scholarly journals Assessing Final-Year Practical Work Through Group Projects; A Further Study

Author(s):  
Philippa Cranwell ◽  
Elizabeth M Page

The use of a group-based approach to project working has been shown to provide significant advantage to students in terms of project outcomes, motivation and engagement. The Department of Chemistry at the University of Reading has recently explored the use of group projects for final year practical work. In this model, students are presented with a research problem that they investigate within a team of three to five students. Students are expected to divide the work and share results in a manner that closely resembles project working in industry. This paper will report the experiences and attitudes of final-year BSc students towards this group-based approach, and outline the self-identified skills development of these students.

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (62) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Adriana M. Moreno Moreno ◽  
Eduar Fernando Aguirre González

Social Responsibility is a concept that has been approached from different perspectives by theoreticians and institutions. Initially, this was limited exclusively to companies, however, the creation of the Social Capital, Ethics and Development Initiative by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sought to make educational institutions aware that, like any other organization, they are responsible for the externalities they generate in their environment and their stakeholders. This research approaches the concept of University Social Responsibility (USR) from the scheme proposed by the IDB, which proposes four axes of action for Universities’ CR: Responsible Campus, Professional and Citizen Training, Social Management of Knowledge and Social Participation. The Universidad del Valle has a strategic plan entitled “Universidad del Valle’s Strategic Development Plan” and Regionalization attached thereto. It has also developed its action plan and in the five strategic issues raised herein, its socially responsible approach is clearly identifiable. The North Cauca Facility wherein this study is being developed, even though it does not have a University Social Responsibility Management Model, has attempted to align its practices with its strategic affairs that broadly conform to the four axes proposed by the IDB. This research addresses a relevant and current issue inasmuch as it proposes to develop a diagnosis on the relationship between the four axes of Social Responsibility proposed by the IDB and the practice of Social Responsibility applied at the Universidad del Valle, North Cauca Facility, for the period 2014-2015. In order to answer the research problem, a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive type of study is used, given that the work was based on the documentary information available at the University, while the interviews with the directors of the Institution are used as a tool for oral history. The research method used is the case study, which allows to address a unit of analysis in depth, in this case the USR within the Universidad del Valle, North Cauca Facility.


Author(s):  
ياسر خلف

The study aimed to clarify the role that happiness plays in the workplace represented by (positive influence, negative impact, and achievement) in enhancing organizational confidence among university employees represented in (confidence in senior management, trust in supervisors, trust in co-workers) as the research problem raised many questions It dealt with the nature of the relationship between the research variables and in light of these questions, two main hypotheses were formulated that reflect the correlation and influence relationships between the research variables, and in light of them, the hypothesis plan for the study was developed that reflects this. The data were analyzed and hypotheses were tested, as the research reached a set of conclusions, the most important of which is that there is a relationship between happiness in the workplace and organizational confidence. The research also recommended several recommendations, the most important of which is the necessity of continuing interest of the University of Fallujah to bring about positive change by understanding workers for work and the duties assigned to them. Completing the theoretical framework vocabulary on foreign sources, references, and literature related to the research topic,


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.10) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Mhd Subhan ◽  
Mas’ud Zein ◽  
Akhyar . ◽  
Mohd Hakimie Zainal Abidin ◽  
Sallehudin Ali ◽  
...  

This paper examines the validation instrument used to measure the psychometric status of the self-employment intentions. Self-employment intentions are crucial to identify the university students in order to confirm their decision making. They are a questionnaire to measure graduation in university to start choice on their careers. This instrument is composed of 11 items and was carried out to 115 international students studying in one Indonesian higher education. There were 49 male and 66 female respondents involved in this study. The Cronbach’s Alpha value was .94 which strongly suggest that the instrument has an excellent reliability. This study points out that self-employment intentions are suitable to be used by college personnel and counselors to examine and identify self-employment intentions among international students in Indonesian higher education. Implications for future study will also be discussed. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Landman

On 15 April 2014 the author conducted an interview with Selaelo Thias Kgatla (then 64) by means of a prearranged interview schedule to revaluate a life review. Kgatla’s years of academic and ecclesiastical involvement leading to his ordination as the minister of the Polokwane Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa at the age of 47 were considered. However, the focus was on the last 18 years before his retirement, which was to happen in December 2015. This period commenced with his ordination in 1997 and covered his involvement in church leadership as Assessor and later Moderator of the Northern Synod (since 1999) and as Moderator of the General Synod (since 2005), as well as his appointments as professor at the University of Limpopo in 1997 and at the University of Pretoria in 2010.In freezing this interview into the academic account given here, oral history and methodological sensitivities are considered. The interviewee’s ownership of his life review is acknowledged; his construction of the self as a coherent story of church leadership is respected; and the characteristics of remembering in later life are pointed out reverentially.The life review with Kgatla was expanded with interviews from colleagues and congregants of his choice who confirmed the construction of his life story as one of relationship and resistance. Finally, the author gives a concluding overview of aims achieved in the article in terms of oral methodology and the contents of a life review in which the interviewee constructed his life as a church leader on the interface between resistance and relationship.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Eckhardt Larsen

