Strong Learning Environment Research Articles

Effect of Organisational Climate and type of Autonomous Colleges on Academic Achievement of the Students

This article examines the independent and interaction influence of organizational climate and the type of autonomous colleges on the academic performance of students. Organizational climate encompasses various elements such as leadership styles, communication patterns, and staff morale, collectively shaping the institutional environment. Autonomous colleges, with their capacity for innovation in curriculum design, pedagogical methods, and assessment practices, provide a unique context for this analysis. To explore the effect, researchers employed a quantitative approach, surveying 480 students across 12 colleges (both government and non-government) in Odisha, India. Questionnaires assessed student perceptions of organizational climate and academic achievement. Additionally, researchers collected student result sheets and surveyed college staff to gain a wellrounded perspective on the college climate. Data analysis using ANOVA and Scheffe tests identified significant effects. Major Findings of the study confirm that a positive organizational climate, regardless of college type, is associated with higher student academic achievement. Interestingly, students in government autonomous colleges achieved higher scores than those in non-government ones. The most significant finding, however, is the interaction effect. Students in governmentautonomous colleges with a strong learning environment achieved the highest scores, while those in non-government autonomous colleges with a weak environment achieved the lowest.

Organizational learning in surgery in Tanzania's health system: a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Organizational learning is critical for delivering safe, high-quality surgical care, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where perioperative outcomes remain poor. While current investments in LMICs prioritize physical infrastructure, equipment, and staffing, investments in organizational learning are equally important to support innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement of surgical quality. This study aims to assess the extent to which health facilities in Tanzania's Lake Zone perform as learning organizations from the perspectives of surgical providers. The insights gained from this study can motivate future quality improvement initiatives and investments to improve surgical outcomes. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from an adapted survey to explore the key components of organizational learning, including a supportive learning environment, effective learning processes, and encouraging leadership. Our sample included surgical team members and leaders at 20 facilities (health centers, district hospitals, and regional hospitals). We calculated the average of the responses at individual facilities. Responses that were 5+ on a 7-point scale or 4+ on a 5-point scale were considered positive. We examined the variation in responses by facility characteristics using a one-way ANOVA or Student's t-test. We used univariate and multiple regression to assess relationships between facility characteristics and perceptions of organizational learning. Ninety-eight surgical providers and leaders participated in the survey. The mean facility positive response rate was 95.1% (SD 6.1%). Time for reflection was the least favorable domain with a score of 62.5% (SD 35.8%). There was variation by facility characteristics including differences in time for reflection when comparing by level of care (P = .02) and location (P = .01), and differences in trying new approaches (P = .008), capacity building (P = .008), and information transfer (P = .01) when comparing public versus faith-based facilities. In multivariable analysis, suburban centers had less time for reflection than urban facilities (adjusted difference = -0.48; 95% CI: -0.95, -0.01; P = .046). Surgical team members reported more positive responses compared to surgical team leaders. We found a high overall positive response rate in characterizing organizational learning in surgery in 20 health facilities in Tanzania's Lake Zone. Our findings identify areas for improvement and provide a baseline for assessing the effectiveness of change initiatives. Future research should focus on validating the adapted survey and exploring the impact of strong learning environments on surgical outcomes in LMICs. Organizational learning is crucial in surgery and further research, funding, and policy work should be dedicated to improving learning cultures in health facilities.

The effect of Knowledge Management, Entrepreneurial Orientation, Transformational Leadership, and Management Control System on Learning Organization

This study investigates the strategy for developing an organizational learning culture at PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Branch Office Jakarta Bendungan Hilir. It employs four independent variables, namely knowledge management, entrepreneurial orientation, transformational leadership, and control management systems, with organizational learning as the dependent variable. The survey method is used, and data is collected through a questionnaire administered to all employees, with a sample of 71 respondents analyzed using SPSS 25. The findings indicate that knowledge management, entrepreneurial orientation, transformational leadership, and control management systems do not directly impact organizational learning. However, when considered collectively, these factors significantly influence the formation of an organization's learning culture, accounting for 71.9% of the variance. This study examines the collective impact of knowledge management, entrepreneurial orientation, transformational leadership, and control management systems on developing an organizational learning culture. The findings provide organizations with valuable insights to make informed decisions that enhance learning capabilities and cultivate a culture prioritizing continuous learning and improvement. Recognizing the significance of these factors enables organizations to shape their practices and policies, fostering a strong learning environment, facilitating knowledge sharing, and driving innovation.

