But You Speak Great English! Challenging the Dominant Narratives of the International Student

Student affairs scholarship and practice take a deficit-based approach to understanding the experience of international students at U.S. colleges and universities. In this article, I reframe the challenges that international students face from a resiliency-based viewpoint, highlighting the strengths of international students and focusing on what institutions could do better to serve their needs. By challenging assumptions about international students, I hope to inspire student affairs professionals to adjust their programs and services to support the inherent resilience of international students, rather than reinforce stereotypical notions of what it means to be an international student in the U.S

The Life-cycle Impact of Alternative Higher Education Finance Systems in Ireland

With increasing numbers of young people participating in higher education in Ireland and a heavy reliance of higher education institutions on State funding, the introduction of an alternative finance system for Ireland has been muted over the past number of years. However, no study has been conducted to gauge the potential impact of such measures. In this paper we utilise a dynamic microsimulation model developed for Ireland to simulate the impact of both an income contingent loan system (ICL) and a graduate tax system from a fiscal and redistributional viewpoint and to analyse the repayment length under the former system. Our results suggest that an ICL system could be more equitable, while the graduate tax system could be a better alternative from a fiscal viewpoint. The results also illustrate the importance of the interest rate attached to any future student loan system within Ireland from a fiscal viewpoint

Software engineering ethics

Software engineering ethics is reviewed. The following subject areas are covered: lack of a system viewpoint; arrogance of PC DOS software vendors; violation od upward compatibility; internet worm; internet worm revisited; student cheating and company hiring interviews; computing practitioners and the commodity market; new projects and old programming languages; schedule and budget; and recent public domain comments

Promoting Justice in the Classroom: Looking Beyond the Label to See the Individual

Christian educators are faced with the task of promoting and encouraging justice from the viewpoint of Christ as they encounter the broad strokes of diversity within their classrooms and schools. Following Christ means that the Christian educator must look beyond the labels that have been applied by the religious and secular to see each student as made in the image of God. This article presents a paradigm that recognizes the worth of each individual within the context of the student’s background knowledge, language abilities, academic achievement, and behavior (BLAB) instead of the singularly focused labels that marginalize students

Knowledge Spaces and Learning Spaces

How to design automated procedures which (i) accurately assess the knowledge of a student, and (ii) efficiently provide advices for further study? To produce well-founded answers, Knowledge Space Theory relies on a combinatorial viewpoint on the assessment of knowledge, and thus departs from common, numerical evaluation. Its assessment procedures fundamentally differ from other current ones (such as those of S.A.T. and A.C.T.). They are adaptative (taking into account the possible correctness of previous answers from the student) and they produce an outcome which is far more informative than a crude numerical mark. This chapter recapitulates the main concepts underlying Knowledge Space Theory and its special case, Learning Space Theory. We begin by describing the combinatorial core of the theory, in the form of two basic axioms and the main ensuing results (most of which we give without proofs). In practical applications, learning spaces are huge combinatorial structures which may be difficult to manage. We outline methods providing efficient and comprehensive summaries of such large structures. We then describe the probabilistic part of the theory, especially the Markovian type processes which are instrumental in uncovering the knowledge states of individuals. In the guise of the ALEKS system, which includes a teaching component, these methods have been used by millions of students in schools and colleges, and by home schooled students. We summarize some of the results of these applications

University Trademarks and “Mixed Speech” on College Campuses: A Case Study of Gerlich v. Leath and Student Free Speech Rights

Higher education has long been a fundamental building block upon which American democracy is based. The guarantee of free speech is itself a revered liberty in the American polity; it has, in turn, served as the catalyst for higher education. Recent events on college campuses continue to reexamine universities’ role in their students’ education and push the legal boundaries on student speech rights. In many instances, however, students’ speech and expressive viewpoint conflicts with that of other students. Other times, students’ speech conflicts with the expressive interests of their university. This Article examines the latter instance in the context of university trademarks. Gerlich v. Leath, a recent decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, serves as a case study to elaborate on the complexities that arise when analyzing free speech rights in instances where students’ expressive interests often compete with, and sometimes conflict with, those of public colleges and universities.

