Search results for: leadership skills

Authors: Hazem M. El-Bakry, Ahmed A. Saleh, Taghreed T. Asfour

Abstract:

Adaptive e-learning today gives the student a central role in his own learning process. It allows learners to try things out, participate in courses like never before, and get more out of learning than before. In this paper, an adaptive e-learning model for logic design, simplification of Boolean functions and related fields is presented. Such model presents suitable courses for each student in a dynamic and adaptive manner using existing database and workflow technologies. The main objective of this research work is to provide an adaptive e-learning model based learners' personality using explicit and implicit feedback. To recognize the learner-s, we develop dimensions to decide each individual learning style in order to accommodate different abilities of the users and to develop vital skills. Thus, the proposed model becomes more powerful, user friendly and easy to use and interpret. Finally, it suggests a learning strategy and appropriate electronic media that match the learner-s preference.

Keywords: Adaptive learning, Learning styles, Teaching strategies.

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Authors: Antti Pirhonen, Minna Silvennoinen

Abstract:

The only relevant basis for the design of an educational application are objectives of learning for the content area. This study analyses the process in which the real – not only the formal – objectives could work as the starting point for the construction of an educational game. The application context is the education of perioperative nursing. The process is based on the panel discussions of nursing teachers. In the panels, the teachers elaborated the objectives. The transcribed discussions were analysed in terms of the conceptions of learning and teaching of perioperative nursing. The outcome of the study is first the elaborated objectives, which will be used in the implementation of an educational game for the needs of pre-, intra and post-operative nursing skills learning. Second, the study shows that different views of learning are necessary to be understood in order to design an appropriate educational application.

Keywords: Perioperative nursing, conceptions of learning, educational applications.

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Authors: Omid Noroozi

Abstract:

Digital dialogue games have opened up opportunities for learning skills by engaging students in complex problem solving that mimic real world situations, without importing unwanted constraints and risks of the real world. Digital dialogue games can be motivating and engaging to students for fun, creative thinking, and learning. This study explored how undergraduate students engage with argumentative discourse activities which have been designed to intensify debate. A pre-test, post-test design was used with students who were assigned to groups of four and asked to debate a controversial topic with the aim of exploring various 'pros and cons' on the 'Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)'. Findings reveal that the Digital dialogue game can facilitate argumentation-based learning. The digital Dialogue game was also evaluated positively in terms of students’ satisfaction and learning experiences.

Keywords: Argumentation, dialogue, digital game, learning, motivation.

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Authors: Maria Mădălina Gîrbină, Nadia Albu, Cătălin Nicolae Albu

Abstract:

This study realizes an empirical investigation of main factors to develop an accounting career, stereotypes on accountants and accounting and perceptions on future career path for a sample of master students in accounting. The research provides some insight into what master students consider when choosing their future career paths. The most important two reasons chosen by students were “career opportunities" and “future earnings. They see accounting as structured, governed by conformity, requiring skills in working with numbers, monotonous, accurate, more efficient than effective but also absorbing, interesting and involving a certain degree of novelty. Although these students plan to start their careers in a multinational or accounting/audit firm, most of those plan to leave after five years. It resulted that women value more flexibility and time requiring special attention in retention policies practiced by firms.

Keywords: Accounting career, students' perception, stereotypes.

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Authors: Philippe Fauquet-Alekhine

Abstract:

For professions of high risk industries, simulation training has always been thought in terms of high degree of fidelity regarding the real operational situation. Due to the recent progress, this way of training is changing, modifying the human-computer and software interactions: the interactions between trainees during simulation training session tend to become virtual, transforming the social-based embodiness (the way subjects integrate social skills for interpersonal relationship with co-workers). On the basis of the analysis of eight different profession trainings, a categorization of interactions has help to produce an analytical tool, the social interactions table. This tool may be very valuable to point out the changes of social interactions when the training sessions are skipping from a high fidelity simulator to a virtual simulator. In this case, it helps the designers of professional training to analyze and to assess the consequences of the potential lack the social-based embodiness.

