ATE Impacts 2018-2019

The ATE Impacts book, published every two years by Internet Scout Research, showcases all of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers and selected nominated projects. The NSF ATE program focuses on the education of highly-qualified science and engineering technicians for advanced technology fields. Through the program's grant process, the NSF promotes the improvement of STEM education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels, and in the workforce. The 2018-2019 ATE Impacts book marks the 25th anniversary of the NSF ATE program and offers an in-depth overview of the work done by the ATE community. This book includes a timeline of important achievements and events, a foreword by the program director, additional ATE program history, and information about ATE program Centers and a number of projects.Â

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE ON THE INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract Today, information has been seen as heavily stressed factor that shapes the society, particularly the introduction of social media technology. This study therefore examined the influence of social media usage on the information behaviour of undergraduate students in selected universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. Five (5) research objectives were formulated for this study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population for this study comprised of undergraduate students in Al-Hikmah University, Kwara State University and University of Ilorin. Israel (2003) sample size model was used to calculate the sample size with precision levels of 5% and confidence level of 95% and the recommended sample size was three hundred and eighty-five (385).A simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample from the population. The self-designed questionnaire was divided into five sections. Content-related approach of validation was conducted to ensure validity of the instrument while Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument and the overall reliability coefficient of the instrument is r= 0.679. The collated copies of the questionnaire were analysed with the IBM SPSS version 21.0. The presentations of the data for the research objectives were done using frequency counts and percentage table. The findings of the study shows Facebook as the most preferred social media tools by undergraduate students. The findings further revealed that there is a high usage of social media among undergraduate students. The findings also showed that the major purposes of using social media by undergraduate students are to connect with friends and for academic activities. However, the findings generally show that there is a significant relationship between purpose of using social media and information behaviour of undergraduate students. Since the benefits attached to using social media cannot be overemphasized,among numerous recommendations based on the findings, the study therefore recommended that, university management should ensure that they integrate social media applications into their learning and teaching system

Assessing the influence of e-learning on the performance of healthcare professionals: a case study of UKZN-NORHED collaboration.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and some other antibiotic resistant infections are the top causes of morbidity in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa generally. There is dire need to carefully examine cross-disciplinary approaches to combat the burden of diseases in South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries. One of such approaches is e-learning. This study assesses the influence of e-learning on the individual and organizational performance of Healthcare Professionals by adopting a descriptive and exploratory approach. This study adopted a purely qualitative case study approach because it sought to understand the problem relative to existing contexts especially since there exist very few body of knowledge in this domain. The census non-probability sampling technique was used to select participants for the study with thoughtful consideration of the size limitation of the case-study to allow for exhaustive inclusion. In-depth semi-structured interview was conducted amongst seven (7) healthcare professionals who took a pure e-learning module; Antimicrobial Stewardship and conservancy in Africa. The study revealed that in sub-Saharan Africa, e-learning could be used to strengthen the capacity of HCPs to combat the high burden of diseases if attention is paid to the alignment between the learning task demands of the e-learning module and the technological infrastructures provided to enable the accomplishment of such learning tasks, while adapting the learning process to cater for the individual diversity and contextual limitations of HCPs. Participants felt that there existed a solid task-technology fit between the task requirements of the module and the learning management system technology (UKZN Moodle). The program accommodated HCPs’ individual and contextual diversities. Therefore, their individual and organizational performance were enhanced. HCP were satisfied with the program and acquired the set of knowledge and skills which helped them to pass the module. Both practicing clinical physicians and non-practicing clinical physicians could transfer the knowledge and skills acquired to their daily clinical/work practices. Knowledge transfer to practice was revealed to have benefitted HCPs work organizations in diverse ways. Furthermore, HCPs acquired technological skills which they stated to have been of benefit to them and their work organizations even much more than the module content knowledge and skills which they acquired. This study is an eye opener to the potentials and challenges of e-learning in medical education in South Africa, and other sub-Saharan African countries

Biopsychosocial Assessment and Ergonomics Intervention for Sustainable Living: A Case Study on Flats

This study proposes an ergonomics-based approach for those who are living in small housings (known as flats) in Indonesia. With regard to human capability and limitation, this research shows how the basic needs of human beings are captured and analyzed, followed by proposed designs of facilities and standard living in small housings. Ninety samples were involved during the study through in- depth interview and face-to-face questionnaire. The results show that there were some proposed of modification of critical facilities (such as multifunction ironing work station, bed furniture, and clothesline) and validated through usability testing. Overall, it is hoped that the proposed designs will support biopsychosocial needs and sustainability

Managing, organising and sharing fine-grained data in the spatial design disciplines – an evaluation of a GeoNode prototype

Geospatial data at a fine-grained scale is commonly collected by researchers and university students in the spatial design disciplines, but is seldom available, accessible and usable for purposes other than the specific study. For example, during an architectural studio, the students store and save their data on their desktop PC or on Google Drive, which they share with other students. However, once the students have completed their design projects, the data is no longer maintained and often deleted. Not only is this way of working with data a challenge for organising, managing and sharing among students, but the data is also lost for any future studies. The question then arises as to how the students and the lecturers can effectively and efficiently organise, manage and share fine-grained data to get the best possible use out of the student collection efforts? First, the functional and non-functional requirements for a solution were specified. Based on a review of literature, there are tools for data collection, software packages for analysing spatial data, and portals for sharing spatial data, but none of these tools are directed at organising and managing spatial data in an educational context. After reviewing possible tools, a prototype for managing, organising and sharing fine-grained data was developed in GeoNode, and its use was evaluated in two architectural studios. While the prototype met all requirements, the students did not necessarily use it as intended and to its fullest potential. Training improved this and should therefore be done before any future deployment of the solution. In further work, the prototype could be improved so as to handle additional data types and to allow lecturers to monitor and guide student activities.Dissertation (MSc (Geoinformatics))--University of Pretoria, 2021.National Research FoundationGeography, Geoinformatics and MeteorologyMSc (Geoinformatics)Unrestricte

Enhancing curriculum design and delivery with OER

This paper reports on the key findings from the EVOL-OER project which aims to develop a deeper understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OERs) by academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper builds on the JISC OER Impact study by exploring and expanding on the Ratified quadrant of the study’s landscape of reuse framework (White & Manton, 2011). This paper puts forward a different four-quadrant diagram called ‘OER-enhanced curriculum’ to illustrate different approaches adopted by academics to embedding OER into curriculum design and delivery. Key issues in relation to motivation and challenges in reusing OER are discussed

Investigation of the digital non-text-based use and requirements of a group of academic staff in a South African open distance learning institution

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether academic staff members in an ODL institution use digital non-text-based resources (e.g, graphs, photographs and video clips) in research and teaching practice and what their future requirements for such resources would be. Though many studies exist on the use of textual resources, the subject area of digital non-text-based resources has not been widely studied, especially in the field of distance learning and this thesis will add knowledge to an emerging field and can assist in collection development decisions. A survey to collect data was conducted in April & May 2009 under a sample of academic staff at the University of South Africa, an open-distance learning institution. The data was descriptively analysed. The study found that just more than 50% of academic staff surveyed do use digital non-text-based resources and would like to have access to more resources of this kind. It also found that many do not know of resources in their field. The study concluded that barriers in utilising resources exist, as a large percentage of academic staff would like to receive training in search, accessing and using digital non-text-based. It is recommended that the existing digital non-text-based resources should be advertised in a more focussed way and that subject-specific training should include training in finding, accessing and using digital non-text-based resources.Joint Master Degree in Digital Library Learning (DILL