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Higher education has recently experienced an advancement in teaching and learning methods. Academics are experimenting with innovative techniques in using e-learning due to the global pandemic which has given a new dimension to classroom teaching. Hybrid teaching is becoming the new norm for classroom teaching which includes both face-to-face and online modes. Smart gadgets and technology are being used to design classroom delivery, assessment, and evaluation of students. The use of innovative teaching and learning methods becomes crucial to motivate and teach a spirit of learning. The development in the information and communication technologies (ICTs) sector has led to knowledge-intensive, interdependent and internationalized societies exploring and experimenting with opportunities for the design and delivery of education. ICTs are opening up new horizons to facilitate the exchange of creativity and intercultural dialogue. This book volume highlights case studies and innovative teaching methods used by academics across the globe. It talks about how teaching staff should stimulate students’ active engagement in their own learning processes leading to transformative student learning. It discusses the in-class approach of implementing high-quality project-based learning activities that integrate learning in an authentic real-world manner. Chapters are dedicated to experiential learning which encourages critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills in students which is the essence of innovative teaching-learning methods. Academics are applying these methods to ensure that the student learning process is free flowing and stimulates students toward role-playing and mastering problem-based learning.

In this chapter we present a case study about a bottom-up approach in creating the strategy and action plan for the mainstream implementation of blended learning in one Faculty at a higher education institution in Croatia, and the implications this has on the access and retention of students from equity groups. In previous research the target groups were identified, and the next step was to investigate the specific needs of those groups of students, focusing on creating an effective learning environment. Taking an evidence-informed approach, institutional experts, management and staff developed a strategic framework, covering ICT support, the E-learning system and curriculum development to meet the specific needs of these students. One of the very important goals of mainstreaming widening participation at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) is to create an effective learning environment for all students. E-learning is recognized as an important tool in making learning and education more accessible to all students at the FOI. The FOI's Strategy for E-learning contributes to this objective and since FOI is one of the leading faculties in the implementation of E-learning at the University of Zagreb, FOI's approach to E-learning is exemplary within the institution, and it has been taken into account when University of Zageb Strategy was being developed and implemented.

As background information, the authors describe the Service Leadership Initiative (SLI), which provided pump-priming funding for government-funded universities in Hong Kong to develop educational programmes preparing students to become service leaders. The universities were expected to create opportunities for students to develop requisite task competencies, character strengths and caring dispositions through experiential learning. The authors also describe how, prior to the SLI, Lingnan University (LU) had already been building networks and systems for service-learning projects to benefit the community while furthering academic development, and this platform was helpful for service leadership development.

In the core of this chapter, the authors explain how faculty and staff members at LU have designed, structured and supported course embedded service-learning projects that were undertaken by teams of undergraduate students as vehicles for developing their attributes as emerging service leaders.

Based on our prior research into students’ accounts of negative and positive experiences, the authors identify and explain some unfavourable and favourable contextual factors for undergraduates’ development as emerging service leaders. The favourable factors are based on three preconditions: genuine service leadership responsibilities; community partner representatives as co-educators; and the students’ own readiness to practice as service leaders (as opposed to learning passively).

Based on students’ descriptions, the authors provide illustrations of how students practiced ten service leadership attributes in the context of service-learning projects conducted at local kindergartens, and about the further self-developmental needs they identified. This chapter concludes with the observation that the discrete service leadership attributes the authors identified appear in practice to be mutually supporting.

Purpose – Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) developed learning communities incorporating a first year seminar to serve all entering students in their first semesters of university study to increase student academic achievement and persistence.

Methodology/approach – The first year seminars are taught by an instructional team of faculty member, academic advisor, student mentor, and librarian. There is an instructional template for the more than 150 sections of the seminar taught each fall across – academic units rather than a common syllabus. The seminar is often coupled with writing, communication, psychology, or other general education course with students in a cohort group learning together across courses.

Findings – Program evaluation results consistently show a 9% positive impact on retention when comparing student outcomes for participants vs. nonparticipants, controlling for background characteristics.

Research limitations/implications – This structured approach serving nearly all entering students as a required course reinforces the importance of mandating interventions on a large scale, in a context of planning and improvement.

