Sarah Moore

Lecture absenteeism among students in higher education: a valuable route to understanding student motivation

The reasons associated with lecture absenteeism among student groups could shed significant light on student motivation levels and orientations in university settings. Paying attention to the rationales for lecture absence provided by students themselves could also help institutions to diagnose levels of student engagement and respond in appropriate ways. This study demonstrates these assertions by engaging in a critical analysis of the evidence linking lecture attendance and academic performance, using a qualitative analysis of student accounts of their absenteeism. It argues that innovative approaches to higher education would benefit from the extension and development of this kind of inquiry.

Students evaluating teachers: exploring the importance of faculty reaction to feedback on teaching

This study investigates university teachers’ perceptions of and reaction to students’ structured feedback on various aspects of their teaching. It begins by reviewing the literature on student evaluations of teaching and on the important issues associated with performance feedback in general. Using semi-structured qualitative data gathered from a group of lecturers who voluntarily participated in a formative student evaluation process at the University of Limerick, the researchers analyse the types of reactions and perceptions that this data reveals. Questions relating to the perceived accuracy, predictability and rationale for change are explored. Finally, the implications for the development or enhancement of student feedback systems are outlined and discussed.

Understanding and Managing Diversity among Groups at Work: Key Issues for Organisational Training and Development.

Explores the concept of diversity in organisational settings, reviewing a variety of key and associated concepts. The concept of diversity is explained as being context dependent, selective and relative. The links between diversity and performance are discussed and the implications for diversity supportive organisational development are explored. The need for support policies, networks, mentors and role models is identified. Finally the issues, barriers and implications associated with the introduction of diversity training are investigated.

Retrospective insights on teaching: exploring teaching excellence through the eyes of the alumni

This article explores a range of factors associated with excellent teaching from the perspective of past student groups. One hundred and thirty‐nine respondents who had been asked to nominate one teacher for an excellence in teaching award provided comments on the reasons for their nomination. An exploration of these reasons is presented. Findings show that students are more likely to invoke teacher attributes more than actions, and recall positively such dynamics as a sense of belonging, the pleasure of community, the importance of being understood and cared about and the experience of having been welcomed and respected within their classroom settings. The implications of these experiences and insights for the enhanced development of the quality and effectiveness of higher education are discussed.

Top management teams and pioneering: a resource-based view

Pioneering, the capactiy of the firm to develop new products ahead of rivals, is an important attribute in high velocity environments. In this paper we advance a four stage process model of pioneering behaviour in top management teams. These stages include opportunity recognition, decision making, product innovation and market launch. We link various top team characteristics to each stage and hypothesise relationships. The model is tested using data gathered from high technology firms in Ireland and the USA. We find support for the proposition that top teams characteristics affect pioneering behaviour. In particular, firms with the highest proportion of research and development and marketing personnel exhibit the highest rates of pioneering. Stock options were also found to motivate pioneering behaviour.

The Writing Consultation: Developing Academic Writing Practices.

This article describes and analyses a specific mechanism, the writing consultation, designed to help academics to prioritise, reconceptualise and improve their writing practices. It makes the case for its potential to stimulate consideration of writing practices and motivations, a possible precondition for creating time for writing in academic contexts. This article proposes that the process of revealing and developing writing practices in a specific form of regular, structured, collegial discussion has potential to prompt academics to reconceptualise their writing practices and, perhaps crucially, to find different ways to write. In addition, it demonstrates, in a new way, how recognised behaviour change strategies might be embedded in the academic writing process. The writing consultation draws on principles established in other contexts. This article makes the case for adapting them to the context of academic writing, in order to support and improve academic writing output.

Welcome to college? developing a richer understanding of the transition process for adult first year students using reflective written journals

This study investigates the process of adjustment among adult learners by focusing on their own perceptions as they make the transition to higher education in an Irish setting, in order to gain a richer understanding about early university experience. The analysis of the journal-based reflections confirms existing insights about the complexity of the adjustment process, emphasizing that adult students seem to face particular challenges and opportunities that may not prevail among their younger counterparts. The data provides a more personal and subjective picture of adjustment issues than has typically been available to date. The benefits of keeping and using insights from reflective journals are explored and in conclusion a “V-curve” model of mature student adjustment is proposed that suggests a more extreme form of the long established “U-curve” theory derived from organizational literature on adjustment.

Learning to Play the Drum: An Experiential Exercise for Management Students.

This paper proposes that introducing musical/percussion activities to university classrooms represents an opportunity for innovative teaching that could create positive experiences replete with learning potential. An analysis of 17 students’ written reactions to a ‘drumming circle’ activity demonstrates that the experience created a positive, energised classroom climate. The value of the exercise was demonstrated in the observations that students made about how the experience engaged them emotionally and how it could be linked to insights about specific aspects of their programme of study. With some preliminary guidance provided in advance of the activity, students were able to identify analogies between aspects of the experience and topics within their management curriculum. The paper provides suggestions and ideas that can help teachers to introduce similar learning experiences into their own classroom settings.

Exploring both positive and negative experiences associated with engaging in teaching awards in a higher education context

A coordinated, evidence-based approach to teaching awards in higher education at institutional level has developed over the past decade in Ireland. Some research has suggested that teaching awards create substantial benefits in higher education by motivating and recognising excellent teachers. However, not all of the literature favours the existence of teaching award systems. The experience of participating in a teaching award system has rarely been captured or subjected to analysis or reflection. Specifically, there has been very little discussion in the literature about what individual academics derive from participating in an award process. This paper explores the benefits and tensions of participating in a regional teaching award process. The analysis provides insights relating to the expected and unexpected benefits and tensions associated with that experience. It also aims to inform academic developers about the enablers that supported participants through the process.

Making sense of strategic management: towards a constructive guide

Presents a recently developed conceptual model of strategy in organizations. Aims to examine three major levels at which top managers are required to operate. Organizes related concepts under a new paradigmatic umbrella. This portrays strategy as an iterative complex process with some simple central components. Top managers need to be aware of the context, content and process of strategy. Outlines and explains a conceptual model which attempts to integrate and make sense of the theory of strategy in a way which can be relatively easily used by practitioners.