Visionen und Herausforderungen in der Informatik

Zusammenfassung Das Denken von Ingenieuren und Informatikern ist typischerweise auf die Zukunft gerichtet. Sie stellen sich vor, welche Antworten zu unseren Fragen und welche L?sungen zu heutigen Problemen wohl demn?chst m?glich sind. Je nachdem, ob es dabei mehr um die L?sungen als um die Probleme geht, spricht man entweder von Visionen oder von Herausforderungen. Auch in Deutschland fehlt es nicht an entsprechenden Bemühungen. Einige ver?ffentlichte Beispiele zeigen M?glichkeiten und Schw?chen. über Visionen zu reden ist nützlich; noch besser ist es, sie umzusetzen. Das technische und wirtschaftliche Potenzial, das die Informatik bietet, ist enorm. Wir haben erst gerade damit begonnen, es zu nutzen.

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The thinking of engineers and computer scientists is typically about the future. They envision answers to our questions and solutions for today’s problems that will be possible in the near future. Depending whether the emphasis is more on the solutions or on the problems, we talk of visions or challenges respectively. In Germany, we do not lack appropriate attempts. Some published examples show possibilities and weaknesses. To talk about visions is useful; it is better though to realize them. The technical and economic potential offered by computing is immense. We have just started to exploit it.

     

Introducing sustainability into university curricula: an indicator and baseline survey of the views of university teachers at the University of Valencia

Many higher education institutions have assumed the role of diffusing knowledge, values, attitudes and behaviours that favour sustainability. A key objective in such work is training university teachers to apply sustainability criteria to their respective disciplines. While university teachers' active participation is essential to achieving this goal, their ideas about and predispositions towards introducing sustainability into curricula are not always understood or appreciated. In this paper, we report on a questionnaire survey at the University of Valencia, Spain, on the current baseline situation for introducing sustainability across the university's curricula. We also report on a measure to periodically review the situation, including progress of and/or decline in introducing sustainability into diverse subject areas, focusing on a series of indicators grouped under the common name ‘π Indicator’. Key findings from the survey include the widespread support for introducing sustainability across the university's curricula; however, as might be expected, significant differences occur in how questions are addressed by staff from various disciplines, including how they relate to departmental perceptions, interpretations and performance of sustainability‐related teaching.     

Social involvement and development as a response to the campus student culture

Given the widely accepted notion of whole person education in Confucian societies such as Hong Kong, Mainland China and Singapore, it is surprising that research literature originated in these societies pays little attention to how students learn and develop through out-of-class experiences at university. There is little research evidence on how the prevailing culture among student social communities (residential halls and student societies/clubs) influences students’ social involvement and development. This paper examines 42 Chinese students’ social experiences and development during their freshman year at a Hong Kong university. The majority of them were intensively involved in out-of-class activities. Their active social involvement was both a response to the culture of student communities and a conscious choice about social experiences at university. As a result, the students attained development in four dimensions: (1) the social competences of interpersonal and collaboration skills and new friendships; (2) the practical competences of time management, organisation, negotiation, decision making and leadership; (3) the intellectual competences of open-mindedness and independent judgment; and (4) the personal competences of self- responsibility and self-confidence. Educational implications are discussed towards the end of the paper on supporting and advising students regarding social involvement, particularly during the first year of university.     

A theoretical analysis of the role of social networks in entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship involves innovation and uncertainty. We outline a theory of entrepreneurship, which highlights the importance of social networks in promoting innovation and reducing uncertainty. Our findings suggest that this “social” aspect of entrepreneurship increases the probability of entrepreneurial success. The results also lend credence to theories of entrepreneurship that suggest that entrepreneurial opportunities are formed endogenously by the entrepreneurs who create them. We also consider the public policy implications of our findings.     

Demographics of scholarly publishing and communication professionals

Scholarly publishing plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of research. While a great deal is known about the companies active in this sector, we need to know more about the employees of the firms that edit, produce, market, and distribute today's scholarly books and journals. To achieve this goal, the researchers conducted an international survey in late 2014 and early 2015 of approximately 6,121 scholarly publishing employees in 33 nations. The researchers received 828 usable questionnaires. Some of the substantive findings about the respondents include: 90.79% identified themselves as white; 85.07% worked in scholarly publishing for more than 5 years; 60% held graduate or professional degrees; and 49% worked in editorial departments. Key suggestions include the need for annual surveys of this type and that the majority of scholarly publishing firms need to address the issue of diversity.     

How much anatomy is enough?

Innovations in undergraduate medical education, such as integration of disciplines and problem based learning, have given rise to concerns about students' knowledge of anatomy. This article originated from several studies investigating the knowledge of anatomy of students at the eight Dutch medical schools. The studies showed that undergraduate students uniformly perceived deficiencies in their anatomical knowledge when they started clinical training regardless of their school's didactic approach. A study assessing students' actual knowledge of clinical anatomy revealed no relationship between students' knowledge and the school's didactic approach. Test failure rates based on absolute standards set by different groups of experts were indicative of unsatisfactory levels of anatomical knowledge, although standards differed markedly between the groups of experts. Good test performance by students seems to be related to total teaching time for anatomy, teaching in clinical context, and revisiting anatomy topics in the course of the curriculum. These factors appeared to outweigh the effects of disciplinary integration orwhether the curriculum was problem‐based or traditional. Anat Sci Ed 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

The Pooled Data Approach for the Estimation of Split-Ballot Multitrait–Multimethod Experiments

Saris, Satorra and Coenders (2004) proposed a new approach for estimating the quality of survey questions, which combines the advantages of the following two existing approaches: the multi-trait-multi-method (MTMM) approach and the split-ballot (SB) approach. In practice, this new approach led to frequent occurrences of non-convergence and improper solutions in the case of a two-group design (Revilla &; Saris, 2013 Revilla, M., &; Saris, W. E. (2013). The split-ballot multitrait-multimethod approach: Implementation and problems. Structural Equation Modeling, 20(1), 27–46.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This was very problematic because this approach had been used in many experiments to determine the reliability, validity and method effects of questions that are used in the European Social Survey, which is used in approximately 30 countries. In this article, we propose a new estimation procedure, which we call estimation using pooled data (EUPD), to overcome the problems with this experimental design. We show that EUPD can also be applied in a general setting of structural equation modeling when the sample size is too small for precise estimation but several similar data sets are available.     

Determinants of Charitable Giving of Business School Alumni

This study investigated the propensity of Business School alumni to donate cash to the alma mater. A logit regression model was fitted to the survey response data from the 1955/56–1990/91 alumni of a large, Carnegie-classified, Doctoral University I public higher educational institution. The marginal probability of giving was found to be significantly related to factors such as time since graduation, major area of degree, willingness to recommend the university to others, household attributes and family ties to the alma mater, the number of other voluntary donors known, and the availability of matching gift accounts where alumni are employed. The logit estimates can be used to predict the likelihood of giving and for selecting fund-raising prospects more efficiently. Potentially rich future research directions are explored.