Search results for: time management skills

Authors: Ivana Tadić, Željana Aljinović Barać, Nikolina Plazonić

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Living today in turbulent business environment forces companies to distinguish from each other, securing sustainable competitive growth and competitive advantage. The best possible solution is to invest (effort and financial resources) within companies’ different practices of human resource management (HRM), more specifically in employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities. Applying this approach companies will create enviable level of human capital securing its economic growth. Employees become human capital for their employers at the moment when they contribute with their own knowledge and abilities in creating material and non-material value of the company. The main aim of this research is to explore the relations between human capital investments and business excellence of Croatian companies. Furthermore, the differences in the level of human capital investments with regard to several companies’ characteristics (e.g. size of the company, ownership and type of the industry) are investigated.

Keywords: business excellence, Croatian industries, human capital investments, human resource management

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Authors: Nazym Alykpashova

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This article is based on the results of the action research at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The participants of this research were high school students who study Global Perspectives and Project Work course. Intellectual schools are designed to become an experimental site that develops, monitors, studies, analyzes, approves, implements modern models of educational programs. Subjects in NIS aimed to develop skills that will be useful for students in their life. Students learn how to do projects, research credible information, solve different issues. Many subjects cover complex topics, and most teachers feel that they often have to deliver a lot of information within one hour. Many educators recognize Conceptual Teaching, as well as Conceptual Learning, has a lot of benefits for students in terms of developing their perception of the subject topics. This qualitative paper presents findings of two research questions which explored high school students’ perception of conceptual teaching and its impact on their academic performance. Individual semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with Global Perspectives teachers and students. The results of this action research assist teachers reflect on their professional practice.

Keywords: concept-based teaching, students’ research skills, teacher’s professional development, kazakhstan

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Authors: Sara atibi, Azzeddine Atibi, Salim Ahmed, Khadija El Kababi

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The emergence of an entrepreneurial culture within academic institutions is increasingly seen as essential for preparing students for contemporary economic challenges. This study examines the effectiveness of educational programs and interventions aimed at promoting entrepreneurial spirit at Al Akhawayn University. The central issue explores the types of programs most efficient in instilling the necessary entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in students. The primary question about the ‘types of educational programs and interventions that are most effective in cultivating and reinforcing the entrepreneurial spirit among students at Al Akhawayn University' is broken down into sub-questions detailing the characteristics of current programs, factors influencing their success, the evolution of students' entrepreneurial skills, the role of teachers and mentors, best practices from other institutions, and the long-term impacts on graduates' entrepreneurial careers. To address this question, a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, was adopted. Quantitative data collection includes questionnaires and surveys designed to evaluate students' attitudes, skills, and perceptions before and after participating in entrepreneurship programs. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observations provide in-depth qualitative data on the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators. Quantitative data analysis employs descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, while qualitative analysis uses a thematic approach to identify key perceptions and experiences. This triangulation of data ensures robust and comprehensive results.

Keywords: student entrepreneurship, pedagogical interventions, Al Akhawayn university, entrepreneurial culture, entrepreneurial skills

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Authors: Kevin Chan, Kevin K. H. Chung, Patcy P. S. Yeung, H. L. Ip, Bill T. C. Chung, Karen M. K. Chung

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Purpose: Recent evidence shows that reading self-efficacy and students perceived difficulty in reading are significantly associated with word reading and reading fluency. However, little is known about these relationships among students learning to read English as a second language, particularly in Chinese students. This study examined the contributions of reading self-efficacy, perception of difficulty in reading, and cognitive-linguistic skills to performance on English word reading and reading fluency in Chinese students. Method: A sample of 122 second-and third-grade students in Hong Kong, China, participated in this study. Students completed the measures of reading self-efficacy and perception of difficulty in reading. They were assessed on their English cognitive-linguistic and reading skills: rapid automatized naming, nonword reading, phonological awareness, word reading, and one-minute word reading. Results: Results of path analysis indicated that when students’ grades were controlled, reading self-efficacy was a significant correlate of word reading and reading fluency, whereas perception of difficulty in reading negatively predicted word reading. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of taking students’ reading self-efficacy and perception of difficulty in reading and their cognitive-linguistic skills into consideration when designing reading intervention and instructions for students learning English as a second language.

