This is a lively, topical issue of IETI which has authors from Oman, Turkey, Taiwan, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong, Spain and the UK.
Attainment and equality are an ongoing issue in Higher Education. In their essay ‘Understanding the gender and ethnicity attainment gap in UK higher education’ Debby Cotton and colleagues from the Pedagogic Research Institute and Observatory, Plymouth University, UK provide new insights beyond the deficit model. They explore the academic and social experiences of students, and lecturers’ views on student achievement, discovering differences in motivation, confidence speaking English for different ethnic groups, and attendance and study time by gender.
In the context of an increased focus on professional development, recognition and reward Celia Popovic, York University, Toronto, Canada and Elaine Fisher, Epigeum, London, UK provide highly topical ‘Reflections on a professional development course for educational developers’. They focus on the well established ‘supporting and Leading Educational Change (SLEC)’ online course and portfolio which takes participants through the developmental and reflective process of gaining Fellowship of Staff and Educational Development Association. They draw on literature surrounding online learning, communities of practice and Lizzio’s senses for student success and situate their reflections in the context of professional development in general and educational development in particular.
In ‘The effects of teaching and assessment methods on academic performance. A study of an Operations Management course’, Macarena Sacristán-Díaz and colleagues, University of Seville, Spain, discuss the impact on academic performance of using more active teaching-learning methods trough their work on a study of a large Operations Management (OM) course. They found that student involvement in the optional assessable activities was found to be a significant factor for predicting the likelihood of passing.
Blended and mobile learning are ongoing interests. In her essay, ‘Exploring the effectiveness of blended learning in interior design education’, Yasemin Afacan, Bilkent University, Turkey explores how blended learning contributes to interior design students’ learning outcomes focusing on a blended learning module ‘IAED 342 Building Performance’ and identifies positive effects on student engagement with non-studio courses and their learning achievements.
Two essays from Taiwan explore mobile and online learning. In ‘College students’ engagement in e-tutoring children in remote areas’ Lih-Juan ChanLin et al. from Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan discuss college students’ involvement in teaching and supporting remote learners through online tutoring for after-school learning in remote schools and their building of competence, responsibility, self-discipline and positive values from serving. Po-Sheng Chiu and Yueh-Min Huang from the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan look at ‘The development of a decision support system for mobile learning: A case study in Taiwan’ use a study to develop a decision support system for mobile learning, designing activities that combine lessons in Chinese rhetoric with an outdoor learning activity involving college students, system developers, and instructors from related fields.
Change and development are the focus of two more essays. In ‘Innovating business communication courses in Oman: From design to implementation’, Victoria Dauletova, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman challenges conventional formats of business and professional education in higher academic institutions in Oman using project-based learning pedagogy in a collaborative project involving interdisciplinary knowledge which aims to prepare undergraduates for the workplace.
Breda Mc Taggart and Tamsin Cavaliero, Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland explore in ‘A change will do you good’, the challenges of implementing change arising from programmatic review processes. They focus on students’ positive and negative responses to major changes to an honours degree module in a social science department and emphasise the importance of supportive administration.
Also topically, innovation and excellence are a topic for the book review which considers David Carless’ Excellence in University Assessment: learning from award-winning practice, which provides an in-depth accessible look at the innovative assessment practices of award-winning teachers in several subjects.