Engineering-Oriented Professional Development for Secondary Level Teachers: A Multiple Case Study Analysis

This study consisted of multiple case studies of selected professional development programs designed to prepare secondary teachers to deliver engineering-oriented education. The focus was on understanding the professional development design, fundamental content knowledge, essential pedagogies, unique challenges, and effective practices involved in this type of professional development. This was achieved by interviewing the leadership, instructors, and participating teachers; observing the in-person workshops; administering a survey to the teachers; and analyzing the project’s documentation. Five professional development programs were examined, including: Engineering the Future, Project Lead the Way, Mathematics Across the Middle School MST Curriculum, The Infinity Project, and INSPIRES. The findings from the individual case studies were compared and summarized across the five research questions

Embedding Sustainability Literacy in Business School Curricula through Reflective Pedagogy: An Exploratory Study of Student Reflections of the Sulitest

Purpose Sustainability has emerged as a megatrend affecting all aspects of management practice. SDG 4.7 has mandated business schools to provide education for responsible leadership and to integrate sustainability principles in their curricula. Faculty are challenged to mainstream sustainability through engaging pedagogy that inspires and offers concrete tools. Yet, pedagogy has been viewed as a key challenge to embedding sustainability in management education. Design / Methodology / Approach We highlight the role of reflection in promoting the enhancement of sustainability literacy in business school curricula, supporting our proposition that management education for sustainability must have a reflective dimension that engages students in deeper learning. In addition to exploring theoretical perspectives on sustainability literacy development through reflection, we draw on empirical evidence provided from a study of 300+ student reflective assignments, based on their experiences of the UN Sulitest, using the DIEP (describe, interpret, evaluate, plan) framework. Findings A thematic analysis of reflective assignments suggest that students engaged in thoughtful reflection that was transformative in nature, broadening their knowledge, questioning their mindsets and fostering change agency. Typical knowledge domains highlighted include: the circular economy, child labour, pollution, equality and clean energy. Students expressed emotions of shock, anger and surprise about the role of human affluence in unsustainable futures. Research Limitations Although our analysis paints a story limited to reflection coupled to just one learning experience, namely the UN Sulitest, future pedagogical initiatives might expand to additional tools for promoting sustainability literacy. Whilst it is meant to illustrate how elements of a sustainability literacy are developed, no data was collected to systematically evaluate transformational impact. We recommend further research to evaluate future transformation. Originality / Value Our findings contribute to the practical application of reflective pedagogy in promoting the enhancement of sustainability literacy and to a conceptualisation of the role that reflection plays in the pursuit of transformation. Moreover, it provides corroborating evidence to principles of deep learning for sustainability based on the SDG framework, emotional stimuli, advocacy and action

Online Instructor Transformational Leadership and Student Engagement in Higher Education: A Literature Review

Transformational leadership offers a new theoretical framework to examine the correlation between online instructors and student engagement, a crucial indicator of students’ academic performance. This literature review sought to provide an updated picture of instructor transformational leadership and its impact upon student engagement in the context of higher education online courses in order that its readers can be informed of the relevant prior studies so far, which hopefully can inspire future research efforts regarding the topic in question. This review also justifies further investigation into the correlation between online instructor transformational leadership and student engagement

Visionary Leadership for Management of Innovative Higher Education Institutions: Leadership Trajectories in a Changing Environment

The study sought to explore the paths that leadership can take to come up with meet innovative changes in the higher education landscape. Most people look upon leadership in higher education to inject solutions to employment problems that are in society. It is through an innovative curriculum that such changes can take place. In such an environment, there is need for leadership with a vision. The kind of paths that leadership should follow to meet such changes is the object of this paper. The study was qualitative by nature and employed the case study design. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires were used as the main data generation tools. A convenience sample of 10 lecturers and 27 students was made. The major findings of the study were that leadership requires skills to bring in curriculum change and innovation. Leadership should have the ability of creating an organisational work culture that makes every one think of ways of doing work in new ways. The need to encourage academic professional development was highlighted as a useful path to take by a visionary leader. Learning should comprise of programmes that meet both the formal and informal sector market. There is need for leadership support through motivational strategies, introduction of ICT and creating a conducive climate for innovation as useful paths. Keywords: leadership trajectories; management; innovative programmes; change; visionary leadership; higher education institution

Can current design and development management pedagogy respond better in reflecting industry needs?

