scholarly journals The Role of Professional Networks in Supporting and Developing Real World Learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Joanne Brindley ◽  
Stuart Sims
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
The University

Abstract The chapter provides insight into how professional learning networks can be effectively implemented to encourage the sharing of good practice and developed to support a real world learning context within higher education. Observations will be provided into the potential use and effectiveness of professional learning networks, including setting out a framework which maps how this type of learning activity can be effectively developed and administered within higher education settings. This section provides a forward narrative for the case studies from the University of Portsmouth, which acts as a vehicle for contextualising the effectiveness and prerequisites required for effective learning networks to be established. The chapter will culminate by providing the reader with a proposed approach for the implementation of an effective learning network.

scholarly journals Social Media for Networking and Participatory Professional Learning

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine McLoughlin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Building Community ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Area Of Concern ◽  
Social Networking Tools

There is widespread acceptance of the need for professional learning opportunities and support for teachers and for academics transitioning into the higher education workforce. In Australia and globally, social networking sites (SNS) provide teachers with formal and informal networking opportunities. While higher education institutions are responding to an ever-changing digital environment, scholarly work aimed at understanding optimal use of, and interaction with new Web 2.0 capabilities is a pressing area of concern among academics. Limited studies are available on how and why teachers in higher education employ social networking tools to create learning networks, share professional ideas and build creative collegiality. This scoping review article investigates motivations for the adoption of SNS in higher education and the benefits and opportunities presented by social networking tools such as blogs and Twitter in teacher professional learning and practice. Results show that academics are interested in connecting with peers, sharing knowledge and networking in open participatory forums as means of building community and accessing resources. The findings indicate that the affordances of microblogging and SNS are valued by academics and that they appreciate the immediacy, relational aspects and interactions that expand their professional networks.

Attending to the Teacher in the Teaching: Prioritizing Faculty Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Brianne H. Roos ◽  
Carey C. Borkoski
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

Purpose The purpose of this review article is to examine the well-being of faculty in higher education. Success in academia depends on productivity in research, teaching, and service to the university, and the workload model that excludes attention to the welfare of faculty members themselves contributes to stress and burnout. Importantly, student success and well-being is influenced largely by their faculty members, whose ability to inspire and lead depends on their own well-being. This review article underscores the importance of attending to the well-being of the people behind the productivity in higher education. Method This study is a narrative review of the literature about faculty well-being in higher education. The history of well-being in the workplace and academia, concepts of stress and well-being in higher education faculty, and evidence-based strategies to promote and cultivate faculty well-being were explored in the literature using electronic sources. Conclusions Faculty feel overburdened and pressured to work constantly to meet the demands of academia, and they strive for work–life balance. Faculty report stress and burnout related to excessively high expectations, financial pressures to obtain research funding, limited time to manage their workload, and a belief that individual progress is never sufficient. Faculty well-being is important for the individual and in support of scholarship and student outcomes. This article concludes with strategies to improve faculty well-being that incorporate an intentional focus on faculty members themselves, prioritize a community of well-being, and implement continuous high-quality professional learning.

scholarly journals Do LEGO® Models Aid Reflection in Learning and Teaching Practice?

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissi Nerantzi ◽  
Craig Scott Despard
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Good Assessment ◽  
The University ◽  
Assessment Strategies ◽  
The Impact

In this paper we describe the use of LEGO® models within assessment of the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) offered at the University of Salford. Within the context of the PGCAP, we model innovative and contextualised assessment strategies for and of learning. We challenge our students, who are teachers in higher education (HE), to think and rethink the assessment they are using with their own students. We help them develop a deeper understanding and experience of good assessment and feedback practice in a wider context while they are assessed as students on the PGCAP. We report on an evaluation of how the LEGO® model activity was used with a cohort of students in the context of the professional discussion assessment. We share the impact it had on reflection and the assessment experience and make recommendations for good practice.

Quality Assurance and Institutional Research for University Strategic Management

2020 ◽  
pp. 287-308
Author(s):  
Ngepathimo Kadhila ◽  
Gilbert Likando
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

Strategic management in higher education (HE) has become data-reliant. Most higher education institutions (HEIs) all over the world have implemented quality assurance (QA) and institutional research (IR) with the purpose of generating data that that would assist in evidence-based decision making for better strategic management. However, data generated through QA and IR processes have to be integrated and streamlined in order to successfully inform strategic management. One of the challenges facing higher education institutions is to integrate the data generated by QA and IR processes effectively. This chapter examines examples of good practice for integrating the data generated by these processes for use as tools to inform strategic management, using the University of Namibia as a reference point. The chapter offers suggestions on how higher education institutions may be assisted to overcome challenges when integrating the outcomes of QA and IR processes in order to close the quality loop through effective strategic management.

