“Digging Deeper?”: Insights From a Novice Researcher

This article reflects on lessons learned from a qualitative research project. Due to my quantitative academic upbringing, I missed the opportunity to dig deeper into the qualitative research material. The article critically reflects the steps of constructing an interview guide, conducting interviews, performing a qualitative content analysis and interpreting the results. Ideas on overcoming these barriers are presented. The article concludes with a positive outlook in the form of recommendations for other novice researchers in qualitative research as well as an appeal to experienced researchers to accompany us on this path

Using importance-performance analysis to bridge the information gap between industry and higher education

The goal of this viewpoint article is to introduce, critically analyse and further develop importance–performance analysis (IPA) as a framework through which strategic management recommendations can be extracted for higher education institutions. The article introduces a new method of combining the perspectives of two significant groups to bridge the information gap between industry and higher education by exploring the results of two differing IPA variants from the context of sport management. The first IPA matches the importance and performance of future competencies based on statements solely derived from the labour market. The second explores the same importance measures in comparison to performance measures derived from current graduates. The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each analysis and recommend the use of this framework in the effort to decrease the existing information asymmetry between industry and higher education

Teachers’ role in digitalizing education: an umbrella review

As teachers are central to digitalizing education, we summarize 40 years of research on their role in that process within a systematic umbrella review that includes 23 systematic reviews with a total of 1062 primary studies focusing technology integration and aspects of digital literacy. Our findings highlight the international acceptance of the TPACK framework as well as the need for a clear concept of digital literacy. It is unique that we identify and discuss parallels in developing teachers\u27 digital literacy and integrating digital technologies in the teaching profession as well as barriers to those goals. We conclude by suggesting future directions for research and describing the implications for schools, teacher education, and institutions providing professional development to in-service teachers

Digital Transformation? A longitudinal interview study on teachers’ acceptance and usage of digital tools in times of Covid-19

