EBOOK: Changing Academic Work


Book Description

Higher education has changed enormously in recent years. For instance, it now serves a more diverse range of students and is under closer government scrutiny and control. There is consequently a significant number of academics who are uneasy with current values and practices and who work with them reluctantly. Universities may speak publicly of efficiency and effectiveness but they cannot function successfully if their academic staff are disillusioned. Changing Academic Work explores the competing tensions in contemporary work: the need to balance individualism with collaboration; accountability with reward; a valuing of the past with preparation for the future. The aim is to help staff build a contemporary university which is as much a learning organization as an organization about learning. Elaine Martin develops a set of simple but sound principles to guide academic work and, through case study material, she provides engaging and convincing illustrations of these principles in action. She offers insight and guidance for academic staff at all levels who wish to make their working environment more satisfying and productive.




The Changing Academic Profession


Book Description

This book provides an overview on the major findings of a questionnaire survey of academic profession in international perspective. More than 25,000 professors and junior staff at universities and other institutions of higher education at almost 20 countries from all over the world provide information on their working situation, their views and activities. The study “The Changing Academic Profession” is the second major study of its kind, and changes of views and activities are presented through a comparison of the findings with those of the earlier study undertaken in the early 1990s. Major themes are the academics’ perception of their societal and institutional environments, the views on the major tasks of teaching, research and services, their professional preferences and actual activities, their career, their perceived influence and their overall job satisfaction. Emphasis is placed on the influence of recent changes in higher education: the internationalisation and globalisation, the increasing expectation to provide evidence of the relevance of academic work, and finally the growing power of management at higher education institutions. Overall, the academics surveyed show that worldwide discourses and trends in higher education put their mark on the academic profession, but differences by country continue to be noteworthy. Academics consider themselves to be more strongly exposed to mechanism of regulations, incentives and sanctions as well as various assessments than in the past; yet their own freedom, and responsibilities and influence shape their identity more strongly and are reflected in widespread professional satisfaction.




The Activist Academic


Book Description

Donald Trump’s election forced academics to confront the inadequacy of promoting social change through the traditional academic work of research, writing, and teaching. Scholars joined crowds of people who flooded the streets to protest the event. The present political moment recalls intellectual forbearers like Antonio Gramsci who, imprisoned during an earlier fascist era, demanded that intellectuals committed to justice “can no longer consist in eloquence ... but in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organizer, ‘permanent persuader’ and not just a simple orator" (Gramsci, 1971, p. 10). Indeed, in an era of corporate media and “alternative facts,” academics committed to justice cannot simply rely on disseminating new knowledge, but must step out of the ivory tower and enter the streets as activists. The Activist Academic serves as a guide for merging activism into academia. Following the journey of two academics, the book offers stories, frameworks and methods for how scholars can marry their academic selves, involved in scholarship, teaching and service, with their activist commitments to justice, while navigating the lived realities of raising families and navigating office politics. This volume invites academics across disciplines to enter into a dialogue about how to take knowledge to the streets. Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Social Theory | Social Foundations | Certificate in Public Scholarship | Practicing Public Scholarship | Reimagining Public Engagement | Decentering the Public Humanities hrClick HERE to see a video of the book launch, moderated by Monisha Bajaj for Imagining America, with contributions from Margo Okazawa-Rey and John Saltmarsh. hrWatch the #CompactNationPod interview, which runs between minutes 9:35 and 48:45. In this episode, Marisol Morales chats with Colette Cann and Eric DeMeulenaere, as they share the true stories of their lives as activists, scholars, and parents who are trying to push forward social change through academic work.Compact Nation Podcast · The Activist Academic hr What does it mean to be both an activist and an academic? Watch the FreshEd podcast Becoming an Activist Academic, which features authors Colette Cann & Eric DeMeulenaere discussing their own journeys as a guide for merging activism and academia. hr




EBOOK: Gender and the Changing Face of Higher Education: A Feminized Future?


Book Description

A notable feature of higher education in many countries over the last few decades has been the dramatic rise in the proportion of female students. Women now outnumber men as undergraduate students in the majority of OECD countries, fuelling concerns that men are deserting degree-level study as women overtake them both numerically and in terms of levels of achievement. The assertion is that higher education is becoming increasingly 'feminized' - reflecting similar claims in relation to schooling and the labour market. At the same time, there are persistent concerns about degree standards, with allegations of 'dumbing down'. This raises questions about whether the higher education system to which more women have gained access is now of less value, both intrinsically and in terms of labour market outcomes, than previously. This ground-breaking book examines these issues in relation to higher education in the UK and globally. It provides a thorough analysis of debates about 'feminization', asking: To what extent do patterns of participation continue to reflect and (re)construct wider social inequalities of gender, social class and ethnicity? How far has a numerical increase in women students challenged the cultures, curriculum and practices of the university? What are the implications for women, men and the future of higher education? Drawing on international and national data, theory and research, Gender and the Changing Face of Higher Education provides an accessible but nuanced discussion of the 'feminization' of higher education for postgraduates, policy-makers and academics working in the field.