The discourse of reform in higher education tends to focus narrowly on employability and the relationship between higher education and the labor market. Universities as research institutions are now considered solely in the dominant discourse of innovation. This way of conceiving universities is inspired by functionalist theory that focuses on the imperatives of a knowledge economy. Taking a departure in the theory of society developed by Jürgen Habermas this paper seeks to provide a theoretical framework for an empirical comparative analysis on the wider societal impact of universities. It is the argument that the wider impacts of higher education and research at universities must be seen in a more complex vision of modern societies. The paper is thus primarily a re-reading of Habermas’ critique of functionalist views of the university and an application of Habermas’ critique on current issues in the debates on higher education. A special discussion will be taken on issues of the self in view of the current tendencies to regard all education from the standpoint of the economic outputs.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome J. Leary

Through the new modularization of the undergraduate science degree at the University of Brighton, larger numbers of students are choosing to take some science modules which include an amount of laboratory practical work. Indeed, within energy studies, the fuels and combustion module, for which the computer simulations were written, has seen a fourfold increase in student numbers from twelve to around fifty. Fitting out additional laboratories with new equipment to accommodate this increase presented problems: the laboratory space did not exist; fitting out the laboratories with new equipment would involve a relatively large capital spend per student for equipment that would be used infrequently; and, because some of the experiments use inflammable liquids and gases, additional staff would be needed for laboratory supervision.DOI:10.1080/0968776950030106


Author(s):  
Mongi Zidi ◽  
Turki Al-Shalaki ◽  
Talal Alsaif ◽  
Saeed Al-Dossary ◽  
Desouki Hamed ◽  
...  

An exploratory study was conducted examining the problem of identity and participation among Saudi youth in light of social transformations. The project combined the quantitative and the qualitative curricula and relied on a field study using an electronic questionnaire with a sample of 1318 male and female students from the University of Hail and the participation of 120 students in focus groups during the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year. The research was based on a number of international and local studies and surveys, and its conclusions were compared with their outcomes. The study outlined a set of indicators that showed the growing expression of the national belonging of the Saudi state in the context of an Arab–Islamic civilisation, a moderate view of the West, a balanced vision of reconciling conservatism with a move towards more openness, and a sense of confidence in the state and in the self. The research also found that the low rate of social participation is matched by a full awareness of its importance and a desire to practise it. The study recommended strengthening the gains of young people and developing areas of participation in proportion to the aspirations of those individuals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Obed Barkus ◽  
Dorothy Hughes

Due to social distancing precautions and the desire to protect clinical learners, the COVID-19 pandemic forced medical schools everywhere to implement more distanced and virtualized learning in their educational curriculums. More specifically, at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina, a regional medical campus, the impact of some of these changes were also seen and felt. The purpose of this study was to investigate the downstream effects of these curriculum changes from the perspectives and opinions of medical students attending a regional medical campus. To explore the study purpose, a mixed-methods, cross-sectional study that used an online survey with closed and open-ended questions was used. Additionally, because of unique curriculum characteristics depending on the year of the student, 1st and 2nd year students (phase I) were asked slightly different questions than students in their 3rd and 4th years (phase II). Closed-ended questions asked students about lecture experience, clinical learning development and time, study time, exam performance, collaborative learning experiences, and socialization/interactions with colleagues. Students answered in range of -3 to +3, negative numbers meaning a detrimental impact (or decrease in study time), and positive numbers being beneficial impact (or increase in study time). Open-ended questions asked students about improvements that could be made, unique class circumstances during the pandemic and any other relevant impact not covered in closed-ended questions. For phase I students, lecture experience, study time and exam performance resulted in no impact. However, collaborative learning and socialization with colleagues did result in a detrimental impact that was significant. For phase II learners, clinical skills development, time spent in clinical skills development and socialization with colleagues were detrimentally impacted. However, the amount of time spent on studying increased and exam performance benefited. These findings suggest that pandemic-related curriculum changes impact learners differently depending on the phase of medical they are in.               There are no conflicts of interest by either of the authors. This study has been approved by the University of Kansas Medical Center Institutional Review Board.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
Elena G. Babich ◽  

This article presents an analysis of socio-psychological technologies and practical work on the problems of motivation to work and the promotion of employment of students with disabilities and health limitations throughout their studies at the university. The author describes various technologies for accompanying students at the university, from professional orientation to employment, focusing on the most successful practices. Offers practical solutions to improve the technologies of higher inclusive education, to create equal conditions for students with disabilities and people with disabilities in realizing their creative potential, in socialization, employment and entrepreneurship, in promoting the sociopsychological adaptation of students with disabilities in labor motivation and employment throughout training at the university.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document