The Relationship between EFL Teachers’ Classroom Management Skills and Their Immediacy as Perceived by Their Learners

The Relationship between EFL Teachers’ Classroom Management Skills and Their Immediacy as Perceived by Their Learners

Building Self-Trust Through Non-Evaluative Medical Mentorship

To the Editor: One of the greatest challenges facing medical trainees today is a lack of trust in themselves, which often manifests in the form of imposter syndrome, the persistent feeling of self-doubt and inadequacy rooted in the notion that one is not of the same caliber as one’s peers. In fact, a recent preliminary study found that almost one-half of female and nearly a quarter of male medical students suffer from imposter syndrome.1 Alarmingly, imposter syndrome has been associated with components of burnout such as cynicism, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization.1 Not only are these consequences bad for trainees but they also are associated with negative outcomes for patients.2 How can medical education be modified to help students develop their confidence and instill trust in their own capabilities? As current medical trainees, we believe that an effective approach to developing self-trust is gaining exposure to mentors who teach and encourage in a nonevaluative relationship in which students do not have to be fearful of asking “stupid questions.” Having a nonevaluative mentoring relationship with a clinician or physician during clerkships would allow students to fortify foundational skills and clarify misconceptions that they may otherwise be too embarrassed to address. To foster such a mentorship model within clerkships, we propose that at the beginning of each clinical rotation, in addition to the current evaluation-based model, each student be assigned a mentor within the department who has a nonevaluative role. Instead, this clerkship mentor would provide only guidance and support, keeping the student’s best interests in mind. Nonevaluative mentoring relationships would provide trainees with a knowledgeable individual to turn to in times of doubt without fear of negative evaluations. Mentors could be motivated to cultivate a strong learning environment with incentives such as teaching awards and other forms of recognition or simply from the gratification of mentoring the next generation of physicians. Providing access to nonevaluative mentors may empower students to advocate for their own education, which, in turn, builds self-trust, prevents burnout, and ultimately, improves health outcomes for patients and clinicians alike. Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank their mentors Dr. Sankar Bandyopadhyay, Dr. Vinita Acharya, and Dr. Milind Kothari for their invaluable insight and support. Ganesh ShenoyMedical student and PhD student, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania; [email protected]Peter ZakiMedical student, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.Christina LawMedical student, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Audit Firm Tenure And Earnings Management: The Impact Of Changing Accounting Standards In UK Firms

The objective of this paper is to investigate the association between audit firm tenure and earnings management (EM) and whether it is conditional on using the same set of accounting standards. The sample of this study comprises UK listed companies for five years by collecting data using WorldScope for financial and accounting standards data and FAME databases for audit tenure data. We use discretionary accruals measures as our measure of EM. We measure total accruals and current accruals using the cash flow statement approach. UK data allows us to examine the impact of changing accounting standards because one group of firms continually reported under UK GAAP whereas another group of firms changed its accounting standards from UK GAAP to IFRS. We find, in accordance with prior studies, a negative association between audit firm tenure and earnings management for our pooled UK sample. However, we find that this negative association only holds for those firms which had not changed their accounting standards. Furthermore, we document empirical results that the effect of audit firm tenure on EM is contingent upon the same set of accounting standards being used. The results agree with the recent trend of research that suggests that longer audit firm tenure does not compromise auditor independence but in fact improves the audit quality. Moreover, the results reported in the paper call for a careful cost benefit analysis by standards setters before implementing a dramatic change in accounting standards. Such changes could have a negative impact on audit quality. One possible explanation for both the accounting standards results is that auditors need a stable and strong learning environment if they are to mitigate earnings management. The results of this paper argue strongly against mandatory audit firm rotation through illustrating the positive impact that extended audit firm tenure has on improving audit quality.

Reflective learning in community-based dental education.

