20 research outputs found

    EARLY ALERT AND INTERVENTION SYSTEMS AND STUDENT PERSISTENCE : AN EXPLORATION OF STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

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    Postsecondary institutions have increasingly attempted to discover innovative methods to promote student engagement and persistence, thus combating student attrition. In recent years, the higher education landscape has been flooded with intervention strategies sourced in early alert systems that utilize technological components to encourage student connections to institutional support entities. Whether homegrown or commercially developed, early alert systems provide cost-effective means of bolstering student persistence while depleting limited financial resources. While early alert systems have the potential to be a useful and cost-effective tactic to provide students with platforms for connections to faculty, academic advisors, and support resources, their development and implementation provides challenges. This study was based on Tinto’s student development and Astin’s student engagement theories. The purpose of this study was to uncover and analyze student perceptions of early alert system usage as a retention tool, an area of research lacking depth. The entire undergraduate student enrollment (N = 21,437) during the fall 2014 academic semester at East Carolina University was invited to complete an on-line survey requesting student opinions of campus utilization of the Starfish™ early alert system. A total of 4,658 student responses were collected. A series of statistical tests were used to assess differences in student perceptions of early alert system usage. General student opinions of early alert system structure and differences within student population groups and demographics were also discovered through data examination. Additionally, results of the analysis showed statistical significance indicating that early alert systems serve as conduits between students and the institution, impacting their educational satisfaction, motivation to seek resources, communication with campus officials, and overall sense of belonging. Results from this study offer implications and recommendations for administrators, faculty, and other key institutional decision-makers focused on utilizing early alert systems as a retention tool. Study findings contribute to the body of knowledge on student development, engagement, and persistence, yet additional research is necessary to further investigate the impact of early alert systems in higher education

    Distinguishing Assessment from Accountability: Honoring Student Learning and Values in Assessment

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    Accountability is documented as one of the two major forces for engaging in assessment (Ewell, 2002, 2009; Keeling, 2006; Keeling et al., 2008; Love & Estanek, 2004; Terenzini, 1989). Due in part to neoliberalism\u27s influence on education assessment rhetoric and discourse, accountability dominates how assessment is understood and practiced. The dominance of the accountability rhetoric effects how student affairs educators perceive and value assessment. The purpose of this study is to explore why assessment is not a pervasive or consistent practice within student affairs. Through an interpretivist case study examination of Manresa University\u27s division of student affairs, participant observation, document analysis, and interviews were used to define and explore assessment perceptions, attitudes, and practices among division staff members. The original focus of the study was to shed light on the internal commitment to improvement, the smaller force behind assessment, but evolved into examining the data through a larger social construct - neoliberalism - that influences both forces through its influence on society, education, and assessment. The results and findings of this study provide insight and guidance to student affairs educators, and potentially all educators, for how they can begin to reframe assessment as a process and discourse that honors student learning, educational values and missions, and standards of exemplary practice. Embracing institutional and professional values, setting intentional definitions and standards of success or excellence, and resisting accountability and neoliberal pressures that devalue education each play a significant role in how student affairs and student affairs educators interpret and engage in assessment of student learning and development. The findings of this study also offer guidance for student affairs educators to convert assessment to a process and discourse that honors student learning and educational values by increasing their responsibility to critique and direct assessment and the forces that influence it

    Anales del XIII Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación (CACIC)

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    Contenido: Arquitecturas de computadoras Sistemas embebidos Arquitecturas orientadas a servicios (SOA) Redes de comunicaciones Redes heterogéneas Redes de Avanzada Redes inalámbricas Redes móviles Redes activas Administración y monitoreo de redes y servicios Calidad de Servicio (QoS, SLAs) Seguridad informática y autenticación, privacidad Infraestructura para firma digital y certificados digitales Análisis y detección de vulnerabilidades Sistemas operativos Sistemas P2P Middleware Infraestructura para grid Servicios de integración (Web Services o .Net)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

    Anales del XIII Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación (CACIC)

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    Contenido: Arquitecturas de computadoras Sistemas embebidos Arquitecturas orientadas a servicios (SOA) Redes de comunicaciones Redes heterogéneas Redes de Avanzada Redes inalámbricas Redes móviles Redes activas Administración y monitoreo de redes y servicios Calidad de Servicio (QoS, SLAs) Seguridad informática y autenticación, privacidad Infraestructura para firma digital y certificados digitales Análisis y detección de vulnerabilidades Sistemas operativos Sistemas P2P Middleware Infraestructura para grid Servicios de integración (Web Services o .Net)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

