Digital Commons Network^™

From Statement To Purpose: An Interview With Bill Siemering, Neil Verma

RadioDoc Review

This article is an interview between RadioDoc Review Editor Neil Verma and Bill Siemering, founding Director of Programming at National Public Radio and lifelong proponent of public radio. Siemering and Verma discuss Siemering's role at the founding of NPR, his earlymcareer in Wisconsin, WHYY Philadelphia, WBFO and KCCM, as well as his enduring work in community radio development in Africa.

A Student Perspective On The Effectiveness Of Pass In Seminar Courses: A Mixed-Method Study, Wai Man Szeto, Kenneth Ming Li, Vivian Jun Wu, Isaac Ka Tai Wong, Anthony Hoi Wa Cheng, Mei Yee Leung

Journal of Peer Learning

The General Education Foundation (GEF) Programme, consisting of two seminar courses, namely “In Dialogue with Humanity” and “In Dialogue with Nature,” has been a common core requirement of The Chinese University of Hong Kong since 2012. Aided by selected classics, students from all faculties engage in dialogues with their teachers and each other to reflect on what it means to have a good life, what an ideal society is, and the nature of intellectual pursuit in the sciences. Reading classics and discussing serious questions in class, however, can be challenging for some students. To help students meet these challenges, Peer …

Progenitors Of Firm’S Search Behaviour: A Country Comparison Of Australia Vs. India, Ranjan Dasgupta, Monika Dhochak

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The determinants and consequences of firm-risk are widely studied in regard to the US and other developed markets. However, little attention is paid to these issues in emerging markets or in cross-country contexts. The empirical literature is also mostly silent about the progenitors of firms’ search behaviour in an organisational risk context. To fill these research gaps, we investigate the progenitors of a firm’s search behaviour (i.e. risk-taking) in a bi-country context of Australia vs. India with 395 firms across 2003-2017. We use four distinctive risk measures - return on asset SD, capital expenditure ratio, accounting beta and R&D intensity, …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Sme Value Creation, Asit Bhattacharyya, Amit Kumar

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Despite small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ability to contribute in achieving sustainable economic growth, to reduce unemployment, value creation ability of SMEs through CSR remains unexplored. We examine the impact of CSR on SME value in manufacturing and service industries context, the industries ignored by existing research. We also explore the interactive relationship of CSR and access to finance and their impact on CSR-Value relationship. Our key finding is that SMEs value is positively associated with the CSR expenditure and access to finance. The results indicate that current year CSR expenditure creates value for SMEs through improving their access to …

The Effect Of Board Gender Diversity On Dividend Payments : Evidence From Indonesia, Eldinar Isty Fauziah, Agung Nur Probohudono, Doddy Setiawan

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

This research aims to analyze the impact of board gender diversity on dividend payments in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the emerging economies. Some of the institutional specificities of emerging economies are the lack of protection of minority shareholders' rights, and market uncertainty may increase agency problems that raise doubts about future cash flows such as dividend payments. This research uses the data of listed firms from Indonesia Stock Exchange over the period 2013-2016. The data collection method uses purposive sampling. Indonesia implements a two-tier system that has directors and commissioners. We find evidence indicating that women directors are negatively …

Editorial Volume 16 Issue 6, Ciorstan Smark, Monir Mir

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Editorial Volume 16 Issue 6

Financial Technology Solutions For Financial Inclusion: A Review And Future Agenda, Km. Neelam, Sonali Bhattacharya

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Objective- This research aims to review the extant literature and the contribution of digital technology (DT) in financial inclusion (FI). In this study, researchers attempted to suggest some directions to policymakers towards furthering the initiatives for financial inclusion. The objectives are to explore user behaviour for technology adaptation of financial transactions.

Design/ Methodology- A systematic literature review was conducted by using a method suggested by Cook and West (2012). The articles were selected between 2001 to 2020. Keywords such as ‘digital technology’ and Financial Inclusion (FI) were chosen for study. Full text articles in English language from SCOPUS, Web of …

Do Indian Firms Engage In Greenwashing? Evidence From Indian Firms, Sushobhan Sensharma, Manish Sinha, Dipasha Sharma

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

This study aims to look at ESG reporting in India through the lens of greenwashing, with a focus on the companies listed in the National Stock Exchange under the NIFTY 50 index using available ESG scores and assessments. Further, it aims to measure the indulgence of greenwashing by the companies. This study also analyses and attempts to highlight the factors that influence a company’s greenwashing behaviour, focusing specifically on the Indian context. Data for the empirical study and calculation of greenwashing score is collected from secondary data sources. We further use a regression method to study the nature of influence …

The Impact Of Corporate Esg Performance Disclosure Across Australian Industries, Amir Gholami, John Sands, Syed Shams