Community-based dental education (CBDE) is the implementation of dental education in a specific social context, which shifts a substantial part of dental clinical education from dental teaching institutional clinics to mainly public health settings. Dental students gain additional value from CBDE when they are guided through a reflective process of learning. We propose some key elements to the existing CBDE program that support meaningful personal learning experiences. Dental rotations of 'externships' in community-based clinical settings (CBCS) are year-long community-based placements and have proven to be strong learning environments where students develop good communication skills and better clinical reasoning and management skills. We look at the characteristics of CBDE and how the social and personal context provided in communities enhances dental education. Meaningfulness is created by the authentic context, which develops over a period of time. Structured reflection assignments and methods are suggested as key elements in the existing CBDE program. Strategies to enrich community-based learning experiences for dental students include: Photographic documentation; written narratives; critical incident reports; and mentored post-experiential small group discussions. A directed process of reflection is suggested as a way to increase the impact of the community learning experiences. We suggest key elements to the existing CBDE module so that the context-rich environment of CBDE allows for meaningful relations and experiences for dental students and enhanced learning.

Profiling medical school learning environments in Malaysia: a validation study of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale.

Purpose:While a strong learning environment is critical to medical student education, the assessment of medical school learning environments has confounded researchers. Our goal was to assess the validity and utility of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale (JHLES) for preclinical students at three Malaysian medical schools with distinct educational and institutional models. Two schools were new international partnerships, and the third was school leaver program established without international partnership. Methods:First- and second-year students responded anonymously to surveys at the end of the academic year. The surveys included the JHLES, a 28-item survey using five-point Likert scale response options, the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM), the most widely used method to assess learning environments internationally, a personal growth scale, and single-item global learning environment assessment variables.Results:The overall response rate was 369/429 (86%). After adjusting for the medical school year, gender, and ethnicity of the respondents, the JHLES detected differences across institutions in four out of seven domains (57%), with each school having a unique domain profile. The DREEM detected differences in one out of five categories (20%). The JHLES was more strongly correlated than the DREEM to two thirds of the single-item variables and the personal growth scale. The JHLES showed high internal reliability for the total score (α=0.92) and the seven domains (α, 0.56-0.85). Conclusion:The JHLES detected variation between learning environment domains across three educational settings, thereby creating unique learning environment profiles. Interpretation of these profiles may allow schools to understand how they are currently supporting trainees and identify areas needing attention.

Cooperative Learning Business Partnerships and Knowledge Networks

Industrial and service companies increasingly achieve their competitive advantages on the basis of strategic partnerships. The general assertion in the article is that the quality and effectiveness of implemented changes is higher in the cases when such modifications are being implemented through the process of learning achieved through partnerships. It has been argued in the paper that cooperative partnerships have a tendency to build a strong learning environment and therefore exhibit a greater potential to be transformed into learning organizations. It is therefore suggested that the key to improving competitive advantages lies in the ability of companies to form cooperative learning partnerships. On the basis of defining features of the learning orientation and the learning company philosophy a conceptual cooperative partnership learning framework has been outlined comprising a set of hypotheses linking variables designed according to the learning company concept with the individual and partnership performance. Learning partnerships are therefore viewed as an important prerequisite for regional economic development.

International social work field placement or volunteer tourism? Developing an asset-based justice-learning field experience

 Abstract This paper examines a developing model for building an international social work placement that meets the needs of the host agency and community first. The paper addresses the challenges for social work departments to develop a strong learning environment while also keeping primary the needs of the host community and agency . Keywords field placement, international, justice-based, social work, asset building

Troca e criação de valor: possibilidades competitivas advindas da estratégia de redes

The sharing of costs and of knowledge, reflected in this paper as interchange and creation of value, was studied in two corporate food retail networks in the central area of Rio Grande do Sul state. The objective was to investigate whether the competitive possibilities that are due to a network strategy are being exploited by the managers of the associated companies. The research was conducted using the case study method, for which the data was collected through in loco visits involving interviews with the main executives of the networks and questionnaires for the managers of the associated companies. The results indicate that both groups explore with greater emphasis the possibilities of value interchange, especially in the joint relations of acquisition and customer relations, to the detriment of the other components of the value network. On the other hand, in terms of creating value, the research found that there is a strong learning environment in both networks. However, difficulties hindered the actual creation of value through deliberate actions.

The role of materiality in apprenticeships: the case of the Suame Magazine, Kumasi, Ghana

Although the concept of the apprenticeship seems to be universal, its institutional form and status differ around the world. This article discusses informal apprenticeship training as it occurs among car mechanics in the informal industrial complex of the Suame Magazine, Kumasi, Ghana. Using on-site research and theories of social learning and material culture, it focuses on the material aspects of the apprenticeship training and shows that materiality is, in multiple ways, a crucial aspect for both the content and learning practices of the apprenticeship system. The material nature of the Suame Magazine forms a strong learning environment and the status of apprentices is also directly related to the mastering of specific car parts. Moreover, the increasing use of electronics in vehicles demands a different curriculum for apprentices. The role of materiality in social learning is an apparent, though understudied, element in apprenticeship systems.

