Measuring the Effects of Pre-College Engineering Experiences, Year 2

Measuring the Effects of Pre-College Engineering ExperiencesThe implementation of co-curricular and extracurricular pre-college engineering programs hasexpanded dramatically in recent years. Many states now include engineering as part of theireducation standards for both students and teachers, reflecting the increasing acceptance ofengineering at the K-12 level and its potential value to students. In addition to promotingoutcomes that benefit all students regardless of career aspirations such as increased math andscience achievement and greater technological literacy, K-12 engineering programs have beenidentified as a means of recruiting and retaining potential students in engineering.The growth of pre-college engineering programs means that increasing numbers of incomingengineering students will have had some exposure to engineering prior to their enrollment inengineering programs. However, the effects of pre-college engineering experiences onundergraduate engineering students are relatively unexplored. To address this lack ofunderstanding, this study uses a mixed-methods exploratory approach to examine how exposureto pre-college engineering programs affects the experiences of university engineering students.Conducting and analyzing phenomenographic interviews with cohorts of first year engineeringstudents yielded five qualitatively different ways undergraduate engineering students experiencethe transition from pre-college to university engineering. These experiences range from feelingtrapped in engineering due to pre-college engineering, to feelings of boredom and frustration dueto misalignments between the two sets of experiences, to experiencing a boost in confidence andthe ability to help others as a result of participation in pre-college engineering programs.We are currently utilizing these qualitative results to develop an instrument to measure the extentof these effects in the larger population of undergraduate engineering students at multipleinstitutions. We are also exploring the relationship between pre-college engineering participationand quantitative measures of success in undergraduate engineering, including grades andpersistence.While some undergraduate engineering programs may take into account pre-college engineeringexperiences when forming design teams, most undergraduate programs assume little to no formalexposure to engineering prior to matriculation. The results of this research will help engineeringadministrators, instructors and designers of undergraduate and pre-college curricula adapt tostudents’ changing needs and abilities as a result of their increased experience with engineeringprior to university

Pre-College Engineering Participation Among First-Year Engineering Students

In recent years, engineering content is increasingly appearing in the K-12 classroom. This growth can be attributed to increased acceptance of engineering as an area of study at the K-12 level, the growing inclusion of engineering content in state and national educational standards,and the growth of outreach activities intended to increase students’ interest in pursuing degrees and careers in engineering. As pre-college engineering programs grow, first-year engineering students are arriving in university engineering programs with significant prior exposure to engineering content and practices. Despite this growth, little research exists that explores the prevalence of participation in these programs or the effects of participation on first-year engineering students.In this paper, we present the results of a survey of first-year engineering students on their participation in pre-college engineering programs and activities. Students enrolled in four sections of a first-year engineering program at a large public university were asked to complete a survey indicating the settings where they encountered engineering prior to college, named and described the various activities that they participated in and the approximate amount of time they spent doing each activity. Participants also provided demographic information.Results indicate that 89 percent of domestic students enrolling in first-year engineering classes at the university have experiences they describe as engineering prior to college. High school classes are the most common way that students are exposed to engineering content by a significant margin, followed by extra-curricular activities, summer camps or programs, and middle school classes. While the majority of respondents reported participating in one or two different activities, some reported participating in as many as nine different pre-college engineering programs or activities. These activities ranged in exposure from short term class projects or activities, to students involved for multiple years in an engineering course sequence or extracurricular activity.In the full paper, we will explore the relationships between pre-college engineering participation and students’ demographics such as race and gender. We will also explore the relationship between participation in various types of pre-college engineering activities and students’ choice of engineering major

An empirical study of the influence of different organisation cultures on e-commerce adoption maturity

Drawing on Cameron and Quinn’s organisational cultures typology that defines four types of organisational culture (i.e., clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy), and Daniel et al.’s four-stage model of e-commerce adoption, this paper empirically examines the influence of different organisational cultures on e-commerce adoption maturity in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka. The result indicates a positive correlation between adhocracy culture and e-commerce adoption. However, those firms with hierarchy cultural characteristics indicate a negative correlation in relation to e-commerce adoption. The organisational culture differences explain these issues

