Academic Duties Research Articles

A STUDY ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE TEACHERS: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BONGAIGAON DISTRICT OF ASSAM

Teachers are the main key of any educational institution. They play a very important role in the development of human resources. A sound mental health is a pre requisite of teachers in every stage of education, without which no one can perform their duties and responsibilities properly. Higher education is considered as one of the important stages of education. The teachers of this stage have to play an important role for creating man power in different fields. At present the teachers of higher level are entrusted many extra duties and responsibilities apart from their academic duties. So, it is necessary to maintain their physical health as well as their mental health. A sound mental health of the college teacher will help to create sound mental health of the students. Both the mentally healthy teachers and students will be able to create a sound educational environment for proper development of the society as well as the nation. Therefore, the investigator has tried to make an effort to conduct the present study. The sample size of the study was 120 college teachers. The objectives are-1. To study the level of mental health of College Teachers. 2. To find out the difference between male teachers and female teachers in regard with mental health. The present study reveals that 28% teachers have very good mental health. It is also found that 49% teachers have average/good mental health. The present study reveals that 23% teachers have poor mental health. The present study also reveals that there is no significant difference between male and female college teachers in relation to mental health especially in Bongaigaon district.

Challenges and Opportunities of Education and Scientific Research in the United Arab Emirates

This study addressed the challenges and opportunities of education and scientific research in the United Arab Emirates. It discussed the relationship between educational outcomes, scientific research, and real-world requirements. It also highlighted the density of curricula and the accumulation of knowledge, noting that current educational curricula do not align with the demands of e-learning, which has emerged as a strong and new system in future education. The study emphasized the role of higher education and scientific research institutions in advancing and keeping pace with advanced countries. It stressed the importance of academic and research collaboration among higher education institutions, academic accreditation for programs, and the required skills for each specialization to serve both learners and the country. Regarding scientific research, the study observed a continuous decline due to reduced funding for research and decreased allocated funds by universities. It also discussed faculty members' challenges in their academic and administrative duties. The study concluded by proposing innovative solutions to address the challenges of education and scientific research in the United Arab Emirates.

Why might home-based work duties be perceived by female academics as extreme? A qualitative study

PurposeThis study aims to answer the following question: Why might home-based work duties be perceived by female academics as extreme?Design/methodology/approachWe employed a qualitative research method through semi-structured interviews with 33 female academics from three public universities selected from amongst 26 public institutions of higher education in Egypt. Thematic analysis was subsequently used to determine the main ideas in the transcripts.FindingsWe find that the sudden implementation of home-based work makes the academic duties of female academics extreme. Moreover, the following four factors help explain the extremity/intensity of the home-based work of female academics: mental and physical fatigue resulting from WFH, the inability to adequately meet family commitments when working from home (WFH), poor resources for home-based work and reduced ability to focus on the obstacles facing them in their academic career.Originality/valueThis paper contributes by filling a gap in human resources management and higher education in which empirical studies on female academics WFH and extreme academic duties have been limited so far.

Multiphase entrepreneurship: An academic reflection

Teaching, research, and service have traditionally been the common denominators of faculty professional responsibilities at academic institutions. In contrast, entrepreneurship has historically been considered separate from these responsibilities, often viewed as an aspirational goal above and beyond the standard expectations. This situation arises, in part, from the fact that most academic environments do not usually offer the conditions conducive for faculty to commercialize their ideas through entrepreneurship. Yet, integrating entrepreneurship with academic duties offers a unique opportunity to enhance the impact of one's work beyond the scholarly community, aligning well with the current public-facing and, the innovation-driven landscape of higher education. For faculty to succeed in academic entrepreneurship, balancing and harmonizing entrepreneurial goals with traditional responsibilities as members of the university is crucial. Furthermore, faculty need to understand the product market, the related tech-economic factors, the importance of industrial and academic partnerships, and the required financial and workforce support to achieve successful entrepreneurship outcomes. In this article, I illustrate that embracing entrepreneurship not only complements but also enriches traditional academic duties, offering a means to apply research in addressing real-world challenges. Speaking from personal experience, I recount how I set the goal early in my academic career to make entrepreneurship a significant part of my professional life, how this decision was informed by my research on multiphase reaction engineering, an area replete with examples of successful industrial processes, and how this guided my path forward in developing commercial processes of my own. I aim to elucidate the challenges of academic entrepreneurship through the lens of my entrepreneurial efforts. Through my journey spanning four decades, I highlight the rewards of academic entrepreneurship, including enhanced research applicability, increased funding opportunities, and the personal satisfaction of seeing one's work contribute to societal advancement. This journey, punctuated and highlighted with a multitude of opportunities, challenges, and experiences, has yielded several industrial processes, made possible by the support of strong, capable teams of creative and dedicated graduate students and post-doctoral research associates. I have also benefited considerably from the support of the Ohio State University (OSU) in matters such as patent filing, licensing, and startup spin-offs. The strength of the industrial partnerships I have played a part in forging has facilitated the potential realization of commercializing selected technologies—the ultimate goal of academic entrepreneurship. This article aims to demystify the challenges of academic entrepreneurship and inspire my academic colleagues to consider how they, too, can weave entrepreneurial endeavors into the tapestry of their professional careers. The journey of academic entrepreneurship is not only about achieving commercial success but also about synergistically enriching one's teaching and research goals with the dynamism of real-world problem-solving in ways that make a lasting impact on both academia and industry.

