The Effectiveness of the Blended Learning in Enhancing EFL Learning and Collaboration

This descriptive-analytical study investigates undergraduates' perceptions and reflections toward adopting the Blended-Learning system in the university instructions. For this goal, the study employed two tools to collect data. Firstly, a) (n=38) pre-service teachers wrote reflection essays, and b) Google forms closed-ended five scales' questionnaire investigated the academic and interaction indicators, each consisting of thirty items, distributed among (n=110) pre-service teachers. The participants were majoring in English as a Foreign language at multi-stages, Saudi Arabia, 2020/2021. The study employed the content and the SPSS analysis. The questionnaire's results showed the undergraduates' positive perceptions toward combining online and face-to-face learning and how this environment improved their learning outcomes, created a collaborative community, fostered openness for sharing, asking, expressing, and getting talk-worthy ideas. The essays' content analysis reflected the undergraduates' experiences and how they enjoyed transitioning between online and face-to-face learning; they were satisfied by the ability to track their scores. These results created a continuous feedback loop correlated with their academic progress through various activities. However, they encountered a few challenges in online classes like a) missed face-to-face warm environment, b) lost attention, and c) missed instructors' nonverbal cues. Generalized, blended learning facilitated learners' knowledge by reducing education costs, distance, efforts, and time without reducing the students' benefits. The study recommends that the BL instructors have to show some enthusiasm and inspiration. The study proposes future research.

A knowledge-intensity-based collaborative community governing mechanism for inter-organisational HR collaborations

PurposeStudies of inter-organisational relationships have mainly investigated collaborations in the technical domain. There is considerably less research conducted in the field of inter-organisational collaborations in the domain of human resource management (HRM). At the same time, it is acknowledged that inter-organisational collaboration in this domain is relevant for organisations. By focusing on inter-organisational HR collaborations, this study provides insights into how these collaborations are governed, as well as how the mode of governance is explained.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relies on a quantitative study among 161 Dutch companies that collaborate with each other on HR-related issues. A measure of governance of inter-organisational HR collaboration is developed and applied.FindingsOrganisations tend to apply a mixture of governance mechanisms to govern their inter-organisational HR collaborations. Hence, they apply a collaborative community type of governance to these HR collaborations. The analyses show that the level of knowledge intensity, in particular the extent to which the organisation applies organisational learning practices, explains the use of collaborative community.Originality/valueFirst, this study focuses on an under-researched field: inter-organisational HR collaborations. Secondly, the study extends existing insights into the governance of inter-organisational relationships by analysing a novel data set.

Gaining Momentum Around Advancing Age Inclusivity

Have you already experienced some success with age friendly initiatives at your institution but are wondering how you might broaden your reach? Fostering connections across disciplines and units on your campus as well as with organizations in your community is the key to gaining momentum and advancing age inclusivity. This presentation will discuss strategies for connecting and engaging faculty, staff, students, and community members in age friendly programs and practices. We will share examples and tips for supporting others to be more age inclusive in their teaching, research, and community engagement. We will share ideas from the AFU toolkit for creating learning groups, collaborative community events, and intergenerational exchange as well as our own experience which has demonstrated that many smaller efforts over time can go a long way toward building momentum and creating a more age inclusive campus.

Decolonizing Technology and Society: A Perspective from the Global South

Despite the large impact of digital technology on the lives and future of all people on the planet, many people, especially from the Global South, are not included in the debates about the future of the digital society. This inequality is a systemic problem which has roots in the real world. We refer to this problem as “digital coloniality.” We argue that to achieve a more equitable and inclusive global digital society, active involvement of stakeholders from poor regions of the world as co-researchers, co-creators, and co-designers of technology is required. We briefly discuss a few collaborative, community-oriented technology development projects as examples of transdisciplinary knowledge production and action research for a more inclusive digital society.

Platformized book prosumption on Wattpad: Reading and writing in the case of a pandemic diary

This article investigates how readers and writers engage on the Wattpad platform. As examples of the digitalization of book culture, platforms such as Wattpad allow converging practices of reading and writing by means of collaborative community actions of prosumption in a data-driven environment of communication and cultural exchange. Following the concepts of prosumption, communities of practice and the platformization of media cultural production, I refer to Wattpad’s converging practices of reading and writing as ‘platformized book prosumption’. To understand how platformized book prosumption works on the Wattpad platform, I will analyse the reading and writing of the most frequently read COVID-19 online diary as a case study. In doing so, I will discuss the mutual relationship between author reflection and community engagement in social reading and writing on the Wattpad platform.