Search results for: student project

Authors: Hyeon-Seong Kim, Sang-Mi Park, Seul-Gi Kim, Seon-Ju Han, Leen-Seok Kang

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The use of BIM, including 4D CAD system, in a construction project is gradually increasing. Since the building construction works repeatedly in the vertical space, it is relatively easy to confirm the interference effect when applying the BIM, but the interference effect for the civil engineering project is relatively small because the civil works perform non-repetitive processes in the horizontal space. For this reason, it is desirable to apply BIM to the construction phase when applying BIM to the civil engineering project, and the most active BIM tool applied to the construction phase is the 4D CAD function for the schedule management. This paper proposes the application procedure of BIM by the construction phase of civil engineering project and a linear 4D CAD construction methodology suitable for the civil engineering project in which linear work is performed.

Keywords: BIM, 4D CAD, linear 4D simulation, VR

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Authors: Soheila Sadeghi

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Accurate forecasting of project performance metrics is crucial for successfully managing and delivering urban road reconstruction projects. Traditional methods often rely on static baseline plans and fail to consider the dynamic nature of project progress and external factors. This research proposes a machine learning-based approach to forecast project performance metrics, such as cost variance and earned value, for each Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) category in an urban road reconstruction project. The proposed model utilizes time series forecasting techniques, including Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, to predict future performance based on historical data and project progress. The model also incorporates external factors, such as weather patterns and resource availability, as features to enhance the accuracy of forecasts. By applying the predictive power of machine learning, the performance forecasting model enables proactive identification of potential deviations from the baseline plan, which allows project managers to take timely corrective actions. The research aims to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach using a case study of an urban road reconstruction project, comparing the model's forecasts with actual project performance data. The findings of this research contribute to the advancement of project management practices in the construction industry, offering a data-driven solution for improving project performance monitoring and control.

Keywords: project performance forecasting, machine learning, time series forecasting, cost variance, earned value management

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Authors: Anita Kéri

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Satisfying foreign student needs has been in the center of research interest in the past several years. Higher education institutions have been exploring factors influencing foreign student satisfactionto stay competitive on the educational market. Even though foreign student satisfaction and loyalty are topics investigated deeply in the literature, the academic years of 2020 and 2021 have revealed challenges never experienced before. With the COVID-19 pandemic, new factors have emerged that might influence foreign student satisfaction and loyalty in higher education. The aim of the current research is to shed lights on what factors influence foreign student satisfaction and loyalty in the post-pandemic educational era and to reveal if the effects of factors influencing satisfaction and loyalty have changed compared to previous findings. Initial results show that students are less willing to participate in online surveys during and after the pandemic. The return rate of the survey instrument is below 5%. Results also reveal that there is a slight difference in what factors have significant effects on school-related and non-school-related satisfaction and overall loyalty, measured pre- and post-pandemic times. The results of the current study help us determine what factors higher education institutions need to consider when planning the future service affordances for their foreign students that might influence their satisfaction and loyalty.

Keywords: pandemic, COVID-19, satisfacion, loyalty, service quality, higher education

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Authors: Nidhi Gadura

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Given the increase in the number of students and administrators asking for online courses the author developed two partially online courses. One was a biology majors at genetics course while the other was a non-majors at biology course. The student body at Queensborough Community College is generally underprepared and has work and family obligations. As an educator, one has to be mindful about changing the pedagogical approach, therefore, special care was taken when designing the course material. Despite the initial concerns, both of these partially online courses were received really well by students. Lessons learnt were that student engagement is the key to success in an online course. Good practices to run a successful online course for underprepared students are discussed in this paper. Also discussed are the lessons learnt for making the eLearning environment better for all the students in the class, overachievers and underachievers alike.

Keywords: partially online course, pedagogy, student engagement, community college

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Authors: Ali Ashraf, Ghazaleh Aghaee, Sedigheh Samimian, Mohaya Farzin

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Objectives: Previous studies have indicated the positive effect of physical activity and sports on different aspects of health, such as muscle endurance and sleep cycle. However, in university students, particularly medical students, who have limited time and a stressful lifestyle, there have been limited studies exploring this matter with proven statistical results. In this regard, this study aims to find out how regular physical activity can influence the academic performance of medical students during their internship period. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical study. Overall, 160 medical students (including 80 women and 88 men) voluntarily participated in the study. The Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire was applied to determine the student’s physical activity levels. The student's academic performance was determined based on their total average academic scores. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 16 software using the independent t-test, Pearson correlation, and linear regression. Results: The average age of the students was 26.0±1.5 years. Eighty-eight students (52.4%) were male, and 142 (84.5%) were single. The student's mean total average academic score was 16.2±1.2, and their average physical activity score was 8.3±1.1. The student's average academic score was not associated with their gender (P=0.427), marital status (P=0.645), and age (P=0.320). However, married students had a significantly lower physical activity level compared to single students (P=0.020). The results indicated a significant positive correlation between student's physical activity levels and average academic scores (r=+0.410 and P<0.001). This correlation was independent of the student’s age, gender, and marital status based on the regression analysis. Conclusion: The results of the current study suggested that the physical activity level in medical students was low to moderate in most cases, and there was a significant direct relationship between student’s physical activity level and academic performance, independent of age, gender, and marital status.