Analisis SWOT Pembelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam pada Kurikulum Merdeka di Sekolah Penggerak

This research aims to identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats in PAI learning at SMP 11 Ma'arif Bangsalsari Jember. Thus, the school can find appropriate and measurable steps to make decisions. In this study, a qualitative research approach was used with the SWOT matrix analysis method. The data used were taken from respondents who had filled out a questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The data were then grouped based on SWOT aspects and analyzed using the SWOT matrix approach. The results of this study show that in the internal aspect, the independent curriculum gives freedom to PAI teachers to develop a learning process that can be adapted to the needs of students. However, the weakness found is the limited resources and facilities in the institution that greatly affect the learning process. In the external aspect, PAI learning has a wider opportunity to develop Islamic religious values according to individual abilities. However, the threat is that differences in interpretation between teachers can cause conflicts that lead to disunity, which can reduce the intensity and quality of PAI learning. Based on these internal and external aspects, there are several steps that PAI teachers should take. First, teachers need to innovate in PAI learning optimally. Second, teachers need to expand relationships with the community and clerics to improve social competence. Third, PAI teachers must have enthusiasm and continue to improve professionalism in carrying out academic duties. Fourth, teachers need to increase support from the education office and school leadership in facilitating PAI learning activities. Fifth, PAI teachers need to improve their ability and cohesiveness in understanding the implementation of the independent curriculum. Sixth, teachers need to improve quality in the realm of professionalism and understanding of the concept of religious moderation. Seventh, teachers need to be equipped with skills in developing interesting and effective PAI learning for students. Eighth, teachers need to communicate with school leaders and the education office to provide and prepare supporting facilities in PAI learning.

Desplazarse entre la ética y el vacío

Reviewed book: Lo Posthumano. Braidotti, R. (2015). Editorial Gedisa. With Lo Posthumano, Rosi Braidotti continues analyzing the position of ethics and philosophy for the construction of a transdiscipline that does not get bogged down in academic duties and that retakes the human sense for the benefit of society.

Three-Tiered Communities of Practice and Professional Development Model

Many global studies indicate academicians in higher education institutions are alone in their development journey. When the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia had set in motion Higher Education 4.0, focus was on academicians’ Professional Development (PD), to adapt Learning and Teaching 4.0. This is a qualitative case study on a Malaysian private higher educational institution that fostered PD by creating organizational Communities of Practice (CoP). Focus group discussions with fourteen experienced academicians who were actively involved in many CoPs, revealed in-depth knowledge on the workings of CoPs. The results were further reviewed by two subject matter experts in CoP, a Malaysian professor from an esteemed national university and an international consultant on group mentoring for organizational development. The study found CoPs benefitted the academicians to improve and sustain technologically advanced pedagogical methods and other academic duties towards Education 4.0. Additionally, organizational development was evident because of the CoPs, as these academicians’ won awards at exhibitions, produced more publications, improved the overall standards of teaching and classroom management. This study revealed organizational CoPs have three levels of workings to be nurtured for its efficiency and sustainability, the individual CoP members, the CoP and the organization where its embedded, thus the development of the Three-Tiered CoP and PD model.

