Application of Tablet Computers in a Capstone Design Course

Author(s):  
Brian Surgenor ◽  
Kevin Firth

Tablet PCs look much like regular laptop computers, except their digitized screens can be swiveled around, folded over, and written on with a stylus. Instructors have recognized that this simple write-on feature gives them the opportunity to change the way in which they lecture in a classroom. This paper examines the application of tablet PCs outside of the lecture hall. Specifically, it describes the application of tablet computers to a final year capstone design course. Particular applications include the replacement of the traditional individual design notebook with a shared electronic notebook and enhancement of sketching as a communication tool. A description of the capstone course is given to provide a context for how the tablets were used. The impact of the tablet PCs is discussed and the results of a user survey are presented.

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha Kuruganti

As part of the undergraduate curriculum, the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) requires all students to take an undergraduate course in physical activity, health and wellness in their third year of study. This capstone course allows students to integrate concepts from their program regarding physical activity, fitness, and wellness. While students have anecdotally indicated that this course has improved their knowledge of health and wellness, this data had not been quantitatively assessed previously. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the course on students’ views of the impact of physical activity on disease and overall health and wellness. A survey was administered to the students enrolled in the course at the beginning and again at the end of the semester. The survey requested data in four categories; 1) the demographics of the student, 2) students’ knowledge of health agencies and guidelines, 3) students’ physical activity, health and wellness awareness and 4) students’ self-assessment of their knowledge of physical activity and chronic disease. The data showed that, at the end of the course, students felt that they improved in three areas; 1) their knowledge of health agencies and guidelines, 2) their awareness of physical activity and its impact on health and wellness and 3) their knowledge of physical activity and chronic disease. The results of this work provided information on the impact of a required health and wellness course on students’ knowledge of health and suggested that the material in the course helped their overall understanding of health. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca León-Nabal ◽  
Cristina Zhang-Yu ◽  
José Luis Lalueza

The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened the inequalities in our societies. In Spain, we observed that the impact on schooling varied according to socioeconomic, gender and sociocultural variables. In this article, we present a case analysis illustrating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schooling in early educational grades (ages 3–6), which leads us to focus on school-family relationship. First, we present some studies that show the inequalities in education during the lockdown period, the digital divide faced by both schools and families and how digital mediation impacts school-family relationships. Then we will introduce our study, which aims to explore the uses, potentials and limitations of an app intended to facilitate the relationship. Our study took place during September 2020-January 2021, when social restriction persisted. It took the form of a telematic ethnography in which we monitored the meetings of the Early Childhood Education teachers and their interaction with the families via an app-based communication tool. Results have allowed us to identify that most conversations are initiated by the school and their aim is to show families the classroom activities. We have also observed some advantages regarding the use of this app: communication can become more direct and immediate, and teachers have developed strategies to foster proximity in this relationship, as well as to respond inclusively to diversity. Regarding the challenges, we identified the lack of involvement of some families, the need to transform the roles played by families and children, and the difficulty to maintain personalized relationships.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian He ◽  
Hongjian Qu

Social media, represented by WeChat and micro-blog, has become an indispensable communication tool for human beings. The social media advertising that extends in this environment has also become the focus of enterprise marketing. Based on the brand attitude as the intermediary variable, this paper studies the influence of advertising appeal on the purchase intention under the socialized media environment, and tries to clarify the influence mechanism between the advertising appeal and the consumer purchase intention. Through the related literature, we find out the relationship between the advertising appeal and the brand state and the purchase intention. Put forward relevant research proposals, to enterprises in the social media environment advertising marketing pointed out a new direction.


Author(s):  
Luiz A.M.M. Filho ◽  
Anatália S.M. Ramos

The present study has an exploratory nature and aims to analyze the perception of managers on the efficiency, access importance, use as a communication tool, benefits and difficulties of Internet use in Brazilian hotels and also its effects according to the facilities rank and property size plus managers’ age and experience time. It has been used as a questionnaire to collect data from the managers of 35 hotels in the city of Natal, RN, Brazil. By using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey test, results showed that there is almost no significant difference on the perception of managers on the impact of Internet use in hotels. However, those variables that were different show that for younger and less experienced managers and luxurious hotels with more than 50 rooms, there is a more favorable perception on the impacts of the Internet.


