What are the dynamic capabilities needed for a National e-learning implementation? A Jamaican E-Learning Case Study

The use of e-learning technologies to promote effective and flexible learning has become common place at single institutions of learning, at specific educational levels or at the national level. According to Kearns (2002, p.ii) the information age has created a new role for training and education: “the impact of globalisation, information and communication technologies, and the accompanying shifts in the economy, labour market, and in the operations of enterprises have led to fundamental changes in the economy and society that have profound implications for the role of education and training.

Towards a Model For National E-Learning Implementations

Many developed and developing countries including the U.S., Singapore, India, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, European countries and Jamaica, among others, are engaging in the implementation of e-learning programs at a national level, albeit at different stages of the implementation (Pagram and Pagram, 2006; Trindad, 2002). According to Kearns (2002 p.ii), “the impact of globalisation, information and communication technologies, and the accompanying shifts in the economy, labour market, and in the operations of enterprises have led to fundamental changes in the economy and society that have profound implications for the role of education and training.” The traditional means of education is no longer sufficient to satisfy the training needs of a knowledge society. Increased educational outcome has taken on greater importance because competitiveness on a global scale is based on the educational level of human resources (Osin, 1998). Many believe that the use of technology in education has great potential to transform human capital (Barr and Tagg, 1995; Cooper, 1993; Glennan and Melhed, 1996; Harasim, 2000; Nachmias, 2002). The promised benefits of e-learning in producing improved educational outcomes have driven countries to embrace e-learning (Pagram and Pagram, 2006). However, e-learning implementations, for the most part, are entered into without a clear plan and limited knowledge of all the pre-requisites for success (Minges, 2001). Ismail (2002) identifies the lack of a clear cohesive strategy as one of the missing ingredients associated with e-learning programs

Population Policy:Abortion and Modern Contraception are Substitutes

A longstanding debate exists in population policy about the relationship between modern contraception and abortion. Although theory predicts that they should be substitutes, the empirical evidence is difficult to interpret. What is required is a large-scale intervention that alters the supply (or full price) of one or the other and, importantly, that does so in isolation (reproductive health programs often bundle primary health care and family planning—and in some instances, abortion services). In this article, we study Nepal’s 2004 legalization of abortion provision and subsequent expansion of abortion services, an unusual and rapidly implemented policy meeting these requirements. Using four waves of rich individual-level data representative of fertile-age Nepalese women, we find robust evidence of substitution between modern contraception and abortion. This finding has important implications for public policy and foreign aid, suggesting that an effective strategy for reducing expensive and potentially unsafe abortions may be to expand the supply of modern contraceptives. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13524-016-0492-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Insights from Nepal’s abortion legalisation

Are abortion and modern contraceptive methods substitutes? This blog explores the impact of the legalisation of abortion provision in Nepal

Development and validation of the e-Work Self-Efficacy Scale to assess digital competencies in remote working

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote working practices worldwide. This has focussed attention on the need to identify the competencies employers and employees should train and develop to build digital resilience, enabling the benefits of remote working to be realised while mitigating potential risks. This contribution presents a multifaceted e-Work Self-Efficacy Scale, which supports a recently developed Digital Resilience Competency Framework (DRCF), assessing e-skills, trust building, self-care, remote social skills, and remote emotional self-efficacy beliefs. Data from 670 non-managerial employees (54.0% males) from a telecommunications company based in the Czech Republic were analysed, providing support for a bi-factor model. Latent Profile Analysis identified three clusters, characterised by different profiles: the Well-adjusted (with a reasonably good balance in engagement, satisfaction, and productivity), the Unhealthily dedicated (suffering some difficulties in setting boundaries), and the Distrustful self-shielding (the most compromised) remote workers. The results reinforce the importance of focusing on digital resilience competencies to promote sustainable, productive, engaging and healthy remote working. The e-Work Self-Efficacy Scale is a practical and effective organisational tool for managers and employees to use to assess and build digital resilience and sits alongside the Digital Resilience Competency Framework