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Microlearning has shifted professional training and development and its acceptance depends on perceived user benefits. This study examines the influence of user-perceived benefits on librarians' acceptance of the microlearning approach in selected universities in Tanzania. Using a questionnaire informed by the variables of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) model to collect data from a sample of 64 librarians, the results indicated that the perceived ease of use was found to play a more significant role in the acceptance of microlearning than perceived usefulness. However, the lack of in-person/physical interaction with peers during the training deterred the use of microlearning by the librarians. The positive influence of perceived usefulness and ease of use on the acceptance of microlearning strengthens the relevance of adopting microlearning as a didactic technology for librarians' training. The findings imply that proper implementation of microlearning as a training avenue is key due to the plenteous benefits it affords over the challenges.

This research was undertaken by synthesizing theories, documents, textbooks, research articles, and related academic articles relating to the wisdom repository management process. The objective is to present a system architecture and develop a knowledge management system which culminates in a repository of crystallized intelligence with a conversational agent that can promote learning for medical students by introducing a system architecture to develop intelligent agent technology. Through mobile technology, accessible anytime, anywhere, lifelong learning for medical students will be supported via an intelligent crystallized intelligence inventory management system. This keynote includes a comprehensive implementation and has API. The application has been tested with a trial run of all commands, with satisfactory results in the communication of the system that the user accesses through chatbots.

This paper presents the conceptual framework, value chain model and the system architecture of intelligent student relationship management based on cognitive technology with conversational agent for enhancing student's loyalty in higher education. The purposes were to synthesize the conceptual framework and apply it to develop the value chain model and the system architecture of intelligent student relationship management based on cognitive technology with conversational agent for enhancing student's loyalty in higher education and assess the developed value chain model and system architecture. The questionnaire was employed as the instrument to assess and certify the value chain model and the system architecture by the experts. The 5 point-Likert scale was used to identify the level of agreement of the value chain model and system architecture certification assessment. The instrument was verified by five experts using content validity index (CVI). After that, the value chain model and the system architecture were verified based on the consensus assessments of seventeen experts using mean, standard deviation (S.D.), median, interquartile range and quartile deviation. The results revealed that the experts had a consensus on the value chain model developed based on the conceptual framework (Mean = 4.89, S.D. = 0.27, Median = 5, Interquartile Range: I.R. = 0.00, Quartile Deviation: Q.D. = 0.00). They also had a consensus to approve the system architecture developed based on the value chain model (Mean = 4.70, S.D. = 0.55, Median = 5, Interquartile Range: I.R. = 1.00, Quartile Deviation: Q.D. = 0.50).

This study assessed how an academic library implemented lean principles to enhance its electronic resource workflows and processes. Twelve librarians who managed access to electronic resources at the library participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews and observation. Reflexive thematic data analysis revealed that knowledge and skills were necessary for librarians to function effectively. The systems for facilitating access to electronic resources were ineffective, and there was a need for procedures to be documented and streamlined to reduce waste through adopting lean concepts. This case study contributes to the literature on improving access to e-resources and professional practice.

In the evolving landscape of global education, the significance of inclusivity and equity has never been more important. Emphasizing the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 4, this paper explores the innovative application of blockchain-powered Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) technology in education, with a particular focus on disability inclusion. This study introduces a novel disability management system powered by Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK). This advanced system enables educational institutions to verify the status of students with disabilities without compromising their personal information, thereby preserving their privacy and reinforcing their identity. This paper evaluates the potential operational efficiency of this prototype system against the existing costs incurred by higher education institutions in disability schemes. It also examines the system's potential to enhance self-disclosure among students with disability, which is pivotal for their academic success. By advocating for privacy and inclusivity, this study highlights the transformative potential of ZKP in creating an educational environment where students with disabilities can comfortably disclose their needs. This approach not only protects their confidentiality but also empowers them academically, aligning with the global commitment to accessible and inclusive education.

The adoption of enterprise-wide systems like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems continues to grow globally. Due to the prevalence of CRM software in businesses and CRM's expected growth, Information Systems (IS) graduates will likely interact with a CRM system in their careers. However, learning enterprise systems like CRM is challenging for students due to the complexities surrounding integrating people and processes around a technology platform. This paper illustrates how an information systems course employs a CRM project using an experiential learning approach to help IS students develop functional and technical knowledge of CRM and discover creative ways to solve business problems using Salesforce. Project details, exercises, and lessons learned from previous project implementations are provided. Results of students' assessments indicate the hands-on Salesforce CRM project can lead to improved functional and technical learning outcomes.

How to develop a teaching management system to improve the teaching efficiency of art courses has become an important challenge at present. This article takes university art teaching courses as the research object, uses dynamic L-M algorithm to optimize a large number of parameters, proposes an improved neural networks evaluation model, comprehensively analyzes the main influencing factors of art course teaching effectiveness, and establishes a teaching efficiency index evaluation system. The research results indicate that equating the number of hidden layer nodes to the number of samples can improve the performance of neural networks. The improved L-M algorithm was used to train the neural networks, and the maximum error of all test samples was only 0.04, verifying the feasibility and rationality of the improved neural networks model for evaluating course teaching effectiveness. The research results provide theoretical data support for neural networks to improve the efficiency of university art education.

