Search results

The OPTIC (Optical Product and Technical Information for Construction) multimedia system is being developed as an aid to specifiers in the construction industry. It is based on the European EPIC (European Product Information Cooperation) project to develop a new classification scheme for the building products used in construction and civil engineering, and which also has relevance to the building product modelling projects currently underway. This classification scheme is used as a basis for the system, which displays textual and graphical information on construction products. Two sorts of image are shown for each product — a picture of the product in use and a CAD image. Information on the manufacturers producing this project is also given; hyperlinks connect the system. Although still at the development stage, OPTIC will eventually be published on CDROM.

Wikis have emerged as an important Web 2.0 technology for facilitating collaboration in organizations. Although researchers have begun to analyze their use in organizations and develop metrics to study their usage, there has been limited statistical analysis of use data. In addition, much of the empirical analysis of wikis is based on Wikipedia. This paper mitigates those limitations in the literature by examining data generated from a large consulting organization, Accenture, to statistically analyze the relationships between different use variables.

Young people who are looked after by the state face challenges as they make the transition from care to adulthood, with variation in support available. In the past decade, funding has been directed towards organisations to pilot innovations to support transition, with accompanying evaluations often conducted with a single disciplinary focus, in a context of short timescales and small budgets. Recognising the value and weight of the challenge involved in evaluation of innovations that aim to support the transitions of young people leaving care, this paper aims to provide a review of evaluation approaches and suggestions regarding how these might be developed.

As part of a wider research programme to improve understanding of the innovation process for young people leaving care, the authors conducted a scoping review of grey literature (publications which are not peer reviewed) focusing on evaluation of innovations in the UK over the past 10 years. The authors critiqued the evaluation approaches in each of the 22 reports they identified with an inter-disciplinary perspective, representing social care, public health and organisation science.

The authors identified challenges and opportunities for the development of evaluation approaches in three areas. Firstly, informed by social care, the authors suggest increased priority should be granted to participatory approaches to evaluation, within which involvement of young people leaving care should be central. Secondly, drawing on public health, there is potential for developing a common outcomes’ framework, including methods of data collection, analysis and reporting, which aid comparative analysis. Thirdly, application of theoretical frameworks from organisation science regarding the process of innovation can drive transferable lessons from local innovations to aid its spread.

By adopting the unique perspective of their multiple positions, the authors’ goal is to contribute to the development of evaluation approaches. Further, the authors hope to help identify innovations that work, enhance their spread, leverage resources and influence policy to support care leavers in their transitions to adulthood.

Online resources can be helpful for students and can augment the content presented in learning environments. A team consisting of four biologists, a graduate student, instructional designer and media developers collaborated on the design, development and evaluation of first-year biology online tutorials in a Canadian University. The tutorials were designed to address knowledge gaps resulting in low success rates and attrition of first-year students in biology. The decrease in the number of students in STEM has alarmed educators, prompting a call for efforts to increase STEM majors in universities. Large class sizes, such as first year biology with ∼900 registrants annually, with detail-oriented, content-heavy loads, can result in low success rates and attrition.

Active learning methods, including online formative assessments, which encourage student engagement in course material, can be effective in large introductory science classes, and thus, the authors provided engagement with tutorial online resources. The authors identified the tutorial topics by analyzing previous years' tests, student feedback and pedagogical research in undergraduate biology. The top five topics identified as common misconceptions or troublesome concepts within the course were selected. Standard instructional design processes were used to produce high-quality online tutorials. Tutorials included learning materials, videos, animations, self-assessments, reflective questions and badges to facilitate deep learning of the topics. Effectiveness of the tutorials was evaluated using quantitative methods and quasi-experimental design to compare the student learning results between the control year (without tutorials) and the year when tutorials were offered. Pre- and posttests measuring conceptual understanding were administered to assess gains in student learning. Additionally, student engagement was measured using the Classroom Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE), and data from learning management system was collected.

Results of the study show that the tutorials were an effective means of providing supplementary assistance to students as well as fostering a gain in students' levels of engagement with the course. Data analysis indicates that there was a significant increased gain in learning of core concepts in biology. Specifically, using formative online assessments resulted in measurable learning gains in students who participated voluntarily, in comparison to students who chose not to engage in self-paced quiz testing.

