scholarly journals External Assessment of Engineering Programs

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Ferens
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
External Assessment ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
Secondary Purpose ◽  
University Of Manitoba

This paper reports on an Industry Focus Group Forum, which was held 20 October 2011. The purpose of the forum was to obtain local Industry’s perception and opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of new engineering graduates from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba at the time they enter the work force. Key strengths of best-in-class engineering employees were identified, such as attitude, knowledge base, creativity, communication, and initiative. While these were the attributes of best-in-class employees, they represented goals to which new graduates should aspire. The industry members also identified weaknesses of new engineering graduates, such as life-long learning, practical aspects, engineering tools, and communication. The strengths and weaknesses were mapped to Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board attributes for validation. The secondary purpose of the forum was to establish a process by which the Faculty can assess their graduates at the time they enter the workforce. The process involved external opinions of the quality of the Faculty’s new graduates.

Industry Focus Group Forum Approach for Assessing Undergraduate Engineering Program Outcomes

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Ferens ◽  
Witold Kinsner
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Learning Outcome ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
University Of Manitoba ◽  
The University

This paper shares the experiences of conducting an industry focus group forum to assess the undergraduate engineering program at the University of Manitoba. In the first meeting, the objective of the industry focus group was to identify gaps between expected and (perceived) actual abilities of new graduates at the time they enter the work force, and to construct learning outcome statements, with the intention that they be used to guide developers to redesign the curriculum and program so that the graduates would meet local industry expectations in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. There were 21 gap areas identified, and significant correlation of the gaps was found with other industry surveys; however, there were some notable differences.

scholarly journals Employer and Employee Opinions of Thematic Deficiencies in New Athletic Training Graduates

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. David Carr ◽  
Jennifer Volberding
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Athletic Training ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
National Athletic Trainers Association ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Job Orientation

Context: Anecdotal information has been shared for several years that employers do not feel that new athletic training graduates are ready for the workforce. To date there have been no studies of employers and employees to determine deficiencies in order to confirm or refute this position. Objective: To explore the opinions of employers and employees (recent graduates within the last 3–5 years) about the level of preparation and readiness for the work force of new athletic training graduates. Specifically, the purpose was to examine the themes emerging from interviews with employers and employees about the employee's abilities. Design and Setting: A mixed methods quantitative/qualitative design involving in-depth focus group interviews. Interviews were conducted in a controlled environment during the National Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Symposium in June of 2010. Participants: Eleven employers and five employees were available at scheduled times during the symposium. Extensive networking efforts were conducted to solicit participants from 3 work settings; college/university, high school/clinic/outreach, and emerging practices. Data Collection and Analysis: Focus group interviews were videotaped then transcribed verbatim and analyzed deductively. Peer debriefing and member checks were used to ensure trustworthiness. Results: Several ‘thematic’ deficiencies, or abilities, that were lacking emerged from our analysis. Both groups cited: 1) interpersonal communication, 2) decision making/independence, 3) initiative, 4) confidence, and 5) humility/ability to learn from mistakes as abilities that were deficient in new graduates. Administrative skills was the only thematic deficiency cited by the employees but not the employers. Conclusion: Limitations of current curriculum education models and employer-driven on-the-job-orientation and experience were identified as areas of concern.

scholarly journals Assessing Life Long Learning Utilizing Coop Work Term Report

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reem Roufail ◽  
Carolyn G. MacGregor
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Quality Metric ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Assess Quality ◽  
Measuring Tool

CEAB introduced graduate attributes (GA) as a tool to measure the performance of an engineering institute in delivering its engineering programs. The 12th attribute is Life Long Learning (LL), which is defined as the student’s ability to identify and address their own educational needs. A student’s reaching out to technical references, away from an academic setting, is identified as a measuring tool for LL. As a pilot study, the technical references evaluated were extracted from a sample of 12 artifacts - 4th year work-term technical reports submitted as a component of co-operative education (co-op).To measure LL, a categorical metric to assess quality of cited sources was used to assess student competence in selecting credible technical information. All students included at least one technical reference in the design/analysis section (Technical Reference, TR); with most students using a mix of TR quality. Only 1/3 of students had average TR quality scores that met or exceeded the benchmark of 3.0. There may be a relationship between the type of work sector experienced and quality of references used.The pilot study suggests that using a quality metric for technical references within student documents has potential to assess lifelong learning at both the individual and cohort level. Results reinforce the need to educate and reiterate to engineering students the importance of credibility of the source of information over convenience.

scholarly journals Industry Forum III: Towards A Common Language

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ferens ◽  
J. Seniuk Cicek ◽  
N. Sepehri ◽  
W. Kinsner ◽  
J.P. Burak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
University Of Manitoba ◽  
Perceptions And Expectations ◽  
The University ◽  
New Hires

Engineering Education literature acknowledgesthat the language Academia uses to assess the abilities ofengineering students may not be the same as the languageIndustry uses to measure the abilities of new graduates at thetime they enter the work force. It also suggests that theunderstanding and expectations of Industry may differ fromAcademia. If the language, perceptions and expectations aredifferent, so too could be Industry’s assessment of theknowledge, skills and attitudes of new engineering graduates.Consequently, Industry may need to spend additional resourcesto develop the abilities of new hires to meet their own needs.The Industry Forum III was conducted in partnership withmembers of Manitoba Industry and members of Academia fromthe Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba withthe objective to develop a common language that Industry andAcademia can use in concert to measure the abilities of newengineering graduates. This paper details the findings from theforum, as well as the changes made to the University ofManitoba graduate attribute rubrics in the pursuit of a commonlanguage for our engineering stakeholders.