EBOOK: Sustaining Change in Universities


Book Description

·What can be done to ensure universities are well positioned to meet the challenges of the fast moving world of the 21st century? This is the central question addressed by Burton R. Clark in this significant new volume which greatly extends the case studies and concepts presented in his 1998 book, Creating Entrepreneurial Universities. The new volume draws on case studies of fourteen proactive institutions in the UK, Europe, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and the United States that extend analysis into the early years of the twenty-first century. The cumulative international coverage underpins a more fully developed conceptual framework offering insight into ways of initiating and sustaining change in universities. This new conceptual framework shifts attention from transformation to sustainability rooted in a constructed steady state of change and a collegial approach to entrepreneurialism. It contains key elements necessary for universities to adapt successfully to the modern world. Lessons for reform can be drawn directly from both the individual case studies and the general framework. Overall the book offers a new form of university organization that is more self-reliant and manages to combine change with continuity, traditional academic values with new managerial values. Essential reading for university administrators, faculty members, students and researchers analysing higher education, and educational policymakers worldwide, this book advocates a highly proactive approach to university change and specifies a new basis for university self- reliance. Burton R. Clark is Allan M. Cartter Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. During his career, he has taught at five leading US universities: Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, Yale and UCLA. He has published widely on the nature of university organization and the realistic possibilties of reform, linking research for understanding with research for use.




EBOOK: Entrepreneurialism in Universities and the Knowledge Economy: Diversification and Organizational Change in European Higher Education


Book Description

How entrepreneurial are European universities? Perhaps more than is generally realised. What are the factors that encourage entrepreneurialism to flourish in research, technology transfer, teaching, regional engagement and internationalization? How do different kinds of HEIs - , comprehensive, specialist, regional or private - , address these issues? What are the conditions which stimulate or inhibit the “academic intrapreneur”? And in what forms does entrepreneurialism contribute to the knowledge economy? This book, which is the product of a major EU funded research programme and is based on twenty-seven institutional case studies, attempts to offer answers to these questions through a series of cross national thematic studies. It considers how national systemic characteristics in financial arrangements, human resource management and institutional governance impact on entrepreneurialism and suggests ways in which individual initiative can be released and universities freed up to make their contribution to the EU Lisbon Strategy.




EBOOK: Working Knowledge


Book Description

"a rich inter-weaving of carefully articulated critical stances... It is impossible, in a short review, to do justice to the quality and variety of all these perspectives... The result is strong coverage of the territory set out in the title, in ways that many working in the field will find valuable." (Phil Hodkinson, Journal of Education for Teaching) Universities are undergoing a series of profound changes. One of the more pronounced of these involves the partnerships that are now being formed between business enterprises and higher education. The emergence of these partnerships has much to do with the changing economy, which is increasingly based around knowledge and information - the traditional stock-in-trade of the university. Knowledge capitalism has given a renewed impetus to higher education. One expression of this is work-based learning, which challenges the scope and site of the university curriculum. This book analyses this development from a number of perspectives: critical, historical, philosophical, sociological and pedagogical. Its various contributors argue that work-based approaches contain much that is challenging to the university, and also much that could help to create new frameworks of learning and new roles for academics. Working Knowledge offers a comprehensive examination of the new vocationalism in higher education.




EBOOK: Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education


Book Description

This book focuses on strategic staff development in higher education, a sector in which it has been largely viewed as an operational activity with little organizational relevance. The book demonstrates how staff development needs to be based on modern theories of 'organizational learning', aligning itself with institutional and departmental needs as well as the wants and needs of individual staff. The book takes a broad definition of staff development and seeks to cover all aspects of the academic role and the interests of all staff. The traditional focus on teaching and learning is covered but not to the exclusion of other aspects or the interface between different roles. In order to achieve a strategic focus, authors are drawn from a range of backgrounds, including senior staff with strategic leadership roles. The book is, therefore, directed to a wider readership than the community of staff development professionals and designed partly to challenge the dominant discourse and established priorities of staff developers. Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education seeks to combine scholarly review of relevent literature with practical strategies and suggestions for the intended readership, principally senior staff, heads of department and staff development professionals.




EBOOK: Enhancing Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Curriculum in Higher Education


Book Description

Higher education is a particularly complex site for enhancement initiatives. This book offers those involved in change a coherent conceptual overview of enhancement approaches, of the change context, and of the probable interactions between them. The book sets enhancement within a particular type of change dynamic which focuses on social practices. The aim is to base innovation and change on the probabilities of desired outcomes materializing, rather than on the romanticism of policies that underestimate the sheer difficulty of making a difference. Following a theoretical introduction to these ideas, there are case studies (from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Norway) at the national, institutional, departmental and individual levels, illustrating the argument that enhancement is best achieved when it works with social practices in real institutional and organizational settings. In a final section, the authors link the case examples and theoretical frameworks, inviting readers to consider their own enhancement situations and apply the 'frameworks for action' offered in earlier sections of the book. The book doesn’t offer quick-fix solutions but aims to support change with practical examples, conceptual tools and reflexive questions for those involved in change at all levels. It is key reading for higher education lecturers, managers, educational developers and policy makers.




EBOOK: Being A Teacher In Higher Education


Book Description

Being A Teacher in Higher Education draws extensively on research literatures to give detailed advice about the core business of teaching: instruction, learning activities, assessment, planning and getting good evaluations. It offers hundreds of practical suggestions in a collegial rather than didactic style. This is not, however, another book of tips or heroic success stories. For one thing Peter Knight appreciates the different circumstances that new, part-time and established teachers are in. For another, he insists that teaching well (and enjoying it) is as much about how teachers feel about themselves as it is about how many slick teaching techniques they can string together. He argues that it is important to develop a sense of oneself as a good teacher (particularly in increasingly difficult working conditions); and it is for this reason that the final part of this work is about career management and handling change. This is a book about doing teaching and being a teacher: about reducing the likelihood of burn-out and improving the chances of getting the psychic rewards that make teaching fulfilling. It is an optimistic book for teachers in universities, many of whom feel that opportunities for professional fulfilment are becoming frozen.