Search results

Large class sizes are becoming the norm in higher education against concerns of dropping learning qualities. To maintain the standard of learning and add value, one of the common strategies is for the course convenor to proactively monitor student engagement with learning activities against their assessment outcomes and intervene timely. Learning analytics has been increasingly adopted to provide these insights into student engagement and their performance. This case study explores how learning analytics can be used to meet the convenor’s requirements and help reduce administrative workload in a large health science class at the University of New South Wales.

This case-based study adopts an “action learning research approach” in assessing ways of using learning analytics for reducing workload in the educator’s own context and critically reflecting on experiences for improvements. This approach emphasises reflexive methodology, where the educator constantly assesses the context, implements an intervention and reflects on the process for in-time adjustments, improvements and future development.

The results highlighted ease for the teacher towards the early “flagging” of students who may not be active within the learning management system or who have performed poorly on assessment tasks. Coupled with the ability to send emails to the “flagged” students, this has led to a more personal approach while reducing the number of steps normally required. An unanticipated outcome was the potential for additional time saving through improving the scaffolding mechanisms if the learning analytics were customisable for individual courses.

The results provide further benefits for learning analytics to assist the educator in a growing blended learning environment. They also reveal the potential for learning analytics to be an effective adjunct towards promoting personal learning design.

This study aims to investigate how living lab (LL) activities align with responsible research and innovation (RRI) principles, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital transformation (DT) processes. The study seeks to define a framework termed “responsible living lab” (RLL), emphasizing transparency, stakeholder engagement, ethics and sustainability. This emerging issue paper also proposes several directions for future researchers in the field.

The research methodology involved a literature review complemented by insights from a workshop on defining RLLs. The literature review followed a concept-centric approach, searching key journals and conferences, yielding 32 relevant articles. Backward and forward citation analysis added 19 more articles. The workshop, conducted in the context of UrbanTestbeds.JR and SynAir-G projects, used a reverse brainstorming approach to explore potential ethical and responsible issues in LL activities. In total, 13 experts engaged in collaborative discussions, highlighting insights into AI’s role in promoting RRI within LL activities. The workshop facilitated knowledge sharing and a deeper understanding of RLL, particularly in the context of DT and AI.

This emerging issue paper highlights ethical considerations in LL activities, emphasizing user voluntariness, user interests and unintended participation. AI in DT introduces challenges like bias, transparency and digital divide, necessitating responsible practices. Workshop insights underscore challenges: AI bias, data privacy and transparency; opportunities: inclusive decision-making and efficient innovation. The synthesis defines RLLs as frameworks ensuring transparency, stakeholder engagement, ethical considerations and sustainability in AI-driven DT within LLs. RLLs aim to align DT with ethical values, fostering inclusivity, responsible resource use and human rights protection.

The proposed definition of RLL introduces a framework prioritizing transparency, stakeholder engagement, ethics and sustainability in LL activities, particularly those involving AI for DT. This definition aligns LL practices with RRI, addressing ethical implications of AI. The value of RLL lies in promoting inclusive and sustainable innovation, prioritizing stakeholder needs, fostering collaboration and ensuring environmental and social responsibility throughout LL activities. This concept serves as a foundational step toward a more responsible and sustainable LL approach in the era of AI-driven technologies.

This paper aims to investigate the process by which performative technologies (PTs), in this case accreditation work in a business school, take form and how humans engage in making up such practices. It studies how academics come to accept and even identify with the quantitative representations of themselves in a translation process.

The research involved a longitudinal, self-ethnographic case study that followed the accreditation process of one Nordic business school from 2015 to 2021.

The findings show how the PT pushed for different engagements in various phases of the translation process. Early in the translation process, the PT promoted engagement because of self-realization and the ability for academics to proactively influence the prospective competitive milieu. However, as academic qualities became fabricated into numbers, the PT was able to request compliance, but also to induce self-reflection and self-discipline by forcing academics to compare themselves to set qualities and measures.

The paper advances the field by linking five phases of the translation process, problematization, fabrication, materialization, commensuration and stabilization, to a discussion of why academics come to accept and identify with the quantitative representations of themselves. The results highlight that the materialization phase appears to be the critical point at which calculative practices become persuasive and start influencing academics’ thoughts and actions.

This study investigates the impact of large-scale teaching in higher education on students’ preparedness for the workforce within the context of evolving labour market demands, the expansion of higher education and the application of high-impact teaching strategies. It synthesizes perspectives on employer work readiness, the challenges and opportunities of large-scale teaching and strategies for fostering a dynamic academia-industry feedback loop. This multifaceted approach ensures the relevance of curricula and graduates’ preparedness while addressing the skills gap through practical recommendations for aligning teaching methodologies with employer expectations.

