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Abstract

Purpose

To advance the learning of professional practices in teacher education and medical education, this conceptual paper aims to introduce the idea of representational scaffolding for digital simulations in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

This study outlines the ideas of core practices in two important fields of higher education, namely, teacher and medical education. To facilitate future professionals’ learning of relevant practices, using digital simulations for the approximation of practice offers multiple options for selecting and adjusting representations of practice situations. Adjusting the demands of the learning task in simulations by selecting and modifying representations of practice to match relevant learner characteristics can be characterized as representational scaffolding. Building on research on problem-solving and scientific reasoning, this article identifies leverage points for employing representational scaffolding.

Findings

The four suggested sets of representational scaffolds that target relevant features of practice situations in simulations are: informational complexity, typicality, required agency and situation dynamics. Representational scaffolds might be implemented in a strategy for approximating practice that involves the media design, sequencing and adaptation of representational scaffolding.

Originality/value

The outlined conceptualization of representational scaffolding can systematize the design and adaptation of digital simulations in higher education and might contribute to the advancement of future professionals’ learning to further engage in professional practices. This conceptual paper offers a necessary foundation and terminology for approaching related future research.

Book part
Publication date: 8 November 2004

Kuno Schedler and Bernhard Schmidt

The emergence of electronic government is reaching considerable proportions in the developed world. It would appear that this new reform is consigning everything that went before…

Abstract

The emergence of electronic government is reaching considerable proportions in the developed world. It would appear that this new reform is consigning everything that went before it to the wastepaper basket of oblivion. This, however, primarily applies to the intensity of the discussions of and the publications about the issue. The concrete results of virtually all empirical studies available on the net show that practical development lags distinctly behind the possibilities of e-government that are being discussed and proclaimed. Kinder (2002) surveys “tele-democracy” (the term he uses for e-government, K. S.) in 31 European cities covering 14 states and shows that progressive city administrations in Europe are early adopters of tele-democracy with a diffusion rate of 72%. He admits, however, that the selection of the cities that were examined displays a considerable bias: it was conducted on the basis of assumed best practice. Moon (2002) looked into the rhetoric and reality of e-government at the municipal level in the United States and concludes that e-government has been adopted by many municipal governments, but remains at an early stage and has not yielded many of the expected outcomes that the rhetoric of e-government has promised.

Details

Strategies for Public Management Reform
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-218-4

Book part
Publication date: 22 July 2021

Leopold Ringel, Wendy Espeland, Michael Sauder and Tobias Werron

Rankings have become a popular topic in the social sciences over the past two decades. Adding to these debates, the present volume assembles studies that explore a variety of…

Abstract

Rankings have become a popular topic in the social sciences over the past two decades. Adding to these debates, the present volume assembles studies that explore a variety of empirical settings, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging that there are multiple “Worlds of Rankings.” To this end, the first part of the chapter addresses the implications of two modes of criticism that characterize much of the scholarly work on rankings and summarizes extant conceptual debates. Taking stock of what we know, the second part distinguishes three areas of empirical research. The first area concerns the activities of those who produce rankings, such as the collection of data or different business strategies. Studies in the second area focus on inter-organizational, field-level, or discursive phenomena, particularly how rankings are received, interpreted, and institutionalized. The third area covers the manifold effects that research has unveiled, ranging from the diffusion of practices and changes in organizational identities to emotional distress. Taken together, the contributions to this volume expand our knowledge in all three areas, inviting new debates and suggesting pathways forward.

Details

Worlds of Rankings
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-106-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 July 2021

Jelena Brankovic

Rankings are widely regarded as particularly well-suited for capturing the public eye, which is considered a reason why they have become ubiquitous. However, we know little about…

Abstract

Rankings are widely regarded as particularly well-suited for capturing the public eye, which is considered a reason why they have become ubiquitous. However, we know little about how rankings direct media attention, as well as how media in turn shape and help sustain careers of specific rankings in the public over longer periods of time. To advance our understanding of the discursive dynamics at the intersection of rankings and the press, this study examines the media career of the Global Slavery Index (GSI) by analyzing 361 newspaper and magazine articles, published between the release of index’s inaugural edition in 2013 and until the end of 2019. To interpret the media coverage, the study draws attention to GSI’s universality, highly rationalized character, and a pledge to spotlight violation of the global moral order. The examination of the media coverage points to the following properties of the index as having shaped and helped sustain its career in the public: (1) repeated publication; (2) broad conceptualization of modern slavery; and (3) the construction thereof as a measurable global burden. The study finds that, throughout the period, the media were remarkably consistent in amplifying the most dramatic elements of the index. Over time, however, the index was increasingly more invoked for other purposes, usually either to lend credibility to a story or as a way of embedding local and situational concerns into global narratives.

