Customer perceived value in the software business

This paper addresses customer perceived value in the context of high-technology industry, specifically in the software business. Customer perception of value is a complex phenomenon not only theoretically, but even more so in practice. We have chosen to examine this phenomenon in the specific context of the software business, as we believe that software as an object of exchange encourages fresh viewpoints owing to its abstract nature. Our study is exploratory in nature, with an empirical insight gained through two qualitative case studies from the software business. The conclusion presents elements of customer perceived value within both software project and product businesses. Based on the findings, we suggest a framework for examining the way business logic influences the customer's value perception, especially in terms of the complexity of the perception of both benefits and sacrifices.     

Die Messung von Global Competence im Rahmen von PISA 2018

This work deals with Global Competence as a suggested cross-curricular domain for the PISA study of 2018. Measuring Global Competence is related to a number of challenges, which are elaborated, described and discussed. As these challenges have not been sufficiently targeted up to now, Germany, among several other countries, decided not to assess Global Competence in the upcoming PISA assessment. Conclusively, propositions are made regarding viable options to capture Global Competence in international comparative studies so that established quality standards can be met.     

Data Management Support for Faculty Facing New Funding Mandates: The Case of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Data management is a way for liaison librarians to support faculty research. American liaison librarians face new demands in data management due to expanding public access guidelines. This article gives advice for librarians new to data management, with the specific case of agriculture. For librarians supporting agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture [USDA NIFA] data management plan [DMP] requirements are a challenge and an opportunity. Agricultural libraries can learn to support faculty in how to write a plan that addresses the NIFA DMP sections of expected data type, data format, data storage and preservation, data sharing and public access, roles and responsibilities, and monitoring and reporting. Particular challenges that arise for DMPs in agrisciences include the diversity of subjects, multiple metadata and taxonomic systems, and the heterogeneity of research and data. To deal with this, data consultations are particularly critical.     

Explaining the Significance of Participationist Approaches for Understanding Students' Knowledge Acquisition

This article aims to appraise insights from participationist approaches to learning for understanding students' knowledge acquisition. The first part explicates the concepts of positioning, recognition, and identity through presenting a common ground for participationists and discussing different views on (a) the relationship between learning the content domain and positioning, recognition, and identity negotiation; (b) dynamicity of situativity; (c) relation of moment-to-moment situativity to long-term interaction patterns; (d) awareness of positioning, recognition, and identity. This allows an appraisal in the article's second part of a claim inherent to participationist views: It is necessary to adopt a system's view on learning opportunities presented to students in class because of the way positioning, recognition, and identity negotiation influence students' engagement with curricular content. A fifth issue emerges concerning the nature of this influence. Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence combine to support the conclusion that the claim holds some, not all, of the time.     

Teaching as creating space for participation – establishing a learning community in diverse classrooms

The relationships between teacher and students are interdependent and rely on their mutual interaction. In the classroom, teaching involves daily face-to-face encounters between students and teachers and therefore could be considered a moral as well as an academic issue. A central question is how the teacher can establish and support a learning community in diverse classrooms where the different learners are recognized as participants, not just as recipients. In this article, a situation from a science lesson has been selected as a case to highlight/illuminate teaching as creating space for participation. The theoretical framework used in this discussion underlines participation as intersubjectively dependent. This perspective points to the ambiguity and uncertainty embedded in teaching and learning situations. It also emphasizes the importance of the teacher's role in inviting students into meaning-making processes. Special attention is paid to essential features of teaching as creating space for participation; 'the act of holding back', 'the act of passing on' and 'the act of non-valuing'. Teaching as creating space for participation is also discussed as an issue that needs greater attention in teacher education.     

Gender and culture: Reported problems,coping strategies and selected helpers of male and female adolescents in 17 countries

This is the second report of a multinational project undertaken in 1988 by the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counseling that sought, among other things, to compare and contrast the reported problems, coping strategies, and help-seeking behavior of 2129 male and 2307 female adolescents from a total of three different socioeconomic backgrounds in each of 16 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan Kuwait, the Netherlands, the Philippines, China, Puerto Rico, Turkey, the US, and Venezuela) and from a "classless" background in Russia. The first report described the study and research methodology and cited preliminary findings that 1) problems and coping strategies tended to be universal and age-related; 2) impoverished subjects from Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Venezuela had more problems than any other adolescents; 3) problems were usually related to school, family, and identity rather than to sexuality; and 4) the most common coping strategy was individual problem-solving. This report compares male/female identification of up to three problems that cause worry, response to such problems, and help-seeking behavior. All adolescents cited problems in school, identity, and family. Males and females reported similar coping strategies and showed a strong dependence on individual coping strategies. Both males and females choose personal friends and family members as those most likely to help with problems. Males exhibited a higher percentage of problems related to school and a lower percentage of family problems. Russian adolescents reported more problems relating to altruism than any other group, especially males. These results imply that strong similarities exist for males and females, and the findings are worrisome in that problems related to sexuality were not cited. Counselors should expect the concerns of adolescents to be developmentally related and to overwhelm gender differences.     

The Enduring Quest for Equity in Education: Comparing Norway and Australia

It has been a key goal to achieve equity in education in Australia and Norway over the last 50 years. This article offers a historical case-oriented comparative analysis of the promotion of equity in education in these 2 countries. While equity in education is primarily understood as students’ learning outcomes in national and international tests, such as the OECD’s PISA studies, the analysis in this article is based on Espinoza’s distinction between equality and equity, which allows for a more complex understanding. The article investigates striking differences in how the governments in Australia and Norway have attempted to enhance equity through education, and discusses factors that may have impeded this process.     

Pedagogical work,stress regulation and work-related well-being among early childhood professionals in integrated special day-care groups

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between early childhood professionals’ (ECPs) stress regulation (using salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase [AA] measurements), work engagement and the quality of their pedagogical work in integrated special day-care groups. Participants were 89 ECPs from 21 integrated special day-care groups located in Helsinki, Finland. The special educational needs of children (who were between 3 and 6 years of age) in these groups varied from language disorders and self-regulation difficulties to severe disabilities. Data was collected by using work engagement surveys, salivary cortisol and AA measurements and observational assessments of pedagogical work. This study is novel, in that it combines approaches from different disciplines to investigate work-related well-being among ECPs. Our findings demonstrate the close relationship between ECPs’ stress regulation and the quality of pedagogical work in teams. Whilst ECPs’ high work engagement was associated with better-quality pedagogical work, we did not find any associations between different biomarkers and work engagement. Our study highlights the importance of teamwork, not only as fundamental to high-quality early childhood special education, but also in supporting the well-being of ECE professionals. The findings can be applied in future studies and can be used to inform intervention aiming to enhance working conditions in day-care centres.     

Regulating readers' bodies: a discourse analysis of teachers' body talk

In this paper, we report findings from a discourse analysis study of reading instruction in eight primary/elementary school classrooms in the United States. Drawing upon discursive psychology, we specifically examined 96 hours of reading comprehension instruction, with a focus on how teachers talked about the body during the instruction and noted how this gave rise to particular constructions of what it means to be a ‘good’ reader and/or learner. We discuss two patterns from the analysis of our data, including: (1) emphasized versus embedded physical control as essential to being a ‘successful’ reader, and (2), implicit physical control and freedom as essential to literacy learning and to students' identities as readers. We conclude by highlighting implications, with a focus on student identity.