scholarly journals A Soft Skills Experiment in an Industrial Engineering and Management Academic Course

2022 ◽  
pp. 20-49
Author(s):  
Klaas Stek
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Parallel Machines ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Industrial Firms ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Skills Learning

Industrial firms increasingly concentrate on their core competences and outsource non-core activities, affecting the personal (soft) skills requirements of purchasing and supply chain management (PSM) personnel in their boundary-spanning roles. In parallel, machines take over processes but cannot replicate humans' soft skills such as creativity and strategic thinking. The literature shows that learning objectives in PSM courses in higher education are evaluated for not covering soft skills. Moreover, there is evidence that soft skills development is challenging. It is questionable which soft skills can be developed and which didactics are applicable. This study presents an educational soft skills experiment with IEM graduates, and it provides evidence that soft skills learning can effectively be introduced in existing courses. The graduates self-rated their competence levels of 36 soft skills before and after the course that provided soft skills workshops and a case study. In the first survey, “strategic thinking” ranked low and could be improved the most in the second survey.

Facebook as Complementary Teaching Material: Reconceptualizing the Context Boundaries of Formal and Informal Learning in EFL Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Iman Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
English Language ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Survey Analysis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Formal Curriculum ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Skills Learning

This article is a case study that aims to understand and explore a teacher's perspective about integrating Facebook as an informal social platform into the EFL classroom in a higher education context in Oman. The study further aims to identify the attitudes and perspectives of a group of students belonging to the same context. Research data came from semi-structured interviews with a teacher participant and a survey questionnaire with student participants. The study provides a set of findings based on interview data analysis and questionnaire survey analysis. The study's findings revealed the teacher and students' positive attitudes and perspectives towards the role of Facebook in boosting pedagogical practices and increasing English language skills learning. This study contributes to knowledge by providing insights on the integration of Facebook as an informal platform into the formal curriculum-based learning in TESOL. The insights and findings are of value to the teachers and instructors in EFL higher education contexts. Pedagogical implications for ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) and researchers are offered in the light of these results.

scholarly journals Transparency for Multi-Tier Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of a Multi-tier Transparency Approach for SSCM in the Automotive Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain J. Fraser ◽  
Martin Müller ◽  
Julia Schwarzkopf
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chain ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Sustainability Problems

Sustainability in supply chain management (SSCM) has become established in both academia and increasingly in practice. As stakeholders continue to require focal companies (FCs) to take more responsibility for their entire supply chains (SCs), this has led to the development of multi-tier SSCM (MT-SSCM). Much extant research has focused on simple supply chains from certain industries. Recently, a comprehensive traceability for sustainability (TfS) framework has been proposed, which outlines how companies could achieve MT-SSCM through traceability. Our research builds on this and responds to calls for cases from the automotive industry by abductively analysing a multi-tier supply chain (MT-SC) transparency case study. This research analyses a raw material SC that is particularly renowned for sustainability problems—the cobalt supply chain for electric vehicles—and finds that the extant literature has oversimplified the operationalisation of transparency in MT-SSCM. We compare the supply chain maps of the MT-SC before and after an auditing and mapping project to demonstrate the transparency achieved. Our findings identify challenges to the operationalisation of SC transparency and we outline how FCs might set to increase MT-SC transparency for sustainability.

scholarly journals Implications of Assessing Student-Driven Projects: A Case Study of Possible Challenges and an Argument for Reflexivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Pedersen ◽  
Mads Hobye
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Assessment Criterion ◽  
External Examiner

