Digital Commons Network^™

The Rise Of Higher Education And The Chinese Middle Class, Seow Shi Loh

Seow Shi Loh

The presence of the urban middle-class, driven by the need to equip themselves with relevant qualifications and skills, has encouraged enrollment rates to sky-high which the Minister of Education announces to increase additional ten percent during the course of the next decade. (Lin & Sun, 2010) However, the consequences of such unparalleled increase become entangled with China’s social organization that is influencing relationships between the allocation of class and education. Thus, this literature review seeks to (a) disentangle the function of education and class and China’s educational reforms, (b) draw out the destabilizing highlights of the urban middle class in …

Initial Results From The First National Survey Of Student Outcomes From Small Satellite Program Participation, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This paper presents initial results of the first national / international survey of student participants in CubeSat and other small spacecraft programs. It aims to make portions of the results of the survey available for immediate use by the CubeSat / small spacecraft community prior to the completion of a thorough analysis of the results and consideration of correlating and prospective causation factors for various outcomes.

A Closer Look At Using Stringer’S Action Research Model In Improving Students’ Learning, Mohammad Ali Nasrollahi

Mohammad Ali Nasrollahi(Ph.D)

Action research is a systematic approach to investigation that enables people to find effective solutions to problems they confront in their everyday lives. A significant feature is that action research lays claim to the professional development in education. Action research as any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, and counselors with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process, for the purpose of gathering data about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how their students learn. Education is perhaps the most prolific source of action research resources. Action research can be done by teachers in their …

Navigating The Life Cycle Of Trust In Developing Economies: One-Size Solutions Do Not Fit All, Laura Hartman, Julie Gedro, Courtney Masterson

Laura Hartman

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of collaborative and cohesive relationships in societies, broadly, and in organizations, specifically. At the same time, trust is highly dependent on the social context in which it occurs. Unfortunately, existing research involving trust remains somewhat limited to a particular set of developed economies, providing a window to explore a culture's stage of economic development as a key contextual determinant of trust within organizations. In this article, we review the state of the scholarship on trust and identify those qualities of trust that are common in organizations at similar stages of economic development, …

Women Managers And The Gender-Based Gap In Access To Education: Evidence From Firm-Level Data In Developing Countries, Mohammad Amin, Asif Islam

Mohammad Amin

A number of studies explore the differences in men and women’s labor market participation rates and wages. Some of these differences have been linked to gender disparities in education attainment and access. The present paper contributes to this literature by analyzing the relationship between the proclivity of a firm having a top woman manager and access to education among women relative to men in the country. We combine the literature on women’s careers in management, which has mostly focused on developed countries, with the development literature that has emphasized the importance of access to education. Using firm-level data for 73 …

Pre And Post Survey-Based Prediction Of Results From Student Characteristics, Jared Estad, Michael Kuehn, Jeremy Straub, Eunjin Kim

Jeremy Straub

This study was created to compare a large data set of students class surveys. In this data set, there exist both pre- and post-survey data. A set of knowledge based questions exist at the end of the survey. Our intention is to use the other data with in each survey to predict based on a singular set of pre-survey data a students potential for success throughout the course. As such, we need to account for data on the pre-survey and its knowledge based questions. Then, we need to account for how this data may interact with the data on the …

Course Outcome Prediction Using An Expert System, Michael Kuehn, Jared Estad, Jeremy Straub, Eunjin Kim

Jeremy Straub

Determining how well a student will perform in a course based on their prior knowledge of the course material and other factors may help determine student placement and the need for remedial instruction. This poster presents work on the creation of an expert system that attempts to predict a student’s performance based on a pre-evaluation test and responses to background preparation questions. This work utilizes data from prior students to train and test the system.

The Use Of Low-Cost ‘Balloonsats’ For Stem Education With 3d Printing, Jeremy Straub, Josh Berk, John Nordlie, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

A new technology, known as 3D printing, allows the rap-id fabrication of plastic structures of virtually any config-uration. These structures are light-weight, dura-ble and inexpensive. This paper considers the utility of utilizing 3D printing to create enclosures for ‘BalloonSats’ – small, low-cost spacecraft analog which can be utilized by students to understand space engi-neering, conduct near-space science (e.g., physics, bio-logical and other experiments) and touch the edge of space.

