Teaching for blended learning: research perspectives from on-campus and distance students

The concept of blended learning has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper discusses the research literature and the writers’ research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively. In investigating how ICT can add variation for student learning, they analyze this from two dominant modes of pedagogy, learning environment and pedagogy through both on-campus and distance education. In both modes, students acknowledged the power and effectiveness of blended learning.

Relational ethics, global business and information and communications technology: interconnections explored

This paper explores, through practitioner experience and literature review, the impact of increased use of information technology in a global business environment on relational ethics. These three variables interact in a dynamic field that supports and challenges global managers in entrepreneurial endeavors. While information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly expanding, the opportunities for global business and relational ethics affects, and is affected by, the interconnections. Drawing on experiences from daily practice, current literature, and insights gained from a relational approach to ethics, readers are invited to reflect on the ways that relationships influence ethical actions—and outcomes—and how they can be improved. This analysis exposes the critical issues, develops a general framework and makes recommendations for ways to work with and further develop the interconnections between global business, ICT and relational ethics.

Explaining and predicting information systems acceptance and success: an integrative model

This paper proposes a new model – the Information Systems Acceptance (ISA) model - to explain and predict IS acceptance. Drawing on previous literature, and the results of a series of case studies, the ISA model integrates four sets of factors influencing IS acceptance: (i) technology characteristics; (ii) management actions; (iii) service quality; and (iv) system use, user satisfaction and system outcomes. These sets of factors are drawn from well-established frameworks. Building on established theories, the model incorporates previous research, overcomes some of the limitations associated with these individual theories, and assembles IS acceptance factors into a comprehensive and useable conceptual framework.

Does elite competition inhibit growth and delay maturation in some gymnasts? quite possibly

Today, elite young gymnasts undertake training programs of progressive volume and intensity from an early age. For example, talented young female gymnasts often commence training at age 5 or 6 and train more than 20 to 30 hours per week year-round throughout childhood and adolescence. Despite the "normal" short stature of top-level gymnasts and the obvious health benefits of physical activity during growth, there is concern that elite level or those gymnasts involved in heavy training regimens may be at risk for adverse effects on growth and maturation. This concern has been the source of much debate in the literature and is complicated by the difficulties in distinguishing between the genetic predisposition to short stature and late or delayed maturation, and the effect of environmental factors such as nutrition and exercise that may influence growth and maturation. The effect of gymnastics training on growth and maturation is often reported as averaged data: an approach that does not identify individual growth patterns. Finding no difference between groups is not proof that there is "in fact" no difference. Accepting the null hypothesis without the appropriate critical review of both the methodological and statistical power to detect differences is a flawed endeavor. We believe there is compelling "circumstantial" evidence to build a case that preparation for advanced gymnastics competition may place some children and youth at risk of reduced growth and delayed maturation.

The link between self-managed work teams and learning organisations using performance indicators

Both the learning organization literature and the self-managed work team literature have alluded to the potential links between teamwork and learning. However, as yet the link between these two concepts remains undeveloped. This study uses a survey of a random sample of 200 Australian organizations to empirically examine the relationships between self-managed work teams and the learning organization using performance indicators as a medium. It was found that the learning organization concept displays a moderate to strong link with three measures of performance used in this study: knowledge performance, financial performance and customer satisfaction. Although the self-managed work team concept did not display any significant relationship with performance, the qualitative component of the survey did emphasize that there is a common belief that self-managed teams can increase performance in the right setting. While an insignificant relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization was also found, this study suggests some methodological concerns for future research into the relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization.

The serendipity of leadership effectiveness in management and business practices

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to conceptualize the serendipity of leadership effectiveness in management and business practices. The term “serendipity” is defined as the mix of leadership effectiveness by accident and sagacity in management and business practices.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conceptual discussion of the serendipity of leadership effectiveness in management and business practices.
Findings – This paper contributes a number of models and a matrix that are introduced to address the underlying criteria of the cause-effect relationship between leadership effectiveness and organizational achievements.
Research limitations/implications – This paper challenges the idealistic picture that flourishes in the management literature and in management practice of the direct, positive impact of leadership on prosperous management and business practices. In fact, it reinforces and underpins the critical or sceptical views of leadership effectiveness raised in the literature.
Practical implications – Normally, views of organizational achievements are based on the assumption that contextual, timely and skilful precisions in leadership effectiveness are high. Shareholders and stakeholders may benefit from a thorough examination of these issues in organizational achievements. It would not be surprising to find that leadership effectiveness in management and business practices to a minor or major extent is derived from pure luck and coincidence in contextual and timely precisions: right place, right time. This means that such leadership effectiveness may be based on serendipity rather than skilfulness in terms of organizational achievements.
Originality/value – The authors contend that the term “serendipity” contributes to enhance the ongoing discussion in the literature of the link between leadership effectiveness and organizational achievements. It also provides a fundament of understanding, explanation and prediction of leadership effectiveness in management and business practices.