The role of teachers in the digital transformation of education is recognized as a very important and complex holistic phenomenon (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010; Wohlfart & Wagner, 2022). But which factors promote the lasting implementation of digital tools by teachers? Research shows that successful integration of existing or new digital tools depends on knowledge of and access to, as well as time to explore them (Tondeur et al., 2012). Teachers’ willingness and ability to integrate technology is also influenced by their attitudes or personal fears (Njiku, 2022; Wilson et al., 2020), and exposure to a student-centered constructivist pedagogical approach during teacher education can have a positive effect on digital literacy development and integration of digital tools in teaching practice (Chai et al., 2013). Contrary to the study results, we are far from an exhaustive integration of digital tools in formal education. The International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2018 (ICILS) shows that around 49 % of teachers used digital tools on a day-to-day basis and highlights considerable differences in the availability of technological infrastructure and conditions for professional learning across countries (Fraillon et al., 2019). With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, teachers no longer had the liberty to choose whether to incorporate digital tools into their teaching, as the circumstances made this inevitable (Wohlfart et al., 2021). Within the past three years, schools were forced to adapt and re-adapt to varying situations to fulfil their educational mission. Teachers are central in this environment and especially affected by this process of digital transformation, which makes their experiences particularly interesting and relevant. Current research, however, has often relied on one point of data collection. These studies therefore struggle in explaining individual dependencies in transformation processes. With our study, we aim to better understand how the past years have affected the experience with digital tools in the context of teaching. Analogously, we examine whether the Covid-19 pandemic has thereby led to a sustainable transformation of teachers’ acceptance and usage of digital tools. Our study is based on an extended version of Davis’ (1986) widely accepted technology acceptance model (TAM). The core of the model consists of the variables perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use. In addition, the model describes the variable attitude towards using as a direct product of the former two variables in explaining user motivation for usage of a certain technology. Notwithstanding, these three core variables fail to fully explain the actual use of technologies. This is due to the influence of an array of external factors that determine user acceptance. Previous research has discussed and highlighted in detail the interaction and relevance of considering further external variables such as subjective standards (perception of how important the use of technology is to other people) or self-efficacy (one’s own ability to deal with technology) (Burton-Jones & Hubona, 2006; Lee et al., 2003). To gather a better understanding of the actual use of digital tools in teaching, we apply a refined TAM (Teo et al., 2008) as well as previous research to conduct and analyze longitudinal interviews with secondary schools’ teachers from Germany. Our study examines the following research questions: How has teachers’ acceptance and usage of digital tools developed across time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic? Which factors influence a lasting integration of digital tools in teaching? Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used To answer our research questions, we conducted a longitudinal interview study over three years in the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. Here, the federal government suspended on-site school activities for nearly three months after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, re-opening for smaller groups in mid-June of the same year. Teachers, meanwhile, were required to enable distance learning and therefore produce appropriate learning content and transmit this to students. The mutations of the virus over the course of the next years led to iterative restrictions of school life and parallel on-site and distance teaching and learning. With our study design, we wanted to capture specific situations and relevant changes without delay or falsification caused by the dynamics involved with remembered experience over time (Becker et al., 2002). Thus, we conducted three rounds of interviews with the same teachers at secondary schools in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The first round of interviews in May and June of 2020 focused the experience which 15 teachers had with this unfamiliar situation. With a semi-structured interview guide, we asked the interviewees about their personal experiences with the adoption of digital tools in times of distance teaching. We followed up on these interviews with the same teachers in May and June of 2021 (n=12) and 2022 (n=10) respectively, interested in the personal development of the interviewed teachers and changes in the adoption of digital tools in face-to-face teaching over time. The 37 interviews lasted between 29 and 66 minutes, were audio-recorded, and transcribed – leading to a comprehensive database of about 400 pages of single-spaced transcribed text. We performed an iterative qualitative content analysis on the 37 transcripts according to Mayring (2015) with deductive categories based on the literature review (e.g. perceived usefulness, tools applied, infrastructure, etc.) as well as inductive categories that emerged from the transcribed interview material (e.g. changes, classroom management, school development etc.). The first two rounds of qualitative data analysis resulted in 42 codes and 2.177 coded segments (status of 18.01.2023). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The analysis of interviews from 2020 indicate contrary to previous literature, that Covid-19 as an external factor has a universal impact on all variables along the TAM and thereby positively and directly affects the acceptance and usage of digital tools in teaching. Furthermore, we identified three vital external factors: (1) regulations and specifications, (2) technological infrastructure and (3) the heterogeneity of students and teachers (Wohlfart et al. 2021). With the second collection of interviews, we wanted to better understand how teachers’ usage and acceptance of specific digital tools developed across time and experience. The findings highlight the development of user motivation of most teachers and while some inhibiting external factors remained (e.g. lack of infrastructure), others had been overcome (e.g. universal regulations/specifications). Overall, the acceptance and integration of digital tools increased over the first year. With the third round of interviews, we expect to find valuable information concerning lasting adaption of digital tools in face-to-face teaching and better understand why this may not be the case for all teachers. With this, we hope to derive lessons learned from this unique situation and conclude the pandemic to have been (at least in parts) a catalyst for digital transformation in education

Berufsfeld Sportmanagement: Multidimensionale Analyse einer kompetenzorientierten, berufsfeldadäquaten Hochschulbildung

