Project Management Learning in a Collaborative Distant Learning Context - An Actual On-going Experience

The goal of this paper is to show the results of an on-going experience on teaching project management to grade students by following a development scheme of management related competencies on an individual basis. In order to achieve that goal, the students are organized in teams that must solve a problem and manage the development of a feasible solution to satisfy the needs of a client. The innovative component advocated in this paper is the formal introduction of negotiating and virtual team management aspects, as different teams from different universities at different locations and comprising students with different backgrounds must collaborate and compete amongst them. The different learning aspects are identified and the improvement levels are reflected in a rubric that has been designed ad hoc for this experience. Finally, the effort frameworks for the student and instructor have been established according to the requirements of the Bologna paradigms. This experience is developed through a software-based support system allowing blended learning for the theoretical and individual?s work aspects, blogs, wikis, etc., as well as project management tools based on WWW that allow the monitoring of not only the expected deliverables and the achievement of the goals but also the progress made on learning as established in the defined rubri

A Mathematical Model of Organizing the Developmental Instruction in the System of Professional Education

One of the most important tasks of vocational education is to increase the intellectual potential of students, as this allows them to increase their competitiveness and demand for the labor market. The use of a competence-based methodological approach allows analyzing the processes taking place in the system of professional education and optimizing them. Within this study an original mathematical model of developing education was considered, which allows the decomposition, formalization and multi-criteria optimization of the learning process, and raise of its efficiency and effectiveness. Within the framework of the presented model, the key indicators of competency formation, the approaches to the organization of students\u27 individual work are presented. An adaptive developmental education system was formulated and substantiated based on the conducted formalization of educational processes and the use of mathematical modeling methods, the methodology for designing. Successful solution to the problem of developing education optimization will provide the needs of the employer community for trained professionals, and students for high-quality, competitive education. The presented models and methods were used for the practical implementation of the information system of the score-rating system of a higher educational institution. The scientific results presented in the work can be used in the development and implementation of information systems for the management of vocational education, which will improve the quality of the educational process

Creativity and innovation in education. Case-study

Treball Final de Grau en Administració d'Empreses. Codi: AE1049. Curs 2018-201

Design Principles for High-Performance Blended Learning Services Delivery - The Case of Software Trainings in Germany

The “perfect” orchestration of training participants, IT and process design is one of the ongoing challenges within blended learning service research and practice. Blended learning services (BLS) offer a great variety of options to design learning processes, overcoming many shortcomings of pure e-learning services and providing better scalability and more advantages for learners than pure face-to-face class teaching. Nevertheless, due to inconclusive results of blended learning design research in the literature, BLS designers can hardly find support for the systematic design of efficient and successful blended learning processes, which would enable a high degree of learning success with a balanced degree of delivery effort. Based on major determinants of BLS processes’ quality, the authors identify, develop, and evaluate design principles for high performance BLS using an action design research approach. They first derive a set of initial design principles, based on insights from literature and own exploratory case studies as well as workshops with experts from the field. They then improve the design principles iteratively in expert workshops as well as apply the design principles in four software training sessions. Finally, they present seven evaluated design principles for BLS, which are the core of a nascent design theory and contribute to a time-efficient and successful BLS delivery. Furthermore, these principles enable practitioners to systematically apply the design knowledge formalized within the principles in order to improve BLS design and delivery

CONSIDERING STUDENTS’ RESEARCH TRAINING IN TECHNICAL HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ACCORDING TO THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF A MODERN ENGINEER’S RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Abstract. The earnestness of the issue under scrutiny is because of the progress to an inventive economy, the improvement of data advances, the creation and spreading of complex human-machine frameworks, of sociotechnics, which has subjectively changed the designing movement, made everything including, the main impetus behind the mechanical change of society. Around the world, there is a developing requirement for aggressive designing work force prepared for dynamic support in inventive building forms, the improvement of new thoughts, the arrangement of research generation issues – as it were, for experts who don't think traditionally and are equipped for embracing non-standard arrangements showing research conduct, since the specialist of things to come is an exploration engineer. The reason for the article is to take care of the issue of research preparing with regards to capability arranged building training based on the substance and structure of research exercises of a cutting edge engineer. In light of the systematization, investigation and improvement of existing arrangements of logical research and works in the field of designing training, proficient teaching method and the points of interest of building exercises, on administrative archives, instructive and proficient norms, the substance and structure of the examination action of an advancedarchitect is characterized. These arrangements are the reason for a model went for research preparing of understudies of specialized colleges. Exact strategies (perception, surveys, interviews, testing, self-appraisal, documentation examination, item investigate, academic structure) made it conceivable to decide the dimension of research ability of first-year understudies and graduates when the test on executing the model of understudy look into. The strategies for numerical measurements demonstrated the dependability of the outcomes, the examination of which demonstrated that the presentation of the model of research preparing in the instructive procedure of a specialized college adds to theadvancement of the understudy's innovativeness, inspiration, cautious disposition to look into, availability for dynamic investment in creative building forms, capacity to grow new thoughts, research and generation undertakings and the appropriation of non-standard arrangements. The materials of the article are of handy incentive for the showing staff of specialized schools, in the arrangement of extra instruction for the advancement of the aptitudes of administrators and instructors of specialized colleges, and for masters in strategy, hypothesis and routine with regards to professionaltraining.Keywords: research activity, engineer, research training, research competence, engineering activity

