Bridging the Complexities of Higher Education and Philanthropy

This paper will explore the concept of resilience from its roots in ecology to the application of this ecological concept of resilience to social and community resilience in the context of climate change. In this context, resilience is seen as a property of complex adaptive communities rather than of individuals. This paper will explore how this ecological concept of resilience has been taken up both by climate adaptation research and by the Transition Town movement. This ecological concept of resilience is at odds with the individualism of both psychological and economic approaches to resilience in relation to climate change.

Projections are frightening. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, financial considerations were forcing the closing of increasing numbers of American colleges and universities. Higher education in the United States is facing a tsunami of economic issues and the abrupt shift to on-line learning has only accelerated the process. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The wobbly two-legged stool that supports virtually every American school – tuition and endowment – was never designed to be sustainable into the 21st century. Instead, the university leaders of the future must embrace the best elements of the most forward-seeing and nimble practitioners of modern business – the entrepreneur. Entrepreneuring the Future of Higher Education: Radical Transformation in Times of Profound Change is that rare nuts-and-bolts guide that provides the essential tools for colleges and universities to switch from barely surviving to thriving. Assisted by an impressive array experts and visionaries, higher education author and futurist Dr. Mary Landon Darden presents a do-able roadmap out of the morass of escalating costs and decreasing revenue. In no-nonsense, sometimes blunt language, Darden lays out specific, revenue streams available to virtually every college – and a step-by-step primer on how to achieve them. Entrepreneuring is not a theoretical argument, parsed with passive-voice modifiers and exceptions. It is a blueprint on how to revive, restore and secure the academy in the second decade of the 21st century. Each chapter addresses significant failures (or missed opportunity) that virtually all modern colleges can rapidly address and reform. Too many institutions are hopelessly attached to the failed practices of the past. Students have changed. Governments have changed. Economic engines and drivers have changed. The need to financially support higher education has not – and it is more crucial than ever. Entrepreneuring the Future of Higher Education: Radical Transformation in Times of Profound Change is the answer for the post-COVID academy in America: Practical, unapologetically direct, awash in real-life applications and answers.

An increasing number of studies suggest that the relationship between higher education and subjective well-being (SWB) is either insignificant or negative. Most of these studies, however, use life satisfaction as a proxy for SWB. In this study, using longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia survey, I examine the link between higher education and three different measures of subjective well-being: life satisfaction and its different sub-domains (evaluative), positive and negative affect (hedonic), and engagement and purpose (eudaimonic). Three substantial results emerge: (1) people with higher education are more likely to report higher levels of eudaimonic and hedonic SWB, i.e., they view their lives as more meaningful and experience more positive emotions and less negative ones; (2) people with higher education are satisfied with most life domains (financial, employment opportunities, neighborhood, local community, children at home) but they report lower satisfaction with the amount of free time they have; (3) the positive effect of higher education is increasing, but at a decreasing rate; the SWB gains from obtaining a graduate degree are much lower (on the margin) compared to getting a college degree.

