Search results

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.

New technologies have been seen as the way forward in education, and latched onto as a way of communicating with students at a distance. This has been matched by management expectations of generating income from non‐traditional students, or those unable to attend class. Explores some of the practical and policy “reality gaps” when implementing on‐line learning. Focuses on an evaluation of student feedback when a traditional seminar was replaced by an on‐line learning experience in a university committed to widening participation. Concludes by suggesting ways in which those engaged with curriculum development and using communication and information technology can bridge these gaps.

It is no coincidence that the universities were pioneers of the internet, for the medium lends itself uniquely well to academic debate and collaboration. We call this process of sharing ideas in cyberspace “virtual learning”, and the main goal of any such community is to create a shared understanding that will inspire research and development. This paper describes trends and issues in creating a Virtual Learning Community in systems engineering, drawing upon the results of an European ALFA‐funded project named COSME.

This paper aims to provide insights into the internationalization strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Latin America.

This study is based on information from eight leading Latin American private universities. The data were obtained from official sources such as institutional communications and university administrators.

The authors identify two main issues that HEIs should consider while responding to the pandemic. First, greater attention and resource allocation to the universities' main local stakeholders can affect traditional internationalization activities. Second, a focus on revitalizing foreign partnerships and strengthening “virtual internationalization” can help maintain and eventually increase international presence.

While this study analyses how these Latin American HEIs responded during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important to conduct follow-up studies to shed light on how HEIs are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis as it continues to unfold.

This study is based on unique information gathered from leading private, not-for-profit HEIs in Latin America, which, contrary to state-owned HEIs or other private institutions in developed economies, have exhibited different means and conditions to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Finally, the authors contribute to the literature on the internationalization of HEIs by discussing the role of a significant disruptive event on the internationalization of higher education and, particularly, business schools.

Este artículo discute las respuestas estratégicas de internacionalización frente a la pandemia del COVID-19 implementadas por Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) en América Latina.

Este estudio se basa en información de ocho universidades privadas líderes en América Latina. La información fue obtenida de fuentes oficiales tales como comunicados institucionales y autoridades.

Identificamos dos temas principales que las IES deben considerar mientras responden al COVID-19. Primero, una mayor atención y reubicación de recursos hacia los principales grupos de interés local puede afectar las actividades tradicionales de internacionalización. Segundo, revitalizar las alianzas extranjeras y fortalecer la “internacionalización virtual” puede ayudar a mantener y eventualmente incrementar la presencia internacional.

Si bien este estudio analiza cómo un grupo de IES Latinoamericanas respondieron durante las etapas iniciales del COVID-19, es importante continuar analizando cómo las IES se siguen adaptando a medida que la crisis COVID-19 avanza.

Este estudio se basa en datos únicos obtenidos de IES privadas, sin fines de lucro, y líderes en América Latina que, al contrario de las universidades públicas u otras IES en economías desarrolladas, exhiben medios y condiciones diferentes para responder a la expansión del coronavirus. Finalmente, este trabajo contribuye a la literatura sobre internacionalización de IES mediante la discusión del rol de un evento disruptivo de escala mundial en la internacionalización de universidades y, particularmente, escuelas de negocios.

The emergence of the network society has major consequences for the role played by environmental scientists. They are assumed to be able to contribute to new institutional arrangements for collective action. Through deliberations and organised discourses, environmental scientists are expected to help stakeholders to define common ground for action and the sharing of individual problem solving capacities. This paper discusses the consequences of changes in the nature of decision‐making in the area of sustainability for the concepts and instruments to be used. As a new learning context the policy laboratory is introduced. Special attention is given to three major types of instruments: gaming, interactive methods and group decision support systems.

This paper aims to explore the concept of Winnicott's intermediate space as a method of understanding the role of learning spaces in the development of technology‐enhanced educational organisations.

The approach takes the form of a comparative analysis of interaction within face‐to‐face and online learning environments. Data were collected from two cohorts of students, audio recordings of face‐to‐face seminars were made, and all of the discussion boards were analysed. The paper explores whether online discussion groups can be said, in Winncottian terms, to provide a “good enough” environment. The analysis focuses on introductory discussions and uses Sacks's concept of false‐firsts to describe the ways in which preliminary issues are dealt with in face‐to‐face seminars, and proceeds to examine how these occur in online environments.

