Selection, Engagement and Disengagement of Learning Goals in Older Workers and their Respective Employers: Preliminary Findings in a Sample of Mature Age Australians

The flexibility and universality of lifespan development psychology makes it an attractive framework to study workforce ageing. A questionnaire was administered to an older worker sample to address the applicability of this theory to HRD and HRM initiatives. Six subscales were identified in factor analysis that closely resembled the original conceptual model. Analysis of demographic data revealed that supervisory tasks and educational aspirations were related to selection of and engagement in learning and development activities

Quality assurance in higher education: for whom and of what?

Over the past two decades the quality assurance of higher education institutions has captured a growing interest as evidenced by the increasing number of national and transnational bodies engaged in this area. Yet as the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, higher education systems and thus the regimes designed to ensure their quality are faced with significant complexity. Issues of accountability, authority and responsibility are paramount when responding to industry bodies, to globalisation and the transnational provision of higher education and to the use of market mechanisms. In this paper we raise some of the challenges for quality assurance for higher education presented by this growing complexity through the question, quality assurance in higher education, for whom and of what, highlighting our concern for a need to expand the centrality of accountability to include authority and responsibility as part of the quality assurance regimes for higher educatio

Career Aspirations of Older Workers: An Australian Study

Global challenges associated with the ageing workforce include lower levels of education and negative attitudes of older workers towards learning and covert age discrimination in the workplace. This report discusses initial findings from a survey of older workers employed in regional areas in Australia. The older workers surveyed were predominantly blue collar with low levels of formal education. Contrary to the stereotypical views, there were few attitude differences between older (>40 years) and younger workers (≤40 years). However, gender, education level and job type had a greater impact on attitudes in the older workers when compared to their younger colleagues

Personalizing the design of computer‐based instruction to enhance learning

This paper reports two studies designed to investigate the effect on learning outcomes of matching individuals’ preferred cognitive styles to computer‐based instructional (CBI) material. Study 1 considered the styles individually as Verbalizer, Imager, Wholist and Analytic. Study 2 considered the bi‐dimensional nature of cognitive styles in order to assess the full ramification of cognitive styles on learning: Analytic/Imager, Analytic/ Verbalizer, Wholist/Imager and the Wholist/Verbalizer. The mix of images and text, the nature of the text material, use of advance organizers and proximity of information to facilitate meaningful connections between various pieces of information were some of the considerations in the design of the CBI material. In a quasi‐experimental format, students’ cognitive styles were analysed by Cognitive Style Analysis (CSA) software. On the basis of the CSA result, the system defaulted students to either matched or mismatched CBI material by alternating between the two formats. The instructional material had a learning and a test phase. Learning outcome was tested on recall, labelling, explanation and problem‐solving tasks. Comparison of the matched and mismatched instruction did not indicate significant difference between the groups, but the consistently better performance by the matched group suggests potential for further investigations where the limitations cited in this paper are eliminated. The result did indicate a significant difference between the four cognitive styles with the Wholist/Verbalizer group performing better then all other cognitive styles. Analysing the difference between cognitive styles on individual test tasks indicated significant difference on recall, labelling and explanation, suggesting that certain test tasks may suit certain cognitive styles

Stability of the learning and development survey: findings for mature aged local government and private healthcare organisations

This article investigates work related learning and development amongst mature aged workers from a lifespan developmental psychology perspective. The current study follows on from research regarding the construction and revision of the Learning and Development Survey (LDS; Tones & Pillay, 2008). Designed to measure adaptive development for work related learning, the revised LDS (R-LDS) encompasses goal selection, engagement and disengagement from individual and organisational perspectives. Previous survey findings from a mixed age sample of local government workers suggest that mature aged workers aged over 45 years are less likely to report engagement in learning and development goals than younger workers, which is partly due to insufficient opportunities at work. In the current paper, exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate responses to the R-LDS amongst two groups of mature aged workers from a local government (LG) and private healthcare (PH) organisation to determine the stability of the R-LDS. Organisational constraints to development accounted for almost a quarter of the variance in R-LDS scores for both samples, while remaining factors emerged in different orders for each data set. Organisational opportunities for development explained about 17% of the variance in R-LDS scores in the LG sample, while the individual goal disengagement factor contributed a comparable proportion of variance to R-LDS scores for the PH sample. Findings from the current study indicate that opportunities for learning and development at work may be age structured and biased towards younger workers. Implications for professional practice are discussed and focus on improving the engagement of mature aged workers