Traditional online learning environments generally use a one-size-fits-all approach, neglecting individual learner needs, goals, and cognitive abilities. Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) systems emerged to address this by personalizing learning content based on user profiles. The Adaptive Learning System is a computerized system developed to enhance digital interactive educational content teaching and learning. The system’s Adaptive algorithm automatically detects learners’ strengths and weaknesses through the adaptation process and provides personalized learning materials, feedback, and guidance during their learning. Adaptive content allows learners to learn the material at their own pace while providing additional support, evaluation, and resources tailored to each learner. In traditional educational systems, every student is given access to the same learning content regardless of their individual learning needs. Higher education institutions face various challenges when testing and implementing adaptive learning systems for their domain of knowledge. Issues related to technical challenges include processing real-time data, difficulties consolidating learning concepts and solutions into existing learning management systems, and the complexity, ease of use, and usability of adaptive learning systems. However, despite the advancement and technical sophistication in adaptive algorithms, most AEH systems still face significant usability challenges. Learners often struggle with complex interfaces, limited system responsiveness, and poor adaptation to diverse demographics and subject backgrounds. Consequently, the current adaptive systems are underutilized in higher education, with limited empirical evidence on their effectiveness in enhancing student engagement, engagement, quality of experience (QoE), and academic performance. While foundational research work (Brusilovsky, 2001; De Bra et al., 2013) and recent studies (Liu & Lim, 2020; colMOOC project) have shown the importance of adaptive educational hypermedia, yet ongoing issues persist regarding usability, learner control (Paramythis & Loidl-Reisinger, 2004), and empirical validation across varied higher education settings (Latham et al., 2004; Educause, 2018). Systematic investigations into user-controllable personalization and its effects on inclusivity and academic achievement remain limited (Xie et al., 2019; Lundqvist; Warburton, 2019). Furthermore, Li et al. (2021) highlighted that existing systems lack comprehensive cognitive modelling and fail to adequately adapt to individual learner dispositions, which restricts their intelligence and adaptability. This complexity in adaptive systems continues to pose challenges for education overall, as emphasized by Fengying Li, Yifeng He, and Qingshui Xue (2021). Addressing these issues, Dubiel et al. (2022) propose a framework for adaptive user interfaces that integrates the interaction environment to enhance system responsiveness. Therefore, there remains a significant gap in the literature regarding the lack of empirical evaluation of user-controlled personalization, particularly in real-world, multi-disciplinary higher education contexts. Existing research has focused mainly on adaptive algorithmic and technical development, but has not given sufficient attention to practical usability (the lack of effective, usable AEH systems, learner diversity, and actual learner-centered outcomes). Moreover, there is a lack of comprehensive frameworks for evaluating the usability of adaptive educational hypermedia (AEH), and there is limited research on how these adaptive systems can foster inclusivity and fairness among diverse learner populations. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address the usability and complexity problems in AEH systems and to suggest the creation of usable, effective, personalised, learner-centric, and user-controllable AEH systems for higher education environments. This research study addresses these gaps by introducing a personalized, user-controllable Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) framework specially designed for a Higher Education setting. It evaluates multiple versions of adaptive learning systems across multiple disciplines (English, Malay, Computer Science) revealing significant enhancements in both student achievement and satisfaction. The study not only evaluates multiple versions of adaptive systems but also offers practical recommendations for software developers and educators seeking to implement effective, more intuitive, and learner-centric adaptive systems within real higher educational environments. By exploring the relationships between learner demographics, usability, and academic outcomes, the study promotes inclusivity and equity in digital education. More specifically, it introduces a novel user-controllable personalization feature that empowers learners to customize the learning content to improve their adaptive learning experience, addressing a major limitation found in existing systems. The findings demonstrate significant improvements in student performance and satisfaction with the system’s interface, thereby enhancing subject retention, confirming that adaptive learning systems can effectively improve the academic experience in higher education environments.

Transdisciplinary teaching, learning and philosophical dialogues have long been a part of global higher education, yet their significance is increasingly being recognised today. The concept of transdisciplinary philosophy, particularly within the context of an academic literacy framework, involves the integration and synthesis of knowledge from across various disciplines, in collaboration with local communities, to address real-life challenges. Despite the growing prominence of transdisciplinary teaching, learning and assessment methods, there remains a knowledge gap that explicitly connects these processes to academic literacy. This gap, which the article addresses, is significant as transdisciplinary literacies – including critical thinking, reading, listening and writing – are crucial mediums through which teachers, researchers, students and local stakeholders cultivate knowledge. To explore the role of transdisciplinary literacy within higher education, the researcher undertook a systematic review of literature to identify instances where academic literacies intersect with disciplinary, and communities' activities. Academic literacies intersect with transdisciplinary approaches in the ways knowledge is constructed and how culture influences the spread of disciplines into greater society. To maximise the potential of transdisciplinary literacies in enhancing knowledge generation in higher education, this article advocates for more strategic interactions between academic literacy specialists, disciplinary experts, local communities and industrial stakeholders.

