Industry and Higher Education

The authors first explore the changing European society and its impact on higher education. This forms a background to the main focus of the paper – the effectiveness of remedial or developmental education. The paper then provides an overview of the core elements of successful remedial or developmental courses and summarizes developments in online education and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The added value of IT in remedial education is subsequently examined in depth through a review of the literature and research. Finally, addressing the role of information and communications technology in online remedial education, the authors clarify the connections between the key components of remedial and online education.

There is growing concern in Europe that some students are not well-equipped to start a Bachelor's or Master's programme, especially when the programme has a strong mathematical focus. In particular, attention is drawn to problems with mathematics in the transition from secondary to higher education. Higher education expects a certain level of algebraic skills and not all incoming students are able to comply with that expectation. Consequently, more institutes are developing preparatory and remedial courses to refresh or remediate algebraic skills in first-year students, and IT tools are often used to enhance their learning experience. This paper focuses on the use of frequent online assessment powered by a mathematical engine, Maple TA. The authors analyse two redesigns of mathematics courses using Maple TA at the University of Amsterdam. These courses were taken by 650 students in the Faculties of Science and of Economics and Business. In general, the students' response was positive, although the economics students were more positive than the science students. Teachers were pleased with the redesigns and indicated that the use of online assessment tools for innovation in classroom teaching was straightforward.

The authors investigate the relationship between student learning choices and learning styles in the use of an innovative learning environment for statistics. For teaching introductory statistics to first-year students in economics and business, Maastricht University uses a blended learning environment. It allows students to individualize learning by attuning the available learning tools to their personal preferences. The blended learning environment consists of tutorials focused on problem-based learning, lectures, independent learning and an electronic learning environment (ALEKS) based on knowledge space theory. The paper examines the intensity of use of ALEKS and investigates the relationship between this and student learning dispositions in a correlational study. Data from around 4,650 students are used. The findings suggest that less academically-inclined students, such as those with ‘surface’ approaches to learning, profit most from the availability of e-learning tools.

This paper examines the practical implications for teachers wishing to incorporate e-learning and Web 2.0 technologies into their pedagogy. The authors concentrate on applied didactical scenarios and the impacts of e-learning innovations. The methods applied stem from grounded theory and action research. An analytical framework was derived by inverting problem-based learning (PBL). Three practices at the University of East London (UEL) are examined in the context of this framework, using, respectively, a formal virtual learning environment, Facebook and Skype. The paper's findings have implications and provide guidance for those planning and implementing online collaboration and learning in education and industry.

The potential of information technology to facilitate collaboration in education has grown considerably in recent years. The use of Web videoconferencing, whereby learners in an online classroom can simultaneously collaborate using audiovisual communication tools, increases the learner's ability in social and emotional expression, thus improving communication which may enhance learning satisfaction. This paper compares two cohorts of students who attended the same online course in economics. Both could communicate via a discussion board and one cohort had the additional opportunity to participate in Web conferences. Contrary to expectations, learning satisfaction did not seem to increase with the introduction of Web videoconferencing. This finding leads to several questions for future research.

This article explores the transition in course delivery from a paper-based format to blended learning, and highlights the role of the virtual learning environment (VLE) in this process. Professional practice in postgraduate programmes in particular is investigated during this transition stage at the University of Dundee (UoD) in Scotland, and the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (UASTW) in Austria. In this transition, UoD is developing and implementing a ‘Master's Framework’ supported by the VLE, ‘MyDundee’, which is built on the Blackboard e-learning platform. Similarly, UASTW is exploiting the Campus Information System (CIS) based on the open-source e-learning platform Moodle. Although the methods used to promote and practise e-learning differ at the two universities, their common aim is to support students' and professionals' learning when face-to-face contact time between students and tutors is significantly reduced. The use of collaborative and peer-assessed tools like e-portfolios, newsletters, discussion forums, Wikis and group puzzles are used as means of satisfying a delivery model which reflects socially constructivist principles of learning.

The use of IT as a facilitator for student collaboration in higher business education has grown rapidly since 2000. Asynchronous discussion forums are used abundantly for collaborative training purposes and for teaching students business-relevant tools for their future careers. This article presents an analysis of the asynchronous discussion forum series that was used in an MBA Business Ethics class in France as a facilitator to bridge cultural differences for future lifelong learning. The objective of the forum series, to facilitate the acculturation of business soft skills through online discussion of experiential cases, leads to observations of adaptation rather than the convergence of intercultural soft skills between high and low context cultures.

The growth of available online learning programmes has created a wide range of new ways for global organizations to train their staff effectively. Previously, global training entailed substantial costs for organizations – costs that had to be endured if the knowledge and skills of the workforce were to be updated. In this context, virtual ‘communities of learning’, defined as groups of people engaging in the collaborative learning and reflective practice involved in transformative learning, are of increasing interest for global organizations because of their potential usefulness in workplace practice and training. This article examines how a community of learning has been developed and implemented for 174 staff from 81 offices worldwide of a large international organization by facilitating the collaborative exchange of knowledge and experience. Based on the participants' perceptions, several key insights are provided that should be taken into account when engaging in community of learning initiatives.