Academic Realities Research Articles

Navigating campus life in a pandemic: the social and academic realities of students in Ghana’s public universities during covid-19

The covid-19 pandemic affected the lives of millions of people worldwide including tertiary education students. The study explored the impact of covid-19 on social and academic lives of tertiary education students in Ghana. The research was positioned within the exploratory design in ascertaining in-depth data from purposively selected students. The study used the interview guide as an instrument in gathering data and showed that most students obtained their knowledge on covid-19 from families, friends, media and Ghana Health Service. However, information received about the disease from social media was mostly accompanied with myths which impaired the thoughts of students. Psychologically, students’ preparedness for academic activities were affected especially for those who did not have funds to buy laptops and/or data bundles. Although covid-19 was an opportunity for family members to reunite, it limited religious activities, social events and family gatherings. It was recommended that the university management and Ministry of Education should provide financial and material assistance via the supply of laptops and the make provision for reliable internet connectivity to students. Ghana’s education sector should effectively embrace e-learning as a pro-active measure so as to help cushion the effects of such an event on learning in case of reoccurrence.

“You Are Not There Yet to Think Creatively”

This critical autoethnographic research explores the lived educational experiences of an Asian woman in a mid-South urban university in the U.S. The stories of the self-empowerment for women of color connect personal encounters to larger sociocultural and political phenomena. The study employs creative analytic practice as a way of representing autoethnographic data through narratives and poetry, an innovative approach to critiquing and deconstructing academic realities, while illuminating the power relations between faculty and students. The study suggests that race- and gender-based inequities in academia may be negotiated through promoting minoritized discourses, thereby opening pathways toward education equity and social justice.

Well-Being Literacy in the Academic Landscape: Trioethnographic Inquiry Into Scholarly Writing

Writing well and being well as academic writers is rarely spoken about, often hidden, and at times evaded. We believe that developing, maintaining, and growing well-being literacy not only engages the act but also allows awareness, reflection, and metacognitive thinking that enable mindful writing for well-being. Well-being literacy, the capacity to understand and employ well-being language for personal, collective, and global well-being, intrigues us. It encompasses nurturing, sustaining, and safeguarding well-being for individuals, groups, and systems to thrive. As scholars delving into well-being literacy, we, a diverse collective from across higher education career trajectories, investigate its role in scholarly writing and our academic realities. Our focus lies in unraveling the paradoxes inherent in higher education, particularly as researchers and writers. In this paper, we examine our own stories as a trioethnography and the impact of our writing practices on our own professional and personal lives. By doing so, we reveal the place of vulnerability, relationships, and meaning in who we are and are becoming as academic scholars. Guiding principles are shared with peers and colleagues in how they might cultivate writing practices while valuing and embodying well-being in the higher education space.

Death by a Thousand Cuts: A Microsociology of How University Administration Stifles Solidarity

Abstract This paper investigates how university administration influences solidarity in collaborative research and impact generation. We understand solidarity as the main stratum that makes higher education institutions function, as not to be swamped by their own complexity. Through autoethnographic case study on research impact evidencing and generation from an administrative perspective, we analyse bureaucratic dynamics that hinder solidarity formation by using Michael Lipsky's Street-Level Bureaucrats framework. We uncover how procedural issues, language barriers, and network dynamics hinder solidarity formation. We argue that rigid adherence to bureaucratic protocols and insensitivity to academic realities disconnect administrators from academics, impeding collaboration. We emphasize the importance of personal motivations in fostering collaborative environments. Our findings underscore the need for a paradigm shift toward balancing community welfare and individual well-being within academic institutions. By acknowledging administrative system biases and fostering mutual respect, we can mitigate solidarity erosion and enhance collaborative research for societal benefit.

