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1 – 10 of 199Susan Spezzini, Julia S. Austin and Josephine Prado
During a site-based certification program in a large county school district in the southeastern United States, 14 educators took 7 graduate courses on teaching emergent…
Abstract
During a site-based certification program in a large county school district in the southeastern United States, 14 educators took 7 graduate courses on teaching emergent bilinguals. These educators made a shift in their practices and perceived a corresponding shift in their teaching efficacy. Ten years after the onset of this program, researchers returned to the site and conducted a mixed-methods study. The first purpose of this study was to explore educators’ perceptions regarding instructional practices for teaching emergent bilinguals after a decade had passed. The second purpose was to identify course features perceived by educators as having been most instrumental in fostering a long-term transformation in their teaching practices. Data were collected from a survey and interviews with the 14 educators (13 teachers and a program specialist) who had completed this certification program. Results indicated changes in their teaching methods and interactions with parents as well as heightened confidence for taking on leadership roles. Study participants identified professional learning communities, cyclical reflective activities, and action research projects as the course features that had been instrumental in transforming their practices for working with emergent bilinguals. Findings suggest that this site-based certification program was a catalyst for generating individual change that continued beyond program completion. By exploring this decade-long transformation, the current study provides implications for designing and implementing graduate certification courses that prepare in-service teachers to work effectively with emergent bilinguals.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of warrant in daily classification design in general and in negotiating disparate classification goals in particular.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of warrant in daily classification design in general and in negotiating disparate classification goals in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper synthesizes classification research on forms of warrant and uses examples of classification decisions from ethnographic engagement with designers to illustrate how forms of warrant interact in daily classification decisions.
Findings
Different forms of warrant, though associated with incompatible theories of classification design, coexist in daily classification decisions. A secondary warrant might be employed to augment the primary warrant of a system, such as to decide among equally valid terms, or to overturn a decision based on the primary warrant, such as when ethical impacts are prioritized above user preference.
Research limitations/implications
This paper calls for empirical research using the application of warrant as an object of analysis.
Originality/value
The paper connects a ubiquitous and observable element of classification design – the application of warrant – to longstanding divisions in classification theory. This paper demonstrates how the analysis of daily classification design can illuminate the interaction between disparate philosophies of classification.
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Austin Lee Nichols, Kristine Klussman and Julia Langer
The benefits of meaning in the workplace are abundant. However, few opportunities exist to increase meaning among employees in ways that result in desired organizational impacts…
Abstract
Purpose
The benefits of meaning in the workplace are abundant. However, few opportunities exist to increase meaning among employees in ways that result in desired organizational impacts. The current study developed two new mindfulness-based interventions designed to ultimately increase both job and life satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Over five days, 67 participants either: (1) Reported their daily activities, (2) Additionally rated the meaningfulness of each hour, or (3) Additionally planned to increase the meaning of the least meaningful activities. At the beginning and end of the week, they also reported their job satisfaction and life satisfaction.
Findings
Results suggested that listing daily activities and rating the meaningfulness of each hour was most beneficial. Compared to only listing daily activities, this group experienced greater job and life satisfaction. In contrast, the group that additionally attempted to increase the meaningfulness of their daily activities did not perform better on either of these measures.
Practical implications
Spending only a few minutes focusing on recognizing the meaning in one's daily activities can improve one's job and life satisfaction. As such, organizations may consider encouraging engagement in such a task either at the end of the workday or at home. Doing so may result in an increase in both how satisfied they are at home and at work.
Originality/value
This provides initial evidence for a short intervention that may greatly increase the well-being of employees at work and home.
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Philipp Erpf, Rebecca Tekula and Julia Neuenschwander
This study aims to develop an empirically validated taxonomy. Typologies of social entrepreneurship are primarily based on conceptual considerations and case studies. There is a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop an empirically validated taxonomy. Typologies of social entrepreneurship are primarily based on conceptual considerations and case studies. There is a need for quantitative approaches and empirical testing of this emerging organizational form and its characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
First, an item scale was developed that emerged from frequently mentioned elements in social entrepreneurship literature. Next, social entrepreneurs rated these items. Finally, the authors conducted a cluster analysis to derive a taxonomy with three distinguishable types of social enterprises.
Findings
Based on a cluster analysis (N = 70), an empirically validated taxonomy is provided with three social enterprise types: social service providers, social change makers and social philanthropists.
Practical implications
Although this research has an exploratory character, it makes a clear contribution by complementing existing typologies, which tend to be conceptual in nature, with a taxonomy that is empirically grounded. This study defogs the blurry understanding and limited knowledge about different social enterprise forms and provides insight into meaningfully similar groups across the sector as a whole.