Service users and carers (SUAC) have made significant contributions to professional training in social work courses in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade in the UK. Such participation has been championed by government, academics and SUAC groups from a range of theoretical and political perspectives. Most research into the effectiveness of SUAC involvement at HE has come from the perspectives of academics and very little SUAC-led research exists. This qualitative peer research was led by two members of the University of Worcester’s SUAC group. Findings were that SUAC perceived their involvement brought benefits to students, staff, the University and the local community. Significant personal benefits such as finding a new support network, increased self-development and greater confidence to manage their own care were identified in ways that suggested that the benefits that can flow from SUAC involvement at HE are perhaps more far-reaching than previously recognised. Barriers to inclusion were less than previously reported in the literature and the humanising effects of SUAC involvement are presented as a partial antidote to an increasingly marketised HE culture.

Although many books and conference reports have considered the changeability of a complex adaptive system (CAS), no in-depth study has assessed how changes impact a CAS or the relationships among the CAS changeability parameters of agility, flexibility, robustness, and adaptability. This study analyzes the impact of CAS changeability when an external agent requires a change and analyzes how such a change affects the evolution of the CAS. We start by reviewing the general concepts of changeability and CAS, followed by an analysis of their relationship. A model using an extension of learning classifier system (XCSF) is presented and evaluated to meet the objectives of this research to: 1) accurately assess the impact of changeability on telecommunication-based CAS components and their evolution; and 2) gain insight into the impact of changes on CAS for the purpose of improving the engineering of such systems in the future. The relationship between changeability and fitness, which is an important CAS performance measure, is included. CAS simulations using the XCSF model are compared with data from a telecommunication company over the past few years; the comparison suggests that the XCSF approach may be useful for improving CAS engineering.

Executive Summary This research paper is based on a content analysis of speeches and writings of 32 college presidents representing all institutional types. The data analysis yielded five themes that presidents discuss in their addresses: restructuring, leadership and governance, technology and the future, university as citizen, and diversity. Recommendations, from the presidents, to undertake these issues are also discussed. ********** People interested in issues affecting higher education listen closely to college presidents. Perhaps this is because in times of crisis or concern many recognize that presidents occupy strategic positions from which to interpret and articulate information about the academy. This may be why the presidency carries an aura of credibility (Flawn, 1990). As with most aspects of higher education, the presidency has been through a slow historical evolution (Brubacher & Rudy, 1997). The history of higher education in America has seen the college presidency move from an instructional and basic administrative role, most often held by clergymen, to an extensive position as chief executive officer of the institution. The former tended to be a weaker post as compared to the more potent modern presidential offices (Birnbaum, 1999). Early presidential power was not so much a function of personal character as it was a function of the degree of board, faculty or state control. During the 19th century, as scholarship began to outweigh clerical credentials in the academy, presidents emerged through the faculty ranks and were regarded as primus inter pares (Brubacher & Rudy, 1997). It was at this time that notable educational leaders such as Daniel Coit Gilman and Charles Eliot transformed the college presidency into a distinguished and powerful office. Today, the American college presidency has been elevated to great importance by tradition, formal title, institutional by-laws, and symbolism (Balderston, 1995). Organizational changes in contemporary higher education administrations have taken many specific tasks out of the hands of presidents and placed them into the hands of several subordinate offices. However, even with vice presidents, deans, chairs, registrars, librarians, and others working on many day to day campus operations, certain leadership responsibilities remain the duty of the president (Balderston, 1995). These areas of responsibility include: (1) reflecting upon and articulating the institutional values, goals, and mission; (2) acting as a local and regional community leader on issues affecting society; and (3) contributing, as a professional educational leader, to the national conversation on the present and future state of higher education. Specifically, presidents often reflect and articulate upon these three areas of responsibility in the forum. As chief spokesperson for the institution, both internally and externally, the president is in an influential and powerful position to muse publicly about his or her institution, the larger societal issues, and higher education as a whole (Fisher & Koch, 1996; Green, 1997). Through published speeches, editorials, and articles in scholarly and lay journals, the office of the college and university president can be transformed into a public office and become a powerful platform from which to speak. From this platform the president's ideas may be widely disseminated and contribute to the national debate regarding these issues. The purpose of the study discussed in this paper is to present and analyze published works of contemporary college and university presidents who contribute to the national discourse on current and future affairs in higher education. Higher education is currently under fire from diverse constituencies to be both productive and accountable. American colleges and universities are often subject to what Stephen Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University, calls bad press (Trachtenberg, 1994, p. …

