Promoting Civic Engagement Through University Curricula

2019 ◽  
pp. 776-793
Author(s):  
Bryna Bobick

In recent years, universities and colleges are including civic engagement in their mission statements. University administrators are increasingly encouraged faculty and students to participate in civic engagement both on and off campus. Various stakeholders should be part of this conversation in order to create a setting for learning that reflects the mission of the university or college. In this study, sixteen university freshmen participated in civic engagement through a freshman honors forum course. In addition to promoting civic engagement, the course supported the arts and museums in Memphis, Tennessee. Pre and exit surveys were conducted the participants to gain insight into their thoughts and experiences towards the course's curriculum. Their experiences provide a window into thinking about the role of civic engagement with university students.

Author(s):  
Bryna Bobick

In recent years, universities and colleges are including civic engagement in their mission statements. University administrators are increasingly encouraged faculty and students to participate in civic engagement both on and off campus. Various stakeholders should be part of this conversation in order to create a setting for learning that reflects the mission of the university or college. In this study, sixteen university freshmen participated in civic engagement through a freshman honors forum course. In addition to promoting civic engagement, the course supported the arts and museums in Memphis, Tennessee. Pre and exit surveys were conducted the participants to gain insight into their thoughts and experiences towards the course's curriculum. Their experiences provide a window into thinking about the role of civic engagement with university students.


Author(s):  
James Marlatt

ABSTRACT Many people may not be aware of the extent of Kurt Kyser's collaboration with mineral exploration companies through applied research and the development of innovative exploration technologies, starting at the University of Saskatchewan and continuing through the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research. Applied collaborative, geoscientific, industry-academia research and development programs can yield technological innovations that can improve the mineral exploration discovery rates of economic mineral deposits. Alliances between exploration geoscientists and geoscientific researchers can benefit both parties, contributing to the pure and applied geoscientific knowledge base and the development of innovations in mineral exploration technology. Through a collaboration that spanned over three decades, we gained insight into the potential for economic uranium deposits around the world in Canada, Australia, USA, Finland, Russia, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Guyana. Kurt, his research team, postdoctoral fellows, and students developed technological innovations related to holistic basin analysis for economic mineral potential, isotopes in mineral exploration, and biogeochemical exploration, among others. In this paper, the business of mineral exploration is briefly described, and some examples of industry-academic collaboration innovations brought forward through Kurt's research are identified. Kurt was a masterful and capable knowledge broker, which is a key criterion for bringing new technologies to application—a grand, curious, credible, patient, and attentive communicator—whether talking about science, business, or life and with first ministers, senior technocrats, peers, board members, first nation peoples, exploration geologists, investors, students, citizens, or friends.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Myrta Morales-Cruz

<p>Law 232 of August 27, 2004 has a special meaning to the people residing in some of Puerto Rico's poorest communities. It was the result of the hard work, during a period of a year and a half, of leaders from some of these communities and my students, the students of the community development section of the Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Puerto Rico’s School of Law. The story of Law 232 can provide insight into what the role of a lawyer can be in the battle against poverty. To understand the story of this Puerto Rican law, one has to go back to August of 2002. During that month the University of Puerto Rico's School of Law Legal Aid Clinic inaugurated its community development section.</p>


