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Purpose: Executive isolation, also known as workplace loneliness, its factors and impact are major issues for organizational development, future of work for leadership and learning culture. The purpose of this study is to examine the Executive isolation phenomenon where relationships between power distance, organizational culture and executive isolation of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are analysed on how it is considered by their teams. The same is contextualized through the inputs received through interviews conducted with CEOs and employee surveys. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative in-depth interviews of five CEOs, and survey across 34 of the 50 employees, were undertaken over the course of two phases of this study. The investigation focused on identifying executive isolation of CEOs and perspectives of employees that can impact the leadership and learning progress of organizations based on work culture, power distance and decision-making; awareness and experience of executive isolation; workplace friendliness and rejection; and management development initiatives to minimize the impact of executive isolation. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using MAXQDA 2022 (Verbi Software, Berlin, Germany), which is a qualitative data analysis software. Findings: The findings highlight and expose the significant gap between understanding and analysing of the factors due to which the CEOs undergo executive isolation. It also extends to providing details related to the lack of awareness of the teams' actions contributing to the CEOs' isolation. It further highlights the fact that the difference of perspectives between the CEOs and teams leads to the organization slowing in its learning activities due to the leaders' own challenges of executive isolation The findings also provide immense need of developing knowledge assets and management development initiatives for learning interventions, to help understand, analyse and mitigate executive isolation, in the interest of the organizational learning and development. Originality/value: Earlier research work have contextualized the executive isolation impact on CEOs ability to be a leader. This study extends it to include the implications of leadership and learning culture on the teams that are affected by organization culture, power distance, decision-making and analysing the gap between the understandings about executive isolation of the CEOs. Eventually, it interprets how CEOs courting the executive isolation impacts the overall developmental culture of the organization. This will help in asserting the serious need of new learning frameworks needed to minimize the impact of CEO-level executive isolation. [This paper was presented at the ISDSI conference of Jagsom.]

Purpose: The visible ill-effects of the developmental enterprises in the ex-colonies and the tendency towards technocratic totalitarianism, in many ways, have altered the way modern humans perceived the idea of "progress" and "development" historically since the Cold War. This paper presents a deconstructive-transdisciplinary critique of the pervasive ideology by focusing on three nodal points in the stages of "development": (1) the rise of technocratic modern science; (2) the making of the Third World; and (3) de-legitimisation of its indigenous knowledge paradigms. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the first-hand accounts of the researchers, social scientists, activists and environmentalists, this paper presents an extensive critique of the violence involved in the development enterprises and recommends possible ways to move beyond the developmental hegemony. This paper is a theoretical investigation that adopts an interpretative, pluralistic, transdisciplinary approach, in order to deconstruct the development ideology and analyse the ramifications of the developmental propaganda and practice as they unfolded in the Global South. Findings: This paper highlights the need to decondition the social imaginary from the hegemony of developmentalism and its by-product scientism and "technological rationality" for an inclusive, pluralistic, democratic social order. Research limitations/implications: The focal area of this work is India in particular and Global South in general. It studies the era between the 1950s and 1980s when the major development enterprises took place and studies the consequences they entailed. Social implications: The scope of this paper encompasses every socio-economic, ecological and epistemological domain affected by the detrimental effects of the developmental enterprises in the Global South. Originality/value: The originality of this work lies in its transdisciplinary approach. The scope of this paper is extensive and covers nearly every domain of human existence that has been affected by the development debacle and technocratic totalitarianism in the post-War era.

This working paper from the annual conference of the Indian Adult Education Association briefly describes the current state of adult education in India and outlines important steps that should be taken to make adult education an integral part of national development. (SK)

The government of India has done remarkable work on commissioning a government funded prehospital emergency ambulance service in India. This has both public health implications and an economic impact on the nation. With the establishment of these services, there is an acute need for standardization of education and quality assurance regarding prehospital care provided. The International Joint Working Group has been actively involved in designing guidelines and establishing a comprehensive framework for ensuring high-quality education and clinical standards of care for prehospital services in India. This paper provides an independent expert opinion and a proposed framework for general operations and administration of a standardized, national prehospital emergency medical systems program. Program implementation, operational details, and regulations will require close collaboration between key stakeholders, including local, regional, and national governmental agencies of India.

As universities shifted to online education with the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, both pedagogy and assessment patterns across disciplines underwent a change, with a shift towards collaborative digital assessments. In this context, using qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection from an assessment conducted for 55 students who worked in groups to create YouTube videos on pre-selected modules, our analysis reveals that this assessment tool had a significant impact on peer learning, motivation and group dynamics. Students were more motivated to learn and share their learning, and they could also successfully engage in recognising and addressing group dynamics, thereby cultivating more than just subject knowledge. This finding aligns with existing scholarship and the paper adds to research about pedagogy and assessment via digital education in the Indian context, which is still upcoming.

