Academic Pathways Research Articles

Living the consciousness: navigating the academic pathway for our children and communities

This article chronicles how the authors, two Indigenous activist-academics, live into their consciousness, privileges, and responsibilities by realizing their roles through genealogical reflection. In particular, they focus on their responsibilities as change agents because of their reciprocal and interdependent roles as community members, as husband–wife partners, and as parents to their two children. Through the use of critical self-reflection, photography, and mo‘olelo (a Native Hawaiian method of sharing inter-connected stories), the authors present a radically different and Indigenous approach to leadership, scholarship, and engagement that is rooted in genealogical connections to people, place, and knowledge systems. Though the authors experience tension as their Indigenous values rub up against those of the Western world of academia, their story exemplifies their resilience as the result of the love and commitment they have to their families and communities.

Data Science in Healthcare: Implications for Early Career Investigators.

The confluence of science, technology, and medicine in our dynamic digital era has spawned new data applications to develop prescriptive analytics, to improve healthcare personalization and precision medicine, and to automate the reporting of health data for clinical decisions.1 Data science in health care has seen recent and rapid progress along 3 paths: (1) through big data via the aggregation of large and complex data sets including electronic medical records, social media, genomic databases, and digitized physiological data from wireless mobile health devices2; (2) through new open-access initiatives that seek to leverage the availability of clinical trial, research, and citizen science data sources for data sharing3; and (3) in analytic techniques particularly for big data, including machine learning and artificial intelligence that may enhance the analyses of both structured and unstructured data.4 As new data sets are created, analyzed, and become increasingly available, several key questions emerge including the following: What is the quality of unstructured data generation? Will the use of nonstandardized methods in data processing with traditional software and hardware lead to data fragmentation and analyses that are nonreproducible? Will healthcare systems incorporate and use big data especially from new publically and patient-generated sources? How will physicians and researchers learn from new open-sourced data and big-data analytics? And ultimately, How can they acquire the skills to create a knowledge translation in data sciences?5 Practicing in an era of continuous payment reform and decline in research funding, early career investigators are challenged to keep up with the accelerating pace of change in medicine, all while being expected to provide meaningful contributions through productive clinical, educational, and research experiences.6 In this perspective, we aim to highlight how data science can catalyze professional advancement and discuss the implications of big data, open access, …

Increasing the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception in general practice: the Australian Contraceptive ChOice pRoject (ACCORd) cluster randomised controlled trial protocol

IntroductionThe increased use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, has the potential to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion rates. However, use of LARCs in...

Narrow or Broad: Diverse Academic Pathways to a Career in Fisheries Science and Management

Narrow or Broad: Diverse Academic Pathways to a Career in Fisheries Science and Management

Higher Education Administration, and Leadership: Current Assumptions, Responsibilities, and Considerations

This article profiles the evolving role of educational administrators and leaders in higher education. Four guiding assumptions for leaders are presented related to social impact, community engagement, labor market success, and institutional stability. Then, seven key administration and leadership responsibilities are described. They include planning, academic entrepreneurship, data-driven decision making, revenue generation, creating professional and academic pathways for learners, curriculum development, and business development and marketing. This is followed by a set of pragmatic considerations that higher education administrators and leaders may consider in their professional practices. The considerations provide a framework for interrogating leadership assumptions and responsibilities, a framework that can be applied to analyze additional responsibilities as they emerge in relation to the assumptions that accompany them. The considerations pose intended and unintended possibilities for leaders to use to inform decision making, maintain principled leadership practices, and to challenge unexamined beliefs and values.

How Do Second-Generation Immigrant Students Access Higher Education? The Importance of Vocational Routes to Higher Education in Switzerland, France, and Germany

Abstract We analyse the access to different institutional pathways to higher education for second-generation students, focusing on youths that hold a higher-education entrance certificate. The alternative vocational pathway appears to compensate to some degree, compared to the traditional academic one, for North-African and Southern-European youths in France, those from Turkey in Germany, and to a lesser degree those from Portugal, Turkey, Ex-Yugoslavia, Albania/Kosovo in Switzerland. This is not the case in Switzerland for Western-European, Italian, and Spanish youths who indeed access higher education via the academic pathway more often than Swiss youths. Using youth panel and survey data, multinomial models are applied to analyse these pathway choices.

