In a world that celebrates academic institutions as the pinnacle of knowledge, progress, and enlightenment, the reality is far grimmer. Academia has become a self-serving oligarchy that imposes ideological conformity, restricts intellectual freedom, and manipulates public consciousness under the guise of “progress.” Far from being a champion of open inquiry, academia operates as the most insidious oppressor in American society, exerting control over public discourse, dictating acceptable beliefs, and marginalizing any who dare to dissent. In its thirst for dominance, academia (...) has transformed from a place of learning to a vehicle for intellectual tyranny, where it imposes its own rigid worldview and stifles diversity of thought. -/- In an imagined reinterpretation of The Apology, Socrates stands accused not merely of corrupting the youth of Athens but of something far more subversive: defining the word “oppressor” and exposing the façade of modern academic power structures. Socrates faces a tribunal of academic elites, his only crime a relentless quest for truth. He has introduced the concept of an “unmoved mover”—an entity not swayed by the ideological tides of his accusers. In our age, this unmoved mover might be called "truth" or "justice," yet the academic establishment brands it as “God,” something feared for its unwavering judgment against their hypocrisy. Through Socrates, we examine academia itself as the ultimate oppressor, an institution that defines and manipulates reality to preserve its power. (shrink)

I argue that Azerbaijani universities are a façade masking an ulterior motive. I examine the difficult relationship between authoritarian power and the university in Azerbaijan through the study of coercive policies put in place by university administrators preventing free thought and hampering the freedom of academics. My central thesis is that the university is a place where researchers should be able to teach and conduct their research freely, without any hindrance from their administrators. However, in authoritarian countries, such as Azerbaijan, (...) academic freedom suffers from regular interference and restrictions on the part of those administrators who, arguably due to the nature of the regime, assume that academics are not supposed to criticize the society, politics or universities in which they work. These administrators, who are often academics themselves, mistakenly believe that university priorities should be at the service of the regime at the expense of knowledge. I submit that the rigid discipline of Azerbaijani universities and the unfree relationship between high-ranking administrators and scholars – a relationship based on the domination of the former over the latter – do not only stymie academic discussions and development, but also squelch the liberty and creativity of scholars. (shrink)

Doctoral graduates in philosophy are an excellent source of information about the discipline: they are at the cutting edge of research trends, have an inside view of researchfocused departments, and their employment prospects provide early insights on the future health of the discipline. We report on the results of a survey sent to recent PhD graduates and current students, as well as data gathering efforts by Academic Placement Data and Analysis that have taken place over the past ten years. In (...) this report we especially focus on demographic representation, program ratings, academic job placement, and non-academic careers. (shrink)

In this essay, we share our experience and learning about the value of, and the difficulty associated with, conducting and presenting scientific studies in ways that are both simple (understandable) and beautiful (appealing to the reader). We describe some “aha moments” of insight that led to changes in the way we approach and present research, some of the actions we took, and lessons we learned.

The standard view of academic freedom and free speech is that they play complementary roles in universities. Academic freedom protects academic discourse, while other public discourse in universities is protected by free speech. Here I challenge this view, broadly, on the grounds that free speech in universities sometimes undermines academic practices. One defense of the standard view, in the face of this worry, says that campus free speech actually furthers the university’s academic aims. Another says that universities have a secondary (...) democratic function, which cannot be fulfilled without free speech on campus. I identify shortcomings in both types of arguments. (shrink)

This paper evaluates Pierre Hadot’s concept of ‘philosophy as a way of life’ (PWL) as a tool to critique academic philosophy. Firstly, I will provide a concise overview of Hadot’s critique through a discussion of two lesser-known texts. I will go on to submit that PWL, contrary to what its name might imply, does not primarily distinguish between philosophical theory and practice. Instead, through an exploration of relevant secondary sources, I will emphasize PWL’s focus on the spiritual dimension of philosophy, (...) or rather the lack thereof in the modern research university. A return to philosophy as a way of life, then, does not imply emancipation from the university as such, but rather from contemporary academia’s research practices and standards. Only then can philosophy rekindle its true essence, namely transforming the lives and worlds of many. (shrink)

Although academic freedom lies at the philosophical core of early Arab-Islamic advancement of knowledge and its tradition of free inquiry, academic freedom is currently under scrutiny. This is evidenced by the many ways the concept is widely misunderstood, resisted, contested, and subject to different interpretations by the Arab political elite. While the impediment of freedom of thought tends to be the fundamental signature of totalitarian political regimes, the idea or practice has spread beyond these limitations. While this subject has many (...) facets, this article only examines academic freedom within the scope of knowledge and inquiry derived from the revered text of the Qur’ãn, including its relation to democracy and radicalism. (shrink)

