Senior-level Students Research Articles

Perceived workplace competences at three sites on the Chinese Mainland

Strengthening the transition from school to work is a major educational reform issue on the Chinese Mainland. Starting in 1985, the government began developing a massive secondary vocational education system, which sought to have 50% of all secondary senior level students enrolled in a vocational education programme. In this study, qualitative research methods were employed to conduct interviews with principals, teachers, workers and employers in vocational schools and workplaces at three sites on the Chinese Mainland. These three sites include the eastern, central and western areas of the country, each with a different level of economic development. As the national policy stressed equipping students with practical manual skills (Dongshounengli) in secondary vocational education, vocational schools in these three sites spent over 50% of their total teaching hours on practical manual skills. However, the study found that stakeholders in the workplace perceived that adaptability, the ability to work independently, a sense of responsibility, a desire to improve and the ability to learn were actually the key competences in the changing workplace. Comparing stakeholders’ perceived competences in the workplace and at school, it was found that there was an explicit gap between what was taught in schools and what was needed in the workplace. Teaching and learning in secondary vocational education in China should pay greater attention to the actual needs of the changing workplace to ensure a more successful transition from schooling to work.

Innovations in Nanoscience Education at Kenyon College

A program to enhance the teaching of nanoscience concepts in multiple pedagogical contexts at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, is described. In an introductory physics laboratory course, students use a Veeco model CP-II scanning probe microscope to image an optical diffraction grating. The results of a survey of student reaction to their experience are reported as is faculty assessment of the exercise. Use of the CP-II by senior-level physics students in an advanced laboratory course is also detailed. A novel first-year seminar course in nanoscience concepts is described, including an experiment on self-assembled monolayers. Since quantum mechanics governs physics on the nanoscale, education about quantum mechanics needs to be included as a topic in nanoscience education. Hence, progress on efforts to produce an inexpensive source of entangled photons, so that students can directly confront quantum logic in the laboratory, is reported. Finally, the results of a summer outreach program for high school science teachers on nanoscience topics are presented.

Teaching Rigid Body Mechanics Using Student-Created Virtual Environments

This paper describes a recent effort to use student-created virtual environments to teach rigid body dynamics to electrical and computer engineering senior-level undergraduates and first-year graduate students. Many of these students have no background in dynamics except for their freshman year physics course. The approach described here relies on students creating their own virtual environments, takes roughly four to five weeks of instruction, and fits within the scope of other courses that may require electrical and computer engineering students to be familiar with dynamics. The background required consists of only basic linear algebra and ordinary differential equations. By the end of the pilot class, the majority of students were able to expertly model and animate high degree-of-freedom systems, such as slip-steered vehicles, helicopters, submarines, balancing unicycles, motorcycles, and puppets. A core component of the learning philosophy is that by providing students with a venue for creating their own virtual laboratories, they are able to promote their own learning. This paper summarizes the basic material presented to students, some of the virtual environments they chose to implement with only minimal guidance, and three instruments used to assess the effectiveness of the class architecture.

Campus Recreational Sports Internships: A Comparison of Student and Employer Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to examine differences between senior-level students and campus recreational sport directors in their perceptions of recreational sport management internships. Using a web-based survey of 48 items, the study explored how students and practitioners differed in their view regarding the role of the internship experience, role of the internship agency, intern abilities, and factors in selecting an internship. Overall, the results of the study revealed that students and practitioners were in agreement with the majority of items asked (39 of 48 items). Nine significant differences were found and discussed in the paper.

University Students’ Perceptions Regarding Ethical Marketing Practices: Affecting Change Through Instructional Techniques

Many believe that colleges of business have a role to play in improving the level of marketing ethics practiced in the business world, while others believe that by the time students reach the level of university education, their ethical beliefs are so ingrained as to be virtually unalterable. The purpose of this study is to add to the literature regarding university students’ ethical value judgments. It utilizes scenario studies to assess base line ethical values of junior level undergraduate business administration students, then techniques are employed to influence students’ perceptions of the ethics of various marketing practices, and students’ values are reassessed. A total of 667 junior and senior level students majoring in business administration (52% female; 48% male; 72% 22-years old or younger) participated in the pre-tests and 525 students (47% female; 53% male; 70% 22-years-old or younger) participated in the post-tests. The results of the before/after studies indicate that some experimental techniques are more effective than others in affecting change, but it is difficult to affect long-run change in those predisposed to unethical behavior.

