Search results
21 – 30 of 455Joseph S. Nadan, Abram Walton, Behzad Tabaei, Charles Edward Bryant and Natalie Shah
This paper aims to propose an innovative method for deploying a personalized instructor-created software-aided assessment system, that will disrupt traditional learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose an innovative method for deploying a personalized instructor-created software-aided assessment system, that will disrupt traditional learning environments by allowing students to confidentially and with indirect supervision from the instructor, assess their knowledge and ability to achieve the course outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Through empirical evaluation in real-world educational settings, the authors examine the impact of augmenting human activity in the classroom with an innovative software platform to transform the learning process.
Findings
Findings indicate that this software-aided assessment system effectively augments human interactivity by providing timely instructor-designed feedback to increase knowledge retention and skillsets.
Practical implications
This study has shown that incorporating disruptive innovation through the use of software-aided assessment systems increases the effectiveness of the faculty in the classroom and enhances student learning and retention. Thus, a transformative software-aided assessment system design that incorporates artificial intelligence into the learning pathway should be pursued. These software-aided assessments are disruptive innovation as they are formative, frequent and require little direct involvement from the instructor.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to incorporate artificial intelligence into the assessment process by analyzing results of pilot programs at several universities. The results demonstrate how using software-aided transformative assessments in various courses have helped instructors assess students’ preparedness and track their learning progress. These software-aided systems are the first step in bringing disruptive innovation to the classroom as these software-aided assessment instruments rapidly assess learners’ knowledge and skills based on short, easily created, multiple-choice tests, with little direct engagement from the faculty.
Details
Keywords
Joseph Bashouri and Glen William Duncan
The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of knowledge and its management in the creative professional service firm (PSF). The other purpose is to explore the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of knowledge and its management in the creative professional service firm (PSF). The other purpose is to explore the role of communities of practice (CoPs) in knowledge management (KM) strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
A single-case study approach was adopted with five open-ended semi-structured interviews conducted with middle and senior management having mainly an architectural background. The data were complemented with participant observation and reflection on experience together with conversations with work colleagues.
Findings
The findings suggest that having an appropriately balanced strategy of personalisation/codification of knowledge through CoPs contributes to the competitiveness of the firm.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a useful exploration of KM in creative PSFs, but the results may lack generalizability because of the small scale and qualitative nature of the research. The research is limited to one firm in one country. Future research is needed to test the findings in other creative PSFs and in other countries.
Practical implications
The paper provides guidance to managers in creative PSFs on the need for positioning CoPs at the heart of the firm’s KM strategies.
Originality/value
The paper tests a theoretical framework on how to link strategy with KM strategy in creative PSFs.
Details
Keywords
Isaac Akomea-Frimpong, Charles Andoh, Agnes Akomea-Frimpong and Yvonne Dwomoh-Okudzeto
Fraud is a global economic menace which threatens the survival of individuals, firms, industries and economies, and the mobile money service is no exception. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Fraud is a global economic menace which threatens the survival of individuals, firms, industries and economies, and the mobile money service is no exception. This paper aims to explore the main causes of fraud in the mobile money services in Ghana and the measures to combat the menace by the key stakeholders connected to the mobile money services. The paper is motivated by recent reports of numerous fraudulent transactions on the mobile money platform, and the need to clamp down these nefarious transactions with effective and practical measures to sustain the service.
Design/methodology/approach
A thorough review of existing studies on fraud risk relating to mobile money services was done revealing a paucity of literature on the subject. Primary data were gathered using an interview guide to explore the magnitude of the problem based on the views of employees of mobile money operators, mobile money agents, banking supervisors from Bank of Ghana, employees of partnering banks, employees of National Communications Authority and mobile money subscribers.
Findings
The study revealed that fraud in mobile money services is caused by weak internal controls and systems, lack of sophisticated information technology tools to detect the menace, inadequate education and training and the poor remuneration of employees. These factors disrupt the growth, and the smooth-running of the services. To curb this menace, a detailed legal code and internal fraud policy should be developed and used by mobile money operators and partner banks. Adequate training for mobile money agents should be encouraged coupled with public awareness campaigns to educate stakeholders especially the mobile money subscribers on the tricks of the fraudsters.
Research limitations/implications
With the chosen research methodology and limited sample size, the findings may not reflect the views of all the stakeholders connected to the mobile money services. Therefore, future studies on this subject are entreated to use research methods which embrace larger samples to get more details about this menace.
Practical implications
The study will assist in tackling the mobile money fraud to sustain the service in the foreseeable future.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to scanty literature on fraud relating to the mobile money services by drawing lessons from a middle-income country.
