Digital Commons Network^™

Heutagogy - An Updated Approach To Masters Education, Lauren P. Richardson, Carol Mcgowan, Lee Styger

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose. This paper examines the development of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) compliant Master of Business Administration (MBA) subject. The aim was to equip students with the fundamental skills they would need to become lifelong learners. We used an embedded team teaching approach as a way to facilitate heutagogical practice. Methodology. A literature search was conducted to see how the AQF requirements were being met for MBA courses. This is connected to the single case study of an MBA subject's development. Findings. The findings indicate that an embedded team teaching style proved to be beneficial in enabling the heutagogical double …

Students' Perception On Use Of Technology In The Classroom At Higher Education Institutions In Philippines, Virginia Carbonilla Gorra, Shyam S. Bhati

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Issue of unintended consequences of use of technology in class room is important because unintended consequences can cause disruption in class room and negate the institutional policies regarding strategic direction and intervention in teaching and learning process. Current literature on the use of e-learning for teaching focuses on factors which increases the effectiveness of e-learning but there is very little research on unintended consequences of e-learning, particularly in regard to developing countries. The present research seeks to fill in this gap in the research. This research investigates the consequences of the use of technology during classroom activities in higher education …

Measuring Productivity Change In Higher Education: An Application Of Hicks-Moorsteen Total Factor Productivity Index To Malaysian Public Universities, Amir Arjomandi, Mad Ithnin Salleh, Abbas Mohammadzadeh

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of efficiency and productivity changes using the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index, in the context of higher education institutions. Unlike the Malmquist method, this approach makes no assumptions about firms' returns to scale conditions. We assume that the production technology exhibits variable returns to scale, which is more plausible than the constant returns to scale assumption, because universities usually operate at suboptimal scales. Three major groupings of Malaysian public universities are used in our case study: research, comprehensive, and focused universities. The results show that technical efficiency has improved after the 2007 National Higher …

Dimensions Driving Business Student Satisfaction In Higher Education, Mazirah Yusoff, Fraser Mcleay, Helen Woodruffe-Burton

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This study aims to identify the dimensions of business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private higher educational environment and evaluate the infuence that demographic factors have on satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 1,200 undergraduate business students at four private higher educational (PHE) institutions in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions that drive student satisfaction. ANOVA and t-tests were conducted to evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on the results.

Findings - Factor analysis resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution from an original set of …

Barriers To The Integration Of Information Technology Within Early Childhood Education And Care Organisations: A Review Of The Literature, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Employees of early childhood education and care (ECEC) organisations may experience a wide range of barriers as they attempt to integrate information technology (IT) into their work practices. However, studies within the ECEC organisational literature which attempt to identify and understand these barriers are scant. This literature review is the first to present consolidated findings from the body of knowledge on barriers to the integration of IT within ECEC organisations. In addition to highlighting limitations and gaps in the literature, it proposes a tri-perspective framework to provide for future research to develop a deeper understanding of not only what barriers …

Innovation Determinants And Barriers: A Tri-Perspective Analysis Of It Appropriation Within An Early Childhood Education And Care Organisation, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Empirical studies on information technology (IT) in early childhood education and care organisations are scant, despite an increasing number of these organisations choosing to innovate with IT. This paper presents a framework to understand the appropriation of IT as an innovation within such an organisation. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. While the first focuses on concepts such as leadership, IT champions, previous IT exposure, the second focuses on organisation size, parents as stakeholders, competitors, government compliance and regulatory requirements. The third perspective views the innovation as a dynamic …

Reconfiguring Early Childhood Education And Care: A Sociomaterial Analysis Of It Appropriation, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Existing studies of IT within early childhood education and care settings are scant, and those that do exist traditionally utilise a Cartesian world-view where humans and IT are separate self-sufficient entities with properties. In this worldview, change is attributed to either the technological or the human entity, leading to limited, either techno-centric or human-centred accounts of IT implementation and use. We reframe the activities in an early childhood organisation as a process of appropriation, and utilise a sociomaterial theory of technology appropriation alternative to the Cartesian worldview. We contribute a rich account of the changes that occur to the practices, …

