Comparative research: Team learning in higher education

Team learning is the process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly desire‟ (Senge, 1990, p 236). This emphasizes the significance of team learning as the fundamental learning units. Despite its importance, team learning among employees in higher education, especially among academics remains poorly understood. This research aims at shedding a light in the area which has recently been urged by the increasingly demanding requirements of interdisciplinary research and teaching in higher education around the world. Through a thorough literature review, a model of team learning has been built with a set of antecedents, two moderators, and the outcome of mental models. Hypotheses were formed, including team commitment, goal setting, development and training, organizational culture, and leadership are positively associated with team learning (antecedents), team learning is positively associated with knowledge sharing (outcome), and better communication systems, and learning environment provide better outcome of team learning (moderators). Thus, the study tested both mediating and Kaleidoscope Postgraduate Conference, Cambridge 2009 http://www.educatejournal.org/ 92 moderating relationships. The data were collected in a form of self-report questionnaires. The model was tested with the data collected from employees of two universities, one in the UK and the other in Vietnam. The findings revealed interesting information on the differences between two universities/two cultures, which is often the benefits of comparative research. The case in VN had more positive results than the case in the UK. There are not many differences between academic and non-academic employees, or between employees who work in science and non-science areas. The research could not avoid some limitations due to self-report questionnaires, though some actions were conducted to reduce research bias. In addition, it is really difficult to measure team performance in higher education, which should have been another outcome of team learning

A Factoid Question Answering System for Vietnamese

In this paper, we describe the development of an end-to-end factoid question answering system for the Vietnamese language. This system combines both statistical models and ontology-based methods in a chain of processing modules to provide high-quality mappings from natural language text to entities. We present the challenges in the development of such an intelligent user interface for an isolating language like Vietnamese and show that techniques developed for inflectional languages cannot be applied "as is". Our question answering system can answer a wide range of general knowledge questions with promising accuracy on a test set.Comment: In the proceedings of the HQA'18 workshop, The Web Conference Companion, Lyon, Franc

From the Fifth Discipline to the New Revolution: What we have learnt from Senge's ideas over the last three decades.

Purpose: This paper aims to go through all Peter Senge’s books since his influential book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization in 1990 and see what kind of ideas he has developed and the impact his books have created. Design/methodology/approach: The author uses book review method to identify prominent ideas in those books that not only have significantly challenged but also contributed to transforming the world of business and management in both academia and practice. Findings: Among many great ideas that Senge has developed, spirituality, mental models, systems thinking, and a sustainability mentality are prominent ones, which have set up trends for both researchers and practitioners in business and management. Originality/value: Those ideas are interwoven, intertwined and have powerfully shaped new ways to see the world and act upon.</p

Removal of inorganic nutrient and organic carbon from wastewater of Binh Dien market using the green alga Chlorella sp.

Traditional markets play a major role in socio-economics and constitutes a significant aspect of Vietnamese culture. However, wastewater streams discharged from the markets are generally characterized by a lot of inorganic nutrients and organic substances originated from fresh food processing units. They could lead to serious water contamination if discharged without proper treatment. This study applied microalgae Chlorella sp. for eliminating inorganic nutrients (NO3--N, NH4+-N and PO43--P) and organic carbon (Chemical oxygen demand-COD) from wastewater of the Binh Dien market. The removal efficiencies reached for NH4+-N > 86%, for NO3--N > 72%, and for PO43--P > 69%, respectively, at algal density of 49 x 104 cell mL-1, and for COD > 96% at algal density of 35 x 104 cell mL-1 after five cultivating days. The effluence satisfied the Vietnamese standard, column B, of the National technical regulation on industrial wastewater (QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT). The results demonstrated that the culture system composed of green algal Chlorella sp. could be a potential candidate for the removal of nutrients and organic carbon by a wastewater treatment process from the Binh Dien market

Spirituality 4.0 at the Workplace : FaithInvest - Building Bridges : Report of two International Conferences Geneva Agape Foundation with World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance 20-22 January 2019, Geneva, Switzerland

Spirituality 4.0 at the Workplace How can spirituality strengthen to live faith and values in daily professional decisions? How is spirituality in the modern cyber-world 4.0 on constant global connectivity possible? The report summarizes the speeches, panel and group discussions with recommendations from participants from all continents. FaithInvest – Building Bridges Churches and church-related institutions with their pension funds and assets invest billions of dollar worldwide. How can these investments become consistent with the Christian Values and have positive impact on development? And how can Christian Development agencies partner with these church investors more than in the past? The report summarizes the speeches, panel and group discussions with recommendations from participants from all continents. Organizers The conference was organized by Geneva Agape Foundation (gafoundation.world) in cooperation with the World Council of Churches (oikoumene.org) and ACT Alliance (actalliance.org)

Features of wave field, its effect to erosion - deposition processes in the Cua Dai (Hoi An), Cai river mouth (Nha Trang) and Phan Thiet Bay in typical local wind conditions

Based on the hydrodynamic model and Shore Protection Manual (CERC - USA) we have calculated wave field characteristics in the typical wind conditions (wind velocity equal to 13m/s in the high frequency direction of the wind regime). Comparison between measured and calculated wave parameters was presented and these results were corresponded to each other. The following main wave characteristics were calculated: -Pattern of the refraction wave field. -Average wave height field. -Longshore current velocity field in surf zone. From distribution features of wave field characteristics in research areas, it could be summarized as following: - The formation of wave fields in the research areas was unequal because of their local difference of hydrometeorological conditions, river discharge, bottom relief… - At Cuadai (Dai mouth, Hoian) area in the N direction of incident wave field, wave has caused serious variation of the coastline. The coastline in the whole region, especially, at the south of the mouth was eroded and the foreland in the north of the mouth was deposited. - At Cai river mouth (Nhatrang) area in the E direction of incident wave field, wave has effected strongly and directly to the inshore and channel structure. - At Phanthiet bay area in the SW direction of incident wave field, wave has effected strongly to the whole shoreline from Da point to Ne point and caused serious erosion

STEM Teaching Skills of Primary School Teachers: The Current Situation in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

STEM education is an educational solution that prepares pupils for the future by connecting scientific knowledge with practical applications. This modern method of education is being widely applied in developing countries in order to maintain their scientific and technical standing and strengthen their competition in the global economy. In Vietnam, special attention has been paid to STEM education, as is demonstrated by the policies and guidelines of the Party and State. However, are the skills of the universal teaching staff, particularly in primary schools, sufficient to satisfy the demand for STEM education? A survey was carried out to analyze the current situation with regards the STEM teaching skills of primary school teachers in the district of Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City. By analyzing the survey results using SPSS, this article presents the current status of the STEM teaching skills of the primary school teachers in Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City, and suggests some solutions to improve and develop teachers’ STEM education skills, suitable for the teaching conditions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Development of Vietnamese Vocational Education Teachers to adapt the Industrial Revolution 4.0

Teacher is always a key factor which determines training quality in general and vocational training quality of the Vocational Education System (VES) in particular. In face of strong influences from the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0), teacher is getting more important in training of human resources, especially qualification level and capacity to apply technology and innovate teaching methods. Based on the analysis for impacts of the IR 4.0 on VES, requirements for capacity of teachers and the reality on vocational education teachers (VETs) today, this article suggests some solutions to develop VETs to adapt to the IR 4.0 as a basis for development of teachers at vocational education institutions in Vietnam