88 research outputs found

    Implications of radically transformational challenges confronting education business leadership

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    This paper highlights the radical and rapid changes occurring at all levels of education that are having a profound impact on educational leadership, governance, business and administration. These far-reaching transformations include: competition from a rapidly expanding unregulated private sector; the international impact of de-regulation; the demise of union power secure education jobs, time-honoured hours and working conditions; constant, rapid education policy change and the proliferation of open access technologies which are rendering physical education campuses less relevant or obsolete. The paper suggests that at this stage in history we are witnessing game-changing forces that are fundamentally altering educational provision, the nature of education work, the education workforce, educational outcomes, educational leadership, governance and business. Most importantly, it argues that educational leaders and education business managers need to be ready for them and more instrumental in policy debates arising in their wake. The paper concludes with ideas for responsive action from education business leaders

    Report on the Assessment and Accreditation of Learners using OER

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    This report shares the findings and lessons learned from an investigation into the economics of disaggregated models for assessing and accrediting informal learners, with particular attention to the OER University (OERu) consortium. It also relies on data from a small-scale survey conducted by two of the authors on perceptions, practices and policies relating to openness in assessment and accreditation in post-secondary institutions (Murphy & Witthaus, 2012). These investigations include the perceptions of stakeholders in post-secondary education towards the OERu concept, combined with a look at economic models for universities to consider in implementing OER assessment and accreditation policies.This report was prepared under the UNESCO/COL Chair in OER programme, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, the Commonwealth of Learning and the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) of Athabasca University

    Report on the assessment and accreditation of learners using open education resources (OER)

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    This report shares the findings and lessons learned from an investigation into the economics of disaggregated models for assessing and accrediting informal learners, with particular attention to the OER University (OERu) consortium. It also relies on data from a small-scale survey conducted by two of the authors on perceptions, practices and policies relating to openness in assessment and accreditation in post-secondary institutions (Murphy & Witthaus, 2012). These investigations include the perceptions of stakeholders in post-secondary education towards the OERu concept, combined with a look at economic models for universities to consider in implementing OER assessment and accreditation policies. The OERu is a global consortium of post-secondary institutions collaborating around the assessment and accreditation of learners studying online and using OER. Taylor (2007) described the aim of the OERu as providing free education to learners worldwide using OER as learning materials, with pathways provided to enable them to gain credible qualifications from government recognised or accredited educational institutions. The OERu concept is based on the notion of community service and outreach, and institutions that are members of the OERu network are committed to developing a 'parallel learning universe' to augment and add value to traditional delivery systems in post-secondary education. The ultimate vision of the OERu is to provide free learning opportunities on a massive scale for learners who lack the financial means to access traditional higher education. The OERu currently consists of a collaborative partnership among 26 partner institutions. The network includes nationally accredited universities, colleges and polytechnics and publicly-funded organizations (Mackintosh, Taylor & McGreal, 2011). The current geographic spread of institutions includes Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, England, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, India and the South Pacific. The initiative is coordinated by the OER Foundation, which is an independent, not-for-profit organization that works internationally to support the mainstream adoption of OER in the formal education sector (Mackintosh 2012)

    Mapping Australian higher education 2013 version

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    Over the last 40 years, higher education has moved from the periphery to the centre of Australian life. As recently as the mid- 1970s, only three out of every hundred working-age Australians had a higher education qualification. By 2012, the proportion had increased to 25 per cent. If current policies are successful, by 2025 40 per cent of young Australian adults will hold a bachelor degree or above. Many people study out of interest. But the main factor in this shift towards greater degree attainment – and the main reason governments give for their involvement in higher education policy – is a structural change to the labour market. More jobs require, or are more easily carried out, with the knowledge and skills higher education courses set out to teach. These professional and managerial occupations are now a third of all employment

    Have disruptive innovations arrived at the gates of academia?

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    Disruptive technologies in education and particularly Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) continue to be one of the polarising and most controvertible topics in postsecondary education, as they have yet to deliver on their promises. Existing academic literature on MOOCs, the main example of disruptive technology of this thesis, is primarily concerned with student participation, persistence, completion rates and learning in MOOC platforms. There seems however to be very limited scholarly research in the UK investigating the democratising effects and impact of disruptive technologies in Higher Education, particularly the extent to which MOOCs might unlock the gates to accessibility and their impact on universities, teaching and academics, through the lens of critical theory. It is however crucial to evaluate their impact (s) to inform policy decision-making on technology enhanced-learning implementation at tertiary institutions and design of curricula. The Main Research Question (MRQ) and sub-question designed for this study were addressed by conducting eighteen semi-structured interviews (Skype and face-to-face) with participants (academic and senior administrators) from nine countries and nine institutions. The research methods used were primarily qualitative. This thesis contributes to the field of technology-enhanced learning by addressing the current pedagogical limitations of the MOOC format which seem to be the critical impediments that prevent MOOCs, as they are currently designed, from genuinely democratising Higher Education to those who most need it in developed and developing countries. My main original contribution to knowledge is an integrated and adaptive model with critical success factors that would influence the MOOC model’s effectiveness, which, to the best of the author’s knowledge, is unique in the published literature. The findings of this study indicate that MOOCs have democratised access to Higher Education to a certain degree but they are not considered comparable to an on-campus experience and not suitable, in their current form and design, to the needs of the underrepresented in higher education, in developed and developing countries. The findings also indicate that MOOCs are challenging the current economic, business and pedagogical models and delivery mechanisms of traditional Higher Education and these might have an important effect on the academic role and identity. Furthermore, this investigation finds that MOOCs have aroused institutions and academics’ interest in and exploration of technology-enhanced learning, particularly blended learning approaches. Finally, the findings of this study indicate that MOOCs have impelled institutions and academics to rethink the design of more engaging courses and programmes and refocus on student learning to improve online and face-to-face teaching and this added pressure might have created a schism between the educational conservatives and the advocates of reform

    China's Copyright Public Domain: A Comparison with Australia

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    A definition of the copyright public domain by Greenleaf and Bond, based on the question ‘what can users do with works, without obtaining the permission of a copyright owner?,’ and a resulting analysis of it as being comprised by fifteen distinct categories of ‘public rights’, has previously been proposed as necessary and sufficient to describe Australia’s copyright public domain. This article uses this approach to compare Australia’s copyright public domain with that of the very different social and legal system of the People’s Republic of China, and finds that, compared with Australia, China’s public domain appears rather narrow, at least when only formal legal sources are compared. Out of the eight categories where the two countries differ significantly, Australia’s copyright public domain is stronger in five. The public domain in modern Chinese copyright law is, not unexpectedly, somewhat different from that found in a ‘western’ country such as Australia, but not in the radical way that could be naively expected to stem from arguments concerning China’s traditional philosophy, or its socialist modern history. The harmonising effects of international treaties and the pressures of international trade are the most obvious reason for the relatively high degree of homogeneity. This comparison also suggests that the definition of the copyright public domain used requires modification in order to include China’s opt-out provisions in relation to free use exceptions and collective licences. However, the comparison does not suggest that any new public domain categories are needed.postprin
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