Building a Successful Young Alumni Program through Mentoring at the King\u27s University

The transition from university to the workplace, can be a difficult for young alumni. Many graduates are often confused and lost after graduation. While some seem to have a life plan, and a clear direction, others are left wondering where to turn after that degree is granted them. Helping new graduates navigate the transition from university to career is an important role of the alumni office. For those who graduated in the past two years during the pandemic, this transition has been even more difficult. With fewer career opportunities available, work from home orders, and mass lay-offs in many industries, many young alumni feel discouraged about their lack of options. Rather than turning to the university to help with this transition, many simply disengage. In section one of this paper, I will look at the reasons alumni disengage after graduation. In section two, I will examine some of the solutions that alumni programs have tried to implement to engage alumni, and the reasons why many of these attempts have not worked. In section three, I will propose a strategy for young alumni engagement that is focused on developing mentoring relationships with older alumni, as well I will provide a theological framework for the development of a mentoring strategy. In sections four and five, I will outline the creation of my artifact, a book of wisdom and blessings for new graduates, called; “Letters to new graduates.” This book is written to the graduates of The King’s University from the faculty, and staff. In section six, I will reflect on lessons learned along the way, the importance of collaboration, and my personal reflections about the process of researching, writing and implementing this strategy at The King’s University in my role as Manager of Alumni Relations

The Student-Athlete Perspective: Identifying the Tenets of Student-Athlete Development That Enhance Career Readiness

As studies highlight the career transition struggles of collegiate student-athletes (Hansen et al., 2019; Payne & Driska, 2020; Woods, 2017), researchers have called for more investigation into the influence of various environmental factors on student-athlete outcomes (Navarro & Malvaso, 2015; Navarro et al., 2019). Collegiate student-athletes often face excessive time demands that may necessitate programming interventions to support their holistic development needs beyond academic matriculation. For instance, prior studies (Haslerig & Navarro, 2016; Lochbaum et al., 2022; Poux & Fry, 2015) have concluded that student-athletes may require additional support with identity formation and career preparation. In recent years, the field of student-athlete development has emerged as an influential facilitator of life skills enrichment for student-athletes (N4A, 2022). Yet, because NCAA-member institutions possess a great deal of autonomy in the way that they implement suggested student-athlete development programming, there can be a wide range of academic, personal, life skills, professional, and career outcomes. In this quantitative study, current and former student-athletes were surveyed to provide feedback on specific tenets of the student-athlete development experience. The objective of this study was to examine the reflections of both current and former collegiate student-athletes on their student-athlete development experience and to assess whether specific student-athlete development tenets enhanced their perceptions of career readiness. The theoretical framework used in this investigation was Conley’s College and Career Readiness Model (Conley, 2012; Conley, 2018; Conley & French, 2013). This framework was utilized to provide a foundational definition of career readiness and to inform survey questions around student-athlete development’s facilitation of perceived “career-ready” outcomes. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to explore statistically significant correlations between the dichotomous dependent variable (a student-athlete’s perception of career readiness) and multiple independent variables related to the student-athlete development programming experience. Findings imply that a student-athlete’s intentions to play professional sports may be statistically correlated with their perceptions of career readiness. Of practical significance, the researcher recommends targeted engagement with student-athletes through an “athletics” degree program, professional development courses, and career services collaborations to improve student-athlete career readiness outcomes. Implications for future research are also discussed

How Much Method-in-Use Matters? A Case Study of Agile and Waterfall Software Projects and their Design Routine Variation

