Podcasting in Higher Education: Students’ Usage Behaviour

At German universities, podcasting is still a relatively new method of teaching and learning, on which only few studies are available so far. The present report aims to describe students’ usage behaviour and their assess- ment of podcasting. The findings are based on a survey of students at the University of Flensburg, who took part in lectures recorded and made avail- able as podcasts during the 2007 summer term and 2007/08 winter term. A total of 148 students took part at the two survey sessions. The majority of the surveyed students are inexperienced in the use of podcasts, as the descriptive results show. For most of the respondents, lecture podcasts were their first contact with this medium. Mainly a notebook is used to listen – at home – to the podcast of the recorded lecture. The focus in this regard is on playing back or catching up on the lecture at a later point in time. The main purpose for the students is to systematically prepare ahead of written tests and examinations. Slightly more than half of the respondents consider the opportunity to use podcasts to be no substitute for attending lectures. A clear factor in the success of lecture podcasts is that they are available with no cost involved. Another important factor is that the students can reuse and replay the recorded lecture. Podcasts are considered a possibility to assimilate the contents of lectures better and more efficiently. Students who do not use lecture podcasts justify this by stating that they have difficulties in learning with a computer.podcasting, podcast, higher education, usage behavior

Germany’s Next Top Manager: Does Personality explain the Gender Career Gap?

The female share in management positions is quite low in Germany. The higher the hierarchical level, the fewer women there are in such positions. Men have numerous role models to follow whereas women lack this opportunity. Many studies have focused on the influence of human capital and other "objective" factors on career opportunities. In our study, we go a step further by also looking at the impact of self-reported personality traits on gender differences in career chances. We compare managers and other white-collar employees in Germany’s private sector. While bivariate results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in 2007 show that there are significant gender differences in personality traits, multivariate estimations and the decomposition of the gender career gap clearly indicate that these differences cannot account for gender differences in career opportunities. The decomposition (according to Fairlie, 2003) shows that only 8.6 percent of the inequality of career chances between women and can be explained by differences in personality. Nevertheless, personality traits might indeed play a role, albeit more indirectly: Some of the stronger career effects, such as long working hours, and labour market segregation, can also reflect differences in personality traits. These might have been influenced at an early stage by a gender-biased environment. Our results strongly stress the need for a gender-neutral environment outside and inside companies in order to enforce equal career opportunities for women and men.personality, gender, career, leadership

Arbeitszufriedenheit und Persönlichkeit: "Wer schaffen will, muss fröhlich sein!"

The research on job satisfaction has a long history and is one of the most intensively studied subjects - not only in the field of industrial and organizational psychology. The various studies can roughly be classified into situational, dispositional, and hybrid approaches, depending on whether working conditions, personality traits or their interaction are emphasized as determinants. So far, only few studies consider all of these determinants in a common model. In addition, many studies both in the consideration of personality variables as well as the influence of factors to explain job satisfaction, do not offer a theoretical framework. This paper investigates the influence of personality characteristics and working conditions as well as the interaction of these two groups of variables on job satisfaction by means of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study. For this purpose, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality (P. T. Costa und R. R. McCrae 1985; L. R. Goldberg 1981) and the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model (J. Siegrist et al. 1986) will be used as a theoretical and conceptual framework. OLS regressions show that both personality and (subjective) working conditions are relevant predictors of job satisfaction. None of the moderator variables of personality and working conditions increase the explained variance of the overall model. Working conditions (effort-reward imbalance and autonomy) have the highest explanatory power. Four of the five personality traits show highly significant effects. These findings suggest both a situational and a dispositional approach. Working conditions(especially a low effort-reward imbalance and high autonomy) and personality (especially emotional stability) play a crucial role in achieving higher job satisfaction.Job satisfaction, personality, Five-Factor Model, Big Five, Effort-Reward Imbalance

ANALISIS OPINI BADAN PEMERIKSA KEUANGAN REPUBLIK INDONESIA ATAS LAPORAN KEUANGAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH SE-ACEH TAHUN ANGGARAN 2009 S.D. 2014

Laporan hasil pemeriksaan BPK selama tahun 2009 s.d. 2014 menunjukkan masih banyak Laporan Keuangan Pemerintah Daerah (LKPD) se-Aceh yang belum memperoleh opini WTP dan rendahnya tingkat penyelesaian tindak lanjut atas rekomendasi BPK. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor yang menjadi penyebab pengecualian dalam opini WDP, TW, dan TMP dan bagaimana tindak lanjut pemerintah daerah atas rekomendasi hasil pemeriksaan BPK. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif yang bersifat deskriptif dengan sumber data primer dan data sekunder. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan dokumentasi, observasi, dan wawancara. Analisa data dilakukan dengan mentranskrip data lalu di-organize untuk menentukan temanya. Tema-tema yang sudah terkumpul dicari keterkaitannya dan dinterpretasikan dengan menggunakan teori yang relevan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengecualian dalam opini atas LKPD se-Aceh disebabkan beberapa faktor yaitu kelemahan prosedur pencatatan; kelemahan pengelolaan kas; kelemahan pengelolaan aset tetap; kelemahan pengelolaan pendapatan; kelemahan pengelolaan persediaan; kelemahan proses penganggaran; penyimpangan ketentuan tentang pengeluaran dan pertanggungjawaban belanja; dan kebijakan akuntansi yang belum lengkap. Selanjutnya, pengecualian yang tindak lanjutnya belum sesuai rekomendasi akan tetap menjadi pengecualian tahun berikutnya.Kata kunci: LKPD, Opini BPK, Pengecualian, Tindak Lanjut Rekomendasi BPKBanda Ace