Keywords: Interface, interaction, simulator, virtual training.

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Authors: Kailash, Rajeev Kumar Saha, Sanjeev Goyal

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Each and every manufacturing industry has a goal that describes its purpose and destination. The goal of any industry may be achieved by team work and managerial skills of all departments. However, achieving goals and objectives is not enough to improve the internal supply chain management performance of manufacturing industries therefore proper identification of performance indicators for benchmarking of internal supply chain management is essential for the growth of manufacturing industry. The identification of benchmarking performance indicators and their impact on internal supply chain management performance is vital for productivity and performance improvement. This study identifies the benchmarking performance indicators to improve internal supply chain performance of Indian manufacturing industries through literature review.

Keywords: Benchmarking, Internal supply chain management, performance indicators, scenario of Indian manufacturing industries.

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Authors: Kam-moon Liu, Kwok-chi Chim, Kwok-wai Chung, Daniel Wing-cheong Ho

Abstract:

Students often adopt routine practicing as learning strategy for mathematics. The reason is they are often bound and trained to solving conventional-typed questions in Mathematics in high school. This will be problematic if students further consolidate this practice in university. Therefore, the Department of Mathematics emphasized and integrated the Discovery-enriched approach in the undergraduate curriculum. This paper presents the details of implementing the Discovery-enriched Curriculum by providing adequate platform for project-learning, expertise for guidance and internship opportunities for students majoring in Mathematics. The Department also provided project-learning opportunities to mathematics courses targeted for students majoring in other science or engineering disciplines. The outcome is promising: the research ability and problem solving skills of students are enhanced.

Keywords: Discovery-enriched curriculum, higher education, mathematics education, project learning.

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Authors: Raja Kannusamy

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The research focuses on the applicable technologies in the automobile industry and their effects on the productivity and annual revenue of the industry. A study has been conducted on six major automobile manufacturing industries represented in this research as M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6. The results indicate that M1, which is a pioneer in technological applications, remains the market leader, followed by M5 and M2 taking the second and third positions, respectively. M3, M6 and M4 are the followers and are placed next in positions. It has also been observed that M1 and M2 have entered into an agreement to share the basic structural technologies and they maintain long-term and trusted relationships with their suppliers through the Keiretsu system. With technological giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Uber and Google entering the automobile industry in recent years, an upward trend is expected in the futuristic market with self-driving cars to dominate the automobile sector. To keep up with the market trend, it is essential for automobile manufacturers to understand the importance of developing technological capabilities and skills to be competitive in the marketplace.

Keywords: automobile manufacturing industries, competitiveness, performance improvement, technological applications

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Authors: Phong Tran

Abstract:

A research effort to find the reality of the business of Japan-s software globalization of enterprise-level business software systems has found that while the number of Japan-made enterpriselevel software systems is comparable with those of the other G7 countries, the business is limited to the East and Southeast Asian markets. This indicates that this business has a problem in the European and USA markets. Based on the knowledge that the research has established, the research concludes that the communication problems arise from the lack of individualists' communication styles and foreign language skills in Japan's software globalization is compensated by similarities in certain Japanese cultural factors and Japan's cultural power in the East and Southeast Asian markets and that this business does not have this compensation factor in the European and American markets due to dissimilarities and no cultural power.

Keywords: Cultural factors, global business, Japan, software globalization.

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Authors: Yingying Ding

Abstract:

This study presents a methodology of specialized translation with the objective of helping teachers to improve the strategies in teaching translation. In order to allow students to acquire skills to translate specialized texts, they need to become familiar with the semantic and syntactic features of source texts and target texts. The aim of our study is to use a corpus-based approach in the teaching of specialized translation between Chinese and Italian. This study proposes to construct a specialized Chinese - Italian comparable corpus that consists of 50 economic contracts from the domain of food. With the help of AntConc, we propose to compile a comparable corpus in for translation teaching purposes. This paper attempts to provide insight into how teachers could benefit from comparable corpus in the teaching of specialized translation from Italian into Chinese and through some examples of passive sentences how students could learn to apply different strategies for translating appropriately the voice.

