Use of electronic resources by postgraduate students in University of Cape Coast

The study investigates the use of electronic resources by postgraduate students in University of Cape Coast (UCC). It specifically targets first year postgraduate students of UCC. Awareness, usage, training, and access were explored. A survey method was employed and a structured questionnaire was utilized to solicit data. The findings revealed that, though students are aware of electronic resources, they do not fully utilize them to support their academic pursuit due to poor level of information literacy skills. However, few students had not participated in all information literacy skills training organized by the library. Results from the study showed that, significant number of postgraduate students do access electronic resources when on campus and mostly use electronic devices such as laptops, ipad, desktop computers, and mobile phones. The findings indicated that students use the electronic resources to complete assignments, write project work, to update lessons note, for research, and update themselves on new information in their fields of study. It was recommended that a structured curriculum should therefore be established as part of postgraduate students’ normal lecture periods where time is allocated on their time table for electronic resource training, and if possible, credited to their academic performance ratings or grading

Project managers and technical change : curriculum development in strategic technology management

Traditional business approaches do not take account of the rapid technological developments underpinning today's world. Further understanding the role of technology and its efficient management to build and maintain a competitive edge in business can allow project managers to more successfully manage organisations, and to adapt to and capitalise on, today’s rapidly changing environment. Strategic Technology Management links engineering, science and management principles to identify, choose, and implement the most effective means of attaining compatibility between internal skills and resources of an organisation and its competitive, economic and social environment. This paper reviews the rationale and the development of a new Strategic Technology Management subject in QUT’s Master of Project Management program. It discusses recent developments in the area of technology management from an international perspective, provides details of the curriculum developed and discusses the experience of completing two years of teaching the new program

Effective use of communication and information technology: Bridging the skills gap

There is a revolutionary culture change taking place within higher education in the United Kingdom. Part of this change is the adoption of new communication and information technologies (C&IT), such as the World Wide Web (WWW), for teaching, learning and assessment. Many academics have limited experience of the WWW for teaching and learning and perceive that the use of new technologies involves transferring traditional teaching methods into an electronic format, with no regard for the underlying pedagogical implications. Our current research with teaching staff has given insight into essential skills and competencies required to empower the use of C&IT bearing in mind the importance of the underlying pedagogy. In this paper we present an analysis of research carried out with academic staff members to determine the nature of staff and student skills needs regarding the use of C&IT in teaching and learning. This analysis is followed by a case study of how these findings were incorporated into the development and implementation of a staff development programme aimed at encouraging innovative teaching at the University of Strathclyde

Impacts of WeChat on Millennials’ Perceptions and Consumption Behaviors in the Hotel Industry

Social media, known as interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications, has deeply changed and reformed interpersonal communication and business operation with the wide spread of Internet and the development of technology. In the past few years, since mobile apps are becoming more and more popular, the access of social media is not limited to tablet computers only, but is also available for almost all kinds of smart phone devices, such as iPhone, Android, Symbian and so on. The function of social media is not confined to real- time message transmission or information sharing any more. It has expanded to a widely range of features, such as online purchase and payment, e-commerce business, and service for different types of social events. Social media plays an increasingly important role in daily personal life as well as in business activities. People are not merely considered as social media users, but also the component of social media itself. As a result, it is very crucial for people to realize the importance and impacts of social media, especially for those business operators. WeChat (Weixin in Chinses, literally “micro message”) is a cross-platform instant text and voice messaging communication service for multiple mobile devices, developed by Tecent in China, first released in the January of 2011. It is claimed to provide “the new way to connect” and create “a way of life”. It is free to download, install and register, and support all kinds of smart phone platforms with multiple language versions, such as Chinese, English, Japanese, French, and Spanish. WeChat provides its users different ways to communicate and interact with friends innovatively through instant text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, group messaging, lively video sharing, location sharing, money transferring, and contact information sharing. Among all the WeChat users, Millennials is the majority. With the growing-up of Millennials, they are becoming more and more powerful and important to the society and will be the next target segmentation for most of the industries in the very near future. Especially for the hotel industry, the industry that urges to attract Millennials patrons for further substantial development, how to attract Millennials is becoming a critical issue for those hotel operators

Enhancing online climate change education: distance and conventional university collaboration for a Master's curriculum

See also a longer version: ‘Expanding Citizen and Practitioner Engagement with the Climate Change Challenge Through Collaborative Masters Curriculum, Open Educational Resources, E-learning Communities and Virtual Mobility’, presented at a conference of European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EDTU), Zermatt, Switzerland, September 2010 (www.eadtu.nl/.../Accepted%20Presentations%20for%20Newsletter.pd).This paper analyses the different ways in which both distance and conventional universities engage with learning and teaching. It argues that rather than seeing their roles as institutionally compartmentalised, there is much benefit in delivering online education through an institutional collaboration which develops synergies with a potential to contribute to citizen and professional practitioner empowerment, in this case, for debates about climate change. The example the paper draws on is that of a European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus) project ‘The Lived experience of climate change (LECH-e): interdisciplinary e-module development and virtual mobility’. The project brings together five distance and three conventional universities across six EU countries, plus the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), to create a Master’s curriculum in the area of climate change. It argues that universities across Europe have complementary strengths, both in terms of their disciplinary expertise and the ways in which they engage with students. Understanding the complex, real-world challenge of climate change requires a holistic approach which draws on these complementary strengths through collaborative work. Keywords: conventional universities; distance-learning universities; Master’s curriculum in climate change; collaboration