Personality and career: she's got what it takes

The female share in management positions is quite low in Germany. The higher the hierarchical level, the fewer women there are in such positions. Men have numerous role models to follow whereas women lack this opportunity: In the executive boards of the top 200 private companies in Germany, only 2.5 percent of members are female. Many studies have focused on the influence of human capital and other objective factors on career opportunities. In our study, we go a step further by also looking at the impact of self-reported personality traits on gender differences in career chances. We compare managers and other white-collar employees in Germany's private sector. While bivariate results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in 2005 show that there are significant gender differences in personality traits, multivariate estimations clearly indicate that these differences cannot account for gender differences in career opportunities. Nevertheless, personality traits might indeed play a role, albeit more indirectly: Some of the stronger career effects, such as work experience, long working hours, and labour market segregation, can also reflect differences in personality traits. These might have been influenced at an early stage by a gender-biased environment. Our results strongly stress the need for a gender-neutral environment outside and inside companies in order to enforce equal career opportunities for women and men

Persönlichkeit und Karriere: She's Got What it Takes

In Deutschland sind Frauen in Führungspositionen unterrepräsentiert. Je höher die Hierarchiestufe desto geringer ist ihr Anteil unter den Führungskräften. Nur 2,5 Prozent der Vorstandsmitglieder der Top-200 Wirtschaftsunternehmen in Deutschland sind weiblich. Zahlreiche Studien untersuchen Einflussfaktoren auf die Karriere in Abhängigkeit z.B. von Humankapital und anderen "objektiven" Faktoren. Unsere Untersuchung geht darüber hinaus und bezieht auch Persönlichkeitseigenschaften mit ein. Die Studie basiert auf dem Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP), einer repräsentativen Wiederholungsbefragung von mehr als 20.000 Personen. Verglichen werden Führungskräfte mit anderen Angestellten in der Privatwirtschaft. Die bivariate Betrachtung der als Big Five bekannten fünf Persönlichkeitsmerkmale und der Risikobereitschaft bei der eigenen beruflichen Karriere bestätigen zunächst, dass sich Führungskräfte in ihrer Selbsteinschätzung deutlich von sonstigen Angestellten unterscheiden und auch zwischen Frauen und Männern zum Teil signifikante Differenzen bestehen.Werden jedoch weitere Einflussgrößen, wie Humankapitalausstattung, soziale Herkunft sowie das individuelle Lebens- und Arbeitsumfeld zur Erklärung des Einnehmens einer Führungsposition in das Schätzmodell mit einbezogen, lassen sich zwischen Frauen und Männern keine statistisch signifikanten Unterschiede im Effekt der Persönlichkeitsdimensionen mehr nachweisen. Die geringeren Karrierechancen für Frauen gehen vielmehr auf Unterschiede in der Bedeutung der Berufserfahrung (Entwertung durch Unterbrechungen), der geleisteten Überstunden und hinsichtlich des ausgeübten Berufs (Segregation am Arbeitsmarkt) zurück. Dennoch mögen Persönlichkeitseigenschaften durchaus eine Rolle spielen, aber eher indirekt - reflektiert durch Unterschiede in den entscheidenden Einflussfaktoren auf die Karriere wie Berufserfahrung, lange Wochenarbeitszeiten und Berufswahl (Segregation am Arbeitsmarkt).Personality, gender, career, leadership

Historische Generationen: Über einen sozialen Mechanismus kulturellen Wandels und kollektiver Kreativität

In Zeiten beschleunigten gesellschaftlichen Wandels hat das Generationsthema Konjunktur. Die wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Rekonstruktion des Generationenverständnisses seit der Antike offenbart jedoch, dass die bei Karl Mannheim angelegte Verbindung von Generationstheorie und Theorien des sozialen Wandels im Zuge der Professionalisierung der Soziologie verloren ging. Diese Studie schlägt durch eine innovative Interpretation der klassischen Vorlage die Brücke zu aktuellen Theorieentwicklungen. Unter Rückgriff auf die Analysen von Margaret S. Archer und Shmuel N. Eisenstadt stellt die Reformulierung des Generationskonzeptes den Konstitutionsprozess historischer Generationen als einen sozialen Mechanismus kulturellen Wandels und kollektiver Kreativität heraus. Damit wird nicht nur der Anschluss an die makrosoziologische Diskussion neu eröffnet, sondern auch die kulturtheoretische Frage nach der Vermittlung von Biographie und Geschichte wieder aufgenommen