Keywords: self-efficacy, perception of difficulty in reading, english as a second language, word reading

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Authors: Cromwell F. Gopo, Joy L. Picar

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This study aimed to predict the employability of senior high school graduates for S.Y. 2018- 2019 in the Davao del Norte Division through quantitative research design using the descriptive status and predictive approaches among the indicated parameters, namely gender, school type, academics, academic award recipient, skills, values, and strand. The respondents of the study were the 33 secondary schools offering senior high school programs identified through simple random sampling, which resulted in 1,530 cases of graduates’ secondary data, which were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and binary logistic regression. Results showed that the majority of the senior high school graduates who come from large schools were females. Further, less than half of these graduates received any academic award in any semester. In general, the graduates’ performance in academics, skills, and values were proficient. Moreover, less than half of the graduates were not employed. Then, those who were employed were either contractual, casual, or part-time workers dominated by GAS graduates. Further, the predictors of employability were gender and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strand, while the remaining variables did not add significantly to the model. The null hypothesis had been rejected as the coefficients of the predictors in the binary logistic regression equation did not take the value of 0. After utilizing the model, it was concluded that Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) graduates except ICT had greater estimates of employability.

Keywords: employability, senior high school graduates, Davao del Norte, Philippines

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Authors: Nusrat Zabeen Islam

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Partnership between local Non-Government organizations (NGO) and International development organizations has become an important feature in the development sector of Bangladesh. It is an important challenge for International development organizations to work with local NGOs with proper HR practice. Local NGOs have a lack of quality working environment and this affects the employee’s work experiences and overall performance at individual, partnership with International development organizations and organizational level. Many local development organizations due to the size of the organization and scope do not have a human resource (HR) unit. Inadequate Human Resource Policies, skills, leadership and lack of effective strategy is now a common scenario in Non-Government organization sector of Bangladesh. So corruption, nepotism, and fraud, risk of Political Contribution in office /work space, Sexual/ gender based abuse, insecurity take place in work place of development sector. The Complaint Management Mechanism (CMM) in human resource management could be one way to improve human resource competence in these organizations. The responsibility of Complaint Management Unit (CMU) of an International development organization is to make workplace maltreating, discriminating communities free. The information of impact of CMM was collected through case study of an International organization and some of its partner national organizations in Bangladesh who are engaged in different projects/programs. In this mechanism International development organizations collect complaints from beneficiaries/ staffs by complaint management unit and investigate by segregating the type and mood of the complaint and find out solution to improve the situation within a very short period. A complaint management committee is formed jointly with HR and management personnel. Concerned focal point collect complaints and share with CM unit. By conducting investigation, review of findings, reply back to CM unit and implementation of resolution through this mechanism, a successful bridge of communication and feedback can be established within beneficiaries, staffs and upper management. The overall result of Complaint management mechanism application indicates that by applying CMM accountability and transparency of workplace and workforce in development organization can be increased significantly. Evaluations based on outcomes, and measuring indicators such as productivity, satisfaction, retention, gender equity, proper judgment will guide organizations in building a healthy workforce, and will also clearly articulate the return on investment and justify any need for further funding.

Keywords: human resource management in NGOs, challenges in human resource, workplace environment, complaint management mechanism

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Authors: Qin-Min Ge, Shu-Ming Pan

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Emergency clinicians usually get teaching qualification after graduating from medical universities without special faculty training in China mainland. Emergency departments are overcrowded places, with large numbers of patients suffering undifferentiated illness. In the field of emergency medicine (EM), improving the faculty competencies and developing the teaching skills are important for medical education, they could enhance learners outcomes and hence affect the patients prognosis indirectly. This article highlights the necessities of faculty training in EM, illustrates the qualities a good clinical educator should qualify, advances the skills as educators in an academic setting and discusses the ways to be good clinical teachers.

Keywords: emergency education, competence, faculty training, teaching, emergency medicine

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Authors: Noppadon Phumeechanya, Panita Wannapiroon

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The purpose of this research is to design the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities that enhance problem-solving skills and context awareness, and to evaluate the suitability of the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities. We divide the research procedures into two phases. The first phase is to design the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities, and the second is to evaluate the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities. The sample group in this study consists of five experts selected using the purposive sampling method. We analyse data by arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The research findings are as follows; the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities consists of three major steps, the first is preparation before learning. This prepares learners to acknowledge details and learn through u-LMS. The second is the learning process, where learning activities happen in the ubiquitous learning environment and learners learn online with scaffold systems for each step of problem solving. The third step is measurement and evaluation. The experts agree that the ubiquitous scaffold learning environment using problem-based learning activities is highly appropriate.

