Professional Online Research Articles

Cognitive Biases of Trained Finance Professionals in India: An Exploratory Analysis

Cognitive biases among trained financial professionals may lead to mismanagement of investment decision-making or inadequate utilization of resources. Not many studies in this domain are available in the Indian context. The objective of the study is to find out the main cognitive biases among finance professionals in India. Using my diverse professional online networks, 162 trained finance professionals’ survey responses are gathered for this study. I used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method since it is suitable for this study. The PCA method allows to find out the critical group of factors incorporated in the questionnaire and derive the significant factors that have a meaningful impact on the subjects. Deploying principal component analysis (PCA), the paper finds that trained professional managers are exposed to diverse degrees of biases such as representative, confirmation, conservative, framing, hindsight, and availability biases. However, out of all such biases the representative bias is observed to be most prominent among the trained finance professionals in India. The findings of this study extend the scope to examine the effect of such cognitive biases on investment decision-making.

Propelling consumer engagement via entrepreneurs' live streaming?

Entrepreneurs' live streaming (ELS) is an important tool for marketing, and it can increase consumer engagement, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous live streaming literature mainly focused on third-party live streaming, targeted at professional streamers and online celebrities. This study aims to discuss the factors underlying consumer engagement in the ELS. Using a mixed method of a quasi-experiment and an online survey, we analyzed the impact of the ELS on consumer engagement and the factors that drive consumer engagement in the ELS in each of 231 samples. In the enterprises' live streaming, the ELS has a significantly higher influence on consumer engagement compared with the employees' live streaming. In the ELS, based on source credibility theory and signaling theory, this study concludes that factors of ELS's credibility consist of internal factors (reputation, expertise, and interactivity) and external factors (guarantee, authenticity, and money-saving). The authors demonstrate that both internal and external factors positively affect trust in activities. Trust in activities positively affects consumer engagement and mediates the effects of reputation, expertise, interactivity, guarantee, and authenticity on consumer engagement. Moreover, reputation and expertise positively improve consumers' admiration toward the entrepreneur streamer and in turn, positively increase consumer engagement. Interactivity and expertise shorten the psychological distance. Psychological distance negatively affects consumer engagement and only helps increase the positive effect of interactivity on consumer engagement. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for live streaming e-commerce.

Moving away from civilization: the case of Italy. An overview and presentation

For decades, Italian social life has been witnessing a series of episodes of civil decay such as widespread illegality, environmental mismanagement, corruption, violence against women, the elderly and minors, questioning of scientific results and mistrust of professional abilities, online hate, and anti-vaccination movements. Although some of these social phenomena are not restricted to Italy, their spread and pervasiveness in this country are linked to other typically national traits.To answer the question of whether Italy is a country with a limited degree of civilization, we start from Norbert Elias’s concept of the “civilizing process”. We first distinguish between civilization and decivilization and define them. We then identify selected types of violence and aggression as an expression of the decivilizing process and as evidence of a widespread regression in social life. Lastly, we relate today’s decivilizing processes with the historical roots of Italian backwardness.

Enabling Women Entrepreneurs in a Rural Context through Mentoring

The number of women-owned enterprises has grown substantially in recent decades, yet women still lag behind men in the creation of new enterprises. Mentoring is a form of support that is often suggested as relevant to women entrepreneurs. It is flexible and bespoke to the mentee, and also provides a role model. However, its role for women entrepreneurs in a developed rural economy has not been specifically addressed. The exact components of a successful mentoring relationship have not been determined, nor how this links to business success on the part of female entrepreneurs. A qualitative study of women entrepreneurs was undertaken in the UK, in Devon. A sample of mentors was also interviewed in order to gain a more complete view of the mentoring relationship. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Most expressed the view that mentoring was “vital”. The most significant form of mentoring was found to be peer mentoring, from women’s business networks and from professional associations and online networks. This form of mentoring has been neglected in the literature. Bearing in mind the small sample size, the findings indicate a more targeted approach to mentoring programmes should be taken. Peer mentoring has not been explored in depth.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Primary Educational Publishers in Australia

Based on interviews with 10 professionals from primary educational publishers and educational technology companies based in Australia, this article examines the challenges and impact of COVID-19 on publishing operations and outputs, and the future of the sector. The publishers had to deliver digital materials quickly, effectively and often for free to assist educators with the transition to remote learning, while working remotely themselves. They also had to transfers sales, support and professional learning online. Overall, while operationally challenging, the pandemic has accelerated the demand for digital products and facilitated growth of the sector.

