A Pilot Study of Virtual Teamwork Training

The purpose of this research was to combine ideas from virtual team learning theories with technology acceptance research to identify factors that contribute to the acceptance and use of electronic collaboration technologies. An overview is provided of a model for incorporating virtual teamwork training and identifying factors that contribute to the use of an electronic collaboration system. Additionally, theoretical constructs of the research model, including the research questions and hypotheses for the study, are included. A pilot study was used to test the reliability of the instrument. The results of the pilot are described. Finally, the paper concludes with the proposed data analysis methods

Developing Data Analysts for the 21St Century: An Sap Analytic Cloud Tutorial

SAP Analytic Cloud is the newest analytic software from SAP. SAC is platform independent and allows the user to discover, analyze, plan, and predict in one cloud application. Users of SAC can connect to a variety of data sources to create models and develop reports with charts, including Geo Maps, and tables (Ahmed, 2017). Charts can be compiled and shared with stakeholders in the SAP Digital Boardroom allowing teams to visualize, plan, and collaborate all in one product. This tutorial will provide the audience with example assignments and knowledge of how to develop assignments that will instill needed data analytic skills in new graduates. Participants will be shown how to connect to the SAP Analytic Cloud platform and create data models using a variety of visualizations. The lessons learned from this tutorial could be applied to many other data analytic platforms

A REVIEW OF MODELS: VIRTUAL TEAMWORK TRAINING MODEL AND UTAUT

As the demand for virtual teams increases, faculty members should examine various strategies for teaching students to become successful working in virtual teams. By incorporating virtual team learning theory and technology acceptance research, faculty can develop such strategies. An examination of a virtual team learning theory and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is provided. This paper combines virtual team learning literature with technology acceptance research identifying a need for future research to help faculty better understand how to prepare students to work virtually in a global environment

Introduction to NoSQL in a Traditional Database Course

Many organizations are dealing with the increasing demands of big data, so they are turning to NoSQL databases as their preferred system for handling the unique problems of capturing and storing massive amounts of data. Therefore, it is likely that employees in all sizes of organizations will encounter NoSQL databases. Thus, to be more job-ready, college students need to be introduced to this technology to begin to have a functional understanding of how it works and how to use it. This paper provides a simple project-based, teaching case that introduces NoSQL and can be easily integrated into any existing database management course to augment concepts and skills geared around traditional SQL relational databases. The teaching case was tested and student feedback (pre- and post-assessment results, shown in the data analytics and results section) indicated a significant increase in their basic knowledge of NoSQL

NoSQL Database Technologies

As cloud computing continues to evolve, organizations are finding new ways to store the massive amounts of big data that are collected. Big data storage often require greater flexibility and scalability which can be provided by incorporating NoSQL technologies. NoSQL (Not Only SQL) is quickly becoming a popular approach to store large and unstructured data. This paper looks at the various classifications of NoSQL technologies as well as many of the notable characteristics of the technologies. The authors also describe some deficiencies of using NoSQL and give some explanation to why companies are adopting the technology. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research of NoSQL technologies and a content analysis of current articles in database management is provided in the appendix

Agile Course Design: Multi-University Faculty Collaboration to Design the MIS Course for an Online MBA Program

This paper outlines a collaborative course design process to develop and implement a required IS course in an online cohort-based MBA program using principles of The Agile Manifesto. The primary goal of this study is to analyze how students in traditionally developed courses and those in collaboratively developed courses differ. Specifically, we sought to reduce variability in student satisfaction across multiple sections offered by instructors who hail from different universities. We compared three semesters of students who took the course before (n = 101) and after (n = 162) use of the agile course development process. We found less variability in student evaluations in the ‘after’ group as compared to the ‘before’ group, providing support that the agile course development process provided a more consistent and similar experience for students. The second goal is to evaluate changes in student evaluations, comparing ‘before’ and ‘after’ groups. We did not expect to see substantial improvement since all instructors already received very high evaluations. Scores for all questions on the student evaluations increased after using the agile process, but the increases were not statistically significant. The final goal is to prepare an agenda for future research on agile course development based on components of The Agile Manifesto that were not used in the course development process. Opportunities include: comparing the agile course development process to other methods; adding more targeted questions to the student survey to better gauge changes in student satisfaction; partnering with alumni, current students, and industry to develop more relevant course material; and extending the process to other contexts

