ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
How Leadership Styles in Academia Align to Achieve Success within the Tanzanian Catholic Universities System
Author: Vumilia, Philbert L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Church Related Colleges,Academic Achievement,Leadership Styles,Case Studies,Private Sector,Interviews,Educational Trends,College Administration,Leadership Role,Diaries,Private Colleges

Public and private universities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and elsewhere in Africa have been experiencing all-time high expansion since the late 1990s. This rush to expand both public and private universities has seriously impacted both the physical infrastructure as well as the effective leadership that new universities require. At the same time, the private sector has experienced dire shortages of teaching personnel and competent academic leaders. To shed light on these problems, this case study examined the dynamics of leadership roles exhibited in private universities and how leadership styles align to achieve success within Tanzania's Catholic Universities System. A case approach was used to study reports, journals, and interview data collected during 2007-2013 from universities selected purposely in order to understand better the success and effectiveness of academic leaders. The analysis revealed often perplexing assumptions that undergird the expectations of management operations, showed how leadership styles are perceived by incumbent academic leaders, and explained cross-cultural forces that govern, sustain, and sometimes frustrate leadership appointments.
Age Factor in Business Education Students' Use of Social Networking Sites in Tertiary Institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria
Author: Ementa, Christiana Ngozi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Business Administration Education,Foreign Countries,Age Differences,Social Networks,Undergraduate Students,Profiles,Computer Mediated Communication,Sampling,Statistical Analysis,Questionnaires,Hypothesis Testing,Student Attitudes,Surveys

There are diverse social networking sites which range from those that provide social sharing and interaction to those that provide networks for professionals within same and other fields. Social networking sites require a user to sign up, create a profile and begin sending short messages about what the user is doing or thinking. The study sought to establish from business education students in tertiary institutions in Anambra state Nigeria, hours of the day spent on social networking sites, social networking sited used and what they use social networking site for. Relevant theories and literature were reviewed. Population of the study was made up of 577 penultimate and final year business education students of four tertiary institutions in Anambra state. Proportionate sampling technique was used to select 236 students for the study. Three hypotheses guided the study. A structured questionnaire was used to gather information for the study. The data collection instrument was subjected to a reliability test which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.80 using Cronbach alpha. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 95% confidence interval. Findings revealed that business education students differed significantly on hours of the day spent using social networking sites and on what they use social networking sites for, but do not differ significantly on social networking sites they use as a result of age. Consequently, it was recommended, among others, that business education students of all age brackets should be taught to harness the educational potentials of social networking sites so as to effectively use these sites for educational purposes.
An Engineering Educator's Decision Support Tool for Improving Innovation in Student Design Projects
Author: Ozaltin, Nur Ozge
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Decision Making,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Innovation,Design,Bayesian Statistics,Undergraduate Students,Outcomes of Education,Curriculum,Models,Teamwork

Learning how to design innovatively is a critical process skill for undergraduate engineers in the 21st century. To this end, our paper discusses the development and validation of a Bayesian network decision support tool that can be used by engineering educators to make recommendations that positively impact the innovativeness of product designs. Our Bayesian network model is based on Dym's design process framework and actual design process data collected from 26 undergraduate engineering capstone teams over multiple terms. Cross validation using all available outcomes data and a sensitivity analysis showed our model to be both accurate and robust. Our model, which is based on data from teams that produced both innovative and non-innovative products, can be used to formatively assess the process used by a design team and the level of innovativeness, thereby contributing to more innovative final design outcomes.
Implementation of Collaborative Learning as a High-Impact Practice in a Natural Resources Management Section of Freshman Seminar
Author: McBroom, Matthew
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cooperative Learning,Forestry,Natural Resources,First Year Seminars,Instructional Effectiveness,Environmental Education,Land Use,Water Quality,Sampling,Problem Based Learning,Outdoor Education,Undergraduate Students

Forestry and environmental science students enrolled in a one credit hour freshman seminar course participated in a land management evaluation and water quality sampling excursion using canoes and water sampling equipment. The purpose of this assessment was to engage students with hands-on, field based education in order to foster connections to their chosen profession and the resource. This culminated in poster symposium of the experience. Broad competency areas for high impact practices in natural resource management were emphasized for learning. Students were engaged in the exercise and commented that the project helped them develop a sense of place and forming connections within their peer group. The use of water quality sampling and collection of real-world data increased the teaching a learning effectiveness of the course.
A Teacher Education for Sustainable Development System: An Institutional Responsibility
Author: Bentham, Hayley
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Systems Approach,Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Schools of Education,Institutional Evaluation,Administrative Organization,Sustainable Development,Focus Groups,Teacher Educators,Teacher Attitudes,Professional Autonomy,Educational Research,School Responsibility,Interviews,Foreign Countries

