Sharing Strategies of Teaching an Introductory Textile Course

The purpose of this abstract is to share some of the strategies that I use in teaching the lecture part of the introductory textile course and to offer some teaching tactics for colleagues in ITAA who also teach this course. I share my experiences in five areas: (a) determine the proper amount of course contents and amount of information in each exam; (b) develop an organized class-note package with filling-the-blank spaces; (c) utilize visual aids; (d) provide an in-class group assignment for extra credits; (e) improve an academic course is a continuous process

Reconceptualising English teaching in Taiwan: action research with technical college students

English is now the primary language used amongst speakers from around the world for international communication. In response to this fact, there are calls for a paradigm shift in English language teaching (ELT) in respect of the increasing English users who speak English as an international language (EIL). For more than two decades, there have been heated debates and discussions concerning EIL teaching with issues such as standards and norms of EIL, ownership of EIL and identity of EIL users, culture(s) in EIL, etc.. With Taiwan's cultural politics background, English has long been portrayed and perceived as a prestigious foreign language which represents a passport to better economic gains, education, and social status. This perception of English has not only brought about a phenomenon of English fever, but also endorsed an economic pragmatic view in learning English as an international language. Consequently, it has reinforced ELT practices to aim at preparing learners of English for 'being competitive' instead of 'understanding of others’. Based on an educational philosophy that today's English language teaching should prepare learners as world citizens instead of global human capital, the purpose of this action research project is to provide an intercultural communicative way of teaching English. A total of 42 part-time technical college students and a teacher researcher in Taipei were involved in investigating the desirability and feasibility of such ELT pedagogy. Under a theme of 'A Visit from our Sister College', nine lessons were taught with cultural topics like name, hometown, food, and entertainment. The findings suggest that, with some minor technical modifications needed in the future, the proposed pedagogy can help learners not only find their confidence in learning and utilising English language in their daily life but also deep-learn cultures of self and others. Thus, it might result the learners in becoming world citizens in a gradual/progressive manner

Senior Japanese tourists to Taiwan and their marketing potential: a case study

For decades, Taiwan\u27s tourism industry enjoyed the great number of Japanese visitors until a few years ago, when the growth rate slowed and even declined. This decline was caused by several factors such as rising price, high appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar, inconvenient visa application procedures, limited airline seats, rising public disorder, and strong competition from neighboring countries. With much money to spend the Japanese tourists were the most welcome group to the world tourism industry. The senior (50 years and older) members among them, in increasing quantity and good financial ability, have become even more desirable among the world\u27s tourists. Information for this study was collected through library research, data collecting from Taiwan\u27s Tourism Bureau and personal interviews with a manager of Japanese Airline and one of Taiwan\u27s travel agents. An evaluation of Sino-Japanese relationship was done to identify major reasons for Taiwan to be one of the most popular destinations for the senior Japanese international tourists. Most of the senior Japanese tourists visit Taiwan for pleasure because they admire Chinese culture, Chinese cuisine, beautiful scenery, and it\u27s good weather. Their expenditures are the highest among all the international tourist arrivals in Taiwan. Through making efforts (such as cooperation with Japan\u27s banks in offering senior customers discounted trips to Taiwan, formation of a task force to carry out an Senior Japanese Market Promotion Project, and planning and development of new scenic attractions) on maintaining this high-profit tourist group, Taiwan can keep up the revenue from tourism, even with very limited potential in total international tourist growth

Premarital Agreements in the ALI Principles of Family Dissolution

Syftet med denna rapport är att beskriva arbetet kring utvecklingen av en webbapplikation för försäljning av t-shirts - Shrt - och utreda möjligheterna för att lansera varumärket på marknaden. Projektet utgick ifrån visionen ”att ge våra kunder verktygen som behövs för att uttrycka sin personlighet, genom mode som kunden själv designar, via webben”. Under projektet har utvecklingsmetodiken scrum använts tillsammans med andra verktyg som är vanliga vid agila projekt. Vid konkretisering av varumärket Shrt och dess produkt genomfördes brainwriting. För att skapa en produktbacklogg använde sig utvecklingsgruppen av arbetsmetoderna funktionsanalys, konceptdivergens, konceptutvärdering och prototyping. Funktionerna i produktbackloggen delades sedan in i kategorierna nödvändiga, önskvärda samt onödiga funktioner. Produktbackloggen låg sedan till grund för hur arbetet delades upp i tre olika sprintar med separata mål och redovisningar. Den första sprinten fokuserade på funktion, den andra på upplevelse för användaren och den tredje på underhåll samt förbättring av kod – refaktorering. Under slutet av utvecklingen genomfördes användartester utifrån Task-based scenarios där användaren får försöka utföra en uppgift utan instruktioner på hur den ska utföras.   Resultatet av projektet blev en webbapplikation med all funktionalitet som klassificerades som nödvändig och önskvärd. Detta var något som utvecklingsgruppen ansåg vara ett acceptabelt resultat. Om tiden för utveckling hade varit längre är det möjligt att ytterligare funktionalitet hade kunnat implementeras. Det hade säkerligen varit positivt för varumärket Shrt, som hade kunnat ge ett mer professionellt intryck för slutanvändaren.

Using Data to Promote Awareness of and Participation in Undergraduate Research & Creative Works

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) utilized historic program data to identify potential gaps in campus awareness of and participation in UROP funding opportunities. Using this information, UROP launched a targeted information campaign, which increased the overall number of applications and the number of student applicants from select underrepresented units

An Examination of Male Consumers’ Attitude toward Using Fit Mass-customizationand Intention of buying Fit Mass-customized Apparel

The purposes of the current study are (a) to develop a framework to examine the factors that influence consumer attitude toward using fit MC and intention of buying fit masscustomized apparel, and (b) to identify the characteristics of male consumers who have a greater intention of buying fit mass-customized apparel. Based on the purposes of the study, a conceptual model was developed through the integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), and previous propositions and study findings, and was used as the framework of the research

Consumer Characteristics and Purchase Intentions of Mass-customized Men\u27s Dress Shirts

Mass-customization (MC) is a hybrid between mass production and customization. It is a production strategy that offers personalized goods through modularized product designs, flexible processes, and supply chain integration (Fogliatto, da Silveira & Borenstein, 2012). Information in characteristics of potential customers is important for companies that offer MC apparel to develop effective strategies to reach and serve their target customers. A theoretical framework to examine consumers\u27 characteristics and their purchase intentions of MC men\u27s dress shirts based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) and related previous study results. A quantitative research method using an online survey design was adopted. For the data analyses, the structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted