Closing the Skills Gap - the Basics of the Research Data Management (BRDM) Course: Case University of Turku

The current challenge for researchers at the University of Turku is that there is a substantial gap between the level of targeted and present research data management (RDM) skills. In order to better understand this challenge and to develop a training course in RDM, we examined the importance of RDM competencies vs. perceived competencies of doctoral students in different stages of research data life cycle. The RDM importance and competencies were examined by interviewing doctoral students, supervisors and biostatisticians. So far, 34 interview sessions on RDM skills have been conducted, covering research data life cycle topics such as collection, organization, documentation, processing and sharing the data. The interviewees’ average estimate of the importance of RDM skills in different stages of research data life cycle was 4.1 (very important) on Likert scale 1 to 5. An average estimate of the competencies of doctoral students was 2.6 (have somewhat skills). Targets for competencies have been set – besides by the interviewees themselves – by the Data Policy of the University of Turku, Finnish and EU level Open Science principles and research literature. Based on the results we developed a three-credit RDM course for doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers. The course was developed by a working group consisting of university teacher-researchers, lawyers, library\u27s open science specialists, data protection officer, IT Services, and biostatisticians. Three different study programmes of the BRDM are initiated: Health Sciences programme, Natural Sciences programme and Survey and Interview Studies programme. Each study programme has 7 modules, of which 3 are mutual for all the study programmes. During the course, students complete a study plan and build a data management plan for a research project and learn e.g. to take care of data privacy and to collect, store, protect, process, document and share data. In this preliminary paper we will discuss the conducted interviews and their key results, the RDM course planning and implementation, the student feedback and the lessons we have learned so far

PERSONAL MOBILITY AND SELF-ORGANIZED TRANSPORT SYSTEMS: A SOLUTION TO SURVIVE?

International audienceTransport systems in major cities of southern countries usually evoke apparently archaic services with anarchic organization. These stereotypes result from a lack of understanding of these systems. Today, several metropolises of southern countries have transport services without any centralized management. Alternative solutions have appeared which are based on individual initiatives. Owing to the weak standard of living in developing countries, individual cars owners are rare. A lot of megapolis exceeds one million people without public transportation system. Furthermore, in many cases bicycle is not used. However, despite a considerable technological delay, some megacities succeed to constitute an effective urban transport network, although it is informal. We offer an analysis of these systems in order to understand their spatial, social and economical structures. We focus on spatial dynamics and temporal fluctuations, treating specifically the case of Lima. We based on survey data sensed on the field with partnership of IRD in the course of 2012. The system of urban transportation is based on short‐term profitability of the different providers operating in a market. The economical sector concerned is defined as artisanal and governed by liberal principles. For service operators, profit maximization rests on the capacity to adapt to direct demand. Therefore, competitive and complementarity relations develop. It pushes the operators to open new routes to reach unexploited markets with the aim of earn better wages. This mode of operation allows for an extended coverage of the urban area

EFL students’ experiences with blog-integrated writing instruction

With the advent of the Internet, various tools (e.g. wikis, discussion forums, blogs) have been redefining the way we teach writing. Among internet based applications, blogging especially attracts attention with its user-friendly and open-to-anyone nature, hyperlinked post structure and options for comment and reply that foster interaction. As it is directly related to writing, blogging has currently been regarded as a natural tool for writing instruction. [1]. Describing a blog-integrated writing course, this paper presents the results of a study on students’ perceptions towards blog use as a means of writing. 27 intermediate level university students were instructed according to the principles of process approach and they were required to carry on stages of writing process (drafting, revising etc ...) through blog software. The study lasted for 16 weeks and at the end of the course, the students were given a Post Instruction Perception Questionnaire divided into four categories: student perceptions towards effect of a) blog use on overall writing performance; b) blog use on the components of writing; c) blog use on the feedback and revision; d) effect of blogging on interest, motivation and technology use.The results showed that the students had a positive perception of blog use in their writing course and they believed that carrying on the writing activities through blog software especially contributed to the improvement of the content and organization of their writings

MOOC and OER: identity management

Open educational resources (OER) and massive open online courses (MOOC) are new and emerging issues in the international higher education context. Under the exponential growth of the supply of courses and related publications, the purpose of this chapter is to foster scientific discussion on the socio-cultural and economic impacts, as well as its technological and pedagogical implications. Supported by the methodological typology of bibliographical studies, systematized interpretative-critical analysis based on review of the concepts, and principles guiding OER and MOOC, the authors' reflections show that the enlargement terminologies without epistemological delimitation have provoked theoretical and practical mistakes. In the final considerations, the authors systematize broader problematizations around the open educational practices in universities aimed to five dimensions: spatio-time-content, theoretical models, principles of pedagogical innovation, economic aspects, and fundamentals of collaborative culture.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhancing project-related behavioral competence in education

The workforce has increasingly been demanding an educational model that produces students experienced in real project management (PM) practices. This includes producing technically competent students--one who can manage real-world project constraints of cost and schedule but also possess critical project related behavioral competence. Such soft skills are essential if a project is to run smoothly and eventually succeed. In this paper, we describe an educational framework grounded in outcomes based education to enhance project-related behavioral competence. Instructors can leverage this framework to augment their existing courses and develop the critical career skill sets of graduating students

