Excellence in Higher Education (E-Journal)
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Opportunities and Obstacles: Technology’s Potential for Expanding Access to Higher Education
Full text linkInnovative technologies have forever impacted the field of education by connecting any topic in any discipline to any learner in any place. This new reality provides vastly expanded possibilities for international collaboration, knowledge building, sharing of best practices, and new ways to teach, both within the classroom and without. Nevertheless, even as new modes of providing education proliferate, the digital divide also grows, making technology solutions for expanding access a continuing issue of debate. This article looks at trends and challenges for expanding access to higher education via technology. Specifically it will address how the role of infrastructure, fiscal restraints, and culture relate to differences in accessibility and the application of technology in higher education. Through an overview of current use of technologies in differing educational contexts, the article analyzes some examples that either support or oppose the idea of promoting technology as an effective tool for facilitating equality of access
Action Research on the Implementation of Active Learning at an Elementary School in Aceh
Full text linkTeachers in the state elementary schools and state Islamic elementary schools of the Indonesian province of Aceh have been trained repeatedly over the past several years on a variety of educational reform initiatives. One of the most important of these has been the effort to promote teaching for active learning in Acehnese schools. Research in other countries, and past experience with teacher training efforts in Aceh, suggest that such a transformation in classroom practice will not be easy. In order to investigate whether and how teachers were transferring their training in active learning into actual classroom practice, a team of lecturers from three universities in Banda Aceh conducted an action research project in one state elementary school. We found that teachers’, principals’, and school supervisors’ understanding of teaching for active learning remained extremely tentative months after receiving training in active learning, and their tentative understanding prevented their active experimentation with what they had learned. A brief retraining session focused on arriving at a common understanding of the concept, committed school leadership, and learning from peers appeared to have a significant impact on teachers’ willingness and ability to try to teach for active learning. Key Words: Active Learning, Action Research, Aceh, Elementary School
Teaching for Active Learning in Two Primary-Level Islamic Schools (Madrasahs) in North Sumatra
Full text linkTeaching for active learning is an instructional strategy that has been promoted for some time in Indonesia through various government educational reform initiatives and international development efforts. These efforts, however, have tended to target teachers in public primary schools (SD: sekolah dasar) or public junior high schools (SMP: sekolah menengah pertama) rather than equivalent schools in the Islamic education sector (madrasah ibtidâ’iyah and madrasah tsanawiyah). Utilizing data gathered from focus group discussions, individual interviews, and classroom discussions, this action research study examined the specific challenges faced by Islamic Studies teachers in teaching for active learning in two public Islamic primary schools (MIN: madrasah ibtidâ’iyah negeri) in the district of Deli Serdang, North Sumatra. Our article goes on to describe the difficulties Islamic Studies teachers have in applying active learning teaching strategies learned in demonstrations of teaching for active learning in science, mathematics and other secular subjects to Islamic Studies. Key Words: Islamic Education, Active Learning, Religious Studies, Indonesi
Action Research on the Implementation of Teaching for Active Learning in Two Elementary Madrasahs in Aceh
Full text linkTeaching for active learning is an instructional strategy that has been shown to improve student achievement. Many of its advocates also stress its contribution to the development of democratic dispositions in school children. It has, therefore, become a popular reform intended to improve teaching and learning in schools around the world, including Indonesia, where it was a key component of training conducted in Aceh under the auspices of the USAID-funded Decentralized Basic Education 2 Project (DBE2). In order to gauge the extent to which teaching for active learning was being adopted in Aceh, a team of lecturers from Syiah Kuala University and the State Islamic Studies Institute in Banda Aceh conducted an action research project designed to identify the challenges faced by teachers attempting to teach for active learning in two elementary-level madrasahs as well as strategies that might assist them in that effort. The results of our research show that, while the initial training provided to teachers heightened their consciousness of teaching for active learning and inspired some to experiment with the new teaching methodology, teachers’ understanding and acceptance of active learning was still tentative and could be undermined without effective leadership and long term mentoring. Key Words: Active Learning, Teaching, Aceh, Madrasa
Obtaining International Excellence through Cross-Border Research Initiatives: A Consortium-Sponsored Journal
Full text linkoai:ojs.ehe.pitt.edu:article/1
Determinants of Access and Equity in Tertiary Education: The Case of Indonesia
Full text linkHow does an individual choose to pursue tertiary education in Indonesia in an era of mass tertiary education? What factors affect this decision? In thisarticle, we analyze the determinants of access to tertiary education in Indonesia from the demand side using household survey data. We also examine theimpact of regional and family background factors on inequity of access to tertiary education. In order to analyze the demand side factors for tertiaryeducation, we use a multi-nominal logit model to examine what factors influence an individual’s decision to pursue a sarjana (bachelor’s) program,diploma program, or work after s/he graduates from high school. The data used is from the fourth Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS4) which wasconducted by the RAND Corporation and others between 2007 and 2008. Key findings of the analysis are as follows: (1) the education level of the head ofhousehold and family income per household member have significant positive effects on the choice of pursuing tertiary education; (2) in urban areas, theeducation level of household spouse and students’ test scores in high school are positively significant; (3) living in urban areas per se does not have acorrelation with entry into tertiary education; (4) access to bachelor’s programs for urban residents is most likely affected by the family backgroundfactors; (5) holding everything else constant, the tendency is for females to enroll in diploma programs, but not for bachelor’s programs
Moving from a Predominantly Teaching Oriented Culture to a Research Productivity Mission: The Case of Mexico and the United States
Full text linkThis study qualitatively analyzes the culture conflicts professors in the United States and Mexico are experiencing with the increasing pressures to produce more research about higher education. The first dataset was collected from 36 faculty members from 12 small and medium sized private, doctorate-granting universities. These universities are located in 11 states across the United States. The remaining data came from 44 faculty members employed at four small and medium sized private, doctoral granting universities in four states across Mexico. Results showed that universities in the US are transitioning from a predominantly teaching college culture to a more research orientation. Although the sampled universities continue to offer established graduate programs, faculty members continue to struggle with their teaching requirements and conflicts research productivity pressures place on their teaching and mentoring time with students. Participating faculty members employed in the US were not evenly interested in research opportunities due to the diverse mission objectives promoted by their respective institutions. On the other hand, faculty members employed in Mexico were generally more concerned with their research productivity and subsequent factors, which negatively impact their research productivity. Mexican faculty members rarely cited conflicts between their institutional missions and teaching objectives. This study is highly relevant to policy makers, higher education administrators, and scholars interested in comparative and international higher education. Administrators can benefit from the findings in this study, which provides faculty members’ perceptions and describes departmental structures and organizational dynamics employed to advance greater research and development opportunities. This study concludes with a discussion on how administrators and faculty members should handle the pressures for research productivity and alternative models of higher education