Development methods are rarely followed to the letter, and, consequently, their effects are often in doubt. At the same time, information systems scholars know little about the extent to which a given method truly influences software design and its outcomes. In this paper, we approach this gap by adopting a routine lens and using a novel methodological approach. Theoretically, we treat methods as (organizational) ostensive routine specifications and deploy routine construct as a feasible unit of analysis to analyze the effects of a method on actual, “performed” design routines. We formulated a research framework that identifies method, situation fitness, agency, and random noise as main sources of software design routine variation. Empirically, we applied the framework to examine the extent to which waterfall and agile methods induce variation in software design routines. We trace-enacted design activities in three software projects in a large IT organization that followed an object-oriented waterfall method and three software projects that followed an agile method and then analyzed these traces using a mixed-methods approach involving gene sequencing methods, Markov models, and qualitative content analysis. Our analysis shows that, in both cases, method-induced variation using agile and waterfall methods accounts for about 40% of all activities, while the remaining 60% can be explained by a designer’s personal habits, the project’s fitness conditions, and environmental noise. Generally, the effect of method on software design activities is smaller than assumed and the impact of designer and project conditions on software processes and outcomes should thus not be understated

Older adults and hackathons: a qualitative study

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Life Skills Education for Youth

This open access volume critically reviews a diverse body of scholarship and practice that informs the conceptualization, curriculum, teaching and measurement of life skills in education settings around the world. It discusses life skills as they are implemented in schools and non-formal education, providing both qualitative and quantitative evidence of when, with whom, and how life skills do or do not impact young women’s and men’s lives in various contexts. Specifically, it examines the nature and importance of life skills, and how they are taught. It looks at the synergies and differences between life skills educational programmes and the way in which they promote social and emotional learning, vocational/employment education, and health and sexuality education. Finally, it explores how life skills may be better incorporated into education and how such education can address structures and relations of power to help youth achieve desired future outcomes, and goals set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Life skills education has gained considerable attention by education policymakers, researchers and educators as being the sine qua non for later achievements in life. It is nearly ubiquitous in global and national education policies, including the SDGs, because life skills are regarded as essential for a diverse set of purposes: reducing poverty, achieving gender equality, promoting economic growth, addressing climate change, fostering peace and global citizenship, and creating sustainable and healthy communities. Yet, to achieve these broad goals, questions persist as to which life skills are important, who needs to learn them, how they can be taught, and how they are best measured. This book addresses these questions

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2021, which was held virtually during June 14-18, 2021. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends.  XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. This year’s conference was held with the theme “Agile Turns Twenty While the World Goes Online”. The 11 full and 2 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 38 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile practices; process assessment; large-scale agile; and short contributions

Curriculum renewal for interprofessional education in health

In this preface we comment on four matters that we think bode well for the future of interprofessional education in Australia. First, there is a growing articulation, nationally and globally, as to the importance of interprofessional education and its contribution to the development of interprofessional and collaborative health practices. These practices are increasingly recognised as central to delivering effective, efficient, safe and sustainable health services. Second, there is a rapidly growing interest and institutional engagement with interprofessional education as part of pre-registration health professional education. This has changed substantially in recent years. Whilst beyond the scope of our current studies, the need for similar developments in continuing professional development (CPD) for health professionals was a consistent topic in our stakeholder consultations. Third, we observe what might be termed a threshold effect occurring in the area of interprofessional education. Projects that address matters relating to IPE are now far more numerous, visible and discussed in terms of their aggregate outcomes. The impact of this momentum is visible across the higher education sector. Finally, we believe that effective collaboration is a critical mediating process through which the rich resources of disciplinary knowledge and capability are joined to add value to existing health service provision. We trust the conceptual and practical contributions and resources presented and discussed in this report contribute to these developments.Office of Learning and Teaching Australi

Virtual Reality Applications and Development

Virtual Reality (VR) has existed for many years; however, it has only recently gained wide spread popularity and commercial use. This change comes from the innovations in head mounted displays (HMDs) and from the work of many software engineers making quality user experiences (UX). In this thesis, four areas are explored inside of VR. One area of research is within the use of VR for virtual environments and fire simulations. The second area of research is within the use of VR for eye tracking and medical simulations. The third area of research is within multiplayer development for more immersive collaborative simulations. Finally, the fourth area of research is within the development of typing in 3D for virtual reality. Extending from this final area of research, this thesis details an application that details more practical and granular details about developing for VR and using the real-time development platform, Unity