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1 – 10 of over 2000This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research is a part of the larger study grant to analyze written reflections through learning log among the third and final year students…
Abstract
Purpose
This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research is a part of the larger study grant to analyze written reflections through learning log among the third and final year students undertaking BPME 3073 Entrepreneurship module in University Utara Malaysia (UUM). The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection techniques are researcher-directed textual data through reflective learning log, taken from 140 students from three classes. A thematic approach was utilized to present the reflections of the students and all data were recorded in a verbatim format.
Findings
The findings show that most students have never written a reflective log or essay in the formative assessment. As a consequence, they had difficulty in writing the reflection when being requested to do so. A total 75 (approximately 55 percent) of the reflective logs were identified as level 1 (from 1 to 5 percent) in which reflections were simply written in a descriptive manner, resulted in a balance of 61 learning logs being utilized for further analysis. The students’ reflections on their entrepreneurship’s experience systematically categorize into four different themes comprised of: the nature of entrepreneurship module, entrepreneurial characteristics, opportunity recognition, and creativity and innovation.
Research limitations/implications
As for the limitation of the study, it is important to not to underestimate the challenges of introducing a grade assessment that most of them are not familiar with in their university academic journey. Students need guidance, assurance and confidence writing something that require personal opinion, own thinking, sensitive and personal nature of narration. For most students as found out in this study, self-confessional writing is hard to come by (they dare not attempt it in the first place), only a handful appreciating the writing start with “I,” “me” as first person. More research in this study should be conducted across the university to gauge the response from the students to see if the result of this study is only applicable to this group of students or to this discipline of studies. The researchers would also like to recommend for future studies which take the form of a longitudinal study of similar kind to examine the problems and challenges with regards to promoting learning reflection at the undergraduate level.
Practical implications
Based on the result of the 61 students who had demonstrated an ability in reflective writing, it is suggested that perhaps the university should consider offering coursework that contains a component of reflective writing as part of the assessment. As such, if this is implemented, students of such ability like the one in this sample group would have been benefitted from such assessment which look at reflective ability (Greene, 2014) and which they were allowed to form a broader perspective in relation to the module undertaken. This in turns will foster the growth of reflective ability which is recognized as a learned behavior (Gustafson and Bennett, 1999). In addition, for the future exercise of this reflective learning log, the researcher opined that we should encourage our students to engage with another student (e.g. close friend) in a way that encourages talking with, questioning, or confronting, helped the reflective process by placing the learner in a safe environment in which self-revelation can take place. In addition, students were able to distance themselves from their actions, ideas and beliefs, by holding them up for scrutiny in the company of a peer with whom they are willing to take such risks (Hatton and Smith, 1995).
Originality/value
The results of this research have strongly suggested the need to urgently develop among the students the skills in writing reflectively as they go through the process of higher education which is useful in molding their future professional and entrepreneurial behavior as when they entered the job market which requires a critical reasoning ability.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the critical role reflection plays in work-based learning (WBL).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the critical role reflection plays in work-based learning (WBL).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents an contextualist examination of reflection in the WBL environment.
Findings
People consciously reflect in order to understand events in their lives and as a consequence hopefully add and enhance meaning.
Research limitations/implications
Reflection is associated therefore with “looking back” and examining the past in order to learn from what happened and perhaps not repeat mistakes. However, it is also increasingly associated with reflecting on action (Schon, 1983) and encourages an exploring of thoughts and feelings; looking for insights; and maximizing on self-awareness which all tie the process closely to identity formation (Lacan, 1977).
Practical implications
If used effectively and purposefully reflection facilitates ongoing personal and professional learning, and creates and develops practitioners capable of demonstrating their progression towards learning outcomes and required standards. Reflection can also provide a structure in which to make sense of learning, so that concepts and theories become embedded in practice, and constant thought and innovation are simultaneously fostered.
Social implications
By actively considering the thoughts and actions one becomes aware of the power of reflective thinking as a tool for continuous improvement, and one that has implications beyond the personal.
Originality/value
This paper represents the first study which examines the role reflection plays in WBL.
