Enterprise Systems: Curriculum design and assessment

We present a curriculum that prepares students for supporting large Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). EIS is best explained through the evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These systems evolved over the last years driven by (1) changing business requirements and (2) new development capabilities provided by technologies evolution and software vendors’ innovation. These developments led to a new discipline—Enterprise Information Systems, which deals with issues whose focus is on creating and sustaining business benefits through the utilization of corporate IT infrastructure assets. Currently, EIS knowledge is essentially acquired on the job after substantial time of experience building and longer career ladder scale. This paper presents an experience of a curriculum implementation that prepares students for the pervasive EIS landscape in meeting today’s corporate needs. Our IT-based educational approach is evaluated as an alternative to prevailing Business-based approaches to EIS instruction. In this IT-rooted approach, the curriculum is divided into four sections: a Core IT block of courses followed by two progressive-levels of advanced EIS-related specialized subjects, and an industry-oriented field-training experience. Initially, a Core IT background provides a foundation for IT innovation in developing EIS components at sophomore-level. A junior-level of specialized instruction introduces integrated modules which form EIS platforms. Finally, supporting technologies of EIS-related processes and workflows are presented at senior-level of specialized EIS instruction. An assessment case study of the proposed Enterprise System programs is carried out through which we discuss the results of the curriculum performance.     

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONTINUING EDUCATION IN A RURAL AND REMOTE AREA: THE APPROACH OF THE NORTHERN EDUCATIONAL CENTRE FOR AGING AND HEALTH

This article describes an interdisciplinary continuing education approach for health professionals in a rural remote area implemented by the Northern Educational Centre for Aging and Health (NECAH) at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The article discusses issues of rural health care practice and the implications for practitioners’ educational needs. The key components involved in delivering interdisciplinary education and teamwork training are reviewed, followed by a discussion of the relevance of an interdisciplinary participatory approach for rural practitioners given their practice context and work style. Using NECAH's experience in planning and delivering a 5‐day interdisciplinary education program in palliative care as a case example, it is argued that simultanous attention to these issues in the design and delivery of continuing professional education for rural professionals contributes to a relevant educational experience in the short‐term and an increased interdisciplinary collaboration in the long‐term. The article suggests that NECAH's interdisciplinary participatory approach is a significant model for the continuing education of health professionals in rural remote areas.     

Information, Not Technology, Is Essential to Accountability: Electronic Records and Public-Sector Financial Management

Information technology is often seen by decision makers as a progressive measure for promoting public-sector financial accountability. One of the key assumptions is that electronic access to information increases transparency and thus, automatically, accountability. This linkage is overly simplified. There is potential conflict between the objectives of providing efficient access on the one hand and supporting accountability on the other.In Sub-Saharan Africa, financial functions were among the first to be automated. More recently, information technology is being used to control and decentralize financial systems. The improvement in financial accountability has yet to materialize. Evidence of this includes instances where corruption and thefts of state assets have gone unchecked. Many efforts to strengthen financial controls fail because the fundamental structures needed to underpin them are often overlooked; this includes record keeping.     

Observing response processes with eye tracking in international large-scale assessments: evidence from the OECD PIAAC assessment

This paper reports on a pilot study that used eye tracking techniques to make detailed observations of item response processes in the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The lab-based study also recorded physiological responses using measures of pupil diameter and electrodermal activity. The study tested 14 adult respondents as they individually completed the PIAAC computer-based assessment. The eye tracking observations help to fill an ‘explanatory gap’ by providing data on variation in item response processes that are not captured by other sources of process data such as think aloud protocols or computer-generated log files. The data on fixations and saccades provided detailed information on test item response strategies, enabling profiling of respondent engagement and response processes associated with successful performance. Much of that activity does not include the use of the keyboard and mouse, and involves ‘off-screen’ use of pen and paper (and calculator) that are not captured by assessment log-files. In conclusion, this paper points toward an important application of eye tracking in large-scale assessments. This includes insights into response processes in new domains such as adaptive problem-solving that aim to identify individuals’ ability to select and combine resources from the digital and physical environment.     

The Emotionally Affected University Student: support from the university community

The study measured the general attitudes towards disability of academics, administrative staff, and students in a small rural University. Respondents were also asked to comment on the nature of support that might be provided for a student with an emotional disability. There were some significant differences in level and nature of support for students with an emotional disability among academics, administrative staff, and students. These differences were related to the levels of comfort with, and sympathy felt towards, students with an emotional disability. However, overall the results suggest that university students with expressed emotional difficulties are liable to be relatively negatively regarded and are not liable to receive much concrete assistance for the difficulties they face. It is proposed that the data supports the notion that academics, of all the groups measured, are best placed to decide types of support for students with an emotional disability on a case by case basis.