Digital Skills and Self-employment among Graduates of Technical Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania

Digital skills are the driving forces for innovative, inclusive and sustainable growth through innovations and digitalization which in turn stimulate job creation, alleviate poverty, reducing inequality, facilitating the delivery of goods and services. However, large number of graduates is shown to be weak in digital skills in the industry hence affect their employability including self-employment. Recently, the Technical Higher Education Institutions (THEIs) took some initiatives to instill the digital skills to their respective students. This study therefore assessed the level of competence of digital skills among graduates following the initiatives taken by the THEIs and their influence on self-employment. It specifically identified the digital skills and ranking the digital skills acquired by the graduates when in the THEIs. It likewise established relationship between digital skills and self-employment among the graduates. The data were collected using a questionnaire from 500 graduates sampled through a stratified random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Chi-square. The findings show that, the surveyed graduates acquired basic digital skills (i.e. creating professional online profiles, word processing, using keyboards and touch-screens, managing privacy settings, emails) to the large extent (53%); intermediate digital skills (i.e. desktop publishing, digital graphic design, digital marketing) to the small extent (52%) and advanced digital skills (i.e. big data, artificial intelligence, digital entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, internet of things, virtual reality) to the very small extent (54%) when in the college/university. Furthermore, intermediate and advanced digital skills were ranked higher as digital skills for self-employment by the graduates. All three digital skills were found positive and significant for self-employment among the graduates in Tanzania. The study recommends that, the colleges, institutes and universities should emphatically inculcate all the digital skills to the students as they are both significant for self-employment of their respective graduates.

Professional Online Community of Russian Sociologists: Topics of Discussion and Structure of Social Interactions

The article regards the topics of discussions and the structure of social interactions in the online professional community of sociologists. Based on the texts of the publications, the authors of the study identify 18 discussion topics and determine the structural type of the online community (“core-periphery”) using the blockmodeling methodology. This allows distinguishing 3 groups of participants: the “core” participants who are is interested in all topics, the “semi-periphery” participants who mostly send invitations to events, and the “periphery” participants interested in the expertise and knowledge of the colleagues. Within the core, there is also a group of participants discussing the topics of professional activity and identity. Core members interact with all members of the online community, including less active members of the group, and can act as an integrating force for the entire professional online community of sociologists. Acknowledgments. The article was prepared within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research Program.

The effect of professional teaching videos induction and online focused group discussion on the development of teacher competences.

This study investigated the effect of video-based teaching practice followed by focused group discussion via electronic collaborative discussion forum (ECDF) on the development of teacher competences. The trend of change on teacher competences of 30 Iranian English as foreign language teachers was traced before and after treatment on quantitative and qualitative measures. First, a newly designed and validated teacher assessment questionnaire named Teacher Balanced Score Card (TBSC) was used to quantitatively account for the developments of teacher competences including clinical, critical, technical and personal from teacher, student and administrative perspectives. In quantitative measure, supervisors' real classroom non-participant observations and theme elicitation through log analysis of ECDF according to a predetermined data coding schemata helped documenting evidences for teacher competence development on TBSC measure in pretest/posttest design. Multivariate analysis of variance results indicated that there were significant changes in technical and clinical competences. The theme elicitation in log analysis of ECDF implies that the required infrastructure for incorporation of technology, culture cultivation of its use, its role in establishing non-threatening supportive platform for teacher evaluation and its potential in teacher reflection, change initiation and management should be revisited at high levels of policy making and local levels.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10671-022-09318-z.

