No research to date has explored mentoring programs on Canadian postsecondary institution websites or the kinds of mentoring programs, if any, that are present online. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
No research to date has explored mentoring programs on Canadian postsecondary institution websites or the kinds of mentoring programs, if any, that are present online. This study examined 96 unique Canadian postsecondary institutional websites and the online presence of 420 unique postsecondary mentoring programs.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers employed content analysis and emergent coding strategies to evaluate mentoring program information published on Canadian postsecondary websites.
Findings
The findings suggest that most mentoring programs with an online presence were peer (student-to-student or faculty-to-faculty) programs, followed by community member-to-student programs. Further, few programs (16) were student-to-faculty oriented, indicating that students could struggle to seek faculty mentorship if they desired it. However, of the 420 programs with an online presence, dozens of programs lacked enough information for the researchers to determine the stakeholders or purpose of the programs.
Originality/value
As the first study of its kind to evaluate mentoring program communication on Canadian postsecondary websites, this work informs mentoring program administrators on how to better communicate what their programs offer. Certain Canadian postsecondary institutions had an online presence for many more programs than did other institutions; for example, the University of Waterloo shared information on their website about 21 unique mentoring programs on its campus, whereas MacEwan University shared information about just two unique programs. This chasm represents a great deal of future research into the practice of how professionals communicate mentoring programs on postsecondary websites.
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This paper synthesizes existing experimental research in the area of investor perceptions and offers directions for future research. Investor-related experimental research has…
Abstract
This paper synthesizes existing experimental research in the area of investor perceptions and offers directions for future research. Investor-related experimental research has grown substantially, especially in the last decade, as it has made valuable contributions in establishing causal links, examining underlying process measures, and examining areas with little available data. Within this review, I examine 121 papers and identify three broad categories that affect investor perceptions: information format, investor features, and disclosure credibility. Information format describes how investors are influenced by information salience, information labeling, reporting and accounting complexity, financial statement recognition, explanatory disclosures, and proposed disclosure changes. Investor features describes investors’ use of heuristics, investor preferences, and the effect of investor experience. Disclosure credibility is influenced by external and internal assurance, management credibility, disclosure characteristics, and management incentives. Using this framework, I summarize the existing research and identify areas that would benefit from additional research.
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The purpose of this paper is to facilitate a greater understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication in an open space learning (OSL) environment. This is an exploration of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to facilitate a greater understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication in an open space learning (OSL) environment. This is an exploration of the premise that by using Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter as a scaffolding for learners on the autism spectrum, a “safe place” can be accessed.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an action research model and following government guidelines, using common assessment framework analysing the findings using School’s assessment criteria model that is used for single exercises through to whole scheme of work: making–performing–evaluating (self-evaluation sheets/peer evaluation sheets/teacher evaluation).
Findings
There has been hypothesis that people with ASD may be more able to track their heart beats for longer than neurotypicals. Kimberly et al. (2015) suggest that empathetic abilities and emotional experiences in people with ASD can produce negative experiences, anxiety can occur and the interoceptive awareness and ability to positively relate to self can be caused to dislocate. The use of the rhythm of the heartbeat may aid communication skills in ASD learners.
Research limitations/implications
In the autistic learner, overload, caused by hypersensitivity/hyposensitivity, can also affect and be effected by environmental issues in OSL environment. The autistic learner can be deeply affected. Unlike a desk-based class there is nowhere to hide, no place of safety.
Practical implications
By trying to find a common ground where the autistic learners can realise their full capacity the use of the heartbeat iambic rhythm can, the author posits, impact on the autistic learners sense of self and confidence, aiding learning.
Social implications
As Hunter (2015) espouses, the heartbeat is a nurturing instrument. The author advocates that the heartbeat is also a unilateral marker that unifies a class/the environment at the same time as comforting the autistic learner.
Originality/value
There is an element in every being that has to be present from inception, the heartbeat, it is the first function an embryo performs. The heartbeat also produces a primal symbiotic interdependency in mother and child. It is a pure connection. The author posits that the replication of this pure function can comfort, reassure and foster communication. There is no empirical evidence, but research is currently taking place at the Nisonger Centre at the Ohio State University, where, under the leadership of Dr Marc J. Tasse, pilot workshops have taken place. The author also have no empirical evidence as to why the heartbeat is instrumental in helping the autistic learner to communicate. The author gives the conjecture in the paper.
