Ushus Journal of Business Management

Book Review: José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson, Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025, 400 pages.

Remmiya Rajan P. — 2026-03-30

There are moments in the history of education when the ground does not merely shift, but is reconstituted. The second edition of Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning arrives at precisely such a moment. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has moved with unusual speed from novelty to necessity, from experimental curiosity to everyday academic presence. In that context, José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson offer a book that is at once practical, reflective, and deeply provocative. Their work does not ask whether artificial intelligence belongs in education. Instead, it starts from the recognition that AI is already present and asks the more important question: how should teachers, students, and institutions respond with intellectual seriousness? This is what makes the book particularly valuable. Many recent discussions of AI in education fall into one of two extremes. One treats AI as a revolutionary solution that will modernise teaching, personalise learning, and liberate educators from routine work. The other treats it primarily as a threat to originality, an engine of cheating, and a force that will weaken thought itself. Bowen and Watson avoid both simplifications. Their argument is more disciplined and more useful. They neither romanticise AI nor demonise it. Instead, they treat it as a structural challenge that requires educators to rethink teaching, assessment, and the meaning of learning in an age of machine-assisted cognition.

Upskilling for Employability: A Study of Student Perceptions in Higher Education

Kavitha Chowallur — 2026-04-07

The modern job market is continuously evolving due to rapid technological advancements, globalization, and increased competition among professionals. In this changing environment, academic qualifications alone are often not sufficient to meet industry expectations. As a result, the concept of upskilling has become increasingly important for students preparing to enter the workforce. Upskilling refers to the process of learning new skills or improving existing competencies to enhance employability and career growth. The present study aims to examine the perception of undergraduate students toward upskilling and understand how students view its importance in their academic and professional development. The study focuses on identifying students' awareness of upskilling, their interest in learning new skills, and the factors that influence their participation in skill development activities. The research is descriptive in nature and is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire distributed to 167 undergraduate students. The collected data were analysed using statistical tools such as simple descriptive analysis. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of students recognise the importance of upskilling in improving employability and career opportunities. Many respondents believe that developing both technical and soft skills is essential to succeed in the modern workplace. However, some students face challenges such as a lack of guidance, time constraints, and limited awareness regarding skill development opportunities. The study concludes that continuous learning and skill development are essential for students to remain competitive in the evolving job market. Educational institutions, industries, and policymakers should collaborate to promote skill development programs that help students acquire industry-relevant competencies and prepare them for future career challenges.

Keywords: upskilling, professional development, employability, industry expectations

Healing the inner, traumatized critic: Self-Compassion as a path to recovery from stress at work

Peter Devenish-Meares — 2026-04-06

others, recent research (2020-2025) demonstrates that self‑compassion improves resilience, self-care, emotional regulation, and recovery from workplace stress across diverse sectors including healthcare, education, and public safety. Defined through as self‑kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, self‑compassion fosters meaning and supports inner hope by helping individuals hold their suffering self-lovingly with understanding rather than self‑criticism. Emerging findings reveal that compassion‑based interventions improve psychological wellbeing, reduce burnout, and enhance physiological markers of recovery such as heart rate variability (HRV). This paper synthesises current evidence and highlights implications for chaplains, carers, and leaders in developing compassionate work environments that support sustainable wellbeing and people’s search for meaning. Some practical suggestions for chaplains and organisational leaders are offered. These are in in the areas of using self-kindness and naming to gently acknowledge and releasing stress and not ruminating when mistakes or stress arises. This may require workplace education programs. While more research is needed, recent research affirms that self-compassion leads to notable improvements in self-reflection, psychological empowerment and reduces burnout and workplace stress. Future research directions are also offered.

Beyond stress and burnout: psycho-spiritual innovation and pastoral accountability in frontline care for emergency response workers and police

Peter Devenish-Meares — 2026-04-06

This paper explores innovation and accountability in spiritual and pastoral care for frontline personnel facing chronic stress, trauma, and moral injury. Police, medical and emergency service workers operate within stressful and morally charged environments where trauma, psychosocial safety and recovery are constant challenges. Amid such pressures, there is a vital need for credible, evidence-informed, yet deeply human psycho-spiritual frameworks that protect confidentiality while promoting care and wellbeing. Using a Critical Interpretive Synthesis enriched by heuristic and bricolage perspectives, this study integrates recent research across psycho-spirituality, positive psychology, and occupational health. It demonstrates how pastoral carers, particularly chaplains, co-lead moral repair, meaning-making, and value realignment within a biopsychosocial-spiritual (BPSS) framework. From this synthesis emerges a new psycho-spiritual self-care model anchored in humility, self-compassion, and meaningful detachment as virtues that buffer burnout, reduce harsh self-talk, and foster relational safety. Key innovations include early, embedded pastoral interventions; clear referral pathways with clinical partners; and virtue-based micro-skills that complement psychology and medicine while maintaining the integrity of spiritual presence, ritual, and trust. The paper also addresses the enduring tension between institutional demands for measurable outcomes and the ineffable nature of pastoral impact. It proposes blended evaluation indicators such as moral-injury scales (MIOS/MISS-M), spiritual wellbeing tools (FACIT-Sp-12), alliance markers, and organizational climate measures, interpreted heuristically to safeguard authenticity and confidentiality. By reframing pastoral care and chaplaincy as both evidence-informed and spiritually grounded, this paper offers a transformative model for psycho-spiritual care that renews moral resilience and meaning in high-risk professions. Finally, future research possibilities and limitations are also discussed.

Online Purchase through social media: An investigation on the factors encouraging consumers in Chennai

Athilinga Senjith S. — 2026-03-30

This study focuses on the factors encouraging the consumers to go for online purchase using social media. The study is descriptive in nature. The population of the study is general consumers buying products online through social media is unknown. The convenience sampling method was adopted to draw samples from the total population. The sample size is 138 consumers from Chennai city. 48.5 % of the consumers were Entrepreneurs and 48.5% of the consumers are using Instagram for online purchase. 59.4% of the consumers are purchasing products online when needed. Cash on delivery ranked first and Door delivery ranked second for encouraging consumers to purchase products online. It is suggested to reduce impulse purchase while using social media. It is concluded that consumers should be aware about the process of purchasing products online and manage online and offline purchases equally to protect the welfare of the offline traders.