'From Competence to Excellence': A systems view of staff development for part-time tutors at-a-distance

The practices of part-time teachers in higher education are often different and sometimes divorced from the activities of their full-time colleagues. This is particularly true in the UK Open University where course design and production are the domain of full-time academics, and student learning is traditionally supported by part-time teachers. Higher education in the UK is increasingly responding to quality agendas that demand evidence of competence in teaching together with coherent learning and assessment strategies for students. Such demands can have positive benefits for learning across an institution, but introduce particular challenges wherever universities rely on part-time tutors to supplement full-time academics' work; they present even more difficulties where the tutors are geographically dispersed. One idea emerging from a 3-year research project in the Open University draws on theories of activity and practice to suggest that, even in a distance-learning context, staff development for part-time teachers should be embedded in conversations with the academic practices of full-time staff. Such connections would enhance the coherence of student learning in line with quality agendas.     

An Australian view of the academic partner role in schools

The role of ‘academic partners’ working alongside teachers is an increasingly complex and sometimes controversial one. This article explores the role of academic partners in Educational Action Research, reporting on data from a larger study conducted in New South Wales, Australia. Schools involved in the study had received targeted government funding between 2006 and 2010 to conduct school-based action learning projects employing action research. As part of the funding, the schools had been provided with external support from university-based academic partners, who supported individual school teams in the completion of their projects. Here we focus specifically on the role of the ‘academic partner’. Data were obtained via semi-structured interviews with academic partners themselves, with the project’s state coordinators who oversaw the project, and with teachers who had worked with the academic partners over the course of their school-based projects. Participants in the study identified significant benefits for both teachers and academics engaging in co-inquiry, but findings also suggest that the role of academic partner is increasingly complex, multifaceted and sometimes under-supported. When there is ‘good fit’ between academic partners and schools and when structures are in place to support academic partners in their work, the academic partner role in schools can contribute to sustained educational change. In this article we discuss the crucial antecedents, enablers and constraints which ensure that academic–school partnerships enrich learning for both academics and teachers, building mutual capacity.     

Investigating the link between self directed learning readiness and project-based learning outcomes: the case of international Masters students in an engineering management course

Modern learning approaches increasingly have fewer structured learning activities and more self-directed learning tasks guided through consultation with academics. Such tasks are predominately project-/problem-based where the student is required to follow a freely guided road map to self discovery while simultaneously achieving desired learning outcomes for a particular course. However, many international students struggle to adjust to an Australian higher learning environment where they are being increasingly encouraged to undertake self directed learning (SDL). Thus, this paper proposes the concept that international students who have higher readiness for SDL gain greater learning outcomes from project-based learning (PBL) approaches. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire survey of 26 students (65% of class) completing an engineering management course was conducted. Linear regression analysis provided evidence that SDL readiness was a key enabler for achieving learning outcomes from PBL. In particular, having high self-management skills was shown to be the most significant and reliable predictor for achieving learning outcomes from PBL. Through understanding students SDL readiness at the commencement of their engineering programmes, academics can better tailor PBL support mechanisms to achieve desired learning outcomes.     

Building community in academic settings: the importance of flexibility in a structured mentoring program

Academic mentoring is increasingly being used by many universities as a tool to enhance the quality of research‐led teaching, promote cross‐faculty collaboration and encourage a mentoring culture and community. This article reports on a pilot project established to investigate the benefits of building flexibility into a structured academic mentoring program at the University of Sydney. Twenty‐six academics from the Faculty of Business and Economics and the Faculty of Education and Social Work participated in the program. The mentors ranged in position from lecturer to professor and the mentees from associate lecturer to senior lecturer. Flexible arrangements were shown to be important in a variety of ways, from the pairing of mentor with mentee, to focussing on issues of work survival and life balance, research outcomes and career advancement. The project highlighted the lower number of male academics involved in formal mentoring, which merits further exploration. All participants reported positive outcomes, although refinement of the pairing process was recommended. A variety of unanticipated outcomes was reported by mentees.     

On the design of learning outcomes for the undergraduate engineer's final year project

The course for the final year project for engineering students, because of its strongly research-based, open-ended format, tends to not have well defined learning outcomes, which are also not aligned with any accepted pedagogical philosophy or learning technology. To address this problem, the revised Bloom's taxonomy table of Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) is utilised, as suggested previously by Lee and Lai (2007), to design new learning outcomes for the final year project course in engineering education. Based on the expectations of the engineering graduate, and integrating these graduate expectations into the six cognitive processes and four knowledge dimensions of the taxonomy table, 24 learning outcomes have been designed. It is proposed that these 24 learning outcomes be utilised as a suitable working template to inspire more critical evaluation of what is expected to be learnt by engineering students undertaking final year research or capstone projects.     