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Judith A. Green and K. Kelly McKerrow
This chapter presents a critical analysis of administration and its dysfunctional relationship to teaching and learning. Researchers conducted an ethnographic study over the…
Abstract
This chapter presents a critical analysis of administration and its dysfunctional relationship to teaching and learning. Researchers conducted an ethnographic study over the course of 2 years. The reflective narrative (Nielsen, 1995) is of an iteration of Smith and Geoffrey's (1968) insider–outsider technique revealed systemic dysfunction, professional deference, and disregard. It provides the framework from which to view the dysfunctional behavior of both teachers and administrators. The critical analysis provides a research to practice component, which informs the preparation of future administrators through the revelation of the study's administrative challenges and expectations in the field of education.
This study documents the role of relational trust in an afterschool organization and its influences on young people’s experiences.
Abstract
Purpose
This study documents the role of relational trust in an afterschool organization and its influences on young people’s experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a 10-month ethnographic study of one afterschool program that teaches teens how to make documentaries, I demonstrate that the confluence of blurred organizational goals; weak relational trust among staff; and funding pressures may have the unintended consequence of exploiting students for their work products and life stories.
Findings
The study finds that, while not all organizations function with student work at its center, many afterschool organizations are under increasing pressures to document student gains through tangible measures.
Practical implications
Implications from these findings reveal the need for developing strong relationships among staff members as well as establishing transparency in funding afterschool programs from within the organization and from foundations in order to provide quality programming for young people.
Originality/value
This study informs organizational theory, specifically in terms of measures of variation in relational trust within an organization and its influence on young people. This chapter includes student accounts of experiences with staff to enhance the significance of relational trust.
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Karen Nokes and Gerard P. Hodgkinson
Policy-capturing is an experimental technique potentially capable of providing powerful insights into the cognitive bases of work-related decision processes by revealing actors’…
Abstract
Policy-capturing is an experimental technique potentially capable of providing powerful insights into the cognitive bases of work-related decision processes by revealing actors’ “implicit” models of the problem at hand, thereby opening up the “black box” of managerial and organizational cognition. This chapter considers the strengths and weaknesses of policy-capturing vis-à-vis alternative approaches that seek to capture, in varying ways, the inner workings of people’s minds as they make decisions. It then outlines the critical issues that need to be addressed when designing policy-capturing studies and offers practical advice to would-be users concerning some of the common pitfalls of the technique and ways of avoiding them.
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Citizenship can be understood as a multi-dimensional status, involving civil, political and social rights and obligations (Yuval Davis, 1997; Lister, 2000). Barbara Hobson (2000)…
Abstract
Citizenship can be understood as a multi-dimensional status, involving civil, political and social rights and obligations (Yuval Davis, 1997; Lister, 2000). Barbara Hobson (2000) has argued that citizenship is more than the relationship of individuals to the state and includes social relations between individuals too. She points out that social relations lead to a gendered citizenship for women. Their weak economic position in the labour market, their related dependence within the family and lack of representation in the public sphere demonstrate the shortcomings of the liberal concepts of citizenship. Yuval Davis (1997) makes a similar point. Building on Marshall's concept of citizenship as membership of the community, she argues that an analysis of citizenship must include not only a focus on the relationship between the community and the state, but relationships between various collectivities (gender, race, urban/rural locations, etc.) and the community.
Mentoring processes and relationships can prove crucial to teachers in the initial phases of the teacher education continuum. Limited research exists regarding mentoring in…
Abstract
Purpose
Mentoring processes and relationships can prove crucial to teachers in the initial phases of the teacher education continuum. Limited research exists regarding mentoring in further education and training (FET) in Ireland. This paper attempts to address this gap, illuminating and unpacking the “mentoring stories” of five teachers in FET.
Design/methodology/approach
The overall project adopted a narrative approach. Data were collected via in-depth interviews, part of which clearly focussed on participants' lived experience of mentoring. Thematic analysis revealed four overarching themes.
Findings
The themes reveal a spectrum of practices and perspectives on the role of mentors. There are ample instances of collegiality, mutual respect and an appreciation of the professional life stage of the mentee. However, evidently a lack of understanding of who mentors are and what they do persists, leading to some informal approaches and opening up the potential for misinterpretation and misalignment.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on an area of FET practice that has been relatively unseen before now. It gives voice to those who have experienced mentoring in the Irish FET sector that, to a degree, has seen structural and attitudinal transformations in recent times.