The purpose of this study is to bring clarity and consistency to the academic field that concentrates on management of product design and development. The research explores the assumption that no common standards exist for the education of those wishing to assume a managerial position in that field. The findings have shown a significant lack of consistency in both the subjects offered as well as the naming of the subject in terms of the public presentation. As such, those who wish to enter the field, as well as those wishing to hire leadership, are met with dramatically varied educational background and degree titles. This study presents a review of all identified existing graduate programmes —of which there are 35 institutions worldwide, teaching 60 different courses, with 24 separate degree names. This research explores and identifies the most relevant courses in response to leaders in industry. In his work, Schön (1983) references relevancy in terms of competence that is valued in professional practise as opposed to knowledge taught in academia, and this thesis explores what is practiced and what should be taught. Three distinct groups within the USA were interviewed, including the following: 1) eleven educators responsible for these programme , 2) twenty design-centric industry leaders who hire managers for professional practice, and 3) ninety alumni who have graduated from one particular programme. The tacit knowledge of key leaders needs and the general references made to relevance over rigour are the impetus for the study. Valuing and addressing industry needs and ultimately recommending a course of action that aligns academic training with a more industry relevant content has been the overriding direction for this work. It is that debate that this research, for the first time, addresses the wants of industry, through clarifying eight specific courses to satisfy the need for trained graduate students in the role of management of product design and development within the context of the USA

Entrepreneurial marketing practices and challenges: development of a pedagogy model

Small and medium enterprise and entrepreneurship development are highly pivotal to economic growth. Small and medium enterprise is one of the largest economic sectors globally, whereas, marketing is one of the greatest challenges faced by small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs. The research in small and medium enterprise marketing, also commonly referred as entrepreneurial marketing, has progressed rapidly over the last decade, however, the theoretical developments in entrepreneurial marketing domain are inadequate as yet. Due to this, higher education institutions are also using outdated curricula to teach entrepreneurial marketing, as theoretical developments contribute towards the development of curricula. Moreover, pedagogical choices of business schools for entrepreneurship education are also mismatched with the practical entrepreneurial needs. Thus, a wide theory/pedagogy-practice gap has emerged in the domain of entrepreneurial marketing, due to which, graduates are lacking in practical entrepreneurial marketing skills that are required for the survival of small and medium enterprise ventures. To bridge this gap, the current research is aimed at: 1) exploring entrepreneurial marketing practices of graduate entrepreneurs during the start-up phase, 2) exploring entrepreneurial marketing challenges faced by graduate entrepreneurs during the start-up phase, and, 3) developing a practical model of entrepreneurial marketing pedagogy. For first two explorations, the current study has used a purely qualitative method i.e., the case study in which four small and medium enterprises owned and managed by graduate entrepreneurs were studied. The first exploration has foregrounded 11 entrepreneurial marketing dimensions, as well as how entrepreneurs practice each dimension within their network, thus, making significant theoretical developments. The second exploration has foregrounded two types of entrepreneurial marketing challenges i.e., social and educational. Using educational challenges, a practically implementable entrepreneurial marketing pedagogy model is developed to achieve the third objective, which is also the major and practical contribution of current study

Leading the Leaders: Embedded Educational Leadership Initiatives at the University of Windsor

This project explored the impact and scope of embedded educational leadership initiatives (EELIs) at the University of Windsor. EELIs are programs through which individual members of the campus community autonomously and often collaboratively develop and pursue educational improvement projects within their own contexts. Such initiatives are quite common at Canadian universities, and can include, for example, small grants schemes, teaching chairs, and peer observation of teaching networks. They serve many needs at universities, and are widely believed to be an effective approach to improving teaching and learning, driving innovation, building leadership capacity, and communicating the value institutions place on quality teaching. There has been comparatively little empirical research on the outcomes of these programs, and infrastructure for their evaluation for improvement of productivity or strategic alignment tends to be limited. Moreover, despite their strong potential, without a coordinated approach, it is hard to capitalize on the expertise created over time, to bring groups together to address joint concerns through collaborative initiatives, or to establish mechanisms to identify and further support projects whose expansion or duplication would be of benefit to other units on campus.https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlreports/1002/thumbnail.jp

The impact of employee empowerment on organisational performance: The mediating role of employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour

Purpose: This study assesses the mediating role of employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour in the relationship between employee empowerment (structural, psychological) and organisational performance in non-commercial banks in Ghana.Design/methodology: A structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypothesis based on 304 employees selected from eight non-commercial banks in the Bono Region, Ghana.Findings: Neither structural nor psychological empowerment are a direct contributor to organisational performance but they positively influence organisational citizenship behaviour and employee engagement. Employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour show no effect on organisational performance. Organisational citizenship behaviour was also found to be a significant mediator in the relationship between employee empowerment (structural and psychological) and organisational performance but employee engagement is not a significant mediator.Practical implications: The study offers managers information to help deal with absenteeism, increase employee psychological health, promote better home life, improve employee retention and increase job satisfaction. Practitioners are offered insights to help involve their employees in decision-making and offer them the freedom to act on their own. Finally, practically, the results reveal the need to retain employees who have organisational citizenship behaviour to improve performance.Originality/value: The study serves two purposes: as a confirmatory and as a hypothesised model. The confirmatory model entails goodness of fit and chi-square test. The hypothesised model relies on examining the interactions among structural and psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviour, employee engagement and organisational performance in a developing econom