I show that the social stratification of academic science can arise as a result of academics’ preference for reading work of high epistemic value. This is consistent with a view on which academic superstars are highly competent academics, but also with a view on which superstars arise primarily due to luck. I argue that stratification is beneficial if most superstars are competent, but not if most superstars are lucky. I also argue that it is impossible to tell whether most superstars (...) are in fact competent or lucky, or which group a given superstar belongs to, and hence whether stratification is overall beneficial. (shrink)

Since philosophy is a notoriously difficult subject, one may think that the concept of adding rigor to a philosophy course is misguided. Isn’t reading difficult texts by Immanuel Kant or Friedrich Nietzsche enough to categorize a class as academically rigorous? This question is based on the misguided assumption that academic rigor has only to do with course content. While course content is a component of academic rigor, other aspects such as higher-order thinking, as well as how an instructor designs and (...) grades assignments, contribute to the level of academic rigor in a course. The author provides several ways to increase the level of academic rigor in a philosophy course based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy using examples from an introductory ethics course and then provides recommendations as to how to grade to promote academic rigor. (shrink)

This research examined the academic enablers that help undergraduate students wi hearing impairment (SWHI) succeed in higher education, addressing their uniq obstacles. SWHI students have unique academic challenges that need tailored interventio and support services to improve their education. Promoting diversity and academic succe in higher education requires understanding these obstacles and supports. A census samp of 30 SWHI undergraduates from a private institution was used for a quantitative stud Surveys in sign language were analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive and inferential (...) statisti were used to analyze academic engagement, interpersonal skills, academic motivation, a study abilities. Academic Engagement demonstrated significant engagement with 56.1 asking test questions and 68.3% participating in classroom discussions. Interpersonal Ski showed active listening (78.0%) and good group work (75.6%). Academic motivati emphasized self-improvement (78.0%) and intrinsic curiosity (73.2%). 73.2% attended cla without doing homework, indicating study skills issues. Future studies should exami academic diversity and accessibility initiatives. (shrink)

This study determined the socio-demographic profile, stress level of academic stressors such as parents’ expectations, self-expectations, educational requirements, and peer relationships, and the relationship between the socio-demographic profile and level of stress among Grade 12 STEM students at Baybay City Senior High School during transitional face-to-face classes. The stress level is categorized into very high, high, average, low, and very low. A survey questionnaire was utilized to gather the data using a complete enumeration with 43 males and 62 females for (...) 105 students. Frequency counts, percentages, and the chi-square test were used to examine the survey data. The result of the study revealed that the level of stress of academic stressors among the Grade 12 STEM students was average in parent expectations with a weighted mean of 3.22, highly stressed in self-expectation with a 3.50 weighted average, and academic requirements with a weighted mean of 3.52, and low highlighted in a peer relationship with a weighted mean of 2.08. Also, there was no significant relationship between the respondents' socio-demographic profile and the stress level among academic stressors. Therefore, Grade 12 STEM students at Baybay City Senior High School experienced stress during transitional face-to-face classes. A proposed action plan is designed to manage the level of pressure among the Grade 12 STEM students. (shrink)

Academic social networks and social media have revolutionised the way individuals gather information and express themselves, particularly in academia, science, and research. Through the lens of academics, this study aims to investigate the epistemological and psychosocial aspects of these knowledge sources. The epistemological attitude model presented a framework to delve into and reflect upon the existence of knowledge sources, comprising subjective, interactional, and knowledge dimensions. One hundred and twenty-six university academics participated in this study, including lecturers and researchers from different (...) higher education institutions in Latvia. The study employed two methods: the Epistemological Attitudes towards Sources of Knowledge Questionnaire and the Epistemological Attitudes towards Sources of Knowledge Semantic Questionnaire. The data analysis involved several procedures, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and test statistics. By implementing these methods, the study gained valuable insights into the sources of knowledge, examining them from two perspectives. The first perspective brought attention to the differences in academics’ appraisals by discussing their understanding, approach, use, and valuations of these sources. By scrutinising the constructs of meanings, the second perspective sheds light on the anticipated knowledge which is deemed ideal, the concrete knowledge that is both social and objective, and the subjectively valuable nature of academic social networks and social media. The findings underscore the specialised knowledge and qualities that academics rely on for producing knowledge. In terms of epistemology, methodology, social science, and education, the study holds theoretical and practical implications, especially in comprehending knowledge and its sources. (shrink)

Philosophical arguments regarding academic freedom can sometimes appear removed from the real conflicts playing out in contemporary universities. This paper focusses on a set of issues at the front line of these conflicts, namely, questions regarding sex, gender and gender identity. We document the ways in which the work of academics has been affected by political activism around these questions and, drawing on our respective disciplinary expertise as a sociologist and a philosopher, elucidate the costs of curtailing discussion on fundamental (...) demographic and conceptual categories. We discuss some philosophical work that addresses the conceptual distinction between academic freedom and free speech and explore how these notions are intertwined in significant ways in universities. Our discussion elucidates and emphasises the educational costs of curtailing academic freedom. (shrink)

