Making the Connection: Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance and Its Relevance to the Use of a Virtual Classroom in Postgraduate Online Teacher Education

This study explored the use of the Web-based virtual environment, Adobe Connect Pro, in a postgraduate online teacher education programme at the University of Waikato. It applied the tenets of Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance (Moore, 1997) in examining the efficacy of using the virtual classroom to promote quality dialogue and explored how both internal and external structural elements related to the purpose and use of the classroom affected the sense of learner autonomy. The study provides an illustration of the complexity of the relationship that exists between the elements of Moore’s theory, and how the implementation of an external structuring technology such as the virtual classroom, can have both positive impacts (dialogue creation) and negative impacts (diminished sense of learner autonomy). It also suggests that, although Moore’s theory provides a useful conceptual “lens” through which to analyse online learning practices, its tenets may need revisiting to reflect the move toward the use of synchronous communication tools in online distance learning

5GNOW: Challenging the LTE Design Paradigms of Orthogonality and Synchronicity

LTE and LTE-Advanced have been optimized to deliver high bandwidth pipes to wireless users. The transport mechanisms have been tailored to maximize single cell performance by enforcing strict synchronism and orthogonality within a single cell and within a single contiguous frequency band. Various emerging trends reveal major shortcomings of those design criteria: 1) The fraction of machine-type-communications (MTC) is growing fast. Transmissions of this kind are suffering from the bulky procedures necessary to ensure strict synchronism. 2) Collaborative schemes have been introduced to boost capacity and coverage (CoMP), and wireless networks are becoming more and more heterogeneous following the non-uniform distribution of users. Tremendous efforts must be spent to collect the gains and to manage such systems under the premise of strict synchronism and orthogonality. 3) The advent of the Digital Agenda and the introduction of carrier aggregation are forcing the transmission systems to deal with fragmented spectrum. 5GNOW is an European research project supported by the European Commission within FP7 ICT Call 8. It will question the design targets of LTE and LTE-Advanced having these shortcomings in mind and the obedience to strict synchronism and orthogonality will be challenged. It will develop new PHY and MAC layer concepts being better suited to meet the upcoming needs with respect to service variety and heterogeneous transmission setups. Wireless transmission networks following the outcomes of 5GNOW will be better suited to meet the manifoldness of services, device classes and transmission setups present in envisioned future scenarios like smart cities. The integration of systems relying heavily on MTC into the communication network will be eased. The per-user experience will be more uniform and satisfying. To ensure this 5GNOW will contribute to upcoming 5G standardization.Comment: Submitted to Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Communication Systems for 2020 and beyond (at IEEE VTC 2013, Spring

Network Diversity and Social Cohesion in Creative Performance: A View of Communication Media Mix

Creative performance is a fundamental form of knowledge creation in knowledge intensive organizations. While some studies emphasize the importance of diversity on creative performance, others argue for the role of socially cohesive groups with strong third-party connections. To address the gaps in the literature, this study examines the influence of three attributes of dyadic ties (i.e., network diversity, social cohesion, and communication media mix) on creative performance. From the knowledge, social and technology perspectives, we empirically tested our model using a social network methodology with dyads working on knowledge intensive tasks. The results suggest that network diversity is positively associated with creative performance, and moderate level of social cohesion is preferred for creative performance. The findings also show that the influence of social cohesion on creative performance is weakened by the degree of communication media mix. Implications for research and practice are discussed with respect to creativity in organizations

Asynchronous video interviews in selection: A systematic review and five empirical investigations

