Assessing the Trends towards Predictive Mapping of Graduates’ Skills to Industry Roles in Kenya: A Case Study of Software Engineering| Chapter 6 | Engineering Research Perspectives on Recent Advances Vol. 9

 

Background: Long-term unemployment (LTU) has been a major concern in many countries, including Kenya. LTU would not be a trouble if job characteristics for each kind of worker, levels of education and skills, experience, and occupation were precisely known by new graduates. Employability of skilled graduates in the industry is a challenge not only because of the effect of unemployment duration, but also due to increased skills variation among both graduates and industry roles, emanating from the industry-academia gap.

 

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate whether industry roles in the same occupation have similar academic requirements and establish learning trends in academia towards occupational industry roles.

 

Methodology: This study was conducted in the Kenyan software engineering industry and universities in academia in the month of May 2016. A descriptive survey research design was adopted in this study. Perception from 113 employees used as respondents and 24 examinations past papers from 5 Kenyan universities, both in the domain of software engineering, were involved. Two experts, a software engineering lecturer and a pedagogy lecturer, were used to extract data from the exam past papers after their reliability test was confirmed. Both descriptive procedures and non-parametric tests of hypotheses were conducted using SPSS version 16 software and .05 as the test limit for significance. A proposed model for mapping graduates’ skills to industry roles was used as the research model for the study, while for academic requirements analysis purposes, the model’s variables were double classified into two dimensions, i.e. knowledge or skill type and domain-specific or domain-general.

 

Results: This study showed that the most common job entry roles for software engineers after graduation are 'web programmer' and 'analyst programmer'. A frequency analysis of 17 role performance activities (RPAs) performed by software engineers at entry-level industry positions reveals that ‘design database’ is the most frequently performed activity (11%), while ‘manage project workflows’ is the least performed (2%). Regarding the proposed model, findings indicated that while domain-specific knowledge (χ2=2.44, P=.87) and skills (χ2=1.86, P=.93) for industry roles in the same occupation are similar, domain general knowledge (χ2=13.10, P=.04) and skills (χ2=16.151, P=.01) are significantly different for these industry roles. Further revelation indicated that, while academia trends towards various industry roles within the same occupation are fairly good for knowledge (80%) and poor for skills (45.7%), trends towards various industry roles within the same occupation are not uniform among universities.

 

Conclusion: Academic knowledge and skills requirements for occupational industry roles are not similar, and trends towards occupational industry roles are not uniform among universities. Therefore, students should select universities that have a higher trending profile for industry roles in order to increase their chances. It is also recommended that domain-specific knowledge and skills must be covered well during learning in academia.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Fullgence Mwachoo Mwakondo
Institute of Computing and Informatics, Technical University of Mombasa, P.O. Box 90420-80100, Kenya.

 

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/erpra/v9/5733

Enhancing Chess Skills through Blindfolded Tactics: An Experimental Study on Cognitive and Performance Gains | Chapter 8 | An Overview of Literature, Language and Education Research Vol. 7

Blindfold chess is a game where both the board and pieces are not visible to its players. The objective of the project is to explore the cognitive and performance benefits of solving blindfolded tactics compared to traditional methods and to verify the didactic usefulness of these solving tactics in young and adult people, involving an experimental and a control group in the research. A sample of 27 students (14 -30 years old) has been formed and several training sessions with blindfold tactical exercises have been organized. In three months 12 lessons were organized. Then objective measures (not subjective evaluations) of the benefits of this method have been collected by measuring two performance parameters (solving times of exercises and FIDE elo rating change after training sessions) and comparing them with their results before using this method. We analyzed the performance x blindfolding tactics interaction, in particular the correlations between the performance improvement x training interaction and the experimental cognitive path with the three steps of training interaction, compared to participants in the control group. Significant are differences in the improvement in solving tactics times, that is increasing the response speed. Significant results were also found in Rapid FIDE Elo rating improvement, that is increasing the playing force as a function of FIDE rating under vs over 1900 Elo (p >0,05) with a greater improvement for males. In the control group, the interaction is not significant (p>0,5) both in solving tactic times (with an average reduction of 30 seconds for each move) and in FIDE Elo Rating change after the training sessions. The results of this pilot study encourage us to organize a new experimental design in the future with more significant samples to prepare a detailed “Blindfolded tactics training protocol” adaptable to different playing levels of the subjects.

