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Decolonizing involves dismantling deeply entrenched colonial systems of knowledge and power by disrupting colonial patterns of thought, questioning how teaching and learning occurs, and critiquing the colonial practices that are merged into the fabric of higher and adult education. Within this process, scholars and practitioners engage in interrogating teaching and learning approaches and developing a critical consciousness regarding what knowledge is valued and how this value is acquired. Within higher and adult education, limited research has explicitly considered the ways in which conceptions of andragogy and its accompanying instructional approaches might be deconstructed within the context of decolonization. The purpose of this chapter is to deconstruct and decolonize foundational higher and adult learning conceptual and theoretical frameworks that are routinely embedded within courses and programs. The conceptual and theoretical frameworks selected and analyzed include self-directed learning, transformative learning, and action learning as conventional examples of individual and collective instructional approaches employed within higher and adult learning settings. Maōri scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith's (2012) nine characteristics of theory that contribute to colonizing discourses and 25 Indigenous projects/principles are employed as the lenses that frame this analysis. These lenses include social science and methodological approaches and strategies that decolonize populations and promote Indigenous epistemologies.

March 30, 2020 is a day of qualitative changes in the Lithuanian education system. This day in history – at least in the history of education – will record the day when mass distance learning began in the entire Lithuanian education system. All educational activities from kindergarten to higher and adult education were organized at a distance. In fact, the idea of distance learning was not so new in Lithuania. The first steps in developing a distance learning system in Lithuania were taken 25 years ago, but before the pandemic, it was more the exception than the norm and, of course, it had never been global. But in Spring 2020, all educational institutions (in general education during 2 weeks, in higher – even only during 2–3 days) were transformed from contact to distance learning. From a few-month perspective, it can be said that, despite all the circumstances, this transformation has been quite successful. In order to better understand the reasons for this quite sufficiently successful transition, it would be worthwhile to briefly review the organization of distance learning in Lithuania until the 2020 pandemic.

This chapter provides an innovative way to introduce a series of managerial assignments that will allow students to take an example of a real company that interests them and answer questions designated by the instructor. The assignments are individualized to let students choose their area of interest and apply accounting concepts. At the same time, the instructor formulates questions for students to answer based on the materials covered. This chapter also provides an implementation process and student feedback.

This chapter analyses the current situation and perceptions of quality assurance (QA) in adult education (AE) in Latvia. In the Latvian context, QA in AE is a challenge. According to recent studies, QA should have a formative character in order to facilitate targeted benefits for adult learners, whereas in practice AE in Latvia is more focussed on the institutional perspective rather than the individual’s needs and wishes. This is in contrast with the humanistic approach to adult learning and andragogy principles, which emphasise learner-centred education. The aim of the chapter is to research opportunities for improving the QA process in AE in Latvia in order to increase personal benefits for an individual. The systematic review of scholarly papers, monographs, scientific reports on QA in AE conducted in Latvia in the twenty-first century indicated a contradiction between the theoretical concepts applied to AE in Latvia and the implementation of the QA process in practice. This chapter contributes to the overall understanding of the terminology used in AE in the country, analyses the prevailing concepts and elaborates conclusions for QA improvements based on humanistic pedagogy principles.

Challenge-based learning (CBL) is a trending educational concept in engineering education. The literature suggests that there is a growing variety in CBL implementations, stemming from the flexible and abstract definition of CBL that is shaped by teachers' perceptions. The chapter discusses how the CBL concept has been developed at Eindhoven University of Technology and describes the development and use of two educational resources aimed to facilitate conceptualization, design, and research of CBL for curriculum designers and teachers. The first resource is a set of CBL design principles for framing the variety of CBL and providing teachers with advice about how to develop CBL courses within an overall CBL curriculum. The second resource is a curriculum-mapping instrument called the CBL compass, which aims at mapping CBL initiatives and identifying gaps, overlaps, and misalignments in CBL implementation at a curriculum level. Both CBL design principles and the CBL compass have been developed by combining insights from theory and practical examples of CBL at TU/e into a higher order model of vision, teaching and learning, and support. We discuss the two educational instruments and showcase their application in the Eindhoven Engineering Education (E³) program, and we discuss preliminary findings and insights. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future practice and research.

