title: Developing an online learning community:  A strategy for improving lecturer and student learning experiences

authors: Khoo, Elaine G.L.

subjects: online learning community

abstract: Many researchers and practitioners are appealing for more innovative approaches where online lecturer use of technology is guided by a clear philosophy of learning to engage students in more meaningful learning. This research aimed to better understand teaching and learning in an online learning environment through the development and application of an appropriate pedagogical framework to facilitate successful learning experiences. To achieve this aim, a qualitative interpretive methodology was adopted to case study an online lecturer and his 14 students' experiences in a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate Research Methods course in a New Zealand tertiary institution. The study had three phases. 

Phase 1, the Review Phase, was a baseline survey to elicit the views of various online lecturers and their students on the nature of online learning and how learning can be successfully facilitated in such environments. The findings and recommendations from the literature led to identifying five guiding principles to frame the development of a pedagogical intervention. The principles, which map onto five key sociocultural ideas, depict learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. 

Phase 2, the Designing the Intervention and Implementation Phase, concerned designing an intervention to facilitate student learning experiences. An emergent and iterative strategy, the negotiated intervention strategy, framed the collaborative design process used by the researcher to work with the case study lecturer. Teaching strategies supporting each of the guiding principles were shared with the lecturer, planned for and implemented in the case study course. 

Phase 3, the Evaluation Phase, examined how successful the intervention was in terms of three planes of participant development: personal, interpersonal and community. The key findings from this research highlight successful online teaching and learning experiences as involving active and changing participation in a learning community. This participation is framed and shaped by the use of authentic and relevant tasks that situate activity; interaction and teamwork to tap into cognition as distributed; goal-directed activities; and Web-based technological tools and activities to mediate action. Participation is realised through the kinds of roles members of the community adopt in support of intellectual, social and emotional development over time. 

Overall, the findings confirm the value of a sociocultural approach in the design and facilitation of online learning experiences. The notion of participation in a learning community through the adoption of different roles provides a useful orientation for understanding lecturer and student responsibilities and strategies to serve different purposes of teaching and learning. These ideas inform our understanding of appropriate conditions for successful teaching and learning and have important implications for guiding teaching-learning practices in online learning environments.

text: Developing an online learning community:  A strategy for improving lecturer and student learning experiences Many researchers and practitioners are appealing for more innovative approaches where online lecturer use of technology is guided by a clear philosophy of learning to engage students in more meaningful learning. This research aimed to better understand teaching and learning in an online learning environment through the development and application of an appropriate pedagogical framework to facilitate successful learning experiences. To achieve this aim, a qualitative interpretive methodology was adopted to case study an online lecturer and his 14 students' experiences in a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate Research Methods course in a New Zealand tertiary institution. The study had three phases. 

Phase 1, the Review Phase, was a baseline survey to elicit the views of various online lecturers and their students on the nature of online learning and how learning can be successfully facilitated in such environments. The findings and recommendations from the literature led to identifying five guiding principles to frame the development of a pedagogical intervention. The principles, which map onto five key sociocultural ideas, depict learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. 

Phase 2, the Designing the Intervention and Implementation Phase, concerned designing an intervention to facilitate student learning experiences. An emergent and iterative strategy, the negotiated intervention strategy, framed the collaborative design process used by the researcher to work with the case study lecturer. Teaching strategies supporting each of the guiding principles were shared with the lecturer, planned for and implemented in the case study course. 

Phase 3, the Evaluation Phase, examined how successful the intervention was in terms of three planes of participant development: personal, interpersonal and community. The key findings from this research highlight successful online teaching and learning experiences as involving active and changing participation in a learning community. This participation is framed and shaped by the use of authentic and relevant tasks that situate activity; interaction and teamwork to tap into cognition as distributed; goal-directed activities; and Web-based technological tools and activities to mediate action. Participation is realised through the kinds of roles members of the community adopt in support of intellectual, social and emotional development over time. 

Overall, the findings confirm the value of a sociocultural approach in the design and facilitation of online learning experiences. The notion of participation in a learning community through the adoption of different roles provides a useful orientation for understanding lecturer and student responsibilities and strategies to serve different purposes of teaching and learning. These ideas inform our understanding of appropriate conditions for successful teaching and learning and have important implications for guiding teaching-learning practices in online learning environments.

year: 2010

title: Social capital and the budgeting process

authors: Frost, Denise Margaret

subjects: social capital

abstract: This thesis arose out of a previous study of budgeting practices carried out at a not-for-profit church.  This initial study had found that relationships played an important role in budgeting practices.  Interviewees carried out their budgetary tasks in a cooperative, sometimes sacrificial manner.  This relationship-based approach to budgeting was inconsistent with conventional approaches to budgeting.  It became apparent that budgeting practices in this church could be explained by social capital theory, and that budgeting could be viewed as a social phenomenon.

I began to question whether considering budgeting as a social process might also apply to profit-orientated organisations.  As part of this thesis, I approached two different for-profit organisations: an entertainment centre; and, a science testing laboratory.  Along with the church examined previously, both of these organisations agreed to participate in this investigation into the social aspects of their budgeting processes.

An interpretive methodology was adopted to study budgeting practices from the viewpoint of managers. Social capital was a sensitising theoretical perspective, and was viewed as a ‘skeletal theory’; in particular, I was drawn to a model of social capital proposed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998).  Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) social capital framework was chosen as it was pertinent to examining the influence of social capital on the budgeting process.  It came as a surprise to find that elements of Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s framework were in evidence in all three organisations.  In the three case study organisations, budgeting was found to be a social process which can be explained by social capital theory. 