Soft systems methodology is commonly used in organizational research and can be very useful when attempting to understand both organizational structures and dynamics. A teacher education institution is identified here as an organization. Soft systems methodology is employed to gain a picture of the current organizational structure of a Science and Technology Education Department and to further develop a hypothetical picture of what the same organizational structures would look like if they incorporated ESD. These two pictures were presented to a group of teacher educators within the particular department during a focus group interview, where they were encouraged to reflect on three foci. This paper explores the teacher educators' responses to the hypothetical system picture which elaborates on a system for teacher education for sustainable development. The paper concludes by reflecting on teacher educators' responses and what they imply for the future of ESD at this teacher education institution. The article reveals that the following findings permeated teacher educators responses to the notional system picture for teacher education for sustainable development: (1) management's perceptions of professional autonomy differs from that of teacher educators; (2) there exist seven relevant sub-systems that influence teacher educators' priority and practice; (3) teacher educators felt that research and leadership were the most powerful tools supporting the suggested ESD curriculum innovation; (4) although ESD is deemed important, it is not a priority for teacher educators owing to various reasons.
Effectiveness of Adaptive Concept Maps for Promoting Conceptual Understanding: Findings from a Design-Based Case Study of a Learner-Centered Tool
Author: Moore, Jacob
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Concept Mapping,Concept Formation,Comprehension,Expertise,Visualization,Usability,Engineering Education,Learning Processes,Learning Activities,Difficulty Level,Models,Statistical Significance,Statistical Analysis,Observation,Surveys,Scoring Rubrics

Traditional instructional materials such as textbooks contain significant educational content, but the navigational mechanisms to access that content are limited and, more importantly, not designed with learning in mind. To address this gap, we present the Adaptive Map, a novel organization and navigation tool designed to help students better understand large collections of information such as those found in textbooks. The tool promotes conceptual understanding by leveraging expert-generated concept maps, which have been shown to improve learning. In addition, to alleviate problems associated with visually processing large-scale concept maps, our design integrated information visualization techniques to increase usability and facilitate processing. To evaluate the approach, a prototype was developed and tested in an engineering statics class. A multiple case study methodology was used to explore how students used the tool. Results show that the tool promoted conceptual understanding by facilitating advance organizer usage and students' exploration of relevant prior content.
The Rise and Fall of Text on the Web: A Quantitative Study of Web Archives
Author: Cocciolo, Anthony
Date: 2015-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Internet,Archives,Statistical Analysis,Layout (Publications),Web Sites

Introduction: This study addresses the following research question: is the use of text on the World Wide Web declining? If so, when did it start declining, and by how much has it declined? Method: Web pages are downloaded from the Internet Archive for the years 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014, producing 600 captures of 100 prominent and popular Webpages in the United States from a variety of sectors. Analysis: Captured Webpages were analysed to uncover if the percentage of text they present to users has declined over the past fifteen years using a computer vision algorithm, which deciphers text from non-text. The percentage of text per Webpage is computed as well as the mean percentage of text per year. A one-way ANOVA is used to uncover if the percentage of text on Webpages is reliant on the year the Website was produced. Results: Results reveal that the percentage of text on Webpages climbed from the late 1990s to 2005 where it peaked (with 32.4% of the Webpage), and has been in decline ever since. Websites in 2014 have 5.5% less text than 2005 on average, or 26.9% text. This is more text than in the late 1990s, with Webpages having only 22.4% text. Conclusions: This study confirms using a systematic approach what many have observed anecdotally: that the percentage of text on Webpages is decreasing.
Lecturers' Perception of Classroom Management: An Empirical Study of Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia
Author: Grapragasem, Selvaraj
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Classroom Techniques,Teacher Attitudes,Statistical Analysis,Foreign Countries,Learning Experience,Educational Quality,Classification,Time Management,Comparative Analysis,Private Colleges,Higher Education,Teaching Experience,Validity,Reliability,State Universities

