Mid Sweden University

In this study, the changed context for higher education institutions is analysed through the lens of various approaches to collaboration between higher education institutions and society. Three different approaches are discussed: the ivory tower, the factory, and the network. Although these approaches differ, higher education institutions are complex organisations and can embrace a mix of approaches. Nevertheless, depending on the approach applied, this impacts how collaboration between higher education institutions and organisations in society plays out. The study contextualised these approaches in a joint higher education-industry project focusing on developing work-integrated learning (WIL) in a Business Administration program. WIL should embrace practice-based pedagogical methods and strategies by integrating theoretical knowledge in the workplace. To achieve WIL, a network of stakeholders needs to be engaged actively in practice-based activities. The study aimed to report preliminary results from a higher education work-integrated learning project. The following research question was posed: How can higher education institutions, together with organisations in society, apply a networked approach to work-integrated learning? Thus, this paper contributes to knowledge regarding the networked aspects of the design and development of a preliminary framework, including the following themes: Exchanges of experiences and knowledge, Guest lecturers and Bring-Your-Own-Data (BYOD) assignments. These themes manifest a networked WIL framework as a hybrid between higher education and society. First, the networks of experiences and knowledge within academia merge with those of experiences and knowledge in society. Between these two, a hybrid networked work-integrated framework links higher education and society. Second, the same can be said to be true for guest lecturers. Here, guest lecturers became a link between higher education and society and therefore merge the two networks of learning through information and knowledge exchange. Third, BYOD assignments provided further manifestations of a networked WIL framework. Authentic data from the workplace meet the theories of higher education and a hybrid is created. When practice meets theory, they, too, become a link between higher education and society.

In the current discussion on the reformation of higher education for continuous lifelong learning, there are several reports on the importance of opening up higher education. As highlighted by lifelong and work-integrated learning this is one of the main challenges in the rapidly growing knowledge society, where the Corona pandemic has acted as a catalyst for technology enhancement. One often-mentioned idea is that of work-integrated learning and to practice what is preached inside the university. Other emphasised ideas are flexibility, continuity, and the possibility to study anywhere and anytime (Rientes et al., 2023). However, there is no consensus on how professional development in higher education should be redesigned to best support continuous professional development. This study is part of the third phase in a modified four-phase Delphi study (Mozelius et al., 2023), building on suggestions by a global panel of experienced researchers in the field of lifelong learning. After a survey in the first phase, and a reading assignment in the second phase, data has been collected by structured interviews. Interview questions were partly created around the themes in the survey answers and the themes in the reading assignment literature.

The aim of the study is to analyse and discuss the Delphi expert panels' views on the need for reformation for quality lifelong learning in higher education. The research question that guided the study was: "What are the experts’ suggestions for a redesign of higher education to create conditions for continuous lifelong learning?”

Interview answers have been analysed according to the Grounded theory methods of Open coding and Axial Coding. In the initial Open coding phase, the focus was more on a general reformation of higher education for lifelong learning. Preliminary categories in the Open coding phase were later aggregated into 1) ' Digital literacy' 2) 'Multi-modal learning delivery' 3) 'Infrastructure' with the subcategories, 4) 'Quality considerations', 5) 'Pedagogical change', 6) 'Continuous lifelong learning', 7) 'Accessibility', 8) 'Equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI)' and finally, 9) Miscellaneous with the subcategories of 'Economy', 'Financial aspects' and 'The Corona pandemic'.

In the Axial coding phase, the same data were reanalysed with 6) 'Continuous lifelong learning' ' as the central or axial category. Other important supporting categories in this study were found to be: 'Infrastructure', 'Pedagogical change and multimodality', 'Accessibility', and 'Financial aspects'. All of these categories, based on the experts’ views, warrant deeper study for insight into possible formation of higher education. More research is needed to understand these crucial aspects of continuous professional development inside and outside of the university.

In the knowledge society today, there is a strong need for providing continuous lifelong learning opportunities. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for technology enhanced learning, involving new challenges for higher education. The main focus for this study has been the ongoing reform of higher education for providing lifelong learning opportunities. This study is the second phase of a Delphi study on higher education reform. Data were gathered by email interviews with an expert panel, where all respondents have genuine knowledge in the field of technology enhanced lifelong learning. The interview answers were analysed according to the Grounded Theory concepts of open coding and axial coding.   The central main category for the axial coding was ‘Higher education reform for the provision of lifelong learning opportunities. This category was later found to be dependent on ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Multimodal delivery’, ‘Pedagogical change’, ‘Financial aspects’, and ‘Quality and organisation’, ‘Digital literacy’, ‘Accessibility’, and ‘Equity, diversity and inclusion’.

