Models for online, open, flexible and technology enhanced higher education across the globe – a comparative analysis

Digital technology has become near ubiquitous in many countries today or is on a path to reach this state in the near future. Across the globe the share of internet users, for instance, has jumped in the last ten years. In Europe most countries have a share of internet users near to or above 90% in 2016 (last year available for international comparisons), in China the current share is 53%, but this has grown from just 16% in 2007, even in Ethiopia the share has grown from 0.4% to 15.4% in the same period (data from ITU). At the same time expectations of widespread adoption of digital solutions in higher education have been rising. In 2017 the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report predicted that adaptive learning would take less than a year to be widely adopted (Adams Becker et al., 2017). And projects such as ‘Virtually Inspired’ are showcasing creative examples of how new technologies are already being harnessed to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Furthermore, discussion of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals emphasise the key potentials that digital technology holds for achieving the goals for education in 2030 (UNESCO, 2017). These developments lead university and college leadership to the question of how they should position their institution. What type of digitalisation initiatives can be found practice beyond best practices and future potentials? This is the question that this study attempts to answer. It sets out to analyse how higher education providers from across the world are harnessing digitalisation to improve teaching and learning and learner support and to identify emerging types of practice. For this, it focuses on the dimensions of flexibility of provision (in terms of time, place and pace) and openness of provision (in terms of who has access to learning and support and who is involved in the design of learning provision), as both of these dimensions can significantly benefit from integration of digital solutions. The method of information collation used by the study was a global survey of higher education institutions (HEIs) covering all world continents, more than thirty countries and 69 cases. The survey found that nearly three-quarters of all HEIs have at least one strategic focus and typologies were developed based on this analysis to group HEIs with similar strategic focuses. Overall, the findings suggest that most higher education providers are just at the beginning of developing comprehensive strategies for harnessing digitalisation. For this reason, the authors of this study believe that providers can benefit from the outcomes of this study’s research, as it can be used by university and college leadership for benchmarking similarities and differences and for cooperative peer learning between institutions. The database of cases and the guidelines for reviewing current strategies, which accompany this study, aim to facilitate this learning and evaluation process

Leading economic indexes for New York State and New Jersey

The authors develop indexes of leading economic indicators for New York State and New Jersey over the 1972-99 period. They find that the leading indexes convey useful information about the future course of economic activity in both states. The authors then construct separate indexes to forecast recessions and expansions in each state. The movements of the recession and expansion indexes are found to display a close relationship with the behavior of the leading indexes. Accordingly, the recession and expansion indexes allow the authors to extend the informational content of the leading indexes by estimating the probability of an upcoming cyclical change in state economic activity within the next nine months.Economic indicators ; New York (State) ; New Jersey ; Index numbers (Economics) ; Economic conditions - United States ; Federal Reserve District, 2nd

Two new indexes offer a broad view of economic activity in the New York - New Jersey region

The authors develop two coincident indexes that provide a comprehensive measure of economic activity in New Jersey, New York State, and New York City.Federal Reserve District, 2nd ; Economic conditions - United States ; New York (N.Y.) ; New York (State) ; New Jersey ; Index numbers (Economics)

What Exactly is a Substantial Constitutional Question for Purposes of Appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court?

This Article will examine the history of the statutory right of appeal based upon a substantial constitutional question; highlight the interpretation and application of this provision, particularly over the past five years; provide a look at a few of the cases in which the North Carolina Supreme Court has accepted the notice of appeal ( NOA ) based upon a substantial constitutional question or instead has dismissed and not retained; and propose an appropriate test for applying this provision and potential statutory amendments that will better define and more uniformly address the question of what constitutes a substantial constitutional question

What Exactly is a Substantial Constitutional Question for Purposes of Appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court?

This Article will examine the history of the statutory right of appeal based upon a substantial constitutional question; highlight the interpretation and application of this provision, particularly over the past five years; provide a look at a few of the cases in which the North Carolina Supreme Court has accepted the notice of appeal ( NOA ) based upon a substantial constitutional question or instead has dismissed and not retained; and propose an appropriate test for applying this provision and potential statutory amendments that will better define and more uniformly address the question of what constitutes a substantial constitutional question