Measuring Business Value of Learning Technology Implementation in Higher Education Setting

AbstractThis paper introduces the concept of Business Value of Learning Technology and presents an approach how to measure the Business Value of Learning Technology in Higher Education setting based on a case study in Computational Science and cognate areas. Computational Science subject area is used as a pilot for the studies described in this paper since it is a multidisciplinary area, attracting students from diverse backgrounds and Computational Science is both the natural environment to promote collaborative teaching methods and collaborative provision of courses and as such requires more streamlined management processes. The paper, based on the above case study, presents the motivators and hygiene factors for Learning Technology Implementation in Higher Education setting. Finally, the Intersecting Influences Model presents the influences of pedagogy, technology and management over the motivation and hygiene factors, together with the corresponding generalization for PG level HE setting

Creating learning solutions for executive education programs

Executive education is both a growing and increasingly competitive industry. The traditional business school, once a dominant player in this space, now faces competition from sophisticated and focused consultants and for-profit training specialists offering a variety of face-to-face and on-line instructional vehicles. An abiding question has become ever more prevalent for business schools – are executive education clients getting meaningful, long-term value for their significant investments? Demonstrating value and building capabilities is different for a generic, open enrolment course than for a custom program. This paper proposes a solutions-based approach to the development and implementation of customized executive programs, arguing that the tailored customer focus and the operational rigor of a solutions perspective leads to sustainable and measurable client value both at the individual and corporate level. A case study involving a global high technology company is used to demonstrate the steps required to apply a solutions roadmap. The results show that a solutions approach – carefully and collaboratively undertaken in selected settings – can provide considerable benefits to both client and provider. Further research is proposed to validate and develop the learning points

Assessing the impact of “more-flexible” learning as part of a study program

With the increasing use of Flexible Learning approaches in Higher Education at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), measuring their effectiveness, from both an educational and a participant's point of view, is of particular importance. In response to the limited scientific contributions on this topic, this article presents a possibility of how an assessment can take place: this study analyzes 62 undergrad-uate student responses to a Blended Learning task and compares the participant findings with a pre-existing educational competency framework

Identifying Gaps and Setting Priorities for Employment and Training Research

The report summarizes recent workforce and employment related research, to identify current gaps in employment and training research and makes recommendations for future research processes and priorities that could better inform policy makers, practitioners, job seekers and employers. The report reviews workforce and related research funded by several federal agencies, including the US Departments of Labor, Education, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development, the National Science Foundation and other federal entities, as well as research undertaken by regional, state and local workforce agencies and philanthrophic organizations

Empirical investigation on satisfaction and service quality level of radical process change implementation

The paper reviews the literature related to the implementation of radical process changes in higher education (HE) environment. Several issues and implementation results related to radical process change in HEIs, particularly business process reengineering (BPR), are being investigated. Furthermore, as the implementation of process change would have an impact in HEIs,specifically on service quality and customer satisfaction, this paper discusses both concepts. A survey has been developed to assess the students’ satisfaction of the radical process change implemented in one of the HEIs, namely HEI-A which was selected as a case study. The results indicate some significant differences among groups for both satisfaction and service quality measured.The paper provides a framework for future research to develop a metric for measuring satisfaction and service quality level in HEIs. This research contributes to studies of BPR in HE context, by focusing on the key processes performance

Critical assessment issues in work-integrated learning

Assessment has long been a contentious issue in work-integrated learning (WIL) and cooperative education. Despite assessment being central to the integrity and accountability of a university and long-standing theories around best practice in assessment, enacting quality assessment practices has proven to be more difficult. Authors in this special issue on assessment highlight the need for balanced assessment approaches that reflect the highly variable experiences students encounter, and the need to keep validity and reliability paramount when constructing assessment structures. Increasingly quality and standards policies driven by more regulatory university environments are impacting on the design of assessment profiles. The value of workplace supervisors’ feedback in WIL contexts is discussed and the challenges of measuring the nuances of unpredictable, context-dependent WIL outcomes are explored. The benefits of ePorftolios are advocated and the use of these platforms as assessment tools that enable a creative way for students to provide evidence of employability capabilities highlighted

CRM Framework for Higher Education in Mauritius

This research paper provides a conceptual CRM framework that may be used by public universities in Mauritius for managing student relationships. Several important components have been identified for improving relationships with students based on a survey carried out with students and staff in the different public universities in Mauritius. The research findings show that people integrity and trust, communication and adaptation, facilitation and support, technological support and student engagement activities are the most important factors for improving relationship building. The rationale of the study is built upon the increasing number of student complaints and problems in the public universities. The research outcome will be highly beneficial for the different stakeholders in higher education