A cross-cultural investigation of the use of teaching styles

Teacher beliefs are a major influence on teacher actions. Because context influences beliefs, it was the purpose of this study to explore teachers' beliefs about Mosston's Spectrum of Teaching Styles from an international perspective. Over 1,400 teachers from 7 countries completed a survey related to their self-reported use of and beliefs about various teaching styles. Data suggested a shared core of reproduction teaching style use. The use of and beliefs about the production styles of teaching were more varied. Teachers' use of styles was significantly related to their beliefs about the styles. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

The handbook of physical education

What is the current condition of the field of physical education? How has it adapted to the rise of kinesiology, sport and exercise science and human movement studies over the last thirty years? This Handbook provides an authoritative critical overview of the field and identifies future challenges and directions. The Handbook is divided in to six parts: - Perspectives and Paradigms in Physical Education Pedagogy Research; - Cross-disciplinary Contributions to Research on Physical Education; - Learners and Learning in Physical Education; - Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education in Physical Education; - Physical Education Curriculum; - Difference and Diversity in Physical Education. This benchmark work is essential reading for educators and students in the field of physical education.

Cross country comparison of careers in logistics management in Australia and Britain

Purpose – The aim of this research was to ascertain the current roles and responsibilities of logistics managers in two countries, how they compare their situation with other managers and to identify the types of knowledge and experience that would assist them to develop their careers. Design/methodology/approach – This paper compares the results of a postal survey of 303 Australian and 161 British logistics managers. Findings – The study indicates that logistics managers in both countries share many similar experiences, responsibilities and perceptions of their career situations. They take considerable pride and satisfaction from these careers but recognise the need for continuing professional development in their present and future roles. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to the respondents to the surveys. Further research in other countries including less well-developed economies would add to the generalisation of results. Practical implications – It is argued that for successful international supply chain management, there is a need to review both current and future provision in higher education and continuing professional development, in order to strengthen strategic competences and increase understanding of the significance of interdisciplinary awareness in global markets. Originality/value – This paper represents the first attempt to understand the roles, responsibilities, career pathways and future needs of logistics managers in the two countries. Its results should provide guidance to top managers for the future success of the logistics function in their organisations.

How does globalisation interact with higher education? The continuing lack of consensus:The continuing lack of consensus

This essay attempts to ascertain whether a particular meaning of globalisation, and view on its effects and the appropriate response to it, are becoming standardised across academia. To do so, it content-analyses a representative sample of new scholarship, mapping the various approaches of current researchers towards globalisation. The essay shows how globalisation remains a contested concept within studies of higher education, as in many other fields. Rather than globalisation being taken to refer unambiguously to global flows, pressures or trends, its meaning continues to depend on the particular perspective adopted by contemporary researchers. The same conflict is apparent concerning the impacts which are reputed to globalisation and with regard to the appropriate response to globalisation amongst academics and higher education institutions (HEIs) more generally. Perhaps the only apparent point of consensus amongst contemporary researchers is the claim that globalisation affects HEIs, rather than HEIs themselves being implicated in the promotion of globalisation. This position underplays the often important role of HEIs in encouraging cross-border flows and pressures, and global trends such as marketisation.

Determinants of sales performance in insurance industry:a cross-cultural comparison between the UK and Malaysia

This thesis is concerned with an empirical investigation of the factors that predict a successful salesperson, using a cross-cultural comparison of two countries: the UK and Malaysia. Besides collecting quantitative data, qualitative data on organisational, environmental and cultural factors were also collected through interviews, personal and case observations. The quantitative data consist of sixteen independent factors and three dependent factors. The independent variables include self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, self-monitoring, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, experience, training perception, role ambiguity, role conflict, role inaccuracy, gender, age, education, race and religion. The dependent variables are performance target achieved, performance earnings and performance ratings. Questionnaires were distributed to about 500 salespersons in each country, from three insurance companies in the UK and two insurance companies in Malaysia. Response rates were 75 and 50 percent from the UK and Malaysia respectively. The survey results indicated that a salesperson's performance in the UK is predicted by self-efficacy, internal locus of control, self-esteem, extrinsic motivation, experience, training perceptions, role conflict and gender. In Malaysia, a salesperson's performance is predicted by self-efficacy, self-monitoring, experience, role conflict, role ambiguity, education, gender, race and religion. Self-efficacy, experience, role conflict and gender are common predictors of salespersons' performance in both cultures. The likely explanation for these results is culture differences, i.e. UK has a homogeneous culture, while Malaysia has a heterogeneous one. Results from the case observations, such as organisational and environmental factors, give supporting evidence in explaining the empirical results. Implications from the findings are discussed from two aspects: (1) theoretical implications for divergence/convergence theory, Hofstede's model, Churchill's model, and (2) managerial implications for selection, training, motivation and appraisal.