Keywords: ubiquitous learning environment scaffolding, learning activities, problem-based learning, problem-solving skills, context awareness

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Authors: Mary Elenor Adagio, John Roben Ambas, Ramilyn Bertolano, Julie Ann Garcia

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Ecological Solid Waste Management has been a long-time concern in both national and international spheres. The exponential growth of waste generation is not properly matched with a waste management system that is cost-effective. As a result, governments and their communities within inevitably resort to the old ways of opening dumpsites to serve as a giant garbage bin. However, due to the environmental and public health problems these unmanaged dumpsites caused, countries like the Philippines mandated the closure of these dumpsites and converted them into or opened new sanitary landfills. This study aims to determine how the transition from open dumpsites to Solid Waste Management Facilities improve the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Framework of the government pursuant to Republic Act 9003. To test the hypothesis that the mandatory closure of dumpsites is better in the management of wastes in local government units, a review of related literature on analysis reports, news, and case studies was conducted. The results suggest that advocating for the transition of dumpsites to sanitary landfills would not only prevent environmental risks caused by pollution but also reduce problems regarding public health. Although this transition can be effective, data also show that with a lack of funding and resources, many local government units still find it difficult to provide their solid waste management plans and to adapt to the transition to sanitary landfills.

Keywords: solid waste management, environmental law, solid waste management facilities, open dumpsites

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Authors: Saliha Ozcan

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Technology has become an integral part of our lives, aiding individuals in accessing higher order competencies, such as global awareness, creativity, collaborative problem solving, and self-directed learning. Students need to acquire these competencies, often referred to as 21st century skills, in order to adapt to a fast changing world. Today, an ever-increasing number of schools are exploring how engagement through telecollaboration can support language learning and promote 21st century skill development in classrooms. However, little is known regarding how telecollaboration may influence the way students acquire 21st century skills. In this paper, we aim to shed light to the potential implications of telecollaborative practices in acquisition of 21st century skills. In our context, telecollaboration, which might be carried out in a variety of settings both synchronously or asynchronously, is considered as the process of communicating and working together with other people or groups from different locations through online digital tools or offline activities to co-produce a desired work output. The study presented here will describe and analyse the implementation of a telecollaborative project between two high school classes, one in Spain and the other in Sweden. The students in these classes were asked to carry out some joint activities, including creating an online platform, aimed at raising awareness of the situation of the Syrian refugees. We conduct a qualitative study in order to explore how language, culture, communication, and technology merge into the co-construction of knowledge, as well as supporting the attainment of the 21st century skills needed for network-mediated communication. To this end, we collected a significant amount of audio-visual data, including video recordings of classroom interaction and external Skype meetings. By analysing this data, we verify whether the initial pedagogical design and intended objectives of the telecollaborative project coincide with what emerges from the actual implementation of the tasks. Our findings indicate that, as well as planned activities, unplanned classroom interactions may lead to acquisition of certain 21st century skills, such as collaborative problem solving and self-directed learning. This work is part of a wider project (KONECT, EDU2013-43932-P; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance), which aims to explore innovative, cross-competency based teaching that can address the current gaps between today’s educational practices and the needs of informed citizens in tomorrow’s interconnected, globalised world.

Keywords: 21st century skills, telecollaboration, language learning, network mediated communication

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Authors: Apinya Mungaomklang, Natakamol Lookkham

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The purpose of this research is to study the characteristics of the graduates based on Thailand Qualification Framework (TQF) of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The population of the research was employers/entrepreneurs/supervisors of students who were doing Professional Experiences course in their respective organizations during semester 1/2012. Data were collected during the month of September 2012 from the total number of 100 people. The tool used in this research was a questionnaire developed by the research team. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean and standard deviation using a computer program. The results showed that most of the surveyed organizations were private companies. The program with most students doing Professional Experiences course was Safety Technology and Occupational Health. The nature of work that most students did was associated with the document. Employers/ entrepreneurs/employers’ opinions on the characteristics of the graduates based on TQF received high scores. Cognitive skills received the highest score, followed by interpersonal relationships and responsibilities, ethics and moral, numerical analysis skills, communication and information technology skills, and knowledge, respectively.

Keywords: graduates characteristics, Thailand Qualification Framework, employers, entrepreneurs

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed

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In this paper, flood issues in Gujranwala and Rawalpindi divisions are discussed as a primary importance as these zones are affected continuously from flooding in recent years, provincial variability of the issue, introduce status of the continuous administration measures, their adequacy and future needs in flood administration are secured. Flood issues in these zones are exhibited by Chenab River Basin, Jhelum Rivers Basin. Some unique problems, related to floods in these divisions is lack of major dams on Chenab and Jhelum rivers and also mismanagement of rivers and canal water like dam break stream, and water signing in Tal zones, are additionally mentioned. There are major Nalaas in these regions like Nalaa Lai of Rawalpindi and Nalaa Daik, Nalaa Palkhu, Nalaa Aik of Gujranwala are major cause of floods in these regions other than rivers. Proper management of these Nalaas and moving of nearby population well in time could reduce impacts from flood in these regions. Progress of different flood administration measures, both auxiliary and non-basic, are discussed. Likewise, future needs to accomplish proficient and fruitful flood management measures in Pakistan are additionally brought up. In this paper, we describe different hard and soft engineering techniques to overcome flood situations in these zones as these zones are more vulnerable due to lack of management in canal and river water. Effective management and use of hard and soft techniques are need of time in coming future for controlling greater flooding in flood risk zones to overcome or minimize people’s death as well as agricultural and financial resources as flood and other natural disasters are a major drawback in the economic prosperity of the country.

