Universitetet i Agder: UiA Journal System
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Employee motivation to participate in workplace innovation via in-house crowdsourcing
No full textCrowdsourcing has rapidly gained popularity in business and academia. Research on crowdsourcing has focused mostly on the resources external to an organisation, with less attention being paid to in-house crowdsourcing (IHCS). We believe that IHCS has potential to empower employees to partake in workplace innovation. We argue that employee motivation is one of the most significant factors influencing the success or failure of any IHCS project. Yet, to the knowledge of the authors, employee motivation has not been studied in the context of IHCS thus far, and the present study aims to fill this research gap. We present the case of an IHCS project launched by a large Finnish government-owned company (GOC) that offers diversified logistics services. We identify five factors that influence employees’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to participate in workplace innovation via IHCS, namely working environment, rewards systems, feedback and processing time, user experience and role of technology, and site marketing and communication. Further, we set several theoretical propositions for empirical testing. Our contribution to workplace innovation literature is two-fold: enhancing the general understanding of IHCS; and studying employee motivation in the IHCS context. We also contribute to the wider innovation management literature by increasing general knowledge about innovativeness of GOCs
English Writing Instruction Questionnaire: The development of a questionnaire concerning English writing instruction, writing skills and feedback practices
No full textThis article presents a study aimed at developing a questionnaire to assess how Norwegian students perceive English writing instruction in upper secondary school. Based on genre-pedagogy and Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, a questionnaire consisting of two parts has been developed, one called English Writing Instruction Teaching (EWIT) and one called English Writing Instruction Feedback (EWIF). The first part includes items concerning how various types of texts are taught, and how students perceive their own writing competence in relation to these types of texts. The second part includes items concerning how feedback practices are used in the context of writing instruction and what effect feedback has on students’ self-efficacy concerning writing. Factor analyses and Chronbach’s alpha values showed acceptable reliability, which supports the use of this instrument in future research
Research-based professional development workshops for EFL teachers: Focus on oral test interaction and assessment
No full textIn this paper, we address language teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) and engagement with research by demonstrating how research on English as a foreign language (EFL) speaking tests can be applied in professional training workshops on oral test interaction and assessment. Data were drawn from an ongoing research project targeting 9th-grade national English speaking tests in Sweden. Authentic test recordings analysed in a previous study (Author 1 and Author 2 2013) formed the basis for workshops designed to initiate discussions on testing and assessing EFL oral proficiency. The two-fold aim of the study is to implement a research-based workshop model for increasing teachers’ awareness of interaction in speaking tests, and to analyse teachers’ self-reported insights from workshop participation with regard to conducting speaking tests and assessing oral proficiency. Workshop experiences were followed up with questionnaires. Findings reveal some noteworthy pedagogical implications of collaborative work with test recordings and assessment
Man-Made:The damaging consequences of having so few women in positions of power
No full textVery few women are inpositions of power in Britain. Men hold about 80% of powerful positions and this imbalance of power not only offends normal considerations of justice and equality but has damaging consequences for Britain's economic performance. Male dominated organisations tend to be highly centralised, wasting talent and stifling iniative and innovation. A progamme of fundeamental reform, including the enforcement of current legislation, the introduction of quotas in key areas and the provision of career breaks is proposed
Celebrating 100 Years of Musical Outreach in Scandinavia
No full textThis article outlines the significant, but less investigated historical development of musical outreach; the professional symphony orchestras effort to introduce classical music to new audiences, especially children and adolescents. Many Norwegian symphony orchestras have held public concerts for 100 years and throughout this period they have set up strategic objectives regarding outreach. Through a series of musical examples from various concerts targeting new audiences, the article draws a historical overview of the different concepts of concerts that have developed from the early 1900s till today. In order to better understand the uniqueness of these concerts, and enable us to appreciate the special experiences they offer, the article provides contributions to a terminology that can make us better able to assess and discuss these concerts on premises that is their own, and not rashly handed down from hegemonic notions of the classical concert experience. Keywords: Outreach, childrens concerts, school concerts, new audiences, 1B1, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.Affiliation: University of Agder, Faculty of Fine Art
Closing the Gap: The Fifth Element and Workplace Innovation
No full textGrowing evidence shows that workplace innovation practices which empower employees tomake day-to-day-decisions, challenge established practices, contribute ideas, and be heardat the most senior levels, lead to better business results, as well as enhanced workforcehealth and engagement. Most businesses are either unaware of this evidence, or are unableor unwilling to act on it. Surveys demonstrate a gap between “what works” and commonworkplace practice.We lack an easily communicable way of sharing actionable knowledge, generated by diversebodies of research and experience, with enterprise-level decision-makers, publicpolicymakers and other actors. We need a “joint intelligence” shared by all stakeholders inthe workplace, and at the wider economic and social level. This task has been taken up byUK WON and its partners in the European Workplace Innovation Network (EUWIN).The literature emphasises the importance of internally consistent policies and practices inachieving superior outcomes for organisations and their employees, greater than the sumof individual measures. The Fifth Element captures this essential quality, providing aframework for the creation of sense-making narratives that build bridges betweenresearchers and practitioners
Fostering multilingual competence in the EFL classroom
No full textAs classrooms around Europe are becoming increasingly more linguistically and culturally diverse, teachers need to adapt their teaching to accommodate minority languages students. While developing their proficiency in the language of the target community, these students almost invariably receive instruction in English as a foreign language (EFL). Recognizing the important role EFL teachers play in the overall cognitive and linguistic development of minority students, this paper discusses the following pedagogical practices for the 21st century, diverse EFL classrooms: welcoming diversity, multimodality of input, funds of knowledge, clear goals, opportunities for interaction, integrating language with compelling content, facilitating multi-literacy, and differentiating instruction and assessment. By providing both theoretical support and practical tips, the paper aims to empower EFL teachers to foster linguistically and culturally rich environments and support their students’ multilingual development