In the contemporary digitalised knowledge society, work-integrated professional development is an important andcontinuous activity. Continuous professional development should preferably be a hybrid format, where academiacollaborates with industry and the surrounding society in a multi-directed exchange of ideas. Continuous professionaldevelopment is today conducted in a blend of workplace activities, and in technology enhanced online environments.A complex blend for professionals that at the same time are working full-time with their ordinary jobs. The need fora support model to navigate in these new digital learning spaces is obvious, where the support model also shouldinclude collaboration and a community of practice. A community where the members communicate regularly to improvetheir skills and knowledge in their common professional domain. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse thedevelopment of a support model that involves these aspects. Findings confirm the necessity of the four steps in theearlier model, at the same time as they indicate the need for a fifth step facilitating the creation of Communities andLandscapes of Practice. The use of the model may support higher education institutions in creating beneficial conditionsfor hybrid work-integrated continuous professional development for industry.

Det finns ett behov av kontinuerlig kompetensförstärkning och här spelar högre utbildning en viktig roll. Medan de traditionella universitetsutbildningarna ofta är utformade för studenter i tjugoårsåldern, kräver dagens kunskapssamhälle ett livslångt lärande för ett vidare åldersspann. Utifrån denna utgångspunkt genomförde Peter Mozelius, Marcia Håkansson Lindqvist och Jimmy Jaldemark vid CER, tillsammans med Martha Cleveland-Innes vid Athabasca University i Kanada, en studie där resultat från enkäter och intervjuer med en internationell expertgrupp indikerar en rad olika förändringsbehov. I denna kortrapport presenteras de aspekter som framkom i form av en konceptuell modell. Forskningsresultaten har tidigare presenterats vid två internationella konferenser: “Digging deeper with Delphi: The four step Alberta approach” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2023a) och “The transition of higher education for continuous lifelong learning: Expert views on the need for a new infrastructure” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2023b) samt i tidskriftsartikeln ”Critical aspects of a higher education reform for continuous lifelong learning opportunities in a digital era” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2024).

As pointed out by many scholars, Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides both opportunities and challenges in regard to assignments and examination in higher education. The accessibility and use of AI in regard to student assignments, examinations and assessments places demands on teachers’ work in course design and formats of assignments and examination. For teachers, this work is a constant and continuous process, in line with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) according to Boyer (1991). In order to meet these new demands, teachers need to reflect upon design, as reflective practitioners (Schön, 1987). Reflective design may alleviate the challenges with AI as well as make use of the opportunities with the use of AI. In this paper there are two sets of data. This study aspires to contribute to the current state of AI (ChatGPT) as it is applied in higher education through an empirical study of authentic reflection texts by students in comparison to AI (ChatGPT) generated texts. The first set of data is authentic reflection texts (N=20) written by students. The second set of data is texts generated by AI (ChatGPT). The texts are analysed using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019). The themes in the two sets of texts are described, analysed and compared. The two sets of data are then explored, analysed and compared to highlight similarities and differences between the authentic texts and the texts generated by AI. These insights may provide support for teachers in regard to the design of assignments and examinations as well as the practical use of AI (ChatGPT) in higher education. 

This article explores external facilitation for school improvement; more specifically, it examines the practical work of external facilitators. It is based on a Swedish case in which facilitators at the Swedish National Agency for Education support low-performing schools. The article aims to develop knowledge about how external facilitators in their practical work both promote and prevent developed understanding and improvement capacity. Based on observations and documents, facilitators' endeavours and critical situations in their work to support school improvement are identified. The findings show five different endeavours to promote development of understanding and improvement capacity. However, they also show how taking ownership, simplification, and model focus, three of five identified recurring critical situations, prevent such development. The conclusion is that there are several aspects for external facilitators to balance to promote school improvement and turn around low-performing schools. When planning for external facilitation, it is important to consider how the facilitators' practical work can be adapted to the local contexts of those who are facilitated in order to promote their ownership of the processes. Without balance and adaptation, external facilitation can lead to deprofessionalisation instead of development of improvement capacity.

In the current spring of Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI is purported to affect many areas, including higher education. To cope with this new situation there is a large-scale need for teacher professional development. The project FAITH (Frontline Application of AI and Technology-enhanced Learning for Transforming Higher Education) is a higher education pedagogical development project that aims to develop institutional teaching development and education programs further. Using AI and technology-enhanced learning, teachers in higher education will work and develop programmes which are adapted to work and study in a highly communicative, cloud-based, mobile and smart AI-based society.

