Current, June 16, 1997

https://irl.umsl.edu/current1990s/1238/thumbnail.jp

Current, November 15, 2004

https://irl.umsl.edu/current2000s/1204/thumbnail.jp

The Social Media Scourge among University Students: A Study of the University for Development Studies, Ghana

In spite of the development potential of social media, various studies have revealed worrying trends of such media’s abuse especially among students of tertiary institutions. Using interviews conducted with students and staff of the University for Development Studies, the study set out to establish the frequency of social media usage among students, their reasons for using such media and the harmful effects of new media usage on the academic and socio-economic lives of students. The study found that Facebook and Whatsapp are the most frequently used social media followed by Twitter, Skype and YouTube. Also, more than a quarter of respondents use such media more than once a day while over half of them engaged in social media usage once a day. Moreover, more than half of the respondents used social media mainly to chat with friends and relations while a fifth used it for academic purposes. Respondents admitted that social media usage took time from their academic work. Some indicated that they spent about two United States dollars each day on social media and that they used such media during lectures, thereby making them lose concentration during lectures. It also emerged from the study that students put such media to perpetuate fraud. The study recommends that university authorities should regulate usage of social media. In particular, students should be prevented from using phones during lectures. Ghana’s National Media Commission and National Communications Authority must enact cyber protection regulations to reduce the harmful effects of social media usage on tertiary students

Has The Informativeness Of Accounting Numbers Improved After Accounting Regulations In Korea?

This paper aims to examine whether the level of Earnings Management (EM) and informativeness of accounting information change after the enforcement of Internal Accounting Control System (IACS) Standards established by the Korea Listed Firms Association, introduced as one of the Accounting Reforms. We test the effectiveness of IACS standards using samples of listed large firms that were required to adopt IACS Standards from 2006 and of listed small and medium firms that did not have to adopt IACS Standards to implement IACS as non-adopters. We use absolute values of discretionary accruals as proxies for EM estimated by three models: (1) the Modified Jones model, (2) the Performance Matched model, and (3) the Forward Looking model. We test the hypothesis that there are changes in the level of earnings management before and after the enforcement of IACS Standards for adopters using multivariate regression models. We also test the change in the informativeness of accounting information before and after the enforcement of IACS Standards using earnings response coefficients (ERC) between earnings and returns for both samples. It was found that the level of EM is significantly reduced and the level of informativeness is improved after the enforcement of IACS Standards for adopters, while the levels of EM and informativeness are not significantly changed for not-adopters. Other control variables, such as cash flows from operations, size, debt ratio, and trends variables also turned out to be significant in explaining EM. The results imply that the reliability and the transparency of Korean firms' financial statements were improved by the enforcement of IACS Standards as they reduce earnings management. Also the informativeness of accounting numbers was increased after the enforcement of IACS Standards. This paper provides initial empirical evidence on the effectiveness of IACS Standards enforced in 2006

Cities Online: Urban Development and the Internet

Examines how institutions in Austin, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., are adapting to the Internet as an economic development and community building tool

Current, February 23, 1998

https://irl.umsl.edu/current1990s/1262/thumbnail.jp

The cost of a telegram: the evolution of the international regulation of the telegraph

The telegraph was the first practical use of electricity. It revolutionized commercial communication and facilitated the globalization of business. As the telegraph developed as a medium of international communication, regulation was needed to overcome administrative and technical issues, and, importantly, to establish accounting procedures for the distribution of the revenue to multiple national partners. This paper traces the evolution of revenue allocation models through three international organizations that ultimately lead to the creation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in 1932. The shifts in revenue allocation methods are consistent with a shift in focus of regulation from growth to efficiency over the rapid development of the telegraph network. The procedures put in place are still used in the regulation of international telecommunications but with continuing conflict over their effects. The rules developed in the regulation of the telegraph also set the stage for the rise of expertise in the maintenance of international order and the development of accounting as an epistemic community in international relations

Stages of faculty concern about teaching online: relationships between faculty teaching methods and technology use in teaching

As more online courses and programs are created, it is imperative institutions understand the concern of their faculty toward teaching online, the types of technology they use, and the methods they use to instruct students in order to provide appropriate resources to support them. This quantitative study measures these concerns, using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire, of full-time faculty at a small Christian liberal arts university in Southern California relative to teaching online, technology use, and teaching methods. The majority of faculty reported being unconcerned about teaching online. The correlations conducted between faculty’s concerns about teaching online and their teaching methods showed that while some relationships exist, the strength of the relationships are weak. The same was true for the relationships between faculty’s technology use and their concern about teaching online. Additionally, analysis of variance revealed faculty who practice more student-centered teaching methods are more likely to focus on coordinating and cooperating with others regarding teaching online. It can be concluded that the majority of faculty at the institution are not concerned about teaching online and that overall, their technology use and specific teaching methods do not contribute to their concerns about teaching online. However, it was found that faculty who are more student-centered are more likely to cooperate and coordinate with others in regards to teaching online. These findings have implications for the institution where this research was conducted. The administration can be more confident knowing that many of their faculty are not highly concerned about teaching online, therefore, may be less likely to resist teaching these types of classes. The administration now has information that shows faculty who are more student-centered are more likely to cooperate with others in regards to teaching online. These faculty may be more inclined to promote online teaching and ultimately help fulfill the strategic plans of the University

Current, March 06, 2000

https://irl.umsl.edu/current2000s/1008/thumbnail.jp