There has been a wealth of research into various forms of educational export such as distance education and study abroad, but this paper focuses on the delivery of foreign-supplied courses and programs "within" a host country-in this case, China. Key findings include a high level of demand amongst Chinese students for business and…

In the spring of 2002, the author conducted a qualitative study that used student engagement as a lens through which to analyze the effects of technology on campus. The setting was a four-year private institution that had, three years prior, instituted a laptop computer requirement for undergraduate students. The study used focus groups of…

Institutions across the U.S. have designed and implemented first-year experience programs that have gone a long way toward affecting student success. Retention rates have increased at some institutions as a result of these interventions, and first-year students often get the support they need to negotiate the transition into college. Now many…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe a qualitative study of a four-year, state-wide portfolio evaluation system for new principals. The State of Ohio (USA) was one of five states that participated in a field test of the Portfolio Assessment for School Leaders designed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) and the…

The understanding of expert knowledge as shared, distributed and contextualised has gained ground. The case description in this article focuses on developing expert knowledge in a situation in which both knowledge needs and the definition of expertise fields changed radically in the public sector within a social crisis. The article examines an…

Purpose: This article seeks to discuss the role that line managers take up concerning human resource management issues among Greek firms and to propose ways for enhancing the synergistic relationship between human resource (HR) and line managers. Design/methodology/approach: It presents the trends of line management involvement in Greek firms,…

Researchers conducted a qualitative study of students' in- and out-of-class experiences in a residential learning community at a mid-sized public institution. Focus group interviews were conducted to explore (a) the outcomes of learning community membership from participants' point of view and (b) the connections between participants' reported…

This paper is an attempt to evaluate the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) In-Service Program on the basis of experiences of 20 secondary school teachers who attended the program in a private school in Turkey. A phenomenological approach, with a focus group method was used. The first objective of this study was to evaluate EQ program on the basis of…

This study describes the support of parents and other community members for child pedestrian safety measures, their willingness to pay in terms of volunteer time and money for efforts to make child pedestrian safety improvements in their neighborhood, and their views on how to affect child pedestrian safety improvements in their communities. In…

This article presents findings from an empirical study exploring student and teacher perspectives on positive learning experiences in practical theological education. Forty-five students and twenty teachers were interviewed in focus groups in four educational institutions delivering programs in practical theology. The findings indicated that…

Plagiarism by students is an increasing problem at higher education institutions. However, the development of academic misconduct policies has done little to reduce the incidence of plagiarism as many incidents result from ignorance and poor skill development rather than intentional misconduct. Our purpose in embarking on this research project was…

The effect of national or local standards and guidelines on job satisfaction among professional and faculty academic advisors was studied using an on-line survey, focus group, and individual interviews. Findings support the proposition that the more connected advisors are to standards of practice, the greater their job satisfaction. Findings also…

"Setting" A single primary school which serves a mixed socioeconomic area in the north of Scotland. "Method" Parents gave demographic details about their family and information about whether their children had been breastfed. Twenty- three children, aged 6, took part in three focus groups which were conducted by two…

Objective: This study examines the issues influencing psychiatrists' decisions to provide care to the under-served geriatric population. Methods: Community-based psychiatrists who see geriatric patients participated in focus group discussions exploring factors that influence the characteristics of their current practices. Results: Personal themes,…

This narrative describes how, in response to poor results, a teaching team revamped a postgraduate business strategy module in a U.K. university. The changes mainly involved clarification of some of the staff's key expectations and teaching and learning methods, taking account of the powerful pressures on international students in the United…