Author(s):  
С.А. Лысуенко

В статье обсуждаются вопросы, связанные с особенностями профессионального выбора выпускников общеобразовательных организаций. Представлены результаты исследования, позволяющие определить роль осознанной саморегуляции активности молодых людей, оказавшихся в ситуации профессионального выбора (на примере студентов педагогического вуза). В исследовании приняли участие 302 студента первого курса, обучающихся по направлению подготовки 44.03.01 «Педагогическое образование». В качестве инструментария были использованы методика «Мотивация учения студентов педагогического вуза» С. А. Пакулиной и М. В. Овчинникова и опросник «Стиль саморегуляции поведения» В. И. Моросановой. Данные, полученные в процессе исследования, были структурированы, обработаны и проинтерпретированы с применением математических методов. Было установлено, что студенты первого курса, совершившие при поступлении в вуз профессиональный выбор с учетом своих интересов и склонностей, обладают сформировавшейся потребностью продумывать способы своих действий и поведения для достижения намеченных целей, а план их действий отличается детализированностью и развернутостью. Также им свойственны самостоятельность при проектировании способов достижения индивидуальных целей, гибкость в случае возникновения непредвиденных обстоятельств, развитая адекватная оценка себя и полученных результатов. По итогам исследования был сделан вывод о том, что наличие сформированной системы осознанной саморегуляции произвольной активности у индивида, находящегося на этапе выбора профессии, позволяет совершить более правильный профессиональный выбор, что, в свою очередь, является одним из условий актуализации профессионально-личностного потенциала. The article discusses issues related to the peculiarities of the professional choice of graduates of public education organizations. There are results of the study presented, which allow us to determine the role of conscious self-regulation of the activity of young people who find themselves in a situation of having to make a professional choice (on the example of students of a pedagogical university). The research involved 302 first-year students studying in the field of training 44.03.01 «Pedagogical Education». As research tools, the «Motivation of teaching pedagogical university students» methodology by S.А. Pakulina and M.V. Ovchinnikov and the questionnaire «Style of self-regulation of behaviour» by V.I. Morosanova were used. The data obtained during the research were organized, processed and interpreted using mathematical methods. It was found that first-year students who, upon entering the university, made a professional choice more consciously, taking into account their interests and inclinations have a well-developed need to think through their actions and behaviour to achieve their goals and their action plan is detailed. They are also characterized by independence in designing an action plan to achieve individual goals, flexibility in the situation of unforeseen circumstances, an advanced adequate assessment of themselves and the results they achieved. As the main conclusion, the following is formulated: the possession of a developed system of conscious self-regulation of arbitrary activity in an individual who is at the stage of choosing a profession allows him to make an adequate professional choice, which, in turn, is one of the conditions for the actualization of professional and personal potential.


Author(s):  
Giustina Secundo ◽  
Pasquale Del Vecchio ◽  
Giuseppina Passiante ◽  
Mirco Paoletto

The chapter aims to contribute at the discussion on the role of creativity in sustaining corporate entrepreneurship development by focusing on entrepreneurial learning in the context of incumbent enterprises. Empirical evidences coming from the case study of “Mimprendo” project (www.mimprendo.it), an initiative promoted by the Italian Conference of the University Colleges and the Italian Association of Young Entrepreneurs, are presented. Findings provides insights about the collaborative entrepreneurial learning as happening in the community composed by University students, entrepreneurs, and researchers to solve relevant managerial and entrepreneurial innovation's needs. Those evidences are at the basis of an integrated framework aimed to provide a coherent and a systematic view on the collaborative entrepreneurial learning processes to nurture, select, and implement creative ideas of universities students for sustaining the corporate entrepreneurship in incumbent companies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Alfeetouri Salih Mohammed Alsati ◽  
Al-Sayed Abd ulmutallab Ghanem

The current research aims at identifying and measuring the political knowledge of the students of the two universities of Al- Balqaa in Jordan and Omar Al- Mokhtar in Libya. The two communities are almost similar in terms of the social formation, Arab customs and traditions, the Bedouin values, the difference in the institutional age and the political stability.The study attempts to measure and compare the political knowledge in the communities of the two universities using the descriptive and comparative analytical method. The study uses a 400 random questionnaire of 30 paragraphs to measure eight indicators divided into internal and external political knowledge, and other aspects of knowledge: general political knowledge, knowledge of the political institutions and leaders, the political interest, the geographical and historical knowledge, and knowledge of the methods of exercising the political process. The study also attempts to identifying the most important sources and the role of the university in university students’ political knowledge.The results show that the level of the political knowledge is medium while its level in the sample of the Jordanian students is high. According to the samples, the internal political knowledge is more than the external knowledge with a lack of interest in the political matters. The samples do not consider the political matters as their priorities. The political knowledge as a whole needs to much effort to be exerted to confront the current circumstances. The variables of the place of resident, age and the educational level make big difference in the political knowledge. In contrast, the level of the parental education does not create big differences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 779-803
Author(s):  
Yaser Hasan Salem Al-Mamary ◽  
Mohammed Abdulrab ◽  
Mohammed A. Alwaheeb ◽  
Naif Ghazi M. Alshammari

