scholarly journals Digital badges: Pinning down employer challenges

Author(s):  
Joy Perkins ◽  
Mary Pryor

Digital badges hold considerable potential for employers and recruiters, as they evidence accomplishments of skills and competencies at a more granular level than a traditional degree certificate. Badges are a validated, online graphical representation of an achievement, which is accomplished by undertaking criteria-based learning activities. Despite the established educational benefits of badges in higher education, limited research has been conducted into employer awareness, acceptance, and use of digital badges in recruitment practices. To address this research gap, a mixed method study combining quantitative and qualitative data collection was conducted before and during the COVID-19 health pandemic. Approximately 700 employers were emailed and invited to complete the initial survey and 73 responded. One of the major survey findings is that 97% of respondents were unfamiliar with the concept of digital badges. Significantly, however, despite the lack of employer awareness there was no widespread resistance to the concept of badges, but a strong appeal for further clarification of their value, credibility, and security. Analysis of the data reveals stronger partnership working, between the higher education sector and employers, is pivotal to establish effective digital credentialing systems. Recommendations for higher education institutions have emerged from this study, which aim to balance pedagogical digital badge practice with employer needs. Such synergies are crucial to address the changing skills agenda, to prepare students to thrive in physical and virtual work environments. Given the paucity of research in this field, further studies are warranted, to investigate the impact of digital badges on the employer community.

Virtual Teams ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Hornett

Practitioners and researchers need to pay attention to how corporate organizing structures are impacting and are impacted by virtual work environments. Virtual teams are powerful organizing mechanisms, but they are not without limitations. This chapter reports on two cases in which dynamics outside the virtual project teams powerfully affected the teams. These cases, both based on studies of real project teams operating inside corporations, highlight the desirability of understanding virtual teams in context. While external factors are not unique to teamwork, their role has not been explored in depth in research on virtual teams. Dynamic forces outside teams seem more difficult to anticipate and to identify when team members are working virtually, and these powerful but invisible dynamics can be frustrating to virtual team leaders and members. Concluded in this chapter is that contrary to initial expectations, virtual teams are not replacing traditional forms of organizing. They are coexisting with traditional forms and dynamics, such as business drivers, hierarchies, departments, strategic priorities, and business needs. This coexistence can be fraught with conflict.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 4980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Rof ◽  
Andrea Bikfalvi ◽  
Pilar Marquès

The higher education sector is in the eye of the hurricane of the digital revolution, immersed as it is in an ongoing digital transformation (DT) process that is expected to result in significant changes in the current business model. Despite the relevance of this transformation, little remains known about how the business model is innovated (BMI), due to the impact of digital transformation in the context of higher education institutions (HEI). This research explores the impact of DT on the HEI business model, through analyzing the case of a traditional university, conceived non-digitally. The results present the HEI understanding of DT, the main tensions arising from the DT process for each of the business model dimensions, and the anticipated solutions for solving these tensions. Additionally, the results uncover the existence of an emergent (non-formalized) envisioned business model, which is a visualization of how the current business model is expected to be innovated, due to the impact of DT. The main originality of this paper is in addressing a research gap at the intersection of DT and BMI in the HEI context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-22
Author(s):  
Mehreen Fatima ◽  
Zeeshan Izhar ◽  
Zaheer Abbas Kazmi

Purpose- The primary purpose of the study is to determine the impact of organizational justice (OJ) on employee sustainability. Along with that, it also describes how organizational commitment mediates this direct relationship. This study includes all dimensions of OJ which are distributive, procedural and interactional (interpersonal & informational) within the context of a developing country (Pakistan). Design/Methodology- This study has considered employees working in the banking sector of Pakistan. Two hundred ten questionnaires were received back from employees. Regression analysis was used to analyze direct relationships between variables, while smart partial least squares (PLS) were used for mediation analysis. Findings- Results demonstrated that all hypothesis were accepted and it was also confirmed that organizational commitment (OC) mediates the direct relationship between OJ and employee sustainability (ES). Originality/value- Multidimensional construct of organizational justice was tested in this study, in the context of a developing country (Pakistan), to address the research gap.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Elena Blagoeva

The impact of the last global economic crisis (2008) on the European economy put a strain on higher education (HE), yet it also pushed the sector towards intensive reforms and improvements. This paper focuses on the “Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2014-2020”. With a case study methodology, we explore the strategic endeavours of the Bulgarian government to comply with the European directions and to secure sustainable growth for the HE sector. Our research question is ‘How capable is the Bulgarian HE Strategy to overcome the economic and systemic restraints of Bulgarian higher education?’. Because the development of strategies for HE within the EU is highly contextual, a single qualitative case study was chosen as the research approach. HE institutions are not ivory towers, but subjects to a variety of external and internal forces. Within the EU, this is obviated by the fact that Universities obtain their funds from institutions such as governments, students and their families, donors, as well as EU-level programmes. Therefore, to explore how these pressures interact to affect strategic action on national level, the case method is well suited as it enabled us to study the phenomena thoroughly and deeply. The paper suggests the actions proposed within the Strategy have the potential to overcome the delay, the regional isolation and the negative impact of the economic crisis on the country. Nevertheless, the key elements on which the success or failure of this Strategy hinges are the control mechanisms and the approach to implementation. Shortcomings in these two aspects of strategic actions in HE seem to mark the difference between gaining long-term benefits and merely saving face in front of international institutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 396-402
Author(s):  
Maria Florentina Rumba ◽  
Margaretha P.N Rozady ◽  
Theresia W. Mado