The High Vocational Innovation Scholarship Program: A TVET Curriculum Continuous Quality Improvement Using Feedback from Stakeholders

This research aimed to 1) evaluate the TVET curriculum of Vocational Education Institutions participating in the high vocational innovation scholarship program, the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), Thailand by applying the CIPPIEST Model and 2) analyse the feedback from this evaluation process. Key informants from 60 vocational education institutions in all regions of Thailand and participate in the high vocational innovation scholarship program for Batch 1 (Academic Year 2019) and Batch 2 (Academic Year 2020) under the EEF. Each institution consists of 1 college administrator and 1 teacher or instructor who perform academic duties and implement the TVET curriculum in the institution, totalling 120 persons. Instrumentation involved a curriculum evaluation form containing items based on the CIPPIEST Model and administered online with google forms to facilitate the sample’s responses. Data analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. Results of the evaluation with the CIPPIEST Model showed the overall mean at a high level. The 3 top-ranked issues rated at a high level were sustainability evaluation; product evaluation; and effectiveness evaluation, respectively. The 4 lower-ranked issues also rated at a high level were transportability evaluation; process evaluation; context evaluation and input evaluation, respectively. Additionally, it was found that educational institutions with leadership-oriented administrators are able to lead better and inspire their personnel to work together successfully; drive for co-development of educational curriculum that fits the needs, proficiency, social and cultural contexts of the local community where the institution is located; and also establish collaboration among personnel and external agencies to participate in the management of education effectively, thus bringing about an innovative and unique curriculum at a particular educational institution.

Exploring the Impact of Techno-Complexity and Techno-Uncertainty on Academic Staff's Job Performance in the Era of Social Networking Stressors

Academic staff members are experiencing a paradigm shift in Malaysia's modern academic environment. It is becoming more and more important to investigate the complex aspects that affect academic staff members' job performance as the academic environment has been altered by the ubiquitous influence of digitalization and social networking pressures. This study explores the intricate relationship between techno-complexity, techno-uncertainty as a SNS stressors, and job performance as experienced by academic personnel through a comprehensive approach that makes use of the Social Strain Outcome Theory. Based on a large dataset of 391 participants, rigid structural equation modeling, or Smart Partial Least Squares (PLS) is employed to investigate the intricate relationships between these factors. The study's findings provide vital information regarding the challenges experienced by Malaysian academic employees, especially in light of the country's rapidly changing digital landscape. It reveals the various manners in which job performance is influenced by techno-complexity and techno-uncertainty, which are fueled by social networking pressures. This information forms the basis for well-informed measures, and the creation of policies to improve the productivity of academic staff members in a digital environment. All things considered, this study provides a sophisticated investigation of the changing dynamics in higher education, illuminating the flexible approaches required to traverse the always-changing landscape of academic duties.

Relatability's role in formative assessment and feedback practices of young Black academics in an access university

Transformation and diversification efforts in South African higher education system continue thirty years into democracy. Access universities play a crucial role in attracting students from previously excluded groups to higher education, specifically Black learners from poor schools with the least resources. Black lecturers in access universities, through shared cultural identities and backgrounds, carry an unspoken responsibility, beyond academic duties, to develop inclusive assessment and feedback practices. This unspoken responsibility must be carried out without compromising academic curriculum requirements and became acutely important during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Through transdisciplinary pragmatism in pedagogical practice, relatability ensures that students engage in meaning-making through participation in the development of solutions that address hyper-localised problems, thus contextualising science in real-world contexts. This study evaluates the role of relatability in the development of inclusive, transdisciplinary, and pragmatic formative assessment and feedback practices for student success in higher education. It does this by comparing the practices and experiences of young, Black lecturers in an access university. Our formative assessment and feedback methodologies and analysis of our teaching portfolios are presented to demonstrate how our personal student experiences have shaped more inclusive practices. In the discussion, we highlight the influence of unspoken responsibilities on Black lecturers to develop student outcomes beyond academic success through assessment and feedback. We seek to highlight how relatability can be leveraged to improve formative assessment and feedback practices towards strengthening inclusive teaching and learning for students’ academic success.

“Academic-Mothers” in Higher Education with Adult Children: Navigating Social Isolation, Shifting Households, and Professional Challenges During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the daily loss of lives, changing people’s mobility and relatedness, as well as bringing about disruption and transformation of health, education, economic, and cultural systems globally. The pandemic mitigation strategies, which encompassed domestic isolation, intensified household interactions and activities. Recent global studies indicate that the pandemic exposed long-standing inequities and vulnerabilities of systematically marginalized groups. It has also been argued that in academia the professional disenfranchisement and rights conflict between genders encompass differences in workload and professional support. In the South African higher education context, the pandemic created uncertainties for academic mothers who not only navigated these roles but who had diverse lived experiences of fluctuating COVID-19 infection rates and lockdown restrictions, changing household spatial arrangements, financial constraints, mental health challenges and the impact of civil unrest at the time. The disparate toll of the pandemic on academics, specifically those parenting children, performing gender-based household roles while simultaneously engaging in multiple academic duties, requires more attention in the South African context. This research article presents two autoethnographic accounts of the professional and social challenges experienced during various phases of the lockdown.

