Assessment under Covid-19: Exploring Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes towards Their Online Thesis Proposal Presentations vs. Face-to-face

This study conducted in an EFL setting investigates students’ perception of the thesis proposal presentation in an online format due to safety concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fifty-five students aged 20-22 years old, level B2-C1 in English, in their fourth year of a Business Informatics Bachelor’s programme at HSE University, Moscow, were surveyed regarding their end-of-course assessment experience, which involved a Skype online presentation, rather than the usual face-to-face presentation. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of 3 sections and 12 items. A mixed-method approach using quantitative and qualitative data was employed. The findings indicate that emergency transition to the new format did not affect students’ satisfaction or results of the presentation. Overall, students were more than satisfied with the online format, and the results were similar, if not better, than in previous years. To minimise the disadvantages of this format, recommendations for teachers and students were offered. This study might offer new insight on the most appropriate and beneficial oral testing system for students and staff.

Development and Demonstrational Instantiation of a Method for the Structured Content Analysis of Smartphone Apps

The publication discusses the adaptation of dedicated known methods for structured content analysis for the usage of smartphone apps, taking into account the specifics of these dynamic media types and resulting consequences for the procedure and content rating. The background is the increasing popularity of apps and the growing demand for precise analysis of the status quo regarding the content and functions of apps on the market, esp. within design-oriented business informatics. Within the literature, no uniform, comparable and systematic approach to this could be identified so far. Therefore, an existing standard for the evaluation of apps from the medical context has been adapted for general application to apps. This provides a helpful procedure for researchers, practitioners, and students and ensures consistency across studies. The feasibility of the proposed method and assessment standard were confirmed by a successful demonstrational instantiation based on an app review of energy information systems for private customers.

EP.WE.608Hospital within the Hospital – Renaissance of Elective Surgery Amidst the Pandemic

Aim COVID had an unprecedented effect on the NHS elective surgical care. To overcome the deficit created due to the pandemic, the concept of a ‘COVID protected zone’ gave birth to the ‘hospital within the hospital’. This included 9 elective theatres, 28 ring fenced elective beds, a surgical enhanced care unit, a canteen and a separated entrance. Of the fundamentals of the model were enhanced infection control and PPE guidance for staff. The aim of our study was to evaluate the recovery of elective activity brought about by this elective centre. Methods Theatre activity data was collected weekly (7/20 to 1/21) through the business informatics system. This was used to compare the activity achieved during the recovery phase from COVID after the first and subsequent wave. Results Pre COVID-19, 11 theatres were operating. These managed an average of 263 cases were per week. In the first week of operation of elective centre, 31% of theatre capacity was achieved. By week 7, 106% of pre COVID was recorded and 130% by week 11. During the 2nd wave the capacity was reduced to 42% as opposed to 0% during the first wave. This was only possible due to our model elective centre. Conclusion This model elective centre has enabled elective care to return to above normal levels, with increased efficiencies. This has not only shortened patient waiting times and cleared the back-log but also delivered training to surgical trainees without compromising safety.

1358 Does A COVID Protected Hospital Within A COVID Hospital Enable Elective Care and Training Opportunities?

Introduction Elective care in the UK came to a standstill with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A restart could only be enabled with ‘green site’ separation and a ‘covid protected’ zone. A ‘hospital within the hospital’ concept was developed including 9 elective theatres, 28 ring fenced elective beds, a surgical enhanced care unit, a canteen, and a separated entrance. This model was underpinned with PPE, enhanced infection control and guidance for staff. The study documented the ability to recover elective activity and therefore provide a training environment for surgical trainees. Method Data was collected weekly (7/20 to 1/21) through the business informatics system with regard to theatres cases completed compared to the activity achieved in the 11-theatre elective estate pre COVID-19. Results Pre COVID-19, an average of 263 cases were completed per week. In the first week of operation, 31% of theatre capacity was achieved. By week 7, 106% of pre COVID was recorded and 130% by week 11. This was maintained until the impact of the second wave where activity has reduced to 50% but is not anticipated to reduce further as local anaesthetic and blocks maybe utilised. Conclusions This ‘hospital within the hospital’ has enabled elective care to return to above normal levels, with increased efficiencies. This has enabled a rapid return to a training environment for trainees disheartened with deployment to critical care in the first wave.

Assessing students' self-assessment ability in an interdisciplinary domain

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine whether students' self-assessment (SSA) could be used as a significant attribute to predict students' future academic achievement.Design/methodology/approachThe authors address how well students can assess their abilities and study the relationship between this ability and demographic properties and previous study performance. The authors present the study results by measuring the relationship between the SSA across five different topics and comparing them with the students' performance in these topics using short tests. The test has been voluntarily taken by more than 300 students planning to enroll in the School of Business Informatics and Mathematics master's programs at the University of Mannheim.FindingsThe study results reveal which attributes are mostly associated with the accuracy level of SSA in higher education. The authors conclude that SSA, it can be valuable in predicting master's students' academic achievement when taking specific measures when designing the predictive module.Research limitations/implicationsDue to time constraints, the study was restricted only to students applying to master's programs at the Faculty of Business Informatics and Mathematics at the University of Mannheim. This resulted in collecting a limited data set. Also, the scope of this study was restricted to testing the accuracy of SSA and did not test using it as an attribute for predicting students' academic achievement.Originality/valuePredicting students' academic performance in higher education is beneficial from different perspectives. The literature reveals that a considerable amount of work is published to analyze and predict academic performance in higher education. However, most of the published work relies on attributes such as demographics, teachers' assessment, and examination scores for performing their prediction while neglecting the use of other forms of evaluation such as SSA or self-evaluation.

Master data management in an iterative approach

Master Data Management (MDM) is a young area of business informatics that concerns consolidation and centralized control of highly important business data distributed over different information systems. Leading IT companies such as IBM, Oracle, Informatica and others offer a wide range of ready-made products for master data management (MDM products). MDM product deployment involves many technical and organizational complications: it is necessary to adapt these products for the specifics of the business, modify business processes, create new data policies, solve se-curity questions, etc. A popular approach to this task is the iterative strategy of MDM deployment, which supposes a step-by-step implementation of master data management based on the real needs of the business organization. In this paper, the notion of an MDM solution is introduced, which is the result of the deployment of MDM in an organization. It includes a specifically adapted MDM product, new regulations for working with data, trained employees, and an up-and-running process of master data management. The main result of the paper is a functional model of master data management intended for the early stages of the development of an MDM solution within the iterative deployment strategy. The purpose of this model is the representation of real business needs in terms of MDM. It is important to un-derstand which MDM components should be implemented first. The paper describes a detailed description of the mod-el components, as well as a portfolio of six real MDM projects analyzed from the viewpoint of the proposed model.

Modeling the economy

The textbook describes the main sections of the discipline "Modeling of economics", read by students in the master's program in the direction of training 38.04.05 "Business Informatics". The presentation of theoretical information is illustrated by a detailed analysis of specific numerical examples. The textbook contains the tasks of a comprehensive test in the discipline "Modeling of the economy". Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. For students of higher educational institutions studying for a master's degree in the direction of training 38.04.05 "Business Informatics".