Engagement and learning through social software in finance: a retrospective on the Trading Room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called the Trading Room in an undergraduate finance unit generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this innovation, viewed through the lens of Activity Theory, demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualised feedback and benchmark their work against others. While assessment is generally seen as the carrot and the stick of learning; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the Trading Room even if there was no assessment requirement. Students did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space.     

Hidden structure: Using network methods to map system architecture

In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterizing the architecture of complex technical systems and demonstrate its application to a large sample of software releases. Our methodology is based upon directed network graphs, which allows us to identify all of the direct and indirect linkages between the components in a system. We use this approach to define three fundamental architectural patterns, which we label core–periphery, multi-core, and hierarchical. Applying our methodology to a sample of 1286 software releases from 17 applications, we find that the majority of releases possess a “core–periphery” structure. This architecture is characterized by a single dominant cyclic group of components (the “Core”) that is large relative to the system as a whole as well as to other cyclic groups in the system. We show that the size of the Core varies widely, even for systems that perform the same function. These differences appear to be associated with different models of development – open, distributed organizations develop systems with smaller Cores, while closed, co-located organizations develop systems with larger Cores. Our findings establish some “stylized facts” about the fine-grained structure of large, real-world technical systems, serving as a point of departure for future empirical work.     

Antecedents of Consumer Repatronage Intentions and Negative Word-of-Mouth Behaviors Following an Organizational Failure: A Test of Investment Model Predictions

The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of consumers’ repatronage intentions and negative word-of-mouth behaviors following organizational failures. Participants were 233 people who had actually complained to organizations. Using Rusbult's investment model of relational stability, consumers’ perceptions of their investments, alternatives, satisfaction, and commitment were measured with respect to their impact on customers’ intent to do business with organizations in the future and willingness to spread negative publicity about an organization following a business failure. Results indicated that a modified version of the investment model helped to predict significant variance in consumers’ repatronage intentions and negative word-of-mouth behaviors.     

Australia's Public Library System: Its Needs and Potential

This document is the Introduction to the 8^th annual Directory of Australian Public Libraries. It provides a good overview of the dictionary of library information compiled system by system. The second document (Appendix A) is the survey form sent out to all of Australia's public libraries in order to gather the data which is assembled in the 8^th annual Directory. This document shows the questions that elicit a range of individual library system data. Many readers will want to compare this document with the U.S. equivalent.     

Getting the Message Across: The problem of communicating assessment feedback

Current literature provides useful insights into the role of assessment feedback in student learning, yet fails to recognise its complexity as a unique form of communication. This article outlines ideas emerging from ongoing research into the meaning and impact of assessment feedback for students in higher education. We argue that new models of communication are required to understand students' responses to the language of tutors' comments, and that issues of discourse, identity, power, control and social relationships should be central to any understanding of assessment feedback as a communication process. Implications of adopting an alternative perspective for research and practice are identified and discussed.     

Value conflicts in higher education teaching

This article explores value conflicts that people experience when teaching in higher education, drawing on in-depth interviews with staff from a research-intensive UK university. The article considers the relationship between values and teaching, illustrating how conflicts can occur between individual and different levels of the higher education system. Five value conflicts are then examined related to: dialogic forms of teaching; independent learning; not having enough time for students; large group lectures; and the struggle to be authentic in the classroom. These conflicts were highly personal yet speak to broader concerns within contemporary higher education. Individual responses to conflict varied. Drawing on previous research, the main response of participants in this study could be described as ‘strategic compromise’. Although one person responded to conflict by leaving the profession, the majority accepted structural constraints perceived to be beyond their control. Within these constraints people focused on aspects of practice where values could be realised, driven by personal concerns. The article concludes by discussing the potential of a deliberative approach to the study of value conflicts in higher education and its use on professional development courses for university staff.     

Self-assessment in professional programmes within tertiary institutions

This article considers the impact of a masters' level professional development course about higher education teaching on participants from a UK research-intensive university. Drawing upon in-depth interview data, this article explores the perspectives and experiences of the participants, locating their responses within broader notions of teacher identity work and departmental, institutional and wider system-level policies and practices. Three main findings are discussed: personal and professional change, the value of critical interdisciplinarity and how developing an emphasised teaching identity for some individuals can be a ‘poisoned chalice’. This article concludes by considering the implications of these findings for course development, institutional strategy and the Higher Education Academy's Professional Standards Framework.     

Discipline‐based educational development

Abstract

This paper grows out of my academic journey from a long period teaching and researching geography to recently taking on the role of an educational developer. For most staff, their primary allegiance is to their discipline. In my experience, educational developers often fail to recognize and value staff's focus on their discipline ‐ or see it as an obstacle to improving the quality of their teaching. My central argument is that, to have a significant impact on the broad mass of staff, educational developers should work with these discipline‐based concerns. I detail how this can be achieved, drawing on much good practice from the UK, Australia and North America. Approaches include recognizing particular curricular and pedagogic concerns of the disciplines; helping staff to develop as scholars in the teaching of their discipline; for some staff to develop careers in the teaching of their discipline; and for educational developers to work with disciplinary organizations to promote discipline‐based teaching initiatives.     

THE TEACHING OF THE GOD IDEA TO THE CONFIRMANDS

Abstract

From a Ruined Garden—the Memorial Book of Polish Jewry, translated and edited by Jack Kugelmass and Jonathan Boyarin, 275 pp. New York, Schocken Books, $18.95.

The Five Scrolls. Trans. and ed. Herbert Bronstein and Albert H. Friedlander. New York: CCAR Press, 1984. xiv + 383 pp. $12.