Assessing Telecommuting Readiness: An Ecosystem for Higher Education Institutions

Aim: The aim of this rview study is to identify a clear meaning for “flexible shift work scheduling” for registered nurses from the different perspectives of nurses, policy-makers and health organizations. Background: There is a significant need for today’s nursing workforce to have more flexible shift work schedules due to demographic and social changes that have increased the demands on their time. For nurses, a flexible shift work schedule will help them to get the balance they need to reduce work-family conflict and for healthcare organizations it would be a successful tool that would improve nurse retention and recruitment. This paper approaches the study of the term “flexible shift work schedule” for nurses by identifying the meaning of the flexible shift work schedule for nurses based on the various perspectives of nurses, policy-makers and health organizations. Methods: an integrative literature review was completed via a systematic search in the CINHAL and MEDLINE electronic databases. The literature was divided into research and non-research studies, and then it were categorized into three categories; (1) studies investigating the perspective nurses, (2) studies investigating perspective of policy-makers, and (3) studies investigating the perspective of health organizations. Results: there are different interpretations of the meaning of the flexible shift work schedule for nurses as well as different goals within the three groups; nurses, policy-makers and health organizations. Furthermore, each group has a different interpretation of the meaning of the flexible shift work schedule based on level of experience and authority; however, within each group the meaning remained almost the same and goals seemed to be consistent. This review suggests that the difficulty in achieving a desirable schedule that fits the needs of each party might be because the groups do not have a common meaning for the term “flexible schedule” as they do not have shared goals to implement it. In addition, the review found that the voice of registered nurses is missing in the nursing research that discusses flexible shift work scheduling issues for nurses and this is another reason that is delaying implementation of flexible schedules that suit all parties. Conclusion: This paper assists in finding a clear meaning for the flexible shift work schedule for nurses by using different approaches to study the perspectives of the three parties involved in the scheduling process and decision including policymakers, healthcare organization and nurses.

This paper examines whether flexible work schedules in Canada are created by employers for business reasons or to assist their workers achieve work-life balance. We focus on long workweek, flextime, compressed workweek, variable workweek length and/or variable workweek schedule. In the last three decades, two streams of literature have emerged on flexibility. One stream of literature discusses flexibility as demand-driven, that is, a strategic initiative of employers to enhance the business requirements of the firm. The other stream of literature discusses flexibility as supply-driven, where employees have the ability to influence the decisions about the nature of their work schedules and where employees, especially women, demand flexible work schedules for work-life balance. Thus, we ask are flexible work schedules created for business reasons or to assist workers achieve work-life balance?Statistics Canada’s 2003 Workplace and Employee Survey data linking employee microdata to workplace (i.e., employer) microdata are used in the analysis. Results show that more than half of the workers covered in this data have at least one of the five specified types of flexible work schedules. Approximately 5% of workers have a long workweek, 36% have flextime, 7% a compressed workweek, 13% a variable workweek length, and 16% a variable workweek schedule. Only two in five Canadians have a standard work schedule. Employment status, unionized work, occupation, and sector are factors consistently associated with flexible work schedules. Personal characteristics of marital status, dependent children, and childcare use are not significantly associated with flexible work schedules, while females are less likely to have a flexible work schedule than males. Overall, results suggest that flexible work schedules are created for business reasons rather than individual worker interests. Thus, if public policy makers are committed to facilitating workers’ work-family-life balance interests, then our results suggest that separate policy initiatives designed specifically for workers will be required.

Recent studies in Uganda show that Learning Management Systems (LMS) were not usable, and some were complex to use, making it difficult for lecturers to use the platforms. As a result, there has been low uptake and usage of LMS in many universities. To investigate this claim, the study set out to evaluate the usability of LMS in four public universities in Uganda, namely Makerere University, Makerere University Business School, Busitema University and Gulu University. Google Docs was used to design a System Usability Scale (SUS) which was used to evaluate the usability of the LMS in the four public universities. An open-ended questionnaire was also included in the SUS to capture qualitative data. This questionnaire was sent to different staff mailing lists in the four universities. A total of 80 questionnaires were filled and analyzed. The findings showed that the average System Usability Scale score for the LMS used in the four public universities was 60, representing about 30% usability, which is poor. The study identified several usability challenges and ways to address the usability challenges. This paper, therefore, presents an IDSS usability model for improving LMS usability in learning institutions.

