Enhancing the quality of engineering education by utilising student feedback

This paper reports on the role of the current student experience questionnaire in gaining student views on their educational experiences while studying at a research-intensive university in Australia. In particular, the paper focuses on the experiences of engineering students. The paper goes on to examine the areas of best practice and those identified for improvement by students. A number of areas identified by engineering students as needing improvement fall within the teaching dimension; in particular, issues relating to feedback to students and clarity of explanation. Finally, the paper outlines some of the actions that have been taken by the university and the Faculty of Engineering based on the results.     

高职口才训练现状及对策研究

在调查分析和“演讲与口才素质拓展训练营”教学实践的基础上,分析探讨了高职口才训练的理念、目标、模式及相应的教学手段,并尝试把成功学的精髓、职业理想及职业生涯规划教育贯穿在整个高职口才训练的始终,以此增强学生口才表达自信,开拓高职口才训练思路,提升学生综合职业素养。     

Do we see through their eyes? Testing a bilingual questionnaire in education research using cognitive interviews

The paper aims to demonstrate the value of cognitive interviewing (CI) as a survey pretesting method in comparative education research. Although rarely used by education researchers, CI has been successfully applied in different disciplines to evaluate and improve question performance. The method assumes that observing people’s thought processes when they answer survey questions can detect response problems and point to possible solutions. To illustrate the merits of CI, we present the findings from eight cognitive interviews, which informed the development of a bilingual English/Georgian online questionnaire. The main objectives of our CI study were to (a) examine cognitive validity of survey questions, (b) determine semantic equivalence of the source (English) and translated (Georgian) versions of the questionnaire and (c) establish conceptual equivalence of survey measures across two cultures. We conducted two rounds of cognitive interviews, one in each language, using a combination of think-aloud and verbal probing techniques. Our analysis suggests that CI can help to identify causes of response difficulties and develop more accurate and comparable survey measures for cross-cultural education research.     

调查统计数据在文献资源发展决策中的应用

本文从图书馆业务统计角度出发,分析了在文献资源建设的发展决策中可供利用的几类调查统计数据.     

Flexibly Using the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum to Study Alignment

As the standards movement continues into its third decade, there remains a need for alignment methodologies that can be broadly applied to study instruction and policy. This article reports on a series of development efforts meant to revise the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) surveys and methods to study the implementation of new college- and career-readiness standards. The work included a meeting of content experts, a series of cognitive interviews, two validation studies, and a small pilot. We discuss both the results of the specific studies and the implications of the work for other potential users of the SEC or SEC-like tools.     

Importance-Performance Analysis based SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis, a commonly used tool for strategic planning, is traditionally a form of brainstorming. Hence, it has been criticised that it is likely to hold subjective views of the individuals who participate in a brainstorming session and that SWOT factors are not prioritized by their significance thus it may result in an improper strategic action. While most studies of SWOT analysis have only focused on solving these shortcomings separately, this study offers an approach to diminish both shortcomings by applying Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify SWOT based on customer satisfaction surveys which produces prioritized SWOT corresponding to the customers’ perception. Through the use of IPA based SWOT analysis, it is expected that a organisation can efficiently formulate strategic planning as the SWOT factors that should be maintained or improved can be clearly identified based on customers’ viewpoints. The application of the IPA based SWOT analysis was illustrated and evaluated through a case study of Higher Education Institutions in Thailand. The evaluation results showed that SWOT analysis of the case study accurately reflected the organisation's situations thereby demonstrating the validity of this study.     

Defining Cataloging Ethics: Practitioner Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Catalogers often need to make ethical decisions about their daily work. What is the starting point for defining cataloging ethics and how do practitioners define the concept? In this paper, the authors explore definitions of ethics and cataloging ethics in the literature, and subsequently analyze responses to a question asking respondents to define cataloging ethics. Set against the existing backdrop of the American Library Association “Code of Ethics,” the authors propose that shared values create a framework for discussing cataloging ethics, rather than a single articulated definition.     

Major Survey Findings of Listening to MothersSM III: Pregnancy and Birth: Report of the Third National U.S. Survey of Women’s Childbearing Experiences

To understand the experiences and views of childbearing women in the United States and trends over time, Childbirth Connection carried out the third national Listening to Mothers survey among 2,400 women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals to a single baby from mid-2011 to mid-2012 and could participate in English. Harris Interactive conducted the survey using a validated methodology that includes data weighting to ensure that results closely reflect the target population. Results of the initial survey describe experiences from before pregnancy through the early postpartum period, and were reported in Listening to Mothers III: Pregnancy and Birth. A follow-up survey directed to the same participants explored postpartum experiences, attitudes about maternity care, and some additional pregnancy and birth items.