Towards a pragmatic research agenda for the PSS domain

The tenuous link between knowledge and processes of urban strategy-making leads to suboptimal plans, time delays and financial costs. The planning professional is ill-equipped to deal with fundamental urban challenges that threaten the quality and competiveness of cities and regions. For decades, Planning Support Systems (PSS) are being developed to address this challenge. The PSS research domain grew accordingly. Only recently did researchers start to focus more directly on how PSS are used (or not used) by planning practitioners. Understanding the real-life application of PSS is fundamental for addressing the challenges of knowledge use. This commentary argues that we need to go beyond the current simplistic understanding of several key concepts. It identifies academic pathways that further mature the conceptualization of PSS, of planning processes, of the participants and the relationship between them. The argument builds on ten years of full-time research in this domain and combines this with recent insights from other academic fields, such as group performance and behavior psychology. This provides us pathways towards a more realistic evaluation of how knowledge can regain its important role in urban planning.

The development of the Older Person's Nurse Fellowship: Education concept to delivery

BackgroundPreparing the nursing workforce to meet the challenges of an ageing population is a priority for many countries. The development of an Older Person's Nurse Fellowship (OPNF) programme for senior clinical nurses is an important innovation. ObjectivesThis article describes the philosophical development, delivery and early evaluation of the OPNF. DesignIn 2014, Health Education England funded 24 senior clinical nurses to participate in the OPNF. The Fellowship was designed to build clinical leadership and innovation capability and develop a network of nurses to influence local and national strategy for older people's care. The Fellows selected were drawn from mental health (n=4), community/primary care (n=9) and acute care (n=11). The twelve month programme consisted of two Masters-level modules, delivered through study days and e-learning. The first cohort (n=12) commenced the course in November 2014 with a module designed to enhance clinical knowledge and skills. MethodsEvaluation data were collected from the first cohort using anonymous surveys (n=11) and focus group interviews (n=9). Descriptive statistics are presented for the quantitative data and common themes are described in the qualitative data. ResultsThe overall satisfaction with the clinical module was high with a median score of 18/20 (range 17–20). Topics such as comprehensive geriatric assessment, frailty, pharmacology and cognitive assessment were regarded as highly relevant and most likely to result in a change to clinical practice. In the focus group interviews students discussed their learning experience in terms of: module specificity, peer-to-peer learning and using the OPNF as leverage for change. ConclusionsThe OPNF is a timely innovation and a positive commitment to developing an academic pathway for senior nurses. It marks an important step in the future development of the older person's nursing workforce.

Measuring Social Capital and Support Networks of Young Immigrants

<p class="apa">This paper addresses the importance of the diagnosis of “personal communities” as relational systems that may influence the academic pathways of young immigrants. As part of a longitudinal study of the academic persistence of young people in their transition from compulsory to post-compulsory education, a “personal network questionnaire” has been developed. This instrument allows the relational structure of students to be captured and represented, and the impact of this structure on educational outcomes to be analysed. It measures and explores the network of inter-relations with adults (family, educational and recreational professionals, etc.) and peers in different settings. The theoretical elements underpinning its design and implementation are the interweaving of the student social capital and social support system to which they have or may have access to, and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach as the methodological framework. This network approach is rendered highly significant and valuable for professionals in educational diagnosis to assess relational vulnerability and design programs of intervention and counseling. With graphic techniques, we can somewhat address this challenge by examining patterns in relational data, experimenting with these data and putting forward hypotheses.</p>

The development of sport psychology in Spain: The role played by sport institutions

This paper aims to emphasise the historical perspective of sport psychology (SP) in Spain. We present the development of the following three phases to explain the current moment in which SP is established in the European country: precursor, consolidation and projection. In addition, the collaboration between Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science and the Faculty of Psychology is emphasised through the graduate and post-graduate programmes. This paper further highlights the training plan of the Spanish Olympic Committee (Comité Olimpico Español), and the institutional support for the promotion of elite sport in Spain. Furthermore, the future of SP in Spain is addressed in relation to academic pathways, research, professionalism, technology and strategic plans. Conclusions are drawn and further development is warranted.

