Future Work Environment Research Articles

Affordances and Constraints of Automation and Augmentation

Human-AI collaboration is becoming increasingly prevalent in workplaces, and is considered to be an important model for the future of work. Consequently, AI is no longer seen merely as a tool but as a teammate working alongside humans. Currently, the design of AI in team collaboration, particularly human-AI collaboration patterns, has become a focal point for organizations. However, users' perceptions of the affordances and constraints of different collaboration patterns remain insufficient. Therefore, this study introduces a human-AI collaboration business simulation platform, used to simulate a future work environment that has two distinct human-AI collaboration patterns: automation and augmentation. In the unique context of the case enterprise platform, we further investigated the impact of task types (structured and unstructured tasks) on people's perceptions of automation and the influence of knowledge sources (AI designers' and end-users' knowledge-driven development) on people's perceptions of augmentation.

CÁ NHÂN HÓA HỌC TẬP THEO MÔ HÌNH HỌC TẬP THÍCH ỨNG TRONG GIÁO DỤC ĐẠI HỌC VIỆT NAM HIỆN NAY

Vietnamese higher education has been entering the era of digital technology education. This is considered an opportunity for educational institutions to change the content and form of teaching to meet the individualized needs of learners, helping them adapt to the future learning and working environment. Through investigating and synthesizing theoretical knowledge and analyzing strengths and weaknesses from previous research, the article analyzes the role, meaning and challenges of Vietnamese higher education when applying personalization according to the adaptive learning model; From there, propose a number of solutions that contribute to orienting educational institutions to improve the content and forms of learning in accordance with the goals, abilities and needs of individualized adaptive learning of learners, guiding learners to the community learning environment and learning society in the future. Keywords: Personalized learning; adaptive learning; higher education; Vietnam.

The Multifaceted Impact of Music on Learning in Traditional and Music Schools

This paper attempts to delve more into the complex role that music education plays in both traditional and music schools. Beyond teaching skills, music education frames children’s personality and helps them fit in future working environments. Nurturing environments, modelled after music schools, emphasize comprehensive development, integrating cognitive, psychomotor, socioemotional, and artistic aspects. Beyond conventional lines, a holistic approach to education fosters creativity, emotional intelligence, and cross-cultural understanding. Music emphasizes the importance of self-expression and encourages individuals to explore their own unique voice. It also promotes collaboration and teamwork, as musicians often work together to create harmonious melodies. Additionally, music education has been shown to improve cognitive abilities such as problem-solving and critical thinking skills, which can be applied to various areas of life beyond the realm of music. Music schools emphasize immediacy and subjectivity, whereas traditional schools emphasize different feedback mechanisms. Aligning these components have the potential of enhancing learning opportunities and encourage a more comprehensive approach to learning and evaluation in the traditional school setting. Keywords: music education, traditional schools, music schools, learning mechanisms.

Factors affecting career motivation of recent graduates: Career adaptability as a mediator

AbstractCareer adaptability is a key resource for adapting to and transitioning into careers. However, gaps are found in the research on career adaptability. This study examined whether proactive personality, future‐proofing, psychological capital, and technology readiness predict career adaptability and whether career adaptability mediates the relationship between these predictors and career motivation. The data from 455 Malaysian recent university graduates found career adaptability to mediate the relationship between all predictors and career motivation. They positively affected career adaptability, which in turn, increased career motivation. While, in the presence of predictors of individual characteristics, technology readiness was not significant in predicting career adaptability, it predicted career motivation. The study recommends enhancing career adaptability and personal traits through interventions and training, stressing the importance of integrating technology into higher education to promote career motivation and readiness for adapting to the future work environment.

Readiness for Artificial Intelligence Integration in Government Services: Perspectives from Ramechhap District Employees

The study aimed to investigate the perception of government services employees regarding the future perspective of AI in government services and to compare the perspectives between federal and local level employees. Research adopted objectivity methods to explore the result. Data collected from federal and local government employees in Ramechhap District, Bagmati Province of Nepal. The study revealed insights into the perception of government services employees regarding AI in government services, indicating a moderate belief in AI's potential to enhance job efficiency and a cautious optimism towards AI integration within organizations. Respondents recognized the importance of investing in AI infrastructure and training, foreseeing changes in daily tasks and increased AI usage in service tasks. Anticipation of new HR roles and a demand for flexible virtual work setups was also noted. The ANOVA results comparing federal and local level employees' perspectives on AI in government services showed no significant difference between the two groups, suggesting that the variation in perspectives was not statistically significant. This research provides valuable insights into the perceptions and expectations of government services employees regarding AI adoption and its potential impact on future work environments