Challenge-based learning (CBL), the experiential learning and pedagogical approach through which learners (students, instructors, companies, stakeholders, communities) are actively involved in designing a sustainable solution for a real-world problem, is gaining momentum in various higher education institutions around the world. Despite this multiplication of learning initiatives, evaluation in CBL is still an overlooked topic both by scholars and practitioners. Moreover, assessment is closely linked to the teaching and learning process and can also influence the evolution of the challenge because it is directly involved in the feedback, teamwork, and relationship between students, instructors, challenge providers, and stakeholders. Explaining why assessment is so important in CBL is one of the objectives of this chapter. Therefore, in line with the spirit of the handbook, the aim of this chapter is also to inspire, and give suggestions and tools for novel ways of assessing the learning process in CBL.

Through a challenge launched by the University of Trento, involving a local nonprofit integrative health fund, we understood the importance to integrate the formative with the summative assessment, to evaluate not only the final results but also the learning process. We experienced the fundamentals and the difficulties of self-directed learning through which students are called to codesign their learning experience, monitor teamwork, and assess their progress. Support and guidance from instructors are required to be successful in this cultural shift through which teachers are no more traditional professors and students are finally the experts in the challenge.

This chapter provides an introduction to how the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach is being used by colleges and universities around the world to improve faculty and institutional development and to strengthen the interconnections between teaching, learning, and research. This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of all the chapters in the volume, which present a range of perspectives, case studies, and empirical research on how IBL is being used across a range of courses across a range of institutions to enhance faculty and institutional development. This chapter argues that the IBL approach has great potential to enhance and transform teaching and learning. Given the growing demands placed on education to meet a diverse range of complex political, economic, and social problems and personal needs, this chapter argues that education should be a place where lifelong and lifewide learning is cultivated and where self-directed learning is nurtured. To that end, this chapter argues that IBL helps cultivate a learning environment that is more meaningful, responsive, integrated, and purposeful.

This chapter offers an insight into library provision and user engagement at a Secure College in Northern Ireland. It draws on findings from doctoral research carried out by Finlay (2020) which examined the role of the library in the learning experiences of people in prison. The case study described in this chapter took a multi-method qualitative approach to exploring engagement with the space, resources and informal learning programmes offered by the library. Acknowledging the many roles and functions of a prison library, this chapter focuses particularly on its relationship to formal and informal prisoner education. The strong educational ethos of Hydebank Wood College made it an ideal setting to explore the transformative educational possibilities of a well-managed and well-funded library. Following a description of the library and its services, the chapter will consider first steps into learning, informal and self-directed learning opportunities, library services in a divided society, and the importance of interpersonal relationships.

Since the completion of this doctoral research, a newly renovated Learning and Skills Centre has opened at Hydebank Wood College. This chapter includes findings from recent interviews with staff members which reveal the impetus for these changes and how the redesign of the library space has impacted upon the learning experiences of both the women and young men held at Hydebank. Taken alongside the doctoral findings, this discussion helps to show how the library space is valued within the institution and the significant role played by the library and library staff in the lives of incarcerated individuals.

Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, working in partnership with leading health science centers in Toronto, Ontario, has developed a unique second-degree entry Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program called the Scholar Practitioner Program. This program is a response to the increasing demand for nursing programs which builds on prior university learning.

The program uses an educational model based on narrative inquiry and cognitive apprentice pedagogies. Narrative inquiry pedagogy is the overarching philosophical framework of the program, which embraces values that connect teachers and learners. A spirit of inquiry is cultivated in every student and a research culture embedded in the student’s practice.

The six-semester two-year full-time program occurs in a learner-driven environment which shapes how specific semester program objectives are met. A strong emphasis is placed on experiential learning within the Toronto-based academic health sciences centers.

A continuous interactive process involving teachers and learners encourages self-directed learning and participant accountability. Application of knowledge and skills in a professional, caring, and holistic manner is expected. This type of undergraduate learning environment which includes immersion in the employment milieu enables the future scholar practitioner to be relevant in the evolving profession of nursing.