Involvement Of Undergraduate Students In Research: A Comparison Of Course Research Components, Paid Research Activities, Student-Led Projects And Independent / Directed Study Courses, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

Involving undergraduate students in bona fide research can provide multiple types of benefits. Whether students elect to pursue research careers or not, research experiences can be beneficial. Students gain an excellent resume item and interview discussion topic. They also gain experience in team participation dynamics and project management and the opportunity to put techniques that they have learned in the classroom to use. In interdisciplinary projects, they learn to work with those from other disciplines, gain an understanding of the challenges of doing so and gain an understanding of the vernacular of these other disciplines.

This paper presents an overview …

Students' Knowledge And Perceived Confidence In An Interdisciplinary Experiential-Learning Environment, Lee J. Florea, Adam J. Kuban, Michelle O'Malley

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

Experiential-learning theory suggests that students acquire knowledge through hands-on learning environments, and aspiring journalists need a setting where they can experience science — its process(es) as well as how to report empirical findings. Researchers utilized pre/post questionnaires, field-notebook evaluation, and focus-group analysis as methods to assess an interdisciplinary, experiential course that combined science and media undergraduates. Results revealed students valued procedural over fact-based knowledge. Students also indicated increased perceived confidence—even when they answered questions incorrectly.

Verboten: Forbidden Homeschooling In Germany And Its Conflict With International Religious Freedom., Jacob A. Aschmutat

Jacob A Aschmutat

Germany maintains strict compulsory education laws that prevent families from educating their children at home. Germany strictly enforces these laws, with little regard to the families’ incentives to remove their children from the public schools. As such, these laws contain no exemption for families interested in homeschooling for religious purposes. The absence of such an exemption seems to contradict the internationally recognized right to religious freedom, a right concretely granted through three international treaties that Germany has both signed and ratified. Several decisions by the European Court of Human Rights give little to no credence to the notion of religious …

It’S Ok To Talk To The [Insert Major Here] Students, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

No abstract provided.

Transformative Teaching And Educational Fair Use After Georgia State, Brandon C. Butler

Brandon C. Butler

The Supreme Court has said that copyright’s fair use doctrine is a “First Amendment safety valve” because it ensures that certain crucial cultural activities are not unduly burdened by copyright. While many such activities (criticism, commentary, parody) have benefited from the courts’ increased attention to first amendment values, one such activity, education, has been mired for years in a minimalist, market-based vision of fair use that is largely out of touch with mainstream fair use jurisprudence. The latest installment in the history of educational fair use, the 11th Circuit’s opinion in the Georgia State e-reserves case, may be the last …

Africa In The Age Of Globalization: Perceptions, Misperceptions And Realities, Edward Shizha, Lamine Diallo

Edward Shizha

This is a collection of bold and visionary scholarship that reveals an insightful exposition of re-visioning African development from African perspectives. It provides educators, policy makers, social workers, non-governmental agencies, and development agencies with an interdisciplinary conceptual base that can effectively guide them in planning and implementing programs for socio-economic development in Africa. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on continental trends on various subjects and concerns of paramount importance to globalisation and development in Africa (politics, democracy, education, gender, technology, global relationships and the role of non-governmental organisations). The authors challenge the familiar paradigms in order to show how …

Countering The Narrative: A Layered Perspective On Supporting Black Males In Education, Ramon Goings, Aaron Smith, Daniel Harris, Tanashala Wilson, Demetrius Lancaster

Ramon Goings

The challenges facing Black males throughout the educational pipeline have been discussed by researchers in detail. However, missing from this research are discussions from the perspective of researchers, educators, and community members united on how to better support Black males. The purpose of this reflective piece is twofold. First, we address and contextualize the issues that Black boys and men face and have to overcome in academic and community settings from our various perspectives serving as a teacher candidate, in-service teacher, and higher education professionals. Second we provide recommendations for education stakeholders to help support Black males from our various …

