Changing Cultures in Higher Education

More and more educational scenarios and learning landscapes are developed using blogs, wikis, podcasts and e-portfolios. Web 2.0 tools give learners more control, by allowing them to easily create, share or reuse their own learning materials, and these tools also enable social learning networks that bridge the border between formal and informal learning. However, practices of strategic innovation of universities, faculty development, assessment, evaluation and quality assurance have not fully accommodated these changes in technology and teaching.

Ehlers and Schneckenberg present strategic approaches for innovation in universities. The contributions explore new models for developing and engaging faculty in technology-enhanced education, and they detail underlying reasons for why quality assessment and evaluation in new – and often informal – learning scenarios have to change. Their book is a practical guide for educators, aimed at answering these questions. It describes what E-learning 2.0 is, which basic elements of Web 2.0 it builds on, and how E-learning 2.0 differs from Learning 1.0. The book also details a number of quality methods and examples, such as self-assessment, peer-review, social recommendation, and peer-learning, using illustrative cases and giving practical recommendations. Overall, it offers a step-by-step guide for educators so that they can choose their own quality assurance or assessment methods, or develop their own evaluation methodology for specific learning scenarios.

The book addresses everyone involved in higher education – university leaders, chief information officers, change and quality assurance managers, and faculty developers. Pedagogical advisers and consultants will find new insights and practices for the integration and management of novel learning technologies in higher education. The volume fosters in lecturers and teachers a sound understanding of the need and strategy for change, and it provides them with practical recommendations on competence and quality methodologies.

• Blogs
• Change Management
• Distance Learning
• E-Learning
• Higher Education
• Knowledge Management
• Pedagogy
• Professor
• Social Networks
• Web 2.0
• eLearning
• information management
• learning
• quality
• university

From the reviews:

“If you are concerned with the unrealized potential of technology to increase the abilities of universities to prepare students for work in the twenty-first century, Ehlers and Schneckenberg’s Changing Cultures in Higher Education: Moving Ahead to Future Learning may be of interest. … Changing Cultures in Higher Education can be a useful resource for those who are interested in strategies and case studies about the use of technology to increase the readiness of our universities to prepare students for work.” (Wayne L. Schmadeka, Technical Communication, Vol. 58 (4), November, 2011)

“This book consists of four sections, each comprising a number of chapters contributed by 55 researchers in the field. … The editors did an excellent job in bringing together significant researchers who dedicate their research to the necessary changes that academia should make in order to maximize educational outcomes in our modern culture of technologically supported learning.” (R. Goldberg, ACM Computing Reviews, June, 2011)

• Faculty of Economics and Business Admini, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

  Ulf-Daniel Ehlers

• ESC Rennes School of Business, Rennes CX, France

  Dirk Schneckenberg

Ulf-Daniel Ehlers is Adjunct Associate Professor of the Graduate School for Management and Technology of the University of Maryland University College, and Assistant Professor in the Department for Business Information Sciences of the University of Duisburg-Essen. He has coordinated many European and national lighthouse projects, and is Vice-President of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning. Ulf has developed the Learners' Quality Model for e-learning, is advising governments and international NGOs in the fields of technology enhanced learning.

Dirk Schneckenberg is Professor of Strategic Management at the ESC Rennes School of Business in France. His research interests are organizational learning, knowledge management and innovation strategies for firms, as well as the necessity to rethink business and higher education for the 21st century. He has managed research projects funded by the European Commission and published around 40 refereed papers in journals, books and international conference proceedings.

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