Virtual Communities ‘Group Discussions’: An Australian Teaching and Learning Perspective

This paper provides an Australian perspective on teaching and learning using virtual communities, mainly ‘e.g. group discussions’. Understanding the increased importance of technology, Curtin Business School (CBS) has undertaken to improve and enhance teaching and learning facilities aimed at students enrolled for degrees via various modes i.e. internal, external and fully online. Currently, CBS uses the Blackboard Course Management Software (Blackboard) to provide course materials to students, which allows the development of virtual communities ‘e.g. group discussions’. Using this software, the aim is to enhance students’ teaching and learning abilities. This is principally achieved through either replacing traditional teaching amenities at CBS by technologically advanced medium, or allowing both media to work side by side aiming at the enhancement of students’ learning experience. The Blackboard software has various approaches in assisting students interacting and sharing their knowledge and ideas with students, and simultaneously with teaching staff through virtual communities ‘e.g. group discussions.’Group Discussions forums have provided various benefits to students and lectures providing teaching staff the chance to examine their students’ work using this interface. Students’ online work includes their interactions (i.e. student/student) and provides the teaching staff the opportunity to monitor students’ progress. This paper outlines the benefits, challenges, impacts and implications of using group discussions from two teaching staff at two different schools at CBS of Curtin University. The university uses this approach in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses, both internal, external, and fully online providing ideas that might be applied to further enhance the strength of this medium. However, this paper focuses mainly on undergraduate discussion boards, with one concentrating on a mixed approach (i.e. face-to-face and virtual), while the other (being external mode) was only through the use of Blackboard

An Attempt to Design a Business Capstone Course: A Personal Experience

Derived from a personal experience, this paper presents a framework on how a ‘Capstone Course’ might be developed at a university in Australia. This paper begins with a selective literature review on the diverse ideas and methods of teaching a ‘Capstone Course’ at different levels and disciplines, then discusses the process followed to have the course syllabus and outcomes approved by top management. The literature will shed some light on the ways by which this course is delivered at business schools in different parts of the world at various levels. A common theme in the literature is that, regardless of the diverse ways in which this course can be delivered, the syllabus must be relevant to real-life situations and actual business practices. This is a difficult task since differences are apparent regarding the contents of this course and the diverse views regarding the sort of relationship that a university should have with businesses. Indeed, in obtaining necessary approvals as to how this course can be delivered, there are both challenges and limitations. This paper reports on a personal experience in developing such a course, highlighting the great opportunities and the immense challenges faced by the developer. This paper shares with readers a ‘theoretical’ vision rather than a ‘practical’ implementation of a Capstone Course designed for inter disciplinary business students in Australia. This paper highlights the challenges and limitations experienced, with suggestions and steps depicted in a conceptual model as to how best a ‘Business Capstone’ course can be designed and implemented to achieve the ultimate goal of preparing students for the real world

Sustainable Development and Business Strategies: An International Higher Education Experience

This paper reports on development and facilitation of a unit (course) on ‘Sustainable development and Business Strategies’ (SDBS). SDBS was developed in Australia for delivery to international students originated from different countries gathered in Europe. SDBS allowed students to cultivate a new perspective towards change, outlining a new strategy through innovation in an ever changing, uncertain and contemporary ‘risk society’ (Beck, 2002). The topic of sustainable development and business strategies has gained momentum at governments, international organizations, business and higher education levels. To understand the multidisciplinary nature of this vast topic, which, in part, touched on ethical issues, sustainability and strategic development in contemporary business; SDBS was designed to allow students the engagement in class discussions, arguments and debates, sharing their unique international experiences, throughout which transformation and modification in their mindsets was witnessed.This was measured through class discussions and assessments that were designed in consultation with the European partners. This paper starts with literature review on the concepts under study, an insight into SDBS’s development and concludes with analysis of some of the quantitative and qualitative data collected from 51 students over two periods. This is coupled with facilitator’s personal reflection. Though this paper has its limitations, yet it is a small step forward towards developing an international perspective for teaching these rather importance issues to business and management students

