Peer Review in Academic Promotion of Excellent Teachers

While research merits have long been the priority in the recognition of institutions and scholars, teaching is often downplayed, appearing as a practice of less worth in Academia. To counteract this tendency, various systems to upgrade the value of education and to promote teaching excellence have been introduced by higher education institutions on a global scale. In this chapter, we explore the values and beliefs unveiled in the promotion of academics in such a system. We employ empirical data collected from an inquiry into the promotion of distinguished university teachers at a comprehensive university in Sweden. An analysis of reviewers’ judgements and legitimations shows that the intersection between promotion, peer review, and excellent teaching affects not only the peer review process, but also the notion of the distinguished university teacher.

Changing Gears in the Assessment Cycle

There is an ongoing need to prepare postsecondary educators to use not only 21st century assessment tools but also 21st andragogy/pedagogy that meets the needs of all 21st century learners. This chapter reviews those issues, reviews different aspects and approaches to assessment, and proposes an encompassing assessment framework for culturally responsive, authentic, reflective, ethical, formative, universal, and learner-focused (CAREFUL) assessment. The chapter contextualizes these approaches in faculty development (FDEV) to help “change gears” using data from a FDEV opportunity at a midsized, comprehensive university. The chapter provides several examples of CAREFUL assessment and a discussion of how FDEV can improve student learning and experiences.

High Quality Development of Comprehensive University Medical Education In China: Problems And Path In The New Era

Background: In the new era, the situation of medical education in China has undergone significant and profound changes. Medical universities not only carry the historical mission of providing multidisciplinary talent support for the modernization of education, but also are endowed with the tasks and requirements of holding high quality medical education and promoting the construction of Health China. Objective To state the theory of medical education in the new era, this paper analyzes the problems existing in medical education of China's comprehensive universities, and gives the countermeasures and ideas of medical education development. Method: By using literature research, illustrating with examples, conclusion and reasoning methods to analyze and illustrate.Result: This paper interprets the connotation of high-quality development of medical education in the new era, thinks about the current situation features of domestic medical education such as the multilateral exploration of management mode of comprehensive university medical education, lists the main problems in medical education, and discusses the ideas and countermeasures to solve these problems in the future.Conclusion: The reform and development of medical education need to further improve the top-level design, and obtain the understanding and support from stakeholders. The comprehensive university should consider putting medical personnel training in the vision of Health China construction. Under the guidance of the national macro policy of holding high-level undergraduate education, it is imperative to persist in problem-oriented principle and make efforts to reform, using information technology to promote the sharing of educational resources among schools and form a synergy in medical education.

Can gamification and interface design aesthetics lead to MOOCs' success?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose an integrated post-adoption model based on expectation-confirmation model (ECM) and flow theory to examine whether gamification and interface design aesthetics as antecedents to students' beliefs can affect their continuance intention of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and perceived impact on learning.Design/methodology/approachSample data for this study were collected from students enrolled in a comprehensive university in Taiwan. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed in the campus, and 318 (53.0%) useable questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling in this study.FindingsThis study's results verified that students' perceived gamification and interface design aesthetics of MOOCs positively affected their perceived usefulness, confirmation and flow experience elicited by MOOCs, and these in turn directly or indirectly led to their satisfaction, continuance intention of MOOCs and perceived impact on learning. Essentially, the results strongly support the research model with all hypothesized links being significant.Originality/valueIt should be particularly noticed that this study contributes to the application of capturing both ECM and flow experience (i.e. an intrinsic motivator) for completely explaining students' perceived gamification and interface design aesthetics as external variables to their continuance intention of MOOCs and perceived impact on learning, and this study's empirical evidence can further shed light on the possible formulation of MOOCs success.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Undergraduate College Students in A Comprehensive University of Mainland China

This study was undertaken to assess the critical thinking dispositions of undergraduate college students in a comprehensive university of mainland China and examine the roles of gender and major in the subjects’ critical thinking dispositions. An adapted Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) was used to survey 534 undergraduate students. Statistics revealed that over 3/4 of the subjects were negative in their dispositions to think critically, and no more than 1/4 of them were positive. All the subscale mean scores were between 30-35, indicating an ambivalent attitude to critical thinking. Meanwhile, the subjects were stronger in systematicity, truth-seeking, and self-confidence than in analyticity, inquisitiveness, and cognitive maturity. Besides, males got significantly higher scores in overall critical thinking dispositions, truth-seeking, cognitive maturity, open-mindedness, and justice-orientedness, an added subscale in the Chinese version of CCTDI. Finally, science-engineering students achieved a non-significant higher overall mean score than non-science-engineering students. They also scored higher in seven out of the eight subscales, but the differences were only significant in open-mindedness and justice-orientedness.

SARS-CoV-2 Epidemiology on a Public University Campus in Washington State

Background We aimed to evaluate a testing program to facilitate control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large university and measure spread in the university community using viral genome sequencing. Methods Our prospective longitudinal study used remote contactless enrollment, daily mobile symptom and exposure tracking, and self-swab sample collection. Individuals were tested if the participant was exposed to a known SARS-CoV-2 infected person, developed new symptoms, or reported high-risk behavior (such as attending an indoor gathering without masking or social distancing), a member of a group experiencing an outbreak, or at enrollment. Study participants included students, staff, and faculty at an urban, public university during Autumn quarter of 2020. Results We enrolled 16,476 individuals, performed 29,783 SARS-CoV-2 tests, and detected 236 infections. 75.0% of positive cases reported at least one of the following: symptoms (60.8%), exposure (34.7%), or high-risk behaviors (21.5%). Greek community affiliation was the strongest risk factor for testing positive, and molecular epidemiology results suggest that specific large gatherings were responsible for several outbreaks. Conclusion A testing program focused on individuals with symptoms and unvaccinated persons that participate in large campus gatherings may be effective as part of a comprehensive university-wide mitigation strategy to control the SARS-CoV-2 spread.

Depression and its correlation with social support and health-promoting lifestyles among Chinese university students: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo investigate the prevalence of depression in college students and determine how social support and healthy lifestyle factors are associated with depression in this population.DesignA cross-sectional design.SettingA comprehensive university in Changsha, Hunan, South China. The study was conducted from May to June 2019.ParticipantsA total of 541 students at the comprehensive university.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Social Support Rating Scale and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) were used to evaluate depression, social support and lifestyles, respectively, and analyse the mutual relationships among them.ResultsAmong the 541 participants, 161 (29.8%) experienced depressive symptoms, and there were significant gender-related and academic discipline-related differences in self-rated depression. The average social support score was 38.06 (38.06±7.52). The average HPLP-II score was 71.09 (71.09±11.47). A monofactor analysis showed that depression was correlated with social support and a healthy lifestyle. As demonstrated by logistic regression analysis, being a woman (OR=2.613, 95% CI: 1.541 to 4.43), inadequate social support (OR=0.912, 95% CI: 0.877 to 0.948), poor nutrition (OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.775 to 0.977) and lack of self-actualisation (OR=0.644, 95% CI: 0.572 to 0.724) were significantly correlated with depression.ConclusionsOwing to the high prevalence of depression among Chinese university students, educational institutions must take measures such as providing compulsory mental health education courses and improving the psychological counselling services available to students.