This paper reviews a two-day workshop held in the eastern part of Assam, India in 2020, aimed at enhancing English communication skills among rural school teachers in India. The workshop was facilitated by experienced educators and a Global Teacher Grant recipient. The workshop facilitators collaborated with language specialists to deliver comprehensive English as a Second Language (ESL) training for teaching emergent bilingual students (EBs) and using innovative strategies and technology to overcome geographical barriers. This review presents a contextual background, literature review, observation tools for evaluating workshop activities, and findings. It highlights the necessity for continuous teacher support and professional development for literacy teachers. Insights from the review contribute to a professional development program for ESL and English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) teachers in Texas, with an emphasis on improving students' language proficiency through innovative instructional approaches.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are either in the public domain or published on an open licence which permits various forms of redistribution, reuse and repurposing. Many organisations and higher education institutions around the world are using such resources, and anecdotally many believe this is supporting innovations in practice. However, there is scant research into how such innovations should be understood or evaluated conceptually. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework that can describe and evaluate innovative practice as well as results from a study of 44 cases using this framework in the context of the ENCORE+ (European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education) project (2021-2023). This conceptual framework provides a rich qualitative description for instances of innovation which use OER. Our examples cover many countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, UK, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, USA, and Zanzibar. The sample includes organisations of all sizes and maturities of implementation. This allowed us to differentiate OER value propositions for a range of stakeholders at different levels of maturity of OER use. We explore whether variables such as the size and maturity of an organisation influences innovation strategies and the perception of stakeholder relationships. Our data indicates four elements to the development of OER value propositions as innovation vectors. Firstly, OER value propositions tend to be transformative, and focused on modifying or redefining pedagogical activity. Secondly, they are practical, targeting users/providers and influencing behaviour in direct and achievable ways. Thirdly, OER users and advocates emphasise observability, simplicity and compatibility as key aspects for communicating OER value propositions. Fourthly, OER innovation is aspirational in that greater maturity of organisations using OER sees the OER value proposition widened to include more stakeholder types.

Recent studies have indicated that digital platforms cannot amalgamate learning solutions for students with learning disabilities. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the literature on the topic and methods to elaborate on earlier studies on learning disabilities. These findings can help new researchers develop effective techniques to improve learning skills, and cognitive development and motivate teachers toward remediation programs to overcome the problem of learning disability.

In this paper, we examined the relationship between social networking sites (SNSs) and the coping strategies international students adopt amidst cultural shocks in India, particularly in the vibrant locale of Chandigarh. The study scrutinizes pivotal factors that influence international students' SNS use and creates and validates an instrument that measures this relationship. Grounded in the uses and gratifications theory (UGT), this research introduces an instrument -- the Social Capital Assessment Scale and Inventory (SCASI), which was developed via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The research concludes that SNSs play a pivotal role in the globalization of information, encompassing education, knowledge dissemination, interactivity, and cultural exchange in geographically diverse countries such as India.

This paper examines the gendered experiences of female students in Indian law schools, highlighting the influence of societal norms and patriarchal expectations on their education and career choices. Despite the growing presence of national universities offering legal education, women continue to face significant challenges rooted in traditional gender roles. These societal pressures often dictate the professions deemed appropriate for women, reinforcing male-dominated norms and limiting their professional autonomy. Through an analysis of the experiences of female law students, this study sheds light on the structural barriers they encounter both within educational institutions and in broader society. The findings emphasize the need for systemic changes at the home, workplace, and societal levels to create a more equitable environment for women pursuing careers in law.

The pandemic has affected the social, economic, political, and psychological as well as physiological well-being of an individual. Due to technological advancements, it was comparatively easy to adapt to these clouds of change, and the education field was not an exception. The researchers have observed this not only in letter but in spirit during the pandemic through the new way of teaching and learning, that is, the Online Learning Mode. This paper aims to study the impact of place of residence on English language acquisition and the social and psychological health of engineering students in Online learning mode. A structured questionnaire was designed for this study. A total of 245 participants who are presently pursuing engineering in online learning mode participated in the research. The study revealed that the place of residence had no influence on English language acquisition but significantly impacted engineering students' social and psychological health.

