Teachers' Perceptions of Applying Contemporary Skill Acquisition Approaches in High School Physical Education

Using contemporary skill acquisition approaches to skill learning appears to be a worthwhile pedagogical option for teachers and coaches in sports and Physical Education (PE). However, PE at the High School level in New Zealand has assessment components that are still underpinned by traditional and outdated skill learning theories. In response to this challenge, two motivated Heads of Department in PE undertook a department-wide professional development initiative to teach the national standard assessment via the use of a contemporary skill acquisition approach, which is student-centred, with an emphasis on enhancing exploratory learning and encouraging autonomy. Each department worked together over a 10-week period with a Higher Education specialist in skill acquisition to design and teach using contemporary skill acquisition approaches. Qualitative data was collected via semi-structured focus group interviews. Insightful data on the influence of teaching using contemporary skill acquisition approaches was acquired from the teachers in the two PE departments. It was found that substantial pedagogical practice changes were achieved by the teachers (e.g., less focus on ideal technique and more on varying the context). They also enjoyed the learning experience that the contemporary skill acquisition approach offered as compared to their previous experience of more traditional teaching approaches, which have a focus on knowledge acquirement with little opportunities for exploratory learning. In addition, from a practical perspective, teachers were observed to demonstrate greater engagement in professional conversations around learning and could see greater relevance in the transfer of learning in the use of contemporary skill acquisition approaches to other teaching contexts.

Salesperson Self-Regulated Learning and Online Customers’ Patronage: An Ambidexterity Perspective

Although the roles of exploratory and exploitative learning as alternative sales skills have been documented, there is not yet a clear consensus, and empirical evidence in the online sales context is lacking. In addition, existing studies have tended to examine the two activities in parallel, without looking into the dyadic situation of balanced or imbalanced exploratory-exploitative learning. Grounded in the WeChat business context, this study explores how online sales agents’ balanced and imbalanced ambidextrous learning influence customers’ e-loyalty and, in turn, their patronage intention and behavior. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis are performed on 226 dyads, and the results support the hypothesized balance effect. Further, asymmetrical imbalance effects are identified, with customers exhibiting higher e-loyalty and better patronage outcomes when online sales agents adopt more exploitative learning than exploratory learning. This study helps improve understanding of the efficiency of personal selling in a virtual context.

Analysis of Improving Mathematical Analogy Ability in Snow Cube Throwing Based on Exploration Learning

<p><em>The snow cube throwing learning was developed to find patterns, make hypotheses, and draw conclusions based on their findings in problem-solving. Students are given five types of teaching materials with similar problems to improve students' mathematical analogy skills. This study aims to analyze the differences in the improvement of mathematical analogy abilities that received snow cube throwing based on exploration (SCTBE), exploratory and expository learning reviewed as a whole, and by school category. This study is a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent pretest and posttest control-group design. The research subjects were students of class VIII from three schools in Cimahi City. Overall, the results showed that students who received SCTBE and expository learning improved mathematical analogy abilities and were better than students who received exploratory learning. Reviewed by school category, SCTBE learning is more suitable for middle category schools with active and independent characteristics</em>.</p>

Learning how to learn and then doing it all over again: The evolving learning modes of migrant entrepreneurs

Building on an in-depth study of 12 Bulgarian migrant entrepreneurial company cases in London, we illustrate how migrant entrepreneurs (MEs) interact with, and learn from, their exposure to a diaspora network. We demonstrate that learning processes need to be studied within the context where they occur as MEs adapt their modes of learning to contextual changes. We use social learning theory to offer a situated process model of learning, which shows why and how learning evolves over time, the learning modes MEs undergo (i.e. observational, participative, and exploratory learning), as well as the process configuration within which these learning modes are rooted. This article adds to the growing body of work showing the boundary conditions and the mechanisms through which MEs learn from networks when operating in a foreign market.

The Relationship Between Unlearning and Innovation Ambidexterity with the Performance of New Product Development Teams

Previous research has suggested that unlearning is not linked to performance improvements in a team setting. Further, unlearning may have deleterious effects on performance outcomes because when it happens, teams are likely to lose the way they perform tasks and the reasons for their operational existence. In contrast, this study predicts that teams can conduct exploitative and exploratory activities in a balanced manner predicated on unlearning practices to improve new product development (NPD) performance. We hypothesized that while unlearning allows NPD teams to balance exploitative and exploratory learning activities, simultaneous yet balanced exploitation and exploration at high levels, namely innovation ambidexterity, links unlearning practices to NPD performance. This occurs by providing task-relevant knowledge for the replacement of outdated routines and beliefs during NPD processes. Data were collected from 198 NPD teams (i.e., 464 individual participants). The examination of ordinary least squares regression-based path analyses revealed that innovation ambidexterity mediates the relationship of unlearning with NPD performance, operationalized as product development speed, cost, and product success. Overall, this study shows that the unlearning-performance relationship occurs through simultaneous exploitative and exploratory learning activities in a balanced manner.

Integration of exploitative and exploratory learning

Purpose Extensive collaboration has become critical as increasing complexity of products and processes require firms to access specialized knowledge from diverse sources. Such knowledge provides a rich source of organizational learning that can be best captured and stored through the use of bureaucratic structures to facilitate the necessary large-scale coordination across the firm. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Extensive collaboration has become critical as increasing complexity of products and processes require firms to access specialized knowledge from diverse sources. Such knowledge provides a rich source of organizational learning that can be best captured and stored through the use of bureaucratic structures to facilitate the necessary large-scale coordination across the firm. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The educator’s LSP journey: creating exploratory learning environments for responsible management education using Lego Serious Play

Research into responsible management education has largely focused on the merits, attributes, and transformation opportunities to enhance responsible business school education aims. As such, a prominent part of the literature has occupied itself with examining if responsible management modules are inherently considered a non-crucial element of the curriculum and determining the extent to which business schools have introduced such learning content into their curriculum. However, there has been scant research into how to apply novel teaching approaches to engage students and promote responsible management education endeavours. As such, this paper seeks to address this gap through the development of a teaching framework to support educators in designing effective learning environments focused on responsible management education. We draw on constructivist learning theories and Lego Serious Play (LSP) as a learning enhancement approach to develop a pedagogical framework titled The Educator’s LSP Journey. LSP is chosen due to its increasing application in learning environments to help promote critical discourse, and engage with highly complex problems, whether these are social, economic, environmental, or organisational. Therefore, this paper contributes to the responsible management education discourse by providing educators with a practical methodology to support student engagement and co-creation of knowledge by fostering exploratory learning environments and enriching the practices of active learning communities.