Teaching and learning German language and culture in higher education in Britain:problems, challenges and didactical implications. A case study

The aim of this thesis is to explore key aspects and problems of the institutionalised teaching and learning of German language and culture in the context of German Studies in British Higher Education (HE). This investigation focuses on teaching and learning experiences in one department of German Studies in the UK, which is the micro-context of the present study, in order to provide an in-depth insight into real-life problems, strengths and weaknesses as they occur in the practice of teaching and learning German. Following Lamb (2004) and Holliday (1994), the present study acts on the assumption that each micro-context does not exist in vacuo but is always embedded in a wider socio-political and education environment, namely the macro-context, which largely determines how and what is taught. The macro-analysis of the present study surveys the socio-political developments that have recently affected the sector of modern languages and specifically the discipline of German Studies in the UK. It demonstrates the impact they have had on teaching and learning German at the undergraduate level in Britain. This context is interesting inasmuch as the situation in Britain is to a large extent a paradigmatic example of the developments in German Studies in English-speaking countries. Subsequently, the present study explores learning experiences of a group of thirty-five first year students. It focuses on their previous experiences in learning German, exposure to the target language, motivation, learning strategies and difficulties encountered, when learning German at the tertiary level. Then, on the basis of interviews with five lecturers of German, teaching experience in the context under study is explored, problems and successful teaching strategies discussed.

Gender and subject in higher education

This thesis is concerned with the issue of gender inequality in higher education. It examines the relationship between gender and subject specialisation, looking in particular at the reasons for the predominance, at undergraduate level, of men in the physical sciences, and of women in the humanities. It investigates ideas of `masculinity' and `femininity' and how these relate to constructions of `science' and `arts'. The thesis argues that students choose which subject to study on the basis of certain qualities these subjects are seen to hold, and that these qualities have close connections with beliefs about `masculinity' and `femininity'. It examines this through an interview study of male and female students on six higher education courses: two university courses of physics, two university courses of English, a polytechnic course in communications and a polytechnic course in physical science. The interview study demonstrates that the science subjects are perceived by science students as more certain, more useful and more important than the humanities, and emphasise the value of their degree in gaining a well-paid and important job. Female science students, however, experience conflict between being `a good scientist' and being `feminine'. English and communications students emphasise the breadth, uncertainty and individuality of their subjects, and find science restrictive and narrow. They make little link between their degree and their future career. Men, however, feel no conflict between their identity as men and their chosen subject. It is argued that there is a close link between the construction of masculinity and the construction of physical science, but that English and communications are more ambivalent: in some senses `masculine', in some `feminine'. Men are advantaged in these subjects because of their greater visibility and assertiveness. The thesis concludes that the division between `science' and `arts' reinforces ideas of masculinity and femininity, and argues that female `failure' in education is in part the result of higher education's inability to transcend that division.

The sociological approach to teaching and learning in higher education with special reference to first year sociology courses at a technological university

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New lecturers' beliefs about learning, teaching and assessment in higher education:the role of the PGCLTHE programme

This study was carried out with new lecturers on a two year Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education programme in a UK university. The aim was to establish their beliefs about how studying on the programme aligned with their teaching and learning philosophy and what, if anything, had changed or constrained those beliefs. Ten lecturers took part in an in-depth semi-structured interview. Content analysis of the transcripts suggested positive reactions to the programme but lecturers’ new insights were sometimes constrained by departments and university bureaucracy, particularly in the area of assessment. The conflicting roles of research and teaching were also a major issue facing these new professionals.

'Always Connected’: Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

The argument of this chapter is that the idea that young people and students being ‘always connected’ should not be seen as being polarized into good or bad, but instead there is a need to see being connected as ‘learning at the interstices’. It also suggests that there is a need to be aware of the impact of digital governance on teaching and learning space. This chapter therefore introduce questions about the value and impact of always being connected and the impact and possible transformation it could have on teaching and learning in higher education.

