scholarly journals Benchmarking with the BLASST Sessional Staff Standards Framework

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-101
Author(s):  
Karina Luzia ◽  
◽  
Marina Harvey ◽  
Nicola Parker ◽  
Coralie McCormack ◽  
...  

Benchmarking as a type of knowledge-sharing around good practice within and between institutions is increasingly common in the higher education sector. More recently, benchmarking as a process that can contribute to quality enhancement has been deployed across numerous institutions with a view to systematising frameworks to assure and enhance the quality of higher education. However, to date, sessional staff who are the majority of teachers in higher education, have been mostly excluded from or invisible in this process, both within individual institutions and across the sector. To ameliorate the effects of this exclusion and to acknowledge the contribution made to quality teaching by sessional staff, the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded BLASST project is establishing a national sessional staff standards framework which sets in place standards to evaluate and support the quality of performance and outcomes in learning and teaching, and in management and administrative policy, procedure, and practices affecting sessional teachers in higher education. In this paper, we present four case studies of benchmarking across four Australian universities that piloted the sessional staff standards framework in order to enhance and support quality learning and teaching by sessional staff. We discuss some of the strengths and limitations of this approach to supporting sessional staff and show how the benchmarking process facilitates active engagement for and particularly by sessional staff in enhancing quality teaching and learning.

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Yurii Skyba ◽  
Hanna Lebedynets

Ensuring and improving the quality of teaching and learning, in particular the academics’ potential development, is reflected in strategic European and domestic documents, namely in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, the Paris Communiqué, the Strategy for Higher Education in Ukraine for 2021-2031 and others. The expediency for academics’ potential development is confirmed by the results of a national survey on the needs for the development of Ukrainian universities in the process of reforming higher education in the context of European integration. The article highlights the problems of academics’ potential development. Based on foreign and domestic experience, the theoretical bases for academics’ potential development, in particular the conceptual and terminological apparatus and structural components of teaching metacompetence are substantiated. The concept «potential of an academic» is defined as a set of intellectual, intangible resources, conditions and opportunities created for the production and accumulation of new knowledge, ideas, technologies, competencies and other productive properties at the university, which combines two levels of connections functioning in unity. The first level of connections are resources that are the result of past and present, and the second – opportunities, i.e. those abilities and connections that are future-oriented, constantly changing, evolving, forming new abilities, characteristics, including elements of the future development. The following components are distinguished in the structure of teaching metacompetence: prognostic; design; objective; innovative; pedagogical partnership; organizational; information and digital; reflexive; linguistic and communicative; inclusive; motivational; health-preserving; emotional-ethical and evaluative-analytical. The development of the above components of teaching metacompetence will help ensure the quality of higher education and increase the competitiveness of the university in the educational services market.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Agoeng Koerniawan SA

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of academic information systems in improving the quality of higher education implementation in PGRI STKIP Bangkalan, and the extent to which the policies of implementing higher education before and after the use of information systems and how satisfaction is felt by students towards academic information systems at STKIP PGRI Bangkalan, named STKIP PGRI Bangkalan’s Siakad.The study was conducted by conducting a survey of users of the internet-based academic information system (Siakad STKIP PGRI Bangkalan), namely lecturers, students and employees with the method of observation and conducting in-depth interviews to obtain as much information as possible from all respondents/informants. The number of informants was 5 people consisting of the chairman of STKIP PGRI Bangkalan, Vice Chairman I, Head of BAAK and two students who had experience in their respective fields of work, knew deeply and had many roles in the process of using information systems.Based on the results of the study, it was shown that with the use of the information system/ STKIP PGRI Bangkalan’s Siakad which is one of the facilities for the smooth activities of the teaching and learning process, it proved to provide convenience, many benefits and benefits that greatly support the duties of serving lecturers, students and outsiders requiring. This is evidenced by the support of the support of lecturers and students, capacity, namely the ability of employees to process data and value, namely the benefits felt by lecturers, employees and students as well as outside parties in need.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-203
Author(s):  
Iu. O. Pavlova ◽  
◽  
K. A. Tymruk-Skoropad ◽  
L. M. Tsizh