Reforming Medical Education in Ethics and Humanities by Finding Common Ground With Abraham Flexner

Abraham Flexner was commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to conduct the 1910 survey of all U.S. and Canadian medical schools because medical education was perceived to lack rigor and strong learning environments. Existing proprietary schools were shown to have inadequate student scholarship and substandard faculty and teaching venues. Flexner's efforts and those of the American Medical Association resulted in scores of inadequate medical schools being closed and the curricula of the survivors being radically changed. Flexner presumed that medical students would already be schooled in the humanities in college. He viewed the humanities as essential to physician development but did not explicitly incorporate this position into his 1910 report, although he emphasized this point in later writings. Medical ethics and humanities education since 1970 has sought integration with the sciences in medical school. Most programs, however, are not well integrated with the scientific/clinical curriculum, comprehensive across four years of training, or cohesive with nationally formulated goals and objectives. The authors propose a reformation of medical humanities teaching in medical schools inspired by Flexner's writings on premedical education in the context of contemporary educational requirements. College and university education in the humanities is committed to a broad education, consistent with long-standing tenets of liberal arts education. As a consequence, premedical students do not study clinically oriented science or humanities. The medical school curriculum already provides teaching of clinically relevant sciences. The proposed four-year curriculum should likewise provide clinically relevant humanities teaching to train medical students and residents comprehensively in humane, professional patient care.

Exploring the Strategic Ground for Listening and Organizational Effectiveness

This paper proposes that strategic plans are most likely to be implemented successfully when hospitality leaders listen well and when hospitality organizations develop strong learning environments. It is proposed that leaders who listen effectively can influence organizational processes at three levels of analysis – individual, team/interactional, and organizational. Examples are provided of the specific listening challenges hospitality leaders confront at each level. The HURIER model proposes a 6‐stage listening process. A discussion then follows describing how listening skills can be applied to address the challenges posed at each of the three levels of analysis. It is argued that when leaders listen effectively they can create learning environments that then facilitate the implementation of the strategies they propose. When such organizational cultures are created and maintained, both employee empowerment and organizational performance are increased. Suggestions for increasing listening effectiveness are presented. A conceptual model is offered as a tool for identifying questions for future research.

Goal Rationalities as a Framework for Evaluating the Learning Potential of the Workplace

There is conflicting empirical evidence regarding the learning potential of the workplace. Some studies conclude that workplaces should be seen as strong learning environments, whereas others show evidence of the ineffectiveness of the workplace as a learning environment. In this article, we argue that this disagreement might be caused by different goal rationalities in relation to the institutions that are involved in workplace learning. For economic reasons, societies have organized learning in a preparatory rationality: education as preparation for work. The learning potential of the workplace is often discussed from this goal rationality. In this article, this preparatory goal rationality is challenged by arguing that other rationalities in workplace learning should also be taken into account. Rationalities of optimizing goals, transformative goals, and personal goals are discussed. The model of goal rationalities that is developed in this article must be kept in mind when evaluating the learning potential of the workplace: different goals imply different evaluation criteria.

Identity learning: the core process of educational change

The aim of this paper is to offer an additional perspective to the understanding of educational change processes by clarifying the significance of identity learning. Today’s innovations require changes in teachers’ professional identity. Identity learning involves a relation between social‐cognitive construction of new meanings and individual, emotional sense‐making of new experiences. This relationship between cognition and emotion asks for a strong learning environment: the question is whether schools provide these strong learning environments. To answer this question, the paper provides an overview of the existing knowledge about schools as contexts for teacher learning and change. It will become clear that the emotional side of the change process has been overlooked. A model for identity learning is presented, involving both meaning‐giving and sense‐making. Building on this model, it is discussed how school leaders can build strategies for the identity learning of teachers.

The development of a career identity

In modern society individuals are becoming responsible for their own work allocation. In order to overcome an increasing social and work-related insecurity, they not only have to acquire specific career skills but also a so-called "career identity". A career identity is a structure of meanings in which the individual links his own motiviation, interests and competencies with acceptable career roles. In the article the concept of meaning is explored and further elaborated as a social learning process. The article concludes with some remarks about the need for a strong learning environment.