The number of transnational students is quite substantial in Oman. In the Gulf Region, it is common to recruit non-Anglophone expatriate staff to teach on these programmes while they rarely have... Show moreThe number of transnational students is quite substantial in Oman. In the Gulf Region, it is common to recruit non-Anglophone expatriate staff to teach on these programmes while they rarely have prior experience in a Western university. In Oman, expatriate academics form a considerable majority of the teaching staff in transnational education (TNE). This means that for practically all of them the environment in which they teach is academically, culturally and sometimes also linguistically new to them. The same holds for the students as the vast majority come from the local government schools where Arabic is the medium of instruction in both primary and secondary school, and the British academic system is new to them.This raises the questions of how a TNE teaching and learning environment can be created that is in line with the expectations of the British programmes so that students can succeed academically, and secondly, how academics who teach on these programmes can be supported in their professional practice towards creating such an environment. The study took a holistic approach by investigating this environment from the points of view of an observer, the teachers and the students, and considered how these different perspectives informed a long-term continuing professional development (CPD) programme. Show less
This dissertation describes several studies concerning the research-teaching nexus in the sciences. General, it is recognized that a strong nexus exist between research and teaching at university... Show moreThis dissertation describes several studies concerning the research-teaching nexus in the sciences. General, it is recognized that a strong nexus exist between research and teaching at university education, but it was not always clear in which ways this relation could be implemented to positively influence student learning. Connections between teachers__ intentions, teaching practice, and scientific research dispositions were studied in this dissertation. Associations between these factors and suggestions for teaching practice in higher education were described in the context of the nexus of research and teaching in bachelor science courses. The findings show that scientific research dispositions of academics can be characterized by six qualitatively different aspects, namely the inclination to understand, to achieve, to share, to be critical, to be innovative, and to know. Furthermore, it became clear that teachers__ intentions not always correspond to students__ perceptions of research activities during the courses. Teachers__ intentions on tangible elements of the nexus were relatively more congruent with the students__ perceptions, than teachers__ intentions about intangible elements. The results suggest at that intangible elements of the research-teaching nexus, such as the stimulation of a critical disposition or the creation of an innovative atmosphere, need to be emphasized, if we want that students develop realistic conceptions about the nature of scientific research. Show less