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The aims of this study are threefold. Firstly, it examines the long-term improvement in the corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Secondly, it highlights the favourable financial implications of the higher corporate ESG performance disclosure. The third aim is to provide insight into the industrial impact on the relationship between corporate ESG performance disclosure and financial performance. This study uses a sample of all Australian publicly listed companies between 2007 and 2017 and conducts a panel regression analysis. It also performs several robustness checks to address the methodological, sample selection and endogeneity issues concerning corporate ESG performance disclosure. The …

Independent Directors: The Contrasting Cases Of Australia And Bangladesh, Philippa Wells, Abdul Moyeen

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The Bangladesh corporate governance regime is framed by legal rules and requirements, in comparison to those prevailing in such jurisdictions as Australia. However, it is arguable that such legal rules have not necessarily led to major modernisation of structures or to such significant changes to the profile of company boards that would maximise their effectiveness. This study involves analysis and comparison of some of the important characteristics of Bangladeshi and Australian company boards, with a particular focus on independent directors. To provide context for this study, the regulatory framework for corporate governance in Bangladesh is compared and contrasted with that …

Student Experiences Of Facilitated Asynchronous Online Discussion Boards: Lessons Learned And Implications For Teaching Practice, Allison J. James, Tracy A. Douglas, Louise A. Earwaker, Carey A. Mather

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

As an alliance of academics undertaking blended delivery, we have experienced the challenge of tailoring teaching strategies to different learning styles. Our teaching has evolved, moving from traditional didactic delivery to the utilisation of online technology to accommodate both academic and student expectations. The pressure to teach within constrained resources and issues presented from the COVID-19 pandemic has provided opportunities to optimise educational technology. We identified a gap in genuinely engaged online discussions, observing that pedagogic value was often obscure. This cross-sectional study investigated the opinions and experiences of undergraduate students in four health science online units where asynchronous discussion …

Student Perceptions Of Humour In Teaching Politics And International Relations: A Focus Group Study, Alexander P. Martin

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Politics and International Relations (Pol & IR) lecturers can capitalise on the established relationship between comedy and political analysis by using humour techniques to enhance the student learning experience and to develop students’ critical analysis skills. Using collected data from focus groups with 21 British and International undergraduate students from four UK universities, this small-scale empirical study advances a methodology that enables participants to engage in collective meaning-making without being restricted by a closed-ended question survey. This research highlights student perceptions that humour attempts can make concepts memorable, improve student-lecturer rapport, and increase student engagement and motivation when lecturers consistently …

Examining The Reliability And Validity Of A Mongolian Version Of The Student Online Learning Readiness Instrument Using Exploratory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Itgel Miyejav, Badmaanyambuu Dorj, Tserenbat Oirov, Odmaa Itgel

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This study examines the reliability and validity of a Mongolian version of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument in the Mongolian context. The instrument consists of 20 items used to evaluate technical competencies, social competencies with instructor, social competencies with classmates, and communication competencies. One thousand seven hundred and eight-six undergraduate students at the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, participated in this study. Data were randomly split into two groups. The four-factor structure of the SOLR instrument explained 69.355% of the variance in the pattern of relationships among the items in the first half-sample. All four competencies …

Making The Transition From On-Campus To Online Learning: Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences Of Online Learning As A Result Of Covid-19, Tracey Muir, Sharyn Livy, Carol Murphy, Allison Trimble

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Online learning is rapidly becoming the preferred study option for many higher education students, due to its accessibility, convenience and flexible teaching arrangements. For other students who have access to a university campus, their preferred option is to attend on-campus classes, where advantages include synchronous interaction with peers, lecturers and access to practical experiences, materials, and resources. The impact of COVID-19 resulted in interruptions to social, economic, cultural, and educational life, with social distancing measures and health and well-being concerns leading to widespread restrictions in numerous different contexts. Universities throughout Australia restricted access to campuses and shifted their teaching of …

The Ecology Of Peer Review: Person-Centred, Strength-Based, And Self-Determination Perspectives, Kelly-Ann Allen, Jonathan Reardon, Lucas Walsh, Lea E. Waters, Michael L. Wehmeyer

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

The peer-review system, commonly considered critical for research integrity and rigour, has been criticised for being slow, exclusionary and exploitive. Concerns include the high profits of academic publishers as well as the growing number of insecurely employed academic staff who report high levels of stress and burnout. The consequence has been a decline in willing reviewers, publication delays, and potential damage to the career trajectories of early career researchers and PhD candidates at institutions that rely on metrics of academic impact as measures of academic performance. Rather than overhaul the system and undermine current benefits, this critical review adopts an …

Peer Review In Academic Publishing: Challenges In Achieving The Gold Standard, Prue Gonzalez, Gail S. Wilson, Alison J. Purvis

