Vijaya Gururajan

Attitudes towards knowledge transfer in an environment to perform

Purpose – This paper seeks to determine attitudes that impact on knowledge transfer between academics (university teaching and research staff) employed in todays competitive, technology‐based university setting.Design/methodology/approach – The study generated a rich set of data by conducting, first, an exploratory, qualitative study followed by a confirmatory, quantitative study. Through this process, an initial list of 402 attitudes to knowledge transfer was derived which was narrowed to 75 for the quantitative survey which, through factor analysis, was further reduced to 24 variables. The 24 variables were grouped into four factors for which trust and motivation are more relevant to the knowledge provider and absorptive capacity and knowledge regeneration for the receiver.Findings – High levels of agreement were found for the propositions that senior academics lacked compensation for mentoring activities, and hence, the motivation to transfer knowledge, and that a heavy teaching load prevented the abs...

A qualitative evaluation of the effectiveness of videoconferencing to support the training of orthopaedic registrars

Videoconferencing has been used for the professional supervision of trainee orthopaedic registrars at the Toowoomba Hospital. We have conducted a qualitative evaluation of the perceptions of those involved. Six focus groups were held with doctors, nurses, patients and other healthcare administration staff. In total there were 12 staff involved and six patients. A qualitative analysis of the transcripts resulted in a set of determinants of the perceived effectiveness of the videoconferencing system. Some were positive and some were negative factors. For example, the participants expressed a view that a videoconferencing system was better than the previous system of communication, which was via a telephone or email. However, the participants felt that the system was limited by the technology employed. It appears that there was widespread approval for the use of videoconferencing for remote supervision of orthopaedic trainees. While the participants felt that this could yield benefits, the size of these benefits has yet to be determined.

An Exploratory Study of Mobile Learning for Tertiary Education: A Discussion with Students

Abstract The drive to understand and to improve the adoption of self-service, technology-based teaching and dynamic learning environments has created interest in recent years. Owing to the availability, flexibility and convenience of wireless devices, learning/training programs appear to be providing benefits to instructors and students alike. Over the years, wireless technologies have improved communication capabilities, videoconferencing, data management and live discussion forums. The reduction in the cost of hardware and Internet services and the increased capabilities of wireless devices in conjunction with the capabilities of the World Wide Web are popular among students and academics. While universities, Technical and Further Education colleges and other training providers realise the potential role played by wireless technologies in dynamic learning environments, users of those technologies have indicated conflicting outcomes, claiming a failure of wireless technologies in learning environments. What appear to be consistent factors in the success or failure of such technologies is the context in which these applications are used, the specific applications for learning and teaching, infrastructure and change management. The literature indicates that sophisticated applications and features are constantly being developed for the wireless learning environment. Australian institutions are using wireless technologies for specific objectives in educational environments, but the adoption of those technologies is a complex and technical process. This exploratory research reports outcomes of a preliminary discussion with students about the influence of wireless technologies on learning purposes. The prime focus of the discussion was to extract themes that can identify factors that have an impact on the adoption of wireless technologies in learning environments in order to develop an initial conceptual model.