Librarians, step out of the classroom!: how improved faculty-led IL instruction improves student learning

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan Lacy ◽  
Alexandra Hamlett

PurposeIn most higher education institutions, information literacy (IL) instruction is usually considered the purview of librarians, not disciplinary faculty. However, a small but growing body of research indicates that students learn the research process best when these skills are taught in the context of a course or a discipline. For this reason, teaching faculty should share ownership of IL instruction — but how? In this case study, community college librarians explain how they successfully trained faculty to integrate IL into their English Composition courses and teach IL independently.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multimethods approach, the investigators draw on faculty interviews, student surveys, and content analysis of student essays to evaluate the impact of faculty-led IL instruction on student learning after one semester.FindingsFaculty reported that their instruction of IL was improved, and students work better as a result of their collaboration with the librarians. Compared to previous semesters, faculty perceived gains in terms of students’ ability to synthesize and cite evidence in their writing. Student survey results indicate perceived gains in their IL skills, but an assessment of their written work reveals a discrepancy between this perception and the actual application of these skills.Research limitations/implicationsBecause there is no control group, no conclusions can be drawn as to whether faculty-led IL instruction is as effective as librarian-led IL instruction or whether students’ academic performance improves due to faculty teaching IL. However, the purpose of this study is primarily descriptive. It addresses how other libraries may create a culture of shared ownership of IL instruction on their campuses.Practical implicationsThis study offers an alternative model to library instruction and suggests ways instruction librarians can prioritize their outreach and instructional efforts to maximize impact on student learning.Originality/valueWhile much has been written about how librarians can improve IL instruction, few studies mention the role of faculty. This case study starts the conversation.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami K. Isaac ◽  
Annika Van den Bedem

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of terrorism on risk perception and travel behaviour of the Dutch market towards Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The research process involved an online self-administered method created with one of the leading research and web-based survey tools called Qualtrics. The questionnaire was filled in by 328 respondents. Findings Findings indicate that Sri Lankan is perceived to be a relatively safe destination. However, the likeliness of visiting the country is unlikely. The respondents with past travel experience (PTE) perceive Sri Lanka to be safer than those without PTE and are more likely to revisit. Male respondents have a higher safety perception of Sri Lanka than women. Most of the respondents see Sri Lanka as an attractive destination and would consider travelling there with children. Research limitations/implications The majority of the respondents are female and aged between 18 to 29 years old. The majority of the respondents’ children were already 19 or older and not accompanying their parents on holiday. This study has managerial implications for Sri Lanka’s tourism board that could work on developing a marketing strategy that focusses on promoting Sri Lanka as a safe destination in combination with all the other unique selling points. Originality/value To the best of author’s knowledge, no analysis has been so far published with a focus on the impact of terrorism on risk perception and attitudes of the Dutch tourist towards Sri Lanka. The aim of this paper is to close the existing gap in the literature and to provide valuable knowledge on the influence of terrorism on risk perception and attitudes of the Dutch tourists’ travel behaviour towards Sri Lanka as a destination.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendra H. Oliver ◽  
Jonathan D. Ehrman ◽  
Christina C. Marasco

Abstract Background Many undergraduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields lack experience in collaborative thinking, limiting their effectiveness as they enter careers in academic and industrial environments. The SyBBURE Searle Undergraduate Research Program has incorporated a team-based design component into its curriculum to fill this gap in training. This design framework, called Vigilante Innovation (VIX) to highlight its emphasis on self-initiation and action, has evolved into a multi-semester-long group undertaking that combines just-in-time training in entrepreneurship and project design with student-driven collaborations aimed at solving a real-world problem. We hypothesize that this framework provides a hands-on, realistic workplace simulation task through which students can develop an understanding of teamwork. Results Using a case-study approach, we discuss the development of the VIX design framework since its inception in 2014 and assess the impact of the VIX framework on student learning and growth using a student survey from 2016 to 2017 and student interviews from 2018. Conclusions A flexible approach, an annualized project timeline, a student-driven prototyping space, and self-selecting project areas emerged as key contributors to the successful implementation of the VIX design and to deepened student learning. The diversity of VIX teams, the self-reported success of student projects, and student interviews indicate that students who participate in VIX possess an in-depth understanding of team-based strategies. These findings support the VIX framework as an effective method of providing undergraduates in STEM fields with efficient and meaningful exposure to the team-based entrepreneurial skills that are vital in their future careers. Additional work is needed to determine if this approach has a long-term impact on student success in team-based environments. The website vigilanteinnovation.com houses a customizable, freely available version of the design guide for educators and innovators alike.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Casonato ◽  
Federica Farneti ◽  
John Dumay

