Whereas hackathons are widespread within and outside academia and have been argued to be a valid pedagogical method for teaching interdisciplinarity, no detailed frameworks or methods are available for conceptualizing and organizing educational hackathons, i.e., hackathons dedicated to best achieving pedagogic objectives. This paper is dedicated…

Offering first-hand insights from the early originators of Cooperative Learning (CL), this volume documents the evolution of CL, illustrating its historical and contemporary research, and highlights the personal experiences which have helped inspire and ground this concept. Each of the chapters in "Pioneering Perspectives in Cooperative…

Purpose: The "Implication for practitioners" paper summarizes the articles within this issue of "The Learning Organization" in an easy-to-digest format for the practitioner audience. This paper aims to outline how in practice the structure and people and the interplay of both have an impact in creating a learning organization.…

This summary piece aims to provide a clear connection for leaders, managers or even individuals as they endeavor to put organizational unlearning into practice inside their organization. The author attempts to simplify the details from the diverse articles within this issue only with the aim of helping build an easier method for practical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enrich the conceptual vocabulary of organisational learning by discussing the relevance of the interdisciplinary work of Gregory Bateson, an original and challenging twentieth century thinker. Design/methodology/approach: The paper debates a number of principles identified by Bateson, which reflect patterns…

This book explores the perspectives of experienced practitioners, sharing ideas about building and sustaining organizational strength through workforce development practices and systems. As the saying goes, a company's greatest resource is its people. When managers really believe that and work to develop organizational capabilities, productivity,…

Development research methodology (DRM) has been recommended as a viable research approach to expand the practice-to-theory/theory-to-practice literature that human performance technology (HPT) practitioners can integrate into the day-to-day work flow they already use to develop instructional products. However, little has been written about how it…

There is little doubt about it: Colleges and universities are reluctant to change. They are large and diffuse organizations with few clear lines of control. Yet the external environment in which colleges and universities operate is changing quickly. The changes make it essential for institutions to implement at least some aspects of strategic…

Purpose: The intentions of this article are to contribute reflections of an empirical account of working with critical reflection within an organisational development programme, addressing the following questions: What space is there for critical reflection in organisational development? What issues are raised for in-company developers and…

Purpose: The study is a two-stage inquiry into the influence of high school principals and department chairpersons on the nature of science and mathematics teachers' community of practice participation. Of particular interest is the extent to which formal leaders influence the formation of productive communities of practice and the extent to which…

Assessing an organization's effectiveness involves not only determining how successfully the organization achieves its stated objectives, but also ascertaining how thoroughly the needs of the individuals involved are met and how readily the organization can change to address the needs of both the organization and the individuals who compose it.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to set out an argument for a way to design, implement and manage IS with an emphasis on first, the learning that can be created through undertaking the approach, and second, the learning that may be created through using the IS that was implemented. The paper proposes joining two areas of research namely,…

The paper suggests that schools often jump into gifted education programs impulsively without adequate planning and curriculum construction. It is asserted that gifted programing must adapt to its school and host community. The contributions of organizational development training in program development are noted. Curricular construction is…

An annual publication, "To Improve the Academy" offers a resource for improvement in higher education to faculty, instructional development staff, and administrators. The chapters of part 1, "Past, Present, and Future of SoTL," contains: (1) "The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Past Lessons, Current Challenges, and Future Visions" (Kathleen…

This article discusses the basic characteristics of organization, administration, supervision, and specific problems of human service organizations and relates them to the concept of power. The author proposes an integration of the two models of supervision so that the administrative and teaching functions will both be served. (Author)