The impact of learning outcomes in business education: assessing value, relevance and graduate ability in a multi-country study of employers and business graduates

This paper discusses critical findings from a two-year EU-funded research project involving four European countries: Austria, England, Slovenia and Romania. The project had two primary aims. The first of these was to develop a systematic procedure for assessing the balance between learning outcomes acquired in education and the specific needs of the labour market. The second aim was to develop and test a set of meta-level quality indicators aimed at evaluating the linkages between education and employment. The project was distinctive in that it combined different partners from Higher Education, Vocational Training, Industry and Quality Assurance. One of the key emergent themes identified in exploratory interviews was that employers and recent business graduates in all four countries want a well-rounded education which delivers a broad foundation of key business knowledge across the various disciplines. Both groups also identified the need for personal development in critical skills and competencies. Following the exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed to address five functional business areas, as well as a cluster of 8 business competencies. Within the survey, questions relating to the meta-level quality indicators assessed the impact of these learning outcomes on the workplace, in terms of the following: 1) value, 2) relevance and 3) graduate ability. This paper provides an overview of the study findings from a sample of 900 business graduates and employers. Two theoretical models are proposed as tools for predicting satisfaction with work performance and satisfaction with business education. The implications of the study findings for education, employment and European public policy are discussed.

Measuring performance of virtual learning environment system in higher education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the performance of commercial virtual learning environment (VLE) systems, which helps the decision makers to select the appropriate system for their institutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops an integrated multiple criteria decision making approach, which combines the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and quality function deployment (QFD), to evaluate and select the best system. The evaluating criteria are derived from the requirements of those who use the system. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the integrated approach works. Findings – The major advantage of the integrated approach is that the evaluating criteria are of interest to the stakeholders. This ensures that the selected system will achieve the requirements and satisfy the stakeholders most. Another advantage is that the approach can guarantee the benchmarking to be consistent and reliable. From the case study, it is proved that the performance of a VLE system being used at the university is the best. Therefore, the university should continue to run the system in order to support and facilitate both teaching and learning. Originality/value – It is believed that there is no study that measures the performance of VLE systems, and thus decision makers may have difficulties in system evaluation and selection for their institutions.

Higher education reform in Kyrgyzstan: the politics of neoliberal agendas in theory and practice

There would seem to be no greater field for observing the effects of neo-liberal reforms in higher education than the former Soviet university, where attempts to legitimize neo-liberal philosophy over Soviet ideology plays out in everyday practices of educational reform. However, ethnographic research about higher education in post-Soviet Central Asia suggests that its “liberalization” is both an ideological myth and a complicated reality. This chapter focuses on how and why neo-liberal agendas have “travelled” to the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, what happens when educators encounter and resist them, and why these spaces of resistance are important starting points for the development of alternative visions of educational possibility in this recently “Third-worlded” society.

The development of color categories in two languages: a longitudinal study

This study unites investigations into the linguistic relativity of color categories with research on children's category acquisition. Naming, comprehension, and memory for colors were tracked in 2 populations over a 3-year period. Children from a seminomadic equatorial African culture, whose language contains 5 color terms, were compared with a group of English children. Despite differences in visual environment, language, and education, they showed similar patterns of term acquisition. Both groups acquired color vocabulary slowly and with great individual variation. Those knowing no color terms made recognition errors based on perceptual distance, and the influence of naming on memory increased with age. An initial perceptually driven color continuum appears to be progressively organized into sets appropriate to each culture and language. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved

Solidarity and power in German : language as political action : a contribution to the socio-cultural history of the German language

Germany's latest attempt at unification raises again the question of German nationhood and nationality. The present study examines the links between the development of the German language and the political history of Germany, principally in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining the role of language in the establishment and exercise of political power and in the creation of national and group solidarity in Germany, the study both provides insights into the nature of language as political action and contributes to the socio-cultural history of the German language. The language-theoretical hypothesis on which the study is based sees language as a central factor in political action, and opposes the notion that language is a reflection of underlying political 'realities' which exist independently of language. Language is viewed as language-in-text which performs identifiable functions. Following Leech, five functions are distinguished, two of which (the regulative and the phatic) are regarded as central to political processes. The phatic function is tested against the role of the German language as a creator and symbol of national identity, with particular attention being paid to concepts of the 'purity' of the language. The regulative function (under which a persuasive function is also subsumed) is illustrated using the examples of German fascist discourse and selected cases from German history post-1945. In addition, the interactions are examined between language change and socio-economic change by postulating that language change is both a condition and consequence of socio-economic change, in that socio-economic change both requires and conditions changes in the communicative environment. Finally, three politocolinguistic case studies from the eight and ninth decades of the twentieth century are introduced in order to demonstrate specific ways in which language has been deployed in an attempt to create political realities, thus verifying the initial hypothesis of the centrality of language to the political process.