TINGKAT KEAKURATAN DAN KEBERTERIMAAN TERJEMAHAN KALIMAT YANG MENGAKOMODASI TINDAK TUTUR KOMISIF PADA NOVEL INSURGENT (THE ACCURACY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF TRANSLATION ON THE SENTENCES WHICH ACCOMODATE COMMISSIVE SPEECH ACT IN THE INSURGENT NOVEL)

Widyaparwa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-164
Author(s):  
Novita Sumarlin Putri
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Componential Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects

Tindak tutur komisif merupakan salah satu aspek pragmatik yang harus diperhatikan oleh penerjemah ketika menerjemahkan teks. Hal itu dilakukan agar menghasilkan terjemahan yang berkualitas dari aspek keakuratan dan keberterimaan. Berdasarkan alasan tersebut, penelitian ini bertujuan mendiskripsikan tingkat keakuratan dan keberterimaan terjemahan kalimat yang mengakomodasi tindak tutur komisif dengan pendekatan pragmatik. Data yang digunakan ialah tuturan komisif dan hasil penilaian kualitas terjemahan. Data bersumber dari novel Insurgent karya Veronica Roth dan informan. Data dikumpulkan dengan cara analisis dokumen, kuesioner dan Focus Group Discussion. Selanjutnya, data dianalisis dengan cara analisis domain, taksonomi, komponensial, dan tema budaya. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terjemahan dalam novel Insurgent mempunyai nilai keakuratan dan keberterimaan yang cukup tinggi. Berdasarkan penelitian ini, dapat disimpulkan bahwa tingkat keakuratan dan keberterimaan pada setiap jenis tindak tutur komisif memiliki dampak terhadap kualitas keseluruhan terjemahan kalimat yang mengandung tindak tutur komisif.Commissive speech act is one of the pragmatic aspects to regard by the translator in translating the text. It aims to produce a qualified translation in regarding accuracy and acceptability aspects. According to the aspects, this research aims to describe accuracy and acceptability of translation in sentences which accommodate commissive speech act using pragmatic approach. The data used is commissive speech and qualitative translation value result. The sources of the data are an Insurgent novel by Veronica Roth and informants. The data were collected through document analysis, questionnaire, and Focus Group Discussion then analyzed the domain, taxonomic, componential analysis, and cultural theme. The result shows that translation in the Insurgent novel has high accuracy and acceptability values. This research concludes that the accuracy and acceptability level in each commissive speech act has an impact on quality of whole translated sentences which contain commissive speech act.

Transformative Learning in Mastery-Oriented CS0 Course

2021 ◽  
pp. 234763112110072
Author(s):  
Srinivasan Lakshminarayanan ◽  
N. J. Rao ◽  
G. K. Meghana
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Transformative Experiences ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cognitive Levels ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Core Course

The introductory programming course, commonly known as CS1 and offered as a core course in the first year in all engineering programs in India, is unique because it can address higher cognitive levels, metacognition and some aspects of the affective domain. It can provide much needed transformative experiences to students coming from a system of school education that is dominantly performance-driven. Unfortunately, the CS1 course, as practiced in almost all engineering programs, is also performance-driven because of a variety of compulsions. This paper suggests that the inclusion of a course CS0 can bring about transformative learning that can potentially make a significant difference in the quality of learning in all subsequent engineering courses. The suggested instruction design of this course takes the advantage of the unique features of a course in programming. The proposed CS0 course uses “extreme apprenticeship” and “guided discovery” methods of instruction. The effectiveness of these instruction methods was established through the use of the thematic analysis, a well-known qualitative research method, and the associated coding of transformative learning experiences and instruction components.

scholarly journals Nairobi Early Childcare in Slums (NECS) Study Protocol: a mixed-methods exploration of paid early childcare in Mukuru slum, Nairobi

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. e000822
Author(s):  
Robert C Hughes ◽  
Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo ◽  
Sunil Bhopal ◽  
Elizabeth W Kimani-Murage ◽  
Zelee Hill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Epidemiological Methods ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Early Childcare ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Childcare Providers

