Exploring Cultural Differences in HCI Education

The discipline of human-computer interaction has become a subject taught across universities around the world, outside of the cultures where it originated. However, the intercultural implication of its assimilation into the\ud syllabus of courses offered by universities around the world remains underresearched. The purpose of this ongoing research project is to provide insights for these implications in terms of the student and teacher experience of HCI. How this subject is socially represented across the different universities studied is a key question. In order to develop intercultural awareness of these questions\ud universities from UK, Namibia, Mexico and China are collaborating in a multiple case study involving students and lecturers engaged in evaluation and design tasks. Findings will then be used to propose an international HCI curriculum more supportive of local perspectives. This paper describes the initial steps of this study and some preliminary findings from Namibia, India and Mexico about cognitive styles and cultural attitudes

Developing a business intelligence initiative in higher education

ACM Classification: H.4.2 Types of Systems – Decision SupportIn nowadays, Business Intelligence (BI) is one of the most important areas for managers and their organizations, whose investments on this type of projects are increasing. The decision-making process has become crucial to be more competitive, and higher education institutions (HEIs) are not an exception. For the last years, HEIs from all over the world have started to apply BI to their educational and decision-making challenges. In 2013, the BI Task Force from EUNIS (European University Information Systems) surveyed several HEIs to understand the maturity of their BI systems. The results revealed inconsistencies, raising the doubt about the comprehension of BI concepts. Considering this survey and its basis on maturity models, this dissertation analyses the existing models regarding higher education. Understanding the difficulties in answering the EUNIS survey from a perspective of two Portuguese universities is also a goal. It was created a feedback survey, whose results revealed it was a positive experience, although the lack of clarification of BI concepts was underlined. Thinking about other universities starting their BI journey, it was developed a kit proposal that clarifies concepts and best practices for this sector. It was validated by the two universities mentioned above, which will be starting their initiative in January 2015. This validation was made through an interview, and the feedback was encouraging. Having a guidance to be methodical in this phase was highlighted, as well as the presentation of real success cases that allow to understand what other institutions do on their daily basis.Atualmente, Business Intelligence (BI) é uma das mais importantes áreas para gestores e empresas, cujo investimento tem vindo a aumentar substancialmente. A tomada de decisão tem-se tornado fundamental para o aumento da competitividade e as instituições do ensino superior não são exceção. Nos últimos anos, instituições de todo o mundo têm começado a aplicar BI nos seus desafios. Em 2013, a BI Task Force da EUNIS (European University Information Systems) decidiu realizar um inquérito a instituições de ensino superior para conhecer a maturidade dos seus sistemas de BI. Os resultados revelaram incoerências, criando a dúvida sobre a correta compreensão dos conceitos. Tendo em conta este inquérito e a sua base em modelos de maturidade de BI, é realizada uma revisão bibliográfica dos modelos existentes direcionados para o ensino superior. Compreender as dificuldades em responder ao inquérito da EUNIS, na perspetiva de duas universidades, também é um objetivo deste estudo. Foi criado um questionário de feedback, cujos resultados revelaram ter sido uma experiência positiva, embora a falta de clarificação dos conceitos fosse sublinhada. Considerando instituições a iniciar a sua aventura em BI, foi criado um guião que clarifica conceitos e boas práticas para o sector. Foi validado pelas universidades mencionadas, que vão começar as suas iniciativas no próximo ano. Essa validação, feita com entrevistas, revelou que um guião que ajude as universidades a serem metódicas nesta fase é essencial, bem como a apresentação de casos reais de sucesso que permitem dar a conhecer o que é feito no dia-a-dia do sector

A Microservice Infrastructure for Distributed Communities of Practice

Non-formal learning in Communities of Practice (CoPs) makes up a significant portion of today’s knowledge gain. However, only little technological support is tailored specifically towards CoPs and their particular strengths and challenges. Even worse, CoPs often do not possess the resources to host or even develop a software ecosystem to support their activities. In this paper, we describe a distributed, microservice-based Web infrastructure for non-formal learning in CoPs. It mitigates the need for central infrastructures, coordination or facilitation and takes into account the constant change of these communities. As a real use case, we implement an inquiry-based learning application on-top of our infrastructure. Our evaluation results indicate the usefulness of this learning application, which shows promise for future work in the domain of community-hosted, microservice-based Web infrastructures for learning outside of formal settings

