List Of Common Features Research Articles

Boosting entrepreneurial competences beyond business and management–related disciplines. The case of engineering programs

PurposeThis study addresses the challenge of integrating entrepreneurial competences development into the traditionally structured engineering curriculum, recognizing its potential contribution to job creation. Specifically, this study proposes a course design that intersects project management and entrepreneurial disciplines, adopting a challenge-based learning approach.Design/methodology/approachConsidering a list of common features that entrepreneurs and engineers—in the role of project managers—should excel at, and building upon the principles of experiential learning, this study proposes and describes a course design that is expected to help engineering students develop entrepreneurial competences. Through a series of assessment instruments and descriptive statistics, the study evaluates its implementation in a pilot test applied in a Project Management course at a Spanish university.FindingsThe results demonstrate a significant improvement in students' entrepreneurial competences after completing the course. Noteworthy variations in receptiveness to skill development among different personality profiles are observed. Gender differences are minimal, with the exception of women exhibiting heightened self-perception in the autonomy dimension.Originality/valueThis study explores the common features shared by two often-disconnected disciplines, namely engineering and entrepreneurship. It suggests that integrating both perspectives through a challenge-based course design can enhance entrepreneurial competences among engineering students without compromising the specific knowledge gained from engineering programs. Engaging students in such pedagogical experiences not only fosters entrepreneurial competences but also contributes to their professional and personal growth.

Guidelines for Cognitively Efficient Multimedia Learning Tools: Educational Strategies, Cognitive Load, and Interface Design

The field of medical education has consistently embraced new technologies in an attempt to improve the training process of our nation's doctors. There are thousands of available multimedia learning tools (MMLTs), but no quantitative scale exists to assess their efficiency and overall educational value. The authors review existing literature and suggest guidelines for creating cognitively efficient medical MMLTs. In 2004, the authors searched PubMed to identify articles regarding mutimedia learning, including educational strategies and existing MMLTs. The primary search terms included "multimedia learning," "cognitive load," and "surgical education." The resulting articles were evaluated and reviewed for educational and interface design techniques, and a list of common features was generated. The authors cross-referenced these features with extensive theories of cognitive load to create a list of methods that demonstrated improved learning. Techniques common to existing MMLTs often neglect to account for theories of cognitive load and may be detrimental to the learning process. The authors outlined important educational considerations and guidelines for the design of effective MMLTs. With large resources being spent to produce MMLTs, more research is necessary to establish successful design techniques. The authors summarized existing research, outlined educational issues in multimedia design, and proposed future directions for study.

Adult Graduate Students in Higher Education: Refocusing the Research Agenda

Adult students in higher education comprise a sizeable and expanding group of college and university students (Kasworm, Sandmann, & Sissel, 2000). While Sissel, Hansman, and Kasworm (2001) note the dearth of scholarship on adult learners in higher education, this same group of scholars and some of their colleagues have certainly produced a solid foundation of scholarly work on the needs and status of adults in higher education (e.g., Kasworm, 2003; Kasworm & Marienau, 1997; Sissel, Hansman, & Kasworm, 2001). There is a tendency, however, when the subject is the distinctive needs and characteristics of adult learners in higher education to focus on the adult undergraduate as opposed to the adult graduate student. For example, when Donaldson (2007; 2006) and his colleagues examined both the higher education literature and the adult education literature for themes in the discourse about adult learners, they focused exclusively on adult undergraduates. Not only is there more explicit representation of adult undergraduates in the literature, many articles in both the adult education literature and the higher education literature tacitly index adult undergraduates when they discuss adult learners in higher education. Posing the question of who counts as an important client in higher education, Kasworm, Sandmann, and Sissel (2000) have declared that ... undergraduate degree seekers, credential-seeking students, and graduate students are frequently blurred in the dialogue about adults as learners in the academy (p. 453). There exists a need in both the adult and higher education literature to recognize adult, mid-career master's degree students as a group with its own distinct identity. Although these students have much in common with adult undergraduates, there are important ways in which they diverge. Features common to both adult undergraduate and graduate students include: * Assumption of adult roles, relationships, and responsibilities * Likelihood of employment * Greater and more diverse experience than traditionally aged undergraduates * Less time available for academic work than traditionally aged undergraduates Characteristics that define adult graduate students but do not apply to adult undergraduates include: * Possession of a Bachelor's Degree * Familiarity with the culture and mastery of the demands of the higher education environment * Sharpened focus on a professional field and subject matter * Shortened time frame for completion Although the existence of common features supports a research strategy that combines the two groups, the presence of the divergent features argue for the use of special approaches to studying each group and suggests the need for research that would compare the two groups. An example of a study that is more appropriately targeted to one than the other is that of Ross-Gordon (2003) who describes the anxiety and lack of self-confidence reported by many adult undergraduates upon beginning their course of study. To generalize this finding to adult master's degree students would be a mistake, given the experience that such students have already gained in the context of higher education. Another example of a topic for which the two groups should be differentiated rather than combined is attrition. There are certainly factors from the list of common features, e.g., the demands of work and family responsibilities that may contribute to an adult student's decision to withdraw from a degree program. Completing an undergraduate degree program typically takes a much longer time than a master's degree program. The longer duration may be seen as a heavier burden on the adult undergraduate. On the other hand, for the adult graduate students who already possess a Bachelor's Degree, the intervention of a life crisis may make attrition more likely if the attainment of a graduate degree is seen as less necessary than that of the Bachelor's degree. …