Purpose: In India, national accreditation agencies stipulate that internal quality control in higher education institutions (HEIs) is to be institutionalized through internal quality assurance cells that are responsible for implementing and controlling quality systems. As the concept of goal congruence is central to a control process, this study aims to examine whether goal congruence is observed in such institutions. The impact of the absence of goal congruence on the quality of performance in higher education was also examined. Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional study measured the impact of goal congruence or the lack thereof on the performance quality of HEIs as defined in the evaluation criteria of the apex accreditation agency, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Two hypotheses were tested using t-tests and regression analysis. Focus group discussions were conducted to elicit participants' suggestions. Findings: The results showed a lack of goal congruence between HEIs' quality goals and their faculty's personal goals, which adversely impacts the quality of their performance, as indicated by an average disagreement of 81% on a ten-statement scale. Goal congruence as an independent variable explained 63% of the variability in HEIs' performance quality, and the results were statistically significant, indicating that lack of goal congruence is an important contributor to poor performance among HEIs. Originality/value: Accreditation of HEIs is a global practice; hence, the findings of this study and the importance of goal congruence apply not only to India but also to HEIs globally.

A modern technology-supported vocational educational system significantly affects the quality of vocational training and contributes to the innovation and economic development of the regional area. The visualization literature analysis was adopted with the purpose of exploring the theoretical framework for developing a 6G-assisted network to realize the multi-party participation in the modern government-industry-education Integration system. The literature review showed the network should involve all cooperation entities into the communication system to intensify all coordination guided by the triple helix theory, should be strong enough to store all kinds of resources to support the optimized sharing, be efficient to track student training processes and learning data to provide scientific evaluation to student development in personal qualities and competencies, be supportive to develop a cooperating culture to form a healthy ecosystem in which all enterprises actively participate and invest in vocational education.

The aim of the study reported on here was to evaluate the roles of supervisors in the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) in South African schools. The supervisors are the School Management Teams (SMTs), namely principals, deputy principals, or heads of department (HoD), circuit managers, and district coordinators. We followed a qualitative approach to evaluate the implementation of the IQMS based on supervisors' perspectives. A case study research design was used with an interpretive paradigm to evaluate the day-to-day practices of the IQMS. The population in this study consisted of 38 supervisors (circuit managers, principals, deputy principals and HoDs). Purposive sampling was used to select 12 participants who have been supervisors in the past 10 years. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Kolb's learning theory was used as a theoretical lens to evaluate how the IQMS was applied in the circuit under study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study revealed that there was no proper implementation of the IQMS in schools. Teachers conducted the IQMS for monetary reward instead of quality assurance. We conclude that the roles and responsibilities of supervisors are crucial during the implementation of the IQMS in schools, and that a huge discrepancy existed between the perceptions of supervisors and educators. We recommend that continuous training for both supervisors and educators is necessary for better implementation.

This teaching brief describes an experiential project used in a graduate Principles of Management course for nonbusiness undergraduate students. Groups of four to six first-year MBA students interviewed a seasoned manager online twice over the 8-week course and discussed the applications of course material. Project subtopics included an introduction to management, strategic management, ethics and social responsibility, innovation and change management, international business, organizational structure, authority and job design, human resource management, leadership, and communication, operations management, and business analytics. Students completed a group report and an individual reflection on their experience. Over 92% of graduate students in the class indicated that the project was a positive learning activity.

The purpose of this research is to understand and make sense of bureaucracy from the perspective of vice principals. In this research, both positive and negative meanings of bureaucracy were determined. Differences occurred between the Weberian bureaucracy perspective and the results of the research. Bureaucracy was also found to influence both the vice principals and schools. At this point, school administrators' attitudes were determinant. Considering the difference between Weberian bureaucracy and the findings of the current research, a new bureaucracy model can be created thanks to further research.

Apart from the regulatory compliance required by the law, the literature suggests that genuine occupational health and safety (OHS) management that cares for workers can bring tangible benefits that extend to several business objectives. Also, studies demonstrate promising gains from adapting an integrated management concept to enable different management systems to share and exchange information and practices and mutually realise the overall organisational mission and vision. The desktop review of 34 OHS and 177 business and management courses in Australia revealed none-to-little reference to integrated management in these degrees and considerable under-representation of OHS in business and management courses. Although further research is warranted to investigate reasons for the findings of this study and extend it to other countries, its results can raise awareness of the opportunities to enrich curricula and arm future generations of OHS professionals and business managers with the knowledge and skills of an inclusive and balanced consideration of various organisational objectives.