Keywords: flood management, rivers, major dams, agricultural and financial loss, future management and control

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Authors: Omran Alharbi, Victor Lally

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The advantages of the adoption of new technology such as learning management systems (LMSs) in education and teaching methods have been widely recognised. This has led a large number of universities to integrate this type of technology into their daily learning and teaching activities in order to facilitate the education process for both learners and teachers. On the other hand, in some developing countries such as Saudi Arabia, educators have seldom used this technology. As a result, this study was conducted in order to investigate the factors that impede teachers’ use of technology (LMSs) in their teaching in Saudi Arabian institutions. This study used a qualitative approach. Eight participants were invited to take part in this study, and they were asked to give their opinions about the most significant factors that prevented them from integrating technology into their daily activities. The results revealed that a lack of LMS skills, interest in and knowledge about the LMS among teachers were the most significant factors impeding them from using technology in their lessons. The participants suggested that incentive training should be provided to reduce these challenges.

Keywords: LMS, factors, KSA, teachers

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Authors: Magid Maatallah

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The problem is, investment management in modern conditions boils down to risk management which is very underdeveloped in Islamic financial theory and practice. Add to this the fact that, in Islamic perception, this is one of the areas of conventional finance in need of drastic reforms. This need was recently underlined by the story of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM ), ( told by Roger Lowenstein in his book, When Genius Failed, Random House, 2000 ). So we face a double challenge, to develop Islamic techniques of risk management and to see that these new techniques are free from the ills with which conventional methods are suffering. This is different from the challenge faced in the middle of twentieth century, to develop a method of financial intermediation free of interest.Risk was always there, especially in business. But industrialization brought risks unknown in trade and agriculture. Industrial production often involves long periods of time .The longer the period of production the more the uncertainty. The scope of the market has expanded to cover the whole world, introducing new kinds of risk. More than a thousand years ago, when Islamic laws were being written, the nature and scope of risk and uncertainty was different. However, something can still be learnt which, in combination with the modern experience, should enable us to realize the Shariah objectives of justice, fairness and efficiency.

Keywords: financial markets, Islamic framework, risk management, investment

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Authors: Hotlan Siagian, Han Tae Hee

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This study aims to examine the effect of supplier trust and top management involvement on the supply chain risk management through buyer-supplier relationship. The population of the research is 44 Korean companies domiciled in East and Central Java of Indonesia. The respondent consists of a top management level from each company. Data collection used a questionnaire designed with five-item Likert scale. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with SmartPLS software version 3.0 to examine the hypotheses. The result revealed that supplier trust has an effect on supply chain risk management, top management involvement affects supply chain risk management, supplier trust influences buyer-supplier relationship, top management involvement affects the buyer-supplier relationship, and buyer-supplier relationship affects supply chain risk management. The last finding is that buyer-supplier relationship empirically mediates the effect of supplier trust and top management involvement.

Keywords: buyer supplier relationship, supplier trust, supply chain risk management, top management involvement

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Authors: Monika Benedek

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This paper intends to present a pilot study of blended ear-training course at a Finnish university. The course ran for ten weeks and included both traditional (offline) group lessons for 90 minutes each week and an online learning platform. Twelve students majored in musicology and music education participated in the course. The aims of pilot research were to develop a new blended ear-training course at university level, to determine the ideal amount of workload in each part of the blended instruction (offline and online) and to develop the course material. The course material was selected from the Classical period in order to develop students’ aural skills together with their stylistic knowledge. Students were asked to provide written feedback of the course content and learning approaches of face-to-face group lessons and online learning platform each week during the course. Therefore, the teaching material is continuously planned for each week. This qualitative data collection and weekly analysis of data are on progress. However, based on the teacher-researcher’s experiences and the students’ feedback already collected, it could be seen that the blended instruction would be an ideal teaching strategy for ear-trainging at the music programmes of universities to develop students’ aural skills and stylistic knowledge. It is also presumed that such blended instruction with less workload would already improve university students’ aural skills and related musicianship skills. The preliminary findings of research also indicated that students generally found those ear-training tasks the most useful to learn online that combined listening, singing, singing and playing an instrument. This paper intends to summarise the final results of the pilot study.

