Intellectual capital and new ventures: the entrepreneur's cognizance of company management

The purpose of this research is to analyse the intellectual capital gauges most often utilized by entrepreneurs in the management of new ventures and to relate the use of these gauges to business performance. On the basis of interview data collected from 103 entrepreneurs, we provide evidence that the use of such measuring techniques impacts positively on overall business performance. Moreover, the results indicate that those entrepreneurs utilizing some form of intellectual capital (IC) measurement have superior results. Consequently, we highlight the importance of detecting, measuring and utilizing IC for new ventures stressing the potential benefits that such analysis can have on the initial steps taken by an entrepreneur in venture formation and business development.     

Digital ITEMS Module 2: Scale Reliability in Structural Equation Modeling

In this ITEMS module, we frame the topic of scale reliability within a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) context and address some of the limitations of Cronbach's α. This modeling approach has two major advantages: (1) it allows researchers to make explicit the relation between their items and the latent variables representing the constructs those items intend to measure, and (2) it facilitates a more principled and formal practice of scale reliability evaluation. Specifically, we begin the module by discussing key conceptual and statistical foundations of the classical test theory model and then framing it within an SEM context; we do so first with a single item and then expand this approach to a multi‐item scale. This allows us to set the stage for presenting different measurement structures that might underlie a scale and, more importantly, for assessing and comparing those structures formally within the SEM context. We then make explicit the connection between measurement model parameters and different measures of reliability, emphasizing the challenges and benefits of key measures while ultimately endorsing the flexible McDonald's ω over Cronbach's α. We then demonstrate how to estimate key measures in both a commercial software program (Mplus) and three packages within an open‐source environment (R). In closing, we make recommendations for practitioners about best practices in reliability estimation based on the ideas presented in the module.     

Influences of population size and density on birthplace effects

Contextual influences on talent development (e.g., birthplace effects) have become a topic of interest for sport scientists. Birthplace effects occur when being born in a certain city size leads to participation or performance advantages, typically for those born in smaller or mid-sized cities. The purpose of this study was to investigate birthplace effects in Portuguese volleyball players by analysing city size, as well as population density – an important but infrequently used variable. Participants included 4062 volleyball players (M_age = 33), 53.2% of whom were men. Using Portuguese national census data from 1981, we compared participants (within each sex) across five population categories. In addition, we used ANOVAs to study expertise and population density. Results indicated that men and women athletes born in districts of 200,000–399,999 were 2.4 times more likely to attain elite volleyball status, while all other districts decreased the odds of expert development. For men, being born in high-density areas resulted in less chance of achieving expertise, whereas there were no differences for women. The results suggest that athletes’ infrastructure and social structure play an important role in talent development, and that these structures are influenced by total population and population density, respectively.     

Attending to Diversity Representation Among Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Master’s Programs: A Pilot Study

Extant research has neglected to explore the diversity representation of counselor education programs. This pilot study sought to examine the extent to which CACREP-accredited master’s-level programs attend to the representation of people of color, individuals with dis/abilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), and transgender persons within admissions, enrollment, and graduation data. The findings indicated little consistency in the maintenance of students’ demographic characteristics among participating programs. The authors contend that counseling programs need to critically analyze their policies and procedures to ensure a responsive milieu for students from diverse backgrounds. Implications for the counseling field are presented.     

Preparing Biology Graduate Teaching Assistants for Their Roles as Instructors: An Assessment of Institutional Approaches

The inconsistency of professional development (PD) in teaching for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) is a widespread problem in higher education. Although GTAs serve an important role in retention of undergraduate science majors and in promotion of scientific literacy in nonmajors, they often lack preparation and ongoing support for teaching. Given the recent national focus on instructional quality in introductory courses, our goal was to use an online survey to identify current practices of teaching PD for biology GTAs and compare these results with the last national survey on this topic. In responses from 71 participant institutions, 96% reported some mandatory teaching preparation for biology GTAs; however, 52% of these programs required 10 or fewer hours per year. Respondents wanted to change their programs to include more pedagogical information and teaching observations with feedback to their GTAs. Programmatic self-ratings of satisfaction with GTA PD were positively correlated with the number of topics discussed during PD. Although more schools are requiring GTA PD for teaching compared with the last national survey, the lack of program breadth at many schools warrants a national conversation with regard to recent calls for improving undergraduate instruction.     

Forced Disruption of Anatomy Education in Australia and New Zealand: An Acute Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Australian and New Zealand universities commenced a new academic year in February/March 2020 largely with “business as usual.” The subsequent Covid-19 pandemic imposed unexpected disruptions to anatomical educational practice. Rapid change occurred due to government-imposed physical distancing regulations from March 2020 that increasingly restricted anatomy laboratory teaching practices. Anatomy educators in both these countries were mobilized to adjust their teaching approaches. This study on anatomy education disruption at pandemic onset within Australia and New Zealand adopts a social constructivist lens. The research question was “What are the perceived disruptions and changes made to anatomy education in Australia and New Zealand during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic, as reflected on by anatomy educators?.” Thematic analysis to elucidate “the what and why” of anatomy education was applied to these reflections. About 18 anatomy academics from ten institutions participated in this exercise. The analysis revealed loss of integrated “hands-on” experiences, and impacts on workload, traditional roles, students, pedagogy, and anatomists' personal educational philosophies. The key opportunities recognized for anatomy education included: enabling synchronous teaching across remote sites, expanding offerings into the remote learning space, and embracing new pedagogies. In managing anatomy education's transition in response to the pandemic, six critical elements were identified: community care, clear communications, clarified expectations, constructive alignment, community of practice, ability to compromise, and adapt and continuity planning. There is no doubt that anatomy education has stepped into a yet unknown future in the island countries of Australia and New Zealand.     

Guided Design: A Case Study Approach to Enhance Problem-Solving

Guided design is a systematic approach to instruction which is centered upon the learner's ability to solve open-ended problems that typify the situations he or she will experience as a professional in the field. The content is taught by self-instructional materials that have been systematically developed. The problem-solving process is taught using group projects that are designed to afford maximum utilization of the content in solving the problem presented by the case.     

The development of place value concepts: Approximation before principles

Place value concepts were measured longitudinally from kindergarten (2017) to first grade (2018) in a diverse sample (n = 279; M_age = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females; 41% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, 12% Latino). Children completed three syntactic tasks that required an explicit understanding of base-10 symbols and three approximate tasks that could be completed without this explicit understanding. Approximate performance was significantly better in both age groups. A factor analysis confirmed that syntactic and approximate tasks tapped separate latent variables in kindergarten, but not in first grade. Path analyses indicated that only kindergarten approximate performance predicted overall first-grade place value understanding. These findings suggest that explicit understanding of base-10 principles develops from implicit, partial knowledge of multidigit numbers.     

Selecting Socio-scientific Issues for Teaching

Science & Education - Currently there is little guidance given to teachers in selecting focal issues for socio-scientific issues (SSI)-based teaching and learning. As a majority of teachers...