Radical changes in the economic, social, political, and cultural spheres of a country, directly and indirectly, affect the development and functioning of the socio-economic system of physical culture and sports. The present work aims to study the organizational and pedagogical aspects of training specialists in national sports and sports management. The research collected data with the help of a sociological survey of managers and specialists of sports organizations of various forms of ownership. The research identified and classified the factors that affect the effectiveness of the personnel management system, with Henry Fayol's principles as the framework. The stages of creation, formation, and distribution of physical culture and sports student organizations in Kazakhstan are defined. In addition, the article describes the socio-pedagogical aspects of management in physical culture and sports organizations, taking into account the new socio-economic conditions of the development of the physical culture movement.

This study analyses variances among four demographic characteristics -- age, gender, continent, and program of study on international students' perception of a Post-1992 UK university's registration process. Analysis was done with respect to six structured survey questions (dependent variables), which serve as dimensions for measuring students' perception. Theoretical assumptions were equally drawn from total quality management and lean synchronization as suggested improvement techniques for achieving quality service objectives of higher education institutions. Primary data was randomly collected through a well-structured questionnaire, after authenticating its validity. The data was obtained from one hundred and nine international students, while a two-way factor analysis of variance was used in testing six main hypotheses formulated with respect to the students' age, gender, continent, and program of study. Results show that no variances exist among students' perception of the registration process with respect to their age, gender, and program of study. However, their perception varies with respect to their continents. Implication of the study to higher education management were also discussed. Even though the sample is not representative of the entire international students' population of study, the study reveals aspects of universities? service operations that requires on-going improvement.

The purposes of the current study were to develop a management system for the national sports development fund in Thailand and (2) to evaluate the developed fund management system. The participants were 15 experts in system development. They were selected by the purposive sampling method. The participants had more than 10 years of programming and system development. The instrument included a management system for the national sports development fund in Thailand and a system evaluation form. The data were analyzed using percentages, mean scores, and standard deviation. The results of the study indicate that the developed management system for national sports development in Thailand has 3 main functions including e-documents, e-tracking, and e-payment. It was also found that the system shows good qualities in terms of functional requirements, functions, usability, and security. The results of the study could be implicated in the design of a technology-based research management system in terms of technology and components employed in the design of the system.

The usability of multimedia E-Learning management systems (MEMSs) is critical as it leverages institutions in the educational value chain. The paper aims to investigate the usability effect of an integrated MEMS called Towards Student-Centered Integration of Multimedia E-Learning (TSIME) used at the University of Zimbabwe. This study adopted a quantitative approach, where two self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data on a sample of students and lecturers (n = 492) across ten faculties. Design quality, interaction and feedback, content availability and ethical issues were key independent variable constructs while attitude towards use, overall satisfaction, and likelihood to use TSIME being dependent variables. The results were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The structural Equation Model was used to measure how multimedia design features influence overall satisfaction and likelihood to use. The results showed that ethical issues and content availability were not influencing the use of TSIME while attitude influenced overall usage and satisfaction. Interaction and feedback, as well as design quality, have a significant effect on the likelihood to use TSIME.

Academics report feeling unable to cope in the managerialised university. To confirm these feelings are symptoms of managerialism's tightening grip, we use Bourdieusian concepts of field and capital to compare academics and professional staff experiential statements in an Australian university. We compare their field conditions and examine how their differences enable or hinder the accumulation of capital that defines their field. Findings show that managerialism requires professional staff to share work tasks and be on-campus, which enables them to accumulate the capital they require. Managerialism also permits and resources academics to working out-of-office to accumulate their required capital. Consequentially though, university operational knowledge becomes informal and only accessible to professional staff who accumulate the required social capital to access it. Professional staff are thus fish-in-water; easily accumulating social capital through day-to-day activities. But academics become fish-out-of-water (office); they flounder to access operational knowledge, which leads to feelings of not coping.

With the world becoming flat with fluid boundaries, engineers have to be global in their outlook and their pedigree. Due to the need for international acceptance of engineering qualification, the incorporation of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) has become common and global accreditation treaties such as the Washington Accord have been ratified. Further, it becomes important, especially for an engineering university with a global outlook preparing its students for global markets, to ensure that its graduates attain the planned outcomes. Additionally, the higher education institutions need to make sure that all the stakeholders, including students, parents, employers, and community at large, are getting a quality educational service, where quality is categorized as (1) product-based ensuring that the graduate attained the planned outcomes and skills, and (2) process-based keeping an eye on whether the process is simple, integrated, and efficient. The development of quality movements, such as Total Quality Movement (TQM), Six Sigma, etc., along with quality standards such as ISO 9001 has been instrumental in improving the quality and efficiency in the fields of management and services. Critical to the successful deployment of a quality culture is the institutionalization of an integrated Quality Management System (QMS) in which formally documented processes work according to the Vision and Mission of an institute. At the same time, commitment to Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) to close the loop through effective feedback, would ensure that the planned outcomes are attained to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders, and that the process overall is improving consistently and continuously. The successful adoption of quality culture requires buy-in from all the stakeholders (and in particular, the senior leadership) and a rigorous training program. In this paper, we provide a review of how a QMS may work for the provision of quality higher education in a 21st-century university.

