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1 – 10 of 18Greg Sutton, Karen Newberry and Kate Threapleton
The purpose of this paper is to describe the evaluation of an educational occupational therapy home visit simulation newly built in Unity, compared with a previously created…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the evaluation of an educational occupational therapy home visit simulation newly built in Unity, compared with a previously created simulation based in the Open Sim platform. The evaluation is based on students’ preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
A simulation was built in Unity in which the academic content was identical to the previous Open Sim-based simulation. Student groups used the simulations then completed a questionnaire. Numerical data and descriptive comments were analysed.
Findings
Students preferred the simulation built in Unity to the Open Sim simulation. Improvements with the Unity simulation include; reduced time to gain competence to use, ease of use and fewer negative physiological experiences. The small percentage of students experiencing motion sickness is an ongoing concern and warrants further investigation. The Unity simulation may also be useful as an academic assessment tool.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are limited by short time usage of the simulations in 3D virtual worlds with confined spaces and no requirement for in-world group interaction, and by some methodological limitations including the research being based within a single higher education institution, and with a profession-specific group of students.
Originality/value
This paper highlights student preference for using a purpose built simulation created with Unity over a simulation built in Open Sim, showing where best to spend future development time and funding. Similar comparison research is scarce.
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Vina Adriany, Irwan Gunawan and Rita Anggorowati
The purpose of this chapter is to explore practices of early childhood education (ECE) in four Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar. For the past…
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to explore practices of early childhood education (ECE) in four Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar. For the past years, the attention toward ECE in these countries have arisen, partially as the result of the international development agenda such as Education for All, Millennium Development Goals and the latest Sustainable Development Goals. This chapter argues the extent to which the practices of ECE in these four countries are the result of their ongoing negotiation between the global and the local values. The chapter also elaborates the gap in the extent to which neoliberalism is very dominant in the ECE. Hence, despite the rhetorical that emphasize the importance of ECE, ECE is largely dominated by private sectors. This situation might create an obstacle for children’s access and participation to ECE sectors. Hence, this chapter serves as invitation for the government to spend more budget to ECE so that ECE can be accessible to all children in the regions.
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Peter Knight, Karen Peesker and Claudia C. Mich
The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the impact of sales education on recent graduates' career preparedness and understand how sales programs might prepare…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the impact of sales education on recent graduates' career preparedness and understand how sales programs might prepare students better for successful sales careers. We investigate the known competencies leading to sales success that were, or were not, adequately developed by their university sales programs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected and analyzed qualitative data from in-depth interviews with a sample of 20 recent university sales graduates working in a sales career. Over 23 h of interviews were transcribed and analyzed via NVivo. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework was applied in this study to code the data.
Findings
The study identifies that while respondents are positive about their overall sales education and feel confident about their knowledge of the sales process, they are not always confident in their ability to deal with ambiguity and the unknown. This study revealed that constructs of self-leadership and career choice self-efficacy deserve further consideration as components of the university sales program curriculum.
Research limitations/implications
As with all exploratory research, there are limits to generalizability; however, this study revealed that the constructs of goal setting, self-leadership and self-knowledge hold promise for further study as a means to increase sales-related self-efficacy and career readiness.
Practical implications
Respondents were positive about their overall sales education experience but identified a need for more effective sales education in cold calling, prospecting and the inherent level of rejection to be prepared for inside sales positions in which sales graduates increasingly start their careers.
Social implications
Lower turnover and better educational preparedness of sales program graduates clearly will accrue socioeconomic benefits.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the impact of sales education on recent graduates’ career preparedness and the first study for this journal to focus on sales as an area of professional competency and related sales pedagogy. Further, the qualitative methodology, which is relatively unique in sales research, provides rich data that is particularly useful for exploratory research to help provide a structure for universities to strengthen their sales programs through targeted training to help students enhance self-leadership and career preparedness.
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Colby Connelly and George Xydis
Until recently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, whose members consist of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, has not significantly…
Abstract
Purpose
Until recently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, whose members consist of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, has not significantly focused on the green transition. Specifically, wind energy development has made minimal progress relative to that of other regions.
Design/methodology/approach
The abundance of cheap fossil fuels in the region has not incentivized renewable energy development, and where this has taken place solar technologies are often preferred.
Findings
However, lower technology costs together with lost investment opportunities – also common elsewhere in the world, has increased the pressure on the GCC region from developers. This work qualitatively addresses the challenges and the strategies for the wind development in the area. It focuses on the analysis of different proposed type of investments – driven by a state-supported proposed fund – such as utility-scale investments, industry-specific investments, manufacturing investments and regional accelerators.
Originality/value
The work also suggests that Gulf sovereign wealth funds should act as the lead investors under new schemes, such as joint ventures, for wind development in the GCC, using their wealth to offering their populations with new sources of employment as well as energy that is sustainable.
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This paper argues that conditions supporting dissemination (sharing) of teachers' learning are necessary for school change and organizational learning. Based on a qualitative…
Abstract
This paper argues that conditions supporting dissemination (sharing) of teachers' learning are necessary for school change and organizational learning. Based on a qualitative study that explored dissemination of teachers' learning within a multi‐school computer technology project, the paper identifies 43 factors that motivate teachers' sharing and 35 factors that restrain their sharing in schools. The paper posits that in the short‐term, it may be easier to encourage dissemination by reducing restraining factors than by working to increase motivating factors. In the long term, however, the attitudes and beliefs underlying the motivating factors must be addressed. This paper also offers a table of participants' suggestions for administrators to encourage teachers to share their learning with colleagues.
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