Managing Around

Today, we will delve into the concept of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or for short SoTL, and how it can lead to the development and improvement of teaching in higher education. This concept, pioneered by Ernest L. Boyer, emphasizes the importance of treating teaching as a scholarly activity subject to systematic inquiry, reflection, and improvement. Our discussion is based on an artic...

Welcome to this new episode of the "Managing Around" podcast, where today we explore the question of what it takes to maintain a welfare system that can withstand the challenges of tomorrow. With the world changing rapidly due to globalisation, technological advancements, and demographic shifts, the traditional welfare systems of the past may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the future. In t...

Writing an essay that stands out from the crowd is essential for achieving top marks. It can be challenging to know where to start, but having a structured approach can help you succeed. In this episode, I will uncover a formula that has helped countless students achieve first-class grades at different universities. I will take you through the different sections of an essay and provide a few tips...

Welcome to Managing Around, the podcast exploring the intersection of social work and management. In this episode, I aim to provide valuable insights and fresh perspectives, encouraging you to develop higher education didactics for social work management. I believe that an exchange of ideas and the sharing of knowledge are essential for achieving quality development in the field of social work and...

In this episode, we'll explore the current challenges in management education in the social sciences, both in Brazil and Germany. In this episode, we explore the complex world of teaching and learning by looking at the problems that higher education institutions face as they try to teach knowledge and train future managers. Through a comparative lens, we will look at the different problems that Br...

In today's episode, we will explore what Communities of Practice are and share the fascinating insights and perspectives they can offer, especially for international university projects. So sit back, relax, and let's get started! Communities of practice (CoPs) are essential for international projects because they provide a platform for team members to share knowledge, expertise, and experience acr...

Intercultural competence of managers and employees represents a necessary "key qualification" in all industries. Also, social work professionals increasingly deal with members of different cultures, groups, and minorities. In this way, intercultural competence has become a requirement for anyone who wants to work in the social work profession. In this episode of Managing Around, I will give you a...

Digital technologies have been used in Virtual Exchange for almost 20 years, even though online teaching has significantly changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, I will talk about a few lessons learned from a recent web-based Virtual Exchange (VE) between University College Cork (UCC) and Fachhochschule Dresden-University of Applied Science (FHD). That exchange focused on life writing and bio...

Inclusivity and accessibility are one of the most important trends in contemporary tourism industry, in relation to other trends such as sustainability, digitalisation, or even luxury expedition voyages. Tourism providers should give proper attention to customers with specific needs and must be open to all kinds of potential access requirements. In this context, accessible services will become a c...

Virtual collaborative learning and teaching benefits from using immersive technologies. It helps to develop key competencies in learners, such as collaboration, virtual communication, and problem-solving skills, and social and digital skills. Virtual Reality or VR that uses information technology and behavioural interfaces to simulate the individual behaviour in the virtual world supports experien...

Everyone in business studies is talking about digital transformation or digitalisation. Yes, both developments are directly or indirectly affecting all areas of an organisation, not to mention the fact that it also change our life and society as a whole. But how important is this aspect to social work and human service organisations? – This new episode explores this question and discusses, first a...

Competences such as understanding and addressing social justice issues, leadership and management, strategic planning, and problem-solving are essential for effective social work managers. What skills and knowledge should future professionals have? Actually, as I was doing some research on the topic, I realised that there are not so many theory-based competence frameworks available, especially wit...

Our everyday experiences with learning are often decentralised. For example, we might learn how to do something by doing it ourselves or asking for help from a friend. We may also use digital learning spaces on the internet or via apps on our mobile phones to explore and learn about different topics. Digital learning spaces are spaces where learners can access and use a variety of digital tools an...

In order to make a good argument, you need to provide solid evidence and rationale for your position. Arguments are an important part of personal knowledge management too. In this Managing Around episode, I will discuss the Stephen E. Toulmin model for the use of arguments. I first came across this epistemological model while searching for a foundation and logical correlation between claims and ev...

University-practice partnerships have a long tradition in the development of higher education institutions. In addition to the core tasks of teaching and research, universities have an extended mandate. Activities summarised under the term “third mission” include, for example, policy consultation, practice-oriented training of future specialists, promoting innovations, and the development of entre...

Games are an integral part of human culture from the early days of our life. They encourage us to interact with each other and with our surroundings to discover new perspectives. Moreover, they enhance the personality and help us to reflect on our own strengths and weaknesses. But how can we use game-based learning in education? How can educators be equipped with the necessary competencies to expl...

At the beginning of the current pandemic, colleagues from two German universities analysed critical situations in digital teaching-learning processes from the perspective of lecturers, students, and pupils in higher education and vocational education institutions. We conducted the study in June 2020. We found that the development towards virtual teaching scenarios, which has become a necessity und...

Despite the various potentials and risks of VR that have already been reported elsewhere, its expansion into formal education is still slow. The peculiarity of formal education such as in vocational education or higher education is that institutions often face challenges that can either promote or prevent educational innovations. Therefore, its barriers and supporting structures must be analysed t...

Human beings are not perfect, nor does every individual possess knowledge of all domains. The same is the case for teachers. Nearly every teacher has experienced it at some time or other: You receive a tricky or unexpected question from a student which you cannot instantly answer. This then leads to the yawning emptiness and the fear of not being taken seriously by the students as the ideal teache...

In today’s episode, I will introduce you to the field of entrepreneurship learning and education research that is primarily concerned with analyzing and reflecting on the process, conditions, contexts, and results of learning and teaching during entrepreneurial activities. The question we focus on in this episode of Managing Around is this: How does entrepreneurial learning occur in this rapidly g...

In the book ‘The Essentials of Theory U’, Otto Scharmer asks the simple but unique question, “How do we learn from the future as it emerges?” Telling a story from his childhood, Scharmer recalled the moment in which he discovered his parents’ house had burnt down. It was then when he realized that it was not only his physical possessions that were lost but also his experiences and attachments to t...

The role of social work and human service organisations should not be underestimated. They fill a gap in society that cannot be fulfilled by governments and people in their individual capacities. These organisations face many challenges and issues as they provide essential services and professional support to people in need. For this very episode, the focus is put again on the type of leadership p...

Podcasting is a fabulous means of sharing files in audio format through the internet. For example, an audio file retrieved from the internet in MP3 is known as a podcast. In an instant, a podcast has been retrieved from the internet, and the user can listen to it via a mobile phone, an iPod, a personal digital assistant, or any other media player, portable or not. In this episode, we will talk abo...

Digital products have become an integral part of everyday life. We use our smartphones not solely to call other people but to plan, organised and cope with our digital life. Nowadays, in some professions, it is possible to work from home and have more flexibility because of digital technology. Smart home products transformed how we live. Also, organisations are still in a process of converting, us...

Many people would agree that we live in uncertain times. This has become once more apparent during the COVID-19 crisis. In all areas of our life, people experience shifts and changes of an unprecedented scale such as the fear to become incapable of working, to lose your current job position or status in family and society. Also, companies have become more often victims of cyber-attacks that sudden...