Search Results for
"Higher education"

Engineering programs in higher education have traditionally focused on technical skills, but there is a need for engineers to develop additional skills such as experimental, making, and design. Design thinking practices are increasingly seen as crucial components of the engineering curriculum. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether integrating project-based learning with Design Thinking and Maker tools can enhance engineering students’ self-efficacy. Given the underrepresentation of women in engineering and past findings on gender differences in making skills, the study also aims to analyze the impact of these educational practices from a gender perspective. This research was conducted over two years with undergraduate engineering students in a real educational setting. It assessed changes in students’ engineering self-efficacy before and after a project-based learning activity that utilized Design Thinking and Maker education to address real-world problems. The study involved 67 students (45 men, 21 women, and 1 who preferred not to say) and employed a comparative analysis of data collected pre- and post-intervention. The study found significant differences in self-efficacy between male and female students prior to the intervention. After participating in the project-based learning activity, students reported an increase in self-efficacy, with women showing a notable improvement in making skills. The findings suggest that project-based learning activities that incorporate Design Thinking and Maker education can positively influence engineering students’ self-efficacy. The impact appears to be particularly beneficial for women students, indicating that such educational approaches may help address gender disparities in engineering disciplines. © 2024 TEMPUS Publications.

Practical training plays an important role in the system of training specialists in the field of art. The purpose of this work is to investigate the leading approaches to the organization of practical training in the field of higher art education, which enable students to master high levels of technical skills and the ability to think creatively. An content-analysis of literature was used. A total of 48 positions were selected. The results demonstrate the importance of artistic practice in the system of professional training of art specialists. In particular, it was established that the use of project-oriented learning, interactive workshops, as well as cooperation with art institutions and active integration of digital technologies in the educational process is important for the formation of professional and creative skills of students of higher art education. These teaching methods also play an important role in ensuring the comprehensive development of students. The conclusions emphasize the issue of implementing practical courses in the system of training modern specialists in the field of art. The study also determined that the identified approaches to practical training develop not only practical skills in the students, but also help in the formation of creative personalities ready to work in an innovative artistic environment. © 2024 Sciedu Press. All rights reserved.

This book provides a palette of practical strategies that higher education leaders—administrators, faculty members, academic advisors, and the like—can apply to the task of rebuilding support. Once closely associated with the common good, higher education is now regarded principally as a benefit for individuals. As a consequence, support for colleges and universities has declined dramatically over the past 50 years, having serious implications for both public and private institutions. After summarizing the erosion of public funding, acknowledging examples of “self-inflicted damage,” and proposing tactics for improvement, this book suggests how to engage natural allies and advocates of higher education, describes three key priorities that every higher education leader should pursue, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining rigorous and conspicuous transparency. Offering a clear-eyed account of this widely lamented issue and innovative approaches for addressing it, this book is essential reading for new, seasoned, and aspiring leaders in higher education. © 2025 Taylor & Francis.

Tourism is an important sector within the South African economy, and tourism entrepreneurship drives this sector. A significant portion of entrepreneurship research concentrates on the samples of higher education students and the general population, not focussing on the youth, whether they are higher education students or not. Therefore, the central objective of this paper was to explore the relationships between three independent variables, namely, entrepreneurship education (ED), entrepreneurial meaning (EM), and entrepreneurial passion (EP) and the dependent variable, entrepreneurial intention (EI) of the general youth population regarding starting tourism-related business. It further analysed the impact that levels of general education may have on both the independent and dependent variables. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from a purposive sample of 400 youths residing in different regions of the King Cetshwayo District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) on SmartPLS software version 4.0.8.5 was used to evaluate the relationships between the independent variables and dependent variables. The results show, among others, statistically significant positive relationships between youths’ ED, EP and their EI in the tourism sector. The study recommends that it is imperative for business decision-makers of the study area (KCDM) and academics to comprehend how ED and EP influence the EI of youths and their ability to establish and manage their own businesses, including tourism businesses. This will foster youth entrepreneurship. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Aim/Purpose Despite an increase in the numbers of K-12 educators pursuing doctoral degrees, it is unclear if the field of education has been significantly impacted by the research resulting from their doctoral dissertations. Accordingly, the quality of doctoral programs and dissertations and rate of publication after defense, warrants examination. Background There have long been discussions regarding concerns about the quality of doctoral dissertations that come in concert with an increase in degrees awarded. This paper presents findings from a study examining dissertation quality for K-12 education doctorates awarded over a ten-year period in the United States. Methodology The researchers randomly selected and evaluated the methodological quality of more than 500 dissertations during the last ten years from the Proquest dissertation database using a rubric adapted from Ronau et al. (2014). Using this rubric, the team described the quality of dissertations with respect to sampling, design, and validity. Contribution A new rubric was developed and tested to assess the quality of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. These results provided large-scale data on dissertation quality that may be used to guide doctoral programs in implementing program changes. Findings Although the majority of the dissertations studied used qualitative methods of inquiry, quantitative research had significantly higher quality scores. Regardless of the methods used, many studies failed to employ rigorous validity controls. Recommendations Doctoral programs may wish to make use of these results to improve program-for Practitioners ming, particularly in methods courses. These results may also be used to guide dissertation advisors and dissertation committee members, along with increasing publication rates among doctoral students. Recommendations Researchers may wish to extend this study by looking more closely at the methfor Researchers odological quality in specific subject areas. Research is also needed to improve the rubric developed for this study further and to determine other metrics of impact beyond publication. Impact on Society Stronger methods sections may lead to more publications of dissertation studies, which can improve impact on educational practice and evidence-based decision-making. Future Research Future research should assess the quality of research in the context of usefulness, impact on practice beyond publication, and topic currency. Further, the motives behind publishing dissertation work in fields that do not require publication should be examined. © 2024 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved.

