Project-based learning: What makes it work?
Ideaschool at the Eastern Institute of Technology has completely redesigned its visual arts and design programme into a project-based curriculum. During its first year of implementation, changes compared to the ‘old’ programme were startling, in a positive way, for students, staff and management. Read more...
Development of institution-wide graduate attributes
What is important for people to learn, no matter which programme they study? This question is at the heart of an educational organisation’s vision and mission, as they reflect the organisation’s perception of their role as educators in this world. Read more...
A literature review
Having had the experience of being a doctoral student twice, in two very different fields, I was considered by a New Zealand university to be the perfect contractor for conducting a literature review into support needs of and approaches for doctoral students. The purpose of the literature review report was to assist with the development of a specific support centre for doctoral students at this university.
Development of an institutional model to guide effective learning
'Continuous improvement' and 'excellence' have become key terms in tertiary education organisations. But improvement of what? And how do we know that we have improved? When can we call ourselves excellent? Read more...
A mentoring programme for pre-employment trades students
In the early 2000s a concern started to develop in Aotearoa/New Zealand about low student retention and completion of tertiary education programmes (Scott, 2005). Simultaneously, awareness was growing that many people in New Zealand lacked the literacy and numeracy abilities to meet the demands of our current and future society. These concerns were shared by educators and management in the polytechnic with which I was involved. To identify whether mentoring would be a useful strategy to deal with these concerns, I initiated exploratory case studies in two trades programmes in this polytechnic. Read more...