Curriculum, content and controversy in higher education

Recent evidence suggest that academic staff face difficulties in applying new technologies as a means of assessing higher order assessment outcomes such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Although higher education institutional mission statements and course unit outlines purport the value of these higher order skills there is still some question about how well academics are equipped to design curricula and, in particular, assessment strategies accordingly. Despite a rhetoric avowing the benefits of these higher order skills, it has been suggested that academics set assessment tasks up in such a way as to inadvertently lead students on the path towards lower order outcomes. This is a controversial claim, and one that this paper seeks to explore and critique in terms of challenging the conceptual basis of assessing higher order skills through new technologies. It is argued that the use of digital media in higher education is leading to a focus on student's ability to use and manipulate of these products as an index of their flexibility and adaptability to the demands of the knowledge economy. This focus mirrors market flexibility and encourages programmes and courses of study to be rhetorically packaged as such. Curricular content has becomes a means to procure more or less elaborate aggregates of attributes. Higher education is now charged with producing graduates who are entrepreneurial and creative in order to drive forward economic sustainability. It is argued that critical independent learning can take place through the democratisation afforded by cultural and knowledge digitization and that assessment needs to acknowledge the changing relations between audience and author, expert and amateur, creator and consumer.

Intellectual Capital and Performance in Higher Education Organizations

This paper intends to explore the relative importance of different Intellectual Capital (IC) dimensions regarding their contribution to the perceived performance of an Higher Education Organization (HEO). It also seeks to discuss the role of IC and performance measurement in these organizations. This is done through a case study conducted in a Portuguese HEO. The particularities of this type of organization turns it into a very interesting empirical ground for IC research. Evidence suggests that although human, structural and relational capital should contribute as a “whole” to the performance of an HEO, human resources have an added importance as source of knowledge. Results also suggest an ‘overlap’ between IC and performance indicators. Despite the validity of the interpretations provided in the context of the case study, generalization to other situations should only be conducted in a theoretically framed manner. This paper contributes to the development of IC research in a specific type of organization: an HEO. This empirical context is still underexplored, namely regarding the relationship between IC and performance. This study provides important managerial implications for HEOs and their members, who are concerned with its performance and competitiveness.

Drivers of revenues and expenses in higher-education non-profit institutions

Double Degree

Trust and Leadership in Higher Education in the Downturn

This Leadership Academy Workshop presentation focused on 'Trust and Leadership in the Downturn', with particular reference to the public sector and to education. The presentation discussed a range of definitions of trust, including the view of Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) that trust can be described as 'the willingness of a person to be vulnerable to the actions of another, based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that action'. The presentation then focused on the reasons why this relational psychological state is important,particularly in an economic recession when people were facing job cuts and economic uncertainty in a wider political and social environment characterised by cynicism and a downturn in trust. If trust is defined in part as a belief in the honesty, competence and benevolence of others, it tends to act like 'social glue', cushioning difficult situations and enabling actions to take place easily that otherwise would not be permissible. A worrying state of affairs has recently been developing across the world, however, in the economic downturn, as reported in the Edelman Trust Barometer for 2009, in which there was a marked diminuition of trust in corporations, businesses and government, as a result of the credit crunch. While the US and parts of Europe was showing recovery from a generalised loss of trust by mid-year 2009, the UK had not. It seems that social attitudes in Britain may be hardening - it seems that from being a nation of sceptics we may be becoming a nation of cynics: for example, 69% of the population surveyed by Edelman trust the government less than six months ago. In this situation, there is a need to promote positive measures to build trust, including the establishment of more transparent and honest business practices and practices to ensure that employees are treated well. Following the presentation, a workshop was held to discuss the nature of a possible loss of trust in the downturn in the UK and its implications for leadership practices and development.

Actas da II International Conference «Learning and Teaching in Higher Education/ Learning Orchestration in Higher Education»

