Tuning Journal for Higher Education

Editorial

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The early years

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Setting up an international academic journal is no easy task. This article reviews the planning stages and the publication of the first issues of the Tuning Journal for Higher Education. The need for such a journal and its role in supporting the objectives of the Tuning Academy are outlined.

Editing the Journal during transition

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Both authors express their gratefulness to the whole Tuning Academy and to the many colleagues who cooperated to their editorial experience. Moreover, revisiting that period, they present some new remarks and reflection on that “incredible 5-years journey”. Anna’s contribution focusses on three big added values, that – according to her editorial experience – TJHE offered (and offers) to the higher education community worldwide. Indeed, TJHE offers – in the first place – a platform of individual and collective reflection on the themes emerging in the international scenario; in the second place, it offers an inclusive international approach, the variety of countries represented by authors being very large; finally, it offers a reference database, since it collects a variety of scholarly experience, from more structured projects and reforms to local teaching innovation and scholarship of teaching and learning. In Lupo’s contribution, the focus is “a meditation on competences”, those which are the heart of the Tuning community. The contribution starts from a description of the different competences and roles, which occur in a well-structured editorial process (whose achievement was the aim of those 5 years). Such an example – in its particular context – shows the complementarity and the circularity of competences, qualities which are present even in more general contexts of human life. Moreover, this example leads to a deeper understanding of the splendour and magnificence, that the competences may generate.

Tuning in Higher Education: Ten years on

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When the first issue of the Tuning Journal for Higher Education was published in November 2013, the Tuning initiative had become of global significance, running projects in all continents. These all focussed on curriculum reform backed up by an internationally defined approach based on the paradigm of outcome based, that is, student-centred and active learning, in addition to agreed reference points. Around the same time, the Tuning aims and objectives were extended. This reset followed societal and technical developments. More emphasis was put on social inclusions, the involvement of students, identifying relevant topics, and to the development of practical tools. Also, more attention has been given to staff development responding to the notion that the modernisation of the higher education sector as well as the reform of degree programmes proved to be rather slow and a bit disappointing. To boost the process, Tuning – very recently - developed general Qualifications Reference Frameworks for all learning cycles as well as a Guideline to use these for Quality Assurance. For five disciplinary fields it also developed transnational diagnostic tests as a means to identify shortcomings in degree programmes, pushing for change. As a result, Tuning has reinvented itself to stay highly relevant for the years to come.

Introduction

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This Edition of the Journal comprise eleven papers, of which six are related to the COVID- 19 pandemic. The papers are balanced between those mainly concerned with media or online pedagogies (four), staff development and experiences (three) and strategic university wide policy or institutional change (four). The papers continue to reflect a varied range of participant countries both in terms of the authors, but perhaps more importantly the study sites, (Colombia, Italy, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey). Universities from both the state and private sector are represented, either through individual case studies or via multi-site studies in subject areas, departments, or institutions. What is fascinating, and perhaps unsurprising, is that common themes emerge from different countries. From the papers in this edition, several issues emerge. First, we can conclude that with distance learning there was/is a particular challenge of dealing with cheating and plagiarism- and exhibited during the pandemic. Second, responses, or readiness to change, with respect to new initiatives and pedagogies can vary by discipline within the same institution, between institutions and within a country. Third, it was noted that when change is made, either planned or in an emergency, the extent of the impact is related to the prior experience and expertise of both teachers and students and the available infrastructure with respect to the new situation. Several papers raised concerns about the pedagogical competences of the teaching staff and how, when this is limited in relation to a required change in pedagogy, stress and workload problems are encountered by both teachers and students. Furthermore, the learning experience is hindered and, where technology changes are involved, students can become isolated and demotivated. Accessibility and equality e.g. (gender, age, income, access to resources) issues were also raised, most evident during the pandemic and emergency remote teaching. The conclusion is perhaps that universities need to plan more carefully for emergency situations taking account of their demographic and socio-economic community – whether teachers, students or other stakeholders.

Shifting the scientific paradigm for the transformation of higher education: Experience at State Islamic University (UIN) in Indonesia

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Every university has many ways to make changes, and institutional transformation is one of the strategic choices to achieve excellence. However, the transformation of higher education is still dynamically defined and open. The practice also has many models and differences. This article examines the scientific paradigm shift to rethink the practice of transformation for higher education. Identifying new scientific paradigms, shifting processes, models used, practical steps, factors, and challenges is the primary concern of research work. This research was conducted qualitatively with a narrative approach. Multi-site studies at several State Islamic Universities (UIN) in Indonesia were reviewed to obtain findings about the different models applied. The results show that the transformation of higher education is simultaneously carried out by changing the institutional status and renewing the scientific paradigm. Science integration is used as a new scientific paradigm even though, in practice, each university has a different model. This new paradigm has wideranging impacts, such as eliminating scientific dichotomies that have long been practiced, expanding multidisciplinary scientific structures, and adding authority to develop faculties and study programs. Another impact is the existence of new awareness and enthusiasm for several changes in the aspects of it. Many challenges need to be anticipated to obtain better quality, such as the need for curriculum reformulation, changes in organizational behavior, a new image, and many other programs. We recommend this finding as an example of good practice in improving the quality and institutional system of higher education. To understand the wider impact of this transformation process, such as competency and graduate outcomes, changes in organizational behavior, the direction of research and community service programs, and their social impact in the future, more research on sustainability is needed.

