Compliance and resistance: How performance measures make and unmake universities

Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842110668
Author(s):  
Kim Soin ◽  
Christian Huber
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
Phd Completion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Completion Times

How individuals comply with, and resist performance measures and metrics can be seen as a key concern in management and organization. Recent literature has advanced our understanding of compliance as a social practice which is often related to resistance. Yet, compliance is seen as something we equate with simply yielding to power without any agency. We address this theme with a study of the effects of managerialism on academic work. More specifically, we investigate the introduction of measures and controls to improve PhD completion times in a research-intensive UK university. Our findings show that despite most of our respondents voicing concerns about the reductionist nature of the target and the consequences for quality, the large majority of academics we talked to complied with the measure. We identify three compliance types that demonstrate compliance is an interpretative process. We make two principal contributions with this paper. First, we offer insights into why compliance deserves analytic attention as a social practice in its own right, as something that goes beyond mere consent. Second, we analyze the impact of managerialism on higher education through the lens of compliance. We use these insights to reflect on how compliance was linked to resistance and the effects of different compliance practices on academic work which ranged from shifting responsibilities to challenging academic integrity.

scholarly journals The Digital Native Debate in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of Recent Literature / Le débat sur les natifs du numérique dans l'enseignement supérieur: une analyse comparative de la littérature récente

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Smith
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Net Generation ◽  
Nouvelles Technologies ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
The Impact

More than a decade after Prensky’s influential articulation of digital natives and immigrants, great disagreement exists around these characterizations of students and the impact of such notions within higher education. Perceptions of today’s undergraduate learners as tech-savvy “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001a), who both want and need the latest emerging technologies in all learning situations, continue to dominate the discourse in education technology research and practice. Popular yet largely unsubstantiated conceptions of digital natives are often embedded within the assumptions of contemporary research on student perceptions of emerging technologies, seemingly without regard for a growing body of evidence questioning such notions. In order to promote critical discussion in the higher education community considering potential directions for further research of these issues, especially within the Canadian context, the purpose of this review of recent literature is to analyze key themes emerging from contemporary research on the Net generation as digital natives. Plus d'une décennie après la célèbre distinction de Prensky entre les natifs et les immigrants du monde numérique, un désaccord important existe à propos de ces caractérisations des élèves et de leur impact dans l'enseignement supérieur. Le discours dominant dans la recherche et la pratique des technologies de l’éducation perpétue une représentation des étudiants d’aujourd’hui comme étant des «natifs du numérique» hautement qualifiés (Prensky, 2001a), désirant et requérant à la fois les dernières technologies dans toutes les situations d'apprentissage. Ces conceptions populaires mais controversées continuent à être au coeur de plusieurs hypothèses de la recherche contemporaine sur les perceptions des élèves à l’égard des nouvelles technologies, et ce, au mépris d’un nombre croissant de preuves contraires. Afin de promouvoir la discussion critique dans la communauté de l'enseignement supérieur, laquelle s’est engagée dans une réflexion sur les orientations possibles pour des recherches plus poussées sur ces questions, en particulier dans le contexte canadien, cette revue de la littérature récente a pour but d'analyser les principaux thèmes et problèmes issus de la recherche contemporaine sur la génération de l’Internet ou des natifs du monde numérique.

scholarly journals On the Alienation of Academic Labour and the Possibilities for Mass Intellectuality

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113
Author(s):  
Richard Hall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
The Core ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Power

As one response to the secular crisis of capitalism, higher education is being proletarianised. Its academics and students, increasingly encumbered by precarious employment, debt, and new levels of performance management, are shorn of autonomy beyond the sale of their labour-power. Incrementally, the labour of those academics and students is subsumed and re-engineered for value production, and is prey to the twin processes of financialisation and marketisation. At the core of understanding the impact of these processes and their relationships to the reproduction of higher education is the alienated labour of the academic. The article examines the role of alienated labour in academic work in its relationship to the proletarianisation of the University, and relates this to feelings of hopelessness, in order to ask what might be done differently. The argument centres on the role of mass intellectuality, or socially-useful knowledge and knowing, as a potential moment for overcoming alienated labour.

scholarly journals Educational heterotopia and students’ use of Facebook

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hope
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Flow Time ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Learning Spaces