New social orders: reconceptualising family and community in utopian fiction

A study focusing on family and community as they are represented in seven utopian/dystopian fictions written for children and young adults by Australian, American, Canadian, and British writers is illustrated. These novels depict reflections of how various notions of new social orders have impacted on children's literature and how this affects the utopian/dystopian strain, present in children's literature.

The Family Novel in the Emerging Nation-State: A Comparative Study of Ba Jin’s Jia and Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

The theme of family in literature and in popular discourse occurs at times when the family as an institution is under attack. Attacks against the family coupled with defence of the family are viewed as the barometer of people’s satisfaction with the society in which they live. This outpouring of emotion, whether it is in defence of or attacking the family, is the result of the family’s position on the bridge between nature and society – a fortunate (or a detrimental) link between an individual and the units that make up a society. Across the United States and much of the western world, the battle for gay marriage and inclusive civil unions has revealed the fissures in our collective moral view of the family. The conservative concern about the absence of ‘family values’ is magnified by our situation in a world of flux. Inflation, war, terrorist threats, and the depletion of natural resources are but a few examples. When so much is unknown, how do we position ourselves? What anchors us to the past, gives us comfort in the present, and supports us in the future if not the family? Alternatively, what coddles us more in the past, shackles us more to the present, and lulls us more into a fixed conception of the future than the family? My research is not a sociological survey into the family nor does it stake any claims to understanding the present state of the family in society. The study seeks, however, to shed light on the rhetorical uses of the family by analysing two novels that are inextricably concerned with the theory of the family in times of heightened social change. In particular, my research focuses upon the social role and political meaning of the family in Anna Karenina and Jia.

Working and learning in vocational education and training in the knowledge era : final report of the professional development for the future project

This Report summarises the outcomes of the phases of the Professional
Development for the Future Project and presents the implications of this research for professional development of staff in Vocational Education and Training (VET), as they become knowledge workers.

These shifts are occurring within the knowledge era. Distinguishing features of this era are summarised into four broad areas:
- the importance and value placed on knowledge in organisations
- the time span of discretion
- the complexity of relationships, and
- the ubiquitous nature of information and communication technology.

It is within this context that work is currently performed, and understanding this context provides the foundation for considering new capabilities required in the knowledge era.
Key capabilities required of knowledge workers to work effectively in the
knowledge era were drawn together from an analysis of the theoretical literature and the results of interviews with knowledge workers. The core capabilities identified include:
- adaptive problem solving – becoming designers as well as problem -
solvers
- rapid knowledge gathering and sharing with others
- discriminating between relevant and irrelevant information, and
- understanding and working effectively with the organisation’s culture.

Knowledge era characteristics and knowledge worker capabilities have been mapped to each other illustrating conceptual linkages between these two areas.

Professional development themes drawn from interviews with knowledge
workers are presented. While global trends in knowledge work have been well documented, the impact of these trends on the capabilities of workers, and the ways in which knowledge workers develop these capabilities is less well understood. Their learning methods challenge our current thinking in relation to the ways in which workers acquire skills and knowledge. Some of the professional development methods include seeking exposure to new ideas from a wide variety of sources, embracing intense learning opportunities, and using relationships to increase knowledge.

‘Thought pieces’ (see p17 ff) commissioned for this Project, as well as
subsequent interviews with the authors, provided further insights into the
professional development of knowledge workers. The implications of these insights are an extension of earlier themes and emphasise:
- the emergent nature of knowledge work
- the importance of relationships that facilitate knowledge sharing
- coherent conversations and dialogue
- collaborative work and generosity.

A key insight is the shift from thinking about knowledge work in terms of
borrowed knowledge to an emphasis on generated knowledge within a context.

Data from focus groups of the Project provide further insights for knowledge worker professional development. These augment the perspectives of the earlier data analysis but also add greater emphasis to:
- the clear and direct relationship between professional development and
work and career aspirations of knowledge workers,
- the relationship of professional development to the organisational
mission, and
- the issues of managing and leading knowledge workers and their
development.

As part of this analysis the defining features of organisational life in VET were reviewed in relation to effective professional development of knowledge workers.

The final section of the Report revisits the core dimensions of the Project.
Concise commentaries on working and learning in the knowledge era,
professional development in the knowledge era, and leadership and
management in the knowledge era are presented.

The Report concludes with a discussion of the enablers of professional
development for knowledge workers in VET. This discussion is introduced by a re-statement of the VET sector’s positioning in the knowledge era and the consequences of this for VET managers an d staff in terms of complexity, uncertainty and diminished prospects for accurate predictiveness. The enablers comprised:
- integration of information technology into socio -technical systems
- greater understanding of the organisation from within
- connecting staff to the organisation’s fundamental identity
- connecting to the work and career trajectories of workers
- establishing work structures which integrate the use of professional
development resources with knowledge work
- providing workers with the autonomy to design their own professional
development activities
- building professional development into the iterative nature of knowledge
work, and
- creating organisational contexts that value intuitive thinking and working.

