To Share or Not to Share: A Study of Educational Dilemmas Regarding the Promotion of Creativity and Innovation in Entrepreneurship Education

ABSTRACT

Within both society and education, economic and social entrepreneurship is considered to be of great importance. However, there appear to exist different and contradictory principles regarding the essence of this entrepreneurship. On the one hand, entrepreneurship is associated with economical concepts like competition, individual achievement and commodification. On the other hand, entrepreneurship is associated with collaboration, sharing and collective endeavors. The different notions and rationales represent a dilemma from an educational perspective, in the sense that the students may find themselves split between individual and collaborative methods and ideals. In this study, this dilemma is explored through a case study conducted in collaboration with students from the field of Social Education. The case study indicates that ambivalent notions about entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation entail a number of pedagogical challenges and produce occasional frustration among students. Especially, the students demonstrate different attitudes towards the concept of sharing ideas with their peers. At the end of the article, further educational implications of the study are discussed.     

Beyond grades: developing knowledge sharing in learning communities as a graduate attribute

ABSTRACT

The ability to share knowledge is an important attribute that students develop in learning communities (LCs), enabling them to succeed in their education and careers. Insufficient research addresses the development of such knowledge sharing in LCs though, including whether it aligns with students’ success (i.e., grades). To address this gap, the current study investigates various determinants of knowledge sharing and their effects on student success. Survey data from 183 psychology students measure altruism, trust, belongingness (community identification), perceived social interaction, and attitudes toward and expectations of the benefits of knowledge sharing. A path analysis shows that trust affects the expected personal and community benefits of knowledge sharing indirectly, through students’ general attitudes toward knowledge sharing. Altruism, trust, and belongingness affect the personal benefits of knowledge sharing indirectly through social interaction. No significant relation emerges with first-year study success. Knowledge sharing as added attribute does not appear aligned with study success measured by individual course grades.     

Characteristics of High-Rated and Low-Rated Master's Degree Candidates in Counseling and Guidance

The relationship between intellective and non-intellective variables and counseling competence was investigated by comparing student counselors rated as falling within the top 25 percent in overall competence at the end of an evaluation seminar with their counterparts rated in the bottom 25 percent. Competence was operationally defined as a composite of knowledge of counseling theories and techniques, knowledge of and ability to use test data in counseling, and counseling skill. Significant differences between the high-rated and low-rated student counselors were observed on the dimension of chronological age, five of six intellective variables, and five of 11 non-intellective variables.     

How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine search engine transaction logs

The Web and especially major Web search engines are essential tools in the quest to locate online information for many people. This paper reports results from research that examines characteristics and changes in Web searching from nine studies of five Web search engines based in the US and Europe. We compare interactions occurring between users and Web search engines from the perspectives of session length, query length, query complexity, and content viewed among the Web search engines. The results of our research shows (1) users are viewing fewer result pages, (2) searchers on US-based Web search engines use more query operators than searchers on European-based search engines, (3) there are statistically significant differences in the use of Boolean operators and result pages viewed, and (4) one cannot necessary apply results from studies of one particular Web search engine to another Web search engine. The wide spread use of Web search engines, employment of simple queries, and decreased viewing of result pages may have resulted from algorithmic enhancements by Web search engine companies. We discuss the implications of the findings for the development of Web search engines and design of online content.     

Evaluating the performance of demographic targeting using gender in sponsored search

In this research, we evaluate the effect of gender targeted advertising on the performance of sponsored search advertising. We analyze nearly 7,000,000 records spanning 33 consecutive months of a keyword advertising campaign from a major US retailer. In order to determine the effect of demographic targeting, we classify the campaign’s key phrases by a probability of being targeted for a specific gender, and we then compare the key performance indicators among these groupings using the critical sponsored search metrics of impressions, clicks, cost-per-click, sales revenue, orders, and items, and return on advertising. Findings from our research show that the gender-orientation of the key phrase is a significant determinant in predicting behaviors and performance, with statistically different consumer behaviors for all attributes as the probability of a male or female keyword phrase changes. However, gender neutral phrases perform the best overall, generating 20 times the return of advertising than any gender targeted category. Insight from this research could result in sponsored advertising efforts being more effectively targeted to searchers and potential consumers.     

Deepening Understanding of Science and Mathematics Education Reform Principles: Novice Teachers Design Web-based Units Using Project 2061's Curriculum Analysis

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

The relative efficiency of charter schools: A cost frontier approach

Charters represent an expansion of public school choice, offering free, publicly funded educational alternatives to traditional public schools. One relatively unexplored research question concerning charter schools asks whether charter schools are more efficient suppliers of educational services than are traditional public schools. The potential relative efficiency advantage of charters vis-a-vis traditional publics is one of the mechanisms that supports the hypotheses that charters could improve performance for their students while using the same or fewer resources, and that the systemic effect of charters could lead to improved outcomes for traditional public students without requiring an increase in education sector resources.     

Time series analysis of a Web search engine transaction log

In this paper, we use time series analysis to evaluate predictive scenarios using search engine transactional logs. Our goal is to develop models for the analysis of searchers’ behaviors over time and investigate if time series analysis is a valid method for predicting relationships between searcher actions. Time series analysis is a method often used to understand the underlying characteristics of temporal data in order to make forecasts. In this study, we used a Web search engine transactional log and time series analysis to investigate users’ actions. We conducted our analysis in two phases. In the initial phase, we employed a basic analysis and found that 10% of searchers clicked on sponsored links. However, from 22:00 to 24:00, searchers almost exclusively clicked on the organic links, with almost no clicks on sponsored links. In the second and more extensive phase, we used a one-step prediction time series analysis method along with a transfer function method. The period rarely affects navigational and transactional queries, while rates for transactional queries vary during different periods. Our results show that the average length of a searcher session is approximately 2.9 interactions and that this average is consistent across time periods. Most importantly, our findings shows that searchers who submit the shortest queries (i.e., in number of terms) click on highest ranked results. We discuss implications, including predictive value, and future research.     

Impact of Overt and Subclinical Hypothyroidism on Exercise Tolerance: A Systematic Review

Purpose: This systematic review describes the state of the art of the impact of hypothyroidism on exercise tolerance and physical performance capacity in untreated and treated patients with hypothyroidism. Method: A systematic computer-aided search was conducted using biomedical databases. Relevant studies in English, German, and Dutch, published from the earliest date of each database up to December 2012, were identified. Results: Out of 116 studies, a total of 38 studies with 1,379 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. These studies emphasize the multifactorial causes of exercise intolerance in untreated patients by the impact of limitations in different functional systems, with cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, and cellular metabolic systems acting in concert. Moreover, the studies affirm that exercise intolerance in patients is not always reversible during adequate hormone replacement therapy. As a consequence, despite a defined euthyroid status, there remains a significant group of treated patients with persistent complaints related to exercise intolerance who are suffering from limitations in daily and sport activities, as well as an impaired quality of life. An explanation for this phenomenon is lacking. Only 2 studies investigated the effects of a physical training program, and they showed inconsistent effects on the performance capacity in untreated patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusions: A limited body of knowledge exists concerning exercise tolerance in treated patients with hypothyroidism, and there is an insufficient amount of quantitative studies on the effects of a physical training program. To enhance exercise and sports participation for this specific group, more research in this forgotten area is warranted.