Financial Feeling: An Investigation of Emotion and Communication in the Workplace

There is growing interest in the role of emotion when considering communication in the workplace. This work has most often considered workers in front-line service positions in investigations of emotional labor, and human service workers in investigations of empathy and emotional work. In this study, we consider processes of both emotional labor and emotional work in the financial planning profession. Financial planners occupy a role requiring ongoing relationships with clients, conversations about the often emotional topic of money, and a need to manage emotion in a variety of interaction contexts. Thus, from extant theory and literature regarding emotion and communication, we proposed research questions regarding the roles of emotional labor and emotional work in the financial planning profession. These questions were investigated in a web-based survey study of almost 300 professional financial planners and supporting interviews with 14 financial planners. Results indicate support for existing theory on emotional work, extensions to current research regarding emotional labor, and important implications for the role of emotion and communication in a range of professional service roles.     

Communicating Knowing Through Communities of Practice: Exploring Internal Communicative Processes and Differences Among CoPs

Knowing is an enacted, communicated process that is difficult to observe, let alone manage, in organizations. Communities of practice (CoPs) offer a productive solution for improving knowledge and knowledge management, but the communicative processes that enact CoPs have not been explored, leaving CoPs as an organizational black box. This research extends CoP theory as a means to determine the presence of a CoP and distinguish between various CoPs, and as a practical means to evaluate the communicative processes of organizational knowledge. CoPs enact the communicative nature of knowing through the elements of mutual engagement, negotiation of a joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Specifically, two groups of volunteers are examined through a combination of participation, observation, and interviews in order to explore CoP theory as a dynamic system for examining and evaluating organizational knowledge.     

Seeking Nettle Textiles – Utilizing a Combination of Microscopic Methods for Fibre Identification

Bast fibres have been commonly used as a textile material in Northern Europe since Neolithic times. However, the process of identifying the different species has been problematic, and many important questions related to their cultural history are still unanswered. For example, a modified Herzog test and the presence of calcium oxalate crystals have both been used in identification. In order to generate more reliable results, further research and advancement in multi-methodological methods is required. This paper introduces a combination of methods which can be used to identify and distinguish flax (Linum usitatissimum), hemp (Cannabis sativa), and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). The research material consisted of reference fibres and 25 fibre samples obtained from 12 textiles assumed to be made of nettle. The textiles were from the Finno-Ugric and Historical Collections of The National Museum of Finland. The fibre samples were studied by observing the surface characteristics and cross sections with transmitted light microscopy, and by using a modified Herzog test with polarized light, in order to identify the distinguishable features in their morphological structures. The study showed that five out of 25 samples were cotton, 16 nettle, one flax, and one hemp. Findings from two samples were inconsistent. The results show that it is possible to distinguish common north European bast fibres from each other by using a combination of microscopic methods. Furthermore, by utilizing these combined methods, new and more reliable information could be obtained from historical ethnographic textiles, which creates new vistas for the interpretation of their cultural history.     

小康社会评价指标体系的重构与西部经济发展

现行的小康社会评价指标体系因描述范围不全面且标准较低而难以反映全面小康的内涵。依据全面性原则、层次性原则、同一性原则、重点突出原则,全面小康社会评价指标体系的重构应当以共同富裕、协调发展为主线,以物质文明、精神文明和政治文明全面进步为核心,从经济发展、社会环境、人口素质和民主法治四个方面的指标反映和测度小康社会的进程。西部实现全面小康的首要任务是发展经济,关键是把发展思路从依靠以资源禀赋为主要导向的外生比较优势,转变为以满足市场需求为主要导向的内生比较优势。     

建构主义视野中教师学习解析

作为改造教师主观世界的活动,教师学习的实质是教师内在的思想、能力和情感的变化。建构主义教师学习是教师以主动发现和探究的态度与过程,在拓展和提升原有知识和经验基础上获致丰富教育理想和知识、增进专业理解和技能,不断更新自我,培育创造性生命力的成长过程。改善我国教师教育中的教师学习要有自我超越的意识和勇气,营造促进教师理解与思考的环境,涵养诤友式的合作文化。     