Keywords: exercise, education, physical activity, academic performance

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Authors: Mehran Barani Shikhrobat, Roger Flanagan

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The construction planning and scheduling based on using the current tools and techniques is resulted deterministic in nature (Gantt chart, CPM) or applying a very little probability of completion (PERT) for each task. However, every project embodies assumptions and influences and should start with a complete set of clearly defined goals and constraints that remain constant throughout the duration of the project. Construction planners continue to apply the traditional methods and tools of “hard” project management that were developed for “ideal projects,” neglecting the potential influence of complexity on the design and construction process. The aim of this research is to investigate the emergence and growth of complexity in project planning and to provide a model to consider the influence of complexity on the total project duration at the post-contract award pre-construction stage of a project. The literature review showed that complexity originates from different sources of environment, technical, and workflow interactions. They can be divided into two categories of complexity factors, first, project tasks, and second, project organisation management. Project tasks may originate from performance, lack of resources, or environmental changes for a specific task. Complexity factors that relate to organisation and management refer to workflow and interdependence of different parts. The literature review highlighted the ineffectiveness of traditional tools and techniques in planning for complexity. However, this research focus on understanding the fundamental causes of the complexity of construction projects were investigated through a questionnaire with industry experts. The results were used to develop a model that considers the core complexity factors and their interactions. System dynamics were used to investigate the model to consider the influence of complexity on project planning. Feedback from experts revealed 20 major complexity factors that impact project planning. The factors are divided into five categories known as core complexity factors. To understand the weight of each factor in comparison, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis method is used. The comparison showed that externalities are ranked as the biggest influence across the complexity factors. The research underlines that there are many internal and external factors that impact project activities and the project overall. This research shows the importance of considering the influence of complexity on the project master plan undertaken at the post-contract award pre-construction phase of a project.

Keywords: project planning, project complexity measurement, planning uncertainty management, project risk management, strategic project scheduling

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Authors: Hisyam Hidayatullah

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Utilization game on a lesson needs to be done in order to provide proper motoric learning model to improve students' skills. Approach to the game, as one of the models of a motoric learning, is intended to improve student learning outcomes math trigonometry materials generally that prioritize a Memory or rote. The purpose of this study is producting innovation to improve a cognitive abilities of students in the field, to improve student performance, and ultimately to improve student understanding in determining a value of trigonometry in various quadrants, and it apply a approach to the game Domino "Cassava H154M" who is adopted from cassava game and it has made total revised in cassava content. The game is divided into 3 sessions: sine cassava, cosine cassava and cassava tangent. Researchers using action of research method, which consists of several stages such as: planning, implementation, observation, reporting and evaluation. Researchers found that a game approaches can improve student learning outcomes, enhance students' creativity in terms of their motoric learning, and creating a supportive learning environment.

Keywords: cassava "H154M", motoric, value of trigonometry, quadrant

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Authors: Mokhtar Nikgoo

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Today's industrial world has undergone tremendous changes in certain periods. These changes are called environmental changes. And they have a direct impact on organizations and bodies. Therefore, the importance of knowing these changes is clear. This importance has caused the manufacturing organizations to move towards multiple products and constantly change and expand their system. This research tries to show how the organization moves in this category by defining the basic steps of implementing a project. One of the most important features of a hard-to-order production organization is the definition of different production projects from different customers. Therefore, the lack of sufficient understanding of the type of work causes the project to be defined for the organization in question, and the managers of the organization (in every organizational level) are constantly involved with different projects. In the implementation of the production project of the aforementioned organizations, directing the facilities and people of the organization towards the implementation of the project is of particular importance. Therefore, it is felt necessary to define the project manager and his basic duties. Considering the importance of this topic, the project chapter deals with project management and its importance and examines all the different issues in that category from the perspective of implementation. A project includes certain activities of the organization that require the use of different resources and all the activities of the organization in order to implement the project with defined facilities and at the designated times. Project management is planning, organizing and controlling the organization's resources for a short-term goal that has been created for short-term and medium-term goals and objectives. Project management has the important task of centering and integrating (coordinating) task and line managers. In other words, project management requires having a strong and appropriate relationship with the internal people of the system to carry out the assigned activities and must have a general and technical knowledge related to various activities in the project environment. It seems that everything with project management in It is communication. One of the characteristics of production organizations under the order is the relationship between the customer (customers) and the organization until the completion of the defined project. Due to the nature of the work, it is necessary for a person to establish this relationship between the client and the organization's people and to establish this relationship in such a way that it does not cause a lack of coordination in the organization's activities. Therefore, project management has a very important role at this stage, because the relationship between the client and his organization will be any problems and problems and points of view that the client has, he must inform the management so that he can implement the cases with its analysis and special processes. To be transferred to other departments and line managers.