PurposePast research on flextime programs often treat work schedule flexibility as a homogeneous construct. The purpose of this paper is to empirically demonstrate the relationship between different flexible work schedules and employee perceptions of organizational attractiveness.Design/methodology/approachParticipants (n = 655) reviewed a scenario with work schedule flexibility manipulated into one of eight consecutively more flexible schedules. Participants then rated the job offer within the scenario on organizational attractiveness.FindingsThe study found significant differences in organizational attractiveness based on the eight types of work schedule flexibility. The study's results supported categorizing flextime programs as heterogeneous constructs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study utilized scenarios reducing generalization to work situations. Participants were college students with a limited work experience and may have viewed organizational attractiveness based on expectations, not on experiences. Future studies should examine workforce populations and also examine different work schedule flexibility programs' effects on absenteeism and productivity.Practical implicationsThe study suggested that work schedule flexibility affects future employees' perceptions of organizational attractiveness. Attracting high‐quality employees is in the best interests of organizations and the effects of a flexible work schedule may begin before employees are hired.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that different work schedule flexibility schedules, often labeled “flextime,” are perceived differently regarding organizational attractiveness. The paper further supports the notion that work schedule flexibility is a complex construct that cannot be examined using one broad term.

Technology advancement in the world nowadays has dramatically evolved, especially in education trends. LMS has become increasingly popular in higher education institutions because it provides a centralised platform for course materials, assignments, and communication. However, despite the benefits that LMS can offer, its adoption by students is only sometimes guaranteed. Conversely, The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is a popular model for understanding and forecasting whether people will adopt a technology. This review looked at how UTAUT has been applied to examine the acceptance of Learning Management Systems (LMS). It was found that the four main factors in the UTAUT model, “Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Conditions”, can all be important predictors of whether users will accept and use an LMS. The UTAUT model provides a relevant framework for discerning key drivers of user acceptance of learning technologies like LMS. The review found that the relative importance of these constructs can vary depending on the context of use. For example, social influence may be more critical in the context of mandatory LMS adoption. At the same time, facilitating conditions may be essential in voluntary LMS adoption. This review shows things that affect whether people use a new LMS. LMS setup should address user concerns and expectations. Thinking about these user factors can lead to better LMS success. Developers and implementers of LMSs should consider the four key constructs of UTAUT when designing and implementing their systems. Hence, it can increase users’ likelihood of accepting and using the LMS. The findings of this review provide a valuable overview of the factors that influence the acceptance of LMS.

Retaining existing employees, especially the skilled information technology (IT) employees is becoming more important due to business growth, imbalance between demand and supply, and high turnover rate. The paper seeks to investigate the relationship between rewards and flexible work schedule on intention to stay among professional IT employees. The two factors investigated in this study are monetary rewards (salary and bonus) and flexible work schedule. Results from 178 participants indicate that both monetary rewards (salary and bonus) and flexible work schedule were significantly positively related to intention to stay. Though salary, bonus and flexible work schedule indicate significant positive relationship with intention to stay, salary makes the strongest contribution to intention to stay. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study, and directions for future research are suggested.

Implications of congestion charging for departure time choice: Work and non-work schedule flexibility

This chapter investigates the influence of flexible working schedules affect the productivity and skill development of polyvalent workers. A thorough literature analysis guided the creation of a questionnaire that was given to 153 polyvalent workers as a sample. The gathered data was subjected to statistical analysis in order to determine how flexible work schedules affected worker productivity and skill development. The results show a strong correlation between flexible work schedules and increased productivity and skill development among employees. Furthermore, it was discovered that these results were significantly impacted by flexible working hours. Flexible schedules can help multitasking employees, who are skilled in a range of jobs, improve their productivity and further develop their skills. Companies that use polyvalent labour are encouraged to think about adopting flexible work schedules as a way to improve worker productivity and abilities.

Demands on nurses in China are increasing following the introduction of China's 'New Healthcare Reform Program', leading to more stressful working conditions and increased burnout and turnover. Employing a social exchange framework, this study investigates emotional exhaustion and positive organizational support (POS) as individual level psychological mechanisms though which organizational level flexible work practices and staffing adequacy influence employee affective organizational commitment among 393 nurses from two hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. We tested full and partial mediation models. POS partially mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of staffing adequacy and affective organizational commitment. POS also fully mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of flexible work schedules and affective organizational commitment; however emotional exhaustion did not mediate the flexibility of work schedules -- affective commitment relationship or the flexibility of work schedules -- affective commitment relationship. Our results highlight links between organization practice and employee outcomes, informing future practice.

