154 research outputs found

    A Critical Review Of Post-Secondary Education Writing During A 21st Century Education Revolution

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    Educational materials are effective instruments which provide information and report new discoveries uncovered by researchers in specific areas of academia. Higher education, like other education institutions, rely on instructional materials to inform its practice of educating adult learners. In post-secondary education, developmental English programs are tasked with meeting the needs of dynamic populations, thus there is a continuous need for research in this area to support its changing landscape. However, the majority of scholarly thought in this area centers on K-12 reading and writing. This paucity presents a phenomenon to the post-secondary community. This research study uses a qualitative content analysis to examine peer-reviewed journals from 2003-2017, developmental online websites, and a government issued document directed toward reforming post-secondary developmental education programs. These highly relevant sources aid educators in discovering informational support to apply best practices for student success. Developmental education serves the purpose of addressing literacy gaps for students transitioning to college-level work. The findings here illuminate the dearth of material offered to developmental educators. This study suggests the field of literacy research is fragmented and highlights an apparent blind spot in scholarly literature with regard to English writing instruction. This poses a quandary for post-secondary literacy researchers in the 21st century and establishes the necessity for the literacy research community to commit future scholarship toward equipping college educators teaching writing instruction to underprepared adult learners

    Digital Innovations for a Circular Plastic Economy in Africa

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    Plastic pollution is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century that requires innovative and varied solutions. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this book brings together interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder perspectives exploring challenges and opportunities for utilising digital innovations to manage and accelerate the transition to a circular plastic economy (CPE). This book is organised into three sections bringing together discussion of environmental conditions, operational dimensions and country case studies of digital transformation towards the circular plastic economy. It explores the environment for digitisation in the circular economy, bringing together perspectives from practitioners in academia, innovation, policy, civil society and government agencies. The book also highlights specific country case studies in relation to the development and implementation of different innovative ideas to drive the circular plastic economy across the three sub-Saharan African regions. Finally, the book interrogates the policy dimensions and practitioner perspectives towards a digitally enabled circular plastic economy. Written for a wide range of readers across academia, policy and practice, including researchers, students, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), digital entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral agencies, policymakers and public officials, this book offers unique insights into complex, multilayered issues relating to the production and management of plastic waste and highlights how digital innovations can drive the transition to the circular plastic economy in Africa. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

    Business Functions Capabilities and Small and Medium Enterprises’ Internationalization

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    Ineffective global expansion can adversely affect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) business outcomes. Business leaders are concerned with developing effective global expansion strategies to penetrate potential international markets, thus enhancing sustainability. Grounded in the business management systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore strategies that leaders of Sub-Saharan Africa manufacturing SMEs use for global expansion. The participants were five manufacturing value-adding SME leaders participating in export markets. Using Yin’s five steps data analysis process, six themes emerged: (a) enterprise characterization, (b) understanding the enterprise’s product, (c) intra-enterprise factor-based strategies for export participation, (d) the enterprise’s external factor-based strategies for successful export venture, (e) global expansion strategies, and (f) serendipitous findings. A key recommendation for SME leaders is to analyze the critical components of their products and prepare to adjust them to the demand dimensions of the target market. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase the enterprise’s wealth, increase employment, reduce poverty for all value chain participants, and growth in gross domestic product

    Health Leadership and Management Practices That Support Accountability for Results

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    Although leaders are expected to nurture and sustain a culture of accountability for results, little is known about how health leaders in developing countries perceive, interpret, demonstrate, and promote accountability in their day-to-day practices. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the management and leadership practices that leaders of public and non-profit health support organizations in Uganda utilize to embody and support accountability for key stakeholders’ results. Data from in-depths interviews with 13 participants at the governance, senior management, and middle management levels were analysed using thematic data analysis. Riggio\u27s conceptualization of using multiple perspectives and disciplines to understand leadership guided the study. The findings indicate that the combination of management and leadership practices that promote accountability results are motivated and sustained by the leaders’ ethical and moral values, character and soft skills; majorly driven by task, relations, change, and externally-oriented leadership behavior; aligned with the leaders’ perceived primary management and leadership roles and responsibilities; and focus on enabling others to identify the right problem to address, recognize and navigate the eclectic ecosystem-wide interests, and mandates. These findings add to knowledge on managing and leading accountability in low-income settings. Implications for positive social change included understanding how to identify, select, develop, promote, and retain managers and staff with the relevant skills, enduring positive intrapersonal accountability motives and practices; this results in building effective organization systems that shape, strengthen, and sustain a culture of accountability for results

    Health Leadership and Management Practices That Support Accountability for Results