The problem of ensuring the quality of higher education and the formation of a culture of quality causes a significant interest. That determines the practice of collecting, analyzing, and taking into account information about the academic environment, requires identifying and constantly monitoring of factors that affect the effectiveness of curricula, and determines student success. To better monitor the effectiveness of the proposed approaches, keep up with emerging challenges, and adjust decisions, it is necessary to develop special tools to study participants’ opinions of the educational process. Such tools should have sufficient validity and meet current trends and approaches. The purpose of the study was to check the internal structure and validate the Ukrainian version of the content part “Experiences of teaching and learning” of the ETLQ tool. Materials and methods. The study involved students (n = 632, 59.81 % were women; age (M±SE) – 21.5±0.2 years old) of Ivan Boberskyj Lviv State University of Physical Culture, who studied in the specialty 227 “Physical therapy, occupational therapy”. Data collection was conducted during the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 academic years upon completing mandatory special subjects. The convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the “Experiences of teaching and learning” part of the ETLQ tool were evaluated. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used in the research; α-Cronbach values, composite reliability coefficient, and average extracted variance were calculated. Results and discussion. Based on the results of the work, a modified version of the questionnaire was proposed, which contained 29 questions and had a sufficient level of validity. The final model consisted of four factors, which explained 51.353% of the total variance (the first factor – 39.339 %, the second – 5.224 %, the third – 4.281 %, the fourth – 2.509 %). The model was characterized by satisfactory indices: χ² / df (920/344) = 2.67, CFI = 0.923, TLI = 0.935, RMSEA = 0.055, SRMR = 0.058. Based on the validation results, a modified Ukrainian version of the questionnaire “Experiences of teaching and learning” was proposed, which is one of the content parts of the ETLQ tool. It consists of separate scales “Organization and structure,” “Teaching, learning, assessments and other set work”, “Teachers’ enthusiasm and responsiveness to students”, “Climate and support from peers”. The proposed questionnaire has sufficient validity to assess the quality of the academic environment, the effectiveness of specialists’ educational process in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and physical culture and sports


Author(s):  
Olena Khrutska

Ukrainian higher education is in the process of reforming. In particular, there is a transition from a traditional discipline-based approach to competency, introducing a student-centred approach in teaching and learning, requiring a rethinking of approaches to developing educational programmes and ensuring higher education quality of at this stage. The Paris Communiqué states that quality assurance in accordance with the «Standards and Recommendations for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area ESG-2015» is one of the three key commitments crucial for strengthening and maintaining quality and cooperation in the middle of the EHEA. Therefore, ensuring the quality of higher education, in particular the quality of educational programmes, is relevant both to the Ukrainian and European higher education spheres. The article analyses the existing normative, legal and methodological bases on the issue of developing educational programmes in Ukraine. The requirements of the Law of Ukraine «On Higher Education» regarding the development of new educational programmes are researched. The requirements of «Licensing conditions for conducting educational activities» regarding the composition of the project (working) group and its head (program guarantor) are investigated. «Methodological recommendations for the development of educational programmes», «Methodical recommendations for the development of higher education standards», letters from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with explanations of questions regarding the development of educational programmes are considered. The correspondences and contradictions between these documents and «Standards and Recommendations on Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area ESG-2015» are analysed. The normative requirements and methodical recommendations for implementation of successive stages of the process of development of new educational programmes are investigated. There is a discrepancy between terminology and aspects that the legal and methodological support is imperfect, in particular requirements regarding the composition of the working group, the rights and obligations of guarantors, and the involvement of stakeholders in the process of developing educational programmes.It is suggested to develop a normative background and methodological recommendations for covering the issue of responsibility of the head of the project group (the guarantor of the educational program), as well as to provide at the normative and methodological levels the possibility of involving not only scientific and pedagogical workers but also other stakeholders in the development of educational programmes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
Yury Kalesnik ◽  
Vadzim Kleiman ◽  
Valentina Vasicheva