The timing of employees’ work hours and the degree to which they are able to exercise control over it are increasingly important determinants of workers’ motivation, behaviour and effort at work. More sectors in the global economy are moving toward operating on a round-the-clock service or continuous production. At the same time, dual-income households and annual and weekly work hours (in the US) are climbing. These forces have contributed to a spreading out of the workday, and thus a growing value being attached to the temporal flexibility in work schedules and the timing of work activities (e.g. Fagan, 2001; Hamermesh, 1999; Presser, 1995). Flexible schedules are perceived to help reduce the chronic pressures imposed on workers by time and role conflicts that arise when work and non-work responsibilities overlap in the same block of time. Flexible work schedules are being implemented by organizations in certain sectors as either or both a prized employee benefit to promote employee retention and as a device to curb forms of employee withdrawal, such as absenteeism, tardiness, quits and on-thejob leisure. Flexibility is thus becoming an ever more important tool for improving individual, organizational and national productivity, including indirectly by attempting to curb various employee misbehaviours.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced most governments in Africa to temporarily close educational institutions in attempt to reduce the spread of the pandemic. In Uganda particularly, Higher Education Institutions, Universities and schools adopted the online and blended approaches to afford continuity of learning during the lockdown. This article provides a reflection of the opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt in teaching and learning of history during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data was obtained from a narrative inquiry of the researcher's own teaching experience and interviews with pre-service history teachers from Makerere University. Findings indicated that, while online and blended approaches facilitate history education through Makerere University e-Learning (MUELE) Learning Management System, WhatsApp exchanges, Zoom, emails, mobile phone text messaging and print media; there were persistent challenges such as limited Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools, digital illiteracy, digital divide, increased workloads as well as social-emotional stress and distractions at home. The article concludes with a key lesson for Teacher Education programmes to shift the way they train pre-service history teachers to embrace online learning with access to offline, downloadable, print learning materials to facilitate blended learning approaches. This is relevant in preparation of different generations of teachers to integrate blended pedagogy in History Education in response to the new normal caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work schedule flexibility is associated with emotional exhaustion among registered nurses in Swiss hospitals: A cross-sectional study

PurposeThis paper aims to address research gaps around third party data flows in education by investigating governance practices in higher education with respect to learning management system (LMS) ecosystems. The authors answer the following research questions: how are LMS and plugins/learning tools interoperability (LTI) governed at higher education institutions? Who is responsible for data governance activities around LMS? What is the current state of governance over LMS? What is the current state of governance over LMS plugins, LTI, etc.? What governance issues are unresolved in this domain? How are issues of privacy and governance regarding LMS and plugins/LTIs documented or communicated to the public and/or community members?Design/methodology/approachThis study involved three components: (1) An online questionnaire about LMS, plugin and LTI governance practices from information technology professionals at seven universities in the USA (n = 4) and Canada (n = 3). The responses from these individuals helped us frame and design the interview schedule. (2) A review of public data from 112 universities about LMS plugin and LTI governance. Eighteen of these universities provide additional documentation, which we analyze in further depth. (3) A series of extensive interviews with 25 university data governance officers with responsibilities for LMS, plugin and/or LTI governance, representing 14 different universities.FindingsThe results indicate a portrait of fragmented and unobtrusive, unnoticed student information flows to third parties. From coordination problems on individual college campuses to disparate distributions of authority across campuses, as well as from significant data collection via individual LTIs to a shared problem of scope across many LTIs, the authors see that increased and intentional governance is needed to improve the state of student privacy and provide transparency in the complex environment around LMSs. Yet, the authors also see that there are logical paths forward based on successful governance and leveraging existing collaborative networks among data governance professionals in higher education.Originality/valueSubstantial prior work has examined issues of privacy in the education context, although little research has directly examined higher education institutions’ governance practices of LMS, plugin and LTI ecosystems. The tight integration of first and third-party tools in this ecosystem raises concerns that student data may be accessed and shared without sufficient transparency or oversight and in violation of established education privacy norms. However, these technologies and the university governance practices that could check inappropriate data handling remain under-scrutinized. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the governance practices of higher education institutions with respect to LMS ecosystems.

The Co-19 pandemic affects worldwide classical education. It has led to the optimization of E-Learning. Learning Management Systems integrate the learning materials and human resources systems, but cannot provide human interaction in real-time. Teleconferencing platforms allowed communication in real-time, but cannot integrate the learning materials and human resources systems. In order to optimize real-time interaction in the learning management system, a teleconference-oriented learning management system is proposed. The configuration of database and user interface are required to combine the two systems. The Teleconference Platform was also hired as LMS course. In order to determine the experience of the teleconference-oriented LMS, the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) of the proposed LMS and the original LMS is tested using T-Test. UEQ is filled out by 85 students. The result show that attractiveness, perspicacity, performance, dependability, and stimulation reached respectively 0,0002; 0,0030; 0,0000; 0,0005; 0,0084; and 0,0297. It can be concluded that there is significant different experience between teleconference in LMS and original LMS.

This qualitative case study explored how learning management systems influence adult learners' method of acquiring higher education, how learning management systems influence adult learners transformative learning and how learning management systems is a game-changer for traditional teaching and learning at adult and higher education institutions. This empirical study focused on the perspectives of faculty members, students, and academic leadership concerning learning management systems utilization, benefits, preference, and satisfaction that influenced traditional teaching and learning at adult and higher education institutions. The qualitative and quantitative research methods conducted by the scholars in this empirical study shows positive and optimistic responses from faculty members and students regarding learning management system preference, utilization, appreciation, and satisfaction for online teaching-learning at adult and Higher education institutions. The study shows the trend, and directions adult and higher education institutions are taking to meet the demands and competition to deliver online education to adult learners.