The study aims to highlight the importance of considering the implementation of process of re-engineering Reengineering Administrational Processes (RAP) in the Arab countries universities, particularly, colleges of education to attain good educational outputs. It seeks to highlight the requirements for this implementation and explore the problems associated to the implementation it and distinguish themselves from other organizations is. The Process of Re-Engineering (RAP) is defined as a rapid and drastic re-designing of managerial and strategic process of values at colleges of education in the Arab States Universities in order to attain good educational outputs. The managerial process includes planning, organization, control, follow-up, evaluation and decision taking. The significance of the study is that it can considerably help improve administrative processes applied in the domain of strategic planning at colleges of education in Arab States. The main objective of the study was to outline the main demands of colleges of education for using (RAP) and the obstacles that face its application. For that purpose, the descriptive/ analytic method was used. The study relied heavily on the analysis of the available literature, writings, and publications on the topic, for predicting the practicability of applying RAPRAP. The study came up with the following main results: RAP application, if used properly, can raise the level of job satisfaction among staff members of Arab States colleges of education in particular and the Arab States Universities in general. RAP application can affect total amendments on colleges of education administrative systems for better rendered services. The most demanding requirements of RAP are those that directly relate to the organization structure of the particular corporation, and all its activities for more flexibility, speed and accuracy of performance. The basic human requirements for RAP application include effective training for trainers for the sake of radical change in concepts and ideas. The main obstacles that face RAP application include the poor outcome at colleges of education regarding teaching/learning process, in addition to poor strategic information management on the part of colleges of education and universities. RAP is not fully made use of, despite large sums of money having been spent on for that exact purpose.

The objectives of the study were as follows: (1) to study of the component of the student relationship management system process with intelligent conversational agent platform, (2) to design the student relationship management system process with intelligent conversational agent platform, and (3) to evaluate the student relationship management system process with intelligent conversational agent platform provided by seven experts who had experience in a related field. The study findings suggested that the component of student relationship management system process with intelligent conversational agent platform base on Intelligent student relationship management of Nutthapat and Panita consists of 8 components: (1) Student relationship management strategy, (2) Student life cycle, (3) Student retention, (4) Student services (5) Student identify, (6) Valued student experience (7) Value proposition development and (8) Network development. After analyzing the data, it showed that the overall result of the evaluation of the student relationship management system process with intelligent conversational agent platform was at a very high appropriate level, which can be applied to real situations.

The purposes of this study were to 1) develop of Smart Human Resource Planning System within Rajabhat Universities and 2) study the results of official performance evaluations of academic staff with Smart Human Resource Planning System within Rajabhat Universities. The samples included 8 system development experts via purposive sampling and 94 academic staff by multi-stage sampling. The research tools composed of 1) performance assessment form using 5-point Likert scale for Smart Human Resource Planning within Rajabhat Universities and 2) performance evaluation form for academic staff with Smart Human Resource Planning System within Rajabhat University. The research observations were concluded into 2 ways. First, the Smart Human Resource Planning System within Rajabhat Universities development has overall performance at the high level. For instance, the efficiency of all Modula test was displayed at the high level. In addition, both System test, Usability test and Security test were shown at high level as well. Second, the response of performance evaluation form through academic staff using Smart Human Resource Planning System was all exhibited at high level. However, "The people involved with the system" assessment list with in performance evaluation form was indicated at highest level.

This paper presents a theoretical perspective on the importance of quality assurance in higher education and how those that are charged with the mandate to promote quality in universities can create quality consciousness across the university community. Quality is broadly defined for a general understanding of the concept and contextually defined to illuminate its relevance to higher education. The multi-model approach by Cheng and Tam (1997) and Gibbs (2010) is adopted in defining quality of education. The paper attempts to answer the following questions: Whose responsibility is quality assurance in the university? Why is there a greater need for quality assurance in higher education? What are the benefits of implementing robust quality assurance (QA) systems in the university? How can quality consciousness be created in the university community? Finally, recommendations are proffered on some of the approaches universities can adopt to create a quality culture, which is envisaged to translate into quality academic provision.

In this research, we show a development process of engagement sub-systems in a blended-learning management system and evaluate the impact of student interaction in the whole system. We develop special sub-systems for engagement purposes via forum, course rating, and class assignment modules. During the system development process, we employ continuous improvement methodology which helps to shorten the software delivery time without disturbing the overall operation. We evaluate the impact of engagement processes in terms of behavioral, emotional and cognitive aspects. Our evaluation results show that by employing the engagement sub-systems we have increased a 0.30 satisfaction point on average (1-5 Likert scale) for 11 evaluation survey questions distributed to 305 students during 2 times evaluation period. Another interesting finding from the surveys is that behavioral (discussion forum and attendance list sub-system) and cognitive (course rating sub-system) aspects have great influences for the students' activities (class assignment sub-system) which finally has a great impact on their cognitive performances.

