scholarly journals Integrating Interdisciplinary Thinking and Practice: a Case Study of a Victorian University in Australia

10.29007/45tx ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha Iyer-Raniga
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Real World ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
The University ◽  
Interdisciplinary Thinking

The value of interdisciplinary approaches to curriculum have been considered successful along multiple fronts; including reducing administrative burden from inter departmental collaboration, providing “intellectual” solutions to problems and breaking academic discipline boundaries. Criticism from industry often focuses on educators not preparing graduates for work in the real world. A major reason underpinning this criticism is that the students are not exposed to the requisite skills to make them work- ready. Despite the pressures to include interdisciplinary approaches from an ethical perspective, putting it into practice is difficult. This paper presents the findings of involving students from three different schools from a Victorian university in Australia: built environment, business and computer science. The project was developed as part of a state government competitive fund where industry, staff and students worked together to support each other and realize mutual benefits. The aim of the study was to develop an approach involving students in a theory-practice model of a real world project by selecting a building within the university as a case study to arm students with real world knowledge focusing on sustainability outcomes. The objective was to assist in preparing students from different disciplines for better workplace experiences, where they can bring in interdisciplinary thinking and practice into their day-day operations. The outcomes for the university, in using this building as a living laboratory, was to capture lessons learned through the process of improving future building developments from a sustainability perspective. Student involvement was successful, but true interdisciplinary engagement was not achieved.

Unlocking the value of HR to drive a change-ready culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-176
Author(s):  
Campbell Macpherson
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Culture Change ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
World Culture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Organization ◽  
The Real ◽  
Personal Experiences

Purpose This paper aims to present a case study focused on developing a change-ready culture within a large organization. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on personal experiences gleaned while driving an organization-wide culture change program throughout a major financial advisory firm. Findings This paper details over a dozen key lessons learned while transforming the HR department from a fragmented, ineffective, reclusive and disrespected department into one that was competent, knowledgeable, enabling and a leader of change. Originality/value Drawing on the real-world culture change intervention detailed here, including results and lessons learned, other organizations can apply similar approaches in their own organizations – hopefully to similar effect.

Hervey Bay in Transition

2004 ◽  
pp. 223-237
Author(s):  
Wayne Pease ◽  
Lauretta Wright ◽  
Malcolm Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
City Council ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Capacity Building ◽  
Training Project ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Information Communications Technology ◽  
The University

In regional Australia there is a growing interest and investment in community capacity building and this is beginning to be formalised in a desire to integrate information communications technology opportunities with other forms of community development. This paper explores the opportunity for greater social integration based on the formation of community-based information communication technology (ICT) driven organizations, using a case study approach.  It is suggested that whether disseminating information, collaborating with other communities, assisting the development of new industries, or simply by sharing the lessons learned along the way, community-based IT can assist and support a community’s economic and social development.  Further, the paper supports the view that, where understanding and developing new forms of information technology through community informatics is accepted as an integral part of such development, communities will not just ‘improve the old’ but will more radically restructure themselves towards a knowledge-based future. The case study that underpins these observations is that of the development of Bay Connect, a community-based Internet development and training project, begun in Hervey Bay with Networking the Nation support, and which is now expanding into the adjacent Maryborough and surrounding Shires. It is also supported by the University of Southern Queensland’s Wide Bay and has an emergent role in supporting new and existing IT businesses, Bay Connect and the Hervey Bay City Council, in the creation and nurturing of an IT skills base within the region.

A case study of transformation in four African universities.

2021 ◽  
pp. 240-250
Author(s):  
David Kraybill ◽  
Moses Osiru
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Agricultural Education ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Institutional Transformation ◽  
The University

Abstract This chapter presents selected analytical narratives of successful institutional transformation of tertiary agricultural education (TAE) from four African universities. The four universities analysed are Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya (JKUAT); Gulu University, Uganda (GU); University of Abomey Calavi, Benin (UAC); and the University of Venda, South Africa (UNIVEN). The study examines what each of the universities changed, and how they went about effecting and supporting those changes. The discussion focuses on both 'soft changes' in organizational culture and strategies, and 'hard changes' in enrolments, staffing, programmes, departments, faculties/colleges and campuses. Outcomes of the transformation process are described, along with lessons learned.

Higher Learning int eh Pacific

2011 ◽  
pp. 248-273
Author(s):  
Kirk Johnson ◽  
Jonathan K. Lee ◽  
Rebecca A. Stephenson ◽  
Julius C.S. Cena
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Academic Goals ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The University ◽  
The Western Pacific

This chapter provides an overview of particular issues of diversity and technology within an island university. The chapter’s central focus rests on the complexity of both concepts within the context of higher education in the Pacific. In particular, the chapter highlights both the challenges and opportunities that the university faces as it attempts to address the unique multicultural landscape of the Western Pacific region and its technological realities. It focuses on a capstone senior-level course as a case study, and explores the possibilities inherent in directly addressing issues of diversity and technology while at the same time accomplishing the course’s prescribed academic goals. The chapter concludes by outlining 10 important lessons learned from the experience that others can benefit from, and establishes the importance of such a capstone experience for both students and faculty alike.