Case study on community-based learning: toy design project for children in Egyptian squatter community

Introduction to Engineering is the first engineering course American University in Cairo students take upon admission to the engineering program. It is required of students in all disciplines of engineering. It is a one-credit-hour course that covers topics including history of engineering, engineering fields of specializations, the engineering profession, engineering communications, engineering ethics, and societal obligations. Community-based learning (CBL) was introduced into the course via the required course project. The project was to design toys for children at a school in a disadvantaged squatter community in Old Cairo, Egypt, where infrastructure is poor and education and social mobility can be very limited. The project was carried out in partnership with a non-governmental organization based in Old Cairo. This paper shows how the introductory engineering course was redesigned to integrate CBL while meeting the stated ABET course outcomes. Included are detailed instructions on the tools and structure of the project to provide an example for others wishing to adapt some of these tools to other courses. The paper presents the outcome assessments and survey results to evaluate the project’s success at meeting the stated outcomes and includes a discussion on the benefits to the students and the community partner.     

Task-Based Team Learning with ICT, Design and Development of New Learning

There is a shift going on in Dutch higher education from traditional, teacher centred education to student learning activities. The trend is to structure these activities in real-life tasks, projects or case situations in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is integrated. This paper discusses results of a two-year project implementing this type of education. The focus of the project was on task-based team learning with Information and Communication Technology. In this project two Dutch universities worked together. One partner was the Hogeschool van Utrecht, a university for applied science and professional development. The other was the University of Utrecht, a general university. A large department and an educational expert centre were involved in each university. Learning environments were developed in two settings: Economics and Management (Hogeschool van Utrecht) and Medicine (University of Utrecht). An example of a task-based team learning environment is described. It is a course on E-business of 280 hours of study for part-time students in Economics and Management. The didactical model of task-based team learning underlying this course is presented. The results confirm that the model is relevant and useful. In an analytic part of the project good practice for design, development and implementation was identified from literature and assembled in two sets of guidelines, one design of task-based team learning with ICT and one for development and implementation. Substantial implementations of new learning imply changes in the organisation of education, the roles of students and teaching staff, and the infrastructure. Because of this, the design and development process become complex activities and have to be split into sub-processes for effectiveness. A process model for design, development and implementation was therefore introduced in the project and is presented here. The developed guidelines were reviewed with respect to (critical) success factors contributing to success or failure of the courses developed. There are always risks in course design and development, and specifically so in task-based team learning, because students have an explicit responsibility for their own activities. What are then the essential factors decisive for success or failure of design, development and the running of such courses? Design and development guidelines were reviewed to identify success factors and the actors involved. Some of these success factors were deemed to be critical, others non-critical. In the last stage of the project these success factors were validated with experienced designers and developers. Some examples are presented.     

Using student learning and development outcomes to evaluate a first-year undergraduate group video project

Students in an interdisciplinary undergraduate introductory course were required to complete a group video project focused on nutrition and healthy eating. A mixed-methods approach to data collection involved observing and rating video footage of group work sessions and individual and focus group interviews. These data were analyzed and used to evaluate the effectiveness of the assignment in light of two student learning outcomes and two student development outcomes at the University of Minnesota. Positive results support the continued inclusion of the project within the course, and recommend the assignment to other programs as a viable means of promoting both content learning and affective behavioral objectives.     

TF-CDIO电子商务专业课程体系的构建

本文根据区域经济发展对高技能电子商务人才的需要,充分借鉴基于工作过程的课程开发思路与CDIO工程教育模式,在融入了教学工厂(TF)理念的基础上构建了TF-CDIO电子商务专业课程体系。TF-CDIO创设了商务网站建设方向和网络营销服务方向的适岗课程体系,开发了基于工作过程系统化的课程,以CDIO项目为课程体系的主线,并通过创建教学工厂实训基地、项目化改造核心课程及项目制教学、深化"教、学、做、评"一体化教学模式进行具体的实践,为专业人才培养模式的实施提供了强有力的保障。     

工程教育创新型学科实验室的构建

提出了工程教育创新型学科实验室的构想,创新型实验室以创新项目为主线,将创新型实验、自选题目课程设计和计划外课外实习联系起来,,对创新型学科实验室的建设进行了探索。介绍了学生在创新型实验室进行各种实践环节训练提高了自主学习能力,以及增加了多学科和交叉学科知识。指出了本创新型实验室因学生参与建设而营造了激励学生创新的氛围,以及运行机制柔性灵活,能够适应因社会需求变化而调整实验室使用功能等特色。     

Enhanced student learning in accounting utilising web-based technology,peer-review feedback and reflective practices: a learning community approach to assessment