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Giacomo Pigatto, Lino Cinquini, John Dumay and Andrea Tenucci
This study aims to provide a critical assessment of developments in the field of voluntary corporate non-financial and sustainability reporting and disclosure (VRD). The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a critical assessment of developments in the field of voluntary corporate non-financial and sustainability reporting and disclosure (VRD). The assessment is grounded in the empirical material of a three-year research project on integrated reporting (IR).
Design/methodology/approach
Alvesson and Deetz’s (2021) critical management framework structures the arguments in this paper. By investigating local phenomena and the extant literature, the authors glean insights that they later critique, drawing on the empirical evidence collected during the research project. Transformative redefinitions are then proposed that point to future opportunities for research on voluntary organisational disclosures.
Findings
The authors argue that the mainstream approaches to VRD, namely, incremental information and legitimacy theories, present shortcomings in addressing why and how organisations voluntarily disclose information. First, the authors find that companies adopting the International IR Council’s (IIRC, 2021) IR framework tend to comply with the framework only in an informal, rather than a substantial way. Second, the authors find that, at times, organisations serendipitously chance upon VRD practices such as IR instead of rationally recognising the potential ability of such practices to provide useful information for decision-making by investors. Also, powerful groups in organisations may use VRD practices to establish, maintain or restore power balances in their favour.
Research limitations/implications
The paper’s limitations stem directly from its aim to be a critical reflection. Even when grounded on empirics, a reflection is mainly a subjective effort. Therefore, different researchers could come to different conclusions and offer different lessons from the two case studies.
Practical implications
The different rationales the authors found for VRD should make a case for reporting institutions to tone down any investor-centric rhetoric in favour of more substantial disclosures. The findings imply that reporting organisations should approach the different frameworks with a critical eye and read between the lines of these frameworks to determine whether the purported normative arguments are achievable practice.
Originality/value
The authors reflect on timely and relevant issues linked to recent developments in the VRD landscape. Further, the authors offer possible ways forward for critical research that may rely on different methodological choices, such as interventionist and post-structuralist research.
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The purpose of this paper is to position experience as an immersive process through the documentation of student reflections of place involving the intricacies of embodied…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to position experience as an immersive process through the documentation of student reflections of place involving the intricacies of embodied learning and experiential mobilities. This study is framed through situational positionalities and placed movements of the tourist, the non-tourist and more specifically, students of Generation Z engaged in educational experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explores a student fieldtrip (on the island of Corfu, Greece) as a medium of expression for situated learning, involving a case study of tourism students learning critical tourism through sensual and haptic dimensions of reflection. The students “experienced” Corfu by participating in an international tourism conference, stayed on a yacht, went on various tours, met with tourism industry representatives and reflected their experiences in a collaborative photo story book.
Findings
Generation Z seemed to have the ability to discern the environment and decipher the role tourism plays. Their critical impressions of place in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, beauty, etc., force a rethink of traditional tourist typologies. It is necessary to reconsider the categorizations of tourism, challenging the need for tourism marketers to encapsulate experiences as both a single, yet multi-varied segment. What remains crucial is a deeper comprehension of this generation through their consumption patterns in relation to the various stakeholders of tourism.
Originality/value
This paper documents an engagement of self through experience as part of the “experience.” Hence, the transformative experiences of place reflections as opposed to linear post-trip representations of experience may be insightful for tourism practitioners dealing with a tourism of the future.
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Environmental social work (ESW) is an approach and a perspective in social work focusing on ecological and environmental sustainability and justice within the context of…
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental social work (ESW) is an approach and a perspective in social work focusing on ecological and environmental sustainability and justice within the context of sustainable development (SD). This study aims to analyse students’ reflective tasks on challenges for ESW education and practice from a critical theory perspective. The purpose of this study is to discuss the implications of the findings for accelerating the implementation of SD in social work curricula.
Design/methodology/approach
The research participants comprised 49 master level students from four different cohorts studying the course “Social Work and Sustainable Development” at the University of Gävle, Sweden. The sample comprised only those students who had completed at least one of the three non-mandatory reflective tasks that were set within the course. The reflective tasks of the research participants were gathered as data for this study. A qualitative methodological approach with the help of ATLAS-ti V8.4 was used to analyse the gathered data.
