MOOCs,institutional policy and change dynamics in higher education

The last couple of years have witnessed a growing debate about online learning in higher education, notably in response to the global massive open online course (MOOC) phenomenon. This paper explores these developments from an institutional policy perspective, drawing on an analysis of the initial stages of different approaches to MOOCs and e-learning being taken up at three Australian universities. It points to four commonalities emerging from the institutional constructions of these initiatives including (1) the use of e-learning policy as a vehicle for curriculum redesign; (2) an emphasis on internal curriculum redesign as a core rationale for MOOCs; (3) a desire to capitalise on promotional opportunities but a reticence around wholly embracing the concept and structure of MOOCs and (4) the absence of access-driven concerns in university policy despite the prominence of such concerns in broader public debate. The approach is framed by a consideration of change dynamics in higher education and highlights the emphasis on internal university work within the policy narrative, suggesting this could represent an attempt to reframe the debate about MOOCs away from popular arguments about systemic disruption and instead use them to progress forms of change that align to broader strategic objectives.     

Alternative models of schooling: Budget reallocation and policy change

Based on previous conclusions that current models of schooling have become obsolete, two major issues have developed. The first is the technical aspects of design and examples of design specifications; the second is the issue of financing the research, development and implementation of new processes of schooling. A change of paradigm offers an improvable model of instruction. Specific recommendations are made for funding necessary programmatic research and development leading to a greater exploitation of technology. It is argued that educational problems cannot be solved by quick-fix policy changes; research and development programs are critical. Alternative means of financing the research are suggested.     

论普遍整合型社会福利体系

不同地区的养老服务供给既有一般性特点,也有其特殊性。关注“村改居”社区中的养老服务体系,以广州市为例,描述和分析其具有鲜明特点的城乡混合福利体系,通过系统调研发现,“村改居”社区中的养老服务供给主体呈多元化,这与纯粹的城市社区和标准的农村村庄显著不同。“村改居”社区中的养老服务供给主体包括维持养老保险运作的地方政府、农村集体经济组织、居委会、社工机构等。其中,前两者提供非常独特的服务,具有明显的“村改居”的独特性;后两者则体现出城市社区的一般性。这一多元混合体系的形成和演变具有本地化的路径依赖,以及自上而下和自下而上的变迁动力。     

Enrollment projection models for institutional planning

This paper examines alternative techniques for projecting freshman enrollment in specific academic departments. Departmental enrollment projections provided by four different projection models are compared to actual departmental enrollments at a selected institution. Two of the models use only historical data, while the other two models are sensitized to current developments as indicated by the expressed major choices of prospective freshmen. The use of discriminant analysis to establish differential enrollment probabilities is also explored.Although different models do a better job for different curricular departments, the smallest mean squared error across all departments was obtained with the simplest projection technique. The use of the preliminary major choice of prospective freshmen did not improve departmental projections, and the student characteristics explored in this study did not differentiate enrolled from non-enrolled students adequately enough to improve enrollment projection accuracy.Based on the results obtained at this one institution, therefore, it would appear that simple and straightforward projection models can be as useful as complex and sophisticated models.This is an expanded version of an earlier paper read at the 1971 Association of Institutional Research Forum in Denver, Colorado.     

A Theory of Motivation and Ontological Enhancement: The role of disability policy in student empowerment and institutional change

As debate continues around the nature and values of education, it is important to ask the question of what factors motivate a student to engage with the ends of an educational institution. In this paper, a broad, holistic view of learner motivation, derived from Aristotelian ethics, is used to provide a model to drive institutional change.
Focussing on the approach of one Higher Education institution to the particular accommodations required for students with disabilities, the paper identifies three factors which motivate students, a failure to engage with the aims and ends of the educational project, a failure to see that a particular learning aim is worth attaining, and a simple lack of will-power to attain it. To each of these failures a social cause is identified, and a change in both the institutional culture and the individual learner's approach to their education is suggested.     

A Theory of Motivation and Ontological Enhancement: The role of disability policy in student empowerment and institutional change

As debate continues around the nature and values of education, it is important to ask the question of what factors motivate a student to engage with the ends of an educational institution. In this paper, a broad, holistic view of learner motivation, derived from Aristotelian ethics, is used to provide a model to drive institutional change.

Focussing on the approach of one Higher Education institution to the particular accommodations required for students with disabilities, the paper identifies three factors which motivate students, a failure to engage with the aims and ends of the educational project, a failure to see that a particular learning aim is worth attaining, and a simple lack of will‐power to attain it. To each of these failures a social cause is identified, and a change in both the institutional culture and the individual learner's approach to their education is suggested.     

Overcoming institutional barriers to broad-based curricular change

Most large organizations, including universities, are fraught with institutional barriers to change. Their very structures can be impediments to the horizontal communication and cooperation necessary to effect broad-based innovation. U.S. automobile makers, however, are learning to overcome such structural obstacles to facilitate innovation. Can universities employ similar techniques? The recent experience of one regional university suggests important attributes of a successful model to facilitate curricular change.     