<p><em>Facebook</em> use in higher education has grown exponentially in recent years, with both academics and students seeking to use it to support learning processes. Noting that research into educational cyberspace has generally ignored spatial elements, this paper redresses this deficiency through using Foucault’s (1986) discussion of <em>different spaces</em> to examine <em>Facebook</em> use. Recognising that more than simple façade space is also social practice, Foucault’s heterotopian principles are used to explore spatial notions of difference (deviance and divergence), relational aspects (conflicts and connections) and flow (time and thresholds). It is argued that social networking sites offer possibilities for creative deviations, can foster learning communities and help to develop social relations. Yet they also distract students, allowing them to <em>escape</em> seminars, whilst giving rise to damaging, rigid definitions of work and study. Ultimately, if universities are to be architects of the future, rather than its victims, the inherent differences of such learning spaces need to be recognised and traditional notions of academic work challenged.</p>

scholarly journals Editorial 9(1)

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Bretag
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Plagiarism Detection ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Impact

Welcome to Volume 9(1) of the International Journal for Educational Integrity. This issue is being published just a few months after the International Center for Academic Integrity's Annual Conference in San Antonio, and directly before the Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond Conference opens in Brno, Czech Republic. Further research and good practice will be shared at the 6th Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity, in Sydney, 2-4 October 2013. It is evident from the increasing depth and maturity of research output that academic integrity as a field of inquiry is well established. This expanded issue is presented thematically, beginning with articles that explore how academic integrity is understood by under graduate and international students,through to papers that report how postgraduate research students develop writing and academic skills, then to an overview of systems for detecting plagiarism when itoccurs, and finally a paper which reports on an initiative which aimed to change institutional practices and build a culture of integrity. Mike Joy and UK colleagues build on their previous research by investigating computing students' understandings of source-code plagiarism via their responses to a series of scenarios. Based on data from 770 students representing 21 higher education institutions, mostly in Europe, Joy et al. not only detail findings which will bevaluable for institutional policy and practice, but provide useful scenarios which can be adapted and used as educational resources. Not surprisingly, a key finding from this work is that "certain types of plagiaristic activity are poorly understood". Stella-Maris Orim and her colleagues from the Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education Across Europe Project (led by Irene Glendinning) at Coventry University, use a different approach to explore Nigerian postgraduate students' understandings of plagiarism as they negotiate their new educational environment in the UK. Based on interview data from 18 Nigerian postgraduate students, the authors use the phenomenographic method to develop six categories relating to this student group's understanding of plagiarism. The authors conclude that "Nigerian postgraduate students have an inadequate understanding of plagiarism from their previous institutions". Michelle Vieyra, Denise Strickland and Briana Timmerman extend work previously published in the IJEI by Gilmore et al. (2010). Vieyra and colleagues report on patterns of plagiarised material in science and engineering master's and doctoral theses "in the hope that it will contribute to the growing awareness of the problem of plagiarism in graduate schools as well as provide insight into the causes ofplagiarism". Plagiarised text was found in 28% of the proposals, and in agreement with other research described in this issue, the authors conclude that the plagiarism occurred as a result of lack of familiarity with the requirements of academic writing and conventions. Moving from understanding and preventing plagiarism, US researchers Norman Meuschke and Bela Gipp provide a comprehensive review of plagiarism detection systems with the aim of finding an "approach which automatically detects morestrongly disguised plagiarism, such as paraphrases, translations or idea plagiarism" rather than the more easily identified character-based text comparisons. Having explored the advantages and disadvantages of a range of detection approaches, the authors conclude that to be able to reliably detect paraphrases, translated plagiarism and idea plagiarism requires a novel method, which may need to incorporate crosslingual,citation-based, and intrinsic plagiarism detection approaches. Andrew Garner and Larry Hubbell, from the University of Wyoming, use the case study method to identify three models employed in US colleges and universities toadjudicate academic integrity breaches, specifically plagiarism: the 'student-centered' model, the 'due process' model and the defacto 'classroom manager' model. The authors demonstrate how each of these models provides different incentives tostudents regarding their likelihood to engage in plagiarism, and to staff in terms ofhow they respond to such academic integrity breaches. The final paper brings together the key issues of inquiry in this field, and demonstrates what is arguably the key ingredient for preventing breaches ofacademic integrity: developing and nurturing a culture of integrity. The initiative reported by Patrick Baughan at City University, London aimed to promote better understanding of academic conduct issues amongst staff and students and generate institution-wide culture change. Based on phenomenographic analysis of interviews with eight change agents, known as Educational Development Associates, the author concludes that consideration of cultures and practices in departmental/programme contexts needs to complement central planning approaches to change initiatives. I trust you will enjoy the range of topics explored in this issue. Volume 9(2) will publish the best papers from the Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond Conference, together with regular reviewed submissions. I welcome feedback via email:[email protected] Tracey Bretag, Editor, International Journal for Educational Integrity