It has become very popular to conduct employment interviews using new digital technologies, including synchronous and even asynchronous video interviews. In contrast to this wide usage in practice, less is known about how these technologies influence psychometric properties and selection outcomes. Findings gained from traditional face-to-face interviews cannot easily be transferred to digital interview formats. In addition, scholars have recently called for increased theory development to overcome the numerous limitations of cross-media comparisons and explain why and how technology should influence selection outcomes. While a variety of theories on media usage, media choice and media adaption exist, their applicability and explanatory value for technology usage in the area of employment interviews is rarely addressed. The present dissertation addresses this notable gap in the literature through both a systematic review of conceptional frameworks on technology usage in employment interviews as well as empirical results on understudied digital interview formats. In doing so, it identifies promising avenues for future research and provides information for HR practitioners about how to design their selection systems. More specifically, the current dissertation encompasses a comprehensive review of technology usage in employment interviews and five empirical studies on the specific format of asynchronous video interviews. The review integrates several theoretical perspectives on the topic, including the unitary perspective on technology-enhanced interviews, major theoretical directions in media research, and research on differences in psychometric properties and selection outcomes due to technology, into a comprehensive working model. The empirical portion of the dissertation presents five exploratory studies on asynchronous video interviews that explore research questions on blind spots in the literature or address urgent issues concerning the use of technology in today’s selection practice. The first study addresses interrater agreement and the importance of structured evaluation formats in a nonapplicant sample of N = 111 participants. The second study investigates the influence of social bandwidth on the accuracy of interview ratings in a sample of non-applicants with N = 279 participants. The third study provides first results on the validity of asynchronous video interviews in the field of high-stakes selection with N = 899 real applicants. The fourth study assesses the impact of personalized communication via video messages on applicant reactions in asynchronous video interviews with a non applicant sample of N = 98 participants. Finally, the fifth study explores rating inflation due to preparation time in a non-applicant sample of N = 51 participants. This dissertation contributes to the literature in several ways: The review provides an up-to-date, multi-perspective overview of the field and integrates several previous research strands into a single framework on technology usage in employment interviews. The empirical studies provide promising initial results concerning the psychometric properties of asynchronous video interviewing, specifically with respect to reliability and validity, but also highlight possible pitfalls--like rating inflation--that might appear when preparation time is introduced into the process design. In addition, the studies further highlight the extraordinary importance of structure in interviews, even though further study is required to better understand the exact nature of the relationship between structure and technology in employment interviews

The potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool in science and education; perspectives of undergraduate students in Al-Baha university, Saudi Arabia

This paper examines the potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool in Al-Baha University, Saudi Arabia with a random sample in two colleges: science and education. 24 male students participated in this survey. The data is collected through interviewer-administered questionnaires with 16 questions divided into four axes. The data is analysed to reveal the students’ perceptions of using wiki technology in learning. The results indicate that, students prefer to learn collaboratively with positive perceptions of wiki. These results lead us to determine the possible potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool for undergraduate students in similar context

Comparing Approaches to Virtual Team Onboarding: the Influence of Synchrony and Cues on Impressions of Leaders During Encounter Phase Organizational Socialization

Whether fully virtual or a hybrid of virtual and face-to-face teams, more organizations use computer-mediated communication than ever before. Under the right circumstances, virtual team environments have been shown to increase employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity (Gallup, 2020). However, there is also consensus that virtual teams take longer to get work done and miscommunicate more frequently than face-to-face teams (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020). While there is no silver bullet to resolve these shortcomings, one potential area for intervention is during new employee onboarding. This study tests the hyperpersonal model and social presence theory’s application to virtual team onboarding by examining how message characteristics (synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues) affect new employees’ sense of safety and impressions of their managers during their first moments on the job. The study finds no relationship between synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues on employees’ sense of safety or impression of their managers. However, the study finds a marginally significant negative interaction effect between synchronicity and low nonverbal cues on impressions of virtual team leaders’ relational communication. Theoretical and practical implications for virtual team onboarding are discussed

A Conceptual Learner-Centered e-Learning Framework

e-Learning has increased rapidly in higher education. Most online education attempts to mirror the traditional face-to-face (FtF) classroom with less than favourable results. This paper proposes a conceptual e-learning framework based on andragogy theory, transformative learning theory, and media synchronicity theory. The conceptual e-learning framework supports the self-directed learning. e-learning based on this framework has the potential to out-perform not only current learning management systems such as Blackboard, but also traditional FtF learning for adult education and with different and better outcomes. Results of early testing of the concept showed increased learner’s online activity, innovation, and creativity