Search results
1 – 10 of over 2000Jocelyn Cranefield and Pak Yoong
This paper aims to investigate how online communities of practice facilitate the embedding of personal professional knowledge in a complex online environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how online communities of practice facilitate the embedding of personal professional knowledge in a complex online environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This research consisted of exploratory, interpretivist case research, using qualitative methods. Forty‐one individuals from five online communities in a national professional development programme were interviewed. Additional data were drawn from diverse online records. Data were coded via text analysis. A wiki was used for participant feedback.
Findings
Embedding of new knowledge was facilitated by individuals' crossings between different engagement spaces – communication and sense‐making contexts. Community members repeatedly crossed between online and offline, visible and invisible, formal and informal, and reflective and active engagement spaces as they sought to meet diverse needs. As they did this, they had to continually recontextualise knowledge, adapting, varying and personalising it to fit the function, genre and conventions of each engagement space. This promoted the embedding of professional knowledge. The complex online environment in which they operated can be seen as providing a situation of enhanced polycontextuality, within which multiple boundary crossings facilitated strong personalisation. At the community level, knowledge convergence was fostered by the recurrence of dominant, powerful mnemonic themes.
Research limitations/implications
An opportunity exists to investigate the applicability of these findings in other online professional contexts.
Originality/value
The paper extends the concept of boundary crossing to crossings in a polycontextual online environment. It updates literature on communities of practice by outlining the dynamics of a complex online community system. It provides an explanation for how personal knowledge evolves to fit emerging trends and considers how information systems can support deep knowledge transfer.
Details
Keywords
Amanda McGraw and Robert Davis
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of feedback offered by school mentors in three primary and secondary rural schools during pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of feedback offered by school mentors in three primary and secondary rural schools during pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) professional placements. In the context of discussions about the need for more integrated theory/practice connections for PSTs which are “mutually reinforced by all programme components” (Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, 2014, p. ix), it aims to examine whether certain contextual features of school environments have an impact on the nature of feedback offered to PSTs.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the relationship between certain contextual features of school environments and their impact on the effectiveness of mentor feedback practices.
Findings
It is suggested that teacher mentors are more likely to offer inquiry-oriented feedback informed by well-developed personal theories and values if they teach in schools where feedback processes are promoted as a central part of teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Professional learning experiences, which include classroom observations, peer feedback and a focus on using feedback to enhance students’ learning, extend and deepen teachers’ understandings and beliefs about feedback as well as their repertoire of strategies. Consequently, they are more informed and better able to work with PSTs using inquiry-oriented approaches.
Originality/value
Through an examination of teacher narratives, this paper presents two frameworks for considering the nature of feedback offered to PSTs by their teacher mentors: inquiry-oriented and instructional-oriented feedback. It argues that teacher mentors are better equipped to use inquiry-oriented feedback approaches and build growth-fostering relationships if they are engaged in ongoing professional learning experiences in their schools based on classroom observations and non-judgemental peer feedback.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to show how the blurring of public and private spheres is among the changes associated with the phenomenon of blogging. In linking this to theories of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how the blurring of public and private spheres is among the changes associated with the phenomenon of blogging. In linking this to theories of globalization shows more clearly how new media transformations have macro as well as micro significance.
Design/methodology/approach
An assessment of blogging is undertaken in the context of theories of globalization, with specific focus on issues related to public/private linkages, the aim being to make theory‐practice connections to enhance understanding of the wider implications of blogging.
Findings
The analysis identifies how theories of globalization offer foundational understanding for investigating blogging as a social rather than purely new media development. This relates to the spatial reconfigurations of social, political, economic and cultural life, which have been characteristic of processes of globalization. The ways in which blogging demonstrates the blurring of public and private spheres is usefully understood within this broader spatial framework.
Research limitations/implications
This is a primarily conceptual and theoretical approach with substantive reference to blogging, which remains at the general level rather than looking in detail at different kinds of blogs and their implications. Its contribution is therefore located primarily in the conceptual and theoretical domains.
Practical implications
This form of analysis foregrounds public/private sphere boundaries in relation to blogging and could contribute to critical thinking about the social implications of blogging for bloggers and readers alike.
Originality/value
Conceptual and theoretical linkages between theories of globalization, especially in relation to spatial issues, blogging and the blurring of public and private.
Details
Keywords
Chiara Gemma and Laura Sara Agrati
This chapter presents the multimodal-pedagogical model and initial teacher training organization aimed at preparing primary school teachers at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro.”…
Abstract
This chapter presents the multimodal-pedagogical model and initial teacher training organization aimed at preparing primary school teachers at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro.” The work centers on how the components of curriculum are balanced and how theory meets practice in school and university classrooms. We specifically focus on the epistemic function of didactic-disciplinary laboratories as experiences promoting and advancing multimodal learning essential to teacher preparation.
Details
Keywords
Noel D. Campbell, Kirk H. Heriot and Dianne H. B. Welsh
Using the family business succession, resourcebased view of firms, familiness, and organizational clan literatures, this article develops a model based on the ability of the…
Abstract
Using the family business succession, resourcebased view of firms, familiness, and organizational clan literatures, this article develops a model based on the ability of the family business to use familiness, a specific bundle of attributes deriving from a family’s culture, as a competitive advantage for the family firm. In particular, this resource-based framework of family business shows how familiness can distinguish between family firms that succeed beyond the second generation and those that do not. Implications for future research are discussed.
Constance Elizabeth Kampf, Charlotte J. Brandt and Christopher G. Kampf
The purpose is to explore how the process of action research (AR) can support building legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation project management and portfolio…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose is to explore how the process of action research (AR) can support building legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation project management and portfolio practices in merger contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Meta-reflection on method issues in Action Research through an action research case study with an innovation group during an organizational change process. This case demonstrates an example of an action research cycle focused on building practitioner legitimacy rather than problem-solving.