SPIRITUALITY: THE LIFE SUSTAINING FORCE DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC

This paper tries to find out the inclination towards spirituality during COVID 19 pandemic. Information is collected from various teaching and non-teaching professionals online through google forms. 122 participants participated in this online survey, majority of them are from Chhattisgarh. The findings of this survey indicates that during COVID 19 pandemic spirituality reemerged as the life sustaining force and people are again harnessing themselves to spirituality in search of strength, positivity and peace of mind.

Assessment of English Foreign Language Learners: MOOC Material Resume and Review of Online Professional English Network (OPEN)

As a personal research note, this paper presents the summary and review of the course material "Assessment of English Language Learners" from the author's participation in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) program offered by the U.S. Department of State as the Online Professional English Network (OPEN). This article is suitable for practical tests for ESL/EFL teachers in classes where students learn English as a second language. It aims to fill the lack of literature on assessing English Language Learners, especially regarding meaningful and purposeful assessment studies in L2 language classes. This paper serves the information as a contribution to 1) determine a meaningful assessment; 2) collect and use data to use the right assessment; 3) select the types of alternative assessment; 4) foster students' motivation and engagement through assessment; and 5) making assessment fun. This paper's contributions will supplement teachers in determining the most appropriate assessment in line with their students' needs. In addition, assessment should act as an evaluation tool and be turned into something fun in the classroom so that students can get many benefits at once, namely learning experiences and learning outcomes. This article is recommended for practical assessments for EFL teachers in English second language learning classes.

Use of a specialty endoscopy online platform for continuing medical education for clinical endoscopists during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundTo explore the use of a digestive endoscopy professional online platform by domestic endoscopists and its application effect on endoscopists’ continuing medical education, analyse the related problems of continuing medical education using this method, and propose targeted improvement suggestions.MethodsBased on the “Doctor’s Circle” app, a questionnaire was sent to all members who successfully registered on the Hebei Biliary and Pancreatic Endoscopy Diagnosis and Treatment Alliance online platform. The questionnaire was available for 30 days. The questionnaire survey results were collected and counted for a grouping comparison.ResultsBy the deadline, 703 completed questionnaires had been received. After the registered doctors joined the platform, 469 (66.7%) experienced a significant influence on their own endoscopic operation ability level, and 354 (50.3%) felt a significant improvement in their ability to diagnose biliary- and pancreatic-related diseases. The application effect of the platform on members’ continuing medical education was affirmed by the vast majority of registered doctors. The clinical specialty of registered doctors, the length of time they joined the platform, the length of time they participated in the platform activities each time, and whether they played back course videos after the live broadcast of the course on the platform were the main factors affecting the application effect on continuing medical education (P < 0.05). Registered doctors who benefited significantly from the platform used it for 6–12 months, participated in activities for 1–2 hours each time, and often played back course videos.ConclusionThe new model of continuing medical education based on an online platform breaks through the constraints of traditional models and meets the individualized needs of every medical worker to improve their comprehension level. At present, the global outbreak of COVID-19 makes this learning mode increasingly popular among medical workers. We should constantly improve the organization of the content and methods of continuing medical education courses, make the online platform better serve the majority of medical workers, and effectively improve the comprehension levels of clinicians.

Teaching With Conceptboard: A Professional Online Tool for Student Engagement and Collaboration

This article reviews Conceptboard, a professional collaborative online whiteboard that can be used to enhance student engagement and collaboration, enable real-time group interaction, and promote active learning. What makes Conceptboard particularly relevant for management educators is its familiarity, flexibility, and versatility. It extends and enhances instructors’ current ways of connecting with students and seamlessly bridges the gap between an in-person classroom and a remote learning environment, allowing for immersive experiences across teaching modalities. Conceptboard can be used for a variety of individual and team assignments in online or face-to-face classes. This article compares the free version of Conceptboard with free versions of similar online platforms and provides suggestions on how to mitigate its limitations.

