Lifelong learning ecologies in online higher education: Students' engagement in the continuum between formal and informal learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1729-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell Peters ◽  
Marc Romero
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Ecologies ◽  
The Continuum

Integrating Formal and Informal Learning Opportunities of Technology in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 379-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Şendurur ◽  
Hatice Gökçe Bilgiç ◽  
Polat Şendurur
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Roles Of Teacher ◽  
Technology In Higher Education

Along with the recent developments in technology, the paradigm of learning and teaching has changed with the changing demands of society and learners. A new learner-centered paradigm enforces the changes in the roles of teacher, learner, and the environment. Learning is not restricted with a place or time. Especially with the advance of technology-based environments including www, social networks, and online learning environments, people can reach information anytime/anywhere, which brings about various experiences for informal learning. The aim of this chapter is to present a guideline for the integration of formal and informal learning opportunities of technology in higher education. As a result of the study a guideline is presented for higher education. The guideline is focused on eight issues including (1) know your students, (2) update yourself, (3) be online, (4) provide sharing opportunities, (5) provide discussion opportunities, (6) keep information alive, (7) use learning analytics, and (8) support interdisciplinarity.

Blockchain Technology as a Bridging Infrastructure Among Formal, Non-Formal, and Informal Learning Processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 959-970
Author(s):  
Aras Bozkurt ◽  
Hasan Ucar
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Web 3.0 ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Distributed Ledger ◽  
Distributed Ledger Technology ◽  
Educational Processes ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning

Blockchain is an online decentralized and distributed ledger technology that has the ability to keep and track records in a safe, verifiable, and transparent manner. More significantly, it has an infrastructure that is compatible with Web 3.0, which offers great potential for lifelong learning. This chapter explains the different modalities of learning (formal, non-formal, informal), blockchain technology, and its current use in educational processes. Based on the findings, the authors suggest that blockchain technology can be used to connect and interlink different educational experiences that occur in different educational modalities, enabling us to evaluate educational processes holistically and thus promote lifelong learning through the use of cutting-edge technologies.

scholarly journals Designing a learning analytics dashboard for Twitter-facilitated teaching

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anatoliy Gruzd ◽  
Nadia Conroy
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Course Material

Social media sites are increasingly being adopted to support teaching practice in higher education. Learning Analytics (LA) dashboards can be used to reveal how students engage with course material and others in the class. However, research on the best practices of designing, developing, and evaluating such dashboards to support teaching and learning with social media has been limited. Considering the increasing use of Twitter for both formal and informal learning processes, this paper presents our design process and a LA prototype dashboard developed based on a comprehensive literature review and an online survey among 54 higher education instructors who have used Twitter in their teaching. Keywords : Learning analytics, teaching, dashboards, survey

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial Learning in Higher Education: Perceptions, Realities and Collaborative Work from the Stakeholder Point of View

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Marques ◽  
Ana Isabel Couto ◽  
Paula Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Entrepreneurial Learning ◽  
Entrepreneurial Spirit ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning

In recent years, Portuguese universities have diversified their strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurial education among (under/post) graduates, both through formal education and non- formal and informal activities. Indeed, Higher Education Institutions can provide entrepreneurial learning opportunities for students, stimulating new attitudes and behaviours towards entrepreneurship. In terms of non-formal and informal learning, various types of activity are of particular significance, and include entrepreneurship promotion and skills-based training, as well as monitoring of the development of ideas and projects. These activities are undertaken by various higher education stakeholders and key-actors, who contribute to the construction of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and increase entrepreneurial spirit in (under/post) graduates. The research reported here is based on the main findings gathered from the ongoing project "Entrepreneurial Learning, Cooperation and the Labour Market: Good Practices in Higher Education (POAT-FSE)", focusing particularly on the results of a survey questionnaire completed by a diverse sample of entities linked to Portuguese public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and working to promote non-formal and informal entrepreneurial activities, as well as a set of case studies carried out regarding examples of best practice in Portuguese Higher Education. In doing so, this paper aims to highlight the importance of non-formal and informal learning, and to contribute to reflection on the added value of inter-organizational cooperation and collaborative work.

scholarly journals Enacting Smart Pedagogy in Higher Education Contexts: Sensemaking through Collaborative Biography

