Forging University Social Responsibility Through Community Engagement at Higher Education

This chapter interrogates the notion of community engagement or service learning. The chapter argues that universities pay lip service to community engagement to the detriment of teaching and research functionaries. Most prestige universities operate on the belief that it is only research that matters; hence, research is prioritized. Universities and their staff have adopted an ‘ivory tower' attitude. This modus operandi negates the reality that reliable knowledge could be produced through responsible community engagement and can become the source of empirical data that can be used for teaching and shared through publications. For universities to impact transformational change within and in their surroundings, community engagement should be elevated to equal teaching and learning.

Novice Programming Environments

In 2011, the author published an article that looked at the state of the art in novice programming environments. At the time, there had been an increase in the number of programming environments that were freely available for use by novice programmers, particularly children and young people. What was interesting was that they offered a relatively sophisticated set of development and support features within motivating and engaging environments, where programming could be seen as a means to a creative end, rather than an end in itself. Furthermore, these environments incorporated support for the social and collaborative aspects of learning. The article considered five environments—Scratch, Alice, Looking Glass, Greenfoot, and Flip—examining their characteristics and investigating the opportunities they might offer to educators and learners alike. It also considered the broader implications of such environments for both teaching and research. In this chapter, the author revisits the same five environments, looking at how they have changed in the intervening years. She considers their evolution in relation to changes in the field more broadly (e.g., an increased focus on “programming for all”) and reflects on the implications for teaching, as well as research and further development.

The University of Panic

A pandemic crushes assumptions and inherited narratives of higher education. This chapter explores how COVID-19 tested the parameters of teaching and learning and how universities failed this test. Through the panic of shutdowns, lockdowns, economic restructures, social distancing, and closures, the speed of change and decision making was profound and under public scrutiny. Online learning has been a panacea for economic and social problems for 20 years. To manage a crisis the scale of COVID-19, online learning would be the obvious solution. However, the pandemic showed the flaws in this strategy and the toxic reality of quick fixes to higher education. Students were short changed and academics pushed to exhaustion. After COVID-19, higher education is in shreds. The visions and futures of universities are blurred. Using the theories of Paul Virilio, particularly his University of Disaster, this chapter probes how higher education unravels and dissociates teaching and research. When time is short and risks are high, what mode of leadership will survive in the post-pandemic university?

Developing a faculty-librarian collaboration model to support teaching and research at Vietnamese universities

PurposeThis paper aims to design a collaborative model amongst faculty and librarian to support teaching and research congruent with the Vietnamese context.Design/methodology/approachThe mix-method research is used in three stages to (1) study the situation and problems of faculty-librarian collaboration by using semi-structured interviews with 29 participants, (2) survey factors influencing the collaboration from 455 samples, (3) evaluate and arrange the influence level of factors from 18 experts' perspectives.FindingsThe research results show that in order to enhance the quality and gain goals of the collaboration, it is necessary to meet three elements, in which universities must (1) meet essential conditions and factors, (2) identify collaborative objectives and activities, collaborative process/guidelines, and evaluating collaboration; and (3) clarify the participation and support of stakeholders to achieve common outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study carried out with representatives for key informant group at four universities in Vietnam, thus, the research results could not cover all current situation of the faculty–librarian collaboration at universities.Originality/valueThis paper provides the detail picture of faculty–librarian collaboration practices and factors having influence this activity at Vietnamese universities. Then, the findings help administrators, faculty and librarians understand and deploy a reasonable plan in accordance with the university's features to enhance the effectiveness and success of the faculty–librarian collaboration.

Application of Green Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering: Education, Scientific Research, and Practice

Green design and manufacturing strategies are necessary to cope with the current resource, energy, and environmental problems of the manufacturing industry. To meet various enterprises’ needs for green design and manufacturing, colleges and universities should integrate these concepts into their curricula. This study discusses the application of green strategies in the mechanical engineering field from the viewpoints of teaching, scientific research, and practical education. Based on its development and a basic connotation analysis, this study highlights the challenges and urgency of incorporating green concepts into teaching and research modules of mechanical engineering, as well as methods and implementation strategies to incorporate them in professional curricula using teaching method reform and the teaching and research integration method. An experimental training course of advanced manufacturing processes at the authors’ institution was amended to emphasize the integrated application of green design and manufacturing. This integration not only enriches the field of mechanical engineering but also provides scientific research directions and methods to educators, along with new ideas to imbibe students with mechanical talents for their technical development. These efforts lay the foundation for the sustainable development of China’s manufacturing industry.