Fellows' Perceptions of a Mandatory Reflective Electronic Portfolio in a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program

Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) can be useful for evaluating and documenting mastery of competencies. We investigated geriatric medicine fellows' perceptions of an ePortfolio. We conducted surveys and focus groups followed by quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Our study revealed that fellows considered the ePortfolio acceptable and accessible. Fellows reflected on aspects relevant to postgraduate training and future practice and documented adherence to competencies. However, fellows expressed resentment about the self-reflection component, which interfered with the overall acceptance of the ePortfolio. Although ePortfolios can be powerful and reflective tools for competency assessment, care must be taken in their implementation.     

ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF OLDER ADULT EDUCATION ON SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING

The number of educational programs for older adults is increasing. It has been proposed that older adults maintain or increase their subjective well‐being by participating in such programs. Indeed, many educational programs targeted for older adults have objectives that deal with enhancing subjective well‐being. However, program evaluations that assess the subjective well‐being of participants are infrequent. A literature search located only seven research reports including data on the impact of educational programs on the subjective well‐being of older adults. The studies mostly were pre‐experimental, contained a variety of outcome measures, and yielded inconclusive results. In this paper, we discuss a global and multidimensional perspective of subjective well‐being encompassing the constructs of happiness, morale, and life satisfaction by specifying their location on temporal, cognitive, and affective dimensions. We also point out that current scales used to assess these constructs may be inappropriate, because the content of specific items may be inconsistent with program objectives. Recommendations are offered, in terms of measurement and research design issues, for upgrading the evaluation of educational interventions targeted for older adults.     

Can you earn a Ph.D. in economics in five years?

We investigate graduate school outcomes for students who entered economics Ph.D. programs in fall 2002. Students in Top-15 ranked programs and those with higher verbal and quantitative GRE scores are less likely to have dropped out, but no more likely to have graduated. Those with undergraduate degrees from Top-60 U.S. liberal arts colleges and from foreign universities have lower attrition and higher completion probabilities. There are important differences in the characteristics associated with retention and completion probabilities between U.S. citizens and non-citizens and between men and women.     

What Did It Take to Scale Up and Sustain Udaan,a School-Based Adolescent Education Program in Jharkhand,India?

Since 2006, Udaan—a school-based adolescent education program in Jharkhand, India—was the only at-scale state-run program in the country. To determine factors that contributed to Udaan's scale-up and longevity, this study drew information from programmatic reports and interviews with the Centre for Catalyzing Change staff. Key factors for Udaan's success included an enabling policy environment, a willing government that supported and operationalized the program, a knowledgeable and committed NGO partner, sustained funding, and a commitment to constant improvement through evaluation. Udaan provides an example of a well-designed, implemented, and evaluated school-based adolescent health program that has been operating at scale over a sustained period. Other programs in India and elsewhere can benefit from learning from Udaan's experience.     

Investigating the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Croatian business

Technological innovation plays a critical role in economic growth. The most advanced and new technologies are created by leading firms in developed countries. Global expansion, strategic outsourcing or off-shoring in leading companies has been growing to enrich their competitive advantage, while technology transfer of leading firms has been of more interest to emerging or developing countries for catching up and following the trajectory of economic growth proved in developed countries. Among various channels to acquire new technologies from leading firms, foreign direct investments (FDI) is one of the most effective channels through which technology can be transferred to subsidiaries in emerging markets. However, empirical study on the roles of technology transfer and the feedback loop from FDI remains still scarce. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of FDI on businesses in partial or complete foreign ownership, with a special emphasis on technology transfer, and to assess the impact of foreign companies on domestic firm performance through technology transfer from foreign companies. This paper aims at investigating the investment climate for foreign investments and intensifying technology transfers and innovations in the Croatian economy. 145 firms responded to the survey we conducted for foreign investment enterprises in Croatia. Structural equation model is employed to examine the hypotheses with respect to effects of FDI on innovation activities of domestic Croatian firms. This study identified critical factors affecting technology innovation to Croatian firms. The results provide empirical evidence that the innovation activities in subsidiaries have a positive influence toward technology transfer from multinational corporations.     

Fitting in and feeling good: the relationships among peer alignment,instructor connectedness,and self-efficacy in undergraduate satisfaction with engineering

This study examined the relationships among peer alignment (the feeling that one is similar in important ways to one's engineering peers), instructor connectedness (the sense that one knows and looks up to academic staff/faculty members in the department), self-efficacy for engineering class work (confidence in one's ability to successfully complete engineering class work), and engineering students' satisfaction with the major. A total of 135 sophomore (second-year university students) and junior (third-year students) engineering students were surveyed to measure these three variables. A multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy, peer alignment, and instructor connectedness predicted student satisfaction with the major, and that self-efficacy acted as a mediator between both peer alignment and instructor connectedness on the one hand, and satisfaction on the other. The authors offer suggestions for practice based on the results.