Fostering Innovative Learning and Satisfaction in Virtual Teamwork: Shedding Light on Apprentices

Purpose: The digital transformation and the increased use of technologies have changed the world of work severely. With it, collaboration and cooperation methods among employees. Therefore, new ways of working together must be applied to work in an international and digital working environment. For Vocational Education and Training (VET), developing new (transversal) competencies to engage in virtual teamwork is necessary to adequately prepare young professionals for the present and future labor market. However, there is little research on the current situation in VET regarding virtual teamwork. Approach: We deployed a cross-sectional design and collected data from N = 181 commercial apprentices in Germany regarding virtual teamwork. We analyze our data using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the interrelationships between input, process, and outcome variables to foster satisfaction and innovative learning in virtual teams as desired targets of VET. To assess these results regarding virtuality, the complexity of tasks, gender of the apprentices, and the size of the training firms, we derived a multigroup analysis (MGA) of our model. Findings: The results indicate that organizational factors have the most significant influence concerning the relationship between input and process factors. Surprisingly, the technical affinity of individuals has only a minor effect. Regarding the relationship between process and outcome factors, motivation and responsibility have the highest impact on innovative learning, whilst communication culture severely affects the perceived satisfaction in virtual teamwork. Conclusion: The findings lead to valuable insights on factors influencing virtual teamwork in VET and can help to design learning programs to prepare young professionals to smoothly transition to and successfully master their future working environments by using new ways of collaboration and cooperation. This is particularly relevant for VET, as prior research has focused primarily on primary and secondary education. Lastly, we identify potential scales and items that help capture some of the inherent constructs of virtual teamwork.

Students’ Soft Skills and Their Readiness Towards Industrial Revolution in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET): A Malaysian Sight

Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) has created massive uncertainty, where the human workforce will be replaced by automation and robotics. Regarding this matter, every Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) student was required to acquire both technical skills and soft skills to sustain their career in a future working environment. Unfortunately, students faced the issue of lacking soft skills, which would have an impact on their readiness to face IR4.0. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the level of TVET students' soft skills and their readiness level to thrive in the industrial revolution. A quantitative approach was used in this study to obtain conclusive and definitive evidence in statistical analysis as well as to determine the relationship between the two variables, which are soft skills and readiness to thrive in the industrial revolution. Based on the results, showed that the students in this TVET institution had good soft skills and a moderate level of readiness to thrive in the industrial revolution. The results are also shown that there is a moderately strong relationship between soft skills among TVET students in this TVET institution with their readiness to thrive in the industrial revolution, r (127) = .561, p = .000. The results of the study prove that the student's level of readiness to face IR4.0 are influenced by the acquisition of soft skills, as having soft skills would affect the students' enthusiasm to be ready for IR4.0 adoption.

Impact of workplace design on perceived work performance and well-being: Home versus office

In recent years, millions of people worldwide transitioned from working in offices to at home, sparking a rise in questions about productivity, health behaviors, and well-being while working at home. Moving forward, working both at home and at the office remains a part of many organizations. This study evaluates home and office workplaces using a comparative approach and a data-driven framework. The computational models in this study aim to predict the impact of 10 workplace spatial attributes on perceptions of comfort, work performance, and aspects of well-being, such as sense of connectedness and physical activity. A total of 614 worker survey responses from the United States and Canada were analyzed. Results indicate that perceived work performance was significantly higher at the office, while comfort and well-being were significantly higher at home. Analyses using logistic regression models reveal that temperature, noise, workstation furniture, and aesthetics were the most significant predictors of perceived work performance. Access to amenities and access to the outdoors were both significant predictors of sense of connectedness and physical activity. This study captures perceptions from an unprecedented moment in time and strives to quantify the impact of workplace spatial attributes on perceived work performance and well-being when working in more than one location. Insights from the analysis could inform the design of future work environments that optimize the benefits of home and office.

Psychological resilience for students of faculty of physical education and sports science

Background and Study Aim. Understanding the psychological resilience of the student population is becoming increasingly significant in contemporary times. The research aims to identify the level of psychological resilience among students at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, and also the differences in average scores in the level of psychological resilience among them. Material and Methods. The research used a descriptive approach, employing the survey method to collect data. The research sample deliberately included 68 male and female students from the teaching, training, and rehabilitation division in the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used after excluding some items to make it suitable for the Libyan environment. Results. The results show a high level of psychological resilience among the students in both the teaching and training divisions, while it was average for the students in the rehabilitation division. Additionally, there are statistically significant differences between the three divisions, with the teaching division having higher scores. There are no statistically significant differences between the training and rehabilitation divisions in terms of the scale of psychological resilience, due to the similarity of means. Conclusions. Increasing the level of students' psychological resilience may result from assigning greater responsibility to them during the field training period, which simulates their future work environment. Additionally, it is advisable to develop preventive programs aimed at reducing the low level of psychological resilience among students and to prepare guidance programs aimed at enhancing psychological resilience among students.