Keywords: project management, crisis management, project delays bill, project duration

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Authors: Oktanika Wahyu Nurjanah, Anggun Fitriana Dewi

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An undergraduate thesis is one of the academic writings which should fulfill some characteristics, one of them is coherency. Moreover, a coherence of a text depends on the usage of discourse markers. In other word, discourse markers take an essential role in writing. Therefore, the researchers aim to know the awareness of the discourse markers usage in writing the under-graduate thesis of an English Education student at Sebelas Maret University. This research uses a qualitative case study in order to obtain a deep analysis. The sample of this research is an under-graduate thesis of English Education student in Sebelas Maret University which chosen based on some criteria. Additionally, the researchers were guided by some literature attempted to group the discourse markers based on their functions. Afterward, the analysis was held based on it. From the analysis, it found that the awareness of discourse markers usage is moderate. The last point, the researcher suggest undergraduate students to familiarize themselves with discourse markers, especially for those who want to write thesis.

Keywords: discourse markers, English education, thesis writing, undergraduate student

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Authors: Anita Kéri

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With the outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19, online education characterizes today’s higher education. For some higher education institutions (HEIs), the shift from classroom education to online solutions was swift and smooth, and students are continuously asked about their experience regarding online education. Therefore, there is a growing emphasis on student satisfaction with online education, a field that had emerged previously, but has become the center of higher education and research interest today. The aim of the current paper is to give a brief overview of the tools used in the online education of marketing-related classes at the examined university and to investigate student satisfaction with the applied teaching methodologies with the tool of a questionnaire. Results show that students are most satisfied with their teachers’ competences and preparedness, while they are least satisfied with online class quality, where it seems that further steps are needed to be taken.

Keywords: netnography, online teaching, pandemic, satisfaction

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Authors: Chaithanya Pothuganti

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Open and semi-open spaces in educational buildings like corridors, mid landings, seating spaces, lobby, courtyards are traditionally have been the places of social communion and interaction which helps in promoting the knowledge, performance, activeness, and motivation in students. Factors like availability of land, commercialization, of educational facilities, especially in e-techno and smart schools, led to closed classrooms to accommodate students thereby lack quality open and semi-open spaces. This insufficient attention towards open space design which is a means of informal learning misses an opportunity to encourage the student’s skill development, behavior and learning skills. The core objective of this paper is to find the level of impact on student learning behavior and to identify the suitable proportions and configuration of spaces that shape the schools. In order to achieve this, different types of open spaces in schools and their impact on student’s performance in various existing models are analysed using case studies to draw some design principles. The study is limited to indoor open spaces like corridors, break out spaces and courtyards. The expected outcome of the paper is to suggest better design considerations for the development of semi-open and open spaces which functions as an element for informal learnings. Its focus is to provide further thinking on designing and development of open spaces in educational buildings.

Keywords: configuration of spaces and proportions, informal learning, open spaces, schools, student’s behavior

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Authors: Filomena Lopes, Sandra Fernandes

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Active learning strategies are at the center of any change process aimed to improve the development of student skills. This paper aims to analyse the impact of teaching strategies, including problem-based learning (PBL), in the curricular unit of information system for management, based on students’ perceptions of how they contribute to develop the desired learning outcomes of the curricular unit. This course is part of the 1st semester and 3rd year of the graduate degree program in management at a private higher education institution in Portugal. The methodology included an online questionnaire to students (n=40). Findings from students reveal a positive impact of the teaching strategies used. In general, 35% considered that the strategies implemented in the course contributed to the development of courses’ learning objectives. Students considered PBL as the learning strategy that better contributed to enhance the courses’ learning outcomes. This conclusion brings forward the need for further reflection and discussion on the impact of student feedback on teaching and learning processes.

Keywords: higher education, active learning strategies, skills development, student assessment

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Authors: Victor Hugo Sanchez Rodriguez

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Amidst the challenges posed by pandemic-induced lockdowns, traditional educational models have been disrupted. To bridge the distance learning gap, our project introduces an innovative initiative focused on teaching high school students basic biotechnology techniques. We aim to empower young minds and foster curiosity by encouraging students to create their own DIY biotechnology laboratories using easily accessible materials found at home. This abstract outlines the key aspects of our project, highlighting its importance, methodology, and evaluation approach.In response to the pandemic's limitations, our project targets the delivery of biotechnology education at a distance. By engaging students in hands-on experiments, we seek to provide an enriching learning experience despite the constraints of remote learning. The DIY approach allows students to explore scientific concepts in a practical and enjoyable manner, nurturing their interest in biotechnology and molecular biology. Originally designed to assess professional-level research programs, we have adapted the URSSA to suit the context of biotechnology and molecular biology synthesis for high school students. By applying this tool before and after the experimental sessions, we aim to gauge the program's impact on students' learning experiences and skill development. Our project's significance lies not only in its novel approach to teaching biotechnology but also in its adaptability to the current global crisis. By providing students with a stimulating and interactive learning environment, we hope to inspire educators and institutions to embrace creative solutions during challenging times. Moreover, the insights gained from our evaluation will inform future efforts to enhance distance learning programs and promote accessible science education.

