Design Thinking to Reinvent Values in a Business Model: a 4-Step Approach Using Ideation Virtual Tools

The purpose of this paper is to create and test design thinking approach sequence, to redefine the value proposition. This paper suggests a 4-step systematic design thinking approach sequence to reinvent values in a business model, which was researched by a case study method. Based on the idea management approach the authors describe idea generation and evaluation processes by applying the design thinking approach and their possible moderation elements. Originality/value: a created approach could be applied by the organisations that would like to create new values or reinvent the existing ones in their business models value propositions.

Burnout and Online Education: Adaptation and Validation of scale during Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online education represented a serious alternative to continuing working life in higher education institutions (HEIs). Teachers around the world embraced a new role, adopting and using a wide range of technological and virtual tools to continue performing their activities and with the aim to interact with students and to continue teaching. For this reason, research related to seek and identify factors for the teachers’ well-being is essential for educational leaders. Regarding these ideas, this paper aims to test the construct validity of a Mexican version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) of Maslach et al. (1997), adapted to online education. Participants consisted of 406 Mexican university teachers who emergently switched from traditional to online educational practices during the SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreak. In order to test the factor structure of three alternative models based on Szigeti et al. (2016), the authors performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (Ferrando & Lorenzo-Seva, 2018). Results showed that the model with three domain factors has the best fit. Besides, our findings show that the three-factor structure of the Mexican adaptation of MBI-ES is valid and reliable for the analysis of online education because the loading of all factors was representative.

Wedeven Associates: Finding New Ways to Develop Novel Solutions to Persistent, Intractable Problems

Wedeven Associates is a small tribology research and engineering consulting firm located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company faced a variety of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as did most small businesses in 2020. As the company became fully operational again, Wedeven Associates was approached by a longtime client to solve a tribological problem the client’s engineers had been trying to address for many years. The catch: Wedeven Associates only had a little over 2 months to do the work while complying with pandemic-related travel and meeting restrictions. This case tells the story of how the Wedeven Associates team met the challenge using virtual tools and a collaborative approach built on first principles. Readers are introduced to “tribology” as an engineering discipline and “first principles” as a problem-solving approach.

Benefits, Satisfaction and Limitations Derived from the Performance of Intergenerational Virtual Activities: Data from a General Population Spanish Survey

The growing social gap between people of different generations has led to a greater interest in the study of intergenerational interactions. Digital technologies have become necessary for people of all ages to perform daily activities, increasingly including older people. The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and virtual tools can provide older people with excellent opportunities to connect with other generations, improving their quality of life and well-being. The aim of this study was to examine the benefits, satisfaction, and limitations of intergenerational interactions generated by the use of virtual tools. The participants are subjects of any age and different social groups residing in Spain and have completed an online survey. The analysis of sociodemographic data of the respondents showed that there is a significant correlation between the use of social networks and all the variables analyzed, except for their level of autonomy. Most participants who participated in intergenerational virtual activities reported the benefits of their social participation, relationships, mood, mental health, and academic education. Moreover, most participants were quite or very satisfied with the person with whom they used the virtual tools, especially if the person was a friend, their partner, sibling, another relative, or colleague. Except for grandparents, people who participated in intergenerational virtual activities and who had no limitations or disabilities were more frequently reported by the participants. In conclusion, intergenerational interactions through the use of virtual tools can contribute to improving the social inclusion and relationships of all people involved.

Three-Dimensional Virtual Anatomy as a New Approach for Medical Student’s Learning

Most medical and health science schools adopt innovative tools to implement the teaching of anatomy to their undergraduate students. The increase in technological resources for educational purposes allows the use of virtual systems in the field of medicine, which can be considered decisive for improving anatomical knowledge, a requisite for safe and competent medical practice. Among these virtual tools, the Anatomage Table 7.0 represents, to date, a pivotal anatomical device for student education and training medical professionals. This review focuses attention on the potential of the Anatomage Table in the anatomical learning process and clinical practice by discussing these topics based on recent publication findings and describing their trends during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The reports documented a great interest in and a positive impact of the use of this technological table by medical students for teaching gross anatomy. Anatomage allows to describe, with accuracy and at high resolution, organ structure, vascularization, and innervation, as well as enables to familiarize with radiological images of real patients by improving knowledge in the radiological and surgical fields. Furthermore, its use can be considered strategic in a pandemic period, since it ensures, through an online platform, the continuation of anatomical and surgical training on dissecting cadavers.

CyberColombia: a Regional Initiative to Teach HPC and Computational Sciences

The series Summer School HPC Colombia is an initiative to extend high-performance computing-related knowledge in Colombia, and more widely in Latin America, and integrate expertise and research from academia and industry in the same event. This year’s edition, which is the third in the series, was carried out entirely online due to the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic during the first half of the year 2020. In this paper, we summarise the aims, development, deployment, and results of the Summer School HPC Colombia2020event. It is an example of the potential that the use of virtual tools and environments has to grow education for HPC

Tracking Saudi EFL Students’ Reflections of Online Learning During Coronavirus: Different Rounds

The sudden shift into online learning due to COVID-19 has produced many challenges and new educational approaches across all educational systems. Language learning systems were enforced to utilize fully remote education solutions. Responding to COVID-19 is a crucial investigation to find out the challenges, barriers, suggestions, concerns, and deficiencies of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. It also assists in developing the Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in the future and support its students, teachers, and policymakers. This study tracks the influence of this shift on the EFL students in a Saudi high school. Data collection depends on reflective questions sent to the students through the survey and WhatsApp Group three times during the pandemic: April 2020, October 2020, and April 2021. The results show that students faced several threats, ambiguities, and deficiencies that are classified into: (a) students’ emotions, (b) learning environment, (c) student characteristics, and (d) deficiencies and needs. The students gradually acquired experience to deal with those issues and cope with their frustration. Then, they performed in either positive or negative ways depending on their acceptance of the online learning context. The study ends with some implications to efficiently use different virtual tools in the EFL context.

Analysis of Different Digital Alternatives as Teaching Tools to Improve the Teaching–Learning Process

Virtual tools are frequently used in education. Among them, the use of virtual laboratories could be an interesting alternative to strengthen the practical concepts of the students, especially in the current paradigm in which the presence of students is often not possible. For this reason, the aim of this study was to analyse the use of different digital tools for the improvement of the teaching process during the COVID-19 pandemic period. To this end, a comparison of the application of different digital alternatives was carried out, evaluating the differences found with previous teaching courses. The results indicate that, although students welcome these activities, they cannot replace face-to-face practices, being considered as a complementary activity.

Self-disclosure in public and private groups of people with mental illnesses in Facebook

PurposeThe Internet enables various voices and opinions that previously did not participate in the community discourse to express themselves. People with mental illnesses make use of social networks to advance their special needs in varied ways. The study aims to examine the nature of the discourse that takes place in public and private groups of people with mental illnesses.Design/methodology/approachThe research corpus consisted of the content of 615 messages taken from public and private groups of people with mental illnesses in Facebook. Linguistic parameters (the total number of words, the number of words in the first person) were examined for each message. Two skilled judges classified the messages on a self-disclosure scale to determine the degree of disclosure of personal information, thoughts and emotions.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that the messages published in public groups are longer than the messages in private groups; however, the level of personal disclosure in messages written in private groups is deeper than in messages written in public groups. In addition, the level of self-disclosure in opening posts was found to be greater than the level of self-disclosure in comments.Practical implicationsIn the study, the authors focus on the ways people in excluded populations make use of virtual tools to advance both their personal and social needs.Originality/valueThe study is innovative, as it explores the discourse of people with mental illnesses in public and private groups on Facebook.