This paper describes and discusses the implementation of a project-based graduate design course in telecommunications engineering. This course, which requires a combination of technical and soft skills for its completion, enables guided independent learning (GIL) and application of technical knowledge acquired from classroom learning. Its main implementation challenge is the need for instructo…
This paper discusses the design and implementation of laboratories and course projects using LabVIEW in an instrumentation course. The pedagogical challenge is to enhance students’ learning of digital communication using LabVIEW. LabVIEW was extensively used in the laboratory sessions, which better prepared students for the course projects. Two course projects were designed to familiarize t…
Synchrophasors, widely used in the monitoring and analysis of power systems, evolved from the phasor method presented by Charles Proteus Steinmetz in 1893. The phasor method is a mathematical method for solving linear sinusoidal steady-state circuits and time-varying electromagnetic fields. This paper traces the history and diffusion of the phasor method in the discipline of electrical enginee…
Today’s electrical and computer engineering graduates need marketable skills to work with electronic devices. Hands-on experiments prepare students to deal with real-world problems and help them to comprehend theoretical concepts and relate these to practical tasks. However, shortage of equipment, high costs, and a lack of human resources for laboratory maintenance and assistance decrease th…
This study investigated surviving women’s learning experiences from the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. Women were the majority of casualties and the most vulnerable after the tsunami. Almost a decade later, we used a conceptual framework of experiential learning, critical reflection, and transformative learning to understand the surviving women’s ways of learning after the disaster. This paper highl…
The cultural experiences of minority learners are often omitted from the formal curriculum leading to exclusion and a sense of cultural loss. In this study, the researcher’s lived experience serves as the basis to develop a novel research strategy: transformative autoethnography. The researcher uses the method of autoethnography to more deeply understand his roles as Chickasaw and adult educa…
Professional development plays a key role in motivating many adult learners. Understanding these students’ career contexts allows for more effective program development and better student services. This article presents five broad categories of career context and provides a brief framework which educators can use to more effectively anticipate the needs of different types of adult learners. T…
Since informal learning occurs outside of formal learning environments, describing informal learning and how it takes place can be a challenge for researchers. Past studies have typically oriented to informal learning as an individual, reflective process that can best be understood through the learners’ retrospective accounts about their experiences. Although reports on the individual liv…
The use of screencasts as an instructional technology is increasing rapidly in higher education. While there appears to be a consensus around students’ satisfaction with the provision of technology-enhanced tools, there is limited evidence revolving around their impact in terms of knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the reasons why students choose to engage (or not) with these resources remai…
Stress has been shown to negatively affect learning. Academic burnout is a significant problem associated with poor academic performance. Although there has been increased attention on these two issues, literature on the relationship between students’ life stress and burnout is relatively limited. This study surveys academic burnout and life stresses among college students and further asse…
The use of student response systems is becoming more prevalent in higher level education. Evidence on the effectiveness of this technology can be an important resource for tutors seeking to engage with learners and raise the quality of learning experiences. Student response systems have been found to increase student engagement and participation in the classroom, yet few studies examine why …
Service-learning is a pedagogy that combines academic study with service to the community. Voluntary work placements are integral to service-learning and offer students an ideal opportunity to develop their employability skills and attributes. In a service-learning course, it was considered good practice to raise students’ awareness of the development of these skills and attributes. To ena…
The principles advocated in the widely acclaimed keynote texts on reflection have nominally been followed for over 30 years in educational programmes and schemes for professional development. This article was prompted by the impression that practice and theorising reported in publications about journal writing does not consistently endorse the advice in the seminal literature, and is potenti…
Much has been written about student and faculty opinions on academic integrity in testing. Currently, concerns appear to focus more narrowly on online testing, generally based on anecdotal assumptions that online students are more likely to engage in academic dishonesty in testing than students in traditional oncampus courses. To address such assumptions, a statistical model to predict examin…
Forty years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics initiated the national longitudinal studies program in response to congressional concern for policy-relevant information on school-to-work transitions. This program has grown substantially, and not unexpectedly, questions have arisen about its usefulness and present operation. This essay briefly describes the scope of the program and…
This study tested the theory that an authoritative school climate characterized by disciplinary structure and student support is conducive to positive academic outcomes for middle and high school students. Multilevel multivariate modeling at student and school levels was conducted using school surveys completed by statewide samples of 39,364 students in Grades 7 and 8 in 423 middle schools and …
The Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development were created as a joint effort between the Institute of Education Science and the National Science Foundation in an effort to streamline education research and contribute to an accumulation of knowledge that will lead to improved student outcomes. One type of research that emerged in the guidelines is impact research. In order to achi…
This study uses student panel data to examine the association between algebra placement and student motivation for mathematics. Changes in achievement goals, expectancy, and task value for students in eighth-grade algebra are compared with those of peers placed in lower-level mathematics courses (N = 3,306). In our sample, students placed in algebra reported an increase in performance-avoidance…
Students of color are underrepresented in gifted programs relative to White students, but the reasons for this underrepresentation are poorly understood. We investigate the predictors of gifted assignment using nationally representative, longitudinal data on elementary students. We document that even among students with high standardized test scores, Black students are less likely to be assigne…
Globally, teacher education (TE) is challenged to change relationships with schools and teachers and become more collaborative in teaching and research. This study examined the way knowledge is developed, shared, and used when school and institution of higher education (IHE) partners create research networks in the context of master’s programs for in-service teachers. These knowledge processe…
Policymakers and researchers have for many years advocated disparate approaches to ensuring teachers deliver highquality instruction, including requiring that teachers complete specific training requirements, possess a minimum level of content knowledge, and use curriculum materials and professional development resources available from schools and districts. In this paper, we investigate the ex…
Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002), this study employed latent class analysis (LCA) to explore the relationship between students’ engagement-related dispositions and their behavioral engagement in home, school, and community activities. The primary aim was to identify and describe the engagement characteristics of distinct subpopulations of students. Our higher-order LC…
This article describes issues in measuring school contexts with an eye toward understanding students’ experiences and outcomes. I begin with an overview of the conceptual underpinnings related to measuring contexts, briefly describe the initiatives at the National Center for Education Statistics to measure school contexts, and identify possible gaps in those initiatives that if filled could p…
In recent years, states have significantly expanded access to prekindergarten (pre-K), and federal policy makers have proposed funding near-universal access across the country. However, researchers know relatively little about the role of subsequent experiences in prolonging or truncating the persistence of benefits for participants. This study examines the interaction between pre-K participati…
As educational policy makers seek strategies to improve the teacher workforce, the early career period represents a unique opportunity to identify struggling teachers, examine the likelihood of future improvement, and make strategic pretenure investments in development or dismissals. It is also a useful time to identify particularly promising teachers for development and focus on high-needs are…
Social-emotional learning (SEL) programs have demonstrated positive effects on children’s social-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes, as well as classroom climate. Some programs also theorize that program impacts on children’s outcomes will be partially explained by improvements in classroom social processes, namely classroom emotional support and organization. Yet there is little …
Recent studies have begun to uncover the genetic architecture of educational attainment. We build on this work using genomewide data from siblings in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We measure the genetic predisposition of siblings to educational attainment using polygenic scores. We then test how polygenic scores are related to social environments an…
This study examines the psychometric properties of two assessments of children’s approaches to learning: the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and a 13-item approaches to learning rating scale (AtL) derived from the Arizona Early Learning Standards (AELS). First, we administered questionnaires to 1,145 randomly selected parents/guardians of first-time kindergarteners. Second, we empl…
Abstract Research problem: Many Asian universities have begun reforms to enhance educational competitiveness in our globalizing economy. This study aims to ascertain the status of English communication education and English-medium instruction at a Korean engineering school and to offer workable suggestions for English communication training for Korean graduate engineering students. Research q…
Classroom observation of teachers is a significant part of educational measurement; measurements of teacher practice are being used in teacher evaluation systems across the country. This research investigated whether observations made live in the classroom and from video recording of the same lessons yielded similar inferences about teaching. Using scores on the Classroom Assessment Scoring…
Given this dearth of information, the arrival of a whole volume on the subject of science education at a distance is an extremely important event. The book is not a final answer to the challenge of science teaching, and of course none of its contributors would imagine it to be so. (Personally, I would have liked the editors to have found more evidence about the use, or potential use, of vi…
The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) was established in 1958 with the mission to improve the quality of biology education at all levels. Not long after the inception of the organization, our mission was expanded to include the improvement of science education, not just biology education. In 2000, we further articulated this mission to describe the work we would do in curriculum d…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe studies of accidental ignition of fuel-air mixture. Studies were carried out in a laboratory that contains the naturally aspirated aircraft engine LYCOMNIG 320B1A IO type used in the EM-11C Orka aircraft and the intake system to determine its resilience to the effects of accidental ignition and the occurrence of a backfire. Design/methodol…
