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The lessons of quality management apply to services as well as tangible goods. Awareness also has been increasing that services, like tangible goods, can be guaranteed as a means of implementing a total quality management (TQM) orientation in the organization. While higher education has been exploring some of the tenents of TQM, it has been slow to embrace the power of service guarantees. In this conceptual article we present a system of service guarantees designed to foster a TQM orientation in higher education. We propose that institutions consider a system of guarantees aimed at three primary constituent groups – students, faculty, and employers – over the short, medium and long term. The rationale and implications of the guarantee system are explored, and possible impediments are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the influence of individual learning styles on the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR)-based learning in structural engineering. There has been a lack of research examining the correlation between learning efficiency and learning style, particularly in the context of quantitatively assessing the efficacy of AR in structural engineering education.

Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), a model that emphasizes learning through experience, students from the construction management department are assigned four learning styles (converging, assimilating, diverging and accommodating). Performance data were gathered, appraised, and compared through the three dimensions from the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey model across four categories of Kolb’s learning styles in both text-graph (TG)-based and AR-based learning settings.

The findings indicate that AR-based materials positively impact structural engineering education by enhancing overall learning performance more than TG-based materials. It is also found that the learning style has a profound influence on learning effectiveness, with AR technology markedly improving the information retrieval processes, particularly for converging and assimilating learners, then diverging learners, with a less significant impact on accommodating learners.

These results corroborate prior research analyzing learners' outcomes with hypermedia and informational learning systems. It was found that learners with an “abstract” approach (convergers and assimilators) outperform those with a “concrete” approach (divergers and accommodators). This research emphasizes the importance of considering learning styles before integrating technologies into civil engineering education, thereby assisting software developers and educational institutions in creating more effective teaching materials tailored to specific learning styles.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of an organization's learning orientation in developing alliance relationships.

The paper is based on research conducted on organizations involved in alliances as well as practical evidence.

The paper finds that alliance managers need to focus on developing learning capabilities within their organizations to achieve superior alliance performance.

The paper has practical implications for managers involved in alliances as it shows the importance of an organization focusing on learning. With the relatively small number of alliance relationships that succeed, it is important that managers harness their organization's learning potential in the context of an alliance.

The paper is unique as it highlights the importance of an organization's learning orientation in an alliance context.

This study aims to examine the instructional preferences exhibited by students in an Australian and a Zimbabwean setting and how cultural conditioning can reflect in the instructional design choice and the effect on the learning process.

Using graphical and textual presentations of an experiment with three instructional designs and 217 undergraduate students, this study empirically examines student understanding of financial accounting in the two countries. Students’ performance scores and reported mental effort ratings were used to determine the instructional preference.

The findings of this comparative study show that Australian accounting students prefer graph and text designs aligned with a low power distance, (PD) while Zimbabwean students prefer graph and text designs associated with a high PD. Deep-rooted cultural values and modes of thinking need to be considered in the learning processes.

The sample used in this study came from first-year undergraduate students studying introductory accounting at two different universities from two different countries (Australia and Zimbabwe). The results may not be generalisable to other universities, although similar patterns were found to be consistent with students’ cultural orientations. In addition, there may be other factors that motivate students’ learning and affect their performance, and those should therefore be considered.

The results suggest that students learning in different cultural contexts learn better with different instructional formats, requiring educators to consider different formats of instructional material.

This study is the first to offer accounting educators insights on one major dimension of cultural variation, using instructional material designed according to cognitive load theory principles in a cross-cultural context.

Engaging students in an active, self-directed approach to learning about leadership is best accomplished through personalized self-awareness, reflection, and connection to real-time, practical applications/examples through experiential learning. This is especially challenging for students whose cultural backgrounds, language, and/or educational preparation/training predispose them to more passively “receive knowledge” in an unquestioning, unexamined manner, without critical thinking. At the University of Greenwich Business School, a final year course has been re-imagined as personalized leadership development integrated with learning technology. Our teaching team is taking advantage of an interactive virtual simulation (vLeader) to engage Chinese students who otherwise might not participate fully in the expected manner of a Westernized learning environment. This chapter outlines our integrated approach to support and engage these students in learning outcomes for continuing success in their lives, careers, and leadership opportunities.

