Search results
1 – 10 of 136Álvaro Hernán Galvis, Angélica Avalo, Alexandra Ramírez, Diana Carolina Cortés and Helmman Cantor
The REDINGE2 – Reengineering Engineering Teaching, version 2 – project seeks to transform engineering education practices at the University of los Andes (UNIANDES) by using…
Abstract
Purpose
The REDINGE2 – Reengineering Engineering Teaching, version 2 – project seeks to transform engineering education practices at the University of los Andes (UNIANDES) by using technology-based active learning strategies in courses from different disciplines that are to be reformed using a Big-ideas approach. Studies from this two-year project (2017-2018) seek to solve three main questions: What changes in engineering teaching conceptions, methods, tools and practices could be generated by reengineering courses using a Big-ideas approach? What changes in key conditions of learning environments have the students perceived in courses that use a Big-ideas approach? What lessons can be derived from the initial studies of REDINGE2’s pilot experiences?
Design/methodology/approach
The REDINGE2 project was conceived as a technology-based educational transformation initiative. It is the Faculty of Engineering at UNIANDES’ explicit intention to move engineering teaching from being content-focused to being big-ideas focused. It also wants to migrate from teacher-centered teaching strategies to student- and group-centered approaches. Additionally, this project intends to enrich engineering education ecologies with digital resources by integrating experiential, flexible and collaborative digital learning environments with traditional classroom/workshop/library/home/work learning settings. To promote this organic change, the project implemented a facilitation-from-the side strategy, which redesigned 14 engineering courses: each was given a two-year grant from the Office of the Dean of Engineering to rethink teaching practices and redesign the course. A cybernetic evaluation system was embedded in the life cycle of the transformation process that could support decision-making through each of the project’s stages (Stufflebeam, 1971). Questions of interest in this study are provided with information using triangulation of data at different times during each course’s redesign process.
Findings
After a year and half of the two-year REDINGE2 project (2017-2018), it is possible to say the following three research questions are fully solved. Concerning Question #1: What changes in engineering teaching conceptions, methods, tools and practices contribute to reengineering courses when using a Big-ideas approach? Participating teaching staff have demonstrated changes in their teaching conceptions, methods and resources, which can be attributed to their exposure to active-learning strategies supported by digital technologies. In fact, each one has redesigned and pilot tested at least one restructured learning unit for one of their courses according to the proposed Big-ideas approach; in addition, most admit to already having adjusted their teaching practices by changing their mindset regarding learning and how to promote it. Concerning Question #2: What changes in key conditions of learning environments have the students perceived in courses that have been redesigned using a Big-ideas approach? Data collected from students and participating staff members, both before the redesign and throughout this process, have provided teachers and students with feedback concerning perceived changes in learning environments. This has had positive results and provided opportunities for improvement. Concerning Question #3: What lessons can be derived from REDINGE2’s pilot experiences? Lessons from this project are multi-dimensional and there are organizational, pedagogic, technological and cultural considerations. A decalogue of critical success factors was established, which considered the things that must go right to successfully accomplish proposed educational transformations.
Research limitations/implications
This study is a good case of educational transformations in engineering teaching. No generalizations should be made, but it shows that similar processes of planned change can be made in tertiary science, math, engineering and technology (SMET) education.
Practical implications
The lessons learned from this experience are very valuable for higher education decision-makers who want to innovate by using learning ecologies in their institutions. In addition, theoretical considerations that illuminate the innovation process become very useful to help provide a foundation to similar interventions.
Originality/value
A non-conventional approach to integrate digital technologies in higher education teaching is the most significant contribution this experience has made. Its focus has been to transform educational practices with pedagogically sound uses of digital technologies instead of just integrating technologies in current SMET teaching practices. Facilitation-from-the-side and embedded cybernetic evaluation through the transformation process are key ideas that add value to organic change processes.
Details
Keywords
- Engineering education
- Active learning strategies
- Course-redesign
- Cybernetic program evaluation
- Digital technologies for education
- Educational transformations
- Student-centered teaching
- Group-centered teaching
- Technology-based educational innovations
- Course redesign with facilitation-from-the-side
- Technology-based educational transformations
- Idea-based course redesign
- Cybernetic project evaluation
Kaija L. Zusevics, Melissa A. Lemke, Amy E. Harley and Paul Florsheim
Milwaukee has very high rates of risky sexual behavior and low rates of academic achievement among adolescents. Milwaukee school representatives partnered with researchers to…
Abstract
Purpose
Milwaukee has very high rates of risky sexual behavior and low rates of academic achievement among adolescents. Milwaukee school representatives partnered with researchers to create and implement an innovative project‐based learning (PBL) high school health curriculum to engage students in school. This health education program, Project Health (PH), aimed to engage Milwaukee Public Schools high school students, by PBL, into the urban health classroom. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the curriculum on student engagement and document the process of implementing this program, in order to identify strengths, weaknesses and areas of needed improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Student engagement was measured with an 18‐item scale at three time points in intervention and control schools. Attendance data were collected by tracking the number of days students were absent from school the semester the curriculum was implemented. Analysis of covariance was used to test whether students in PH classes were more engaged and if they had fewer absences than students in the control classes. The process evaluation included interviews with teachers, focus groups with high school students, and focus groups with teaching assistants. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to extract key themes and categories across all data.
