David Holloway

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new and significant education initiative. MOOCs are online courses (units/subjects) provided free of charge with the pedagogical content prepared, and delivered, by the world's 'best' professors from the world's elite universities. They are a significant challenge for local universities. Why should domestic students learn from local academic faculty when they can learn (at no expense) from the world's best and most charismatic educational experts from the world's best universities? MOOCs are a real threat to those local universities that decide this is just 'another' educational technology fad that will have a short life cycle with no lasting impact on higher education. We argue that this disruptive innovation (MOOCs) requires a pioneering response from universities. We suggest that the rise of MOOCs provides Australian universities with greater opportunities to attract prospective students by the delivery of sound educational courses which ensure the development of generic and specialist skills in a well-supported, systematised manner. Local universities can synthesise and integrate discipline-based learning provided by MOOCS with local pedagogical content delivery in an intensive small group environment. Local universities who use smaller face to face classes (in conjunction with MOOCs) will also be able to provide a dynamic educational experience for students and one that is immediately responsive to students' understanding of educational content. Local universities will also need to provide additional face to face services in terms of further initiatives in work integrated learning and employment services, to ensure that students will still continue to enter local higher education institutions. Keywords: educational technology, disruptive innovation, small group learning, educational services

This paper introduces a new form of work integrated learning (WIL), one where students' previous experiences in the workplace are used as a basis for the integration of further conceptual and theoretical learnings. At a university level, WIL usually refers to practicums, internships and placements which enable students to develop work based skills, integrate theory with workplace practice, apply theoretically learned problem solving skills in the 'real world' and effectively become exposed to, and socialised into, the practices and expectations of the profession in which they are studying. The case study of the Murdoch Business School applied this concept in reverse. Students were required to use their existing work-based experiences to question the applicability of the University learning they had undertaken in business-related topic areas. Learning outcomes were focussed on students evaluating and reflecting on the 'authenticity' and relevance of their University-based learning when mapped against their current 'real world' work experiences. The students were asked to assess, question and integrate their individual (and collective) work-based experiences and acquired real-life knowledge with their business-based university learning. The students reported a universally positive assessment of the unit. They concluded that the learning topics within the unit had provided them with critical and personally useful insights into their own and the wider work environment. It also led to a deeper questioning of the university learning that they had received within their Business majors. A final question remains unresolved: does such a unit fit legitimately within the taxonomy of acceptable WIL definitions? Keywords: work integrated learning; student centred learning; reverse mapping; integration of learning and practice

Student plagiarism, when detected and publicised, is a public relations disaster for Australian universities. The increasing frequency in which this problem surfaces in the press draws differing levels of responses from university management. This paper explores the nature of these organisational responses with a review and categorisation of some recent cases in Australia. The focus of this paper is on cases involving mass plagiarism since in individual student occurrences universities are usually stringent in applying policies and penalties for proven plagiarism offences. Formal university responses, such as the reporting of plagiarism case statistics on web sites, are also discussed. It is argued that Australian universities are prone to suppress the problem in order to avoid adverse public relations. What is revealed by this type of response is that university management is selective about the academic transgressions of power it chooses to pursue. It is convenient to first suppress and if this does not work, then punish individual staff and students involved. This deflects attentions way from the broader systemic dimensions of power within universities that give rise to plagiarism as a symptom.