In order to ensure the safety of their inhabitants and properties, the residential, industrial and business installations require complying with NEC (national electrical code) for electrical systems. Electrical design engineers and technicians rely heavily on these very important design guidelines. However, these design guidelines are not formally…

Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) generally experience high levels of stress and report poorer emotional well-being and family functioning compared to parents of children with other disabilities. They also tend to rely on emotional rather than problem-focused coping strategies. Seven group-based sessions were offered to two…

In this paper, a short introductory course to introduce field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital control of dc/dc switching power converters is presented. Digital control based on specific hardware has been at the leading edge of low-medium power dc/dc switching converters in recent years. Besides industry's interest in this topic, from…

Given the United States' population changes and the increasing impact of globalization, international context and experience in the MSW curriculum are essential. Gaining popularity as a vehicle for such experience are short-term international courses, defined as educational trips outside the United States lasting from 1 to 3 weeks. To achieve…

We live in a time of great enthusiasm for the role that e-Portfolios can play in education and a time of exploration in which educators and researchers are investigating different approaches to using ePortfolios to differentially support educational goals. In this paper, we focus on preparedness portfolios and portfolio studios as two key…

Smartphones are a common accessory to provide rich user experience due to superior memory, advanced software-hardware support, fast processing, and multimedia capabilities. Responding to this trend, advanced engineering systems tend to integrate mobile devices with their solutions to facilitate usability. With many young students showing interest…

The development and delivery of an Earth-science-focused short course designed to prepare Hong Kong students for university level study is described. Earth sciences provide an inspirational and challenging context for learning and teaching in Hong Kong's increasingly skills-based curriculum. (Contains 3 figures and 4 online resources.)

We describe the use of concept maps within a 4-week nanotechnology survey course, designed for first-year undergraduate students. Because of the extremely short time frame of the class, students would be inundated with an overwhelming number of new concepts and definitions. Hence, we employed concept mapping to increase student retention and…

This paper questions the value of the current trend towards mandating formal teaching accreditation in higher education and argues that the "just-in-time" nature of short training programmes coupled with on-going occasional mentoring is likely to result in more productive professional development for academic teachers. Specifically, the…

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been gaining in popularity in recent years owing in large part to the development of soft-ionization techniques such as matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). These soft-ionization techniques have opened up the field of MS analysis to biomolecules, polymers, and other high…

The purpose of this study was to better understand teacher tensions in professional development. The population under study was practicing mathematics teachers engaged in a week-long professional development institute. Data sources included observations, interviews, and teacher products (such as registration forms, surveys, journals, and…

Over the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced an increased volume of funding and training activities to support research capacity development. However, there are persistent deficits in the number of active investigators conducting independent research with their own grants. To address this deficit, research institutions need to find an…

This qualitative case study examines a sojourn in an English speaking country for a group of experienced teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). Sojourner learning was interpreted through a community of practice perspective. These participants formed a transitory community in the host country to support their academic and social learning.…

Visualization skills are believed to be a strong indicator of success in engineering, science, and a variety of other careers. Previous studies have compared the visualization skills of first year engineering students in the US with their cohorts in Europe and Brazil, but to date there have been no data reported for developing countries in Africa.…

This action inquiry article examines veteran teachers' learning in a week-long professional development seminar. We describe moments of disconnection in key learning relationships (teacher, learner, text) and analyze relational-cultural dynamics that contributed to the disconnections. We investigate the dynamics that facilitate repair within the…