Project-based learning has been explored in a variety of contexts and different phases of education. Several implementation challenges are associated with project-based learning. Among these challenges is ensuring collaboration between students enrolled in a project assignment. The purpose of this study was to present several practical insights on how to tackle collaboration challenges in project-based learning. The study is based on the qualitative analysis of 67 reflections reports submitted by students who were enrolled in a project-based learning assignment in engineering education. The results suggest that collaboration challenges can be traced to priority conflicts between students as well as to the uncertainty in the project assignment. The results further suggest that these challenges can be successfully addressed by applying a structured project-management approach to planning, communication, and follow up. In addition, the findings suggest this structured approached should be supported by a mindset that recognizes the importance of adaptations and flexibility as the project develops. Moreover, the findings suggest that a collaboration environment based on inclusion, openness, and support enables students to respond to emerging problems and disagreements. The paper outlines several recommendations on how to improve students' collaboration ability within project teams in the context of project-based assignments.

An analysis of data collected through series of semiscripted interviews with 16 first-year teachers reveals the types of classroom management systems implemented by early-career teachers at the start of the school year. The findings of this study indicate that the first-year teachers adopted a hybrid approach to classroom management. Eleven of 16 participants implemented aspects of the classroom management system advocated by their teacher education program. However, 14 of the first-year teachers also used classroom management systems that were negatively critiqued by the teacher preparation program. The ways in which the first-year teachers implemented Restorative Practices is explored along with an unanticipated outcome of this study: the benefits of continued contact with first-year teachers by their teacher preparation program. Through the interview process, the interviewer, one of their former professors, mentored and encouraged the first-year teachers, and the potential benefits of this type of extended relationship.

Metacognition is one of the vital competencies to seize the opportunities and overcome the challenges of twenty-first century; however, there is no precise definition of metacognition and it is a fuzzy concept. While classic, descriptive and procedural models try to describe the nature and ingredients of metacognition, theoretical clarity in terms of better definition and representation of its components is needed. This study by adopting theoretical models of metacognition through the Plan-Do-Check-Act principles (as a management instrument) proposes a conceptual framework, "Metacognition Management System (MMS)" that consolidates components, functions, and processes of metacognition in a single window. Then, impacts of a multidimensional intervention designed based on the MMS concept (MMS Training Course) provided in 12 hours, on 31 students' metacognitive competencies was investigated using quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test design. The large effect size ("Partial n[superscript 2 = 0.939," 95% confidence interval) implied that MMS training course has a statistically significant impact on metacognitive competencies. This study has implications for further theoretical and experimental researches on the configuration and application of the MMS as well as designing multidimensional metacognitive intervention.

Responsibility center management (RCM) is a market-based budget model that may benefit certain academic institutions. While there are supporters and opponents of the model, there is a lack of hard evidence about the potential impact of RCM on a variety of institutional variables, hence the need for this study. This study brought together the variables, "fall enrollment," "graduation rate," "retention," and "financial aid," informed by IPEDS data, to examine quantitatively changes relating to RCM implementation. Data indicates that the implementation of RCM had a positive relationship with these variables. While these outcomes may encourage the implementation of RCM, the individual goals of an institution need to be considered before the decision to use RCM is made.

In this article, we reveal the nature and effects of data infrastructures on the authorisation of data that represent students and educational practitioners, including how such data can misrepresent and govern educational policy and practices in sometimes problematic ways. To better understand the governance capacities of data infrastructures, we draw upon notions of discursive practices and materiality, and apply these to a specific school management system, "OneSchool," in Queensland, Australia. We show how data infrastructures both promote and impede educational practitioners' use of data in decision making and daily practices. This includes precluding information about students' (positive) behaviours and omitting important enrolment information about students' Indigenous languages. By doing so, we show how data infrastructures govern in ways that authorise the preclusion and omission of data, thereby representing students and schooling.

Growing competition among higher education institutions (HEIs) explains their increasing interest in reinforcing strategies by incorporating knowledge transfer (KT) objectives into their strategic plans. However, this strategic formulation must be aligned with the implementation of performance management systems (PMSs) to properly achieve KT objectives. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine whether aligning PMSs with KT strategic objectives improves KT performance while misalignment worsens it. To that end, PMSs are measured with respect to planning; cybernetic control; policies and procedures and reward and compensation elements. KT is specified as R&D contracts, extended patents, patents and licences. With a sample of 3812 Spanish university lecturers, we test the theoretical positive and negative effects of PMS-KT strategy alignment and misalignment on KT performance respectively. The results show not only that this alignment is effective for KT strategy implementation but also that misalignment has unintended effects on the achievement of long-term KT objectives. Therefore, lecturers' behaviour is influenced by how closely KT strategy and PMSs are aligned. The findings are useful for managers and academics to develop PMSs that effectively contribute to the achievement of universities' strategic goals.

