Exam scheduling: A case study

Scheduling final exams for large numbers of courses and students in universities is an intractable problem. Where scheduling is done manually, conflicts and unfairness are inevitable. Conflicts occur when simultaneous exams are scheduled for the same student, and unfairness to a student refers to consecutive exams or more than two exams on the same day. A good exam schedule should aim to minimize conflicts and the two unfairness factors based on user-assigned weights to these three factors and subject to some constraints such as classrooms’ number and capacities. In this work, we use a modified weighted-graph coloring problem formulation and adapt two stochastic search algorithms for solving the problem. The two algorithms are a simulated annealing algorithm (SA) and a genetic algorithm (GA). We also propose an improvement to a ‘good’ clustering-based heuristic procedure, known as FESP, by using simulated annealing procedures. The improved heuristic is referred to as FESP-SA. Then, we empirically compare the three proposed algorithms and FESP using realistic data. Our experimental results show that SA and GA produce good exam schedules that are better than those of FESP heuristic procedure. Also, SA and GA allow a reduction in the number of exam days without much aggravating conflicts and unfairness. However, SA is more favorable since it is faster than GA.

Use of social media in nursing education in Saudi Arabia

Background: There are numerous national efforts to determine and develop research priorities of medical education in Saudi Arabia. These priorities were first proposed in 2010 by “Dr Al-Khuli’s Chair for Developing Medical Education in Saudi Arabia”. The proposed priority domains were: curriculum, students, faculty, and quality assurance and accreditation.Aim: To investigate publications in medical education at the national and international levels in areas relating to these proposed priorities.Methods: Electronic search within PubMed database for papers relating to each domain of priority was conducted at national and international levels in the last three years, using the same keywords as the priority domains, but only confined to undergraduate medical education.Results: Out of 3145 articles retrieved when searching with keyword as broad as “undergraduate medical curriculum” only 81 articles worldwide and 3 articles from Saudi Arabia were dealing with curriculum related issues as a whole. Further search on the sub-domains “effective strategies to manage undergraduate curriculum” and “undergraduate medical education models”, resulted in the retrieval of few articles worldwide and none from Saudi Arabia. At the national level, there were 63 publications from Saudi Arabia that were either course (topic)-specific or could not be classified under the four domains specified by Dr Al-Khuli’s Chair.Conclusion: Research activities in medical education in Saudi Arabia in the last 3 years showed diversity and lack of focus in the research priorities. Efforts of academic and research centers should continue to monitor and encourage these activities toward achieving the recommended priorities.

Problem This research investigated the understanding and perceptions of Saudi educators toward multiculturalism and multicultural education in Saudi Arabia. The research had three broad questions. The first question was, "What are Saudi educators’ conceptions of culture and multicultural education?" The second research question was, "What practices do educators employ concerning multicultural education?” The third research question was, "How do educators implement multicultural education for their students at schools with different levels of cultural diversity?" Method In this study, I used the qualitative multiple case study research design to explore the understanding and the attitudes of Saudi educators regarding multiculturalism and multicultural education. The study was applied in the Holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the most highly diverse cities in the whole country. The participants of this study were selected from two elementary schools with different levels of cultural diversity. The participants were varied in their school positions, teaching subjects, and levels of education. To collect the data of the study, I developed the interview protocol and conducted semi-structured interviews for teachers and administrators to understand Saudi educators' attitudes and perceptions regarding multicultural education. Interpretations The findings of the study were categorized into four themes. First, culture was defended into three different ways: a gained knowledge, customs and traditions, and an integrated life system. Second, the relationship between culture and education was seen from three different perspectives: the cultural background influences students' learning, the family's background influences students’ learning, and the school’s culture influences students’ learning. Third, participants' perspectives regarding multiculturalism and multicultural education were divided into three viewpoints: multiculturalism empowers the community and it improves students’ achievements at schools, multiculturalism empowers the teacher's performance in the classroom, and multiculturalism and multicultural education participate in losing the Islamic and Arabic identities for Saudi students. The fourth theme was related to teachers’ professional development. All participants agreed that training programs provided form the Educational Training Department did not reach their desired needs. Implications of the Study The findings of this research have implications regarding multiculturalism and multicultural education in Saudi Arabia. First, the meaning of multicultural education used in the western world was not compatible with the culture of Islamic societies, including Saudi people. Therefore, there is a need for developing a multicultural education philosophy for Arab and Muslim societies that take into account the Arabic and Islamic identities. Second, equity in education is the backbone of the education system in Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi teachers need to be informed about equity in education and students' rights to empower all students to succeed. Third, there is a need for developing an Arabic language learning program for non-Arabic speakers. The fourth implication is that teacher professional development programs need to be developed to prepare teachers to participate in building the future of the country.