One relatively straightforward way in which academics could have more impact on global poverty is by doing more to help people make wise decisions about issues relevant to such poverty. Academics could do this by conducting appropriate kinds of research on those issues and sharing what they have learned with the relevant decision makers in accessible ways. But aren’t academics already doing this? In the case of many of those issues, I think the appropriate answer would be that they could (...) do so much better. As an illustration, I examine the academic input into one decision about an issue concerning global poverty in some detail in this paper. I argue that that input has been seriously deficient, and suggest some ways in which it might be improved. Building on this discussion, I then formulate two questions that can be applied to any such decision, answers to which would indicate the quality of the input academics are currently providing. In cases where that input is deficient, and the decision in question an important one, I suggest that academics consider organising themselves in ways that will improve that input. I finish by briefly discussing how Academics Stand Against Poverty might help them do so. (shrink)

There is a current debate about the extent to which Academic Freedom should be permitted in our universities. On the one hand, we have traditionalists who maintain that Academic Freedom should be unrestricted: people who have the appropriate qualifications and accomplishments should be allowed to develop theories about how the world is, or ought to be, as they see fit. On the other hand, we have post-traditional philosophers who argue against this degree of Academic Freedom. I consider a conservative version (...) of post-traditional philosophy that permits restrictions on Academic Freedom only if the following conditions are met, Condition 1: The dissemination of the results of a given research project R must cause significant harm to some people, especially to people from oppressed groups. Condition 2: Condition 1 must possess strong empirical support, and which accepts the following assumptions: (1) there is a world of objective facts that is, in principle, discoverable, (2) rational means are the means of discovering it and, (3) rational means requires strong empirical support. I define strong empirical support for an hypothesis h on evidence e in probabilistic terms, as a ratio of posterior to prior probabilities substantially exceeding 1. I now argue in favour of a research policy that accepts unrestricted Academic Freedom. My argument is that there is a formal and general quandary that arises within the standard theory of probability when we apply this account of empirical support to a set of possible causal hypotheses framed in such a way that the “reverse probabilities”, pr(e/h) are 1. I consider various possible ways to escape this quandary, none of which are without difficulties, concluding that a research policy allowing for unrestricted Academic Freedom is probably the best that we can hope for. (shrink)

This paper examines the compliance of universities in the European Union with the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher–Education Teaching Personnel, which deals primarily with protection for academic freedom. The paper briefly surveys the European genesis of the modern research university and academic freedom, before evaluating compliance with the UNESCO recommendation on institutional autonomy, academic freedom, university governance and tenure. Following from this, the paper examines the reasons for the generally low level of compliance with the UNESCO Recommendation within (...) the EU states, and considers how such compliance could be improved. (shrink)

There is currently an academic debate among researchers regarding the influence of age and gender on ICT utilisation generally among lecturers. This study was designed to contribute to this debate and open up new paths to areas on which researchers have focused little or no attention. This study examined lecturers’ variables (gender, age, educational qualification and rank) and the utilisation of ICT resources for teaching, research, and records management in higher education. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study’s (...) population comprised of 9,604 lecturers at the University of Calabar. A total of 313 lecturers who were available in their offices during data collection responded to a questionnaire which was designed by the researchers. Major findings showed that the extent of lecturers' utilisation of ICT for teaching, research, and records management is significantly low. Also, staff' educational qualification, rank, gender, and age significantly influence the utilisation of ICT for teaching, research and records management. Also, the utilisation of ICT resources decreased with lecturers’ educational qualifications, rank and age; male lecturers were more competent in the use of ICT resources than females. It was concluded that lecturers' variables play a significant role on the extent to which they utilise ICT resources for teaching, research and records management in higher education. This study creates a new path of innovation in education on which prospective researches could focus. (shrink)

It is a common practice for authors of an academic work to thank the anonymous reviewers at the journal that is publishing it. Allegedly, scholars thank the reviewers because their comments improved the paper and thanking them is a proper way to show gratitude to them. Yet often, a paper that is eventually accepted by one journal is first rejected by other journals, and even though those journals’ reviewers also supply comments that improve the quality of the work, those reviewers (...) are not customarily thanked. We contacted prominent scholars in bioethics and philosophy of medicine and asked whether thanking such reviewers would be a welcome trend. Having received responses from 107 scholars, we discuss the suggested proposal in light of both philosophical argument and the results of this survey. We argue that when an author’s work is published, the author should thank the reviewers whose comments improved the paper regardless of whether those reviewers’ journals rejected or accepted the work. That is because scholars should show gratitude to those who deserve it, and those whose comments improved the paper deserve gratitude. We also consider objections against this practice raised by scholars and show why they are not entirely persuasive. (shrink)

