scholarly journals The potential role of Open Educational Practice policy in transforming Australian higher education

Open Praxis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Bossu ◽  
Adrian Stagg
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Widening Participation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
International Policies ◽  
Open Educational Practices ◽  
Open Educational Practice

Open Educational Practices (OEP) have played an important role in assisting educational institutions and governments worldwide to meet their current and future educational targets in widening participation, lowering costs, improving the quality of learning and teaching and promoting social inclusion and participatory democracy. There have been some important OEP developments in Australia, but unfortunately the potential of OEP to meet some of the national educational targets has not been fully realised and acknowledged yet, in ways that many countries around the world have. This paper will gather, discuss, and analyse some key national and international policies and documentation available as an attempt to provide a solid foundation for a call to action for OEP in Australia, which will hopefully be an instrument to assist and connect practitioners and policy makers in higher education.

scholarly journals Open Educational Practices in Australia: A First-phase National Audit of Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Stagg ◽  
Linh Nguyen ◽  
Carina Bossu ◽  
Helen Partridge ◽  
Johanna Funk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Open Educational Practices ◽  
Open Educational Practice ◽  
Australian Universities

For fifteen years, Australian Higher Education has engaged with the openness agenda primarily through the lens of open-access research. Open educational practice (OEP), by contrast, has not been explicitly supported by federal government initiatives, funding, or policy. This has led to an environment that is disconnected, with isolated examples of good practice that have not been transferred beyond local contexts.This paper represents first-phase research in identifying the current state of OEP in Australian Higher Education. A structured desktop audit of all Australian universities was conducted, based on a range of indicators and criteria established by a review of the literature. The audit collected evidence of engagement with OEP using publicly accessible information via institutional websites. The criteria investigated were strategies and policies, open educational resources (OER), infrastructure tools/platforms, professional development and support, collaboration/partnerships, and funding.Initial findings suggest that the experience of OEP across the sector is diverse, but the underlying infrastructure to support the creation, (re)use, and dissemination of resources is present. Many Australian universities have experimented with, and continue to refine, massive open online course (MOOC) offerings, and there is increasing evidence that institutions now employ specialist positions to support OEP, and MOOCs. Professional development and staff initiatives require further work to build staff capacity sector-wide.This paper provides a contemporary view of sector-wide OEP engagement in Australia—a macro-view that is not well-represented in open research to date. It identifies core areas of capacity that could be further leveraged by a national OEP initiative or by national policy on OEP.

scholarly journals Participation in OER Creation: A Trajectory of Values

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Erin Meger ◽  
Michelle Schwartz ◽  
Wendy Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Educational Practice ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Open Educational Resource ◽  
Educational Resource ◽  
Government Grants ◽  
Teaching Support ◽  
Open Educational Practices ◽  
Open Educational Practice ◽  
Resource Creation ◽  
Open Textbooks

This paper provides an analysis of interviews with seven faculty members who engaged in creating Open textbooks funded by government grants at a university in Canada in 2018. Using four values—access and equity, community and connection, agency and ownership, and risk and responsibility—identified by Sinkinson (2018), McAndrew (2018), and Keyek-Fransen (2018), we traced the ways in which university faculty members’ understanding of Open changed through the process of Open Educational Resource creation. As a teaching support-focused unit, we explore ways to provide our faculty and instructors with meaningful opportunities to develop their Open pedagogy. These findings reconceive the way that Open Educational Practice can be promoted at our University and others. Instead of focusing solely on OER creation, our faculty started engaging in thinking through the different conceptions of Open educational practice and identifying which concepts resonated with them. By reframing the ways in which faculty thought about Open Educational Practices, we have been better able to address the ways in which we support them.

scholarly journals Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice Editorial 8.3

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

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.

scholarly journals Improving equality of opportunity in higher education through the adoption of an Inclusive Curriculum Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-121
Author(s):  
Nona McDuff ◽  
Annie Hughes ◽  
John Tatam ◽  
Elizabeth Morrow ◽  
Fiona Ross
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Widening Participation ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Inclusive Curriculum ◽  
Curriculum Framework

Within higher education, inclusion of students from diverse nations, socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds is vital for social mobility and economic development. Despite some international successes in widening participation, inequalities in student experiences and differentials in degree attainment for traditionally underrepresented groups, remain a major challenge. Institutional approaches to inclusion that value diversity as an inherent source of learning are underdeveloped. This paper adds theoretical insights and evidence to the debate on inclusive curricula by showing the benefits of institutional change through a strategic approach and innovation in practice (case studies). We argue that the Inclusive Curriculum Framework (ICF), underpinned by core principles of inclusion, can enhance equality of opportunity all the way through the student journey. The paper innovatively and rigorously bridges theory and practice in relation to inclusivity in learning and teaching and student success. It describes early and positive impact at Kingston University, adoption and spread in other institutions in England and potential international relevance.

From the Editors

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Penny Welch ◽  
Susan Wright
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Strong Continuity ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
International Policies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

We are delighted to introduce the first volume of Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences. As founding and now-former editors of Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences (LATISS), our new journal reflects a strong continuity in the editorial aims that inspired ourfirst journal. We remain committed to using social science perspectives to analyse learning and teaching in higher education. In particular we invite contributors and readers to reflect critically on how students’ and academics’ practices are shaped by, or themselves influence, wider changes in university strategies and national and international policies for higher education. Viewing changes in course design and curriculum, in students’ writing, in group work, seminars or tutorials as taking place within a network (or lattice) of institutional, political and policy contexts is the focusof this journal.

