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The entire ontology (manifested beliefs about teaching and learning) of higher education is misconceived: It does not fit with the proven realities of learning, and does not fit at all with the new nature of knowledge construction in a Web 2.0 world. The education establishment needs to say goodbye to pedagogy and hello to andragogy to create a better fit. Here's the difference:\n\nIn pedagogy, the concern is with transmitting the content, while in andragogy, the concern is with facilitating the acquisition of the content.\n\nThere is little doubt that the most dominant form of instruction in Europe and America is pedagogy, or what some people refer to as didactic, traditional, or teacher-directed approaches. A competing idea in terms of instructing adult learners [including first-year college students], and one that gathered momentum within the past three decades, has been dubbed andragogy. [http://www-distance.syr.edu/andraggy.html]\n

Reschooling Society and the Promise of ee-Learning: An Interview with Steve Eskow Chad Trevitte and Steve Eskow more » « Synopsis » Article » Discuss » E-Mail » Print:HTML » Print:PDF » Related Articles » Also In This Issue In this article, Chad Trevitte interviews Innovate guest editor Steve Eskow about the concept of ee-learning and the promise it holds for revitalizing higher education. Eskow defines ee-learning as a combination of the electronic technologies employed in online learning ("e-learning 1") and a pedagogy of experiential learning rooted in real-life settings in the world outside the university classroom ("e-learning 2"). As he discusses ee-learning in the context of previous philosophies of educational reform, Eskow argues that this mode of pedagogical practice seeks to bridge the gap between theory-based instruction on the one hand and practical application on the other. Eskow also addresses the ways in which ee-learning offers an alternative to the traditional view of the university as a self-enclosed space of learning, while still supporting the development of conceptual and propositional knowledge that educators typically value in the setting of the campus classroom. By allowing students to pursue their work in specific, authentic, contextualized settings while consulting with instructors and peers online, ee-learning offers a pedagogical approach that aligns knowledge and experience in a reciprocal, mutually enhancing fashion.

Enhancing Learning Using Generic and Specific Aspects of Knowledge Formation Peter Petocz University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Peter.Petocz@uts.edu.au Anna Reid Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia Anna.Reid@mq.edu.au Abstract: Recognising and understanding the diverse ways that students learn is an important step in setting up effective environments for learning. A traditional way of getting this information is to observe the quality of assessed work and classroom interactions. An alternative and more direct method is to actually ask students to tell you about their own learning. While some students will be less successful than others in articulating their ideas, an overall picture will emerge of the variety of ways in which students understand what it means to learn. Such an approach has been used to investigate students' experience of learning in a variety of contexts. One practical effect of this line of enquiry has been the discovery of the dichotomy between teacher focused, content orientations to learning associated with a surface approach to learning and student focused, learning orientations associated with a deep approach to learning. These qualitatively different conceptions of learning result in discernible differences in learning outcomes. While some aspects of learning seem to be universal, others depend on the context of learning. In this paper, we look at two parallel studies of students' conceptions of learning in statistics and in music, areas quite different both in content and traditional methods of pedagogy. Research in these and other academic disciplines suggests that there is a strong relation between students' (and teachers') perception of professional work and their conceptions of their discipline and learning within that discipline. We discuss how this 'Professional Entity' is apparent in statistics and music, and how an appreciation of the Professional Entity can help teachers enhance their students' learning in other

Welcome! It is a real pleasure to welcome you to my web site - a place for learning, sharing and creating new knowledge.