Psychological and sociocultural adaptation of medical university international students in Armenia

Moving from one academic environment to another and relocating in a new country to study is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. The article deals with the problem of socio-cultural adaptation of foreign students who come to study in Armenia at medical universities. Based on the results of a study conducted in 2021-2022, the degree of adaptability of Indian students to the new social, cultural and academic realities of Armenia was studied. The object of the study was 140 students who arrived from India and study at the Mkhitar Gosh Armenian-Russian International University. It has been established that the most important factors for successful adaptation to new conditions for a foreign student are overcoming the language barrier, creating a favorable communication system of interaction, getting used to the conditions of the Armenian education system. Most of the respondents agreed that they like the Armenian culture and that there are linguistic similarities between the two peoples. This fact can serve as a basis for successful adaptation to the Armenian reality. Conclusion: This study identifies to lighted critical issues in supporting international students with adaptation problems to university life in Armenia. It is on this basis that we can talk about symmetrical adaptation. The results of the study can be used in educational activities to optimize the process of adaptation of foreign medical students.

Machine translation in higher education: Perceptions, policy, and pedagogy

Multiple studies have shown that language learners and other students undertaking postsecondary studies in an additional language (L2) consult digital translation tools to complete course‐related work despite general disapproval of their use by instructors. Significant improvements in the accuracy of machine translation (MT) along with their widespread use among students present ethical and pedagogical implications that have yet to be coherently addressed by instructors and institutions at the tertiary level. Recognizing MT as inextricable from L2 users' academic realities, this article reviews the current research on perceptions and purposes of its use in higher education institutions, discusses MT at the policy level (e.g., gaps in legislation related to academic integrity and, more broadly, inconsistencies between the aims of internationalization and the continued delegitimization of marginalized varieties of English), outlines various ways that MT can be harnessed to support learning (e.g., for vocabulary acquisition, writing, metalinguistic awareness, learner autonomy), and suggests ways forward in education, research, and theory on the intersection of MT and learning.

Impact of academic accreditation on teaching and learning: faculty members’ perceptions

ABSTRACT This mixed-method research study investigates the impact of programme accreditation conducted by the Saudi National Commission for Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) on teaching and learning at the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The quantitative data was collected through an online survey consisting of 53 statements as indicators of the teaching and learning practices required by the NCAAA accreditation and ten flow-up qualitative interviews. Furthermore, this study draws on the findings of numerous contemporary studies worldwide to discern the global patterns and compare these with our findings. The results revealed varying degrees of improvement in all practices. The highest impact was on learning outcomes practices. The findings indicate the importance of designing quality assurance policies close to academic realities to drive improvement, which the NCAAA sought to achieve through a learning outcomes-led approach and a gradual implementation intended to promote a quality culture to reform an educational system in need of transformation.

Perceptions of narcissism in college professors

ABSTRACT We conducted three studies to examine perceptions of grandiose narcissism in college professors. Narcissism might appear incompatible with the profession if professors are viewed fundamentally as helpers or as introverted bookworms. Then again, people might expect professors to display big egos congruent with the prestige of their profession and their privileged public platforms. Our research indicates that professors are generally not seen as highly narcissistic according to the criteria of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, though they are viewed as more narcissistic than elementary school teachers. More professor narcissism was expected at colleges that prioritize scholarly productivity over teaching excellence. Male professors were viewed as more narcissistic, but only for narcissism dimensions associated with interpersonal hostility and for judgments of whether professors are “narcissistic.” We discuss possible implications for narcissistic professors’ ability to exploit the gap between academic ideals and reward system realities.

Literacy learning as cruelly optimistic: recovering possible lost futures through transmedial storytelling

AbstractIn this article, we “think with” theories of affect and transmedial storytelling to explore the cruel optimism that standardised reading pedagogies (e.g. read alouds; leveled readers/independent reading) can produce for readers. We draw on particular moments in a first grade classroom to argue that such pedagogies transmit “normalizing” affects that promise upward mobility, college and career readiness/success, classroom community, and happiness but instead produce literate identities, which cruelly reinforce the racialised, gendered and classist myth of meritocracy. According to Blackman (2019), cruel optimism is harmful because it normalises particular fictions and fantasies that are presented as scientific truths without acknowledging that these dominant stories are but one narrative, thereby closing off other ways of knowing, being and doing. This work offers pedagogical possibilities for bodies that are often read as unsuccessful (e.g. disengaged and struggling) and/or successful (e.g. happy and engaged) and explains how the guise of optimism can fail to acknowledge the larger social, political and economic forces at play. These forces shape the unfolding of academic realities that are simultaneously connected to the past, present and future.