Engineering your electrical engineering education

Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) courses are usually structured in such a way to provide the student with the basics to solve problems in the field and then challenge the student with increasingly more difficult problems to effectively stretch those basic problem-solving approaches into more advanced techniques. While most of this problem-solving focus is placed on the technical arena, this is only one part of the educational experience for an ECE student. There are many nontechnical facets to one problem-solving repertoire that require development to become a successful practicing engineer in industry or academia after graduation. This article serves to provide some of these facets in a career-direction informational guide to junior- and senior-level undergraduate students and graduate students early in their ECE career. It also serves as a guide to outline some useful strategies not found in an engineering text to maximize one's educational experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as the transition between them

Development of an undergraduate course – Internet-based instrumentation and control

The objective, strategy, and implementation details of a new undergraduate course, Internet-based Instrumentation and Control, are presented. The course has a companion laboratory that is supported by the National Science Foundation and industry. The combination is offered to senior-level undergraduate engineering students interested in sensing, instrumentation, control, and web programming that want to learn more about the integration of these technologies for solving real-world engineering problems. The course will also be offered to gifted high school seniors with similar interests and can serve as a vehicle to attract them to engineering disciplines. Preliminary assessment of the first offering of the course is encouraging and has shown that the course has achieved success in helping students understand concepts and master basic technologies for developing Internet-based automatic systems.

Teaching Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuit Design to Undergraduates

A two-course sequence that teaches the basic concepts associated with digital, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuit design for senior-level undergraduate students has been developed. The use of hands-on experiences using custom integrated circuits is employed to help teach these complex topics. This sequence has been taught for three years, and the affective learning has been assessed through precourse and postcourse surveys, focus groups, and in-class surveys.

Infusion of Nanotechnology in Chemistry Courses Through Laboratory Redesign and Vertical Threads

ABSTRACTChemistry occupies a unique place in the university curriculum and is required by a wide variety of other disciplines because of its general utility. Unfortunately, the laboratory portion of the course does not always reflect the diversity and excitement of new research in and interesting applications of chemistry since the laboratory experience is designed to help the student master fundamental concepts. At Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) we are attacking this problem with the implementation of two series of nanotechnology based “vertical threads” throughout our chemistry curriculum. The vertical threads begin in the freshman year and provide continuity throughout the rest of the curriculum. Experiments direct the student's attention towards modern applications of chemical technology while providing chemical fundamentals expected in traditional laboratory exercises. By seeing these recurring threads at ever increasing levels of complexity, students build upon knowledge gained about nanotechnology with each additional laboratory course.The approach used at AASU created two experimental “vertical threads” which are woven into the educational experience from the bottom-up in both the curriculum and the chemical methodology. Experiments performed in the freshman chemistry lab reappear in expanded forms in subsequent years as part of new experiments that mimic the biological, industrial and medical applications of nanotechnology.We have concentrated our efforts in two areas: magnetite nanoparticles thread, and the chalcogenide nanoparticles thread. Magnetite nanoparticles are prepared by freshmen students while more advanced students modify these nanoparticles for real-world applications. Chalcogenide nanoparticles are synthesized by junior and senior level students and their spectroscopic properties are studied. Senior and undergraduate research students are involved in green synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles as well as the use of ZnS, CdS and ceria nanoparticles for photocatalysis applications. The upper division students learn numerous instrumental techniques (i.e. UV-VIS, Fluorescence, FT-IR) within the context of nanotechnology. All students are presented with pre-laboratory and background materials that address the needs for new materials, new techniques for biomedical analysis and drug delivery as well as the environmental impacts of nanotechnology.

