Language is an important way of presenting an identity, either individual or group. This paper explores the language used in the presentation of the identity of academic development. The study is based on an analysis of websites from academic development centres in the UK and Australia and outlines the public ways in which academic developers…

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between disciplinary difference (exact and natural sciences versus humanities) and the dialogic behavior that occurred in Open University course forums. Dialogic behavior was measured in terms of students' and instructors' active participation in the forum (posting a message) as well as…

Recently scholars have called for more detailed historical study of the teaching lives of academics across countries, systems and institutions. This article contributes to the research on the professoriate in its widest sense. The article focuses on the disciplinary perspectives and cultures of academic staff employed in one of Australia's oldest…

The purpose of the study was to find out the adequacy of the current classroom management training program for intern teachers in Nigerian Universities. Two hundred and six respondents were used for the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to seventy males and one hundred and thirty-six females drawn from Arts, Science, Technical and…

Employability has become a global buzz-word: instructors in higher education are increasingly being called upon to produce highly employable students who will in turn contribute to the financial capital of the country's economy. For vocational subjects and degrees for which clear links to industry may be envisaged (such as IT, Business, Technology…

This article explores the philosophy and position of the discipline of computer science within the liberal arts, based upon a discussion of the nature of computer science and a review of the characteristics of the liberal arts. A liberal arts environment provides important opportunities for undergraduate programs, but also presents important…

There has been much discussion in this journal of the development of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Indeed the effective enhancement of teaching and learning is more likely to take place when generic lessons are contextualized within the language of the discipline, and adapted to the needs of the students. We describe here a study of…

Discipline-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading programs in Iran are designed to fill the gap between the students' general English reading competence and their ability to read authentic discipline-specific texts. This study attempted to assess target and present reading comprehension needs of EAP students of Health Information…

In his article "Psychology in its Place," Radford (2008) argues that psychology as a discipline, subject, and profession needs to be debated to ensure one is not disadvantaging students, society, and the professions themselves in focusing on elements, systems, or content that are outdated or irrelevant now or in the future. In this article, the…

This article reviews Philip Barnes' account of problems with religious education (RE), and explores the practical implications of his position. Acknowledging his compelling logic--that RE is premised on an acceptance of all religions as equally theologically true--this article argues for optimism: with controversy and ambiguity moving to centre…

The term "pedagogy" has become ubiquitous in the field of kinesiology, and sport pedagogy is now firmly established as a credible academic subdiscipline. Notwithstanding the fact that our European colleagues had been using the terms "pedagogy" and "sport pedagogy" for many years (see Crum, 1986; Haag, 2005), the English-speaking world of…

It has been argued that in higher education academic disciplines can be seen as communities of practices. This implies a focus on what constitutes identities in academic culture. In this article I argue that the transition from newcomer to a full participant in a community of practice of physicists entails a focus on how identities emerge in…

In this paper, the author describes recent developments in the assessment of research activity and publication in Australia. Of particular interest to readers will be the move to rank academic journals. "EPAT" received the highest possible ranking, however the process is far from complete. Some implications for the field, for this…

This report provides information on fields of bachelor's degrees in the United States using data from the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS). It includes estimates of fields of bachelor's degree by demographic characteristics including age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity, and educational attainment. This report also looks at geographic and…

Potential students hoping to gauge the quality of courses at Portland State University might be forgiven for feeling confused. On the one hand, the University Studies program, which uses interdisciplinary seminars during the first two years to develop students' core skills, has been widely praised and emulated. The Council for Higher Education…