Universities aspire to offer students a transformative experience, but rarely spell out the nature of this transformation. In this essay, L. A. Paul and John Quiggin frame the successful university education as transformative in the philosophical sense. They explain the way that a successful college education can be understood as generating an…

As algorithmic decision-making and data collection become pervasive in higher education, how can educators make sense of the systems that shape life and learning in the twenty-first century? This paper outlines a systematic literature review that investigated gaps in the current framing of data and faculty development, and explores how these gaps…

This paper analyzes how knowledge is reproduced as "universal" in contemporary higher education and how this production of universality influences the application of knowledge. Using a case study of clinical psychology, it describes the results of over two years of ethnographic fieldwork in a university and professional settings in…

Not all instructors in higher education enter the classroom with teaching experience, but all have observed teaching in higher education from the perspective of a student. This "apprenticeship of observation" that Lortie (1975) wrote about decades ago at least gives instructors the opportunity to empathize with their students, an…

This paper examines the relation between epistemology and higher education. We shall start by briefly examining three classical texts on the understanding of knowledge at universities, as well as noting some others, and go on to sketch a version of our own. Our argument is as follows: the world is such that the relationship between the university…

In the context of an evolving digitally-oriented library and/or information science (LIS) discipline and framed by Andrew Abbott's Chaos of Disciplines theory, this article presents an epistemological overview of evolving competency requirements for a global digital information environment and the implications of this for future LIS education. In…

This exploratory study was designed to establish a foundation for understanding the relationship between college students' epistemic fluency, the need (self-concordance); want (self-determination); and ability (self-efficacy) to think about their learning; their regulatory mode orientation (locomotion versus assessment), and their academic goals.…

The enduring colonial-like relations among Northern and Southern spaces continue to influence knowledge production and dissemination. Critical scholarship on epistemic diversity in higher education has argued that knowledge circulation is often unilateral considering how global partnerships among universities and higher education models are still…

Quality education is a human right and all individuals and peoples regardless of their social, ethnic, personal, economic, gender, or religion, should be able to participate and engage in productive and lifelong learning. This volume explores the ways in which intercultural and inclusive education have been addressed in Latin America through…

In their articles, Ajay Sharma (Cult Stud Sci Educ, doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9835-z, 2017) and Noel Gough (Cult Stud Sci Educ, doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9834-0, 2017) shed light on the impact neoliberalism has on the teaching of science and suggest ways to ensure that science education remains critical and socially equitable. In this paper, I…

Since 2011 the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University has been actively supporting an ethos of belonging throughout their learning and teaching. In 2017 'belonging' became a formal university priority, embedded in the institution's strategy and dispersed across Colleges and Schools through a range of activities and interventions.…

The issue of representation has polarised public discourse and in recent years the decolonisation of research methodologies has entered the field of interculturality. However, universalistic discourses of dialogue and tolerance can be harnessed to silence certain voices by construing them as 'other'. With this paper I confront this conceptual knot…

The notion of critical thinking and its theoretical complexity are used as a case for an epistemological critique of the model of intended learning outcomes. The conclusion is that three problems of learning outcomes, previously discussed in the literature, become even more challenging when seen in the light of critical thinking. The first problem…

With the increasing mobility of international students to UK universities, the appropriate facilitation of their transition remains a critical issue in terms of higher education practice and research. Much existing research and practice is characterised by assimilationist approaches to transition where international students are seen to 'adapt to'…

This theoretical piece explores the frame of mind required for a Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics (STEM) education in an uncertain time. Predominantly argued from an epistemic standpoint, this paper analyses the relationship between environment, anthropomorphism, the essence of education, and our presumed mastery of nature. In the…