About the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education\n\nThe Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 to provide independent assessment of how higher education institutions in the UK maintain their academic standards and quality.\n\nThe primary responsibility for academic standards and quality rests with individual institutions. QAA reviews and reports on how well they meet those recommendations, and encourages continuous improvement in the management of the quality of higher education. We do this by:\n\n * conducting external reviews of universities and colleges\n * publishing reports on the confidence that can be placed in an institution's ability to maintain standards and quality\n * offering expert guidance on maintaining and improving the quality of higher education\n * advising the government on applications for degree awarding powers and university title.

welcome to the ADM-HEA website Supporting and developing learning and teaching in art, design, media, history of art and the history of design in higher education

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) - What is it?\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn this section, we offer both a brief definition of SoTL (SoTL in brief), as well as a much more detailed and scholarly discussion of the history and different conceptions of SoTL (starting with Conceptions of Scholarship and SoTL, and progressing through the subsequent sections).\n\nThe aims of this section are:\n\n * to inform the reader of the different conceptions of scholarship in general and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in particular, and to highlight any interesting points and controversies;\n * to encourage the readers' own consideration of what scholarship, and in particular SoTL, might be; and,\n * to provide a working definition for the purposes of this web resource. \n\nThus, this section includes a brief review of the work of leading academics regarding scholarship and SoTL, as well as links to relevant articles etc., to allow readers to become familiar with several different currently-merited conceptions, and so provoke thought on the matter. The sections titled In Depth are optional extras for those who are interested in more of the intricacies in the debate about SoTL.\n\nNote - although SoTL is our preferred term here, some authors have referred to is simply as the scholarship of teaching (hence, SoT), thus when considering a particular author's work, we shall refer to the concept with the same terminology as used by each author.

Frameworks for higher education qualifications The frameworks for higher education qualifications describe the achievement represented by higher education qualifications. They apply to degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic awards granted by a higher education provider with degree awarding powers. QAA has developed two frameworks:

Joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education, convened in Bologna on the 19th of June 1999. The European process, thanks to the extraordinary achievements of the last few years, has become an increasingly concrete and relevant reality for the Union and its citizens. Enlargement prospects together with deepening relations with other European countries, provide even wider dimensions to that reality. Meanwhile, we are witnessing a growing awareness in large parts of the political and academic world and in public opinion of the need to establish a more complete and far-reaching Europe, in particular building upon and strengthening its intellectual, cultural, social and scientific and technological dimensions. A Europe of Knowledge is now widely recognised as an irreplaceable factor for social and human growth and as an indispensable component to consolidate and enrich the European citizenship, capable of giving its citizens the necessary competencies to face the challenges of the new millennium, together with an awareness of shared values and belonging to a common social and cultural space. The importance of education and educational co-operation in the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies is universally acknowledged as paramount, the more so in view of the situation in South East Europe. The Sorbonne declaration of 25th of May 1998, which was underpinned by these considerations, stressed the universities' central role in developing European cultural dimensions. It emphasised the creation of the European area of higher education as a key way to promote citizens' mobility and employability and the Continent's overall development.

Resources Acknowledgement We would like to thank colleagues who have contributed materials in the spirit of sharing successful practice. Some contributions are anonymous. If you have sent us any of these and either wish to claim authorship, or would prefer them to be removed from this website, please contact c.bryan@cssd.ac.uk About the Resources These resources are intended for tutors and for students. They aim to raise awareness and/or develop and assess group processes. The student guides and activities have been trialed in diverse group situations. The Resources section includes: 'How to' Guides and Activities Commentaries Assessment Criteria & Procedures Forms and Documents Reading and useful links

Today, I am presenting at the 10th Annual NJ Best Practices Showcase on using blogging as a reflective process for my students. You can view the presentation on my Slideshare page. NJEDge.Net and the host school, the College of St. Elizabeth, are also recording the presentations and hoping to post them to the new NJVid site. In this post, I want to go into a bit more detail than I can do in my presentation about reflective practice itself. Though I reference the book The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action by Donald Schön, what I am discussing does not appear in his book since blogging did not even exist in 1995 when the book was published. He was an MIT social scientist and consultant, and in that book he examines five professions (engineering, architecture, management, psychotherapy, town planning). The book is very much about how professionals go about solving problems. He introduced reflective practice as a continuous process that involves the learner considering critical incidents in his or her life's experiences. The concept immediately gained traction in teacher education, and also health professions and architectural design. For a teacher-in-training and active in the field, the process of studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students is essential. I think it is important that all students (practitioners-in-training) also consider their own experiences in applying knowledge to practice, especially while being "coached" by professionals (instructors,mentors) in their discipline. Education is my focus here, but all three disciplines also make use of portfolios of a kind. If you use portfolios (paper, electronic or objects), you are probably already using reflection as a part of that practice.