Author(s):  
Patrick Dumond ◽  
Eric Lanteigne

Traditionally, mechanical engineering capstone courses focused on teaching students the application of fundamental engineering theory to complex mechanical designs. Recently, there has been a transition towards experiential learning initiatives, such as prototyping, in engineering design. This paper looks at the relationship between the mechanical engineering design capstone course and a course in product design and development, which provides students with the opportunity to build prototypes of their designs, at the University of Ottawa. The importance of the traditional capstone course is considered and the implications of implementing these designs are examined. Many capstone design projects would require extensive work so that they could be implemented. A large hurdle appears to exist between analytical design and design implementation, and the term time constraints limit the complexity of designs intended for prototyping. In fact, students require many design iterations before they can build full-scale functional prototypes of their design. Therefore, we have observed that simple products work best for teaching design implementation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall McCarroll ◽  
Kevin Curran

Social networking has become one of the most popular communication tools to have evolved over the past decade, making it a powerful new information sharing resource in society. To date realising the potential of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) beyond their leisure uses has been severely restricted in a number of areas. This paper focuses on the application of SNSs in a learning environment and the impact this could have on academic practices. While undoubtedly, due to the very casual nature of social networking, there are serious concerns over how it could be integrated in a learning environment; the potential positive outcomes are many and varied. As a communication tool, its effectiveness is already manifesting in the millions who use these networks to communicate on a daily basis. So it is conceivable that educators should be able to create a learnscape - an environment for formal and informal learning - that adheres to educational guidelines, but also harnesses the social support system of these on-line communities. This paper examines the risks involved in the creation of this new learning ecology, and explores the challenges faced by both technology experts and teachers in delivering a truly innovative and effective new approach to education.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaakko Sinisalo ◽  
Heikki Karjaluoto ◽  
Saila Saraniemi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers associated with the adoption and use of mobile sales force automation (SFA) systems from a salesperson’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative investigation of two business-to-business companies was conducted. Data collected from ten semi-structured interviews with directors or sales managers were analyzed to understand the main barriers to SFA system adoption. Findings – The study confirms the existence of three barriers (customer knowledge, quality of information and the characteristics of mobile devices) to a mobile SFA system use and identifies two additional barriers: lack of time and optimization issues. Research limitations/implications – The explorative nature of the study and the qualitative method employed limit the generalizability of the results. The propositions could be further validated and tested with a wider population. Practical implications – Organizations wishing to speed the adoption of a mobile SFA system should evaluate the importance and significance of the five identified barriers to adoption, and plan how to overcome them. It is important for the providers of the mobile SFA systems to focus on developing systems that can exploit the different characteristics of each channel and, in parallel, overcome the inherent limitations of any single channel. The content of an SFA system should be customizable for each type of mobile device. Originality/value – Ever increasing mobility has led to a rise in the use of smartphones and tablet PCs (tablets) in business and the consequent growth in the use of SFA systems. Although SFA systems have been studied for roughly 30 years, little is known of the impact of newly developed mobile devices on sales management and sales personnel.


Author(s):  
Richard Bannerot ◽  
Chad Wilson ◽  
Ross Kastor

ABET 2000 imposes the requirement that engineering programs demonstrate that graduates “have the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context”. (Criterion 3h) The implication is that providing the “exposure” to the impact of engineering should be sufficient. However, demonstrating learning takes the process another step. Over the past few years, we have added material to several existing, traditional mechanical engineering courses and added one entirely new course in response to the requirements of ABET 2000 in general and Criterion 3h in particular. We have also introduced additional surveys, assignments and testing into these courses to assess specific aspects of student learning. This paper describes the changes in the sophomore design class, the second course in thermodynamics, the heat transfer course, and the capstone course as well as the new College course in technical communications related to the impact of engineering solutions. The assessment processes are also described.


2018 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 03013
Author(s):  
Endar Wihidayat ◽  
Ovide D.W. Ardi

Near Field Communication (NFC) as relatively new wireless communication technology pushes new challenges to application developers to make their applications easier to use and simpler to operate. This point of view known as usability element. Usability is one of the elements for creating good quality applications. This study aims to analyse the usability of mobile-based application embeds with NFC. We also try to evaluate usability in applications used by children. We developed an application called Receptionist which has a primary function as a communication tool between students, teachers and parents at a middle school. To know the impact of the NFC, the Receptionist input system is designed with two methods, via conventional navigation (using buttons) and via NFC. To understand the usability of each method, we do user testing and questioners on students. The results show, using the NFC there is a significant increase in usability attributes: efficiency, effectiveness, and learnability. On the other hand, there is decreases of user satisfaction comparing to conventional method. In general, this study demonstrates the potential of new input device technologies that can improve the usability of mobile-based applications.


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