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The call for the decolonisation of universities and curricula in South Africa was at the centre of the 2015 Fallist protests. The protests, which left a trail of destruction and many universities closed for periods of time, had as one of their positive outcomes the precipitation of a renewed interest in the decolonisation of university education debate. The debate on decolonisation at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa is long overdue, given that the Western model of academic organisation on which it, like most South African universities, is based, remains largely Eurocentric. This paper adds to the debate by discussing what decolonisation might mean to the DUT's students, staff and the greater community. It explores the importance of decolonisation and how this process can be taken forward at DUT. The purpose is not to prescribe how decolonisation is to be done but to open up ways of (re)thinking university curricula and opportunities for further discussion and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long pursuit of university education in northern Canada has seen a variety of methods used to deliver higher education to northerners. One such approach, Inter Universities Services (IUS), has been supporting university course delivery in northern Manitoba since 1972-73. This article argues that IUS has evolved progressively over its fifty years from an initiative offering a disjointed set of university course options to become part of a coordinated, if unplanned, approach to university education in northern Manitoba. This article outlines the history of IUS, including origins, structure, issues, and key events, before looking to the future. Conclusions suggest that IUS has been central to the growth and stability of higher education in northern Manitoba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising and responding to behaviours and patterns of resistance is critical to the successful implementation of technology-enhanced learning strategies at higher education institutions. At institutional, academic and student levels, resistance manifests itself in a variety of forms, at best supporting a critical culture and at worst creating inertia and active disquiet. Through the lens of an institution-wide strategic learning innovation vision at the University of Greenwich, designed to enhance connectivity and collaboration, this paper will explore the modes and pathways of resistance that occurred in the process of implementing and embedding an openness agenda at a learning and teaching level. Through supporting experimentation and play with social media creation and sharing as a mechanism of curricula transformation, we identified a number of patterns of resistance to sharing and openness. Using an approach informed by grounded theory we have attempted to represent these patterns in the form of a model of institutional resistance to technology-led change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Globalisation, together with readier access to capability-enhancing technologies and to technological insights once restricted to a few leading economies, are resulting in greater competition within Europe, and more widely within the developed world, for influence of all kinds (not just influence over the choices that foreign students make about the Higher Education courses on offer to them from Europe, but also influence of a more overtly imperialist kind, extending to the policies, incomes and futures of others). This article looks at trends in one important market for European Higher Education, the Middle East (particularly the GCC countries), which has many providers from North America and Australia. As observed by the late Edward Said, the USA is particularly forceful in the Middle East. Its technological superiority is accompanied by fervour to introduce American methods and curricula, and strong belief in their merit, reminiscent of the belief of the old French empire that ‘France had a “mission civilisatrice”, to civilize the natives”. The danger, highlighted in a recent UNESCO report ‘New Ignorances, New Literacies’, is that the natives will not be listened to. Is Europe listening more or less than the USA, and is it being listened to? Despite attention-gaining initiatives such as the proposed European Institute of Technology, EIT, and the commitment of EU governments to the Lisbon goals on competitiveness, there are indications of a drop in the influence of European Higher Education institutions in the Middle East. This paper explores the kinds of issues that may be at work, and the implications for European Higher Education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from an interview investigation with teachers in Swedish nurse education especially interested in internationalising the education. The aim has been to study teachers’ understandings and experiences of internationalisation against the backdrop of the strong concern for internationalisation expressed in policy documents. The results are seen in the context of globalisation, constraints to educational change, in a cultural perspective, and in relation to the need of a curriculum theory. The teachers united the global, in the form of personal experiences of other countries and cultures, with the national and local. Their experiences abroad were a basis for their interest in, and choice of content in, their teaching, considered to represent internationalisation of the education. The teachers were interpreting internationalisation in line with there understanding of nursing and the general approach to nursing in the education, without making any clear distinction concerning what specifically was internationalisation. The teachers seem to represent an important resource in internationalising the education. However, their understanding of and approach to internationalisation did not represent a shared culture and there was no shared curriculum including a distinct understanding of internationalisation. This is seen as a big challenge to both policy makers and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of “How to teach TRIZ” has been the subject of much discussion and debate. Bruner [1] argued that children should be encouraged to “treat a task as a problem for which one invents an answer, rather than finding one out there in a book or on the blackboard”. This statement was taken from Dehaan's [2] article, published in 2009, on “Teaching Creativity and Inventive Problem Solving in Science” (p. 174), in which Altshuller's “Theory of inventive problem solving” has not been mentioned. This demonstrates only one aspect of why teaching TRIZ in educational systems is a challenging mission. This paper describes the process and method used for developing the Development thinking skills and problem solving course in academic settings. The proposed program is a combination of a generic design and problem solving process thinking methods. The course was developed using 4 main thinking methodologies: Mayer's general problem description, Polya's algorithm for problem solving, Altshuller's Theory of inventive problem solving and System thinking. The new “Development thinking skills” course program is expected to overcome teaching and studying difficulties in acquiring advances problem solving skills in higher education setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study illustrates how DS106, a computer science course in Digital Storytelling from the University of Mary Washington (UMW) and accessible as an open course on the web, is being explored in a corporate environment at 3M, an American multinational corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota, to build community, collaboration, and more effective global communication skills. Our assertion is that the pedagogy and assignments of DS106 can be adapted for use within a corporate intranet, using creation and communication tools available