scholarly journals Scaling up Open CPD for Teachers in Higher Education: A Snowballing Approach

Author(s):  
Chrissi Nerantzi ◽  
Sue Beckingham

In this paper, we explore the snowballing approach developed for the openly licensed course Bring Your Own Device for Learning (BYOD4L) and the opportunities this presents to open cross-institutional CPD and open course development more generally. BYOD4L is a course for teachers and students in higher education which aims to help them gain both a better understanding of and develop their knowledge and skills in using their own smart devices for learning, teaching and professional development. BYOD4L has been developed by the authors and offered three times since 2014 with colleagues and students, participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from the UK and Australia and further collaborators in the US and Germany. The development of the snowballing approach is shared using an action research methodology. We propose a rethink of current CPD practices. We invite course designers, academic developers and the wider academic community to explore new and emerging models of CPD that capitalise on scalable collaborative open educational practices.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. pp262-281
Author(s):  
Marta Migocka-Patrzałek ◽  
Magda Dubińska-Magiera ◽  
Dawid Krysiński ◽  
Stefan Nowicki

The number of online courses conducted at universities has been growing steadily worldwide. The demand for this form of education has jumped sharply in the 2019/2020 academic year as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown. The following study uses the case of University of Wrocław and examines how this unprecedented situation would affect the attitude of members of the academic community toward distance learning. The examination, based on quantitative analysis of separated questionnaires distributed among teachers and students, reveals that the previous experience in distance learning strongly correlates with willingness to use it in the future, i.e. after fighting the coronavirus crisis. Thus, the research suggests that the implementation of distance learning may involve the need to put more emphasis on systematic and long-term actions. The results achieved in the study may contribute to improving the ways of implementing distance learning on a large scale in institutions dealing with higher education.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-20
Author(s):  
Mouza Said Al Kalbani ◽  
Ahmad Bintouq

Funding of higher education institutions is a major growing expense for the Oman government (13–14% of the total spending in 2016) and is at par with that of other governments (e.g., 11% in the UK and 15.5% in the US). However, there has been little investigation into the funding of quality higher education in Oman. The present research project aims to explore the sources of funding at Oman universities after it opened the private education sector in 1996. The research methodology includes conducting interviews with leaders in higher education to explore different types of funding (e.g., gifts, tuition fees, government support). This will enhance our understanding, as well as that of decision-makers, regarding universities' funding sources and of the higher education landscape.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-695
Author(s):  
JONATHAN SIMON

Although maybe not the most fashionable area of study today, French science has a secure place in the classical canon of the history of science. Like the Scientific Revolution and Italian science at the beginning of the seventeenth century, French science, particularly eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century French science, remains a safe, albeit conservative, bet in terms of history-of-science teaching and research. The classic trope of the passage of the flame of European science from Italy to Britain and France in the seventeenth and then eighteenth centuries is well established in overviews of the field. Specializing in research in this area is not, therefore, unreasonable as a career choice if you are aiming for a history-of-science position in Europe or even in the US. The Académie (royale) des sciences, with its state-sponsored model of collective research, provides a striking counterpoint to the amateur, more individualistic functioning of London's Royal Society – a foretaste of modernity in the institutionalization of science. Clearly naive, such a representation of French science serves as a good initial framework on which to hang half a century of critical historical research. If proof of the continued interest for eighteenth-century French science is needed, we can cite the Web-based project around Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie currently in progress under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences. The large number of publications in the history of French science (in English as well as French) make it unreasonable to pick out one or two for special attention here. But what about history of science in France and the academic community that practises this discipline today? Here, I offer a very personal view and analysis of this community, trying to underline contrasts with the history of science in the UK and the US.


Subject UK industrial strategy. Significance The UK government's industrial strategy responds to concerns about poor productivity, Brexit and the profound structural changes the economy is undergoing. ‘Building a Britain fit for the future' rests on five policy-area foundations -- ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places. Published on November 27 last year, the strategy was shaped by more than 2,000 responses to a green paper published in January the same year. Impacts Increasing R&D is key to narrowing the gap between the country's success in start-ups and its weakness scaling them up. R&D as a percentage of GDP is below the US, Chinese and German levels, undermining the goal of being the world’s most innovative nation. The STEM funds and the focus on technical as well as higher education will help fill possible post-Brexit labour and skill shortages.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Aljaber

E-learning is a sector of Saudi Arabian education that is witnessing significant growth, particularly in higher education. This article aims to provide a historical overview of the development and evolution of e-learning in Saudi Arabia. With the Ministry of Higher Education at the core of education and e-learning, the article will explore recent e-learning-related developments in King Saud University, King Faisal University, King Abdulaziz University and the Saudi Electronic University. As part of this analysis, the article will explore the challenges that are being encountered and the strategies that each of these institutions is implementing to support and develop e-learning. It is equally important to evaluate the role played by international partners, particularly the UK and the US, in supporting e-learning financially, socially and technologically. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has obtained significant support from the US and UK, with both countries contributing to the establishment of an integrated model for e-learning curriculums and information management systems in Saudi Arabia. Finally, this analysis explores the growth potential of e-learning and the efforts being made to support Saudi Arabia’s growing university student population. The article includes an exploration of the methods of evaluating, securing and modifying the current systems.


Author(s):  
Çiğdem Apaydın

Although the pattern and issue of transition from school to work (TSW) is commonly discussed in France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the US, it cannot find a place as a topic of discussion in the press and academe in Turkey. In reality, transition from school to work constitutes one of the most critical steps in young people's careers. It is therefore necessary to discuss the power of public policies to improve policies for young people, such as the regulation of the labor market, labor market programs, the effect of education on having a profession, and transition from higher education to work, all of which are underlined in the literature. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the process of transition from higher education to work within the context of Turkey based on the literature.


Author(s):  
Krishna Bista

Twitter as a micro-blog in higher education has been considered a new pedagogical tool for social and academic communications among educators and students since its inception in 2006. Twitter provides space and opportunities for students and faculty to engage in social and academic activities as a new pedagogical tool. Despite the limited research on Twitter as a learning tool, a significant number of educators in the US, the UK, Australia, and other parts of the world have used Twitter to interact with students, to share course information, and to collaborate research among educators. This chapter presents existing literature on Twitter and debates on the usage of Twitter in higher education as a learning pedagogy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document