In the dynamic and complex environment of industrial engineering, soft skills have become fundamental elements to achieve professional success. This work analyzes (i) how industrial engineering students at the University of Valladolid in Spain perceive the effect of a teaching methodology (characterized by a sound and systematic integration of…

Background: Enabling teaching approaches that promote active learning can require a certain amount of organisational reorientation. For example, structural and cultural shifts may be needed to accommodate moves towards student-centred learning. In higher education environments, lecturers can play a significant role in supporting students'…

Skills in interdisciplinary collaboration are required to address many complex problems facing society. As such, interdisciplinarity is a critical competency for students to develop. However, teachers' effectiveness in teaching interdisciplinarity is often hindered by silo structures within university faculties. To address this in the Experts in…

"Radically Responsive Music Schools" is a philosophical reimagining of music higher education culture from the ground up, arguing that holistic cultural change is the key factor needed for music schools to prepare 21st-century graduates for contemporary challenges. The author discusses how university and conservatory music programs can…

Student-created videos engage students' interests, creativity, and content knowledge and enrich collaborative learning in STEM education. These videos enhance critical thinking and analytical skills, which are essential tools in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study presents the results of such an…

The COVID-19 pandemic requires critical re-evaluation of the way Higher Education can help students maximise their learning to adjust and adapt to a new reality. This requires a holistic approach which extends beyond consideration of student learning in formal settings to understanding the role informal learning can play. Whilst research exists on…

High-impact practices (HIPs) were integrated into teaching and learning activities. These practices are designed to help students overcome the rapid challenges of employment and workforce needs. In this study, we focused on implementing HIPs in the Arabic language, a core competency. Northern Border University (NBU) has been committed to improving…

The ability to work effectively in a diverse team is a valuable skill which is transferable to many contexts. As such, it is important to build this skill through deliberate, targeted, and meaningful learning activities in higher education. The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) model enhances team diversity by combining students from different…

This study aims to examine whether it is possible to match digital society, academia and students interests in higher education by testing to what extent the introduction of gamification into active learning setups affects the skills development demanded by the workplace of the digital society of the twenty-first century, the academic achievement…

Online collaborative learning (OCL) has become a common instructional strategy in higher education for developing students' skills in collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Cognitive engagement in OCL evolves dynamically, but we do not yet fully understand which patterns of cognitive engagement are conducive to OCL and when to…

This study examines the effects of a design thinking intervention on first-year students' teamwork skills from a multi-actor perspective. A design thinking course was evaluated throughout a semester. Six-hundred-and-forty university students participated, guided by twenty-six facilitators. The students received in-class training and worked in…

It is widely recognised that the development of higher order thinking skills is a fundamental goal of higher education. There are a variety of online tools that assist the development of student higher order thinking. In this paper, a process of scaffolding for the writing of higher-order questions enabled through peer learning activities is…

The development of critical thinking is an essential aim in social work curricula, similar to all higher education programmes. Learning environments that effectively stimulate the development of critical thinking are hence of key importance. This paper starts with a small-scale review of the empirical research on learning environments in social…

This paper reports on research that extends knowledge about higher education students' perceptions of online engagement. In particular, the study aimed to identify what students thought engagement was and how they experienced it. Understanding students' views about online engagement will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic and…

In this study, it was hypothesized that collaborative learning in international higher education contributes to the development of intercultural competence. Two hundred fifty-two students of an International Business and Management Study program of a Dutch university participated in two surveys on collaboration in a group-learning activity and one…