Mollie Dollinger

Curtin University · Faculty of Health Sciences

Space is a significant factor for teaching and learning (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2019), but it is comparably underexplored in the higher education (Ellis & Goodyear, 2016). Learning spaces have become hybrid in the post-pandemic period in higher education with physical locations having digital extensions and vice versa (Ellis & Goodyear, 2018), which...

Amid the growing practice of engaging with students as partners in learning and teaching, there have been well-known critiques of the practice’s often small-scale, extra-curricular, project-based, and often exclusive, models of student participation. In this research, we respond to these concerns through the evaluation of a whole-of-class approach...

Background Podiatry enrolments at Australian and New Zealand universities have decreased by 17.3% since 2015, which threatens the profession's sustainability and the health and wellbeing of Australian and New Zealand people and communities. Reasons for this decline remain unclear due to insufficient evidence on factors influencing career choices. T...

Higher education aims to educate diverse professionals to operate in an increasingly complex world. Yet, academic assessment practices still rely upon standardisation, namely, that all students should demonstrate their achievement in ways that are largely comparable, if not identical. In this study, we theorise assessment standardisation as a techn...

The global push towards widening participation for equity cohorts, including students with disabilities, is promising, but it is yet to translate into improved employment experiences. In this commentary, we highlight what higher education institutions must now do to drive meaningful change and better support students with disabilities’ workforce tr...

Universities can prepare students for work, and universities can educate increasingly diverse student cohorts, but can they do both concurrently? This question of whether universities can offer equitable and inclusive careers education is increasingly under scrutiny. In this study, we address the largely under-theorised area of work-based placement...

Are higher education researchers at war – with each other? In this invited article, I introduce a keynote manuscript, which I presented at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia’s (HERDSA) 2023 conference. Through it, I argue that despite over 30 years of a wealth of qualitative and mixed methods data arising in the fi...

This case study explores the perceptions and experiences of students living with disabilities regarding work integrated learning (WIL) placement during their university study. In our study, students living with disabilities included those with intellectual, learning, physical or sensory disabilities, as well as those who have a mental health, neuro...

The expectation for universities to support students’ employability through work-integrated learning placements demands investigation into how opportunities are inclusive to students from a diversity of backgrounds. In this paper, we explore the experiences of students with disabilities during work placements, drawing on qualitative data collected...

Provision of equitable access to higher education has never been simple. Disparities continue despite over 25 years of ongoing and directed efforts in policy and practice to improve participation across equity groups (Burke, Bennett & Bunn, 2019; Harvey, Burnheim & Brett, 2016). Recent policy reviews and research have highlighted the need for urgen...

Extant literature depicts theoretical territories of student voice and partnership as discrete categories. In this article, we argue that this depiction limits practice. We posit instead that theorisation which advances holistic voice and partnership through an active student participation (ASP) approach is necessary for liberatory higher education...

As highlighted through the COVID-19 pandemic, technology plays a key role towards the goal of equitable higher education. In this paper, we focus on the role of technology in supporting inclusive work-integrated learning (WIL) placements for students with a disability. We present three student vignettes, generated from survey data of the perception...

The practice of students as partners can be applied to numerous facets of the university, including curriculum design, governance, and co-curricular programs. However, while scholars have also conceptualised that student partnership can occur through co-research, adoption is far from mainstream. In this paper, we seek to go ‘under the hood’ of stud...

In higher education systems around the world, there is growing emphasis on the importance of career development learning (CDL) to support students’ transition out of university. However, there has been limited research to date how CDL programs and interventions can incorporate student voices through co-design to improve their engagement, delivery,...

Student partnership, a growing phenomenon in higher education, has transformed the way universities collaborate with students. Yet to date the academic library has rarely been examined as place for student and staff partnership to thrive. In this paper, we present findings from a national students as partners benchmarking survey conducted across Au...

Work-integrated learning (WIL) or university placements are valuable opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in an authentic work setting and help support their transition from university to employment. However, as our study evidenced, students with disability face significant and unique barriers to securing and completing WIL placement...

Assessment plays an important role in higher education, both guiding student learning and judging student success. However, assessment that treats all students the same is inequitable, since it ignores differences in students’ past and present circumstances. A shift to assessment for inclusion is advocated to promote student equity; one that incorp...

Student representation and student partnership differ and the difference matters. To further scholarly understanding of, and appreciation for, the important difference between the two, we examine these two commonly evoked conceptions for student voice in higher education. We draw on two points of difference—responsibility and access—to illuminate c...

