While once almost indistinguishable, the systems of higher education in the United States and the United Kingdom have diverged during the past 200 years to the point where today there are few similarities. However, due to increasing globalization and the growing ubiquity of the internet, many contemporary issues in higher education are often faced by institutions across the globe. After detailing the historical role of scholarship and teaching in the two countries, this study concentrates on two aspects that have been extensively researched in recent years, namely the role of technology in the classroom and the balance that many modern day faculty must seek with regard to teaching and research. A new perspective on these issues is then explored by considering the perceptions of current and former exchange students from the United States and the United Kingdom. Data were collected by interviewing 12 students representing eight universities in the two countries, and an analysis was conducted according to established phenomenological principles. Four primary themes emerged as a result, which allowed me to seek commonalities and differences with the existing literature, and make suggestions for the direction of future research. The conclusions made center around how students want technology to be used by faculty in a moderated fashion, and a distinction is formed between the way in which faculty and institutions in the two countries use web-based technology. With regard to the teaching-research nexus, this study largely refutes the notion that contemporary faculty prioritize research to the detriment of undergraduate students, and posits that the two disciplines are integrated in the sense that they can positively affect each other.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-2216 |
| Date | 01 January 2014 |
| Creators | Griffiths, Barry |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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