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How to turn lecturers into good university teachers

Lynn Quinn, Rhodes University and Jo-Anne Vorster, Rhodes University Traditionally, it has been assumed that, once an academic holds a Master’s degree or PhD in their discipline, they can share their knowledge and teach students effectively. Most, though, don’t have a teaching qualification, nor have they been offered any opportunities to develop as teachers while studying towards their advanced degree. This means that many lecturers feel like they have been thrown into the deep end at the start of their teaching careers. There has been some work in this field and many universities now offer formal and informal academic staff …

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Here’s why immigrant students perform poorly

Molly McManus, University of Texas at Austin Immigrant students in the United States consistently perform worse academically than nonimmigrant students. This achievement gap is evident as early as preschool and only grows as immigrant students advance through high school. But, what causes the achievement gap? One notion that fuels anti-immigrant attitudes is the belief that immigrant students perform poorly because of their immigrant backgrounds. This is misguided. As a former teacher and now researcher of immigrant families, I am familiar with concerns about low academic achievement among immigrant students. However, as my work shows, immigrant students face barriers beyond their …

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There’s a new addiction on campus: Problematic Internet Use (PIU)

Susan M. Snyder, Georgia State University; Jennifer E. O’Brien, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and Wen Li, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Problematic Internet Use is now considered to be a behavioral addiction with characteristics that are similar to substance use disorders. Individuals with PIU may have difficulty reducing their Internet use, may be preoccupied with the Internet or may lie to conceal their use. A recent study that I coauthored with UNC Chapel Hill doctoral students Wen Li and Jennifer O’Brien and UNC professor Matthew O. Howard examines this new behavioral addiction. Perhaps not surprisingly, …

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A dean’s plea: let students discover knowledge without pressure to impress

Joann McKenna, Bentley University Is today’s competitive environment making high school students pursue a polished resume and not their passion? As a university vice president and an admissions dean, we’ve just finished contacting students whom we did admit, did not admit and would have liked to admit, but simply couldn’t. Regardless of outcome, each group had in its midst students who have been caught up in the growing phenomenon of credentialism, a practice of relying on formal qualifications, that too often undermines what should be four wonderful years of self-discovery in high school. More than a numbers game Whether it’s …

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Why commencement still matters

Ben Keppel, University of Oklahoma We have entered one of the most pleasant rites of spring and summer – commencement season. As a teacher at the University of Oklahoma for more than 20 years, I attend our ceremonies once every three years as part of my faculty responsibilities. Though my attendance is a service obligation of my department and my university, I inevitably end the evening vividly remembering the excellence in performance and character that I have witnessed over the past year. I attend commencement – now without complaint – because I recognize that I need its ritual and ceremony …

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Is your child taking a test? When is the right time?

Francesca Gino, Harvard Business School Standardized tests have become the primary tool for determining a student’s academic ability. Legislators and administrators use test data to evaluate the effectiveness of schooling on children and create curriculum. Their use is supported by two fundamental assumptions: that the tests do not have a bias, and that they accurately assess a student’s academic knowledge. A typical standardized test assesses a student’s knowledge base in an academic domain, such as science, mathematics or reading. When taking a standardized test, it is assumed that the substance of the test and its administration will be the same …

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How the justice system fails us after police shootings

Caren Morrison, Georgia State University Two weeks ago, the police officer who shot Laquan McDonald in Chicago was charged with first-degree murder. Since then, the police superintendent was fired, and the Department of Justice announced that it will begin a large-scale investigation into the Chicago Police Department. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, one of the police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray is standing trial. You might think these high-profile cases mark a turning point in the nation’s response to fatal police violence. But 1,058 people have been killed by police this year to date alone, and most of the …

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When researchers ask for data on penalization of black kids, schools resist, cover up

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**   Muhammad Khalifa, Michigan State University & Felecia Briscoe, University of Texas at San Antonio Students of color are more likely to be suspended. Rod Library, CC BY That students of color bear the brunt of the zero tolerance discipline policies in schools has been well-established. What is not so well known is that some school administrations are actually complicit in this act of …

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The growing link between intelligence communities and academia

Scott Firsing, Monash University The idea of university professors or students working with the FBI or CIA probably makes you raise your eyebrows. But then perhaps you’re picturing someone like the fictional Henry McCord in Madam Secretary . He’s a Georgetown theology professor who was asked to plant a bug for the National Security Agency (NSA) at the home of a scholar believed to be connected to a terrorist. Such covert operations do happen. But mostly, professors will be called to deliver a guest lecture to agents or a university will be contracted to help with research. This is true …

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Listening, not testing, will improve children’s vocabulary

James Law, Newcastle University Every few months a story appears about the declining speech and language skills of children arriving in primary school. The epithet “the daily grunt” was invented by one newspaper to capture the lack of communication between parent and child, implying it caused poor communication skills and a lack of “school readiness”. Now a new report by the UK school regulator Ofsted – its first on the early years – has called for children to start school at two years old, in part to help those from lower-income backgrounds who arrive at primary school with poor reading …

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