Flexibility and Pedagogy in Higher Education examines the practical application of flexibility in learning through the creation and development of online learning communities. It provides best practice examples for educators looking to use innovative pedagogies to develop flexible learning experiences.

Flexibility has become a watchword in modern education, but its implementation is by no means a straightforward matter. Flexible and Distance Learning in Higher Education sheds light on the often taken-for-granted assumptions that inform daily practice and examines the institutional dynamics that help and hinder efforts toward flexibility. Contributors to the volume were asked to reflect critically on a series of questions, including: - What precisely is flexible learning? - Who or what is driving the flexibility agenda, and for whose benefit? And who or what is resisting it? - What challenges must be overcome in order to achieve flexibility, and what are some of the compromises it can entail? International in scope, with authors from North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, and Japan, Flexible and Distance Learning in Higher Education offers a wealth of theoretical insights and practical experience that will be invaluable to anyone seeking to extend the reach of higher education.

Higher and tertiary education are crucial to modern nations. Vietnam has great potential, but its universities and colleges are poor-performing, under-funded and slow to change compared to those in neighbouring East Asian nations. This book analyses the problem and provides constructive solutions for the reform of higher education.

The Mindfulness-Informed Educator moves a growing body of evidence related to the efficacy of mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches to the context of higher education, suggesting ways to foster psychological flexibility within and outside of the classroom. In the book, professionals across education and psychotherapy will find best practices for teaching, treating, researching, and serving their communities in ways that are sensitive to context, consistent with their values, and mindful of the diverse array of mental-health and behavioral difficulties experienced by college and university students. Chapters incorporate the most cutting-edge research across disciplines and span educational levels and contexts within higher education, provide strategies for strengthening mindfulness- and acceptance-based pedagogy and program development, and provide user-friendly supplemental materials such as transcripts and sample assignments.

"This book uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors - institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation;a systematic understanding of these factors creates successful flexible learning environments"--Provided by publisher.

Analyzing the collective experiences of staff from a variety of departments within organizations of higher and further education, this study demonstrates how flexible learning strategies have been adopted to face new challenges.

"It is both uplifting and challenging. It offers tales of great persistence, self-belief and belief in the community of learners these pioneers were seeking to engage with and influence. It is a wonderful narrative which should be compulsory reading for all those aspiring to influence the shape and content of post-secondary education in their own nations." Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning "Quite simply, this is essential and inspiring reading to prepare the next generation to lead distance education." American Journal of Distance Education What did forty-four leading-edge distance education pioneers in higher education experience and learn over their careers? What concerns and research ideas could they pass on to younger colleagues to consider? What do seven expert commentators find in those lessons and experience that might promote theory-building and practice enhancement for post-secondary education? This unique book analyzes the work of over forty pioneers who helped drive key late twentieth century changes in access to, and learning in, higher education, via distance education. It examines how they defined their challenges, made decisions, coped with traditionalist resistance, developed new teaching and learning models, used various technologies, felt the excitement of innovation, and, above all, respected adult learners’ goals and contexts. The book also assesses the relevance of that experience and skill to today’s contexts. Seven international leaders in adult, distance and higher education assess the pioneers’ reflections to glean the ideas of most relevance for contemporary teachers and administrators. Flexible Higher Education provides key reading for post-secondary educators who are interested in learning and teaching design, technology use, quality assurance, learner access and inclusion, innovation in higher education and respect for reflective wisdom. Commentators: Michael Collins, Sir John Daniel, Yvonne Hillier, Michael Grahame Moore, David Murphy, Diana G. Oblinger and Barbara Spronk.