As yet there are no indications that the President of the Local Government Board intends to give the force of law to the recommendations submitted to him by the Departmental…
Abstract
As yet there are no indications that the President of the Local Government Board intends to give the force of law to the recommendations submitted to him by the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in food. It is earnestly to be hoped that at least some of the recommendations of the Committee will become law. It is in the highest degree objectionable that when a Committee of the kind has been appointed, and has carried out a long and difficult investigation, the recommendations which it finally makes should be treated with indifference and should not be acted upon. If effect should not be given to the views arrived at after the careful consideration given to the whole subject by the Committee, a very heavy responsibility would rest upon the Authorities, and it cannot but be admitted that the Committee ought never to have been appointed if it was not originally intended that its recommendations should be made legally effective. Every sensible person who takes the trouble to study the evidence and the report must come to the conclusion that the enforcement of the recommendations is urgently required upon health considerations alone, and must see that a long‐suffering public is entitled to receive rather more protection than the existing legal enactments can afford. To refrain from legalising the principal recommendations in the face of such evidence and of such a report would almost amount to criminal negligence and folly. We are well aware that the subject is not one that is easily “understanded of the people,” and that the complicated ignorance of various noisy persons who imagine that they have a right to hold opinions upon it is one of the stumbling blocks in the way of reform; but we believe that this ignorance is confined, in the main, to irresponsible individuals, and that the Government Authorities concerned are not going to provide the public with a painful exhibition of incapacity and inaction in connection with the matter. There is some satisfaction in knowing that although the recommendations have not yet passed into law, they can be used with powerful effect in any prosecutions for the offence of food‐drugging which the more enlightened Local Authorities may be willing to institute, since it can no longer be alleged that the question of preservatives is still “under the consideration” of the Departmental Committee, and since it cannot be contended that the recommendations made leave any room for doubt as to the Committee's conclusions.
Dominique Turnbow, Kris Kasianovitz, Lise Snyder, David Gilbert and David Yamamoto
The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes the UCLA Library Website Redesign Team used to develop a new library website responsive to the needs of the broad population…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes the UCLA Library Website Redesign Team used to develop a new library website responsive to the needs of the broad population of UCLA Library users.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a combination of structured analyses of the previous library website, user surveys, a card sort protocol and a think‐aloud protocol, the Website Redesign Team procured sufficient information to meet its redesign goals: established clear site organization and navigation, utilized user‐centered nomenclature, ensured easy access from the library homepage to relevant information, developed a unified institutional visual identity throughout the site, and enabled a content management system.
Findings
Standard usability methods such as surveys and the card sort and think‐aloud protocols are essential tools for evaluating and redesigning complex multi‐layered websites. Since the redesign process is not finite, these tools contribute to keeping a website current and responsive to the needs of its users.
Originality/value
This case study provides an example that the Redesign Team hope will empower readers with tools and knowledge that they can use to perform similar tasks in their own environment.
Details
Keywords
Much writing on dissenting intellectuals posits a uniform relationship between autonomy from the popular element and social influence. The case of U.S. poets from 1930 to 1975…
Abstract
Much writing on dissenting intellectuals posits a uniform relationship between autonomy from the popular element and social influence. The case of U.S. poets from 1930 to 1975 challenges this, as dissenting poets' sphere of influence grew during the hegemony of populist as well as antipopulist movements. In order to account for this, this chapter draws on the conceptualization of autonomy as a process whose parameters are mutually irreducible and potentially contradictory. Where these parameters are more or less fully synchronized, dissenting intellectuals face a united bloc of opponents that they cannot divide; therefore, they need to fight all of these opponents simultaneously. Where there is little such synchronization, in contrast, they can negotiate temporary alliances with some of their foes, use these alliances to secure gains in more important fronts, and revise their alliances as circumstances change. Twentieth-century United States, this chapter argues, was an example of the latter kind of setting. Dissenting poets were able to use universities and popular element against one another, depending on how they saw their overall situation. When autonomy from universities mattered most, they reclaimed the popular element; when autonomy from the popular element mattered most, they set aside their differences with university administrators and joined the academic ranks. This distinction between greater and less synchronization of the powers, the chapter argues, has implications for political sociology beyond the study of intellectuals.
Concern about special education's future is widespread. Now there are calls for special education's abandonment or its nonexistence in any environment other than general education…
Abstract
Concern about special education's future is widespread. Now there are calls for special education's abandonment or its nonexistence in any environment other than general education (i.e., for full inclusion or some form of general education only). Some advocates for reform consider special education obsolete, to be rejected in favor of newer ideas known as inclusionary education, and they advocate abandoning special education.
Now may be the time for a second revolution in thinking about what special education is and does so that it evolves into a service that more consistently realizes its promise. Special education is likely to become extinct if its devolution continues. Its collapse would hasten the abandonment of public education. Alternatively, it could evolve to become a viable part of public education, a distinct entity, a clearly identifiable and viable part of educating all children appropriately in public schools.
Among the many causes of special education's devolution, some stand out prominently: (1) confusing must and may; (2) accepting illogic and imprecision of language; (3) responding to all diversities in the same way; (4) spurning science; (5) confusing attribute and person; (6) putting the worst possible face on special education; and (7) misconstruing least restrictive environment.
Better thinking and clearer communication are required to achieve special education's revitalization. These include calling things what they are and relying on new, younger leaders. Clear and wide understanding – consensus – about what special education is and does and acceptance of the idea that we must have it as a separate and distinct part of universal public education would be revolutionary.
Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman
The field of nonmarket strategy has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years to provide theoretical and practical guidance for managers seeking to influence policymaking. Much of…
Abstract
The field of nonmarket strategy has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years to provide theoretical and practical guidance for managers seeking to influence policymaking. Much of this scholarship has built directly on spatial and “pivotal politics” models of lawmaking. While extremely helpful at identifying crucial targets for lobbying, these models treat all policymakers as identical in their abilities to advance legislative agenda items through various policymaking hurdles. We build upon these earlier models, but include policymakers who vary in their relative effectiveness at advancing measures through the legislative process. We identify how the implications of our model deviate from those of conventional (pivotal politics) analyses. We then present an empirical strategy for identifying effective Lawmakers in the United States Congress, and illustrate the utility of this approach for managers developing nonmarket strategies in legislative institutions, relying on the case of banking and financial services reforms between 2008 and 2011.
Details