Purpose To present the continuation of a case study by Beck et al. (2017) on an Australian bank (CBD) during the period 2004–2013 by examining whether integrated reporting affects relational capital and helps to repair an organisations’ reputation. Both studies examine how a bank rocked by a major scandal in 2004 has attempted to repair its legitimacy through integrated reporting (<IR>). The paper aims to discuss these issue. Design/methodology/approach This study is a post facto analysis based on the original research from Beck et al. (2017). The research process involved a case study approach with an analysis framed by impression management theory to investigate whether the information in CBD’s integrated reports is consistent with other information available to investors. Findings The authors find there is a gap between what CBD discloses in its integrated reports and what is publicly available in other media. CBD’s talk and actions are not aligned, and that asymmetry translates into a decline of trust in CBD. The bank’s integrated reports reveal how management discloses or withholds information to protect their own interests and at their own discretion. These conclusions indicate that the integrated reporting paradigm is being co-opted by IM strategies to improve legitimacy through trust, reputation and social capital. Research limitations/implications Future research needs to reach beyond the organisational boundaries and understand if <IR> adds value for society, or is just a new form of multicapitalism, being an ideology to help the rich become richer? The answers are important if we ever hope to see misconduct disappear from our corporations and for company reports to become documents bearing truth and not espouse rhetoric based on organisational hypocrisy. Originality/value The paper adds to the growing body of research investigating <IR> in practice to understand the impact of <IR> and whether it is a new and useful reporting tool or just another management fashion.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Eli Bager ◽  
Kent Wickstrøm Jensen ◽  
Pia Schou Nielsen ◽  
Tue Avbæk Larsen

Purpose – Entrepreneurial learning through formal growth-oriented training programs for SME managers promises to enhance the growth competences and growth intentions of the enrolled managers. The impact of such programs, however, depends on who enrolls since initial competence and growth-intention levels vary significantly. Potential participants may suffer from limited ability to transform new knowledge into practice, absence of growth intention and too high or too low a prior competence level to be able to benefit substantially. Selection and self-selection processes therefore have a bearing on the extent to which such programs result in additionality, i.e. improved growth performance compared to non-intervention. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Selection and self-selection processes are explored through a study of a large-scale training program for growth-oriented managers of small Danish firms. This program has, from 2012 to 2015, trained about 700 SME managers. Data are currently available for 366 of these participants. This evidence is compared with survey results from a randomly selected control group of 292 growth-oriented SME managers in the same firm-size group. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Findings – A number of selection and self-selection biases were identified in the analysis. While some of the identified biases did not seem to conflict with the ambitions of this growth program, others potentially have consequences for the additionality of the program. Originality/value – The paper is the first systematic study of the importance of who enrolls in training programs for SME managers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Bowyer