Purpose – Research on sustainability in higher education has focused on environmental management of the university campus, case studies and examples of good practice. Although the value and contribution of these initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This paper aims to explore different theoretical framewor…
Purpose – This study aims to examine to what extent and how effective sustainability education has been at the tertiary accounting education level. The New Zealand (NZ) Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment identified that sustainability education, as part of university education, is important, though NZ universities currently perform poorly in this area. This study looks at the …
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how critical discourse analysis can help to uncover the dominant discursive formations that underlie policy guidelines within education. Focusing on the policy guidelines for career education and guidance in New Zealand, it illustrates how these have been used by the state in an attempt to normalise ideological standpoints, shape “com…
Purpose – The SERVPERF (for Service Performance) and the HEdPERF (for Higher Education Performance) are two questionnaires for collecting customer/student feedback on service quality that have been tested and used mainly in non-Chinese contexts. The purpose of this paper is to adapt and initially validate a Chinese translation of these two instruments for application in the context of pos…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine faculty members’ perceptions over time with respect to the concept of quality assurance; the evaluation objects and the rationale for choosing them; and attitudes toward the application of this process in the college and in its academic units. Design/methodology/approach – This a qualitative longitudinal case study of one veteran colleg…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the quality indicators that are suitable for assuring quality in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Thailand, from the perspectives of students, teaching staff, managerial staff and employers. These quality expectations are then to be compared with the quality indicators of the Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC) in Thailand…
Purpose – The American University of Beruit has generated a model for student success that builds on Kuh’s five benchmarks of academic practice. The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the measures used to assess effectiveness of the benchmarks. Design/methodology/approach – Using a database of student responses to the College Outcomes Survey, scalel…
Purpose – This paper was written for practitioners in higher education, including academics and instructional designers who are engaged in curriculum revision. It aims to examine the notion of outcomes-based education, survey the literature and provide a critical review of the outcomes-based approach to quality assessment and curriculum improvement in higher education. The outcomes-based …
Purpose – This paper seeks to analyze the internationalization of quality practices in higher education. In light of insufficient theorization about quality in the global dimension, the paper presents a model for value construction in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed different models for quality in higher education vis-a` -vis emerging international q…
Purpose – Quality assurance and management is vital for the continuous improvement of the content, delivery and development of teacher education programmes. This paper seeks to explore theoretical issues and ideas in assessing the quality preparation of teachers in the Singapore context. Design/methodology/approach – An academic quality framework provides an architectural approach to op…
Purpose – This paper aims to make a contribution to the current lack of literature in the Australian context by reviewing qualitative feedback collected from students in five private higher education institutions. In particular, the paper seeks to examine factors influencing student choice to study at private higher education institutions and student perceptions of such institutions. Previ…
Purpose – Columbus set out to prove the world was round. Today, Thomas Friedman posits the ‘‘world is flat.’’ The reversion reflects the complexity of today’s world and an interdependent global economy. That complexity also relates to how we educate the citizens of tomorrow. The purpose of this commentary is to explore what is, what works, and what possibilities exist to address …
Purpose – This essay seeks to argue that contemporary liberal arts education can be viewed from the perspective of contemporary psychological understandings of human cognition combined with the classical pedagogy developed in the foundational concepts of Jesuit education. Through a description of the human cognitive system as discussed in the writing of Daniel Kahneman and the Spiritual E…
Purpose – Since the creation of the trivium and quadrivium as the core for a post- secondary education, education itself has undergone substantive change, particularly since the end of the eighteenth century. Unspoken is the change in the population seeking such advanced knowledge, as well as the idea that the original elements might be recast as liberal studies and STEM (science/technolog…
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present the author’s findings from eight conferences, organized over the course of four years by two major management education organizations in the USA, and pertaining to the trend of management education. Design/methodology/approach – This paper offers a constructive critical review of the trend of management education, and the need for greater …
Purpose – The purpose of this essay is to comment on the philosophy of liberal education and its structure; the goal of general education and how it fulfills the goals of liberal education; and the four key elements of liberal education, including the ‘‘liberating’’ aspects of general education, the need for an emphasis on questions more than on answers, the meaning of a global per…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge the assumption that liberal education as we understand it today, is alive and well in our institutions of higher education. Design/methodology/approach – This article is a reflective essay Findings – The spirit of liberal education is alive and well but has largely fled the university and taken up residence in less formal, more flexi…