Education on Personal Financial Management for the Generation Z Personal Fianance Management Education in Tanjung Duren Village, Jakarta

The young generation is the driving force of a country's economy, such as Indonesia, based on the 2020 population census of 279.2 million people, where the proportion of generation Z reached 27.94%. Where as many young people as Gen Z must be equipped with good financial literacy through financial management knowledge that supports the nation's progress. Universities play an important role in helping society, especially generation Z, by providing financial management education. The contribution of universities plays an active role in helping generation Z understand how to manage their finances effectively. Apart from fulfilling their academic duties, universities also play an active role in applying their professional expertise in the field of economics.The main aim of this community service is to equip generation Z with the importance of financial literacy so that they can use financial resources more optimally amidst very diverse and tempting promotions and consumption offers. Community engagement activities in the Tanjung Duren area of ​​Jakarta, where the majority are generation Z, will be carried out through seminars that focus on long-term financial planning, expenditure analysis and debt management.

To read or not to read

Reading continues to be a critical skill for success in university studies. However, students have competing interests and activities which make academic reading less of a priority. The aim of the study is to explore the reasons why students do or do not engage with set reading tasks using an extant survey instrument. The literature highlights several factors, including a lack of interest in the academic subject, family duties and work obligations, which contribute to this behaviour and indicates how it might possibly be addressed. The theoretical foundations of this work stem from areas such as strategic learning, reading non-compliance, curriculum structure, and student engagement. The aim of the study is to explore the reasons why students do or do not engage with set reading tasks using an extant survey instrument. Building on the literature which discusses why students do not read, the pilot study presented in this paper examines the reading behaviours amongst a group of first year business students studying in block mode at Victoria University (Australia). The paper explores the implications for teaching practice and the potential for further research.

Women academics experiences of maternity leave in the neoliberal university: Unmasking governmentality

AbstractAddressing a paucity of large‐scale studies about women academics maternity experiences of leave in academia and under‐theorizing the influence of neoliberalism on this phenomenon, this research provides one of the largest studies of women's experiences of maternity leave in the academic sector. Secondary analysis of a subset of data from a global online mixed method survey with 553 women academics (82% UK, 18% international) was undertaken to explore experiences and implications of maternity leave for women. The findings reveal that women academics continued to undertake core academic work duties during maternity leave such as writing grant applications and journal articles, supervising doctoral students, teaching, and responding to emails. We document four distinct orientations adopted by women during maternity leave that characterize neoliberal subjectivity and use Foucauldian governmentality to unmask the inculcation of such norms. Our analysis shows how neoliberal ideology has gained a hegemonic position in academia that leaves little space for maternity leave, resulting in many women effectively relinquishing their maternity rights to sustain academic productivity. We argue that neoliberalism and new managerialism within the academy undermine policies to support women's maternity rights. The findings of this study will be of interest to scholars and Human Resources professionals, academic mothers, managers, and policymakers who are championing change in the sector.

The gendered use of cronyism in academic contexts: does social exchange really matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how cronyism is employed by some married female faculty to secure workplace rights and privileges.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design is employed and interviews were conducted with 32 female academics working at four different universities.FindingsThe narrative demonstrates the gendered use of cronyism at work – pre-COVID-19, during which female academics had to work full-time and be present on school campuses, and after COVID-19 pandemic, when academic working conditions changed due to the lockdown of university campuses and the reliance on remote online protocols to fulfil academic duties. The paper shows an increased use of cronyism as a mechanism to reduce heavy workloads. This type of cronyism is known as the expectation of mutual favour cronyism, which means that benefits are exchanged between a female academic and the chair of her department and/or the school rector, but the interests of the university they work in are not taken into consideration.Originality/valueVirtually, no research exists on the sociocultural determinants of nepotism that undermine the professional performance of female academics at work. The authors draw on social exchange theory and the norm of negative reciprocity to identify the conditions under which social capital is undermined. The results have important implications for theory, practice and future research.