Keywords: blended-learning, ear-training, higher music education, online-learning, pilot study

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Authors: Sima Hajiazizi

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Tehran is a capital of Iran, with the capitals of the world to natural disasters such as earthquake and flood vulnerable has known. City has stated on three faults, Ray, Mosha, and north according to report of JICA in 2000, the most casualties and destruction was the result of active fault Ray. In 2003, the prevention and management of crisis in Tehran to conduct prevention and rehabilitation of the city, under the Ministry has active. Given the breadth and lack of appropriate access in the city, was considered decentralized management for crisis management support, in each region, in order to position the crisis management headquarters at the time of crises and implementation of programs for prevention and education of the citizens and also to position the bases given in some areas of the neighboring provinces at the time of the accident for help and a number of databases to store food and equipment needed at the time of the disaster. In this study, the bases for one, six, nine and eleven regions of Tehran in the field of management and training are evaluated. Selected areas had local accident and experience of practice for disaster management and local training has been experiencing challenges. The research approach was used qualitative research methods underlying Ground theory. At first, the information obtained through the study of documents and Semi-structured interviews by administrators, officials of training and participant observation in the classroom, line by line, and then it was coded in two stages, by comparing and questioning concepts, categories and extract according to the indicators is obtained from literature studies, subjects were been central. Main articles according to the frequency and importance of the phenomenon were called and they were drawn diagram paradigm and at the end with the intersections phenomena and their causes with indicators extracted from the texts, approach each phenomenon and the effectiveness of the bases was measured. There are two phenomenons in management; 1. The inability to manage the vast and complex crisis events and to resolve minor incidents due to the mismatch between managers. 2. Weaknesses in the implementation of preventive measures and preparedness to manage crisis is causal of situations, fields and intervening. There are five phenomenons in the field of education; 1. In the six-region participation and interest is high. 2. In eleven-region training partnerships for crisis management were to low that next by maneuver in schools and local initiatives such as advertising and use of aid groups have increased. 3. In nine-region, contributions to education in the area of crisis management at the beginning were low that initiatives like maneuver in schools and communities to stimulate and increase participation have increased sensitivity. 4. Managers have been disagreement with the same training in all areas. Finally for the issues that are causing the main issues, with the help of concepts extracted from the literature, recommendations are provided.

Keywords: crises management, crisis management support bases, vulnerability, crisis management headquarters, prevention

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Authors: Sultana Razia

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The number of children whose social, communication and behavior pattern is affected due to mental and developmental conditions is on the rise. Most of these conditions develop to uncontrollable levels because of ignorance and unaware about their child’s condition. The many myths surrounding mental or developmental conditions are a major cause of families of affected children to develop bitterness and to shy off from seeking appropriate help in time. Several early intervention programs have been put in place, and the number of beneficiaries of these programs is increasing by the day. This research seeks to look into early intervention programs and their effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of early therapeutic intervention for the children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were 140 children with autism spectrum disorder from Autism Corner in a selected rehabilitation center of Bangladesh. This study included children who are at age of 18-month to 36-month and who were taking occupational therapy and speech and language therapy from the autism center. They were primarily screened using M-CHAT; however, children with other physical disability or medical conditions excluded. 3-months interventions of 6 sessions per week are a minimum of 45-minutes long per session, one to one interaction followed by parent-led structured home-based therapy were provided. The results indicated that early intensive therapeutic intervention improve understanding, social skills and sensory skills. It can be concluded that therapeutic early intervention a positive effect on diminishing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Keywords: M-CHAT, ASD, sensory cheeklist, OT

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Authors: Megan E. Davies

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As substance use become an increasing prevalent occurrence amongst young people, prevention programs designed specifically for children and adolescents are required to protect against associated cognitive, psychological, and behavioural issues. Further, young people from marginalized backgrounds would highly benefit from culturally adapted substance use prevention programs. The first and second phase of the Life Skills Training (LST) program, the Maskwacis Life Skills Training (MLST) program, the Bii-Zin-Da-De-Da (BZDDD; “Listening to One Another”), and a culturally sensitive smoking prevention program, all of which have been adapted to Canadian Indigenous cultures and are applied within the school and family settings, are discussed. Additionally, comorbid disorders, at-risk personality types, and motivating factors associated with substance use amongst Canadian children and adolescents, specifically Indigenous youth, are explored through the application of a biopsychosocial model. Requital efforts being made in Canada towards Indigenous communities are described within a historical context, and substance use prevention programs targeting Indigenous children and adolescents are compared. Through this lens, suggestions are presented for future research on preventative interventions directed towards substance use within minority groups.