A Critical Perspective on the Challenges for Blended Learning and Teaching in Africa’s Higher Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 1043-1066
Author(s):  
Alfred T. Kisubi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
International Development ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Education Administrators

This chapter challenges the readers’ thinking forward in some essential areas of educational change driven by the international imperative for Information and Communication technologies (ICT). It grapples realistically but also hopefully and creatively with many of the seemingly intractable difficulties that people involved in African change encounter, especially during this ICT age: Government policy makers and their usually politically handpicked higher-education administrators who see education reform as a national security priority, but, nevertheless, cede the responsibility of not only financing, but also implementing reform to international donors, who seldom serve Africa’s interests, but push their own agendas disguised as global development “aid.” These international “development” agencies inadvertently subvert equity oriented change efforts and substitute them with those of a comprador team of global and local state elite gainers, who push the responsibility of development through the state’s means of coercion down to the local, scarcely funded entities, such as the African higher education institutions (HEI). This wanton, undemocratic devolution or “structural adjustment,” results in the African HEIs, and governments’ extensive and deep-seated failings that make any hope of improvement appear to be far beyond reach. This chapter illustrates how and why that happens and makes suggestions for solutions.

The Use of Debating as an Aid to Effective Widening Participation in Psychology

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Coogan ◽  
Chris Pawson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Standards ◽  
Widening Participation ◽  
Popular Belief ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Traditional Student ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Degree Of Innovation

The UK widening participation agenda is in place to unlock the doors of universities for many students. However, contrary to popular belief, beyond the higher education sector, this widening of participation need not mean a reduction in academic standards. It does, however, demand a different approach to learning and teaching and, the authors argue, a degree of innovation. This paper focuses on one way in which the ‘less traditional’ student can participate in an effective course of study by starting at Level 0 and using nontraditional means of assessment, to which their often less academic backgrounds are better suited in the early stages of their studies. The particular module discussed herein introduces key studies in psychology using the skills of debating and essay writing. The evaluation of this module shows that the students gained a great deal of confidence from debating and enjoyed the experience.

scholarly journals Editorial

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Welch ◽  
Susan Wright
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
International Policies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Programme Design ◽  
A Site ◽  
The University

Welcome to Volume 4 of Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences. LATISS has been gradually widening its focus from its point of origin in the U.K. and this issue is truly international with material from Latin America, U.S.A, Sweden and England. LATISS’s approach – to study and reflect on the detail of teaching and learning practices in contexts of institutional change and national and international policies – is also well exemplified by the articles in this issue. For example, three of the articles explore issues of ‘race’ and ethnicity in connection with programme design, institutional politics and classroom relations respectively and in very different historical and policy contexts. Two articles also connect to topics on which LATISS has recently published special issues: on gender in higher education and on using the university as a site to critically explore the meaning and operation of neoliberalism.

Social inclusion of refugees into higher education in Norway: A critical analysis of Norwegian higher education and integration policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 628-647
Author(s):  
Juhar Yasin Abamosa ◽  
Line Torbjørnsen Hilt ◽  
Kariane Westrheim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Widening Participation ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Integration Policies

In numerous countries, the widening participation of underrepresented groups in higher education has become an official part of education policies. However, inequalities continue in some areas, including refugees’ participation. Norway hosts many refugees, but little is known about the social inclusion of refugees into higher education in the country. In this paper, three documents representing Norwegian higher education and integration policies are analysed using an integrated analytical framework constructed from social inclusion and its three main dimensions (access, participation and empowerment) and from a critical discourse analysis. The analysis is conducted to address how social inclusion into higher education is conceptualized, which major discourses underpin the conceptualization and what implications these have for the social inclusion of refugees into higher education in Norway. The article argues that social inclusion is conceptualized from an access dimension signifying the dominance of neoliberal principles in the policy documents. On the contrary, social justice discourses are marginalized and human potential principles are absent from the documents signalling the disempowerment of refugees in relation to higher education. Future policies should incorporate conscious and clear strategies informed by social justice and empowerment principles to ensure the social inclusion of refugees into higher education.

scholarly journals Problematizing the inclusion agenda in higher education: Towards a more inclusive technology enhanced learning model

First Monday ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Wood
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Inclusive Design ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Widening Participation ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Enhanced Learning

The focus on inclusive approaches to higher education and increasing availability of educational technologies designed to enhance student communication and collaboration has led to new opportunities for widening participation and improving the learning outcomes of students from diverse backgrounds. However, despite the potential, the principles of inclusive education are often applied in ways that serve to further disenfranchise the very students the approach seeks to support. This paper draws on research undertaken through funding support provided by the Australian Government, Office for Learning and Teaching in presenting the case for teachers to adapt their learning and teaching strategies to address an increasingly diverse student population and to adopt more transformative pedagogical approaches to engaging all students with “difference”. This paper explores issues of particular relevance to the design of technology enhanced learning that is inclusive of the diverse needs of higher education students with disabilities, however, the term “diverse students” is preferred, acknowledging the transient nature of some disabilities, the varying ways in which individuals choose to identify, the multiple layers of equity overlap, and the benefits of inclusive design of technology enhanced learning for all students. The inclusive education approach presented in the paper incorporates accessibility, usability, personalization and transformative pedagogy within a holistic model, as well as strategies for implementation at the institutional, program and individual student level. This paper concludes by arguing for more transformative approaches to understanding diversity and strategies for implementing inclusive design of technology enhanced learning in the higher education context.

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