scholarly journals Editorial: Collaboration in higher education: Partnering with students, colleagues and external stakeholders

Author(s):  
Sandra Abegglen ◽  
◽  
Tom Burns ◽  
Sandra Sinfield ◽  
◽  
...  

Welcome to this Special Issue of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP). This editorial provides an overview of Collaboration in Higher Education. Humans are social, inter-dependent beings, needing to be and communicate with each other. Being with other people provides an opportunity to grow and develop, creating a sense of self and identity. Together we construct, structure and restructure the stories that build the larger narratives of who we are, what we do and how we live, act and behave as people, professionals and larger communities. It is through our collaborations that we come together, and construct meaning and ourselves. As Higher Education continues to exclude and sideline, as it constrains and removes spaces and places for collaboration between service staff, faculty and students within institutions, between institutions, and with other stakeholders, there is a need to rediscover the power of collaboration. The articles included, build on practical experience, research data, personal and collective reflections, to outline how the contributors have navigated this tension to create spaces of voice and hope. Presented are case studies that are boundary crossing: across disciplinary boundaries; cross-institution collaboration; cross-boundary working; pedagogical co-creation and the re-conceptualising of learning; and students as partners, co-researchers and co-authors. Together they showcase refreshed notions of collegiality and collaboration in Higher Education that support new and more nuanced, and dynamic models of co-creation. We hope the Special Issue helps seed an ecology of collaborative practice for social justice – a more humane academia.

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 2-6
Author(s):  
Marina Harvey ◽  

Dear Colleagues, I am delighted and proud to introduce this special issue of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice that focuses on Reflection for Learning in Higher Education. It is the outcome of six years of collaborative reflection, practice and research by many reflective practitioners who have undertaken systematic research to provide empirical evidence for the role of reflection in learning. Gratitude is expressed to our many colleagues who participated in constructive and supportive ways by engaging in the blind peer-review process for the papers that make up this issue. Their feedback has strengthened each of the papers and enabled us to move beyond peerreview to collegial peer learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 221258682110070
Author(s):  
Ka Ho Mok ◽  
Weiyan Xiong ◽  
Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has forced online teaching and learning to be the primary instruction format in higher education globally. One of the worrying concerns about online learning is whether this method is effective, specifically when compared to face-to-face classes. This descriptive quantitative study investigates how students in higher education institutions in Hong Kong evaluated their online learning experiences during the pandemic, including the factors influencing their digital learning experiences. By analysing the survey responses from 1,227 university students in Hong Kong, this study found that most of the respondents felt dissatisfied with their online learning experiences and effectiveness. Meanwhile, this study confirms that respondents’ household income level and information technology literacy affected their online learning effectiveness. Moreover, this study highlights the significant contributions of the community of inquiry, which places social presence on the promotion of a whole person development that could not be achieved when relying mainly on online learning. Findings encourage university leaders and instructors to search for multiple course delivery modes to nurture students to become caring leaders with the 21st century skills and knowledge set.


Author(s):  
Daniela Janssen ◽  
Christian Tummel ◽  
Anja Richert ◽  
Ingrid Isenhardt

<p class="Abstract"><span lang="EN-US">In light of the increasing technological developments, working life and education is changing and becoming more complex, interconnected and digital. These changed circumstances require new and modified competences of future employees. Education has to respond to the changing requirements in working life. To prepare for this, a technological-oriented teaching and learning process as well as gaining practical experience is crucial for students. In this context, Virtual Reality (VR) technologies provide new opportunities for practical experience in higher education, where they can further intensify the students learning experiences to a more immersive and engaging involvement in the learning process. To evaluate the potential of immersive virtual learning environments (VLE) for higher education and to understand more deeply which kind of experiences students gain while learning in immersive virtual environments (VE) an experimental research study is carried out. The paper describes education in light of industry 4.0 first and gives an overall view of immersive learning and the role of VR Technologies. Then the user study to measure user experience (UX) in immersive VLE is presented. Preliminary results are outlined and discussed with a view of further research.</span></p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Prue Gonzalez ◽  
◽  
Beate Mueller ◽  
Kevin Merry ◽  
Colin Jone ◽  
...  