Professional development needs to be thou ght of in a much broader context in the knowledge era. What each VET staff member knows and shares will become increasingly central to their work, and in that sense all VET workers require capabilities for knowledge work. This report accurately describes t he VET context, the capabilities required, and the organisational enablers that will promote ‘knowing’ and thus embed a new style of professional development within VET.

Obesity prevention and public health

More than 22 million children under five are now obese or overweight. Globally, an estimated 10% of school-aged children, between five and 17 years old, are overweight or obese, and the situation is getting worse. Although recognised clinically for some time as an important condition that increases risk of ill-health in affected individuals, it is only recently, that obesity has been recognised as a population-wide problem that requires preventive action. Obesity is a major contributor to diseases and disability, the associated health costs are enormous, obesity has already reached epidemic proportions in many countries, and incidence is continuing to increase in children and adults. Disturbingly the epidemic is not confined to developed countries, with many developing countries and those in transition affected. While recognised as a major population health problem, our understanding of the causes of the epidemic is poor, there has been relatively little population-based research that has focused on the prevention of unhealthy weight gain, and as a consequence knowledge regarding how and where best to intervene is limited. This book draws together the existing literature and expertise and with a view to helping set the agenda for public health action. The book is divided into three sections. Part 1 provides an overview of the context of the problem. It examines the epidemiology of obesity, the role of behavioural factors, socio-cultural factors and environmental factors in the obesity epidemic. Part 2 reviews interventions across a range of key settings and in different population groups - drawing on existing research that has aimed to increase physical activity, promote healthy eating and prevent obesity at a population level. Given how little research there is that has specifically examined the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing obesity per se, Part 3 explores potential opportunities to prevent obesity

Ghummakkads, a woman's place, and the LTC-walas: towards a critical history of 'home', 'belonging' and 'attachment'

This article seeks to re-think the perspective within South Asian studies that speaks of the fixity of home and belonging in the Indian context. Accumulated scholarly wisdom frequently points to the singularity and transparency of ideas of attachment to ‘native places’ and ‘ancestral villages’. Through a consideration of a range of material, the paper explores how specific but far more complex ideas of home and belonging circulate in Indian society. The material analysed includes Hindi travel literature and fictional material, official developmental discourse, PWD reports, scholarly writing, Bollywood cinema, and the rules regarding travel perks for government service.

Peripheral quantitative computed tomography in children and adolescents : the 2007 ISCD pediatric official positions

Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) has mainly been used as a research tool in children. To evaluate the clinical utility of pQCT and formulate recommendations for its use in children, the International Society
of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) convened a task force to review the literature and propose areas of consensus and future research. The types of pQCT technology available, the clinical application of pQCT for bone health assessment in children, the important elements to be included in a pQCT report, and quality control monitoring techniques were evaluated. The review revealed a lack of standardization of pQCT techniques, and a paucity of data regarding differences between pQCT manufacturers, models and software versions and their impact in pediatric assessment. Measurement sites varied across studies. Adequate reference data, a critical element for interpretation of pQCT results, were entirely lacking, although some comparative data on healthy children were available. The elements of the
pQCT clinical report and quality control procedures are similar to those recommended for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Future research is needed to establish evidence-based criteria for the selection of the measurement site, scan acquisition and analysis parameters, and outcome measures. Reference data that sufficiently characterize the normal range of variability in the population also need to be established.

Paying attention to texts : literacy, culture and curriculum

In his paper in English in Australia in 2002, Bill Green called for a literacy project of our own, and for the need to think again, and think newly about the place of literary literacy within contemporary curriculum. But what does literary literacy mean in curriculum that recognises a wide diversity of texts and literacies? If literature and close attention to the aesthetic and imaginative dimensions remain important, what kinds of texts should we value, and how should we attend to them? This article considers how such matters might be taken up with multimodal texts of different kinds.

Conflicts of interest and China's A-share underpricing

The extremely high A-share underpricing in China's primary market provides us with a very interesting area of empirical research. Previous studies on China's IPO underpricing have been suggestive, but inconclusive. A significant decline in A-share underpricing is found in 2003 relative to previous years (and much less than that recorded in the literature to date). We examine the validity of previous A-share underpricing models, reported in the literature, and find a statistically significant structural break in the data during 2003 when these models are specified. We further explore conflicts of interest in the Chinese IPO market and specify an alternative model to further examine this change in observed market behavior. Our results suggest that a contract with high underwriter's fee leads to less A-share underpricing. Our results also suggest that the asymmetric information hypothesis does not apply in the Chinese IPO market in 2003. Overpricing by the secondary market and the trading activity on the first trading day are the main functions of the A-share underpricing. This study has important implications such as guiding the Chinese government policy regarding the regulations of initial public offering.