Details

Worlds of Rankings
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-106-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 July 2021

Leopold Ringel

Extant research conceptualizes rankings as measures that fundamentally shape modern life by virtue of being publicly available. Yet, studies seldom explore the act of publishing…

Abstract

Extant research conceptualizes rankings as measures that fundamentally shape modern life by virtue of being publicly available. Yet, studies seldom explore the act of publishing when accounting for the attention rankings raise in larger stakeholder audiences. In short, we know a lot about the impact of rankings, but considerably less about the organizational practices devised by those who produce them – the rankers. Borrowing from Goffman, the paper conceptualizes modern rankings as public performances carefully prepared on backstages and unfolding on multiple frontstages. Using a qualitative data set, the paper traces the full spectrum of organizational practices that make rankings public performances: on the backstage, launch dates have to be set, numbers packaged, and “teams” prepared; on the frontstage, performances are held through face-to-face interactions (at launch events) as well as in a variety of mediated settings. Overall, the findings indicate that the more ranking organizations seek the attention of larger stakeholder audiences, the more the publication process is transformed into what one of the informants describes as “a big firework.”

Details

Worlds of Rankings
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-106-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 November 2004

Abstract

Details

Strategies for Public Management Reform
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-218-4

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2003

Richard Mattessich and Hans‐Ulrich Küpper

After some introductory words about the preeminence of German accounting research during the first half of the 20th century, the paper offers a survey of the most important…

415

Abstract

After some introductory words about the preeminence of German accounting research during the first half of the 20th century, the paper offers a survey of the most important theories of accounts classes that still prevailed during the first two decades or longer. Following World War I, the issue of hyperinflation in Austria and Germany stimulated a considerable amount of original accounting research. After the inflationary period, a series of competing Bilanztheorien, discussed in the text, dominated the scene. Two figures emerged supremely from this struggle. The first was Eugen Schmalenbach, with his “dynamic accounting”, a series of further important contributions to inflation accounting, to the master chart of accounts, to cost accounting, and to other areas of business economics. The other scholar was Fritz Schmidt, with his organic accounting theory that promoted replacement values and his emphasis on the profit and loss account, no less than the balance sheet. The gamut of further eminent personalities, listed in chronological order, contains the following names: Schär, Penndorf, Leitner, Gomberg, Nicklisch, Rieger, Prion, Osbahr, Passow, Dörfel, Sganzini, Walb, Calmes, Kalveram, Meithner, Lion, Töndury, Mahlberg, le Coutre, Geldmacher, Max Lehmann, Leopold Mayer, Karl Seidel, Alfred Isaac, Mellerowicz, Seyffert, Beste, Gutenberg, Käfer, Seischab, Kosiol, Münstermann, and others. Separate Sections or Sub‐Sections are devoted to charts and master charts of accounts in German accounting theory, as well as to cost accounting and the writing of accounting history.

Details

Review of Accounting and Finance, vol. 2 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1475-7702

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2018

Moritz Zoellner, Michael Fritsch and Michael Wyrwich

The purpose of this paper is to review the results of studies that investigate the most important active labour market policy (ALMP) measures in Germany. A focus is also on…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the results of studies that investigate the most important active labour market policy (ALMP) measures in Germany. A focus is also on programmes devoted to foster entrepreneurship which can make important contributions to a country’s growth and social welfare.

Design/methodology/approach

The study relies on quantitative and qualitative assessments and a comparison of results of previous studies on ALMPs.

Findings

The available evidence suggests that most ALMP measures increase labour market prospects of the participants. In particular, evaluations of the entrepreneurship promotion activities show high success rates as well as high cost efficiency. The bulk share of participants of entrepreneurship measures is still self-employed after several years and nearly one-third of these businesses had at least one employee. The authors mention problems regarding the evaluation of previous programmes and highlight future challenges of German ALMP.

Originality/value

This is the first study on ALMP that has an extensive and explicit focus on entrepreneurship-promoting programs.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2045-2101

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2005

Bernhard Poerksen

Some of Heinz von Foerster's central topics of reflection (the crucial role of the observer, the admission of the autonomy of the knowing subject, the rejection of all absolute…

2549

Abstract

Purpose

Some of Heinz von Foerster's central topics of reflection (the crucial role of the observer, the admission of the autonomy of the knowing subject, the rejection of all absolute conceptions of truth, the significance of paradoxical and circular figures of thought, etc.) are of consequence to university education and teaching in many different ways.

Design/methodology/approach

The author crucially describes the central ideas of Heinz von Foerster and related authors on education, learning and teaching.

Findings

The author shows that the concepts developed by Heinz von Foerster suggest a paradigmatic re‐orientation; the concept of knowledge transfer must be replaced by the stimulation of self‐directed learning geared to the reality of students; learning environments must be created that enable students to recognise and experience ready‐made answers primarily as questions, and solutions primarily as problems. The constructivist understanding of the multiplicity of worlds and realities is particularly well suited for university teaching to support intellectual curiosity, fascination, and cooperative reflection.

Originality/value

Heinz von Foerster's brand of subversive constructivism inspires the dismantling of stifling hierarchies of knowledge, encourages dialogue‐oriented learning, relies on the autonomy and intellectual self‐sufficiency of the individual, and stimulates the delineation of ideal‐type role‐models and interaction patterns of different kinds.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 34 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Acceptability of Transport Pricing Strategies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-08-044199-3

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