Australian higher education participation continues to expand, yet in unequal ways. Regional, rural, and remote (RRR) student participation is stubbornly stalled, despite sustained research and policy initiatives to support these cohorts. To address this complex issue, we interviewed 10 RRR principals in Queensland and Victoria to explore specific...

The vocational experiences and skills of young adolescents could be infused into formal education by identifying career competencies to be taught within the academic curriculum. Such curriculum practices that embed educational and career pathways must also include the perspectives of students and the community, particularly those from marginalised...

The present research is an investigation into students’ selection of extra-curricular activities that support the development of their employability. The research deployed focus groups involving students (N = 25) aged 21 to 44 years (M = 26, SD = 6.6), 52% of the participants were female, 48% were undergraduate students, 56% were international stud...

Disparity in educational and career outcomes between rural, regional and remote (RRR) students and their metropolitan counterparts persists despite successive federal and state government initiatives. In this paper, we will present a study that highlights one important, yet overlooked, avenue to improve outcomes for RRR students: early-stage career...

Previous research has evidenced the importance of student and staff interactions as critical functions to support student success at university. Increasingly, academic advising units support these interactions. However, while common throughout North American contexts, little is known about the implementation of such units internationally. In this p...

Amid increasing calls for universities to transition to online learning, there is a need to explore how platforms and technology can provide positive student experiences and support learning. In this paper, we discuss the implementation of an online peer learning and recommender platform in a large, multi-campus, first-year health subject (n = 2095...

The present research is an investigation into students’ selection of extra-curricular activities that support the development of their employability. The research deployed focus groups involving students (N = 25) across a mix of disciplines, domestic and international origin, level of study, and first-in-family background. Transcripts of the focus...

Across the sector, universities are transforming the student experience by reconceptualising the ways in which they partner with students. The academic library is at the heart of the university experience and libraries have a long history of collaboration and engaging with their communities. As such academic libraries are the perfect next frontier...

Supporting higher education participation across equity groups has long been a directed effort in global higher education practice and policy. However, to date, there has been little improvement in the rates of Australian higher education participation by equity groups such as regional/remote, low socioeconomic, and Indigenous Australian students....

Conceptualizations of time and work in the higher education context are increasingly atomized, as time is seen as measurable, quantifiable, and limited. This growing phenomenon, seen through the lens of projectification, has the power to reconceptualize how university leaders and the academic workforce consider and utilize their time and work, lead...

An increasing amount of scholarly literature exists that examines the relationship between students and universities, and their role in university governance and quality assurance of their higher education experiences. The traditional mechanisms for involving students in university governance – for example, through representation by student associa...

This article will explore usage patterns and perceptions of online learning support among university students. As higher education expands to include increasingly diverse student cohorts, alternative online- supported learning services have gained attention as a mechanism to support student success. However, there is a paucity of research regarding...

Changing factors in the higher education context such as expansion and increased marketization have sparked interest in how universities can co-create and partner with students. However, while numerous articles discuss the importance or benefits of collaboration between students and staff, less attention has been placed on the explicit approaches t...

The SHEILA framework provides a policy and strategy framework informing the strategic implementation and use of learning analytics. However, as evidenced in several ‘ground-up’ implementations of tools, the institutional preparedness and the governance around use often comes secondary to the policy. In this paper we depart from familiar approaches...

This introductory handbook defines the guiding principles of co-designing with students, their supporters, and other members of the community as a method to assist in addressing challenging issues in educational environments. The handbook also includes best practice recommendations based on the recent literature on co-design. These principles and s...

The growth of the doctorate in recent decades has spawned concerns about programme quality and external relevance. This article reports findings from research conducted in Australia that was shaped by the view that the doctorate remains in need of educational clarification and design. The research generated insights that can be used to modernise an...

Doctoral training continues to grow in scale and scope in Australia, but has been subjected to far less design and improvement compared with other facets of higher education. Governments and universities engage in ongoing change which helps respond to opportunities and challenges but also leads to a proliferation of options and approaches. The curr...

Questions such as ‘what is value in the student experience?’ and ‘how do we measure or assess value in higher education?’ remain an under-researched area. However, in the context of marketisation and competitive forces in higher education, there is a need to unpack what is value in the student experience. In this article, a conceptualisation of val...

The growing practice of students as partners (SaP) has sparked numerous conversations in higher education about the roles students do and should play in shaping the future. SaP scholars contend that by engaging with students in meaningful partnership, underpinned by values such reciprocity, students can have deeper and more meaningful learning expe...

