This paper reports on Stage 1 of a learning and teaching project focused on students studying in the Chinese and English language delivery of transnational Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs of an Australian university. The programs are delivered using limited and intensive face-to-face teaching augmented by self-directed and web-based learning, and ongoing (mainly email) contact with lecturers before and after they have returned to Australia. The aim of this stage of the project is to provide a greater understanding of students' instructional preferences so that, where appropriate, lecturers can better scaffold learning and teaching arrangements (Stage 2 of the project) to assist them to meet the learning objectives of the MBA program. Survey data were collected from students studying the MBA in Hong Kong and Singapore in English (EMBA), and in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in Chinese (CMBA). Findings demonstrate that whilst students ranked teacher-directed face-to-face instructional delivery highly, they also indicated that an independent, web-based learning environment was their least-preferred approach to learning. These findings put lecturers in a more informed position when it comes to them planning how to best assist students from Confucian-heritage backgrounds to work productively and successfully in their studies.
[Copyright of Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice is the property of University of Wollongong, Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/]

This article argues that Burton Clark's notion of the expanded developmental periphery provides a useful conceptual framework for examining the differing relationships between continuing and professional education units and the institutional core of traditional research universities. The intent is to examine how Clark's notion offers a means to detect and analyse factors that assist in empowering some units and, conversely, those that are disempowering and lead to a perception of marginalisation in others. The article begins by examining differing perspectives in the literature on the relationship between continuing and professional education units and the university core. It then revisits Clark's work on entrepreneurial universities before focussing on just one of the five transforming elements that Clark argues underscore the success of entrepreneurial universities-the expanded developmental periphery. The article explains how this notion was developed into a conceptual framework and was used in the author's own research examining the contribution that three continuing and professional education units made to their universities in Washington DC, Hong Kong and Sydney. Clark's notion has been used as a diagnostic tool, which may have a wider application for examining relationships between the institutional core and its periphery.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2012.737378]

This paper reports the results of an international study examining preservice teacher reports of teaching self-efficacy for inclusive education; principally focusing on the explanatory relationship between a scale designed to measure teaching self-efficacy in this area and key demographic variables within Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. The study builds on earlier work by this research team on attitudes towards inclusion and offers a more comprehensive picture of preservice teachers' preparedness to teach in inclusive classrooms. Data were collected from 380 preservice teachers in four countries. Results indicated that strong international differences existed. Other factors impacting responses regarding teaching self-efficacy for inclusion include the type of teacher preparation program offered by the institution; variations in the level of knowledge about inclusion law and policy; previous interactions with people with disabilities; confidence levels in teaching people with disabilities; and, prior teaching experience and training in working with students with disabilities. Implications for ongoing development of international teacher preparation programs are discussed within the context of improving self-efficacy.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Teacher Education is the property of School of Education, Edith Cowan University. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2013v38n1.10]

This article mobilises story-telling to narrate the authors lived experience of teaching English as a minority academic in one Australian university. Positioning himself as living 'in- between' two cultures and as an 'Other', the author tells his story of how he has been 'racialised' and 'Othered' because he does not look White, and his spoken English is distinctly accented; hence, his legitimacy of teaching English is held suspect. The author's story contributes to the theorising of the sociology of the in-between with the argument that while living in-between culture can be a space of negativity, it can also be a space of empowerment if one exercises choice and agency by forging new spaces. The authors ends his story-telling with a happy ending by presenting a contrasting story of how his run-away from Australia to (a new space in) Hong Kong to teach English has reaffirmed his cultural capital as he morphed into a different 'Other'.
[Copyright of Discourse is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2012.666073]

This study explored the validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale in a sample of 853 practicing teachers from Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Indonesia, and Oman. The authors used multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to test the factor structure and measurement invariance across settings, after which they examined the relationships between work engagement, workplace well-being (job satisfaction and quitting intention), and contextual variables (socioeconomic status, experience, and gender). The 1-factor version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was deemed preferable to the 3-factor version and showed acceptable fit to the cross-national data. The 1-factor Utrecht Work Engagement Scale showed good internal consistency and similar relationships with workplace well-being and contextual variables across settings. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was invariant within broadly construed Western and non-Western groups but not across Western and non-Western groups. The authors concluded that the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale needs further development before its use can be supported in further cross-cultural research.
[Copyright of Journal of Experimental Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2012.678409]