Higher education is becoming a major driver of economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy. Maintaining the competitive edge has seen an increase in public accountability of higher education institutions through the mechanism of ranking universities based on the quality of their teaching and learning outcomes. As a result, assessment processes are under scrutiny, creating tensions between standardisation and measurability and the development of creative and reflective learners. These tensions are further highlighted in the context of large undergraduate subjects, learner diversity and time-poor academics and students. Research suggests that high level and complex learning is best developed when assessment, combined with effective feedback practices, involves students as partners in these processes. This article reports on a four-phase, cross-institution and cross-discipline project designed to embed peer-review processes as part of the assessment in two large, under-graduate accounting classes. Using a social constructivist view of learning, which emphasises the role of both teacher and learner in the development of complex cognitive understandings, we undertook an iterative process of peer review. Successive phases built upon students’ feedback and achievements and input from language/learning and curriculum experts to improve the teaching and learning outcomes.     

Evaluation of e‐learning outcomes: experience from an online psychotherapy education programme

SEPTIMUS is a one‐year Europe‐wide postgraduate theoretical course for psychotherapists and counsellors provided entirely via the Internet. It may be used as part of a training course, with face‐to‐face elements provided locally, or for continuing professional development. The course was developed at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with psychotherapy training institute partners in seven other European countries. Two studies involving 167 SEPTIMUS students and 60 comparable face‐to‐face students were undertaken. ? Study 1. Drop‐out rates for the SEPTIMUS programme were found to be low, and comparison between those dropping out and those completing did not highlight any significant factors linked to distance learning. However, students cited finance, distance from training centre, lack of practical experience, family commitments and the intensity of their working weeks as having been barriers to taking face‐to‐face learning courses in the past.

? Study 2. SEPTIMUS students (e‐learners) were compared with students taking comparable attending (face‐to‐face) theoretical courses also being provided by partners in the project to psychotherapy trainees. Significant differences were found in distance from training institute and ability to visit training institute. SEPTIMUS students had higher levels of computer ownership, frequency of Internet use and IT skills than attenders; these factors when examined in Study 1 did not have an impact on the drop‐out rate of e‐learners.

e‐Learning can overcome barriers to traditional learning in psychotherapy, particularly distance from a training centre, without loss of student satisfaction or student performance. Factors sometimes thought to be obstacles to e‐learning, such as information technology skills, were not found to be significant barriers – although they may have affected recruitment. Certain aspects of e‐learning, such as the tendency to facilitate self‐disclosure, were found to be very beneficial, particularly in the context of psychotherapy programmes.     

Quality of WIL assessment design in higher education: a systematic literature review

We investigated the quality of work-integrated learning (WIL) assessment design in higher education programmes, through review of peer-reviewed studies published internationally and in English, 1990–2015. Such a review is timely in light of vested interests from a range of WIL stakeholders; high-level endorsement of WIL across university programmes; a regulatory environment requiring development and assurance of higher-order learning outcomes; and a WIL assessment literature that identifies a number of challenges and opportunities. We searched six electronic databases, yielding 20 intervention studies that met inclusion criteria. Findings reveal high-quality assessment design, albeit a need for greater involvement of industry/professional partners in assessment practices and stronger alignment between reflective assessment tasks and students' WIL experiences. The evidence base under review largely comprised qualitative and mixed methods studies, with the indication that the quality of the study design had improved over time, although variably across disciplinary fields. The key recommendation from this review is that resources are needed to support research-active WIL academics, partners and students to: (a) design and participate in assessment practices, which promote integration of student learning, across university and work settings, and achievement of higher-order learning outcomes and (b) pursue a collaborative research agenda involving robust evaluation research, inclusive of quantitative studies.     

The ceiling to coproduction in university–industry research collaboration

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into government attempts at bridging the divide between theory and practice through university–industry research collaboration modelled under engaged scholarship. The findings are based on data sourced from interviews with 47 academic and industry project leaders from 23 large-scale research projects. The paper demonstrates a ceiling to the coproduction of knowledge arising from the preconceived beliefs of both academics and industry partners regarding project roles and responsibilities. The findings show that coproduction was constrained by academic partners assuming control over much of the research activities and industry partners failing to confront or challenge academic decision-making because both academics and industry partners placed a higher value on academic knowledge compared with applied or practical knowledge. It is argued the theory of engaged scholarship, and consequent initiatives to encourage engaged scholarship, fail to account for the superior status of academic knowledge.     