技術者倫理教育の可能性

This paper discusses the possibilities of teaching engineering ethics in universities. This is based on the teaching experience of a newly developed course that has been introduced to the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Fukui, since April 2004. Entitled “ethics for engineers”, the course targeted senior-level students and makes use of a newly written textbook that emphasizes social aspects of science and technology. To encourage students to think and form their own opinions with regards to their role as engineers in a modern technological society, the book is complemented by other materials such as videos, newspaper articles and some other relevant books. Students are also encouraged to write reports that reflect their own opinion on subjects such as what kind of engineers they intend to be, or what do ethics mean to them? The paper will conclude by giving a course evaluation including students' response, highlighting valuable experiences and stating the importance of further developing this topic in engineering education.

Lynn Walters, MSN, MBA, RNC, CNAA, BC and Patricia Reid Ponte, RN, DNSc, FAAN

Editor's note: Nurse Leader is pleased to bring you a closer look at the 2005 winners of the American Organization of Nurse Executives' annual awards. All winners have been asked to describe their work in their own words. The third installment of this special online-only section features the recipients of the Organizational Innovation Nurse Director Award, Lynn Waters, MSN, MBA, RNC, CNAA, BC, and the McKesson "Keeping Patients Safe" Award, Patricia Reid Ponte, RN, DNSc, FAAN.

Factors Affecting Student Performance and Satisfaction: Online versus Traditional Course Delivery

Interest in online course delivery has increased in recent years, and a body of research has emerged regarding this trend. Many of the studies compare student performance online versus in a traditional class (and find none), or differences in student satisfaction (and find online students to be generally less satisfied than their traditional counterparts). The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to see if careful control between online and traditional sections can alleviate the generally lower satisfaction of online students, (2) to preliminarily propose a set of factors that could lead to increased performance and satisfaction for online students, and (3) to confirm previous work, which indicates that student performance online is no different than performance in a traditional classroom. The study involved senior-level undergraduate MIS students who were enrolled in an E-Business course; results suggest several possible ways to increase student performance and satisfaction in online courses.

Using Industry Software to Teach Sales Planning and Analysis in a Retail Merchandising Course

The increased use of technology in the retail workplace denotes increasing the technological experiences in the college undergraduate classroom. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate one unit in an upper level merchandising class that used industry-based software to teach retail planning. The class was composed of junior- and senior-level students who all had access to laptop computers. Pedagogy was an application approach resulting in a sales plan that students peer reviewed and analyzed using retail trade averages. Student assessment measures incorporated portfolio presentation and rubric analysis. Students' and professor's comments were included for further consideration. The result of the students' projects using industry-based sales planning and analysis software was of professional quality, demonstrating strengthened analytical skills.

Computer-Based Instruction on Multimedia Networking Fundamentals: Equational Versus Graphical Representation

Multimedia networking has been emerging in recent years as a strong driving force behind the expansion of the Internet. However, this topic is not commonly covered in the already content-intensive introductory networking courses. To facilitate student self-study of this novel topic the authors have developed a computer-based instructional module on the fundamentals of multimedia networking. In this paper, they describe the design and development of the module, which is aligned with Gagne's theory of instruction. They have developed two versions of the module-one with equation-based representation of the learning content and one with graph-based representation of the learning content. They have evaluated the two versions of the module with a total of 75 undergraduate, senior-level electrical engineering students, of which half were randomly assigned to the equational representation, and the other half to the graphical representation. They found that the graphical representation results in statistically significantly higher student performance on practice and post-test problems, shorter learning time, and more positive attitudes toward the computer-based instructional module.

Learning-styles of Hospitality Students: Do Career Interests Make Differences in Learning-styles?

This study explores different aspects of learning-styles by employing Felder-Solomon's Index of Learning-styles. This particular index has not been used as a measure of learning-styles in hospitality education as Kolb's Theory has been the method of choice. The relationship between learning-styles and students' career interests, which has not been investigated and reported upon in previous hospitality literature, is examined. Results indicate the majority of senior-level students (juniors and seniors) in the hospitality program surveyed are more likely to prefer active, sensing, visual, and sequential learning-styles. With few exceptions, students with different career interests display no variations in learning-styles.