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Reyes ◽  
Katherine McLay ◽  
Lauren Thomasse ◽  
Karen Olave-Encina ◽  
Arafeh Karimi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractScholars and practitioners argue that information and communication technology (ICT) provides flexibility of time and place and softens boundaries between students’ learning lives. The fluid movement between formal and informal learning contexts afforded by digital technology has prompted a re-definition of higher education learning environments to harness its potential. Further, technology can cater to diverse learners and promote lifelong learning in ways that the traditional didactic settings characteristic of tertiary contexts cannot. Scholars and practitioners have labelled this new teaching and learning landscape as smart pedagogy. This article engages with this scholarship by analysing a specific Australian case study in which ICT reforms have been deliberately implemented to adhere to smart pedagogies. Using collective biographies as a methodological tool, this inquiry provides insights into sensemaking experiences of a group of university academics whilst implementing ICT reforms anchored on Smart Pedagogy.

scholarly journals Sustainable Feedback: Students’ and Tutors’ Perceptions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Geitz ◽  
Desirée Joosten - Ten Brinke ◽  
Paul Kirschner
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Learning Skills

Feedback has been shown to substantially influence students’ learning. However, not everything characterized as feedback is effective. Sustainable feedback places students in an active role in which they generate and use feedback from peers, self or others and aims at developing lifelong learning skills. First-year higher education students and tutors received sustainable feedback during their problem-based learning. To gain insights into how they perceived the sustainable feedback, students were probed via structured, open-ended questionnaires. While all participants positively valued the feedback, their personal characteristics, previous experience with feedback and concomitant perceptions appeared to have greatly influenced both tutors’ and students’ specific, individual behavior and responses. Conclusion is that sustainable feedback requires an evolving role of students and tutors with respect to sharing their perceptions of what feedback is, understanding the value and importance of feedback contributions of all participants, and developing the necessary skills to ask questions and give feedback.

scholarly journals Toward a Transnational Framework: Aligning Internal and External Quality Assurance Processes

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
William Plater
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
External Quality Assurance ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
External Quality ◽  
New Era ◽  
Societal Value ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning

This article explores the tensions between internal and external quality assurance processes, making a case for the preeminence of internal actions to ensure the capacity of institutions to respond quickly and effectively to the rapidly evolving global conditions affecting all of higher education. As the forms and means of formal and informal learning evolve more rapidly than quality assurance and accrediting bodies can adapt, institutions themselves will have to take the steps necessary to ensure that students are actually learning at levels represented by a new array of credentials and to offer credible evidence to employers and others that the credentials are indeed accurate reflections of competence. There is a place for quality assurance bodies, but these agencies will find it in their best interest to operate in the areas where they can offer the greatest societal value by articulating the standards that define integrity and quality. Both institutions and quality assurance bodies alike must join forces to recognize that expectations for what actually constitutes quality, competence, and integrity transcend national borders, cultural differences, the ages, occupations or locations of learners, and outmoded notions of prestige. It is a new era where bold ideas and strong ideals can reshape our understanding of what it means to learn throughout life at demonstrable levels of quality and competence.

scholarly journals A Literature Review on the Definitions of Dropout in Online Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Marlon Xavier ◽  
Julio Meneses
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
The Body ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Reliable Knowledge

Online higher education continues to grow, yet its high dropout rates remain a pressing and complex problem. However, there are many different definitions of dropout (and related concepts: attrition, persistence, and retention) in the literature, usually related to a temporal conception, and the issue is controversial. Inconsistent terminology is problematic because the ways dropout is defined determine how it is measured, tackled, and researched. This contribution seeks to remedy such issue by summarizing a scoping review of the recent literature on the theme, focusing on the key issue of online higher education students’ dropout conceptualization and definition. A scoping review between 2014 and 2018 yielded 138 articles and dissertations. Findings reveal a complex yet disorganized field, lacking standard definitions. Some concepts (e.g. completion) were defined clearly more often, while others (e.g. attrition and dropout) varied wildly; few papers employed previous definitions from the body of literature. Future research should strive to achieve greater consistency in terminology, so as to compare findings and produce reliable knowledge for intervention in online higher education institutions.

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