    An overview over the worldwide development of e-government

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    This paper presents itself as a state of the art over e-government development in the world. In starts with defining e-government, then detailing e-government delivery models and goes on with perceived risks and advantages together with examples of good practice in e-government.It also contains a literature review over open source use and open source applications in e-government in Europe

    Large-scale migration to an open source office suite: An innovation adoption study in Finland

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    Avoimeen lähdekoodiin perustuvat ohjelmistot ovat nousseet kaupallisten ohjelmistojen rinnalle sekä liiketaloudellisesti että teknisesti merkittävinä ratkaisuina. Avoimen lähdekoodin ominaisuuksiin sisältyvät mm. ohjelmiston veloitukseton saatavuus ja laajat käyttöoikeudet sekä oikeus ohjelmiston kehittämiseen ja edelleen jakeluun. Organisaatioiden tietohallinnolle ominaisuudet avaavat mahdollisuuksia kustannussäästöihin, yhteisölliseen kehittämiseen sekä toiminta- ja kilpailuttamismahdollisuuksien lisäämiseen. Tunnettuja avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistoja ovat esimerkiksi Linux-käyttöjärjestelmä, Firefox-selain sekä OpenOffice.org -toimisto-ohjelmisto. Väitöskirjatutkimus kohdistuu Suomen suurimpaan avoimen lähdekoodin toimisto-ohjelmiston ja asiakirjojen avoimen tallennusmuotostandardin käyttöönottoon. Tutkimuksen kohteena oleva OpenOffice.org -ohjelmiston käyttöönotto käsittää yli 10 000 työaseman tietoteknisen ympäristön oikeusministeriössä ja sen hallinnonalalla. Seitsemän vuoden ajanjakson 2003-2010 kattavassa pitkittäistutkimuksessa sovelletaan suunnittelututkimuksen ja innovaatiotutkimuksen perusteita. Tutkimuksella on sekä teoriaa että käytäntöä palvelevia tuloksia. Tutkimuksen perusteella on perusteltua esittää muutoksia tutkimuksessa testattuun innovaatioiden käyttöönoton yleiseen prosessimalliin. Avoin lähdekoodi alhaisine lisenssikustannuksineen vaikuttaa prosessimalliin tutkimuksen mukaan niin, että vaiheiden ennalta määrätty järjestys ja vaiheiden selkeä erottelu ei ole aina perusteltua. Tutkimus on tuottanut avoimeen lähdekoodiin pohjautuvien innovaatioiden käyttöönottoon tarkoitetun täydennetyn prosessimallin ja siihen liittyvän dokumentointi- ja analysointikehyksen. Tutkimus vahvistaa useita aikaisempia tutkimustuloksia, jotka korostavat mm. organisaation johdon tukea, avoimen lähdekoodin omaksumiskyvyn kasvattamista ja organisaation sisäisen muutosagentin merkitystä avoimen lähdekoodin käyttöönotossa. Käytännön tuloksena tutkimus osoittaa, että avoimen lähdekoodin toimisto-ohjelmistoon siirtyminen on toteutettavissa myös suuressa organisaatiossa ja että siirtymisellä on saavutettavissa merkittäviä etuja. Kustannusten pienentäminen on organisaatioiden useimmin esittämä etu avoimen lähdekoodin käyttöönotosta. Strategisina etuina tuodaan usein esille tietohallinnon itsenäisen aseman vahvistuminen ja toimittajariippuvuuden vähentyminen avoimen lähdekoodin ratkaisuilla ja avoimilla standardeilla. Tutkimuksessa käsitellään useita avoimen lähdekoodin käyttöönotossa tärkeitä näkökohtia, kuten ohjelmiston toiminnallisuutta ja yhteentoimivuutta, kustannusvaikutuksia, ohjelmiston asennusta ja konfigurointia, monikielisyyden tukea, käyttöönottoa tukevia lisäosia, käyttäjäkoulutusta ja -tukea, teknistä tukea ja ohjelmiston käytön seurantaa. Tutkimuksen tulosten mukaan kohdeorganisaatio saavuttaa merkittäviä kustannussäästöjä avoimen lähdekoodin toimisto-ohjelmistoon siirtymisellä verrattuna kaupallisen toimisto-ohjelmiston käyttöön. Tutkimuksessa sovelletut käytännön menetelmät ja monipuolinen toteutuksen ja sen hallinnan kuvaus ovat avuksi organisaatioille niiden harkitessa avoimen lähdekoodin toimisto-ohjelmistoon siirtymistä.This study investigates the largest transition in Finland to an open source office suite and to an open standard for office documents. The IT environment of the open source OpenOffice.org migration involves more than 10 000 workstations in the Finnish Ministry of Justice and its administrative sector. Methodologically, the research is a longitudinal innovation adoption study covering the 7-year time span from 2003 to 2010. The study applies and tests the organizational innovation adoption process model originally developed by Everett Rogers. In addition to the theory-testing approach, the study includes artifact-building and artifact-evaluation activities of design research. The research view of the study introduces a participatory researcher's implementation perspective where the researcher as a staff member of the organization has been in charge of the adoption of the innovation in the organization. The findings of the study provide contributions both to IS research and practice. The events of the study give reason to suggest that the characteristics of the open source software with low-cost licenses call for improvements in the organizational innovation adoption stage model. The findings suggest that the predefined order of stages in the innovation process and sharp distinctions between stages should not be expected in organizational innovation adoption. As a new model and method, the study provides a complementary framework for the instrumentation and documentation of the open source innovation process in the organizational context. The study confirms several results from previous research and practice, especially the importance of top management support, systematic open source skill building and the presence of innovation champions in the adoption of open source solutions. For IS practice, the study shows that the transition to an open source office suite is feasible in a large-scale context and that substantial benefits can be achieved as the result of the transition. For the user organizations of open source software, lower cost has been the most commonly cited benefit and one of the main reasons for adopting open source. Other often cited considerations include strategic goals like the facilitation of more sovereign IT governance and the reduction of vendor dependence through open source solutions and open standards. The study addresses several practically important issues involved in the adoption of open source, e.g., the analysis of software functionality and interoperability, cost evaluations, installation and configuration issues, local language support issues, additional tools to support the migration, user training and support, technical support, and software usage measurements. The evaluation of costs in the study indicates that the migration to the open source office suite platform will benefit the target organization of the study with impressive cost savings when compared to the deployment of a comparative proprietary office suite platform. The study applies numerous best practice approaches which together with the rich insight provided by the research should benefit other organizations considering open source office suite adoptions both from the perspectives of management and implementation