IntroductionThe early years are critical. Early nurturing care can lay the foundation for human capital accumulation with lifelong benefits. Conversely, early adversity undermines brain development, learning and future earning.Slums are among the most challenging places to spend those early years and are difficult places to care for a child. Shifting family and work structures mean that paid, largely informal, childcare seems to be becoming the ‘new normal’ for many preschool children growing up in rapidly urbanising Africa. However, little is known about the quality of this childcare.AimsTo build a rigorous understanding what childcare strategies are used and why in a typical Nairobi slum, with a particular focus on provision and quality of paid childcare. Through this, to inform evaluation of quality and design and implementation of interventions with the potential to reach some of the most vulnerable children at the most critical time in the life course.Methods and analysisMixed methods will be employed. Qualitative research (in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) with parents/carers will explore need for and decision-making about childcare. A household survey (of 480 households) will estimate the use of different childcare strategies by parents/carers and associated parent/carer characteristics. Subsequently, childcare providers will be mapped and surveyed to document and assess quality of current paid childcare. Semistructured observations will augment self-reported quality with observable characteristics/practices. Finally, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with childcare providers will explore their behaviours and motivations. Qualitative data will be analysed through thematic analysis and triangulation across methods. Quantitative and spatial data will be analysed through epidemiological methods (random effects regression modelling and spatial statistics).Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted in the UK and Kenya. Findings will be disseminated through journal publications, community and government stakeholder workshops, policy briefs and social media content.

scholarly journals If You Don’t Eat Meat… You’ll Die. A Mixed-Method Survey of Health-Professionals’ Beliefs

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3028
Author(s):  
Patrick McHugh ◽  
Morgen Smith ◽  
Nicholas Wright ◽  
Sarah Bush ◽  
Sue Pullon
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Common Chronic Disease ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Good Nutrition ◽  
Spreadsheet Software

Despite an ever-increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and overwhelming evidence that good nutrition improves outcomes it is difficult to know whether this evidence is reaching the general population. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether health professionals in Tairāwhiti have sufficient nutrition education for their roles in health education and promotion and whether nutrition beliefs held by health professionals were consistent with current literature. A particular interest was to enlist views on the harms, benefits, and possible barriers to following plant-based diets. A mixed-methods study involving health professionals completing a questionnaire and a subsequent focus group to collect data was used. Survey data were analysed using spreadsheet software, and thematic content analysis of focus group data was undertaken. Participants provided nutrition advice 2.4 times per day. Almost half of practitioners considered their nutrition knowledge to be inadequate, and most made poor use of references for provision of information. Plant-based diets were generally viewed as beneficial to health, improve quality of life, be filling, but were perceived as not as easy to follow. This study is in keeping with previous research that the health workforce would benefit from more formalised nutrition education and competencies to address common chronic disease.

Changes in the Structure and Quality of Jobs in the United States: Effects by Race and Gender, 1973–1990

ILR Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maury B. Gittleman ◽  
David R. Howell
Keyword(s):  
White Men ◽  
Work Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sharp Drop ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Female Workers ◽  
Job Classification ◽  
Employment Share ◽  
And Gender

Using 17 measures of job quality from the 1980 Census, the Current Population Survey, and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, the authors perform a cluster analysis that groups 621 jobs covering 94% of the work force into six job categories (termed “contours”), a job classification closely resembling those suggested by labor market segmentation theory. The distribution of employment over the period 1973–90 shifted sharply away from the two middle-quality contours toward the two highest-quality contours. The two lowest-quality contours show no decline in employment share in the 1980s. The declining relative position of employed black and Hispanic men stems from both a worsening job mix relative to white men and a sharp drop in the quality of low-skill jobs. Female workers experienced both a greater shift away from jobs in the lower-quality contours and higher real earnings growth within each job contour than male workers.

scholarly journals A visual and creative approach to exploring people with dementia’s experiences of being students at a school in Denmark

Dementia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 786-804
Author(s):  
Alison Ward ◽  
Diana Schack Thoft ◽  
Helen Lomax ◽  
Jacqueline Parkes
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Photo Elicitation ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Home Life ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Dementia Research

In dementia research, there is limited knowledge about how people with dementia experience their daily life including how they experience the services they attend. This means a lack of knowledge about how people with dementia judge the quality of services provided for them. In this study visual and creative methods were used to understand the experience of people with early stage dementia who attend an adult school, Voksenskolen for Undervisning og Kommunikation (VUK) in Denmark. The study explored the students’ experience of being a student at VUK and what it means to engage in life-long learning. Alongside the aim to evaluate the service provided for them, seen from their perspective. Photo-elicitation was used, with cameras provided to each student, who took photographs of their school and home life. Students’ photographs were used to support focus group discussions, with the images integral to the process of talking about and recalling stories. Ten students were recruited to participate in four weekly sessions. Two groups were run with five students in each group. Each session was video recorded, these sessions were then transcribed and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. Visual images were found to support the students’ memory of current experiences and prompted reminiscences about the past, leading to rich descriptions about being a student at VUK and their experiences of living with dementia. Being able to attend VUK was found to be important for these students with dementia, providing them with a sense of purpose, a way to support their cognitive function and also to develop new friendships. The method provided a way for people with dementia to be active in the research process and provide their perspective about a novel service, which promotes an ethos of learning and development.

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