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage other educators to pivot and implement a current event activity when a situation arises. This paper examines the pedagogical benefits of implementing a current event class activity. The author discusses using tacit knowledge of an international trip to heighten awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic while linking it to business management knowledge. Results of a follow-up student survey are also discussed. Design/methodology/approach Considering the potential impact of COVID-19, an in-class activity was implemented and later followed up by a survey that addressed the activity impact. Students conducted brief research on COVID-19 and were put in small groups that analyzed scenarios for potential spread and identified steps business managers could take as safeguards. The entire class discussed the scenarios and potential actions during the upcoming spring break. The associated survey was for future classroom management and feedback concerning COVID-19 and not designed for research purposes. Findings The literature analyses and survey results indicate that pivoting from the syllabus and engaging students in a current event activity can be beneficial. In this study, students displayed increased awareness and changed actions as a result of the class activity. Originality/value This paper shares the author’s perspective regarding deviation from the course syllabus to conduct a class activity focused on a current event, which in this case is the COVID-19 pandemic.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco José Fernández Cruz ◽  
Inmaculada Egido Gálvez ◽  
Rafael Carballo Santaolalla

Purpose Quality management systems are being used more frequently in educational institutions, although their application has generated a certain amount of disagreement among education experts, who have at times questioned their suitability and usefulness for improving schools. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by providing additional knowledge on the effects in educational institutions of implementing quality management systems. Specifically, this study investigates teachers’ and managers’ perception of the impact that quality management systems have on one essential dimension of schools, the teaching–learning processes, with impact being understood as sustained medium- and long-term organisational change. Design/methodology/approach The responses were analysed and classified into a set of sub-dimensions linked to quality management processes in a total of 29 Spanish primary and secondary education schools that have used such systems for at least three years. Findings The results showed that, according to the respondents, the following sub-dimensions were improving as a result of implementing quality management plans: teaching and learning processes, the analysis of student results, tutoring, consideration of attitudes and values and assessment processes. Conversely, quality management systems did not seem to have a clear impact on the teaching methodologies used by teachers or on family involvement in student learning. In fact, the perceived impact in these sub-dimensions varied among teachers of public and private schools as well as when comparing different regional autonomous communities. Originality/value As the main objective of a school is to guarantee student learning, one of the essential purposes of school quality assurance systems is to perform all the activities aimed at ensuring high levels of student performance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 517-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wadid Lamine ◽  
Sarfraz Mian ◽  
Alain Fayolle

Purpose – This paper seeks to advance ongoing research in entrepreneurial perseverance. While the concept of perseverance is not new, few researchers paid attention to behavioural persistence in the entrepreneurial context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of new technology based firms (NTBF) by focusing on the role of nascent entrepreneurs’ social skills in the meeting the changes of entrepreneurial perseverance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors study the start-up phase of entrepreneurial process. The authors opted for a longitudinal case study approach in order to enhance the knowledge on entrepreneurs’ social skills and perseverance. For triangulation purpose the data were gathered using four different information sources. The use of Nvivo8 as the data analysis tool helped to impose a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights. Findings – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of new venture creation. Particularly, reading the entrepreneurial process through the lens of the perseverance strategies model (Van Gelderen, 2012) provided a way to identify and then to assess the impact of the social skills on the overall entrepreneurial perseverance and their combined impact on the performance of NTBF creation process. In doing so, the authors identify the impact of entrepreneurs’ social skills to deal with a series of entrepreneurial problems such as scarcity of resources, uncertainty and ambiguity and consequently their impact on the likelihood of survival for new ventures. The issues that arose mostly reflected the inherent complexity of technology transfer processes, the university and entrepreneurs’ diverging cultures, and the very characteristics of the start-up phase of NTBFs. The findings reveal how social skills impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of NTBF creation. The findings reveal how social skills and perseverance impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Practical implications – The paper has implications for entrepreneurial support mechanisms such as technology business incubators in helping them to improve the efficacy and efficiency of their assistance to entrepreneurs through the development of their skill-sets and perseverance and providing enabling networking. In addition, the research has implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Indeed, there is an urgent need to design and implement courses and programs aiming at developing soft skills in entrepreneurship. Originality/value – In exploring networking and issues of perseverance for nascent entrepreneurs operating in new technology-based sectors, which the authors consider as an under searched area in entrepreneurial literature.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 327-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Plé