Not enough course‐centred training results in long‐term application of learning upon the return to work. Much can be done during a training course to assist the learning transfer process. Practical hints and tips are offered that will help learners overcome what are too often insurmountable barriers to implementing learning within the workplace.

Interest and investment in leadership development continues to grow at a considerable pace, where organizations view it as an important source of competitive advantage. Over the years research into leadership has moved from concerns with supervisory leadership (leadership in the organization) to strategic leadership (leadership of the organization). With the creation of what have been termed the “new leadership” theories, from the 1980s onwards we have had the promotion of concepts such as transformational, charismatic and visionary leadership.

Purpose – To provide pre-service and in-service teachers with a framework for using formative assessments to inform their literacy instructional practices.

Design/methodology/approach – Assessment as inquiry is a cyclical problem-solving stance that can be applied to instructional decision making in the classroom.

Findings – Teachers are urged to keep six design features in mind when creating formative assessments and analyzing the data gathered from them.

Practical Implications – This chapter is a helpful resource for teachers when evaluating their uses and analysis of classroom literacy assessments.

Originality/value – Teachers who apply the information in the chapter will gain a deeper understanding of each student's developing levels of literacy knowledge, skills, strategies, and dispositions. This information will facilitate a teacher's ability to better meet the needs of all students in his or her classroom.

This study identified salient challenges related to future preference for e-learning of undergraduates during closure of institutions of higher learning due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and put forth suggestions to overcome challenges of e-learning for present and future crises.

Undergraduates were drawn from two universities in Malaysia who normally attend conventional classroom learning. Underpinned by the literature, the challenges and future preference for e-learning were operationalised into statements. Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire hosted on Google Forms and were analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and STATA statistical software.

The hierarchical multiple linear regression results showed that the salient challenges related to undergraduates' future preference for e-learning, in descending order, were learning outcomes, followed by disadvantages (negatively) and discipline. Moreover, there were nuanced gender differences on the relative importance of salient challenges related to future preference for e-learning.

Because the literature on e-learning during the closure of institutions of learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving, some salient challenges may not be captured in this study. Next, this survey was carried out in July 2020 when all courses were conducted using one hundred per cent e-learning for the first time. Hence, future replication studies may produce different results. Lastly, findings are not generalisable to other contexts as the salient challenges may be unique to the Malaysian context.

Concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address these salient challenges will shift e-learning in higher education closer to a panacea during present and future crises.

The sudden and involuntary switch from face-to-face learning to e-learning during the closure of institutions of higher learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided opportunity to research the salient challenges encountered by undergraduates and to overcome these salient challenges.

The purpose of this article is to explore the integrated processes of action learning, entrepreneurial learning and new venture creation by students and graduates in the creative industries by addressing two questions: How do action learning and entrepreneurial learning connect with new venture creation in the context of the creative industries? How does learning influence the types of creative enterprises developed by students?

The article is based around the case of the Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education (SPEED) project which ran in 13 higher education institutes (HEIs) in the UK between 2006 and 2008. This provided an innovative, action‐learning based route, enabling students to create new business ventures as self‐started work experience. The article uses the case to develop theoretical perspectives on creative entrepreneurship and action learning.

The article draws lessons from the experience of the SPEED programme as an innovative multi‐HEI project, and develops a conceptual model of creative entrepreneurship with illustrative cases. Transferable insights and a model of entrepreneurial action learning illustrate connections between venture formation and “pull” learning.

It is increasingly clear that graduate self‐employment and entrepreneurship must make an essential contribution to educational and economic development in the post‐recessionary economic era, but this is problematic, especially in the creative industries. Recommendations for development based on these models and practices are proposed for educators and policy‐makers.

The article connects action learning with theories of new venture creation and entrepreneurial learning. It develops critical insights and proposes conceptual models of creative enterprise and “pull” learning in venture creation.