Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
Compassion in higher education is viewed in different ways by educators. In recent years a focus ... more Compassion in higher education is viewed in different ways by educators. In recent years a focus on using compassionate pedagogy and being authentic, compassionate educators has arisen. Often associated with ‘care’, compassion has been labelled at times to be ‘soft’ or even ‘fluffy’ and holding emotion. Rather, we argue – through critically exploring discourses of compassion and care – that by acknowledging higher education has a relational element encompassing purposeful and trusting relationships, interactions can hold more meaning and benefit. This Editorial seeks to position the role of compassion in higher education, challenging how compassion focused pedagogy and research can be incorporated and enacted so it can benefit the future of higher education. We consider compassion in learning and teaching practices and in assessment, looking with hope to the future where we may see educational values lived in and through our teaching practices.
Global citizenship and intercultural competence are highly sought-after skills in today’s globali... more Global citizenship and intercultural competence are highly sought-after skills in today’s globalised world. Desired graduate capabilities, as developed through higher education, include the attitudes, skills and knowledge that one needs to competently and successfully live, work and interact in a world where peoples’ cultural identities are developed beyond national borders. Through the internationalisation of the tertiary education system, institutions can assist students in developing these capabilities to effectively and appropriately communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds. Outbound mobility and study abroad is one side of these internationalisation efforts, which helps students to become interculturally competent global citizens. In this thesis, after an introduction of the importance of study abroad on a global and national level, an overview of current theories in the field of intercultural and language learning is given. The attitudes, skills and knowledge ...
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021
One impact of the global pandemic of 2020 was a rapid shift in the delivery of work-integrated le... more One impact of the global pandemic of 2020 was a rapid shift in the delivery of work-integrated learning (WIL) to remote activity among WIL practitioners, students and educators alike. Along with professional practice research in higher degrees, WIL practice, including placements and non-placements, responded actively and sometimes reactively to the challenges of sudden transition to online environments. What strategies - pivots and pirouettes - did WIL practitioners use to weather the storm of Covid-19? What does this tell us about the nature of WIL? This paper captures the seemingly overnight response to shifting work-based learning to online and other spaces. With change came the opportunity to reflect on the varying areas of WIL: from the practical processes of ensuring students are cared for to pivoting to the learning opportunities it presented in building digital literacies and adapting to the global future of work. This study is a Trans-Tasman collaboration of four WIL practi...
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021
In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching... more In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self...
Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 2021
The Australian higher education sector has promoted internationalisation opportunities for studen... more The Australian higher education sector has promoted internationalisation opportunities for students, including through international studies (IS) courses that entail language and culture study and international exchange. Educators promote internationalisation for many reasons, including enhanced employability, and international studies degrees are increasingly offered in combination with professional courses. Students, however, do not necessarily share in the belief that international opportunities and language study will increase their employability. A thematic analysis of statements (n=223) supplied on student applications to withdraw from combined international studies courses in favour of single professional degrees, reveals that students fail to see employability benefits and may even perceive their international studies course as a professional liability. Understanding these beliefs can allow educators to more effectively promote the value of not only international studies deg...
Growing numbers of Australian undergraduate students are participating in short-term internationa... more Growing numbers of Australian undergraduate students are participating in short-term international experiences as part of their degree courses. In addition to any discipline-specific knowledge or skills learnt, such international programs provide students with the opportunity to develop graduate attributes such as intercultural communication skills and professional readiness for careers in globalised workplaces. To facilitate their transition to graduate employment, it is important that students are able to articulate the learning outcomes of international programs and apply them to professional contexts. However, this is a complex task for students that has not been adequately addressed in university learning programs. To address this gap, this paper reports on a study of the experiences of 55 undergraduate students from a range of disciplines who had completed a learning abroad program. It analyses interview data on the challenges students faced to connect their international experience with their future professions. Results indicate a complex range of potential challenges for individual students relating to their career management skills, developing professional identity, task-related performance issues, and perceptions of the relevance of international programs for employability. The paper establishes the necessity for universities to maximise the affordances of learning abroad programs by adequately supporting students to realise global graduate career opportunities.
ABSTRACT Digital storytelling is a multimodal instructional design framework that helps to explai... more ABSTRACT Digital storytelling is a multimodal instructional design framework that helps to explain complex concepts using narrative and metaphor. Drawing from conceptual metaphor theory, we explore the effect of digital storytelling on student engagement and understanding of unit material in two undergraduate units. Through a mixed methods approach, visual elements of storytelling and metaphors are found to increase student engagement. Greater increases in student engagement are found for accounting students than a comparison cohort of management students. The main contribution of this paper is in using conceptual metaphor theory to create a new understanding of student engagement regarding rich metaphors becoming cognitively aligned with accounting concepts. A storytelling approach further helps to improve student engagement by connecting multiple metaphors into a compelling overarching narrative. We present accounting education practitioners with specific recommendations for improving student engagement by introducing narrative and metaphoric elements into lectures.
