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The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020 disrupted and changed higher education across the world, and into the future. Campuses were shut down, almost overnight. International and State borders were closed and business models that relied heavily on high-paying international students collapsed. University leaders and academics were forced to find new ways of attracting, engaging with, and retaining students. This paper describes a project that was undertaken in Australia in 2021 which investigated the implications of, and scope for online assessment in this "new virtual world" of learning and teaching in higher education. After extensive research and consultation, the project developed a Digital Assessment Framework dubbed DASH C21, which stands for Digital Assessment Stretching Horizons for the 21st Century. The Framework is based on a set of underpinning principles and values; the Inputs. The Inputs feed into four Dimensions. These Dimensions are Practices and Pedagogies, Strategies, Emerging Technologies and Stretching Horizons. The Outputs are a series of authentic, innovative, experiential and forward looking, digital assessments, reinforced by academic integrity values. This paper will be of particular interest to higher education senior managers, academics, learning and teaching specialists, staff professional developers and curriculum designers.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, universities were already exploring the potential of online education. Colleges and universities throughout the world became more reliant on online learning management systems (LMSs) and videoconferencing tools like "Zoom" and "Microsoft Teams" during the 2020-2021 campus' lockdowns. The transition from traditional face-to-face teaching to online learning presented significant difficulties for universities, particularly those that depended heavily on international students. The project reported in this paper was undertaken in Australia in 2021 at the request of a private higher education institution. A new student-centric version of the Moodle learning management system (LMS) was created to maximise the platform's pedagogical, communicative, and informational capabilities. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how online learning platforms that are flexible, utilise embedded interactive features and resources, and are freely available can enhance and support the delivery of quality online education. The paper discusses how well-designed learning management systems have the capacity to motivate, engage and retain students in online learning. Academics, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as those working in curriculum development and information technology at institutions of higher learning, may find this article to be of interest and value.

Capstone units in higher education courses are learning experiences which are designed to bring reflection and focus to a whole course of study while, at the same time, leading students toward their entry into a new world of work (Humphrey, Brown, & Benson, 2005). The capstone experience described in this paper runs as a conference, called the Stepping Out Conference. The conference is delivered as one unit and is mandatory for all fourth year pre-service teachers. Participation in a capstone unit is an effective way for students to begin thinking of themselves as teaching professionals rather than as continuing students. Students engage in the assessment as part of their capstone experience. The assessment is designed to measure students' knowledge and skills as they relate to "authentic" real life situations (Darling-Hammond, 1991). This paper details pre-service teachers' experiences of authentic learning through their participation in a capstone unit.

This paper examines the use of vignettes as a research method in a comparative exploration of the provision for children with special educational needs across eleven countries. The investigation selected in-country researchers, who responded to questions with respect to children described in 14 vignettes. The questions related to school placement options; assessment processes; support arrangements; service provision; curriculum responses and those involved in placement decisions. The vignette findings were able to highlight differences in placement decisions between the countries; the general lack of pupil voice in decision making and the ubiquitous influence of medical categories within educational settings. The utility of using vignettes in this type of research is discussed in relation to reflecting the complex reality of educational practice in different countries.

This paper presents the research and findings of how some Australian teachers of Drama engage with masks in the classroom. It is part of a larger research project looking at the potential impacts for masks and education in the Australian curriculum. With masks both synonymous with Drama, and multiple resources available for teachers to engage with masks in the classroom, there was no empirical data on if and how teachers in Australia engaged with masks in the classroom. This research asked teachers to self-report on both their skill level in mask usage and to the extent that they engaged with masks in the teaching of Drama in the classroom. Findings note that whilst the majority of teachers did engage with masks; some quite extensively; many staff indicated their own limitations in training and in foundational theory. In addition, many staff used their own time and resources to upskill themselves, placing an importance of the potential for mask usage with children. This has implications for university education courses, as well opportunities for systems and professional development providers in supporting teachers of Drama in their skill base.

Student learning outcomes assessment examines whether programs cover the material stated in their learning goals, whether students are learning the material, and the impact on student retention, graduation, post-graduation outcomes, and institutional accreditation, with the aim of providing faculty with data that can be used to help programs evolve or improve. While there is a plethora of research regarding effective methods of assessment used in the United States, little has been written regarding cross-national comparisons of assessment methodologies. This paper examines the current state of assessment in several nations and regions, and draws parallels in practices across countries. A literature search using the term "outcomes assessment" yielded 228 articles, of which, only 35 described practices outside the United States. Generally, searches on the terms "outcomes assessment" and "global" tend to return studies of outcomes assessment of teaching about global issues as it is practiced in the United States, rather than results about outcomes assessment practices used in other countries.

In 2017, the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University created an initiative modeled on the State University of New York's Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program. COIL is an approach to fostering global competence through the development of a multicultural learning environment that links university classes in two different countries. Using various communication technologies, students complete shared assignments and projects, with faculty members from each country co-teaching and managing coursework. We piloted a COIL program with the purpose of fostering global competence and a multicultural learning environment through linking a Texas A&M Liberal Arts class and a university class in a foreign country. Each of the paired classes met separately and regularly in its home country for much of the semester, but the students also worked asynchronously online to share ideas, collaboratively produce work relevant to the course of study, and reflect upon their own and their partners' cultural points of view. In this paper we discuss the results of this pilot program.

The main aims of this research paper are to identify, compare and contrast different perspectives of students from Serbia, Australia and Thailand regarding their perception of the case learning method. This research study investigates the student benefits, problems and most difficult tasks in defining marketing strategy at business undergraduate case competitions where students from the University of Belgrade, QUT and Thammasat University compete. The quantitative survey methodology has been applied in three different countries and all respondents were students who competed at undergraduate business case competitions all around the world. We used descriptive statistics for presenting results in the study. The findings have identified that the main benefits for using case learning for students in all countries are: learning experience, personal and professional improvement, improving managerial skills and being more attractive in the job market. Furthermore, the negative aspects of case learning have been explored. This research should provide a better direction for professors and students, which could help them with improving the learning process with case studies in the field of marketing.

A difficult nexus can arise in positivist research when developing a model or theoretical framework that is then used to underpin the construction of measuring instruments that are subsequently used to test the assumptions underlying the model. This paper explores this nexus through consideration of a study of risk-taking in decision-making for public school principals in Western Australia (WA). A theoretical model of factors impacting on reasoned risk-taking in decision-making was developed and a questionnaire developed to measure the constructs included in the research model as there were no pre-established measurement instruments. The design of the questionnaire and development of items utilised findings from research in measurement theory to structure the items and the response scales to measure constructs in the model. Data was provided from a stratified random sample of principals in 253 schools. Rasch modeling and factor analysis were used to analyse the resultant measurement scale.

The idea of teacher quality is at the forefront of educational debates and research globally. A teacher for the 21st Century must be equipped with a sophisticated range of skills and capabilities, but it must go beyond knowledge, understanding and skills, to include effective dispositions, strong student/teacher relationships, communicative capacity, empathic character and self-awareness. Teacher quality encompasses many aspects, including skills, knowledge, attitudes, dispositions and values. This paper reports on a qualitative case study conducted with pre-service teachers in a Faculty of Education in an Australian university. One of the findings of the study points to the benefits of pre-service teachers engaging in an explicit values-based pedagogy. Through their engagement with such pedagogy, in this case Philosophy in the Classroom, the participants became more aware of the values dimension of quality teaching. If teachers are better prepared in the values dimension of teaching, this will make them more holistic quality teachers which will in turn positively impact upon student achievement and well-being.