Practical implications – The institution developed the program over 20 years, and revisions to the program have been based on program evaluation. Careful attention to experiences before the learning communities (orientation programs in the summer and bridge programs just before the beginning of the academic year) and after the learning communities when the students move to their second semesters of study is critical.

Social implications – Approximately half the students in the learning communities are first generation college students and approximately half are low income students. This intervention has been central to the university's context of widening participation in higher education.

Lifelong learning has come to involve a variety of learning experiences. These include conventional campus teaching, workplace open learning, modular flexible learning programmes, correspondence‐based distance learning courses, and most recently Web or multimedia‐based courseware. This paper considers the use of multimedia environments for open, flexible and distance education, in particular a learning environment known as the “Virtual University” as part of a process of lifelong learning. A comparison of different modes of learning is made. The Virtual University consists of virtual lectures, virtual seminars, virtual tutorials and virtual exams. It has a number of advantages over both formal lectures and conventional open learning materials, such as interactivity, adaptation, simulation, demonstration and integration. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Virtual University, and the results indicate an enhancement of the overall learning experience.

The value of reflective writing assignments as learning tools for business students has been well-established. While the management education literature includes numerous examples of such assignments that are based on Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model, many of them engage only the first two phases of the model. When students do not move through the complete model, they are less likely to take what they learn from the classroom to the workplace. This article describes a graduate learning journal assignment that incorporates all phases of Kolb’s model. The assignment’s success in creating a bridge between simply learning about leadership and actually putting leadership knowledge into practice is grounded in three learning theories.

Researchers have made significant progress in understanding human cognitive learning styles, which refer typically to a single capability or preference that possibly enhances learning in some situations and in others hinders learning. Sums up further research should be encouraged to identify the students to become more successful in online courses in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the need for academic libraries to demonstrate and increase their impact of student learning and success. It highlights the data problems present in existing library value correlation research and suggests a pathway to surmounting existing data obstacles. The paper advocates the integration of libraries into institutional learning analytics systems to gain access to more granular student learning and success data. It also suggests using library-infused learning analytics data to discover and act upon new linkages that may reveal library value in an institutional context.

The paper describes a pattern pervasive in existing academic library value correlation research and identifies major data obstacles to future research in this vein. The paper advocates learning analytics as one route to access more usable and revealing data. It also acknowledges several challenges to the suggested approach.

This paper describes learning analytics as it may apply to and support correlation research on academic library value. While this paper advocates exploring the integration of library data and institutional data via learning analytics initiatives, it also describes four challenges to this approach including librarian concerns related to the use of individual level data, the tension between claims of correlation and causation in library value research, the need to develop interoperability standards for library data and organizational readiness and learning analytics maturity issues.

This paper outlines a path forward for academic library value research that may otherwise be stymied by existing data difficulties.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) in Macao.

A structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 135 undergraduate students at the Institute For Tourism Studies, Macao, and obtained scores for the four learning styles: activist, theorist, reflector, and pragmatist.

The findings indicated that students scored strong preferences in activist and reflector and attained moderate preferences in theorist and pragmatist. The findings also highlighted the differences in learning styles with respect to students' gender, programme, and the relationship with academic results.

The main implications of these findings are that the use of Learning Styles Questionnaire may help individual learners to identify their learning behaviours and determine their skills acquisition for industry.

This study identifies the importance of the use of Learning Styles Questionnaire and provides suggestions for teaching and learning in higher education.

In the light of the growing emphasis on independent learning and non‐technical skills in education and employment, the study aims to examine the relevance of learning style to student self‐assessment skill.

A sample of first‐year undergraduate students was asked to provide self‐assessed marks for their coursework and to complete measures of learning style. Tutors' marks for student coursework were also gathered.

Results revealed a positive correlation between a deep approach to learning and self‐assessment skill, demonstrating the relevance of learning style to self‐assessment skill. A negative correlation between student‐estimated mark and a surface approach suggested that students are sensitive to the demand characteristics of assessments and are aware of how these correspond to their preferred learning style. Both strategic and deep approaches to learning correlated positively with tutor mark, as is commonly reported.

It is suggested that the study provides some insight into the composition of self‐assessment skill and implications for pedagogical practice are considered.