William Swart

Are Math Readiness and Personality Predictive of First-Year Retention in Engineering?

ABSTRACT On the basis of J. G. Borkowski, L. K. Chan, and N. Muthukrishnas model of academic success (2000), the present authors hypothesized that freshman retention in an engineering program would be related to not only basic aptitude but also affective factors. Participants were 129 college freshmen with engineering as their stated major. Aptitude was measured by SAT verbal and math scores, high school grade-point average (GPA), and an assessment of calculus readiness. Affective factors were assessed by the NEO–Five Factor Inventory (FFI; P. I. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 2007), and the Nowicki–Duke Locus of Control (LOC) scale (S. Nowicki & M. Duke, 1974). A binary logistic regression analysis found that calculus readiness and high school GPA were predictive of retention. Scores on the Neuroticism and Openness subscales from the NEO-FFI and LOC were correlated with retention status, but Openness was the only affective factor with a significant unique effect in the binary logistic regression. Results of the study lend modest support to Borkowskis model.

Revisiting Zhang’s scale of transactional distance: refinement and validation using structural equation modeling

Transactional distance has been defined as barriers to students’ engagement with learning in the online environment. This research updates Zhang’s (2003) scale of transactional distance, which quantified the extent of the barriers, in light of the massive changes in today’s web-based learning environment. The resulting revised scale of transactional distance (RSTD) is a parsimonious version with 12 elements (compared to 31 original) that measure the transactional distance between student and teacher, student and student, and student and content. The RSTD has excellent factorial validity and reliability, yields better fit statistics, and is easier and less time-consuming to apply. The transactional distance values are unique predictors of student satisfaction, which is correlated to learning and persistence (a major concern with massive open online courses). This information can form the basis for a systematic approach to improving the design of today’s contemporary open, flexible, distance education courses and thus serve as a valuable tool for researchers and educators alike.

Relative Proximity Theory: Measuring the Gap Between Actual and Ideal Online Course Delivery

Based on the Theory of Transactional Distance and Needs Assessment, this article reports a procedure for quantitatively measuring how close the actual delivery of a course was to ideal, as perceived by students. It extends Zhang’s instrument and prescribes the computational steps to calculate relative proximity at the element and construct level. Radar graphs are shown to provide a useful visualization of relative proximity. Stepwise multiple regression is used to determine the impact of changes in construct relative proximity on student satisfaction. This allows for the implementation of a systematic, data-based, continuous course improvement process.

A methodology for assuring the quality of human performance

Consistently delivering high quality products and services in a profitable manner requires attaining, sustaining, and enhancing the overall level of product and service excellence. This is achieved by providing for the continual satisfaction of customer requirements at the optimum price/value point and by harnessing the efforts of everybody in the company. This paper expands on the traditional quality assurance and quality management approaches that tend to focus primarily on obtaining product or service quality by providing a model that addresses the overarching requirement of attaining, sustaining, and enhancing the quality of human performance in an organization. The use of the model is illustrated in a case study from a major global company which, due to confidentiality requirements, is not specifically identified.

Human Performance in Supply Chain Management

Although the concept of supply chain management (SCM) has been widely accepted among academics and practitioners, the influence of human performance on the supply chain has gained little research attention. Without satisfactory performance of qualified and capable employees dedicated to perform as trained, supply chain strategies are difficult to implement successfully. This article uses the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) to emphasize the importance of human performance in SCM and proposes a conceptual model. It is argued that effective management of human performance requires systematic effort across the supply chain. This article provides a detailed discussion on human resource management (HRM) practices that can help firms achieve and maintain superior supply chain human performance.

The model for e-engineering team adaptation (MeTA): A project framework to improve the performance of global engineering teams

This paper describes a model developed to prepare engineers for changing engineering environments. These changes in engineering enterprises include competition in increasingly global environments; new partnering opportunities caused by advances in information and communication technologies, and virtual collaboration issues associated with dispersed teams. To help address the challenges and needs in this environment, we propose a framework that can be customized and adapted by global enterprises. The model is designed to prepare engineers for a distributed collaborative environment by learning and applying e-engineering methods and tools to real-world engineering development scenarios. The model consists of two phases: An e-engineering basics phase and e-engineering application phase. The e-engineering basics phase addresses the skills required for e-engineering. The e-engineering application phase applies these skills in a distributed collaborative environment to system development projects. Details of a pilot study using this model are also described.

Transactional distance and adaptive learning, by Farhad Saba and Rick Shearer, New York, NY, Routledge, 2016, 211 pp.,

The central premise of this book is that the holy grail of education is personalized learning (Johnson, Adams Becker, Estrada, & Freeman, 2015), a highly individualized, often independent way of le...

35.49 (paperback)

ABSTRACT Case-based learning is an interactive group learning approach that embodies the principles of Socratic inquiry. It is a common pedagogy used in many disciplines including business, law, and health. With online learning being the fastest growing segment of higher education, case-based learning is also finding its way into online courses. This research was conducted on a population of 698 students enrolled in online case-based courses. The use of Structural Equation Modelling provided an understanding of the factors that influence student satisfaction. Through Logistics Regression, the extent to which these factors do influence satisfaction was determined. The findings indicate that the greatest predictors of student satisfaction were the interaction and understanding between the students and the instructor. Furthermore, a student’s pre-existing attitude toward interactive group learning is also a significant factor in predicting student satisfaction. The conclusions point to a lack of understanding by students on how to engage in effective interactive online group learning. The recommendation is that training in online collaborative skills be considered as a front-end to any online case-based course.