How can we re-envision the university? Too many examples of what passes for educational innovation today--MOOCs especially--focus on transactions, on questions of delivery. In "Alternative Universities," David J. Staley argues that modern universities suffer from a poverty of imagination about how to reinvent themselves. Anyone seeking…

The success of alternative and flexible education settings, serving young people for whom mainstream schooling has not worked well, rests on the practices of their staff. This paper explores interview and survey data on the professional learning experiences and perceptions of staff working in flexible learning programmes across Victoria,…

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate how transformative learning is key to innovating sustainability education in the built environment in the region's universities, in addition to reporting on the research project undertaken to integrate sustainability thinking and practice into engineering/built environment curricula in Asia-Pacific…

Despite the recent increases of interest in open education, notably in massive open online courses (MOOCs) (Fini, 2009), it has been continuously asserted that this form of social knowledge production lacks a philosophical or theoretical foundation (Vandenberg, 1975). Similar accusations have been made with respect to distance education, such as…

When the Maori goddess, "Hinetitama", asked the Maori god, "Tane", who her father was, he replied, "Uia ki nga pou o t whare ... Ask the posts of your house". This traditional Maori (indigenous people of New Zealand) story implies a cultural teaching pedagogy that utilises the "marae" (a Maori building…

This paper examines a core leadership strategy for transforming learning and teaching in distance education through flexible and blended learning. It focuses on a project centred on distributive leadership that involves collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an…

This paper examines a core leadership strategy for transforming learning and teaching in distance education through flexible and blended learning. It focuses on a project centred on distributive leadership that involves collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an…

Over the past decade or so, an educational evolution has been redefining our understanding and practices of adult community education (ACE) in profound and comprehensive ways. The name of this transformation is e-learning. A bountiful interpretation and practice of "e-learning" in ACE results inevitably in extending our educational work;…

This article reflects on current debate over transformations of scientific research and universities. Four well-known mutation theories (Mode-2 knowledge production, triple helix of university-industry-government relations, academic capitalism and enterprise university), and their recent critiques, are reviewed. It is suggested that a better…