An Australian study of generic competencies required by engineers

Engineering curricula have expanded in recent decades. In addition to science and technical engineering, they now include several non-technical competencies. This is a trend reinforced by programme accreditation. The authors take the viewpoint that it is important to ensure that graduates have the competencies they will require for their work. The following question is addressed: What are the generic competencies that engineers graduating in Australia require for their work as engineers?

Competencies were identified from a broad range of literature and then rated by 300 established engineers for importance to their jobs. The results indicated that non-technical, attitudinal and technical competencies were perceived to be important. Eleven competency factors were revealed empirically. Profiles of these competency factors among graduates would assist evaluation and improvement of engineering programmes. This is the first quantitative study conducted in Australia that encompassed all engineering disciplines and focused on established engineers rather than recent graduates.     

Conditional cash penalties in education: Evidence from the Learnfare experiment

Wisconsin's influential Learnfare initiative is a conditional cash penalty program that sanctions a family's welfare grant when covered teens fail to meet school attendance targets. In the presence of reference-dependent preferences, Learnfare provides uniquely powerful financial incentives for student performance. However, a 10-county random-assignment evaluation suggested that Learnfare had no sustained effects on school enrollment and attendance. This study evaluates the data from this randomized field experiment. In Milwaukee County, the Learnfare procedures were poorly implemented and the random-assignment process failed to produce balanced baseline traits. However, in the nine remaining counties, Learnfare increased school enrollment by 3.5 percent (effect size = 0.08) and attendance by 4.5 percent (effect size = 0.10). These results suggest that well-designed financial incentives may be an effective mechanism for improving the school persistence of at-risk students at scale.     

Valuing the benefits of the education provided by public universities: A case study of Minnesota

This study estimates the value of the private and public benefits that accrue to Minnesota residents from state government subsidies to higher education. In 2005, the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system received $832 million from Minnesota's state government to support educational programs. These subsidies allow these institutions to offer lower tuition rates, increasing the number of Minnesotans with bachelor and graduate degrees. We calculate that removing these subsidies would eventually lead to 14,000 fewer graduate degree holders in Minnesota, and reduce those with bachelor's degrees or “some college” by 42,000. The annual economic cost of these subsidies is about $326 million; this is less than annual state appropriations because most of those appropriations are income transfers from taxpayers to students, not an economic cost. We estimate that the annual value of the benefits of these subsidies is between $531 and $786 million ($381 and $570 million) when a 3% (5%) discount rate is used. We also discuss some of the income distribution consequences.     

The effects of integration and generation of immigrants on language and numeracy achievement

In many Western countries the pressure exerted on immigrants to integrate has become intense in recent years. Efforts to preserve their ethnic identity through multicultural recognition has now been replaced by the requirements of active civic participation and assimilation. Of course integration is considered important not only for the immigrant parents but also for their children. The central question in this article is whether there is a relationship between the degree of integration of the immigrant parents and the generation of their children on the one hand and the level of language and numeracy achievement of the children on the other. To answer this question we use data collected in 2008 from the Dutch COOL^5–18 cohort study. The information comes from more than 9000 immigrant and 16,000 indigenous children and their parents. The results show that as immigrant parents are better integrated and their children are of later generations, the language and numeracy skills of the children improve, though there remain large differences in achievement between different ethnic groups.     

Gender Gaps in Collegiate Teaching Style: Variations by Course Characteristics

Using data from over 9,000 faculty members that participated in the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), this study examined the moderating role a range of course characteristics played on the effects of gender on the percentage of class time spent on various activities, a measure of teaching style. Results revealed gender differences, but that the gaps between men and women in lecturing and active classroom practices varied by disciplinary area, course level, and the number of times a course had been taught by the same instructor. The results confirm that gender effects depend on context, which implies that efforts to improve teaching and learning must also adapt to the instructional context.     

