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1 – 10 of 875The purpose of this study is to highlight the Grande Traversée des Alpes or – Move your Alps (GTA) which can be regarded as one of the first organizations to promote sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to highlight the Grande Traversée des Alpes or – Move your Alps (GTA) which can be regarded as one of the first organizations to promote sustainable tourism in the Alps.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a case study of the GTA.
Findings
The GTA is a key case study for understanding stakeholders’ management and sustainable tourism in the Alps.
Originality/value
There has been insufficient attention given in the literature to the role of the GTA, especially given its importance in the promotion of sustainable tourism in the Alps.
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The Purdue University Libraries have created a more favorable learning environment for Purdue's visually impaired, learning disabled, and physically disabled students by offering…
Abstract
The Purdue University Libraries have created a more favorable learning environment for Purdue's visually impaired, learning disabled, and physically disabled students by offering adaptive technologies through a project called Adaptive Learning Programs (ALPS). ALPS makes the learning environment more accessible to students by providing the following services: Taped Text Program, Adaptive Equipment Loan Service, ALPS Lab, and ALPS Instructional Services.
Francesca Teston and Alberto Bramanti
“Wide area cooperation” may be the ultimate challenge within transnational cooperation processes. Although the Alps share a remarkable history of mutual collaboration, they are…
Abstract
Purpose
“Wide area cooperation” may be the ultimate challenge within transnational cooperation processes. Although the Alps share a remarkable history of mutual collaboration, they are facing the challenge of a new sustainable-coordination paradigm. The Alpine territories are at a turning point. They are striving for a new governance arrangement and trying to avoid both the Scylla of top-town dirigisme and the Charybdis of poor local governments. This paper aims to address the recent literature on the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) macro-regional strategy; provide some insights into the role that EUSALP could play as ultimate coordinator of the numerous networks operating in the Alpine space; and discuss a workable division of labour among the different actors that can ensure a renewed focus on sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
The review addresses two main strands of literature related to “wide area cooperation” and “multi-level governance” to synthesise the debate on the most appropriate governance structure for the Alps. The paper examines, dating back to 2000, the recent history of bottom-up projects related to sustainable tourism in the western arc of the Alps. The study uses a subset of best practices to evaluate the emerging governance frame.
Findings
The main outcomes of this study are a framework for a theoretical debate on the most appropriate governance structure for the Alps, guidance for policymakers on a division of labour among different stakeholders that can promote sustainable tourism in the Alps and a set of suggestions for practitioners. Further, the study acknowledges “sustainable tourism” as a highly relevant field to the emergence of bottom-up arrangements aimed at developing workable governance agreements.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a state-of-the-art framework for “wide area cooperation” in the Alps and serves as a basis for discussion between academics and practitioners. As EUSALP is still in its infancy, its success will depend on the pro-active involvement of national stakeholders. In the case of Italy, this is all but granted because of the current unstable political situation.
Originality/value
This paper provides a rigorous framework for addressing top-down strategies and bottom-up planning in the Alpine space. The study also makes a practical contribution by addressing some topics of interest to policymakers.
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Krista D. Glazewski and Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver
This paper aims to lay out the goals and challenges in using information for ambitious learning practices.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to lay out the goals and challenges in using information for ambitious learning practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a review of the literature, the authors integrate across learning, information sciences and instructional design to identify challenges and possibilities for information searching and sense-making in ambitious learning practices (ALPs).
Findings
Learners face a number of challenges in using information in ALPs such as a problem-based learning. These include searching and sourcing, selecting information and sense-making. Although ALPs can be effective, providing appropriate scaffolding, supports and resources is essential.
Originality/value
To make complex ALPs available to a wide range of learners requires considering the information literacy demands and how these can be supported. This requires deep understanding and integration across different research literature areas to move toward solutions.
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Kurt Matzler and Hubert J. Siller
The youth travel market is an important market segment in terms of size and growth rates. Youth travelers, however, differ in their travel motivations from other market segments…
Abstract
The youth travel market is an important market segment in terms of size and growth rates. Youth travelers, however, differ in their travel motivations from other market segments. Therefore, in order to attract and satisfy youth travelers it is necessary to match their travel motivations with their perceptions of destinations. Based on an empirical study (N=2.128) among German Youth Travelers a methodology is presented which enables tourism managers to link travel motivations with perceptions of the destination. A two‐dimensioned matrix assesses the degree to which motivations and perceptions correlate. This analytical tool then forms the basis for the formulation of marketing strategies. The results of the empirical study presented in this paper show clear differences between travel motivations in summer and winter tourism and between perceptions of the Alps as a summer and winter destination.
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The purpose of this paper is to observe how telecommunication giant BT has used e-learning to prepare more than 6,000 information technology (IT) and technical staff over the past…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to observe how telecommunication giant BT has used e-learning to prepare more than 6,000 information technology (IT) and technical staff over the past 2 years to support a move into new markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Reveals how the company met the challenges of rapidly improving the skills of IT and technical staff, standardized a best-practice approach to IT training across key lines of business and increased levels of staff engagement.
