Co-creation in higher education: towards a conceptual model

Students have begun to show interest in adopting active and participatory roles that allow them to interact and work collaboratively with educators. One important aspect of students as partners is a process known as value co-creation. Value co-creation is the process of students’ feedback, opinions, and other resources such as their intellectual capabilities and personalities, integrated alongside institutional resources, which can offer mutual value to both students and institutions. This paper presents the first conceptual model of value co-creation in higher education using a lens of co-creation cultivated through business and marketing literature. The model includes key components of value co-creation, co-production, and value-in-use as well as links to the anticipated benefits of value co-creation. The model can be used to inform and guide practice for the faculty and administration within higher education as well as to broaden the foundation of value co-creation literature.     

Dynamics in higher education politics: a theoretical model

This article presents a model for analysing dynamics in higher education politics (DHEP). Theoretically the model draws on the conceptual history of political contingency, agenda-setting theories and previous research on higher education dynamics. According to the model, socio-historical complexity can best be analysed along two dimensions: the political situation and political possibilities. Politics as a situation connotes the idea of an opportune moment when politics can be changed, and political possibilities concern the different alternatives the actors see in different situations. Depending on whether the situation is favourable or unfavourable to change, and on whether the possibilities are politicised or settled, the DHEP model introduces four types of dynamic: reform, gridlock, consensual change and friction. On the empirical level the model has been tested and developed in the context of Finnish higher education by means of interviews and documentary material. It was found, in the Finnish context, that four policy threads functioned according to each of the dynamics. It appears from the empirical findings that dynamics in higher education politics are strongly related to changes that are external to the higher-education system, the changing positions of the actors in different policy threads and the unexpected nature of the dynamics. The DHEP can also be used to shed light on the effects of the silent, settled possibilities that may enable or disable other policy threads within a higher education system.     

Wikipedia as a platform for impactful learning: A new course model in higher education

In January 2014, 62 students graduated from the first for-credit course dedicated to Wikipedia. Learning focused on improved consumption of information, and collaborative construction of knowledge using the Wikipedia platform. This paper investigates the design and implementation of this course model, while highlighting the benefits and challenges to students & faculty. In addition to 128 medical articles in Hebrew Wikipedia, already viewed over 1.4 million times, students reported a unique learning experience that sharpened their collaborative skills as well as academic skills. This paper also presents the findings of a related study that focused on students’ learning experience, long-term impact and productive teaching practices. The study results helped fine-tune the pedagogical and administrative aspects of the course, influencing both teaching practices and the learning experience. Finally, the course is discussed in a wider educational perspective, presenting insights regarding reuse of the model, scaling possibilities and suggestions for further research.     

院校研究:高等教育研究的新领域

院校研究是高等教育研究的一个新领域。它在二战后的美国逐渐发展起来 ,并对其他国家和地区产生了较大影响。院校研究以单个高等学校作为研究对象 ,旨在研究特定院校的特定问题 ,在研究方法上力求科学的程序与形式 ,其作用可概括为管理的科学化 ,理论的实践化     

EPIC: a framework for using video games in ethics education

Ethics education can potentially be supplemented through the use of video games. This article proposes a novel framework (Ethics Practice and Implementation Categorization [EPIC] Framework), which helps educators choose games to be used for ethics education purposes. The EPIC Framework is derived from a number of classic moral development, learning, and ethical decision-making models, including frameworks and theories associated with games and ethics, as well as prior empirical and theoretical research literature. The EPIC Framework consists of seven ethics education goals (e.g., building ethical awareness, practicing reflection, and enhancing character), and 12 strategies associated with ethics education, which are also present in video games (e.g., role-play, modeling, and simulation). Each of the framework’s categories is described in detail, and the limitations of the framework are also discussed.     

When professors confront themselves: Towards a theoretical conceptualization of video self-confrontation in higher education

The use of video self-confrontation (VSC) Throughout the paper, the abbreviation VSC will be used for video self-confrontation. as a method to reinforce desired behaviors or induce changes in human behavior, has been increasing in recent years. The major reviewers of the literature on VSC in the last three decades point out that there is relatively little qualitative and quantitative research which explores the underlying processes of VSC and its theoretical conceptualization. Moreover, there is still a need to prove many of the claims advanced by practitioners about the effectiveness of VSC. This article reviews two of the theoretical conceptualizations and tentative explanations of the VSC process. The first is based on affect, such as self-confrontation, dissonance, anxiety, stress, distress and eustress. The second explanation is based on a cognitive and information-processing approach and includes: feedback, self-concept, self-efficacy and attribution theories. The article describes an emerging integrated conceptualization which may provide better insight into the process which should be the focus of further studies. The main purpose of VSC in higher education is to improve teaching-learning processes. Faculty's commitment to this purpose is determined by many factors, such as: their perception and attitudes towards the research/teaching dichotomy and the university's reward system; their motivation and concepts of self-efficacy and self-fulfillment; and their attribution mechanisms of success or failure in teaching. All these factors greatly influence their readiness to be motivated in VSC processes and the effectiveness of their VSC uses. VSC is a powerful technique which has a great potential in facilitating behavioral changes. It can cause harm or be wasted if not used properly. Suggestions for optimal uses are presented.     