Innovation Within An Early Childhood Education And Care Organisation: A Tri-Perspective Analysis Of The Appropriation Of It, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Empirical studies on information technology (IT) in early childhood are scant, despite an increasing number of early childhood education and care organisations choosing to innovate with IT. This paper presents a framework to understand the appropriation of IT as an innovation within such an organisation. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. While the first focuses on concepts such as leadership, IT champions, previous IT exposure, the second focuses on organisation size, parents as stakeholders, competitors, government compliance and regulatory requirements. The third perspective views the innovation as a dynamic, …

Innovation And Economic Education: An Integration, Eduardo Pol

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Almost everyone agrees on the importance of educating a broad spectrum of the public about economics and business. It has been suggested by experts in economic education that universities should place greater emphasis on economics as a general education. The present paper develops a proposal to integrate innovation into elementary economic education that business faculties might use to enrich their general economic education offerings. We believe the proposal can be implemented through the design of a new subject - which may be called the 'Creative Economy' - supported by a method of teaching and learning by successive approximations. The study …

The Role Of The Design Coach - A Novel Approach To Achieving 360 Collaboration Between Industry And Higher Education, Lee E. J Styger, Ian Ellis

Sydney Business School - Papers

There is significant latent design talent within the broader business community, however, much of the design potential is isolated, and, lacks the necessary focus to manifest positive commercial outcomes. Research has indicated that this situation is due to a myopic design development process that is typically caused by the lack of larger team dynamics, reporting structures, and more formal review and feedback processes. The role of the coach is well established in business environments, where, a specialist practitioner enables an environment that supports personal and operational development. Unfortunately the concept of the design coach is not as well established because, …

Is The Rising Cost Of Education Uniform Across All Of Australia's Capital Cities?, Abbas Valadkhani, Shima Hassan Zadeh Forughi, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper compares and contrasts the aggregate cost of education in Australia with the cost of education in each of its eight capital cities surveyed in the Consumer Price Index. It appears that education is becoming a relatively more expensive item among Australian households with rising substantial differences across various geographical areas. Over the last three decades on average the Australian economy witnessed an overall annual inflation rate of 4.2 per cent, whereas the growth of education cost was 7.3 per cent per annum. It is interesting to note that the rising cost of education was not the same across …

Customising Management Education: Designing Learning Episodes Using An Open System Perspective, Peter Mclean

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a holistic framework for designing effective learning episodes for management students. Based on a synthesis of adult learning theory and open system theory, the paper proposes a model of learning design which can guide the customising of management education to account for the particular requirements of the four key elements in a learning episode. Effective learning requires careful consideration of and alighment between these key elements, and flexibility to change when any of these elements varies from prior expectations.

Red Queen Takes White Knight: The Commercialisation Of Accounting Education In Australia, Edmund W. Watts, Carol J. Mcnair, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This paper investigates the consequences of the commercialisation of Australian universities. It also provides a theoretical framework which focuses this action. Design / methodology - The Red Queen scenario posits that organisations that are more active than their rivals (they run faster) improve their competitive positions and increase their performance. However, organisations that are more sluggish (they run slower) experience negative performance consequences. This paper examines this process using the new institutional theory against the backdrop of the quest for increased international student numbers, higher international ranking and international accreditation. Findings - Using data from the 2011 Excellence …

The Implementation Of Authentic Activities For Learning: A Case Study In Finance Education, Mara K. Koplin, Chi Fun Freda Hui

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper seeks to demonstrate how assessment tasks set in a finance subject contribute to an authentic learning experience. Authentic learning has been shown to help connect students’ classroom learning to the outside world. Linking what students are learning in class to the real world enables them to better understand the problems to be faced when dealing with incomplete information, while also engaging them more fully. In this preliminary study we explore the attributes of an authentic learning experience. The assessment task requires each student to research the topics covered in class in relationship to a country that they have …