Applications of blogging in problem based learning

The context of the study presented in this paper is a sixth-semester undergraduate course on “Relational database management system” that was held in session 2009–2010. The course is part of the bachelor’s degree curriculum of Computer Science and Engineering branch at Punjab Technical University, Punjab, India. It consists of a lecture course and a concurrent lab course. The common approach has been to divide the course into lectures, tutorials, and practicals. To conduct practical sessions, lab plan is prepared beforehand by the faculty. The course duration is 14–16 weeks. Here the lab course was conducted in a blended learning mode, starting with syllabus related tasks, then subject specific projects, and presenting team project results. Problem based learning (PBL) and Blogging have been introduced for practical sessions. This paper describes this novel approach in which problems are designed to cover the syllabus topics, and blogging is used to bridge the communication gap. A significant difference was seen between performance and attitude of the treatment group (PBL with blogging) and control group (only PBL) for Lab sessions. Additionally teamwork and communication skills were also significantly improved in the case of PBL with blogging class.     

Old Symbols for New Journeys: Re-Imagining Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Learning and Transformative Practice in Education

Abstract

The community engagement project described in this article took the form of the re-invention and re-interpretation of a historic symbol (Diana the elephant) on the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University (NWU), South Africa. In 2015, the Faculty of Education Sciences invited staff and students to reinterpret the elephant (a symbol of education, longevity, wisdom, care, stamina, memory) in a new and more multicultural, multilingual, inclusive and environmentally conscious South Africa. The participatory process described, and the related outcomes, involved learning by students and academics across disciplines (the conceptualisation, design, engineering and creation of the structure) and collaboration between academics, children and adults from the community, all with a strong servicelearning dimension in relation to teacher education.     

Spiral and Project-Based Learning with Peer Assessment in a Computer Science Project Management Course

Different learning methods such as project-based learning, spiral learning and peer assessment have been implemented in science disciplines with different outcomes. This paper presents a proposal for a project management course in the context of a computer science degree. Our proposal combines three well-known methods: project-based learning, spiral learning and peer assessment. Namely, the course is articulated during a semester through the structured (progressive and incremental) development of a sequence of four projects, whose duration, scope and difficulty of management increase as the student gains theoretical and instrumental knowledge related to planning, monitoring and controlling projects. Moreover, the proposal is complemented using peer assessment. The proposal has already been implemented and validated for the last 3 years in two different universities. In the first year, project-based learning and spiral learning methods were combined. Such a combination was also employed in the other 2 years; but additionally, students had the opportunity to assess projects developed by university partners and by students of the other university. A total of 154 students have participated in the study. We obtain a gain in the quality of the subsequently projects derived from the spiral project-based learning. Moreover, this gain is significantly bigger when peer assessment is introduced. In addition, high-performance students take advantage of peer assessment from the first moment, whereas the improvement in poor-performance students is delayed.     

Approaches to Study and the Quality of Learning. Some Empirical Evidence from Engineering Education

In the late 1990s failure rates in a first-year introductory calculus course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology reached peak levels. This paper reports on findings from an action research project that was set up in 2002/2003 to improve the situation. The study confirms that students approach their tasks differently which contributes to qualitatively different learning outcomes. Furthermore, patterns of achievement in mathematics and physics in secondary education keep reoccurring in the calculus course, even though the teaching and learning contexts are different. The paper does not provide any definite answer as to why groups of students get involved in distinctly different learning processes, and it will take further research to decide the nature of commitment to the learning tasks. However, inspired by the notion of ‘practices’ this paper raises a discussion about the role of intentionality in learning processes. When doing mathematics, students are also in a process of being engaged in and developing a practice. It is a major challenge for academic staff to contribute to communities of practice that are conducive to learning.     

Integrating problem- and project-based learning opportunities: assessing outcomes of a field course in environment and sustainability

Improving student competencies to address sustainability challenges has been a subject of significant debate in higher education. Problem- and project-based learning have been widely celebrated as course models that support the development of sustainability competencies. This paper describes a course developed for a professional Master’s program in environment and sustainability that employs such a model. Additionally, the course was designed to offer value-added opportunities by introducing attributes of interdisciplinary training, service learning, academic research, and professional practice. Results from the course assessments by students, faculty, community clients and organizational partners show this model provided a range of learning, professional and practical outcomes for course partners. The value-added benefits include strengthening sustainability competencies and professional skills for students; longitudinal research opportunities for teaching faculty; real-time assessments of farming practices for community clients; and a heightened regional profile for the non-profit biosphere reserve organization supporting course delivery.     

The motivations and outcomes of studying for part-time mature students in higher education

This paper examines the motivations and outcomes for mature students who study part-time in higher education (HE) in the UK. Although many students in HE are mature part-time learners, they have not been the specific focus of much research or policy interest. In-depth narrative interviews were carried out with 18 graduates who had studied part-time at a university college specialising in part-time provision. The sample was drawn from a quantitative survey of 1539 graduates concerning their motivations for studying and the benefits derived. Researchers could therefore choose respondents on the basis of previously reported outcomes of study and on other life course information, which was included in the survey. The paper reports a wide range of motivations and outcomes, which are regarded as forms of capital, and illustrates how studying part-time as a mature student can have a profound effect on people’s lives.