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As universities grapple with the question of how to prepare students for increasingly uncertain futures, the development of evidence-based frameworks to guide academic program¹ design is critical. Here, we propose a strategic framework with a high impact on program design, implementation, and evaluation as well as mentoring and support for academic program leaders. High impact can be achieved when program leaders are enabled to embed key future-focused capabilities and skills across the curriculum in a program. In order to ensure that these capabilities are systematically and cohesively embedded in students’ learning journeys, we suggest that academic program leaders (e.g., Directors of Studies, Subject Area Coordinators, etc.) require strategic approaches to program design, implementation, and evaluation, as well as mentoring and support. Such approaches would ensure that high impact practices are consistently employed, rather than being the exception in isolated courses.² At Queensland University of Technology, we have developed a holistic model to support “whole-of-program” design for award programs across faculties and disciplines, in a coherent and strategic way. The model we use is based on a framework for curriculum design called the Future Focused Curriculum Design Framework (FFCF), and is an iterative model that places learners at the center of their learning to enable meaningful change to the design of programs. The adoption of the framework is supported by curriculum design studios situated within each discipline-specific faculty,³ which are made up of curriculum and learning designers, working closely with academics in different faculties. A key element of the process is that curriculum design studios enable relationships and communities to develop (Wenger et al., 2002), which in turn allows for contextualized practice. This holistic model supports whole-of-program design for award programs, in a coherent and strategic way and enables communities of practice to emerge in an iterative manner. In this chapter, we share our experiences with using this model and the impacts it has achieved, and we reflect on ways it be adapted for future use and in other contexts.

This research aims to present a conceptual model for construction management programme curriculum development from the perspective of higher education institutes (HEIs) and aims to engender wider polemic debate and stimulate new insight into current higher education practice.

The overarching epistemology adopts both interpretivist and pragmatist philosophical stances, couched within grounded theory, to critically analyse extant literature on construction management curriculum development. Inductive reasoning forms the basis of new emergent theory that maps curriculum development and highlights the external and internal factors impacting upon such.

Research findings illustrate that the prevailing body of knowledge lacks a cohesive nucleus of research on construction management curriculum development. Rather, bespoke curriculum development research predominates in uncommunicative silos. Premised upon these findings, the conceptual curriculum model developed defines and delineates the universal internal factors (e.g. student marketplace, course leadership and academic precedents) and external factors (e.g. accreditation, construction industry and professional bodies) that impact upon curriculum development. Identification of these factors provides a sound basis upon which further research can be propagated to enhance curriculum development and unify the current disparate approaches adopted.

This novel research highlights the lack of a cohesive agenda for curriculum development within mainstream construction management literature and based upon this, a conceptual model for future empirical analysis and testing is presented.

This chapter will discuss the case of Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Odisha, one of India’s leading skills universities that provides a hands-on, practice-oriented, experience-based, interactive, and learning-centered educational environment. This chapter will further argue that by designing a skill integrated interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary curriculum, CUTM has built employable and entrepreneurial-minded manpower in order to contribute meaningfully towards a sustainable future. The various courses address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) either directly or indirectly through a broad range of disciplines spanning from agriculture to industrial automation to governance. This chapter also highlights five social entrepreneurial initiatives under the brand name of ‘Gram Tarang’. Centurion University has established strong collaborations with industry, national and state governments, non-governmental organizations, and the local community for sustainable development, in line with SDG 17. The impact of Higher Education Institutions through their outreach activities, social entrepreneurship, and their attempts at enhancing critical thinking, creativity, and ethical values among students is also discussed. In the Indian context, these are crucial parameters that define sustainability (Agrawal & Kumar, 2018).

HyFlex course design is an effective instructional course design that combines active and transformative learning techniques. HyFlex course design encourages active learning by focusing on interactive activities, discussions, and collaboration. It also allows learners to collaborate effectively and flexibly as a community, providing peer support and opportunities for authentic dialogue and learning experiences. HyFlex course design provides the opportunity for transformative learning through its ability to offer personalized educational experiences to individuals. It facilitates greater customization of the learning experience, allowing individual learners to access tailored educational modules, offer personalized educational experiences to individuals, and effectively develop and build independent and critical thinking skills. This conceptual review, supported by implications from HyFlex literature and triangulated with experts' views undertaking a Delphi study, facilitates understanding the current state of research in HyFlex course design and future application strategies. Existing research has identified HyFlex courses as a promising means of engaging students in active learning. Allowing students to learn through flexibly predesigned mixed online and in-person experiences enables higher levels of student autonomy and supports students in taking more ownership of their learning. This approach can facilitate an understanding of how HyFlex courses can improve active learning practices in higher education. The review study findings identify the reported alignment issues and challenges, suggest four strategies and actions for policymakers and stakeholders, and provide a suggested research agenda for bridging identified research gaps.