The research methodically examines the multifaceted challenges and opportunities inherent in large-scale teaching. It focuses on sustaining student engagement, maintaining educational quality, personalizing learning experiences and cultivating essential soft skills in extensive student cohorts.

This study highlights the critical role of transversal skills in work readiness. It also uncovers that despite its challenges, large-scale teaching presents unique opportunities. The diversity of large student groups mirrors modern workplace complexities, and technological tools aid in personalizing learning experiences. Approaches like peer networking, innovative teaching methods, real-world simulations and collaborative resource utilization enrich education. The importance of experiential learning for augmenting large-scale teaching in honing soft skills is emphasized.

This manuscript contributes to the discourse on large-scale teaching, aligning it with employer expectations and the dynamic requirements of the job market. It offers a nuanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities this educational approach presents, providing insights for crafting engaging and effective learning experiences in large cohorts. The study uniquely integrates experiential learning, co-creation in education and industry-academia feedback loops, underscoring their importance in enhancing student work readiness in large-scale teaching.

This study aims to investigate the role of relational asymmetries in influencing the coping strategies adopted by frontline workers to deal with the policy–client role conflict.

A comparative analysis of three different services highlights the role of the service relationships characteristics in explaining similarities and differences in the strategies adopted by street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). The research is based on the secondary analysis of three case studies conducted in Italy: the reception system for homeless people, the job brokerage service in the public employment service and the dispute settlement procedure in the labour inspectorate.

The results underline the interaction between the characteristics of the service relationship and the different coping strategies adopted to deal with the policy–client conflict.

The contribution of this study is threefold. Firstly, the authors focus on the influence of the characteristics of the service relationship in terms of agency resources over SLBs’ strategies to face with users’ expectations. Secondly, the authors intend to discuss these issues analysing SLBs not only as agents with individual preferences. Thirdly, the research design allows the authors to return to the street-level bureaucracy theory its comparative essence, proposing a comparative strategy with an explorative intent.

This study was designed to assess the efficacy of pedagogical and relationship-building strategies employed to foster student engagement and success. Also, it was meant to demonstrate the importance of faculty to engagement and success, and emphasize a faculty member's role in lessening the power divide that can exist in classrooms.

First, archival survey data were explored that provide a baseline for student perceptions of the interactions with faculty that have been shown to impact student engagement. Second, an in-depth description of the course taught by this author is provided, along with the relationship-building and pedagogical strategies employed to promote student engagement and learning. Finally, a mixed-methods approach was utilized to capture whether improved engagement and learning occurred. Both qualitative data, in the form of student opinionnaires, and quantitative data gathered from the institution's assessment instrument were reviewed.

A review of the qualitative survey data found that students believe faculty should be very intentional about building relationships with them. Student opinionnaires confirmed the efficacy of the relationship-building tactics employed by the instructor. Additionally, data analysis of the learning assessment tool yielded an 18% increase in performance, lending further support to the classroom strategies utilized during this time.

The results of this study add to the body of literature addressing the impact faculty have on student engagement. Additionally, these results can be used to help inform institutional strategies, such as faculty development seminars, to improve retention as a result of an engaged student body.

This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of knowledge brokering and role crafting structures that promote the active engagement of older workers at work.

The respondents were workers in Japan aged 55–64 years. A two-wave panel survey was conducted. The first and second survey waves included 1,527 and 1,467 respondents, respectively.

The results showed that knowledge brokering positively influenced work engagement directly and indirectly. In the three dimensions of role crafting, cognitive and task crafting had a positive effect on work engagement.

This study focused on older workers in Japan. Therefore, it is necessary to verify whether the same effect is observed in countries other than Japan or among younger workers.

On an individual level, older workers should aim to keep acquiring new information inside and outside the organisation. On an organisational level, it is effective to increase opportunities for older workers to craft their work according to the socioemotional selectivity and selection optimisation and compensation theories.

This study reveals that knowledge brokering and cognitive crafting in role crafting have an important influence on the work engagement of older workers. Additionally, this study clarifies the impact of job crafting on older workers not only from the perspective of resource crafting to achieve person-job fit but also from the perspective of reframing perceptions through cognitive crafting in role crafting. These findings enable a clearer understanding of the relationship between role crafting and knowledge brokering, as well as the socioemotional selectivity and selection optimisation and compensation theories.

This study aims to examine how governing bodies demonstrated stakeholder engagement during the time of the COVID-19 crisis in South Africa.

This study uses a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, comprising of preparers of financial statements, board members and management consultants/advisors. The study also relied on the analysis of articles on corporate webpages and publications produced by professional bodies on the economic, social and environmental impact of COVID-19.

