Making Teamwork Work in the IS Classroom

Objective: To present a Teamwork Design Model that will help participants identify and manage the key design decisions they make, explicitly or implicitly, when using team projects in their IS courses. Rationale: IS practice requires not only technical skills, but also the ability to work with others. The importance of developing students\u27 teamwork skills leads many IS faculty to incorporate team projects in their courses. Unfortunately, placing people in groups does not guarantee that they are going to be able to work as a productive team. Not surprisingly, team projects frequently generate a lot of anxiety and frustration for all involved (including the instructor!), resulting in more entropy than synergy. The Teamwork Design Model draws from group dynamics and teamwork literature to identify the nature and impacts of the various decisions that IS instructors make when structuring team projects. These decisions can have profound effects on both the process and the outcomes of a team project. They are often made, however, with little or no awareness or reflection about their consequences. In many cases, instructors may not even be aware that certain features of team projects reflect design choices, rather than imperatives. This workshop will help participants to become aware of the decisions they make, consciously or unconsciously, when structuring team projects in IS courses. It will also help participants to anticipate and evaluate the possible consequences of these decisions. Format: The presentation will be highly interactive, and supported by a laptop PC, running Windows, connected to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel. The model will be displayed in successive images, where the level of detail and complexity will gradually increase)

“Regarding Lupe”: A one-act play where two cultures collide on the road to a Latina’s performance appraisal

This article presents an original academic play, “Regarding Lupe,” that explores traditional and emerging Latina cultural values and how cross-cultural differences may affect a performance appraisal process. The dramatic structure of the play, inspired by Crandall and Eshleman’s Justification/Suppression Model of Prejudice (JSM), represents a novel and vivid way to engage students in learning why even an acculturated Latina executive may face stereotypes, prejudice, and unintentional discrimination in performance appraisal at work. Here we share the play and offer theoretical and cross-cultural information to facilitate the debriefing. We hope to contribute not only to the teaching and learning of diversity and discrimination, but also to an appreciation of the innovative pedagogical potential of academic plays

Leadership: Three Approaches to Learning

This paper describes three approaches to teaching leadership at the advanced level for adult learners.  The three approaches address competence or skill building and authenticity or self-development.  Each approach offers a variety of materials to draw from and provides concrete examples of learning activities

Retention of progenitor cell phenotype in otospheres from guinea pig and mouse cochlea

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud Culturing otospheres from dissociated organ of Corti is an appropriate starting point aiming at the development of cell therapy for hair cell loss. Although guinea pigs have been widely used as an excellent experimental model for studying the biology of the inner ear, the mouse cochlea has been more suitable for yielding otospheres in vitro. The aim of this study was to compare conditions and outcomes of otosphere suspension cultures from dissociated organ of Corti of either mouse or guinea pig at postnatal day three (P3), and to evaluate the guinea pig as a potential cochlea donor for preclinical cell therapy.\ud \ud \ud Methods\ud Organs of Corti were surgically isolated from P3 guinea pig or mouse cochlea, dissociated and cultivated under non-adherent conditions. Cultures were maintained in serum-free DMEM:F12 medium, supplemented with epidermal growth factor (EGF) plus either basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα). Immunofluorescence assays were conducted for phenotype characterization.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud The TGFα group presented a number of spheres significantly higher than the bFGF group. Although mouse cultures yielded more cells per sphere than guinea pig cultures, sox2 and nestin distributed similarly in otosphere cells from both organisms. We present evidence that otospheres retain properties of inner ear progenitor cells such as self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation into hair cells or supporting cells.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud Dissociated guinea pig cochlea produced otospheres in vitro, expressing sox2 and nestin similarly to mouse otospheres. Our data is supporting evidence for the presence of inner ear progenitor cells in the postnatal guinea pig. However, there is limited viability for these cells in neonatal guinea pig cochlea when compared to the differentiation potential observed for the mouse organ of Corti at the same developmental stage

From laurels to learners: leadership with virtue

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach to leadership development founded on the principle of the Leader-as-Learner: a reflective human who pursues the 4C – virtues of courage, commitment, confidence and curiosity, rather than the laurels of traditional approaches of heroic leadership. Design/methodology/approach Exploring art-based methods and fostering a new approach to leadership development: Leaders-as-Learners. Findings In this paper, studies and theoretical findings from the literature are discussed. Research limitations/implications This paper includes extending life stories and modes of learning by projecting possible selves as leaders, to learn the daily practice of leadership. Practical implications Leadership involves not only the art of judgment but refines it through a learning orientation to confront volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity conditions. Social implications Leadership is not limited to organizations and in relation to work practices. It is a central aspect in all social affairs and integral to building societies which serve, through leaders, the common good. Originality/value An approach to leadership development that supports human flourishing and locates leadership among ordinary people who do extra-ordinary things. </jats:sec