Purpose: This study aims to present the environmental management system implemented at UNISINOS and demonstrate some of the main results obtained in more than 15 years carrying out the environmental management of the campuses in São Leopoldo and Porto Alegre. The focus is on the main environmental impacts: electricity consumption, water consumption and solid waste management. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainable development of universities has gradually become a common practice, as the knowledge shared in the higher education institutions reflects in the behavior of society. In a university, an environmental management system is used to plan, implement and manage processes referring to the environmental, social and economic aspects, so as to improve their performance and comply with legal requirements. For this, national or international standards and/or methodologies can be followed, which serve as a guide for the institution to reach sustainability in a staggered manner, according to the availability of data and resources for environmental management. Findings: After 16 years of certification, based on the monitoring performed, positive performance was observed, reflecting a better and attentive university, with an environmental policy that goes beyond the borders of the campuses and transmits solid concepts of environmental education to the academic community, under the rigid control of the ISO 14001 tool. Originality/value: In 2004, UNISINOS became the first Latin American university with an ISO 14001 certification. In 2018, the certification was extended to the UNISINOS Campus in Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. All the support activities conducted and implemented in the campuses (São Leopoldo and Porto Alegre) follow the same rules implemented by the UNISINOS environmental management system. After the experience of implementing the ISO 14001 requirements, UNISINOS included other normative requirements in 2013, adopting an integrated management system.

With the development of globalization, transnational higher education is gradually becoming an essential means for many countries to achieve internationalization. Nowadays, Sino-foreign cooperative universities and programmeshave been turned into an important form of internationalization of Chinese higher education, increasingly attracting the attention among policy-makers and academic researchers. This paper focuses on student satisfaction with Sino-foreign cooperative universities by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Based on the case study, the development trend of Sino-foreign cooperative universities is discussed. Therefore, this paper is of far-reaching significance in improving the student satisfaction of Sino-foreign cooperative universities and promoting the internationalization of other ordinary public universities in China. Through the mixed empirical methods and case study approach, this paper found that the student evaluation of Sino-foreign cooperative universities shows the characteristics of "integration" that effectively absorbs the maternal resources and characteristics of both Chinese and foreign parties, and also realizes self-management and education innovation.

This study developed a framework that can be used to build a forum environment, referred to as a Collaborative Interaction Management System (CIMS) that incorporates an automated method of assessing student's individual contributions and group collaborative learning. The framework was fine-tuned by conducting a survey that identified 20 major features that faculty and students from various universities in the National Capital Region of the Philippines mostly prefer to be included in a forum environment. A web-based prototype software was then developed that implements the framework along with the assessment method and the 20 top features. To determine the validity of the main feature of CIMS (i.e., the assessment method), sample forum data consisting of 28 threads with a total of more than 1000 messages spanning various topic domains was collected from the Slashdot forum and the numeric ratings assigned to messages in this data was used to measure accuracy and reliability of the numeric ratings assigned by CIMS by analyzing it using Cohen's Kappa. Based on the results of the survey, the overall means have identified that both faculty and students feel that the prototype software are functional, reliable, and usable enough.

In this research project we describe the legacy software landscape, its current state, and challenges associated with aging information systems and access to its data. We briefly describe the popularity of dynamic languages and how a specific dynamic programming language, Ruby on Rails (RoR or Rails), is used to create a system to extract data from a legacy system to increase efficiency and productivity in an academic class scheduling system. As an example, we describe, first, how a system developed in Rails, called Class Scheduler, pulls data from a legacy student management system (MAPPER) developed in Tcl (pronounced "tickle") and uses this data to vastly increase the efficiency of the scheduling process and, second, how it reduces conflicts in class schedules. We discuss the advantages of automatically extracting and processing the data from the legacy system and the limitations associated with this process.

Developing the appropriate linguistic and documentation skills in specialised domains is one of the greatest challenges in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses. Among other tools, corpora are intended as efficient resources students can use to improve and develop their thematic, terminological, and phraseological knowledge (Sánchez Ramos, 2020). Based on a non-experimental mixed-methods study, this paper reports the feasibility of a corpus-based approach to teaching medical translation at a postgraduate level. It analyses how a group of 40 postgraduate students at the University of Alcalá (Madrid, Spain) perceive the compilation of their own corpus and the usefulness of corpus management tools (CMTs) in solving thematic, terminological, and phraseological issues. The software LancsBox (Lancaster University) was used, which is a recently created CMT that incorporates automatic tagging, cutting-edge statistics information, and innovative visualization options. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of this data suggest that the ESP students were highly satisfied with the corpus-based approach. Our findings also reveal that postgraduate students incorporated CMTs during the whole course as documentation resources for their translation tasks, and they are willing to use them in their near future professional career. These results show the potential usefulness of CMTs and offer a way of integrating them into the ESP curriculum.

This explorative qualitative study investigates EFL freshmen's perception of the impact of creating pronunciation podcasts on their pronunciation skills. The study was conducted with the participation of 80 freshmen, enrolled in a Teaching English as a Foreign Language teacher education program at a Turkish state university. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, investigator notes, records of dashboard activities, analytics and performance tracking records of the LMS, and podcasts created by the participants as well as the recordings of the peer feedbacks on the discussion board. Analysis of the data was done through content analysis technique, presenting the thematized findings through analytical generalizations. Results have shown that the participants have positive views of creating pronunciation podcasts and that podcasting freed them to a great extent from the spatio-temporal limitations of the classroom, allowing them to study and practice pronunciation at their own convenience. The findings are discussed with reference to pronunciation, recommendations for EFL freshmen are made, and implications are offered.