The Spread Of Ict Innovation In Accounting Education, Sam H. Jebeile, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper conveys the findings of a study conducted to evaluate the initiation of an interactive online computer-assisted learning module, called WEBLEARN, in an undergraduate introductory accounting course at an Australian university. The purpose was to aid students in the preparation of cash flow statements, a topic that from the student perspective is usually considered fairly difficult. Following the pilot of the module, student responses were collected via questionnaire in order to evaluate their perceptions regarding the WEBLEARN module. Diffusion of innovations theory was utilized as a framework for assessing student responses and to guide further development of modules in …

Education Into Employment? Indonesian Women And Moving From Business Education Into Professional Participation, Ang Lindawati, Ciorstan J. Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of possible cultural and historical explanations of why Indonesian women’s higher participation in tertiary accounting studies has failed to lead to a commensurately higher participation in the upper echelons of public accounting careers. This paper has adopted the ideographic subjectivist approach which suggests that research should be culturally and historically informed. Women interviewed for this study repeatedly mentioned two cultural and historical barriers to their fuller participation in the public accounting profession. Firstly, it was noted that Javanese expectations of “proper” behavior in women did not lend itself to some …

Absence Of Democracy And Gender Inequality In Education, Arusha V. Cooray, N Potrafke

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

We investigate empirically how the degree of democracy affects gender equality in education. The dataset contains 66 countries from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America over the 1991-2008 period. The results indicate that democracy advances gender equality in education while conversely less democratic regimes discriminate in education against girls. Democratization therefore has an important role in gender equality in education of girls, which, in turn, has a positive influence on economic development and growth.

A Marketing Perspective On Choice Factors Considered By South African First-Year Students In Selecting A Higher Education Institution, Melanie Wiese, C H Van Heerden, Yolanda Jordaan, E North

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The unstable and turbulent environment in which higher education institutions all over the world currently have to operate poses many management and marketing challenges to such institutions. As non-profit organisations, the ability of higher education institutions to survive and grow would be enhanced by up-to-date knowledge and information regarding the higher education environment, and more specifically by having marketing and communication strategies that might influence students making decisions on which university to enrol at. The main goal of this study was to investigate the relevant importance of the choice factors that prospective students considered, as well as the sources of …

Management Education For Engineers, Peter Gibson, Peter W. Childs

Sydney Business School - Papers

This paper considers some of the contemporary literature on teaching management to engineers. Some ideas are discussed, for future research to be carried out by the authors, aimed at documenting current shortcomings with a view to developing a more effective future strategy for engineering management education

Does Democracy Explain Gender Differentials In Education?, Arusha V. Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study shows that despite a strong empirical association between gender differentials in enrolment ratios and democracy, that democracy alone does not explain gender differentials in education in Africa and Asia. The results indicate that income, employment in agriculture, religious heterogeneity and colonialism also help explain the under-representation of girls in education in these regions. Countries in which the duration of suffrage has been longer tend to perform better on average in terms of gender equality in education.

The Role Of Higher Education And Industry In Supporting Career Goals And Decision-Making, Yolanda Jordaan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Both higher education institutions and employers need to evaluate the factors that influence students' career goals and career-related decisions because of their importance to and impact on career management and decision making. The objective of this study is to identify the importance of career goals and factors influencing students' career decision making in South Africa. A non-probability sample was selected, with 488 completed responses. The findings indicate that there are significant differences between gender and ethnic groups in terms of the importance of career goals and career influencing factors. The results suggest that high-quality education is needed in conjunction with …

The Role Of Education In Economic Growth, Arusha V. Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the effect of the quantity and quality of education on economic growth. Using a number of proxy variables for the quantity and quality of education in a cross section of low and medium income countries, this study finds that education quantity when measured by enrolment ratios, unambiguously influences economic growth. The effect of government expenditure on economic growth is largely indirect through its impact on improved education quality.

