scholarly journals A Qualitative Study of Team Level Factors Affecting Innovation

Author(s):  
Narges Balouchestani Asli ◽  
Majd Zouda ◽  
Kamran Behdinan

Innovation is a necessity to embrace possibilities and face challenges and problems in our continuously changing world. Multidisciplinary capstones can be a place for students to be innovative. Students not only get a chance to work on a real project from industry, but they also work with students from different disciplines. This diversity of knowledge and perspectives can lead to team innovation. This paper explores team level factors affecting innovation in 4th year multidisciplinary capstone design at the University of Toronto. This paper is a qualitative study that explores the effect of diversity of knowledge, support for innovation from supervisor and client, team size, and team vision on innovation. Our research sheds some light on what behaviors in teams lead to innovation. Supporting and encouraging these behaviors from educational institutions provides an environment for students to be more innovative

Author(s):  
Reihanne Yousefi ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Maryam Danaye Tous

Developing research performance has become an important theme in Iranian higher educational institutions as other national and international academic institutions across the world. However, the research performance of Iranian Teaching English as a Foreign Language postgraduate candidates has been argued to be limited. In order to increase their research productivity and develop their capacity in this regard, the first critical step is to understand the influences which are associated with their academic research performance. This qualitative study focuses on a group of TEFL postgraduate candidates from five major Iranian universities with the purpose of investigating the motivational influences in conducting research, their perception of research value, and their understanding of research environment which is required for research productivity. Interviews were conducted with 20 candidates from the sample universities. It was revealed that the research related activities and efforts of the participants were driven by both external and internal needs and motivations. A multi-dimensional value was accorded to research; however, the academic research environment and requirements were the subject of various concerns. The results of this study offer several future implications for departmental and institutional research administrators to further support TEFL postgraduate candidates’ research development.


Author(s):  
Donovan A. McFarlane

In this paper, the author looks at the challenges to professional standing among academics. Using Michael Zweig’s contention that, “The challenge to professional standing among academics is not only a question of tenure” (27), the author explores this perspective by examining the state of higher educational institutions and 21st. century trends and factors that affect academic standing across universities and colleges. The author views the changes in human values and profession, global cultural transition, and the changing face of the university from an intellectual to a corporate-oriented model among the factors affecting the professional standing of academics. The transition of the university from faculty-oriented and controlled to administrator-oriented and operated, is seen as a critical factor in this regard as advocated by authors Benjamin Ginsberg and Steven Johnson. Other factors affecting professional standing are related to traits including gender and race as evident from the works of Diggs, Garrison-Wade, Estrada, and Galindo. The author examines the perspectives of several authoritative writers and sources including Ginsberg, Readings, Newman, and Johnson on the university and faculty standing. The author concludes that as colleges and universities are increasingly confronted with new challenges, professional standing among academics will continue to be challenged.


