The link between learning spaces and employability outcomes

Universities are investing considerable funds in designing and building innovative learning spaces without knowing the positive impact on student learning and their achievement of employability skills for the 21st century. There is a possibility of designing these new generation learning spaces to enable active and deep learning approaches to be employed to improve student learning outcomes and their achievement of employability skills.  This paper proposes that an evaluative framework for innovative learning spaces and tools to measure the impact of these learning spaces on students’ achievement of employability skills is a worthy endeavour.  Best practice innovative active learning strategies can then be identified and incorporated into a professional learning module for academics teaching in higher education. The outcomes can guide universities in developing learning spaces that maximise student learning consistent with 21st century employability skills

In electronic education, does total quality exist in the experiences of the customer rather than the aspirations of the supplier?

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a systems approach to management that aims to continuously increase value to customers by designing and constantly improving organizational processes and systems. However, TQM has been so slow to migrate from industry to the campus mainly because many academics still see TQM as a fad or buzzword. This paper looks at whether total quality exists in the experiences of the customer rather than the aspirations of the supplier and how far this is true in electronic education. E-education is a generic concept embracing e-learning, e-management and e-administration. It is in this holistic context that institutions should address the issues if there is to be a coherent transition from traditional practice to one that exploits the potential of e-business. It is therefore imperative that the culture of most universities and technological universities will have to be transformed if quality improvement efforts are to be successful. Following will be a discussion of the role of TQM in education, the identification of customers and suppliers in e-education, and whether culture might pose a problem to TQM in e-learning

The state of micro-credentials implementation and practice in Australasian higher education

Micro-credentialing is rapidly growing globally as learning that is both life-long and life-wide and this has only accelerated due to COVID-19. To understand what this means for higher education, The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and eLearning has conducted two surveys on the implementation and practice of micro-credentialing in the Australasian sector. With the surveys conducted a year apart, before and after the pandemic, significant changes are noted in the delivery of learning. The results show an increased interest and intention in rolling out micro-credentials, as evidenced, particularly, in work undertaken at the policy level. However, in relation to actual implementation and practice, there is still a lot of work yet to be done. What is evidenced, in the results, is that this form of credentialing will continue to grow rapidly. Higher education institutions are investing in infrastructure and establishing working groups that are placing a governance model for micro-credentials in universities, while ensuring dedicated resourcing is channeled to this endeavour. Moving forward institutions will require significant planning and coordinated delivery at both at the local and global level, if the potential benefits of implementing micro-credentialing, such as portability and stackability over time, are to be realised

An integrative literature review of the implementation of micro-credentials in higher education: Implications for practice in Australasia

Micro-credentials research, which includes digital badges, is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the implementation, portability and sustainability of the ecology of meaningful delivery. This paper reviews literature relevant to understanding connections between universities’ intent to offer micro-credentials and the environment that is needed to do so. From this integrated study, the paper distils a number of core concerns and identifies some gaps in the literature. One of its primary goals is to clear the ground for the construction of a technical model of micro-credentialing implementation that can be used by the various stakeholders involved in the design and evaluation of new micro-awards. A closely related goal is to help those participating in micro-credentialing research to locate and understand each other’s contributions, as fragmentation in research related to micro-credentials makes progress in the field slow. Hence, this review draws together research in the field to identify research foci and gaps, and then also capture some work by micro-credentialing researchers that directly attempts to model the main relationships in the field. The paper ends with a summary of implications for practice, especially for the Australasian higher education contex

An integrative literature review of the implementation of microcredentials in higher education: Implications for practice in Australasia

Micro-credentials research, which includes digital badges, is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the implementation, portability and sustainability of the ecology of meaningful delivery. This paper reviews literature relevant to understanding connections between universities\u27 intent to offer micro-credentials and the environment that is needed to do so. From this integrated study, the paper distils a number of core concerns and identifies some gaps in the literature. One of its primary goals is to clear the ground for the construction of a technical model of micro-credentialing implementation that can be used by the various stakeholders involved in the design and evaluation of new micro-awards. A closely related goal is to help those participating in micro-credentialing research to locate and understand each other\u27s contributions, as fragmentation in research related to micro-credentials makes progress in the field slow. Hence, this review draws together research in the field to identify research foci and gaps, and then also capture some work by micro-credentialing researchers that directly attempts to model the main relationships in the field. The paper ends with a summary of implications for practice, especially for the Australasian higher education context

The State of Micro-Credentials Implementation and Practice in Australasian Higher Education

Micro-credentialing is rapidly growing globally as learning that is both life-long and life-wide and this has only accelerated due to COVID-19. To understand what this means for higher education, The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and eLearning has conducted two surveys on the implementation and practice of micro-credentialing in the Australasian sector. With the surveys conducted a year apart, before and after the pandemic, significant changes are noted in the delivery of learning. The results show an increased interest and intention in rolling out micro-credentials, as evidenced, particularly, in work undertaken at the policy level. However, in relation to actual implementation and practice, there is still a lot of work yet to be done. What is evidenced, in the results, is that this form of credentialing will continue to grow rapidly. Higher education institutions are investing in infrastructure and establishing working groups that are placing a governance model for micro-credentials in universities, while ensuring dedicated resourcing is channeled to this endeavour. Moving forward institutions will require significant planning and coordinated delivery at both at the local and global level, if the potential benefits of implementing micro-credentialing, such as portability and stackability over time, are to be realised.Implications for practice or policy:Universities can use this data to plan their implementation of micro-credentialsPolicy makers and regulators can use this information to monitor this field in higher education</ul

The Impact of E-learning Implementation on the Management of Private Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia: A Case Study.

E-learning is a force to be reckoned with in education, where lifelong learning is taking on a significant presence now. As with all educational institutions, Private Higher Educational Institutions (PHEIs) too need to consider adapting and embracing e-learning with greater success and efficiency to compete in the marketplace. In investigating the extent of impact of e-learning on management structures of PHEIs in Malaysia, this research can potentially set the course for other institutions of higher learning in Malaysia to be able to successfully introduce and proceed with e-learning in their education agenda. For successful e-learning implementation, though, it is argued that the four factors which need to be addressed are Rosenberg's 4 Cs: the presence of an e-learning champion, the management of change (to include e-learning in the organisation), effective communication, and the organisation's culture, especially of learning. These affect the way e-learning is implemented. Furthermore, both e-learning and its arms of change have an influence on an institution of learning. The methodology used in this research is the case study, with a three-pronged data collection format. The questionnaire was chosen to track the trend of practice and awareness, the interview to get a greater depth of understanding on the issues, and finally, documents and records to illustrate the current state of e-learning and management culture within the organization. It was found from the results of this research that e-learning implementation requires a democratic, devolved approach to holistic change. Much of the strengths and weaknesses of PHEI management structures are brought out to the open with the adoption of c-learning. A flatter organizational structure would help cope with the demands of technological inclusion and national needs within the private education setting in Malaysia. However, it is emphasized here that e-learning implementation requires a management of the transition in PHEIs that may bring about the redefinition of the identity of the institution itself