Providing students with opportunities for peer interaction is considered best practice in classroom teaching. However, facilitating peer interaction as part of distance education represents a new challenge for some teachers. The present article raises eleven questions for teachers to consider when infusing cooperative learning (thoughtfully organized peer interaction opportunities) as part of distance learning. These questions concern group size (with pairs also considered to be groups), group membership, whether to teach collaborative skills, the difficulty level of the tasks the groups undertake, how often group activities are done as opposed to individual activities and teacher input, encouraging everyone in the group to contribute their fair share to the learning of all group members, assessment of students when they learn in groups, whether to include thinking skills when students do cooperative learning via distance, how to convince students of the benefits of learning together, reaching out to stakeholders other than students, and helping other teachers learn to use ICT tools. The authors encourage teachers to develop their own answers to these eleven questions, based on their own teaching contexts and, at the same time, to keep an open mind as they accumulate more experience and continue to learn from colleagues and students.

This study employs dramaturgical analysis, the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance, in examining online student interactions. Region-specific activity--front stage (the course LMS) versus backstage (Facebook)--was examined to determine where students spend their time doing class-related tasks. The context for this case study is a second-year online psychology class at an Australian university. Data were collected concerning students' course-related activities in the two venues. Over a 12-week semester, 126 students were observed in the LMS. Twenty-one students completed fortnightly questionnaires about where they spent their time and with whom. At the end of the semester, 14 students participated in online interviews. Findings suggest that the audience in each setting, as well as the timing of communication and duration within each setting, appear to have contributed to shaping students' learning experiences. Awareness of these contributing factors may aid online teachers in understanding students' learning preferences, and the roles of social networking tools in supporting learning collaborations.

It is essential for foreign language learners to have adequate opportunities for speaking in order to enhance the acquisition of oral communicative competence. Although research over the last few years has dealt with the potential of podcasting for the development of oral competencies, little has been done towards its application in the "improvement" of speaking skills or the "correction" of pronunciation. This article presents experiments with podcasts developed in French foreign language classes over the course of ten years. The results obtained relate to the following three aspects: firstly, selection and analysis of the available tools fostering greater oral activity and effective correction of pronunciation; secondly, the quantification of spoken language according to the actual duration of the podcasts, as well as preparation time estimated by the students; finally, the evaluation of spoken language using certain indicators of improvement of pronunciation.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing 'Flipgrid,' a PC and mobile device video recording and social media application, as a means of practice in an English communication class. The present small-scale study was conducted at a Japanese national university in a first-year ESL classroom. The practical implications of this study inform on innovative ways to improve communicative English engagement in higher learning education. In this case, student presentation videos and online video discussion tasks were recorded using the Flipgrid application on student smartphones. The data collection methods consisted of teacher observations, video data and student responses recorded via a questionnaire. For the researchers, taking these first steps impacts broader language and technology research in the future.

The aim of this case study was to evaluate whether there had been educational changes and if so, in which phases of implementation and institutionalization in three African higher education institutions. The changes were evaluated from the point-of-view of trainees in the field of e-learning and library services during the project conducted in 2013-2015. Written texts and visual material were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The enthusiasm and mutual pedagogical understanding of the academic and support service staff were the key factors promoting the changes in the integration of e-learning and modern library services into everyday practices in these higher education institutions. The provision of suitable training and pedagogic skills to the academics and the support service staff made it possible dovetail these concepts to suit their home institution and provide them with a common language and value base that supported student learning.

Digitalization and transition to a new technological structure bring humanity to another level of development. The changing technological structures, industry and society progress, enhance the importance of improving the university development model. The existing management system and infrastructure in universities are often outdated and unable to ensure their competitive and adequate functioning. Hence, the need to improve the processes of using the university infrastructure through digital technology. The composition and range of the resources should also be reviewed and supplemented with new components. The purpose of this work is to reveal the principles and requirements for improving the university infrastructure using digital technology. The methodology is based on modeling the university management system, with the concept of infrastructure logic as a core, meant to include new elements in the university management infrastructure: university stakeholders, cultural values, investments and translation. The management model transformation implies a transition from structural to infrastructural approach, from infrastructure management to managing the infrastructure logic. The digital network platform incorporating the information on all the infrastructure facilities, their status, will provide effective user access management to each university resource. The recommendations formulated to improve the university infrastructure using digital technology will make higher education more effective.

The increasing popularity of standardized online course design mandates that administrators and course designers understand faculty and student perceptions of the value of specific course components in the online learning management system (LMS). The results of a survey sent to online faculty and students revealed that both groups value the inclusion of videos in course design; however, the perceived value varied as a function of faculty status (full time or adjunct) and student level (undergraduate, master's or doctoral). While students value instructional videos, they believe that rubrics and sample assignments have the greatest potential impact on their learning. The discussion explores the practical implications of meeting both groups' needs in large online programs utilizing standardized course design.

