scholarly journals Curriculum Renewal: Barriers to Successful Curriculum Change and Suggestions for Improvement

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudi Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Curriculum Change ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
University Systems ◽  
Curriculum Renewal ◽  
Academic Workforce

This article examines the practical difficulties encountered when a renewed curriculum is implemented in higher education. Attention has been given in the literature to the importance of coherent curriculum and approaches to curriculum design. Less attention has been paid to whether the renewed curriculum can be faithfully implemented within a given university context and how constraints to implementation change the curriculum design. Practical barriers to implementation arose from several sources. These included: how to ensure that all staff understood and supported the new approaches, in the context of a casualized academic workforce; the need for academics to find sufficient time to engage with the renewal process and complete the necessary work to implement the new curriculum, in the context of intensification of academic work; how to support academic staff to gain an understanding of curriculum design changes in a context where few staff have formally studied education; and, the tension between explicit curriculum philosophies that inform alternative curriculum designs and tacit curriculum philosophies embedded in university systems. The project used an action-learning approach and situated the learning in the context of literature on curriculum, academic work and contemporary university practices, to draw conclusions about how universities can better support successful implementation of curriculum change. The article concludes that successful realisation of curriculum change requires on-going support from management and a flexible environment to ensure that planned changes can be implemented effectively. This has implications for many university systems including, academic support, professional development, academic workloads, and university reporting systems.

scholarly journals The development of a framework for the successful implementation of curriculum renewal : a case study of the office management and technology (OMT) programme

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Moodley Egashnee
Keyword(s):  
Renewal Process ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Advisory Board ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Office Management ◽  
Curriculum Renewal

South Africa’s tertiary education institutions main goal is to train, educate, deliver high level professional and occupational skills, research and innovation required for development and economic growth for South Africa (Timm, Govender and Gonsalves 2016). To develop the manpower required for the advancement of South Africa’s economic development, tertiary institutions need to align their programme with the needs of social, economic and technology developments locally, nationally and globally. In an attempt to enhance the aligning needs of the industry and international education standards towards education, universities had started to accredit and renew their programme curricular. However, some researchers have identified that even though curriculum renewal of a programme had brought about some advantages for academics and students, there was many disadvantages as well (Bird et al. 2015: 19). Wormley (2004: 329) has identified that if there are many challenges, negative perceptions and lack of benefits because of a poorly planned framework for curriculum renewal of a programme. Ultimately it leads to the unsuccessful implementation of curriculum renewal. The aim of the study is to explore the curriculum renewal process amongst academics and students of the Office Management and Technology programme at Durban University of Technology to develop a framework for future successful implementation of the curriculum implementation process. As this case study will provide new insights into the perceptions and experiences of those most closely affected, that is the academic staff, the curriculum champion and students of the university involved in the curriculum renewal process, thereby assisting other departments or programmes embarking on a curriculum renewal process A qualitative methodology was employed for this study. Whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted with OMT academics, the OMT curriculum champion, representative from the Centre for Quality Promotion and Assurance (CQPA), and Academic Development Practioner (ADP) for the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics (FAI). Focus group discussion with OMT students was held to obtain the students’ perspectives on the curriculum renewal process of the OMT programme. The study revealed that the main barrier for academics implementing the curriculum renewal process and renewed curriculum lagged due to the lack of resources available to the department, lack of tutors for students, lack of student involvement in the advisory board for stakeholders, as well as lack of curriculum expert’s in department as the main factors that hinder the curriculum renewal process of a programme. On the other hand, the students revealed that the ‘’Blackboard, ThinkLearnZone’’ application notification system needs to be improved as most students do not own smartphones to access the internet. Moreover, students suggested that the academics should conduct more practical activities during the lecture period. Interestingly, students also suggested that lecturers begin to record lectures via the Podcast application which always them to download and learn. The recommendation highlights that students representatives from each level enrolled into the programme should form part of the advisory board for the curriculum renewal process and review, there should be a professional student body from the department, who must be given an equal opportunity to participate in the process discussion. Moreover, to resolve the lack of funds to purchase textbooks and resources, the researcher recommends that the OMT department should start using their own resources from the department and start creating revenue for the department.