PurposeThis research intends to contribute to the literature of entrepreneurial intentions through determining the factors impacting the entrepreneurial intentions among students in different academic programs. This is in order to enhance and improve entrepreneurship-related procedures within relevant universities.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by a structured survey questionnaire on 261 students in the University of Hail. The questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The proposed hypotheses were tested by the use of the structured equation modeling (SEM) via using Amos software.FindingsThe results of the current study support the theoretical integration of the model as most of the hypotheses have been accepted. The results of the survey also show that attitudes toward behavior, self-efficacy, autonomy, risk-taking, pro-activeness and competitive aggressiveness are expressively related with entrepreneurial intention. Yet, social norms and innovativeness are not considerably connected with entrepreneurial intention.Research limitations/implicationsThis study seeks to contribute to the relevant literature by integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the entrepreneurial orientation model (EO). This is in order to identify the factors impacting the intention of entrepreneurship among Saudi university students. As the case in many studies, this present study has some limitations. The main limitation lies in that it would not be possible to generalize the study's findings. This is due to the fact the research is the outcome of examining and studying one Saudi university. Therefore, it would be better to conduct similar studies in other Saudi universities in order to generalize the findings of the study.Practical implicationsThe study's results could be of value to policymakers and university administrators in Saudi Arabia universities by which they could be enabled to allocate resources, develop strategies and provide all requirements for the sake of improving entrepreneurial skills among university students. This comprehensive model can be used as a tool for planning and prioritizing resources in bid for providing the required support as this support would reinforce the entrepreneurial opportunity of university students. As such, students would have better thinking about entrepreneurial work and thus would be assisted in achieving their professional goals and the broader goal of nation building.Originality/valueSince today's youth are viewed as the potential future entrepreneurs, they should be encouraged to achieve the Saudi Kingdom's goals through creating suitable employment opportunities for them by supporting entrepreneurship. Therefore, pointing out the factors impacting the entrepreneurial intention of students will contribute to developing the field of entrepreneurship among young people in Saudi Arabic in general. In addition, realized outcomes would create an exciting new knowledge with regard to the entrepreneurial intention among the youth at the university level.


2020 ◽  
pp. 251512742093175
Author(s):  
Lynn E. Metcalf ◽  
Thomas M. Katona ◽  
Jonathan L. York

Over the past decade, universities have invested heavily in startup accelerator programs; however, their role in the university entrepreneurial ecosystem is ambiguous. Are university startup accelerators intended to educate or are they created to facilitate business starts and to contribute to regional economic development? In contrast, most private-sector startup accelerators serve a consistent and differentiated role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem—they provide programming and resources to startups to increase the probability of a return on investment. Understanding the role of university startup accelerators is an important precursor to evaluating their impact and whether or not the return is worth the considerable investment. In this study, we poll university accelerator directors to gain their perspective on the role(s) that university startup accelerators play and to identify how they are structured and operated. Our research reveals a fairly uniform structure and mode of operation. While facilitating business starts is a key role for some, it confirms education as the primary role for university startup accelerators. We outline appropriate means of assessing the learning that takes place in accelerator programs, offer insight into how these findings can help accelerator directors deliver on outcomes and demonstrate impact, and propose avenues for future research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-455
Author(s):  
Carlos Ramos-Galarza ◽  
Pamela Acosta-Rodas ◽  
Mónica Bolaños-Pasquel ◽  
Nancy Lepe-Martínez

Purpose The purpose of this paper is fourfold: first, to analyse the relationship between executive functions and academic performance; second, to identify the level of prediction executive functions have on academic performance; third, to determine the correlation between executive functions and academic performance; and fourth, to compare executive functions based on the level of academic performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample composed of 175 university students aged between 18 and 36 years (M=21.49, SD=3.22). The EFECO scale, the average student grade and a scale based on the diagnostic criteria for ADHD were used as measurement instruments. Findings Difficulties in executive functions: Difficulties in working memory (r=−0.30, p=<0.01) and difficulties in conscious supervision of behaviour (r=−0.29, p⩽0.01) have an inversely proportional relationship to academic performance (the greater the deficit of executive functions, the lower the academic performance). The regression analysis showed that executive functions explain 31 per cent of the variance of academic performance (χ2(25)=43.81, p <0.001). The study found that there is a relationship between all the executive functions and students’ behaviour in a medium to large magnitude. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study was the size of the sample as it is not representative of the country. Nevertheless, the correlation among the variables studied here has the necessary magnitude for the proposed correlations to be found. Nonetheless, it is necessary that we perform a study with a larger number of participants in order to achieve adequate extrapolation of the results. Practical implications Data found in this study suggest that low academic performance of university students is related to a lower functionality of their executive functions. Originality/value The originality of the research lies in relating specific concepts of neuropsychology to explain the academic performance of university students. The research findings allow us to project new studies to improve the executive functions for the benefit of the university student.


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