 

Author (s) Details

 

Giovanni Marchesich
Sicura Mente-Young Non Profit Organization, Trieste 34141, Italy.

 

Laura Tamburini
Sicura Mente-Young Non Profit Organization, Trieste 34141, Italy, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Italy and Ministry of Education and Merit, Friuli Venezia Giulia 34124, Italy.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/aoller/v7/2979

The Feasibility of a Problem-solving Model in a Grade 4 Mathematics Classroom | Chapter 1 | An Overview of Literature, Language and Education Research Vol. 1

The development of a problem-solving model was investigated in a Grade 4 mathematics classroom. The learners completed a questionnaire with respect to their knowledge of problem-solving, their attitudes towards problem-solving, as well as their experiences in solving mathematical problems. Learners’ responses revealed overall negative beliefs regarding problem-solving as well as a lack of knowledge about what problem-solving in mathematics is all about. The teacher then involved the learners in a structured learning programme where they worked in cooperative groups of six on different kinds of mathematical problems. The groups regularly engaged in discussions about the different strategies they were using to solve a specific problem and eventually succeeded in formulating a generic problem-solving model they could call their own. The model was then effectively used by learners to solve various mathematical problems, reflecting their levels of cognitive development to a certain extent.

 

Author(s)details:-

 

Susan Nieuwoudt
Faculty of Educational Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa.

 

Please See the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/aoller/v1/2577G

Computer Integration within Problem Solving Process | Chapter 6 | Research and Applications Towards Mathematics and Computer Science Vol. 8

The complexity of current software tools increases with the complexity of problem solving tasks they are designed to assist and are mainly dedicated to computer educated people. On the other hand current computer technology is deeply involved in people's everyday life. This gap deepens and stresses software technology and computer education. By computational emancipation the natural language becomes a family of non-ambiguous languages. This means that every problem solver uses a non-ambiguous natural language, termed here as Domain Algorithmic Language, DAL. Here we show how to develop software tools dedicated to the problem domain and illustrate the methodology we propose with the software tools required by teaching high school algebra.

Author(s) Details:

Teodor Rus,
Department of Computer Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RATMCS-V8/article/view/13075

Investigating the Effects of Problem Solving Approach on Academic Achievement of Basic Science and Technology Students in Nasarawa State, Nigeria| Chapter 5 | Current Research in Language, Literature and Education Vol.8

 This study examined the impact of critical thinking approach on the presentation of Basic Science and Technology understudies in Nasarawa State. The review utilized semi trial of the pretest, posttest control bunch plan. 100 Junior Secondary School last year understudies took part in the review from schools that fall inside the once examined in Nasarawa State. Four exploration questions and four examination speculations were utilized for the review. The instrument comprised of twenty thing article inquiries in Basic Science and Technology last Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (JSSCE) questions. The dependability coefficient of the inquiries was 0.74. Pretest was controlled to the Basic Science and Technology understudies before treatment. Essential Science and Technology Students in exploratory gathering were shown utilizing the Basic Science and Technology issues settling approach while Basic Science and Technology understudies in the benchmark group were shown utilizing address technique. The two gatherings were instructed for quite some time and posttest was directed to them. Mean, standard deviation and ANCOVA insights were utilized for information investigations. That's what the outcomes showed, the Basic Science understudies that were presented to the Basic Science Problem Solving Approach (BTPSA) performed altogether better compared to those presented to the Basic Science and Technology address strategy approach (BTLMA). Among the suggestions that were passed was that the public authority ought to give functional experience of how to utilize Basic Science and Technology critical thinking way to deal with both the Basic Science educators and the Basic Science and Technology understudies in junior optional schools in Nasarawa State.

Author(s) Details:

Sambo Muh’d Alh. Hudu,
Department of Science Education, Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/CRLLE-V8/article/view/7933