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This chapter stems from the need to focus on the inherent interplay of faculty and student engagement while studying the impact of social media in higher education teaching and learning. The discussion is specifically concerned with the role and affordances of microblogging in the rethinking of the teacher/student relationship and in blurring the boundaries of academic contexts. The chapter examines an early experimentation of Twitter use to foster and monitor participation by the master students enrolled in a Human Resources Management class in an Italian university. The pilot is discussed referring to lessons learned from a range of accounted empirical cases and relevant studies on microblogging for teaching and learning in academia. A special focus addresses both a revised notion of academic scholarship and engagement, prompted by emergent profiles of networked faculty, and debates about the multiple ways of conceptualizing student engagement in the current academic cultures and contexts, being challenged by an increasingly complex digital landscape and by a varied typology of learners coming to university. As conclusion, issues related to the range of alignments to be taken into account when adopting social networking services in a higher education context are suggested as cues for an ongoing discussion.

The chapters in this book focus on using different types of mediated discourse technologies such as classroom response systems and class replay systems to create technology-rich social learning environments within the classroom. Improvements in low-cost, ubiquitous digital technologies and development of modern learning theories are rapidly changing the manner in which we teach and learn in the postindustrial age. These transformative advancements are also refining our views of what it means to teach and learn in a globalized world. At both the individual and group levels, mediated discourse technologies are becoming more prevalent in higher education as teaching and learning tools across a wide range of disciplines to better engage students and create more participatory and engaging learning environments. Using these technologies in a purposeful manner also has the potential of creating more interesting and enjoyable social learning environments for both instructors and students.

Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel has been involved in e-learning in the United Kingdom for almost two decades. His work with the British Council in 2004 won him eTutor of the Year Award with the Higher Education Academy. As an Adobe International Education Leader he has expertise in new media and web video conferencing consulting organizations such as Oxford University. He is an Adobe Certified Associate in Web Communication (2010).

Stemming from the resource-based view (RBV) approach, this article overcomes the limits of the conventional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, setting the basis for the model actual–potential, positive–negative, internal–external (APPNIE). This paper enacts a new framework demonstrating how strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of SWOT can be replaced by actual or potential, positive or negative elements, considered in a dynamic way.

The traditional SWOT analysis provides only a partial view of the environment and adopts incorrect terminology that can confuse the user, preventing a clear understanding of the factors affecting the organisation’s situation. The authors developed a new tool to help managers in their decision-making processes.

This study proposes a new tool for assessing the quality of management, resources and environment, which is useful in understanding the economic and social scenario in which a firm is embedded. From a practical point of view, the new tool is applied in the case study, and it shows how managers and students can use it while choosing between alternative options (different strategies, markets, technologies, etc.).

The APPNIE model introduces a new dimension that the SWOT analysis does not consider. Moreover, for each element of the new matrix, the authors propose a plan of action, which is another valuable benefit of the APPNIE model.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the integrated report (IR) of a South African public university (UFS), by comparing it with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) framework, to verify whether UFS IR matches the IIRC framework main aims, which is integrating IC and non-IC information into a single report for stakeholders.

The paper employs the case study approach, which is appropriate when a researcher needs to conduct a holistic and in-depth analysis of a complex phenomenon in its real-life context. As such, this method is particularly suitable for exploring intellectual and social capitals, which is complex and context-dependent by nature.

UFS IR includes the content elements of the IIRC framework as labels, but it does not deepen their meaning. As regards the IIRC guidelines principles, the analysis of the UFS IR shows that it does not seem to follow them. Briefly, the data do not have an outlook orientation, the information is not interconnected, the stakeholder relationships are not highlighted and the organisational ability to create value is not disclosed.

The implications based on the “bad” experience of UFS IR aims to extend the findings of the case study by shedding light on the levers and the barriers that managers have to face when implementing an IRing project in their organisations.

To the best of the knowledge the research is the first investigating the IR theme in the public sector, specifically the higher education sector, dealing with disclosing IC (and non-IC) information within a new reporting mode: the IR.

The rise of the mean age incremented the occurrence of femur fractures with respect to the past, leading thus to serious consequences, as regards morbidity and socio-economic impact. The direction of the A.O.R.N. Cardarelli of Naples has introduced a DTAP whose aim was the reduction of LOS. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the introduction of DTAP, employing Lean Thinking and Six Sigma methodology based on the DMAIC cycle. To evaluate the effectiveness of DTAP, two groups of patients have been observed for 14 months (before and after the implementation of DTAP).

Statistical tests were performed on the groups and graphics were provided to visualize the decrease of LOS (29.9 per cent). The overall population was also divided in subgroups according to six variables potentially influencing LOS.

Authors considered six variables of influences; yet, others could be taken into account in the future.

The decrease of costs due to the management of elderly patients with femur fracture, the optimization of care processes in hospitals and a faster recovery for patients is the tangible contribute of DTAP.

The implementation of DTAP allowed the hospital to obtain a significant reduction of LOS with a consequently decrease of costs alleviating the hospital and the society from the socio-economic burden and the morbidity of this pathology.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, through the preparation of a theoretical framework, the drivers able to highlight the relationships between universities and stakeholders in the area of higher education. It also intends to stress the importance of intellectual capital (IC) regarding its contribution to create the quality of higher education.

The method, through the repetition of different “rounds” of interviews with questionnaires, tends therefore to create situations of comparison, verification and discussion of the different hypotheses prefigured, and then come to a convergence of both scenarios and dates of realization.

The paper provides a system of indicators for assessing the quality of relationships between stakeholders in the key processes of the universities.

The paper provides a pilot model that needs further adjustments in itinere, based on rigorous empirical tests conducted to confer on it the characteristics of universal applicability within the university context.

The major contribution of the model is evident from the resulting interpretative process, which makes it possible to deduce, from the performance indicators, the strategies put in place by the university to achieve their goals, that is, to prepare any interventions for the optimization of the management of IC which can create the quality of higher education institution.

None of the models presented in the literature details the quality of the relationship between stakeholders in the key processes of the universities and therefore neither investigates the impact produced by them on the performance of the university nor on the way stakeholders perceive the usefulness of the knowledge transmitted or the level of customer satisfaction achieved, as indeed the most recent research on the subject envisages.