527,060 research outputs found
A Typology of Virtual Teams: Implications for Effective Leadership
As the nature of work in today\u27s organizations becomes more complex, dynamic, and global, there has been an increasing emphasis on far-flung, distributed, virtual teams as organizing units of work. Despite their growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of work unit. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework to focus research toward understanding virtual teams and, in particular, to identify implications for effective leadership. Specifically, we focus on delineating the dimensions of a typology to characterize different types of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams to identify where current knowledge applies and new research needs to be developed. Second, we distinguish among different types of virtual teams, considering the critical role of task complexity in determining the underlying characteristics of virtual teams and leadership challenges the different types entail. Propositions addressing leadership implications for the effective management of virtual teams are proposed and discussed
Collaborative participatory research as a learning process: the case of CIP and CARE in Peru
Participatory research (PR) has been analyzed and documented from different points of
view, but particularly taking into consideration the benefits that this process generates
for farmers. Studies of the benefits of PR for other actors such as field staff, researchers
and organizations have been limited, with organizational learning receiving the least
attention. This paper analyzes the interaction between the International Potato Center
(CIP) and CARE in Peru and makes the case that PR can also contribute to creating a
collaborative learning environment that generates important lessons for the individuals
and organizations involved. The paper describes the evolution of the collaborative
environment of these two institutions for more than a decade. Three interactive learning
periods are presented, namely the “information transfer period” (1993 –1996) the
“action-learning period” (1997-2002), and the “social learning period” (on-going).
Several lessons from each period, as well as changes in institutional contexts and
perceptions, are described. The CIP-CARE case shows that research and developmentoriented
organizations can interact fruitfully using PR as a mechanism to promote
learning, as well as flexibility in interaction and innovativeness, and that a process of
osmosis of information occurs between groups that use PR in a specific case to other
groups within the organizations, influencing behavior. However, the paper also
indicates that institutional learning should be promoted more specifically in order to
extract guidelines from the lessons, which can influence the way organizations plan and
implement their projects in a constantly changing environment
Online Group-exercises for Older Adults of Different Physical Abilities
In this paper we describe the design and validation of a virtual fitness
environment aiming at keeping older adults physically and socially active. We
target particularly older adults who are socially more isolated, physically
less active, and with less chances of training in a gym. The virtual fitness
environment, namely Gymcentral, was designed to enable and motivate older
adults to follow personalised exercises from home, with a (heterogeneous) group
of remote friends and under the remote supervision of a Coach. We take the
training activity as an opportunity to create social interactions, by
complementing training features with social instruments. Finally, we report on
the feasibility and effectiveness of the virtual environment, as well as its
effects on the usage and social interactions, from an intervention study in
Trento, Ital
Formative e-assessment: Practitioner cases
This paper reports on one aspect of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project 'Scoping a vision of formative e-assessment', namely on cases of formative e-assessment developed iteratively with the UK education practitioner community. The project, which took place from June 2008 – January 2009, aimed to identify current theories and practices relating to formative assessment of learning where technologies play a key role. The project aimed to scope the 'domain' of formative e-assessment, by developing cases of practice and identifying key formative processes within them, which are affected by the use of technologies. From this analysis, patterns were extracted to inform future software design. A discussion of the key issues emerging from the review of the literature on formative e-assessment, a full account of the project methodology – the design pattern methodology – as well as a critical discussion of the findings – namely the patterns and the role of technology – are the focus of a separate paper (see Daly et al (forthcoming). This paper documents how cases of formative e-assessment were developed during the project by a collaborative methodology involving practitioners from a range of post-16 education contexts. The cases were analysed with reference to key theoretical perspectives on formative assessment, particularly the work of Black and Wiliam (2009). In addition, Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2002, 2007) was used to locate practices of formative assessment within a wider concept of learning and teaching involving technologies, although a detailed discussion of the latter is not within the scope of this paper1
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