In Search of Academic Quality

In Search of Academic Quality
Author: Catherine Paradeise
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137298294

This book is based on an international comparison observing a series of universities, where diversity remains huge when considering how single institutions position themselves in terms of quality standards and combine resources, as well as the alternatives they have access to given their organizational and cultural governance path dependence.

Quality and the Academic Library

Quality and the Academic Library
Author: Jeremy Atkinson
Publisher: Chandos Publishing
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2016-02-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0081001347

Quality and the Academic Library: Reviewing, Assessing and Enhancing Service Provision provides an in-depth review and analysis of quality management and service quality in academic libraries. All aspects of quality are considered in the book, including quality assessment, quality review, and quality enhancement. An overview of quality management and service quality concepts, principles, and methods leads to a detailed consideration of how they have been applied in universities and their libraries. A case study approach is used with different perspectives provided from the different stakeholders involved in the quality processes. All contributors adopt a critical reflection approach, reflecting on the implications, impact, and significance of the activities undertaken and the conclusions that can be drawn for future developments. The book concludes with an overall reflection on quality management and service quality in academic libraries with a final analysis of priorities for the future. Presents a holistic view of the subject, looking at reviews of academic library services, quality assurance and assessment, quality enhancement, and service quality Provides perspectives from authors with different experiences and responsibilities, including those responsible for initiating and managing quality processes in higher education Includes case studies where the authors not only describe the quality processes used, but also seek to review and reflect on their success, limitations, and the impact of their work some time after the event Seeks to be current, comprehensive, and reflective by including the results of surveys/interviews from senior librarians on quality in academic libraries

Public Policy for Academic Quality

Public Policy for Academic Quality
Author: David D. Dill
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9789400732223

Over the last decade the structure of higher education in most countries has undergone significant change brought about by social demands for expanded access, technological developments, and market forces. In this period of change the traditional concerns with access and cost have been supplemented by a new concern with academic quality. As a consequence, new public policies on academic quality and new forms of academic quality assurance have rapidly emerged and swiftly migrated across continents and around the globe. The growing public debate about academic quality assurance within and across countries however has not always been well informed by analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of these new policy instruments. The Public Policy for Academic Quality Research Program (PPAQ) was designed to provide systematic analyses of innovative external quality assurance policies around the world. This volume presents the fourteen analyses of national policies on academic quality assurance conducted as part of the PPAQ Research Program utilizing the knowledge of informed international scholars. Each policy analysis examines the policy goals, implementation problems, and impacts of these newly developed national quality assurance instruments. The book concludes with an assessment of the lessons learned from these collected policy analyses and outlines the framework conditions that appear essential for assuring academic standards in the university sector.

The Road to Academic Excellence

The Road to Academic Excellence
Author: Philip G. Altbach
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2011-09-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0821388061

This book examines the experience of 11 universities in nine countries around the world that have grappled with the challenge of building successful research institutions in difficult circumstances and outlines key lessons of from this experience.

Teaching for Quality Learning at University

Teaching for Quality Learning at University
Author: John Biggs
Publisher: Open University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2007-11
Genre: Education
ISBN:

"This book is a sophisticated and insightful conceptualization of outcomes-based learning developed from the concept of constructive alignment. The first author has already made a significant contribution to the scholarship and practice of teaching and learning in universities…Together with the second author, there is now added richness through the practical implementation and practices. The ideas in this book are all tried and shown to contribute to more successful learning experience and outcome for students." Denise Chalmers, Carrick Institute of Education, Australia Teaching for Quality Learning at University focuses on implementing a constructively aligned outcomes-based model at both classroom and institutional level. The theory, which is now used worldwide as a framework for good teaching and assessment, is shown to: Assist university teachers who wish to improve the quality of their own teaching, their students' learning and their assessment of learning outcomes Aid staff developers in providing support for teachers Provide a framework for administrators interested in quality assurance and enhancement of teaching across the whole university The book's "how to" approach addresses several important issues: designing high level outcomes, the learning activities most likely to achieve them in small and large classes, and appropriate assessment and grading procedures. It is an accessible, jargon-free guide to all university teachers interested in enhancing their teaching and their students' learning, and for administrators and teaching developers who are involved in teaching-related decisions on an institution-wide basis. The authors have also included useful web links to further material.