Gender and subject in higher education

This thesis is concerned with the issue of gender inequality in higher education. It examines the relationship between gender and subject specialisation, looking in particular at the reasons for the predominance, at undergraduate level, of men in the physical sciences, and of women in the humanities. It investigates ideas of `masculinity' and `femininity' and how these relate to constructions of `science' and `arts'. The thesis argues that students choose which subject to study on the basis of certain qualities these subjects are seen to hold, and that these qualities have close connections with beliefs about `masculinity' and `femininity'. It examines this through an interview study of male and female students on six higher education courses: two university courses of physics, two university courses of English, a polytechnic course in communications and a polytechnic course in physical science. The interview study demonstrates that the science subjects are perceived by science students as more certain, more useful and more important than the humanities, and emphasise the value of their degree in gaining a well-paid and important job. Female science students, however, experience conflict between being `a good scientist' and being `feminine'. English and communications students emphasise the breadth, uncertainty and individuality of their subjects, and find science restrictive and narrow. They make little link between their degree and their future career. Men, however, feel no conflict between their identity as men and their chosen subject. It is argued that there is a close link between the construction of masculinity and the construction of physical science, but that English and communications are more ambivalent: in some senses `masculine', in some `feminine'. Men are advantaged in these subjects because of their greater visibility and assertiveness. The thesis concludes that the division between `science' and `arts' reinforces ideas of masculinity and femininity, and argues that female `failure' in education is in part the result of higher education's inability to transcend that division.

From therapeutic to political education: the centrality of affective sensibility in critical pedagogy

While the need for humanising education is pressing in neoliberal societies, the conditions for its possibility in formal institutions have become particularly cramped. A constellation of factors – the strength of neoliberal ideologies, the corporatisation of universities, the conflation of human freedom with consumer satisfaction, and a wider crisis of hope in the possibility or desirability of social change – make it difficult to apply classical theories of subject-transformation to new work in critical pedagogy. In particular, the growth of interest in pedagogies of comfort (as illustrated in certain forms of ‘therapeutic’ education and concerns about student ‘satisfaction’) and resistance to critical pedagogies suggest that subjectivty has become a primary site of political struggle in education. However, it can no longer be assumed that educators can (or should) liberate students’ repressed desires for ‘humanisation’ by politicising curricula, pedagogy or institutions. Rather, we must work to understand the new meanings and affective conditions of critical subjectivity itself. Bringing critical theories of subject transformation together with new work on ‘pedagogies of discomfort’, I suggest we can create new ways of opening up possibilities for critical education that respond to neoliberal subjectivities without corresponding to or affirming them.

The language of female leadership

Could language be a reason why women are under-representedat senior level in the business world? The Language of Female Leadership investigates how female leaders actually use language to achieve their business and relational goals. The author proposes that the language of women leaders is shaped by the type of corporation they work for. Based on the latest research, three types of ‘gendered corporation’ appear to affect the way women interact with colleagues: the male-dominated,the gender-divided and the gender-multiple. This book shows that senior women have to carry out extra ‘linguistic work’ to make their mark in the boardroom. In male-dominated and gender-divided corporations, women must develop an extraordinarylinguistic expertise just to survive. In gender-multiple corporations, this linguistic expertise helps them to be highly regarded and effective leaders.Judith Baxter lectures in Applied Linguistics at the University of Aston. She has written and edited many publications in the field of language and gender, language and education and the language of leadership. She won a government award to conduct a major research study in the language of female leadership.

