Undertaking research into higher education : maximising quality

Research into higher education is increasingly gaining momentum. It is vitally important that the highest standards of scholarship possible are applied to each and every investigation that scholars in the field of higher education undertake. As well as being an important aim in itself, the pursuit of high quality research into higher education meets requirements for greater accountability and efficiency in the context of increased student diversity and reduced funding worldwide. The quality of higher education research is dependent on a number of factors and dimensions. These include appropriate preparatory groundwork; the formulation and use of clear research questions; the appropriate use of conceptual and theoretical framework(s); ethical research conduct; the use of relevant and appropriate methods and methodology and choosing the highest quality dissemination outlets. This seminar will discuss each of the components of high quality research.

Increasing national capability for quality higher education the case of the Sultanate of Oman

This paper explores a number of quality enhancement initiatives being implemented in a developing country, the Sultanate of Oman, to increase the national capability for quality higher education. Oman is a young country with a youthful and rapidly growing population. A brief description of the relatively short history of Oman’s national systems for secondary and postsecondary education is provided. This highlights the challenges for quality education resulting from a strategy of importing postsecondary education from a variety of countries, and delivering the programs through a largely privatized sector.

The paper then describes the outcomes of an initial needs analysis that led to the development of a National Quality Plan. Some of the strategies in this plan for improving and increasing capability are considered, most particularly the establishment of a practitioner‐oriented Oman Quality Network, and the design and implementation of a National Quality Training Program. These two strategies attempt to address common obstacles to capability, namely a paradigm that entrenches compliance and helplessness, and only early awareness of effective quality enhancement and quality assurance principles and methods.

Evaluation results are presented that comment on progress thus far, and suggest critical success factors. These include building legitimacy and trust to overcome barriers to sharing information in a competitive privatized environment. They also include the establishment of peer to peer mechanisms that build confidence and create sustainability over time, as imported or external expertise gives way to local capability and expertise.

‘My school has been quite pushy about the Oxbridge thing’ : voice and choice of higher education

Whilst government policies are now pushing teachers to listen to pupils, this concern is largely framed within the school improvement agenda. This is not the only arena where listening to pupils counts. This article examines the ways in which two young people, making a significant choice about which university to attend, felt unable to discuss their interests and concerns with their teachers. In one case, this resulted in a young woman doing less well in her examinations in order to avoid getting her first preference of Oxbridge, and securing her ‘real choice’ at another Russell Group university. The other was not invited by his school to apply to Oxbridge, despite a desire to go there which he felt unable to articulate at school. We suggest that, given the current concern over widening participation, these two cases provide hints that all is not well with school gate-keeping and career guidance procedures.

Higher education and the labour market in Oman

This study aimed to investigate whether there is a mismatch between higher education and the labour market in Oman, the types of this mismatch that exist, and the reasons for this mismatch as they appeared from statistics and interviewees' responses ( the higher education providers, principals from the public sector, and employers from the private sector)

Using information and communications technology in higher education

A folio-based doctoral study comprising a dissertation, a major literature review, and a website. The dissertation identified key dimensions of blended learning environments created by the teachers in the study. These environments were characterised by different media blends and learning activities underpinned by resource-based learning approaches to teaching and learning.

Doing things differently? : technological practice and change in higher education

Explores changes brought about by new technologies. "Technology" is seen to influence, reorder and restructure social and political relations and practices of staff. The study is intended to increase awareness of changing work practices and to encourage an informed and critical view of new technology adoption in education.

Networked interactive whiteboards : rationale, affordances and new pedagogies for regional Australian higher education

This article presents an argument for the use of networked interactive whiteboards (NIWBs) in regional Australian higher education and identifies new pedagogies for this context. Most Australian universities operate multiple campuses, and many use video conference facilities to deliver courses across these sites. For students at remote video conference sites, their classroom experience is often one of isolation and limited student to student contact. In this article, NIWBs are proposed as a tool to enhance this mode of delivery and exploratory research into the additional affordances they provide is presented. By using networking with IWBs, annotation and gesture can be shared across distances. Emerging possibilities from the integration of NIWBs with video conference, web conference and lecture capture systems are also explored. Three new pedagogies for regional Australian higher education are proposed based on these new capabilities.

ICT and gender issues in the higher education of entrepreneurs

Rapid technological innovations are currently occurring in higher education with differential effects on academics, students and ICT. This article, through literature review and author experiences, highlights the potential misperceptions of gender and related learning styles resulting from increased adoption of ICT in higher education. The authors emphasise the need for a collaborative approach between educators, learners, and the people and organisations that drive technological innovation, which contrasts the competitive forces that now abound. The authors also acknowledge the implied positions in dialogues about gender. One response is to initiate understanding at the strategic level and utilise the advances in ICT technologies that enhance connectedness in the educational experience. To improve the education of entrepreneurial managers and leaders, future policies must address the effects and accessibility of online education to meet employer and global technological requirements with equitable outcomes.

Educational praxis in various Australian indigenous higher education contexts

This thesis critically reports on discourses that impact on the role and work practices of a non-Indigenous educator within Indigenous higher education contexts. The study uses autobiography and narrative inquiry as research methods to examine workplace contexts. The findings reveal competing influences that shape the practices of a non-Indigenous educator.

