Like everything else today, there is a changing pattern in education. Some obvious elements are education's social function, demographics, and technology. A fourth dimension is being added to function, audience, and technique, and that is research. Research is also being reorganized, and now it is becoming an issue in the colleges. When, for…

This article aims to stimulate debate about the nature of field courses in higher education. We use a colloquium format that allows each of us to reflect on the philosophy of field course teaching and our writing endeavours to establish a dialogue between the authors and leave the reader with a sense of curiosity. It starts with a position paper…

Considerable resources and intellectual attention have focused on seeking to raise the status of teaching in higher education over the last two decades. Initiatives at an institutional level have included the funding of pedagogic research, teaching awards and the creation of teaching professorships. In a broader context, the scholarship of…

The authors are both professional practitioners (law and social work, respectively) who entered the university as discipline-based scholars. Their respective interests in teaching and learning have led them both down a path where they have transitioned from a discipline-based orientation to organizational roles grounded primarily in teaching and…

Dr. Deirdre Burke is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton's School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences, specializing in religious and genocide studies. She was a 2005 National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy that recognized and rewarded her individual excellence in teaching in higher…

Describes observation research conducted by the author in a state institution for the mentally retarded. Discusses the moral and ethical dilemmas that occurred when the author witnessed routine abuse to patients by the institution's attendants. (BSR)

The value of the grounded theory approach to inquiry for the study and practice of higher education is discussed. It is suggested that there is a need to identify approaches to inquiry that maintain scientific validity while revealing meaningful responses to the complex problems of higher education. An approach that may be employed for this…

Considers opinions of teaching anthropologists in Britain as to whether fieldwork for undergraduates should be encouraged; describes courses in which fieldwork currently has a place; and provides an example of a course developed at the University of Kent, Canterbury (United Kingdom), that required fieldwork. (Author/LRW)

This paper begins by reproducing an e-mail concerning the Wired Woman Toronto (WWT) organization, an e-mail which forms the first of four intertwined types of field texts that inform a narrative inquiry--the second is "story," the third is "research interview," and the fourth is "letter writing." The paper's framework…

Qualitative research procedures may be characterized by the practice of empiricism that is sensitive to individual perspectives of reality. The many techniques that may be used are malleable and situation-specific in their design--contingent on those aspects of social phenomena that are chosen to be studied. Practical curriculum design for…

The author describes her field experience as a doctoral student in educational administration, when she designed an in-service program for administrators on sex bias in education. (SJL)

This study of the role and value of fieldwork in education for library and information science used questionnaires, logbooks, and interviews to assess attitudes toward and learning during fieldwork programs at two South African universities. Findings related to learning are reported, and recommendations for the design of a fieldwork program are…

Ethnographic fieldwork is advocated as two ways for student affairs educators to enhance practice. Recent fieldwork and published ethnographic texts about college students are used to illustrate three benefits: (1) access to students' experience and culture; (2) access to student and campus culture; (3) enhance practice through informed…

Introduces the concept of state-forbidden research terrains and examines one such terrain in detail: post-revolutionary Cuba. Examines how U.S. decision makers create and maintain forbidden research terrain and explores the consequences of Cuba's closure to social science investigation. Suggests actions that social scientists might take to open up…

Rural and small-town Ontario, Canada is introduced through illustrations and discussions of seven typical elements that helped shape the province: cemetery, house, barn, hall, fence, roadscape, and main street. Having students make and discuss sketches is an excellent way to help them learn about the human geography of an area. (RM)