EBOOK: Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education
EBOOK: Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education

Author: Richard Blackwell

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2003-07-16

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0335224318

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book focuses on strategic staff development in higher education, a sector in which it has been largely viewed as an operational activity with little organizational relevance. The book demonstrates how staff development needs to be based on modern theories of 'organizational learning', aligning itself with institutional and departmental needs as well as the wants and needs of individual staff. The book takes a broad definition of staff development and seeks to cover all aspects of the academic role and the interests of all staff. The traditional focus on teaching and learning is covered but not to the exclusion of other aspects or the interface between different roles. In order to achieve a strategic focus, authors are drawn from a range of backgrounds, including senior staff with strategic leadership roles. The book is, therefore, directed to a wider readership than the community of staff development professionals and designed partly to challenge the dominant discourse and established priorities of staff developers. Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education seeks to combine scholarly review of relevent literature with practical strategies and suggestions for the intended readership, principally senior staff, heads of department and staff development professionals.

EBOOK: From Vocational to Higher Education: An International Perspective
EBOOK: From Vocational to Higher Education: An International Perspective

Author: Gavin Moodie

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2008-10-16

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0335237207

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book discusses current issues in vocational and higher education and the relations between them. As well as concentrating on the well developed English-speaking countries - the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - the book also considers important developments in continental Europe: in particular: The Bologna process in higher education The Copenhagen declaration on enhanced European co-operation in vocational education and training The development of a European qualifications framework From Vocational to Higher Education is key reading for university lecturers, those studying for higher degrees in higher education, managers and policy makers.

EBOOK: Educational Development
EBOOK: Educational Development

Author: Ray Land

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2004-11-16

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0335226086

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

·What do educational developers see as the main issues to be tackled within their work? · How does the educational context and culture in which they work affect the practice of educational developers? ·How do educational developers perceive change occurring within higher education organisations? In higher education institutions worldwide, issues relating to quality in teaching and learning have gained prominence over the last two decades as student numbers, and the need to be publicly accountable, have increased. During this time a sizeable community of educational developers has emerged whose work and research focuses on the enhancement of the student experience in higher education. A significant issue for these developers is how change can be effected in organisations with well-established academic cultures and practices, beset by many other priorities and pressures. This first book-length analysis of developers as a community of practice illustrates in their own words the issues they face, their differing orientations to development (given their differing organisational cultures), and how they see their institutional role. What emerges is the contested notion of ‘development’ itself, and a tribe of developers who, though fragmented, offer a rich variation in their discourse, identity and practice. Drawing upon developers’ own voices, the book offers a lively and accessible narrative approach to this rapidly evolving area. It is a useful guide to help individual developers compare their own practice with that of others, and development teams to map the effectiveness of their own centre’s provision. Educational Development is essential reading for educational developers, teaching and learning co-ordinators and teaching fellows, as well as senior managers with remits for academic development, and directors of quality assurance. It is also of interest to those in higher education who are concerned with bringing about organisational or cultural change.

EBOOK: How to Examine a Thesis
EBOOK: How to Examine a Thesis

Author: Lynne Pearce

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2004-12-16

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 0335227422

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

·What is involved in examining a research-based higher degree? ·What are the roles of the internal and external examiners? ·What are the hidden agendas of higher degree examining? ·What are the essential ingredients of a ‘good’ viva? This handbook offers a revealing insight into the written – and unwritten – rules and regulations of higher degree examination in the United Kingdom today. Addressed directly to the examiners, it contains a step-by-step account of the different stages of the examination process in order to provide an insiders’ guide into what to expect before, during and after the oral examination. How to Examine a Thesis covers important issues such as: ·The power-relations between the two (or more) examiners ·Hidden agendas and foul play ·Examples of guidelines and regulations across different institutions ·Advice on MPhil as well as doctoral examinations This book is essential reading for all higher degree examiners but is also of importance to those supervising, and studying for, higher degrees. Moreover, although the book focuses primarily on current practices in the United Kingdom, comparisons are drawn with continental Europe, Australia and the United States. Research degree examiners, supervisors and students throughout the world will find the book of considerable interest.

EBOOK: Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: A Whole Institution Approach
EBOOK: Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: A Whole Institution Approach

Author: Vaneeta D'Andrea

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2005-08-16

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0335224725

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What are the aims of higher education? What are the strategies necessary for institutional improvement? How might the student experience be improved? The emergence of the discourse around learning and teaching is one of the more remarkable phenomena of the last decade in higher education. Increasingly, universities are being required to pay greater attention to improving teaching and enhancing student learning. This book will help universities and colleges achieve these goals through an approach to institutional change that is well founded on both research and practical experience. By placing learning at the centre of organizational change, this book challenges many of the current assumptions about management of teaching, supporting students, the separation of research and teaching, the use of information technology and quality systems. It demonstrates how trust can be restored within higher education while advancing the need for change based on principles of equity and academic values for students and teachers alike. Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education is key reading for anyone interested in the development of teaching and learning in higher education, as well as policy makers.

