Reinventing the third mission of higher education in Germany: political frameworks and universities’ reactions

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education systems are changing due to trends of funding pressures, increasing social demands and growing numbers of students. Even though teaching and...     

From one-stop shop to no-stop shop: An e-government stage model

This paper responds to two observations about current government service delivery. First, despite reasonable efforts to improve the design of forms and to establish single points of contact in one-stop shops, citizens still perceive forms as cumbersome. Second, citizens expect governments to act proactively by initiating appropriate government services themselves, instead of relying on requests for services from citizens. To address these two issues, this paper proposes a transition from a one-stop shop to a no-stop shop, where the citizen does not have to perform any action or fill in any forms to receive government services. The contribution of this paper is an e-government stage model that extends existing models. Stage models are suitable tools with which to inspire future developments, and ours extends previous models that guide progress toward the one-stop shop by describing two further stages: the limited no-stop shop and the no-stop shop. We define three dimensions along which to progress: integration of data collection, integration of data storage, and purpose of data use. We provide a first test of the model's validity through three case studies: the e-government practices in Austria, Estonia, and an Australian state government. Our work complements existing research on e-government stage models and proactive government service delivery.     

Small group learning: Do group members' implicit theories of ability make a difference?

We examined the impact of members' implicit theories of ability on group learning and the mediating role of several group process variables, such as goal-setting, effort attributions, and efficacy beliefs. Comparisons were between 15 groups with a strong incremental view on ability (high incremental theory groups), and 15 groups with a weak incremental view on ability (low incremental theory groups). Groups worked on a computer-based management simulation. The task required the groups to learn the underlying structure of the simulation to be able to control the system effectively. High incremental theory groups set more challenging group goals, attributed their performance more to effort, developed stronger group efficacy, and displayed steeper learning trajectories than low incremental theory groups. Group goals mediated the impact of group members' implicit theories on group learning. Exploratory analyses of the group communication process revealed that members of the high incremental theory groups communicated more openly about the task and maintained a stronger task focus compared with members of the low incremental theory groups. Research on group learning benefits from a stronger individual differences perspective that incooperates variables such as implicit theories of ability as determinants of emerging group processes and outcomes.     

Is the Child Making Expected Progress? Measuring Change in Rate of Development With Young Children

Early interventionists seek to document the effectiveness of their efforts with children with developmental delays. In order to do so, they need to have available as many techniques as possible to ascertain a comprehensive view of the child's progress. One tool that has been used effectively in efficacy research, but has not been widely employed in program evaluation designs is the rate of change in development index. This article presents the rate of change in development index as a useful tool for early interventionists who are attempting to interpret and evaluate child progress. A model for the use of a rate of change index is described which uses the Proportional Change Index developed by Wolery (1983). The model is illustrated through a case study. Applications and limitations of the rate of change index are also discussed.