Lack of association between glucocorticoid use and presence of the metabolic syndrome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis:a cross-sectional study

Introduction - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) associates with excessive cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, attributed to both traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors. The metabolic syndrome, a cluster of classical cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, obesity, glucose intolerance, and dyslipidaemia, is highly prevalent in RA. Reports suggest that long-term glucocorticoid (GC) use may exacerbate individual cardiovascular risk factors, but there have been no studies in RA to assess whether it associates with the metabolic syndrome. We examined whether GC exposure associates with the presence of metabolic syndrome in patients with RA. Methods - RA patients (n = 398) with detailed clinical and laboratory assessments were categorised into three groups according to GC exposure: no/limited (<3 months) exposure (NE), low-dose (<7.5 mg/day) long-term exposure (LE), and medium-dose (greater than or equal to 7.5 mg to 30 mg/day) long-term exposure (ME). The metabolic syndrome was defined using the National Cholesterol Education Programme III guidelines. The association of GC exposure with the metabolic syndrome was evaluated using binary logistic regression. Results - The metabolic syndrome was present in 40.1% of this population and its prevalence did not differ significantly between the GC exposure groups (NE 37.9% versus LE 40.7% versus ME 50%, P = 0.241). Binary logistic regression did not demonstrate any increased odds for the metabolic syndrome when comparing ME with LE (odds ratio = 1.64, 95% confidence interval 0.92 to 2.92, P = 0.094) and remained non significant after adjusting for multiple potential confounders. Conclusions - Long-term GC exposure does not appear to associate with a higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in patients with RA. The components of the metabolic syndrome may already be extensively modified by other processes in RA (including chronic inflammation and treatments other than GCs), leaving little scope for additive effects of GCs.

Writing for success:mentoring as a pedagogical tool – a cross- institutional study

The prominent position given to academic writing across contemporary academia is reflected in the substantive literature and debate devoted to the subject over the past 30 years. However, the massification of higher education, manifested by a shift from elite to mass education, has brought the issue into the public arena, with much debate focusing on the need for ‘modern-day' students to be taught how to write academically (Bjork et al., 2003; Ganobcsik-Williams, 2006). Indeed, Russell (2003) argued that academic writing has become a global ‘problem' in Higher Education because it sits between two contradictory pressures (p.V). On one end of the university ‘experience' increasing numbers of students, many from non-traditional backgrounds, enter higher education bringing with them a range of communication abilities. At the other end, many graduates leave university to work in specialised industries where employers expect them to have high level writing skills (Ashton, 2007; Russell, 2003; Torrence et al., 1999). By drawing attention to the issues around peer mentoring within an academic writing setting in three different higher education Institutions, this paper makes an important contribution to current debates. Based upon a critical analysis of the emergent findings of an empirical study into the role of peer writing mentors in promoting student transition to higher education, the paper adopts an academic literacies approach to discuss the role of writing mentoring in promoting transition and retention by developing students' academic writing. Attention is drawn to the manner in which student expectations of writing mentoring actually align with mentoring practices - particularly in terms of the writing process and critical thinking. Other issues such as the approachability of writing mentors, the practicalities of accessing writing mentoring and the wider learning environment are also discussed.

Does human capital endowment of FDI recipient countries really matter? Evidence from cross-country firm level data

The stylized literature on foreign direct investment suggests that developing countries should invest in the human capital of their labour force in order to attract foreign direct investment. However, if educational quality in developing country is uncertain such that formal education is a noisy signal of human capital, it might be rational for multinational enterprises to focus more on job-specific training than on formal education of the labour force. Using cross-country data from the textiles and garments industry, we demonstrate that training indeed has greater impact on firm efficiency in developing countries than formal education of the work force.

Does human capital endowment of foreign direct investment recipient countries really matter? evidence from cross-country firm level data

The stylized literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) suggests that developing countries should invest in the human capital of their labor force in order to attract FDI. However, if educational quality in developing country is uncertain such that formal education is a noisy signal of human capital, it might be rational for multinational enterprises to focus more on job-specific training than on formal education of the labor force. Using cross-country data from the textiles and garments industry, we demonstrate that training indeed has a greater impact on firm efficiency in developing countries than formal education of the workforce. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using cognitive load theory to interpret student difficulties with a problem-based learning approach to engineering education:a case study

This article reports on an investigationwith first year undergraduate ProductDesign and Management students within a School of Engineering and Applied Science. The students at the time of this investigation had studied fundamental engineering science and mathematics for one semester. The students were given an open ended, ill-formed problem which involved designing a simple bridge to cross a river.They were given a talk on problemsolving and given a rubric to follow, if they chose to do so.They were not given any formulae or procedures needed in order to resolve the problem. In theory, they possessed the knowledge to ask the right questions in order tomake assumptions but, in practice, it turned out they were unable to link their a priori knowledge to resolve this problem. They were able to solve simple beam problems when given closed questions. The results show they were unable to visualize a simple bridge as an augmented beam problem and ask pertinent questions and hence formulate appropriate assumptions in order to offer resolutions.

Practical photovoltaic simulator with a cross tackling control strategy based on the first-hand duty cycle processing

This paper proposes a methodological scheme for the photovoltaic (PV) simulator design. With the advantages of a digital controller system, linear interpolation is proposed for precise fitting with higher computational efficiency. A novel control strategy that directly tackles two different duty cycles is proposed and implemented to achieve a full-range operation including short circuit (SC) and open circuit (OC) conditions. Systematic design procedures for both hardware and algorithm are explained, and a prototype is built. Experimental results confirm an accurate steady state performance under different load conditions, including SC and OC. This low power apparatus can be adopted for PV education and research with a limited budget.