EBOOK: Higher Education And Social Justice
EBOOK: Higher Education And Social Justice

Author: Andy Furlong

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2009-06-16

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0335239528

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Is access to higher education really open to all? How does the experience of higher education vary between social groups? Are graduate jobs harder to find for some than for others? The transformation of higher education from an elite experience to a mass system delivering advanced education to a socially mixed clientele has often been conflated with a process of equalization through wider access. But is this really the case? Andy Furlong and Fred Cartmel fear not, arguing that young people from social and economically disadvantaged families suffer from unfair access arrangements, have a poorer student experience and have limited contact with their middle class peers. Moreover, students from less advantaged families who successfully complete their courses tend to face greater difficulty securing graduate jobs and may be left with higher levels of debt. Taking a holistic approach that focuses on access to higher education, experiences in higher education and gains derived from participation, the book explores the barriers that impede the progress of young people from less advantaged families and outlines the various forms of stratification that help limit the possibilities for social mobility through education. Higher Education and Social Justice provides essential reading for anyone who has an interest in higher education or a concern for social justice, including lecturers, administrators and policy makers in higher education.

EBOOK: Higher Education Pedagogies
EBOOK: Higher Education Pedagogies

Author: Melanie Walker

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2005-11-16

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0335228208

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What does higher education learning and teaching enable students to do and to become? Which human capabilities are valued in higher education, and how do we identify them? How might the human capability approach lead to improved student learning, as well as to accomplished and ethical university teaching? This book sets out to generate new ways of reflecting ethically about the purposes and values of contemporary higher education in relation to agency, learning, public values and democratic life, and the pedagogies which support these. It offers an alternative to human capital theory and emphasises the intrinsic as well as the economic value of higher learning. Based upon the human capability approach, developed by economist Amartya Sen and philosopher Martha Nussbaum, the book shows the importance of justice as a value in higher education. It places freedom, human flourishing, and students’ educational development at its centre. Furthermore, it takes up the value Sen attributes to education in the capability approach, and demonstrates its relevance for higher education. Higher Education Pedagogies offers illustrative narratives of capability, learning and pedagogy, drawing on student and lecturer voices to demonstrate how this multi-dimensional approach can be developed and applied in higher education. It suggests an ethical approach to higher education practice, and to teaching and learning policy development and evaluation. As such, the book is essential reading for students and scholars of higher education, as well as university lecturers, managers and policy-makers concerned with teaching and learning.

EBOOK: Doctoral Study in Contemporary Higher Education
EBOOK: Doctoral Study in Contemporary Higher Education

Author: Howard Green

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2005-07-16

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0335225594

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How can the full range of doctoral study in the UK be best described? What are the key features that are driving change to the system? What are the implications of current initiatives and the increasingly international context of research degree study? This book covers the differing kinds of doctorate award that exist currently and discusses critically issues that arise from the ways in which related forms of doctoral study are organized and assessed. It focuses on doctoral study, in all its forms, in the higher education sector in the United Kingdom, while being contextualised within an international dimension. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data, the book focuses on the diversity in doctoral study. It examines the current state of the full range of doctoral awards, describes them, and then critically analyses tensions that exist. For example, it assesses the definitions and relations between different kinds of doctoral award, the pedagogy that surrounds them and the examination phases of each. The book also offers suggestions of ways to resolve the tensions associated with different forms of study and indicates possible future directions. Doctoral Study in Contemporary Higher Education is an essential text for those who manage, fund and deliver education at doctoral level.

EBOOK: Retention and Student Success in Higher Education
EBOOK: Retention and Student Success in Higher Education

Author: Mantz Yorke

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2004-03-16

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0335228496

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

·What is the policy background to current interest in retention and student success? ·What causes students to leave institutions without completing their programmes? ·How can theory and research help institutions to encourage student success? Retention and completion rates are important measures of the performance of institutions and higher education systems. Understanding the causes of student non-completion is vital for an institution seeking to increase the chances of student success. The early chapters of this book discuss retention and student success from a public policy perspective. The later chapters concentrate on theory and research evidence, and on how these can inform institutional practices designed to enhance retention and success (particularly where students are enrolled from disadvantaged backgrounds). This book draws upon international experience, particularly from the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and the United States. Retention and Student Success in Higher Education is essential reading for lecturers, support staff, and senior managers in higher education institutions, and for those with a wider policy interest in these matters.

EBOOK: Reconceptualising Evaluation in Higher Education: The Practice Turn
EBOOK: Reconceptualising Evaluation in Higher Education: The Practice Turn

Author: Murray Saunders

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2011-05-16

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 033524162X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A considerable amount of money is invested in an ongoing basis on large scale projects to enhance the quality of teaching and learning within the higher education sector. Examples from the UK include the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund and the creation of CELTS - Centres for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Similar initiatives can be found in most other Westernized countries. These projects (and other, smaller institutional projects) require evaluation, but the higher education sector has not conceptualized such evaluation work and therefore the opportunity to understand the value of such projects is frequently missed. Reconceptualising Evaluative Practices in HE aims to aid understanding, drawing on a set of evaluative practices from the UK and internationally to foster understanding, which will be of genuine value and relevance to higher education over an indefinite period of time.