scholarly journals Administrative transformation and managerial growth: a longitudinal analysis of changes in the non-academic workforce at Australian universities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwilym Croucher ◽  
Peter Woelert
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Longitudinal Analysis ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Academic Workforce ◽  
Substantial Decline ◽  
Australian Universities

AbstractOne fundamental aspect of organizational transformation in higher education is the change to the profile of universities’ non-academic workforce. Key staffing trends identified in recent studies conducted in a variety of national settings include an increase in the proportion of non-academic staff at universities and a shift toward more highly qualified and remunerated non-academic roles. This paper examines the extent to which these trends have played out at Australian universities over the period 1997 to 2017. Drawing on unpublished sets of staffing data, the analyses show that while the proportion of non-academic positions at Australian universities has remained largely stable, there has been a striking and uniform growth in management-rank positions, concurrent with a substantial decline in lower-level and less expensive support roles. This has some significant implications, in particular the growth in more complex “corporate” structures, the relatively fewer staff to support academic work, and the increase in the relative costs associated with maintaining the non-academic workforce at Australian universities.

The Changing Nature of Academic Work: Canadian Universities and the Flexible  Firm Model

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Krushell
Keyword(s):  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Canadian Association ◽  
Statistics Canada ◽  
Firm Model ◽  
Faculty And Administrators

Though much literature has been produced on the topic of academic restructuring, those works concerned  with the Canadian context have mainly focused on issues of corporate­university linkages, the role of state coordination of public universities, and the disparity between funding and student enrollment. Very little work has been done in documenting or analysing the role of adjunct faculty, who now make up nearly half  the university faculty, in Canadian universities. Statistics Canada has only once collected data on part­time faculty, and only one current analysis of this data has been conducted (Omiecinski, 2003). The Canadian  Association of University Teachers, furthermore, only publishes data concerning full­time faculty  members. The implications of an emerging division between the use of full­time and part­time faculty on  the nature of academic work and the quality of post­secondary education has been yet unexamined. Drawing on labour market segmentation theory, this study presents the multiple ways in which the work of  academic staff in Canadian post­secondary education has conformed to the principles of the flexible firm model, first observed of private business firms in the 1980s by John Atkinson. A series of semi­structured  interviews with academic faculty and administrators, as well as a collection of current secondary source data, informed the basis of this research. It was found that the changing nature of academic work in post­  secondary education is negatively affecting the quality of undergraduate education provided in Canada.

Staff and students’ perception of implementing flexible working arrangements in institution of higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam M. Mwando ◽  
Amin Issa ◽  
Verinjaerako Kangotue
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Employee Productivity ◽  
University Staff ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Space Efficiency ◽  
Flexible Working

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of university staff and students in implementing flexible working arrangements (FWA) to increase space efficiency, lower overheads and improve productivity at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and document searches. A total of 253 university staff (academic and support) and students were surveyed to solicit their perceptions on the extent to which FWA could be implemented to ensure space optimisation, minimise property related costs and improve employee productivity. Findings The study confirms that the successful implementation of FWA needs coordinated institutional policy to effectively support and cater to university staff’s different needs while meeting those of the university. Implementing FWA may reduce demand on utilities resulting in lower overheads for the institution. Based on the findings, the study is inconclusive on whether FWA improves or reduces staff productivity. Practical implications In the era of austerity measures in institutions of higher education (IHE), with rapid advances in communication information technologies, FWA are not only a possibility but inevitable to ensure optimal use of space, lower operating costs and improved work productivity. This study provides a cursory understanding of the possibility to implementing FWA in higher education. Originality/value This study contributes to the FWA body of knowledge from the perspective of both academic, non-academic staff and students in IHE.

An Approach to Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Turbomachinery Design

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome P. Jarrett ◽  
William N. Dawes ◽  
P. John Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Process Management ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Design Codes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Data Architecture ◽  
And Function ◽  
Design Process Management ◽  
Turbomachinery Design