The project has the following objectives: To take advantage of ongoing higher education pedagogical development initiatives within the university; To harness the power and benefits of already established models and teams, and to develop professional knowledge through new higher education pedagogy; and To increase staff understanding and competence in AI and technology-enhanced learning.

FAITH is based on design-based research, which involves iterative and cumulative development processes. The project will be implemented during 2024-2026. FAITH consists of three phases: preparation, implementation and evaluation. In the preparation phase, the project is planned in detail. A steering group is formed and a project team is created. In this phase, these groups are responsible for the staffing and scheduling of FAITH, including the development of a plan for the competence development action. Program managers have a primary responsibility for the pedagogical development of their respective programs. Therefore, they have a prominent role in the FAITH project group. The implementation phase includes training of teams, pedagogical development work and seminar activities. The focus is on the impact of technological development on higher education studies and its content and form. In the final evaluation phase, the experiences are compiled and, based on the conclusions drawn, proposals for further development are drawn up.

This paper presents an update of the FAITH project, including ongoing and planned processes within the project. This includes insights in the FAITH project as a model for pedagogical applications of AI and technology-enhanced learning in the context of higher education.

Higher education institutions' collaboration with organisations in the surrounding society includes education, research and development initiatives. Such initiatives are often discussed in terms of lifelong learning and should, in an ideal situation, include the continuous professional development of individuals as well as organisational development (2). Such an ideal embraces the dissolving of boundaries between individual and organisational development and the idea that successful continuous professional development should occur at both individual and aggregated levels. Based on a networked mode, higher education institutions are closely linked to their surrounding society, embracing a two-way relationship with a hybrid character, including multiple connections with branches and/or organisations (3). Formal education and informal work-related tasks are blurred and emphasised as equally important (1).

This paper aims to analyse and discuss the tensions that occur when higher education lifelong learning initiatives intersect with initiatives for employees' continuous professional development and with organisations' goals. The following research questions are posed: 

1) Which tensions between individual and organisational goals emerge when higher education lifelong learning initiatives aimed at providing continuous professional development are implemented? and 

2) How can the intersection between employees’ continuous professional development in terms of higher education courses be understood from an organisational perspective?

The study is based on a higher education initiative planned and performed in collaboration with eight organisations belonging to an established network of bank and insurance companies. A casestudy-inspired approach was conducted. Data were gathered from professional development courses and embraced conversations with leading representatives of participating organisations, email interviews with teachers, e-mail conversations between teachers and course participants, and course evaluations (open-ended and Likert scale questions).

The findings show that while participants in the courses found the courses to contribute to continuous professional development, the organisations did not have the same view. Thus, tensions in the intersection between professional development for individuals and organisations were identified. Bringing organisation-relevant data as input to the courses was identified as a key to providing the establishment of solid links between theoretical perspectives and work-related practices. In focus were collaborative features and the idea of linking theoretical reasoning to authentic organisational problems.

The study suggests that a crucial barrier breaker to reduce or eliminate the main barrier is a course on strategically managed professional development for leading representatives of participating organisations. A combined focus on individuals and organisations could also stimulate leading representatives to take a holistic approach to continuous professional development. This includes increased responsibility to ensure that investments in continuous professional development are beneficial for organisations.

1.Cremers, et al. (2014). Self-directed lifelong learning in hybrid learning configurations. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(2), 207–232.

2. Mlambo, et al. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing professional development: A metasynthesis of the literature. BMC Nursing, 20, 1–13.

3. Nørgård, et al. (2019). Networked learning in, for, and with the world. In A. Littlejohn, J. et al.(Eds.), Networked professional learning: Emerging and equitable discourses for professional development (pp. 71–88). Springer.

In the ongoing shift to a knowledge society, the idea of a technology-enabled lifelong learning has frequently been discussed. The shift also requires a transformation of higher education with new forms for teaching and learning deployment. This ongoing transformation was formulated in a research question that has guided this study: 1) Which key themes of lifelong learning emerge from higher education literature? This study was carried out as a scoping literature review to map literature in the field. Findings from a thematic analysis pointed out seven main themes or perspectives: The Policy perspective, The Value perspective, The Employability perspective, The Reform perspective, The Collaborative perspective, The Student perspective and The Workplace learning and Professional development perspectives. Five publications of the 26 selected publications from the literature search will be further used and analysed as part of a Delphi study. This Delphi study will involve a group of leading researchers in the field of lifelong learning as an expert panel to further explore and expand the key themes of lifelong learning in higher education and digital trends in higher education reforms.