REMOTE WORK IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND EXPLORATION OF ITS POTENTIAL BENEFITS

The opportunities offered by information technologies in the information society have enhanced business life flexibility, so the working environment has become portable from traditional offices to outside offices. Major public institutions have preferred working remotely intensively, which has been a must since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Therefore, the research aims at identification of the remote work benefits remote work to achieve economic efficiency in public institutions. From this perspective, a desktop study was carried out to provide remote work rationale from a theoretical perspective. The Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE), Feminization of the Workplace, The Flexible-Firm Model, Generational Theory, and Social Exchange Theory in the paper's theoretical background determine the remote work significance. The primary conclusions are that using remote work may give public institutions opportunities, such as encouraging women to enter the labour market and designing future working environments for new generations, and the advantages, such as securing a faster communication structure and having a more skilled labour force to achieve economic efficiency.

The Relationship between Moral Sensitivity and Professional Behaviour and Its Comparison in First- and Last-Year Undergraduate Nursing Students.

Nursing students should be equipped with ethical sensitivity and professional behaviour because they will face challenging ethical issues in their future work environment. This study aimed to determine the relationship between moral sensitivity and professional behaviour and compare it in first- and last-year undergraduate nursing students. This study was a cross-sectional, correlational study that was conducted at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2019. The sample size of this study was 238 nursing students. The tools used in this study were the Persian versions of the moral sensitivity questionnaire and the professional behaviour questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18 software. Linear regression showed that the total score of moral sensitivity of nursing students had a significant relationship with their professional behaviour (p < 0.05). The result of the univariate analysis showed that the mean total score of moral sensitivity and professional behaviour was significantly higher in the last year than in first-year students (p < 0.05). Considering the relationship between moral sensitivity and the professional behaviour of nursing students, the promotion of moral sensitivity can become the basis for the development of the professional behaviour of nursing students. Therefore, it is suggested to focus on teaching the principles of nursing ethics to develop the moral sensitivity of undergraduate nursing students.

416 Urgency to Address Infrastructure in Animal sciences–A Preliminary Report

Abstract The purpose of the ASAS Public Policy Committee (PPC) is to help ASAS shape public policy and public opinion on current issues affecting farms and companion animals. PPC sets goals to make federal agencies aware of the scientific expertise and resources available within ASAS that could be used to develop science-based federal policies affecting poultry and livestock production. Recent reports point to a poor state of agricultural facilities at public colleges of agriculture which puts research priorities related to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, food safety, zoonotic disease preparedness, animal populations and their care, diet-health, nutrition, biosecurity, new biobased packaging, energy innovations, and advanced market analysis at risk (APLU, 2021). To ascertain input specific to the Animal Sciences (AS), an IRB approved ‘Survey About Infrastructure in Animal Sciences’ (#22-495) was offered by the PPC to department heads and faculty of Animal Science programs across the country. The survey instrument was constructed to allow open-ended responses as well as 5-point Likert scale questions regarding participants views about infrastructure (IF) and thereby learn what members closest to the animal sciences community perceive to be the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in our research infrastructure. Analysis of coded responses in the open-ended questions among varied disciplinary arenas within AS revealed ‘facilities’ as the largest Grand Challenge. About 98% of respondents affirmed sustainable food and animal production is a critical national asset in terms of economic growth and development and 98% indicated an overlooked maintenance of IF in AS undermines national food security. Additionally, 68% indicated the state of core labs, at least for AS programs are only average or below. All respondents (100%) agreed that without comprehensive investment in infrastructure within AS, the USA will continue to fall behind in competing with other countries in areas of research. Study results provided insight into potential consequences of deferred maintenance which should elevate awareness of urgency to address the deficiencies. Since IF needs included future workforce development and working environments, an eroded IF and consequences of deferred maintenance threatens the capacity of AS to pursue Grand Challenges in research and ability to create future workforce readiness of graduates from AS programs.