Aeroengines are designed using fractured processes. Complexity has driven the design of such machines to be subdivided by specialism, customer and function. While this approach has worked well in the past, with component efficiencies, current material performance and the possibilities presented by scaling existing designs for future needs becoming progressively exhausted it is necessary to reverse this process of disintegration. Our research addresses this aim. The strategy we use has two symbiotic arms. The first is an open data architecture from which existing disparate design codes all derive their input and to which all send their output. The second is a dynamic design process management system known as “SignPosting”. Both the design codes and parameters are arranged into complementary multiple level hierarchies: fundamental to the successful implementation of our strategy is the robustness of the mechanisms we have developed to ensure consistency in this environment as the design develops over time. One of the key benefits of adopting a hierarchical structure is that it confers not only the ability to use mean-line, throughflow and fully 3D CFD techniques in the same environment but also to cross specialism boundaries and insert mechanical, material, thermal, electrical and structural codes, enabling exploration of the design space for multi-disciplinary non-linear responses to design changes and their exploitation. We present results from trials of an early version of the system applied to the redesign of a generic civil aeroengine core compressor. SignPosting has allowed us to examine the hardness of design constraints across disciplines which has shown that it is far more profitable not to strive for even higher aerodynamic performance, but rather improve the commercial performance by maintaining design and part speed pressure ratios stability and efficiency while increasing rotor blade creep life by up to 70%.

scholarly journals THE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC FOCUSED ON EDUCATION

2018 ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Josef Malach ◽  
Tatiana Havlásková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
University Education ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Study Programs ◽  
Social Pedagogue

The paper presents an overview of study felds at universities in the Czech Republic, which are aimed at achieving the qualifcations required for the performance of educational professions, respectively educational roles. The fundamental differentiation criterion is their main focus on one of the aspects of complex education, specifcally education and upbringing. Professions of an educator, special and social pedagogue or a leisure time teacher are considered to be the professions predominantly focused on education. University education for the previously stated occupational subgroups implemented so far is built on study programs that have been created by teams of academic staff and accredited by the Accreditation Commission. They are usually based on the erudition and personal experience of their authors and assessors and without any professional standards. The amendment to the University Education Act has fundamentally changed both the procedures for the accreditation of study programs and the functioning of the newly established accreditation institution — the National Accreditation Ofce. The study introduces the legal standards applicable to accreditation procedures as well as the fundamental changes in functioning of universities due to these rules. Apart from that, the curriculum design includes current education and training practices with a number of national (both positive and negative) characteristics and oddities identifed on the basis of the (inter)national research, analysis, monitoring or good practice. Today´s educational reality is the result of the involvement of stakeholders who reflect it critically in terms of their expectations and needs. They provide feedback to universities necessary for the innovations of graduate profles, the aims and content of their studies and the future educators´ teaching and learning processes. With regard to the implementation of the national digital education strategy, the possibilities of universities to respond to its objectives by preparing new subjects for teacher education are mentioned.

scholarly journals Clinical academic research in the time of Corona: a simulation study in England and a call for action

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amitava Banerjee ◽  
Michail Katsoulis ◽  
Alvina G. Lai ◽  
Laura Pasea ◽  
Thomas A. Treibel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
System Level ◽  
Clinical Activity ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Academic Workforce ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBackgroundCoronavirus (COVID-19) poses health system challenges in every country. As with any public health emergency, a major component of the global response is timely, effective science. However, particular factors specific to COVID-19 must be overcome to ensure that research efforts are optimised. We aimed to model the impact of COVID-19 on the clinical academic response in the UK, and to provide recommendations for COVID-related research.MethodsWe constructed a simple stochastic model to determine clinical academic capacity in the UK in four policy approaches to COVID-19 with differing population infection rates: “Italy model” (6%), “mitigation” (10%), “relaxed mitigation” (40%) and “do-nothing” (80%) scenarios. The ability to conduct research in the COVID-19 climate is affected by the following key factors: (i) infection growth rate and population infection rate (from UK COVID-19 statistics and WHO); (ii) strain on the healthcare system (from published model); and (iii) availability of clinical academic staff with appropriate skillsets affected by frontline clinical activity and sickness (from UK statistics).FindingsIn “Italy model”, “mitigation”, “relaxed mitigation” and “do-nothing” scenarios, from 5 March 2020 the duration (days) and peak infection rates (%) are 95(2.4%), 115(2.5%), 240(5.3%) and 240(16.7%) respectively. Near complete attrition of academia (87% reduction, <400 clinical academics) occurs 35 days after pandemic start for 11, 34, 62, 76 days respectively – with no clinical academics at all for 37 days in the “do-nothing” scenario. Restoration of normal academic workforce (80% of normal capacity) takes 11,12, 30 and 26 weeks respectively.InterpretationPandemic COVID-19 crushes the science needed at system level. National policies mitigate, but the academic community needs to adapt. We highlight six key strategies: radical prioritisation (eg 3-4 research ideas per institution), deep resourcing, non-standard leadership (repurposing of key non-frontline teams), rationalisation (profoundly simple approaches), careful site selection (eg protected sites with large academic backup) and complete suspension of academic competition with collaborative approaches.