Future research can provide evidence of the benefits of HyFlex course design and how flexible course design can address the challenges of traditional face-to-face courses, such as reduced student engagement, lack of student-centered approaches, and limited support for different learning styles. Further research can focus on strategies that can be used to promote active learning in HyFlex courses. Moreover, research can investigate how this kind of course design can equip educators with the skills and knowledge needed to design and implement effective and meaningful active learning experiences. Finally, research can assess the potential impact of HyFlex course design on student outcomes, including performance, satisfaction, and engagement.

The library and information science (LIS) profession experienced drastic changes in its job requirements due to emerging digital scholarship trends, especially the growth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As a result, there is a discrepancy between the job market and the LIS curriculum. This study addresses this gap by looking into incorporating digital scholarship into the LIS school curricula in South Africa. This may have implications for other contexts as well, because digital scholarship is becoming pervasive.

The study adopted a constructivist paradigm using a qualitative approach and a multiple case study design. Primary data using semi-structured interviews were collected from 10 academics at LIS schools and 10 librarians from both academic and special research council libraries in South Africa.

The study revealed that LIS schools did not have content on digital scholarship such as research data management (RDM), digitisation, metadata standards, open access, institutional repositories and other related content. Stakeholders who needed to be consulted included librarians, information technology (IT) and information and communication technology (ICT) specialists, computer scientists, humanists, the South Africa Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and LIS professional bodies. There were gaps and redundancies in the curriculum as far as digital scholarship was concerned. Digital scholarship presented opportunities for librarians and academics to acquire emerging jobs and to collaborate more in the digital space.

The article advances knowledge on the importance of incorporating digital scholarship in the LIS curriculum in South Africa. Furthermore, it provides guidance regarding stakeholders to be consulted when incorporating content into the LIS curriculum with the intention of closing the gaps and curbing or removing discrepancies between job requirements and graduates’ skills and competencies.

The study integrated understanding by design-Internet of Things (UbD-IoT) education with design thinking and computational thinking to plan and design an IoT course. Cross-domain application examples were employed to train students in problem-understanding, deep thinking and logical design for IoT applications.

In this study, the UbD model was integrated with design thinking and computational thinking in the planning and design of an IoT course. The examples of cross-domain applications were used to train students to understand a problem by engaging themselves in deep thinking and helping them think and design logically for an IoT application.

The UbD-IoT learning design greatly decreased students' overall cognitive load. UbD-IoT learning has a significant impact on the performance of computational thinking in problem-solving and problem-understanding. The impact of UbD-IoT learning on logical thinking and program learning cognition in students needs to be verified.

The results of this study have shown that the UbD model is effective in reducing the cognitive load of a learning course and also strengthens T-competencies in the lateral skills of computational thinking, critical problem-solving, logical thinking and creative thinking.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the strategy and innovation of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in developing the quality of education in digital era by using anthropology of education approach.

In accordance with the research purpose to demonstrate the strategy and innovation of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in developing the quality of education in the digital era using an educational anthropology approach, the method used is descriptive qualitative, which refers to data in the form of interviews obtained from the field.

The results of this research indicate that there are strategies and innovations to develop the quality of higher education at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in the digital era. These include adjusting the curriculum with the context of the era, implementing the learning process based on research and reinforcing on aspects of digital literacy among students through the innovation of the library based on digital.

This study can be considered in the process of evaluating policies related to quality reinforcing strategies and innovations at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in facing the challenges of the times. The study is only limited to tracing and analyzing strategies and innovations to reinforce education in the Faculty of Adab and Humanities and their impact on human resource development. For further research, it can be done in more detail and depth and on a larger scale.