Virtualization and new geographies of knowledge in higher education: possibilities for the transformation of knowledge,pedagogic relations and learner identities

This article considers some of the ways in which the transformative power of Web 2.0 digital technology is reconfiguring learning, knowledge and academic identities in the contemporary university. Through a focus on five specific examples, we consider the impact of virtualization processes on spatiality, materiality and embodiment, and pedagogic relations. We argue for the benefits of taking a microsociological approach in order to reflect on the potential of virtualization to bring about new geographies of knowledge production and as a means to identify the ways in which potential transformations are uneven, problematic and contested.     

Building local research capacity in higher education: a conceptual model

Building local research capacity is an enduring challenge that confronts many higher education systems particularly when aspirations for a knowledge economy dominate policymaking. While research capacity has received tremendous attention among international development agencies and scholars, the discourse is largely oriented towards infrastructure, skills training and best practices. This study interrogates the concept of local research capacity building as a dynamic process. By contrasting the policy rhetoric with the lived experiences of academics based in Kazakhstan, we propose a conceptual model to illustrate the diverse levels of research capacity building: resources, locality, relevance, human capital and culture. This study examines research capacity building in the context of the internationalisation of higher education as researchers become increasingly mobile. We argue that investing in infrastructure and human capital are insufficient for capacity building. Rather, sustainable capacity building requires research that is relevant to the local context and a cultural environment that can nurture a vibrant research community.     

Policy change in Austrian higher education: indications of a new approach

Despite significant expansion in participation over the last three decades, Austrian higher education has been slow to change either its elitist self-concept or structure. But, as is the case elsewhere, the Austrian academic community is beginning to be confronted with such concepts as efficiency, strategic planning, deregulation, and performance evaluation. Inadequate admission policies, extreme overcrowding, and high dropout rates are but three factors placing pressure on Austrian higher education to reform. The system is not only in need of increased budget allocations, but also requires new policies to guide it into the 21st Century.     

Tuning in to teacher–talk: a second language learner struggles to comprehend

This article presents findings from a 9–month ethnographic study of cross–cultural learning for the purpose of helping teachers better understand classroom conditions and behaviors that support and hinder students’ comprehension of teachers’ spoken language. Data from a close, observational study of an 8–year–old learning to get along in a new language environment illustrate conditions that caused her to tune out and those that supported her attempts to comprehend. Because spoken language often sounds like an incomprehensible string of sounds to a new language learner, this article suggests that incomprehensibility as well as students’ discomfort and sense of vulnerability can be greatly reduced when teachers scaffold their use of language in specific ways.     

Placement-based learning and learner engagement: findings from a new university in the UK

This paper addresses the potential for engaged learning among final-year undergraduate Education Studies students at a new, post-1992. It discusses a case study analysis of a ‘Directed Experiential Learning’ (DEL) intervention in the final year of an education studies degree designed to engage and motivate students and emphasise the links between theory and practice for them. Implementation took place in 2012–2013 with a cohort of 37 students and quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed afterwards to investigate the perspectives of students (online questionnaire and interview with 2 students) and tutors (4 individual interviews) on the DEL approach applied. The study described should be of particular interest to those teaching on and designing third level education studies programmes as well as related disciplines that might participate in integrated working arrangements in practice (e.g. nursing, social care).     

Steering from a distance: Power relations in Australian higher education

Conventional liberal frameworks – in which power is seen asthe property of states, and repressive in character, and market and stateexclude each other – are unable to comprehend the recent changes inliberal government, including the government of systems and institutions inhigher education. Neo-liberal government rests on self-managing institutionsand individuals, in which free agents are empowered to act on their ownbehalf but are steered from a distance by policy norms and rules of thegame. In the universities government-created markets and quasi-markets havebeen used to advance both devolution and central control, simultaneously,and national government and institutional management are increasinglyimplicated in each other. These issues are explored in relation to recenthigher education literature, and empirically, the latter by examining thechanges in the Australian higher education system in the last decade. TheAustralian system provides an example of a quasi-market in which thedevelopment of a stronger institutional management, the introduction ofgovernment-institution negotiations over educational profiles, and the newsystems of competitive bidding, performance management and qualityassessment have all been used to steer academic work and to install aprocess of continuous self-transformation along modern neo-liberal lines.Following a change of government in 1996 there has been some movement from aquasi-market to a more fully developed economic market, but no relaxation ofgovernment control.     

Students’ perceptions about evaluation and assessment in higher education: a review1

In educational contexts, understanding the student’s learning must take account of the student’s construction of reality. Reality as experienced by the student has an important additional value. This assumption also applies to a student’s perception of evaluation and assessment. Students’ study behaviour is not only determined by the examination or assessment modes that are used. Students’ perceptions about evaluation methods also play a significant role. This review aims to examine evaluation and assessment from the student’s point of view. Research findings reveal that students’ perceptions about assessment significantly influence their approaches to learning and studying. Conversely, students’ approaches to study influence the ways in which they perceive evaluation and assessment. Findings suggest that students hold strong views about different assessment and evaluation formats. In this respect students favour multiple‐choice format exams to essay type questions. However, when compared with more innovative assessment methods, students call the ‘fairness’ of these well‐known evaluation modes into question.     