Nutrition students enhance school health education

PurposeThe purpose of the Nutrition Education Students and Teachers (NEST) project was to develop a model of collaboration between University of Delaware dietetics students and elementary teachers to promote nutrition education in the classroom.Design/methodology/approachJunior and senior level students in a nutrition education course developed nutrition lessons with input from the school teachers on using age‐ and developmentally‐appropriate methods. Actual presentations to 55 elementary children were conducted in a health/science fair format. Written evaluations were completed by all involved in the project.FindingsThe university students developed competency in teaching skills, the elementary school pupils gained nutrition knowledge and skills, and the classroom teachers were provided with valuable curriculum materials for future use. The project was rated as successful by students, teachers, the school children, and nutrition instructors. This demonstrated an innovative method to teach nutrition education principles to university students with a threefold outcome.Practical implicationsHealthy eating behaviors need to be built in childhood, and schools are an ideal setting for nutrition education. However, resources are often limited. University professors should consider the use of live audiences for the development of teaching skills rather than the typical model of having students present to one another in their own classroom setting. Schools should consider the contribution that university students might make to their teaching programmes.Originality/valueThe paper describes an unusual, and cost‐effective, method of health education, of value to the teaching about dietetics, and to other areas of health education.

Examining the impact of ethics training on business student values

PurposeRecent misconduct and highly questionable behavior has fostered considerable distrust, cynicism, and antagonism among the populace toward the leadership of virtually all social institutions. This paper aims to examine the impact of ethics training on business students values.Design/methodology/approachFocuses on the central question whether exposure to ethical dilemmas and discussions in the classroom setting will lead to new paradigms of leadership incorporating instrumental values.FindingsThe results support the contention that senior level students were influenced in their perceptions of the importance of instrumental values in comparison to freshmen. As hypothesized no difference was found between men and women in both the importance and reinforcement of the instrumental values examined. The results do not support the contention that increased emphasis on ethics in textbooks and courses has had a significant impact.Practical implicationsDirections for future training are considered in light of the findings.Originality/valuePoints to the conclusion that current models of business education are not helping to reinforce instrumental values.

Infusing Technology in Educational Foundations

In this paper, the author describes the use of technology in two educational foundations courses. One course, “Social Foundations of American Education,” is an undergraduate core requirement that enrolls 30–60 preservice teachers. On the other hand, “Pedagogy, Equality of Opportunity, and the Education of Blacks in the U.S.” is a graduate level elective foundations course that enrolls 8–12 senior-level or graduate students. Presentation software (PowerPoint), Internet and Web resources, and audio and video recordings are examples of multimedia instructional technologies that are incorporated into one or both courses. The author goes beyond mere description of how technology tools are used by uncovering the ways in which classroom environment and technology access influence their use, as does the instructor’s theoretical groundings.

Microsoft Excel as a supplement in a high school statistics course

This study was conducted in the spring of 2002 at Arlington High School in a Probability and Statistics course for junior and senior level students. Two sections of the class were compared with respect to the use/non-use of EXCEL in the course. The experimental group (the one using EXCEL) outperformed the control group on five of the six teacher-created unit tests and on both of the criterion referenced assessments used by the district; however, the differences were not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Furthermore, the experimental group expressed very positive feelings towards the use of the software in a survey administered at the conclusion of the course.

A Comparison of the Food Safety Knowledge and attitudes of Hospitality and Dietetic Students

This study assessed and compared the food safety knowledge and attitudes of hospitality and dietetics students. A total of 177 hospitality and dietetics senior-level students from 12 randomly selected universities completed and returned questionnaires including knowledge and attitude questions. Chi-square analysis was used to compare the responses of students on discreet variables. Independent t tests were used to compare student responses on the food safety attitude statements. The internal consistency of an attitude and knowledge scales were tested using Cronbach alpha. Over 90% of the students reported having taken a course that included food safety information, although significantly more of the hospitality students were certified in food safety. Overall, the mean number of questions correctly answered was similar for the dietetics and hospitality students. The dietetic students had a significantly higher level of food safety concern on an attitude scale.