Keywords: DIY biotechnology, high school students, distance learning, pandemic education, undergraduate research student self-assessment (URSSA)

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Authors: Dimitrios Vlachopoulos, George Tsokkas

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Although it is not intended to identify distance education students as a homogeneous group, recent research has demonstrated that there are some demographic and personality common traits among most of them that provide the basis for the description of a typical distance learning student. The purpose of this paper is to describe these common traits and to facilitate their learning journey within a distance education program. The described research is an initiative of the Distance Education Unit at the European University Cyprus (Laureate International Universities) in the context of its action for the improvement of the students’ performance.

Keywords: distance education students, successful student performance, European University Cyprus, common traits

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Authors: Paul Saah, Charles Mbohwa, Nelson Sizwe Madonsela

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The capacity to deliver projects on schedule, within budget, and to the pleasure of the client depends on effective communication, which is the lifeblood of project-based businesses. In order to pinpoint areas for development and shed light on the crucial role that communication plays in project success, the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of communication practises and processes inside project-based organisations. In order to analyse concepts and get a greater grasp of their theoretical basis, this study's methodology combines a careful review of the relevant literature with a conceptual analysis of the subject. Data from a varied sample of project-based businesses spanning all industries and sizes were collected via document analysis. The relationship between communication practises, and processes were investigated in connection to key performance measures such as project outcomes, client satisfaction, and team dynamics. According to the study's findings, project-based businesses that adopt effective communication practises, and procedures experience a reduction in unfavourable experiences, stronger integration, and coordination, clarity of purpose, and practises that can hasten problem resolution. However, failing to adopt effective communication practises and procedures in project-based company result in counter issues, including project derailment from the schedule, failure to meet goals, inefficient use of existing resources, and failure to meet organisational goals. Therefore, optimising their communication practises, and procedures are crucial for sustainable growth and competitive advantage as project-based enterprises continue to play a crucial part in today's dynamic business scene.

Keywords: effective communication, project-based firms, communication practices, project success, communication strategies

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Authors: Ali Abdullah Albezaghi

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This article aims to introduce a conceptual framework that can facilitate investigations concerning the role of risk management practices in the relationship between construction risks and the construction project's performance. This article is structured based on the extant literature; it reviews theoretical perspectives, highlights the gaps, and illustrates the significance of developing a framework of suggested relationships. Despite growing interest in the role of risks in construction project performance, previous studies have paid little attention to investigating the moderating role of risk management practices on the risk-performance link. This has left researchers and construction project managers with minimal information to explain the conditions under which risk management practices can reduce the impact of project-related risks and improve performance. In this context, this article suggests a viable research model with propositions that assess risk-performance relationships and discusses the potential moderating effects on the domain relationship. This paper adds to the risk management literature by focusing on risk variables that directly impact performance. Further, it also considers the moderating role of risk management practices in such relationships.

Keywords: risk management practices, external risks, internal risks, project risks, project performance

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Authors: Mayowa Adeyeye

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This study was conducted to investigate the psychological variables motivating sport participation and involvement among student-athletes of tertiary institutions in south-west Nigeria. One thousand three hundred and fifty (N-1350) student-athletes were randomly selected in all sports from nine tertiary institutions in south-west Nigeria. These tertiary institutions include University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State University, University of Ibadan, University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Federal University of Technology Akungba, University of Ilorin, and Kwara State University. The descriptive survey research method was adopted while a self developed validated likert type questionnaire named Sport Participation Scale (SPS) was used to elicit opinion from respondents. The test-retest reliability value obtained for the instrument, using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient was 0.96. Out of the one thousand three hundred and fifty (N-1350) questionnaire administered, only one thousand two hundred and five (N-1286) were correctly filled, coded and analysed using inferential statistics of Chi-Square (X2) while all the tested hypotheses were set at .05 alpha level. Based on the findings of this study, the result revealed that several psychological factors influence student athletes to continue participation in sport, which includes love for the game, famous athletes as role model and family support. However, the analysis further revealed that the stipends the student-athletes get from their universities have no influence on their participation and involvement in sport.