Author(s):  
А.М. ЗАЙЦЕВ ◽  
В.С. ДАДЫКИН

В данной статье рассматривается проблема применения инструментария онтологии в процессе управления маркетинговой деятельностью высших учебных заведений. Актуальность исследования обусловлена наличием множества вызовов и факторов внешней среды, влияющих на сферу высшего образования: сложная демографическая ситуация, снижение уровня реальных доходов населения, спад заинтересованности молодежи в получении высшего образования, возрастающая конкуренция среди российских вузов. Проводится обзор литературы, посвященной применению методов и средств онтологического анализа для управления образовательной деятельностью, использованию онтологий в образовательных процессах. Приводится трактовка понятия «онтология». Выделяются потенциальные направления использования онтологий, а именно в вычислительном и экономическом плане. Рассмотрены и проанализированы способы использования онтологий в образовательных процессах: моделирование и управление учебной программой, описание данных учащегося, описание предметных областей различных дисциплин, для оценки учебника. Отмечены особенности каждой из них. Исследование направлено на решение проблемы эффективного распределения финансов между выбранными вузом методами привлечения абитуриентов. Авторами был предложен новый способ использования онтологий – для управления маркетинговой деятельностью высших учебных заведений. Была разработана онтологическая модель управления маркетинговой деятельностью высших учебных заведений, которая является основой для разработки архитектуры данных будущего цифрового сервиса в рамках информационной системы университета. The article discusses the problem of using ontology tools in the process of managing marketing activities of higher educational institutions. The relevance of the study is due to the presence of many challenges and environmental factors affecting the field of higher education: a difficult demographic situation, a decreased level of real incomes of the population, a declined interest of young people in higher education, increasing competition among Russian universities. There is a review of the literature devoted to the application of methods and tools of the ontological analysis for the management of educational activities, the use of ontologies in educational processes. The interpretation of the concept of “ontology” is given. The potential directions of using ontologies are highlighted, namely in computational and economic terms. The ways of using ontologies in educational processes are considered and analyzed: modeling and management of the curriculum, description of student data, description of subject areas of various disciplines, for textbook evaluation. The features of each of them are noted. The research is aimed at solving the problem of effective distribution of finances between the methods of attracting applicants chosen by the university. The authors proposed a new way of using ontologies: to manage the marketing activities of higher educational institutions. An ontological model of marketing activity management at higher educational institutions was has been developed, which is the basis for the development of the data architecture of the future digital service within the university information system.


Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-50
Author(s):  
Sherry Fukuzawa ◽  
Veronica King Jamieson ◽  
Nicole Laliberte ◽  
Darci Belmore

The Indigenous Action Group (IAG) is an alliance of solidarity between Indigenous and settler faculty at the University of Toronto Mississauga with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN), whose Treaty lands the campus is located on. This partnership of responsibility supports the MCFN goals of truth (through public knowledge and recognition of their history), and reconciliation (through the support and equitable sustenance of Indigenous pedagogy, knowledge systems, and research methodologies in educational institutions). The IAG has developed a Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) course to bring ontological pluralism to the Academy to legitimize Indigenous knowledges, epistemologies, and involve the placemaking of local Indigenous communities (Tuhiwah Smith, 2012). This second year undergraduate course entitled “Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (in Canada)” was developed and implemented by the Indigenous Action Group to prioritize first person voices from the local Indigenous community. We are hoping this diverse educational model will change the discourse in anthropology courses to begin a collective understanding of ongoing power imbalances and oppression in education from colonial mechanisms.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ihtisham Uddin, Dr. Ahmad Raza Khan, Dr. Fauzia Ghani `

Higher education signifies the social and economic development of states. Higher education helps society excel in various professions and technical sectors. The progress and prosperity of a society primarily depend on education. Women's education holds prominence in the modern world. No society can develop or can sustain its development without educating its women. They make about 50% of the world’s population and their education connotes the development and progress of a society. Chitral is the least populated district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Due to its exceptional and unique social and ethnic diversity the area has an interesting position on the map of the world. The literacy rate in Chitral is higher among women as compared to other parts of KPK but still receiving higher education is very challenging for girls because of social, economic, infrastructural, and administrative inefficiencies. Social taboos and cultural norms have restricted women of different communities inside their homes and engaged them in household chores. Women in Chitral face many obstacles and challenges in receiving higher education. Social misconception about women's education, religious misapprehensions, and cultural taboos, negative perception of co-education, financial constraints, and lack of proper educational institutions are the significant factors that affect women's higher education. The University of Chitral is the only higher education institution established in 2017. There were no other higher educational institutions before the University of Chitral. The university is still not well developed to meet the demands of higher education especially women's education. This paper intends to highlight the status of higher education in Chitral, socio-cultural factors affecting higher education of women, the significance of higher education for women in Chitral, and concludes with recommendations and suggestions for a preferable way forward. The researchers had conducted a field survey in Chitral and the data collected has been used in this paper.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Steinsdoerfer ◽  
Lauren Vanhusen

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