Gegenstand der vorliegenden publikationsbasierten Dissertation ist die Untersuchung einer kompetenz-orientierten und berufsfeldadäquaten Hochschulbildung im Sportmanagement. Legitimiert durch bil-dungspolitische Strategien einer kompetenzorientierten Hochschulbildung der Bologna-Reform unterstel-le ich auf Basis der Agency-Theorie einen metaphorischen Vertrag zwischen Arbeitgebern (Prinzipal) und Sportmanagementstudiengängen (Agent) aufgrund dessen der Prinzipal den Agenten mit der berufs-feldadäquaten Qualifizierung von Absolvent*innen beauftragt. Mittels eines Mixed-Methods-Design wird innerhalb sieben wissenschaftlicher Publikationen untersucht, welche Kompetenzen das Berufsfeld Sportmanagement charakterisieren, inwiefern Sportmanagementstudiengänge in Deutschland kompe-tenzorientiert ausgerichtet sind und ob diesen eine kompetenzorientierte und berufsfeldadäquate Qualifi-zierung von Sportmanagementstudierenden gelingt. Die Studien betonen die Relevanz generischer Kom-petenzen für Sportmanager*innen sowie Intransparenz bezüglich Inhalte, Ziele und Differenzierung von Sportmanagementstudiengängen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auch, dass Absolvent*innen insbesondere diese generischen Kompetenzen als stark entwickelt einschätzen. Mit den Ergebnissen werden vorhandene Informationsasymmetrien zwischen den Akteuren abgebaut und konkrete Implikationen für die Vertrags-gestaltung präsentiert. Die Studie unterstützt somit die voranschreitende Professionalisierung der jungen Wissenschaftsdisziplin sowie Legitimation von Sportmanagementstudiengängen im Berufsfeld Sportma-nagement. Dabei sind folgende Maßnahmen einer berufsfeldadäquaten Hochschulbildung im Sportma-nagement maßgeblich, welche abschließend diskutiert werden: (I) Entwicklung generischer Kompeten-zen, (II) klare Differenzierung zwischen Bachelor und Masterstudiengängen, sowie (III) Spezifizierung fachspezifischer Kompetenzen.The purpose of this publication-based dissertation is to investigate a field-adequate and competence-oriented higher education in sport management. Legitimized by the demands of a competence-oriented higher education through the Bologna-Reform, and on the basis of Agency-Theory, I assume a metaphor-ical contract between employers (principal) and sport management study programs (agent) in which the principal commissions the agent with the field-adequate qualification of graduates. Applying a mixed-methods design, seven scientific publications are used to investigate which competencies characterize the professional field of sport management, to what extent sport management degree programs in Ger-many are competence-oriented, and whether these succeed in qualifying sport management students in a way that is competence-oriented and appropriate to the needs of the professional field. The studies emphasize the relevance of generic competencies for sport managers as well as a lack of transparency in terms of content, objectives, and differentiation of sport management programs. The results also show that graduates perceive their competence-development as particularly highly developed concerning ge-neric competencies. With the results, existing information asymmetries between the actors are reduced and concrete implications for contract design are presented. The study thus supports the advancing professionalization of the young scientific discipline as well as the legitimization of sport management programs in the professional field of sport management. The following measures of a competence-oriented and field-adequate higher education in sport management are decisive, which are discussed in conclusion: (I) development of generic competencies, (II) clear differentiation between Bachelor and Mas-ter programs, and (III) specification of subject-specific competencies

Asymmetry in information acquisition - Exploring the principal–agent dyad of sport organizations and sport management higher education institutions

This study is based on a metaphorical contract in sport management, whereby sport organizations (the principal) engage sport management higher education institutions (the agent) in qualifying graduates according to industry demands. There is asymmetry in the contract due to the lack of incentives for the principal to provide specific information and the agent’s ignorance about this information. A third party can acquire crucial information that sport management higher education institutions need to fulfil the contract. Based on a qualitative content analysis of 12 interviews with sport organization representatives, the study finds that sport management higher education institutions need to focus on either developing generic competencies or credibly signalling the value of sport management-specific competencies in their curriculum in order to efficiently fulfil the contract