The classroom is a learning environment where active interactions and meaningful learning occur between learners and knowledge providers. The teachers and the learners have a unique relationship and this relationship is highly determined by their backgrounds and experiences. Teachers have the responsibility to manage the classroom with the aim of providing quality teaching and enhance the students' learning experiences. Classroom management can be categorized into three major components namely, 1) content management, 2) conduct management and 3) covenant management. In addition to these three components, time management is another element that is used to evaluate classroom management effectiveness. The objective of this study is to investigate lecturers' perception of classroom management and the challenges faced. This empirical study compares classroom management practices of two higher learning institutions in Malaysia. One is a government institution and the other is a private university. The data was analyzed based on statistical analysis using mean comparison using the &quot;t&quot; test to identify the regression weight of perceptions in the teaching staff between the private and the government higher learning institutions. The findings of this study revealed that there is no significant difference in the perception of understanding of the four classroom management factors.
What Do Students Experience as Peer Leaders of Learning Teams?
Author: Johnson, Erik C.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Peer Groups,Peer Teaching,Teamwork,Cooperative Learning,College Freshmen,Workshops,Reflection,Journal Writing,Qualitative Research,Self Esteem,Student Experience,Introductory Courses

In a course for engineering freshmen, peer leaders facilitated optional study sessions, which implemented peer-led team learning workshops. Some leaders were paid teaching assistants, but most were undergraduate volunteers. To understand the experiences of the peer leaders, we asked them to keep weekly reflective journals. By performing a basic qualitative analysis of fourteen journals from two semesters, we developed a description of the experience of leading peer-led team learning workshops over the course of the semester. At the beginning of the semester, the leaders were apprehensive about teaching and concerned with correctly answering students' questions. As the semester progressed, the leaders were often frustrated with the difficulty of teaching, and the leaders tried new ways of encouraging student participation. At the end of the semester, the leaders reported that they increased self-confidence, developed an appreciation for intellectual diversity, and gained an increased interest in teaching.
Multidisciplinary &quot;Boot Camp&quot; Training in Cellular Bioengineering to Accelerate Research Immersion for REU Participants
Author: Shreiber, David I.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Acceleration (Education),Interdisciplinary Approach,Engineering Education,Student Research,Laboratories,Biological Sciences,Immersion Programs,Research Skills,Student Improvement,Hands on Science,Summer Programs,Training,Program Descriptions,Program Evaluation,Self Efficacy,Achievement Gains,Statistical Analysis,Learning Activities,Questionnaires

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) sites widely serve as the first major research gateway for undergraduates seeking a structured research experience. Given their lack of prior research skills, and the highly compressed duration of the REU programs, these students frequently encounter barriers to a seamless transition into a new laboratory environment. We hypothesized that the design of a unified short course on laboratory and analysis techniques could serve as a pivotal orientation experience. Our goal was to rapidly align student expertise to their summer research goals while also integrating the student participants into a cohesive learning community. This article discusses the design and outcomes of a Cellular Bioengineering Boot Camp, which is offered at the outset of the 10-week REU site at Rutgers. The Boot Camp provides hands-on, supervised training for techniques and procedures that are common among projects. The training establishes a common language and baseline for the REU students and allows their first laboratory experiences to be with each other, and creates an immediate network of peers and mentors. Surveys before and after the Boot Camp and at the end of the summer indicated a significant improvement in student proficiency in the techniques that was retained throughout the summer. We believe that the Boot Camp approach can be tailored to the specifics of each REU site and its associated projects and research foci.
Towards a Definition of Serendipity in Information Behaviour
Author: Agarwal, Naresh Kumar
Date: 2015-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Seeking,Behavior,Discovery Processes,Models

