Dissemination of management into politics: Michael Porter and the political uses of management consulting

The article contributes to the literature on management dissemination by looking at how management fashions are diffused into and circulated in politics. The ideas of management have been increasingly disseminated into the realm of politics during recent decades. To illustrate how this takes place, this article examines the spread of Michael Porter’s ideas on national politics. Porter’s work is considered a management fashion that has been skilfully packaged; a new form of the 20th-century tradition of state-led social engineering which takes the form of management fashion-style packaging. For this he is seen as a global guru in national politics, and this development is regarded as a new form of consultocracy in the realm of democracies. In consultocracy, the ideas of management consulting are often adopted into politics as a common justifying rationality of power for the political elites. Thus we call for further research on the underlying dynamics of the power involved as management fashions are disseminated into the realm of politics

Developing a Culture of Publication: a joint enterprise writing retreat

Purpose: Many students irrespective of level of study produce excellent course work which, if given support and encouragement could clearly be of a publishable standard. Academic staff are expected to produce quality publications meeting peer review standards although they may be relatively novice authors. All are engaged in some aspects of academic writing practices but not as frequently involved in co-production of publications emanating from student work. This activity is still at the margins of much of the student experience. Design/methodology: Mindful of these issues, we designed and offered a writing programme including a writing retreat. This brought together undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of applied disciplines (health and art, design and architecture) and their supervisors with the aim of co-producing publications and participating in a community of scholarly practice. The project was delivered over nine months. It involved four days ‘compulsory’ attendance and included a preparatory workshop, a two day off campus writing retreat and a dissemination event. Student and supervisors applied to participate as a team. Kirkpatrick’s (2006) four-stage classic model: reaction, learning, changes in behaviour and real world results was used as a framework for the educational evaluation. Key findings organised thematically were: Supervisor-supervisee relationships; space and time; building confidence enabling successful writing and publication. Originality/Value: This paper will provide an overview of the design, content and approaches used for successful delivery of this innovative project. It will draw on examples that illustrate the different types of joint enterprise that emerged, illuminate experiences of co-production and co-authorship along with recommendations for future ventures

Students as change agents: new ways of engaging with learning and teaching in higher education

This is a set of practitioner resources for those wanting to set up student-based research projects in their institutions

Enhancing teaching and learning with technology through collaborative research with students

There is increasing awareness that technological developments should enhance student learning experience and compliment traditional teaching methodologies (McGugan and Peakcock, 2005). The recently published JISC inquiry into the implications of Web 2.0 technology for higher education (2009), highlighted how learners make effective use of Web 2.0 technology in social contexts. However, at present our knowledge of how university students and staff engage with and use technologies, including Web 2.0 technology, both through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and outside of it is limited. This project aimed to explore how Sport Sciences students expect, use, and would like to see, technologies used to enhance their learning whilst at university. The project adopted a collaborative approach by involving students in development of the study, particularly in assisting with design of data collection tools, participant recruitment and interpretation of findings. The study involved interviewing twenty-one students about their familiarity and use of Web 2.0 technologies. These students also gave ideas for potential technological enhancements within the sport curriculum. This data then formed the basis of a staff and a student questionnaire used to ascertain broader views of technologies as well as the perceived potential of such technologies to enhance student learning. The findings from this wider survey of staff (n = 17) and students (n = 323) informed curricular innovations in teaching and learning that involved introduction of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and discussion boards in the institutional VLE as well as use of Facebook for specific student learning activity. The presentation will include a demonstration of how FAQs and Facebook have been utilised and report on initial staff and student evaluation of how these particular approaches to using technology enhance student learning. Issues associated with the use of these technologies are discussed

Community relations, equality and diversity in education

Policy document. "On 24 March 2011 the Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, launched a new policy, Community Relations, Equality and Diversity in Education which will contribute to improving relations between communities. The main thrust of the Department’s Community Relations, Equality and Diversity policy is to contribute to improving relations between communities by educating children and young people to develop self respect and respect for others, by providing children and young people, in formal and non formal education settings, with opportunities to build relationships with those of different backgrounds and traditions within the resources available.

When overconfident agents slow down collective learning

This paper presents a model of influence where agents' beliefs are based on an objective reality, such as the properties of an environment. The perception of the objective reality is not direct: all agents know is that the more correct a belief, the more successful the actions that are deduced from this belief. (A pair of agents can influence each other when )Agents can influence eachother by pair when they perform a joint action. They are not only defined by individual beliefs, but also idyosynchratic confidence in their belief - this means that they are not all willing to (engage in action with) act with agents with a different belief and to be influenced by them. We show here that the distribution of confidence in the group has a huge impact on the speed and quality of collective learning and in particular that a small number of overconfident agents can prevent the whole group frow learning properly.agent-based computational economics;belief dissemination;bounded-confidence;simulation agents;social influence

Care: an integrated framework to support continuous, adaptable, reflective evaluation of eGovernment systems: A research note

CARE: an Integrated Framework to Support Continuous, Adaptable, Reflective Evaluation of Egovernment SystemsThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern to develop a better approach to learning from the experience of an eGovernment project and applying that knowledge in future projects. The proposed project is based on previous work in the construction industry that developed COLA, a Cross Organisational Learning Approach. Developing a similar strategy for Knowledge Management is likely to be effective because the ‘silo’ culture of local government organisations has parallels with the segmented organisational structures within the construction industry.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK (grant GR/T27020/01

CARE: An integrated framework to support continuous, adaptable, reflective evaluation of egovernment systems: A research note

CARE: an Integrated Framework to Support Continuous, Adaptable, Reflective Evaluation of Egovernment SystemsThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern to develop a better approach to learning from the experience of an eGovernment project and applying that knowledge in future projects. The proposed project is based on previous work in the construction industry that developed COLA, a Cross Organisational Learning Approach. Developing a similar strategy for Knowledge Management is likely to be effective because the ‘silo’ culture of local government organisations has parallels with the segmented organisational structures within the construction industry.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (grant GR/T27020/01