Search results

We present the results of one of the only in-depth studies of a police agency’s internal and external response to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 (COVID-19). This study emphasizes the importance of law enforcement agencies conducting comprehensive case studies and after-action assessments to prepare, prevent and respond to prolonged public health crises and showcases the profound (and lingering) effects of COVID-19 on police organizations.

This multi-method case study combines document analysis, a workforce survey, a community survey, interviews and analysis of administrative data to detail and assess the agency’s internal and operational responses to the pandemic and the reactions of employees and community members to those responses.

Despite agency strategies to mitigate the pandemic’s effects, employees cited very high stress levels one year after the pandemic and a third of sworn officers considered leaving the policing profession altogether during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several policies intended by the agency to protect employee health and maintain staffing needs kept workforce levels steady but may have increased feelings of organizational injustice in both sworn and non-sworn individuals, with variation across racial and gender groups. A jurisdiction-wide community survey indicated general support for the police department’s responses but a preference for in-person rather than telephone-based responses to service calls. Officers, however, preferred continuing remote responses even after the pandemic subsided.

To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the only in-depth case studies that examine a police agency’s internal and external responses to COVID-19 and the sworn, non-sworn and community reactions to those responses.

As participation in higher education widens with concomitant increases in the number and diversity of commencing students, so does the need for programs that will support their transition and retention. In response to this need, a growing awareness of the value of mentorship in Australian universities has resulted in the introduction of peer mentoring programs for students in many institutions. Mentorship, however, can take many different forms. This chapter reports on a model of academic (faculty) mentorship for commencing science students belonging to a range of defined disadvantaged groups. The program was initially funded by an internal grant, with voluntary participation by eligible students. At the end of the first semester, participants overwhelmingly endorsed the program as having enhanced their transition experience and improved their prospects for academic progress and retention. Despite reduced funding, the program was retained over two subsequent years with slight modifications based on student feedback, together with consideration of its most effective elements. The success of this academic mentorship program demonstrates the potential value of such approaches in the university retention and success of disadvantaged students.

The vast majority of interventions during organizational change tend to focus on individually-held attitudes toward change. However, groups often form collective attitudes that are distinct from those held by its individual members, and organizational change often necessitates collective attitude change within teams, work units, or even the entire organization. We challenge the dominant view that collective attitudes to organizational change merely reflect an aggregation of individual attitudes by considering how and why collectively-held change attitudes are formed and activated. Drawing on social network theory, we propose an alternative approach toward an understanding of change. Acknowledging and detailing attitude formation as a social response to change – a social system of interaction among change recipients – we explain how collective attitudes to organizational change emerge. With this stance, individuals may hold broad and differing attitudes, but as a group can come together to share a collective attitude toward change. Using this approach, we explain how collective attitudes and individual attitudes are linked through top-down or bottom-up processes, or a combination of both. Developing this alternative perspective improves our understanding of how collective attitudes to change develop and evolve and enables both scholars and practitioners to better manage and influence the formation of change-supportive collective attitudes.

Today’s business environment has the nature that challenges the decision-making processes of businesses with its many different factors including technological developments and changing consumer structures. Previous research focused on specific contexts of the business environment regarding marketing and innovation issues, however, an integrative approach can be helpful for understanding and taking actions. This study aims to present a comprehensive framework which employs sensemaking from management literature as an approach to evaluate the market environment. Following a conceptual approach for the methodology, a framework consisting of three stages: discovery, sensemaking, and prediction is included in the study. Proposed framework identifies the stages for the sensemaking of consumers and can guide marketing decision-makers for competitiveness in the digital world.

This chapter explores strategies for engaging students in the first year of university study. It draws on a national study of the first year experience in Australia and proposes a model of student engagement, highlighting the multi-faceted nature of the construct. A holistic student life cycle approach to student engagement is proposed as the basis for transforming learning experiences in the first year of university study. This approach includes consideration of the role played by pre-arrival engagement opportunities, the importance of engagement with institutional cultures, practices and communities, along with engagement with disciplinary contexts and cultures. A whole-of-institution approach to student engagement is argued, along with the importance of focussing on shared responsibilities for learning.

