Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses

Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and project courses is desirable due to its potential positive effects on the students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion of an industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire professional skills. In addition, an increasing push towards education that is aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners can be observed. However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can create friction and could, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all involved parties. Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the involvement of external stakeholders in university courses both in a retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in a constructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders. Key Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the teachers in their analysis of stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate the collaboration). The guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these activities. In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an action plan based on an analysis of potential stakeholders and the pedagogical objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identify issues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing from ideas of the reflective practitioner, the model contains an emphasis on reflection and interpretation of the observations made by the teacher and other groups involved in the courses. Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible to reveal hitherto implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the interaction...Comment: Abstract shortened since arxiv.org limits length of abstracts. See paper/pdf for full abstract. Paper is forthcoming, accepted August 2017. Arxiv version 2 corrects misspelled author nam

The coevolution of industries and national institutions: Theory and evidence

A survey across space and time reveals that leading firms operating in global industries often cluster in one or a few countries. The paper argues that nations differ in how successful they are in a particular industry because coevolutionary processes linking a particular industry and national institutions powerfully shape the path of an industry.s development. Across a wide range of contexts, scientific progress and industrial leadership reinforce each other in spirals of cumulative national advantage. A historical case study of synthetic dyes from 1857 to 1914 provides a dramatic example of how these positive feedback processes gave German organic chemistry and German dye firms a dominant position in the world. Over time, the relative strength of a nation in a particular industry and the capability of the country in a relevant scientific or engineering discipline display a strong positive correlation. Additional shorter case studies of agriculture, packaged software, and biotechnology support this induced hypothesis. We argue that the exchange of personnel between industry and academic institutions, the formation of commercial ties between them, lobbying on each other.s behalf and direct support from state agencies constitute causal mechanisms that can explain why successful firms often cluster in particular countries. -- Die führenden Unternehmen eines Industriezweiges konzentrieren sich, obwohl sie auf einem internationalen oder globalen Markt agieren, oft nur in einer eng begrenzten Anzahl von Ländern . oder in nur einem Land. Auf der Grundlage verschiedener Fallstudien werden in diesem Artikel spezifische Verknüpfungen von Industrie und national geprägter Wissenschaftslandschaft aufgezeigt, die in einem Prozess enger gegenseitiger Einflussnahme zu einer jeweils herausragenden . dominanten . wirtschaftlichen Position führten. Die Untersuchung der internationalen Dominanz Deutschlands auf dem Gebiet der Herstellung synthetischer Farbstoffe vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg zeigt eine starke positive Wechselwirkung zwischen der Forschung auf dem Gebiet der organischen Chemie und der Marktstellung der farbstoffproduzierenden Unternehmen. Der Aufstieg bedeutender Unternehmen wie Bayer, BASF und Hoechst steht dabei über personellen Austausch, kommerzielle Beziehungen und gemeinsames Lobbying in so enger Verbindung zu den relevanten akademischen Institutionen und ihrer Entwicklung, daß von einem koevolutionären Prozess gesprochen werden kann. Eine derartige positive Korrelation und ein daraus entstehender spezifischer Vorteil wird durch die Betrachtung des Marktes für Computer-Software oder des derzeit vieldiskutierten Bereichs der Biotechnologie untermauert.Industry evolution,national institution,science-industry interface

Innovative methods of teaching and harmonization of educational standards in the sphere of computing

Competence-based approach to education (unlike traditional qualification) reflects requirements not only to the content of education, but also to a behavioral component. Recommendations about drawing up curricula for training of specialists in the computing sphere are considered. New pedagogical methods, proposing creative combination of the theory and practice which is reached in the course of direct professional activity are analyzed. The analysis of the problems arising at creation of educational standards is also given. It has shown that professional standards are primary link in high-quality training of various areas of economy specialists (including for computing area), and also ensuring their competitiveness have to be a basis for their development. Thus, problems when developing professional standards complicate prospect of harmonization of professional and educational standards which demands necessary methodological, methodical and expert completion at the first design stage

Space benefits: The secondary application of aerospace technology in other sectors of the economy

Benefit cases of aerospace technology utilization are presented for manufacturing, transportation, utilities, and health. General, organization, geographic, and field center indexes are included

Development of predicting model for safety behaviour based on safety psychology and working environment

The increasing trend of occupational accident due to unsafe act and unsafe condition especially in construction site suggests the need for more proactive safety assessment model. Therefore this research aimed to establish a prediction model of safety behaviour based on safety psychology and working environment factors in construction site. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TpB) was adapted to examine on the prediction model of safety behaviour among construction workers using safety psychology representing unsafe act and working environment factors representing unsafe condition. A modified perception questionnaire named Safety Psychometric Model (SPM) was proposed based on TpB questionnaire and safety attitude questionnaire (SQA). Previously, the approach has successfully applied in health care and manufacturing sector. The questionnaire has been validated by three industrial and academic experts. A total of 554 respondents among 92 construction site were selected as the subjects for analysis. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was use for analysis purpose which involve correlation, regression and structural equation analysis. The results demonstrated that safety psychology and work environment factor was related positively with safety behaviour intention. The elements of workers’ attitude, subjective norm and perceived control that form the safety psychology context found to be significantly has the ability to predict safety behaviour. The demographics variances of personal and education background, working experiences and training background also determine as the factors of safety behaviour of the construction workers. The research also successfully established a safety behaviour prediction model that named Safety Psychometric Model. The model can be benefited by safety practitioners, organizations and researchers to explore the safety behaviour prediction. It also enhanced the knowledge in the area of employee behaviour prediction and modelling

Business Process Management Education in Academia: Status, challenges, and Recommendations

In response to the growing proliferation of Business Process Management (BPM) in industry and the demand this creates for BPM expertise, universities across the globe are at various stages of incorporating knowledge and skills in their teaching offerings. However, there are still only a handful of institutions that offer specialized education in BPM in a systematic and in-depth manner. This article is based on a global educators’ panel discussion held at the 2009 European Conference on Information Systems in Verona, Italy. The article presents the BPM programs of five universities from Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America, describing the BPM content covered, program and course structures, and challenges and lessons learned. The article also provides a comparative content analysis of BPM education programs illustrating a heterogeneous view of BPM. The examples presented demonstrate how different courses and programs can be developed to meet the educational goals of a university department, program, or school. This article contributes insights on how best to continuously sustain and reshape BPM education to ensure it remains dynamic, responsive, and sustainable in light of the evolving and ever-changing marketplace demands for BPM expertise