Enabling Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Activities Across a Curriculum Design Framework

2020 ◽  
pp. 347-364
Author(s):  
Deanna Meth ◽  
Holly R. Russell ◽  
Rachel Fitzgerald ◽  
Henk Huijser
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Design Studio ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Curriculum Framework

This chapter outlines the multiple ways in which Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) activities might be activated and/or realized through the processes of curriculum and learning design of a degree program. Key dual enablers for these activities are an underpinning curriculum framework, bringing a series of defined developmental steps each underpinned by SoTL, and the Curriculum Design Studio construct as a vehicle for collaborative ways of working between staff, including academics and curriculum designers and students. Drawing on evidence from the practices of four curriculum designers, examples are presented across a wide range of disciplinary areas. In many instances, SoTL not only brings an evidence base to the work, but also the potential for research outputs, thus becoming a useful lever for academic staff to engage in ongoing curriculum design discussions and evidence-informed practice. Such activities serve to mitigate against acknowledged challenges faced by academics such as lack of adequate time for such activities and the pressure to produce research outputs.

Function-Based Analysis and Redesign of a Flyable Electromechanical Actuator Test Stand

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Koopmans ◽  
Irem Y. Tumer
Keyword(s):  
Test Stand ◽  
Remaining Useful Life ◽  
System Level ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
Electromechanical Actuators ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Effective System ◽  
Data Output ◽  
Useful Life

Critical faults prevent electromechanical actuators (EMAs) from controlling primary flight surfaces aboard commercial and military human air/spacecraft. However, the efficiency and simplicity of the EMAs makes them appealing for use. For successful implementation, diagnostic and prognostic techniques identifying these critical faults must be optimized. This paper builds the foundation for the design of a second-generation test stand whose aim is to inject known EMA faults and record the data output while onboard an aircraft. First, an overview of faults is presented. Next, functional modeling is introduced as an effective system level representation to implement early design changes. Specifically, functional modeling is proposed to isolate functions of the test stand that can affect faulted and nominal actuator data collection through violations of post-processing statistical assumptions. The data collected from the EMA test stand will be used for actuator prognostic purposes and therefore must closely represent a full-scale actuator installation. This methodology will increase experiment validity, verifiable conclusions made regarding actuator remaining useful life, and overall system reliability.

scholarly journals The systems psychodynamic experiences of first-year master’s students in industrial and organisational psychology

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frans Cilliers ◽  
Nisha Harry
Keyword(s):  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
First Year ◽  
Master's Students ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: The researchers described the experiences of first-year master’s students in industrial and organisational psychology in terms of their anxiety and basic assumption behaviour. Apart from their academic tasks, they seem to be unconsciously involved in many relationship and relatedness matters.Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe the systems psychodynamic experiences of first-year master’s students in Industrial and Organisational Psychology.Motivation for the study: Academic staff members tend to forget their own experiences as master’s students, lose touch with their students’ experiences, lose empathy and treat student groups in mechanistic ways. Although the students’ conscious tasks and roles are relatively clear, very little is known about their unconscious experiences.Research design, approach and method: The researchers used qualitative research involving a case study. They collected the data and conducted their analyses by administering a Listening Post (LP) and discourse analysis. Two themes emerged, from which the researchers formulated their working and research hypotheses.Main findings: The themes related to anxiety and basic assumption behaviour. The research hypothesis referred to students’ introjections of emotional incompetence. This resulted in exhaustion.Practical/managerial implications: More focused attention to the students’ emotional experiences, by themselves and by academic staff members, could conserve students’ energy for their academic work and relationships.Contribution/value-add: Being master’s students consumes emotional energy that jeopardises students’ academic work and forming relationships. Being aware of these and managing them could help students to achieve better academically.

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