Information technology team projects in higher education: an international viewpoint

It is common to find final or near final year undergraduate Information Technology students undertaking a substantial development project; a project where the students have the opportunity to be fully involved in the analysis, design, and development of an information technology service or product. This involvement has been catalyzed and prepared for during their previous studies where the students have been told and shown how to develop similar systems. It is the belief that only through this ‘real’ project do they get the chance to experience something similar to what is expected of them when they embark on their chosen profession; that is, as an information technology professional. The high value of ‘near real life’ educational experience is recognized by many universities across the globe. The aim of this paper is to present examples from three countries - Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa, of the delivery of these team, capstone or industrial experience projects; their curricula and management processes. Academics from institutions in each of the countries share experiences, challenges and pitfalls encountered during the delivery of these information technology projects within their institutions. An overview of each institution’s strategies is provided and highlights specific issues such as the selection of projects, allocation of teams to projects, legal requirements, assessment methods, challenges and benefits. The pedagogies presented here are not exhaustive; however, the three institutions do have in common the implementation of a combination of constructivism with a community of practice approach in delivering the project unit. The three universities recognize the need for industrial experience and learning of applied skills, and therefore make these projects a compulsory part of the curriculum. The projects tend to be real life business problems which are solved over a period of two semesters, and in the case of Cape Town it could be two consecutive years of two semesters each. These projects tend to involve practical development (for example databases and web sites). The process of project-to-team allocation is generally similar in all cases. Despite their differences, team work related problems are quite similar in all three cases presented, and seem to appear as a result of team work complexity, and the number of stakeholders involved. The intention of this paper is not to propose solutions to these problems (as these would be context dependent), but to draw the attention to the main problem categories for similar schemes, these are; • project selection, • management of students, • management of academic staff, • student team motivation, • equality and diversity, • passengers, and • assessment. Furthermore, it is not the intention of the authors to portray one approach as better than another, however, the approaches are representative of how team projects are being delivered across the globe, and in particular, in the contributing institutions. It is hoped that the assimilation and dissemination of information regarding the various approaches presented will nurture further discussion, and open communication across the globe with the view to enhancing the teaching and learning experience of such projects

Property and the Public Forum: An Essay on Christian Legal Society v. Martinez

Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is situated at the intersection of various, and arguably conflicting, lines of doctrine. In ultimately holding that the Hastings College of Law could decline to recognize the student chapter of the Christian Legal Society due to the group’s refusal to accept members who did not conform their beliefs and conduct to the principles of CLS (particularly regarding homosexuality),the Supreme Court was required to sort through a tangle of precedents involving free speech limitations in nonpublic for a, religious groups’ rights of equal access to school facilities, and freedom of expressive association. Perhaps less obviously, however, CLS also stands in relation to Pleasant Grove City v. Summum and Salazar v. Buono, two other recent Roberts Court cases. In CLS, as in Summum and Buono, the Supreme Court turned to property - both as a metaphor and as a doctrinal tool - to resolve difficult and multifaceted constitutional questions. Although the relationship between First Amendment rights and property rights is a long-standing one, the Court seems to have turned to property with a renewed enthusiasm in these three recent cases. And although the property framework may appear to hold the promise of simplicity, neutrality, and avoidance of difficult policy questions, this brief essay, prepared for a special online symposium issue of the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy, argues that it fails to deliver on those promises. Instead, property analysis obscures the complex First Amendment issues behind seemingly easy categorical judgments and grants the government virtually unlimited power to exclude undesired speakers and groups. Notwithstanding the Court’s approach, the crux of the issue is, and has always been, when First Amendment values should overcome the forum owner’s right to exclude. That is a question the Court seems increasingly loath to resolve

Client newsletters within Clinical Legal Education and their value to the student participants

The employment law client newsletter project (the Project) runs during each academic year within the Student Law Office (SLO) at Northumbria University. Under the supervision of their clinical supervisor the students research and design a newsletter for distribution to HR professionals employed by an external organisation. The students participate in the Project alongside their live client work. The aim of the Project is to enrich the students’ clinical experience and develop their skills whilst at the same time update and educate the client recipient. Through a pilot study the value of participating in the Project is explored. The findings of the study suggest that the students develop their professional skills from a different perspective, increase their employment law knowledge, gain the commercial awareness of the importance of a well drafted newsletter in practice, and really value the experience

Leaving the mainstream behind? Uncovering subjective understandings of economics instructors' roles

In the wake of the economic crisis, a number of student organizations and researchers highlighted the lack of pluralism and heterodox approaches in economics curricula. The relevance of pluralism becomes clear once set within the implications of a given scientific discourse on reality (e.g. economics and policy making). This study explores the role of instructors in co-constructing the pluralism discourse and debates, while recognizing the role of institutional obstacles to change within the discipline. An empirical field study is conducted with lecturers in introductory economics courses at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business where they place themselves within the pluralism discourse via a Q-study - a mixed method employed for studying subjectivity in socially contested topics. In Q, a set of statements undergo a sorting procedure on a relative ranking scale, followed by factor-rendering. Four voices are identified: Moderate Pluralist, Mainstreamers, Responsible Pluralists, and Applied Pluralists. The implications of their ideas are discussed from the viewpoint of discursive institutionalism, stressing the role of ideas and discourse in institutional change. Although a discursive readiness for changes towards more pluralism is claimed, strategies for overcoming the difficulties on the institutional level need to be developed