Review of Literature and Curricula in Smart Supply Chain & Transportation

This study provides a review of existing smart supply chain management (SCM) literature and current course offerings in order to identify unexplored implications of smart SCM. Specifically, the study focuses on curricula within the state of California to derive potential opportunities for the relevant practitioners in the Bay Area. In addition, the study further extends curriculum review to other well-recognized SCM programs around the U.S. By exploring current relevant course offerings from different academic institutions for higher education (i.e., universities), this research aims to deliver general ideas useful to knowledge practitioners in fields concerning SCM. Finally, the research illustrates a conceptual framework aimed at fostering familiarity with the necessary research topics for the evolving smart SCM

Can Diversity Be Intersectional? Inclusive Business Planning and Accessible Web Design Internationally on Two Continents and Three Campuses

This paper describes a three-way, international pedagogical collaboration among three instructors—one from Hungary and two from Michigan and Washington in the United States —aimed at cultivating curricular diversity and inclusion. During this one-semester project, Michigan students from a Business Communication class collaboratively created a website based on an entrepreneurial business plan developed by students in a Business English class in Hungary. Both Michigan and Hungary students received advice from graduate students from a disability and accessibility course in Washington on how to make businesses inclusive of disabled customers and design accessible websites. This workplace simulation project primarily employed emails to engage in this collaboration and interact among students due to the location of the classes in three time zones and in two countries with major linguistic variations. Early results show that the collaborative project was successful in teaching intercultural communication skills and in increasing awareness of disability and accessibility

An Examination of Coursera as an Information Environment: Does Coursera Fulfill its Mission to Provide Open Education to All?

In terms of international education, this concept of online education seems to be a growing trend. Edxonline.org, Minervaproject.com and Udacity.com are all new massive online open courses (MOOCs) —education websites similar to Coursera offering students the ability to receive the best education from elite universities entirely online. In this digital age, students are seeking ways to receive an education that is convenient and fits well with their lifestyles, but is also credible. The most tantalizing promise of a company like Coursera is the role it might play in improving education for the world’s have-nots: high school dropouts, the global poor, and those less able to self-teach (Kamenetz, 2012)

A Systematic Analysis of Accessibility Education Within Computing Disciplines

Accessible technologies improve the usability for all users, including 1 billion people in the world who have a disability. Although there is a demand for accessible technologies, there is currently no requirement for universities to integrate this content within the computing curriculum. A systematic comparison of teaching efficacy is important to effectively prepare future computing professionals with the skills to create accessible technologies. This dissertation contains a mixed-methods cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of undergraduate Software Engineering and Information Technology students’ learning of accessibility. Four teaching conditions were assessed at Rochester Institute of Technology: content lectures, projects, exposure to stakeholders with a disability, and collaboration with a team member who had a disability. Evidence of student learning was obtained through questionnaires, project reports, and interview data. Student learning was quantified by a knowledge of programming techniques, awareness of accessible technologies, and attitudes towards individuals with a disability. The cross-sectional analysis spanned three years (spring 2016-2019), fourteen courses, and seven distinct professors. We found that students in all conditions gained an increased knowledge of implementation methods. Students who were exposed to a stakeholder with a disability obtained significantly higher scores in their prosocial sympathetic attitudes, awareness of accessible technologies, and knowledge of programming techniques following the course. Students in the other conditions obtained significant changes in only a subset of these measures. While students in all conditions obtained significantly higher knowledge scores in the short term, only students who had a project or a team member with a disability sustained significantly higher knowledge scores two years after exposure. In interviews, senior-level students revealed that there were multiple factors outside the classroom that dissuaded them from furthering their learning of accessibility. Students mentioned a lack of person-centered topics in major software development processes (e.g., agile, waterfall) and workplace tasks. Without direct reinforcement, students focused on functional software requirements and expressed that accessibility would only be necessary in select front-end development career paths or domains. While current work in computer accessibility education evaluates learning during, or immediately following, one course, this dissertation provides a systematic comparison of student learning throughout multiple courses and instructors. The findings within this dissertation may be used to inform future curriculum plans and educational initiatives

The flipped classroom in ESL teacher education: An example from CALL

The flipped classroom is one of many technology-enhanced teaching strategies. In this approach, students are responsible for initial learning at home (often via instructional videos) and class time is used for problem-solving and activities to deepen understanding. Although research on and use of the flipped classroom in language education is growing, little work has examined its use in teacher education, particularly for language teachers. To address this gap, this study examined the flipped classroom through the eyes of pre-service language teachers to reveal what hinders them from or encourages them to adopt this approach. Data were collected from students in a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) course; they experienced two flipped class sessions (complementing the traditional instructor-led sessions) and completed a survey about their experiences. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a sub-set of students to examine their perceptions in greater depth. Three major themes emerged regarding benefits of the flipped classroom: learner autonomy, learning by doing with support, and preventing cognitive overload. Four challenges emerged: learners’ technology access and technical ability, technical support for instructors, ambiguous student responsibility, and an inability to provide immediate clarification. Three additional notable themes emerged: heightened awareness of peers in the classroom, different reactions to content-oriented versus technically-oriented instructional videos, and student workload. These themes are discussed in detail, along with suggestions for teacher training and professional development. Also considered is the need to establish guidelines for best practices in flipped classrooms and to develop high-quality approaches to flipping without a dependence on instructional videos

Foundations of Excellence Final Report

The final report of the Foundations of Excellence initiative taken up by the university in the 2012-13 academic year to address problems and solutions to first year experiences of students. The primary outcome of this project was an evidence-based action plan for institutional change and improvement (i), which entailed considerations of academic advisement, new student orientation, and assessment

A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities

Examines the state of the foundation's efforts to improve educational opportunities worldwide through universal access to and use of high-quality academic content

Inclusive Intelligent Learning Management System Framework - Application of Data Science in Inclusive Education

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Science and Advanced Analytics, specialization in Data ScienceBeing a disabled student the author faced higher education with a handicap which as experience studying during COVID 19 confinement periods matched the findings in recent research about the importance of digital accessibility through more e-learning intensive academic experiences. Narrative and systematic literature reviews enabled providing context in World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, legal and standards framework and information technology and communication state-of-the art. Assessing Portuguese higher education institutions’ web sites alerted to the fact that only outlying institutions implemented near perfect, accessibility-wise, websites. Therefore a gap was identified in how accessible the Portuguese higher education websites are, the needs of all students, including those with disabilities, and even the accessibility minimum legal requirements for digital products and the services provided by public or publicly funded organizations. Having identified a problem in society and exploring the scientific base of knowledge for context and state of the art was a first stage in the Design Science Research methodology, to which followed development and validation cycles of an Inclusive Intelligent Learning Management System Framework. The framework blends various Data Science study fields contributions with accessibility guidelines compliant interface design and content upload accessibility compliance assessment. Validation was provided by a focus group whose inputs were considered for the version presented in this dissertation. Not being the purpose of the research to deliver a complete implementation of the framework and lacking consistent data to put all the modules interacting with each other, the most relevant modules were tested with open data as proof of concept. The rigor cycle of DSR started with the inclusion of the previous thesis on Atlântica University Institute Scientific Repository and is to be completed with the publication of this thesis and the already started PhD’s findings in relevant journals and conferences