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This editorial describes some of the current and emerging challenges in peer review for the academic publishing system. Peer review is a fundamental element of academic research and publishing, with a firm reliance on the global scholarly community to perform gatekeeping and filtering processes in pursuing high-quality and high-value scholarly publications: the “gold standard” in academic publishing. We begin with examples of several contemporary challenges the peer review system poses, including impartiality and bias, academic reward structures, fake peer reviews, and reviewer fatigue. To further understand these challenges, we then provide a brief history of the evolution of the peer …

Learning Environment And Approaches To Learning In China And Australia: A Tale Of Three Accounting Cohorts, Riccardo Natoli, Tracey Mcdowall, Zi Wei, Beverley Jackling

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether learning approaches are impacted by the learning environment across two countries and three accounting student cohorts. This paper utilises a logistic regression based on responses from 1,381 students across five higher education (HE) institutions from China and Australia. The findings provide original empirical evidence of the Chinese accounting students’ expectations of deep learning and show that student perceptions of good teaching is a key determinant to a deep approach to learning for all three student cohorts. In addition, clear goals and standards were significant for Chinese accounting students studying both …

Audit Quality And Creative Accounting Strategy: Evidence From Nigerian Public Listed Companies, Abdullahi Bala Ado, Norfadzilah Nik Mohd Rashid, Umar Aliyu Mustapha, Lateef Saheed Ademola

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical evidence on the relationship between audit quality and creative accounting strategy evidence from Nigerian Public Listed companies. Using a panel data set of all companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period of nine years from 2010-2018. This paper employs 84 companies listed on the board of NSE with 756 firm-year observations. The study used secondary method to retrieve data from the annual reports of the listed companies and Thompson Reuters DataStream. The study employs multiple regression to examine the relationship between audit quality and creative accounting …

We Were All Learning And Doing Our Best: Investigating How Enabling Educators Promoted Student Belonging In A Time Of Significant Complexity And Unpredictability, Trixie James, Kerry Bond, Brijesh Kumar, Melissa Tomlins, Gabriela Toth

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted education provision worldwide. In Australia, the government took a proactive stance to reduce the impact of the pandemic, temporarily banning higher education students from attending university campuses. With a lockdown in place, educational institutions required a rapid shift in approaches to teaching and learning by both educators and students. Educators throughout Australia were asked to work from home and quickly transition their face-to-face (synchronous) classes into bichronous, fully online offerings. This paper reports on the experiences of 25 educators in an enabling course in a regional Australian university who were required to make this shift. These …

Reflections On Belonging And A Law Student Pledge, Karina Murray, Kate P. Tubridy, John Littrich, Trish K. Mundy

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

In 2017, the School of Law at the University of Wollongong commenced an experimental initiative through the introduction of a Law Student Pledge. It was designed as a symbolic statement to students that from the day they begin their law studies they become a member of the legal professional community. In this way, it invited First Year Students to commit to core values, attitudes and practices seen as important to developing a positive professional identity. This article reports on learnings following the implementation of the Pledge over 3 iterations and reflects upon its impact on shaping students’ sense of belonging. …

Connect, Converse, Collaborate: Encountering Belonging And Forging Resilience Through Creative Practice, Sarah Kate Crews, Jodie Allinson

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This paper is a dialogue between two colleagues who teach drama and performance in Higher Education. Our work here has developed across a series of formal, semi-structured and informal discussions about our experiences of teaching and supporting students within the Drama and Performance department at University of South Wales. Instantly we connected on our commitment to prioritising student needs and our intentions to co-construct reflexive learning spaces. Within the disciplines of drama and performance, we (Allinson and Crews) see practice, collaboration and dialogue as equally important and core to all learning environments and encounters. Because of this we continually question …

Experiences Of Belonging: A Comparative Case Study Between China-Domiciled And Uk-Domiciled Students, Susan Smith, Sarah Watson

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Different domiciled groups experience belonging differently within university contexts, with China-domiciled students studying in UK Business Schools often finding it more difficult to integrate into university culture than their European counterparts, partially contributing to the sector awarding gap between these groups studying Business and Management subjects. With recognition that the pandemic induced move to teaching online exacerbated challenges to belonging for all students, 17 Chinese and 16 UK finalist undergraduates were interviewed about their experiences of belonging before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and once face-to-face teaching had resumed. The research contributes to an increasingly nuanced understanding of the university …

I Probably Have A Closer Relationship With My Internet Provider: Experiences Of Belonging (Or Not) Among Mature-Aged Regional And Remote University Students, Nicole L. Crawford, Sherridan G. Emery, Penny Allen, Allen Baird

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

While fostering a sense of belonging among university students is an objective of many universities, the landscape of belonging is complex and multifaceted. It is worthy of deeper interrogation, particularly for “non-traditional” students. This article draws on data from a national mixed-methods study that explored proactive ways of supporting the mental wellbeing of mature-aged students in regional and remote Australia. One of the overarching findings was students feeling invisible, misunderstood and undervalued. While this theme was relevant for many participants, it was also the case that other participants reported feeling visible, known and a sense of belonging. These inconsistencies prompted …

