Kat R. McConnell and Rachel Louise Geesa
The purpose of this paper is to investigate mentors' and mentees' perspectives of the mentor role within an education doctoral mentoring program at a mid-sized public institution.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate mentors' and mentees' perspectives of the mentor role within an education doctoral mentoring program at a mid-sized public institution.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from individual interviews with mentors and mentees were collected as part of a larger case study of a doctoral mentoring program. Mentees were doctor of education (EdD) students in their first and second years of the program. Mentors were identified as individuals who graduated from or are further along in the doctoral program. Five (N = 5) mentees and seven (N = 7) mentors participated in interviews, which were then transcribed and coded to identify emergent themes, along with transcripts of presentations given by the mentors.
Findings
Four themes emerged within the data: differentiating support roles, mentoring as a way to identify gaps in doctoral student needs, mentoring as support for doctoral student success and ways to provide suggestions for mentoring program improvement. Results indicated that mentors and mentees viewed the mentor role as being unique from the roles of faculty advisor and dissertation chair. Mentors and mentees alike responded positively to virtual mentoring.
Research limitations/implications
Participation by mentors and mentees was limited to first- and second-year doctoral students; thus, dissertation-stage students' perceptions of mentoring could not be determined. Implications include the value of mentoring in filling the gaps of support for doctoral students and the capability of mentoring programs to be adapted to unexpected circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This study targets scholar-practitioner students in an EdD program, who are often overlooked by mentoring literature, and distinguishes research between faculty mentoring and mentoring performed by other students/recent graduates. Additionally, the pandemic gave the authors an opportunity to explore adapting mentoring to virtual formats.
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Rachel Louise Geesa, Kat R. McConnell, Nicholas Patrick Elam and Ellie Clark
Education doctoral (EdD) students (mentees) typically hold full-time leadership positions in education-related fields while completing their degree. The types of support these…
Abstract
Purpose
Education doctoral (EdD) students (mentees) typically hold full-time leadership positions in education-related fields while completing their degree. The types of support these scholar-practitioners need is unique because of their focus on balancing full-time work, academic, and personal needs. This study aims to explore mentor support systems for mentees in their first and second year of the EdD program through a group mentoring program, which is designed to provide resources and access to mentors to promote successful degree completion in five years or less.
Design/methodology/approach
Mentors participated in monthly presentations and discussions with mentees throughout the 2018–2019 academic year, which were video recorded. At the end of the academic year, mentors partook in an interview or focus group meeting.
Findings
Themes emerged related to mentors’ focus on the dissertation process; emphasis on outreach for support; discussions and work/life balance; selection of presentation topics; perceptions of networking opportunities with mentees; desire to build stronger connections with mentees; and concerns/opinions about the mentoring format.
Research limitations/implications
The design of a mentoring program for EdD mentees varies throughout the doctorate degree pathway. Mentors support mentees in their doctoral journey through presentations and discussions about relevant topics during their first two years in the doctoral program. Additional studies are needed regarding EdD mentoring programs for students in the third year to the completion of the degree.
Originality/value
Few studies exist related to mentoring programs for scholar-practitioners in EdD programs. Results from this research provide EdD faculty and advisors insights to group mentoring and discussion topics for first and second year EdD students, based on the mentors’ perspectives.
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Kat McConnell, Rachel Louise Geesa and Kendra Lowery
The purpose of this paper is to discover peer mentors’ perspectives of an education doctoral (Doctorate of Education) peer mentoring program implemented in a mid-sized public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discover peer mentors’ perspectives of an education doctoral (Doctorate of Education) peer mentoring program implemented in a mid-sized public institution.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from one focus group and an interview collected from peer mentors as part of a larger case study of mentors and mentees in a peer mentoring program for education doctoral students are presented. Four (n=4) peer mentors participated in a focus group (n=3) and an interview (n=1). Participants were asked about their perceptions of the program and their experiences as mentors.
Findings
Four themes were discovered within the data: mentors relate to social, emotional and academic life balances of mentees, mentors provide support and reassurance to mentees, mentors guide mentees to focus on the future, and mentors gain personal and professional growth from the peer mentoring program. Results indicated that mentors believed that the program was helpful for their mentees and beneficial to their own personal and professional development.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this study include the small sample size (n=4) and the short period of time in which participants were asked to be a part of the mentoring program and reflect in focus groups and interview (one academic year). Implications of this study include the benefits of peer mentoring for both mentors and mentees alike.
Originality/value
In contrast to many other studies of peer mentoring programs, this peer mentoring program targeted scholar-practitioner students who were balancing full-time careers with their coursework and family lives. Thus, peer mentors focused more on career and work-life balance with mentees than mentors may in other programs, as well as finding benefit to their own professional development.
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Basel Elkhapery, Peiman Kianmehr and Ryan Doczy
Schools should be adequately built and operated to protect students' health. Green building rating systems, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), assist…
Abstract
Purpose
Schools should be adequately built and operated to protect students' health. Green building rating systems, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), assist the construction industry in improving both the resource efficiency and indoor environmental quality of its buildings. Construction professionals may waive some green modifications and available optional credits due to their high costs or construction complexities. This study investigates whether cost-effective green modifications can adequately address the student health.