U.S. Migration Of A Family Member: Impacts On The Activities Of Adolescent Boys And Girls Left Behind In Mexico, Elizabeth T. Powers, Qing Wang

Elizabeth T Powers

We use the Mexican Family Life Study to estimate the effect of a household member’s migration to the U.S. on the time use of family members left behind in Mexico. We show that the effects of migration on adolescents vary with both the migrant’s former household role and with the sex of the left-behind adolescent. Adolescent boys spend less time in paid and agricultural work when males migrate from the household to the U.S., while their mothers correspondingly increase their time in market work and reduce their housework time. We find no significant effects of U.S. migration on adolescent girls’ …

God And Discipline: Religious Education And Character Building In A Christian School In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon

Chang Yau HOON

No abstract provided.

Young People’S Attitudes Towards Interethnic And Inter-Religious Socializing, Courtship And Marriage In Indonesia, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon

Chang Yau HOON

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Educational Expectations, Outcomes And Benefits From Small Satellite Program Participation, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This paper begins to characterize the educational outcomes that can be produced from student participation in a small spacecraft development program. We asked students what benefits they expected to receive from program participation and we asked them, at the end of the semester, what benefits they had received. We also characterized student performance through the use of post-participation Likert-like scale questions and the use of a widely-used questionnaire for assessing student research participation outcomes. We compare benefit expectation and attainment, characterize the level of benefits received across multiple types of participation and assess the effect of program participation on subject-specific …

Considering The Educational Benefits Of A Cubesat Program, Jeremy Straub, Samudra Haque, Christopher K. Dinelli

Jeremy Straub

This presentation will provide an overview of work performed at the University of North Dakota with regards to the characterization of educational benefits from small spacecraft development efforts. We report on efforts to characterize benefits that ensued from participation for personal extracurricular enrichment, as part of a formal class (on project management), as part of multiple senior design projects, for independent study credit and for satisfying class project requirements. This assessment has been performed using a standard questionnaire for student research participation as well as custom questionnaires related to program focus areas. We have also analyzed student course performance, where …

Conceptualizing And Implementing A Webinar Series: Lessons Learned From The Mountain West Digital Library, Rebekah Cummings

Rebekah Cummings

Webinars are a low-cost and efficient training model that allow librarians to disseminate valuable information, connect with colleagues, and build and expand their communities beyond geographic and institutional boundaries. Yet, while many information specialists attend webinars on a regular basis, the task of hosting a webinar series may seem like a daunting and opaque challenge, even for enthusiastic webinar participants. In this poster session, Rebekah Cummings, Outreach Librarian at the Mountain West Digital Library, will demystify the process of implementing a successful webinar series including content creation, recruiting guest speakers, software selection, promotion, hosting the webinar, and follow-up. This session …

Classroom Polling Software For Use With Mobile And Web-Based Devices, Nick Renford, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The goal of this project is to create an interface for Android, iOS, and Win-dows Phone smartphones, as well as a web interface that will act as a “clicker”. The instructors will be able to send out questions, and the students will be able to answer the questions, and get feedback if the instructor wants them to have it. The teacher can decide whether the feedback is instant or manually initiated, and what format the response will be, whether it includes the correct answer, and what type of chart, if any, indicating the most com-monly selected answer(s). There will be …

Towards An Analytical Framework For Evaluating Student Learning In Computer Science Courses, Jeremy Straub, Tom Stokke, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents an overview of ongoing work in the Computer Science Department to assess the learning oc-curring in multiple undergraduate courses in an analytical manner which will facilitate semester-to-semester and in-stitution-to-institution comparisons. It describes the types of assessments created (which are course-specific based on ACM model content areas identified as covered by the instructor), their use, data analysis and the conclu-sions which can be drawn. Limited initial data is also pre-sented.