Undocumented Students in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature, 2001 to 2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 631-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Bjorklund
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Undocumented Students ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Federal Programs ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Geographic Context ◽  
Postsecondary Success ◽  
The Impact

This article presents a critical review of the recent literature on undocumented students in higher education, placing it in the context of recent anti-immigrant sentiment and policy revisions. The 81 reviewed studies reveal that undocumented students confront significant financial barriers, shoulder unique psychological and social burdens tied to their legal status, and lack access to forms of social capital that facilitate postsecondary success. At the same time, they bring a host of assets to college campuses—including civic engagement and resilience—that are underutilized. Although their experiences are dependent on ethnoracial group and geographic context, these differences have not been sufficiently studied. Likewise, researchers have not adequately explored the impact of institutional, state, and federal programs designed to help undocumented students. In sum, the recent literature sheds some light on the experiences of undocumented postsecondary students, but further research should yield a more nuanced picture and better address their needs.

scholarly journals Academic Integrity in Higher Education: Analysis of Research Publication and Web Citation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aziman Abdullah ◽  
Asar Abdul Karim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Web Analytics ◽  
Research Publication ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Published Research

Higher education is a critical organization for nation-building, either for economic development or social well-being. However, this noble and vital institution has been affected by the issue of “academic integrity” due to digital technology adoption, the Internet. Many research studies have been conducted and published, but the impact on the institution and society yet not been properly reported. This study attempts to assess the impact of research on academic integrity by exploring its relationship with web citation. Quantitative method is adopted by analyzing data collected from Google Scholar, SCOPUS, and aHref web analytics cloud service. A strong positive correlation (Pearson’s coefficient = 0.915) of the published research works on “academic integrity” with web citation can be used as an effective strategy to put research into action in academic integrity. Thus, this study suggests that web citation is a potential metrics that can be used as an effective tool to measure the impact of research in academic integrity.

scholarly journals Doctoral Journey During Covid-19: Reflections From a Collaborative Autoethnography

10.28945/4871 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 633-656
Author(s):  
Aireen Grace Andal ◽  
Shuang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
The Impact

Aim/Purpose: This paper identifies and examines cross-cutting experiences from the perspective of two doctoral students, whose research was affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Background: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be challenging for higher education scholars in terms of proceeding with their research and how the pandemic sets the scene for changes in higher education’s future. Due to increased anxiety levels because of uncertainties, the paper provides a reflection of doctoral experiences from two students – one in Russia at the data collection stage, and one in China (enrolled in New Zealand) at the proposal stage. Methodology: Through collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection, we analyze our experiences as doctoral students focusing on methodological adjustments, ethical dilemmas, adaptation strategies and supervisor-supervisee relationships. Conducting a collaborative autoethnography provides a richer analysis of the interplay between perspectives, compared to a traditional autoethnography. Collaborative autoethnography also provides conditions for a collective exploration of subjectivities of doctoral students through an iterative process. After providing separate individual accounts, we discussed our experiences, analyzed them, and engaged in a joint-reflection from our consensual interpretations. Contribution: Our work aims to contribute to existing discussions on how COVID-19 impacted on doctoral students’ coping strategies during the pandemic. The paper encourages doctoral students to further discuss how they navigate their doctoral experiences through autoethnography and joint-reflections. Findings: Three main themes transpired in our analysis. First, we encountered roadblocks such as interruptions, frustrations and resistance to adapt our doctoral studies in the pandemic context, which align with the recent literature regarding education during the coronavirus pandemic. Second, we faced a diversity of burdens and privileges in the pandemic, which provided us with both pleasant (opportunity to create change) and unpleasant (unknown threats) situations, thereby enabling us to construct and reconstruct our stories through reflection. Third, we experienced a shared unfamiliarity of doing doctoral studies during the pandemic, to which the role of the academic community including our supervisors and doctoral colleagues contributed to how we managed our circumstances. Recommendations for Practitioners: We speak to our fellow doctoral students to dare navigate their doctoral experiences through collaborative reflections. In practice, by reflecting on our experience, we recommend that new doctoral students remain flexible and mindful of their doctoral journeys and recognize their agency to deal with the unexpected. We thus encourage the view of doctoral studies as a process rather than outcome-oriented, as we gain experience from processes. Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend using both collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection as an instructive tool for qualitative research. Such engagements offer important discussions towards further communications and exchange of ideas among doctoral students from various backgrounds. Impact on Society: More broadly, this work is an invitation to reflect and provoke further thoughts to articulate reflections on the impact and various ways of thinking that the pandemic might bring to the fore. Future Research: Doctoral students are welcome to contribute to a collectivity of narratives that thicken the data and analyses of their pandemic experiences in higher education to reinforce the role of doctoral researchers as agents of history in the trying times of a pandemic.

