Higher education plays a crucial role in supporting societal transitions towards more sustainable and equitable futures. As universities evolve to prepare learners to tackle wicked problems and lead long-term systems change, embodied teaching and learning approaches are gaining attention for their ability to integrate felt experiences with…

The interweaving of various societal challenges into polycrisis makes resolving nowadays wicked problems increasingly complex, asking for a transformation of both our design and our education practices in the Global North. In this paper, we describe why and how we are developing and researching a multi-actor educational and learning environment…

This study shows how HE teachers (particularly, business management and vocational studies) experience the teaching of critical thinking to foster student development of critical thinking skills (CTS) while working across diverse international contexts. Using a qualitative online survey and interview methodologies, we obtained rich information…

Problem solving has been characterized as one of the 'employability skills' due to the high demand for such abilities in a modern workplace. Most universities do not monitor progress of the generic problem-solving skills (PSS) of their students due to a lack of available assessment tools. We used previously reported 15-min tests to measure the…

Graduate capabilities are an essential aspect of undergraduate development in higher education. Accordingly, La Trobe University's "Design for learning" has identified particular university-wide graduate capabilities and required all faculties to explicitly embed these in their curricula. The Faculty of Law and Management developed an approach to…

Research into the effects of large classes demonstrates that students are disadvantaged in terms of higher order learning because interactions between teachers and students occur at lower cognitive levels. This has significance for social work education, with its emphasis on the development of critical thinking and problem solving, both higher…

Pragmatic social constructivist teaching methods require students to construct knowledge by engaging collaboratively with realistic problems, cases or projects. It is hypothesized that they are more effective than traditional didactic teaching methods in developing undergraduate students': (1) theoretical knowledge; (2) profession-specific skills;…

In an instructional exercise at the University of Newcastle (Australia), social work students, staff, and organizations role-play in a simulated city to solve complex problems in a realistic but safe learning context. Experience suggests the extended simulation technique is effective. (MSE)

In this paper, we look backwards to educational development principles and practices as implemented in the 1990s at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and forward to ideal principles and practices for the design of courses for teachers in higher education. The bridge between the two lies partly in an evaluation study, which we will…