Search results

Information technology (IT) is a powerful communication and computing tool in today’s business environment. The role of IT in shaping business operations is a crucial one. IT can redesign and transform a low technology industry into a high technology industry. The printing and publishing industry is one such case. Two local printing companies in Singapore, namely Superskill Graphics and Xpress Print, had won the national IT awards in 1990 and 1994 respectively for their innovative use of IT. Aims to examine how both companies deploy IT to transform their printing processes from a low technology, labour‐intensive environment with local clientele in the 1970s to a high technology environment with global clientele in the 1990s.

Introduces the concept of telecommuting before discussing the benefits of the process. Outlines the negative effect and then considers the legal implications. Discusses the considerations required when setting up a telecommuting programme. Concludes that telework must be an integral part of any organization’s management strategy in the twenty‐first century and will play an important role in helping increase output, reduce costs and address growing concerns of work and family life.

A financial analyst for Procter & Gamble must report on the prospects and implications of a new teeth-whitening product. Beyond a realistic profit-and-loss forecast and baseline net present value, he must determine which pricing and marketing strategy is most likely to maximize value for shareholders.

Various research investigations have found that students' awareness of information security issues continues to be poor and this is indeed a concern especially when students use information technologies pervasively to communicate, to socialize as well as to work on academic assignments. As it is important to understand students' behaviors towards information security and safety in the digital cyberspace, the purpose of this paper is to investigate their awareness and perception, in particular, of Bluetooth security threats and risks, and whether they are able to take preventive measures to protect themselves from such security vulnerabilities. Bluetooth technology is used in this study as it is a widely used form of wireless networks that facilitates computing resources to be connected anytime anywhere; however, it has security weaknesses like any other digital networks.

A field survey was conducted to collect the empirical data from students at a local university. The survey instrument/questionnaire was developed based on various literatures on Bluetooth applications, Bluetooth security vulnerabilities, and users' usage and perception on computer security and safety.

The results show that most students do not take precautions to mitigate against security vulnerabilities; however, there is a difference on students' perceptions based on their academic major or domain knowledge, for instance, engineering students have demonstrated significant awareness of security risks compared to students from the business and social science colleges. It is therefore not surprising to note that engineering students are more cautious users of Bluetooth, hence are more secure users of technologies.

The findings provide useful information for academic institutions to understand students' behavior towards security risks especially in terms of identity theft, unsecured systems and inadequate security practices. Indeed, the findings of this study highlight or emphasize the importance of promoting security awareness to student cohorts especially on the use of mobile computing applications such as Bluetooth or wireless. Perhaps, universities should design curriculum to incorporate the study of information and cyber security so as to inculcate a culture of cyber safety as well as to prepare these prospective employees as more secured users when they enter the workplace. Indeed, considering the increasing number of users who tend to be naïve on security vulnerabilities, this research adds a critical message also to manufacturers and software developers to design more robust security features so as to minimize security breaches.

This paper provides further evidence to the body of research investigations on information and computing security threats and students' perceptions and behavior towards security risks and vulnerabilities. More important, this paper confirms that most students are not secure users, and it seems they not very capable of protecting themselves from security threats.

A narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the complexities of learning English and Korean as subject matter in cross-cultural contexts in contributing to teacher identity, with possible tensions of identity teachers experience as ethnic Koreans teaching at an international school in Korea that promotes non-Korean, international education in English as a “language of inclusion” and instruction. With expansions of international schools in South Korea, also growing are numbers of Korean teachers teaching at such schools as returnees, individuals with cross-cultural experience. Stories of one Korean language and literature teacher with international schooling experience were examined.

While identifying the practical benefits of acquiring English, she expresses her concern for the presumed loss of Korean as a product of the prioritized use of English on campus. Equally recognized are the diverse opportunities not commonly available at Korean public schools that the participant upholds from her own experience. She acknowledged that her opportunities for the development of English language skills to a high level of proficiency through international education is not commonly accessible to all students in the Korean public school system. She also considered possible impacts associated with prioritizing the use of English over Korean in her international education experience, including their influence on: her sense of identity as a teacher and as Korean; her cultural knowledge as Korean; and her teacher knowledge as she supports her students' learning of English as subject matter in ways that might, in turn, also impact their sense of identity as Korean.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings from a small-scale, exploratory, study of principals’ instructional leadership practice in Malaysian primary schools. The dimensions and functions of instructional leadership, explicitly explored in this study, are those outlined in the Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) model.

This study is part of a larger international, comparative research project that aims to identify the boundaries of the current knowledge base on instructional leadership practice and to develop a preliminary empirically based understanding of how principals conceive and enact their role as instructional leaders in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 primary school principals in Malaysia. The sample comprised principals from 14 Government National schools (SK), nine principals from Chinese schools (SJKC) and seven principals from Tamil schools (SJKT). The qualitative data were initially analysed inductively, and subsequently coded using ATLAS.ti to generate the findings and conclusions.