In this paper, the researchers use data from the tracer study to characterize the graduate's employment profile, assess the perceived contribution of the program to their personal and professional growth, evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the delivery of the graduate program, and explore significant dimensions of curricular program relevance toward employment success. Tracer studies are common in higher education to evaluate, using relevant metrics, the effectiveness of the curricular programs. The researchers employed a crosssectional research design and analyzed the results from a tracer study conducted in a Philippine state university among its graduates in the Master in Management program from 2020-2022 using descriptive, open-coding, and principal component analysis techniques. The results revealed that pursuing graduate studies enhanced graduate's employment opportunities. The effective delivery of the graduate program contributes to the personal and professional growth of the graduates. Developing the graduate's personal skills is shaped by many factors encompassing people, problem-solving, information technology skills, meeting present and future professional needs, exposure to the local and international communities within the field of specialisation, critical thinking skills, salary improvement and promotion, and personality development. Improving the graduates' professional skills entails a strong foundation in the academic profession, research capability, learning efficiency, and communication skills. Indeed, the professional and personal growth of the graduates are the critical dimensions of curricular relevance. The graduates give a premium on the aspects of the curriculum that lead to their personal and professional development. © 2024 Deakin University. All rights reserved.

Along with increasing the complexity of learning objectives, the traditional Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are insufficient in improving students’ learning achievement. Advanced VLEs can be created to overcome this challenge by combining traditional VLEs with Virtual Lab Network Simulation (Vilanets) learning media. This research, conducted over a period of one year, investigates the effect of different VLEs (beginner, intermediate, and advanced). The participants were 58 students assigned into three groups: beginner VLEs using video, intermediate VLEs using the Cisco Packet Tracer simulator, and advanced VLEs using Vilanets learning media. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and one-way ANCOVA were used for the statistical analysis. The findings revealed a significant effect of VLEs on students’ learning achievement posttest scores controlled by pretest scores (F = 4.03; p = 0.02; p < 0.05). The highest learning achievement was observed in students who utilised advanced VLEs (M = 67.66, SE = 2.83). Additionally, advanced VLEs and intermediate VLEs significantly differ in students’ learning achievement (p = 0.04; p < 0.05). This research shows that advanced VLE using Vilanets is better than traditional VLE in improving student learning achievement. In conclusion, advanced VLEs can improve the quality of education in computer networking courses. Therefore, to improve students’ learning achievement, educators should incorporate advanced VLEs, particularly Vilanets, into computer networking curricula. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study explores the impact of meaning, competence, and self-determination on customer-oriented behavior (COB) among hospitality internship students in Indonesia with a particular emphasis on the mediating roles of deep acting and surface acting. The research investigates the contextual role of the sense of purpose that contributes to the relationship between surface acting and deep acting in customer-oriented behavior using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The data was collected from hospitality internship students who were engaged in internship programs at 4- and 5-star hotels in Indonesia through the implementation of an online questionnaire. The findings indicate that the variables of meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact exhibit a positive effect on deep acting, subsequently resulting in the generation of customer-oriented behavior. The study also found that surface-acting and customer-oriented behavior negatively impact these variables, except for competence. The study suggests that implementing empowerment can be used to reduce false-positive workplace attitudes and promote originality and authenticity. This framework can be used by academic institutions and the hospitality industry to prepare internship students who will succeed in their studies and contribute to the hotel where they intern. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Multilateral partnerships for Experiential Learning draw together not only schools and universities in bilateral cooperations, but also invite community providers as additional partners to ground teaching and learning in the exigencies and affordances of a local community. In these multilateral partnerships between schools, universities, and community partners, the intersecting needs and priorities may vary greatly and necessitate trust, critical reflection, and flexibility among partners. The present chapter details how community partners, universities, and schools can collaborate on an equal footing to address the hardships of at-risk youth in German secondary education. In the chapter, eight lessons are drawn from the TELLUS team project (Team L ehrende, Lernende und Studierende, which translates to a team of educators, learners, and university students). This team is nested at the heart of a multilateral partnership between a civic foundation with its community partners, the partner schools, and the partner universities. The eight lessons from the partnership are explained to show how interorganizational, interdisciplinary teams uniting psychologists, social workers, and school teachers with pre-service teachers and students of psychology, educational sciences, social work, and economic pedagogy can offer valuable community services among vulnerable youth through Service Learning. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.

This work presents the role of education 4.0 in lifelong learning to strengthen the attraction of extramural research funding. This approach recognizes the need for continuous learning in academia and advocates for the lifelong learning of researchers during their mature careers. This work also addresses the challenges identified around lifelong learning for researchers and the existing challenges in training to attract extramural research funding to researchers. Also, it is shown how, by applying the enablers of education 4.0, it is possible to enable smart learning environments (SLE), including products, processes, and infrastructure, to support the attraction of extramural research funding. Finally, the case study “Writing Successful Grant Proposal Lifelong Learning Program for Researchers” illustrates how new lifelong learning and tools strengthen the attraction of extramural research funding are emerging to strengthen the attraction of extramural research funding. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.