A Study on Prof. Dr. Osman Kaya's Life and Scientific Studies

Biography studies are also included in the research studies in the history of veterinary medicine.
 It is very valuable in terms of the formation of the history of the profession that people who are known for their contributions to the veterinary medicine profession in the process they live in are written down and presented in a tidy article. Many biographical books (Berkman, 1945; Erk and Dinçer, 1945; Sinmez and Yaşar 2011) and articles (Yaşar 1997; Yaşar 1998a, 1998b; Yaşar et al.,2010; Sinmez et al., 2012; Yaşar et al., 2020) have been published due to the fact that it has an important and valuable place in Veterinary History research. Similarly, it seems that it has become a tradition to write biographies of faculty members who retired or died in order to establish the history of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Veterinary Faculty (Arslan, 1999; Arslan, 2004; Arslan, 2008a, 2008b).
 In this respect, who carries out his academic and scientific studies in Aydın Adnan Menderes University Veterinary Faculty Microbiology Department and contributes to the training of many scientists in his field writing the biography of Prof. Dr. Osman Kaya is also seen as an important debt of loyalty for the history of the profession.
 Osman Kaya, who provided not only academic contributions but also support and services at the point of development and structuring of the university, also served as the Vice Rector of Aydın Adnan Menderes University. While carrying out his academic and administrative duties, Kaya could not get rid of his cancer disease, which was still under treatment, and was sent off on his last journey on February 03, 2017.
 The aim of this study is to the "national and international studies", and "academic and administrative duties" carried out in the veterinary microbiology discipline to reveal Prof. Dr. Osman Kaya's contributions to the history of science and the world of science. In addition to this, it also to contribute in terms of bibliography by giving the works in an orderly and collective way.

The Calamity Among Medical Students: Sleep Deprivation and Dry Eye Disease

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Medical students’ burden upon academic and professional duties often blinded them from attending to themselves. Piling works and nightshifts interfere ferociously with their self-care behavior, including adequate sleep. The matter not only disrupts concentration and consciousness but also tolls the eye by reducing tear secretion. Hence, the present study urgently assesses sleep quality and dry eye disease (DED) among medical students.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The cross-sectional study observed 172 eyes among medical students in Indonesia. We assessed sleep quality and dry eye disease through Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Schirmer test. Independent statistician analyzed the data with chi-square.</p><p><strong>Result: </strong>From the eligible samples, there is a dominancy of females (55.8%) with poor sleep quality (55.2%). There is no significant difference in DED or sleep quality across gender though they lean toward females. Contrarily, poor sleepers significantly correspond to 2.96 times more risk of DED than an adequate sleeper.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Medical students’ well-being is crucial. Aside from the academic burden, institutions and individuals shall strongly emphasize better sleep habits and eye care.</p>

Book Review: David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything - A New History of Humanity, Penguin Books: London 2021.

The introduction to The Dawn of Everything describes how it took anthropologist, activist, public intellectual of international repute, and professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics, David Graeber, and archaeologist David Wengrow more than ten years to complete. Undertaken originally as a diversion from their academic duties, its drafting became a daily occurrence. The book is dedicated to Graeber, who died on 2 September 2020, just over three weeks after the book’s completion.

Opresja i sztuka myślenia

Zygmunt Bauman was unquestionably one of the most popular contemporary thinkers. His writings provoked not only worldwide acclaim but also severe criticism, while the complexities of his personal life gave rise to international controversies. On the basis of three recently published biographies of Bauman, as well as a personal acquaintance and scholarly cooperation, in this paper I attempt to explain the sources of his astounding popularity, but also try to dispel mysteries and controversies surrounding his difficult carrier, especially those pertaining to the critical assessments of the scholarly quality of his work. I argue that having been released from academic duties, gradually and ever more boldly he abandoned the regime of scientific explanatory poetics in favour of an interpretative narrative of the social world, helping himself to the results of science, but also to idiosyncratically read works of poetry and fiction. Flouting academic orthodoxies, Bauman developed a unique art of transforming scientific knowledge into wisdom, and transformed himself from a scientist into a sage.

Academics in Lockdown: A Gendered Perspective on Self-Esteem in Academia during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

This qualitative research explores the experiences and sense-making of self-worth of 1857 South African women academics during the enforced pandemic lockdown between March and September 2020; the study was conducted through an inductive, content analysis process. Since worldwide lockdowns were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, women academics, in particular, have reported a unique set of challenges from working from home. Gender inequality within the scientific enterprise has been well documented; however, the cost to female academics’ self-esteem, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, has yet to be fully realized. The findings of the study include negative emotional experiences related to self-worth, engagement in social comparisons, and the fear of judgement by colleagues, which were exacerbated by peer pressure. Finally, the sense-making of academic women’s self-esteem as it relates to their academic identity was reported. Beyond being the first comprehensive national study on the topic, the study’s insights are more broadly useful for determining what support, accommodation, and assistance is needed for academic women to sustain performance in their academic and research duties at universities worldwide.