AbstractEducational institutions all over the world realize the importance of promoting international cooperation. In order to stay competitive in such fields like education, research, innovations it is no longer enough to count on only internal resources. Exchange of experience, knowledge sharing, benchmarking provide possibilities for universities to constantly remain updated on modern know-hows.New opportunities for improving the quality of higher education in Belarus are provided by different international programs and projects. Among them there is the project of the EU Program ERASMUS + CBHE “University Teaching and Learning Enhancement” / UniTeLE, which has been implemented since 2019. The project coordinator is Linnaeus University (Sweden).In the framework of the ERASMUS + UniTeLE project, a consortium of Belarusian universities has conducted a higher education quality research. The purpose of this research is to identify areas for improving the quality of higher education in Belarus.The research was carried out on the basis of a sociological survey of a representative sampling of teachers, staff and students of six Belarusian universities (more than 350 respondents from Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Gorki, Polotsk, Grodno were interviewed). Both SWOT analysis of higher education quality in Belarus and focus group of possible improvement were performed. The discussion was attended by work groups of 25 leaders, teachers and students from each of the Belarusian universities of the project consortium.The following fundamental research results should be noted. Among the strengths of Belarusian universities are: specialization in the regions, the system of additional adult education, and practical experience of teachers (2/3 of respondents). 58% of respondents are confident in the advantages of innovative educational technologies used by teachers, 47% indicated a low intensity of innovation implementation. Respondents noted the high level of Hard Skills competencies of the teaching staff and insufficiently of Soft Skills competencies for both teachers and students. The respondents identified outdated educational technologies and methods and the content of curricula as the fundamental weakness of Belarusian education.The following areas of quality improvement have been identified as the most important for Belarusian universities: -the development of Soft Skills competencies of both teachers and students to provide their close interaction;-the development of Soft Skills competencies among students to provide their close interaction with employers (the development of job search skills, entrepreneurial activity);-the introduction of active teaching and learning methods, the development of interactive educational technologies;-the inсlusion of students in the process of education quality internal assessment;-systematic assessment of teachers, including the process of applying for a job, teacher academic development planning (HR management).For the practical improvement in the suggested areas, it is advisable to create Life Long Learning Centres and Centres of Academic Development of teachers in Belarusian universities, as well as a student-oriented quality assessment system. To improve the quality and competitiveness of Belarusian education, it is also advisable to develop international cooperation and networking among universities. The positive experience of such projects as TEMPUS ECOTESY, ERASMUS + UniTeLE, ERASMUS + BELL and others, can contribute to such cooperation and interaction.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Mukhneri Mukhneri

At present more directional orientation of the organization to fulfill the needs of customers, both existing customers within and outside the organization. So also with the quality of higher education orientation, which is directed at the needs of the community college (faculty, students, staff) as well as general community needs. The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation process of teaching and learning in higher education, service to students and the system of supervision of learning activities. While the methods used in this research is descriptive method with population research masters student educational management force from 2009 to 2010. The results of the research are as follows : 1) Implementation of the learning process in educational management department have been met, 2) Information on educational management department have also been fulfilled, 3) Service learning resources on educational management department are not entirely satisfied, including the availability of laboratory educational management, 4) Monitoring learning educational management department have been run well.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Isabel Da Cunha

