Emerging Trends In Higher Education Concepts And Practices

Papers presented at the International Seminar on Democratic and Secular Education, held at Thiruvananthapuram during 4-6 December 2008.

This open access Springer Brief provides a systematic analysis of current trends and requirements in the areas of knowledge and competence in the context of the project “(A) Higher Education Digital (AHEAD)—International Horizon Scanning / Trend Analysis on Digital Higher Education.” It examines the latest developments in learning theory, didactics, and digital-education technology in connection with an increasingly digitized higher education landscape. In turn, this analysis forms the basis for envisioning higher education in 2030. Here, four learning pathways are developed to provide a glimpse of higher education in 2030: Tamagotchi, a closed ecosystem that is built around individual students who enter the university soon after secondary education; Jenga, in which universities offer a solid foundation of knowledge to build on in later phases; Lego, where the course of study is not a monolithic unit, but consists of individually combined modules of different sizes; and Transformer, where students have already acquired their own professional identities and life experiences, which they integrate into their studies. In addition, innovative practice cases are presented to illustrate each learning path.

This book aims to discuss new research and trends on all dimensions of Higher Education, as there is a growing interest in the field of Higher Education, regarding new methodologies, contexts, and technologies. It includes investigations of diverse issues that affect the learning processes in Higher Education: innovations in learning, new pedagogical methods, and new learning contexts. In this sense, original research contributions of research papers, case studies and demonstrations that present original scientific results, methodological aspects, concepts and educational technologies, on the following topics: a) Technological Developments in Higher Education: mobile technology, virtual environments, augmented reality, automation and robotics, and other tools for universal learning, focusing on issues that are not addressed by existing research; b) Digital Higher Education: mobile learning, eLearning, Game-based Learning, social media in education, new learning models and technologies and wearable technologies for education; c) Case Studies in Higher Education: empirical studies in higher education regarding digital technologies, new methodologies, new evaluation techniques and tools, perceptions of learning processes efficiency and digital learning best practice.

This book presents a wide selection of issues currently of interest and concern in higher education institutions in Ireland. The chapters are snapshots of the intersection between theory, practice and research in particular settings; they are not meant to be comprehensive. Nevertheless, they present practice approaches, new theoretical considerations and informal conversations, and include signposts to important literature in the area. The authors contextualise current concerns, and discuss how they have responded strategically to national and international trends in higher education. They also highlight how new roles and identities for staff and students in higher education have emerged in response to changes in institutional, social and technological contexts, among others. This book contains the following: (1) Higher Education in Ireland: Introduction (Bettie Higgs and Marian McCarthy); (2) Writing Identity through the Educational Developers in Ireland Network (EDIN) (Ciara O'Farrell); (3) Mature Cynics and Fledgling Eclectics: Elaborating Instructional Design for the Net Generation (David Jennings and Diane Cashman); (4) Promoting Integrative Learning in First-year Science (Bettie Higgs); (5) The Journey to High Level Performance: Using Knowledge on the Novice-Expert Trajectory to Enhance Higher Education Teaching (Sarah Moore, Geraldine O'Neill and Terry Barrett); (6) Integrating Concepts of Integrative Learning (Bettie Higgs and Brendan Hall); (7) Strategies for Implementing Group Work in Large Classes: Lessons from Enquiry-Based Learning (Geraldine O'Neill and Ivan Moore); (8) Supporting Graduate Teaching Assistants at Trinity College Dublin (Jacqueline Potter and Orla Hanratty); (9) Teaching for Understanding for Lecturers: Towards a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Marian McCarthy); (10) Encouraging Student Creativity in Higher Education (Terry Barrett and Roisin Donnelly); (11) Reflections on Conversations as a Catalyst for Change 2003-2007 (Marion Palmer and Conor Heagney); (12) The Changing Role of the Academic Library in Learning and Teaching (Helen Fallon and Ellen Breen); and (13) The Role of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in the Teaching of an Accredited Module in Information Literacy Skills (Claire McAvinia, Helen Fallon and Mairead McQuaid). Librarians' Reflections are appended. Each section contains tables, figures, and references.

Trends in Assessment provides readers with a survey of the state-of-the-art of the enduring assessment concepts and approaches developed over the past twenty-five years, and includes chapters by acknowledged experts who describe how emerging assessment trends and ideas apply to their programs and pedagogies, covering: Community Engagement ePortfolios Faculty Development Global Learning Graduate and Professional Education High-Impact Practices Learning Improvement and Innovation Assessment Trends from NILOA STEM Student Affairs Programs and Services The concluding chapters point to a future of assessment and identify several meta-trends in assessment. The book was conceived by organizers and contributors of the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, the nation’s oldest and largest higher education assessment event, and includes contributions by the following partners of the Institute: Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE); Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL); Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS); Association for Institutional Research (AIR); Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U); Center for Postsecondary Research (CPR)/National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE); and Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS). Trends in Assessment serves as a vital resource for faculty, student affairs professionals, administrators, anyone involved in accreditation, and scholars in the field.

A prerequisite to the formation of a developed nation is the need to ensure education for all. Recognizing the need to address this issue, especially in a developing nation like India,