Dynamic Organizations: Achieving Marketplace and Organizational Agility with People

Driven by dynamic competitive conditions, an increasing number of firms are experimenting with new, and what they hope will be, more dynamic organizational forms. This development has opened up exciting theoretical and empirical venues for students of leadership, business strategy, organizational theory, and the like. One domain that has yet to catch the wave, however, is strategic human resource management (SHRM). In an effort to catch up, we here draw on the dynamic organization (DO) and human resource strategy (HRS) literatures to delineate both a process for uncovering and the key features of a carefully crafted HRS for DOs. The logic is as follows. DOs compete through marketplace agility. Marketplace agility requires that employees at all levels engage in proactive, adaptive, and generative behaviors, bolstered by a supportive mindset. Under the right conditions, the essential mindset and behaviors, although highly dynamic, are fostered by a HRS centered on a relatively small number of dialectical, yet paradoxically stable, guiding principles and anchored in a supportive organizational infrastructure. This line of reasoning, however, rests on a rather modest empirical base and, thus, is offered less as a definitive statement than as a spur for much needed additional research

Discussing the nature of the EU: from the inter-state model to global constitutionalism

Historically, the European Union has been characterized by different legal formulations. Positions are divided, broadly speaking, between those that understand this entity as an international organization in the classical sense, to those others which claim that its features are actually of a Statenature, and that the obvious model of evolution would be the Federal State. In the end, all this leads us, undoubtedly, to the European constitutional project. In this work we give a brief account of all these proposals, and then we try to adopt a different point of view: for us, the nature of the European Union should not be looked for in the legal configuration of the political project, but also in the silent evolution -and not so silent- of a legal order, the European legal order, that is increasingly systematic, and that must boast a key position on the evolution towards a higher level of legal organization, global constitutionalism. In the building up of this proposal, we will appeal to the concept of global ethics and to the recent example of the CETA case of TJUE, which opens the European Legal system to alien influences.Históricamente, se ha caracterizado la Unión Europea mediante diversas fórmulas jurídicas. Las posiciones se dividen, a grandes rasgos, entre aquellas que conciben esta entidad como una organización internacional en sentido clásico, hasta aquellas que propugnan que sus rasgos son los propios de un Estado, y que su modelo evidente de evolución sería el Estado Federal. En el fondo de la cuestión se encuentra, sin duda, el proyecto constitucional europeo. En el presente trabajo damos breve cuenta de estas propuestas, para después optar por un punto de vista distinto de ellas: para nosotros, la naturaleza de la Unión Europea no debe buscarse sólo en la configuración jurídica del proyecto político, sino también en la propia evolución silenciosa -o no tanto- de un ordenamiento, el de la Unión Europea, que va ganando forma sistemática, y que debe ostentar una posición clave en la evolución hacia un nivel de organización jurídica mayor, el constitucionalismo global. En la construcción de esta propuesta, recurriremos al concepto de ética mundial y al ejemplo reciente del caso CETA del TJUE, que abre el sistema jurídico europeo a influencias externas

Lexical information from a minimalist point of view

Simplicity as a methodological orientation applies to linguistic theory just as to any other field of research: ‘Occam’s razor’ is the label for the basic heuristic maxim according to which an adequate analysis must ultimately be reduced to indispensible specifications. In this sense, conceptual economy has been a strict and stimulating guideline in the development of Generative Grammar from the very beginning. Halle’s (1959) argument discarding the level of taxonomic phonemics in order to unify two otherwise separate phonological processes is an early characteristic example; a more general notion is that of an evaluation metric introduced in Chomsky (1957, 1975), which relates the relative simplicity of alternative linguistic descriptions systematically to the quest for explanatory adequacy of the theory underlying the descriptions to be evaluated. Further proposals along these lines include the theory of markedness developed in Chomsky and Halle (1968), Kean (1975, 1981), and others, the notion of underspecification proposed e.g. in Archangeli (1984), Farkas (1990), the concept of default values and related notions. An important step promoting this general orientation was the idea of Principles and Parameters developed in Chomsky (1981, 1986), which reduced the notion of language particular rule systems to universal principles, subject merely to parametrization with restricted options, largely related to properties of particular lexical items. On this account, the notion of a simplicity metric is to be dispensed with, as competing analyses of relevant data are now supposed to be essentially excluded by the restrictive system of principles

Consuming Linked Data within a Large Educational Organization

Large universities tend to spread their services across several departments to serve their substantial student base. It is very common for this to result in developing different systems, which end up in creating many disconnected data silos within the organization. Data isolation is one of the main bottlenecks that prevent unlocking the full potential behind exploiting such data, to provide a better experience at the level of application deployment and data analysis. The Open University is in the process of connecting their data silos by relying on the Linked Data principles within the LUCERO project. We discuss in this paper three use-cases through which we consume Linked Data produced at the Open University: (1) a student services use-case showing how we exploit data connections to deliver learning material related to courses through the university's main course information website; (2) a mobile course application that enables students to easily explore courses by subject, qualification or research topic; and (3) a Leanback TV service that provides students the ability to watch, with a degree of control, a set of podcasts grouped in different channels. Through these use cases, we highlight in this paper the advantages and effects of consuming Linked Data within an organization