There has been an increase in research and practice exploring how students can gain agency to shape higher education experiences. Numerous terms evoking certain metaphors have entered the discussions around engaging students, from students as consumers or producers, to students as creators, partners, or change agents. There is scope within the evol...

Increased marketisation and competition has renewed interest in how universities can partner, or co-create, with students. To address this, and further conceptualise a model of co-creation across inputs, processes, and outcomes, this article summarises the findings from 10 different case studies of student-staff co-creation (e.g., co-producers of l...

Despite increased attention placed both in and outside Australia on student participation in university governance, there remains a gap in practices and programs that help support students to contribute across various governance groups, councils, and representative roles. This practice report explores two aspects of developing student partnership i...

The value of technology lies not only with the service or functionality of the tool, but also with its subsequent value to the people who use it. New learning analytics (LA) software and platforms for capturing data and improving student learning are frequently introduced; however, they suffer from issues of adoption and continued usage by stakehol...

Aim/Purpose The aim of this paper is to explore trends and motivations for doctoral students’ participation in domestic and international conferences. We draw on doctoral students’ perceptions and experiences from four contexts (USA, Scotland, England, Australia) to further explore variations across different global contexts. Background There is in...

Alumni-student mentoring programs have become common place at many universities, and yet, scholarly research has rarely explored the impact of these programs on participating students and alumni. To address this, we investigated three alumni mentoring programs at a large research-intensive university in Australia. Using a mixed methods approach (a...

Work-based placements, site visits, field trips and embedded industry-informed curriculum are employability strategies frequently applied by universities, and clustered under the umbrella term – work-integrated learning (WIL). Referring to each of these strategies as WIL can complicate comparisons (e.g. long-term placements vs. field trips) and can...

Australia has been very successful in recruiting international students. The Australian government regularly reports students’ high levels of satisfaction with their educational experiences; however, there is also evidence of some dissatisfaction with regard to social and educational experiences. This paper explores the extent to which universities...

There are numerous existing resources which claim to discuss the most important factors a potential PhD student should consider when looking for a possible supervisor. Commonly discussed topics include the supervisors’ record and approach, but there is much more to finding a reciprocal and beneficial relationship. This chapter will address some of...

From its inception, learning analytics (LA) offered the potential to be a game changer for higher education. However, accounts of its widespread implementation, especially by teachers, within institutions are rare which raises questions about its ability to scale and limits its potential to impact student success. Additionally, amidst the backdrop...

Student-staff co-creation is a growing topic in higher education research. Framed as a mechanism for universities to better modify and meets the needs and expectations of students, student co-creation has a wealth of potential benefits. However, with the expansion of research, many scholars have stumbled upon a similar limitation, the scalability o...

From its inception, learning analytics (LA) offered the potential to be a game changer for higher education. However, accounts of its widespread implementation, especially by teachers, within institutions are rare which raises questions about its ability to scale and limits its potential to impact student success. Additionally, amidst the backdrop...

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of new and refurbished building projects in the higher education sector. In Australia alone, public universities, of which there are 40 (TEQSA, 2017), owned $28 billion of building assets, with almost $2 billion being spent on construction in 2015 (Department of Education and Training,...

Globally, the traditional norms and practices of higher education are under question. Increasingly, higher education is assumed primarily to be a pathway for future employment, however, historically the value of higher education is more complex. It is not only after graduation that students receive value from their studies but also during when the...

Students have begun to show interest in adopting active and participatory roles that allow them to interact and work collaboratively with educators. One important aspect of students as partners is a process known as value co-creation. Value co-creation is the process of students' feedback, opinions, and other resources such as their intellectual ca...

In order to further the field of learning analytics (LA), researchers and experts may need to look beyond themselves and their own perspectives and expertise to innovate LA platforms and interventions. We suggest that by co-creating with the users of LA, such as educators and students, researchers and experts can improve the usability, usefulness,...

Growing interest in university–industry collaboration (UIC) calls for a need to develop frameworks and compare overseas models to better understand how successful UIC occurs. This article provides a framework for analyzing UIC across three dimensions: environmental, technical, and managerial. It further breaks down these dimensions to suggest key a...

The student experience and engagement field is a rare mix of scholars and research on both the psychological theories that enhance student engagement and the everyday institutional and school policies that promote student engagement. It is an undeniably popular field, with practitioners, experts, university and school leaders, policymakers, and stu...