To explain the processes involved in rewriting one’s way of understanding phenomenon.
Abstract
Purpose
To explain the processes involved in rewriting one’s way of understanding phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
A model for characterizing cognitive conceptions of learning and unlearning is described through a historical, current, and forward thinking approach to understanding content. Ideas for the reorganization of information are proposed alongside application-oriented means of implementing learn over theory in classrooms.
Findings
For cognitive development to ensue, we must capitalize on students’ existing knowledge and ways of knowing the world through chance plus selection, piggy-backing, affective boosting/field facilitation, imitation, learning support systems, bias, LC learning, use of spare mental capacity, and the need for coherent self-concept.
Practical implications
Through effective facilitation of their learning, students can hone their skills, recognize their efforts toward their successes, write and rewrite their existing schematic frameworks, develop and maintain positive self-concepts, and advance their systems for understanding their worlds and how to progress to subsequent levels of attainment independently.
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Ann Brown, Martin Rich and Clive Holtham
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a new undergraduate one-term double module called management practice and skills – which sought to change the learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a new undergraduate one-term double module called management practice and skills – which sought to change the learning environment for the new intake of undergraduate students based on constructivist ideas aimed at creating a high level of student engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Action research focusing on the evaluation stage of the first cycle of an intervention. The intervention is described in a case study explaining the features of the new module combined with the statistical analysis of the hard data collected on the first cohort of students taking the module using mainly correlation techniques.
Findings
The module design did achieve to a great extent the objective of catering to all learning styles and personalities within the cohort. The results from the first cohort established the elusive nature of the concept of student engagement and the challenge in measuring it quantitatively.
Research limitations/implications
This is an evaluation of one case example of the application of constructivist ideas in teaching and hence can make no claim to generalisability. The quantitative measure of student engagement was developed for this study – hence it needs to be applied in other situations and tested for credibility. The student data did not include any measures of their views on the module. The collection of their levels of satisfaction at the end of the module and again after two more years at university would offer a richer view of student engagement.
Practical implications
This type of module makes high demands on the teaching staff. It requires, for example – design effort, tutors with both business and teaching experience, administration of the logistics, expertise in handling moodle. The role of the moodle virtual learning environment is key to delivering the module and to collecting much of the data.
Social implications
The module design explicitly aims to foster students’ social interaction and create a community of learning among them. It supports students’ personal development, development of individual business and team working skills as well as relevant management theory.
Originality/value
The paper describes an unusual application of constructivist concepts to teaching in a business degree and the development of an innovative and distinctive approach to the creation of a quantitative measure of student engagement.
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Curt M. Adams and Patrick B. Forsyth
Recent scholarship has augmented Bandura's theory underlying efficacy formation by pointing to more proximate sources of efficacy information involved in forming collective…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent scholarship has augmented Bandura's theory underlying efficacy formation by pointing to more proximate sources of efficacy information involved in forming collective teacher efficacy. These proximate sources of efficacy information theoretically shape a teacher's perception of the teaching context, operationalizing the difficulty of the teaching task that faces the school and the faculty's collective competence to be successful under specific conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of three contextual variables: socioeconomic status, school level, and school structure on teacher perceptions of collective efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach
School level data were collected from a cross‐section of 79 schools in a Midwestern state. Data were analyzed at the school level using hierarchical multiple regression to determine the incremental variance in collective teacher efficacy beliefs attributed to contextual variables after accounting for the effect of prior academic performance.
Findings
Results support the premise that contextual variables do add power to explanations of collective teacher efficacy over and above the effects of prior academic performance. Further, of the three contextual variables school structure independently accounted for the most variability in perceptions of collective teacher efficacy.
Research limitations/implications
A sample of 79 schools was considered small to accurately test a hypothesized model of collective teacher efficacy formation using structural equation modeling. That approach would have had the advantage of permitting the researchers to identify the relationships among the predictor variables and between the predictors and the criterion. Additionally, there was a concern of possible aggregation bias associated with aggregating collective teacher efficacy scores to the school level. Despite these limitations, the findings hold theoretical and practical implications in that they defend the theoretical importance of contextual factors as efficacy sources. Furthermore, formalized and centralized conditions conducive to promoting perceptions of collective efficacy in teachers are identified.