The results of this study indicated that governing bodies demonstrated stakeholder engagement during times of crisis through transparent reporting, corporate social responsibility initiatives and active stakeholder inclusivity.

This study contributes to the body of research on stakeholder engagement during a crisis and provides evidence of the role stakeholder inclusivity can play in responding to a crisis. The findings will be useful in understanding the importance of stakeholder engagement during times of crisis. The study is one of the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to evaluate how stakeholder engagement principles can be followed by governing bodies during a crisis.

This study aims to examine how perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities (i.e. environment, society and stakeholders) enhance perceived value, social media engagement to win customer loyalty in the hotel industry. In addition, it investigates the mediating effects of customer perceived value and social media engagement between CSR activities and customer loyalty.

A self-administered survey was conducted on customers in Malaysia. Based on the data collected from 389 customers, the analysis used the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. The validity and reliability of the measurements were confirmed before the hypotheses of the study have been tested.

The results revealed that CSR related to the environment has significant direct and indirect impacts on customer loyalty. In addition, the effect of perceived value and social media engagement on customer loyalty has been supported. The results also demonstrated the mediating role of perceived value and social media engagement between CSR activities and customer loyalty.

This study advances the understanding of the impact of CSR activities, perceived value and social media engagement on customer loyalty in the hotel industry. Hoteliers can gain benefits by understanding how specific CSR activities can enhance customer perceived value and social media engagement value, thus leads to customer loyalty.

This study investigates the association between CSR activities, perceived value, social media engagement and customer loyalty, which has been lacking a full investigation in the hospitality literature.

El objetivo de este estudio es examinar cómo las percepciones de las distintas actividades de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) (i.e., medio ambiente, sociedad y skateholders) mejoran el valor percibido por los clientes, su compromiso en medios sociales y su lealtad en la industria hotelera. También se investigan los efectos mediadores del valor percibido por el cliente y su compromiso en medios sociales sobre las relaciones entre las actividades de RSC y la lealtad.

Se realizó una encuesta autoadministrada a los clientes en Malasia. Tomando como referencia los datos recogidos de 389 clientes, se utilizó la metodología SEM. La validez y fiabilidad de las escalas de medida fueron confirmadas antes de contrastar las hipótesis del estudio.

Los resultados revelaron que sólo la RSC relacionada con el medio ambiente tiene un impacto, tanto directo como indirecto, sobre la lealtad de los clientes. Además, se han confirmado los efectos del valor percibido y el compromiso en medios sociales sobre la lealtad de los clientes. Los resultados también demostraron el papel mediador del valor percibido y el compromiso en medios sociales sobre la relación entre las actividades de RSC y la lealtad de los clientes.

Este estudio permite comprender mejor el impacto de las actividades de RSC, el valor percibido y el compromiso en medios sociales en la lealtad de los clientes en la industria hotelera. Los hoteleros pueden obtener beneficios al comprender cómo las actividades específicas de RSC pueden mejorar el valor percibido por los clientes y su compromiso en medios sociales y, por lo tanto, aumentar la lealtad de los clientes.

Este trabajo analiza la asociación entre las actividades de RSC, el valor percibido, el compromiso en medios sociales y la lealtad de los clientes, lo cual ha sido escasamente estudiado en la literatura sobre hospitalidad.

RSC, Medios sociales, Valor percibido, Compromiso, Lealtad de clientes, Industria hotelera

Trabajo de investigación

Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular channel for project fundraising for entrepreneurial ventures. Such efforts require fundraisers to develop and manage a crowdfunding campaign over a period of time and several stages. Thus, the authors aim to identify the stages fundraisers go through in their crowdfunding campaign process and how their engagement evolves throughout this process.

Following a multiple case study research design analysing six successful campaigns, the current study suggests a taxonomy of stages the fundraisers go through in their crowdfunding campaign management process while identifying the types of engagement displayed and their relative intensity at each of these stages.

The study proposes a five-stage process framework (pre-launch, launch, mid-campaign, conclusion and post-campaign), accompanied by a series of propositions outlining the relative intensity of different types of engagement throughout this process. The authors show that engagement levels appear with high intensity at pre-launch, and to a lesser degree also at the post-launch stage while showing low intensity at the stages in between them. More specifically, cognitive and behavioural engagement are most prominent at the pre- and post-launch stages. Emotional engagement is highest during the launch, mid-launch and conclusion stages. And social engagement maintains moderate levels of intensity throughout the process.

This study focuses on the campaign process using engagement theory, thus identifying the differing engagement patterns throughout the dynamic crowdfunding campaign management process, not just in one part.