Group work assessment: benefits, problems and implications for good practice

Group work has become increasingly important in higher education, largely as a result of the greater emphasis on skills, employability and lifelong learning. However, it is often introduced in a hurry, can be unsupported and may be assessed without fully exploring the consequences (www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/assessment.group). Both group work and its assessment have been the focus of considerable research and debate in the higher education literature; see for example reviews by Webb (1994), Nightingale et al. (1996) and Boud et al. (1999). Davis (1993) identifies three types of group work: formal learning groups, informal learning groups and study groups. Formal groups are established to complete a specific task in one class session or over many weeks, such as a laboratory experiment or the compilation of an environmental impact report. Informal groups involve ad hoc clusters of students who work in class to discuss an issue or test understanding. Study teams are formed to provide support for members, usually for the duration of a project or module. This guide will focus on formal group activity and its assessment. Group work is highly complex, however, and assessment should consider both the product or outcome and the process of student learning (Webb 1994, Glebhill and Smith 1996). Consequently, the development of effective group work assessment strategies, designed to engage the students and provide the best possible learning experience, raises a number of important questions. For example, what is the most effective group size? How should the groups be formed? How can we best prepare students for group work? What are the most effective ways of supporting groups and individuals within them? To what extent should group progress be monitored by tutors? How should we assess group work and where does the balance lie between product and process, and group and individual? What is the most effective way of gathering meaningful student feedback for 2 the purposes of evaluation and review? This guide will explore these questions and many others. It will begin by looking at the benefits of group work and its assessment before exploring some of the key concerns. It will then reflect on some personal experiences and lessons learned from the planning and delivery of group work assessment strategies, with a view to providing some ideas and tips for good practice

Trainee teachers’ perceptions on cyberbullying in educational contexts

This paper analyzes the perceptions of teachers in training regarding cyberbullying in schools. The objectives of the study were: to ascertain their perceptions regarding their concern and their commitment to cyberbullying, their agreement with the measures to address it in educational contexts, as well as the assessment of their capabilities to act and the training they have received and they would like to receive; to determine if the perceptions differ according to gender, age and degree pursued and if there are relationships between the perceptions; and, to define pre-service teachers’ profiles based on perceptions. With a survey research design, 408 students from different undergraduate and graduate education-related degree programs at Spanish public universities participated. Findings highlight the coexistence of three different teacher in training profiles. All profiles exhibit a high level of concern and recognize cyberbullying as a problem. They strongly agree with all the proposed prevention and management measures. Two of the three profiles perceive themselves as highly confident and willing to respond. On the contrary, participants in the third profile do not feel confident enough to act and consider their training insufficient, coinciding with the second profile. The need to approach this issue in the initial training of future education professionals is a main conclusion

From traditional essay to 'Ready Steady Cook' presentation: Reasons for innovative changes in assignments

The prose essay, case study and laboratory report, composed by individual students in isolation from their peers, used to be the mainstay of undergraduate writing. However, in recent years an array of alternative assignment types such as blogs, letters and e-posters have widened the repertoire of texts expected. This article attempts to describe the reasoning behind changes in assignment types at undergraduate and master’s level at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Data from 58 semi-structured interviews with lecturers in three UK universities is used together with course handbooks and some clarifications with lecturers via email. Suggested reasons for new assignment types are grouped into three categories: external, lecturer-driven and student-driven. The article surmises that, because of these pressures, students are now expected to produce a wide variety of text types, and greater attention should be paid to guidance in new assignments for both native and non-native speaker students

Perceptions of sport science students on the potential applications and limitations of blended learning in their education: A qualitative study

This study sought to gain insight into blended learning-naive sports science students’ understanding and perceptions of the potential benefits and limitations of blended (hybrid) learning, which has been defined as the thoughtful integration of face-to-face and online instructional approaches. Five focus groups, each comprising 3–4 students from either the undergraduate or postgraduate sports science programmes were conducted. The focus groups were facilitated by a researcher who was not involved in sports science. Audio recordings of the focus groups were transcribed verbatim. NVivo software was used to code the transcripts to identify the themes and subthemes. Students generally had little initial understanding of blended learning. When provided with a definition, they believed that blended learning could improve educational outcomes and assist those who were legitimately unable to attend a session. Their reservations about blended learning mainly related to some students not being sufficiently autonomous to undertake independent study, timetabling considerations and access to reliable Internet services. For blended learning to be effective, students felt the online material had to be interactive, engaging and complement the face-to-face sessions. Better understanding the perceptions of the students in the current study may assist educators who are considering implementing blended learning in their teaching. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Grou

Higher education course content: paper-based, online or hybrid course delivery?

[Abstract]: The emergence of the Internet has made many institutions involved in the delivery of distance education programs re-evaluate the course delivery framework. A variety of models and techniques co-exist in an often uneasy alliance at many such institutions. These range from the traditional distance learning model, which remains paper-based, to the purely online model. Recently, hybrid models have emerged which apparently attempt to forge elements taken from several models into a unified whole. Many of these hybrid models seek to eliminate paper-based materials from the tuition process. While many arguments are put forward about the efficacy of purely electronic delivery mechanisms, cost containment is often the driving motivation. This study explores student perceptions of the various delivery mechanisms for distance learning materials. In particular, it seeks to determine what value students place on paper-based delivery mechanisms. The study surveys a group of undergraduate students and a group of graduate students enrolled in the Faculty of Business at a large regional Australian university