Keywords: early intervention, cultural appropriateness, life skills training, smoking prevention, drug and alcohol prevention

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Authors: Evgeniya Ivanova

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Nowadays, in the literature, there is still no fixed definition of knowledge management that often remains only as an academic discipline. The current market situation is changing very quickly, the need of new technologies is high, and knowledge management is the area that ensures that the know-how has not been lost during market development and adoption. The study examines how knowledge management is being leveraged and practiced in the management consultancy companies and provides not only the tips and best practices of applied knowledge management approaches but also the validation matrix for its successful or unsuccessful implementation. Different knowledge management approaches are explored on the basis of their practical implementation, including related challenges, knowledge sharing process, and barriers that are typical for consulting firms mostly driven by the agile working culture. The relevance of proposed topic is confirmed by the finding that corporate working culture and the exponentially developing technologies have a direct impact on the success of practical implementation of knowledge management.

Keywords: knowledge management, knowledge management in practice, consulting firm, knowledge management success

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Authors: Kari Bjorn

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Team learning has been studied and modeled as double loop model and its variations. Also, metacognition has been suggested as a concept to describe the nature of team learning to be more than a simple sum of individual learning of the team members. Team learning has a positive correlation with both individual motivation of its members, as well as the collective factors within the team. Team learning of previously very independent members of two teaching teams is analyzed. Applied Science Universities are training future professionals with ever more diversified and multidisciplinary skills. The size of the units of teaching and learning are increasingly larger for several reasons. First, multi-disciplinary skill development requires more active learning and richer learning environments and learning experiences. This occurs on students teams. Secondly, teaching of multidisciplinary skills requires a multidisciplinary and team-based teaching from the teachers as well. Team formation phases have been identifies and widely accepted. Team role stress has been analyzed in project teams. Projects typically have a well-defined goal and organization. This paper explores team stress of two teacher teams in a parallel running two course units in engineering education. The first is an Industrial Automation Technology and the second is Development of Medical Devices. The courses have a separate student group, and they are in different campuses. Both are run in parallel within 8 week time. Both of them are taught by a group of four teachers with several years of teaching experience, but individually. The team role stress scale items - the survey is done to both teaching groups at the beginning of the course and at the end of the course. The inventory of questions covers the factors of ambiguity, conflict, quantitative role overload and qualitative role overload. Some comparison to the study on project teams can be drawn. Team development stage of the two teaching groups is different. Relating the team role stress factors to the development stage of the group can reveal the potential of management actions to promote team building and to understand the maturity of functional and well-established teams. Mature teams indicate higher job satisfaction and deliver higher performance. Especially, teaching teams who deliver highly intangible results of learning outcome are sensitive to issues in the job satisfaction and team conflicts. Because team teaching is increasing, the paper provides a review of the relevant theories and initial comparative and longitudinal results of the team role stress factors applied to teaching teams.

Keywords: engineering education, stress, team role, team teaching

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Authors: Michelle Bulawan, Mei-Hua Chen

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Reading comprehension is crucial for acquiring information, analyzing critically, and achieving academic proficiency. However, there is a lack of growth in reading comprehension skills beyond fourth grade. The developmental shift from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" occurs around this stage. Factual knowledge and diverse views in articles enhance reading comprehension abilities. Nevertheless, some face difficulties due to evolving textual requirements, such as expanding vocabulary and using longer, more complex terminology. Most research on reading strategies has been conducted at the tertiary and secondary levels, while few have focused on the elementary levels. Furthermore, the use of character, ask, problem, solution (CAPS) charts in teaching reading has also been hardly explored. Thus, the researcher decided to explore the facilitation of active reading strategies through the CAPS chart and address the following research questions: a) What differences existed in elementary EFL learners' reading competency among those who engaged in active reading strategies and those who did not? b) What are the learners’ metacognitive skills of those who engage in active reading strategies and those who do not, and what are their effects on their reading competency? c) For those participants who engage in active reading activities, what are their perceptions about incorporating active reading activities into their English classroom learning? Two groups of elementary EFL learners, each with 18 students of the same level of English proficiency, participated in this study. Group A served as the control group, while Group B served as the experimental group. Two teachers also participated in this research; one of them was the researcher who handled the experimental group. The treatment lasts for one whole semester or seventeen weeks. In addition to the CAPS chart, the researcher also used the metacognitive awareness of reading strategy inventory (MARSI) and a ten-item, five-point Likert scale survey.

