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Programming education is being rapidly transformed by generative AI tools and educators must determine how best to support students in this context. This study aims to explore the experiences of programming educators and students to inform future education provision.

Twelve students and six members of faculty in a small technology-focused university were interviewed. Thematic analysis of the interview data was combined with data collected from a survey of 44 students at the same university. Self-determination theory was applied as an analytical framework.

Three themes were identified – bespoke learning, affect and support – that significantly impact motivation and learning outcomes in programming education. It was also found that students are already making extensive use of large language models (LLMs). LLMs can significantly improve learner autonomy and sense of competence by improving the options for bespoke learning; fostering emotions that are conducive to engendering and maintaining motivation; and inhibiting the negative affective states that discourage learning. However, current LLMs cannot adequately provide or replace social support, which is still a key factor in learner motivation.

Integrating the use of LLMs into curricula can improve learning motivation and outcomes. It can also free educators from certain tasks, leaving them with more time and capacity to focus their attention on developing social learning opportunities to further enhance learner motivation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore the relationship between motivation and LLM use in programming education.

We construct a novel dataset of Canadian online job postings, classified by occupation. The data, provided by Indeed, an online job board, represents vacancies advertised by employers across Canada. We have classified these job postings into standard occupations using text analytics. This dataset has been used to study changes in the demand for jobs linked to digitalization over the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we leverage time-series and cross-sectional variations in COVID-19 containment policies, examining their impact on jobs broadly related to digitalization. Our findings reveal that vacancies in digital production jobs increased more substantially than in traditional jobs during the reopening phases. However, no substantial differences were observed when considering different types of vacancies according to the use of digital technologies (i.e., occupations at low risk of automation or those that allow remote work). Overall, our results do not support the popular idea that the COVID-19 pandemic marked a significant turning point in digitalization trends, but rather document a modest shift in this direction.

This chapter suggests that self-employment or entrepreneurship can constitute an alternative to employment for neurodivergent people. While this is a suitable and successful option for many, we explore the experience of one entrepreneur who was, and remains, very reluctant in his entrepreneurial endeavors. We use Michael's firsthand autobiographical accounts to showcase his struggle before and during entrepreneurship and its impact on his physical and mental health. We conclude with some reflections on his experience and highlight what the literature on neurodivergent entrepreneurs can learn from it.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the potential of existing buildings in the UK to contribute to the net-zero emissions target. Specifically, it aims to address the significant emissions from building fabrics which pose a threat to achieving these targets if not properly addressed.

The study, based on a literature review and ten (10) case studies, explored five investigative approaches for evaluating building fabric: thermal imaging, in situ U-value testing, airtightness testing, energy assessment and condensation risk analysis. Cross-case analysis was used to evaluate both case studies using each approach. These methodologies were pivotal in assessing buildings’ existing condition and energy consumption and contributing to the UK’s net-zero ambitions.

Findings reveal that incorporating the earlier approaches into the building fabric showed great benefits. Significant temperature regulation issues were identified, energy consumption decreased by 15% after improvements, poor insulation and artistry quality affected the U-values of buildings. Implementing retrofits such as solar panels, air vents, insulation, heat recovery and air-sourced heat pumps significantly improved thermal performance while reducing energy consumption. Pulse technology proved effective in measuring airtightness, even in extremely airtight houses, and high airflow and moisture management were essential in preserving historic building fabric.

The research stresses the need to understand investigative approaches’ strengths, limitations and synergies for cost-effective energy performance strategies. It emphasizes the urgency of eliminating carbon dioxide (CO₂) and greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming and meet the 1.5° C threshold.

Increasing personnel costs and labour shortages have pushed retailers to give increasing attention to their intralogistics operations. We study hybrid order picking systems, in which humans and robots share work time, workspace and objectives and are in permanent contact. This necessitates a collaboration of humans and their mechanical coworkers (cobots).

Through a longitudinal case study on individual-level technology adaption, we accompanied a pilot testing of an industrial truck that automatically follows order pickers in their travel direction. Grounded on empirical field research and a unique large-scale data set comprising N = 2,086,260 storage location visits, where N = 57,239 storage location visits were performed in a hybrid setting and N = 2,029,021 in a manual setting, we applied a multilevel model to estimate the impact of this cobot settings on task performance.

We show that cobot settings can reduce the time required for picking tasks by as much as 33.57%. Furthermore, practical factors such as product weight, pick density and travel distance mitigate this effect, suggesting that cobots are especially beneficial for short-distance orders.

