Communities of practice and virtual learning communities : benefits, barriers and success factors

A virtual Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of individuals who share a domain of interest about which they communicate online. The practitioners share resources (for example experiences, problems and solutions, tools, methodologies). Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain. A virtual learning community may involve the conduct of original research but it is more likely that its main purpose is to increase the knowledge of participants, via formal education or professional development. Virtual learning communities could have learning as their main goal or the elearning could be generated as a side effect. Virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities are becoming widespread within higher education institutions (HEIs) thanks to technological developments which enable increased communication, interactivity among participants and incorporation of collaborative pedagogical models, specifically through information communications technologies (ICTs) They afford the potential for the combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication, access to -and from- geographically isolated communities and international information sharing. Clearly there are benefits to be derived from sharing and learning within and outwith HEIs. There is a sense of connectedness, of shared passion and a deepening of knowledge to be derived from ongoing interaction. Knowledge development can be continuous, cyclical and fluid. However, barriers exist in virtual CoPs and these are defined by the authors and illustrated with quotes from academic staff who have been involved in CoPs. Critical success factors (CSFs) for a virtual CoP are discussed. These include usability of technology; trust in, and acceptance of, ICTs in communication; a sense of belonging among members; paying attention to cross-national and cross-cultural dimensions of the CoP; shared understandings; a common sense of purpose; use of netiquette and user-friendly language and longevity. The authors recognise the enormous potential for the development of CoPs through e-mail discussion lists and discussion boards but have themselves experienced the difficulties inherent in initiating such a community. These are corroborated and illustrated with text from interviews with academic staff. Much of the literature on CoPs emanates from outside Europe, despite the fact that e-learning articles have a large diffusion around Europe. The authors suggest further exploration of this topic by identifying and studying CoPs and virtual learning communities across EU countries

Sources and consequences of teachers’ stress during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has had severe and unprecedented consequences in multiple facets of education. Schools, teachers, students and their families were affected and the negative impacts will last for years. The aim of this paper is to identify and explain the sources and consequences of teachers’ job stress and burnout during the pandemic as well as job and life satisfaction. Three sources of stress are emphasised: time allocation changes and workload; the behaviour of students; and the technostress. The empirical research is based on an original online survey applied to middle and high school teachers in Portugal . Information from four time references is collected: before pandemic; first school closure in 2020 (16th Mar – 16th Sep); second school in 2021 (15th Jan – 5th Apr)); at the time of the survey (June-July 2021) The data obtained include characteristics and changes about: teachers and their households; job satisfaction, stress and burnout; life satisfaction; working time and teaching roles; work-life balance; teachings goals, methods, and outcomes; work stressors; working conditions for telework; expectations for teaching year 2021/2020 about job and teaching methods. The results show that teachers’ job stress increased during pandemic and the behaviour and performance of students is it main driver. The difficulties to conciliate work time and personal time are also predictors of teachers’ job stress. Signs of increasing burnout exist.A pandemia da covid-19 tem tido consequências graves e sem precedentes em múltiplas facetas da educação. Professores, estudantes, escolas e famílias foram afetados, e os impactos da pandemia irão repercutir-se também no futuro. O objetivo desta investigação é identificar e explicar as fontes e as consequências do stress e do burnout associados ao trabalho dos professores durante a pandemia, bem como a sua satisfação no trabalho e em relação à vida. Três fontes de stress são consideradas: as mudanças na organização, nos conteúdos e na quantidade de trabalho; o comportamento e desempenho dos estudantes; e o tecnostress. A investigação empírica baseia-se num inquérito original online aplicado aos professores do ensino público (ISCED 2 e 3) em Portugal . São recolhidas informações referentes a quatro períodos: antes da pandemia; no primeiro período de encerramento das escolas em 2020 (16 de março-16 de setembro); no segundo encerramento das escola em 2021 (15 de janeiro-5 de abril); no período do inquérito (junho-julho 2021). Os dados recolhidos incluem características e mudanças sobre: os professores e suas famílias; a satisfação no trabalho, o stress e o burnout; a satisfação em relação à vida; o tempo de trabalho e as funções docentes; o equilíbrio entre trabalho e vida pessoal; os objetivos, métodos e resultados do ensino; o stress no trabalho; as condições para realização do ensino remoto; as expectativas para o ano letivo 2021-22. Os resultados mostram que o stress no trabalho dos professores aumentou durante a pandemia, sendo o comportamento e desempenho dos estudantes um fator explicativo relevante. As dificuldades em conciliar o tempo de trabalho e o tempo pessoal são também fatores preditores do stress no trabalho dos professores. Existem ainda sinais de burnout crescente.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cultural and creative entrepreneurs in financial crises: Sailing against the tide?