internally to all employees. Our approach is to work in a layered 'open organisational web' guided by a specialist facilitation role: that of the 'Salon Patroness' or network connector. This 3M-DS106 Salon model may help address challenges faced in a 'default closed' corporate environment, providing a zone of safety to encourage the evolution of a more open mind-set necessary for increased creativity and innovation. In its first iteration in Fall 2013 the 3M-DS106 Salon participants were interviewed at the end of the course. They identified learning, challenges, and a desire for integrating the course material into their professional work. The use of digital storytelling tools on 3M related projects in real time, within a community of learners to provide support, was deemed an effective practice. Via their internal blogs participants documented growth in media skills and an evolving reflective practice. Based on these initial results, 3M has sponsored a year long 3M-DS106 experience to address participant requests for more flexibility, time and practice while incorporating more 3M specific communication & collaboration tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As online learning in higher education continues to grow, the diversity of institutions offering such options also grows. However, small private institutions have been the slowest to adopt online learning (Allen & Seaman, 2006). The challenge for the smaller institution is often the lack of technological resources and support for faculty. The demand for online learning requires that smaller institutions find creative ways to successfully introduce online learning options. This paper examines the use of a Faculty Learning Community to introduce online learning at a small college and shares the outcomes of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on work examining differences in the emphasis faculty place on effective educational practices, this study uses data from nearly 8,000 faculty members from the 2007 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement to explore how disciplinary area moderates the effect of teaching a general education course (GEC) on the emphasis faculty place on deep approaches to learning. Results showed that the GEC effect was strongest in hard-applied-life fields and weakest in hard-pure-life and soft-applied-life fields, suggesting that proponents of general education reform need to temper their efforts by a clearer understanding of disciplinary differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results in past studies comparing teaching time and effort in online and face-to-face (FTF) teaching environments have been inconsistent. This research study compares the instructional time and effort it took the authors to teach the same course online and FTF in their respective universities. The authors hypothesize that it takes more time to teach online courses. The results of the two-semester study show that both authors spent more time per student, approximately 20% more, in the online courses. In the total time spent per student online compared to the total time spent per student FTF, the paired-samples t -test showed a statistically significant difference (t(3) = 6.163, p = 0.009). The authors speculate a number of factors contributed to this difference and the perception that teaching in an online environment takes more time and effort than teaching in a FTF environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to gauge the current state of the academic developments in Educational Technology in order to identify pivotal issues and offer suggestions for future planning in Canada. This article explores the professional literature and the views of 25 senior faculty members from the twelve Canadian universities which offer or offered graduate degree programs in Educational Technology (and Distance Education). Findings from the study revealed one main category (challenges) connected to the academic field of Educational Technology in Canada with seven key sub-categories, namely, identity, standardization and professionalization, university politics, external influence, competition, funding, and teaching and learning. A synthesis of information sources is provided to delineate major patterns and generate new theory to help guide strategic program planning and evaluation. Recommendations suggest that greater attention should be invested in partnering and identity branding activities within the field to help leverage program success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If South Africa is to transform its educational landscape, access to higher education is crucial. However, if equity of access is not coupled with equity of success, participation, and relevance, access can become problematic. The Information Systems Department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has been concerned for a number of years about both the relevance and coherence of its first year Information Systems course. In 2007, the Department re-conceptualized this course. This case study looks at the background to the problems and motivation for the change and the proposed changes and course redesign, as well as the limitations and anticipated future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this exploratory research was to investigate whether: entrepreneurship in the higher education context can be distinguished by disciplined-based needs; and curricula can be developed around these needs. Design/methodology/approach - The authors reviewed the literature related to the development of professions in order to establish a sound theoretical base to distinguish disciplines that require stringent criteria, and which potentially would challenge the introduction of a more flexible curriculum that includes contemporary concepts such as entrepreneurship. The research then focused on two other groups of disciplines which lead to entrepreneurial opportunities with distinct needs in (principally) people management and intellectual property law. This discussion was couched in the occupational motivation literature. Semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were conducted with individuals randomly selected from three groups associated with an American Land Grant Research University. Additional survey data were collected from 58 respondents. Findings - The research found support for the categorization of disciplines into the framework of profession-, industry-, or invention-based entrepreneurial ventures. Originality/value - Although this is an exploratory investigation, the framework sets out clear pathways through the entrepreneurial processes and has crucial implications for a variety of stakeholders. For example: curriculum designers will be better able to understand and address the demands and vagaries of multiple disciplines; critical assumptions (that often plague those involved with technology transfer) will he able to be addressed prior to or in the early stage of the commercialization process because inventors will be better informed and prepared; equity stakeholder negotiations (particularly those that involve government-operated institutions) will be more realistic as both parties, over time, become increasingly ‘market-savvy’; and students (tomorrow's entrepreneurs) will be better able to plan for an entrepreneurially-focused career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses vocational education, focusing on the present trends and problems of such in Germany. In the past several years, the most important developments in vocational education are connected to rationalization of structures, the widening of opportunity and modernization of curricula. The result of such developments is a great increase in the demand for higher education, and especially for university places. There have also been attempts to devise acceptable non-university forms of vocationally-oriented higher education. More information could be found in the article.