U.S. Central American Students in Higher Education: Finding a Sense of Belonging

Author(s): Maldonado Dominguez, Katy Joseline | Abstract: This paper highlights the overlooked experiences of U.S. Central Americans in higher education. Given the absence of Central American studies departments and various shared experiences with Mexican communities in the Southwest, this study analyzes how Chicana/o/x studies departments can serve as relatable spaces for U.S. Central Americans. This study draws from eight semi-structured interviews with U.S. Central Americans in UCLA’s Chicana/o studies department to provide insight into how they navigate and create agency within academia. The findings show that U.S. Central Americans in this study developed a dual sense of belonging as Latina/o/x and U.S. Central American students. As Latina/o/x students, the Chicana/o studies department offered tools and knowledge that affirmed their belonging in a predominantly white institution. However, as U.S. Central Americans, the Chicana/o Studies department lacked a complete inclusion of their specific ethnic and cultural experiences. This research argues that to document these realities is to begin to understand how to facilitate the success of U.S. Central American students to critically assess the multiple academic realities of an increasingly diverse population of Latina/o/x collegestudents.

ACADEMIC STRESS, SUICIDAL IDEATION & MENTAL WELLBEING AMONG 1ST SEMESTER & 3RD SEMESTER MEDICAL, ENGINEERING & GENERAL STREAM STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION:Present age is the age of competition. Scientific and technological advancement all over the globe has made man very conscious and sensitive about his studies, vocation, lifestyle, relations etc. This immense progress has given rise to certain problems. One of the major problems of today's world is stress. Every person has a unique nature as regard to capabilities, attitudes, personality characteristics and interest. The students have a major impact of stress due to bloodshed competition in every field. Stress occurs when there is substantive imbalance between environment and demand and response capability of organism.The event of joining the college is one of the major and significant transitions in the life span of any individual. It defines one's future career and the path towards realization of his or her vocational goal.Stress can exist at any stage of life, however, the time of entry to college is fraught with a number of changes that the likely hood of stress at this stage increases. The new surroundings, non-availability of older support system, the demand for acting and thinking independently, a different style of teaching, moving away from home and need to take one's own responsibility rather than depending on others for directions, are some of the factors that might make more difficult for a college entrant.Academic work in learning environment poses great challenges both mentally, physically and psychologically on the learner. The academic challenges are very stressful and different learners respond mentally to such pressures differently. Academic stress is therefore mental and emotional pressure, tension or stress that occurs due to the demands of college life. (Mac. George, Samter & Gilliham, 2005). Stress associated with academic activities has been linked to various types of psychological factors which are manifested in terms of negative outcomes with varying extents among the students. Researchers have shown that college students are most susceptible to stress. Gray and Rottman (1988) stated that College Students represent a population who perceive and experience an immense amount of stress.The transition from high school to college is a challenging life transition in the development of young adults and many students are inadequately prepared for the psychological, emotional and academic realities of higher education (Francis, Mc. Daniel & Doyle, 1987).The association between academic stress or and suicidal ideation among college students have been well documented in several research studies. Toero et al arranged that there is a strong link between the pressure to excel in college and suicidal behaviors among students. In their study, Toero et al showed that the number of suicide cases in a year usually peaked during examination periods where children and adolescents experienced a high level of stress in school. Juon et al examined factors contributing to suicidal behaviors in 9.886 highs schools Korean adolescents and found that students who reported feeling a high level of stress regarding academic performance and higher education were more likely to have serious thoughts about suicide than those students who did not experience academic stress,Mental well-being of the learner is very important for efficient learning and proper development of personality. The research findings showed that there is a significant negative relationship between stress and mental health which means that increase of stress lead to decrease of mental health and vice-versa.Now a day's academic stress has become an important subject matter in research studies as well as in our society. According to Wilks (2008) academic stress arises when academic related demands exceeds to those available resources to an individual which he / she adopts. Research findings revealed that mental well being and suicidal ideation are considered as two correlated factors of academic stress among college students (Ali Mostafei, Toero et al 2001). …

