Educators who work with playful approaches in teaching often use methods inspired by art-based learning. The aim of the study was, therefore, to investigate how pedagogics of art-based learning can contribute to the pedagogics of playful learning in a way that neither compromises essential values of art, nor the values of play. The study included…

Sustainability science calls for new methodologies and collaborations that go beyond disciplinary boundaries. This points to a new role for sustainability science communication. Here, we explore how science communication can employ aesthetic formats (e.g., storytelling, performance, artistic installations) to promote transdisciplinary…

The study presented here identifies robust and time-invariant features that characterise dynamic and innovative research environments. It takes as its point of departure the results of an empirical study conducted in 2002 which identified the common characteristics of 15 dynamic and innovative public research environments, and focusses on their…

Changes, improvements and innovations in university organisations regularly end up in sluggish processes and get stuck 'somewhere' in the organisation. It is argued that cooperation and mutual influencing of work processes between academic and professional employees of different departments can have a positive effect on these innovations. Because…

Within both society and education, economic and social entrepreneurship is considered to be of great importance. However, there appear to exist different and contradictory principles regarding the essence of this entrepreneurship. On the one hand, entrepreneurship is associated with economical concepts like competition, individual achievement and…

In December 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Ecorys UK to undertake a research project: Future opportunities for education technology in England. The project aimed to provide insights to the future of the EdTech market in England, considering likely developments in digital technology and education policy. This report presents the…

The purpose of this study is to determine the direction of causality between the quality of education and technological development for the selected Northern European countries over the period 2006-2017. To this end, we employ the bootstrap panel causality test. The findings of our study indicate that the quality of education leads to changes in…

Since its establishment in 1974, Aalborg University has aimed to deliver cutting-edge research and innovative practices in engineering education. However, increasing complexity related to rapid developments in digitalization and emerging societal challenges offer new opportunities, requirements, and expectations across disciplines for educational…

Scientific research is usually presented as the driver that provides progress and meaning to the academic ecosystem. Higher education on the other hand, is typically imagined as something that naturally follows scientific research. In the academic ecosystem, education often retains a more marginalized position than scientific research and in many…

This paper focuses on Denmark's Master of Public Governance and its assessments and lessons learned. Denmark is seen to have an efficient economy and public sector, a digitalized public service delivery system, and an advanced work-life balance. The Danish government invested substantial resources into developing a Master of Public Governance…

This paper reviews two main historical approaches to creativity: the Romanticist approach, based on the culture of the irrational, and the Enlightenment approach, based on the culture of the objective. It defends a paradigm of creativity as a sum of rich semiotic systems that form the basis of distributed knowledge and learning, reviews historical…

Shifting from a traditional lecture-based teaching approach to a student-centred approach, such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL), demands significant changes in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). It requires changes for teachers, students, institutional management, and even the physical learning environment. Once a university is not designed…

This paper examines the potential pitfalls for academic research associated with goal displacements in the implementation of goals and indicators of research commercialization. We ask why patenting has come to serve as the key policy indicator of innovative capacity and what consequences this has for the organization of academic research. To…

Changing learning objectives was the beginning of rethinking the pedagogical frame of my courses within a traditional law study program. The objectives were changed in order to aim for students becoming better at reflecting on the curriculum. I chose to work within a workshop frame incorporating some of the Aalborg PBL principles. The two courses…

Higher education systems in Denmark and Poland are interesting not only due to their distinct stages of historical development, but mainly due to their size and complexity resulting in a particular policy. The main challenges faced by higher education and their corresponding policy directions have been grouped into the following categories: (1)…