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1 – 10 of over 42000Kimberly A. Wade‐Benzoni, Denise M. Rousseau and Min Li
The purpose of this paper is to apply psychological contract theory to the study of faculty‐doctoral student collaborations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply psychological contract theory to the study of faculty‐doctoral student collaborations.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a survey of 170 doctoral students, four types of psychological contracts were investigated and reliable measures of relationship quality were developed.
Findings
The results showed that the quality of collaborations differ significantly across the four contract types. In addition, quality of collaboration varied significantly across collaborations using different research methods (e.g. laboratory work, theory building) and disciplinary paradigms (i.e. high and low consensus). Several other factors conducive to enhanced evaluation of relationship quality were also identified, including similarity in research philosophy, perceived motives for being in the research collaboration, meeting frequency, and conflict resolution.
Research limitations/implications
The present study is somewhat limited in its sample, which is drawn from one university from the student perspective using self‐report measures. Future research might benefit from matching student and faculty assessments of particular collaborations.
Practical implications
Insights from the analyses suggest that greater awareness of the contract‐making mechanisms that operate in graduate education can help improve the quality of student experiences in research collaborations.
Originality/value
The framework of psychological contracts offers a novel perspective in understanding the dynamics of faculty‐student relationships.
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This paper aims to explore the effect of teacher–student collaboration on academic innovation in universities in different stages of collaboration.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the effect of teacher–student collaboration on academic innovation in universities in different stages of collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on collaboration life cycle, this paper divided teacher–student collaboration into initial, growth and mature stages to explore how teacher–student collaboration affects academic innovation.
Findings
Collecting data from National Science Foundation of China, the empirical analysis found that collaboration increases the publication of local (Chinese) papers at all stages. However, teacher–student collaboration did not significantly improve the publication of international (English) papers in the initial stage. In the growth stage, teacher–student collaboration has a U-shaped effect on publishing English papers, while its relationship is positive in the mature stage.
Practical implications
The results offer suggestions for teachers and students to choose suitable partners and also provide some implications for improving academic innovation.
Originality/value
This paper constructed a model in which the effect of teacher–student collaboration on academic innovation in universities was established.
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Xusen Cheng, Shixuan Fu, Yajing Han and Alex Zarifis
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual trust of students in computer supported semi-virtual collaboration groups and student’s performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual trust of students in computer supported semi-virtual collaboration groups and student’s performance in school.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal questionnaires and interviews are conducted during the case study. By analyzing the data from the questionnaires and the grade earned by the students, the sample students are ranked with respect to the trust level and individual performance. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test is used to compare individual trust level and performance in the computer supported semi-virtual collaborative environment.
Findings
The distribution of an individual’s trust level is roughly consistent with the distribution of the individual’s performance in the collaboration. Besides, the relationship between a student’s trust level and the student’s performance is positively correlated.
Research limitations/implications
This study integrates the issues of trust, school performance, and collaboration in an educational context. Furthermore, the conclusions drawn from this paper extend the literature of multiple disciplines including education, management, and psychology.
Practical implications
The conclusions could apply in the fields of education and management since the analysis revealed the relationship between an individual’s trust level and their performance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the field of trust and collaboration research with a link to trust development and performance. The study also provides an insight into how to successfully improve the performance of student semi-virtual collaboration groups.
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Tshinakaho Relebogile Seaba and Raymond Mompoloki Kekwaletswe
The purpose of this paper is to argue that an e‐collaboration environment, driven by awareness of social presence, may provide the just‐in‐time learning support needed by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that an e‐collaboration environment, driven by awareness of social presence, may provide the just‐in‐time learning support needed by postgraduate students. The academic challenges faced by students may be alleviated if a correct electronic platform is provided for them to be able to consult with each other or their instructors, regardless of time or their locations. Thus, the paper conceptualises how awareness of social presence may help address the challenges by facilitating e‐collaboration of postgraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
The interpretive paradigm was followed in the study, where a university of technology, located in the city of Pretoria, South Africa, was used as a case study. Selective sampling, specifically purposive sampling was then used to select participants. This kind of sampling is suitable for qualitative case studies and focuses on sample selection based on relevance to the context and problem.
