Improving online communication for students in higher education contexts

The study reported here sought to identify Higher Education students’ preferred modes of online communication whilst studying a wholly online research subject at University. The teacher education student participants from an Australian university were required to collaboratively conduct inquiry research projects in groups whilst relying upon computer-mediated communication. How do students communicate as a collaborative research group whilst only meeting online? The data were collected via the use of online pre-test and post-test surveys conducted ‘prior to’ and ‘post’ involvement in the unit of study and descriptive statistical analysis was applied. The findings revealed that important influences affecting students’ choice of communication mode included their own views on the capacity of online communication, their prior experience and the availability and accessibility of the modes. Furthermore, it was found that when given a choice, students preferred the use of asynchronous forms of digital communication to synchronous forms. Recommendations for improving online teaching, learning and research contexts in Universities are provided and the importance of considering blended mode delivery for wholly online units is argued.

Subject matters of science, technology, mathematics and engineering

This chapter offers a critical review of curriculum in the STEM disciplines, overviewing contemporary context and issues around the STEM acronym as a contested space, issues of inquiry, social justice, current concerns with student engagement and their history, theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning in these disciplines, and key forms and foci of inquiry into STEM curriculum.

Geopoetics of urban becoming

Michele Lobo presents film clips taken by residents of Darwin; followed by conversation with members of Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation, the Multicultural Council of the Northern Territory and others.

Corporate social responsibility: some key theoretical issues and concepts for new ways of doing business

This paper brings together some of the main scholarly sources and thinkers of the last fifty years or so, who have been influential in the corporate social responsibility discussions which have become important, once again, as we begin the 21st century. The author creates a narrative ofkey social, economic and political concepts and themes, which are rationalised (in ways that others might not) from what is often a very disparate, diverse and not always connected discussion on corporate social responsibility. This is not an objective history, charting the developments chronologically, but is the bringing together ofsome serious thinking in the field of corporate social responsibility in a way which has considerable resonance JOT both the development of public policy and business practice in corporate citizenship at the beginning ofthe 21st century.<br />

Corporate social responsibility, some key theoretical issues and concepts for new ways of doing business

This paper brings together some of the main scholarly sources and thinkers of the last fifty years or so, who have been influential in the corporate social responsibility discussions which have become important, once again, as we begin the 21st century. The author creates a narrative of key social, economic and political concepts and themes, which are rationalised (in ways that others might not) from what is often a very disparate, diverse and not always connected discussion on corporate social responsibility. This is not an objective history, charting the developments chronologically, but is the bringing together of some serious thinking in the field of corporate social responsibility in a way that has considerable resonance for both the development of public policy and business practice in corporate citizenship at the beginning of the 21st century.<br />

Collaborative R&D project partner experience in the Australian CRC Program : a theoretical framework

The paper focuses on commercially-oriented cross-sector R&amp;D collaborative projects carried out within Australian Cooperative Research Centres. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the participants&rsquo; experience of such collaborative projects, and the relationship between partner experience and project outcomes. It is hypothesized that collaborative projects that have both a strong relationship focus, in terms relational trust, and a strong task focus, in terms of project management capability, are more likely to be positively experienced by the participants. Four antecedent variables, derived from the literature and preliminary research, are proposed: credible commitments, previous collaboration experience, cross-sector management capability, and communication intensity. The model is to be empirically tested through a survey of CRC project leaders.<br />

A collaborative group method of inclusive research

Funding bodies in Australia and the United Kingdom require research on issues that affect the lives of people with intellectual disability to be inclusive. Debate continues about the nature and benefits of inclusive research, which has become an umbrella term encompassing a broad spectrum of approaches.

Towards a research agenda in collaborative sport governance

Collaborative governance has its origins in public administration and relates to cross-sector collaboration between parties who, by working together, may achieve common goals and more optimum outcomes than by working in isolation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of collaborative governance as a relevant theoretical underpinning upon which to base future sport governance research focussed on the federal model of governance. To do this, we draw on an integrative framework of collaborative governance from the public administration literature to identify relevant research questions instructive for new research directions in sport governance. We offer evidence indicating that the federal model of sport governance is the type of network well-suited to the adoption of a collaborative governance regime but conclude there are barriers and challenges that could inhibit its implementation. The outcome of our work is a research agenda to guide research and theory development that may enhance our understanding of collaborative governance in sport, and of the barriers to its adoption and how they may be overcome.

Linking and leveraging resources for innovation and growth through collaborative value creation: a study of Indian OSPs

How do knowledge-intensive and technology-based service providers from emerging economies sustain their innovation to grow rapidly and become dominant global players in their fields? We explain this recent phenomenon for a sample of offshore service providers (OSPs) from India by drawing from the collaborative value creation theoretical perspective and Mathews&rsquo; (Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(1):5&ndash;27, 2006a) resource &ldquo;linking and leveraging&rdquo; concepts. This paper shows that OSPs from India develop high quality relationships to enable them access and exploit network resources in delivering customized and innovative services to clients globally. The findings of this research provide further evidence that Mathews&rsquo; (Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(1):5&ndash;27, 2006a) internationalization framework of emerging economy multinational enterprises can be generalized to service providers.