scholarly journals A Case Study of ETD Metadata Remediation at the University of Houston Libraries

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Santi Thompson ◽  
Xiping Liu ◽  
Albert Duran ◽  
Anne Washington
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
University Of Houston ◽  
Metadata Quality ◽  
Version 2.0 ◽  
Electronic Theses And Dissertations ◽  
The University ◽  
Theses And Dissertations ◽  
Future Plans

This paper provides a case study on remediating electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) metadata at the University of Houston Libraries. The authors provide an overview of the team’s efforts to revise existing ETD metadata in its institutional repository as part of their commitment to aligning ETD records with the Texas Digital Library Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Version 2.0 (TDL guidelines, version 2). The paper reviews the existing literature on metadata quality and ETD metadata practices, noting how their case study adds one of the first documented cases of ETD metadata remediation. The metadata upgrade process is described, with close attention to the tools and workflows developed to complete the remediation. The authors conclude the paper with a discussion of lessons learned, the project’s limitations, future plans, and the emerging needs of metadata remediation work.

scholarly journals It’s How Many Terabytes?! A Case Study on Managing Large Born Digital Audio-visual Acquisitions

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-75
Author(s):  
Laura Uglean Jackson ◽  
Matthew McKinley
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Digital Collections ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Digital Collection ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Policy And Procedure

In October 2014, the University of California Irvine (UCI) Special Collections and Archives acquired a born digital collection of 2.5 terabytes – the largest born digital collection acquired by the department to date. This case study describes the challenges we encountered when applying existing archival procedures to appraise, store, and provide access to a large born digital collection. It discusses solutions when they could be found and ideas for solutions when they could not, lessons learned from the experience, and the impact on born-digital policy and procedure at UCI Libraries. Working with a team of archivists, librarians, IT, and California Digital Library (CDL) staff, we discovered issues and determined solutions that will guide our procedures for future acquisitions of large and unwieldy born digital collections. 

scholarly journals “What’s in a Name?”

Ad Americam ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Diana Benea
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The One ◽  
New Research ◽  
The University

The present article sets out to analyze the emergence and institutionalization of American Studies as an academic discipline in Romania, with a focus on the specific contexts and factors that influenced this process, and the ways in which its practitioners defined, constructed, and focused their endeavors. Taking the University of Bucharest as a case study and adding insights from other Romanian universities, the paper seeks to give an account of: 1) the ways in which the several decades-long tradition of teaching American literature in the Communist period (sporadically until the 1960s, but ever more substantially in the following decades) prepared the ground for the institutionalization of American Studies programs; 2) the “conditions of possibility” that enabled this institutionalization after the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989, with an emphasis on the restructuring of the Romanian higher education system, on the one hand, and the specific renegotiations of the field of American Studies, on the other; 3) American Studies curriculum development and its impact on Romanian academia as an example of curricular reform in the spirit of interdisciplinarity; 4) the situated contributions that Romanian Americanists have made to international scholarship in American Studies by bringing new research agendas to the fore.

scholarly journals COVID-19 pandemic and pharmacy education in a developing country: A case study from Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-16
Author(s):  
B.K. Lawal ◽  
A. Haruna ◽  
F.S. Kurfi ◽  
K.B. David
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
State Government ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Mode Of Delivery ◽  
Pharmacy Education ◽  
State University ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Fixed Structure ◽  
The University

Since March 2020, all schools in Nigeria have been closed to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This paper presents the case study of the e-learning strategies adopted by Kaduna State University to reduce the educational disruption during these unprecedented times. As the University had no established e-learning resources, there was a need for prompt training of staff in online teaching. The online teaching methods to be adopted came with their fair share of challenges as e-learning activities had not been taking place at the University prior to the emergence of COVID-19. The University, with the full support of the state government, were making plans to ensure a fixed structure for the integration of e-learning into the syllabus. This case study provides some recommendations that could be adopted by similar institutions that have no previous e-learning structures. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up opportunities to upgrade the educational mode of delivery and shown the need to embrace emerging technologies.

scholarly journals Internet of Things for Smart Spaces: A University Campus Case Study

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 3716
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Gilman ◽  
Satu Tamminen ◽  
Rumana Yasmin ◽  
Eemeli Ristimella ◽  
Ella Peltonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Internet Of Things ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Real World ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Smart Space ◽  
Smart Spaces

Advances in technology and data analysis provide rich opportunities for developing intelligent environments assisting their inhabitants, so-called smart environments or smart spaces. Enhanced with technology, sensors, user interfaces, and various applications, such smart spaces are capable of recognizing users and situations they are in, react accordingly, e.g., by providing certain services or changes to the environment itself. Therefore, smart space solutions are gradually coming to different application domains, each with corresponding specific characteristics. In this article, we discuss our experiences and explore the challenges of a long-term real-world Internet of Things (IoT) deployment at a University campus. We demonstrate the technical implementation and data quality issues. We conduct several studies, from data analysis to interaction with space, utilizing the developed infrastructure, and we also share our actions to open the data for education purposes and discuss their outcomes. With this article, we aim to share our experience and provide real-world lessons learned when building an open, multipurpose, publicly used smart space at a University campus.

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.

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