Received: 19 June 2022
Accepted: 25 September 2023

The use of the video format as a teaching guide in university studies

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This article presents a pilot experiment on subjects from three Social Sciences degrees at two public Andalusian universities. The aim is to analyze the teaching guides and their presentation to students as a means of communicating with them, primarily through the video format instead of the conventional written format. To this end, attractive, clear and relatable video teaching guides have been developed to present to students, aware of the success of short videos dominating digital social networks, especially among younger age groups. A knowledge test was given to 99 students on the subject contents, as well as a satisfaction test; the following information was processed through the SPSS program. The main conclusion is that students have a high degree of satisfaction and a better knowledge of the new video guide format than the conventional written model.

Received: 21 July 2022
Accepted: 20 June 2023

Improving undergraduate students’ learning through Online Educational Guidance Meetings (OEGMs)

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This study aimed at obtaining reflections on Online Educational Guidance Meetings (OEGMs), executed in the English preparatory program during COVID-19 Pandemic in a university in Istanbul. The OEGMs were voluntary meetings between a student and the instructor. Students were able to ask for suggestions to study more effectively via an online meeting platform. The qualitative collaborative action research design was operated in the study. One-on-one interviews with 8 instructors and focus group interviews with 12 students were conducted to obtain the data. Content analysis method was employed to analyze obtained data. The findings revealed that this new method, which brought the students together with their instructors in personal one-to-one meetings, provided numerous advantages psychologically and academically in the learning process.

Received: 28 February 2022
Accepted: 24 July 2023

The impact of an active-learning designed faculty development program: A students’ perspective of an Italian university

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This study aims to understand the impact of a faculty development program emphasizing active learning (innovative teaching) attended by instructors of diverse disciplines at the University of Padova in Italy, which has had an 800-year history of using traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Using a community of practice theoretical framework, it recognized that the development of faculty learning communities provided a supportive medium for fostering innovative teaching. A multilevel research design involving surveys collected from 2019 to 2020 explored the program’s impact in terms of student satisfaction and program effectiveness. Findings showed varied levels of impact, among student examination attempts, pass rates and average grades. These findings, although involving one university, are organizationally and culturally emblematic of other Italian universities and have related implications when considering the implementation of innovative approaches to teaching via faculty development programs. This study also revealed challenges (faculty engagement) and limitations when measuring (e.g., satisfaction, exam attempts) the impact of active learning in relationship to learning outcomes.

Received: 30 June 2022
Accepted: 3 October 2023

An exploration of the role of transformational leadership in times of institutionalization of change

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In order to adapt to an increasingly competitive world, organizations need to continuously change, yet the success of the change is conditioned by its institutionalization. The institutionalization of change is the key factor to perpetuate sustainable changes. Based on the exploration of the role of transformational leadership in times of (institutionalization of) change, the objective of this study is to analyze the contribution of the components of transformational leadership on the institutionalization of change within a Lebanese private university Redundancy, engaged in an accreditation process. Through a qualitative method on a single case study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 senior executives occupying key positions in the studied university and through 15 focus groups with 85 faculty members from four disciplinary fields, we explored the role of each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership in times of institutionalization of change. Our findings highlight the essential role of intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation of transformational leadership, while the two other dimensions, idealized influence and individualized consideration, play a limited role in the university context of institutionalization of change. Moreover, individual recognition and idealized influence are essential to convince all members of the need for change and involve them in the accreditation process. This study allows us to understand the role of each of the transformational leadership dimensions in order to promote and escort institutionalization of change within high education sector.

Received: 16 June 2021
Accepted: 20 June 2023

The effects of online learning self-efficacy and attitude toward online learning in predicting academic performance: The case of online prospective mathematics teachers

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This study aims to discover if Online Learning Self-Efficacy (OLSE) and attitude toward online learning (AOL) significantly predict the academic performance (AP) among Turkish prospective mathematics teachers. Unlike the studies conducted in the literature, online learning self-efficacy and attitude towards online learning as predictor variables were included in the study and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The study included 1075 prospective mathematics teachers’ responses in the analysis. The Pearson correlation was employed to determine how strongly OLSE, AOL, and AP are related. Results indicated that OLSE and AOL influenced the level of AP. Also, the multiple regression aimed to predict AP based on OLSE and AOL, and this model explained 44.6% of the variance in AP. The beta weights demonstrated that OLSE and AOL (OLSE β = .36, t(1072) = 9.705, p < .001, and AOL β = .34, t(1072) = 9.176, p < .001) significantly contributed to the model. The results showed that the level of academic performance can be predicted by online learning self-efficacy and attitude toward online learning. In addition, this study revealed the factors that have favorable and adverse effects on the academic performance of prospective mathematics teachers to gain more extensive information. Under the theme of negative factors, there were 7 codes. The results obtained from the study can be a guide for practitioners, policy makers and teachers to take the necessary precautions for the effective execution of the distance education process.