Findings
Charts the creation of flexible learning and development programs known as accredited-learning pathways (ALPs), which have since been developed to cover wider areas of employee training at BT.
Practical implications
Explains that ALPs now form a key part of BT’s strategic workforce improvement initiatives and are instrumental in embedding continuous learning and accreditation for IT skills. More than 6,000 people have completed ALP content since the program inception in 2011.
Social implications
Reveals that the success of the program resulted in BT being awarded the Best IT Training accolade at the training company Skillsoft’s annual user conference in 2013, by a panel of independent industry experts.
Originality/value
Provides the inside story of a key development initiative at a major international telecommunications company.
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L. Schulte, R. Julià, H. Veit and F. Carvalho
The multidisciplinary Fluvalps‐3000 research project focuses on the variability of the Late Holocene and historical fluvial dynamics in alpine catchments. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The multidisciplinary Fluvalps‐3000 research project focuses on the variability of the Late Holocene and historical fluvial dynamics in alpine catchments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of a 3,600 year‐long record composed from fluvial deposits for flood hazard assessment.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a multi‐proxy approach integrating methods of various disciplines as sedimentology, geochronology, pedology, geomorphology, palynology, history, and archaeology. This paper considers particularly the sedimentological and geocronological methods applied to the fluvial records of several key sections of the Lütschine and Lombach fan deltas.
Findings
The sedimentary data of the high‐resolution fan delta record show up to seven major aggradation pulses from 3,600 cal yr BP to present. Furthermore, 19 minor burial episodes occur between 3,600 and 1,050 cal yr BP at average intervals between 113 years (Lütschine) and 105 years (Lombach) suggesting that aggradation during the focused period was triggered by centennial flood events. Nine coarse‐grained flood layers of the Lütschine record, deposited during the last 3,350 years by catastrophic flood events at a recurrence interval of 370 years, coincide with positive radiocarbon anomalies and cold phases in the Alps. The solar influence on regional hydrological regime is proposed as the main factor triggering the flooding events. However, the impact of land‐use changes in the region since 2,300 cal yr BP was detected by pollen and geochemical proxy data from fluvial deposits.
Originality/value
According to the results, the 2005 flood may not be considered as one of these mayor catastrophic events, thus providing useful data for future risk assessment by regional and local authorities. The 3,600 year flood history derived from fan delta proxies, presented in this paper, is unique in the European Alps.
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The paper aims to describe an evaluation study of advanced leadership programmes run for clinical leaders in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe an evaluation study of advanced leadership programmes run for clinical leaders in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a limited, post‐hoc study, strongly influenced by a “moving target” problem, which collected and analysed reaction and learning‐level data through e‐mail questionnaires, document analysis and semi‐structured interviews.
Findings
Significant underlying unchecked assumptions in relation to the programmes were made and were never realised in practice. There were split funding arrangements and lack of clarity over the purpose of the programmes. While there were organisational and individual benefits achieved the programmes only partly met their original objectives.
Research limitations/implications
The post‐hoc nature of the research study was a major limitation, together with the “bespoke” nature of programme delivery, This meant that the findings of the study were broad and general, rather than specific to each individual programme. Future evaluation studies would need to be planned with the programme design, rather than as an afterthought.
Practical implications
Robust project management arrangements are necessary for steering purposes in such complex leadership development programmes. A continuing diagnostic orientation is needed on the part of the programme provider. Programme titles matter – and create expectations. The contractual model potentially creates tensions between client(s) and provider.
Originality/value
Few evaluation studies of clinical leadership programmes have been conducted and reported. The case study offers a rich source of shared learning with regard to the complexity and challenges in this sphere.
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Roberto Peretta, Martina Cuomo, Lucia Rovelli and Giorgia Milesi
As the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has stated in their original definition of quality (ISO 8402:1994), quality is “the totality of characteristics of an…
Abstract
As the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has stated in their original definition of quality (ISO 8402:1994), quality is “the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.” The authors consequently believe that not only learning from challenges – the relevant entity – should be intended as a task aimed to satisfy the needs of both challenged learners and challenged businesses, but also that not all the entity's needs are stated from the beginning of the process.
These were the methodological assumptions of a workshop on destination management held from October 2020 to February 2021 in the frame of tourism studies at the University of Bergamo. Though the workshop was entirely run through digital channels in a time of pandemic, it successfully provided five destination management organizations (DMOs) and an association among hosts in the Bergamo Alps with a variety of digital communication products.
The workshop was special in terms of satisfaction expressed by participants as well as the involved DMOs. The participants' deliveries became active components of the destinations' policies. A professional video came as a welcome addition.
Implied needs which the workshop came across – namely, doubts on the reliability of tourism data, cooperation among local actors, prerequisites in building a new website, the role of food and recipes in promoting a destination identity, best practices in guiding guests through planned itineraries, and the role of a city administration in controlling overtourism – were identified while researching and producing.
The world's largest computer manufacturer is developing an Automated Logistics and Production System (ALPS).