Challenging Convergences in Lay Thought and STS Practice: A Reply to My Critics

David Hess and Sujatha Raman have penned what might seem to be fairly damning critiques of my proposal to view technological determinism and permissionless innovation as psychocultural barriers to the democratization of technology. They quickly chop down my suggestion to look to fields like communications and social psychology for help in developing oppositional rhetorical strategies. Some of their concerns are quite reasonable, though I will contend that they are not as damaging to my proposal as they suggest. Other criticisms, however, appear to be rooted in pretty extreme interpretations of my argument. Whatever the cause of the miscommunication, I relish the chance to challenge the more unfortunate renderings of my position. Furthermore, I will turn a critical eye back toward the commentators. Not only do they neglect the technological or material concerns that I raised in my paper, but also fail to seriously engage with the potential incremental benefits of developing and prudently deploying the communicative tools that I describe. A fairly typical defensive response to any claim that some gap exists in the existing literature or that some practice is missing from current scholarly activity is “Where have you been?” Just such a response is one of the main thrusts of Raman’s (2015) critique: “Battles over some abstraction called ‘technological determinism’ seem a distant memory.” She cites her own work within a rich research community—including responsible innovation, engagement with technoscientific policy regimes, and laboratory interventions—in order to depict my assertion that a preoccupation with nomological forms of technological determinism has continued to infect STS scholarship as out-of-touch with more recent academic realities. Contrary to Raman’s (2015) interpretation of my fairly minor extension of claims already made by other science and technology studies (STS) scholars (see Wyatt 2008; Dafoe 2015), I did not intend to imply that absolutely nothing was being done in the field regarding normative

Academic Freedom: A Realistic Appraisal

Problems concerning academic freedom exist almost everywhere—created by changing academic realities, political pressures, growing commercialization and marketization of higher education, or legal pressures. The purpose of this article is to argue that academic freedom needs to be carefully defined so that it can be defended in the global climate of complexity. A new, and probably more delimited, understanding of academic freedom is needed in the age of the Internet and the global knowledge economy.

Why the AVMA's Council on Education should be an independent entity.

Views: Commentary 599 F the past four years, I have opposed continued recognition of the AVMA’s Council on Education (COE) by the US Department of Education as the accreditation authority for colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States, provoking the ire of several colleagues and friends. I have taken this position even though I know and deeply respect the past four COE chairs, believe that they and other members of the COE have acted with the best of intentions, and value the service that they have provided through the voluntary commitment of their time and efforts to veterinary education. Nonetheless, I am convinced that an independent accrediting body is needed, given the obvious real and apparent conflicts of interest that are undermining confidence in the leadership and decisions of the COE. In my view, although the existing COE has served the profession well for many decades, current political, economic, and academic realities place its outdated and conflicted governance structure under too much pressure to be effective, and it is time for a better system. Obvious real and apparent conflicts of interest held by the AVMA, which has oversight over the COE, unduly influence the establishment and execution of the standards of accreditation and thus necessitate separation. The AVMA benefits from funds made available to it by entities whose interests would be served by either weakening or enhancing accreditation standards. For example, veterinary service corporations that cosponsor AVMA programs benefit from a greater availability of veterinarians for employment, employ lobbyists who advise clients on the establishment of new veterinary schools seeking accreditation, and support these schools once established through clinical alliances. Conversely, the interests of individual or groups of veterinarians, on whom the AVMA depends for dues and elected leadership, are served by restricting the number of new graduates providing competing services. The financial and personal ties that exist between these entities and the AVMA represent conflicting interests that compromise confidence in the COE’s ability to make unbiased accreditation decisions. The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), which has recently partnered with the AVMA in the selection of COE members and will soon likely share costs and staffing responsibilities, has its own set of Why the AVMA’s Council on Education should be an independent entity

Power at the Interfaces: The Contested Orderings of Academic Presents and Futures in a Social Science Department

The changes in and transformations of academic institutions and practices we are currently witnessing are complex. I argue that there are no clear-cut historical transitions between different regimes of science, such as from the ‘public knowledge regime’ to ‘academic capitalism’. Drawing upon John Law’s analysis of ‘modes of ordering’, I investigated the multiplicity of academic realities at a leading social science department at a university in the Czech Republic. Using ethnographic data generated during my fieldwork in the department in 2006–2008, I explore how the modes of ordering operate and how they are strategically mobilised by different actors. In contrast to Law, I particularly focus on the interfaces and switches between modes, where, I observe, power is prominently enacted. I conclude by arguing that resistance to the rising managerial governance of universities cannot simply resort to citing the ‘traditional’ academic values of autonomy, vocation and internal quality but must also challenge those values.

