Sustainability in the modernization of higher education: curricular transformation and sustainable campus - a literature review

Supported by a literature review, the present article looks to address the issue of sustainability in the modernization of higher education. Education for sustainability and the encouragement of a sustainable lifestyle are increasingly present in the academic and professional training of individuals. Progressively more responsible for the environment in which they operate, individuals, in order to preserve their quality of life and, above all, ensure quality of life for future generations, begin to assume new behaviors, such as the rationalization of energy and water consumption, reducing the use of paper, recycling products, and eliminating the use of plastics, among other behavioral changes. In this context, considering higher education institutions as a vital source for the development of sustainability and, consequently, a key lever in the definition and implementation of strategies conducive to sustainable development, it is through the teaching, training, research, and development carried out by them that these behavioral changes occur. Aware of this issue’s relevance, the present article, consisting of a critical review of the literature, seeks to answer a set of questions, such as “What role do academic managers, teachers and students assume in the search for sustainability?”; “What measures/actions have been developed by the HEIs in terms of curricula reform and the promotion of a sustainable campus?”; “What sustainability metrics are used in higher education?”. Giving particular emphasis to some studies about sustainability in different HEIs, the results of the research allow us to conclude that education for sustainability is seen as a tool of crucial importance in the current decade of the 21st century.(undefined

Developing Next-Generation Engineers -. IMPACTS

In the development of remote labs and virtual engineering tools the focus has rightly been on the technical challenges to be overcome to provide useful and usable tools and experimentation. However, the utilization of such facilities in educational settings is not simply a case of making students and faculty aware of their existence. In fact, there are significant pedagogical issues in the blending of remote and virtual facilities with cohort and location-based teaching and learning, and a number of research findings have highlighted student issues with both traditional teaching methods and the use of predominantly on-line materials. The authors have considerable experience in the development, production and use of eLearning materials in academic and industrial environments, and in tool virtualization and remote labs, and here propose a model for a distributed Masters program that supports students on a location-neutral basis utilizing online eLearning materials, virtual tools and remote lab facilities, combined with location-specific specialist teaching and learning facilities. The program described is already in operation between three European Universities, with the intention to expand both within Europe and beyond, utilizing the Erasmus Mundus scheme. The program is based on a constructivist pedagogic model that demands considerable independence of study and research on the part of the students, within a rich environment of high-quality specialist materials offered in a wide variety of modes. The authors believe that this approach optimizes the benefits of individual academic specialization in research and teaching, combined with effective use of eLearning materials, remote labs and virtual tools in a distributed environment, and thereby addresses a number of the issues identified from the research while also offering a high quality program to educate and develop next generation Engineers

Building Strong Readers In Minnesota: PreK-3rd Grade Policies That Support Children's Literacy Development

From 2015 through 2016, the Early Education Initiative will be producing a series of reports from states and localities across the United States to provide an inside look at efforts to support children's learning from infancy and extending into the early grades.This paper explores how Minnesota's pre-K through third grade education policies are helping or hindering the ability of school districts, schools, and teachers to ensure that all children are on track to read on grade level by the end of third grade

Creating an employment ready graduate:stakeholder perspectives of internship programmes and their ability to enhance the graduate employability skills set

Purpose: The aims of this research are to examine stakeholder perspectives of the use and usefulness of graduate attributes which are embedded into the curriculum of a UK university and to evaluate the potential of these graduate attributes to go beyond institutional pedagogy and enhance the employability skills set of graduates.Design/methodology/approach: The research used a mixed method to elicit perspectives of a University’s graduate attributes, interviewing employers and surveying students using a self-assessment tool and convenience sampling approach. Findings: The research found that there are key attributes for the success of University-led graduate attributes which include engagement from stakeholders with those attributes, commitment from teaching staff towards the development of identified attributes, appropriate time to align and embed attributes into the curriculum and with the needs of stakeholders and a framework which compliments institutional research and is properly resourced (Al-Mahood and Gruba, 2007). No one graduate attribute works in isolation, they have to be part of a measured and balanced model or framework to address the multi-faceted nature of graduate employability. The research reveals that work-based initiatives were the most valued by graduates and employers alike, which are arguably easier to teach as it is learning by doing as opposed to developing generic softer skills which are not valued highly by graduates in respect to employment. The findings support existing research that graduates value graduate attributes which involve work based learning activities as a means to gain employability skills and employment. Practical and social implications: The research findings should provide Universities and Colleges from both within and out with the UK with a blueprint from which to create or refresh existing University led graduate attributes. Originality/value: The findings from this paper consolidate existing research in the area of graduate employability and take research forward in the areas of graduate attributes, the measurement of these attributes and their currency in terms of employability and employer synergy