Keywords: Corpus-based approach, translation teaching, specialized translation.

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Authors: Wanida Suwunniponth

Abstract:

The objectives of this research were to study the influencing factors that contributed to the success of e-collaborative in e-commerce of B2C (Business to Customer) business in Bangkok, Thailand. The influencing factors included organization, people, information technology and the process of e-collaborative. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 small e-commerce businesses and the path analysis was utilized as the tool for data analysis. By using the path analysis, it was revealed that the factors concerning with organization, people and information technology played an influence on e-collaborative process and the success of ecollaborative, whereas the process of e-collaborative factor manipulated its success. The findings suggested that B2C ecommerce business in Thailand should opt in improvement approach in terms of managerial structure, leaderships, staff’s skills and knowledge, and investment of information technology in order to capacitate higher efficiency of e-collaborative process that would result in profit and competitive advantage.

Keywords: E-collaborative, E-commerce, B2C.

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Authors: Yi-an Cui, Lu Wang, Jian-ping Xiao

Abstract:

This paper presents an automatic feature recognition method based on center-surround difference detecting and fuzzy logic that can be applied in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) image processing. Adopted center-surround difference method, the salient local image regions are extracted from the GPR images as features of detected objects. And fuzzy logic strategy is used to match the detected features and features in template database. This way, the problem of objects detecting, which is the key problem in GPR image processing, can be converted into two steps, feature extracting and matching. The contributions of these skills make the system have the ability to deal with changes in scale, antenna and noises. The results of experiments also prove that the system has higher ratio of features sensing in using GPR to image the subsurface structures.

Keywords: feature recognition, GPR image, matching strategy, salient image

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Authors: Waralak Vongdoiwang Siricharoen, Nattanun Siricharoen

Abstract:

The objectives of this study are to determine the role of media that influence the values, attitudes and behaviors of Thai youths. Analytical qualitative research techniques were used for this purpose. Data collection based techniques was used which were individual interviews and focus group discussions with journalists, sample of high school and university students, and parents. The results show that “Social Media" is still the most popular media for Thai youths. It is also still in the hands of the marketing business and it can motivate Thai youths to do so many things. The main reasons of media exposure are to find quality information that they want quickly, get satisfaction and can use social media to get more exciting and to build communities. They believe that the need for media and information literacy skills is defined as making judgments, personal integrity, training of family and the behavior of close friends.

Keywords: Media and Information Literacy, Making Judgments, Personal integrity, Behavior of close friends

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Authors: Wondwosen Teshome

Abstract:

It is impossible to think about democracy without elections. The litmus test of any electoral process in any country is the possibility of a one time minority to become a majority at another time and a peaceful transition of power. In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa though the multi-party elections appeared to be competitive they failed the acid test of democracy: peaceful regime change in a free and fair election. Failure to solve electoral disputes might lead to bloody electoral conflicts as witnessed in many emerging democracies in Africa. The aim of this paper is to investigate electoral conflicts in Africa since the end of the Cold War by using the 2005 post-election violence in Ethiopia as a case study. In Ethiopia, the coming to power of the EPRDF in 1991 marked the fall of the Derg dictatorial military government and the beginning of a multi-party democracy. The country held multi-party parliamentary elections in 1995, 2000, and 2005 where the ruling EPRDF party “won" the elections through violence, involving intimidation, manipulation, detentions of political opponents, torture, and political assassinations. The 2005 electoral violence was the worst electoral violence in the country-s political history that led to the death of 193 protestors and the imprisonment of more than 40, 000 people. It is found out that the major causes of the 2005 Ethiopian election were the defeat of the ruling party in the election and its attempt to reverse the poll results by force; the Opposition-s lack of decisive leadership; the absence of independent courts and independent electoral management body; and the ruling party-s direct control over the army and police.