Keywords: sport participation, involvement, student-athletes, role model, family, peer

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Authors: Karina Oborune

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International student mobility involves a unique spatio-temporal context and exploring the various aspects of mobile students’ experience can lead to new findings within identity studies. The previous studies have mainly focused on student mobility within Europe and its impact on European identity arguing that students who participate in intra-European mobility already feel European before exchange. Contrary to previous studies, in this paper student mobility is analyzed from different point of view. In order to see whether a true Europeanization of identities is taking place, it is necessary to contrast European identity with alternative supranational identity which could similarly result from student mobility and in particular a global identity. Besides, in the paper there is explored whether geographical constellation (host country continental location during mobility- Europe vs. outside of Europe) plays a role. Based on newly developed model of multicultural, social and socio-demographic variables there is argued that after intra-European mobility only global identity of students could be increased (H1), but the mobility to countries outside of Europe causes changes in European identity (H2). The quantitative study (survey, n=1440, 22 higher education institutions, experimental group of former and future/potential mobile students and control group of non-mobile students) was held in Switzerland where is equally high number of students who participate in intra-European and outside of Europe mobility. The results of multivariate linear regression showed that students who participate in exchange in Europe increase their European identity due to having close friends from Europe, as well as due to length of the mobility experience had impact, but students who participate in exchange outside of Europe increase their global identity due to having close friends from outside of Europe and proficiency in foreign languages.

Keywords: student mobility, European identity, global identity, global identity

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Authors: Yen-Hui Lu

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In the past two decades, in order to increase university visibility and internationalization, English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has become one of the main language policies in higher education institutions where English is not a dominant language. However, given the complex, discipline-embedded nature of academic communication, academic literacy does not come with students’ everyday language experience, and it is a challenge for all students. Particularly, to engage students in the effective learning process of discipline concepts in the EMI classrooms, teachers need to provide explicit academic language instruction to assist students in deep understanding of discipline concepts. To bridge the gap between academic language development and discipline learning in the EMI classrooms, the researcher incorporates academic language strategies and key elements of project-based learning (PBL) into an Academic Language Strategy driven PBL (ALS-PBL) model. With clear steps and strategies, the model helps EMI teachers to scaffold students’ academic language development in the EMI classrooms. ALS-PBL model includes three major stages: preparation, implementation, and assessment. First, in the preparation stage, ALS-PBL teachers need to identify learning goals for both content and language learning and to design PBL topics for investigation. Second, during the implementation stage, ALS-PBL teachers use the model as a guideline to create a lesson structure and class routine. There are five important elements in the implementation stage: (1) academic language preparation, (2) connecting background knowledge, (3) comprehensible input, (4) academic language reinforcement, and (5) sustained inquiry and project presentation. Finally, ALS-PBL teachers use formative assessments such as student learning logs, teachers’ feedback, and peer evaluation to collect detailed information that demonstrates students’ academic language development in the learning process. In this study, ALS-PBL model was implemented in an interdisciplinary course entitled “Science is Everywhere”, which was co-taught by five professors from different discipline backgrounds, English education, civil engineering, business administration, international business, and chemical engineering. The purpose of the course was to cultivate students’ interdisciplinary knowledge as well as English competency in disciplinary areas. This study used a case-study design to systematically investigate students’ learning experiences in the class using ALS-PBL model. The participants of the study were 22 college students with different majors. This course was one of the elective EMI courses in this focal university. The students enrolled in this EMI course to fulfill the school language policy, which requires the students to complete two EMI courses before their graduation. For the credibility, this study used multiple methods to collect data, including classroom observation, teachers’ feedback, peer assessment, student learning log, and student focus-group interviews. Research findings show four major successful aspects of implementing ALS-PBL model in the EMI classroom: (1) clear focus on both content and language learning, (2) meaningful practice in authentic communication, (3) reflective learning in academic language strategies, and (4) collaborative support in content knowledge.This study will be of value to teachers involved in delivering English as well as content lessons to language learners by providing a theoretically-sound practical model for application in the classroom.

Keywords: academic language development, content and language integrated learning, english as a medium of instruction, project-based learning

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Authors: Hamed Saremi, Shahla Saremi

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In this study, control and management of construction projects is evaluated through developing a dynamic model in which some means are used in order to evaluating planning assumptions and reviewing the effectiveness of some project control policies based on previous researches about time, cost, project schedule pressure management, source management, project control, adding elements and sub-systems from cost management such as estimating consumption budget from budget due to costs, budget shortage effects and etc. using sensitivity analysis, researcher has evaluated introduced model that during model simulation by VENSIM software and assuming optimistic times and adding information about doing job and changes rate and project is forecasted with 373 days (2 days sooner than forecasted) and final profit $ 1,960,670 (23% amount of contract) assuming 15% inflation rate in year and costs rate accordance with planned amounts and other input information and final profit.

Keywords: dynamic planning, cost, time, performance, project management

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Authors: Ebuka Valentine Iroha, Tsunemi Watanabe, Satoshi Tsuchiya

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Project management practices play an important role in construction project performance and are one of project managers' essential key performance indicators. Previous studies have explored the poor performance of the construction industry, with project delays and cost overruns identified to contribute largely to numerous abandoned projects. These challenges are attributed to insufficient project management practices and a lack of utilization of project managers. The actual causes of inadequate project management practices and underutilization of project managers have been rarely discussed. This study tends to bridge the gap by identifying and assessing the actual causes of insufficient project management practices and underutilization of project managers. This study differs from past studies investigating the causes of poor performance by using institutional analysis methods to identify and analyze the factors influencing project management practices and proper utilization of project managers. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this study identified some factors embedded in the construction industry that influence the institutional environment and weaken the laws and regulations. These factors were used as the basis for semi-structured interview questions to investigate their impacts on project management practices and project managers. The data collected were coded into a four-level framework for institutional analysis. This method was used to analyze the interrelationships between the identified embedded factors, institutional laws and regulations, and construction organizations to understand how these influences result in the underutilization of project managers. The study found that the underutilization of project managers consists of two subsystems, including underutilization and lowering commitment. The first subsystem, corruption, political influence, religious and tribal discrimination, and organizational culture, were found to affect the institutional structure. These embedded factors weaken the industry’s governance mechanism, forcing project managers to prioritize corrupt practices over project demands. The ineffectiveness of the existing laws and regulations worsens the situation, supporting unfair working conditions and contributing to the underperformance of project managers. This situation leads to the development of the second subsystem, which is characterized by a lack of opportunities for career development and minimal incentives within construction organizations. The findings provide significant potential for addressing systemic challenges in the construction industry, particularly the underutilization of project managers and enhancing organizational support measures to improve project management practices and mitigate the adverse effects of corruption.

Keywords: construction industry, project management, poor performance, embedded factors, project managers underutilization

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Authors: Dong Wu, Michael Grenn

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Managing software projects effectively is crucial for meeting deadlines, ensuring quality, and managing resources well. Traditional methods often struggle with predicting project timelines accurately due to uncertain schedules and complex data. This study addresses these challenges by combining time prediction algorithms with Large Language Models (LLMs). It makes use of real-world software project data to construct and validate a model. The model takes detailed project progress data such as task completion dynamic, team Interaction and development metrics as its input and outputs predictions of project timelines. To evaluate the effectiveness of this model, a comprehensive methodology is employed, involving simulations and practical applications in a variety of real-world software project scenarios. This multifaceted evaluation strategy is designed to validate the model's significant role in enhancing forecast accuracy and elevating overall management efficiency, particularly in complex software project environments. The results indicate that the integration of time prediction algorithms with LLMs has the potential to optimize software project progress management. These quantitative results suggest the effectiveness of the method in practical applications. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that integrating time prediction algorithms with LLMs can significantly improve the predictive accuracy and efficiency of software project management. This offers an advanced project management tool for the industry, with the potential to improve operational efficiency, optimize resource allocation, and ensure timely project completion.

Keywords: software project management, time prediction algorithms, large language models (LLMS), forecast accuracy, project progress prediction

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Authors: Hao Huang

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INTRODUCTION: The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) recommends the development of ‘high-impact practices,’ in an effort to increase rates of student retention and student engagement at undergraduate institutions. To achieve these goals, the Scripps College Humanities Institute and HI Fellows Seminar not only featured distinguished academics presenting their scholarship about current immigration policy and its consequences in the USA and around the world but integrated socially significant community leaders and creative activists/artivists in public talks, student workshops and collaborative art events. Students participated in experiential learning that involved guest personal presentations and discussions, oral history interviews that applied standard oral history methodologies, detailed cultural documentation, collaborative artistic interventions, and weekly posts in Internet Digital Learning Environment Sakai collaborative course forums and regular responses to other students’ comments. Our teaching pedagogies addressed the four learning styles outlined in Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Over the academic year 2017-18, the Scripps College Humanities Institute and HI Fellows Seminar presented a Fall 2017 topic, ‘The World at Our Doorsteps: Immigration and Deportation in Los Angeles’. Our purpose was to address how current federal government anti-immigration measures have affected many students of color, some of whom are immigrants, many of whom are related to and are friends with people who are impacted by the attitudes as well as the practices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In Spring 2018, we followed with the topic, ‘Exclusive Nationalisms: Global Migration and Immigration’. This addresses the rise of white supremacists who have ascended to position of power worldwide, in America, Europe, Russia, and xenophobic nationalisms in China, Myanmar and the Philippines. Recent scholarship has suggested the existence of categories of refugees beyond the political or social, who fit into the more inclusive category of migrants. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES: Assessment methodologies not only included qualitative student interviews and quantitative student evaluations in standard rubric format, but also Outcome Assessments, Formative Evaluations, and Outside Guest Teacher feedback. These indicated that the most effective educational practices involved collaborative inquiry in undergraduate research, community-based learning, and capstone projects. Assessments of E-portfolios, written and oral coursework, and final creative projects with associated 10-12 page analytic paper revealed that students developed their understanding of how government and social organizations work; they developed communication skills that enhanced working with others from different backgrounds; they developed their ability to thoughtfully evaluate their course performance by adopting reflective practices; they gained analytic and interpretive skills that encouraged self-confidence and self- initiative not only academically, but also with regards to independent projects. CONCLUSION: Most importantly, the Scripps Humanities Institute experiential learning project spurred on real-world actions by our students, such as a public symposium on how to cope with bigots, a student tutoring program for immigrant staff children, student negotiations with the administration to establish meaningful, sustainable diversity and inclusion programs on-campus. Activism is not only to be taught to and for our students– it has to be enacted by our students.