The findings showed that the Malaysian principals, who were interviewed, understood and could describe their responsibilities relating to improving instructional practice. In particular, they talked about the supervision of teachers and outlined various ways in which they actively monitored the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. These data revealed that some of the duties and activities associated with being a principal in Malaysia are particularly congruent with instructional leadership practices. In particular, the supervision of teaching and learning along with leading professional learning were strongly represented in the data.

This is a small-scale, exploratory study involving 30 principals.

There is a clear policy aspiration, outlined in the Malaysian Education Blueprint, that principals should be instructional leaders. The evidence shows that principals are enacting some of the functions associated with being an instructional leader but not others.

The findings from this study provide some new insights into the principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia. They also provide a basis for further, in-depth exploration that can enhance the knowledge base about principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia.

Drawing on Coburn and Turner's framework for research on data use, this study looks at how contextual factors support interactions around data. In so doing, the authors contribute to the emerging body of literature on administrators supporting high school students' social-emotional learning (SEL).

This two-site case study “follows the data” that were shared with administrators at two high schools based on a longitudinal study of students' SEL. One author of this study has been leading a research project of high school students' SEL in two high schools from two different districts in a Midwest university town since 2017. This study follows what happened in both high schools after the author shared students' SEL data with district personnel.

Findings showed that participants were invested in increasing SEL programming. However, SEL data moved in different ways through the two schools, and all individuals had different ideas about which data were important. Each district dealt with a specific set of organizational norms, existing inequities, and beliefs systems that influenced which SEL data were noticed and how, if at all, data spurred action.

Specific aspects of organizational contexts support and constrain SEL data use. Both cases suggest researchers can guide data use practices that can advance students' SEL. However, each district dealt with a specific set of educational inequities, which influenced which data were noticed and how, if at all, data spurred action. Importantly, data-driven decision-making must be conducted from an equity lens, lest the process replicate existing inequities.

Research has shown that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) self-beliefs and enjoyment are critical factors for predicting female students’ persistence in STEM degrees and careers. Studies have shown the positive effects of informal STEM learning experiences on female students’ self-beliefs. However, with the rise of all-female STEM learning experiences, such as summer camps, considering the potential advantages and disadvantages of co-ed options is important. Further, prior STEM education research has focused on sex differences in students’ self-efficacy and STEM career interests. Our study aims to examine within sex differences in secondary, female students (n = 104) who attend either a co-ed STEM camp or a same-sex STEM camp.

To examine potential differences, we conducted independent sample t-tests.

Results of the study include statistically significant differences in mathematics and science self-efficacy as well as STEM career interest after participating in their respective camps.

Further, prior research in STEM education has focused on between sex differences in students’ self-efficacy and STEM career interest.

In the face of what can be termed ‘a moment in time’ occurrence, with relevance to the Australian context, the focus of this chapter is one of emergent understanding. It explores the scrambling of definitive terms in the coding of a historicity that has turned one investigational episode into a world phenomenon. The topic, ‘COVID-19, the Crossing of Borders and New Knowledge Systems and their relationship to higher education systems illuminates the positioning of circumstance in how we address the onslaught of a virus referred to as the coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In this chapter, through an evocative ethnographical framework, aligned with a ‘Strands of Knowledge’ approach (Kumar, 2004) the chapter views our sense of Being and interculturality in the exploration of the world undergoing the biggest experiment. The exploration is situated within Bourdieu’s (2016) definition of habitus. This is correlated with conceptualisations of the affective and its influence on how the Pandemic has been addressed. Leading from this, it concentrates through the factors of ‘the crossing of borders’, the teaching and learning of our higher education students. In the process, a proposition is put forward of an enhanced epistemology and ontology leading to how we perceive pedagogy in light of new knowledge systems in higher education.

Internet characteristics — enhanced distribution customer relationships and information access in an information intensive industry — fit the tourism industry. There is little sense having an Internet presence though if visitors cannot find and use the website or receive answers to their e‐mail inquiries. Research lauds online tourism initiatives, yet little research investigates Internet use in wine tourism. Given the competitive nature of wine tourism, an important research area is what website features and e‐mail policies do wine tourism operations use for better site navigation site popularity and relationship marketing? Two online analyses of eight wine tourism operations, within and outside Western Australia, illustrate a methodology and dozens of possible metrics for analysing the competition and marketing electronic wine tourism. The results give wine tourism managers insights into short‐term competitive advantages via website features and e‐mail policies, and add to the academic literature and future research of the Internet's role in wine tourism.