Promoting entrepreneurship among informatics engineering students: insights from a case study

ABSTRACT

Universities seek to promote entrepreneurship through effective education approaches, which need to be in permanent evolution. Nevertheless, the literature in entrepreneurship education lacks empirical evidence. This article discusses relevant issues related to promoting entrepreneurship in the software field, based on the experience of a 15-European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System course. This course seeks to instil in the students the recognition of the need to reconcile technical and business visions, organisational and commercial aspects, most of which have never been addressed previously. A series of semi-structured interviews made it possible to obtain relevant insights about the teaching–learning process underlying this course and its evolution over a seven-year period. Materials related with this course have been analysed, namely guidelines produced by the teachers and deliverables produced by the students. This article discusses the dimensions that were identified as fundamental for promoting entrepreneurship skills in the field of software, namely teamwork, project engagement, and contact with the market.     

Questionnaire on Perceived Competency-based Learning for primary school students (#ICOMpri1) / Cuestionario del Aprendizaje Percibido basado en Competencias para el Alumnado de Educación Primaria (#ICOMPri1)

The purpose of this study was to design and validate an assessment tool to find out how primary school students perceive their competency-based learning. By examining the content validity (n = 35 experts), comprehension (n = 173 students) and construct (n = 523 students) of the instrument, the results showed correct psychometric quality, internal consistency, reliability and adequacy of the structural model: χ²/df = 2.08, TLI = 0.88, CFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.04, and SRMR = 0.04. The final version of the Questionnaire on Perceived Competency-based Learning of primary school students (#ICOMpri1) includes eight dimensions and 27 items. The results showed a high perceived competency-based learning of primary school students. This is therefore a valid and reliable instrument that provides a more subjective and real vision of primary students’ academic performance. Nevertheless, future studies should analyse the criterion-related validity by comparing perception results with those of international academic achievement.     

“How do You Know this Answer?” – Children’s Use of Text Data and General Knowledge in Story Comprehension

This study investigates how, and to what extent, young readers (7–8 year-olds) use text information or their prior knowledge when answering comprehension questions about narrative texts. The children were asked to explain how they found out their responses by answering the following question: “how do you know this answer?” Their answers and justifications were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The text proved to be the main source of information for these readers. However, sometimes the children seemed to ignore the text and over rely on their prior knowledge to answer the questions. The procedure of asking children to justify their answers was shown to be a good way of specifying more precisely some of their problems in text comprehension. It also seemed to encourage them to look back at the text and review their responses and, as such, it could be considered a useful tool to improve children’s reading comprehension.     

Outcomes of the Bologna Process in LIS higher education: Comparing two programs in Europe

PurposeThe Bologna Process (BP) approach is distinguished by its emphasis on outcomes, moving the criteria for quality from input (what faculty teaches) to learning outcomes (what students will be able to do).MethodologyThe authors want to look at the issues and opportunities involved in applying the learning outcomes approach in two southern European countries with similar traditions and no previous experience of this approach. Data were collected from a documentary review based on official documents and open statistics and a survey of selected stakeholders connected to the LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona.FindingsWithin the BP framework, the LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona have distinctive missions and goals but differ in their approach to defining the attributes they expect of their graduates. Although LIS as an academic and educational undertaking has common historical roots in Spain and Italy, research and education since BP has developed in different directions.LimitationsFindings are based on the context of higher education in Italy and Spain, although the focus is on the two LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona.Originality/value of the paperThere are definite barriers to using learning outcomes as a measure of quality enhancement for LIS educational programs. Not least is the challenge of developing a list of learning outcomes that stakeholders at both national and international level can agree on. Nevertheless, this study concludes that LIS learning outcomes in Europe should be investigated as a means of benchmarking and determining the feasibility of guidelines regarding the equivalency and reciprocity of professional LIS qualifications.     

Assessing the Impact of a Ceremony in Honor of the Body Donors in the Development of Ethical and Humanistic Attitudes among Medical Students

Activities related to body donation programs, such as donor memorial ceremonies, provide the opportunity to complement student training, especially with regard to the ethical and humanistic elements involved in medical training. This study sought to assess the impact of a ceremony in honor of the body donors has on ethical and humanistic attitudes in medical students. Medical students were surveyed about their perceptions of changes in themselves, respect for donors and donor families, and their relationship with patients. The effect of the students' contact with the family of the donor was analyzed in students who had contact with the cadaver in the dissection room and had either participated or not participated in the donor memorial ceremony. A total of 370 questionnaires were answered by first-, second-, and third-year medical students at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre in 2017. The students who participated in the ceremony presented more positive responses in relation to commitment to their studies, reflection on death, and positive development of empathy when compared to those who did not attend the ceremony. Most of the students that attended the ceremony suggested the event led to an improvement in the doctor–patient relationship. These results suggest that cadaver dissection with accompanied memorial ceremony involving contact with donor families is an effective means of fostering ethical and humanistic attitudes among medical students from the beginning of the course.     

Modeling question-answer relations: the development of the integrative inferential reasoning comic assessment

Reading and Writing - We constructed a new taxonomy for inferential thinking, a construct called Integrative Inferential Reasoning (IIR). IIR extends Pearson and Johnson's (1978) framework of...     

Motivational Factors and Predictors for Attending a Continuing Education Program for Older Adults

The objectives were to describe the stated motives of participants who enrolled in a program at the Open University for the Elderly (UnATI, in Portuguese), identify correlations between the stated motives and sociodemographic data, and find a set of predictors related to the listed motives. A total of 306 middle-aged and elderly adults aged 50 or older were surveyed through a sociodemographic questionnaire and a five-item scale to check their motives to enroll in the program. The following motivational factors were identified, in order of importance: enhancing general knowledge, investing in personal development, increasing social interaction, learning more in order to help others, and employing one's free time profitably. Age and years of schooling combined were strong predictors of participants seeking new knowledge. Being single and not retired was correlated with the motive Investing in Personal Development. Having attended elementary school only and being married was closely correlated to the motive Increasing Social Interaction. Employing One's Free Time Profitably was associated with single or widowed individuals with family income between 3.1 and 4.0 times the minimum wage. As for Learning More in Order to Help Others, no predictors were found for this motive. It was found that participants seek to satisfy a desire to learn/ know more, to be up-to-date, to exercise their rights as citizens, and to play an active role in society. Our data suggest that these are the assumptions that drive middle-aged and elderly adults to look for various types of educational programs.