Keywords: immigration, migration, human rights, learning assessment

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Authors: Yeo Leng Leng

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Blended learning, with its combination of online and face-to-face instruction, presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities in terms of cultivating student agency. While it offers flexibility and personalized learning pathways, it also demands a higher degree of self-regulation and motivation from students. This paper presents the design of blended learning in a Chinese lesson and discusses the framework involved. It also talks about the Edtech tools adopted to engage the students. Some of the students’ works will be showcased. A qualitative case study research method was employed in this paper to find out more about students’ learning experiences and to give them a voice. The purpose is to seek improvement in the blended learning design of the Chinese lessons and to encourage students’ self-directed learning.

Keywords: blended learning, student agency, ed-tech tools, self-directed learning

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Authors: Mouhoubi Nedjima, Sassi Boudemagh Souad, Chouabbia Khedidja

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Cities grow, large or small; they seek to gain a place in the market competition, which talks to sell a product that is the city itself. The metropolis are large cities enjoying a legal status and assets providing their dominions elements on a territory larger than their range, do not escape this situation. Thus, the search for promising tool metropolises better development and durability meet the challenges as economic, social and environmental is timely. The urban project is a new way to build the city; it is involved in the metropolises of two ways, either to manage the crisis and to meet the internal needs of the metropolis, or by creating a regional attractiveness with their potential. This communication will address the issue of urban project as a tool that has and should find a place in the panoply of existing institutional tools. Based on the example of the modernization project of the metropolis of eastern Algeria "Constantine", we will examine what the urban project can bring to a city, the extent of its impact but also the relationship between the visions actors so metropolization a success.

Keywords: urban project, metropolis, institutional tools, Constantine

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Authors: Chen Wang, Gerard Rowe

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The number of undergraduate engineering students enrolled in university has been increasing rapidly recently, leading to challenges associated with increased student-instructor ratios and increased diversity in academic preparedness of the entrants. An increased student-instructor ratio makes the interaction between teachers and students more difficult, with the resulting student ‘anonymity’ known to be a risk to academic success. With increasing student numbers, there is also an increasing diversity in the academic preparedness of the students at entry to university. Conceptual understanding of the entrants has been quantified via diagnostic testing, with the results for the first-year course in electrical engineering showing significant conceptual misunderstandings amongst the entry cohort. The solution is clearly multi-faceted, but part of the solution likely involves greater demands being placed on students to be masters of their own learning. In consequence, it is highly desirable that instructors help students to develop better self-regulated learning skills. A self-regulated learner is one who is capable of setting up their own learning goals, monitoring their study processes, adopting and adjusting learning strategies, and reflecting on their own study achievements. The methods by which instructors might cultivate students’ self-regulated learning abilities is receiving increasing attention from instructors and researchers. The aim of this study was to help students understand fully their self-regulated learning skill levels and provide targeted instructions to help them improve particular learning abilities in order to meet the curriculum requirements. As a survey tool, this research applied the questionnaire ‘Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire’ (MSLQ) to collect first year engineering student’s self-reported data of their cognitive abilities, motivational orientations and learning strategies. MSLQ is a widely-used questionnaire for assessment of university student’s self-regulated learning skills. The questionnaire was offered online as a part of the online-scaffolding-learning tools to develop student understanding of self-regulated learning theories and learning strategies. The online tools, which have been under development since 2015, are designed to help first-year students understand their self-regulated learning skill levels by providing prompt feedback after they complete the questionnaire. In addition, the online tool also supplies corresponding learning strategies to students if they want to improve specific learning skills. A total of 866 first year engineering students who enrolled in the first-year electrical engineering course were invited to participate in this research project. By the end of the course 857 students responded and 738 of their questionnaires were considered as valid questionnaires. Analysis of these surveys showed that 66% of the students thought the online-scaffolding-learning tools helped significantly to improve their self-regulated learning abilities. It was particularly pleasing that 16.4% of the respondents thought the online-scaffolding-learning tools were extremely effective. A current thrust of our research is to investigate the relationships between students’ self-regulated learning abilities and their academic performance. Our results are being used by the course instructors as they revise the curriculum and pedagogy for this fundamental first-year engineering course, but the general principles we have identified are applicable to most first-year STEM courses.

Keywords: academic preparedness, online-scaffolding-learning tool, self-regulated learning, STEM education

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Authors: A. Elbaz, K. Spang

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Infrastructure projects are often subjected to delays and cost overruns and mistakenly described as unsuccessful projects. These projects have many peculiarities such as public attention, impact on the environment, subjected to special regulations, etc. They also deal with several stakeholders with different motivations and face unique risks. With this in mind we need to reconsider our approach to manage them, define their success factors and implement these success factors. Infrastructure projects are not only lacking a unified meaning of project success or a definition of success factors, but also a clear method to implement these factors. This paper investigates this gap and introduces a concept to implement success factors in an efficient way, taking into consideration the specific characteristics of infrastructure projects. This concept consists of six enablers such as project organization, project team, project management workflow, contract management, communication and knowledge transfer and project documentations. These enablers allow other success factors to be efficiently implemented in projects. In conclusion, this paper provides project managers as well as company managers with a tool to define and implement success factors efficiently in their projects, along with upgrading their assets for the coming projects. This tool consists of processes and validated checklists to ensure the best use of company resources and knowledge. Due to the special features of infrastructure projects this tool will be tested in the German infrastructure market. However, it is meant to be adaptable to other markets and industries.

