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This paper reports on a study aiming at examining the affordances and constraints of BYOD (Bring YourOwn Device) for varied pedagogical practices from teachers' perspectives in higher education. Seventeen teachers from eight departments and centers participated in the one-year study. The affordances and constraints of BYOD were examined under the "framework of affordances and constraints in BYOD-supported learning environment". Data collection included class observations, class videos, field notes, resources on the BYOD website and teaching plans. Content analysiswas adopted in the data analysis. The research findings showthat (1) seven types of BYOD conceptualized affordanceswere identified for varied pedagogical purposes; and (2) three types of constraints of BYODwere singled out in pedagogical practices. Discussions regarding the affordances and constraints are made and implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is under mounting pressure to confront student practices of assignment outsourcing to internet services. The scale and buoyancy of this 'essay mill' industry has now been well documented, including its various marketing techniques for urging students to purchase bespoke academic work. However, the inherently suspect nature of such services demands that they adopt a particularly shrewd and empathic rhetoric to win custom from website visitors. In this paper, we investigate how such rhetoric currently constructs a critical version of the student's higher education experience. We present a thematic analysis of promotional text and images as found on a large sample of essay mill sites. Findings reveal how these sites promulgate a hostile and negative attitude towards higher educational practice. Yet these findings may also indicate where the higher education sector needs to reflect on its practice, not least in order to resist the toxic messages of essay mills. • 95 essay mill websites scrutinised in relation to their promotional images and texts. • Analysis exposes hostile and negative narratives of prevailing experiences of students in higher education. • These narratives systematised around six themes. • A platform for the sector to reflect on good practice and how it is projected to students and publlic [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]