Search Results for
"Higher education"

There have been trends in experiential learning (EL) to implement self-directed learning (SDL) in higher education institutions in the 21st century. Due to the necessity of a real-life, interactive environment in the lecturing approaches in higher education, the problem is to ensure that the learning becomes interactive and meaningful to the students. Students commit to learning when their goals and objectives are considered realistic and important, though they may face socio-economic challenges. Therefore, applying knowledge in the real world is important and relevant to the student's needs. This chapter explores the implications of experiential learning theory to gain work-related skills and knowledge for the work environment. The implication of the experiential learning theory (ELT) to higher education is that lecturers should design course materials that empower students to acquire knowledge and skills to solve real-life problems. Thus, ELT points to teaching practices that aim at enabling students to perform activities that are close to those found in the workplace. © 2024, IGI Global. All rights reserved.

This study investigated the impact of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) on the development of self-regulated learning (SRL) skills among postgraduate learners in China. 213 participants, divided into an experimental group (n = 113) using a researcher-designed PLE platform and a control group (n = 100) employing face-to-face instruction, joined a course on International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS). A mixed-methods approach was adopted, utilizing the Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (OSLQ) to explore SRL experiences, and weekly goal-achievement reports. Results demonstrated improvement in SRL skills in both groups, with the experimental group exhibiting significantly greater gains. Quantitative and qualitative results revealed that participants excelled in goal fulfillment but struggled with time management, help-seeking and self-evaluation skills. The study confirmed the positive influence of the PLE on postgraduates’ SRL skills, with implications for online learning design and the potential for PLEs to effectively promote SRL skills in online learning contexts. © The Author(s) 2024

Project-based learning (PjBL) has been increasingly promoted and extended to online environments to enhance the quality of higher education. However, PjBL involves complex processes requiring higher-order thinking skills, which may pose challenges to many students especially in online settings with little prompt support from teachers. The problem may compromise the learning of low-achieving students, who often have inadequate higher-order thinking skills. Visible thinking approaches have the potential to make higher-order thinking processes accessible to students. This study was conducted with 72 university students who engaged in visible thinking supported online PjBL of computer programming. A one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted to compare the learning outcomes among high-, medium- and low-achieving students. The results showed that compared to high and medium achievers, low-achieving students made the most progress in product quality and thinking skills (in particular process design skills). They performed almost as well as medium and high achievers in product quality and process design skills at the end of the study. They also gained more knowledge from the project than high achievers did. Moreover, compared to medium achievers, low achievers perceived the approach as more valuable, made more effort on the study, and felt more competent in completing the project. The findings reveal the promising effects of visualizing higher-order thinking processes in narrowing the achievement gap between high and low achievers, offering all students an equal chance to engage in effective learning with projects. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023.

Purpose: The objective of the study was to explore the factors influencing the career decisions of students doing the students' undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes from urban private universities/colleges in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: Career decision-making is determined by different factors and is contextual. The present study explores and identifies the prominent factors influencing career decision-making. A pool of 33 questions was developed, and these questions were initially administered to a sample of 233 students. Principal component analysis with Varimax Rotation identified salient factors. In the second study, confirmatory analysis was performed based on the opinion of 304 students. Findings: The study shows that the student's career deciding factors include (1) career clarity, (2) career exploration, (3) career reward and recognition and (4) career initiative for professional and personal growth. Originality/value: The study focussed on career-deciding factors for UG and PG students from urban universities/colleges in the Indian context and the findings can be used for planning career counselling interventions. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose: The study aims to ratify skills necessary to bridge the gap between the existing models and emerging needs of a technology-enabled workspace; especially in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: This paper extends the ongoing debate on a relevant employability framework suitable both for higher education institutes and corporates. To remain resilient to future catastrophes similar to the ongoing pandemic, the relevancy of established employability skills to suit the changing scenario needs to be established. Findings: The partial least squares (PLS) technique has been used to present a framework confirming the importance of digital competencies, business fundamentals and behavioral skills. In-depth discussions with specialists ratified the proposed framework and recommended potential changes in curriculum and pedagogy. Research limitations/implications: This study validates an explicit and comprehensive employability skill framework and useful recommendations in teaching strategies, which may provide a broad skill base for graduates to prepare for the volatile business environment in the long run. Practical implications: The study has been able to put forth significant employability skills as deemed significant by the three stakeholders. This will provide guidance to higher educational institutions (HEIs) to come up with a broad skill-base for the fresh graduates and prepare them for the volatile business environment and encourage life-long learning to remain productive in the long run. Originality/value: The study is unique as it incorporates the perceived importance of the competencies assumed by each stakeholder, namely, employers, faculty and management graduates, which was unfortunately lacking in earlier researches. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The rise of online learning has brought about a close connection between micro-credentials and lifelong learning, employability, and new models of digital education. Micro-credentials are considered instrumental in transforming higher education today. This study aims to examine the extent to which micro-credentials have been adopted in Malaysia, focussing on the viewpoint of higher education Providers (HEPs). It seeks to identify the challenges faced by HEPs when offering micro-credentials, encompassing technological, organisational, and people-related obstacles. By analysing empirical data, this research intends to propose a conceptual framework that can guide the successful adoption and implementation of micro-credentials within educational institutions. By addressing these recommendations, HEPs in Malaysia can successfully adopt and implement micro-credentials within their institutions. This will not only enhance the learning experience for students but also contribute to the overall transformation of higher education, keeping pace with the demands of the digital age and fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development. © 2024 The Author(s).