Empathy In Action: Developing A Sense Of Belonging With The Pedagogy Of ‘Real Talk’, Wendy Keyser, Wafa Unus, Jonathan Harvey, Sean C. Goodlett, Danette Day, Kisha G. Tracy, Scott Tyner, Eric Budd

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

A collaborative group of interdisciplinary faculty-researchers at a regional comprehensive university in the United States implemented two pedagogical practices, real talks and alternative lessons (together called the pedagogy of real talk), and investigated students’ sense of belonging in classrooms using these practices. Real talks are planned interactions wherein faculty share human stories from their lives on a universal theme and invite students to share their own stories on that theme. Alternative lessons are faculty-designed learning experiences that build upon understandings of students’ worldviews and experiences. Survey data from over 30 student classes across two semesters in 2021 were compared with …

Allies As Guides In The Borderlands: The Development Of An Online Ally Program To Foster Belonging For Lgbtiq+ Students And Staff At A Regional University, Gemma Mann

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

As minorities, people of diverse sexual orientations and genders often feel that they do not belong within higher education. To combat this, connection is important, but that can be difficult in the uncertain, predominantly online world of universities. The Ally Program is a university-wide, extra-curricular online training program aimed at creating connection for LGBTIQ+ students and staff. This paper presents a critically reflective autoethnographic study of my 12 years of experience in developing the Ally Program through the writing and analysis of four creative narratives. These narratives centre on the epiphanies I had as a trainer that led to significant …

Anti-Ableist Pedagogies In Higher Education: A Systems Approach, Juuso Henrik Nieminen, Henri Valtteri Pesonen

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Disabilities and neurodiversity are dominantly understood as something that challenges higher education rather than something that enriches it: ableist underpinnings characterize higher education despite policies of widened access. While earlier research has explored ideas such as ‘inclusive pedagogies’ and ‘pedagogies of belonging’, these important contributions have downplayed the marginalizing nature of pedagogy itself. In this conceptual study, we argue that non-ableist approaches to teaching are not sufficient in itself. We suggest a conceptual model for anti-ableist pedagogies to promote belonging and to challenge the exclusion and marginalization of disabled students. We have drawn on the ecological systems model by Bronfenbrenner …

From Belonging To Being: Engaging With ‘Contexts Of Difference’, Cameron Graham

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This paper seeks to unveil the situated struggle that students experience in comprehending the often tacit rules that govern academic practices in order to engage fully with their academic studies and develop a sense of belonging. I present a critique of the prevailing conception of student belonging, which I suggest does not effectively consider the diversity of contemporary university cohorts due to favouring social groups traditionally dominating the student body. Non-traditional students, especially those from contexts distant from Western higher education, can often struggle with developing confidence and conversance with critical thinking – a central practice of academia – which …

The Role Of Pedagogy And The Curriculum In University Students' Sense Of Belonging, Eliel Cohen, Julianne Viola

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

The special issue aims to explore the possibility of pedagogy and curriculum design for promoting ‘belonging’. Relevant to this aim is the question which we address in this proposed paper: To what extent, and in what ways, do students understand their learning experiences (i.e. of pedagogic and curricular practices) to be relevant factors in contributing to their sense of belonging? This paper draws from a study into students’ sense of belonging that has so far run for two years, in Winter-Spring of 2019-20 and 2020-21. Building on existing research that has systematically sought to understand the dimensions and factors shaping …

A Sense Of Belonging In Australian Higher Education: The Significance Of Self-Efficacy And The Student-Educator Relationship, Ana Larsen, Trixie James

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

With recent massification policies and reforms, Australia’s widening participation agenda has been instrumental in increasing participation of marginalised students in higher education. This paper considers how a sense of belonging can be instilled in marginalised students, improving retention and success and ultimately widening participation in higher education. It is recognised that one of the most important contributors to student engagement is the educator. Unfortunately, in academia today, educators are increasingly time-poor for several reasons including the neo-liberal nature of higher education, the COVID-19 pandemic and an emergency move to remote teaching. This article applies Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy to highlight …

Belonging To The University Or Being In The World: From Belonging To Relational Being, Cameron W. Graham, Zack Moir

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

In a world characterised by supercomplexity, in which higher education (HE) is in the grip of neoliberal market forces (Barnett, 2000), it is incumbent upon participants in this sector to ask; what does it mean to belong, and to what? ‘Belonging’ has become a buzzword used by institutions to seemingly demonstrate how they seek to include students and help them ‘fit in’ to specific cultures and contexts of learning. A sense of ‘belonging’ may be important for some students at an emotional level; however, in the context of the neoliberal university, we argue that focussing on this concept may have …