Keywords: active reading, EFL learners, metacognitive skills, reading competency, student’s perception

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Authors: Dimitri Golenko-Ginzburg

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A CPM network project with deterministic activity durations, in which activities require homogenous resources with fixed capacities, is considered. The problem is to determine the optimal schedule of starting times for all network activities within their maximal allowable limits (in order not to exceed the network's critical time) to minimize the maximum required resources for the project at any point in time. In case when a non-critical activity may start only at discrete moments with the pregiven time span, the problem becomes NP-complete and an optimal solution may be obtained via a look-over algorithm. For the case when a look-over requires much computational time an approximate algorithm is suggested. The algorithm's performance ratio, i.e., the relative accuracy error, is determined. Experimentation has been undertaken to verify the suggested algorithm.

Keywords: resource smoothing problem, CPM network, lookover algorithm, lexicographical order, approximate algorithm, accuracy estimate

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Authors: Keng Keh Lim, Zaleha Ismail, Yudariah Mohammad Yusof

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This paper aims to find out how students using convergent and divergent thinking in creative problem solving to solve mathematical problems creatively. Eight engineering undergraduates in a local university took part in this study. They were divided into two groups. They solved the mathematical problems with the use of creative problem solving skills. Their solutions were collected and analyzed to reveal all the processes of problem solving, namely: problem definition, ideas generation, ideas evaluation, ideas judgment, and solution implementation. The result showed that the students were able to solve the mathematical problem with the use of creative problem solving skills.

Keywords: convergent thinking, divergent thinking, creative problem solving, creativity

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Authors: Eda Üstünel, Seval Karacabey

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The students, who are enrolled in German Preparatory Language Programme at the School of Foreign Languages, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey, learn German as a foreign language for two semesters in an academic year. Although the language programme is a skills-based one, the students lack German speaking skills due to their fear of making language mistakes while speaking in German. This problem of incompetency in German speaking skills exists also in their four-year departmental study at the Faculty of Education. In order to address this problem we design German speaking activities, which are extra-curricular activities. With the help of these activities, we aim to lead Turkish students of German language to speak in the target language, to improve their speaking skills in the target language and to create a stress-free atmosphere and a meaningful learning environment to communicate in the target language. In order to achieve these aims, an ERASMUS+ exchange staff (a German trainee teacher of German as a foreign language), who is from Schwabisch Gmünd University, Germany, conducted out-of-class German speaking activities once a week for three weeks in total. Each speaking activity is lasted for one and a half hour per week. 7 volunteered students of German preparatory language programme attended the speaking activity for three weeks. The activity took place at a cafe in the university campus, that’s the reason, we call it as an out-of-class activity. The content of speaking activity is not related to the topics studied at the units of coursebook, that’s the reason, we call this activity as extra-curricular one. For data collection, three tools are used. A questionnaire, which is an adapted version of Sabo’s questionnaire, is applied to seven volunteers. An interview session is then held with each student on individual basis. The interview questions are developed so as to ask students to expand their answers that are given at the questionnaires. The German trainee teacher wrote fieldnotes, in which the teacher described the activity in the light of her thoughts about what went well and which areas were needed to be improved. The results of questionnaires show that six out of seven students note that such an acitivity must be conducted by a native speaker of German. Four out of seven students emphasize that they like the way that the activities are designed in a learner-centred fashion. All of the students point out that they feel motivated to talk to the trainee teacher in German. Six out of seven students note that the opportunity to communicate in German with the teacher and the peers enable them to improve their speaking skills, the use of grammatical rules and the use of vocabulary.

Keywords: Learning a Foreign Language, Speaking Skills, Teaching German as a Foreign Language, Turkish Learners of German Language

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Authors: Moet Moet Myint Lay

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Continuing professional development involves acquiring new knowledge and skills for current work and improving career opportunities in the field through continuing education (OECD, 2000). This article examines the effectiveness of CPD in improving teacher quality and the resulting need for CPD for teacher educators in Myanmar. The purpose of this study is to explore a deeper understanding of teacher-to-teacher continuing professional development in improving teacher education programs. Research questions: (1) How do teachers in Myanmar understand the idea of continuous professional development for professional development? (2) What CPD activities are required for all teachers in teachers' colleges? (3) What are the main challenges of CPD implementation in Myanmar Education College? A qualitative method using semi-structured interviews was used in this study. Seven teacher educators from Mandalay Education College participated in this study. There are three male teacher educators and four female teacher educators. All participants who responded to the semi-structured interviews were between 29 and 45 years old.The interviews revealed that professional development involves acquiring the necessary pedagogical knowledge and skills to encourage students to think creatively and critically. Teachers must participate in a variety of activities, including professional interviews, lesson study, training programs, workshops, and seminars. All results showed that teachers need English and ICT skills for teaching and learning, including extended ICT courses for those who have completed a foundation course, access to e-libraries, and inclusive education (including language teaching and learning), facilitate the assessment (formative and summative), practicum, mentoring, and coaching skills. The study concludes with practical findings that suggest an urgent need for CPD activities for teachers.