We focus on a number of idiosyncrasies of cultural and creative entrepreneurs (CCEs) to study CCEs’ capacity of resilience under times of downturn (economic, financial and debt crisis). We analyse CC firms’ demography (born and dead), trends and performance and the association between subsidies received and firm survival. We look at mostly micro firms in a country where CCEs are particularly challenged from the financial perspective, namely Portugal. We exploit the unique availability of accounting micro data at private firm level in a time span of 8 years (2004-2011), which allows to include the effects of the latest financial crisis, and to understand the evolution of the economic success criterion. The obtained results about the impact of subsidies on survival are interesting in both CCEs and policy perspectives, suggesting a positive impact of subsidies in periods of downturn, and negative impact of subsidies in periods of growth of the economy. Further, CC firms revealed to be more dynamic than other firms in other sectors.JEL Codes - L26; Z11; L8

The specific shapes of gender imbalance in scientific authorships : a network approach

Gender differences in collaborative research have received little at- tention when compared with the growing importance that women hold in academia and research. Unsurprisingly, most of bibliomet- ric databases have a strong lack of directly available information by gender. Although empirical-based network approaches are often used in the study of research collaboration, the studies about the influence of gender dissimilarities on the resulting topological outcomes are still scarce. Here, networks of scientific subjects are used to characterize patterns that might be associated to five categories of authorships which were built based on gender. We find enough evidence that gen- der imbalance in scientific authorships brings a peculiar trait to the networks induced from papers published in Web of Science (WoS) in- dexed journals of Economics over the period 2010-2015 and having at least one author affiliated to a Portuguese institution. Our re- sults show the emergence of a specific pattern when the network of co-occurring subjects is induced from a set of papers exclusively au- thored by men. Such a male-exclusive authorship condition is found to be the solely responsible for the emergence that particular shape in the network structure. This peculiar trait might facilitate future network analyses of research collaboration and interdisciplinarity

Children and Parents Time Use: Empirical Evidence on Investment in Human Capital in France, Italy and Germany

We analyze a mechanism that has been disregarded in the literature on parental investment in children, as little attention has been devoted to the choices made by children themselves. We model directly time use by youngsters into activities related to the acquisition of human capital, considering not just the decision on study time, but also on socialization/networking at young age, which can enhance personal interaction skills. We provide new empirical evidence for three European countries (France, Italy and Germany) on the link between time allocation by parents and time allocation by youngsters, highlighting country-specific patterns as well as cross-country differences. We run fractional regression models and double hurdle models on multi-member household micro data on time use. Countries diverge concerning the association between parents and youngsters allocation of time to socializing and to reading and studying activities, with Italy standing out as the country where that association, in particular between youngster and mother, is strongest. Our results are consistent with different mechanisms: parental role model directly influencing children behavior, intergenerational transmission of preferences, or network effects, as individuals adapt their behavior to social patterns.study time, socializing, networking, youth, intergenerational transmission of preferences, fractional regression models, double hurdle models

Male and female wage functions : a quantile regression analysis using LEED and LFS portuguese databases

This paper was presented at the 3rd Linked Employer-Employee Data Workshop LEED 2013, June 27-28, Lisbon, PortugalThe research aims to study the distribution of hourly wages for men and women in Portugal, adopting a quantile regression (QR) approach. Two databases are used for the estimation of the wage functions: the Quadros de Pessoal, Linked Employer-Employee Data (QP-LEED) and the Inquérito ao Emprego, Portuguese Labour Force Survey (IE-LFS). Three basic models are considered to explain the hourly wages for men and women: the first model, using each database separately, is estimated adopting education, tenure, potential experience, activity sector, and job as independent variables; the second, using data from QP-LEED, includes additional determinants related to firm (firm size and foreign social capital); and the third, using data from the IE-LFS, includes additional independent variables related to the worker's family (marital status and children). The results indicate that: (i) Regardless of the database used, the quantile regression (QR) shows superiority over OLS approach; (ii) In general, the same model specification estimated using each database - one administrative (QP-LEED), and the other based on a survey (IE-LFS) - present convergent results; (iii) Independently of the database used, the equations for men and for women reveal that the levels of education have a higher impact on wage determination; (iv) In general, the variables related to the firm contribute to the explanation of wages of men and women while those related to family only contribute to the explanation of men's wages; and (v) the clear different returns for the same characteristics found between men and women, and the pattern of differences which increase across quantiles strongly indicates that the present study should continue in the future, with the analysis of the explanation of the gender wage gap

Determinants of innovation in European construction firms

The research aims to identify the determinants of process and product innovation in a traditional and low-tech sector, supported in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), specifically European Construction Sector. The study uses micro data from the e-Business Survey of the European Commission. The dependent variables studied are binary (presence or absence of process or/and product innovation). The explanatory variables considered are: suppliers, clients, market orientation, turnover growth and size. In addition, some national context variables – GDP per capita and R&D weight in GDP – are also tested. The results show that the sector of construction innovates, and the factors that contribute more to this innovation are suppliers and growth of business. It is also concluded that firm size is more relevant for process innovation than for product innovation, and companies that are guided by international markets innovate more than those that focus on local and regional markets. First published online: 29 Jan 201

Time and wellbeing in arts and media participation: Disentangling Americans’ quality of experience

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Academic Adjustment: a pilot to assess the potential of a virtual mentoring scheme

Support systems are vital for university entrants and one established means of support is peer mentoring which has the potential to improve student engagement and retention. Mentoring models are generally based on face-to-face contact. However, given the increasing number of higher education institutions using social media, might online models be beneficial in a support context? This paper by means of examining extant literature complemented by a case study considered three virtual models: social networking sites (SNS), virtual learning environments (VLE) and virtual worlds. Findings indicated that the social networking model had the most potential. A pilot study by business programmes at Northumbria University is now being undertaken. Technical issues have been encountered and overcome. However, further analysis is required to fully establish the long term viability and potential extensions to the model