Los crecientes desafíos a la educación superior están exigiendo de las instituciones esfuerzos para rever e innovar los currículos, expresar comunicaciones atractivas para sus públicos potenciales y articular las formas de gestión con el discurso de la mejora de la calidad. En la perspectiva epistemológica, es preciso abordar la temática conceptual que vincula enseñanza e investigación, ampliando la reflexión sobre la naturalización con que ese discurso viene sustentando la calidad de la educación superior.  Desde el campo de los conocimientos pedagógicos se exige una base de investigación y reflexión, focalizando en el currículo, los procesos de enseñar y aprender y su dimensión de calidad. Esa perspectiva incide fuertemente en la concepción de docencia y en los saberes necesarios para su ejercicio. También debe ser objeto de preocupación política que podrá ser la más compleja, pues envuelve la revisión de culturas, visiones e intereses corporativos que se fueron consolidando Através de la  tradición. Recurrir a la investigación-acción como herramienta para la producción de conocimientos acerca de las prácticas de enseñar y aprender en la universidad puede ser una significativa estrategia que altere la ecuación usual de investigar <em>sobre</em> los profesores para hacerlo <em>con </em>los profesores. Y esa condición se constituye en un desafío para concretar los esfuerzos de democratización de la educación superior, “calificando la calidad”<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a>de la práctica pedagógica mediante la relación enseñanza e investigación.<div><br /><hr size="1" /><div><p><a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> N del T: en el original en portugués la expresión “qualificando a qualidade” conlleva un juego de palabras que tal vez se pierda en español.</p><p> </p><p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><strong>Research and teaching: scenarios and epistemological impasses for qualifying higher education.</strong></p><p>The growing challenges for higher education are requiring institutions efforts to revise and innovate curriculum, to express attractives to their potential audiences and articulate ways of managing the discourse of quality improvement. In epistemological perspective, it’s needed to invest in the conceptual theme that combines teaching and research, expanding the reflection about naturalization that this discourse is sustaining the quality of higher education. From the field of pedagogical knowledge is required a base of research and reflection, focusing on curriculum, teaching and learning processes and their quality dimension. This perspective focuses heavily on the design of teaching and knowledge necessary to its exercise. Should also be a concern that the political dimension may be more complex because it involves the review of cultures, visions and corporate interests that were consolidated by tradition. Make use of action research as a tool for the production of knowledge about the practices of teaching and learning at university can be a significant strategy to change the usual equation of research on teachers to do it with teachers. And this condition constitutes a challenge to achieve the democratization efforts of higher education, “qualifying the quality” of pedagogic practice for the relationship teaching and research.</p></div></div>


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
Hisny Fajrussalam ◽  
Fitria Zulfa ◽  
Indra Saeful Hidayat ◽  
Ajat Saputra

The research aims to describe the competence development of lecturers at the Riyadhul Jannah Islamic College, Jalancagak Subang West Java. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach. Data obtained by observation, interview, and documentation techniques. The results obtained were the competence development of lecturers carried out by the Riyadhul Jannah Islamic Islamic College consisting of four variables, namely 1) communication and motivation; 2) lecturer professionalism; and 3) conflict management. Reformulation is needed in the lecturer development conducted by the Riyadhul Jannah Islamic College in order to improve the quality of higher education. Some homework also needs to be carried out to better support the process of lecturer development competence so that quality learning processes are achieved, namely re-selection of lecturers who are not linear and lecturer honorarium enhancement. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan pengembangan kompetensi dosen di Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Riyadhul Jannah Jalancagak Subang Jawa Barat. Penelitian dilakukan dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Data diperoleh dengan teknik observasi, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Hasil yang diperoleh adalah pengembangan kompetensi dosen yang dilakukan oleh Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Riyadhul Jannah yang terdiri dari empat variabel, yaitu 1) komunikasi dan motivasi; 2) profesionalisme dosen; dan 3) manajemen konflik. Diperlukan reformulasi dalam pengembangan kompetensi dosen yang dilakukan oleh Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Riyadhul Jannah dalam rangka meningkatkan kualitas pendidikan tinggi. Beberapa pekerjaan rumah juga perlu dilakukan untuk lebih mendukung proses pengembangan kompetensi dosen sehingga proses pembelajaran yang berkualitas tercapai, yaitu pemilihan ulang dosen yang tidak linier dan peningkatan honorarium dosen. Kata Kunci, pengembangan komepetensi dosen, perguruan tinggi Islam


Author(s):  
Rumyana Neminska

The competence approach and innovations in education are one of the levers for the development of quality in academic education. The Strategy for Development of Higher Education 2021 – 2030 (draft) sets out a number of priority areas and goals for the development of higher education. In the present study, these objectives are operationalized through a competency analysis of updated curricula of direction 1.2. “Pedagogy”. The study specifies a number of concepts and scientific statements at the meta-level, so as to outline the operational scientific structure of the competency approach. A qualitative criterion analysis of the teaching activity is made in order to outline the leading approaches in academic teaching, types of competencies set in the curricula, effective methods of teaching and learning.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document