University policies under varying market conditions: The training of electrical engineers

This paper analyzes the problem faced by a university in optimizing the quality and quantity of engineers in the face of fluctuating enrollment. This problem is embedded within an equilibrium model that considers the dynamic rational occupation choice of high school graduates and the effect of the students and the university decision on the current and future demand and supply of engineers. The explicit considerations lead to an estimable model that is capable of providing economic forecasts of the demand and supply of electrical engineers under various economic conditions. The model is estimated using aggregate data from Israel. The estimated parameters are consistent with the economic theory and fit the sample well. In particular, the model is capable of estimating the observed cyclical movements in the number of graduating electrical engineers in Israel. Finally, we provide several predictions on the equilibrium number of electrical engineers towards the end of the century.     

Possibilities for MOOCs in Corporate Training and Development

The term MOOC, an acronym for massive open online course, has been nearly ubiquitous in recent discussions about online education and distance learning. Some articles have questioned the MOOC's tentative role as “the future of education,” while others have framed it as a disrupter of traditional higher education. Research in earlier years trended toward the ways in which MOOCs may be changing the landscape of higher education. However, in the past two years, greater consideration has been focused on how MOOCs may play a role in the corporate world. The year 2012 may have been deemed “The Year of the MOOC,” but many saw 2014 as “The Year of the Corporate MOOC.” Despite MOOCs reaching their prominence as disrupters of traditional higher education, MOOC providers are now aggressively pursuing opportunities in the corporate sector. This presents a great opportunity for corporations to drive this relatively new learning platform and to tailor it to meet their organizational needs. The potential uses for MOOCs in the corporate world are vast. MOOCs can expand corporate training options, offer new recruiting techniques, and provide innovative marketing and branding channels. This article identifies the features of MOOCs, briefly reviews the history of the MOOC movement from academic MOOCs to corporate MOOCs, and discusses the possibilities for extending the MOOC format to a corporate training and employee development environment.     

Teacher, self and peer evaluation of lesson plans written by preservice teachers

The study investigated the effects of three types of evaluation on preservice teachers’ performance, knowledge and attitudes related to writing lesson plans that incorporate technology. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment conditions: teacher-evaluation, self-evaluation or peer-evaluation. All groups completed three class periods of instruction on writing lesson plans, then each subject submitted his/her draft lesson plan. The drafts were evaluated by assigned evaluators (teacher, self or peer), who provided scores and written feedback on a 15-item rubric. Students then revised their lesson plans into final form. All three treatment groups improved their lesson plans significantly from draft version to final version, with the teacher-evaluation group showing significantly greater improvement and writing significantly better final lesson plans than each of the other two groups. Teacher-evaluation and self-evaluation groups had significantly higher scores on a knowledge-based posttest than the peer-evaluation group. Several suggestions are discussed for making further improvements in the self-evaluation and peer-evaluation processes.