Traditional Audit Techniques And Human Behaviour At Undergraduate Level - Answering The Call For Audit Education Reform, Annamaria Kurtovic

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

As educators, we have a responsibility to society to ensure that our students receive adequate learning and training. In recent years, there have been continued calls for reform within the accounting profession, particularly regarding auditor training. The following paper will analyse how a newly developed framework, the Fusion Framework, is applied to the curricula of an undergraduate auditing and assurance course, with the aim of influencing reform in audit education. In turn assuring that graduates are provided with the necessary knowledge and skills to not only meet the regulatory requirements but also the expectations of the wider market and investors. …

Learning Across Communities Of Practice: How Postgraduate Students Cope With Returning To Higher Education In An International Setting, L. Smith

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is an exploratory case study into the way postgraduate students cope with the transition from the workplace to university in an international environment. It looks at how students move successfully between these two communities of practice, and the kind of learning that is involved in this process. As well as personal motivation, key factors found in boundary-crossing between the communities are multi-membership of communities and the use of identity as a bridge. Learning is found to involve a collateral transfer, or reconstruction, of knowledge in both directions. The study is intended to inform the development of a learning …

Attitudes Of Educators And Practitioners In The Uae Towards Elements Of General Education In Learning Accounting, Jamal Roudaki

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Most universities and higher education institutions in developing countries seem to concentrate on areas of specializations in teaching accounting. Many do not seem to give attention to general education despite the fact that local and international accreditation bodies (i.e. AACSB) require general education to be part of the accounting degree. This paper aims at finding out how educators and practitioners differ in terms of their preference ratings of general education knowledge in accounting curriculum. A survey was conducted and discriminant analysis was applied to the collected data. The results suggest that, the two groups differ in their preference in general …

The Double Paradox Of Elementary Economics Education, Jorge E. Fernandez-Pol, P. Carroll

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Elementary economics textbooks have become less attractive to students requiring only an introduction to economics, given that their content is pervaded by mathematical diagrams and simple equations. Also they are of relatively little value to those interested in, for example, attempting to gain an understanding of the New Economy, for they rarely emphasise business innovation and its crucial dynamic role. These factors engender something of a double paradox. First, the paradox of the tools and the audience, newcomers are frequently ‘turned off’ by existing economics textbooks, due to the pervasive use of mathematics. Second, the paradox of the content and …

Effective Teaching And Learning In Accounting Education: Examining The Linkages Between Students' Perceptions Of The Teaching Context, Students' Approaches To Learning And Students' Outcomes, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Research in accounting education has almost neglected both student perceptions of the learning context and their approaches to learning. Instead, studies have focused on either the teaching context or the outcomes of learning. This omission has meant that accounting educators often experience difficulty in understanding students conceive learning to be, how they perceive the learning task, or how they approach learning. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the perceptions, the approaches and the outcomes of students in a business subject in order to discover how these students learn and thus to provide some strategies which …

Effective Teaching And Learning: A Business Education Focus, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The need to understand the process of student learning in order to improve the quality of that learning has been identified in the education literature (for example, see Biggs, 1978, 1987a, 1987b, Malton and Saljo, 1976, Ramsden, 1992). In addition, the outcomes of this learning have been identified in quantitative, qualitative or attitudinal terms (Biggs, 1990; Marton and Booth, 1997). To this end there have been a number of models of student approaches to learning (Biggs, 1988; Kember and Gow, 1989; Marton and Saljo, 1976; Zhang, 2000). Each model has considered the antecedents, and by way of application, the effectiveness …

The Importance Of Critical Thinking In Distance Education, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the particular importance of critical thinking in distance education. It poses that the unique challenge of distance education lies in giving responsibility to the students for their own education. This is particularly important in distance education, as giving direction with face to face contact is not possible.