Keywords: continuous professional development, teacher educator, teacher training program), mentoring

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Authors: Ilana Margalith, Adaya Meirowitz, Sigalit Cohavi

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Violence against health professionals by patients and their families have recently become a disturbing phenomenon worldwide, exacting psychological as well as economic tolls. Health workplaces in Israel (e.g. hospitals and H.M.O clinics) provide workshops for their employees, supplying them with coping strategies. However, these workshops do not focus on nursing students, who are also subjected to this violence. Their learning environment is no longer as protective as it used to be. Furthermore, coping with violence was not part of the curriculum for Israeli nursing students. Thus, based on human aggression theories which depict the pivotal role of the professional's correct response in preventing the onset of an aggressive response or the escalation of violence, a workshop was developed for undergraduate nursing students at the Clalit Nursing Academy, Rabin Campus (Dina), Israel. The workshop aimed at reducing students' anxiety vis a vis the aggressive patient or family in addition to strengthening their ability to cope with such situations. The students practiced interpersonal skills, especially relevant to early detection of potential violence, as well as ‘a correct response’ reaction to the violence, thus developing the necessary steps to be implemented when encountering violence in the workplace. In order to assess the efficiency of the workshop, the participants filled out a questionnaire comprising knowledge and self-efficacy scales. Moreover, the replies of the 23 participants in this workshop were compared with those of 24 students who attended a standard course on interpersonal communication. Students' self-efficacy and knowledge were measured in both groups before and after the course. A statistically significant interaction was found between group (workshop/standard course) and time (before/after) as to the influence on students' self-efficacy (p=0.004) and knowledge (p=0.007). Nursing students, who participated in this ‘coping with workplace violence’ workshop, gained knowledge, confidence and a sense of self-efficacy with regard to workplace violence. Early detection of signs of imminent violence amongst patients or families and the prevention of its escalation, as well as the ability to manage the threatening situation when occurring, are acquired skills. Encouraging nursing students to learn and practice these skills may enhance their ability to cope with these unfortunate occurrences.

Keywords: early detection of violence, nursing students, patient aggression, self-efficacy, workplace violence

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Authors: Kamonwat Suksumek, Seeronk Prichanont

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Access block refers to the situation where Emergency Department (ED) patients requiring hospital admission spend an unreasonable holding time in an ED because their access to a ward is blocked by the full utilization of the ward’s beds. Not only it delays the proper treatments required by the patients, but access block is also the cause of ED’s overcrowding. Clearly, access block is an inter-departmental problem that needs to be brought to management’s attention. This paper focuses on the analysis of strategies to address the access block problem, both in the operational and intermediate levels. These strategies were analyzed through a simulation model with a real data set from a university hospital in Thailand. The paper suggests suitable variable levels for each strategy so that the management will make the final decisions.

Keywords: access block, emergency department, health system analysis, simulation

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Authors: Ibrahim Alkandi

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This study aims at understanding how banks can utilize their resources and capabilities to achieve a competitive advantage. The resource-based approach has been applied to assess the resources and capabilities as well as how the management perceives them as sources of competitive advantages. A quantitative approach was implemented using cross-sectional data. The research population consisted of Top managers in financial companies in Saudi Arabia, and the sample comprised 79 managers. The resources were sub divided into tangible and intangible. Among the variables that will be assessed in the research include propriety rights, trademark which is the brand, communication as well as organizational culture. To achieve the objective of the research, Multivariate analysis through multiple regression was used. The research tool used is a questionnaire whose validity is also assessed. According to the results of the study, there is a significant relationship between bank’s performance and the strategic management of propriety rights, trademark, administrative and financial skills as well as bank culture. Therefore, the research assessed four aspects, among the variables in the model, in relation to the strategic performance of these banks. The aspects considered were trademark, communication, administrative and leadership style as well as the company’s culture. Hence, this paper contributes to the body of literature by providing empirical evidence of the resources influencing both banks’ market and economic performance.

Keywords: competitive advantage, Saudi banks, strategic management, RBV

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Authors: Adrian Florin Busu

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The communicative approach, or communicative language teaching, used for enhancing communicative skills in students in automatics is a modern teaching approach based on the concept of learning a language through having to communicate real meaning. In the communicative approach, real communication is both the objective of learning and the means through which it takes place. This approach was initiated during the 1970’s and quickly became prominent, as it proposed an alternative to the previous systems-oriented approaches. In other words, instead of focusing on the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary, the communicative approach aims at developing students’ competence to communicate in the target language with an enhanced focus on real-life situations. To put it in an nutshell, CLT considers using the language to be just as important as actually learning the language.

Keywords: communication, approach, objective, learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 148