Green IT and Sustainable Development Strategies: An Australian experience

This paper reports on the development and facilitation of an intensive postgraduate unit (IS6) at Curtin University. IS6 aimed at enhancing Information Systems students’ appreciation and awareness of their industry’s impact on the environment, and their ultimate responsibility towards their communities and society. Throughout the seminars, students were keen to demonstrate awareness and sensitivity to the importance of sustainable development and business strategies in such a crucial time for people, planet and profits. Indeed, students were able to display an understanding of the fundamentals of Green IT, applying conceptual tools and frameworks to critically analyze and apply business decision-making practices and policies, translating theories, concepts and analytical techniques learnt into practice.The paper reports on quantitative and qualitative data collected throughout the semester from eighteen students, the diverse assessment methods applied, the three written journals, students’ individual oral presentations including peer-evaluation and report writing of an IT Sustainable Strategy. This comes in addition to the feedback provided through informal channels and more importantly through ‘eVALUate’, a feedback system adapted by Curtin University. The preliminary outcome, though limited to Australian higher education, yet reveals a shift in the students’ mindsets towards appreciation of the big picture, thus moving from merely concentrating on their software and hardware development into establishing the link between their specific industry and the society and environment

Does 'MP3' audio feedback enhance students' learning skills?: An international case study

Feedback in higher education, via either traditional or technology approaches, is essential to promote students' skills and knowledge. This study aims to assess students’ responses to the lecturer’s ‘MP3’ audio feedback in four postgraduate units in Australia and Portugal. Two methods are used to provide feedback to the students: traditional and audio ‘MP3’ feedback. The former tracks via a Microsoft word application system, giving academics the chance to include comments regarding what went wrong, and how things might be improved in terms of the topic, structure, layout, style, referencing, grammar and syntax, and proofreading requirements embedded within the assessment. The ‘MP3’ approach, on the other hand, recodes the feedback message using the free software ‘Audacity’. This ‘MP3’ contains a personalized message highlighting the good and bad points, and provides suggestions for improving the final submission. This study provides empirical evidence based on three sources: informal and formal student feedback, and an online survey. The 184 students who participated in the study appeared to be pleased and quite satisfied with the ‘MP3’ audio assessment feedback approach as their learning outcomes and their writing, research, listening, and technology skills were enhanced

Guest editorial: challenges and opportunities of elearning and blended learning during COVID-19 - Part 1

In December 2019, our lives transformed incessantly, as a new virus – a secret and unknown enemy – named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), interrupted and disturbed the lives of people world-wide. The spread of the secret virus affected and impacted all the sectors including the education. Currently world-wide, the education sector is facing a huge impact as a result of the COVID-19, with universities forced to shift their teaching to e-learning and blended learning modes. Academics have had to adapt to this change, both by way of teaching and the assessment process. This has generated several challenges and opportunities for both academics and students. This special issue aims to investigate, assess and examine academics’ perspectives and perceptions with regard how they have handled this challenge as well as highlighting any opportunities and challenges they have experienced during this period. This new issue will add a new theoretical and practical significance to the e-learning literature review, as currently academics are facing new challenges and opportunities by changing their teaching mode from blend teaching to pure e-learning from the COVID-19. This special issue explored the following themes, namely, teaching mode, e-Learning, blended Learning and collaborative technology. The special issue is comprised of seven papers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of Cloud Computing and organizational sustainability

When economic times get tough, businesses worldwide are compelled to review their organizational expenses and priorities and to strategically consider how best to save. Traditionally, Information Technology (IT) department is one area that would be affected negatively in the review. To better serve the organization and clients and for business to continue to increase productivity, it is important to understand which technology investments might allow for cost reduction and efficient use of resources. Continuing to fund these strategic technologies during an economic downturn is vital to organizations. It is predicted that in coming years IT resources will only be available online. More and more organizations are looking at operating smarter businesses by investigating technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization and green IT to find ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies. 'Cloud computing' is one recent phenomenon which is predominantly driven by industry recognition of the triple bottom line making sustainability their focus. This is also driven by industry needs that may have the ability to transform the workplace, with a focus on capital expenditure, infrastructure, applications, usage, mobility, and cost structure.The attraction of cloud computing is obvious with noticeable freedom from managing and hosting applications, platforms, and infrastructure. Though advantages of cloud computing are countless, cloud computing is still in its infancy and has disadvantages such as security, privacy, reliability, physical location of data and the unavailability of service due to crashes or bugs in providers' storages; the consequences of which are merely unknown. These disadvantages might be tackled through the proper introduction, training and implementation of codes of ethics as guiding principle to those involved in the usage of cloud computing in business. This paper provides a brief literature review of cloud computing, followed by an analysis of the cloud-computing environment using the PESTEL framework. The future implications and limitations of adopting cloud computing as an effective ecofriendly strategy to reduce carbon footprint are also discussed in the paper. This paper concludes with a recommendation to guide researchers to further examine this phenomenon