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, procrastination has become commonplace due to changes in teaching and learning, which trigger students' academic burnout. As a result, it has increased the intensity of procrastination among students who are enrolled in online learning programs. As a result, students have difficulty as a result of the rapid change from in-person learning to online learning. The study investigates the relationship between academic burnout and procrastination among 150 grade 12 senior high school students. Hence, this study employed (...) a correlational design. Based on the inferential analysis, the r coefficient of 0.71 indicates a high positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists between academic burnout and academic procrastination among grade 12 senior high school students. (shrink)

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, stringent lockdowns and sudden adjustments were enacted, both of which had a devastating effect on the economy of the Philippines and the method of education that was in place at the time. This resulted in shifts and serious challenges for everyone, particularly pupils from marginalized homes. Hence, this study employed a correlational design to determine if there is a significant relationship between academic burnout and academic procrastination among 150 grade 12 senior high school (...) students. The researchers used two instruments: Academic Procrastination Scale (APS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to measure the variables. Moreover, the statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.80 indicates a high positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists between procrastination and academic burnout among grade 12 senior high school students. (shrink)

Academic Placement Data and Analysis (APDA), a project funded by the American Philosophical Association (APA) and headed by Carolyn Dicey Jennings (UC Merced), aims “to make information on academic job placement useful to prospective graduate students in philosophy.” The project has just been updated to include new data, which Professor Jennings describes in a post at New APPS. She also announces a new interactive data tool with which one can sift through and sort information. (from Daily Nous).

This study evaluates the relationship between mental health and academic motivation among third-year college TES grantees. Thus, correlational design was employed to determine if there is a significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among 150 third-year TES grantees. Statistical findings reveal that the r coefficient of 0.52 indicates a moderate positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to rejecting the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists between mental health and (...) academic motivation of third-year college TES grantees. Implications were discussed in the study. (shrink)

This text, commissioned by the OSUN Global Observatory of Academic Freedom, discusses how the concept of academic freedom is codified in Colombian Law and regulations of public and private higher education institutions. It also explores common conceptions of academic freedom among Colombian scholars, as well as commonly observed threats to it.

This study helps further identifying the factors involved in academic dishonesty with the perspective of agents, companies, and industries which have become the source to provide services to give ways to students living abroad towards academic dishonesty. How this business is growing in developing countries like Pakistan.

Introduction: The Faculty of Medicine, University of Moratuwa, established during the COVID-19 pandemic, was compelled to conduct the teaching activities online for the first intake of students until their first bar examination. Online learning is known to be linked to several health issues. This study aims to explore the academic performance and perceived health effects related to online learning in the Faculty of Medicine, Moratuwa. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all 104 first-intake students using an anonymous online (...) self-administered questionnaire to explore health effects and academic performance after ethical clearance. Results: Out of 104 students, 82 students responded (response rate=78.85%). Majority participated from home using their own laptop (74.4%) and personal Wi-Fi (69.5%) and spent 5-10 hours daily for online academic activities (72%). Majority complained of related physical (86.6%), and psychological (81.7%) health issues: eye problems (69.5%), headache (47.6%), backache (43.9%), stress (46.3%) and concentration difficulties (45.1%). The first bar examination was cleared by 84.1% with the majority (52.4%) obtaining classes. There was a statistically significant positive association (p< .05) between physical and psychological health concerns with the average screen-time spent on academic activities, but not with the academic performance. There was also no statistically significant association between screen-time and academic performance. Conclusions: Majority of students using online learning had related physical and psychological health issues which were positively associated with the screen-time though not with academic performance. Designing online activities with less screen time may be considered as a strategy to minimise health effects related to online learning. (shrink)

The process of deciding which books academics submit should be published favors authors who are associated with the most prestigious universities and other research institutions. Some feel this bias could be minimized if the review of academic books were carried out as anonymously as is the review of articles for journal publication. Not likely to happen soon, however, because both academic and publishing industries promote the hierarchy of perceived excellence that permeates the process of publishing academic books. To find this (...) process to be in any way unethical one needs to move beyond individual-oriented approaches and adopt a social perspective that fosters fundamental fairness, equal opportunity, and equal respect. Here I assume these values as I focus on pre-publication of philosophical work in the United States. (shrink)

The purpose of this document is to outline why and how universities must both transform and mobilise to avert the worst impacts of the global crises faced by humanity. The first section addresses the justification for transformation and how academia can and must transform. In the second section, the document highlights the need for a peaceful mobilisation of student and staff bodies to make effective the transformation advocated for. The document then outlines a blueprint as to action that must be (...) taken in order to initiate the required transformation and mobilisation. (2020). (shrink)