Keywords: Africa, Ethiopia, Election, Electoral violence, NEBE.

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Authors: Christin Tønseth

Abstract:

The Norwegian ‘knowledge promotion reform’ was implemented in elementary schools and upper secondary schools in 2006. The goal of the reform was that all pupils should develop basic skills and competencies in order to take an active part in the knowledge society. This paper discusses how governmentality as a management principle is demonstrated through the Norwegian ‘knowledge promotion reform’. Evaluation reports and political documents are the basis for the discussion. The ‘knowledge promotion reform’ was including quality assurance for schools, teachers, and students and the authorities retained control by using curricula and national tests. The reform promoted several intentions that were not reached. In light of governmentality, it seemed that thoughts and intentions by the authorities differed from those in the world of practice. The quality assurances did not motivate the practitioners to be self-governing. The relationship between the authorities and the implementation actors was weak, and the reform was, therefore, difficult to implement in practice.

Keywords: Education politics, governance, governmentality, the Norwegian knowledge promotion reform.

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Authors: Juan-Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro, Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Denise Bedford

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This paper provides guidelines for what constitutes a knowledge worker. Many graduates from non-managerial domains adopt, at some point in their professional careers, management roles at different levels, ranging from team leaders through to executive leadership. This is particularly relevant for professionals from an engineering background. Moving from a technical to an executive-level requires an understanding of those behaviour management techniques that can motivate and support individuals and their performance. Further, the transition to management also demands a shift of contextual enablers from tangible to intangible resources, which allows individuals to create new capacities, competencies, and capabilities. In this dynamic process, the knowledge worker becomes that key individual who can help members of the management board to transform information into relevant knowledge. However, despite its relevance in shaping the future of the organization in its transition to the knowledge economy, the role of a knowledge worker has not yet been studied to an appropriate level in the current literature. In this study, the authors review both the contextual enablers and behaviour outputs related to the role of the knowledge worker and relate these to their ability to deal with everyday management issues such as knowledge heterogeneity, varying motivations, information overload, or outdated information. This study highlights that the aggregate of capacities, competences and capabilities (CCCs) can be defined as knowledge structures, the study proposes several contextual enablers and behaviour outputs that knowledge workers can use to work cooperatively, acquire, distribute and knowledge. Therefore, this study contributes to a better comprehension of how CCCs can be managed at different levels through their contextual enablers and behaviour outputs.

Keywords: Knowledge workers, capacities, competences, capabilities, knowledge structures.

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Authors: G. Lingam, N. Lingam, K. Raghuwaiya

Abstract:

In Fiji, notable among the recent spate of educational reforms has been the Ministry of Education’s (MoEs) requirement that all schools undertake a process of school strategic planning. This preliminary study explores perceptions of a sample of Fijian teachers on the way this exercise has been conducted in their schools. The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data indicates that school leaders’ lack of knowledge and skills in school strategic planning is a major limitation. As an unsurprising consequence, the process(es) schools adopted did not conform to what the literature suggests as best planning practices. School leaders need more training to ensure they are better prepared to carry out this strategic planning effectively, especially in widening the opportunities for all who have a stake in education to contribute to the process. Implications of the findings are likely to be pertinent to other developing contexts within and beyond the Pacific region for the training of school leaders to ensure they are better equipped to orchestrate and benefit from educational reforms thrust upon them.

Keywords: School Strategic Planning, educational reforms.

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Authors: Y. Benjelloun Touimi, N. Faddouli, S. Bennani, M. Khalidi Idrissi

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The pedagogy project has been proven as an active learning method, which is used to develop learner-s skills and knowledge.The use of technology in the learning world, has filed several gaps in the implementation of teaching methods, and online evaluation of learners. However, the project methodology presents challenges in the assessment of learners online. Indeed, interoperability between E-learning platforms (LMS) is one of the major challenges of project-based learning assessment. Firstly, we have reviewed the characteristics of online assessment in the context of project-based teaching. We addressed the constraints encountered during the peer evaluation process. Our approach is to propose a meta-model, which will describe a language dedicated to the conception of peer assessment scenario in project-based learning. Then we illustrate our proposal by an instantiation of the meta-model through a business process in a scenario of collaborative assessment on line.

