scholarly journals Promoting diversity through developing a sense of community

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
Jeanne-Louise Moys
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Project Evaluation ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Graphic Communication ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

This case study explores how a students-as-partners approach is helping students in the Graphic Communication programme at the University of Reading gain experience of community through a curriculum design project. The “I am, we are … different by design” project began as a partnership initiative aimed at identifying strategies to extend students’ experience of diversity in the curriculum. Drawing on a mid-project evaluation, the case study presented here explores student partners’ perceptions of achievements and challenges, including developing a sense of community and the impact on career development. It also highlights how supporting opportunities for visibility and recognition throughout a project may contribute to sustaining a culture of reciprocity in partnership.

scholarly journals Engaging sustainability good practice within the curriculum design and property portfolio in the Australian higher education sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Poon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which universities’ strategic plans affect the level of incorporation of sustainability within the curriculum design and property portfolio. Design/methodology/approach This research adopted a case study approach. The case study institution was Deakin University in Australia. This paper used a qualitative research method. Desk-top study included the review of the University’s Strategic Plan, policy agenda on sustainability and the documents on sustainability courses and units. Semi-structured interviews were held with academics who have course development and management responsibility within the university, colleagues who have a sustainability-focused role on estate management and colleagues whose roles are to manage sustainability initiatives at the institution level. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Content analysis was used to analyse the interview data. Findings Despite the University having clear strategic aims and initiatives on the incorporation of sustainability within the curriculum design and property portfolio, there is disconnection between policy development and policy implementation. As a result, the incorporation of sustainability varies largely between curricula within the institution. The incorporation of sustainability within the property portfolio is clear and effective. However, within the curriculum, it is polarised. The level of incorporation depends on the nature of the course or unit and is largely driven by the initiatives of the individual academic. Good practice identified in the incorporation of sustainability within the curriculum is to use a problem-based approach supported by real life projects to enhance the students’ authentic learning experience. A good practice for successfully incorporating sustainability into the property portfolio is to have clear vision of what it has planned to achieve and to ensure that there is a balance between sustainability and value for money. Originality/value This is pioneering research to investigate the incorporation of sustainability into higher education in a more comprehensive way. This paper considered the impact of strategic planning on the incorporation of sustainability within a higher education, on both curriculum design and property portfolio management.

Post-occupancy evaluation of outdoor spaces on the campus of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Carvalho Tourinho ◽  
Sabrina Andrade Barbosa ◽  
Özgür Göçer ◽  
Klaus Chaves Alberto
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Post Occupancy Evaluation ◽  
Outdoor Spaces ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeUsing the campus of a Brazilian university as case study, this research aims to identify which aspects of the outdoor spaces are the most significant in attracting people.Design/methodology/approachThis research relies on the application of different post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods, including user tracking, behavioural mapping and questionnaires, on one plateau of the campus.FindingsThree group of aspects (socialization, proximity and infrastructure) were identified as key elements in explaining the impact of the campus physical characteristics on users’ behaviour. The results indicate that having characteristics of at least one group of aspects in those spaces can guarantee their vitality and, if there is presence of attributes of more than one group, liveliness can be increased.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies should be conducted on an entire campus to identify other spatial elements in the three groups.Practical implicationsThis research contributes to the planning of future campuses and to solutions to the existed ones, indicating the most relevant spatial characteristics to be considered. Additionally, the combination of different methods may be useful to future research.Originality/valueMost of the investigations on the university campuses focus on the buildings, and little research has investigated the outdoor spaces, although they play a critical role in learning and academic life, where people establish social, cultural and personal relationships. In addition, studies using several POE allowed a consistent and complete diagnostic about the aspects of the campus, giving recommendations for future projects.

scholarly journals The Impact of Rhetorical Argumentation on Achieving the Mastery of Fluency and Accuracy in Communicative Competence: A Case Study of 2 nd Year Students at the University Des Frères Mentouri, Constantine

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Abderrahim Bouderbane
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Procedural Fluency ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Problematic Issue ◽  
Rhetorical Argumentation ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The present study is a comparison between the impact of rhetorical argumentation and narrating stories on students’ fluency and accuracy in communicative competence. We aimed at evaluating the usefulness and suitability of these tasks, and their efficiency when it comes to teaching fluency and accuracy by analysing the direct effects of the tasks on the indices of fluency and accuracy. The problematic issue in this research investigates the effects of the task rhetorical argumentation, and whether it is an important task that teachers should rely on it in teaching speaking in academic contexts. The sample is composed of 65 students which are divided in between 30 students in the control group and 35 students in experimental group. The data was collected by a test which was used to evaluate three main areas which are: classroom interaction, topic knowledge and language knowledge. The results of the experiment show that there are two types of fluency which are procedural and automatic. Rhetorical argumentation can be used to develop procedural fluency, and not automatic since the task is considered as difficult and students were not familiar with it.

