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AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate instructional changes made by faculty for emergency online teaching necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and hence to explore key factors related to those changes from an ecological systems perspective. Data on various individual, course, and institutional factors and instructional change variables were collected from 201 educators at higher education institutions. Results revealed that the level of instructional changes made by faculty was on average between substituting their existing course for an online one with some functional improvement (augmentation-level 3) and critical course redesign (modification-level 4), but that educators did not reach the level of the creation of new tasks which were previously inconceivable (redefinition-level 5). The biggest instructional change was found to be in teaching behaviors, followed by technology use, with only small changes in beliefs about online teaching. Factors that most highly correlated with instructional change were individual educators' technology acceptance and innovation propensity, media synchronicity of the course, and the fidelity of institutional support. Recommendations are provided to aid strategic coping by universities facing a major crisis, with insights that may ultimately improve the quality of higher education in non-crisis contexts.

Despite - or because - we live in calculative and instrumental times in higher education, liberal arts colleges and programmes are flourishing. They draw students fascinated by society and culture who want to make a creative contribution. The Reinvention of Liberal Learning around the Globe is an indispensable introduction to this diverse and brilliant educational world. (Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education; Director of ESRC/RE Centre for Global Higher Education, University of Oxford) The editors pull together a diverse set of authors to share a wide range of approaches and trends in shaping the present and future of our liberal arts institutions and programs. The diversity of perspectives makes this book of interest and use to anyone thinking deeply about and acting in support of the future of higher education and liberal arts education. (Michael McDonald, President, Great Lakes Colleges Association and the Global Liberal Arts Alliance) This book rigorously questions and redefines liberal arts education by examining unique contexts of Asia, North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It also considers the complexity of contemporary issues and emerging innovations in higher education. With the diversity of perspectives and experiences presented by the international authors, we could envision future liberal arts education in nurturing global and caring leaders with multiple collaborative possibilities through this book. (Mikiko Nishimura, Professor of International Christian University, Japan; Co-President of the Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education) This volume comprehensively documents the transforming nature of liberal arts institutions within the overall tensions provided by the global pandemic occurring at the intersection with a major transitional moment of technology and communication. Its timeliness is underscored by the geographic reach of its contributions, providing a unique perspective on the multitude of ways in which higher education is responding to these powerful forces. (Deane E. Neubauer, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Hawaii, Manoa; Associate Director of the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership) This is a most timely overview and analysis of liberal arts worldwide. The editors brought together thoughtful scholars from around the world to demonstrate the dogged persistence, resiliency, and vulnerability of the liberal arts. For those who still believe that the key value of higher learning is to enrich the intellect, enliven the spirit, and take more responsibility for the future of humanity, this valuable book provides a framework for the future. (Gerard A. Postiglione, Emeritus Professor, Honorary Professor of Education, The University of Hong Kong Chapter 3 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

"Quality assurance (QA) in online and distance learning (ODL) is a contentious issue. Some argue that the same standards from face-to-face education should apply, while others say that ODL demands its own specific guidelines and standards. Some providers may look upon QA as an imposition of corporatization and bureaucracy, while others see it as a means of establishing a culture of quality. With the growth of cross-border education, institutions must provide evidence of the worth of their services in order to be accredited. This exposes them to rigorous external review and requires conformity with national and international regulatory environments and benchmarks. Until now, however, there has been a lack of research-based literature to guide those looking to better understand the implementation of QA in ODL. Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Distance Education and E-learning explains what is involved in QA and accreditation in education in open, distance, dual-mode, and conventional universities in both the developed and the developing world. The book is edited and authored by experts with extensive international experience in ODL, e-learning, and QA who give careful consideration to the possibilities and challenges involved. Providing unique analysis of the concepts, approaches, models, issues, practices, theory and research, this book is an invaluable guide for all policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and researchers in the field"-- Provided by publisher

AbstractThis study aimed to chronicle and understand the emergency online teaching experience of five faculty members in a liberal arts college located in Tokyo, Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, adopting the autoethnographic method. It explored the nature and dimensions of problems the faculty members faced, resources used to make sense of problems encountered, and actions they took to solve the problems as reflective practitioners in emergency online teaching. It also examined differences between faculty members over time. Analysis of seven weeks of autobiographic reflective journals during a 10-week academic term revealed that the faculty members encountered a range of problems during the classes, especially student-related and technology-related issues. When encountering problems, faculty members utilized references such as their past experience in face-to-face classroom teaching. Faculty members with more online teaching experience were more adaptable and flexible in mobilizing other references to solve problems. Overall, all members worked as reflective learners and practitioners who continued to reflect on the problems they faced and find solutions. These findings suggest that engaging in reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action can be effective ways for faculty members to develop their competencies to solve problems in emergency online teaching situations when responding to unprecedented challenges and issues is continuously needed.

This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project "Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures–EduArc", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries' political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country's context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.

This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project "Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures-EduArc", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries' political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country's context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.