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the combining of marketing and organizational literature. This paper seeks to evaluate the relationships between multichannel coordination and customer participation, as seen through the lens of potential customer opportunism. It aims at showing the impact of this opportunism on the organizational design of multiple channels structures.Design/methodology/approachThe research reports on an exploratory case study in a French retail bank. A total of 25 in‐depth interviews were conducted, and the use of other sources enabled data triangulation.FindingsThe results show first that an increase in the number of distribution channels is liable to favor customer opportunistic behavior. To counter this, the bank mainly relies on impersonal coordination modes. An emerging result highlights the role of the customer as a “perceptual filter” between the different channels of employees.Research limitations/implicationsCustomer opportunism is studied via channels employees perceptions. An investigation using a customer survey may help to better understand this construct, e.g. to identify its antecedents, and to measure it precisely. Moreover, further qualitative and/or quantitative studies with larger sample sizes are needed to try and generalize these results.Practical implicationsIt is recommended not to forget that customers can facilitate or hinder multichannel coordination. Retail banks have the power to use them conveniently, provided that they are fully conscious of the scope of the “partial employee” role played by the customer.Originality/valueThis paper broadens understanding of how multichannel distribution structures are coordinated, and in a way belies traditional organizational design literature. The emerging result gives birth to the concept of “reversed interactive marketing”, which has interesting theoretical and practical repercussions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Jones

Purpose – This paper aims to to explore power and legitimacy in the entrepreneurship education classroom by using Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological and educational theories. It highlights the pedagogic authority invested in educators and how this may be influenced by their assumptions about the nature of entrepreneurship. It questions the role of educators as disinterested experts, exploring how power and gendered legitimacy “play out” in staff–student relationships and female students’ responses to this. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple-method, qualitative case study approach is taken, concentrating on a depth of focus in one UK’s higher education institution (HEI) and on the experiences, attitudes and classroom practices of staff and students in that institution. The interviews, with an educator and two students, represent a self-contained story within the more complex story of the case study. Findings – The interviewees’ conceptualization of entrepreneurship is underpinned by acceptance of gendered norms, and both students and staff misrecognize the masculinization of entrepreneurship discourses that they encounter as natural and unquestionable. This increases our understanding of symbolic violence as a theoretical construct that can have real-world consequences. Originality/value – The paper makes a number of theoretical and empirical contributions. It addresses an important gap in the literature, as educators and the impact of their attitudes and perceptions on teaching and learning are rarely subjects of inquiry. It also addresses gaps and silences in understandings of the gendered implications of HE entrepreneurship education more generally and how students respond to the institutional arbitration of wider cultural norms surrounding entrepreneurship. In doing so, it challenges assertions that Bourdieu’s theories are too abstract to have any empirical value, by bridging the gap between symbolic violence as a theory and its manifestation in teaching and learning practices.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Riad Shams

Purpose – It is recognised that reputation is a relational construct; however the impact of stakeholders’ various relational dimensions on their perceptions to influence reputation is not widely understood. The purpose of this paper is to add to the current understanding of stakeholders’ relationships, interactions, their subsequent relational dimensions and its impact on stakeholders’ perceptions to further influence relational reputation. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a case study approach. Findings – The findings of this study recognise the impact of relationship marketing (RM) on the influence of stakeholders’ perceptions. It discusses how RM substantiate the pertinent authenticity (symbolises reputation), relevance and differentiation (represent brand positioning) of an organisation’s profile and/or their market offerings, in relation to the interest of the target market through the cause and consequence of stakeholder relationships and interactions to influence their perceptions. The findings acknowledge 11 RM dimensions that have relational implications to nurture stakeholders’ perceptions and subsequent relational reputation, which appear viable across industries and markets. Originality/value – Underlying the cause and consequence of stakeholder relationships and interactions; these 11 RM dimensions emerge as antecedents to form/reform relational reputation. Further academic and professional implications of the findings are briefly discussed.


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