Findings
Students in the intervention health class were significantly less absent from school than control students. However, they were not more engaged than their peers in control schools as measured by a student engagement scale. Various components of the PBL teaching approach used in the Project Health high school curriculum were viewed as positive by health educators, students, and teaching assistants. Results indicate that PBL used in health education may increase school attendance.
Originality/value
This study was original in that it documented how a novel health education program that incorporated PBL can positively impact urban students’ school attendance. It also highlighted the process of implementing this program from the vantage point of students, assistants, and health education.
Details
Keywords
Silvia Ayuso, Pablo Sánchez, José Luis Retolaza and Mònica Figueras-Maz
This paper aims to explore how to quantify the social value generated by higher education from a social accounting perspective. The proposed approach is integrated social value…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how to quantify the social value generated by higher education from a social accounting perspective. The proposed approach is integrated social value (ISV) analysis, a social accounting model that considers both the economic value and the social value created by an organisation for its stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The ISV analysis has been applied to Pompeu Fabra University, following a participatory action research process with representatives of the university and its stakeholders.
Findings
The final ISV includes not only the social value created through the university’s economic activity – captured by economic and financial accounting indicators – but also the specific social value created for the different stakeholders by means of non-market relationships, which were monetised through the use of indicators and financial proxies.
Research limitations/implications
Like other social accounting methodologies, ISV analysis suffers from some limitations regarding data availability and economic pricing, that partly will be resolved with maturation of the methodology and increasing standardisation.
Practical implications
By using appropriate proxies, the non-market value of the university can be monetised and integrated with university’s market value. The social value results become a valuable tool for developing useful indicators for internal management and external communication.
Social implications
The process of measuring the social value created by universities provides a way to meet the rising demands for greater accountability and transparency and facilitates engagement with stakeholders on how these institutions are contributing to a sustainable society.
Originality/value
ISV is a recently proposed social accounting model that combines an organisation’s economic and social results into a single concept of value creation and thus contributes to advance the field of social accounting.
Details
Keywords
Strategies for teaching engineering in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been evolving over the past decades due to innovations in technology, as well as the development of…
Abstract
Strategies for teaching engineering in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been evolving over the past decades due to innovations in technology, as well as the development of educational methodologies. In the recent past, the focus for engineering faculty has been not only on promoting the skills needed to raise the level of employability of Emirati graduates, but increasingly on new educational methodologies, e-learning and wireless networked laptop technology. Students in the UAE exhibit certain characteristics emerging from a variety of cultural and historical traditions, as well as from methodologies of education used at the pre-tertiary levels. These characteristics include expecting to be passive recipients of taught information, and lack of independence in their approach to problem solving. In this paper I discuss the development of strategies to facilitate the transition of students from passive to active learning; examine the role of technology-driven educational methodologies in promoting independent and group-centered learning skills; and use a case study to explore the instruction of Engineering Design and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and to examine how classroom management techniques have changed as a result of the growing use of technology.
Xinjian Li and Martin Putterill
To identify characteristics of Japanese business culture that differ from China, particularly in the dimensions of ‘high context’ versus ‘low context’’ and collectivism versus…
Abstract
Purpose
To identify characteristics of Japanese business culture that differ from China, particularly in the dimensions of ‘high context’ versus ‘low context’’ and collectivism versus individualism.
Design/methodology/approach
Application of the concepts in cross‐culture research suggested by Hall (1976), Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaar and Hampden‐Turner (1998) and on the base of comprehensive field visits and observation undertaken in China and Japan over the past several years.
Findings
The Japanese culture can be characterized as highly tacit and group‐centered, whereas Chinese culture is more explicit and individualistic.
Research limitations/implications
Arguably the absence of a large body of supporting data represents a limitation in the methodology of this article. Future survey based research and further conceptualization on different kinds of collectivisms and individualisms will supplement this article.
Practical implications
Very useful advice in aspects of communication, human relations management, recruitment, and management control systems for international business management developing business opportunities in Japan and China.
Originality/value
This article elucidates the differences in business culture between Japan and China and shows to the global business community that a differentiated view of international business management in Japan and China is necessary.
