3,160 research outputs found

    Identity, Power, and Prestige in Switzerland's Multilingual Education

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    Switzerland is known for its multilingualism, yet not all languages are represented equally in society. The situation is exacerbated by the influx of heritage languages and English through migration and globalization processes which challenge the traditional education system. This study is the first to investigate how schools in Grisons, Fribourg, and Zurich negotiate neoliberal forces leading to a growing necessity of English, a romanticized view on national languages, and the social justice perspective of institutionalizing heritage languages. It uncovers power and legitimacy issues and showcases students' and teachers' complex identities to advocate equitable multilingual education

    Authentic Alignment: Toward an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) informed model of the learning environment in health professions education

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    It is well established that the goals of education can only be achieved through the constructive alignment of instruction, learning and assessment. There is a gap in research interpreting the lived experiences of stakeholders within the UK learning environment toward understanding the real impact – authenticity – of curricular alignment. This investigation uses a critical realist framework to explore the emergent quality of authenticity as a function of alignment. This project deals broadly with alignment of anatomy pedagogy within UK undergraduate medical education. The thread of alignment is woven through four aims: 1) to understand the alignment of anatomy within the medical curriculum via the relationships of its stakeholders; 2) to explore the apparent complexity of the learning environment (LE); 3) to generate a critical evaluation of the methodology, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as an approach appropriate for realist research in the complex fields of medical and health professions education; 4) to propose a functional, authentic model of the learning environment. Findings indicate that the complexity and uncertainty inherent in the LE can be reflected in spatiotemporal models. Findings meet the thesis aims, suggesting: 1) the alignment of anatomy within the medical curriculum is complex and forms a multiplicity of perspectives; 2) this complexity is ripe for phenomenological exploration; 3) IPA is particularly suitable for realist research exploring complexity in HPE; 4) Authentic Alignment theory offers a spatiotemporal model of the complex HPE learning environment: the T-icosa

    Professionalisation of social work in Malaysia: 1969-2010

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    Social work has been recognized as both an academic discipline and a profession internationally. However, social work continues to struggle to attain its professional status in Malaysia. This study aims to analyse the professionalisation of social work in Malaysia from 1969 to 2010, as well as to identify the efforts of the Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW), the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (DSW) and tertiary social work education in advancing the profession. This research utilized qualitative method using semi-structured and face to face interviews with 12 past leaders of the MASW, DSW and tertiary social work education programmes as the primary source of data. In addition, annual reports and supporting documents were collected as secondary source of data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse both the interview transcripts and secondary data. The findings identified two stages emerged in the professionalisation of social work in Malaysia, namely the infancy stage (1969-1989) and the expansion of social work education and the drive for professionalism stage (1990-2010). Key features of social work as a profession have developed during the infancy stage. However, the professionalisation stalled in the 1980s. The idea of caring society and Vision 2020 stimulated the expansion of social work education after the 1990s, and the drive for professionalism received greater attention from the government post millennium, which encapsulated the second stage of professionalisation. Despite all these progresses, this study found that social work in Malaysia has yet to establish itself as a professional occupation. This study proposes for greater synergy between the MASW, DSW and social work education, and underlines the importance of legislation and policy in shaping the profession and its practices. This study contributes to the field of professionalisation research and serves a reference for comparative study of social work in the global contex

    On the Mechanism of Building Core Competencies: a Study of Chinese Multinational Port Enterprises

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    This study aims to explore how Chinese multinational port enterprises (MNPEs) build their core competencies. Core competencies are firms’special capabilities and sources to gain sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in marketplace, and the concept led to extensive research and debates. However, few studies include inquiries about the mechanisms of building core competencies in the context of Chinese MNPEs. Accordingly, answers were sought to three research questions: 1. What are the core competencies of the Chinese MNPEs? 2. What are the mechanisms that the Chinese MNPEs use to build their core competencies? 3. What are the paths that the Chinese MNPEs pursue to build their resources bases? The study adopted a multiple-case study design, focusing on building mechanism of core competencies with RBV. It selected purposively five Chinese leading MNPEs and three industry associations as Case Companies. The study revealed three main findings. First, it identified three generic core competencies possessed by Case Companies, i.e., innovation in business models and operations, utilisation of technologies, and acquisition of strategic resources. Second, it developed the conceptual framework of the Mechanism of Building Core Competencies (MBCC), which is a process of change of collective learning in effective and efficient utilization of resources of a firm in response to critical events. Third, it proposed three paths to build core competencies, i.e., enhancing collective learning, selecting sustainable processes, and building resource base. The study contributes to the knowledge of core competencies and RBV in three ways: (1) presenting three generic core competencies of the Chinese MNPEs, (2) proposing a new conceptual framework to explain how Chinese MNPEs build their core competencies, (3) suggesting a solid anchor point (MBCC) to explain the links among resources, core competencies, and SCA. The findings set benchmarks for Chinese logistics industry and provide guidelines to build core competencies

    Bibliographic Control in the Digital Ecosystem

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    With the contributions of international experts, the book aims to explore the new boundaries of universal bibliographic control. Bibliographic control is radically changing because the bibliographic universe is radically changing: resources, agents, technologies, standards and practices. Among the main topics addressed: library cooperation networks; legal deposit; national bibliographies; new tools and standards (IFLA LRM, RDA, BIBFRAME); authority control and new alliances (Wikidata, Wikibase, Identifiers); new ways of indexing resources (artificial intelligence); institutional repositories; new book supply chain; “discoverability” in the IIIF digital ecosystem; role of thesauri and ontologies in the digital ecosystem; bibliographic control and search engines

    Myanmar higher education in transition: the interplay between state authority, student politics and international actors.