Engaging Students With Course Content Using Scheduled and Unscheduled Emails and Text Messages

This study addressed college students’ acceptance of push communication (i.e., email and SMS messaging) as a means of receiving course-related content, and modified the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology by including Scheduled Message as an independent variable. Surveys of 301 students’ perceptions of instructor-sent email and SMS texts directing them to materials in six instructors’ 10 courses were analyzed by PLS-PM for their impact on the students’ intention to use these push communication technologies. In contrast to previous studies on technology acceptance, we evaluated actual usage patterns for both the scheduled and unscheduled push communication. Scheduled emails did not yield higher average duration times or unique visitors than unscheduled ones, yet click-through rates and return visits were higher. Scheduled SMS messages did yield higher average duration times, unique visitors, and click-through rates than unscheduled SMS messages, yet unscheduled SMS messages yielded more return visits. We argue that the differences in the results for email vs. SMS may have been due to email’s slower delivery time. We also consider implications for faculty wishing to facilitate distributed learning among students via push communication

Engaging Students With Course Content Using Scheduled and Unscheduled Emails and Text Messages

This study addressed college students’ acceptance of push communication (i.e., email and SMS messaging) as a means of receiving course-related content, and modified the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology by including Scheduled Message as an independent variable. Surveys of 301 students’ perceptions of instructor-sent email and SMS texts directing them to materials in six instructors’ 10 courses were analyzed by PLS-PM for their impact on the students’ intention to use these push communication technologies. In contrast to previous studies on technology acceptance, we evaluated actual usage patterns for both the scheduled and unscheduled push communication. Scheduled emails did not yield higher average duration times or unique visitors than unscheduled ones, yet click-through rates and return visits were higher. Scheduled SMS messages did yield higher average duration times, unique visitors, and click-through rates than unscheduled SMS messages, yet unscheduled SMS messages yielded more return visits. We argue that the differences in the results for email vs. SMS may have been due to email’s slower delivery time. We also consider implications for faculty wishing to facilitate distributed learning among students via push communication

Initial Teacher Education Policy and Practice

The purpose of this study was to generate a systematic description of policy and practice across qualifications of initial teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The study was conducted in two phases. Data from publicly-available documentation of the 27 providers of initial teacher education were recorded in an electronic data base as a means of compiling individual profiles of each qualification. Subsequently, twenty-five providers participated in interviews to ensure that profiles accurately reflected the policy and practice of the qualification. Qualification profiles were reviewed to identify common and distinctive characteristics of initial teacher education according to sector (early childhood, primary and secondary), type of qualification and type of provider. Findings were considered within a framework of contemporary national and international research and implications identified for future research, policy and practice in initial teacher education. This project confirms that initial teacher education is incredibly complex and multi-faceted and that New Zealand qualifications reflect many of the achievements and the challenges of implementing quality teacher education that are experienced internationally. The official documentation reveals that there is a general lack of explicit coherence among components of many qualifications, that in some cases there is no clearly articulated conceptual or theoretical base underpinning qualifications, and, that, in the documentation of many qualifications, there are conspicuous silences surrounding aspects of initial teacher education critical to the New Zealand context. There is also evidence that the regulatory and compliance environment within which providers operate is sometimes perceived as distracting, rather than ensuring quality. This national project has enabled us to identify key areas for further and ongoing attention both by individual providers of initial teacher education and, more importantly, by the professional community of teacher education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the New Zealand Teachers Council and others. We need to determine, and thence articulate more clearly, the fundamental goals of initial teacher education and to demonstrate how programmes of ITE are coherent in their underlying values, goals, design, curriculum, pedagogy and implementation. There is a need also to consider how current external quality assurance processes can be made more coherent with fundamental goals of initial teacher education and the research on theory and practice that underpins these goals