Details
Keywords
Analyzing the 2004 U.S. General Social Survey and Korean General Social Survey, this chapter attempts to show that even similar climates of associationalism in two countries can…
Abstract
Analyzing the 2004 U.S. General Social Survey and Korean General Social Survey, this chapter attempts to show that even similar climates of associationalism in two countries can lead to differential consequences for participatory democracy, depending on the associations’ capacities to foster civic resources. This chapter first examines whether the politically desirable traits of civic virtue and social trust essential to political participation can be developed by associational membership in the United States and Korea. Second, it investigates whether associational membership strengthens, weakens, or leaves unchanged the effects of socioeconomic resources measured by educational attainment and family income on political participation especially among association members in these two countries. The results indicate that voluntary associations in the United States, compared to those in Korea, do a better job of playing the role of civic educator and even of political equalizer. First, associational membership significantly and positively affects civic virtue and social trust in the United States. Second, associational membership does not affect civic virtue and social trust in Korea. Third, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are weak in the United States. Fourth, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are strong in Korea. Therefore, this chapter concludes that voluntary associations do not contribute to participatory equality in Korea despite its vibrant group-centered culture, whereas their American counterparts are relatively effective in bringing about the expected outcome.
Details
Keywords
Bruce E. Winston, Karen Cerff and Sam Kirui
This study defined and developed a four-item scale to measure motivation to serve (MTS) then correlated it with Cerff’s Motivation to Lead’s two scales as well as Affective and…
Abstract
This study defined and developed a four-item scale to measure motivation to serve (MTS) then correlated it with Cerff’s Motivation to Lead’s two scales as well as Affective and Normative Commitment scores. A convenience sample of 89 participants came from a non-denominational church in Oklahoma City, OK. The MTS showed significant correlation with Normative Commitment but not with the two Motivation-to-Lead scales or Affective Commitment. The benefit of this study lies in the development of a new scale to measure Motivation to Serve and the understanding that the new scale is significantly correlated with Normative Commitment.
Maya Corneille, Anna Lee, Sherrice Allen, Jessica Cannady and Alexia Guess
The purpose of this paper is to highlight critical issues facing women of color (WOC) faculty and to synthesize the research literature in order to offer recommendations for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight critical issues facing women of color (WOC) faculty and to synthesize the research literature in order to offer recommendations for action to address inequities using an intersectionality framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative meta-analysis. Relevant articles were obtained through a search of the EBSCO and Google Scholar databases entering in combinations of specific keywords. In order to be included in this review, the manuscripts had to be published between the years 2001 and 2017; in a peer-reviewed journal; and available through the university library system.
Findings
The majority of manuscripts in the meta-analysis revealed high teaching and service loads, ambiguous standards for tenure and lack of culturally responsive mentorship are challenges experienced by WOC faculty. Moreover, there is limited research that examines STEM WOC faculty experiences at minority-serving institutions and in leadership roles. Further research is needed to examine the long-term efficacy of mentoring strategies and institutional transformation efforts for WOC. These numerous challenges cumulatively undermine institutions’ abilities to implement institutional transformation that impacts WOC in higher education.
Originality/value
The recommendations provided are based on the results of the meta-analysis and are intended to promote systemic change for STEM WOC faculty in institutions through intersectional and transformational approaches.
Details
Keywords
Sound administrative theory and research may ultimately provide the knowledge whereby administrative leaders in education can function most effectively. Such knowledge will never…
Abstract
Sound administrative theory and research may ultimately provide the knowledge whereby administrative leaders in education can function most effectively. Such knowledge will never tell us, however, whether it is desirable to take a particular administrative action in any society at any time. Thus, an administrator should understand his personal philosophical foundations and value system, and do his best to construct a philosophical position that is as consistent and logical as possible. Five such positions, reconstructionism, experimentalism, idealism, realism, and existentialism, can serve as guidelines. Each position, whether it is basically progressivistic or essentialistic, has a reasonably distinct approach to the nature of reality, educational aims and objectives, and the educative process. The development of language analysis as philosophy's most important contribution to man is discussed briefly. A self‐evaluation check list has been developed, which may be employed by an administrator to assess his present philosophy of educational administration.
A dialogic approach to Ontario, Canada policy development was utilized to collaboratively re-conceptualize provincial Special Education qualification courses for teachers. The…
Abstract
A dialogic approach to Ontario, Canada policy development was utilized to collaboratively re-conceptualize provincial Special Education qualification courses for teachers. The stories, perspectives and lived experiences of teachers, principals, supervisory officers, parents, school board special services personnel, students, and the public were included as essential voices and information sources within policy development conversations. These narratives of experience revealed the forms of knowledge, skills, commitments, and ethical stance necessary for teachers to support students with diverse and unique learning needs today and in the future. The transformative nature of narrative dialogue to enlighten, deepen understanding, and alter perspectives was illuminated. The policy development processes used in this publicly shared educational initiative served as a model of democratic dialogue. The inclusive and dialogic methods employed to collectively re-conceptualize special education courses illustrate an innovative framework for developing policies governing the public good. This model of democratic dialogue holds considerable promise for the future of teacher education policy and practice.
Details