Examining the requirements for an intergenerational learning game

Intergenerational learning (IGL) has been identified as a viable way to help organizations deal with the problems an ageing worker population brings with it. Information and communications technology (ICT) in its many forms can be utilized to support IGL. This paper investigates the requirements for a game that would help raise stakeholder awareness for IGL, and allow individuals to practice skills related to it. By interviewing members of the European Union (EU)-funded SILVER-project we aim to find out suitable contexts, interventions and mechanisms that allow us to design such a game. Based on the interviews we found out that the game should be easily contextualized so that it works in—or is easily adapted to—different countries and cultures. For example sports or nature could be such contexts. As for mechanisms and interventions we found out that there are many possibilities. We conclude that such a logical combination of mechanisms and interventions that support the selected context must be chosen.     

Are serious video games something more than a game? A review on the effectiveness of serious games to facilitate intergenerational learning

Aging diversity in organizations creates potential challenges, particularly for knowledge management, skills update and skills obsolescence. Intergenerational learning (IGL) involves knowledge building, innovation and knowledge transfer between generations within an organization (Ropes 2011). Serious games refer to the use of computer games in raising awareness about educational topics, acquiring new knowledge and skills by enabling learners to engage and participate in situations that would otherwise be impossible to experience (Corti 2006). Although learning with the use of serious games is similar to traditional learning in several cognitive respects, there are noted differences in the learning style and structure of learning using serious games. The success of learning using serious games lies in the actual involvement of a participant playing the game, which in turn, creates increased cognitive links with real-life situations allowing the individual to make relevant associations, to use mnemonic strategies with the facilitation of multi-dimensional educational aids (e.g., visual, auditory). Some of the beneficial aspects of learning with the use of serious games include the elevation of several cognitive skills, which are directly or indirectly implicated in the learning process. Among them are attention and visuo-spatial abilities, memory and motor skills. However, several barriers have been noted that fall into two general categories: a) health issues (e.g., cognitive strain, headaches) and b) psychological issues (e.g., social isolation, emotional disturbances). Since the training conditions are learner-centered and highly determined by the individual, there is increased need for evaluating the learning outcomes using specific success indicators. Examples of games that are designed to facilitate IGL are scarce, while there are no examples of IGL games in most EU countries. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the current literature of theories on learning through serious games in adults and the elderly with reference to the cognitive mechanisms implicated, benefits and barriers in learning using new technologies in different generations. Secondly, this paper reviews the existence of serious games designed to facilitate IGL in Europe, as well as the characteristics of serious games in raising awareness that could be used to facilitate IGL. In doing so, specific focus is placed on the development of success indicators that determine the effectiveness of serious games on raising awareness on IGL.     

中学政治学科名师工作室的实践探索与理性思考

中学政治学科名师工作室是指由某一地区中学政治学科首席名师领衔,多名中学政治学科骨干教师组成,以政治学科研究和青年政治教师培养为主要内容,以提高中学政治教师教育教学、教育研究能力和促进中学政治教师专业成长为目的的研修共同体,是名师工作室的重要组成部分.它既具有名师工作室的共性,又具有自身的特点.随着实践的不断深入,中学政治学科名师工作室在具体实施过程中,暴露出了不少问题,如定位不准、方向不明,自主专业发展的意识不够,持续性发展的后劲不足,评估手段繁琐、效果差等,这些问题严重影响着中学政治学科名师工作室作用的充分发挥.因此,为实现中学政治学科名师工作室的高效、科学运行,必须要采取转变观念、明确自我定位、树立“政治名师服务工作室”思想;大力发展政治名师工作室“草根化”经营道路;进一步强化政治名师工作室的区域辐射功能;完善政治名师工作室考核评估体系等有效措施,推进中学政治学科名师工作室的建设与发展.