In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self-reflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations seeking to continue exploring ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.


2022 ◽  
pp. 253-268
Author(s):  
Jean Cushen ◽  
Lauren Durkin

This chapter evaluates the rising significance of transversal competencies and the implications for higher education assessment practices. Transversal competencies are expected to play a definitive role in future of work scenarios. This chapter evaluates the decisions and impacts surrounding the integration of transversal competencies into higher education assessments. In particular, the chapter explores the commitments and adjustments that higher education leaders must make to build the competence assessment infrastructure and supports required. The guiding role ‘student-centred learning' pedagogies can play is discussed. Relatedly, early-stage competence frameworks are offered as insight into how student-centred learning can deliver novel, active, reflective assessments that embrace competence diversity and target meaningful development. Finally, a roadmap is offered for higher education leaders to guide them in this challenging but pertinent transformation of university teaching and learning.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Grantham ◽  
Neville Hunt

Both authors were seconded part-time to the Coventry University Teaching and Learning Task Force in the autumn of 1997. There are two main driving forces behind this Task Force. The first is the changing context of higher education, where increasing numbers of students, the shrinking unit of resource and an increasing emphasis on learning and teaching is generating increasing concern about the quality of the student experience. The second is to test how far communications and information technology (C&IT), highlighted in the Dealing Report (National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997), could provide an important vehicle for more successful learning. At the same time there is an ongoing expansion of global learning resources available through the Internet. Harnessing these resources in a way that will enrich student learning became a focal point for both projects.DOI: 10.1080/0968776990070309 


2021 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 03001
Author(s):  
Darya Vladislavovna Agaltsova ◽  
Larisa Vyacheslavovna Milyaeva

The article looks into some challenges that university teaching staff has to face during the modern era of digitalization and especially during the transaction period from “physical classroom” to “digital classroom” provoked by the pandemic of COVID-19. The use of information and communication technologies (hereinafter referred to as ICT), tools for online teaching and learning, computer and digital literacy, digital skills and competencies are becoming important components of professional success. The transition to distance learning (especially due to the pandemic of COVID-19) has changed the modern academic world: now the effective use of digital technologies and educational resources is considered a key factor for improving and increasing the value of the learning process. As a result, students get their knowledge and educators share their theoretical and practical experience through an increasing number of digital technologies and resources. This article aims to describe and analyze the main types of available online tools and services that may provide productive work and interactive learning; to describe the challenges that educators face while transforming the academic environment into “online classroom”. The authors applied a cabinet study approach to the analysis of theoretical database, the method of comparison and generalization of the obtained data. As a result, the article presents theoretical background of the ICT potential and their use in the educational process of modern universities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  

Welcome to the third and final issue of Volume 8 of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning (JUTLP) in 2011. As the year draws to a close we are seeing some striking changes to the higher education sector internationally. In England budget cuts have seen the closure of the twenty-four Higher Education Academy subject centres at the same time as the establishment of student fees. In Australia the cap has been lifted across the board on the number of students that can be enrolled in universities with the resultant projected increased student numbers. The focus in Australia is on social inclusion yet in England the concern for the introduction of fees is just the opposite, these will be the very students who may now be excluded. The changes in both countries see new measures of accountability and more complex regulations put in place. Will this cause people to rethink the way we teach and the way students learn? For the Higher Education Academy in the UK, new directions see the hosting of a summit on learning and teaching with a focus on flexible learning, an indicator of new directions for many institutions. In Australia, we see a renewed opportunity to investigate such changes through the opening of the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) and its role of recognising the importance of learning and teaching through grants and awards schemes. We hope in 2012 we’ll hear more from our authors about the impact of these transformations, as well as those changes occurring in other countries around the world, on teaching practice in our universities.


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