An explanatory and predictive PLS-SEM approach to the relationship between organizational culture,organizational performance and customer loyalty: The case of health clubs

Purpose This study aims to analyze the impact and predictive capacity of organizational culture on both customer loyalty and organizational performance in health clubs using data from managers and customers of health clubs in Spain. Design/methodology/approach A total of 101 managers were asked to measure organizational culture and organizational performance and 2,931 customers were asked to indicate their customer loyalty. The proposed hypotheses were tested and their predictability assessed through PLS-SEM. A composite concept was adopted to analyze the relationships between the different constructs and their indicators. Findings The findings suggest that organizational culture has a positive relationship with both customer loyalty and organizational performance. The four main dimensions of organizational culture that influence this relationship are, in order of significance, organizational presence, formalization, atmosphere and service-equipment. The authors’ model has a very good predictive power for both dependent variables. Originality/value Customer loyalty is an aspect of health clubs that can be improved. This study highlights the importance of creating a strong organizational culture in health clubs, as it enhances and predicts customer loyalty and organizational performance. Its predictability has already been tested with samples of managers and customers, with the analysis being performed from the perspective of the organization’s management and customer perceptions. This study also contributes to the field of sport management, using a predictive PLS-SEM techniqu

Understanding the Enabling Design of IT Risk Management Processes

Although managing information technology (IT) risks is widely regarded as a critical in organizations, stakeholders often question the value provided by IT risk management (IT-RM) to an organization. Organizational research suggests the concept of ‘enabling formalization’ to design highly formalized organizational processes. Processes like IT-RM that are designed in an enabling way support organizational members through flexible guidelines that communicate best practices and empower them in resolving surprises and crises during process execution. It remains unclear, however, how organizations can implement enabling IT-RM processes. We conduct an exploratory study and identify four design decisions for IT-RM. We identify different solutions to these IT-RM design decisions and provide empirical evidence as to how these solutions facilitate enabling process design. Our results suggest that organizations need to balance rewarding and punishment-centered strategies in designing IT-RM to change it from an ineffective, costly, and detrimental endeavor into an enabling organizational process

Investigating enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption factors in higher education: an empirical study

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University LondonThe Higher Education (HE) sector of a country is a key area indicating the progress of cultural, political and social growth and development. Public and social demands as well as technological developments add new challenges for this sector. Consequently, higher education institutions have changed and a more flexible IT infrastructure is required to enable them to adapt efficiently to competitive business challenges. Enterprise application integration (EAI) is a technology that effectively integrates intra- and inter-organizational systems. Firstly a systematic review of the EAI literature was conducted. From this review, it was apparent that there are no theoretical models for EAI adoption and evaluation for higher education. Hence, this research contributes a conceptual model that includes influential factors derived from the literature and combines them with the proposed classification of influential factors for HE to produce an EAI conceptual model for the HE domain. To validate this proposed model empirical research was conducted. Then, the model was tested using a qualitative case study approach by means of three case studies that were conducted at different universities. Exploratory, explanatory and interpretive data analysis phases were implemented to find what is the current EAI process of HE and how these institutions currently work. In addition, these phases were employed to identify the EAI adoption factors in HE. As a result of this analysis the conceptual model was modified because of complementary factors that emerged. Therefore, the main contribution of this research is a comprehensive and novel model for EAI adoption in higher education area. The adoption EAI factors were identified by extracting a number of parameters from the empirical data. Several important factors that influence and assist the adoption of EAI in HE were identified. Hence, an additional contribution is the classification of factors in EAI adoption into technical and social factors which provides a better understanding of these factors. A further contribution is the derivation of a new classification of the EAI external and internal pressure factors. The development of a consistent model for the adoption and evaluation of EAI in HE is based on these factors