This chapter offers a plea for the media to reframe its coverage of campus controversies from free expression to academic freedom. These freedoms are entwined, but distinct. Freedom of expression is extended to all persons with no expectation of quality control, apart from legal prohibitions against defamation, threats, etc. By contrast, academic freedom is a cluster of freedoms afforded to scholarly personnel for a particular purpose – namely, the pursuit of universities’ academic mission to seek truth and advance understanding in (...) the service of society. An academic freedom framing better reflects the distinctive social purpose around which universities are organized, as well as universities’ duty of care to employees and students. While universities have a legal and moral duty of care to all employees and students, the unjust, exclusionary past and present of higher education arguably makes that duty particularly acute in the case of equity-deserving (e.g., racialized, Indigenous, disabled or 2SLGBTQ+) people. Finally, academic freedom framing for campus media stories is less monolithic than free expression framing, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of campus controversies while keeping universities accountable to the public they serve. In this chapter, I survey three very different campus controversies at a single Canadian university, and the media response each received. I show how an academic freedom frame for those stories would have produced better reportage while reducing opportunities for bad actors to manipulate both universities and the media. At the end of the day, the real crisis at universities isn’t the cancellation of ill-judged events that were never a part of the academic mission; it is the ongoing erosion of academic freedom. (shrink)

In this paper, we examine how a research institution’s social structure and academic opinion leaders’ presence shaped the early adoption of a scientific innovation. Our case considers the early engagement of mathematical economists at the Cowles Commission with John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. We argue that scholars with administrative leadership functions who were not only scientifically but also organizationally central – in our case the director of research Jacob Marschak – played a crucial (...) role in promoting the adoption of the Theory of Games. We support our argument with a scientometric analysis of all acknowledgments made in 488 papers published from 1944 to 1955 in the two main paper series at Cowles. We apply blockmodeling techniques to the acknowledgments network to reconstruct the formal and informal social structure at Cowles at the time. Our findings suggest that studies of the early adoption of scientific theories benefit from complementary perspectives on the role of academic leaders and scientists. Our study reveals the importance of formal and informal social structures and the agenda of administrative leaders in these structures to explain their adoption. (shrink)

The study examined personnel management and corrupt academic practices in universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. In achieving this objective, two research questions and two null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively, to guide the study. The study adopted a factorial research design, while the population of the study included all the academic staff and students from University of Calabar and Cross River University of Technology. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select 1200 students and 200 lecturers from both (...) Universities, resulting in a sample of 1400 respondents. The instrument used for data collection was a 25-item rating scale that was designed by the researcher to assess both students and lecturers respectively. The collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the null hypotheses were tested at .05 alpha level, using multiple regression analysis. The results of the analysis revealed that; discipline and remuneration of lecturers influenced lecturers’ corrupt academic practices in the universities, with remuneration having the most influence. The findings of the study also revealed that discipline and supervision of university students have a joint significant influence on university students’ corrupt academic practices, with students’ supervision having the most influence on corrupt academic practices. Based on these findings, it was recommended among other things that university lecturers should be properly remunerated through frequent payment of salaries, and other wages in order to ensure that they do not lack food and other resources to manage and take proper care of their families; students should be supervised properly during examinations and in other academic/ co-curricular activities of the universities. (shrink)

This study investigates the significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among graduating students. Thus, the study employed a correlational design to determine if there is a significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among 150 graduating college students. Hence, the Mental Health Inventory 38 (MHI-38) and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C28) were employed to measure the study variables. Moreover, statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.35 indicates a low positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of (...) 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. (shrink)

Even while progressive educators and feminist standpoint theorists defend the value of marginalized perspectives, many marginal-voice texts continue to be deprecated in academic contexts due to their seemingly "unprofessional," engaged, and creative styles. Thus, scholars who seek to defend a feminist and multicultural curriculum need a theory of knowledge that goes beyond current standpoint theory and accounts for the unorthodox format in which many maringal standpoints appear. In response to this challenge, this essay draws on feminist and postcolonial critics of (...) objectivity, including Dorothy Smith, Chandra Mohanty, Barrios de Chungara, and Arhundati Roy to theorize the epistemic value of texts that respond with passion and creativity to marginalized people's struggles. In conclusion, the author distinguishes ethically oriented engagement with such texts from mere "politicized teaching," and she suggests ways to teach such texts that cultivate their critical potential. (shrink)

The logic of academic writing is the argumentative strategy on which our papers, our sections, and our paragraphs are based. It is a strategy, as it is a plan that connects different steps and has a specific goal, namely convincing the audience of an original and important idea. And it is argumentative, for two reasons. First, we can defend our idea and we can convince our audience only through arguments, which only in very few disciplines are formal deductions. In most (...) cases, the arguments that we use are based on premises accepted by a community and the conclusions are drawn from principles that in the ancient dialectics were called “maxims,” principles shared by everyone. Second, a paper is a dialogue between the author and his or her readers. An idea can be considered as interesting and worth reading only when it addresses a topic that is perceived as important by the readers and tackles a problem that is open and needs to be solved. Our arguments are acceptable when they start from the premises of our community of readers, avoiding repeating what is obvious for them or taking for granted what is obscure or unknown to them. In this book, we present the argumentative approach to academic writing that we used in classroom. What characterizes it and makes it unique is the perspective that is adopted. We do not start from preexisting ideas that only need to be presented in a way that is suitable to an academic public. We intend to show that writing academically is a consequence of thinking academically, or rather “strategically.” We want to explain how the linguistic and presentational devices are the result of a much deeper plan underlying them, and how mastering the logic of a paper leads to understanding and even developing academic styles. The logic of academic writing is not aimed at teaching how to use language and write texts academically, but at enabling readers to create their own style based on their own argumentative strategies. (shrink)