E-Learning environments are enhancing both their functionalities and the quality of the resources provided, thus simplifying the creation of learning ecologies adapted for students with disabilities. The number of students with disabilities enrolled in online courses is so small, and their impairments are so specific that it becomes difficult to quantify and identify which specific actions should be taken to support them. This work contributes to scientific literature with two key aspects: (1) It identifies which barriers these students encounter, and which tools they use to create learning ecologies adapted to their impairments; (2) It also presents the results from a case study in which 161 students with recognised disabilities evaluate the efficiency and ease of use of an online learning environment in higher education studies. The work presented in this paper highlights the need to provide multimedia elements with subtitles, text transcriptions, and the option to be downloadable and editable so that the student can adapt them to their needs and learning style.

The study investigates the use of the hybrid method in the teaching and learning of English reading for speakers of English as a second language. Through an interview, a questionnaire and class observation, the research seeks to investigate the benefits and drawbacks that the hybrid model would possibly bring to the course.

The lack of racial diversity in the technology industry has been widely acknowledged, especially since 2014 when many Silicon Valley companies, like Google, Facebook, and Intel, released racial diversity data. Howard University faculty involved in tech entrepreneurship noticed the racial disparity first-hand as entrepreneurs themselves and as participants in entrepreneurship events and conferences. They set out to build an innovation ecosystem at Howard, a historically Black University, in order to address this gap and prepare more traditionally underrepresented engineering professionals for careers in the current and future technology innovation sector. This paper explores the building of an innovation ecosystem at Howard University and addresses how it started, what it entails, outcomes that have been observed thus far, and next steps.

E-learning pedagogy is used in many health training institutions in Uganda, However, despite the high investment, e-learning adoption is still low. This study aimed at ascertaining the relevance of on-line quality management in improve e-learning adoption in midwifery schools in Uganda. It used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to ascertain if online quality management was significant at improving e-learning adoption and the on-line quality traits which would be implemented by midwifery schools to improve e-learning adoption. Data collection was conducted in two phases, the first entailed quantitative data collection and analysis to determine if on-line quality management was significant to e-learning adoption. The second embraced a qualitative data collection and analysis to ascertain the detailed traits of on-line quality management relevant to e-learning adoption. Linear regression analysis established on-line quality management had influence on e-learning adoption (p=0.000). On-line quality management accounted for 55.5% of the variance in e-learning adoption with a strong positive statistically significant relationship, and its salient traits included; Compact Disc, Read-Only-Memory materials meets the expectation of users, collaborative improvement of on-line quality, Learning Management System meets expectations of users, providing the best on-line experience, e-learning program being described as an excellent on-line learning experience, and guidelines for improving on-line quality. Midwifery schools therefore have to focus on the six most relevant traits of on-line quality management if they are to improve e-learning adoption.

Webfolios, or web portfolios, are innovative learning tools. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the effect of using webfolios on Saudi EFL students' self-directed learning readiness. Participants were pretested on self-directed learning readiness before starting to work on their webfolios. They used Blackboard to create and use their webfolios. After the webfolios were completed, participants were posttested. A significant effect was found for webfolios on participants' self-directed learning readiness. Consequently, it was concluded that webfolios should be used at college level to enhance students' self-directed learning readiness. Some recommendations and suggestions for future research were introduced.

The advance of pervasive technologies such as mobile technologies and various mobile devices has brought opportunities for educators to design and perform interactive learning activities and has also enabled educationalists to access the virtual learning environment anytime and anywhere without restrictions of time or place and without too much additional effort. The m-learning system, MobLrN, has been developed by the researcher. Different from the m-learning systems developed by other researchers, the MobLrN m-learning system contains all teaching/learning components for m-learning, such as access control, user profile, learning materials, assignments, self-tests, quizzes, performance measurement, announcements, and report generation. Thus, instead of using different systems for different activities, the instructors can use the developed mobile system for all of their teaching activities. The main porpuse of the study was to identify whether the developed m-learning system is acceptable or not as a mobile learning environment. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis technique and the percentage method were used. The obtained results confirm that the MobLrN m-learning system was deemed to be useful for instructors and students for the future. The system is oriented to anyone who may have an interest in mobile technologies, and all higher education institutes.

For decades, self-report instruments -- which rely heavily on students' perceptions and beliefs -- have been the dominant way of measuring motivation and strategy use. Event-based measures based on online trace data arguably has the potential to remove analytical restrictions of self-report measures. The purpose of this study is therefore to triangulate constructs suggested in theory and measured using self-reported data with revealed online traces of learning behaviour. The results show that online trace data of learning behaviour are complementary to self-reports, as they explained a unique proportion of variance in student academic performance. The results also reveal that self-reports explain more variance in online learning behaviour of prior weeks than variance in learning behaviour in succeeding weeks. Student motivation is, however, to a lesser extent captured with online trace data, likely because of its covert nature. In that respect, it is of importance to recognize the crucial role of self-reports in capturing student learning holistically. This manuscript is 'frontline' in the sense that event-based measurement methodologies with online trace data are relatively unexplored. The comparison with self-report data made in this manuscript sheds new light on the added values of innovative and traditional methods of measuring motivation and strategy use.