Valuing Quality in Early Childhood Services

Valuing Quality in Early Childhood Services
Author: Peter Moss
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 195
Release: 1994-10-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1446266257

`Not only does this book offer a great deal of insight into evaluating early childhood services, it also provides a focal point for those interested in establishing goals, objectives and evaluation criteria for their own early childhood programmes′ - Early Years `Quality′ has become a priority issue for all concerned with early childhood care and education services. Starting from the premise that `quality′ is a relative and dynamic concept based on values and beliefs, Valuing Quality in Early Childhood Services examines how the definitions of quality are established and who is involved in their establishment. The book advocates that the process should involve a range of stakeholder groups, including children, parents, staff, care providers, researchers, employers and the community. A key issue that emerges is the need for new and creative approaches to the development of an inclusionary process in the definitions and attainment of quality care.

The Promise of Higher Education

The Promise of Higher Education
Author: Hilligje van't Land
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2021-09-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 303067245X

This book is a collection of short essays, accessible through open access, which takes the interested reader on a tour across the global higher education landscape. It addresses pertinent themes and challenges in higher education. To mark the 70th anniversary of the International Association of Universities (IAU) and its role in higher education since 1950, experts from around the world share their insights into higher education’s recent past, present and future. The book is divided into six parts: Part I – “70 years of Higher Education Cooperation and Advocacy” looks back at key events in IAU’s history, its mission and significant activities over time, and remarks on the current global context informing its quest to promote academic partnerships and solidarity on a global scale. Part II – “Facilitating International Cooperation” provides for different perspectives on the transformation of the internationalisation of higher education and the contribution of higher education to international cooperation. Part III – “Coding the Values” debates the values upon which higher education was, is and will have to be built to provide for a democratic and inclusive society. Part IV – “The Changing Landscape” analyses various aspects of the transformation of higher education in an evolving context across the globe. Part V – “The Promise of Education” reflects on the role of higher education, its ideals and shortfalls and what it must do to stay true to its promise to help shape our societies. Part VI – “Opening up – The Future of Higher Education” focuses on future scenarios of higher education and call on the reader to envision a different kind of higher education and reimagine the contribution of higher education to society, as well as future roles for the IAU. The book will be of interest to higher education policy makers and academics. It is also of interest to the general public, as it provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges higher education institutions currently face and suggests scenarios of what the future of education might look like.

Service Quality

Service Quality
Author: Roland T. Rust
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 201
Release: 1994
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0803949200

The importance of service and service quality has been growing in the world economy since the late 1970s. Establishing new levels of sophistication and rigor, as well as a broad set of approaches, Service Quality presents the latest research and theory in customer satisfaction and services marketing.

Evaluating the Quality of Learning

Evaluating the Quality of Learning
Author: John B. Biggs
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2014-05-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1483273318

Educational Psychology Series: Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) focuses on the approaches, methodologies, and techniques employed in the valuation of the quality of learning. The publication first offers information on the quality and quantity of learning and origin and description of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Discussions focus on general intellectual development and the growth of quality; some assumptions and applications of stage theory; from developmental stage to levels of learning quality; and general intellectual development and the growth of quality. The text then examines the teaching of history, elementary mathematics, English, and geography. Topics include interpreting a map and drawing conclusions, explaining a natural phenomenon, appreciation of poetry, implications for the teaching of history, English, and mathematics, numbers and operations, and general application of SOLO to history. The manuscript takes a look at modern languages, place of the taxonomy in instructional design, and some methodological considerations. Concerns include alternative formats for obtaining SOLO responses, instructional processes, curriculum analysis, remediation, and teacher intentions. The publication is a vital source of data for educators interested in the SOLO taxonomy.

Academically Adrift

Academically Adrift
Author: Richard Arum
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2011-01-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0226028577

In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor’s degree is now required for entry into a growing number of professions. And some parents begin planning for the expense of sending their kids to college when they’re born. Almost everyone strives to go, but almost no one asks the fundamental question posed by Academically Adrift: are undergraduates really learning anything once they get there? For a large proportion of students, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s answer to that question is a definitive no. Their extensive research draws on survey responses, transcript data, and, for the first time, the state-of-the-art Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test administered to students in their first semester and then again at the end of their second year. According to their analysis of more than 2,300 undergraduates at twenty-four institutions, 45 percent of these students demonstrate no significant improvement in a range of skills—including critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing—during their first two years of college. As troubling as their findings are, Arum and Roksa argue that for many faculty and administrators they will come as no surprise—instead, they are the expected result of a student body distracted by socializing or working and an institutional culture that puts undergraduate learning close to the bottom of the priority list. Academically Adrift holds sobering lessons for students, faculty, administrators, policy makers, and parents—all of whom are implicated in promoting or at least ignoring contemporary campus culture. Higher education faces crises on a number of fronts, but Arum and Roksa’s report that colleges are failing at their most basic mission will demand the attention of us all.