Nikki McQuillan, Christine Wightman, Cathy Moore, Una McMahon-Beattie and Heather Farley
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers…
Abstract
Purpose
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers require graduates to be “work-ready”, emphasising the need to demonstrate resilience, as a critical desired behaviour (CBI, 2019). This case study shares the integrated curriculum design, co-creation and operationalisation of “Graduate Transitions” workshops that were piloted in a compulsory final-year module across a number of programmes in a higher education institutions’ business faculty to enhance graduates “work readiness”.
Design/methodology/approach
The collaboration and leadership thinking of industry professionals, academics and career consultants designed and co-created a workshop that enhances transitioning student resilience and prepares them for their future of work. Action research gathered data using a mixed-methods approach to evaluate student and stakeholder feedback.
Findings
Evidence indicates that the workshops actively embed practical coping strategies for resilience and mindful leaders in transitioning graduates. It assures employers that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by transitioning graduates entering the future workplace.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations to this research are clearly in the methodology and concentrating on the co-creation of an innovative curriculum design project instead of the tools to accurately evaluate the impact in a systematic manner. There was also limited time and resource to design a more sophisticated platform to collect data and analyse it with the imperative academic rigour required. Emphasis on piloting and operationalisation of the intervention, due to time and resource restrictions, also challenged the methodological design.
Practical implications
The positive feedback from these workshops facilitated integration into the curriculum at an institution-wide level. This paper shares with the academic community of practice, the pedagogy and active learning design that could be customised within their own institution as an intervention to positively influence the new metrics underpinning graduate outcomes.
Originality/value
This pioneering curriculum design ensures that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by graduates transitioning to the workplace.
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Consideration of the micro-foundations of sustainability, arising from an empirical study of Conscious Corporate Growth in business enterprises, shows the capacity of firms to act…
Abstract
Consideration of the micro-foundations of sustainability, arising from an empirical study of Conscious Corporate Growth in business enterprises, shows the capacity of firms to act as a vehicle to nurture virtue and human well-being. The example of love is used to examine the capacity of individuals and organizations to engage in such activity. We are unable to understand love without direct experience of it. That experience may help us to engage in similar activity, through mindfulness and other contemplative practices, to train ourselves and our organizations in conscious sustainability.
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Jeffrey M. Widener, Travis Gliedt and Ashlee Tziganuk
This study aims to understand if geographers, who teach in a new sustainability program, are conveying new knowledge, understanding, skills and competence about the integrated and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand if geographers, who teach in a new sustainability program, are conveying new knowledge, understanding, skills and competence about the integrated and holistic concept of “sustainability”, rather than individual human-environmental issues to the students. In other words, are geography professors creating effective sustainability courses in a department with a rich history in geography education?
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilizes the McKeown–Ice and Dendinger comprehensive assessment tool for sustainability teaching to examine how geographers teach sustainability from an integrated and holistic perspective. Surveys with students are used to evaluate and compare how effective three geography courses were at teaching sustainability.
Findings
The results suggest that each course was effective in teaching students the main concepts of sustainability. There were, however, differences in teaching practical solutions to achieve sustainability and in the coverage of the causes of sustainability problems. Geographers might consider altering their curriculum or pedagogy to build stronger interdisciplinary linkages to teach the integrated concepts of sustainability rather than its individual parts.
Research limitations/implications
This initial study focuses on one research university in the USA. Its proof of concept will be expanded to evaluate international sustainability education programs nested in existing departments and degree programs.
Originality/value
Sustainability education programs are being created across the globe and are often attached to existing degree programs exhibiting components of sustainability. How effective are they in teaching this interdisciplinary concept? This study validates a framework for assessing sustainability teaching and learning. It recommends changes to enhance the ability for integrated sustainability education programs to comprehensively teach sustainability.
