Perceptions of learning and teaching quality in Higher Education:developing a culture of co-creation of value

Perceptions about the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education has for many years focused upon the application of market based principles. This includes the notion of students as “customers” of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) service. We argue that the application of the customer analogy is unhelpful however, as students this approach is likely to affect student expectations about the service and their judgements about its quality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a study consisting of a series of interventions to develop a culture of value co-creation at a UK based HEI. By introducing CCV principles, it is hoped to steer students away from seeing themselves as “customers”, and passive recipients of in the learning and teaching process, to one where they take responsibility for their own learning experience, to be explored and acted upon in partnership with their lecturers and other stakeholders.

Action research at the Sea Fish Industry Authority:improving the quality of our knowing- how do practices achieve organisational learning and renewal and how does this change overtime?

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Professionalism and quality in European business courses:utilising research to enhance student learning and promote employability - a pan-European study

This..paper provides a comparative analysis of Quality Management and standards in four European countries, (the UK, Austria, Slovenia and Romania) and in doing so addresses the gap in academic knowledge about how the introduction and implementation of Quality Management Strategies can both facilitate and enhance student learning within Universities.

Learning to collaborate:a study of individual and organizational learning, and interorganizational relationships

This paper examines learning to collaborate in the context of industrial supply relationships. Evidence of collaboration, and individual and organizational learning, from an in-depth case study of a large organization and its relations with two key suppliers is discussed. Analytic methods developed to elicit such evidence and provide insights into learning processes and outcomes are presented. It is argued that it is possible for an organization and individuals to learn to develop resilient collaborative relationships, but this requires a more thorough consideration and understanding of issues such as trust, commitment and teamwork than has been typical to date. Suggestions for future practice and research are presented.

Learning and change in interorganizational networks:the case for network learning and network change

The ALBA 2002 Call for Papers asks the question ‘How do organizational learning and knowledge management contribute to organizational innovation and change?’. Intuitively, we would argue, the answer should be relatively straightforward as links between learning and change, and knowledge management and innovation, have long been commonly assumed to exist. On the basis of this assumption, theories of learning tend to focus ‘within organizations’, and assume a transfer of learning from individual to organization which in turn leads to change. However, empirically, we find these links are more difficult to articulate. Organizations exist in complex embedded economic, political, social and institutional systems, hence organizational change (or innovation) may be influenced by learning in this wider context. Based on our research in this wider interorganizational setting, we first make the case for the notion of network learning that we then explore to develop our appreciation of change in interorganizational networks, and how it may be facilitated. The paper begins with a brief review of lite rature on learning in the organizational and interorganizational context which locates our stance on organizational learning versus the learning organization, and social, distributed versus technical, centred views of organizational learning and knowledge. Developing from the view that organizational learning is “a normal, if problematic, process in every organization” (Easterby-Smith, 1997: 1109), we introduce the notion of network learning: learning by a group of organizations as a group. We argue this is also a normal, if problematic, process in organizational relationships (as distinct from interorganizational learning), which has particular implications for network change. Part two of the paper develops our analysis, drawing on empirical data from two studies of learning. The first study addresses the issue of learning to collaborate between industrial customers and suppliers, leading to the case for network learning. The second, larger scale study goes on to develop this theme, examining learning around several major change issues in a healthcare service provider network. The learning processes and outcomes around the introduction of a particularly controversial and expensive technology are described, providing a rich and contrasting case with the first study. In part three, we then discuss the implications of this work for change, and for facilitating change. Conclusions from the first study identify potential interventions designed to facilitate individual and organizational learning within the customer organization to develop individual and organizational ‘capacity to collaborate’. Translated to the network example, we observe that network change entails learning at all levels – network, organization, group and individual. However, presenting findings in terms of interventions is less meaningful in an interorganizational network setting given: the differences in authority structures; the less formalised nature of the network setting; and the importance of evaluating performance at the network rather than organizational level. Academics challenge both the idea of managing change and of managing networks. Nevertheless practitioners are faced with the issue of understanding and in fluencing change in the network setting. Thus we conclude that a network learning perspective is an important development in our understanding of organizational learning, capability and change, locating this in the wider context in which organizations are embedded. This in turn helps to develop our appreciation of facilitating change in interorganizational networks, both in terms of change issues (such as introducing a new technology), and change orientation and capability.