The good, the bad and the ugly : Facebook and higher education

The use of Social Networking and Web 2.0 are clearly reshaping the ways in which Higher Education is facilitated and experienced by students. Increasingly, there is a social and cultural expectation that Information Communication Technologies (ICT) should be ubiquitous within peoples’ daily lives. Specifically, through auto-ethnographic methodology, this presentation will showcase the use of Facebook across several units of study. Within these auto-ethnographies are exemplars of collaboration between students, and between students and lecturers. There are also examples which highlight the ways in which the lecturer uses Facebook to inform teaching, and monitor student engagement with ‘real time’ student feedback. Other examples demonstrate the ways in which Facebook is utilised as a mode of representation for student assessment, knowledge production and dissemination. Two examples specifically focus on lecturer responses to student use of Facebook which resulted in infringement of academic conduct. The presenter will draw upon this series of auto-ethnographies to highlight multiple considerations for academia, the institutions in which they work and the development of policy more broadly across Higher Education. This presentation explores the potential capacities, strengths and pitfalls in adopting social technologies. It further highlights the vigilance with which these spaces must be ‘monitored’ in protecting intellectual property, academic integrity and in demonstrating a duty of care for those with whom we interact.

Australian higher education institutions transforming the future of teaching and learning through 3D virtual worlds

What are educators‟ motivations for using virtual worlds with their students? Are they using them to support the teaching of professions and if this is the case, do they introduce virtual worlds into the curriculum to develop and/or expand students' professional learning networks? Are they using virtual worlds to transform their teaching and learning? In  recognition of the exciting opportunities that virtual worlds present for higher education, the DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group was formed. It is made up of Australian university academics who are investigating the role that virtual worlds will play in the future of education and actively implementing the technology within their own teaching practice and  curricula. This paper presents a typology for teaching and learning in 3D virtual worlds and applies the typology to a series of case studies based on the ways in which academics and their institutions are exploiting the power of virtual worlds for diverse purposes ranging from business scenarios and virtual excursions to role-play, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insight into the ways in which institutions are transforming their teaching for an unknown future through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The paper demonstrates how virtual worlds enable low cost alternatives to existing pedagogies as well as creating opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would otherwise not be feasible or maybe not even be possible. Through the use of virtual worlds, teaching and learning can be transformed to cater for an unknown future.

Addressing the basics : academics' views of the purpose of higher education

A number of changes have occurred in the higher education sector under the auspices of quality and quality improvement. Much of this change has resulted in a compliance-driven environment (more measures, more meetings, more form-filling and less time for the core activities of teaching and research). It is an environment that seeks to assure all and sundry of the quality of academic programs. Anecdotally, many academics are not convinced that the current systems do, indeed, assure quality. The reasons for this may be many and varied. One suggestion is that differences in perceptions about the purpose of higher education inevitably lead to differences in the definition of quality itself and consequently, differences in systems designed to assure that quality. Understanding what academics think about the purpose of higher education may provide some clues about how they consider quality should be defined.

In this research, the focus is on the views of academic accountants in Australia, defined as: academics whose main discipline area is accounting and who are involved in accounting education at an Australian university. The findings of this research show that the respondent group do, in fact, view the purpose of higher education currently promoted in their schools/departments differently from the purpose that they consider ought to be promoted. Such fundamental differences have the potential to influence the motivation and effectiveness of staff undertaking core activities in Australian universities. In addition, articulating the views of this important stakeholder group also has the potential to ensure that their views are considered in the discussions around purpose, quality and performance measures in higher education – all of which impact on the working lives of academic accountants in Australian universities.

Changes in higher education and valuing the job : the views of accounting academics in Australia

In a previous article (Bellamy et al., 2003), the authors reported on survey research that investigated reasons why academics from business disciplines enter and remain in academia, and the conditions they deem necessary to creating ideal work satisfaction. For both entering and remaining, as well as in achieving ideal work satisfaction, the most important factors were found to be autonomy and flexibility, with teaching and research the next most important factors. In a subsequent analysis of the data, reported in this article, the authors identify and explore significant differences between accounting academics and other business academics in the relative importance placed on these key factors. The findings may be used to inform policy makers and university administrators of the importance of discipline differences when identifying key factors for recruitment and retention of accounting academics specifically, and business academics generally.

Interdisciplinary higher education : perspectives and practicalities

"Interdisciplinary Higher Education" offers a contemporary of our understanding and practice of interdisciplinary higher education. Part I (Chapters 1 to 5) considers a range of theoretical perspectives on interdisciplinarity: the nature of disciplines, complexity, leadership, group working, and academic development. Part II (Chapters 6 to 18) provides more than a dozen vignettes of interdisciplinary practice, drawn from Australian, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Pharmacy access to the emergency contraceptive pill : a national survey of a random sample of Australian women

Background : The emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) has the potential to assist in reducing unintended pregnancy and abortion rates. Since its rescheduling to pharmacy availability without prescription in Australia in January 2004, there is little information about Australian women's knowledge, attitudes and use of the ECP. The aim of this study was to measure the knowledge about the ECP and sociodemographic patterns of and barriers to use of the ECP.

Study Design : A cross-sectional study, using a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey conducted with a national random sample of 632 Australian women aged 16–35 years.

Results : Most women had heard of the ECP (95%) and 26% had used it. The majority of women agreed with pharmacy availability of the ECP (72%); however, only 48% were aware that it was available from pharmacies without a prescription. About a third (32%) believed the ECP to be an abortion pill. The most common reason for not using the ECP was that women did not think they were at risk of getting pregnant (57%). Logistic regression showed that women aged 20–29 years (OR 2.58; CI: 1.29–5.19) and 30–35 years (OR 3.16; CI: 1.47–6.80) were more likely to have used the ECP than those aged 16–19 years. Women with poor knowledge of the ECP were significantly less likely to have used it than those with very good knowledge (OR 0.28; CI: 0.09–0.77). Those in a de facto relationship (OR 2.21; CI: 1.27–3.85), in a relationship but not living with the partner (OR 2.46; 95% CI 1.31–4.63) or single women (OR 2.40; CI: 1.33–4.34) were more likely to have used the ECP than married women.

Conclusions : Women in Australia have a high level of awareness of the ECP, but more information and education about how to use it and where to obtain it are still needed.