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George Cheney, Matt Noyes, Emi Do, Marcelo Vieta, Joseba Azkarraga and Charlie Michel
In this paper, readers are introduced to the stories of Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle, who represent different racial categorizations, class backgrounds, entryways into sex work…
Abstract
In this paper, readers are introduced to the stories of Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle, who represent different racial categorizations, class backgrounds, entryways into sex work, and histories of sexual victimization. These three women were each convicted as sex offenders because of their involvement in the prostitution of women or girls. This paper demonstrates that these women did not view their actions as sex offenses because their perceptions of themselves, men, women, sexuality, and prostitution were profoundly influenced by interconnecting experiences in their life histories. Child sexual abuse, economic needs, and abusive interpersonal relationships all impacted how these women viewed themselves and their actions. This paper briefly reviews the historically divisive and ultimately detrimental debate between feminists who frame all prostitution as sexual violence and feminists who advocate for full legalization of sex work. Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle’s stories illustrate the complexities that exist within the lives of women who become involved in prostitution due to a variety of circumstances and social inequalities. Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle were not completely hapless victims disenfranchised by their pimps, nor were they fully agentive sexual entrepreneurs unfairly targeted by the state. These women made a series of decisions based on their needs for survival, their personal economic desires, and their beliefs about men, women, and sexuality. This paper provides ample room for the women’s voices, and documents their explanations for why and how they became involved in prostitution, as well as the prostitution of other women and girls.
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David M. Reid and L.C. Hinkley
Strategic planning is portrayed as a dynamic process by whichcompanies tend to identify future opportunities and link thatrecognition with a concerted effort to grow or acquire…
Abstract
Strategic planning is portrayed as a dynamic process by which companies tend to identify future opportunities and link that recognition with a concerted effort to grow or acquire the resources so that a business can take advantage of its strengths in the light of a changing situation. Although a great deal of research has been carried out on the subject, much of the work has focused on the substance of planning as a practice not subject to the laws of cultural adaptation. This article, however, attempts to assess the impact of culture.
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Michal Gluszak and Bartlomiej Marona
This paper aims to discuss the link between socio-economic characteristics of house buyers and their housing location choices. The major objective of the study is an examination…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the link between socio-economic characteristics of house buyers and their housing location choices. The major objective of the study is an examination of the role of household socio-economic characteristics. The research addresses the importance of previous residence location and latent housing motives for intra-urban housing mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
The research examines housing preferences structure and analyzes housing location choices in the city of Krakow (Poland) using discrete choice model (conditional logit model). The research is based on stated preference data from Krakow.
Findings
The results of this study suggest that demand for housing alternatives is negatively linked to the distance from current residence. Other factors stay equal, the further the distance, the less likely a household is willing to choose a location within the metropolitan area. The study indicates that housing motives can help explain housing location decisions.
Practical implications
The paper provides an empirical assessment of housing decisions in Krakow, one of the major metropolitan areas in Poland.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the nature of housing decision and housing preferences in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe. As a result, presented research helps to fill the gap in housing market and urban economics literature.
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Flavio M. Cecchini, Greta H. Franzini and Marco C. Passarotti
The presence of Latin in heavy metal music ranges from full texts, intros, song and album titles to band names, pseudonyms, and literary quotations. This chapter sheds light on…
Abstract
The presence of Latin in heavy metal music ranges from full texts, intros, song and album titles to band names, pseudonyms, and literary quotations. This chapter sheds light on heavy metal's fascination with the history and ‘arcane’ sound of Latin, and investigates its patterns of use in lyrics with the help of Natural Language Processing tools and digitally-available linguistic resources. First, the authors collected a corpus of lyrics containing differing amounts of Latin and enhanced it with descriptive metadata. Next, the authors calculated the richness of the vocabulary and the distribution of content words. The authors processed the corpus with a morphological analyser and performed both a manual and a computational search for intertextuality, including allusions, paraphrase and verbatim quotations of literary sources. The authors show that, despite it being a dead language, Latin is very frequently used in metal. Its historical status appears to fascinate bands and lends itself well to those religious, epic and mysterious themes so characteristic of the heavy metal world. The widespread use of Latin in metal lyrics, however, sees many bands simply reusing Latin texts – mostly from the Bible – or even misspelling literary quotations.