A Whole of University Approach to Embedding Graduate Attributes

This chapter reflects on the processes involved in managing a curriculum mapping exercise aimed at integrating graduate attributes across CQUniversity’s undergraduate programs. Most of these programs are offered via distance education. Due to the complexity of program offerings and the dispersed campus locations, a whole of university approach was needed to address quality and consistency of graduate outcomes. In order to achieve this, an audit of existing course graduate attributes was conducted using an online mapping tool. While the whole of university approach served to provide cohesion within the project, there were some challenges regarding the perceived top-down approach. This chapter serves to inform senior management of the complexities of managing resistance to change within an academic community. It is envisaged that this reflection will assist with future projects that require a whole of university approach.

The Problem of Analysis of the Temporal Dimension in e-Learning Research

E-learning is a complex phenomenon that includes technological, pedagogical, social, and management dimensions. The importance of multiple variables and temporal dimensions for evaluating changes and development are crucial elements that are not taken into account in the methods and orientation of most studies. Most established methods of research are not able to analyse complex situations adequately. This chapter describes the problems that arise when standard methods are applied and explores the use of methods that support the analysis of multiple variables and temporal dimensions for evaluating changes and development.

Cooperation between a Distance Teaching University and an On-Campus University

There are more and more reasons for combining distance learning with classroom learning, not only because of the availability of new technologies but also because of the changes they induce in the student’s relationship to knowledge and in their way of life. Nonetheless, there are few instances of dual-mode universities being created by combining a distance university with an on-campus university. This chapter relates the experience of merging a distance university (TELUQ) with an on-campus university (UQAM), the reasons behind the fusion, and the lessons learned from the experience.

Open Universities Australia

This chapter analyses the history of, and future directions for, higher education studies undertaken through Open Universities Australia (OUA), Australia’s unique higher education conduit. Founded to provide open access to units that allow individuals to undertake individual units or achieve qualifications from leading Australian universities, and supported by a federal government student loans scheme, OUA’s experience and future plans provide significant insight into the potential and pitfalls of the technological innovation in both higher education distance, and increasingly, on-campus, teaching and learning. The need for an ongoing emphasis on innovation, adaptability, and cooperation in an extraordinarily rapidly changing environment is highlighted.

Community of Practice or Networked Learning

This chapter examines the case of an online teacher professional development community that was designed to facilitate both networked learning and whole-group activities in cyclical form to support the eventual formation of a Community of Practice over time beyond the facilitated episode. Participants completed activities with a group (collective) focus in a series of wikis, and activities supporting networked learning in discussion forums. The design of the tasks was intentional, with clear identification of the learning purpose and scaffolding to support desired outcomes. The participation and learning outcomes were evaluated using a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The framework of Dron and Anderson (2007) identifies the potential for both learning networks and a community of practice within a group of online learners. Using this framework, activities were intentionally designed in which the best elements of both were enabled.

Pre-Service Teacher Education for the Management of Actual and Virtual Classes

The development of Internet-based school networks, facilitating the creation of virtual classes, has implications for the professional education of teachers who are increasingly likely to teach both face-to-face and online. In the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, pre-service teachers are being prepared for networked school environments within which on-site and online teaching and learning are required. Teachers are provided with a structure within which to manage collaboration that includes learning circles and cybercells. Within networked school environments, virtual classes have been developed for teaching an expanding range of subjects at high school level.

Distance Learning

Global challenges faced by Institutes of Technology or Polytechnics (ITP) are complex. With a particular focus on distance learning, this chapter discusses the key variables of global challenge (or threats and drivers) to ITPs and shows how these variables may be mitigated for organisational advantage. In addition, the focus of the argument is directed to an equity imbalance currently experienced in the distance learning ITP sector in New Zealand. Namely, that distance learning providers must compete under the same funding criteria as contact or face-to-face providers despite differences in learning delivery mode.

Beyond the Boundaries

The rapid increase in internationalism and borderless higher education by public and for-profit universities is changing the face of the global higher education landscape. Today, universities have more opportunities for serving campus-based international students and extending their programs and research on the international stage. Students also have more choices than ever before in navigating their educational future and are becoming active consumers of global HE. Language, culture, and social norms are as critical as any educational strategies used to build and sustain international partnerships. An understanding, tolerance, and humility about the educational process in other countries is a necessity for building successful partnerships. Borderless higher education is highly complex and involves various risks for colleges and universities and the need to justify foreign ventures or adventures to key stakeholders at home. The “new global regionalism” will accelerate HE competition for students, and the global destination choices for students may drive more students to remain in their region than going to traditional destinations such as the US, UK, and Australia. Universities will function more like businesses, and their foreign partnerships and campus international recruitment will be based on leveraging profitable revenues to supplement their composite educational enterprise. This will be accentuated by reduced government funding and the need to temper continuous tuition and fee increases. Quality assurance agencies will exert greater pressure on universities to maintain accountability, program standards, and alignment with their core mission. University chief executives will need to navigate a range of complex issues before leading their universities into unchartered international waters. Indeed, some universities have no business in the business of borderless higher education. This chapter explores borderless higher education.

Equity in Distance Education

Within the context of distance education, an understanding of the impact of social justice issues is crucial for informing research, practice, funding, and policy. Equity and the related concerns of access, social inclusion, and ethics impact all levels of distance education, from the macro (research and development, including the globalisation of distance education), through the meso (community and open learning, including choices in educational technology), and down to the micro (teaching and learning, including choices in curriculum design). As a consequence, a modification to the macro-meso-micro framework of distance education is called for: one that situates equity at a meta level. This meta level encompasses all aspects in the field of distance education, and acts as a guide for policy-makers, academics, and administrators on planning, decision-making, and practice within the discipline.

Epilogue

This chapter undertakes to provide directions for future research that has been highlighted by the authors and, consequently, the editors of this book. The suggestions made for future research indicate a need for further research that can build on issues and concerns investigated throughout the various chapters. New areas are also raised for investigation that link either indirectly or directly to the research themes.