Employing student-driven project work in a higher education setting challenges not only the way in which we understand students’ learning and how we define the expected learning outcomes, it also challenges our ways of assessing students’ learning. This paper will address this question specifically and illustrate with a case that highlights some of the challenges that may arise in practice when assessing student-driven, problem-based projects. The case involved an assessment situation in which a discrepancy arose between the internal and external examiner in relation to what was valued. The discrepancy had consequences not only for the concrete assessment of students’ work, but also for the validity of the problem-based university pedagogy in general, and it raised the question of how to assess students’ work adequately. The research focus of this study was to explore the implications of assessing student-driven projects within a progressive approach to higher education teaching, along with the potential underlying issues. We found a need for clear assessment criteria while insisting on a space for students’ creativity and reflexivity as essential parts of a learning process. The paper thus makes a case for the notion of reflexivity as an assessment criterion to be integrated into learning objectives.

scholarly journals Implementación y validación de una gincana para aprender genética en educación secundaria (Implementation and validation of a gymkhana to learn genetics in secondary education)

Retos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 127-134
Author(s):  
Anna Borrull Riera ◽  
Cristina Valls Bautista
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Molecular Processes ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Para Determinar ◽  
Difficult Subject ◽  
Estudio De Caso

  La genética es un tema especialmente difícil de explicar y de aprender según los expertos por varios motivos, entre ellos el desinterés generalizado del alumnado, así como la naturaleza abstracta y compleja de los procesos moleculares implicados. Con el fin de afrontar dichas dificultades, se diseñó, se implementó y se evaluó una gincana para analizar si permitía consolidar los conocimientos de genética expuestos de manera teórica previamente. El presente trabajo es un estudio de caso de un grupo de alumnos de entre 15-16 años que respondieron un cuestionario test antes y después de realizar la gincana para determinar si esta permite que el alumnado logre los objetivos de aprendizaje para los que fue diseñada. La gincana permite que el alumnado logre la mayoría de los objetivos planteados y por tanto se puede considerar como una actividad centrada en el alumnado y efectiva como actividad de consolidación de los conceptos teóricos sobre genética. Además, tuvo muy buena aceptación y fue bien valorada por parte del alumnado. Abstract: Genetics is an especially difficult subject to explain and learn according to experts for several reasons, including the general disinterest of students, as well as the abstract and complex nature of the molecular processes involved. To face these difficulties, a gymkhana was designed, implemented and evaluated to analyze whether it allowed to consolidate the knowledge of genetics previously exposed in a theoretical way. The present work is a case study of a group of students aged 15-16 who answered a test questionnaire before and after performing the gymkhana to determine if it allows students to achieve the learning objectives for which it was designed. The gymkhana allows students to achieve most of the objectives set and therefore can be considered as an activity focused on students and effective as an activity for the consolidation of theoretical concepts on genetics. In addition, it had a very good acceptance and was well valued by the students.

scholarly journals Mastery of Soft Skills Through Co-curricular Uniform Body

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadillah Ismail ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Moral Ethics ◽  
Ministry Of Higher Education

Involvement students in the co-curricular of uniformed bodies is one of the significant alternatives in the effort to apply elements of soft skills among students in IPT. This study is a longitudinal survey study aimed at measuring the level of mastery of soft skills among 912 students who took a uniformed body co-curriculum course. There are seven attributes of insaniah skill (soft skill) for IPT students as outlined by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (KPTM) including communication skills, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship and professional moral ethics skills (KPT 2006) applied . Statistical Package for Social Science Version 20 software was used to analyze the findings of this study. The results show that there is a change in the mastery of the mastery of the seven soft skills among students before and after joining the uniformed body.

scholarly journals ‘Because Sometimes Your Failures Can Also Teach You Certain Skills’: Lecturer and Student Perceptions of Employability Skills at a Transnational University

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Graduate Degrees ◽  
International University ◽  
Education Courses