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    The Myanmar “period of transition” (2011-2021) has often been described as a puzzle. Various scholars have begun to engage with the Myanmar context in an effort to grasp the essence of the transition it underwent during President Thein Sein’s USPD and Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD governments. My work focuses on a specific policy sector, higher education, with a view to contributing to this scholarly debate regarding what was actually happening inside this complex country “transition”, especially in terms of collective participation in the process of political and social change. Reviewing existing scholarly literature on the politics of higher education, my study employs a triangle of analysis in which higher education reform is framed as the interplay of action on the part of “state authority”, “student politics” and “international actors”. What does this interplay lens reveal if we consider Myanmar’s “period of transition”? I argue that it shows the ambiguity and contradiction of tangible pushes for progressive social change that coexisted with authoritarian currents and the reinforcement of the societal position of dominant elites. At the policy level, ultimately, a convergence of interests between international actors and state authority served as the force driving the new higher education reform towards a neo-liberal model of governance and autonomy. This work unpacks the higher education reform process thanks to qualitative data gathered through extensive participant observation, in-depth interviewing and critical discourse analysis, shedding light on the rich narratives of those involved in the politics of higher education in Myanmar

    New Research and Trends in Higher Education

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    This book aims to discuss new research and trends on all dimensions of Higher Education, as there is a growing interest in the field of Higher Education, regarding new methodologies, contexts, and technologies. It includes investigations of diverse issues that affect the learning processes in Higher Education: innovations in learning, new pedagogical methods, and new learning contexts.In this sense, original research contributions of research papers, case studies and demonstrations that present original scientific results, methodological aspects, concepts and educational technologies, on the following topics:a) Technological Developments in Higher Education: mobile technology, virtual environments, augmented reality, automation and robotics, and other tools for universal learning, focusing on issues that are not addressed by existing research;b) Digital Higher Education: mobile learning, eLearning, Game-based Learning, social media in education, new learning models and technologies and wearable technologies for education;c) Case Studies in Higher Education: empirical studies in higher education regarding digital technologies, new methodologies, new evaluation techniques and tools, perceptions of learning processes efficiency and digital learning best practice

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Do Big Data Analytics Competencies Improve Banks’ Financial Performance? An Investigation using Portuguese data

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    Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementOver the last few years, big data has been a popular technological advancement in games and changes as a virtual 'border' of a wide variety of IT-driven technologies and information-enabling possibilities. Due to technological advances, the internet, handheld machinery, decision support systems, transmission, and computations, the idea of big data was propelled by rapids in data processing and storage. The aim of our study is to determine how Portuguese banks' big data analytics capabilities will help them to improve their financial performance: the efficacy of the audit committee as a mediator and process-oriented dynamic capabilities (PODC) as a moderator. Companies have recently met with unpredictable environmental factors and shifts, and increasingly competitive trends. To obtain a competitive edge, attain superior performance and success and increase long-term survival and longevity, they have to apply, introduce and apply suitable techniques and strategies. Techniques and methods from a variety of fields have been examined rigorously and analytically. In this report, the audit committee is one of the most effective tools and procedures used by businesses, and it is a key driver of successful organizational mechanisms. In comparison, the audit committee's monitoring functions have been considerably greater and more effective. The study adopted a survey research design. Simple random sampling was used to ensure that those employees were found at their workplaces who were used for the study. This design was quantitative to allow for descriptive and inferential analysis. The data has been collected within one month (i.e., February 2021 to May 2021). As it was collected at one time so the design is cross-sectional in nature. Scholars received data from 330 target respondents, including hardcopies and softcopies due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the different public and private banks of Portuguese. The current study makes a substantial addition to big data analytics management and firm performance, and it has a wide range of applications. Because no previous study has directly addressed the moderating behavior of Process-oriented dynamic capability and the mediating role of audit committee effectiveness in this setting, the function played by the current study is quite important. Furthermore, the convergence of organizational resources examined in this study to assess a firm's big data analytics competency has never been attempted before. Using the resource-based Theory (RBT) and dynamic capabilities view (DCV) as theoretical lenses, the study investigates the relationship between BDA capabilities and firm performance. The main justification for adopting these two points of view is that the technological capability of utilizing BDA requires various additional firm-specific resources that can eventually contribute to increased performance
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