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
Compassion in higher education is viewed in different ways by educators. In recent years a focus ... more Compassion in higher education is viewed in different ways by educators. In recent years a focus on using compassionate pedagogy and being authentic, compassionate educators has arisen. Often associated with ‘care’, compassion has been labelled at times to be ‘soft’ or even ‘fluffy’ and holding emotion. Rather, we argue – through critically exploring discourses of compassion and care – that by acknowledging higher education has a relational element encompassing purposeful and trusting relationships, interactions can hold more meaning and benefit. This Editorial seeks to position the role of compassion in higher education, challenging how compassion focused pedagogy and research can be incorporated and enacted so it can benefit the future of higher education. We consider compassion in learning and teaching practices and in assessment, looking with hope to the future where we may see educational values lived in and through our teaching practices.
Global citizenship and intercultural competence are highly sought-after skills in today’s globali... more Global citizenship and intercultural competence are highly sought-after skills in today’s globalised world. Desired graduate capabilities, as developed through higher education, include the attitudes, skills and knowledge that one needs to competently and successfully live, work and interact in a world where peoples’ cultural identities are developed beyond national borders. Through the internationalisation of the tertiary education system, institutions can assist students in developing these capabilities to effectively and appropriately communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds. Outbound mobility and study abroad is one side of these internationalisation efforts, which helps students to become interculturally competent global citizens. In this thesis, after an introduction of the importance of study abroad on a global and national level, an overview of current theories in the field of intercultural and language learning is given. The attitudes, skills and knowledge ...
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021
One impact of the global pandemic of 2020 was a rapid shift in the delivery of work-integrated le... more One impact of the global pandemic of 2020 was a rapid shift in the delivery of work-integrated learning (WIL) to remote activity among WIL practitioners, students and educators alike. Along with professional practice research in higher degrees, WIL practice, including placements and non-placements, responded actively and sometimes reactively to the challenges of sudden transition to online environments. What strategies - pivots and pirouettes - did WIL practitioners use to weather the storm of Covid-19? What does this tell us about the nature of WIL? This paper captures the seemingly overnight response to shifting work-based learning to online and other spaces. With change came the opportunity to reflect on the varying areas of WIL: from the practical processes of ensuring students are cared for to pivoting to the learning opportunities it presented in building digital literacies and adapting to the global future of work. This study is a Trans-Tasman collaboration of four WIL practi...
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021
In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching... more In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self...
Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 2021
The Australian higher education sector has promoted internationalisation opportunities for studen... more The Australian higher education sector has promoted internationalisation opportunities for students, including through international studies (IS) courses that entail language and culture study and international exchange. Educators promote internationalisation for many reasons, including enhanced employability, and international studies degrees are increasingly offered in combination with professional courses. Students, however, do not necessarily share in the belief that international opportunities and language study will increase their employability. A thematic analysis of statements (n=223) supplied on student applications to withdraw from combined international studies courses in favour of single professional degrees, reveals that students fail to see employability benefits and may even perceive their international studies course as a professional liability. Understanding these beliefs can allow educators to more effectively promote the value of not only international studies deg...
Growing numbers of Australian undergraduate students are participating in short-term internationa... more Growing numbers of Australian undergraduate students are participating in short-term international experiences as part of their degree courses. In addition to any discipline-specific knowledge or skills learnt, such international programs provide students with the opportunity to develop graduate attributes such as intercultural communication skills and professional readiness for careers in globalised workplaces. To facilitate their transition to graduate employment, it is important that students are able to articulate the learning outcomes of international programs and apply them to professional contexts. However, this is a complex task for students that has not been adequately addressed in university learning programs. To address this gap, this paper reports on a study of the experiences of 55 undergraduate students from a range of disciplines who had completed a learning abroad program. It analyses interview data on the challenges students faced to connect their international experience with their future professions. Results indicate a complex range of potential challenges for individual students relating to their career management skills, developing professional identity, task-related performance issues, and perceptions of the relevance of international programs for employability. The paper establishes the necessity for universities to maximise the affordances of learning abroad programs by adequately supporting students to realise global graduate career opportunities.
ABSTRACT Digital storytelling is a multimodal instructional design framework that helps to explai... more ABSTRACT Digital storytelling is a multimodal instructional design framework that helps to explain complex concepts using narrative and metaphor. Drawing from conceptual metaphor theory, we explore the effect of digital storytelling on student engagement and understanding of unit material in two undergraduate units. Through a mixed methods approach, visual elements of storytelling and metaphors are found to increase student engagement. Greater increases in student engagement are found for accounting students than a comparison cohort of management students. The main contribution of this paper is in using conceptual metaphor theory to create a new understanding of student engagement regarding rich metaphors becoming cognitively aligned with accounting concepts. A storytelling approach further helps to improve student engagement by connecting multiple metaphors into a compelling overarching narrative. We present accounting education practitioners with specific recommendations for improving student engagement by introducing narrative and metaphoric elements into lectures.
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Papers by Beate Mueller