A Galileo analysis of organizational Climate

[[abstract]]This article attempts to (a) establish a conceptual framework for climate research, (b) develop a research scheme based on this conceptual ground, and (c) examine the relationship between communication and the convergence of views regarding organizational climate. University faculty members comprise the sample for this study (N = 105). Using the Galileo multidimensional scaling model, a description of the faculty climate at a university is presented, as well as comparisons between the climates of groups of faculty. There is a substantial correlation between a person's attitude and his or her perception of the relation of others toward those same concepts. Faculty members who communicate more with their colleagues report less psychological distance between themselves and the university. In addition, an individual's climate space becomes more similar to the space of the group with whom he or she maintains denser communication ties as compared with the space of the group with whom he or she maintains less dense ties

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Become a Lifelong Learner: Gaining Capital through Online Higher Education Environments

In this chapter, the authors propose examining online learning in higher education as a mechanism for promoting lifelong learning skills, and thus, as a way to provide capital to students. With that in mind, they provide a theoretical foundation to demonstrate the need for workforce development as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on the skills and requisites necessary for successful lifelong learning, and how both are important to the central mission of higher education. This chapter explores the literature and major issues surrounding the importance and use of capital and lifelong learning skills, and how both can be gained through online learning. The authors argue that lifelong learning skills can be generated through transformative leaning experiences and that facilitating these experiences should be a goal of online learning in higher education in order to ensure that students have the skills necessary to gain social, cultural, and economic capital in order to remain relevant through their lives in a 21st century, learning society. In this chapter, the authors discuss several relevant examples of “Tools for Lifelong Learning” including specific examples to demonstrate how online classes can serve as a mechanism to generate capital for students in higher education settings. They provide a model and build upon theory across higher education, sociology, adult learning, and educational psychology to provide a new perspective of the importance of lifelong learning as well as best practices for achieving these goals