Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the teaching innovations that have been implemented in higher education institutions in Asia and the perspectives of educators on them. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 educators who were affiliated with 23 higher education institutions in ten Asian countries/regions. The interviews covered information about the teaching innovations of the participants’ institutions, the characteristics of the innovative practices and the participants’ views on them. The relationships between the characteristics of institutions and their teaching innovations were also examined. Findings The results showed that the teaching innovations included two main categories, namely, those which involved the use of advanced technologies and those which did not. The innovations that involved the use of advanced technologies were mainly from larger institutions, while the other category was mainly from smaller ones and had been practised for less than 1.5 years. Differences were also identified between the two categories in terms of the aims and importance of innovations, innovative features, the evaluation of innovations and improvements needed for them. Originality/value The results highlighted that technology is only one of the many aspects of teaching innovations, which is different from the view prevailing in the literature. They also suggested that differences in the scale of institutions (in terms of number of students) possibly influences the kind of teaching innovations adopted.
Highlights
Innovation has been regarded as the key for higher education institutions to respond to technological advances and the changes in social and cultural values (Ahmad, 2015)
The teaching innovations described by the interviewees can be categorised into two main groups – those that involved the use of technology and those that did not
The results suggest that the participants regarded students as the focus of teaching innovations
Summary
Innovation has been regarded as the key for higher education institutions to respond to technological advances and the changes in social and cultural values (Ahmad, 2015). Innovation often lies in teaching, with “newness” as an essential ingredient (Hauser and Hauser, 2011). It can occur in forms such as the use of new methods and novelty in content, pedagogy or curricula (Lee, 2011; Smith, 2011; Zhu, 2013). Technology is an element commonly found, and is often adopted as a support mechanism for the delivery of new teaching methods (Zhu et al, 2013). Zhu et al (2013) specified technological competence as one of the four major competencies required in innovative teaching, in addition to learning, social and educational competence.
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