    Memorial Statements of the Cornell University Faculty 1990-1999 (Volume 7)

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    Proofreaders included: Barry B. Adams, Royal D. Colle, Gould P. Colman, P.C. Tobias de Boer, Ronald B. Furry, Donald F. Holcomb, Malden C. Nesheim, Porus D. Olpadwala and Milo E. Richmond. Judith A. Bower, who has edited these booklets for many years, has had oversight for quality control. J. Robert Cooke, co-founder of the Internet-First University Press with Kenneth M. King, was producer. J. Robert Cooke also served as Dean of the University Faculty (1998-2003). The archival copies of the source materials were provided by Diane D. LaLonde of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Elaine Engst of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collection. The scanning and optical character recognition services were provided by Fiona Patrick and colleagues in the Cornell University Library’s Digital Consulting and Production Services.The custom of honoring each deceased faculty member through a memorial statement was established in 1868, just after the founding of this University. Since 1938 the Office of the Dean of the Faculty has produced annually a memorial booklet which is sent to the families of the deceased and filed with the University Archives. We are now making these memorial statements (1868 through 2008) readily available online, and for convenience, are grouping these by decade in which the death occurred, assembling the memorials alphabetically within the decade. The Statements for the earlier years (1868 through 1938, assembled by Dean Cornelius Betten) are included in volume one. Many of these also include retirement statements; when available, these follow the companion memorial statement in this book. The first two years of the annual booklets are group with these to complete the decade. A few archival copies are being bound and stored in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and in the Rare and Manuscript Collection in Kroch Library. These documents are full-text searchable across all years. Individual memorial statements, as well as volumes of these, may be downloaded. These PDF files provide bookmarks and a contents listing with each entry hyperlinked for convenient access. For historical purposes, scans of the original documents are also accessible
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