Managing Around

Education is timeless. Podcasts are new, exciting, and increasingly popular ways of learning. Do educational podcasts exist? Yes, they do! In higher education, podcasts help to create new spaces and communities that help to facilitate asynchronous learning and to increase student retention. But, why aren’t they more widely used? In this episode, we’ll be looking at how this specific medium of comm...

In most welfare states, social enterprises are to a large extent dependent on the service providers which finance social service in a kind of monopoly market. It is inherent to such organisations to be permanently and simultaneously confronted with different ‘rationalities’ of their stakeholders. As hybrid organisations, they have to mediate between the logics of governmental, market-based, and so...

Since the 1990s, change management has received considerable attention as the new paradigm for the management of organisational transformations as well as behavioural and motivational changes within both for-profit and non-profit organisations. A lot has been discussed about it in sciences and professional practice. As a result, change management has only recently been included in many bachelor’s...

The internet has been disrupting the education sector since its advent and continues to do so. From The Open University to Massive Online Open Courses (known affectionately as MOOCs) and now Open Educational Resources, the world wide web has been empowering teachers and students alike for many years. In the midst of a global pandemic, the teaching profession has had to adapt, shifting near-seamles...

In these turbulent times, there is a need for a different kind of leadership. - In the last episode, I introduced you to the Adaptive Leadership Model. This specific leadership style asks leaders to frequently take a step back from the stage and to reflect on the complexity of the adaptive challenges ahead. Leaders need to assess and distinguish between the technical and adaptive nature of a probl...

In my latest introductory management course, I talked with my students about the Adaptive Leadership Model. While drawing conclusions from a case study "Redskins No More" by Peter Northouse, we ended up in a discussion of a different kind of leadership. In these turbulent times, so was the thesis, there is no need for strong leaders that could solve virtually every problem. In the face of the many...

This is part two of our series on the discussion of the book "Solidarity - The Future of a Great Idea", written by the well-known German Sociologist Heinz Bude who currently teaches as a Professor of Macrosociology at the University of Kassel. In the last episode, we've thoroughly talked about the free-rider problem and solidarity as the great social bond in a society which provides a sense of com...

In the preparation to my Social Policy lecture in our study program Social Pedagogy and Management which dealt with the fundamentals and principles of the welfare state, I read with great interest the book titled "Solidarity - The Future of a Great Idea" and written by the German Sociologist Heinz Bude, who currently teaches as a Professor of Macrosociology at the University of Kassel. And in doin...

In one of the last episode, we already talked about the Scholarship of teaching and learning which is also known under the acronym SoTL. This not a new species that has been discovered but a long tradition in higher education. SoTL is the widely-used acronym for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, a research approach that is to say a systematic inquiry into student learning which helps to advanc...

I am teaching management basics in full-time and in-service courses within a programme for social pedagogy. I am often asked by my students: "Why is it so important to study  management and leadership as a social worker?" Actually, it is a very challenging question and an answer is not that easy to give. Nevertheless, I am happy to share some thoughts with you. This is a two part introduction to t...

I am teaching management basics in full-time and in-service courses within a programme for social pedagogy. I am often asked by my students: "Why is it so important to learn about organisational management and leadership?" Actually, it is a very challenging question and an answer is not that easy to give. Nevertheless, I am happy to share some thoughts with you. In todays episode, we will first ex...

This podcast reviews "A History of Management Thought" by Morgen Witzel, a graduate textbook on organization and management theory. We will undertake a brief explanation of what the term management meant from the beginning of humanity to the present day. Still, the problems in its history are the apparent faults and ‘holes.’ This book moved me by its effort to “plug in the hole” by posing a debate...

Machiel Keestra’s (2017) academic essay Metacognition and Reflection by Interdisciplinary Experts: Insights From Cognitive Science and Philosophy should be considered a must-read, but the very nature of the essay makes its content relatively inaccessible to the layperson. In this episode, we will summarise this essay with additional thinking, so that you may learn more about the fascinating topic...

There are plenty of community building techniques that are already in use in traditional classrooms. These have been part of teacher education for some time now. But, do not make the mistake using the same techniques without adaptation to your online classes — especially at this time. It is the purpose of this podcast to create a useful resource for teachers, lecturers, seminar tutors and other ed...

As classrooms around the world usher in modernity and indeed, the future of education, teachers everywhere are grappling with the new hybrid teaching model — blending online and offline elements to support inclusion of the students who can’t be physically present — and seeking support. With the start of the new school year, many of us have to develop their teaching design. The purpose of this podc...

A lot has been talked about online teaching and learning. The global pandemic sweeping the planet has certainly accelerated the need for classroom transformation and innovation. But, what can we expect from Hybrid Teaching in 2020? When we experience the reopening of schools and universities, teachers will have to prepare for both in-class students and others calling in via the internet. In this e...

Would you believe me if I told you that in ancient Greece subjects like household management, economy, agriculture, religion, politics, and education were already addressed by one of the greatest philosophers of all times? That is right, Xenophon addressed such subjects in his renewed work on Oeconomicus and the best part, he somehow related all of the aspects mentioned above in one manuscript, or...

Games are not only an integral part of our everyday routine from the early days of our life, but they are also regarded as an effective teaching method in (higher) education. Previous research has shown that business or simulation games in the classroom support problem-based learning. Further research has indicated that simulation games play a critical role in intercultural training whereby they p...

In this episode 8 of my podcast Managing Around I'd like to introduce you to SoTL research. SoTL is the widely-used acronym for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, a research approach that is to say a systematic inquiry into student learning which helps to advance the practice of teaching in higher education. And by doing this, I will present you a teaching project in which I tried to analyse st...

The number of business start-ups in Germany – measured in terms of business registrations, and thus also the number of entrepreneurs – has fallen steadily in absolute terms over the last decade. But the picture is completely different in the social and health care sector, where social enterprise start-ups are booming. In this episode, I will dig a little bit into this, especially into the question...

The aim of this podcast is to make you familiar with the basics of planning and developing a learning design to successfully implement a blended learning environment. As with face-to-face courses, online courses also require targeted planning of the learning process and the learning environment, not to mention the fact that teachers have already developed their own teaching style tailored to the n...

In this episode of Managing Around, I will review this book and would like to share with you some thoughts that help us to broaden our knowledge and critical thinking not only about nonviolence but also about how important it is to social work management. I am going to read a few parts from my recent review of the book that will be published soon in the Sage Journal Transformation. For more inform...

This is part three of my series about Online Teaching. I will talk about the concept of Blended Learning, more specifically, about Picciano‘s model of „Blending with Purpose“. You will learn not only what it is, but also how you could implement it in your learning design. For more information visit my blog: maik-arnold.de Thank you for listening. If you liked this episode please leave a review on...

Only reading, writing, completing questionnaires, and watching electures becomes boring over time. Different studies also show that instructors tend to use technologies and activities that they are not only familiar with but also relied upon in traditional classroom settings. Other research shows that online interactions can foster personal empowerment, self-confidence and improved feelings. How c...

Do you know what Helen Keller, Laura Bridgman, and Dicken's Doctor Marigold's daughter have in common? - Yes, their experience as a deaf child. As of March 1st, 2020 the World Health Organisation reports that around 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss and deafness, and 34 million of these are children. 'Deaf' people mostly have profound hearing loss, which implies very little...