Changing conceptions and practices of management: Professional learning from an MBA experience by distance education

This ethnographic study of a management learning experience by distance education analyses participants' changing conceptions and practices of management using the notions of professional empowerment, integration, odysseys and personal transformation. The study reveals the nature, extent and processes of professional empowerment and personal transformation. It also attempts to illuminate the contribution that the MBA program by distance education and ongoing workplace experience made to the processes of empowerment and perspective transformation. MBA participants are seen to be negotiating different stages of the empowerment/ transformation process. Different stages are seen to demand different empowerment/ transformative strategies, and to contain different forms of barriers to professional empowerment. The sobering possibility of participants experiencing professional disempowerment is highlighted in the study.     

The Economics of Filmed Entertainment in the Digital Era

Journal of Cultural Economics -     

Cost-performance analysis of TWX-mediated interlibrary loans in a medium-sized medical center library

The need for a cost-performance analysis of TWX-mediated versus mail-mediated ILL requests is presented. Three hypotheses are proposed: (1) Unit cost for TWX-mediated ILL requests is greater then for mail-mediated ILL requests; (2) Completion time is shorter for TWX-mediated ILL requests than for mail-mediated ILL requests; (3) An analytic model can be developed that can be used to generate administrative data concerning a TWX installation. The data presented support all three hypotheses. It is shown, also, that through the use of this model a library can arrive at a cost for service of TWX versus mail-mediated ILL.     

Democracy or Republic: Answering a Frequent Reference Question

This article frames the issues that the writers of the U.S. Constitution left as one of their writing legacies. The writers settled on the idea of founding a republic rather than a monarchy or democracy because they believed it the most stable form of government available to them. Their debate over “republic or democracy” found its way quickly into political discourse, with theoreticians like Will Butts and Eugene Volokh offering different views about which terms worked best to describe some of the political disagreements of modern times. This essay is best read in association with the short article on civic education by Reneé Critcher Lyons, which follows this article.     

Students' perceptions of the value of the elements of an online learning environment: looking back in moving forward

In 2003, Deakin University implemented a centralised learning management system (LMS) under the banner of Deakin Studies Online (DSO), as well as implementing policies requiring all its units of study to have at least a basic online presence from 2004. Given the scope of the university's commitment to online education, it was considered essential to evaluate the effectiveness of this investment. Based on more than 5400 responses obtained from students in 2004 and 2005 as part of the DSO evaluation survey, the analysis presented here identifies those elements of the online learning environment (OLE) that are most used and valued by students, those elements of the OLE that students most want to see improved, and, those factors that most contribute to students' perceptions that use of the OLE enhanced their learning experience. The most used and valued elements were core LMS functions, including accessing unit information, accessing lecture/tute/lab notes, interacting with unit learning resources, reading online discussions, contacting lecturers/tutors and submitting assignments online. The OLE elements identified as most needing attention were receiving feedback on assignments; viewing my marks; and reviewing unit progress. Students felt that using DSO enhanced their learning experience when they were adequately supported by unit teachers and technical support services; when they were able to find and use unit information; and when they were able to read the online contributions of other unit members. The retrospective analysis of data collected in the period 2004–2005 has been shaped by a forward-looking agenda. The array of elements available within, and in association with, traditional LMSs which has emerged since that time raises the future challenge of how to maximise and evidence educational value through the optimal combination of elements from the portfolio of e-learning technologies increasingly available to educators.     

Future Economic Realities for Libraries: A Lesson in Current Events

This article focuses on three current events for learning about what is possible in library policy. The first is the run up in the price of fuel and food (“Too Expensive to Ignore”), the second is the cheapening of some kinds of communication (“Too Cheap to Matter”) and the hugely successful Obama for President Campaign that used the Internet to develop a new way of successful mass fund raising, voter activation and building grass roots support. The author explores the implications of these changes to interpret ALA's late October 2008 request for $100 million in federal funding as the antithesis of successful constituency development for public libraries.