Laptop Use During Class: A Review Of Canadian Universities

Laptop use in class is a characteristic of universities that is changing rapidly. Although much of the attention and research regarding this issue has focused on the debate of whether to impose mandatory laptop programs, the reality of wireless campuses allows students to use their laptops in class for class related and non-class related activities. Therefore, a new debate has arisen concerning whether students should be allowed to use their laptops in class at all. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of Canadian universities in terms of their conditions, requirements, and policies regarding laptop use in class

Protecting University Students From Bullying And Harassment: A Review Of The Initiatives At Canadian Universities

Students’ bullying and harassment have been shown to be a problem and more schools around the world are starting to address them. Although much of the attention and research has focused on middle-school students, addressing bullying and harassment in universities is important and makes the object of the present research. We provide an overview of how student versus student bullying and harassment are reported, monitored, and dealt with at Canadian educational institutions. Specifically, we identify schools where there is information and policies regarding students’ persecution; we describe how colleges help and what advice they offer; we discuss frameworks used to tackle it; as well, we present other initiatives aiming to prevent it. We also attempt to evaluate measures by linking them with incidence figures. This review may guide future initiatives to tackle intimidation with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of university environment

Promoting mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: the transtheoretical model of change and social marketing approach

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how social marketers can use the Transtheoretical Model of Change to enhance their web-based campaigns promoting mental health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Transtheoretical Model of Change was adapted and applied in a COVID-19 mental health context and qualitative content analysis was conducted on 20 websites promoting mental health during the Pandemic from all around the world. Results show that campaigns vary in terms of their adherence to the Transtheoretical Model of Change. Some are very consistent, whereas others could benefit from incorporating specific relevant information. Particularly, the maintenance stage of change has been ignored by most websites analyzed. Designers of such campaigns could use this paper for inspiration, to check for the completeness of their websites, and to adapt their messages while the situation unfolds and individuals move from one stage of change to the next. Incorporating knowledge from a widely used and effective theoretical model is likely to make websites more successful in helping individuals maintain their mental health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Developing a framework for communications encouraging personal budgeting – a social marketing approach

This article illustrates how a framework can be developed and used to guide social marketing communications encouraging personal budgeting but also how academics can promote behavior change by summarizing information of importance for the general population. Academic literature, books, and thirty personal budgeting campaigns were identified, reviewed, and analyzed to assess WHAT needs to be communicated in terms of personal budgeting and also HOW best communicate information about personal budgeting to different kind of target groups. Keywords, themes and messages were identified and revised, and a two-page Table summary framework for personal budgeting social marketing communications was proposed. This paper links practice with theory in a very original way. No theoretical framework for personal budgeting messages has been found in the existing literature; therefore a framework was proposed by combining knowledge from academia with practice. Whereas previous research generally suggests using existing theoretical frameworks to guide and/or evaluate communications, the current research also shows how practice can guide theory. Designers of such initiatives can use this research for inspiration, to proceed when theoretical frameworks are not available, to design solid interventions based on available data, and also to contribute toward bridging the gap between theory and practice. Individuals looking to improve their financial situation can benefit from having significant accumulated knowledge easily available to them. In the personal budgeting context, individuals suffering from financial distress and living paycheck-to-paycheck can benefit the most from this research

Understanding health behavior: An integrated model for social marketers

Many effective social marketing campaigns seek to change health-related beha-vior by utilizing various health-protective behavioral theories. In this article, we review and integrate three such theories: protection motivation theory (PMT), the extended parallel process model (EPPM), and the transtheoretical model (TTM). We highlight how EPPM and TTM can be used to refine PMT by add-ing insight into the decision-making process involved when consumers consider whether or not to follow a particular recommended health behavior. Specifically, the development of an integrated PMT model can provide insight into the char-acteristics of people more or less likely to change, what happens when persuasion fails, and what can be done to increase persuasion. Developing an integrated PMT model opens new avenues of research that have the potential to increase our understanding of behavior and assist in creating more persuasive social marketing campaigns

Marketing communications and protection motivation theory: Examining consumer decision-making

Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), consumer decision making,