The development of cultural competences in nursing students and their significance in shaping the future work environment: a pilot study

BackgroundWorking in a culturally diverse environment entails a moral and professional responsibility to provide culturally competent care. This has been recognised as an important measure to reduce health inequalities, improve the quality of care and increase patient satisfaction. The aim of this study was to assess the level of cultural competence in nursing students a decade after the introduction of transcultural nursing content into the nursing curriculum in Slovenia.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional design with 180 s-year nursing students as a convenience sample was used. Cultural competence was assessed using the Cultural Competence Assessment Tool (CCATool) via an online survey. IBM SPSS facilitated statistical analysis, using descriptive statistics and inferential methods, including the chi-square test. Non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H and Wilcoxon signed-rank) were used for non-normally distributed data (Shapiro-Wilk test, p < 0.05). The significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.ResultsThe results indicate that students demonstrate a high level of cultural competence, although there is room for improvement in terms of cultural sensitivity, as determined by coding the CCATool. The results also show a remarkable contrast between their self-assessed scores and the objective scores obtained from CCATool coding of the statements in each subscale (p < 0.005). In addition, significant differences (p = 0.002) are found in subscale “Cultural Knowledge” particularly between students who have lived abroad for more than 6 months and those who have not. The latter group has a higher score in the CCATool, indicating greater cultural knowledge.ConclusionsThe study suggests that the presence of transcultural elements in the Slovenian nursing curriculum is associated with higher self-reported levels of cultural competence among nursing students, although the present research design does not allow for causal interpretations. This competence is of immense importance in preparing students for their future professional environment. However, it is crucial to further refine the nursing curriculum, especially through greater integration of transcultural content in all health disciplines. In addition, the introduction of innovative teaching and learning approaches can better prepare students to deal with the diverse cultural experiences they will encounter in their nursing careers.

Moving beyond reasonable adjustments: supporting employability through inclusive assessment design

Higher education is moving towards being more inclusive. However, students with disabilities continue to report that their assessment experiences are less than optimal. In these situations, if an assessment format does not enable demonstration of achievement due to aspects irrelevant to the capabilities of interest, then such students are unfairly penalised. In this way, assessment impacts on students’ success at university and beyond. Assessment adjustments are required by law, but are only partially effective since they may impact on assessment validity and hence opportunities for students to accurately represent their learning and achievement. To ensure assessment supports, rather than detracts, from student success and employability, assessment design should be scrutinised in terms of inclusion, with consideration of future potential work environments and graduate attributes. This paper presents an analysis of 2860 assessment adjustments implemented for students with a range of conditions and students’ experiences of adjustments, to highlight possibilities for inclusive assessment design which promote graduate employability. Adjustments relating to exams were most common (71% of students), but group work and oral presentations were also problematic for inclusion. Redesigning exams, including formative opportunities and structures for oral and group tasks, offering flexibility in tasks, and involving students in understanding equivalence across assessment types could improve inclusion. Through supporting students in these ways, assessment design could also incorporate the development of graduate attributes, such as teamwork, global citizenship and communication. This is likely to have a positive impact on students’ success and employability.

Regulation of brain cognitive states through auditory, gustatory, and olfactory stimulation with wearable monitoring

Inspired by advances in wearable technologies, we design and perform human-subject experiments. We aim to investigate the effects of applying safe actuation (i.e., auditory, gustatory, and olfactory) for the purpose of regulating cognitive arousal and enhancing the performance states. In two proposed experiments, subjects are asked to perform a working memory experiment called n-back tasks. Next, we incorporate listening to different types of music, drinking coffee, and smelling perfume as safe actuators. We employ signal processing methods to seamlessly infer participants’ brain cognitive states. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed safe actuation in regulating the arousal state and enhancing performance levels. Employing only wearable devices for human monitoring and using safe actuation intervention are the key components of the proposed experiments. Our dataset fills the existing gap of the lack of publicly available datasets for the self-management of internal brain states using wearable devices and safe everyday actuators. This dataset enables further machine learning and system identification investigations to facilitate future smart work environments. This would lead us to the ultimate idea of developing practical automated personalized closed-loop architectures for managing internal brain states and enhancing the quality of life.

IMPACT OF ONLINE INSTRUCTOR SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

Students need to master oral communication skills during their university studies to prepare them for future working environment. However, many ESL students are facing difficulties communicating in English because they seldom use English for interaction outside their English classes. Additionally, they lack proper guidance from instructors on how to improve their speaking skills. Thus, this study aims to identify the types, usefulness, and impact of Online Instructor Scaffolding Strategies on students’ speaking performance. A mixed-method research design was utilised in this study. The instruments used in data collection included an open-ended questionnaire designed by the researchers, pre-test and post-test, recorded videos of students’ role-play, and instructor’s online feedback. The participants were 66 mixed-proficiency level students from a university in Malaysia. The findings revealed various useful online instructor scaffolding strategies enhanced students’ speaking performance. Post-test results showed that the Online Instructor Scaffolding Strategies have an impact on students’ speaking performance. The findings from this study are meaningful as Online Instructor Scaffolding Strategies can benefit students of all proficiency levels to improve their speaking performance.

