Search results

Social and technological changes of the 21st century influence how and what students learn while in college. New research about student learning suggests a critical need for higher education to reform teaching and learning methods. Experiential and inquiry-based learning (IBL) are essential to engaging students and achieving the type of learning demanded by today’s global workforce. These skills include critical analysis, systems thinking, problem-solving, and spanning cultural and disciplinary boundaries. For decades, international educators purported that education abroad provided these skills for participants, yet recent research suggests that the same factors inhibiting deep learning on campus can also affect global, experiential environments. No longer can faculty members assume that students will learn from experience alone; they must intentionally construct activities accounting for the specific characteristics and needs of learners. This chapter outlines trends influencing student learning, making the case that traditional, content-based, directed instruction is poorly suited for student learning in the 21st century. The authors suggest that applying experiential and inquiry-based practices is essential to constructing effective education abroad program. Case studies, strategies, tools, and resources are provided to assist faculty with developing competencies to teach through an experiential and inquiry-based pedagogical framework.

This chapter provides an introduction to how the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach is being used by colleges and universities around the world to improve faculty and institutional development and to strengthen the interconnections between teaching, learning, and research. This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of all the chapters in the volume, which present a range of perspectives, case studies, and empirical research on how IBL is being used across a range of courses across a range of institutions to enhance faculty and institutional development. This chapter argues that the IBL approach has great potential to enhance and transform teaching and learning. Given the growing demands placed on education to meet a diverse range of complex political, economic, and social problems and personal needs, this chapter argues that education should be a place where lifelong and lifewide learning is cultivated and where self-directed learning is nurtured. To that end, this chapter argues that IBL helps cultivate a learning environment that is more meaningful, responsive, integrated, and purposeful.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the systematic application of Six Sigma tools for identification and reduction of cost of poor quality (COPQ). The study examines one of the chronic problems of failure of cooling fan assembly at repair division of a company dealing in helicopter components.

The case adopted Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) methodology to achieve the goal of reduction in COPQ.

After completing the Define, Measure and Analyze phase, it was found that use of extreme tolerances and cross-fitment of bearings are the root cause of cooling fan assembly failure. The major recommendations made during the Improve phase were to design a bearing matching software for improving the cross-fitment of bearings and to procure a hydraulic jig with electronic jig instead of manual jig. The value of implementing these recommended solutions equate to a saving of INR 34 lacs per annum. Since it was a chronic problem, the company expects this to be a recurring saving.

This specific case exhibits the successful application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in repair and maintenance for driving down the cost of failure and improved processes.

The purpose of this study is to exhibit how a leading company operating in farm equipment sector (FES) in India utilized Six Sigma statistical tools to reduce field failures of tractor assembly and thereby improved customer satisfaction.

The study adopted Six Sigma define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC) methodology in order to identify numerous critical process improvements.

After completing the define, measure and analyze phase, it was found that the processes of lapping, spring scragging, and assembly of valve body were incapable. The major recommendations made during the improve phase were to change the hydraulic oil; replacement of manual grinder with tool and cutter grinder for flat drill grinding; automation of lapping system; improvement in spring scragging system, change in piston design, etc. As a result of the implementation of remedies, field failure reduced by 95 percent producing a cost saving of almost INR 4.366 million/annum.

This specific case demonstrates the successful application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in FES for driving down the field failures and improved customer satisfaction.

There appears to be no empirical-based method in the literature for estimating if an engineering change proposal (ECP) will occur or the dollar amount incurred. This paper aims to present an empirically based approach to address this shortfall.

Using the cost assessment data enterprise database, 533 contracts were randomly selected via a stratified sampling plan to build two regression models: one to predict the likelihood of a contract experiencing an ECP and the other to determine the expected median per cent increase in baseline contract cost if an ECP was likely. Both models adopted a stepwise approach. A validation set was placed aside prior to any model building.

Not every contract incurs an ECP; approximately 80 per cent of the contracts in the database did not have an ECP. The likelihood of an ECP and the additional amount incurred appears to be statistically independent of acquisition phase, branch of service, commodity, contract type or any other factor except for the basic contract amount and the number of contract line item numbers; both of these later variables equally affected the contract percentage increase because of an ECP. The combined model overall bested current anecdotal approaches to ECP withhold.

This paper both serves as a published reference point for ECP withholds in the archival forum and presents an empirically based method for determining per cent ECP withhold to use.

Purpose — This chapter reviews the key findings of the reported research in this volume using the wider international literatures on transport and social exclusion as its conceptual framework. It begins by briefly summarising the research and policy context in which the study is set. It then provides an overview of major conceptual, theoretical and methodological advancements relevant to this area over the last 10 years in order to evaluate the study’s contribution to research, policy and practice internationally.

Methodology — The conceptual framework for this chapter is based on a comprehensive review of the international literatures on transport and social exclusion. After a brief introduction to these, it outlines key conceptual, theoretical and methodological advancements as they pertain to transport-related social exclusion. In addition, it evaluates the scope and implications of the methodological approach with particular reference to contemporary scholarly debates in this area. The chapter subsequently explores the applicability of the research in policy and practice, both inside and outside the Australian context.

Findings — The chapter concludes that the research has made a significant contribution to conceptual, theoretical and methodological developments within the area of transport-related exclusion, and has helped move forward related debates within policy circles. Opportunities for further research are also identified.

An interview with Milton Friedman in 1996 ‐ presents his reflections on some of the important issues surrounding the evolution of, and currrent debates within, modern macroeconomics. A world‐renowned economist and prolific author since the 1930s, Milton Friedman has had a considerable impact on macroeconomic theory and policy making. Associated mostly with monetarism and the efficacy of free markets, his work has ranged over a broader area ‐ microeconomics, methodology, consumption function, applied statistics, international economics, monetary theory, history and policy, business cycles and inflation. In the interview discusses Keynes’s General Theory, monetarism, new classical macroeconomics, methodology, economic policy, European union and the monetarist counter‐revolution.