Given that the literature on hybrid order picking systems has primarily applied simulation approaches, the study is among the first to provide empirical evidence from a real-world setting. The results are discussed from the perspective of Industry 5.0 and can prevent managers from making investment decisions into ineffective robotic technology.

This paper aims to better understand remote and hybrid employees’ experiences with the interconnection between employee engagement and well-being in relation to the participants’ lived experiences in nontraditional work roles post-pandemic.

To better understand how employees’ experiences with remote work underscore employee engagement and well-being in post-pandemic nontraditional work roles, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with remote and hybrid employees in various industries across the United States.

This study has three major findings. First, participants experienced employee engagement and well-being as distinct yet connected, with well-being and engagement simultaneously being positive and negative. Second, employee engagement was driven by the organization, while in some cases, well-being focused more on the individual. Third, participants discussed how their experiences reflected a cyclical connection between engagement and wellbeing.

The findings from this study demonstrate that employee well-being leads to employee engagement. In this way, well-being at the individual level becomes a predecessor or antecedent to employee engagement. Therefore, well-being plays a role in how engaged an employee might be. Participants also offered unique perspectives on engagement and well-being in the workplace, conceptualizing well-being and employee engagement as both micro- and meso-level outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of mixed reality (MR) technology in enhancing library tours for first-year students at a university academic library. It specifically aims to investigate whether MR tours can reduce library anxiety, improve knowledge acquisition and increase motivation when compared to traditional library tours.

This study uses a quasi-experimental research design, comparing two groups of first-year students (n = 96). One group (n = 48) experiences a MR library tour using the HoloLens 2 device, while the other group (n = 48) participates in a traditional library tour led by library staff. The participants’ library anxiety, knowledge acquisition and motivation are measured using relevant questionnaires before and after the tours.

The findings indicate that while both MR and traditional tours are effective in imparting knowledge, there is no statistically significant difference in overall knowledge acquisition. However, the MR tour significantly enhances students’ perceived competence, interest and effort, providing higher engagement and motivation. Traditional tours, on the other hand, are more effective in reducing library anxiety, particularly in relation to interactions with librarians.

This study highlights the potential of MR technology to enhance library tours by balancing immersive experiences with ease of use. MR bridges the gap between virtual reality’s immersion and the accessibility, lower cost of content development and simplicity of application usage. It aligns with trends in academic libraries by offering high engagement without common health issues like motion sickness. However, while MR applications can be developed at a relatively lower cost, the high cost of MR equipment remains a limitation for institutions. Despite this, MR presents a promising solution for improving student engagement and learning, with the potential to become more accessible as hardware costs decrease.

Two key concepts in organizational behaviour research, employee engagement and organizational commitment are examined in this bibliometric analysis.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses framework is used for the compilation of the papers, and the VOSviewer application with the SCOPUS database is used for bibliometric analysis. 387 authors wrote a total of 138 articles.

Through the examination of an extensive collection of scholarly articles, this research pinpoints significant patterns, noteworthy writers and recurring themes in the literature. The study helps to create better organizational practices by providing a roadmap for future research as well as a mapping of the current condition of the field.

The study is an original piece of work by the author with no conflict of interest with any party, person or organization.

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to examine how employees’ experiences of excessive workloads may direct them away from efforts to share knowledge with other organizational members, as well as the circumstances in which this process is more or less likely. To untangle the process, the authors predict a mediating role of job dissatisfaction and moderating roles of two complementary resources that help employees cope with failure: resilience as a personal resource and organizational forgiveness as an organizational resource.

Survey data were gathered from employees of an organization that operates in the construction retail sector. The Process macro provides an empirical test of the moderated mediation dynamic that underpins the proposed conceptual framework.

The statistical findings affirm that an important channel through which employees’ perceptions that their work demands are unreasonable escalate into a diminished propensity to share knowledge is their lack of enthusiasm about their jobs. Their ability to recover from challenging work situations and their beliefs that the organization does not hold grudges against people who commit mistakes both mitigate this harmful effect.

For organizational practitioners, this research shows that when employees feel frustrated about extreme work pressures, the resource-draining situation may escalate into diminished knowledge sharing, which might inadvertently undermine their ability to receive valuable feedback for dealing with the challenges. From a positive perspective, individual resilience and organizational forgiveness represent resources that can protect employees against this negative spiral.

This study explicates an unexplored harmful effect of strenuous workloads on knowledge sharing, which is explained by employees’ beliefs that their organization fails to provide satisfactory job experiences. This effect also is mitigated to the extent that employees can draw from valuable personal and organizational resources.