Influencing citizen behavior: Experiences from multichannel marketing pilot projects

Information technology allows national and local governments to satisfy the needs of citizens in a cost effective way. Unfortunately, citizens still tend to prefer traditional, more costly channels, such as the front desk, phone and mail. Through pilot projects government agencies attempt to influence this behavior of citizens, directing them towards the online channel. With this paper we provide insight into the possibility to influence citizens’ behavior in the complex landscape of multi-channel service provision. The paper systematically compares five pilot projects using a framework that is based on organizational and marketing literature. The results show that socio-psychological factors are crucial in multi-channel management, much more than the technology itself. We conclude that citizens can be directed towards the online channel. However, not all projects are successful. Economic and legal instruments tend to sort more direct effects than communication or service instruments. Moreover, organizational factors such as bureaucracy often hinder eventual success. Choosing a smart and relatively small scope and strong project manager may help to evoke success in directing citizen online behavior.     

Faculty work in developing and teaching web‐based distance courses: A case study of time and effort

Abstract

Using an experiential case approach, this study explores the conventional wisdom that distance education courses require greater faculty work effort and time commitment than traditionally taught courses. The study's basis for analysis is an instructor's time and effort in developing and delivering a graduate‐level course in public administration, for both a distance course (a modality with which he had no previous experience) and his traditional classroom courses. The study finds support for the conventional wisdom. But it also suggests hypotheses for future comparative analysis that development and delivery time and effort may partially depend on the accumulation of instructor experience and the level of institutional support. This article also identifies some implications for future research and faculty participation in distance education.     

Is Inequality Among Universities Increasing? Gini Coefficients and the Elusive Rise of Elite Universities

One of the unintended consequences of the New Public Management (NPM) in universities is often feared to be a division between elite institutions focused on research and large institutions with teaching missions. However, institutional isomorphisms provide counter-incentives. For example, university rankings focus on certain output parameters such as publications, but not on others (e.g., patents). In this study, we apply Gini coefficients to university rankings in order to assess whether universities are becoming more unequal, at the level of both the world and individual nations. Our results do not support the thesis that universities are becoming more unequal. If anything, we predominantly find homogenisation, both at the level of the global comparisons and nationally. In a more restricted dataset (using only publications in the natural and life sciences), we find increasing inequality for those countries, which used NPM during the 1990s, but not during the 2000s. Our findings suggest that increased output steering from the policy side leads to a global conformation to performance standards.     

The attainment of doctoral degrees at Flemish Universities: a survival analysis

This paper examines the propensity to attain a Ph.D. degree at the five largest universities in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. It provides insight into the rate at which junior scholars appointed at the universities involved attained their Ph.D.-degree, and the duration of the doctoral training period. Cox’s regression model was applied to statistically analyse the influence of a number of ‘demographic’ and ‘merit’ variables, and variables related to funding source and type of appointment of the junior scholarly staff. Large differences in Ph.D. durations and attainment rates were found across funding sources, research disciplines and types of appointments. The policy background and implications are discussed briefly.     

The relationship among students' reading performance,their classroom behavior,and teacher skills

The relationship among students' reading performance, their behavior (task-focused behavior, emotional stability, and compliant behavior) in the classroom, and the teacher's skills was investigated in 66 third-grade classrooms. Results from this study showed the students' reading performance and their behavior in the classroom are all significantly interrelated. Better reading performance at the beginning of the school year goes with better behavior at the end of the school year. In turn, better behavior at the beginning of the school year goes with better reading performance at the end of the school year. The teacher can improve the behavior of the students by providing high-quality reading instruction. Some teacher skills have differential effects, however, on the various behavioral aspects. The implications for the educational practice as well as for future research are discussed.     

International research on computers in education

Since 1987, International Co-ordinator of the IEA Computers in Education Study; was national project coordinator for the IEA Second International Mathematics Study and Second International Science Study (1980–85). Co-author of several published studies on the Second International Science Study as well as The Implemented and Attained Mathematics Curriculum: A Comparison of Eighteen Countriesand The Use of Computers in Education Worldwide.     

Effects of problem-based discussion on studying a subsequent text: A randomized trial among first year medical students

The Purpose of this study was to examine effectsof group discussion of a medical problem on the comprehension of a subsequentproblem-relevant text by first year medical students.Forty-eight first-year medical students were randomly assigned toone of two conditions: The experimental group discussed a problem of blood pressureregulation, where the control group discussed a problem of vision. Subsequently, allstudents studied a text on the physiology of blood pressure regulation. Finally, a freerecall test was administered. Numbers of propositions accurately recalled were analyzed usinganalysis of variance (ANOVA). Students who discussed the blood pressure regulationproblem recalled 25% more from the text than those who discussed the control problem.This difference was statistically significant. The present study represented thefirst truly randomized trial in the ecologically valid context of a medical curriculum. Itdemonstrated the positive effects of problem-based tutorial group discussion on thecomprehension of text. It confirmed earlier findings from laboratory studies thatproblem-based learning, in addition to positive emotional and motivational long-term effectswell-documented in the literature, also has positive effects on learning.     

The clinical use of motivational messages: an inquiry into the validity of the ARCS model of motivational design

Instruction, even when prepared according to sound instructional design principles, often does not stimulate students' motivation to learn. A motivational intervention, developed according to the processes outlined inthe ARCS model of motivational design, was implemented and tested following the conventions of an embedded single-case study. It was tested with a group of 15 adults participating in a staff development course conducted within the Mozambique Ministry of Education. Results, based on concurrent and discriminant analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, indicated that the primary treatment, motivational messages, had positive effects on student attitude and performance. It may be concluded that the specific intervention and the ARCS model which provided the basis for designing it provide a sound basis for positively influencing student motivation to learn.