Abstrak: Kebiasaan manusia berubah karena adanya wabah COVID-19, hal ini berpengaruh ketika manusia masuk ke dalam fase new normal. New normal diartikan sebagai keadaan yang tidak biasa dilakukan sebelumnya, yang kemudian dijadikan sebagai standar atau kebiasaan baru yang mesti dilakukan manusia untuk dirinya sendiri maupun untuk bersosialisasi dengan orang lain. Kebiasaan baru ini pun menimbulkan pro dan kontra seiring dengan dampak yang timbul. Lembaga pendidikan tinggi merupakan salah satu yang merasakan dampak penerapan new normal. Perkuliahan yang selama ini dilakukan secara online/daring, akan kembali dilakukan secara luring/tatap muka, dengan tetap menerapkan protokol COVID-19 seperti mengenakan masker, menjaga jarak, mengenakan sarung tangan, serta tidak melakukan kontak fisik seperti berjabat tangan. Masalah yang muncul bukan hanya kecemasan orang tua terhadap anak – anaknya, tetapi bagaimana lembaga pendidikan tinggi mengatur segala sumber daya yang dimiliki agar memenuhi standar penerapan new normal. penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui penerimaan  terhadap kondisi normal yang baru menggunakan Perspektif balance score card. Abstract: Human habits change because of the COVID-19 outbreak, this affects when humans enter the new normal phase. New normal is defined as a condition that is not normally done before, which is then used as a standard or new habits that must be done by humans for themselves or to socialize with others. This new habit also raises the pros and cons along with the impact arising with the new normal. Higher education institutions are the ones who feel the impact of implementing new normal. Lectures that have been conducted online / online will be re-done offline / face to face, while still applying the COVID-19 protocol such as wearing a mask, keeping a distance, wearing gloves, and not making physical contact such as shaking hands. The problem that arises is not only parents' anxiety about their children, but how higher education institutions regulate all available resources to meet new normal implementation standards. This study aims to determine acceptance of new normal conditions using the balance score card Perspective.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Virginia Mero Suárez ◽  
Edwin Joao Merchán Carreño ◽  
Ana Del Rocío Fernández Torres ◽  
Narcisa María Crespo Torres

El artículo aborda la necesidad de la creatividad que se impone en la era actual del conocimiento y la importancia que  constituyen las tecnologías como herramientas indispensables en todas las esferas de la vida. En Trabajo toma como campo investigativo los cambios que se llevan a cabo en esta esfera en la Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí y la Universidad Técnica de Babahoyo, Ecuador, donde se toman como objeto el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje en la Educación Superior. El objetivo de la investigación fue comunicar el impacto de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones en las Universidades, donde se hace énfasis en el nuevo rol de los docentes y su nuevo desempeño de facilitadores del aprendizaje en los educandos a través en los nuevos escenarios mediados por las tecnologías. Para el desarrollo exitoso de esta memoria investigativa se   usó como metodología instrumentos que se basaron fundamentalmente en documentos referativos que ayudaron a justificar el problema de investigación, el cual consistía fundamentalmente en el impacto de las nuevos  dispositivos tecnológicos y su utilidad en los centros de altos estudios del país. Se concluyó que las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación son herramientas indispensables en la docencia y al mismo tiempo la forma de intervenir en el diseño educativo que nos llevan a explorar nuevos métodos docentes en los escenarios educativos mediados por estas. Se constató además que estas herramientas favorecen satisfactoriamente al proceso si se tiene una buena preparación por parte del docente.   Palabras clave: Herramientas tecnológicas, universidades, formación, docencia universitaria, proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje Impact of information technology and communications: a look at higher education  Abstract The article states the need of the creativity that prevails in the current era of knowledge and the importance that technologies constitute in all spheres of life. In field research work it takes as changes take place in this area in Southern State University of Manabí and the Technical University of Babahoyo, Ecuador, where they are taken as an object the process of learning in higher education. The aim of the research was to communicate the impact of Information Technology and Communications in the universities, where the emphasis is on the new role of teachers and their new performance of facilitators of learning in students through the new scenarios mediated by technologies. For the successful development of this research report it was used as a methodology instruments based mainly on referative documents that helped to justify the research problem, which consisted mainly of the impact of new technological devices and their use in the centers of higher learning in the country. It was concluded that information technology and communication are indispensable tools in teaching and at the same time how to intervene in the educational design that lead us to explore new teaching methods in educational settings mediated by these. It was further found that these tools successfully promote the process if there is a good preparation by the teacher.


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