This literature review provides an introduction to change management and reviews current approaches, theories and models which can be used to skillfully handle and direct change initiatives within higher education institutions (HEIs) so that the desired outcome is achieved. Planned approaches, psychological and behavourial theories, organisational development, Complex Adaptive Systems, Capability and Appreciate Inquiry are all discussed.

Community colleges, like all of higher education, had to navigate extreme challenges during the onset of the Covid-19 virus. In particular, academic leaders had to identify strategies for effectively modifying instructional delivery during the pandemic, using new and existing strategies to meet student needs, schedules, and safety. Using data from community college instructional leaders, the study identified how colleges responded to the needed instructional delivery change, and noted that over a two-thirds of these leaders perceived that these changes will be somewhat to very permanent moving into the future. This may hint at the 'new normal' within the community college landscape. Higher Education overall is in flux and what changes become permanent remain to be seen. This study highlights how change is managed in complex adaptive systems and calls for increased flexibility, collaboration, and engagement of organizational members, in this instance, that of the faculty.

The Australian government uses numerous strategies to promote specific agendas – including continued efforts to deregulate the higher education sector. These strategies comprise the reduction of government funding to universities in real terms to oblige institutions to seek alternative sources of income; the targeted deployment of government funding (including growth places and infrastructure funding); the use of reward-based incentives; the actual or threatened re-distribution of funding based on performance; competitive grants; and amending funding mechanisms to support desired behaviours. In addition, strategies not involving direct funding are also used through special policy provisions, the establishment of bodies and forums to promote issues; the publication of position papers and protocols; the publication of performance information or review outcomes; the employment of reporting and accountability processes and frameworks; and various approaches to promote, encourage or oblige sector restructuring. A major thrust of the Australian government's higher education policy is to encourage sector diversification through encouraging individual institutions to adopt their own clear and unique identities. This poses many challenges and opportunities for new generation regional institutions trying to position themselves in an increasingly competitive higher education market while continuing to meet their obligations and remain relevant to their local communities. The University of Southern Queensland's experience in pursuing its vision as a leader in open and flexible higher education is explored within the context of these potentially competing agendas.

Individual and group development is an essential element of achieving competitive advantage through people. The building and transfer of knowledge is widely discussed in the literature with respect to explicit knowledge, and some authors have gone on to address environments for learning and even building tacit knowledge. Separately, complexity theory suggests a process of self‐organization and adaptation that, in some respects, parallels an environment of learning. Extensive interaction, learning by doing, and experimenting seem to be not only the foundation for individual development, but also a fundamental part of the natural adaptive process for organizations as complex adaptive systems. One problem noted, however, is that the current literature has done little to highlight the parallels between individual development and complex adaptive organizational systems. Drawing on the apparent similarities in these processes, describes self‐organizing activities and the natural emergence of new systems as a model for a new type of learning environment. Explores the idea of facilitating self‐organizing learning activities in a separate organizational space within existing organizations, and outlines the theoretical elements for making such a space successful.