The findings suggest a pedagogical basis to consider the learner's personal need for connection between experiences, imaginations and the real world. From the analysis, online discussion environments can be said to encourage learning in an intermediate space where students can, independently of the tutor, engage in the educational experience at hand.

The concept of intermediate space has value as a method of conceptualising more open educational environments, both virtual and physical. Furthermore, it has the potential to provide a framework within which emerging issues of space, place, and the learner can be considered.

During oral exams at the German distance learning university, we noticed that students fear that they will be faced with questions that they have not anticipated. In our opinion, this is mainly because students have no chance to train and thereby gather positive experiences with exam situations as they are distributed all over Germany and thus it is difficult for them to meet each other. In this paper, we present a design space of 23 learning gadgets, i.e. tools that support collaborative learning, to allow collaborative exam preparation in peer‐based distributed student groups. We discuss this design space according to eight dimensions of the concept of FLOW (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991) that constitutes enjoyable situations. Two of the learning gadgets were implemented and integrated in the CURE environment, a web‐based collaborative learning platform that was developed to support different collaborative learning scenarios, e.g. collaborative exercises or virtual seminars. We discuss these learning gadgets in more detail and show how they promise an enjoyable collaborative exam preparation.

The 17th ELAG (European Library Automation Group) Library Systems Seminar took place at Graz, Austria from 14 to 16 April 1993. The theme ‘The Virtual Library’ attracted 110 members from more than 20 European countries. Compared with last year 20 per cent more delegates attended, compared with two years ago the growth was 80 per cent. Most of the members, especially the newcomers, were pleased with the amount of information on practical experience and accurate knowledge exchanged during the meeting. The sudden expansion did not at all harm the enthusiasm and activity of the members. The novices quickly adapted to the particularities of ELAG's organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the current and potential value of the European Virtual Seminar on Sustainable Development (EVS) as an opportunity for professional development in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for teaching staff at university level.

The paper presents and reflects on the specific case of EVS, including its competence-based approach and educational staff roles. Particular attention is paid to the development of ESD competences of tutors through participation in EVS, based on the UNECE (2011) competence framework and supported by the results from a small-scale questionnaire. Three major aspects of EVS as a professional opportunity in ESD are elaborated: EVS as an on-the-job training opportunity, EVS as an international staff mobility opportunity and EVS as an active learning and innovation community.

EVS is an effective opportunity for developing a range of ESD competences, especially for junior university staff. The contribution of EVS to professional development in ESD currently extends to a partnership of ten universities from across Europe, but given its features, the EVS approach has the potential to be adopted at a much larger scale. Possible limitations in scaling up are rigid rules for integration of new courses in curricula and the need to form new EVS-like partnerships.

This case study of EVS shows that Web-based, internationally networked courses with a pedagogical approach and design focused on ESD have a large potential in providing effective opportunities for the development of teachers’ ESD competences, but to realize this potential, active uptake of the approach by the existing networks for ESD in higher education is needed.

The paper presents a promising option to address the observed lack of opportunities within university curricula to acquire and practice ESD competences for teaching staff.

Distance universities are of great importance for establishing sustainability literacy, as they operate as multipliers for thousands of students. However, despite several advantages of e-learning environments compared to traditional class-teaching, there are still challenges regarding suitable e-learning tools and didactical models. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of several e-learning tools on students’ knowledge and skills growth and to compare two learning paths, synchronous vs asynchronous, exploring how each affects the level of students’ knowledge achievement and skills acquisition.

The empirical analysis is based on an online course “Participatory processes in environmental politics”. International MSc and PhD students who enrolled in the course were from FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany) and Aberta University (Portugal). The course was designed as the flipped classroom, applying different e-learning tools and activities, some synchronous and others asynchronous. A pre- and post-evaluation questionnaire was applied to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills. Descriptive statistical analyses were carried out on this data.

Results showed that in the synchronous group, knowledge about theoretical approaches to citizen participation and sustainable environmental governance improved to a greater extent, whereas the asynchronous group showed greater improvement in nearly all skills related to intercultural communication and e-learning. Also, in the synchronous path, students enhanced their knowledge on “research application” to a greater extent.

Evaluating the effectiveness of different e-learning tools on students’ sustainability knowledge and information and communication technologies skills is a fundamental issue. The study discusses these issues, contributing to enhancing the use of adequate and grounded e-learning models on sustainable development in higher education.