Setting up a ‘Special Relationship’: Students as Co-Creators of a Research-based Curriculum

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Hallett ◽  
Charlotte Tomlinson ◽  
Tim Procter
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Hybrid Identity ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Institutional Ethos ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Way

The idea of student/staff partnership has become ubiquitous in the way universities market their institutional ethos and enshrines an idealised 'dialogic structure' within curriculum design. Which universitities are actually putting this into practice and allowing their students a significant role in the machinations of curriculum design and enhancement?This case study investigates the emerging co-operation between the University of Leeds Library, a team of Special Collections interns and the academic and student communities they reach out to. It suggests, in microcosm, a model for the co-creation of the curriculum which positions the student as co-creator, certainly, but also as mediator, tutor, mentor and communicator.The project case study adds insight into the fascinating hybrid identity that students can occupy within the contested territory of university-wide curriculum design, and explores the complex status and authority of students and tutors as they explore fresh relationships of opportunity and expertise.

Supporting Mobile Access to VLE Resources through MobiGlam

2012 ◽  
pp. 315-332
Author(s):  
Fatma Meawad ◽  
Geneen Stubbs
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Mobile Access ◽  
Generic Framework ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

MobiGlam is a generic framework of interoperability with existing virtual learning environments (VLEs) that provides a compact and easy to use implementation of learning activity on Java enabled mobile devices. A case study was conducted at the University of Glamorgan, UK where MobiGlam was seamlessly integrated with the university’s VLE to support the delivery of computer courses at the foundation level. Such integration showed an added value to the participants and in many cases, it improved their use of the VLE. This chapter reports on the deployment, the evaluation, and the results of this case study. The results are analysed from two views: the impact on the participants’ use of the VLE and the framework’s overall usability.

LMS Adoption at the University of Genova

2012 ◽  
pp. 271-291
Author(s):  
Maura Cerioli ◽  
Marina Ribaudo ◽  
Marina Rui
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Organizational Support ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Degree Program ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Network Technologies ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The last two decades have seen the spread of LMS among schools, universities, and companies to augment the traditional teaching process with ICT and network technologies. This chapter presents the process leading to the adoption of a Moodle based LMS at the University of Genova in the last decade. By analyzing the data collected from the LMS logs and from questionnaires proposed both to students and teachers, we found out that the needs of the stakeholders are largely limited to resource sharing and organizational support, satisfactorily provided by the current service. Further improvements could be achieved by the introduction of a policy encouraging or forcing the teachers to use the provided LMS. A project on instructional design and, as a case study, the evolution of some of the courses involved in it are also presented. Though the redesign of such courses has improved their results, the impact on the overall organization of the degree program has been negative. We infer that this is due to the excessive freedom the students enjoy in taking their exams in Italy.

The Impact of Knowledge of English Rhetorical Patterns of Organisation on BA Accounting and Finance Students' Writing Academic Genres

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-149
Author(s):  
Malika Kouti
Keyword(s):  
Direct Instruction ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Rhetorical Patterns ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Academic Genres ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

This chapter discusses the impact of knowing the English rhetorical pattern of organisation on BA Accounting and Finance students' academic writing. More specifically, it focuses on the knowledge of how to structure a letter of application for job hunting purposes. This case study involved the analysis of 40 letters of application written by 40 Accounting and Finance students in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Ghardaïa, Algeria after they had been trained to structure this type of letter. The training lasted for two sessions in the Department of Accounting and Finance at Ghardaia University, Algeria. The training was a direct instruction in which students were shown activities that assisted them in mastering the rhetorical pattern of organisation that concerns letters of application. They were also shown the difference between formal and informal letters of application. The obtained results demonstrated the efficiency of the direct instruction in teaching Accounting and Finance students how to write a letter of application.

The Impact of an Unexpected Facility Closure on a Campus Community

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-201
Author(s):  
Corinne Farneti ◽  
Denise Ditch
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Division I ◽  
Campus Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Management Communication ◽  
Recreational Facility ◽  
Interview Methods ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

This case study examines the impact of an unexpected recreational facility closure. The university studied is a small Division I school, located in a rural area. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit data from 22 people representing various groups around campus. Using grounded theory, the researchers coded statements and categories, resulting in six themes: socialization, performance, adaptability, management, communication and perception, and student satisfaction. The study includes an overview of the university and recreational culture, a description of the fieldhouse roof collapse, interview methods and study limitations, an analysis of stakeholder interviews, and suggestions for how to best handle a similar scenario.

scholarly journals Collaboration, Mentoring and Co-Teaching in Teacher Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gertrude Sachs ◽  
Terry Fisher ◽  
Joanna Cannon
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Junior Faculty ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Collaborative Relationships ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Accountability

Collaboration, Mentoring and Co-Teaching in Teacher EducationCollaboration at the university level is a fundamental element needed to enhance teaching (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2005) and reflection is a critical component of teacher education (Dewey, 1933, 1938). A case study is presented of one senior university faculty member's experiences co-teaching with two doctoral students seeking to understand the impact of shared decision-making and authentic collaboration on individuals entering the academy. An analysis of the authors' shared experiences indicated that, through this mentoring, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships were built. An analysis of the authors' experiences also indicated that these collaborative relationships were built upon several key factors, specifically (a) a strong sense of individual accountability and professionalism; (b) the mutual creation and demonstration of respect; (c) affirmation and overt participation in reciprocal growth and development; (d) attention to issues of power and abeyance. The findings of the study highlight the need for further exploration into the role of mentorship of junior faculty and the efficacy of co-teaching processes in the development of professional identities of junior faculty entering the academy.

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