While research is abundant on quality assurance in higher education, very little has been done to study informal learning in general and its relation to quality assurance in particular. Reporting on a study of informal learning among PhD students in natural sciences in an Iranian university, this article is an attempt to address this issue.…

This study presents our emerging understanding of the meaning of collaborative self-study as one of the mechanisms that facilitates effective, productive collaboration. Stemming from our experience of collaborative professional life over eight years, we explore the crisis we confronted as a professional learning community, the tensions underlying…

This paper reflects on the challenges and benefits of multidimensional collaboration in an action research study to evaluate and improve preoperative education for patients awaiting colorectal surgery. Three cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting were designed to evaluate practice and implement change in this interactive setting,…

Cultural awareness training that emphasizes communication delivers only a partial solution to the challenges that intercultural work teams face. Improving collaboration requires a strong foundation of performance management before a work team can determine how they will cooperate to perform to excellence. Against the backdrop of the authors'…

In this article, the authors share some key results from discussions, research, reflective practices, and others' perspectives on assisting students to engage and demonstrate integrative and applied learning. First, they traverse the definitional territory of this complex construct, referring to the national literature and discussion as well as…

This study investigated the effects of positive interdependence and group processing on student achievement and attitude in online learning. Students in three university courses received initial instruction about teamwork skills and cooperative learning and were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups in each course. The "positive…

This paper presents the results of a rigorous experiment examining the impact of pay for performance on student achievement and instructional practice. This study, conducted by the National Center on Performance Incentives, examines a pay-for-performance program in Round Rock (Texas) which distributed performance awards to teachers based on a…

This leadership framework, based on practices employed by some the nation's most successful principals, can be used to diagnose and address school needs. The framework is excerpted from "Breakthrough Principals" © 2016 by Jean Desravines, Jaime Aquino, Benjamin Fenton, and New Leaders, published by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand. The…

This study examines participants' responses to first year students' street performances as a non-placement work-integrated learning (WIL) activity over a two year period. The purpose of the study was to determine: (1) community perception, (2) continuous improvement, and (3) future needs. Data was collected through surveying participants'…

In this article, the authors clarify the role of the leadership team, providing a rationale for one integrated team to examine academic, social, and behavioral programming, with careful attention to including all key stakeholders. Next, the authors discuss the procedures for teaching all key stakeholders the comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered…

Adapting support contingently to student needs by first diagnosing their current understanding, that is, scaffolding, is considered a key aspect of excellent teaching. The use of classroom scaffolding is rare, however. We therefore investigated the benefits to teachers of a professional development program that was based upon a model of contingent…

This paper is intended to share the results of the assessment of the use of the Online Work Community (OWC), developed in the Moodle technology that was used as an instrument to facilitate the educational and operational processes, intended to share problems and proposals for solution among the 470 members of the development teams, made up of…

Digital communication increases students' learning outcomes in higher education. Web 2.0 technologies encourages students' active engagement, collaboration, and participation in class activities, facilitates group work, and encourages information sharing among students. Familiarity with organizational use and sharing in social networks aids…

Higher education is constantly changing and looking for innovative educational solutions in order to increase the level of the student's knowledge and skills. As an important part of this set of educational policies, a new process is emerging for the ideation, planning and implementation of multidisciplinary case studies for students with the aim…

Employers seek employees who possess soft skills. Employees who do not have excellent soft skills may not experience success in obtaining and sustaining employment. McEwen's (2010) framework for skill-building--introduce, explain, practice, and reinforce--was used to describe activities for enhancing soft skills. Soft skills building activities…