Call for Papers: 2014 Fall Global Education Conference

November 14-15, 2014
Las Vegas, United States of America

Abstracts of research papers in 150-200 words are invited from academics, Administrators and Ph.D. scholars/Post Graduate students on contemporary issues in Leadership and Management befitting any of the conference tracks mentioned as under. Topics of interest for submissions include, but are not limited to:

- Academic Advising and Counseling
- Art Education
- Adult Education
- APD/Listening
- Acoustics in Education
- Environment Business
- Education Counselor
- Education Curriculum Research and Development
- Competitive Skills
- Continuing Education
- Distance Education
- Early Childhood
- Education
- Educational Administration
- Educational Foundations
- Educational Psychology
- Educational Technology
- Education Policy and Leadership
- Elementary Education
- E-Learning
- E-Manufacturing
- ESL/TESL
- E-Society
- Geographical Education
- Geographic information Systems
- Health Education
- Higher Education
- History
- Home Education
- Human Computer Interaction
- Human Resource Development
- Indigenous Education
- ICT Education
- Internet technologies
- Imaginative Education
- Kinesiology and Leisure Science
- K12
- Language Education
- Mathematics Education
- Mobile Applications
- Multi-Virtual Environment
- Music Education
- Pedagogy
- Physical Education (PE)
- Reading Education
- Writing Education
- Religion and Education Studies
- Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
- Rural Education
- Science Education
- Secondary Education
- Second life Educators
- Social Studies Education
- Special Education
- Student Affairs
- Teacher Education Technology in Education Cross-disciplinary areas of Education
- Ubiquitous Computing
- Virtual Reality
- Wireless applications
- Other Areas of Education

Web address:
http://www.uofriverside.com/conferences/global-education-conference/

Building a Sense of Community in Online Courses

Building a sense of community in an online environment is beneficial for students that want to feel connected to other learners. When students feel they are part of a community they interact with each other and feel connected to other participants which helps them form a sense of identity to their work, products, or each other. Research by Maxwell and Shackelford (2012) study which online activities within a classroom builds a sense of community. 

An online sense of community can be defined as, “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9).  Students feel a sense of identity and often share similarities in goals. 

Engaged students have something called cognitive presence. Cognitive presence develops when people have sustained communication and they can collaborate to explore, construct, confirm, understand and resolve content (Garrison, 2007). They are actively engaged in working together to understand a problem, its parts, and solutions. 

Students will also need social presence. Social presence is “the ability of participants in a community of inquiry to project themselves socially and emotionally, as ‘real’ people, through the medium of communication being used” (Garrison, et. al., 2000, p. 94). The tools should allow for them to reflect their identity into the online classroom. 

The researchers obtained 381 surveys through the courses of 110 professors to obtain their data. They found that certain activities offered higher levels of community building. This includes introductions, collaborative group projects, contributing personal experiences, entire class online discussions and exchanging resources. The order starts with the most beneficial. Students appear to need to know each other, work with each other, and share with each other. 

Garrison, et. al. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment. Computer Conference in Higher Education, 2. 

Garrison, D. (2007). Online community of inquiry review: Social, cognitive, and teaching presence issues. Journal of Asynchronous Learning networks, 11 (1). 

Maxwell, M. & Shackelford, J. (2012). Sense of community in graduate online education: contribution of learner to learner interaction. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning,  13 (4). 

McMillian, D. & Chavis, D. (1986). Sense of community: a definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, Psychological Sense of Community, I: Theory and Concepts, 14 (1).

The Performance Benefits of Online Global Management Education

artwork Murad Abel

Global education is rising as students now work in varying countries and capacities not seen a few decades ago. Researchers Taras, et. al (2013) studied online international education have come to some conclusions about its success. They used experiential learning theory, social learning theory, and intergroup contact theory to effectively determine the success of virtual classrooms across borders. They evaluated the management education based upon reactions, learning, attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Their findings indicate that global online management has great potential. 

Business schools are not yet meeting challenges to develop global managers at a sufficient level for businesses. Schools do offer some international education in terms of case studies, videos, and other possible indirect interactions with international students. These are not yet adequate to meeting modern challenges and online international groups may be more effective for higher education. 

Global virtual teams are geographically dispersed teams that use the Internet communication methods to collaborate on common goals. Videos, chat functions, forums, etc. are part of the process of engaging in this international forum approach. Students interact through mediated classrooms that are run by professors. With modern technology the use of online classrooms in international education is cheaper and more effective than traditional methods.

The study relies on three major theories of learning and group interaction. Experiential Learning Theory is defined as a “holistic integrative perspective on learning that combines experience, cognition, and behavior” (Kolb, 1984). Social Learning Theory occurs when people interact they naturally learn from each other’s preferences and start making connections in behavior and culture (Maznevski and DiStefano, 2000). Intergroup Contact Theory occurs when groups live in isolation with each other and create prejudice, bias and conflict (Brameld, 1946).

The researchers studied 6,000 students from 80 universities in 43 countries to determine their results. They found that cultural intelligence, problem understanding, course examination grades, project assessment, and reduction in perceived differences improved. Students came to not only improve upon their coursework and learning but also upon their perception of others. The complexity of their thinking also increased thereby creating cognitive benefits. 

Comment: Even though online learning is different than face-to-face interaction there are many parallels and similarities. The interaction of students in collaborative international teams helps to better prepare them for global competition while raising their learning. Universities and corporations can learn to hedge and use online international education to raise their business learning and problem-solving skills. The market is likely to grasp this beneficial and cost-effective method of staying in competition.

Brameld, T. (1946). Minority problems in the public schools. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Maznevski, M. & DiStefano, J. (2000). Global leaders are team players: developing global leaders through membership in global teams. Human Resource Management, 4.

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Taras, et. al. (2013). A global classroom? Evaluating the effectiveness of global virtual collaboration as a teaching tool in management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12 (9).

Improving Business Education through Industry Connections

Business colleges have developed over the past few decades. According to Xie and Steiner (2013), not all of these changes have been for the better. The authors argue that traditional business education has damaged the overall business community and narrowed people into irrelevance. They provide some possibilities for improvement of business colleges within their paper. 

They offer a couple of solutions that include connections between business and business schools, new business education models,  as well as joint creation of knowledge management. Their reasoning is that student’s knowledge should broaden perspectives beyond simple tools of management and should include the overall human elements that enhance understanding further than number crunching. 

Collaboration between Business Schools and Business: In the older models, students were apprentice oriented. Business colleges should make stronger connections to the business community in order to create higher levels of relevant education. The traditional educational model has separated itself from the needs of modern day business management. Professors should be seen as professionals with certain codes of ethics and standards.

Joint Creation of Management Knowledge: There is practical knowledge and academic knowledge. Even though these two forms of knowledge can overlap, they have become more separate in recent decades. Practitioners and academics should work closely to ensure that knowledge is practical and applied in nature. Education should focus on solving practical problems for business managers. 

New Educational Models Revisited: New business education models need to develop that bridges the gaps between traditional education and modern business needs. The student should learn new concepts that applied practically in the real world. Colleges should focus on teaching those skills that are most relevant within the modern business market. 

Interestingly, the report highlights the concepts of the practitioner-academic that creates new knowledge but does so in the context of applied usage of knowledge. Business education and business management should be intertwined to create relevancy in the modern day work place. Data crunching is important but the understanding of human behavior is a primary function of management. Data crunching and soft skills of human management are important co-complimentary skills. Colleges should seek to foster both.

Xie, C. & Steiner, S. (2013). Enhancing management education relevance: joint creation of knowledge between business schools and business. Business Education & Accreditation, 5 (2).