Suchergebnisse

"A question posed for institutions of higher learning today is, how can the outcomes it desires in graduates be assessed to ensure compliance with educational standards? In summer 2004, our State legislature directed universities and colleges to develop key Student Learning Objectives (SLO) that meet newly established Academic Learning Compacts (ALC) in curriculums. One State-designated learning domain is for students to demonstrate the SLO, Project Management (PM), and this requires it to be measured and evaluated. As an activity completed daily by students, as well as professional managers in the working world, task completion and assessing associated project management activities can involve examining the many complex processes required to successfully complete a project. At our university, we view everyone (i.e. students, faculty, and family) as a project manager with obligations to complete to graduate. For example, our College of Business (COB) students must successfully complete a required business policy analysis and formulation course that engage student teams in a unique learning opportunity by participating in a business strategy simulation. Students are responsible for PM activities that structure, organize, and assess the simulation effort throughout the semester. Rubrics have been developed to measure and evaluate teams and individual students on sound PM practices. Each competing team is able to become the simulations best performing group by applying good PM skills. Teams balance a myriad of performance factors using methods and techniques learned in the COB' core requirement courses that assist in crafting and executing selected business strategies. A newly developed rubric to measure PM is being evaluated to assess SLO accomplishment. Team members, rating each other on performed PM activities, and final team simulation performance standings are used to assess if the PM SLO has an effect final simulation performance. "

"A question posed for institutions of higher learning is how can student outcomes it desires in graduates be assessed to ensure compliance with educational standards? In summer 2004, the State legislature directed universities and colleges to develop key Academic Learning Outcomes (ALO) that meet the established Academic Learning Compacts in curriculums. The State wants students to be able to perform an ALO like Project Management (PM) and it requires this learning domain to be measured and evaluated. Everyone at our university (i.e. students and faculty) are project managers having tasks and requirements to complete prior to graduation. For example, College of Business (COB) students must successfully complete a business policy analysis and formulation course. This course engages student teams to compete in a business strategy simulation. Students are responsible for PM activities that structure, organize, and assess the simulation effort throughout the semester. Rubrics have been developed to evaluate teams and individual students on sound practices as defined in the ALO for PM. Each competing team has the opportunity to be the simulations best performing group by applying learned PM skills. Teams must balance a myriad of performance factors using methods and techniques learned in COB core courses to craft and execute selected business strategies. A rubric, evolving since 2006, is used to evaluate and assess student performance of the PM learning outcomes. Team members, not faculty, rate each other on their performance of each PM activity. This evaluation and the final team simulation performance standings are then used to assess if the PM ALO has had an effect on final simulation performance. "

The State of Florida legislature directed universities and colleges to develop key Student Learning Objectives (SLO) to meet new Academic Learning Compacts. One state-designated learning domain is for students to demonstrate a course's project management SLO. At our university, faculty and students are project managers with both groups performing academic activities to attain goals such as tenure and promotion for faculty, and graduation for students. To accomplish these goals, both groups complete a series of requirements requiring program management skills. For students, a required course in business policy allows students to participate in a business simulation. For instructors, service efforts such as developing rubrics to evaluate learning domains like project management are accomplished. This paper details a student team's self-initiated project management approach integrating techniques learned in the College of Business (COB) into a method for implementing business strategy. Their approach is reviewed and analyzed in light of a newly developed faculty rubric to measure the project management SLO.

Background: Deprivation during pregnancy and the neonatal period increases maternal morbidity, reduces birth weight and impairs child development, with lifelong consequences. Many poor countries provide grants to mitigate the impact of poverty during pregnancy. South Africa (SA) offers a post-delivery Child Support Grant (CSG), which could encompass support during pregnancy, informed by lessons learnt from similar grants. Objectives: To review design and operational features of pregnancy support programmes, highlighting features that promote their effectiveness and efficiency, and implications thereof for SA. Methods: Systematic review of programmes providing cash or other support during pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries. Results: Thirty-two programmes were identified, across 27 countries. Programmes aimed to influence health service utilisation, but also longer-term health and social outcomes. Half included conditionalities around service utilisation. Multifaceted support, such as cash and vouchers, necessitated complex parallel administrative procedures. Five included design features to diminish perverse incentives. These and other complex features were often abandoned over time. Operational barriers and administrative costs were lowest in programmes with simplified procedures and that were integrated within child support. Conclusions: Pregnancy support in SA would be feasible and effective if integrated within existing social support programmes and operationally simple. This requires uncomplicated enrolment procedures (e.g. an antenatal card), cash-only support, and few or no conditionalities. To overcome political barriers to implementation, the design might initially need to include features that discourage pregnancy incentives. Support could incentivise service utilisation, without difficult-to-measure conditionalities. Beginning the CSG in pregnancy would be operationally simple and could substantially transform maternal and child health.

Background. Deprivation during pregnancy and the neonatal period increases maternal morbidity, reduces birth weight and impairs child development, with lifelong consequences. Many poor countries provide grants to mitigate the impact of poverty during pregnancy. South Africa (SA) offers a post-delivery Child Support Grant (CSG), which could encompass support during pregnancy, informed by lessons learnt from similar grants. Objectives. To review design and operational features of pregnancy support programmes, highlighting features that promote their effectiveness and efficiency, and implications thereof for SA. Methods. Systematic review of programmes providing cash or other support during pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries. Results. Thirty-two programmes were identified, across 27 countries. Programmes aimed to influence health service utilisation, but also longer-term health and social outcomes. Half included conditionalities around service utilisation. Multifaceted support, such as cash and vouchers, necessitated complex parallel administrative procedures. Five included design features to diminish perverse incentives. These and other complex features were often abandoned over time. Operational barriers and administrative costs were lowest in programmes with simplified procedures and that were integrated within child support. Conclusions. Pregnancy support in SA would be feasible and effective if integrated within existing social support programmes and operationally simple. This requires uncomplicated enrolment procedures (e.g. an antenatal card), cash-only support, and few or no conditionalities. To overcome political barriers to implementation, the design might initially need to include features that discourage pregnancy incentives. Support could incentivise service utilisation, without difficult-to-measure conditionalities. Beginning the CSG in pregnancy would be operationally simple and could substantially transform maternal and child health.

Background. Deprivation during pregnancy and the neonatal period increases maternal morbidity, reduces birth weight and impairs child development, with lifelong consequences. Many poor countries provide grants to mitigate the impact of poverty during pregnancy. South Africa (SA) offers a post-delivery Child Support Grant (CSG), which could encompass support during pregnancy, informed by lessons learnt from similar grants.Objectives. To review design and operational features of pregnancy support programmes, highlighting features that promote their effectiveness and efficiency, and implications thereof for SA.Methods. Systematic review of programmes providing cash or other support during pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries.Results. Thirty-two programmes were identified, across 27 countries. Programmes aimed to influence health service utilisation, but also longer-term health and social outcomes. Half included conditionalities around service utilisation. Multifaceted support, such as cash and vouchers, necessitated complex parallel administrative procedures. Five included design features to diminish perverse incentives. These and other complex features were often abandoned over time. Operational barriers and administrative costs were lowest in programmes with simplified procedures and that were integrated within child support.Conclusions. Pregnancy support in SA would be feasible and effective if integrated within existing social support programmes and operationally simple. This requires uncomplicated enrolment procedures (e.g. an antenatal card), cash-only support, and few or no conditionalities. To overcome political barriers to implementation, the design might initially need to include features that discourage pregnancy incentives. Support could incentivise service utilisation, without difficult-to-measure conditionalities. Beginning the CSG in pregnancy would be operationally simple and could substantially transform maternal and child health.