Introduction: Serendipitous or accidental discovery of information has often been neglected in information behaviour models, which tend to focus on information seeking, a more goal-directed behaviour. Method: This theoretical paper seeks to map the conceptual space of serendipity in information behaviour and to arrive at a definition. This is done through carrying out a literature review on information behaviour and serendipity and defining relevant terms in the area. Using Wilson's framework as a starting point, a series of frameworks is arrived at to include serendipity in information behaviour models. Analysis: The terms used in this research space were investigated, as well as the times when serendipitous finding can occur, the dimensions of serendipitous findings, and a series of assumptions to draw out the key elements of serendipity. Results: The results of the analysis is a framework of continuums that identifies the core of this research area of serendipity in information behaviour and arrives at its definition. Conclusions: By including serendipity in information behaviour models, the frameworks arrived at should help further research in this area. A working definition of serendipity in information behaviour is a starting point for other researchers to investigate related questions in the area.
An Evaluation of a Course That Introduces Undergraduate Students to Authentic Aerospace Engineering Research
Author: Mena, Irene B.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Course Evaluation,Engineering Education,Aerospace Education,Mentors,Graduate Students,Undergraduate Students,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Research Projects,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,College Faculty,Educational Innovation,Student Surveys,Focus Groups,Semi Structured Interviews

This paper describes the implementation and assessment of an aerospace engineering course in which undergraduate students worked on research projects with graduate research mentors. The course was created using the principles from cooperative learning and project-based learning, and consisted of students working in small groups on a complex, open-ended research project. The course provided undergraduate students the opportunity to learn about and be involved in authentic research within their field. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to assess the effectiveness of this course by answering the following research questions: (1) What are the experiences of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty involved in this course?, (2) What skills are developed and/or improved in undergraduate and graduate students?, and (3) What recommendations can the course faculty provide to other faculty interested in implementing a similar course?
Curricular Improvements through Computation and Experiment Based Learning Modules
Author: Khan, Fazeel
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering,Engineering Education,Computer Simulation,Models,Learner Engagement,Evaluation Methods,Measures (Individuals),Computer Software,Learning Modules,Computation,Validity,College Students,Online Surveys

Engineers often need to predict how a part, mechanism or machine will perform in service, and this insight is typically achieved thorough computer simulations. Therefore, instruction in the creation and application of simulation models is essential for aspiring engineers. The purpose of this project was to develop a unified approach to teaching computational analysis and model validation against experimental response. The design of the project entailed the creation of a set of innovative computational-experimental studios, each of which houses at least two learning modules. Various assignments have been imbedded to engage students. Assessment instruments for use by students and external faculty reviewers were implemented. The studios have contributed to the development of proficiencies in using mathematical software to create models and test their output against experimental data. The studios have expanded the scope of topics covered in courses, created independent learning opportunities and enabled the creation of multimedia content available to other institutes.
Engineering Student Self-Assessment through Confidence-Based Scoring
Author: Yuen-Reed, Gigi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Student Evaluation,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Scoring,Evaluation Methods,Accuracy,Educational Benefits,Student Improvement,Self Efficacy,Undergraduate Students,Gender Differences,Student Attitudes,Feedback (Response)

A vital aspect of an answer is the confidence that goes along with it. Misstating the level of confidence one has in the answer can have devastating outcomes. However, confidence assessment is rarely emphasized during typical engineering education. The confidence-based scoring method described in this study encourages students to both think about their answers in a different way and to evaluate their confidence in the answer. Each answer is scored based on whether the answer is right or wrong and whether the student is confident or not in that answer. Students generally appreciated the educational value as it made them more self-aware of their understanding. Overall, students were able to accurately assess whether their answer was right or wrong 77% of the time. Average self-assessment generally improved over time, but the degree of improvement varies based on student segments. The method also benefits instructors by indicating the topics that students tend to be less certain of, even if the students are getting the right answers, and identifies students that are either over or under confident.
Introduction of Sustainability Concepts into Industrial Engineering Education: A Modular Approach
Author: Nazzal, Dima
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Industrial Education,Engineering Education,Surveys,Sustainability,Teaching Methods,Program Descriptions,Scientific Concepts,Curriculum Development,Undergraduate Study

Sustainability in operations, production, and consumption continues to gain relevance for engineers. This trend will accelerate as demand for goods and services grows, straining resources and requiring ingenuity to replace boundless supply in meeting the needs of a more crowded, more prosperous world. Industrial engineers are uniquely positioned to incorporate sustainability concepts into this work; their focus is on systems, and in observing these systems at a high level, they can most effectively choose which parts of the systems to modify to produce desired results. In this paper, we explore using the vehicle of education to introduce sustainability concepts into industrial engineers' training. We first survey the current state of sustainability education in industrial engineering programs. We then discuss a curricular modification program in which sustainability was introduced into several courses through use of content-focused modules. We conclude with our recommendations on how such a structure can be used to expand sustainability education in industrial engineering programs at all levels.