Focusing on university student engagement at the institutional level

In Australia, there has been a tendency to rely on quantitative indicators of university teaching quality. This has occurred partly because the indicators are perceived as objective and reliable and partly because they are relatively simple to gather and collate. A national project currently underway is based on the assumptions that teaching quality is multidimensional and that the identification and use of relevant indicators of teaching quality are dependent on the institutional environment. With a focus on student engagement, this paper outlines the research-based approach to developing indicators of teaching quality being taken by one Australian university participating in the national project.

Employer matters in 2008

In terms of employer matters, the year 2008 may be best characterized as one dominated by change, challenge and Canberra, as the political landscape was transformed, industrial relations legislation was rewritten and global capitalism went into financial meltdown. The new political and economic environment seemed to demand a greater emphasis on consultation, efforts at cooperation and, dare I say it, in some cases even ‘consensus’. Nevertheless, employers were nonetheless active in pursuing their own objectives, with the main employer associations preoccupied for most of 2008 lobbying for changes and amendments to the form and substance of Labor’s new industrial relations regime, Forward with Fairness. Importantly, the new industrial and legal landscape suggested that the changed status of the ‘parties’ vis-a-vis awards, is likely to lead to increased competition for relevance among employer associations, leading to a series of amalgamations and rationalization, much as occurred with unions in the 1990s.

Cross-sector organisational engagement with ethics : a comparison between private sector companies and public sector entities of Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to describe and compare similarities as well as differences in the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities.

Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in order to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in the largest private sector companies and the largest public sector entities in Sweden. Two adapted questionnaires were developed for each sector. The outcome of this research procedure is reported in this paper.

Findings – There are both minor and major differences between the private sector and public sectors, where the private sector companies overall tend to be more engaged with ethics than the public sector entities in areas such as: ethical bodies, ethical tools, internal and external ethical usage, and ethical support measures and ethical performance measures.

Research limitations/implications – This paper makes a contribution to theory as it outlines findings for the benefit of other researchers working in private and/or public sectors in the field. A suggestion for further research is to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in other countries/cultures that differ from the ones in this research effort performed in the private and public sectors of Sweden.

Practical implications – The research may be of managerial interest as it provides a grounded framework of areas to be considered in the examination of organizational engagement with ethics in both private sector companies and public sector entities. It may be used as a benchmark by either sector.

Originality/value – It reports a research effort to develop and describe a cross-sector comparison of the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities of Sweden. A framework is also introduced and illustrated. It also makes a contribution to theory and practice in the field as it is based upon a dual sample that provides insight into cross-sector organizational engagement with ethics.

Student engagement online : an agenda for research (showcase)

This showcase will describe an institutional research project aimed at investigating students' online engagement and its measurement.

Employer matters in 2007

The year 2007 may well be remembered as one being short on major industrial disputation, yet one where industrial relations itself dominated public discussion and political life of the country like no other time in Australia's history. It was a year dominated by the electoral cycle, with both organized labour as well as major employers playing their cards very carefully, lest they provide political ammunition to their political and industrial opponents. Thanks largely to the effectiveness of the union movement's anti Work Choices campaign, major employer groups and their political allies the Howard government found themselves fighting a rearguard, and ultimately losing, battle, valiantly trying to defend the Work Choices regime. At year's end, the Liberal government had lost office, Prime Minister John Howard had lost his own seat in Parliament, and the Rudd Labor Government had been swept to power with a clear mandate to dismantle the Work Choices regime. Yet despite this conclusion to a year dominated by debate over industrial relations, it seems that employers had nevertheless lobbied Labor party leaders successfully enough to secure the continuation of many key components of the former Howard government's industrial relations regime.

A green profession? A global survey of RICS members and their engagement with the sustainability agenda

Purpose – This study seeks to provide a review of the background and context to the engagement of RICS members with the sustainability agenda, and to examine the extent to which the surveying profession uses relevant information, tools and techniques to achieve the key objectives of sustainable development (or sustainability).

Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses results from a major international online survey of 4,600 RICS respondent members, supported by 31 structured telephone interviews.

Findings – The results suggest that, although sustainability is highly relevant to RICS members' work, a lack of knowledge and expertise is making it more difficult for sustainability tools and other information to be used effectively.

Research limitations/implications – The survey is based on a substantial number of responses which are broadly representative of the global RICS population. A key implication is that “laggard” faculties include the disciplines of commercial property and valuation.

Practical implications – The research suggests that key stakeholders must work together to provide better information, guidance and education and training to “hardwire” the sustainability agenda across RICS faculties.

Originality/value – This is the first truly global survey of its kind and focuses particularly on those faculties that play a major role in property investment and finance (i.e. valuation and commercial property), comparing their position with that of other faculties in an international context.

The effect of active support training on engagement, opportunities for choice, challenging behaviour and support needs

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate active support (AS) training and to investigate changes to perceived engagement in domestic tasks, opportunities for choice, frequency of challenging behaviour, and level of support needs.

Method: Participants were 12 adults with ID aged 27–57 years (M = 37 years) residing in three group homes, and their support workers. The support workers completed assessments on three occasions (at baseline, post-training, and at follow-up).

Results: Residents' engagement in domestic tasks increased over time, and overall choice increased, although perceived choice in two life domains initially increased, but decreased to baseline levels at follow-up. Residents exhibited an overall decrease in anxiety, self-absorbed behaviour, disruptive behaviour, and problem behaviour in general. There was also an overall decrease in perceived support needs for five activity domains, with no change for one domain.

Conclusions: The results contribute to a growing body of evidence demonstrating favourable outcomes of AS in terms of engagement and challenging behaviour in people with ID. Surprising results are presented for choice and perceived support needs, warranting further investigation.

Top Taiwanese and Turkish companies and their engagement with corporate ethics

The objective of this paper is to describe and compare the current, emerging Taiwanese and Turkish interest in corporate ethical engagement. This paper is based upon a survey amongst the top companies operating in Taiwan and Turkey. There are major differences between the top Taiwanese and Turkish companies, where the Turkish companies appear to be more ethically engaged than the Taiwanese companies which came as a surprise to the researchers as Taiwan is a more substantially developed economy than Turkey and one may have assumed therefore more engaged with ethical practices.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : the trading room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

Staff behaviour and resident engagement before and after active support training

Background Identifying the factors associated with greater increases in resident engagement has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of active support (AS).

Method Observational data from Stancliffe, Harman, Toogood, and McVilly's (2007) study of AS were analysed to evaluate amount of staff help, effectiveness of staff help, and staff use of praise.

Results Lag analyses showed that antecedent staff help was consistently followed by resident engagement at pre-test. This strong association did not increase significantly at post-test. Resident engagement was more likely to follow staff help than the other way around. There was an increase from pre-test to post-test in help and praise by staff. The higher absolute amount of praise was largely the result of the increase in staff help.

Conclusions The amount of staff help, its effectiveness, and use of praise by staff may each be important in increasing engagement. These factors should continue to be the focus of research attention and applied efforts to help ensure active support is consistently effective.