What it Means to Educate Today's Students February 4th, 2009 Comments The Carnegie Foundation is focusing on where and how technology can add value as we seek to advance more ambitious learning goals for all students, and where we can assist educators as they move toward making these new learning goals universal. The Foundation has enlisted expert advisers to help us look at how technology is transforming how we educate. One of these advisors is Nichole Pinkard, Director of Innovation at the Urban Education Institute, University of Chicago.

Predictably Irrational When we make decisions we think we're in control, making rational choices. But are we? Entertaining and surprising, Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us.

This page is designed to help you write appropriate learning outcomes when developing and revising your modules and programmes, and when devising assessment tasks. It explains: * what learning outcomes are * the learning outcomes process * the benefits of using learning outcomes * how to use learning outcomes at programme level * how to use learning outcomes at module level * how to write learning outcomes * how to link outcomes to assessment

CSALT What is CSALT? CSALT is the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology. Established in 1992 the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT) at Lancaster University is one of Europe's leading academic research groups in the field of technology enhanced learning (TEL) applied to adult education and training. The Centre carries out basic and applied research with an emphasis on the development of theory that can be used in real settings. Its members are also closely involved in the education and professional development of workers in the e-learning industry, and in consultancy. Our research has a strong focus on adult education especially in higher education and industrial contexts. Our interest is not in the technology per se, but in the social, psychological and organisational issues which are thrown into sharp relief during the design and introduction of new technology-enhanced learning environments. CSALT: * is focused on research into networked learning and the design of advanced learning technology(ALT), * is made up of staff with expertise in eg, online tutoring, computer supported collaborative learning, cognitive psychology, design of learning technology and simulation based training, * runs an innovative Doctoral distance learning programme on the design and use of technology enhanced learning * develops course designs that support e-groups and communities, * is based in the RAE grade 5 Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, UK. This site reflects primarily the interests of CSALT in the Department of Educational Research. Other members of the university wide CSALT are part of the Department of Management Learning, in particular the Networked Management Learning research group and the Learning Technology Group.

The Meyer and Land Threshold Concept "The idea of threshold concepts emerged from a UK national research project into the possible characteristics of strong teaching and learning environments in the disciplines for undergraduate education (Enhancing Teaching−Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses). In pursuing this research in the field of economics, it became clear to Erik Meyer and Ray Land [1−6, 7−12], that certain concepts were held by economists to be central to the mastery of their subject. These concepts, Meyer and Land argued, could be described as 'threshold' ones because they have certain features in common." Glynis Cousin, An introduction to threshold concepts Over the past five years this concept has been embraced by many disciplines outside economics; indeed the above quote is from Glynis Cousin's excellent short introduction to the concept written for earth scientists. The threshold concept has been seen as a valuable tool, not only in facilitating students' understanding of their subject, but in aiding the rational development of curricula in rapidly expanding arenas where there is a strong tendency to overload the curriculum (Cousin, [1, 13]). This web page will describe, briefly, the characteristics of a threshold concept and list selecteted references to the work of those examining its value in the engineering and computer sciences, the physical and biological sciences, economics, accountancy, mathematics and statistics.

Introduction The concept of preferences to different individual learning styles was introduced in an accompanying document. (See learning styles). In this document we look at the associated concept of approaches to learning. The original work on approaches to learning was carried out by Marton and Saljo (1976). Their study explored students' approaches to learning a particular task. Students were given an academic text to read, and were told that they would subsequently be asked questions on that text. The students adopted two differing approaches to learning. The first group adopted an approach where they tried to understand the whole picture and tried to comprehend and understand the academic work. These students were identified with adopting a deep approach to learning. The second group tried to remember facts contained within the text, identifying and focusing on what they thought they would be asked later. They demonstrated an approach that we would recognise as rote learning, or a superficial, surface approach.

Angles on Learning\n\nAn introduction to theories of learning for college, adult and professional education