This exploratory study investigates lecturers’ and students’ understanding of the concepts and language underpinning higher education strategies of developing employability skills. While a solid grounding in discipline-specific knowledge and skills is what most graduate degrees aim at providing, employability skills are increasingly becoming an important factor when evaluating prospective employees. Embedding the acquisition of employability skills into higher education courses has emerged as a response to industry demands for work-ready graduates. The forces of internationalisation and globalisation mean that employers the world over are looking for graduates with additional soft skills, abilities and achievements. The context for this study is Westminster International University, Tashkent (WIUT), a transnational university in Uzbekistan. By means of a qualitative case study, the views of lecturers and students were investigated and common themes and perspectives identified. The main findings indicate that although students and lecturers share similar perspectives on the importance of employability skills, the purpose of employability focused pedagogy is not easily communicated to students. Furthermore, students feel that a more systematic approach to recognising and demonstrating employability skills would help them in their transition from education to work. 

scholarly journals Higher education responses to COVID-19 in the United States: Evidence for the impacts of university policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brennan Klein ◽  
Nicholas Generous ◽  
Matteo Chinazzi ◽  
Zarana Bhadricha ◽  
Rishab Gunashekar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Policy ◽  
University Policy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Matching Procedure ◽  
Rich Data

With a dataset of testing and case counts from over 1,400 institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States, we analyze the number of infections and deaths from SARS-CoV-2 in the counties surrounding these IHEs during the Fall 2020 semester (August to December, 2020). We used a matching procedure designed to create groups of counties that are aligned along age, race, income, population, and urban/rural categories---socio-demographic variables that have been shown to be correlated with COVID-19 outcomes. We find that counties with IHEs that remained primarily online experienced fewer cases and deaths during the Fall 2020 semester; whereas before and after the semester, these two groups had almost identical COVID-19 incidence. Additionally, we see fewer deaths in counties with IHEs that reported conducting any on-campus testing compared to those that reported none. We complement the statistical analysis with a case study of IHEs in Massachusetts---a rich data state in our dataset---which further highlights the importance of IHE-affiliated testing for the broader community. The results in this work suggest that campus testing can itself be thought of as a mitigation policy and that allocating additional resources to IHEs to support efforts to regularly test students and staff would be beneficial to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in the general population.

scholarly journals Towards electronically assisted a case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhir Bhalerao ◽  
Ashley Ward
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Student Tutor ◽  
Education Today ◽  
The Individual

Formative assessment plays an important role in teaching by motivating learners and providing feedback on the achievement of learning objectives to both students and tutors. However, formative assessment is confounded by large student/tutor ratios, which is an inevitable consequence of resource constraints in publicly funded higher education today. Indeed, for formative assessment to be effective, the feedback to the learner must be timely, specific to the individual, and discursive.DOI:10.1080/09687760108656773 

Antecedents, processes and outcomes of an internship program: an employer's perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanja Kroon ◽  
Mário Franco
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Internship Programs ◽  
University Industry

PurposeHigher education internships have been studied in different aspects, mainly from the student or university perspective. To contribute to the understanding of the third actor in this type of university-industry cooperation, the paper examines employers' perspectives on higher education internships.Design/methodology/approachThrough a literature review and based on Narayanan et al. (2010) conceptual model, an a priori model was developed, which was then validated by a multiple-case study in a Portuguese undergraduate course.FindingsThe findings reveal rich and meaningful insights into an under-researched area, including validation of seven antecedents, two processes and six outcomes of internships from the employer's perspective. This research showed that employers give great importance to outcomes of internships, either in terms of productivity, possible future recruitment, inflow of ideas, behaviours and competences or the intern's satisfaction.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest the need for universities to undertake more collaboration with industry, as the employers made weak references to the creation and maintenance of ties with the educational institution, denoting low motivation. On the other hand, most of the outcomes for employers found in the literature are confirmed, except for the continued inflow of ideas construct. This may evidence some lack of strategic thinking related to the internship programs on part of the employers.Originality/valueThis paper validates and extends the dispersed findings of existing research by providing a useful, unifying conceptual model of the employer's perspective on higher education internships, which can be tested at other levels of education or in other countries.

Development of soft skills in higher education - case study

e-mentor ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (70(3)) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Anita Zarzycka
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Soft Skills
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