Impact of eSports Upon Higher Education From a Faculty Perspective

A multiple case study was implemented, implementing a qualitative open-ended interview that brought forward three different specialization area faculty groups that reflect diverse educational perspectives as revolving and evolving around the potential of eSports upon the contributing author's field of study as well as the field of higher education as an overarching umbrella understanding. The prompts to which the contributors respond include an understanding of eSports upon higher education and the field of study, from a historical view, a current snapshot, as well as future-leaning implications. Further, the contributors respond to prompts that focus upon perceptions of eSports implications associated with the faculty responsibilities designated as teaching, research, and service.

Resistance Is Futile! You Will Be Assimilated

This chapter examines how the links between a scientific identity and a masculine one have come to shape the culture of science, and considers an alternate vision where “woman” and “science” are not rendered as incompatible identities. It recounts a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to open conversations between faculty and students in the sciences about the culture of science and the mentoring of women graduate students. As a central concern of the research was to attend to the power inequities between faculty and students, the project was designed to create a dialogue between faculty and students through facilitators without them knowing each other's identity. The student and faculty groups met independently and heard about the responses through the work of two facilitators without meeting each other. Therefore, the identity of participants in any group remained anonymous to the other groups.

Effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment at work in medicine and nursing faculty in a public institution

Occupational stress studies with effort-reward imbalance at work in medical and nursing faculty have not been described in literature. Objectives: 1) To estimate the effort-reward imbalance and the overcommitment at work in medical and nursing faculty. 2) To verify if there is an association of those variables according to faculty groups. Method: A cross-sectional study was achieved with 232 professors of a public institution in São Paulo State from April to November in 2009. Applied instruments: a sociodemographic and occupational questionnaire and an effort-reward imbalance at work questionnaire (Effort-Reward Imbalance – ERI). The chi-square test was used to verify the association of variables between faculty groups. Results: Prevalence of effort-reward imbalance was 31.3% in nursing faculty, 14.1% in medical faculty and 17.7% in overall sample, with significant difference between faculty (p = 0.006). Prevalence of overcommitment at work was similar in nursing and medical faculty as well as in overall sample (45.8%, 39.7% and 40.9% respectively), without any significant difference between faculty (p = 0.738) . Conclusions: The effort-reward imbalance in nursing faculty was 2.2 times higher compared to medical faculty. Both faculty groups presented a high prevalence of overcommitment at work, which denotes remarkable personal characteristics of better controlling needs and difficulty in relaxing after work in those professions. Further studies may contribute to preventive and interventional measures related to occupational stress in medical and nursing faculty. Keywords: Burnout. Occupational stress. Epidemiology. Medical Faculty. Nursing Faculty.

Turning ABET Accreditation Review Into a Continuous Improvement Process

For many engineering programs, the assessment required for ABET accreditation results in little actual improvement in the educational program and is viewed by many faculty simply as a hurdle to be overcome to maintain accreditation. Particularly tedious is the assessment of the achievement of the ABET (a-k) program educational outcomes. One innovative approach to minimize the work involved in assessing the achievement of the (a-k) program educational outcomes is based on the establishment of course outcomes for each required course along with a mapping of the course outcomes to the (a-k) program educational outcomes. Course outcomes are the required topics that are to be covered in each required course and are the topics whose achievement are normally assessed through tests, homework, quizzes, reports and presentations. Collecting data on achievement of course outcomes places little additional burden on instructors because the data is readily available in grade records normally created for each course. The mapping of course outcomes to (a-k) program educational outcomes indicates which of the (a-k) outcomes each course outcome addresses. Therefore using the course outcome achievement data provided by each instructor from their grade records and the mapping of course outcomes to (a-k) program educational outcomes, the achievement of the (a-k) program educational outcomes by the entire curriculum can be relatively easily assessed. The process of establishing and assessing course outcomes not only addresses the assessment of achievement of the (a-k) program educational outcomes but it can also easily lead to continuous improvement of the curriculum. Continuous improvement can result when assessment is done periodically and the results are discussed by faculty groups responsible for each course. The establishment of course outcomes and their achievement assessment can lead to serious dialog about what is being taught in each course and the continuity between courses. Instruction and testing are more focused and improved because faculty know they must provide assessment data for each outcome. And finally the strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum as a whole are determined when the mapping is used to assess the overall achievement of the (a-k) program educational outcomes.

Locus of Control Dimensions among Senior Pharmacy Students Electing Post-Pharm. D. Residencies

The locus of control dimensions among senior Pharm.D. students electing post-Pharm.D. residencies (N=15) are compared with first (N = 60) and second year (N = 55) Pharm.D. students, as well as with senior Pharm.D. students not electing residencies (N=14). Volunteer clinical faculty [hospital (N=27) and community (N = 23) pharmacy preceptors] and full-time clinical faculty (N = 22) are also compared. The Reid-Ware three-factor internal-external scale was completed by the study population. The dimensions measured were: self-control, social systems control, and fatalism. This study was undertaken to: 1. compare the locus of control dimensions among senior pharmacy students electing post-Pharm.D. residencies with senior pharmacy students not electing post-Pharm.D. residencies (and with other pharmacy students) and 2. compare the locus of control dimensions among senior pharmacy students electing and not electing post-Pharm. D. residencies (and with other pharmacy students) with their clinical, hospital, and community faculty to identify personality congruence (i.e., similarities, differences) which might facilitate the development of patient oriented-interactive behaviors necessary for clinical practice. Self-control (SC) was the major factor that generated the significant difference in the seven groups. The clinical (full-time) faculty group is significantly different from the student groups with the exception of the P-3, residency students. Over 50 percent of the P-3 residency group responded more like the faculty groups than like other students, with more P-3 residency students responding like clinical faculty than any other student or faculty group. The implication is that a similar personality profile exists in terms of internal/external control for the P-3 residency and full-time clinical faculty groups. Professors may have influenced, stimulated, or motivated those students most like themselves to enter a residency program. Based on the data, it would appear desirable to profile pharmacy students and give those who have a strong internal self-control factor encouragement to pursue post-graduate academic or residency programs and to retain as many of those individuals as possible in the areas of pharmacy that directly influence patient care and the pharmacist's role on the health care team.

A Study of Attitudes to First Year Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Laboratory Work at the University of Salford

The attitudes of first and second year undergraduate students and staff members to first-year laboratory studies were surveyed by interview and questionnaire administration. The most important educational aims of this course and the degree to which achievement of aim occurred have been determined for both student and faculty groups.