Findings
Key findings include (1) demonstrating how AR can be used for building legitimacy through visualizing the innovation process, and embedding those visuals in top management practices of the organization; and (2) demonstrating how AR can work as an organizational learning tool in merger contexts.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses on an action research cooperation during a two-and-a-half-year period. Thus, findings offer the depth of a medium term case study. The processes of building legitimacy represent this particular case, and can be investigated in other organizational contexts to see the extent to which these issues can be generalized.
Practical implications
For researchers, this paper offers an additional type of AR cycle to consider in their research design which can be seen as demonstrating a form of interplay between practitioner action and organizational level legitimacy. For practitioners, this paper demonstrates a connection between legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation contexts. The discussion of how visuals were co-created and used for building legitimacy for an innovation process that differs from the standard stage gate model demonstrates how engaging in AR research can contribute to developing visuals as resources for building legitimacy and organizational learning based on connections between theory and practice.
Originality/value
This case rethinks AR practice for innovation project management contexts to include legitimacy and organizational learning. This focus on legitimacy building from organizational learning and knowledge conversion contributes to our understanding of the soft side of innovation project management. Legitimacy is demonstrated to be a key concern for innovation project management practices.
Details
Keywords
Vishal K. Gupta, Dev K. Dutta, Grace Guo, Golshan Javadian, Crystal Jiang, Arturo E. Osorio and Banu Ozkazanc-Pan
Academic inquiry into entrepreneurial phenomena has had a rich history over several decades and continues to evolve. This editorial draws attention to the classics: seminal…
Abstract
Academic inquiry into entrepreneurial phenomena has had a rich history over several decades and continues to evolve. This editorial draws attention to the classics: seminal articles that make profound contributions to the development of an academic field in entrepreneurship studies. We focus on the formative years of entrepreneurship research, specifically the 1970s and 1980s, to identify classics using a key informant approach that surveys members of the journal editorial board. Each nominated classic is introduced and discussed by an editorial board member, with particular focus on research opportunities that may be pursued going forward. Analyzing classics allows for the recognition of substantive advances in entrepreneurship research and provides an opportunity to delve into the academic progress achieved in understanding entrepreneurial phenomena.
Details
Keywords
As educational institutions continue to call for greater accountability and learning outcomes take center stage, faculty, administrators, and institutions alike must assume a…
Abstract
As educational institutions continue to call for greater accountability and learning outcomes take center stage, faculty, administrators, and institutions alike must assume a broader, more holistic approach to teaching and learning. As outlined in this chapter, technology and virtual spaces, when utilized well, can radically shift how graduate faculty can help doctoral students become critical and reflective thinkers, to develop or refine a professional identity, and help them to transform their assumptions about their knowledge and about themselves, a process that Kegan (1994) and Baxter Magolda (1999) call self-authorship. Using digital narratives as part of a technology-mediated classroom that is built around learning partnerships and principles of self-authorship is one way to accomplish this. Such an approach can lead to innovative practices in the classroom, deeper, more reflective learning for students, and greater overall success for our institutions. By combining multimedia tools and technology with an adult learning-centered pedagogy built around self-authoring practices of student development, faculty can more effectively organize doctoral education to engage and involve students in the process and to truly cultivate a new generation of doctoral students as scholars, researchers, and practitioners.
Antonio Giner-Gomis, Raúl González-Fernández, Marcos J. Iglesias-Martínez, Ernesto López-Gómez and Inés Lozano-Cabezas
This paper aims to explore the perceptions of preservice teachers regarding their learning during the teaching practicum (TP) period in the context of the pandemic. Specifically…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the perceptions of preservice teachers regarding their learning during the teaching practicum (TP) period in the context of the pandemic. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to analyze the difficulties and the learning consequences perceived by student teachers and also to identify proposals with which to improve the initial teacher education (ITE) during the TP period in times of uncertainty and crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a mixed-methods approach. The participants consisted of 89 preservice teachers (student teachers). An online questionnaire was used to collect data during January 2022 in two rounds. The data analysis was carried out from an integrative perspective and used both a descriptive approach and the content analysis of the participants’ narratives.
Findings
The results show the differences, adjustments and adaptations that have had to be implemented in schools as a whole. The findings also highlight the difficulties that the pandemic context has caused for the TP period in schools and the relevant implications that it has had on ITE during these past two academic years.
Originality/value
This research is relevant for a better understanding of the challenges faced during the pandemic in the field of early childhood and primary education. More specifically, this paper gives important clues to higher education institutions on how to carry out TP, especially in times of uncertainty and crisis.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the challenges authors from post-colonial contexts face in writing and doing research in management and organisation studies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the challenges authors from post-colonial contexts face in writing and doing research in management and organisation studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a self-reflection and also draws upon concepts from post and decolonial conceptual approaches.
Findings
It identifies three challenges namely, limitations or research question as what is feasible; translation and truth production; poor writing and weak theoretical contribution. It suggests three jugaad fixes to deal with these challenges namely, innovation and flexibility in method use with argumentation; translate, but late with theorising in the vernacular, and incorporating context into problematisation.
Research limitations/implications
It draws attention to the different needs of authors from post-colonial contexts.
Practical implications
It could possibly help authors from post-colonial contexts and reviewers better navigate academic publishing and research.
Social implications
It could help in authors from post-colonial contexts attempt more publishing.
Originality/value
This paper draws attention to the different constraints and limitations faced by authors from post-colonial contexts in pursuing academic writing.
Details