The purpose of this study was to improve the orientation experience of commencing first-year undergraduate business students to better prepare them for the reality of their academic studies through the development and implementation of a Commencing Student-Needs-Centred Orientation Framework.

The methodology of this study used survey analysis and focus groups to explore low orientation efficacy scores from the cohort and resulted in a reconceptualisation and restructure of the existing orientation programme. The new programme was completed and implemented, and student’s perceptions remeasured. Evaluation was performed using sources of data across three semesters.

Intervention success is demonstrated across three semesters by sustained and continuously improving orientation efficacy scores. Overall, student orientation efficacy improved by 19.6 per cent in the first implementation (B, n = 44), and an improvement of 22.8 per cent was seen in the third semester (C, n = 177), when compared to the first semester (A, n = 164).

The primary limitation of this study is that the exploratory framework was applied and evaluated only within a single discipline of business, and in one Australian university with a predominantly first-generation student population.

The paper is a guide for the design of an orientation day programme informed by an evidence-based framework identifying the transition needs of commencing students entering higher education, which is tested for its efficacy in preparing students for their academic role, and for success.

Orientation is an important, yet under-researched aspect of engagement and retention in today’s universities.

University students often view economics as one of the most challenging subjects. In this paper, we explore whether the same attitude is shared by students at an offshore campus. The analysis is based on a survey of onshore and offshore students in an Australian university. The focus of the paper is on identifying similarities/differences in student attitudes towards economics, their degree of motivation, satisfaction with the content and the delivery of lectures and tutorials, major challenges, and student profile characteristics. A non‐parametric test indicates significant differences between the two cohorts, in terms of their age, enrolment status, paid work commitments, prior study of economics, their motivation and approach to studying the subject, and satisfaction with both the content and the delivery of the lectures/tutorials. The findings in this study are helpful in developing strategies for enhancing student learning in culturally diverse cohorts.

The purpose of this paper is to create a synchronous online learning community through the use of Blackboard Collaborate! to promote and enhance transactional engagement outside the classroom.

This paper employs a quantitative and qualitative approach where data were sourced from a third year finance unit across one semester using a survey instrument. SPSS v20 was used to perform basic descriptive analysis.

The study revealed that by providing an online learning community through the use of Blackboard Collaborate! significantly enhances transactional engagement beyond the classroom. In particular the use of Blackboard Collaborate! allowed the teacher to be more accessible, supportive, expect and support high standards and provide challenging activities that generated rich and meaningful interactions and promoted higher order thinking skills.

The positive results emanating from this study may encourage other educators and their institutions to adopt a synchronous online learning community to enhance student's engagement levels and increase the quality of student learning and their university experience. This study was conducted at only one university so it may not be feasible to form generalisations resulting from the findings.

This study adds new insights towards the scarce amount of literature on engagement in a blended learning environment. In particular the study adds a student perspective to the student engagement literature and to what constitutes quality in higher education and/or improved student experience.

Purpose – This chapter identifies the reasons why institutions need to undertake transformation to engage a diverse student population: it presents a model of student retention and success, which centres on student engagement pre- and post-entry.

Methodology/approach – The chapter overviews the literature on student retention and success and utilises emerging findings from the meta-analysis of the What works? Student retention and success programme.

Findings – The emerging model puts student engagement at the heart of student retention and success. Institutions should promote engagement by•Provision of a range of opportunities for student engagement of different types, at different levels, across the institution in different sites (academic sphere, social sphere and professional services sphere), throughout the student lifecycle.•Developing students to recognise the importance of engagement and to have the capacity to engage in a range of opportunities.•Developing staff responsibility for and capacity to provide effective engagement opportunities.•Taking responsibility for engagement, including monitoring engagement and acting when there are indicators of lower levels of engagement.•Creating a partnership between students and institutions towards a shared outcome of successful learners and graduates.

Research limitations – This chapter draws on emergent findings from the What works? programme.

Practical implications – This chapter assists institutions to improve student retention and success by focusing on engagement and institutional culture.

Social implications – The model assists institutions to critically consider transformation to engage a diverse student population and improve retention and success.

Originality/value – The chapter pre-views original research about engagement, retention and success, which are international concerns.