The changing funding environment for clinical academics

The changing funding environment for clinical academics

Peer-led live research demonstrations: challenging medical student misconceptions about research.

Modern health care provision is now fundamentally evidence based, meaning competency in academic medicine is integral to medical training. The Integrated Academic Training pathway provides focussed training in this area at a postgraduate level but no such provision exists at an undergraduate level. A number of peer-led academic societies have emerged across the UK to provide education and support for undergraduates but there is little evidence about the type of peer-led interventions that are effective. We report here the findings of one such peer-led organization, the Warwick Academic Medicine Society. We found that traditional educational interventions, including didactic lectures and small-group teaching, are effective at inspiring students regarding academic medicine but poor at translating this enthusiasm into sustained involvement in research. We find this disparity to be centred on misconceptions amongst students regarding the time and skills required to meaningfully contribute to a research project. Further, we introduce the concept of the Live Research Demonstration (LRD), a novel peer-led educational intervention which aims to address these misconceptions and improve involvement of students in research. Initial pilots of the LRD concept have shown significant promise and we recommend a larger trial across multiple localities to confirm its educational benefits.

Predicting Academic Success of Health Science Students for First Year Anatomy and Physiology

Students commencing tertiary education enter through a number of traditional and alternative academic pathways. As a result, tertiary institutions encounter a broad range of students, varying in demographic, previous education, characteristics and academic achievement. In recent years, the relatively constant increase in tertiary applications in Australia has not translated to an increase in student retention or graduate numbers. The Health Sciences discipline typically falls within this paradigm, prompting various approaches to promote academic success and overall student retention. In this study, the demographic and previous education of health science students at an Australian University, were analysed along with first year science grades from a core first year anatomy and physiology unit. A generalized linear model (GLM) demonstrated statistically significant relationships between performance in the unit (measured by grade point average) and year 12 Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) subjects (human biology and chemistry; p <0.001) and gender ( p <0.001). No significant performance correlation was observed with household socioeconomic status, as measured by socio-economic indexes for areas. Taken together, the results from this study facilitate estimation of academic success by some parameters prior to their commencement at University.

Articulating performance expectations for scholarship at an Australian regional university

With an academic workforce undergoing transformation, it is vital that universities rethink how they define and value scholarship through their processes for academic promotion. A key part of this rethink is to review and refine existing documentation about promotion to reflect changing conceptions of scholarly work, in a way that enables scholars from non-traditional academic pathways to be valued equally through the promotion process with their more traditional counterparts. This process of reviewing scholarship was the aim of a promotions review project which began at the University of Wollongong in 2011 and concluded with the production of an Academic Performance Framework (APF). This framework outlines a new way of articulating performance expectations in order to recognise scholarship more broadly, as well as to emphasise more clearly the imperative for academics to be able to articulate evidence of the impact of their work.

Negotiating the boundary between achievement and proficiency: An evaluation of the exit standard of an academic English pathway program

Academic English programs are popular pathways into English-medium university courses across the world. A typical program design hinges on an established university entrance standard, e.g. IELTS 6.5, and extrapolates the timing and structure of the pathway stages in relation to the test standard. The general principle is that the course assessments substitute for the test standard so that successful completion of the course is considered equivalent to achieving the minimum test standard for university entrance. This study reports on an evaluation of such course assessments at a major Australian university. The evaluation undertook to determine the appropriateness of the exit standard in relation to an independent measure of academic English ability. It also explored the suitability of the course final assessments used to produce measures in relation to that standard: by investigating the robustness of the processes and instruments and their appropriateness in relation to the course and the target academic domain. The evaluation was revealing about the difficult relationship between best practice in achievement testing in academic English pathway programs and external proficiency test standards. Using the sociological concept of ‘boundary object’ worlds (Star &amp; Griesemer, 1989), we suggest that program evaluations that arise from a specific institutional concern for meeting adequate language standards can be informative about interactions between assessments in use.