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    Although leaders are expected to nurture and sustain a culture of accountability for results, little is known about how health leaders in developing countries perceive, interpret, demonstrate, and promote accountability in their day-to-day practices. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the management and leadership practices that leaders of public and non-profit health support organizations in Uganda utilize to embody and support accountability for key stakeholders’ results. Data from in-depths interviews with 13 participants at the governance, senior management, and middle management levels were analysed using thematic data analysis. Riggio\u27s conceptualization of using multiple perspectives and disciplines to understand leadership guided the study. The findings indicate that the combination of management and leadership practices that promote accountability results are motivated and sustained by the leaders’ ethical and moral values, character and soft skills; majorly driven by task, relations, change, and externally-oriented leadership behavior; aligned with the leaders’ perceived primary management and leadership roles and responsibilities; and focus on enabling others to identify the right problem to address, recognize and navigate the eclectic ecosystem-wide interests, and mandates. These findings add to knowledge on managing and leading accountability in low-income settings. Implications for positive social change included understanding how to identify, select, develop, promote, and retain managers and staff with the relevant skills, enduring positive intrapersonal accountability motives and practices; this results in building effective organization systems that shape, strengthen, and sustain a culture of accountability for results

    Responsible AI in Africa

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    This open access book contributes to the discourse of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) from an African perspective. It is a unique collection that brings together prominent AI scholars to discuss AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives and makes a case for African values, interests, expectations and principles to underpin the design, development and deployment (DDD) of AI in Africa. The book is a first in that it pays attention to the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies. It makes an important contribution to the global AI ethics discourse that often neglects AI narratives from Africa despite growing evidence of DDD in many domains. Nine original contributions provide useful insights to advance the understanding and implementation of Responsible AI in Africa, including discussions on epistemic injustice of global AI ethics, opportunities and challenges, an examination of AI co-bots and chatbots in an African work space, gender and AI, a consideration of African philosophies such as Ubuntu in the application of AI, African AI policy, and a look towards a future of Responsible AI in Africa. This is an open access book

    Chasing the Digital Savings Dream for Sub-Saharan Africa:Navigating Policy, Behaviour and Financial Inclusion Literature in Emerging Economies

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    Financial inclusion is a crucial mechanism for inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and economic development, particularly among the unbankable in developing countries that face financial infrastructural challenges. However, existing efforts to address these challenges have not yet translated into significant improvements due to the prevalence of financial inclusion barriers. This study begins by identifying the previous works, current themes, and gaps in financial inclusion literature in developing countries through a comprehensive literature review in Chapter 2. The review reveals that themes such as the determinants and the impacts of financial inclusion are the most commonly discussed research areas on developing countries. The article also suggests areas for further research. One key financial inclusion tool with immense potential to reduce financial disparities, but has been largely overlooked in the literature as identified in the comprehensive literature review, is digital savings. Operating at the intersection of technology and financial access, digital savings for the unbankable can improve their economic well-being, among other potential benefits. Given the nascent nature of this research area, there is a need to understand how digital savings can be positioned to drive financial inclusion among the unbankable in developing countries. This becomes the underpinning research objective of this thesis. Building on this and based on the findings of the comprehensive literature review, the second article in Chapter 3 reviews the policy documents across all 54 African countries and demonstrates the lack of prioritisation of digital savings. Given the centrality of policies to the diffusion of financial innovation, this article shows that digital financial services policies mainly focus on electronic money, which can further create a debt burden on the unbankable. Additionally, the study develops a typology of digital savings from policies in Africa and suggests appropriate policy types that can stimulate digital savings uptake through the financial inclusion agenda. Considering the lack of prioritisation of digital savings, Chapter 4 examines the usage behaviour of the unbankable with existing digital savings solutions. By using elements of the grounded theory approach, with semi-structured interviews conducted, this article identifies four usage behaviours and motivations driving digital savings usage. Furthermore, the study extends the affordance theory by revealing tiered affordances in the context of digital savings usage, which has not been previously examined in the literature on affordances

    The Quest to End Human Trafficking: An Educational and Practical Guide for Everyone Who Wants to Help Break the Bonds and Assist Survivors

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    People often assume that only legislators and law enforcement personnel can take meaningful steps to fight human trafficking, one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world. This inquiry sought to assess the validity of that belief. The study was informed by the author’s experience as a college instructor of human trafficking and the inspiration he drew from the range and quality of his students’ projects. The methodology included examining the strategies that governmental and non-governmental organizations are using to fight trafficking and assist survivors. It also considered the work of individual activists and service providers such as social workers and health/mental health professionals. Business allies selected for review included convenience store managers and those in the lodging, tourism, airline, and transportation industries. Community influencers such as public officials, members of the press, spiritual leaders, and college instructors were studied as well. The research demonstrated that each group is making a valuable contribution. The analysis first summarizes major concepts and laws that every antitrafficking activist needs to know. The author then organized the insights and lessons learned into five types of activities: Awareness, political advocacy, prevention, reducing demand (shopping wisely), and survivor intervention/aftercare. A separate discussion focused on ideas for student service projects, internships, and relevant career opportunities. The concluding chapters offer an easy-to-follow game plan for anyone interested in joining the cause. Altogether, the Guide has more than 1,100 hyperlinks to articles and free resources that advocates can use to pursue their personal antitrafficking interests and priorities
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