Effective and Promising Summer Learning Programs and Approaches for Economically-Disadvantaged Children and Youth

Reviews research on summer learning program outcomes for low-income children and identifies the characteristics of effective programs such as experienced teachers, small groups, and fun activities. Finds reading and math achievement gains are possible

Divergent paths to martyrdom and significance among suicide attackers

This research used open source information to investigate the motivational backgrounds of 219 suicide attackers from various regions of the world. We inquired as to whether the attackers exhibited evidence for significance quest as a motive for their actions, and whether the eradication of significance loss and/or the aspiration for significance gain systematically differed according to attackers’ demographics. It was found that the specific nature of the significance quest motive varied in accordance with attackers’ gender, age, and education. Whereas Arab-Palestinians, males, younger attackers, and more educated attackers seem to have been motivated primarily by the possibility of significance gain, women, older attackers, those with little education, and those hailing from other regions seem to have been motivated primarily by the eradication of significance loss. Analyses also suggested that the stronger an attacker’s significance quest motive, the greater the effectiveness of their attack, as measured by the number of casualties. Methodological limitations of the present study were discussed, and the possible directions for further research were indicated

Collective action initiatives to improve marketing performance: Lessons from farmer groups in Tanzania

"The primary inquiry of this study is to identify and understand the underlying factors that enable smallholder farmer groups to improve their market situation. The specific objective of this paper is to examine to what extent certain group characteristics and asset endowments facilitate collective action initiatives to improve group marketing performance. This objective is approached through an evaluation of a government-led program in Tanzania, which is attempting to increase smallholder farmers' incomes and food security through a market-oriented intervention. Findings suggest that more mature groups with strong internal institutions, functioning group activities, and a good asset base of natural capital are more likely to improve their market situation. Gender composition of groups also factors in group marketing performance. It acts as an enabling factor for male-dominated groups and as a disabling factor for female-only groups. Structural social capital in the form of membership in other groups and ties to external service providers, and cognitive social capital in the form of intragroup trust and altruistic behavior are not significant factors in a group's ability to improve its market situation." authors' abstractCollective action, Agricultural marketing, Farmer groups, Social capital, Planned change initiatives, Gender, Marketing,

Cultural and ethical effects on managerial decisions : examined in a throughput model.

Financial and cost accounting information is processed by decision-makers guided by their particular need to support decisions. Recent technological advances impacting on information as well as organizations such as the European Community mandating financial reporting requirements for many countries is rapidly changing the landscape for decision making using accounting information. Hence, the importance of individuals'' decision making is more important than it was previously. These decisions are also influenced by individuals'' ethical beliefs. The Throughput Modeling approach to cultural and ethical concerns provides a way of dealing with accounting information processed through various pathways by decision-makers. This modeling approach captures different philosophical perspectives from which to understand what is involved in "thinking scientifically." In the Throughput Modeling approach, pathways highlight the importance of how different philosophical perspectives may be used by individuals in arriving at a decision. This paper highlights key concepts involved in rethinking the basis of moral decision making in terms of an underlying process, rather than focusing on the application of principles or the development of a virtuous character. Examples are provided from both English and Spanish settings to help emphasize the importance of modeling ethical decision making globally.Decision making; Ethical behavior; Judgment and choice;

A Data Science Maturity Model Applied to Students' Modeling

Maturity models define a series of levels, each representing an increased complexity in information systems. Data Science appears in the Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Analytics (BA) literature. This work applies the _IABE maturity model, which includes two additional levels: Data Engineering (DE) at the bottom and Business Experimentation (BE) at the top. This study uses the _IABE model for students' modeling in the ModEst project. For this purpose, the Public Administration organism is the Directorate-General for Statistics of Education and Science (DGEEC) of the Portuguese Education Ministry. DGEEC provided vast data on two million students per year in the Portuguese school system, from pre-scholar to doctoral programs. This work presents the comprehensible _IABE maturity model to extract new knowledge from the DGEEC dataset. The method applied is _IABE, where after the DE level, wh-questions are formulated and answered with the most appropriate techniques at each maturity level. This work's novelty is applying the maturity model _IABE to a unique dataset for the first time. Wh-questions are stated at the BI level using data summarization; at the BA level, predictive models are performed, and counterfactual approaches are presented at the BE level. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-06-08 Full Text: PD