Keywords: Online project based learning, meta-model, peer assessment process.

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Authors: Yun-Husan Huang

Abstract:

Many English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks are distributed globally as the content development is often obliged to compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands. Therefore, the issue of regional application and usefulness of globally published ESP textbooks has received much debate. For ESP instructors, textbook selection is definitely a priority consideration for curriculum design. An appropriate ESP textbook can facilitate teaching and learning, while an inappropriate one may cause a disaster for both teachers and students. This study aims to investigate the regional application and usefulness of an ESP textbook for information technology (IT). Participants were 51 sophomores majoring in Applied Informatics and Multimedia at a university in Taiwan. As they were non-English majors, their English proficiency was mostly at elementary and elementary-to-intermediate levels. This course was offered for two semesters. The textbook selected was Oxford English for Information Technology. At class end, the students were required to complete a survey comprising five choices of Very Easy, Easy, Neutral, Difficult, and Very Difficult for each item. Based on the content design of the textbook, the survey investigated how the students viewed the difficulty of grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials of the textbook. In terms of difficulty, results reveal that only 22% of them found the grammar section difficult and very difficult. For listening, 71% responded difficult and very difficult. For general reading, 55% responded difficult and very difficult. For speaking, 56% responded difficult and very difficult. For writing, 78% responded difficult and very difficult. For advanced reading, 90% reported difficult and very difficult. These results indicate that, except the grammar section, more than half of the students found the textbook contents difficult in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Such contradictory results between the easy grammar section and the difficult four language skills sections imply that the textbook designers do not well understand the English learning background of regional ESP learners. For the participants, the learning contents of the grammar section were the general grammar level of junior high school, while the learning contents of the four language skills sections were more of the levels of college English majors. Implications from the findings are obtained for instructors and textbook designers. First of all, existing ESP textbooks for IT are few and thus textbook selections for instructors are insufficient. Second, existing globally published textbooks for IT cannot be applied to learners of all English proficiency levels, especially the low level. With limited textbook selections, third, instructors should modify the selected textbook contents or supplement extra ESP materials to meet the proficiency level of target learners. Fourth, local ESP publishers should collaborate with local ESP instructors who understand best the learning background of their students in order to develop appropriate ESP textbooks for local learners. Even though the instructor reduced learning contents and simplified tests in curriculum design, in conclusion, the students still found difficult. This implies that in addition to the instructor’s professional experience, there is a need to understand the usefulness of the textbook from learner perspectives.

Keywords: ESP textbooks, ESP materials, ESP textbook design, learner perspectives on ESP textbooks.

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Authors: Tai-Hwa Emily Lu

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This study was a part of the three-year longitudinal research on setting up an math learning model for the disadvantaged students in Taiwan. A target 2nd grade class with 10 regular students and 6 disadvantaged students at a disadvantaged area in Taipei participated in this study. Two units of a market basal math textbook concerning fractions, three-dimensional figures, weight and capacity were adapted to enhance their math learning motivations, confidences and effects. The findings were (1) curriculum adaptation was effective on enhancing students- learning motivations, confidences and effects; (2) story-type problems and illustrations decreased difficulties on understanding math language for students from new immigrant families and students with special needs; (3) “concrete – semiconcrete – abstract" teaching strategies and hands-on activities were essential to raise students learning interests and effects; and (4) curriculum adaptation knowledge and skills needed to be included in the pre- and in-service teacher training programs.

