Jingjing Zhang

Academic integrity: a review of the literature

This article provides a literature review on academic integrity, which encompasses the values, behaviour and conduct of academics in all aspects of their practice. This is a growing area of academic research as a result of the expansion of higher education on a global basis and concerns about standards of professional conduct. The article maps the main strands of research on academic integrity by reference to teaching, research and service using 115 articles derived from both western and Chinese literature. The review indicates that much of the literature is framed in terms of misconduct or academic corruption with research ethics the dominant focus. Researchers investigating academic integrity draw predominantly on multivariate analysis using surveys/questionnaires, documentary analysis and, more occasionally, interviews. While there has been rapid growth in the literature, a stronger focus is needed on identifying ‘ethical’ as well as ‘unethical’ practice despite the methodological challenges in overcoming social desirability reporting.

Understanding the Dynamics of MOOC Discussion Forums with Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis (SIENA).

Abstract This study attempts to make inferences about the mechanisms that drive network change over time. It adopts simulation investigation for empirical network analysis to examine the patterns and evolution of relationships formed in the context of a massive open online course (MOOC) discussion forum. Four network effects—homophily, reciprocity, transitivity, and preferential attachment—were tested to explain the dynamic mechanisms of interaction in the MOOC forum. Understanding the network dynamics of relationships will allow us to explore how to develop a robust peer-supported learning environment and in turn improve the online learning experience in MOOCs.

Learner support in MOOCs: Identifying variables linked to completion

Abstract This study investigated learner support strategies that enable the success and completion of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It examined five MOOCs categorised into three groups according to their pedagogical approach and used in different learning settings: formal MOOCs, conventional MOOCs and professional MOOCs. A total of 4,202,974 units of variables (student behaviours and MOOC features) were analysed using Semi-Supervised Extreme Learning Machine (SSELM) and Global Sensitivity Analysis. In this study, the use of SSELM was compared to the state-of-art models (e.g. ELM, KELM, OP-ELM, PCA-ELM), and SSELM yielded 97.24% accuracy. Using unlabelled students helped improve the learning accuracy for the model, which confirms that SSELM is a good model to predict completion in MOOCs, considering the difficulty of labelling students in such an open and flexible learning environment. The findings show that designers and teachers should pay special attention to their students during the second quartile of the course (independently of the type of MOOC). The teachers’ presence during the course, his or her interactions with students and the quality of the videos presented are significant determinants of course completion.

The landscape of Chinese open educational resources research

Purpose – After the official definition of Open Educational Resources (OER) at the Forum on Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries in 2002, the concept was soon introduced to China and popularised among scholars, practitioners, and educators. After ten years of proliferation, it is important to explore the landscape of Chinese OER research. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts social network analysis (SNA) to analyse the network defining the citations of 133 OER journal articles published in China. Findings – The findings illustrate that the academic circle of OER in China is small, which leads to restricted innovation. Most publications are produced by researchers working at comprehensive universities and normal universities (teachers colleges). Research limitations/implications – In these universities, a number of active OER researchers are emerging, but no OER research team can be identified from their citation networks. Currently...

e-Leadership in Academia: A New Form of Leadership Emerging from Networks of Interdisciplinary Research

The nature of leadership in academia is becoming part of the shift in the “network society” (Castells, 2000). 24 academic leaders from the University of Oxford were interviewed in this study in order to understand what “e” actually means in the concept of e-leadership. eLeadership in academia can be seen as one kind of leadership in academic e-contexts. The econtexts, accompanied by the use of new technologies in academia, are not online communities, but networks of research, largely interdisciplinary, distributed and interconnected. It is argued that research networks of this kind are the e-contexts in which the new form of leadership needs to be reconsidered.

Development of a Visualised Sound Simulation Environment: An e-Approach to a Constructivist Way of Learning

In this paper, the design and implementation of a visualised sound simulation environment is presented as an initial step to further laboratory experimentation. Preliminary laboratory experiments showed a positive learning curve in human auditory perception. Learning occurred when new information was processed with relevant existing knowledge in this simulation environment. While the work towards the truth of the empirical hypothesis is still under discussion, this project has been expanded beyond the scope that was originally envisaged and the developed environment showed its potential to be adopted on mobile devices for many educational purposes. This initiative not only brings scientists and educators together, but it is also hoped that it represents a possible e-approach to a constructivist way of learning.