Slack, Social Justice, and Online Technical Communication Pedagogy

ABSTRACT This Methodologies and Approaches piece interfaces conversations about social justice pedagogies in technical and professional communication (TPC), Black TPC, and online TPC instruction to discuss the social justice affordances of Slack in online instruction. Drawing on our experiences using Slack within an online graduate course during the COVID-19 pandemic, we consider how Slack supports pedagogical community building and accessibility in online instruction before presenting a framework for assessing instructional technologies in terms of social justice.

"I Want to Be Stepping in More" - Professional Online Forum Moderators' Experiences of Supporting Individuals in a Suicide Crisis.

IntroductionIndividuals experiencing suicidal crises increasingly turn to online mental health forums for support. Support can come from peers but also from online moderators, many of whom are trained health professionals. Much is known about users' forum experiences; however, the experiences of professional moderators who work to keep users safe has been overlooked. The beneficial nature of online forums cannot be fully realized until there is a clearer understanding of both parties' participation. This study explored the experiences of professional online forum moderators engaged in suicide prevention.Materials and MethodsA purposive sample of professionally qualified moderators was recruited from three online mental health organizations. In-depth semi-structured, video-recorded interviews were conducted with 15 moderators (3 male, 12 female), to explore their experiences and perceptions of working in online suicide prevention spaces. Data was analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsFive themes were identified related to the experiences and challenges for moderators. These were the sense of the unknown, the scope of the role, limitations of the written word, volume of tasks, and balancing individual vs. community needs.DiscussionFindings indicate that the professionally qualified moderator role is complex and multifaceted, with organizations failing to recognize these aspects. Organizations restrict moderators from using their full therapeutic skill set, limiting them to only identifying and re-directing at-risk users to crisis services. The benefits of moderated online forums could be enhanced by allowing moderators to use more of their skills. To facilitate this, in-situ research is needed that examines how moderators use their skills to identify at-risk users.

The AIMS home-video method: parental experiences and appraisal for use in neonatal follow-up clinics

BackgroundIn The Netherlands, prematurely born infants and their parents are offered regular developmental check-ups in a hospital setting. In line with providing healthcare at distance, the use of video footage showing the infant’s behavior and movements, taken by parents at home and assessed by professionals online, might be a fruitful future practice. The focus of this study was to gain insight into parental experiences with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale home-video method and their appraisal of its applicability for use in an outpatient neonatal follow-up clinic.MethodA qualitative descriptive study among parents of healthy extremely or very premature infants (GA 26.2–31.5 weeks) participating in a longitudinal study of motor development between 3–18 months corrected age. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Data was analyzed independently. Inductive content analysis was performed following the process of the AIMS home-video method.ResultsParents appraised the AIMS home-video method as manageable and fun to do. Instructions, instruction film, and checklists were clear. Transferring the video footage from their phone to their computer and uploading it to the web portal was sometimes time-consuming. Parents gained a better awareness of their infant’s motor development and found the provided feedback a confirmation of what they already thought about their infant’s development and was reassuring that their child was doing well. First-time parents seemed more uncertain and had a greater need for information about (motor) development, but on the other hand, also had confidence in their child.All parents thought that home-videos can be an addition to follow-up visits, but cannot replace (all) visits. It may be an opportunity to reduce the frequency of hospital visits, while still having their infant monitored.ConclusionParents appraised the AIMS home-video method positively and are of the opinion that home-videos can be of added value in monitoring infants at risk in neonatal follow-up additional to hospital visits. In future research a user-friendly application and/or platform to exchange video footage safely between parents and professionals should be developed with all possible stakeholders involved and implementation should be explored.

Social Media and Professional Conduct (SMART): Best Practice Guidelines from the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN).

Social media has revolutionized internet communication and become ubiquitous in modern life. Though it originated as a medium for friendship, social media has evolved into an ideal venue for professional networking, scientific exchange, and brand building. As such, it is a powerful tool with which interventional pain physicians should become familiar. However, given the permanence and visibility of online posts, it is prudent for interventional pain physicians to utilize social media in a manner that is consistent with the ethical and professionalism standards to which they are held by their patients, employers, peers, and state medical boards. While there are extensive publications of professional codes of conduct by medical societies, there is a paucity of literature regarding social media best practices guidelines. Further, to date there have been no social media best practices recommendations specific to interventional pain medicine physicians. While not exhaustive, the aim of this document is to provide recommendations to pain physicians on how to maintain an effective professional and ethical online presence. Specifically, we provide guidance on online persona and professional image, patient–physician interactions online, patient privacy, industry relations, patient education, and brand building.