In contrast to the beyond budgeting proponents, who claim budgeting is redundant, this thesis has found that the budgeting process constitutes an investment of managers’ time and energy, because it encourages and promotes social capital.  The budgeting process brought managers together to work cooperatively towards a commonly understood goal.  Budgeting encouraged social interaction and fostered relationship building.  Organisational norms and values were reinforced.  Despite the differences between the three organisations, the common feature was that the budgeting process encouraged and reinforced social capital.

This thesis has implications for other researchers.  It provides a new insight into budgeting.  It contributes to the qualitative budgeting literature by providing a contemporary view of the way social forces influence the budgeting process.  It advances the literature on church budgeting.  It adds to the social capital literature by adapting Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) framework of social capital to a context not previously studied – the budgeting process.  There are implications for policymakers involved in setting budget-related policy in organisations, and for practitioners, as this thesis highlights the importance of the social side of the budgeting process.

text: Social capital and the budgeting process This thesis arose out of a previous study of budgeting practices carried out at a not-for-profit church.  This initial study had found that relationships played an important role in budgeting practices.  Interviewees carried out their budgetary tasks in a cooperative, sometimes sacrificial manner.  This relationship-based approach to budgeting was inconsistent with conventional approaches to budgeting.  It became apparent that budgeting practices in this church could be explained by social capital theory, and that budgeting could be viewed as a social phenomenon.

I began to question whether considering budgeting as a social process might also apply to profit-orientated organisations.  As part of this thesis, I approached two different for-profit organisations: an entertainment centre; and, a science testing laboratory.  Along with the church examined previously, both of these organisations agreed to participate in this investigation into the social aspects of their budgeting processes.

An interpretive methodology was adopted to study budgeting practices from the viewpoint of managers. Social capital was a sensitising theoretical perspective, and was viewed as a ‘skeletal theory’; in particular, I was drawn to a model of social capital proposed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998).  Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) social capital framework was chosen as it was pertinent to examining the influence of social capital on the budgeting process.  It came as a surprise to find that elements of Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s framework were in evidence in all three organisations.  In the three case study organisations, budgeting was found to be a social process which can be explained by social capital theory. 

In contrast to the beyond budgeting proponents, who claim budgeting is redundant, this thesis has found that the budgeting process constitutes an investment of managers’ time and energy, because it encourages and promotes social capital.  The budgeting process brought managers together to work cooperatively towards a commonly understood goal.  Budgeting encouraged social interaction and fostered relationship building.  Organisational norms and values were reinforced.  Despite the differences between the three organisations, the common feature was that the budgeting process encouraged and reinforced social capital.

This thesis has implications for other researchers.  It provides a new insight into budgeting.  It contributes to the qualitative budgeting literature by providing a contemporary view of the way social forces influence the budgeting process.  It advances the literature on church budgeting.  It adds to the social capital literature by adapting Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) framework of social capital to a context not previously studied – the budgeting process.  There are implications for policymakers involved in setting budget-related policy in organisations, and for practitioners, as this thesis highlights the importance of the social side of the budgeting process.

year: 2017

title: A critical analysis of the place of culture in evaluation

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

abstract: For the past 100 or so years formal evaluation has taken its lead from frameworks that originate from a culturally blind standpoint. Worldwide the major influence on evaluation practice comes from the United States of America. The absence of non-dominant (or indigenous) culturally constructed frameworks has been replicated around the world. Before the formation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA), as a New Zealand specific evaluation group, practitioners generally belonged to the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) and joined in the sharing, adoption and adaptation of USAs Program Evaluation Standards. However, the context of evaluation in New Zealand has been somewhat different from the rest of the world, becoming more culturally centered than other countries. The role and place of the Treaty of Waitangi has been acknowledged as an attributing factor (ANZEA, 2011). Four indigenous “By Maori for Maori” health & wellbeing programmes externally evaluated were case studies within my research. I draw upon examples from the cases studies to highlight the vulnerable and contentious position indigenous service providers and indigenous evaluators were in. Adapting Sandra Grande’s (2004) analysis, I critiqued the context of the case study evaluations that commissioners considered as Kaupapa Maori. In this presentation I argue that while stakeholders perceived the work to be an indigenous evaluation, the case studies demonstrate that whitestream evaluation was prevalent.

text: A critical analysis of the place of culture in evaluation For the past 100 or so years formal evaluation has taken its lead from frameworks that originate from a culturally blind standpoint. Worldwide the major influence on evaluation practice comes from the United States of America. The absence of non-dominant (or indigenous) culturally constructed frameworks has been replicated around the world. Before the formation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA), as a New Zealand specific evaluation group, practitioners generally belonged to the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) and joined in the sharing, adoption and adaptation of USAs Program Evaluation Standards. However, the context of evaluation in New Zealand has been somewhat different from the rest of the world, becoming more culturally centered than other countries. The role and place of the Treaty of Waitangi has been acknowledged as an attributing factor (ANZEA, 2011). Four indigenous “By Maori for Maori” health & wellbeing programmes externally evaluated were case studies within my research. I draw upon examples from the cases studies to highlight the vulnerable and contentious position indigenous service providers and indigenous evaluators were in. Adapting Sandra Grande’s (2004) analysis, I critiqued the context of the case study evaluations that commissioners considered as Kaupapa Maori. In this presentation I argue that while stakeholders perceived the work to be an indigenous evaluation, the case studies demonstrate that whitestream evaluation was prevalent.

year: 2015