The Use Of Solar Balloons At Und As A Low-Cost Alternative To Helium Balloons For Small Spacecraft Testing And Stem Education, John Nordlie, Jeremy Straub, Chris Theisen, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Helium-filled latex weather balloons have been utilized for many years to carry small satellite prototypes and subsystems into the stratosphere to allow testing in a “near space” (stratospheric) environment. A variety of environmental factors similar to the space environment can be found in this region, such as a rarified atmosphere, increased thermal stress including very low temperatures, increased solar radiation, the necessity of remote command and control, tracking, and telemetering of data. While this method of flight testing has been well-proven, a recent increase in the price of helium has driven the cost of such test programs to much higher …

The Use Of The Roofsat For Computer Science And Engineering Education, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents an overview of a tool that has been created to provide students with real-world experience in the design, development and operation of control and scientific mission software for a cyber-physical system. The ROOFSAT, developed at UND, is a low-cost analog for a small spacecraft (though in many ways these capabilities also enable similar UAV work). The ROOFSAT was constructed with approximately $1,500 generously provided by the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences out of commercially-available parts. It includes multiple cameras, a pan-tilt mount and the same space-qualified computer hardware which has been used on both spacecraft …

Factors That Increase The Probability Of A Successful Academic Library Job Search, Max Eckard, Ashley Rosener, Lindy Scripps-Hoekstra

Max Eckard

Finding a position in an academic library can be challenging for recent Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates. While LIS students are often encouraged to seek out experience, network, and improve upon their technology skills in hopes of better improving their odds in the job market, little research exists to support this anecdotal advice. This study quantifies the academic and work experiences of recent LIS graduates in order to provide a better understanding of what factors most significantly influence the outcome of their academic library job searches. The survey results demonstrate that the job outlook is most positive for candidates …

The Use Of 3d Printing To Enable High Altitude Balloon Missions, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

The 3D printing technology allows the low-cost creation of structures based on user-defined configuration parameters. Unlike other plastic-forming technologies, there is no tooling cost related to the creation of a mold. Because of this, highly-customized structures can be created with a minimum production quantity of one, allowing adaptation to individual mission needs (for a single-HAB mission) or the change of the structure across a multi-unit run (e.g., to test various configurations or as part of a study requiring multiple payloads with different configurations).

This paper considers the mission possibilities enabled by the use of 3D printing for HAB structures. These …

Copyright And Inequality, Lea Shaver

Lea Shaver

The prevailing theory of copyright law imagines a marketplace efficiently serving up new works to an undifferentiated world of consumers. Yet the reality is that all consumers are not equal. The majority of the world’s people experience copyright law not as a boon to consumer choice, but as a barrier to acquiring knowledge and taking part in cultural life. The resulting patterns of privilege and disadvantage, moreover, reinforce and perpetuate preexisting social divides. Class and culture combine to explain who wins, and who loses, from copyright protection. Along the dimension of class, the insight is that just because new works …

Leadership And Difficult Decisions For Economic Development, George E. Ekeha

George E Ekeha

Many African countries are currently going through difficult time because challenges facing many of those economies. African economies like that of Ghana is going through some turbulence time at the moment with challenges such as price hikes, corruption and increases in the standard of living. It is therefore very important for the leaders to take very important but difficult decisions that will eventually change the future of the economy. Though some of those decisions might have a serious effects on life in the immediate times, they have a long term benefit on the total economic development. It is therefore important …

There Is The Need Of Technical & Entrepreneural Education In Africa To Produce Job Creators And Not Job Seekers, George E. Ekeha

George E Ekeha

Education is the gateway to today's economic drive and therefore the various educational policies in Africa must be tailor made to help achieve the needed economic development. Many African countries are saddle with youth unemployment and these has variously culminated into violence demonstrations against governments across Africa. There are many schools across Africa who trained student as job-seekers and very few are equipped with the entrepreneurial skills and mindset to create employment for themselves and others in their communities. This article looks at the current educational standards in Ghana and its effects on the capabilities of young graduates to impact …