Design/methodology/approach
In an effort to identify how school projects in Dubai, UAE prioritized LEED credits related to occupant well-being, the study identified eight LEED credits (called “Health and wellbeing” credits). Cost data from a sample of nine Dubai schools were used to develop an indicator, named the Feasibility Index Score (FIS), to quantify the attractiveness of LEED credits based on their cost and implementation complexity. Physical measurements taken from the sample schools give a window into current indoor environmental quality (IEQ) conditions of schools in the local region, while FIS provides insight into potential financial barriers towards improving these conditions.
Findings
The authors identified eight “Health and wellbeing” credits, which may net up to 14 points or 13% of all possible LEED points. Despite this, assessments of the sample schools revealed that six of the “Health and wellbeing” credits exhibited relatively low FIS values. This may cause these credits to be waived when lower tiers of LEED certifications are desired.
Research limitations/implications
A sample of nine schools was chosen for this research; further investigation using a greater sample size is recommended.
Practical implications
The paper's IEQ assessment indicates the importance of health-related credits and suggests implementing them regardless of their FIS.
Originality/value
This paper recognizes the importance of providing more weight to credits that directly impact the health of occupants, particularly when upgrading existing structures.
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Mukta Srivastava and Gordhan K. Saini
The purpose of this study is to unpack the knowledge structure of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), examine its applications in various domains and propose future research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to unpack the knowledge structure of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), examine its applications in various domains and propose future research directions using bibliometric analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involves the bibliometric analysis of 279 articles retrieved from Scopus using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. The authors used trend topic analysis, bibliographic coupling, cluster analysis and content analysis as the analytical methods.
Findings
The study revealed the most influential authors, journals, articles and countries in the domain. The keyword analyses showed that initially, the model was used in the field of “persuasion” and “persuasive communication”; however, in the past five years, it has been widely adopted in different areas such as “crowdsourcing,” “decision support systems” and “information systems.” Bibliographic coupling combined with content analysis resulted in seven clusters: ELM in marketing communications, ELM in information system research, ELM in the service context, ELM in advertising research, ELM and electronic word-of-mouth, ELM and trust in the online context and ELM in other contexts.
Originality/value
The study provides a bibliometric analysis of the ELM, offers useful future research directions to the scholars of different domains and highlights implications for managers.
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This paper presents a study of a system that allows remote and onsite visitors to share a museum visit together in real time. The remote visitors are older adults at a care home…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a study of a system that allows remote and onsite visitors to share a museum visit together in real time. The remote visitors are older adults at a care home and their relatives and/or friends who are at the museum. The museum visits are interactive. Meaningful stories accompany the museum exhibits, and there’s an audio channel between onsite and remote visitors. The aim of the study is to determine whether the remote visitors, i.e. older adults are able to use such technology and to study the mediated sense of spatial presence, social closeness, engagement and enjoyment in the visit. This study discusses the relationship between these aspects and factors leading to a better remote experience for older adults.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has 14 onsite and 12 remote older adult participants. Standardized questionnaires measured the mediated sense of spatial presence, the experienced social closeness and the level of participants' engagement and enjoyment in the visit of the older adult participants and traced onsite visitors in their position during the visit. The audio logs were subjected to thematic content analysis.
Findings
The results show that older adults enjoy and engage in remote visits, and that there is a positive correlation between enjoyment, engagement and social closeness. The findings argue that both the audio channel and the interactive story are important for creating an affective virtual experience: the audio channel increases the sense of closeness, whereas the interactive story makes the visit more engaging, providing structure, direction and purpose to the visit.
Originality/value
This work advances the state of art in the domain of technologies for older adults and addresses the needs of this population to stay in contact with both people and places.
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The adoption of digitalization and sustainability is key phenomenon that has changed perception and behaviors of people recently. As there is a rising power of digital…
Abstract
Purpose
The adoption of digitalization and sustainability is key phenomenon that has changed perception and behaviors of people recently. As there is a rising power of digital communication by social media platforms, there is higher interaction between people globally. In addition, consumers can influence each other to adopt new consumption pattern. At this point, this paper aims to examine the role of green women influencers on promoting sustainable consumption patterns via social media platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed qualitative research method. The study included four top-lists for green/sustainable social media influencers as a sample case. Then, the data were analyzed by descriptive content analysis. To determine the role of green women influencers in sustainable consumption, this study used classification and categorization technique through descriptive content analysis.
Findings
The study indicates that green women are seen as a primary social media influencer because of promoting sustainable consumption patterns in general. Especially, green women have more power to change consumption patterns via digital platforms. Green women social media influencers, who are micro-celebrities, share primary contents such as sustainable fashion, green foods, sustainable travel, sustainable lifestyle, conscious choices, green cosmetics and zero waste life to promote sustainable consumption patterns. Women social media influencers are much more effective than men influencers to transform society's consumption behaviors into sustainable consumption patterns.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides some qualitative findings based on the selected four top-listed green social media influencers by different social media platforms. Future studies can find out different results based on different sample cases and employ quantitative research methodology.
Practical implications
The study suggests policymakers to cooperate with green women social media influencers to achieve sub-targets of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Especially, it is suggested to cooperate with micro-celebrities or Internet celebrities to promote sustainable consumption patterns.
Originality/value
The study proves that women social media influencers have the essential role in promoting green/sustainable consumption patterns via digital platforms. In addition, green women influencers can guide their followers to adopt sustainable consumption patterns.