As seen from the description earlier, the tutorials, and this project, provide suitable university-level complexity to address specific learning gaps in the first year course. They provide a valuable service to students in terms of representing content in an alternate format and motivating students as they engaged with videos and self-assessment most frequently. The project adds to the teaching and learning environment with respect to program design, mode of delivery and scheduling by providing self-paced tutorials that focus on specific concepts in biology. Students may review these resources whenever and as often as they feel necessary to better master the concepts. This makes the content applicable for the various preferences for approaches to learning and accommodation requirements found in students. Importantly, using formative online assessments resulted in measurable learning gains in students who participated voluntarily, in comparison to students who chose not to engage in self-paced quiz testing.

As library/information center managers, we face an array of information access choices. With an increased demand for distributed machine‐readable information, we are all examining networking alternatives, using either locally loaded tapes or CD‐ROM databases, in place of or in addition to online timesharing sources. The decision of what information to provide in which machine‐readable format is indeed a complex one for all the players on the information scene — users, librarians/information specialists, systems specialists and commercial information providers. Therefore, we must cooperate and communicate to insure the success of the next generation of information products. Successful managerial decisions will be based on strategic planning and on evaluating a wide range of characteristics beyond the cost and technology factors usually described. This paper examines some of these factors from the perspective of the library manager concerned with serving user needs.

This chapter attempts to capture what teaching excellence looks and feels like for students. Our research reports on research conducted by two student authors at separate institutions. It suggests that the most crucial aspect of the student experience of ‘teaching excellence’ is a teacher's ability to build rapport and create meaningful interpersonal relationships with their students. Leanne Hunt's research was conducted with her fellow students at the University of Bradford. She outlines how, for her participants, the student–teacher rapport informed a positive learning experience which translated into a mutual understanding of excellent teaching. Widening participation, college-based HE student Hollie Shaw, now at Sheffield Hallam University, defines teaching excellence as flexible enough to respond to student learning needs, but strong enough to inspire interest in the discipline. In this chapter, we consider their separate testimonies carefully: we argue that exploring unconscious bias furthers understanding of how differences between student and teacher may compromise interpersonal relations and so student recognition of a tutor's positive and crucial role in the student experience and the implications of how one might measure this given the emphasis on proxies for teaching excellence in the TEF. We suggest breaking down unconscious bias calls for embracing differences, reflection and recognising the complexities of contemporary staff and student university lives. This chapter's exploration of staff–student partnership opens up potential for the creation of more equitable and honest learning dynamics in higher education – where a nuanced understanding of ‘teaching excellence’ can be defined, understood and evidenced within a HEI, with external bodies such as the Office for Students, and included in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Purpose: This study explored technology-mediated abuse (TMA) by looking at the influence of topic exposure via education (in/formal), media (non/fictional), and personal experiences (self/close others) in shaping public knowledge, understandings, and perceptions of TMA.

Methodology: Community-sampled respondents (N = 551; n = 235 men, 263 women; aged 18–81 years, M = 27.42, SD = 12.31) reported their TMA awareness and topic exposure (n = 110; 20% of the total sample indicated prior exposure).

Findings: Results indicated TMA knowledge, understanding, and perceptions varied by prior sources of topic exposure. This suggests that TMA is a crime varying in public awareness and perceived repercussions.

Research limitations: Open-ended responses, although ideal for exploratory studies such as this one, limit the scope and power of quantitative analyses. Future work should test the current study’s conclusions in a generalizable, random sample via closed-item surveys.

Originality/value: Present findings elucidate which societal forces and education types are best suited for helping people understand TMA in all its complexity. Such understanding allows for practical considerations of the comparative in/effectiveness of formal curriculum and media in shaping cognitions regarding TMA victimization.

Corporations operating global value chains must grapple with a multiplicity of ethical and practical considerations, most notably when value chains extend to emerging markets. Such contexts involve interactions with diverse stakeholders who possess the ability to impact supply chain performance, but who also bring conflicting needs, values and interests. The purpose of this paper is to outline a transformative model of supply chain fairness, arguing that adopting plural fairness principles and practices generates a higher fairness equilibrium which includes all affected stakeholders in the production of fairness outcomes, with consequent positive organizational and system level impacts.

Through a philosophically informed overview of the literature on organizational fairness, the paper applies fairness to the management of supplier relations to identify the institutional features of ethically sustainable supply chains. The proposed conceptual model uses a complex adaptive systems approach (CADs), supplemented by describing the contribution of fairness norms and practices.

This paper argues that a transformative approach to supply chain fairness can suggest new structures for interaction between firms, stakeholders, mediating institutions and governments.

Emerging market supply chains are facing significant changes. Adopting a complex adaptive systems perspective upon stakeholder relationships, this paper offers insights from the theoretical literature on fairness, and proposes a normative model of supply chain fairness which accounts for both the normative and empirical aspects of relational complexity.