Originality/value
This article fills a void of empirically grounded taxonomies by analyzing which definitional aspects of social entrepreneurship literature correspond to the perceptions of social entrepreneurs regarding the nature of their organizations.
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Walter Leal Filho, Linda Ternova, Muhammad Muddassir Fayyaz, Ismaila Rimi Abubakar, Marina Kovaleva, Felix Kwabena Donkor, Samuel Weniga Anuga, Abraham R. Matamanda, Ilija Djekic, Ibrahim Abatcha Umar, Felicia Motunrayo Olooto, Maria Meirelles, Gustavo J. Nagy, Julia May, Marta May, Eromose Ebhuoma and Halima Begum
The interconnections between climate change and health are well studied. However, there is a perceived need for studies that examine how responses to health hazards (e.g…
Abstract
Purpose
The interconnections between climate change and health are well studied. However, there is a perceived need for studies that examine how responses to health hazards (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, ozone layer effects, allergens, mental health and vector-borne diseases) may assist in reducing their impacts. The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence on health responses to climate hazards and list some measures to address them.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed literature review, bibliometric analysis and an original online survey were undertaken on 140 participants from 55 countries spread across all geographical regions.
Findings
The bibliometric analysis identified that most climate-related health hazards are associated with extreme weather events. However, only one-third of the investigated papers specifically analysed the connections between climate change and health hazards, revealing a thematic gap. Also, although Africa is highly affected by climate change, only 5% of the assessed studies focused on this continent. Many respondents to the survey indicated “heat distress” as a significant vulnerability. The survey also identified social determinants relevant to climate-induced health vulnerabilities, such as socioeconomic and environmental factors, infrastructure and pre-existing health conditions. Most respondents agree that policies and regulations are the most effective adaptation tools to address the public health hazards triggered by climate change. This paper presents some suggestions for optimising public health responses to health hazards associated with climate change, such as the inclusion of climate-related components in public health policies, setting up monitoring systems to assess the extent to which specific climate events may pose a health threat, establishing plans to cope with the health implications of heatwaves, increased measures to protect vulnerable groups and education and awareness-raising initiatives to reduce the overall vulnerability of the population to climate-related health hazards. These measures may assist the ongoing global efforts to understand better – and cope with – the impacts of climate change on health.
Originality/value
The combination of a literature review, bibliometric analysis and an original world survey identified and presented a wide range of responses.
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This action research uses grounded theory and constant comparative analysis of electronic portfolios to explore how prospective secondary social studies teachers connect theories…
Abstract
This action research uses grounded theory and constant comparative analysis of electronic portfolios to explore how prospective secondary social studies teachers connect theories and practices of democratic education to give meaning to the complexity of learning how to teach in more democratic ways. I use contrasting case studies to focus on the relative value of theoretical/experiential ways of knowing. I conclude that students need to move more fluidly between theoretical and experiential or narrative thinking to galvanize their wills to teach more democratically. Because teaching democratically implies that teachers have a democratic world view, documenting how one learns to become a teacher cannot be adequately accomplished with only lesson plans, unit plans, or K-12 student work. Instead, those who wish to construct identities as democratic educators need to articulate their struggles through theoretically positioned stories about day-to-day classroom interactions in which they acknowledge the central role of beliefs, values, and epistemic orientations.
Vicente Prado-Gascó, Nabil Amara and Julia Olmos-Peñuela
The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a 12-item scale of knowledge spillovers transfer (KST) from scholars in business schools to practitioners outside academia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a 12-item scale of knowledge spillovers transfer (KST) from scholars in business schools to practitioners outside academia.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 807 faculty members from 35 Canadian business schools was used for the psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire. The reliability of the scale was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. The construct validity was examined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The nomological validity was assessed by analyzing the prediction of two output indicators by means of KST using structural equation modeling and by testing differences in KST according to other related variables.
Findings
The psychometric properties obtained indicate that the instrument is reliable and valid, which invites to its use as a diagnostic tool of KST from scholars in business schools to users outside academia.
Research limitations/implications
The KST questionnaire developed and validated in this study can be considered as a useful practical tool enabling the assessment of business scholars’ KST activities.
Practical implications
The KST questionnaire developed may enlighten business schools’ administrators and policy-makers to identify and implement actions to improve the transfer of knowledge between research and practice.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, despite the wide range of quantitative measures proposed in the literature, this is the first study that aims to present a comprehensive, accurate and validated scale to measure KST from scholars in business schools to practitioners outside academia.
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