Политическая экономия академического обм(е)ана, или Как социологи становятся профессорами Рецензия на книгу: Соколов М., Губа К., Зименкова Т., Сафонова М., Чуйкина С. 2015. Как становятся профессорами: академические карьеры, рынки и власть в пяти странах. М.: Новое Литературное обозрение (серия «История науки»), 832 с.

This review discusses the collective monograph “Becoming a Professor: Academic Careers, Markets and Power in Five Countries” published by New Literary Observer in Moscow. The authors of this voluminous book pursued two goals at the same time. First, they sought to prepare a guidebook on academic careers in France, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia for young sociologists who are thinking ahead about their professional pathway. Based on various data sources (interviews, secondary data, autoethnography), they present an institutional history of the formation of academic sociology as a profession and describe the main trajectories in the academic biography of sociologists in five countries. Second, they find differences in institutional and extra-institutional mechanisms of recruitment for sociologists and offer a theoretical explanation. They offer the category of “optical systems” as a cultural framework of university organization used by various external and internal agents with different types of resources and motivation. “Optical systems” become an important source of coping with distrust and the fear of being cheated by “noble swindlers, ” since the dynamics of the academic world are forced by the replacement of the suspicions vocabulary. In this review, we give a brief analysis of the chapters, presenting the advantages and weaknesses. This book discusses several important issues: morals and markets in academia; the impact and work of economic incentives; and the strengths and weaknesses of social networks, academic pathways, and political culture. Because of its provocative statements, incriminating comments, and polemic conclusions, this book is worth reading for all those who are involved in the modern system of higher education and science-academics, civil servants, governors, and of course, various experts.

Course-Taking Patterns of Community College Students Beginning in STEM: Using Data Mining Techniques to Reveal Viable STEM Transfer Pathways

This research focuses on course-taking patterns of beginning community college students enrolled in one or more non-remedial science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses during their first year of college, and how these patterns are mapped against upward transfer in STEM fields of study. Drawing upon postsecondary transcript data, collected as part of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), this study takes advantage of data mining techniques that, although underutilized in higher education research, are powerful and appropriate analytical tools for investigating complex transcript data. Thus, focusing on a pivotal yet extremely understudied topic dealing with postsecondary STEM education and pathways, this study offers new insight into course and program features that contribute to efficient and effective academic STEM pathways for community college students.

Ownership, Activism and Engagement: Institutional Investors as Active Owners

AbstractManuscript TypeConceptualResearch Question/IssueWe research two questions: First, why do some institutional investors operate at a distance from organizations seemingly acting only to “exit” and “trade” shares, while others actively engage through various means of “voice”? Second, what processes and behaviour are associated with active ownership?Research Findings/InsightsWe develop the concept of active ownership by drawing on contrasting theories and images of ownership, identifying antecedents of active ownership and distinguishing between alternative processes of active ownership.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsAlternative pathways to active ownership contrast the distant, sometimes adversarial nature of shareholder activism with an engaged, collaborative relationship between investors and corporations. Few studies examine active ownership as a process of engagement and mutual exchange between parties taking a generally longer‐term perspective toward investment in the firm and its affairs. After modeling active ownership, we develop a research agenda of substantive issues ranging from market and institutional conditions, through investment organization and practice, to board and investor relations.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsOpening up the multidimensionality of engagement and relations between investors and corporations is crucial to promoting good corporate governance. Policymakers and practitioners require such knowledge when anticipating and developing adjustments to institutions of corporate governance.

Improving nursing research activity: the importance of leadership.