Findings
The limited and inconsistent learning support hinders a smooth learning experience, often leading to delayed or incomplete learning tasks, including research works. The alternative for students is then to seek support from knowledgeable peers, who are often dispersed in varied geographical locations. Thus, it is important that the framework for e‐collaboration amongst postgraduate students be developed cognizant of the social presence awareness indicators that would help students to establish sense of togetherness during e‐collaboration.
Originality/value
Social presence and e‐collaboration literature inadequately addresses both, with respect to graduate candidates. This paper looks at how awareness of social presence and context effects e‐collaboration.
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Lori K. Long and Patricia A. Meglich
The proliferation of inexpensive and accessible internet communication tools coupled with an increasingly geographically dispersed workforce has increased the use of virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
The proliferation of inexpensive and accessible internet communication tools coupled with an increasingly geographically dispersed workforce has increased the use of virtual collaboration in the workplace. To prepare students for a virtual work environment, educators must provide classroom‐related opportunities to build students’ virtual collaboration skills. The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of virtual collaboration in the workplace, the implications for today's college graduates, and the need to provide students with experience in virtual collaboration. Finally, the paper provides a case study example of a course assignment to build virtual collaboration skills.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explores preparing students to collaborate virtually through a literature review that builds an understanding of the challenges of virtual collaboration in today's workplace and the skills students must develop in order to effectively collaborate virtually. The paper then provides a case study example of a course assignment to help students build these skills.
Findings
This paper finds that virtual collaboration skills are needed for today's college graduates. Further the case study presented provides evidence that authentic course‐based assignments can help build those skills.
Originality/value
While research has started to explore the effective use of virtual collaboration in the workplace, the current literature lacks direction for educators to help build the skills of future workers to prepare them for virtual collaboration.
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Xiufeng Cheng, Ziming Zhang, Yue Yang and Zhonghua Yan
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site…
Abstract
Purpose
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site) enables collaboration between enterprises and universities (c-EU) at a lower cost in the form of online team-building projects (repositories). This paper investigates the open collaboration patterns between these two parties on GitHub by measuring their online behaviours. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the most attractive collaboration features that enterprises can offer to increase university students' participation intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process is divided into four steps. First, the authors crawled for numerical data for each interactive repository feature created by employees of Alibaba on GitHub and identified the student accounts associated with these repositories. Second, a categorisation schema of feature classification was proposed on a behavioural basis. Third, the authors clustered the aforementioned repositories based on feature data and recognised four types of repositories (popular, formal, normal and obsolete) to represent four open collaboration patterns. The effects of the four repository types on university students' collaboration behaviour were measured using a multiple linear regression model. An ANOVA test was implemented to examine the robustness of research results. Finally, the authors proposed some practical suggestions to enhance collaboration between both sides of SCPs.
Findings
Several counterintuitive but reasonable findings were revealed, for example, those based on the “star” repository feature. The actual coding contribution of the repositories had a negative correlation with student attention. This result indicates that students were inclined to imitate rather than innovate.
Originality/value
This research explores the open collaboration patterns between enterprises and universities on GitHub and their impact on student coding behaviour. According to the research analysis, both parties benefit from open collaboration on SCPs, and the allocation or customisation of online repository features may affect students' participation in coding. This research brings a new perspective to the measurement of users' collaboration behaviour with output rates on SCPs.
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Edwin Chng, Mohamed Raouf Seyam, William Yao and Bertrand Schneider
This study aims to uncover divergent collaboration in makerspaces using social network analysis to examine ongoing social relations and sequential data pattern mining to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to uncover divergent collaboration in makerspaces using social network analysis to examine ongoing social relations and sequential data pattern mining to invesitgate temporal changes in social activities.
