to illustrate how the model can function successfully. The illustration is coupled with a discussion of the PLC’s decades of experience in collective leadership, management of the four elements, and tips for tackling various challenges in keeping the PLC going.

Preparing School and District Leaders for Success in Developing and Facilitating Integrative STEM in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 194277512096214
Author(s):  
Rachel Louise Geesa ◽  
Krista M. Stith ◽  
Mary A. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Delphi Study ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
The United States ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Educational Leadership Programs ◽  
Modified Delphi ◽  
Development Objectives

Higher education institutions in the United States with graduate-level educational leadership programs traditionally do not offer professional learning opportunities in integrative STEM education. The objective of this paper is to share our journey to prepare and implement a course designed for P-12 educational leaders to build knowledge and skills to lead impactful integrative STEM programming. Results of the demand survey indicated a high amount of interest in an integrative STEM education course. Findings from interviews and the modified Delphi study informed our decisions for the development, objectives, assessments, and outcomes of the course to enhance integrative STEM culture in educational settings.

Narrative-based evaluation demonstrates the value of a higher education professional learning network

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coralie McCormack ◽  
Trudy Ambler ◽  
Brondalie Martin ◽  
Katrina Waite ◽  
Ann Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Education Professional ◽  
Professional Learning Network
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