Evaluating the impact of the Learning Centre on student learning and satisfaction

This paper discusses the importance of evaluating the impact of the Learning Centre on student learning and satisfaction at a regional university with a significant online presence. The foci of this article are the aspiration and challenges in creating a database to begin a formal self-evaluation process to help determine the benefits that student learning support programs have on student learning accomplishments in academic programs. An argument is made for how to evaluate a mature student learning support program in an era of change and high accountability expectations and how this framework will shape the creation and use of a database using existing data heretofore not collected, with potential capacity for linkages to other campus student record databases

Wpływ oceny jakości na szkolnictwo wyższe w Holandii

In 1988 the Association of Universities in Netherlands (VSNU) started a quality assessment system of education, that consists of self-assessment and external assessment of study programs operating nation-wide. In 1990 a similar system was introduced in the non-university sector of higher education. The visiting committees judgements are intended, first, to enhance the quality of the study program. Improvement of the quality of education cannot be expected immediately. However, after some years, it should become visible what are the effects of the quality assessment system on the quality activities of higher education institutions. This question is addressed in this paper. Attention is paid to quality management activities, the utilization of evaluation results and the satisfaction on the study program level with quality assessment system, which was introduced.W 1988 r. Związek Uniwersytetów Holenderskich (VSNU) zapoczątkował wprowadzanie systemu oceny jakości kształcenia, który obejmuje samoocenę placówki oraz ocenę dokonywaną przez zewnętrzną komisję, wizytującą każdy kierunek studiów. System ten działa w skali całego kraju, w roku 1990 został nim objęty sektor nieuniwersytecki szkolnictwa wyższego. Oceny dokonywane przez zespoły wizytujące mają na celu przede wszystkim polepszenie jakości kształcenia na poszczególnych kierunkach studiów. Nie można oczekiwać, aby w efekcie zastosowania systemu szybko nastąpiła poprawa jakości kształcenia, ale po kilku latach powinno już być widoczne, jaki jest jego wpływ na działania instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego w dziedzinie jakości. Właśnie tą kwestią zajmują się autorzy. Przedmiotem ich szczególnego zainteresowania są takie zagadnienia, jak działania związane z kierowaniem jakością (quality management activities), wykorzystywanie wyników przeprowadzanej oceny, a także stopień satysfakcji poszczególnych kierunków studiów z wprowadzonego systemu oceny jakości

Learning for employability: Integrating employability into professional bachelor programmes and quality assurance in four higher education systems

The paper reports on a comparative study, conducted in 2013-14, of four higher education systems (the Netherlands, Flanders, North Rhine-Westphalia and Ireland), which aimed to find out how higher education institutions integrate learning for employability into professional bachelor programmes in three different knowledge areas (mechanical engineering, social work and tourism), and how external quality assurance attended to employability aspects. Case studies of 24 selected, well-performing study programmes identified good practices as well as commonly-used elements and strategies, organised throughout the whole education cycle of input-process-results (output) and its quality assurance. Findings included that the studied professional bachelor programmes give sufficient attention to learning for employability, but that ways to do so differ by country and by field. Attention for employability differed across quality assurance systems as well

Fostering Effective Data Management Practices at Leiden University

Modern and Contemporary Studie

Observations of giant outbursts from Cygnus X-1

We present interplanetary network localization, spectral, and time history information for 7 episodes of exceptionally intense gamma-ray emission from Cygnus X-1. The outbursts occurred between 1995 and 2003, with durations up to \~28000 seconds. The observed 15 - 300 keV peak fluxes and fluences reached 3E-7 erg /cm2 s, and 8E-4 erg / cm2 respectively. By combining the triangulations of these outbursts we derive an ~1700 square arcminute (3 sigma) error ellipse which contains Cygnus X-1 and no other known high energy sources. The outbursts reported here occurred both when Cyg X-1 was in the hard state as well as in the soft one, and at various orbital phases. The spectral data indicate that these outbursts display the same parameters as those of the underlying hard and soft states, suggesting that they represent another manifestation of these states.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures. Revised version. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, tentatively scheduled for October 20, 2003 Part

How Advanced Change Patterns Impact the Process of Process Modeling

Process model quality has been an area of considerable research efforts. In this context, correctness-by-construction as enabled by change patterns provides promising perspectives. While the process of process modeling (PPM) based on change primitives has been thoroughly investigated, only little is known about the PPM based on change patterns. In particular, it is unclear what set of change patterns should be provided and how the available change pattern set impacts the PPM. To obtain a better understanding of the latter as well as the (subjective) perceptions of process modelers, the arising challenges, and the pros and cons of different change pattern sets we conduct a controlled experiment. Our results indicate that process modelers face similar challenges irrespective of the used change pattern set (core pattern set versus extended pattern set, which adds two advanced change patterns to the core patterns set). An extended change pattern set, however, is perceived as more difficult to use, yielding a higher mental effort. Moreover, our results indicate that more advanced patterns were only used to a limited extent and frequently applied incorrectly, thus, lowering the potential benefits of an extended pattern set

Young neutron stars with soft gamma ray emission and anomalous X-ray pulsar

The observational properties of Soft Gamma Repeaters and Ano\-malous X-ray Pulsars (SGR/AXP) indicate to necessity of the energy source different from a rotational energy of a neutron star. The model, where the source of the energy is connected with a magnetic field dissipation in a highly magnetized neutron star (magnetar) is analyzed. Some observational inconsistencies are indicated for this interpretation. The alternative energy source, connected with the nuclear energy of superheavy nuclei stored in the nonequilibrium layer of low mass neutron star is discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 A.W. Alsabti, P. Murdin (eds.), Handbook of Supernova

Afterglow upper limits for four short duration, hard spectrum gamma-ray bursts

We present interplanetary network localization, spectral, and time history information for four short-duration, hard spectrum gamma-ray bursts, GRB000607, 001025B, 001204, and 010119. All of these events were followed up with sensitive radio and optical observations (the first and only such bursts to be followed up in the radio to date), but no detections were made, demonstrating that the short bursts do not have anomalously intense afterglows. We discuss the upper limits, and show that the lack of observable counterparts is consistent both with the hypothesis that the afterglow behavior of the short bursts is like that of the long duration bursts, many of which similarly have no detectable afterglows, as well as with the hypothesis that the short bursts have no detectable afterglows at all. Small number statistics do not allow a clear choice between these alternatives, but given the present detection rates of various missions, we show that progress can be expected in the near future.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; Revised version, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

GROND coverage of the main peak of Gamma-Ray Burst 130925A

Prompt or early optical emission in gamma-ray bursts is notoriously difficult to measure, and observations of the dozen cases show a large variety of properties. Yet, such early emission promises to help us achieve a better understanding of the GRB emission process(es). We performed dedicated observations of the ultra-long duration (T90 about 7000 s) GRB 130925A in the optical/near-infrared with the 7-channel "Gamma-Ray Burst Optical and Near-infrared Detector" (GROND) at the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope. We detect an optical/NIR flare with an amplitude of nearly 2 mag which is delayed with respect to the keV--MeV prompt emission by about 300--400 s. The decay time of this flare is shorter than the duration of the flare (500 s) or its delay. While we cannot offer a straightforward explanation, we discuss the implications of the flare properties and suggest ways toward understanding it.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publ. in A&