Keywords: curriculum adaptations, mathematics, disadvantaged students, inclusive classroom

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Authors: S. Pancucci

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Professional development is the focus of this study. It reports on questionnaire data that examined the perceived effectiveness of the Train the Trainer model of technology professional development for elementary teachers. Eighty-three selected teachers called Information Technology Coaches received four half-day and one after-school in-service sessions. Subsequently, coaches shared the information and skills acquired during training with colleagues. Results indicated that participants felt comfortable as Information Technology Coaches and felt well prepared because of their technological professional development. Overall, participants perceived the Train the Trainer model to be effective. The outcomes of this study suggest that the use of the Train the Trainer model, a known professional development model, can be an integral and interdependent component of the newer more comprehensive learning community professional development model.

Keywords: change, education, learning community, professional development, school improvement, technology coach, Train the Trainer.

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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:

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Authors: Hoong C. Chin, Soon H. Chew, Zhaoxia Wang

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Work on sustainable developments and the call for action in education for sustainable development have been ongoing for a number of years. Training engineering students with the relevant competencies, particularly in sustainable development literacy, has been identified as an urgent task in universities. This requires not only a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to education but also a suitable training environment to develop the needed skills and to inculcate the appropriate attitudes in students towards sustainable development. To demonstrate how this can be done, a module involving an overseas field trip was introduced in 2013 at the National University of Singapore. This paper provides details of the module and describes its training philosophy and methods. Measured against the student learning outcomes, stipulated by the Engineering Accreditation Board, the module scored well on all of them, particularly those related to complex problem solving, environmental and sustainability awareness, multi-disciplinary team work and varied-level communications.

Keywords: Civil engineering education, student learning outcomes, sustainable development.

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Authors: Lin, Huifen, Fang, Yueh-chiu

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This study explores perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners on using computer mediated communication technology in their learner of English. The data consists of observations of both synchronous and asynchronous communication participants engaged in for over a period of 4 months, which included online, and offline communication protocols, open-ended interviews and reflection papers composed by participants. Content analysis of interview data and the written documents listed above, as well as, member check and triangulation techniques are the major data analysis strategies. The findings suggest that participants generally do not benefit from computer-mediated communication in terms of its effect in learning a foreign language. Participants regarded the nature of CMC as artificial, or pseudo communication that did not aid their authentic communicational skills in English. The results of this study sheds lights on insufficient and inconclusive findings, which most quantitative CMC studies previously generated.

Keywords: computer-mediated communication, EFL, writing

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Authors: What Factors Contributed to the Adaptation Gap during School Transition in Japan?

Abstract:

The present study was aimed to examine the structure of children’s adaptation during school transition and to identify a commonality and dissimilarity at the elementary and junior high school. 1,983 students in the 6th grade and 2,051 students in the 7th grade were extracted by stratified two-stage random sampling and completed the ASSESS that evaluated the school adaptation from the view point of ‘general satisfaction’, ‘teachers’ support’, ‘friends’ support’, ‘anti-bullying relationship’, ‘prosocial skills’, and ‘academic adaptation’. The 7th graders tend to be worse adaptation than the 6th graders. A structural equation modeling showed the goodness of fit for each grades. Both models were very similar but the 7th graders’ model showed a lower coefficient at the pass from ‘teachers’ support’ to ‘friends’ support’. The role of ‘teachers’ support’ was decreased to keep a good relation in junior high school. We also discussed how we provide a continuous assistance for prevention of the 7th graders’ gap.

Keywords: School transition, social support, psychological adaptation, K-12.

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Authors: A. Harmse, R. Goede

Abstract:

Students with high level skills are in demand, especially in scare skill environments. If universities wish to be successful and competitive, its students need to be adequately equipped with the necessary tools. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is an essential component of the education of a student. The relevance of higher education should be assessed in terms of how it meets the needs of society and the world of work in a global economy. This paper demonstrates how to use Habermas's theory of communicative action to reflect on students- perceptions on their integration in the work environment to achieve social integration and financial justification. Interpretive questionnaires are used to determine the students- view of how they are integrated into society, and contributing to the economy. This paper explores the use of Habermas-s theory of communicative action to give theoretical and methodological guidance for the practice of social findings obtained in this inquiry.