Arte, antropología y museos: orientaciones poscoloniales en los Estados Unidos

A lo largo del último medio siglo, los cambios en la realidad política, cultural, demográfica y académica de los Estados Unidos han contribuido a una significativa reorientación en la representación museológica de la diferencia. Este texto se teje dentro y fuera de esos diferentes contextos con el fin de explorar algunos de los modos en que la antropología y la historia del arte han sido empujadas en nuevas direcciones, con importantes consecuencias para los museos y sus públicos. A partir de los cambios en la ética del trabajo de campo etnográfico, traza los cambios en la naturaleza de la escritura etnográfica, el uso creciente por parte de la historia del arte de materiales que alguna vez fueron del dominio exclusivo de la antropología, la participación de voces nativas en ambas disciplinas, y la tendencia hacia una antropología colaborativa y el co-comisariado en exposiciones museísticas.

Factors Influencing Students’ Academic Aspirations in Higher Institution: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract Higher education is critical success of young adults. Higher education can provide a gateway for social mobility and play a critical role in countering social stratification in Malaysia, particularly for the Bumiputera students in Malaysia society. However, change hurts. The transition from school to university is a change that every school students have to face in their quest for higher education. The current scenario giving some signals that there is a challenging life transition in the development of young adults, and many students are inadequately prepared for the psychological, emotional, and academic realities of higher education. These new university students are confronted with the adaptational challenges of living apart from family and friends, adjusting to the academic regimen, assuming responsibility for the tasks of daily living, and developing a new array of social relationships with peers and faculty. Futhermore, not many research have been conducted on this issue except that focused had been made to the secondary and/or high school students only. Therefore, this paper takes the challenge of filling these gaps by analysing some crucial conceptual undertanding what factors exactly influence the student's life at the higher institution.

A Note From The Editor

A Note From The Editor

Dylematy nauczania etyki w środowisku szkolnym

This essay is an metaethical reflection on the character of teaching ethics in school and academic realities of Poland, the aim is to show the type of ethics which is the best in achieving the syllabus and educational assumptions of the discipline. It seems that the most important of them are the following issues:- Rationalization of ethical choices, i.e. giving the reasons for choosing particular moral values- the clearly presented problem of the responsibility for the decisions- Strengthening proper improvements of the character, which enable to choose and defend moral values: tolerance, ecological responsibility.There are two the most general ways distinguished of presentation of ethics within school or academic lecture: the “naturalistic” and the “engaged” one.The naturalistic approach is restricted to the presentation of various ethical systems without any discussion included on evaluating these systems, the engaged approach critically analyses different ethical solutions, reasonably assessing their character.Despite the arguments for the naturalistic approach (presently fashionable criticism of ethics, the issue of toleration and avoidance of the idéologisation) I undertake to defend the engaged approach as better at giving possibilities of reasonable criticism of moral behaviors and as the result of this criticism, moral attitudes which are the goal of teaching ethics in school.

Liability Insurance in Midwifery Education: Faculty and Student Needs Versus Academic Realities

The objective of this study was to examine faculty and student liability claims and insurance problems in midwifery education. The American College of Nurse-Midwives Professional Liability Section and Division of Education developed and administered an Internet survey to 45 midwifery programs. Of the 39 programs that responded to the survey, 28 (72%) were previously involved in a liability claim, yielding a maximum claim incidence of 1%. Liability coverage was provided to midwifery faculty and students by a variety of mechanisms, including sovereign immunity, organizational trust funds, and private insurance. The costs of annual liability coverage ranged from $1,500 to $7,000 for faculty and from $1,000 to $1,800 for students. Six of 31 program directors (19%) knew a student who did not enroll because of the cost of liability insurance. Thirty of the 39 directors (77%) reported difficulty with obtaining clinical placements as a result of liability-related preceptor concerns. Midwifery student involvement in liability claims is low; however, liability insurance is required by hospitals for clinical practice and many clinical preceptors. The price of private liability insurance is a disincentive for students to study midwifery and for clinical preceptors to work with students. Midwifery program directors and academic administrators must advocate for affordable liability coverage.