Improving graduate education to support a branching career pipeline: recommendations based on a survey of doctoral students in the basic biomedical sciences

Today's doctoral programs continue to prepare students for a traditional academic career path despite the inadequate supply of research-focused faculty positions. We advocate for a broader doctoral curriculum that prepares trainees for a wide range of science-related career paths. In support of this argument, we describe data from our survey of doctoral students in the basic biomedical sciences at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Midway through graduate training, UCSF students are already considering a broad range of career options, with one-third intending to pursue a non-research career path. To better support this branching career pipeline, we recommend that national standards for training and mentoring include emphasis on career planning and professional skills development to ensure the success of PhD-level scientists as they contribute to a broadly defined global scientific enterprise.     

Team-based learning in anatomy: an efficient, effective, and economical strategy

Team-based learning (TBL) strategy is being adopted in medical education to implement interactive small group learning. We have modified classical TBL to fit our curricular needs and approach. Anatomy lectures were replaced with TBL that required preparation of assigned content specific discussion topics (in the text referred as "discussion topics"), an individual self-assessment quiz (IRAT), analysis of the discussion topics, and then the team retaking the same quiz (GRAT) for discussion and deeper learning. Embryology and clinical correlations were given as lectures. Unit examinations consisted of graded IRAT and GRAT. The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Subject Examination was the comprehensive final examination. To evaluate the effect of TBL on student performance we compared the departmental and NBME subject examination scores between the traditional and TBL curricula. We collected five years of data on student performance in TBL-based anatomy and lecture-based preclinical courses. Our results show that departmental and NBME subject examination scores for TBL-based anatomy were higher than those for lecture-based anatomy. We subsequently compared average NBME scores for anatomy with those in other preclinical courses that were lecture-based. Average NBME anatomy scores were significantly higher than those for all the lecture-based preclinical courses. Since the introduction of TBL in anatomy, student performance has progressively improved in the NBME subject examination. Students perceived TBL as a motivator to be a responsible team member and to contribute to collective learning by the team. Further, it reinforced self-directed learning and fostered an appreciation for peer respect. Interestingly, these perceptions were uniform irrespective of student course performance.     

Home IV Antibiotic Therapy and Exercise Capacity in Children with CF: A Case Series

Purpose: This case series describes the effect of home intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy on spirometry and exercise capacity in a group of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods: Outcomes from 10 children with CF who were prescribed a 14-day course of home IV antibiotics for a respiratory exacerbation are reported. All children performed spirometry and a modified shuttle test (MST) before and after 14-days of home IV therapy. Results: After 14 days, FEV₁ increased by mean (± SE) 12 ± 4 % (p < 0.05) but mean MST did not improve compared to baseline. All children improved or maintained spirometry values with treatment, however, only 5 improved MST distance. Conclusion: After 14 days of home IV antibiotic therapy, a significant improvement in spirometry, but not exercise capacity, was seen in this small series of children with CF. The lack of improvement in exercise capacity for all children following home IV antibiotic therapy suggests factors other than spirometry determine exercise capacity. Identifying and investigating the factors that influence exercise capacity during home IV antibiotic therapy requires further investigation.Key Words: cystic fibrosis, home IV therapy, FEV₁, Modified Shuttle Test     

提高篮球远距离投篮效果的模式

为使合格球队的训练和比赛过程更具有现代化,研究人员提出了增加远距离投篮有效性的结构内容模式,并将投篮训练作为运动员技、战术的组成部分。投篮训练是一项专门性训练,要在不同情况下完成不同方式的投篮练习。通过各种不同的训练方式来掌握投篮技术并提高投篮的准确性。该模式是用来为每一名选手选取远距离和超长距离投篮方式,完善投篮技术,选择技、战术行为,制定不同训练周期和阶段个人和全队的投篮训练。结论:提高篮球远距离投篮效果的模式可以达到如下目的:1)队员的有效安排;2)完善投篮技术;3)为每一名选手选择不同的投篮训练模式;4)每一名队员投篮准确性的数据资料可以为全队的战术安排提供参考;5)定性地规划每一名球员和球队的投篮训练并作为球队技、战术训练的主要组成部分。     

The information needs of users of scientific libraries

This paper reflects the results of the analysis of user information needs that was carried out by the Library of Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LNS RAS) for the purpose of gathering information on the quality of a reference-bibliographic and information service for specialists of the RAS in the subject of their studies.