Characterization of Tasks and Skills of Workers, Middle and Top Managers in the Industry 4.0 Context

This study intends to make a characterization of the main tasks and skills needed to face the Industry 4.0. Moreover, it gives special attention to the different company’s hierarchical levels. To achieve the goals of this paper, a methodology based on Collaborative Decision Making method was used. Firstly, thirty participants were interviewed to understand their point of views. Next, they were split into Group Works to refine the results. Finally, a Group Concordance took place to create the final list of tasks and skills. The skills were organized into four categories: Technical, Social, Methodological and Personal. The results show different requirements in each level. In the Workers level, due to the presence of more technical tasks, eight of the top ten skills belong to the Technical category. In the Middle Managers level, there are tasks of both leading and analyzing nature and thus the top ten skills needed are split through the four categories. Finally, in the Top Managers level, due to the presence of mainly strategy tasks, the top ten skills are split between the Methodological and Social categories. To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to use a Collaborative Decision Making methodology to develop a set of tasks and skills that future work environments will demand on the different hierarchical levels of the organization.

Blockchain Technology: Security Issues, Healthcare Applications, Challenges and Future Trends

Blockchain technology provides a data structure with inherent security properties that include cryptography, decentralization, and consensus, which ensure trust in transactions. It covers widely applicable usages, such as in intelligent manufacturing, finance, the Internet of things (IoT), medicine and health, and many different areas, especially in medical health data security and privacy protection areas. Its natural attributes, such as contracts and consensus mechanisms, have leading-edge advantages in protecting data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The security issues are gradually revealed with in-depth research and vigorous development. Unlike traditional paper storage methods, modern medical records are stored electronically. Blockchain technology provided a decentralized solution to the trust-less issues between distrusting parties without third-party guarantees, but the “trust-less” security through technology was easily misunderstood and hindered the security differences between public and private blockchains appropriately. The mentioned advantages and disadvantages motivated us to provide an advancement and comprehensive study regarding the applicability of blockchain technology. This paper focuses on the healthcare security issues in blockchain and sorts out the security risks in six layers of blockchain technology by comparing and analyzing existing security measures. It also explores and defines the different security attacks and challenges when applying blockchain technology, which promotes theoretical research and robust security protocol development in the current and future distributed work environment.

Student Acceptance of E-Learning during the COVID-19 Outbreak at Engineering Universities in Spain

This article analyses students’ intention to use a particular e-learning technology (MS Teams) at university during the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The model was refined through a qualitative analysis based on six focus group discussions with students from different engineering faculties in Madrid, Spain. A survey involving 346 undergraduate students was subsequently fed into the model. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and SMART PLS software were applied for data analysis. The results shed light on theoretical and practical implications. The model was validated by the data and displayed a high predictive ability. Social influence was found to have the greatest influence over students’ acceptance, followed by the professor’s role in shaping the perception of improvement. Facilitating conditions were found to be the least relevant factor, probably due to the particular context in which this study was conducted. A significant difference was found between the public and private institutions in terms of the importance of the perceived usefulness for the professor (this factor was more important for students’ acceptance at the public university). In order to improve its acceptance and use under the current scenario, it is thus important for universities wishing to introduce e-learning to focus on creating a positive social environment around the e-learning platform, for example, by using social networks or relying on testimonies by professionals who could confirm the interest of such a platform in a future work environment. Understanding professors’ perspective on the implementation of the platform is also of paramount importance. More research is also needed regarding context-related differences when analysing students’ acceptance of e-learning.

Professional transitions: The eportfolio as a curated digital narrative

Contemporary higher education is continually facing change and disruption across global and local educational communities. This has been exacerbated by the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with graduates having to demonstrate discipline-specific knowledge along with adaptability to an ever-changing employment market. To address these needs, the authors advocate a focus on professional transitions by taking advantage of the eportfolio and reframing the digital showcase tool as a curated digital narrative for any discipline. Taking a detailed focus on the case study example of the Verandah Journal , this article demonstrates how one practice-based project can be adaptively framed for diverse job opportunities and can serve as the foundation for a portfolio career. The authors conclude that a flexible, curated demonstration of skills and knowledge creates the foundations for a graduate to narrate their professional transition in a challenging future work environment. Further research is required to expand this understanding to both graduates and prospective employers.