scholarly journals Open Badges: Exploring the value, potential and practicalities of a new way of recognising skills in Higher Education

Author(s):  
Anne Hole

This case study reports an ongoing project at the University of Sussex seeking to introduce the idea of Open Badges to the institution while exploring some of the practical issues and limiting factors associated with this method of recognising learning. The focus is on piloting Open Badges in workshops and events for staff in order to develop understanding of the advantages and challenges of this form of micro-credentialing. It is hoped that the knowledge gained from this project can be used to identify and support appropriate future staff and student-facing badging initiatives. The project aims to: (i) Develop understanding of Open Badges and their potential in higher education amongst professional service colleagues and academics. (ii) Evaluate tools and processes. (iii) Build capacity to support future projects.The project has begun to meet its aims, there is now an operational badging scheme for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) staff development workshops; colleagues in student-facing professional services have developed their knowledge and understanding of Open Badges and been supported in the development of plans for badging learner skills and there is increased awareness of Open Badges amongst teaching staff who have attended ‘badged’ workshops. 

Educação ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Robson

Internationalization has become a key strategic priority of many universities around the world. It is frequently regarded as a means to enhance the quality of higher education through strategic partnerships, collaborative research and teaching initiatives, for knowledge exchange and creation. Higher education internationalization often focuses primarily on the mobility of both staff and students as a means to improve their international outlook and intercultural capabilities. However, this paper argues that if universities are to become truly ‘international’, they should start ‘at home’. It considers how a review of current internationalization practices, involving educators, students, staff development and professional service units, and those in leadership positions, can help higher education institutions to move towards a more values-based and ethical approach to internationaliza ***Internacionalização em casa: internacionalização da experiência universitária de funcionários e estudantes***A internacionalização tornou-se prioridade estratégica para muitas universidades ao redor do mundo. É comumente considerada uma forma de ampliar a qualidade da Educação Superior, através de parcerias estratégicas, pesquisas colaborativas e iniciativas de ensino, bem como na troca e produção de conhecimento. Em geral, a Internacionalização da Educação Superior se concentra na mobilidade de pessoal e estudantes, de modo a melhorar suas perspectivas internacionais e capacidades interculturais. No entanto, este artigo argumenta que, se as universidades querem ser verdadeiramente “internacionais”, elas devem começar “em casa”. Para tanto, faz-se necessário realizar uma revisão das atuais práticas de Internacionalização, envolvendo educadores, estudantes, desenvolvimento de pessoal, unidades de serviço profissional, e aqueles em posições de liderança, ajudando as instituições de Educação Superior a se orientarem em direção a valores básicos e abordagem ética para Internacionalização.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8513
Author(s):  
María Jesús Santos-Villalba ◽  
Juan José Leiva Olivencia ◽  
Magdalena Ramos Navas-Parejo ◽  
María Dolores Benítez-Márquez

Some academics are pushing for teaching staff to implement didactical practices to obtain sustainable behavior. Moreover, a fundamental element of gamification in all educational stages is the noteworthy effect it has on student motivation. In our study, we examined higher education students’ assessments in the University of Malaga on the design of educational gamification and the teaching criteria that relate to gamification, and its effect on student’s motivation, the applications of gamification, and the attitude towards sustainability. A questionnaire was administered to students studying for degrees in education from the University of Malaga. A total of 187 valid surveys were obtained. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was computed for these data based on an exploratory–confirmatory model and using SmartPLS version 3.3.2. A positive relationship between assessment of students’ motivation and sustainability attitude was found. We found that the opinions of the students about the role of their training and teaching design material in education would affect students’ motivation and the sustainability behavior, although the power of this last construct is moderate.


Author(s):  
Matt Elphick ◽  
Stuart Sims

Drawing upon project outputs from seven staff-student partnership projects, this case study explores the impact of a pilot programme to integrate the use of mobile devices into learning and teaching at the University of Winchester. This ‘iPilot’ was designed to give students and staff the opportunity to lead change around the integration of technology into teaching, supported by the Student Fellows Scheme (SFS). We outline the principles behind these partnerships and explore the role that having Student Fellows in a pedagogical leadership position had upon the wider project. This article represents the perspectives of both the co-ordinator of the pilot scheme and the SFS to give a centralised view of a project that was devolved to different programmes. While all of the staff-student projects had a degree of success in furthering the way that mobile devices are used in their respective programmes, many projects veered away from the principles of partnership working which were built into the initial plans for the iPilot. We reflect on barriers encountered in this project and make recommendations based on this experience of how to ensure that the key principles of enhancement are being adhered to, rather than using partnership working in a tokenistic way.