Preservice Physical Education Teachers’ Digital Literacy

Introduction and theoretical framework Teachers play a central role in the process of digitalizing education (Wohlfart & Wagner, 2022). However, international studies confirm that teachers in Germany have low digital skills and rarely use digital tools in teaching (Eickelmann et al., 2019). Therefore, this study investigates how digitally competent trainee teachers in the subject of physical ed-ucation assess themselves and analyzes the interdependency of digital literacy, role modeling by university lecturers, and intended integration of ICT in future teaching. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework guided the study (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Method A 50-item questionnaire based on Schmidt et al.’s (2009) validated TPACK questionnaire was administered to a subject-specific sample of all 185 pre-service physical education teachers in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The survey included questions on de-mographics, education-specific information, content- and context-related information as-sociated with the TPACK model (scale from 1=disagree to 5=agree fully), and role model-ling of ICT integration in higher education and in respondents’ own intended practice. Results The results show that the pre-service physical education teachers feel better prepared in terms of content knowledge (CK; m=4,25, SD=0,53) above pedagogical knowledge (PK; m=3,81, SD=0,55) for an increasingly digital educational environment. While they feel confident in conveying content knowledge in a pedagogic manner (PCK; m=3,96, SD=0,59), the integration of technology highlighted both lower values and more variance in the self-assessment (TK, TPK, TCK, TPACK; m=3,30-3,57; 0,63-0,76). The correlation analysis of the knowledge domains shows significant correlations between the seven knowledge domains with moderate to large effect. Finally, the results of the regression models show a positive effect of CK and PK on overall intent to integrate ICT in teaching (R2 = 0.178, adjusted R2 = 0.163, p < .05) and the results further indicate that the effects of role modeling depend on the choice of ICT. Discussion PK and CK (rather than self-assessment within the technology-specific dimensions) had a positive impact on the intent to integrate ICT in PE. While the consideration of ICT in the classroom still represents a barrier, specific support for the pedagogical implementation of ICT (TPK) may have a (subject-specific) positive influence on TPACK. Further, the results confirmed the positive effect of teacher educators\u27 role modeling on digital literacy and general ICT integration intent, including specific types of ICT. We discuss the potential implications of inadequate role modeling on pre-service teachers and PE instruction. References Eickelmann, B., Bos, W., Gerick, J., Goldhammer, F., Schaumburg, H., Schwippert, K. & Vahrenhold, J. (2019). ICILS 2018# Deutschland. Computer-und informationsbezogene Kompetenzen von Schülerinnen und Schülern im zweiten internationalen Vergleich und Kompetenzen im Bereich Computational Thinking. Münster. Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108, 1017-1054. Schmidt, D. A., Baran, E., Thompson, A. D., Mishra, P., Koehler, M. J., & Shin, T. S. (2009). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), 123–149. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2009.10782544 Wohlfart, O., & Wagner, I. (2022). Teachers\u27 role in digitalizing education: An umbrella review. Educational Technology Research and Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-022-10166-

Aligning competence-oriented qualifications in sport management higher education with industry requirements: An importance–performance analysis

This article examines the fit (or lack thereof) between the competencies needed by the sport industry and the proficiency of sport management students. The authors apply importance–performance analysis as a strategic management tool to analyze the results of two competence-oriented datasets in a German context. They find that students’ self-identified proficiency is lower than the importance attributed to proficiency by industry experts. The authors critically discuss the absence of differences between the perceived performance of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students and provide strategic recommendations for sport management higher education. The article highlights the development and communication of generic competencies as a unique selling proposition and reflect on the need to improve subject-specific competencies to further professionalize the field of sport management. Based on these results, a critical reflection of curriculum design in sport management higher education is needed

Information and communication technologies in physical education: Exploring the association between role modeling and digital literacy

Teacher educators should serve as role models in terms of information and communication technologies (ICTs) use to promote digital literacy of future teachers. To analyze the association between role modeling by teacher educators and preservice teachers’ digital literacy and ICT integration intention in their classrooms, 185 physical education (PE) preservice teachers in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg completed an online questionnaire of self-assessed technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) and ICT integration. The results of regression models revealed a positive association between content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (PK) and overall intent to integrate ICT into teaching. The results further indicated that the impact of role modeling on preservice teachers varies depending on the chosen ICT. In this paper, we discuss the implications of these findings for higher education in general and for PE in particular

The unique effects of Covid-19 – A qualitative study of the factors that influence teachers’ acceptance and usage of digital tools

The objective of this study is to examine the factors that influence teachers’ acceptance of digital tools for undertaking distance teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the variables of the technology acceptance model, we have conducted interviews with 15 secondary school teachers with varying degrees of professional experiences and combinations of subjects, from the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany and analyzed the same. The results indicate that, other than user motivation, three areas, namely “regulations and specifications,” “technological infrastructure,” and “heterogeneity of students and teachers,” affect the adoption of digital tools. The Covid-19 pandemic, which inevitably led teachers to embrace digital tools, positively influenced the perception and immediate usefulness of digital tools. We assert that no other variable would have been able to universally influence technology usage and acceptance to such an extent as to replicate the findings of our study and simultaneously highlight the uniqueness of the current situation and the necessity for examining its impact