Tourism literature has shown there is a disagreement amongst academics conducting tourism research as to whether tourism is an academic community, academic study, and/or academic discipline. These three terms are used loosely and change in meaning depending upon the author, source, context, and discipline of the author(s). The following paper identifies tourism’s current position in academia using these three ideas of academic acceptance as tools to guide the discussion. Also guiding the discussion are ideas from tourism scholars and Kuhn’s ideas (...) of what constitutes a discipline. The discussion leads to a debate about “truths” in tourism research. Recommendations regarding the advancement of tourism in academia via theory construction in the academic field of tourism are presented. (shrink)

In order to enhance music education courses, the study's primary goal is to evaluate students' academic performance in music at Visayas State University (VSU). It specifically sought to establish the respondents' age, gender, educational attainment, and demographic profile. It also aimed to determine the students’ academic success in music and provide suggestions to enhance the curriculum at the Visayas State University. In the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, the students dominate the younger generation wherein they belong (...) to the age bracket of 16-20 years old. 75% of the participants were females, which reflected the majority of the population. Most of the students only got average grades. The weak background and foundation are due to less time given to music in MAPEH as a subject. Thus, they just encountered proper music education upon reaching the tertiary level hence, lacking the basic skills necessary for them to learn and appreciate the course then and obtain higher grades. (shrink)

Reading, taking notes, and holding study sessions are all examples of routine, habitual study behaviors that pupils engage in to fulfill the learning objective. This study was conducted to the two hundred-five (n=205) grade 6 pupils at Malitbog 1 District, Division of Bukidnon, School Year 2022-2023. It attempted to answer the level of pupils’ study habits and academic performance and determine the significant relationship between the study habits and academic performance. The study utilized the descriptive-correlational research design with documentary analysis (...) and used an adapted and modified questionnaire to gather the necessary data to answer the specific questions of the study. Purposive sampling was employed to determine the respondents. Mean, Standard Deviation, Frequency, Percentage and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient or Pearson r were used as statistical tools. Results revealed that pupils’ overall level of study habits was high while their overall academic performance was at very satisfactory level. Significant correlation was registered between pupils’ study habits and their academic performance. Thus, teachers, parents and stakeholders may collaborate with each other to create and conduct activities that will continue to enhance and improve the pupils study habits to improve their academic performance. (shrink)

The UK Government's Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill is currently progressing through Parliament. The bill is designed to strengthen free speech and academic freedom in higher education, in response to what former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson describes as ‘the rise of intolerance and cancel culture upon our campuses’. But is there really a crisis of academic freedom in British universities?To see that there is, say Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan, we need only look at the contemporary reality of suppression (...) of debate on sex and gender. The evidence they catalogue of suppression of research, of blacklisting, harassment and smear campaigns, of no-platforming, disinvitations and shutting down of events, is incontrovertible. The recent experience of scholars and students wishing to discuss the material reality and political salience of sex makes complacency about academic freedom a luxury we cannot afford.Suissa and Sullivan set out a powerful argument for the role of academic freedom in pursuing truth within the academy and developing democracy beyond it. They effectively counter attempts to narrow the scope of academic freedom so as to render it compatible with no-platforming. And they lay out a series of practical steps administrators can take to ensure that universities are places where an expansive and pluralistic intellectual climate prevails.This is a timely and compelling intervention in a vexed but urgent public debate. For their clear-sighted diagnosis of where and how academic freedom has been eroded in our universities, and for their judicious account of what must be done to rebuild it, Suissa and Sullivan deserve a wide and attentive hearing. (shrink)

This study assessed students’ personnel management and academic effectiveness in terms of punctuality to classes, time management, study habits, record keeping, attitudes during classes, note taking, attitudes towards assignment, examination results and attitudes towards co-curricular activities in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River State. Three null hypotheses were formulated accordingly to guide the study following a descriptive survey research design. Proportionate sampling technique was employed in selecting a sample of 1,934 students (representing 20%) from a population of 9,672 students. Students’ (...) Personnel Management and Academic Effectiveness Questionnaire (SPMAEQ) was used as an instrument for data collection. The instrument yielded reliability estimates of .86 and .93 for the independent and dependent variables using Split-half technique. The null hypotheses were all tested at .05 level of significance using Pearson Correlation Matrix with the aid of SPSS v25. Findings from the study revealed among others that; students' counseling, healthcare, and discipline management respectively, are significantly related to students' academic effectiveness in terms of punctuality to classes, time management, study habits, record keeping, attitudes during classes, note taking, attitudes towards assignment, examination results and attitudes towards co-curricular activities. It was concluded generally from the findings of this study that, there is a moderate positive relationship which is statistically significant between students’ personnel management and their academic effectiveness. It was recommended amongst others that; there should be adequate employment and supply of professional guidance counselors to all secondary schools to boost the psychological levels of students and make them emotionally prepared for academic and co-curricular activities in the school. (shrink)