Cloud Computing and Sustainability: An Australian Public Sector Perspective

Businesses are compelled to shift their organizations’ strategies to focus on sustainable growth. The recent summits in Copenhagen and Cancun have alerted businesses of their corporate social and environmental responsibilities. This require a shift in mindset that it is no longer the economic and financial stability that will drive an organization’s success but the longevity and sustainability of any organizations are also heavily dependent on their social and environmental outlook. An organization may no longer be sustainable if their social and environmental approach is de-coupled from the organization’s strategies. A way forward might be through the application of ethical management integrated with a full understanding of the agile and innovative technological solutions. This paper provides findings from a survey of the Australian public sector organizations of the awareness of cloud computing technology and the attitudes toward this innovative business solution. Two hundred and forty responses were received from the public sector organizations in Australia. The findings reveal that cloud computing technology is an important trend, and it can be concluded that it is extremely important for business leaders in their entirety, not just the IT managers, to understand the great potential that cloud computing technology has to offer

Ethical climate of Public Sector organizations in Australia

The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the ethical climate in the Australian Public Sector organizations. Using a mixed method design, data was collected from 158 employees of all ranks using an online survey. Data analysis suggests that public servants rate highly such values as integrity, honesty, support and compassion that act as a positive force for making the workplace more tolerable, flexible, and most importantly, in support of an ethical climate that is accountable. However, some respondents expressed concerns that management do not necessarily maintain or display such values. This is reflected in the doubt cast by respondents that an individual with a self-serving (selfish) ethical mindset can be changed for the better. This suggests that there are a number of different possible ethical climates. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that respondents display a high level of respect for belief systems different to their own.While there are those who stated that they do not ‘wear their beliefs on their sleeves’, those belief systems come out in the way they treat others and the way they view the world. To improve the ethical climate of public service organizations, the data suggests that it is important to combat feelings amongst staff that favouritism is being practiced. Interestingly, respondents concede that this too is in the hands of management who they say ‘set the ethical scene’. Though limited to Australia, this research potentially adds to the developing business ethics literature generally and more specifically to the evolving theoretical perspectives on ethical mind-sets with the identification and development of ethical climate in organizations raising some interesting theoretical questions worthy of further research

The rationales behind free and proprietary software selection in organisations

The aim of this paper is to critically examine the important assumptions behind the software-selection function in organisations. Software is incorporated in many situations within enterprises due to its unique ability to efficiently and effectively augment business functions and processes. Proprietary software with its inherent advantages and disadvantages remains dominant over "Free and Open-Source Software" (FOSS) in a large number of cases. However, the arrival of cloud-computing almost certainly mandates a heterogeneous software environment. Open standards, upon which most FOSS is based promotes the free exchange of information, a founding requirement of the systems embedded in organisations. Despie evidence to the contrary, the fact that FOSS is also available at low financial cost, combined with the benefits implicit in facilitating inter-process communication supports the view that it would be attractive to organisations.This paper approaches the paradoxical situation by examining the relevant literature in a broad number of disciplines. An important aspect examined is the roles that management, and in particular the executive, play in the software-selection functio. It is on the basis of these findings that the rationales of use for both proprietry and FOSS are discussed in a multi-disciplinary context. Understanding the rationales behind the software-selection function may provide academics and practitioners with insight into what many would consider an ICT-centric problem. However, by abstratcting to the managment context, as opposed to the technical context, the organisational issues surrounding both proprietary software and FOSS adoption are counter-intuitively brought to the forefront