This paper will detail three projects which focussed on enhancing online learning at a large Australian distance education University within a School of Business, School of Health and School of Education. Each project had special funding and took quite distinctive project management approaches, which reflect the desire to embed innovation and…

This volume begins with an essay by Noelle McAfee, a contributor who is familiar to readers of Higher Education Exchange (HEX). She reiterates Mathews' argument regarding the disconnect between higher education's sense of engagement and the public's sense of engagement, and suggests a way around the epistemological conundrum of "knowledge…

In the foreword and preface to this lecture Margaret Lindsey, Columbia University Teachers College, reviews the contributions of Florence B. Stratemeyer to the field of student teaching, and Normand R. Bernier, University of Wisconsin, sketches the social and political turmoil forming the context for ferment in teacher education. The three parts…

The U.S. public has an intense, contradictory attitude toward higher education. On one hand, they expect universities to be "relevant," and on the other hand, they like them to offer "reflective" environments. A formerly little-acknowledged world, academe is suddenly on perpetual display. However, there are indications that it is reclaiming its…

In its second decade of education reform and its third cycle of national ICT master plans, Thailand struggles to transform its aspirations into practice. This paper chronicles three decades of Thailand's ICT national plans and their relation to education reform. It also discusses the effect of global trends, Asian cultures, and Thai cultures on…

The development of digital information literacy (DIL) has been slow in comparison to changes in information communication technologies, and this remains an issue for the higher education sector. Competency in such skills is essential to full participation in society and work. In addition, these skills are regarded as underpinning the ability to…

The transformation of higher education systems under the pressure of new needs required by the "society of knowledge" in France and Italy has had a deep effect on the relationship between state and university, and therefore a direct impact on university governance. This article sums up the main results of a research carried out on…

This paper explores 2 concepts, institutional research in higher education and what is called the Left-Right Continuum, and suggests that periods of conflict provide better opportunities for meaningful institutional research than when the campus is quiet. To ensure the health of a college, interinstitutional research and intrainstitutional…

Productive use of academic freedom is fostered under conditions that go beyond "freedom from" to a positive "freedom to." Academic "freedom to" is threatened by contemporary changes in the way teaching and research are planned, organized, financed, and implemented. (JOW)

Cultural diversity is an urgent challenge to higher education institutions requiring a communitywide coordinated effort among community sectors. Pluralism is not an end in itself, but a means to the larger purpose of gaining intellectual growth and human insight. Diversity without community is anarchy; community without diversity is fantasy. (MSE)

Explores the role of higher education in the Dominican Republic and the need to mesh the mission of the university; the specific needs of its social, economic, and cultural environment; and the characteristics of a rapidly changing world. (EV)

The Peer Review Workgroup of the Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative developed a novel set of quality community-engaged scholarship characteristics and a resource package aimed at two primary audiences: faculty seeking promotion or tenure based on community-engaged scholarship; and review, promotion, and tenure committee members…

Communities across our nation--whether geographic, ethnic, or issue-based in their composition--are struggling to be healthy, to grow, and thrive. The production of knowledge and the sharing of knowledge by both the community and the higher education institution is the key to helping our communities improve. Retaining and valuing community-engaged…

Australian higher education increasingly relies on flexible modes of delivery as a means of attracting and retaining students in a highly competitive global education market. While education is among those disciplines that have been most actively involved in the shift from face-to-face to online learning and teaching, the transition for many…

This paper looks at the implications of Web 2.0 technologies for university teaching and learning. The latest generation of undergraduates already live in a Web 2.0 world. They have new service expectations and are increasingly dissatisfied with teacher-centred pedagogies. To attract and retain these students, universities will need to rethink…