scholarly journals On the Alienation of Academic Labour and the Possibilities for Mass Intellectuality

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
The Core ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Power

As one response to the secular crisis of capitalism, higher education is being proletarianised. Its academics and students, increasingly encumbered by precarious employment, debt, and new levels of performance management, are shorn of autonomy beyond the sale of their labour-power. Incrementally, the labour of those academics and students is subsumed and re-engineered for value production, and is prey to the twin processes of financialisation and marketisation. At the core of understanding the impact of these processes and their relationships to the reproduction of higher education is the alienated labour of the academic. The article examines the role of alienated labour in academic work in its relationship to the proletarianisation of the University, and relates this to feelings of hopelessness, in order to ask what might be done differently. The argument centres on the role of mass intellectuality, or socially-useful knowledge and knowing, as a potential moment for overcoming alienated labour.

The proof is in the process

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Amanda B. Albert ◽  
Jamie L. Emery ◽  
Rebecca C. Hyde
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to apply the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education frame Information Creation as a Process to encourage student confidence in government information. This approach will also help librarians address the continued erosion of trust in government exacerbated by campaigns of mis- and disinformation waged by the 45th President. Design/methodology/approach The authors examined recent literature on the public’s increased distrust of government under the 45th President, the impact of extreme skepticism on students, and the role instruction and government information librarians can play in addressing these issues. The authors used the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education frame Information Creation as a Process as a guide for teaching students about the complexities of government information creation processes and addressing student apprehension about utilizing government information in their academic research. Findings Research indicates that in the midst of a decline in public trust in government, librarians are fighting an uphill battle to encourage wary students to use government information for academic research. Librarians can combat this via targeted Framework-aligned instruction. An example of how the frame Information Creation as a Process can be applied to government information is presented. Practical implications For easy implementation of the ideas presented in this paper, learning outcomes and a sample lesson plan are provided. Originality/value This paper contributes to the library literature on government information literacy and instruction as well as the Framework. It is the only paper that addresses the application of the frame Information Creation as a Process to government information.

scholarly journals Responses to student plagiarism in higher education across Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Glendinning
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Student Plagiarism ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

A significant amount of research has been undertaken in response to high levels of student plagiarism in higher education institutions (HEI). New models have emerged over the last decade for strategies and systems for detection, penalties and mitigation, based on deeper understanding of the underlying reasons behind student plagiarism. Most research has been initiated by academics from English speaking countries, particularly from the UK, North America and Australia. When the proposal for the Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education across Europe (IPPHEAE ) project was developed during 2009 very little research had been conducted about the policies for academic integrity adopted by HEIs in the majority of countries in Europe. IPPHEAE, funded by the European Commission (2010–2013), included a comparative study of policies and procedures in place in HEIs across 27 European Union (EU) member states for handling aspects of academic integrity, focusing specifically on bachelor and master’s levels. The survey instruments were on online questionnaires, student focus groups, structured interviews and analysis of documentary evidence, designed with a view to capture a range of quantitative and qualitative responses from different perspectives. Almost 5,000 responses were captured for the survey, mainly from online questionnaires, made available in 14 languages. Different questions were asked of students, teaching staff and senior managers, to determine how well institutional procedures were understood, to what extent they were operating as intended and whether there was consistency of outcomes within and between institutions. Interviews with researchers and people associated with national bodies and agencies responsible for higher education (HE) quality or academic integrity explored broader perspectives on issues such as national policies and how responses to plagiarism aligned with policies for quality and standards. This paper presents results from the survey that focus specifically on institutional policies, highlighting examples of good practice and also areas of concern. The findings suggest that different approaches should be adopted according to the maturity of existing policies and systems in all the countries surveyed, to promote more effective assurance of quality, standards and academic integrity.

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