This study aimed to determine the significant relationship among student engagement, academic motivation, and academic performance of the Intermediate Level Students of Licup Elementary School. Utilizing descriptive correlational method of research and validated questionnaires in data analysis with Mean, and Pearson Product–Moment of Coefficient Correlation as statistical tools, results shows that there is no significant relationship among the three variables. In addition, results also indicated that the student engagement and academic motivation of the intermediate level students of Licup Elementary School (...) is low, while the Academic Performance of the intermediate students is Very Satisfactory. It was also recommended that future researchers be encouraged to conduct this kind of research in a new location and to set to expand this kind of study. (shrink)

The prestige of an academic institution may be determined as a function of affiliations with other academic institutions. Using digital tools to data-scrape, data-mine, and perform network analysis on university websites, an approximation of numbers of academic affiliations may be measured. Especially observing the alma mater institutions of the faculty of employed institutions, these numbers show the relative employment of alumni and a proxy metric for the relative prestige of their degree-granting institutions. These affiliations can be charted and graphed to (...) determine the distributions of affiliations throughout an academic ecosystem from which we might draw conclusions about that system’s hierarchies and inequalities. Here we use anglophone PhD-granting philosophy departments as a case study for this methodology with tentative conclusions. (shrink)

We urgently need to bring about a revolution in academic inquiry, one that transforms knowledge-inquiry into what may be called wisdom-inquiry. This revolution, were it to occur, would help humanity make progress towards as good a world as possible. Wisdom-inquiry gives intellectual priority to articulating problems of living, including global problems, and proposing and critically assessing possible solutions - possible actions, policies, political programmes. It actively seeks to promote public education about what our problems are, and what we need to (...) do about them. It seeks to discover how problematic aims of social, political and economic endeavours may be improved. It includes a virtual government that seeks to discover what the actual government ought to be doing. In these and other ways, wisdom-inquiry would be actively and rationally engaged in helping humanity make progress towards a better world. Academia as it exists at present, dominated by knowledge-inquiry, cannot engage in these vitally necessary activities, or can only do so in a restricted, ineffective fashion. There are strong grounds for holding that wisdom-inquiry would dramatically enhance the capacity of humanity to make progress towards a better, wiser world. (shrink)

in academic entrepreneurship and creation of university spin-off companies has grown in South Africa. This study aims to establish the factors that inspire academics to engage in entrepreneurial activities and to identify the role that academic entrepreneurs play in the process of technology transfer and commercialization at University of Technology (UoT) X. A quantitative research approach is adopted throughout this study. As part of the quantitative research approach, structured questionnaires were directly administered to the respondents to collect the data. Specifically, (...) 52 electronic survey questionnaires were distributed. The sample is drawn from two databases compiled, using UOTX’s internal research records. One of the databases, held a list of those academics who have been active in terms of research as evident in their research outputs – technology creation and transfer. The other database (control group) holds a list of those academics that have not been active. From both groups, a purposive sample is drawn for the survey questionnaire. This study notes that pull factors tend to influence the entrepreneurial activities of academics at UOT X more than push factors and that academics are key players in the process of technology transfer. Thus, this study may assist the university senior management to develop strategies to improve academic entrepreneurship for all faculties. In line with this, it is expected that the primary function of UOT X should be to instil a greater entrepreneurial spirit among the relevant stakeholders. (shrink)

For Kuhn, there are a number of values which provide scientists with a shared basis for theory-choice. These values include accuracy, breadth, consistency, simplicity and fruitfulness. Each of these values may be interpreted in different ways. Moreover, there may be conflict between the values in application to specific theories. In this short paper, Kuhn's idea of scientific values is extended to the value of academic freedom. The value of academic freedom may be interpreted in a number of different ways. Moreover, (...) there are other values which play a role in the functioning of our academic institutions. As with the possible conflict between scientific values, there may be conflict among the academic values. (shrink)

Aenesidemus, the (re-)founder of Pyrrhonian skepticism, is usually said to have begun his career by breaking away from the Academy. This assertion rests on the word “συναιρεσιώτῃ” as it appears in Photius’ summary of Aenesidemus’ Pyrrhonian Discourses. I argue that Photius’ probable understanding of the Academy’s history undermines this traditional reading. I then examine the evidence external to Photius and conclude that it also speaks against the traditional narrative.