Purpose: There is a global concern about the effectiveness of vocational education and training (VET) programmes in developing job-related skills and competencies for real-world environments for disadvantaged and unemployed youths. Experiential learning (EL) is a major component of VET programmes. This article aims to examine the effects of facilitating VET through EL theory to promote youths' skills acquisition. The study looks at the effects of material resources on the use of experiential learning theory (ELT), the types of EL and the contribution of ELT to VET programmes. Design/methodology/approach: The research design mainly entails a qualitative research design and research method to allow the researcher to view the reality as is experienced from the inside out by the trainees and training centre managers on important data for a thorough understanding. The study participants were 512 young trainees who completed different training courses from the VET programmes and 24 centre managers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Findings: The findings reveal that the use of ELT in VET programmes helped the trainees to gain real-world skills, hence contributing to their empowerment in terms of work experience and competence for their future employment. Based on the findings, the study concludes that ELT is an effective instrument to promote VET programmes for disadvantaged and unemployed youths. Practical implications: The practical and social implications of the findings are that, while disadvantaged youths cannot access and afford higher education, public and private sectors can remedy their situation by providing non-school-based technical and vocational training to help such youths enter the labour market. The findings will motivate the providers of skills development for unemployed youths to use ELT in designing course curricula, planning resources and directing teaching-learning approaches to help trainees to acquire skills and competencies to perform tasks close to real-work situations. Social implications: The socio-economic implication of the article is that skills development plays an important role in poverty reduction. Investing in the skills development of citizens is vital to raise the incomes of poor groups and to reduce poverty (ILO, 2018). Although the causes of unemployment have also to do with economic factors in a country, skills development is an essential ingredient in developing capacities for labour market entry and increased income generation of a vulnerable group of people. Originality/value: The article is significant because the study provides new insights into the use of ELT in VET programmes to improve their effectiveness in developing job-related skills and competencies for real-world environments for disadvantaged and unemployed youths. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by establishing a solid base for the evidence-informed practice of the effects of facilitating the VET programme through ELT to promote skills acquisition for the employment of unemployed and disadvantaged youths. © 2023, Celestin Mayombe.

Nowadays, the importance of logistics management has been increasingly realized in industry and society. However, current educational approaches in logistics management seem unable to effectively equip students with the necessary skills to cope with practical issues after graduation. Recently, contest-based education has attracted logistics management educators’ attention, but how it can be effectively utilized in this discipline is largely unclear. To fill this gap, this study followed a system approach and analyzed the factors influencing student performance in logistics management contests in China using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matrice d’ Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC). The results suggest that the driving forces for improving student performance in contests are the instructors’ encouragement and their previous experience in instructing contests. Also, the contestants’ previous experience in academic contests, team leadership, and effectiveness of communication between instructors and contestants are critical influencing factors. Based on the results, the educational strategies for effective utilization of contest-based education in logistics management are discussed. This study contributes to the existing literature by using a system modeling approach to clarify the mechanisms of contest-based education adoption in logistics management as well as informing university teachers and higher education institutes about strategies to improve their education quality. © 2024 by the authors.

In order to meet the growing demand for engineering professionals who can incorporate sustainable solutions into their work, sustainability courses have been launched in online problem-based learning (PBL) environments through various real-life projects. Nonetheless, the conventional one-off grading approach may fail to capture the intricate variations in students’ performance across different projects. To address this problem, a multi-project evaluation framework utilizing the probability exceedance method (PEM) is proposed, which can fuse linguistic evaluation data presented in probability distributions without the need to obtain weights of criteria. In the case study, a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of students majoring in engineering management is conducted within a study group over an online PBL course on sustainable decision analysis. The sensitivity analysis demonstrates that consistent scores can be achieved after assigning different values of fuzzy measures to each criterion. This study enables teachers to holistically evaluate students without being bound by rigid numerical standards or strict weighting schemes, thus allowing them to focus on other educational tasks while ensuring effective and reliable results. Moreover, it contributes to educational innovation by introducing a modern and comprehensive approach for engineering student assessment in online PBL, aligning with the evolving needs of educational sustainability in higher education. © 2024 by the authors.

In the contemporary educational landscape, there is a growing recognition of the transformative impact of practical experiences within traditional learning frameworks. This shift reflects a pedagogical evolution that values contextualized learning and the acquisition of practical skills together with theoretical knowledge. In the Italian educational context, School–Work Alternation (SWA) represents a proactive response to the evolving needs of the workforce and the imperative for educational institutions to prepare students for professional life. This study’s objectives include a deep exploration of students’ SWA experience, evaluating its impact on employability perceptions and the sense of agency, examining the influence of Self-Orientation, and contributing insights to the discourse on integrating practical experiences in education. Employing a mixed methodology and a bottom-up approach, 63 high school students of different Italian regions participated in an online in-depth interview and an ad hoc questionnaire designed to measure the experience of SWA in relation to variables of interest, utility, advantage, perception of support, quality of received mentoring, engagement, and satisfaction. The quantitative results indicate that personal choice significantly influences the perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with SWA, with those students guided by curiosity exhibiting higher utility and satisfaction. Qualitative analysis underscores both positive and negative aspects, with respondents viewing SWA as a useful experience bridging work, corporate, and school realms provided that students are key players in the SWA experience’s choice and that the SWA’s partners are motivated to guide them in this practical training. Moreover, results highlight SWA’s relevance in guiding academic and career paths, emphasizing its potential to offer valuable support to students. This study contributes nuanced insights into integrating practical experiences in education, offering recommendations for educators and policymakers to better prepare students for the dynamic demands of the modern job market. © 2024 by the authors.