Implications of tuition grants in higher education: The case of a prior need-based aid program

This article presents estimates showing that the distribution of higher education subsidies from all state sources was fairly equal across income classes prior to the implementation of New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). The major effect of TAP is shown to be a shift in this distribution as to be highly favorable to the lowest income classes, but with small accompanying enrollment benefits. These findings should be suggestive to policymakers in states where low public tuition charges have not been the only basis for encouraging investment in higher education.     

Collective academic supervision: a model for participation and learning in higher education

Supervision of graduate students is a core activity in higher education. Previous research on graduate supervision focuses on individual and relational aspects of the supervisory relationship rather than collective, pedagogical and methodological aspects of the supervision process. In presenting a collective model we have developed for academic supervision of Danish master students, we seek to fill these gaps. The underlying pedagogical rationale for the model is that students’ participation and learning are interconnected. The model provides possibilities for incorporating a progressive and systematic interaction between master students in their individual writing processes. In the article, we investigate the potentials and challenges of the model and draw on analyses of six individual interviews with master students and one focus group interview with five supervisors. Our findings show that students learn core academic competencies in collective academic supervision (CAS), such as the ability to assess theoretical and practical problems in their practice and present them to peers. The analysis reveals that interaction between divergent projects and voices in CAS can be highly productive in academic learning. However, the model also challenges both students and supervisors because both parties are used to a one-to-one supervisory relationship and not prepared for different modes of participation and learning. According to both supervisors and students, the majority of supervisors need better training in the facilitation of collective supervision processes.     

From fixing the work to improving the learner: An initial evaluation of a professional learning intervention using a new student-centred feedback model

Despite the longstanding recognition of the power of feedback to enhance student learning outcomes, its potential is often not realised in classroom practice. Recent research highlights the need for a student-centred perspective to enable effective feedback practices that foster student self-regulation. Based on an identified gap in the literature, a new empirically-informed student-centred feedback model (SCFM) was designed. This study, contextualised in English writing, investigated to what extent a professional learning intervention using the SCFM was perceived as effective in promoting student-centred classroom feedback practices. Focus group interview data from 49 teachers and 30 school leaders across 13 Australian primary schools were thematically analysed. Results suggest the intervention caused shifts in thinking, feedback practices, and student self-regulation, which participants perceived had enhanced student learning outcomes. This study provides initial empirical evidence regarding (1) the effectiveness of the SCFM, and (2) the professional learning intervention characteristics required to realise effective feedback practices.     

Technology-enhanced learning and research using databases in higher education: the application of the ODAS model

Abstract

Research databases are a significant contributing aspect of modern technology, and, as such, innovation has enhanced learning and research outputs using online databases introduced by authorities in charge of higher education. However, databases have been rarely investigated from the perspective of psychological assessment. Therefore, this research examined databases using structural equation modelling and the Rasch model to explore contributing factors of learning and research in higher education. To measure databases, this research adapted the online database adoption and satisfaction (ODAS) model and analysed the responses of 300 postgraduate students, from a double first class university in Shanghai, collected using a stratified random sample technique. The results of the ODAS model showed that the postgraduate students’ perceived usefulness and ease of use of databases played mediating roles in establishing connections between their computer self-efficacy and intention to use and satisfaction with databases for research and learning. However, the ODAS model also showed that the students’ satisfaction was indirectly explained by their perceived usefulness of databases through ease of use and intention to use. The results of our investigation contribute to a better understanding of the ODAS model and suggest assessment strategies for learning and research through databases for researchers, academicians, and librarians.     

Becoming a female leader in higher education: investigations from a regional university

Issues of gender imbalance in leadership have long been a significant issue in universities, as is the case across most industries. This paper explores the experiences of seven females who have successfully achieved senior leadership positions at a regional university in Australia. While the experiences of these women differ in many ways, there are certainly similarities in the challenges and adversities that they have faced, and their perceptions of what has allowed them to experience success in their leadership roles. This paper provides a number of recommendations for women aspiring to be leaders in higher education, such as committing to ongoing development, taking opportunities when presented, developing resilience, developing a track record, and seeking support, and also recommendations for institutions.     

Developing a characterisation of citizenship education: issues arising from work undertaken in a higher education network

In order to understand better the way in which the emerging field of citizenship education is being characterised we reflect on work emerging from a higher education network (citizED) for citizenship education. Three of the four authors of this article are closely involved in that network. CitizED was established with funding from the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) (now the Training and Development Agency for Schools, TDA) in order to establish a network and provide resources to support the initial training of citizenship teachers. We analysed download data from the network's website, a sample of the resources produced by the network, and interviewed a sample of users and developers. In this article we identify who is using the resources, how they are using them and what form of citizenship education is developing as a result. We argue that there is now a clear citizenship teacher education community that uses common resources for a variety of purposes. We suggest that there is some consensus in relation to the official characterisation of citizenship, but that ‘turf wars’ still exist in this contested field.