ISM-CMAP-Combine (ICMC) for hierarchical knowledge scenario in quality engineering education

Quality assurance in engineering education is a multifaceted problem further augmented by the stakeholders of engineering education. Students, parents and employers are rightfully questioning the quality of the curriculum, the instructional delivery, the learning environment, accessibility to learning technologies and equipment, employability as well as the possibilities of lifelong learning and the improvement of knowledge (Karapetrovic 2002 Karapetrovic, S. 2002. Why and how to develop a meaningful quality assurance system in engineering schools. Int. J. Engg. Educ, 18(3): 285–294. [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]). The purpose of the study is, therefore, to identify the parameters that influence the quality of an engineering education system and develop an integrated model of hierarchical structuring and a concept map for pre-identified concept elements through a process of iterative-interactive consensus-driven methodology, as advocated by second-generation system design paradigm for evolving knowledge scenario of concepts related to quality engineering education.     

University press publishing and the ecology of disciplinary fluidity: General observations

Academic book and journal publishing constitutes the majority focus of university presses. Besides commercial scholarly publishers, academic scholars and researchers view the opportunities provided by university presses as important venues for the dissemination of their research. This discussion focuses on the disciplinary imperative to publish scholarship that is ever more fluid and specialized as academic disciplines continue to become further nuanced in their response to the increasing knowledge produced by humanities and social science inquiry. The focus is on university presses and not commercial scholarly presses, although constitute a significant locus of scholarly publishing. What are the general characteristics of academic specialization and university press publishing? Further, how is disciplinary fluidity, especially evolving specialization, reflected in university press book publishing nomenclature and how scholarship is tied to the intellectual preoccupations of academic specialization? Multi- and inter-disciplinarities further articulate disciplinary publishing, accelerating disciplinary fluidity. Examples from disciplinary and emerging configurations of disciplinary nomenclature utilized by university presses offers insight into specialization and publishing. Academic history publishing is used to illustrate newly emerging fluid disciplinary configurations.     

Impact of Contact With Grandparents on Children's and Adolescents’ Views on the Elderly

Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination against the elderly (ageism) may manifest themselves in children at an early age. However, the factors influencing this phenomenon are not well known. Using both explicit and open-ended questions, this study analyzed the influence of personal and familial parameters on the views of 1,151 seven- to sixteen-year-old Belgian children and adolescents on the elderly. Four factors were found to affect these views: gender (girls had slightly more positive views than boys), age (ageism was lowest in 10- to 12-year-old, reminiscent of other forms of stereotypes and cognitive developmental theories), grandparents’ health, and most importantly, quality of contact with grandparents (very good and good contacts correlated with more favorable feelings toward the elderly, especially in children with frequent contacts).     

Literacy,languages and development in Africa: a policy perspective

International Review of Education - In the multilingual environments of Africa, national literacy policies vary in terms of the attention they give to the roles and purposes of local, national and...     

Situated decoding of gender in a Swedish preschool practice

This article is based on data generated in an ethnographic study of gender in a Swedish preschool. Drawing on Judith Butler’s understanding of performativity and (un)doing of gender, a new theoretical concept, situated decoding of gender, is further developed by showing how the material and spatial dimension of the educational practice and the teachers’ actions contribute to establishing and maintaining this process in an early childhood educational setting. Instead of normalising the gender binary, a reverse process occurs that turns what is perceived as feminine or masculine into a gender decoded state in which gender is made less relevant, or even irrelevant. It is argued that this continuous reiterative process emerges and is maintained by three main factors: (a) the preschool’s physical environment, (b) the regular and repetitive structure of the educational practice and (c) the consistent actions of the teachers in the everyday practice.     

Predicting University Students’ Academic Success and Major Using Random Forests

Research in Higher Education - In this article, a large data set containing every course taken by every undergraduate student in a major university in Canada over 10 years is analysed. Modern...