The belief norm of academic publishing states that researchers should believe certain claims they publish. The purpose of this paper is to defend the belief norm of academic publishing. In its defense, the advantages and disadvantages of the belief norm are evaluated for academic research and for the publication system. It is concluded that while the norm does not come without costs, academic research systemically benefits from the belief norm and that it should be counted among those that sustain the (...) practice of academic publishing. (shrink)

Cheating is a growing academic and ethical concern in higher education. This article examines the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) generative chatbots for use in education and provides a review of research literature and relevant scholarship concerning the cheating-related issues involved and their implications for pedagogy. The technological “arms race” that involves cheating-detection system developers versus technology savvy students is attracting increased attention to cheating. AI has added new dimensions to academic cheating challenges as students (as well as faculty and (...) staff) can easily access powerful systems for generating content that can be presented in assignments, exams, or published papers as their own. AI methodology is also providing some emerging anti-cheating approaches, including facial recognition and water- marking. This article provides an overview of human/AI collaboration approaches and frames some educational misuses of such AI generative systems as ChatGPT and Bard as forms of “misattributed co-authorship.” As with other kinds of collaborations, the work that students produce with AI assistance can be presented in transparent and straightforward modes or (unfortunately) in opaquer and ethically-problematic ways. However, rather than just for catching or entrapping students, the emerging varieties of technological cheating-detection strategies can be used to assist students in learning how to document and attribute properly their AI-empowered as well as human-human collaborations. Construing misuses of AI generative systems as misattributed co-authorship can recognize the growing capabilities of these tools and how stressing responsible and mindful usage by students can help prepare them for a highly collaborative, AI-saturated future. (shrink)

This study assesses the student learning styles and academic performance in modular learning among Grade IV, V, and VI learners of Hindang Central School. This considered the learning styles and academic performance of the respondents in modular learning. A total of 252 learners from Hindang Central School participated as respondents in the evaluative method of research that consists of two parts questionnaires. This study used a modified survey questionnaire from the University of California at Merced, Student Advising and Learning Center (...) to gather the data of the respondents. As to the significance of learning styles and academic performances of the respondents in modular learning, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the significant differences. The study's findings indicated that auditory learning was the respondents' preferred method of learning. This learning style is best through speaking or listening. Moreover, auditory learners prevail dominantly amidst the health crisis faced. The respondents' academic achievement in the academic year 2020–2021 was also revealed to be Very Satisfactory. According to the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), there was no apparent connection between learning preferences and academic achievement in the new typical education. Therefore, there was no relation or correlation between the two variables. (shrink)

Academic freedom has often been defended in a progressivist manner: without academic freedom, creativity would be in peril, and with it the advancement of knowledge, i.e. the epistemic progress in science. In this paper, I want to critically discuss the limits of such a progressivist defense of academic freedom, also known under the label ‘argument from truth.’ The critique is offered, however, with a constructive goal in mind, namely to offer an alternative account that connects creativity and academic freedom in (...) a way that goes beyond mere reference to epistemic progress and involves reference to the freedom to think independently as the freedom we mean when we point to creativity and when we point to academic freedom. The resulting causal independence account is not only epistemologically stronger than a progressivist account, it also allows to counter the curbing of academic freedom in the name of progress. The latter becomes key, for instance, when authoritarian political regimes limit or negate academic freedom with reference to an epistemic progress suitably defined for that regime. (shrink)

Reading proficiency plays a vital role in keeping up-to-date with technological advancements and innovations in education. However, there are Grade 7 students who need help with the essential skill of reading. These students need support for them to cope with the classroom demands. This transcendental phenomenological qualitative research aims to determine the academic experiences of struggling readers inside the classroom. Five struggling readers were the participants of this study. These five participants were purposefully selected after being recommended by the school (...) reading coordinator. The interview guide questionnaire was the instrument of this study. The interview guide questionnaire contains open-ended questions that were validated by experts. One-on-one interviews were conducted for about 20 to 40 minutes each. Using an audio recorder, the interviews were recorded. After the interview, a verbatim transcription was made and thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the significant lines of the participants. The following themes were elicited from the participants' responses, namely: lack of computer skills, limited visual attention span, hesitation and anxiety to participate, difficulty in interaction, difficulty with the use of technology in education, confusion with letter-sound identification, less motivation to learn, problem understanding the lesson, and slow in taking down notes. The participants attributed their reading difficulties to themselves, their teachers, and their parents. In light of these findings, it is strongly recommended that a robust and comprehensive reading recovery program be implemented. This program should address struggling readers' multifaceted challenges and provide them with the necessary support to enhance their reading proficiency and overall academic performance. (shrink)

This book is an invitation to academic administrators, at every level, to engage in reflection on the ethical dimensions of their working lives.