The key role of moderators in online communities of teachers: How presences support co-construction of knowledge in asynchronous discussions

This article examines a professional online learning community developed within the Council of Europe's Pestalozzi Programme, gathering educators from 50 European countries, engaged in the practice of education for democracy. It argues that conversational approaches sustain peer learning with unique practices in the field of continued professional development. The data consists of transcripts of asynchronous discussions analysed by quantitative measures and thematic analysis. Results identified patterns of interaction, and factors that support – or impede – co-construction of knowledge. They suggest that regulation of controversy and emotional engagement is key because of its effect on pace, cohesion, and strong ties between participants.

The visual performance of online identity: Instructor presence and persona across tools and settings

This article uses instructor identity and presence as a proxy for exploring how visual elements are used to convey identity in online settings. By focusing on ways identity can be visually communicated within online course spaces (e.g., photos, graphical elements) and communications (e.g., use of memes and emoji), along with the effects of identity elements performed in other public online spaces (e.g., social media profiles), we show the complex and distributed ways that people perform identity. Instructors serve as a model for students, who in turn follow these cues and learn the boundaries of how to appropriately perform their own professional online identities. Implications for instructor professional development, student application of visual identity skills, and future research are discussed.Keywords: Identity; presence; persona; visual communicationPart of the Special Issue Visual literacies and visual technologies for teaching, learning and inclusion <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.bf2afe2e>

Les liens entre les objectifs de formation, les facteurs sociodemographiques et la reussite chez des participants a un MOOC professionnalisant

This article explores the success factors in a professional Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). On the one hand, we are investigating whether professional goals, success goals, and certification goals are linked to success. On the other hand, we seek to verify whether socio-professional, demographic factors or the time available for training are also linked to success. Our results show that external factors such as gender, occupational group, being employed or not, and availability influence success in continuing online education, rather than conative factors related to professional and learning goals. These results underline the importance of ecological elements in the educational accomplishment in a training situation.

Editors' Note: Use of Social Media in Health Care—Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethical Considerations: A Position Statement of the American Academy of Neurology

The recently published AAN position statement on the use of social media among medical professionals sheds light on the ever increasing adoption of cyber platforms by neurologists. Nine of 10 physicians use social media for personal reasons, with 2 of every 3 also using it professionally. Online platforms engender unique opportunities to quickly disseminate medical knowledge while permitting patients and community dwellers to engage with medical professionals in an open forum. There are important considerations for health care professionals to keep in mind because they use these resources, particularly those that relate to patient confidentiality and provider credibility. In many instances, it might be prudent to dissociate one's personal and professional online presence. In response, Drs. Garg and Vishnu emphasized the difficulty that health care professionals may face in separating these 2 domains because our personal lives are inextricably tied to our professional ones. Dr. Taylor agreed that a provider's personality will augment their professional presence on social media but cautions providers about the use of unprofessional content and how it might compromise our professional and other important relationships. The recently published AAN position statement on the use of social media among medical professionals sheds light on the ever increasing adoption of cyber platforms by neurologists. Nine of 10 physicians use social media for personal reasons, with 2 of every 3 also using it professionally. Online platforms engender unique opportunities to quickly disseminate medical knowledge while permitting patients and community dwellers to engage with medical professionals in an open forum. There are important considerations for health care professionals to keep in mind because they use these resources, particularly those that relate to patient confidentiality and provider credibility. In many instances, it might be prudent to dissociate one's personal and professional online presence. In response, Drs. Garg and Vishnu emphasized the difficulty that health care professionals may face in separating these 2 domains because our personal lives are inextricably tied to our professional ones. Dr. Taylor agreed that a provider's personality will augment their professional presence on social media but cautions providers about the use of unprofessional content and how it might compromise our professional and other important relationships.