Keywords: Discourse, Habermas, Information Systems Education, Theory of Communicative Action, Work Integrated Learning.

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Authors: Narong Anurak

Abstract:

The objectives of this research were to investigate the knowledge and understanding of public relations principles for public relations officials of the office of the faculty of management science in Ratjabhat Suan Sunandha University and to determine the approach of public relations for the Office of Faculty of Management Science.  The questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis. The results of the research showed that the public relations officials misunderstood on public relations principles. The lack of the perception in media of the target groups both in-house and outside caused the misunderstanding on the roles, mission, and responsibilities. It would be beneficial to public relations division and other divisions of the office of the faculty of management science to be trained and obtained more knowledge and skills on the public relations to support the public relations work for the organization.

Keywords: Faculty of Management Science, Public Relations, Ratjabhat Suan Sunandha University.

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Authors: Efua Ehiaguina, Haruna Moda

Abstract:

Interest in the development of appropriate safety culture in the oil and gas industry has taken centre stage among stakeholders in the industry. Human behaviour has been identified as a major contributor to occupational accidents, where abnormal activities associated with safety management are taken as normal behaviour. Poor safety culture is one of the major factors that influence employee’s safety behaviour at work, which may consequently result in injuries and accidents and strengthening such a culture can improve workers safety performance. Nigeria oil and gas industry has contributed to the growth and development of the country in diverse ways. However, in terms of safety and health of workers, this industry is a dangerous place to work as workers are often exposed to occupational safety and health hazard. To ascertain the impact of employees’ safety and how it impacts health and safety compliance within the local industry, online safety culture survey targeting frontline workers within the industry was administered covering major subjects that include; perception of management commitment and style of leadership; safety communication method and its resultant impact on employees’ behaviour; employee safety commitment and training needs. The preliminary result revealed that 54% of the participants feel that there is a lack of motivation from the management to work safely. In addition, 55% of participants revealed that employers place more emphasis on work delivery over employee’s safety on the installation. It is expected that the study outcome will provide measures aimed at strengthening and sustaining safety culture in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Keywords: Oil and gas safety, safety behaviour, safety culture, safety compliance.

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Authors: A. Althobaiti, M. Munro

Abstract:

Communication and effective information exchange within technology has become a crucial part of delivering knowledge to students during the learning process. It enables better understanding, builds trust and respect, and increases the sharing of knowledge between students. This paper examines the communication between undergraduate students and their lecturers during the traditional lecture and when using the Interactive Electronic Lecture System (IELS). The IELS is an application that offers a set of components which support the effective communication between students and their peers and between students and their lecturers. Moreover, this paper highlights communication skills such as sender, receiver, channel and feedback. It will show how the IELS creates a rich communication environment between its users and how they communicate effectively. To examine and assess the effectiveness of communication, an experiment was conducted on groups of users; students and lecturers. The first group communicated in the traditional lecture while the second group communicated by means of the IELS application. The results show that there was more effective communication between the second group than the first.

Keywords: Communication, effective information exchange.

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Authors: Andy Handouyahia, Tony Haddad, Frank Eaton

Abstract:

Recent quasi-experimental evaluation of the Canadian Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has provided an opportunity to examine alternative methods to estimating the incremental effects of Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs) on program participants. The focus of this paper is to assess the efficiency and robustness of inverse probability weighting (IPW) relative to kernel matching (KM) in the estimation of program effects. To accomplish this objective, the authors compare pairs of 1,080 estimates, along with their associated standard errors, to assess which type of estimate is generally more efficient and robust. In the interest of practicality, the authorsalso document the computationaltime it took to produce the IPW and KM estimates, respectively.

Keywords: Treatment effect, causal inference, observational studies, Propensity score based matching, Kernel Matching, Inverse Probability Weighting, Estimation methods for incremental effect.

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