西藏学前教育制度变迁研究

学前教育对于社会个体在人生初期的发展、以及民族和地区教育教学质量度的提高都具有重要的现实意义。影响西藏学前教育发展的两个关键历史事件事件是民主改革和改革开放。因此民主改革和改革开放可视作西藏学前教育发展的转折点,西藏的民主改革使西藏产生了正规的学前教育机构,随后虽然经历了人民公社时期的曲折发展,但在改革开放后,西藏的学前教育又走向了制度化发展阶段。本文主要探讨了西藏学前教育制度的变迁。     

Selecting value-added models for postsecondary institutional assessment

Value-added scores from tests of college learning indicate how score gains compare to those expected from students of similar entering academic ability. Unfortunately, the choice of value-added model can impact results, and this makes it difficult to determine which results to trust. The research presented here demonstrates how value-added models can be compared on three criteria: reliability, year-to-year consistency and information about score precision. To illustrate, the original Collegiate Learning Assessment value-added model is compared to a new model that employs hierarchical linear modelling. Results indicate that scores produced by the two models are similar, but the new model produces scores that are more reliable and more consistent across years. Furthermore, the new approach provides school-specific indicators of value-added score precision. Although the reliability of value-added scores is sufficient to inform discussions about improving general education programmes, reliability is currently inadequate for making dependable, high-stakes comparisons between postsecondary institutions.     

The outcomes of doctoral education: An institutional study

This study sought to establish baseline data on the outcomes of doctoral education at a private, urban university. Through the use of a survey instrument developed by the researchers, Ph.D. and Ed.D. recipients from 16 departments who had graduated between 1963 and 1984 were contacted. Three primary areas were examined: (1) the impact of doctoral education on career development, (2) the perceived influence of the institutional values on graduates, and (3) the frequency and type of research/scholarly activities engaged in during and after graduate school. Data provided by 707 respondents to the 168 item survey were analyzed by department, by degree, and by four general academic fields, and a number of indices were developed. The main thrust of this paper is the development of the instrument and indices, and the preliminary comparison of four fields with the indices.     

UNDP and educational development: An institutional policy analysis

The role of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in shaping educational development has been considerable. For more than half a century, the scale and reach of UNDP education projects have been significant, yet have not been adequately researched. For both UNDP and its precursors, the evolution of policies for development and for educational development is traced. UNDP's project priorities in education are considered, as is the role of UNESCO as a key implementing agency for UNDP. The rationale underlying UNDP's recent abandonment of education as a designated priority sector is also examined, as are its implications.     

Academic restructuring: Organizational change and institutional imperatives

A perennial challenge for universities and colleges isto keep pace with knowledge change by reconsideringtheir structural and resource commitments to variousknowledge areas. Reflecting upon changes in theacademic landscape of public higher education in theUnited States over the past quarter of a century, theauthor diagnoses a macro-trend whereby the dominantlegitimating idea of public higher education haschanged from higher education as a social institutionto higher education as an industry. Threeinterrelated mechanisms are identified as havingadvanced this process: academic management, academicconsumerism, and academic stratification.This pattern of academic restructuring reflects multiple institutional pressures. Whilepublic universities and colleges have increasinglycome to rely on market discourse and managerialapproaches in order to demonstrate responsiveness toeconomic exigencies, they may end up losing legitimacyas they move away from their historical character,functions, and accumulated heritage as educationalinstitutions. Thus, responsiveness to compellingeconomic pressures that dominate contemporaryorganizational imperatives in an attempt to gainlegitimacy in one dimension may result in loss for another.Wholesale adaptation to market pressures and managerialrationales could thereby subsume thediscourse about the future of colleges anduniversities within a logic of economic rationality ata detriment to the longer-term educational legaciesand democratic interests that have long characterizedAmerican public education.     

Restless teachers and institutional support for change 1

For the past 12 years the Panel on Research and Development of Instructional Resources of the Committee on Instructional Cooperation (CIC) has published an annual compendium of selected instructional/curricular changes in the Big Ten universities. A content analysis of 398 project summaries is the basis for the interpretive evaluations given in this article. College teaching is more varied than in former years and the discipline teacher generally needs professional assistance in the design of a project and in working out the procedures for evaluation. The position is taken that the resource structure of the university is more out of line with the demands of the time than is the reward structure.     

Curriculum debate and policy change

This article investigates the underlying themes and principles that inform curriculum debate and how they are articulated in current school policy discussions. This topic is approached with the help of a case study covering the debate on which subjects should be mandatory for students at the upper secondary school curriculum in Sweden. The focus is on the arguments for and against the inclusion of History among these core subjects. The aim is to order and structure this debate and to link the arguments found to basic underlying principles. Why was History considered important or unimportant? What arguments are found about the best way to teach History? This study employs a 4-fold distinction which distinguishes between perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and reconstructivism as four schools of thought, each outlining its own particular view on what kind of knowledge is important and how such knowledge should be taught. One major finding is that two of the schools—progressivism and essentialism—completely dominate the debates under study. There existed a major fault line between those who emphasized the instrumental value of History as a tool for fostering good citizens, and those who considered History part of essential general knowledge about society.