British Journal of NursingVol. 24, No. 14 RegularsImproving nursing research activity: the importance of leadershipDebbie Carrick-Sen, Lesley Baillie, Christi Deaton, Lesley Lowes, Candy McCabe, Christine Norton, Angela Tod, Elizabeth RobbDebbie Carrick-SenSearch for more papers by this author, Lesley BaillieSearch for more papers by this author, Christi DeatonSearch for more papers by this author, Lesley LowesSearch for more papers by this author, Candy McCabeSearch for more papers by this author, Christine NortonSearch for more papers by this author, Angela TodSearch for more papers by this author, Elizabeth RobbSearch for more papers by this authorDebbie Carrick-Sen; Lesley Baillie; Christi Deaton; Lesley Lowes; Candy McCabe; Christine Norton; Angela Tod; Elizabeth RobbPublished Online:23 Jul 2015https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2015.24.14.751AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Association of UK University Hospitals (2013) Report of the AUKUH National Clinical Academic Careers Development Group for Nurses and Midwives. http://tinyurl.com/o62kxdw (accessed 10 July 2015) Google ScholarCare Quality Commission (2014) Care Quality Commission Annual Report 2013 – 2014. http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/cqc-annual-report-201314 (accessed 10 July 2015) Google ScholarCouncil of Deans for Health (2012) Clinical Academic Careers for Nursing, Midwifery and the Allied Health Professions, Council of Deans of Health position statement. http://tinyurl.com/nwmut5d (accessed 10 July 2015) Google ScholarHealth Education England (2015) Raising the Bar: Shape of Caring: A Review of the Future Education and Training of Registered Nurses and Care Assistants. Lord Willis, Independent Chair – Shape of Caring review. http://tinyurl.com/q8wrttv (accessed 10 July 2015) Google ScholarMedical Schools Council (2011) Staffing Levels of Medical Clinical Academics in UK Medical Schools as at 31 July 2010. A report by the Medical Schools Council. http://tinyurl.com/oo8aq5x (accessed 10 July 2015) Google ScholarWestwood G, Fader M, Roberts L, et al. (2013) How clinical academics are transforming patient care. Heath Service Journal online. http://tinyurl.com/q5l7mks (accessed 10 July 2015) Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byA translational research framework for nurse practitioners4 November 2021 | Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 30, No. 2Interventions and strategies aimed at clinical academic pathway development for nurses in the United Kingdom: A systematised review of the literature2 February 2021 | Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol. 30, No. 11-12A nationwide initiative to increase nursing and midwifery research leadership: overview of year one programme development, implementation and evaluation28 November 2020 | Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol. 71A survey identifying leadership and research activities among Nurse Practitioners28 October 2020 | Contemporary Nurse, Vol. 56, No. 5-6An international focus on cardiac surgery nursing: clinical academic careersJulie Sanders, Rochelle Wynne, Geraldine Martorella, Suzanne Fredericks8 June 2020 | British Journal of Cardiac Nursing, Vol. 15, No. 6An inductive qualitative approach to explore Nurse Practitioners views on leadership and research: An international perspective16 April 2019 | Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol. 26An overview of research in orthopaedic and trauma nursingInternational Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing 23 July 2015Volume 24Issue 14ISSN (print): 0966-0461ISSN (online): 2052-2819 Metrics History Published online 23 July 2015 Published in print 23 July 2015 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Pour que les étudiants de FLS comprennent et participent à la francophonie canadienne

Le présent article est issu d’un atelier qui, à la lumière de résultats probants de deux recherches complémentaires sur les parcours pédagogiques de futurs enseignants de français langue seconde, présente deux réflexions de pratique d’enseignement du FLS en milieu universitaire. La recherche constate le manque de littératie culturelle et linguistique—notamment concernant la francophonie canadienne—des futurs enseignants de français parmi lesquels se trouvent des apprenants avancés de français langue seconde (FLS) (Lamoureux et Cohen, 2012; Moor et Lamoureux, 2012). Deux réflexions de pratique illustrent comment développer cette littératie dans un programme universitaire de FLS. La première traite du développement des compétences interculturelles (Byram, 2003) et présente des projets pédagogiques permettant aux étudiants de participer à la francophonie canadienne de manière autonome et éclairée. La deuxième porte sur l’importance d’accorder une valeur didactique à la compréhension des variétés locales de la langue pour mieux conscientiser les étudiants à la fonction symbolique de celle-ci (Cuq et Gruca, 2002) et les amener à communiquer avec les locuteurs natifs de manière plus autonome.