Author(s):  
Ahmed Mohamed Fahmy Yousef ◽  
Mohamed Amine Chatti ◽  
Ulrik Schroeder ◽  
Marold Wosnitza

<p>In the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a new form of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), in higher education and beyond. Recognizing the limitations of standalone MOOCs, blended MOOCs (bMOOCs) that aim at bringing in-class (i.e. face-to-face) interactions and online learning components together have emerged as an alternative MOOC model of teaching and learning in a higher education context. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation details of a bMOOC course on “Teaching Methodologies” at Fayoum University, Egypt in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University, Germany, provided using the bMOOC platform L2P-bMOOC. In order to gauge the usability and effectiveness of the course, we employed an evaluation approach based on Conole’s 12 dimensions rubrics, ISONORM 9241/110-S as a general usability evaluation, and a custom effectiveness questionnaire reflecting the different MOOC stakeholder perspectives.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Baumber ◽  
Lucy Allen ◽  
Tyler Key ◽  
Giedre Kligyte ◽  
Jacqueline Melvold ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education globally. Teaching staff have pivoted to online learning and employed a range of strategies to facilitate student success. Aside from offering a testing ground for innovative teaching strategies, the pandemic has also provided an opportunity to better understand the pre-existing conditions that enable higher education systems to be resilient - that is, to respond and adapt to disturbances in ways that retain the functions and structures essential for student success. This article presents a case study covering two transdisciplinary undergraduate courses at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. The results highlight the importance of information flows, feedbacks, self-organisation, leadership, openness, trust, equity, diversity, reserves, social learning and nestedness. These results show that resilience frameworks developed by previous scholars are relevant to university teaching systems and offer guidance on which system features require protection and strengthening to enable effective responses to future disturbances.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1145-1163
Author(s):  
Giovanna Carloni

This chapter describes the online learning component of a blended model designed to promote Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at the University of Urbino, Italy. A technology-enhanced learning environment is presented along with an analysis of how CLIL was implemented across multiple university departments.


Author(s):  
Giovanna Carloni

This chapter describes the online learning component of a blended model designed to promote Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at the University of Urbino, Italy. A technology-enhanced learning environment is presented along with an analysis of how CLIL was implemented across multiple university departments.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Hameed Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Naeem Ullah Khan ◽  
Ali Murtaza ◽  
Muhammad Naseer Ud Din

Staff development is very significant for the achievement of overall goals of higher education in Pakistan. The success of innovations depends largely upon the skills of instructors; but in Pakistan, the people with a simple masters degree (without any pedagogical training) are  inducted as teaching staff at the university level, so it is time to explore whether or not the inducted teachers feel the need for training. Further to be explored are areas in which they are interested in being trained. Therefore, the objectives of study were 1) to explore the training needs for university teaching staff, 2) to identify the areas in which development is needed by the teaching staff of the universities in Pakistan, and 3) formulation of recommendations for staff development in Pakistan to improve education at the higher level.  The sample comprised of 20% randomly-selected teaching staff of ten selected universities, degree-awarding institutions from the public sector, and 40% teaching staff of ten selected universities from the private sector. A self-developed questionnaire, consisting of 41 items to be responded to on a five-point Likert scale and two open-ended questions, was used to collect data.  The principal researcher approached all the respondents personally by repeated visits and got the completed questionnaires, so this questionnaire also served the purpose of an interview. The analysis of data revealed that the university teachers need training in the following areas: philosophy of education, Islamic philosophy of education, educational psychology, research techniques, professional trends, professional competencies, professional attitude, professional ethics ,global innovations in teaching strategies, classroom management, counselling and guidance, student discipline, communication skills, learning theories, and supervision. Therefore, it is recommended that they may be included in the training curriculum of university teachers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawal O. Yesufu

Internationalisation is the inclusion of international, intercultural and global dimensions into the objectives, policies and practices in the delivery of postsecondary education. The objective of the research was to investigate the types of partnerships and internationalisation approaches that exist in higher education, the motives of internationalisation and the most appropriate approaches to measuring the quality and progress of internationalisation in higher education. A number of studies on internationalisation have been carried out. However, there is a limit on the scale and amount of research undertaken on measuring the output of internationalisation in higher education, in particular in the context of the Canadian higher education system. This paper is based on case study research to determine the motives of internationalisation in higher education in a Canadian university and it uses the Knight Internationalisation Tracking Measure to test the quality and progress of internationalisation in the university. The research entailed document analysis, interviews and surveys which were designed to gather data on internationalisation practices and objectives from university staff involved in the management of internationalisation and international partnerships. The content of the interviews and surveys were based on the measures  defined by the Knight Internationalisation Tracking Measure. The research found that higher education institutions are motivated by the prospects of attracting additional income to make-up for the reduction in government funding. In addition, internationalisation offers access to staff development opportunities,  internationalisation of the curriculum, and wider benefits leading to societal development. These findings and recommendations are drawn from a single case study. 


2018 ◽  
pp. 462-481
Author(s):  
Giovanna Carloni

This chapter describes the online learning component of a blended model designed to promote Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at the University of Urbino, Italy. A technology-enhanced learning environment is presented along with an analysis of how CLIL was implemented across multiple university departments.


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