Originality/value
Extant collective efficacy studies have generally not operationalized Bandura's efficacy sources to include the effects of current context. This study does.
Anja Lisa Hirscher, Samira Iran, Ulf Schrader and Martin Müller
This paper aims to propose and evaluate an innovative approach to education for sustainable consumption (ESC) which empowers teenagers and young adults to improve sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose and evaluate an innovative approach to education for sustainable consumption (ESC) which empowers teenagers and young adults to improve sustainable consumption competences. This approach combines pedagogical learning approaches such as real-world learning (e.g. experiential learning and research-based learning) with transformative and transdisciplinary research approaches (i.e. real-world laboratory research).
Design/methodology/approach
Through a transdisciplinary research design, the authors explore if real-world experiments (RWEs) offer a suitable approach for sustainable consumption education at schools. RWEs are a research approach for knowledge production, aiming to go beyond temporary interventions, to establish semi-permanent spaces for sustainability transformation and reflexive learning. To evaluate this proposal, the authors study already existing active teaching and learning approaches developed within and for ESC and put these in perspective, to define and understand the RWEs.
Findings
Insights from a transdisciplinary research project which applied RWEs as a teaching and learning approach in German schools complement conceptual considerations. As a result, advantages, such as the development of core competencies among learners, but also challenges experienced, are illustrated. Though, the challenges found are not unique to the RWE, rather they point out important potentials for ESC through suggesting systematic changes in educational institutions and teaching approaches.
Originality/value
This paper explores RWEs as an active and participatory teaching and learning approach for sustainable consumption education at schools and delivers practical insights and a definition of RWEs as an innovative teaching and learning approach.
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Discusses the need to re‐examine the education and training systems for adaptability to issues of institutional change and economic advancement and development, with special…
Abstract
Discusses the need to re‐examine the education and training systems for adaptability to issues of institutional change and economic advancement and development, with special reference to Africa. Reports the outcomes of a consultative study involving persons associated with ILS education and training around the globe. The paper was presented at SCECSAL 13 on the 27 July to 1 August 1998 held in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Describes an approach to management development by undertaking an MBAprogramme. Examines the various programmes on offer and looks at thedifficulties involved in their pursuit…
Abstract
Describes an approach to management development by undertaking an MBA programme. Examines the various programmes on offer and looks at the difficulties involved in their pursuit. Relates the author′s own experiences of pursuing an MBA and the advantages gained, both for the library and information service and on a personal level.
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Simona Cosma, Stefano Cosma and Alessandro M. Peluso
The purpose of this paper is to highlight opportunities for the banking sector arising from the population’s aging and the expected reduction in pension incomes. Home equity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight opportunities for the banking sector arising from the population’s aging and the expected reduction in pension incomes. Home equity conversion (HEC) instruments are a potentially useful way of restoring households’ finances and satisfying their needs, with implications for the demand for financial services.
Design/methodology/approach
By using an ordered probit regression model, the paper analyzes data obtained from a survey of 2,000 Italian households.
Findings
The main finding of this paper is that individuals with greater familiarity with consumer credit, a cognitive and decision-making approach favorable to use of credit, and an internal locus of control show greater interest in various forms of equity conversion.
Originality/value
This paper extends the analysis of the determinants of individuals’ interest in HEC products. It focuses more closely than the existing literature on households’ credit behaviors, attitudes toward credit and locus of control. The paper helps identify the potential targets of marketing campaigns and commercial proposals, and highlights the levers that the banks can focus on in communicating with customers and future prospects. Moreover, this paper suggests that there is a need to develop greater awareness on the part of people who could be interested in these products. Therefore, appropriate financial education projects should be implemented to develop a better “credit” culture, with due appreciation of the usefulness of credit as a means of supporting household budgets.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.