This article draws upon evidence from a contemporary study of all-through schools (ATS) in three countries. ATS combine at least two stages of a child's education in a single establishment. Many admit children aged 3–19. Most children join the school at nursery or kindergarten level and continue there for their entire education before moving on to further or higher education. ATS are also called all-age, in some contexts, because they bring children of all ages together into the same school environment. Models of ATS vary internationally; hence, there is not one definition of an ATS. This article takes a comparative look at ATS in Iceland, Spain and Wales. The purpose of this article is to explore innovative pedagogies in ATS and to explore how far deeper learning occurs because of the integrated and inclusive model of schooling. The study focused on pedagogical practices in ATS and examined how far these innovative practices are considered by teachers to foster deeper learning outcomes.

The article draws upon a three-year comparative research project that explored pedagogy, leadership and well-being in ATS. The article investigates pedagogy with a cross-cutting focus on enquiry and deeper learning from the perspective of leaders and teachers. Using focus groups and lesson observations, a qualitative case-study approach was utilised to gather evidence about the teaching and learning processes adopted in ATS. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with school leaders. The analytical approach adopted was one of constant comparison with the prime aim of eliciting common themes across the data sets. In relation to the pedagogy theme and an exploration of pedagogical innovation, research questions included (1) How far do ATS foster innovative pedagogies?, (2) What are the leadership conditions that support innovative pedagogies? and (3) To what extent do innovative pedagogies promote deeper learning?

Within and across the three education systems under investigation, the study found that all-through schooling engages students in a positive learning environment and provides innovative pedagogical processes associated with deeper learning. The article provides evidence about how deeper learning functions in ATS from different parts of the world and reflects on the way deeper learning is promoted by leaders and teachers, resulting in deeper learning for students. The evidence from this study reinforces that opportunities for pedagogical innovation and deeper learning within ATS occur because of flatter structures, more fluidity between different phases of learning and greater cross-over of teacher expertise. The study also highlights how leadership is a critical factor in creating the conditions for collective professional practices that foster pedagogical innovations to secure deeper learning. Findings suggest that leading for deeper learning is fundamentally concerned with creating the conditions for innovative learning environments that are equitable, inclusive, diverse and cross age ranges.

Contemporary empirical studies of the deeper learning environments within ATS remain relatively rare; hence, this study provides new comparative and contemporary evidence that illuminates the nature of the pedagogical innovation and the leadership practices that support pedagogical innovation in these schools. It also highlights how professional collaboration and cross-phase working are at the heart of innovative pedagogies that support deeper learning. The study outlined in this article provides critical, new insights about pedagogical innovation and deeper learning within ATS settings.

Leveraging lobbying theory, the authors analyze responses to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) proposal suggesting the removal of state and local governmental accounting from the content tested on the uniform certified public accountant (CPA) examination. Furthermore, the authors compare the responses to a prior exam content review to place the uniqueness of the more recent response in perspective.

The authors examine 181 comment letters obtained from the AICPA website. In addition, the relative concentration of governmental entities across the USA is studied for correlation with the response rate.

Consistent with lobbying theory, the authors find that participating governmental entities overwhelmingly argued for the retention of governmental accounting. In contrast, most other groups of respondents (accounting firms, state societies, etc.) had at least one letter that agrees with the removal of the content.

While the letter writers appear to be successful in retaining the governmental accounting content on the CPA exam, the majority of the detailed content has been placed within a specialized area on the new version of the CPA exam, expected to be deployed in 2024. This means that fewer CPA candidates will be exposed to governmental accounting than under the current regime. It has implications for governmental units seeking qualified candidates to fill their staffing needs especially as fewer universities offer governmental accounting courses.

This study aims to examine entry-level PhD students’ experiences with participating in Critical Friends, a peer review protocol, used to support learning the threshold concept of literature review. It also sought to determine if, and how, students used the peer review protocol electively during their first year of doctoral study.

The authors used a sequential, QUAL-qual mixed-method design to guide the study. Reflective learning journals, surveys and interviews were collected from three cohorts of PhD students (N = 18).

Thematic analysis revealed that giving and receiving writing critique was uncomfortable for these novice peer reviewers and many described emotional disciplining associated with vulnerability. Critical Friends offered a safe space to begin mastery of the literature review and begin transforming new researcher and writer identities. While Critical Friends was a positive experience for students, they struggled implementing the protocol on their own following the course.

These findings support the need for faculty to embed peer review opportunities in courses during the first year to facilitate role modeling and mentoring. The findings also demonstrate the need to engage students with peer review early in the program to increase comfort, cultivate student resiliency for accepting critical feedback and build capacity for students to learn with and from others.

This paper advocates for the use of peer review practices early in the doctoral study to promote the development of researcher identity and positioning within the research community.