Security and Privacy Concerns for Australian SMEs Cloud Adoption

Cloud Computing has become increasingly important for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises because of its cost-effective benefits. However, the adoption of Cloud Computing over the recent years raised challenging issues with regard to privacy and security. In this study, we explored and presented the findings of the influence of privacy and security on Cloud adoption by SMEs. Based on a survey of SMEs across Australia, we analysed the data using structural equation modelling. We found that Cloud privacy and Cloud security are major concerns for SMEs to adopt Cloud computing. The study findings are useful for IT practitioners and regulatory bodies to understand how SMEs consider privacy and security issues for Cloud adoption

Developing an Instrument to Assess the Effects of Pre-College Engineering Participation on the Experiences of First-Year Engineering Students

In this Complete Research paper, we describe the development of a survey instrument to measure the ways that students experience the transition from pre-college engineering activities to first-year engineering programs. As the number of opportunities to study and do engineering prior to matriculation in an undergraduate engineering program increases, first-year engineering students draw from a diverse range of pre-college engineering experiences that affect their transition to studying engineering at a university. The instrument utilizes a theoretical framework developed via a phenomenographic interview process that identified five distinct ways students experience the transition from pre-college to university engineering. These range from foreclosure or a feeling of entrapment in engineering, to frustration, to tedium, to connection, to the ability to help others be successful in first-year engineering. Utilizing the interview data that informed the development of these categories, we identified statements associated with each of these ways of experiencing the transition from pre-college to university engineering and used these statements to develop an initial instrument consisting of 65 Likert-type questions on students’ experiences combined with detailed questions on both the types pre-college engineering experiences the students participated in and the content of these experiences. Validation of the initial instrument involved multiple rounds of feedback from experts in both pre-college and first-year engineering education, followed by an initial administration of the instrument to the first-year student population at two universities. Analysis of these results showed that overall the instrument had good reliability, however we identified 15 low functioning items for removal, reducing the total number of items to 50. Upon completion of the development process, we administered the final instrument again to another population of first-year engineering students. Analysis of these results using Exploratory Factor Analysis yields components that align well with most elements of the aforementioned theoretical framework. However, we identified several additional independent factors related to ways that students experience disconnects or frustration when transitioning from pre-college to first-year engineering programs. Pre-college engineering is growing, but students arrive in first-year engineering programs with varying levels of prior exposure to engineering. Understanding how pre-college experiences affect students’ transitions to engineering will provide valuable data for both the creators and instructors of pre-college and first-year engineering curricula, and facilitate better alignment between these interrelated spheres of engineering education

An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Accounting Information Systems Adoption

This study investigates the factors that influence accounting information systems (AIS) adoption among accountants. Drawing on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), the task–technology fit (TTF) model and the institutional theory, we developed a research model for AIS adoption by accountants. Data was collected from 216 accountants and multiple linear regression was employed to test the research model. The results showed that five key factors, namely effort expectancy, perceived technology fit, facilitating conditions, self-efficacy and coercive pressure are able to influence the likelihood that accountants would adopt the AIS. This research confirms the need to integrate UTAUT, TTF and institutional theory when studying AIS adoption factors. The findings from this study are useful for senior management, technology consultants, software vendors and accounting professional bodies in promoting the adoption of AIS

Cybersecurity Issues and Practices in Cloud Context: A comparison amongst Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

The advancement and the proliferation of information systems among enterprises have given rise to cybersecurity. Cybersecurity practices provide a set of techniques and procedures to protect the systems, networks, programs and data from attack, damage, or unauthorised access (ACSC 2020). Such cybersecurity practices vary and are applied differently to different types of enterprises. The purpose of this research is to compare the critical cybersecurity threats and practices in the cloud context among micro, small, and medium enterprises. By conducting a survey among 289 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia, this study highlights the significant differences in their cloud security practices. It also concludes that future studies that focus on cybersecurity issues and practices in the context of cloud computing should pay attention to these differences