During the last decade, the relationship between university and non-university higher education institutions has changed. As a contribution to the knowledge economy, non-university higher education institutions are expected to educate their students in research activities. Previously, teaching was the main responsibility of lecturers in non-university higher education, while research hardly played a role. This paper is about the belief of lecturers in non-university higher education in their own research ability (research self-efficacy). In a survey study conducted among Dutch lecturers (N = 790), the research self-efficacy has been measured. A structural equation model shows the effects of personal aspects, mastery experience and organisational context on the research self-efficacy of lecturers. Research self-efficacy is also modelled in relation to lecturers’ need to work on professional development in research skills. Results show that research self-efficacy is mostly affected by aspects of mastery experience, in which the context is similar to the given task. Implications are discussed.
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Higher professional education in Europe has changed from teaching-only institutes to hybrids of teaching and research. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the judgements of lecturers about new organisational goals and perceptions of their new research-related competencies. Lecturers’ judgements of new organisational goals and self-efficacy related to newly expected competencies were modeled in a bio-ecological model. Findings show that lecturers’ perceptions of self-efficacy can be influenced by an open organisational culture, while lecturers’ judgements of new organisational goals can be influenced by decision-making systems. The professional development of lecturers through formal education and articipation in research influences both self-efficacy and judgements. Hence, direct executive managers have three steering mechanisms by which they can influence lecturers’ perceptions during the implementation of new organisational activities: a) Educational Policy, b) Management Policy and c) Developmental Policy. Implications are discussed.
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Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
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New universities on the European mainland were mostly teaching oriented until the start of this century. Current national and local management intends to better connect research and teaching through the increase of lecturers' research capacity, often defined through their master's degrees or PhDs. However, this strategy is complex due to the needed combination of didactical expertise, professional practise, and research competencies in lecturers' professional profiles, which are not captured by the notion of formal degrees. This study considers the professional profiles of new lecturers through a thematic analysis and a correlation analysis of tasks and competencies in job openings (N = 126). The findings show that two professional profiles underpin the hiring of new lecturers: the teaching lecturer and the research-active lecturer. These profiles do not imply a better connection between research and teaching. To reach this goal, higher education policy should explicitly define lecturers' professional profiles beyond their formal degrees.
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In our work as lecturers, teachers, researchers, coaches or managers in a university of applied sciences, we do feel that the amount and variety of societal challenges on higher vocational education (HVE) is growing. Institutions in HE are in a process of transforming from traditional ‘either or’ research or education institutions into more complex hybrid knowledge institutions. Nowadays, universities of applied sciences (as institutions for HVE) in The Netherlands have three main objectives: providing education, conducting practice-oriented research to add to the professional knowledge base, and contributing to innovation in the professional fields of work. Education, research and innovation form the three pillars in the strategy of Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (Educational Council of The Netherlands, 2015). These changing societal demands form an impetus for educational reform and innovation at both organizational and individual employee levels (Cummings & Shin, 2014). Changes in context and roles lead to questions: As a teacher/lecturer/researcher, how do I relate to the different stakeholders? What is the real meaning of being a ‘good’ lecturer or researcher in creating added values, and for whom? Some propose that the new challenges concern everybody and thus should be everyone’s job. But when everything becomes everyone’s job, how can we really realize the required added values? Others promote a more differentiated approach of accurately fitting talents and tasks to create the flow and employee satisfaction that is needed to realize the desired outcomes. But then how do we work together and cooperate with such an individualistic approach? These opposing positions in the discourse concern the question of how to define the ‘professional me’ amongst the ‘we’. In other words, the challenge is how we define and navigate our professional identities within the context of a dynamic multiple-identity organization with increasing pressures for professional diversity (Foreman & Whetten, 2002; Aangenendt, 2015).
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In today’s era of content abundance, education has to deal with changed practices for the dissemination of knowledge. Many digital resources are available, and they have the potential to take the place of textbooks. ‘The role of the classic textbook as the key, immutable reference point for any class subject, is rapidly fading’, says Good (2016). Educational publishers like Pearson see a decline in textbook use (Sweney, 2017), and a study at a Dutch university of applied sciences (Leighton, 2015) indicates that lecturers in higher education move away from core textbooks towards a variety of materials, including powerpoint slides, websites, and videos. Baron & Zablot (2015) complement this, saying ‘teachers now have the possibility to create and modify resources’. This development carries the risk that the structure, continuity and coherence textbooks are supposed to provide (Littlejohn, 2011), disappear. One could argue that when structure and coherence disappear from learning materials, the quality of education is at risk. To make the most of (digital) materials that teachers select, they must be organized well (Deschaine & Sharma, 2015). In order to do that, lecturers will have to act as skilled curators when selecting and structuring learning materials. Central in the concept of curation is that it goes beyond selection: providing coherence and context is what sets out curation from mere selection (Bhaskar, 2016). Considered from the perspective of teaching, curating means selecting and structuring learning content for students, while also providing them with context and coherence. The notion of lecturers as curators has been discussed by Siemens (2008), who describes the changing roles of lecturers and identifies ‘curational educators’ as those who ‘acknowledge the autonomy of learners, yet understand the frustration of exploring unknown territories without a map’. So far, the literature mainly focusses on providing students with curational skills, since these are important 21st century and media literacy skills (e.g. Jenkins et al., 2009; Potter, 2012). Little empirical research has been done when it comes to curational roles of lecturers. This proposed poster provides a mixed-methods research design for a PhD study.
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This article explores the criteria for ‘good research’ employed by lecturers in traditional universities and institutes of higher professional education. The implementation of research-related activities in the latter created a repositioning of both types of Dutch institutions, similar as in many European higher education systems. The higher education institutes state their mutual difference is based on different types of research and research education, being more fundamental (or ‘Mode 1’) versus being more applied (or ‘Mode 2’). Lecturers’ criteria for‘good research’ potentially have a considerable influence on the research character in different higher educational types, both in education and research. Hence, this study assumes that the presumed institutional differences can be seen in their lecturers’ criteria for ‘good’ research. In a focus group and interview study, participants were asked to elaborate on personal examples of ‘good’ and ‘nongood’ research. A thematic analysis resulted in six themes on ‘good research’. The differences between both groups of lecturers found are related to the value of the research, and do not reach the core of research quality. This shows how the policy intent to steer on institutional differences actually is successful, but also limited. Implications are discussed.
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Phd Thesis Higher professional education aims to prepare graduates for the complexity of professional practices. The development of conceptual understanding is important to deal adequately with this complexity, especially in an unstructured professional domain such as international business. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the concept conceptual understanding in this professional domain, how it can be measured, what it looks like, how it changes, and in what ways it differs between students. The dissertation comprises five empirical studies for which data collection took place at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands.
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With the introduction of research activities in higher professional education in the Dutch higher education system, the notions of ‘research’ that were previously silently agreed upon among academics in traditional universities also came under pressure. Additionally, bothtypes of higher education actively claim to have educational programs of a different character. The ground underneath the difference is claimed to be the presence of distinct research activities. This study considers this difference through the discourse on ‘research’ of lecturers in both higher professional education and university education. In interviews, lecturers were asked to judge an argument on their own work-related activities to be ‘research’ or ‘nonresearch’. Through a network-analysis approach, the data results in five discursive building blocks that all lecturers apply in their arguments, and three discursive themes on research. Furthermore, this research indicates that differences among lecturers on discursive themes areonly partly based on institutional differences.
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This book consists of thirteen chapters with elaborations on several perspectives of the Universities kaleidoscope. The aim of our book is not meant as a purely scientific endeavour, but as a contribution to the future development of universities. The style is popular science, primarily targeted at our lecturers as one of the most important social capitals we have. As the book is addressed to them, all chapters discuss their role, directly or indirectly. The focus is always on the ability to offer students the best possible learning environment. This requires first and foremost a dialogue on the professional diversity of lecturers. Innovative behaviour appears to be crucial for all of them. In addition to these abilities of lecturers, the design of the curriculum is essential for all parties involved. A curriculum largely determines the themes and contents addressed, how work-related, engaging and stimulating learning activities are developed and how lecturers design these on the micro level based on their expertise. Frans Jacobs & Ellen Sjoer (Editors). (See also seperate chapters).
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