The impact of an accreditation system on the quality of undergraduate medical education in Saudi Arabia

The purpose of the study was to explain the current status of gifted education in Saudi Arabia based on the Educational and Learning Capital Model. The researchers used a mixed method design with two research questions: (a) what is the current status in Saudi Arabia to serve gifted students based on the Educational and Learning Capital Model? (b) what did gifted education specialists’ believe about gifted education in Saudi Arabia based on the Educational and Learning Capital Model? The authors used three resources to collect data to answer the question: official documents, raw data, and a survey. The researchers evaluated Saudi Arabia’s experience in gifted education and shed a light on the strengths and weaknesses of this experience. A number of recommendations had been proposed to enhance Saudi Arabia’s experience in the field of gifted education.

RTT education in Saudi Arabia shows encouraging trends in clinical placement and formal education duration; however, challenges persist regarding curriculum standardization and integration of international guidelines. This study underscores the pressing need to develop a unified national curriculum, enhance faculty development, and expand RTTs' opportunities for professional growth nationwide.

This paper describes education in Saudi Arabia and how education in Saudi Arabia compares with education in Indonesia. The method used is a literature study. The education system implemented in Saudi Arabia certainly has differences from the education system implemented in Indonesia. For example, the education system in Saudi Arabia puts forward Islamic values because Saudi Arabia is a country that highly upholds syar'i values. Although Indonesia has not implemented an Islamic education system as a whole, Islamic values are still taught in schools. Regarding the curriculum, Saudi Arabia adopts the curriculum from other Arab countries such as Egypt and always develops the existing curriculum so that it doesn't change too much. This is different from Indonesia, which changes the curriculum quite often so that sometimes educators find it difficult to adapt to the new curriculum. These are some of the examples presented in this article. But the most important thing is that both Saudi Arabia and Indonesia always strive to achieve their educational goals, namely to prepare a virtuous and skilled generation in the effort to develop a better nation because education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.TRANSLATE with x EnglishArabicHebrewPolishBulgarianHindiPortugueseCatalanHmong DawRomanianChinese SimplifiedHungarianRussianChinese TraditionalIndonesianSlovakCzechItalianSlovenianDanishJapaneseSpanishDutchKlingonSwedishEnglishKoreanThaiEstonianLatvianTurkishFinnishLithuanianUkrainianFrenchMalayUrduGermanMalteseVietnameseGreekNorwegianWelshHaitian CreolePersian // TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster PortalBack//

Formal methods are widely used by using mathematical notations to precisely express requirements specification. In this paper, we discuss the formal specification using a case study of Examination Scheduling System (ESS). ESS is a system that generates exam schedule by using genetic algorithm. ESS is developed to solve the exam scheduling problem in order to reduce time-consuming for conventional manually managing the exam venue. By using genetic algorithm, it helps to generate exam schedule very fast and reduce time taken on processing the exam schedule manually. The formal specification of ESS using Z language is also presented in order to show the mapping of the implementation of ESS with its design by using the formal specification. The Z schema can effectively remove ambiguity presents in natural language specification. Hence, this will help to reduce defect in developing the system during implementation phase.

