Mutual learning as a resource for research design

Copyright 2014 ACM. Mutual learning processes provide the context for this paper. We reflect on the early research design process of an ongoing project that is investigating the potential contributions of the Internet of Things (IoT) to ageing well. While mutual learning is assumed and embedded in Participatory Design tools and methods, it was only when we explicitly used mutual learning processes, as a resource in the research design of the project, that we could make clear and accountable decisions about how to proceed. The paper ends with a reaffirmation of the importance of mutual learning processes in Participatory Design, noting the opportunities, even imperatives, for foregrounding mutual learning processes in the design of IoT applications

Cultural adaptation in Chinese-Western supply chain partnerships: dyadic learning in an international context

Article"This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited."Purpose: Inter-firm learning, or dyadic learning, has been studied extensively in recent years however very little attention has been devoted to extending the concept to an international context and no formal definition exists. We propose ‘cultural adaptation’ as a special form of international dyadic learning and link it to supply relationship performance. Design/methodology/approach: Case studies in four Chinese-Western buyer-supplier relationships, providing cross-case replication, employing qualitative and quantitative methods. Data are triangulated by questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and documentation. Findings: Qualitative and quantitative evidence shows that cultural adaptation can lead to mutual benefits (relationship rents) and inbound spillover rents for both parties in a supply relationship. Research limitations/implications: Using four cases and a small sample of key informants completing the questionnaire limits generalisability of findings. Practical implications: 1. We develop the causal relationship between cultural adaptation and mutual benefits motivating managers to adapt culturally. 2. We emphasize that the current relationship performance measures should include guanxi quality in order to adapt to the Chinese context. Originality/value: Building on Extended Resource Based Theory, stating that strategic resources may lie beyond a firm’s boundary and that relational and inbound spillover rents may be obtained from the relationship, the research contributes to dyadic or inter-organisational learning literature by empirically building causal relationships between cultural adaptation (as a form of international dyadic learning) and associated mutual benefits (relational and inbound spillover rents), using multiple data sources and methods and tentatively redefining the dyadic learning concept

Cultivating capacities in community-based researchers in low-resource settings: Lessons from a participatory study on violence and mental health in Sri Lanka

Participatory methods, which rely heavily on community-based data collectors, are growing in popularity to deliver much-needed evidence on violence and mental health in low- and middle-income countries. These settings, along with local researchers, encounter the highest burden of violence and mental ill-health, with the fewest resources to respond. Despite increased focus on wellbeing for research participants and, to a lesser degree, professional researchers in such studies, the role-specific needs of community-based researchers receive scant attention. This co-produced paper draws insights from one group’s experience to identify rewards, challenges, and recommendations for supporting wellbeing and development of community-based researchers in sensitive participatory projects in low-resource settings. Twenty-one community-based researchers supporting a mixed-methods study on youth, violence and mental health in Sri Lanka submitted 63 reflexive structured journal entries across three rounds of data collection. We applied Attride-Stirling’s method for thematic analysis to explore peer researchers’ learning about research, violence and mental health; personal-professional boundaries; challenges in sensitive research; and experiences of support from the core team. Sri Lanka’s first study capturing experiences of diverse community-based researchers aims to inform the growing number of global health and development actors relying on such talent to deliver sensitive and emotionally difficult work in resource-limited and potentially volatile settings. Viewing participatory research as an opportunity for mutual learning among both community-based and professional researchers, we identify practice gaps and opportunities to foster respectful team dynamics and create generative and safe co-production projects for all parties. Intentional choices around communication, training, human and consumable resources, project design, and navigating instable research conditions can strengthen numerous personal and professional capacities across teams. Such individual and collective growth holds potential to benefit short- and long-term quality of evidence and inform action on critical issues, including violence and mental health, facing high-burden, low-resource contexts

Evaluating an online learning community: Intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations.

Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting teaching-learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper presents findings of a case study of a semester-long online graduate course designed to facilitate a learning community at a New Zealand tertiary institution. It adopts a sociocultural analytical framework and argues for a multiple developmental analytical approach to evaluating learning that considers lecturer and student intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations. Implications are presented for online lecturers, course designers and institutional administrators

Employee turnover prediction and retention policies design: a case study

This paper illustrates the similarities between the problems of customer churn and employee turnover. An example of employee turnover prediction model leveraging classical machine learning techniques is developed. Model outputs are then discussed to design \& test employee retention policies. This type of retention discussion is, to our knowledge, innovative and constitutes the main value of this paper

Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning

Several studies identify collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians as a key factor that affects student achievement. Studies in teacher-librarianship have established procedures and processes for effective collaboration. This study examines collaboration from a broader theoretical and research perspective, beginning with 20 factors that specifically influence successful collaborations. These are clustered in six areas: factors related to the environment, to membership characteristics, to process and structure, to communication, to purpose, and to resources. Research from teacher-librarianship is then applied to substantiate and reinforce the factors and provide context for successful collaboration and thus effect on students\u27 learning in schools. Reprinted by permission of the publisher