Received: 4 October 2021
Accepted: 27 June 2023

Emerging strategies and challenges faced by professors during Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) at a Colombian university

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This paper analyzed the relationship between emergent teaching strategies and the challenges professors at Universidad Icesi (Cali, Colombia) faced when transitioning to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey with open-ended questions was used to conduct a content analysis, followed by a correspondence analysis. The main findings were that most professors described submitting information and interaction as the most common teaching strategies. The challenges were primarily emotional and technical in nature. There were differences in discipline, gender, and age. Furthermore, there was no alignment between the challenges and the proposed strategies. Finally, this research has significant implications for future teacher training programs that emphasize faculty diversity.

Received: 16 February 2022
Accepted: 24 July 2023

Teaching in a COVID-19 pandemic: perceptions and practices of university faculty in Spain

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The full impact of the COVID-19 crisis on higher education remains unclear, with some topics still under-researched. This research explores the challenges faced by Spanish academics during emergency remote teaching and is a pioneering study in this context due to the number of participating universities and variety of profiles of university faculty. Three focus groups were conducted to gain a deeper understanding on two dimensions: academic (methodology, materials, assessment, workload and institutional response) and personal (socio-emotional dimension, work–life balance and learnings). The main findings revealed the extensive adaptation of university faculty to the new situation and collected a series of teaching strategies. The conclusions reflect on the role that universities should play in the coming years, not only in the Spanish context but also at an international level. Most importantly, our findings can be taken into consideration for further research and teacher education policy in higher education.

Received: 15 March 2022
Accepted: 24 July 2023

Immediate and long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African higher education

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the higher education sector significantly. It forced the stakeholders to do new things and brought many innovations to educational activities. As the pandemic hit the shores of many countries, among other things and sectors, education activities were disrupted. Many, not well-advanced universities in terms of technology and learning management systems (LMS) embarked on a forced recess, using the period to put online education platforms in place. The advanced universities immediately migrated contact teaching and learning to online platforms. This paper aimed to investigate the immediate effects that the pandemic has on South Africa’s higher education systems in terms of how both lecturers and students were made to use new technologies/tools, how the tools enhanced teaching and learning, how assessments transformed due to the pandemic, and if some of the interventions employed during the pandemic will find usefulness when the pandemic has finally retreated. In this study, universities that are offering engineering degrees in South Africa are used as a case study, and data were obtained from both engineering students and engineering lecturers at these universities through qualitative (survey with open-ended questions) together with quantitative (surveys with closed-ended questions) research methods. The study shows that higher education activities cannot go back to the way they were before the pandemic. The study brings to light that some old techniques will be combined with some innovations employed during the pandemic to ensure effectiveness and greater throughputs in the higher education systems going forward.

Received: 2 December 2021
Accepted: 1 August 2023

Areas and dimensions of universities response to COVID-19: Diversity, trends, and evidence from the University Social Responsibility Network

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The University Social Responsibility Network (USRN) promotes civic engagement in higher education and awareness of the nature of University Social Responsibility (USR), how it functions, and what it means depending on its context. In 2019 the USRN started a collaborative Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called Introduction to University Social Responsibility. The outbreak of COVID-19 affected the production of the course, however this also led to the addition of a Special Session on Universities’ Response to the MOOC showing how members addressed the challenges of the pandemic. Based on the experiences from 13 universities and the USRN, this article portrays flagship responses of how universities in the network tackled some of the challenges presented by the pandemic in range of academic and non-academic initiatives categorized as University Social Responsibility (USR) Areas of Engagement, namely research, education, advisory role, outreach, information management, provision of support, institutional reforms, and extended services. The article discusses broader questions referring to how COVID-19 impacted the understanding of what USR is; therefore, looking into both policy and theoretical implications of how the concept of USR and universities responses can be understood and applied in different contexts and universities.

Received: 31 January 2022
Accepted: 30 August 2023

Analysis of Engineering students’ errors and misunderstandings of integration methods during the COVID-19

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The prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, such as the closure of educational centers and the requirement to use virtual education, have all challenged students’ learning. Students’ mathematical misunderstandings can be regarded as one such challenge. While such problems may also occur in face-to-face training, where teachers and educators are involved, it seems that this problem is more serious in virtual education. The purpose of the present study was to investigate students’ misunderstandings in regard to integration methods. More specifically, the statistical population of this study consisted of engineering students from Islamic Azad University. The sample members included 40 students from the faculty of engineering who had been taught Mathematics1 by virtual education in the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022. To conduct this research, students were taught different methods of integration in cyberspace for six consecutive weeks. During these six stages, tests were conducted online to assess students. The results showed that most of the students’ errors were conceptual and computational in nature; they were rooted in no suitable understanding of the basic concepts of mathematics and the lack of good education in high school.

Received: 3 May 2022
Accepted: 15 April 2023

Editors’ Acknowledgments

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Corrigendum

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