Findings
This study discusses three primary results, which are categorised as “Being Boxed”, “Safe and Saviour Sweden” and “Politics and Power”. Based on the results, this study argues for a transformative and emancipatory pedagogy (TEP) in the teaching and learning of ESW to accelerate the implementation of holistic SD within the social work curriculum.
Research limitations/implications
This study is mainly based on the analysis of “problematic” discourses of some of the students. The majority of the students and their respective discourses are not considered. Moreover, it would have been interesting, and probably enlightening to explore the background of the students (such as gender, ethnicity and religion) and any concomitant beliefs or prejudices (whether consciously held or otherwise) that would need to be addressed for an effective social work outcome. For ethical reasons, the background of the students was not recorded and analysed in this study.
Practical implications
Based on the results, this study argues for TEP in catalysing environmentalism within the social work curricula.
Social implications
Social workers have a political mandate from their professional ethics to work for the protection of the planet and for the well-being of all – including non-humans. This study therefore argues for ESW education within social work curricula in promoting SD through social work practice.
Originality/value
Within the context of SD, there is a global call for social work education to shift from an anthropocentric to an eco-centric paradigm. However, ESW education is still in its infancy stage and very few universities are focusing in this particular area. This study therefore brings an important and well-needed layer of empirical evidence in considering the implications for catalysing environmentalism within the social work curricula.
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Eamonn Newman and Margaret Farren
This purpose of this paper is to use autoethnographic methods to enable an individual to reflect on their learning practices and habits in their professional role in computing and…
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to use autoethnographic methods to enable an individual to reflect on their learning practices and habits in their professional role in computing and data science.
Design/methodology/approach
Action reflection cycles with autoethnographic methods are used in this enquiry to examine and transform the self-driven learning in the role of a professional in the context of computing and data science. Data are collected using personal thoughts and emotions in order to determine to what degree the changes that are brought about are improving their learning practice.
Findings
An incongruity between espoused theory and theory-in-use is identified. In this paper the authors explore how engaging in reflection within the structure of an action research framework can change the learning behaviour of an individual, motivating them to engage more positively and consistently with self-directed learning in their workplace environment.
Research limitations/implications
Through analysis of reflective journals key aspects of personal and professional life that influences the individual’s approach to the learning tasks is identified. In addition, activity logs are maintained which collect information on the tasks that are undertaken. These activity logs are automatically generated using specific task-tracking software. Double-loop learning (Argyris and Schön, 1974) helps to identify the values that underpin the learning practice.
Practical implications
By resolving the tension created due to the incongruity of values, the individual has been able to find more motivation for learning and thus become more engaged in the learning process.
Social implications
Participation in the knowledge economy requires individuals to engage in continuous learning. Organisations that support individuals in continuous learning are best adapted to take advantage of emergent and evolving knowledge and skill requirements.
Originality/value
This paper examined the behaviour of an individual engaging in self-directed learning and showed how through engagement with reflection and critical self-analysis, he increased his motivation and efficiency for self-directed learning. The authors show how this skill becomes increasingly important in modern knowledge economy workplaces.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine how deeper psychosocial structures can be examined utilising a contemporary provocative theory within workplace reflection to generate more…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how deeper psychosocial structures can be examined utilising a contemporary provocative theory within workplace reflection to generate more radical insights and innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper outlines a provocative theory and then presents case examples of how deeper structures can be examined at the micro, meso and macro levels.
Findings
Deeper psychosocial structures are the forces that keep the status quo firmly in place, but deeper examination of these structures enable radical insights and therefore the possibility of innovation.
Research limitations/implications
Deep psychosocial structures shape and constitute daily action, and so work-based and practitioner researchers can be tricked into thinking they have identified new ways of working, but may be demonstrating the same workplace behaviours/outcomes. Workplace behaviours, including emotional responses to apparent change, are key indicators of deeper structures.
