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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine individuals' levels of work ethic amongst current and recent university attendees across three countries. This article presents the results of a survey of 537 respondents from the United States of America, Korea and China, thus extending the previous research into work ethic, often conducted from a Western perspective. The comparative study aims to enhance the understanding of cross-cultural and gender differences and similarities whilst probing for the levels of work ethic amongst the respondents. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative research method was adopted because the authors' aim was to probe similarities and differences across three societies. Multiple analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were utilised to explore gender and country-related differences. Cluster analysis was applied to probe for segments highly similar to each other in the levels of work ethic of the respondents. Findings: The results confirm the hypothesised differences between countries as well as across gender groups, with American females having the highest levels of work ethic, closely followed by Chinese males and females. Three distinct segments -- low, medium and high levels of work ethic -- were found in all three countries, indicating that there are individuals in each of the societies who could benefit from strategies for increasing the individuals' levels of work ethic. Originality/value: Novel gender comparisons of the three country groups revealed American females as having the highest levels of work ethic and Korean females the lowest, whilst the identification of clusters of low, medium and high levels of work ethic provides evidence of the need to increase levels of work ethic to enhance productivity, regardless of the country of origin.

Although a large variety of methodologies, contexts and perspectives have been used to examine educational application of technology, there is a paucity of instruments that are designed to comprehensively evaluate the use of technology in education. This paper presents a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of an instrument that incorporates eight key dimensions: learning, affective, behavioral, technology, design, pedagogy, presence/community, and institutional environment. These dimensions were derived from rigorous systematic literature review and field specialist validation processes. The model was then refined and empirically confirmed in this study by 1,352 participants undertaking a Coursera open online course. The results of applying the instrument, as well as qualitative feedback from participants, are shared to illustrate its breadth and utility. The final 28 item "Comprehensive Evaluation of Use of Technology in Education" instrument is provided in full to support consistent, holistic and robust evaluation and comparison of technology use across educational contexts.

Background: There is a lack of critical or empirical work interrogating the nature and purpose of evaluating technology use in education. Objectives: In this study, we examine the values underpinning the evaluation of technology use in education through field specialist perceptions. The study also poses critical reflections about the rigour of evaluation instruments development in the educational technology field. Method: A total of 48 domain specialists were surveyed to investigate the face and content validity of 39 items under eight constructs, with both qualitative and quantitative data from the survey analysed. Results: There was an alignment between the constructs that the specialists felt were important and the constructs that have typically been the focus of empirical studies, with field specialists indicating high relevance scores for technology (M = 3.24/4), learning outcomes (M = 3.20/4), affective elements (M = 3.19/4), behaviour (M = 3.15/4), presence/community (M = 3.07/4), teaching/pedagogy (M = 3.01/4), design (M = 2.96/4), and institutional environment (M = 2.86/4). Only a minority of other studies were found to perform face and content validity checks and even then only with small samples of respondents (usually n [less than or equal to] 5). Implications: Specialists in educational technology research confirm that all eight dimensions are important to consider when evaluating the use of technology in education. Thorough face and content validity processes should be adopted when developing educational technology evaluation instruments. Further work has validated an eight factor 28 item instrument for evaluating the use of technology in education using a large sample of students from a global open learning online course.

"Recommendation" is a highly credible and powerful construct in marketing. This article investigates the construct "intention to recommend" in the context of student evaluations of teaching. Motivated by changes in the sector, the study explores what factors drive course recommendation and their relationship with each other. A structural model is tested, using partial least squares on a sample of 113 students. The results show that both emotional (i.e. joy of learning) and cognitive (i.e. course value) factors influence "intention to recommend." These two driving factors are more likely to occur if the course can bridge theory and real-world practice. The approach to understanding what drives course recommendation opens up new avenues of research. It proposes to expand the traditional model of student evaluations of teaching to one which includes course value in the context of a competitive education sector.

Purpose: Economics is catering to a diverse student cohort. This cohort needs to be equipped with transformative concepts that students can integrate beyond university. When a curriculum is content-driven, threshold concepts are a useful tool in guiding curriculum re-design. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/Methodology/Approach: The evidence for this pedagogic need can be seen in the UK's higher education economics curriculum framework which is formulated around the threshold concepts of economics. Through a literature review of the application of threshold concepts in economics, the researcher has systematically re-designed an entry-level economics course. This research has been applied to the course structure, the learning and teaching activities, as well as the assessments. At the end of the semester, students students were surveyed on the student experience of the curriculum design and the course activities. The course grades noted the achievement of the students' learning outcomes. Findings: When comparing the survey responses and the student course results to the previous semesters, there is a significant improvement in student experience as well as student learning outcomes of the course curriculum. Practical Implications: This research provides curriculum developers with a benchmark and the tools required to transform economics curricula. Social Implications: An engaging, transformative and integrative entry-level economics course is often the only exposure most business graduates have to the economics way of thinking and practice. Originality/Value: This is the first comprehensive study that applies a curriculum re-design based on threshold concepts across an entry-level economics course.

In recent years, it has become an issue of growing concern that, despite undiminished enthusiasm in the research community, the application of corpus tools and resources in the classroom remains limited. In this paper, I will argue that focusing on the role of the teacher in the process of using corpora in the classroom is an essential step towards popularising this approach. It is vital that future language teachers can discover corpora and concordances as part of their initial training from the perspectives as learner "and" as teacher. To this end, I will present and discuss a case study in which student teachers were introduced to corpus analysis and trained how to teach with corpora. Data on the reflections and opinions provided by the student teachers will highlight the significance and potential of such a course. (Contains 3 notes.)

Recommendation is a highly credible and powerful construct in marketing. This article investigates the construct intention to recommend in the context of student evaluations of teaching. Motivated by changes in the sector, the study explores what factors drive course recommendation and their relationship with each other. A structural model is tested, using partial least squares on a sample of 113 students. The results show that both emotional (i.e. joy of learning) and cognitive (i.e. course value) factors influence intention to recommend. These two driving factors are more likely to occur if the course can bridge theory and real-world practice. The approach to understanding what drives course recommendation opens up new avenues of research. It proposes to expand the traditional model of student evaluations of teaching to one which includes course value in the context of a competitive education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]