Post-vernacular language use in a Low German linguistic community

In a time of rapid shift and loss of smaller, regional and minority languages it becomes apparent that many of them continue to play a role as post-vernacular varieties. As Shandler (2006) points out for Yiddish in the United States, some languages serve the purpose of identity-building within a community even after they have ceased to be used as a vernacular for daily communication. This occurs according to Shandler through a number of cultural practices, such as amateur theatre, music and folklore, translation, attempts to learn the language in evening classes, etc. This paper will demonstrate that the paradigm developed by Shandler for Yiddish can be applied to other linguistic communities, by comparing the post-vernacular use of Yiddish with Low German in Northern Germany. It will focus on the linguistic strategies that individuals or groups of speakers apply in order to participate in a post-vernacular language community.

Content-based VLE designs improve learning efficiency in constructivist statistics education

Background: We introduced a series of computer-supported workshops in our undergraduate statistics courses, in the hope that it would help students to gain a deeper understanding of statistical concepts. This raised questions about the appropriate design of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in which such an approach had to be implemented. Therefore, we investigated two competing software design models for VLEs. In the first system, all learning features were a function of the classical VLE. The second system was designed from the perspective that learning features should be a function of the course's core content (statistical analyses), which required us to develop a specific-purpose Statistical Learning Environment (SLE) based on Reproducible Computing and newly developed Peer Review (PR) technology. Objectives: The main research question is whether the second VLE design improved learning efficiency as compared to the standard type of VLE design that is commonly used in education. As a secondary objective we provide empirical evidence about the usefulness of PR as a constructivist learning activity which supports non-rote learning. Finally, this paper illustrates that it is possible to introduce a constructivist learning approach in large student populations, based on adequately designed educational technology, without subsuming educational content to technological convenience. Methods: Both VLE systems were tested within a two-year quasi-experiment based on a Reliable Nonequivalent Group Design. This approach allowed us to draw valid conclusions about the treatment effect of the changed VLE design, even though the systems were implemented in successive years. The methodological aspects about the experiment's internal validity are explained extensively. Results: The effect of the design change is shown to have substantially increased the efficiency of constructivist, computer-assisted learning activities for all cohorts of the student population under investigation. The findings demonstrate that a content-based design outperforms the traditional VLE-based design. © 2011 Wessa et al.

An exploration of female leadership language:case studies of senior women in Bahrain

This is a multiple case study of the leadership language of three senior women working in a large corporation in Bahrain. The study’s main aim is to explore the linguistic practices the women leaders use with their colleagues and subordinates in corporate meetings. Adopting a Foucauldian (1972) notion of ‘discourses’ as social practices and a view of gender as socially constructed and discursively performed (Butler 1990), this research aims to unveil the competing discourses which may shape the leadership language of senior women in their communities of practice. The research is situated within the broader field of Sociolinguistics and the specific field of Language and Gender. To address the research aim, a case study approach incorporating multiple methods of qualitative data collection (observation, interviews, and shadowing) was utilised to gather information about the three women leaders and produce a rich description of their use of language in and out of meeting contexts. For analysis, principles of Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) were used to organise and sort the large amount of data. Also, Feminist Post- Structuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA) was adopted to produce a multi-faceted analysis of the subjects, their language leadership, power relations, and competing discourses in the context. It was found that the three senior women enact leadership differently making variable use of a repertoire of conventionally masculine and feminine linguistic practices. However, they all appear to have limited language resources and even more limiting subject positions; and they all have to exercise considerable linguistic expertise to police and modify their language in order to avoid the ‘double bind’. Yet, the extent of this limitation and constraints depends on the community of practice with its prevailing discourses, which appear to have their roots in Islamic and cultural practices as well as some Western influences acquired throughout the company’s history. It is concluded that it may be particularly challenging for Middle Eastern women to achieve any degree of equality with men in the workplace because discourses of Gender difference lie at the core of Islamic teaching and ideology.

Language and identity in englishes

Key features include: • Discussion of language in relation to various aspects of identity, such as those connected with nation and region, as well as in relation to social aspects such as social class and race. • A chapter on undertaking research that will equip students with appropriate research methods for their own projects. • An analysis of language and identity within the context of written as well as spoken texts. Language and Identity in Englishes examines the core issues and debates surrounding the relationship between English, language and identity. Drawing on a range of international examples from the UK, US, China and India, Clark uses both cutting-edge fieldwork and her own original research to give a comprehensive account of the study of language and identity. With its accessible structure, international scope and the inclusion of leading research in the area, this book is ideal for any student taking modules in language and identity or sociolinguistics.