É ponto assente que o desenvolvimento social e económico de um país depende do conhecimento e do nível educativo dos seus cidadãos. Num momento de crise económica profunda em que a sustentabilidade do ensino superior se encontra ameaçada e a sua organização com rumo incerto, importa, mais do que nunca, criar um espaço de reflexão em que a ciência se pronuncie, aproximando e colocando em evidência os contributos que em vários domínios se vão produzindo. Nesta conferência, que se pretende em continuidade com a realizada em 2010, elegemos como tema central a qualidade do ensino e da aprendizagem e, tendo em conta a realidade em que nos inscrevemos, alargamos a discussão aos contextos e aos modelos de organização que os podem consubstanciar. Pode parecer um paradoxo centrar esta conferência na componente mais pedagógica do ensino superior quando toda a pressão de avaliação interna e externa das instituições e dos docentes incide particularmente sobre a produção científica. Mas talvez não. Assumimos que a reflexão de cariz pedagógico continua a não ser uma prática corrente no meio universitário português que, durante gerações, se habituou a um ensino universitário tradicional destinado apenas a uma pequena elite e se alheou dos desafios da massificação de que foi alvo. A ideia de que pedagogia apenas diz respeito à relação do professor com crianças ou jovens até ao ensino secundário permaneceu latente, tornando estéril qualquer discussão que, na perspectiva de alguns, seria desnecessária e até contraproducente no ensino superior. Um novo paradigma terá de ser assumido por um ensino universitário que busca o ideal da excelência, colocando no centro do debate o equilíbrio entre as dimensões pedagógica e investigativa e uma redobrada atenção à sociedade e às mudanças se, verdadeiramente, o que pretendemos é ganhar o desafio da qualidade.

Conversation Circles as a Teaching Strategy: An Experience to Reflect on and Implement in Higher Education

The experience approached in this paper aims at reflecting, reasoning, planning and implementing the “Conversation Circles” as a teaching strategy in the PF-4237 course “Theory of Education: Multiculturalism and Education” of the Latin American Doctoral Program in Education, University of Costa Rica. This training experience, based on the communicative action theory, intended to integrate the assistance of the teacher, the confrontation to otherness and the building of knowledge, skills and social attitudes in higher education.

About Electronic Assessment, Accreditation and Management of the Quality of Teaching in Higher Education

The article examines the main approaches to external evaluation and accreditation in higher education. It also presents COMPASS-OK: a social network for electronic evaluation and management of the quality of education, which utilizes mechanisms for management of documentation flows and supports tools for modeling of evaluation methods and procedures.

The social construction of PETE in higher education: Toward a research agenda

The focus of this paper is the social construction of physical education teacher education (PETE) and its fate within the broader process of curriculum change in the physical activity field. Our task is to map the dimensions of a research program centered on the social construction of the physical activity field and PETE in higher education. Debates in the pages of Quest and elsewhere over the past two decades have highlighted not only the contentious nature of PETE practices and structures but also that PETE is changing. This paper offers one way of making sense of the ongoing process of contestation and struggle through the presentation of a theoretical framework. This framework, primarily drawing upon the work of Lave and Wenger (1991) and Bernstein (1990, 1996), is described before it is used to study the social construction of PETE in Australia. We assess the progress that has been made in developing this research program, and the questions already evident for further developments of a program of study of the physical activity field in higher education.

Knowledge management in higher education institutions: a framework to improve collaboration

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that increases knowledge sharing and collaboration in Higher Education Institutions. The paper discusses the concept of knowledge management in higher education institutions, presenting a systematization of knowledge practices and tools to linking people (students, teachers, researchers, secretariat staff, external entities)and promoting the knowledge sharing across several key processes and services in a higher education institution, such as: the research processes, learning processes, student and alumni services, administrative services and processes, and strategic planning and management. The framework purposed in this paper aims to improve knowledge practices and processes which facilitate an environment and a culture of knowledge collaboration,sharing and discovery that should characterize an institution of higher education.

The judicious utilization of new technologies through authentic learning in higher education: A case study

Though technology holds significant promise for enhanced teaching and learning it is unlikely to meet this promise without a principled approach to course design. There is burgeoning discourse about the use of technological tools and models in higher education, but much of the discussion is fixed upon distance learning or technology based courses. This paper will develop and propose a balanced model for effective teaching and learning for “on campus” higher education, with particular emphasis on the opportunities for revitalisation available through the judicious utilisation of new technologies. It will explore the opportunities available for the creation of more authentic learning environments through the principled design. Finally it will demonstrate with a case study how these have come together enabling the creation of an effective and authentic learning environment for one pre-service teacher education course at the University of Queensland.