Recognition, recall and application of information learned about the human brain from two varying computer based instruction tasks

The research entailed a student learning task involving either a ‘static-plus-text’ or an ‘interrelated’ computer-based instructional (CBI) activity about the human brain. Eighty-four Year 8 students from Brisbane participated, working in either of two instruction formats, static-plus-text (n = 44) or interrelated (n = 40) with relatively equal number of girls (51%) and boys (49%). A test of learning, in the form of recognition, recall and application sub-tests, was administered to students following participation in the CBI activity. The test of learning results showed a noteworthy difference between the two instructional formats. When the sub-tests were analysed by instructional format a MANOVA calculation showed a significant difference between the three sub-tests, and the sub-tests by group. Overall, there were major differences between the two instructional formats for the recognition and application sub-tests but not for the recall sub-test. Students in the interrelated instructional group were better at recognising material and at applying the information learned. This research has implications for the design of computer based instructional materials

A higher education quality assurance model for small states: The Maldives case study

This paper presents findings of a case study in the Maldives of a holistic quality assurance model for higher education in Small States. Although case study is situated in the Maldives, an example of a Small State, the findings provided useful reference for policy makers, practitioners and professionals in other Small States. The study draws on a systems theory to investigate the systemic characteristics of quality assurance in higher education. It is a qualitative case study based and includes the use of document analysis and interviews data. The preliminary findings indicate that regulatory mechanisms, independence, one-tier system, guidelines and standards, transparency, academic audit, accreditation and collaboration emerged as critical areas for the system of quality assurance in higher education for Small States. Some of the mechanisms used by bigger nations to address the above critical areas may not be appropriate for Small States, adding weight to the ‘fit for purpose’ definition of quality.   Keywords - Higher education accreditation, Higher education quality indicators, Standards of higher education, higher education quality regulations, Programme accreditation, institutional accreditation, institutional audit.</jats:p

Higher education for capacity development or revenue maximisation? Lessons from transnational higher education programs at two Indonesian universities

HE has been changing rapidly due to globalisation that has increased the interconnectedness between nations and people throughout the world (Mok, 2012). As HE has manifested into different forms and governed by competing rationales in recent years, this paper focuses on transnational HE, which is an example of the interconnectedness of universities beyond the national borders. Indonesia is also influenced by the above changes. It took part in free-trade agreements that include HE as a sector to be liberated and accessed by international providers (Nizam, 2006). Indonesian universities found themselves bracing for the global competition for students and simultaneously having to improve their quality in order to survive amidst the growing competition. This competition gave birth to joint transnational HE programs with overseas partners among many Indonesian universities (Macaranas, 2010)

Exploring Student Adaptation to New Learning Environments: Some Unexpected Outcomes

The emerging knowledge-based society is transforming pedagogical practices in the post-compulsory education sector. One feature of this transformation is the substantial investment in new learning environments (NLEs), characterised by decreasing use of face-to-face teaching and a corresponding increase in use of information and communication technologies. While the rapid evolution of NLEs has been driven by economic/commercial forces and technological advances, and advocates claim enhanced learning outcomes, there is little critical understanding of' how this is achieved or manifested. This paper reports empirically-based research that is seeking to develop a grounded understanding, from the learners' perspective, of the effects of participation in NLEs. The research site is an Australian purpose-built flexible learning mode university campus where web-based resources augment on-campus face-to-face activities. The research design involves a three-year longitudinal study of students, tracking their developmental patterns in perceptions, attitudes and beliefs. Data collection involves annual measures of learning approaches, perceptions of learning environments and epistemological reflections, along with biannual group interviews. Outcomes of aspects of the first year data are reported. highlighting patterns in students' reactions not evident in previous literature and which have potentially significant pedagogical implications

Reclaiming Teacher Agency in a Student-Centred Digital World

This article examines the current dilemma faced by many teachers: the drive for a modern day pedagogy advocating student-centred, technology-enabled learning is at odds with teacher comfort zones still nestled in a teacher-talk, print-based classroom. Put another way, the ‘techno-reluctance’ of many teachers represents a negative reaction to the perception that new technologies represent a threat to their traditional roles and general sense of practical agency in the learning process or classroom. The paper interprets some of the key factors impacting on techno-reluctance as a means of moving beyond such a simplistic view of the connection between digital technologies and changing teacher roles. On this basis, it goes on to discuss the concept of ‘techno-literacy’ as a means of reclaiming teacher agency in a student-centred, computer-mediated environment and also reframing teacher attitudes to electronic texts and related literacy practices