Keywords: infrastructure projects, operative success factors, project success, success factors, transportation projects

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Authors: Andres Piña, Amy Meléndez, Pablo Cano, Tomas Cahuich

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The purpose of this project is to propose a quick and environmentally friendly alternative to measure the quality of oils used in food industry. There is evidence that repeated and indiscriminate use of oils in food processing cause physicochemical changes with formation of potentially toxic compounds that can affect the health of consumers and cause organoleptic changes. In order to assess the quality of oils, non-destructive optical techniques such as Interferometry offer a rapid alternative to the use of reagents, using only the interaction of light on the oil. Through this project, we used interferograms of samples of oil placed under different heating conditions to establish the changes in their quality. These interferograms were obtained by means of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer using a beam of light from a HeNe laser of 10mW at 632.8nm. Each interferogram was captured, analyzed and measured full width at half-maximum (FWHM) using the software from Amcap and ImageJ. The total of FWHMs was organized in three groups. It was observed that the average obtained from each of the FWHMs of group A shows a behavior that is almost linear, therefore it is probable that the exposure time is not relevant when the oil is kept under constant temperature. Group B exhibits a slight exponential model when temperature raises between 373 K and 393 K. Results of the t-Student show a probability of 95% (0.05) of the existence of variation in the molecular composition of both samples. Furthermore, we found a correlation between the Iodine Indexes (Physicochemical Analysis) and the Interferograms (Optical Analysis) of group C. Based on these results, this project highlights the importance of the quality of the oils used in food industry and shows how Interferometry can be a useful tool for this purpose.

Keywords: food industry, interferometric, oils, quality control

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Authors: Susan Lewis

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The assessment of learning outcomes at the program level has attracted much international interest from the perspectives of quality assurance and ongoing curricular redesign and renewal. This paper examines program-level learning outcomes in the field of music and technology, an area of study that has seen an explosion in program development over the past fifteen years. The Audio Engineering Society (AES) maintains an online directory of educational institutions worldwide, yielding the most comprehensive inventory of programs and courses in music and technology. The inventory includes courses, programs, and degrees in music and technology, music and computer science, music production, and the music industry. This paper focuses on published student learning outcomes for undergraduate degrees in music and technology and analyses commonalities at institutions in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The results of a survey of student learning outcomes at twenty institutions indicates a focus on three distinct student learning outcomes: (1) cross-disciplinary knowledge in the fields of music and technology; (2) the practical application of training through the professional industry; and (3) the acquisition of skills in communication and collaboration. The paper then analyses assessment mechanisms for tracking student learning and achievement of learning outcomes at these institutions. The results indicate highly variable assessment practices. Conclusions offer recommendations for enhancing assessment techniques and better communicating learning outcomes to students.

Keywords: quality assurance, student learning; learning outcomes, music and technology

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Authors: Jagannath P. Tegar

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The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of Govt. of India has envisaged a major overhaul of the education system of India, in particular, the revamping of the Curriculum of Higher Education. In this process, the faculty members of the Indian universities and institutions have a challenging role in developing the curriculum, which is a shift from the traditional (content-based) curriculum to a student-centric- outcome-based Curriculum (SC-OBC) to be implemented in all of the Universities and institutions. The efforts and initiatives on the design and implementation of SC-OBC are remarkable in the engineering and technical education landscape of the country, but it is still in its early stages and many more steps are needed for the successful adaptation in every level of Higher Education. The premier institute of Govt. of India (NITTTR, Bhopal) has trained and developed the capacity and capability among the teachers of Polytechnics on the design and development of Student Centric - Outcome Based Curriculum and also providing academic consultancy for reforming curriculum in line of NEP- 2020 envisions for the states such as Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra to make them responsibly ready for such a new shift in Higher Education. This research-based paper is on three main aspects: 1) the level of acceptance and preparedness of teachers /faculty towards NEP-2020 and student-centred outcome-based learning. 2) the extent of implementing NEP-2020 and student-centered outcome-based learning at Indian institutions/ universities and 3) the challenges of implementing NEP-2020 and student-centered outcome-based learning outcome-based education in the Indian context. The paper content will inspire curriculum designers and developers to prepare SC-OBC that meets the specific needs of industry and society at large, which is intended in the NEP-2020 of Govt. of India

Keywords: outcome based curriculum, student centric learning, national education policy -2020, implementation of nep-2020. outcome based learning, higher education curriculum

Procedia PDF Downloads 81