Retrieval of implicit inhibitory processes:the impact of visual field, object-identity, and memory dynamics

After exogenously cueing attention to a peripheral location, the return of attention and response to the location can be inhibited. We demonstrate that these inhibitory mechanisms of attention can be associated with objects and can be automatically and implicitly retrieved over relatively long periods. Furthermore, we also show that when face stimuli are associated with inhibition, the effect is more robust for faces presented in the left visual field. This effect can be even more spatially specific, where most robust inhibition is obtained for faces presented in the upper as compared to the lower visual field. Finally, it is revealed that the inhibition is associated with an object’s identity, as inhibition moves with an object to a new location; and that the retrieved inhibition is only transiently present after retrieval.

The impact of context on pattern category learning and representation

Context traditionally has been regarded in vision research as a determinant for the interpretation of sensory information on the basis of previously acquired knowledge. Here we propose a novel, complementary perspective by showing that context also specifically affects visual category learning. In two experiments involving sets of Compound Gabor patterns we explored how context, as given by the stimulus set to be learned, affects the internal representation of pattern categories. In Experiment 1, we changed the (local) context of the individual signal classes by changing the configuration of the learning set. In Experiment 2, we varied the (global) context of a fixed class configuration by changing the degree of signal accentuation. Generalization performance was assessed in terms of the ability to recognize contrast-inverted versions of the learning patterns. Both contextual variations yielded distinct effects on learning and generalization thus indicating a change in internal category representation. Computer simulations suggest that the latter is related to changes in the set of attributes underlying the production rules of the categories. The implications of these findings for phenomena of contrast (in)variance in visual perception are discussed.

IPOs, clustering, indirect learning and filing independently

IPO underpricing has been attributed to valuation uncertainty, which can be at least partially resolved by the indirect learning associated with IPO clustering [Benveniste, L.M., Ljungqvist, A., Wilhelm, W.J., Yu, X.Y., 2003. Evidence of information spillovers in the production of investment banking services. Journal of Finance 58, 577–608]. We examine why firms might choose not to issue their IPOs contemporaneously with clusters of similar firms, forgoing opportunities to learn from their peers. We find that the willingness to file an IPO without the benefit of indirect learning from peer firm IPOs is directly related to insiders’ needs for portfolio diversification and the firm’s need to raise capital.

The effectiveness of workplace coaching:a meta-analysis of learning and performance outcomes from coaching

This study presents a meta-analysis synthesizing the existing research on the effectiveness of workplace coaching. We exclusively explore workplace coaching provided by internal or external coaches and therefore exclude cases of manager-subordinate and peer coaching. We propose a framework of potential outcomes from coaching in organizations, which we examine meta-analytically (k = 17). Our analyses indicated that coaching had positive effects on organizational outcomes overall (δ = 0.36), and on specific forms of outcome criteria (skill-based δ = 0.28; affective δ = 0.51; individual-level results δ = 1.24). We also examined moderation by a number of coaching practice factors (use of multisource feedback; type of coach; coaching format; longevity of coaching). Our analyses of practice moderators indicated a significant moderation of effect size for type of coach (with effects being stronger for internal coaches compared to external coaches) and use of multisource feedback (with the use of multisource feedback resulting in smaller positive effects). We found no moderation of effect size by coaching format (comparing face-to-face, with blended face-to-face and e-coaching) or duration of coaching (number of sessions or longevity of intervention). The effect sizes give support to the potential utility of coaching in organizations. Implications for coaching research and practice are discussed.