https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3940-4216
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ABSTRACT
This study uses China as a case country to investigate the factors that influence university instructors’ teaching agency by drawing on experiences in the engineering field using Margaret Archer’s social realist framework. With survey results including 659 valid responses, the findings reveal that instructors’ delivery of contextual instruction and use of multiple assessment methods to measure student learning are both directly influenced by two reflexivity-related factors, namely, intrinsic motivation for teaching and instructors’ self-efficacy with regard to engaging students in engineering classes. However, one’s intrinsic motivation for teaching, as an internal reflexive factor, is also influenced by the institutional provision of resources for teaching and the effects of the training activities organized by institutions, which are structural factors associated with the working context. Although one’s self-efficacy in engaging students in engineering classes is not directly influenced by the effectiveness of pedagogical training, it is influenced by the resources provided by the institution to support teaching. Furthermore, the effects of organized training activities to support teaching are also found to have a direct impact on instructors’ use of multiple assessment methods in their teaching practices. This study advances our understanding of how teaching excellence can be achieved at the university level.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Tengteng Zhuang
Dr. Tengteng Zhuang is currently an assistant professor/lecturer at Institute of Higher Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University which is one of the leading institutions in education science in Asia and the world at large. Having a dual background of engineering and education, Dr. Zhuang is focused on higher education research, especially higher STEM education. He has published articles on both teaching and learning in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at university level, covering topics of students’ programme satisfaction, student assessment, faculty members’ teaching agency, and other engineering policy-related issues. His publications have appeared in various SSCI journals, including Higher Education Research & Development, Cambridge Journal of Education, Asia Pacific Education Review, European Journal of Education, Teaching in Higher Education, and there are many more forthcoming.
Alan C. K. Cheung
Professor Alan C. K.Cheung is currently the Chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy (EAP) of the Faculty of Education and the Director for the Centre for University and School Partnership at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He served as an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, CUHK from 2015 to 2017. As both an academic and administrative leader, Professor Cheung has abundant experiences in student management along with other expertise. Prior to joining EAP, Professor Cheung was a faculty member in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently serving as a Professor (Courtesy) at Johns Hopkins University and a Distinguished Chair Professor at Nanjing Normal University. His research areas include evidence-based reform, bilingual education and educational technology. He has been involved in many large-scale randomized experiments and studies on these topics and is the author or co-author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. His journal articles have appeared in top academic journals such as Review of Educational Research (RER), Educational Research Review (ERR), Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP), American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), and Reading Research Quarterly (RRQ).
Wilfred W. F. Lau
Professor Wilfred Lau is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research areas include technology enhanced learning, social media in education, adolescent online behaviour, computer science education, mathematics education. He is the Editor of Cogent Education (ESCI), the Consulting Editor of Educational Technology Research and Development (SSCI), and the Editorial Board Member of Computers & Education (SSCI), Information and Learning Sciences (ESCI), Journal of Technology and Information Education (ERIH+), and Social Sciences & Humanities Open. He has served as ad hoc reviewer for 40 international journals. His publications have appeared in journals such as Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, British Journal of Educational Technology, Computers & Education, Computers in Human Behaviour, Education and Information Technologies, Educational Technology Research and Development, EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, Higher Education, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Journal of Educational Computing Research, Learning and Individual Differences, Mathematics Education Research Journal, The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, and The Internet and Higher Education.
Yang Su
Dr. Yang Su is now a post-doc fellow at the School of Government, Beijing Normal University. Her research areas include higher education, university teaching, and higher education internationalization. She is good at exploring educational issues with a theoretical lens and the use of the appropriate methodology. She has published articles in various high-impact journals in China.