This paper reports the findings from a pre- and post-survey of participants and interviews with a small number of course members. A three-day course of training in qualitative research methods was delivered to a cohort of inexperienced researchers, all of whom were working in the field of special educational needs and disability, in Kolkata, India. The study examines the effectiveness of the training, taking into account the teaching methods used and the structure of the workshop. The findings suggest that emerging researchers prefer a hands-on workshop approach to more traditional lecture delivery of research training. The levels of support provided by tutors and the interaction with practical activities using bespoke resources found favour with participants. Following the training workshop, members expressed greater confidence in their ability to use qualitative research methods and understood the relation of this approach to quantitative studies. Some who completed the course have begun to conduct independent research investigations using the methods taught.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India reframed the present structure of higher education such as syllabi, examinations, and assessments. Due to the pandemic, many educational and research institutions are building a knowledge and skill-based curriculum and designing new credit-based courses, while encouraging students to attend online courses as a way to meet the recommendations of NEP. Any e-learning platform or online course has four basic components: Videos, Activities, Additional Reading Material, and Discussions, with Additional Reading Material being a more important component. Online courses that are open to everyone (MOOCs) can be adopted irrespective of the students' specialization or area. The instructor provides the reading material to the learners as a fixed, recommended list irrespective of the learner's interest or specialization. Instructors are finding it difficult to cater to the diversity of learners' interests and learning styles. In this paper, I have focused and analyzed the additional reading material and digital reading patterns of learners in various MOOC platforms by conducting online surveys. I concluded that there is a need to use learning eXtension Trajectories (LxT) in the learner-centric MOOC model where an instructor can identify various supportive domains and provide a shortened list of resources comprising various media to the learners.

The review article presents an analysis of the literature on environmental literacy in sustainable development. By utilizing techniques to examine multiple documents published between 2013 and 2023, including citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, subject area analysis, and keyword analysis, this study aims to provide valuable information and insights into the research landscape surrounding environmental literacy and its contribution to promoting sustainable development. A systematic search was conducted to gather several scientific articles, conference papers, and publications from the Scopus database from 2013 to 2023. The findings of this analysis shed light on authors, influential institutions, and active research groups that contributed to the study of environmental literacy and sustainable development. This comprehensive review offers an understanding of the state of research in this field while identifying areas for further exploration and research gaps. The insights gained from this study can be highly beneficial for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to advance knowledge and take action toward promoting literacy's role in sustainable development. This analysis is a foundation for advancing our understanding of literacy's significance while emphasizing its vital role in sustainable development efforts.

This paper examines new forms of study-abroad expertise on social media and their role in mediating Indian student mobility to Germany. Firstly, it explores how mutual-support Facebook and WhatsApp groups—used by prospective international students in India to support each other through the process of applying to German universities—have contributed to the emergence of new forms of education consultancy, offered by Indian students or graduates of German universities, whom I call 'Student Guides'. In addition, it shows how some Indians studying in Germany have started 'Study in Germany' YouTube channels, aimed at aspirant student migrants, and have become important 'study-abroad influencers'. The paper analyses how these new forms of study-abroad expertise offer prospective international students social and cultural capital important for successful student migration, apart from shaping their imaginative geographies of Germany, and embedding them in cultures of mobility. Furthermore, the paper highlights how these new forms of study-abroad expertise intersect with, and critique, a more 'traditional' study-abroad expert: the professional education consultant. The paper draws on a digital ethnography of 'Study in Germany' Facebook and WhatsApp groups and YouTube channels, as well as interviews with the YouTubers, Student Guides, and Indian students in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Learning losses does not mean forgetting only curricular learning but slipping back of fundamental learning abilities that learner would have acquired during schooling. School closures in India have severely disrupted learning processes of children resulting in learning losses and social gaps in academic outcomes. Though school closure is a global phenomenon, its adverse effects on learning outcomes are unevenly distributed in the society. Purpose: The paper aims to trace the phenomenon of learning losses resulting from a prolonged school closures during COVID 19 pandemic at the national level since march 2020.The study further is directed to trace accessibilities and uses of digital resources in India. Method: The study used secondary sources of data mainly of Bihar to ascertain the trend of learning losses. The data were regenerated to measure the emerging trend. Results: Learning loss was unevenly distributed in the society. Those who were digitally equipped had compensated their learning losses during school closures. The Bihar had mere 5 per cent computer and 15 internet facilities. The rural households had only 3 per cent computer and 13 per cent internet facilities. Primary grade children especially of disadvantaged groups in Bihar suffered more because they have very limited home learning resources. Learning crisis was more prominent at elementary school level where both the home resources and digital tools were inadequate. They spent hours in surfing social media for private purposes. The phenomenon of cyber loafing was widely seen among young students, showing a serious problem of internet abuse by secondary school students. Conclusion: Despite constraints Bihar managed to continue school learning programme during COVID 19. It had a largest force of digitally-equipped teachers (about 1.25 lakh) known as Potential Learning Community (PLC) who were ready to deliver e-contents to beneficiaries. Teachers established connectivity with parents and learners who had no android mobile. They started running Schools on Mobile (SOM) classes. The paper discusses learning recovery plan such as engaging community, reallocating resources for schools, etc.