Moving beyond silos: professional learning networks in higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torrey Trust ◽  
Jeffrey Paul Carpenter ◽  
Daniel G. Krutka
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Networks

scholarly journals AN ONLINE EVENT AS A PRODUCT OF THE ACTIVE LEARNING METHODOLOGY: AN EXPERIENCE VIA PBL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA-BRAZIL

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-257
Author(s):  
Ari Melo Mariano ◽  
Joao Mello da Silva ◽  
Simone Borges Simão Monteiro ◽  
Adriana Regina Martin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real World ◽  
Production Engineering ◽  
External Agents ◽  
Digital Portfolio ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University ◽  
Real World Problems

The objective of this study was to suggest an alternative for managing the knowledge gained and resulting legacy from the application of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) method in a higher education context. The legacies of the PBL method are found to be more profound and diverse than those related to either the students' experience or the projects developed to solve real-world problems presented by external agents (the partners of the UnB Production Engineering course). The Production Engineering course has, since 2011, adopted the PBL method as an active learning methodology. Although each semester presents new opportunities in the process of consolidating this method, it’s been perceived that the many phases and results of this process are often utilized in real time only, contributing to the participating individuals exclusively as they occur. This is seen as a type of temporal result, seen only at a given "T" moment in the discipline’s lifecycle. Correspondingly, part of this knowledge is currently seen as perishable, since it is not possible to store it for future moments. In an attempt to extend this experience, starting in 2016 the University of Brasilia’s Production Engineering course has begun to develop an extension of PBL products by means of distinct events. The results haven been satisfactory, thus far involving 458 students and 7910 participants. As a legacy, it was possible to create a platform for the presentation of active learning methodologies and the exchange of experiences. Thus, the project presentations, once seen as distinct landmarks, became part of a legacy through a specific event, assisted and accessed as a course memory and a student’s digital portfolio.

scholarly journals Making Projects Real in a Higher Education Context

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-185
Author(s):  
Roy Hanney
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Theoretical Underpinning ◽  
The World ◽  
Model Of Management ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Real Value ◽  
Agile Learning ◽  
Industry Professionals

Abstract Challenging educators to rethink projects and see them as a practice rather than as a model of management the authors explore the possibilities for using live projects to enhance real world learning in higher education. Drawing on the work of the ‘critical projects movement’ the chapter outlines a theoretical underpinning for reconceptualising projects as a practice and proposes a new pedagogic model that of ‘agile learning’. Framing the use of live projects is a mode of real world learning that generates encounters with industry professionals and provides real-value outputs for clients. The chapter explores the challenges that face educators who wish to foreground ‘social learning’ and engagement with communities of practice as a means of easing the transition for students from education to the world of work.

The Professional Learning Model (PLM™)

2011 ◽  
pp. 1686-1692
Author(s):  
David E. Leasure ◽  
Amy Peterson ◽  
Richard Kettner-Polley ◽  
Scott Van Tonningen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Online Delivery ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Assessment Of Student Learning ◽  
The University

Late in 2003, Colorado Technical University prepared to develop a large number of programs for online delivery. As part of the planning, the university developed its professional learning model (PLM™) to ensure online and face-to-face courses would address student motivation, employ proven teaching techniques, integrate theory with practice, teach real-world knowledge and skills, and support assessment of student learning. PLM™ courses focus on mastery of professional knowledge and skills by applying what is taught in the course to the construction of authentic deliverables that are produced in the professional environment, such as project plans, software programs, or electronic devices. CTU PLM™ engages the student in complex, real-world projects and scenarios that require them to organize, research, and solve problems. Essentially, it allows students to practice skills in real world situations. Professional learning naturally answers the student question, “How will I use this in the real world?” It allows students to easily establish the connection between what they learn in the classroom and real world issues and practices. This learning method encourages students to use higher levels of thinking skills by having them look critically and creatively at problems that don’t have one right answer. Students learn about information in situations that are similar to the professional situations in which they will use the information in the future.

scholarly journals Introduction: Real World Learning—Recalibrating the Higher Education Response Towards Application to Lifelong Learning and Diverse Career Paths

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Dawn A. Morley ◽  
Md Golam Jamil
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Longitudinal Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Alternative Approaches

Abstract Morley and Jamil critique the changing higher education landscape where metrics, marketisation and challenging employment prospects for graduates put into question traditional modes of higher education ethos and delivery. Theorists identify alternative approaches where learning is focused on greater authenticity, personalisation and longitudinal development. The chapter introduces the emerging concept of ‘real world learning’, which is under-researched within higher education yet shows early potential to address some of the disjunctions between students’ learning and the world of work. An introduction is made to the chapters within the book that follow, written with the intention to illuminate what is real world learning and how it can be applied to curriculum design and pedagogy.

scholarly journals What is an Authentic Learning Environment?

2011 ◽  
pp. 68-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Herrington ◽  
Jan Herrington
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Real World ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Effective Learning Environments ◽  
Subject Areas

Recent research and learning theory provides a wealth of thought, ideas and strategies to inform the design and implementation of learner-centered, realistic and effective learning environments. This chapter proposes guidelines for designing authentic learning environments for higher education that can be applied across a range of disciplines and in a variety of modes. Characteristics of the approach are explored in depth, and the chapters of the book are introduced as examples of authentic learning environments in diverse subject areas and contexts. The chapter provides a practical framework for teachers wishing to break away from traditional, teacher-centered approaches in higher education, and who are willing to create learning environments where students are motivated to learn in rich, relevant and real-world contexts.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document