BackgroundIrrational use of antibiotics is proving to be a major concern to the health systems globally. This results in antibiotics resistance and increases health care costs. In Iran, despite many years of research, appreciable efforts, and policymaking to avoid irrational use of antibiotics, yet indicators show suboptimal use of antibiotics, pointing to an urgent need for adopting alternative approaches to further understand the problem and to offer new solutions. Applying the Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory, to explore and research health systems and their challenges has become popular. Therefore, this study aimed to better understand the complexity of the irrational use of antibiotics in Iran and to propose potential solutions.MethodThis research utilized a CAS observatory tool to qualitatively collect and analyse data. Twenty interviews and two Focus Group discussions were conducted. The data was enriched with policy document reviews to fully understand the system. MAXQDA software was used to organize and analyze the data.ResultWe could identify several diverse and heterogeneous, yet highly interdependent agents operating at different levels in the antibiotics use system in Iran. The network structure and its adaptive emergent behavior, information flow, governing rules, feedback and values of the system, and the way they interact were identified. The findings described antibiotics use as emergent behavior that is formed by an interplay of many factors and agents over time. According to this study, insufficient and ineffective interaction and information flow regarding antibiotics between agents are among key causes of irrational antibiotics use in Iran. Results showed that effective rules to minimize irrational use of antibiotics are missing or can be easily disobeyed. The gaps and weaknesses of the system which need redesigning or modification were recognized as well.ConclusionThe study suggests re-engineering the system by implementing several system-level changes including establishing strong, timely, and effective interactions between identified stakeholders, which facilitate information flow and provision of on-time feedback, and create win-win rules in a participatory manner with stakeholders and the distributed control system.

Background: This article draws on the literature relating to game-centred approaches (GCAs), such as Teaching Games for Understanding, and dynamical systems views of motor learning to demonstrate a convergence of ideas around games as complex adaptive learning systems. This convergence is organized under the title ‘complexity thinking’ and gives rise to a comprehensive model of game-based learning that addresses theoretical and practitioner considerations relevant to researchers and teachers. Complexity thinking is also partnered with an ecological integration value orientation to reinforce the dominant purposes of game-based learning in physical education. Key concepts: The study of game-based learning from a complexity thinking perspective relies on the foundational alignment of game characteristics with those of complex learning systems. Both complex learning systems and games are (a) comprised of co-dependent agents, (b) self-organizing, (c) open to disturbance, (d) sites of co-emergent learning, (e) open to varying experiences or interpretations of time, and (f) able to evolve their structures in response to feedback. Considering games as learning systems opens the door to consideration of the system being as sustainable and adaptable as it can. Sustainability, adaptation potential, and engagement levels emerge from the ‘game as learning system’ discussion in order to provide insight into the functioning of the game. High levels of engagement and sustainability are the presented goals for teachers working from a complexity thinking perspective. A number of key concepts from systems literature, such as attractors, affordances, attunement, and disturbances, are discussed as identifiable and manipulatable dimensions of game-based learning. Implications for the PE profession: Physical educators are well positioned to notice learning as it emerges and to construct environments that focus learning without forcing learning. Complexity thinking concepts such as flow, coupling, engagement, attractors, affordances, attunement, and disturbance, in combination with the pedagogical principles advocated by GCAs, provide a robust set of analytical and teaching tools. It is to be hoped that a deepening of understanding of how game forms and game play lead to learning during games will improve the quality of learning experiences in games and foster increasing and prolonged engagement by students.

Bioeconomy is a complex economic system, the functioning of which leads to the emergence of a synergy effect due to the effective combination of natural resources and technologies along with the market-based, social, and political components. In a bioeconomic system, established links are formed between traditional industries based on the use of fossil natural resources and modern ones that have not previously intersected. As a result, one industry uses by-products of another industry as raw materials, thus forming a closed production cycle. The purpose of the article is to develop an author’s vision of the conceptual foundations to substantiate the sustainability of the bioeconomic system, taking into account its specific characteristics, modern challenges and potential of the country. The article reveals the features of transformations of socioeconomic systems into a complex adaptive bioeconomic system in a dynamic perspective. The complexity and complicacy of transformation management lies in the relationship and interaction of the elements of the system, as well as between the very system and its environment. A theoretical analysis of the evolution of the concept of «bioeconomy» is carried out and its basic properties are determined. The interpretation of the bioeconomy as a complex adaptive system that ensures the achievement of sustainable development goals is substantiated. Based on empirical data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and the European Commission, potential sectors of the bioeconomic sector of Ukraine have been identified, and the dynamics of the contribution of potential sectors of Ukraine’s economy to the national economy has been analyzed according to the main indicators: generation of value added and creation of jobs. Based on the theoretical and analytical research, it is proved that bioeconomy, as a complex system combining several sectors of the economy, can adapt to changes occurring in the environment.