Practical implications
Ideas and processes for examining deeper structures can be integrated into daily reflective practices by individuals, within organisational processes, and wider, system processes. However, because deeper structures can appear in different forms, we can be tricked into reproducing old structures.
Social implications
Examining deeper structures increases the possibilities for more radical insights into workplace structures, and therefore, how to potentially mobilise innovations which may better serve people and planet.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to examine the work of Slavoj Žižek in the context of work-based learning.
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Annika Engström, Anette Johansson, Nina Edh Mirzaei, Kristina Sollander and Daved Barry
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on different types of knowledge created and how this links to the project design, process, and content.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on different types of knowledge created and how this links to the project design, process, and content.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper the authors investigate participants' experiences from a three-year interactive research project, designed to trigger reflection among the participants. They apply a knowledge creation perspective on experiences expressed by participants as a result of different research project activities.
Findings
The study resulted in five categories of insights with potential for sustainable influence on the participating organizations: an understanding of concepts and theories; an understanding of the impacts of collaborative, reflective work processes; an understanding of the meaning of one's own organizational context; an understanding of the importance of increased organizational self-awareness; and an understanding of the potential for human interaction and communication.
Practical implications
The author’s findings suggest that it is possible to design a project to promote more profound and sustainable effects on a business beyond the explicit purpose of the project. They advise practitioners to make room for iterative reflection; be mindful to create a trustful and open environment in the team; challenge results with opposing views and theories; and make room for sharing experiences and giving feedback.
Originality/value
This study contributes to unraveling key practices which can nurture conditions for knowledge creation in interactive research projects and business projects alike.
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This study aims to explore co-learning classes, a novel approach to leveraging universities’ capacity to contribute to the local sustainable development agenda whilst enhancing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore co-learning classes, a novel approach to leveraging universities’ capacity to contribute to the local sustainable development agenda whilst enhancing students’ learning. These participatory classes were piloted within a UK university masters’ module focussed on action for sustainability. The classes sought to combine knowledge exchange, reflection and social network development by bringing together students and community stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The classes were run as a series of five free events, each focussed on sustainability issues relevant for local practitioners. These were either regular timetabled sessions opened up to the public or additional on-campus public events. Attendance was either face-to-face or online. Evaluation was based upon participation data, written feedback and module leader’s post-event reflections.
Findings
The classes successfully secured participation from diverse community members, including local government staff, voluntary sector workers and interested individuals. Both students and community stakeholders valued the participatory format, linkages of theoretical and practical knowledge and diversity of attendees.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are based upon a small-scale pilot study. Further research using a wider range of contexts is required to enhance understanding of the co-learning approach.
Practical implications
This paper highlights some key practical issues to consider if employing co-learning approaches in other contexts, including using inclusive language, aligning with students’ motivations and choosing appropriate focal event topics.
Originality/value
Opening up participatory university classes for the public to attend as co-learners is a rarely used approach and has little coverage in academic literature. This small-scale study therefore has value by highlighting some of the potential impacts, strengths and limitations of this approach.
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Simulation in education has been well documented. Business simulation games (BSGs) are often digital and run by a third-party provider. This can create barriers to engagement from…
Abstract
Purpose
Simulation in education has been well documented. Business simulation games (BSGs) are often digital and run by a third-party provider. This can create barriers to engagement from educator and student perspectives. This paper explores a facilitator-led BSG, posing the question: can facilitator-led BSGs provide practical experiential learning experiences within a taught setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory inductive research recruited a sample of 45 student participants, an external examiner and a module leader. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussion, participant obsession and facilitator reflection. Mixed-method feedback forms were also used.
Findings
The facilitator-led BSG offered a flexible approach to challenge or problem-based learning, experiential learning, collaborative learning and critical reflection. Student feedback was positive, and there was an increase in engagement within all elements of the module.
Originality/value
This paper presents a case study example of the implementation of a facilitator-led BSG, providing an alternative solution for teaching practitioners to structured simulations run by third-party hosts. This paper highlights a flexible approach to student-centric experiential and challenging learning through enterprise education within small-group settings. There are opportunities for further evaluation and exploration of the notion, which can be developed from this paper in future works.
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