Design/methodology/approach
While there is a significant body of qualitative work on makerspaces, there is a lack of quantitative research identifying productive interactions in open-ended learning environments. This study explores the use of high frequency sensor data to capture divergent collaboration in a semester-long makerspace course, where students support each other while working on different projects.
Findings
The main finding indicates that students who diversely mix with others performed better in a semester-long course. Additional results suggest that having a certain balance of working individually, collaborating with other students and interacting with instructors maximizes performance, provided that sufficient alone time is committed to develop individual technical skills.
Research limitations/implications
These discoveries provide insight into how productive makerspace collaboration can occur within the framework of Divergent Collaboration Learning Mechanisms (Tissenbaum et al., 2017).
Practical implications
Identifying the diversity and sequence of social interactions could also increase instructor awareness of struggling students and having this data in real-time opens new doors for identifying (un)productive behaviors.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is to explore the use of a sensor-based, data-driven, longitudinal approach in an ecologically valid setting to understand divergent collaboration in makerspaces. Finally, this study discusses how this work represents an initial step toward quantifying and supporting productive interactions in project-based learning environments.
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Vatcharaporn Esichaikul, Win Myint Aung, Clemens Bechter and Mariam Rehman
The purpose of this paper is to define standard guidelines for the development of a wiki collaboration space for e-Learning, in order to provide collaborative activities among…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define standard guidelines for the development of a wiki collaboration space for e-Learning, in order to provide collaborative activities among students, and between instructors and students.
Design/methodology/approach
The general requirements and extended features of wiki collaboration space were determined by conducting a requirement study and discussion with major stakeholders, i.e. students and tutors. Then, the wiki collaboration space was developed based on an open source wiki system. Finally, a wiki collaboration space was evaluated in terms of usability and collaboration effectiveness.
Findings
A comparison was performed between the wiki collaboration space and the original wiki in students’ works in an online course. The results showed that the effectiveness of collaboration and usefulness of wiki collaboration space were higher than original wiki in collaborative assignment.
Practical implications
As for practical implications, e-Learning developers/managers can use the outcome of this study as a guideline to integrate wiki and/or other social software to supplement e-Learning systems for better collaboration.
Originality/value
There is a need to define standard guidelines that provide the necessary features for wiki in e-Learning. In this study, extended features of wiki as collaborative learning tool were identified and evaluated to meet the needs of students in e-Learning environment.
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Audeliz Matias and Alberto Aguilar-González
This chapter documents a study based on an international partnership between faculty members at SUNY Empire State College and Tecnológico de Monterrey-Chihuahua. The collaboration…
Abstract
This chapter documents a study based on an international partnership between faculty members at SUNY Empire State College and Tecnológico de Monterrey-Chihuahua. The collaboration presented an excellent opportunity to integrate cultural issues into the geology course as well as interdisciplinary collaboration in the programming course. The objectives were to: (1) create and implement learning activities to help students understand that scientific and technological advances do not occur in isolation, and (2) to evaluate their effectiveness developing a multicultural perspective. We adapted and generalized the virtual team model of Hertel et al. (2005) to the design of group activities in an academic setting. A series of learning activities were developed, including an experiential learning group project aimed at helping with the first objective if the study. Overall, the collaboration was a success. We also discuss the challenges both we and the students faced.
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This chapter evaluates the potential of virtual worlds for intercultural collaborative learning. A case study of a global lecture series is presented that used a virtual world as…
Abstract
This chapter evaluates the potential of virtual worlds for intercultural collaborative learning. A case study of a global lecture series is presented that used a virtual world as a platform for intercultural student collaboration. Students' subjective reports served as a basis for exploring cross-cultural differences in the perceived usefulness of virtual worlds for intercultural collaboration, and to examine what they have learned from working in an intercultural virtual team, what problems occurred, and how they resolved them. Based on the evaluation results, suggestions are provided for a culture-aware design of virtual worlds to facilitate intercultural collaborative learning and the development of intercultural literacy.
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