Emerging frontiers of pharmacy education in Saudi Arabia: The metamorphosis in the last fifty years

The origins of educational programs for gifted students can be traced to Plato’s writings (427–347 B. C. E.) and the works of the Muslim scholar Al Ghazali (1058–1111). Both philosophers believed in the importance of the intellectual elite in society. This article explores the nature of gifted education in Saudi Arabia in the context of this long tradition of educational programs and philosophies for the elite. Specifically, this study examines the relationships among a diverse set of socioeconomic status (SES) factors and the IQ scores of a group of gifted Saudi students. Data are drawn from a sample of 120 male Saudi students enrolled in the Mawhiba gifted program and compared against data from a larger sample of general population students reported in Batterjee (2011). While previous studies have shown the influence of SES variables on students’ cognitive abilities and educational outcomes, results from this study show that the effect of SES on Saudi elites is less than expected. For the Mawhiba students, only the age of the student had a significant effect on cognitive ability. Ultimately, the findings from this analysis show that gifted Saudi students are not currently receiving the educational care they need. Moreover, this study shows that gifted Saudi students would benefit from nine-year educational programs in specialized math and science academies. The introduction of these schools and programs would improve the state of gifted education in Saudi Arabia, which has been a national objective for the last three years.

This paper attempts to answer three questions about the challenges posed within Saudi Arabian society by recent developments in the Kingdom's higher education policies, namely: Is the promotion of higher education in accordance with religious values and heritage in Saudi Arabia? How can the Saudi Arabian vision of higher education reconcile globalization with respect for traditions, culture and beliefs? How does the current rapid development of higher education in Saudi Arabia affect social change in the country? This paper makes the point that, although education per se is not seen as a threat to religious values and heritage, the advance of globalization is sparking a debate inside and outside Saudi Arabia on how to reconcile tradition and globalization within the framework of the Kingdom's vision and plans for its higher education system.

Despite the predominance of perspectives on women’s leadership, which consistently emphasize the underrepresentation of women in virtually every sphere of political and economic life in countries around the world, very little is known about women’s leadership, especially in higher education, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This has resulted in a gap in the literature, since higher education is one area of employment where Saudi women have made progress, and in spite of complex social, religious, cultural and organisational barriers, some have broken through the glass ceiling into higher education leadership. One goal of this paper is to highlight, through a synthesis of existing literature, the current state of women’s higher education leadership in Saudi Arabia. The second goal of this paper is to propose new directions for future research to address the current dearth of empirical work on women’s leadership in higher education in Saudi Arabia. This may be relevant to other regions of the Middle East and elsewhere.

Integral to the process of imbuing organizations with meaning is educating future managers to lead with a sense of morality and purpose. Fundamentally, this is the role of ethical management education. While this field has developed substantially in the US and other developed economies, little scholarly attention has addressed the status and development of business ethics education in the Islamic world; our paper attempts to fill this gap. To this end, we analyze the state of ethics education in Saudi Arabia by measuring business students’ inclination toward corporate social responsibility. We conduct a two-part content analysis to evaluate the presence and quality of ethics education at the graduate/undergraduate levels. And finally, we propose a curriculum framework that integrates Islamic and Western moral philosophy to cultivate managers, in the Islamic world, with a global mindset focused on creating meaningful organizations. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that business ethics education in Saudi...

The study investigated the implementation of the UNCRC in primary education in Saudi Arabia through the perspectives of principals, teachers, and students, with the aim of informing policies and practices that better upheld children's rights and promoted holistic development. Employing a mixed-methods approach, including interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups, the research examined the implementation of the UNCRC in Saudi Arabian primary education. Principals, primary school teachers (both male and female), and children aged nine to 11 in Riyadh participated in the study, offering diverse perspectives on children's rights within the educational context. Through qualitative interviews, quantitative questionnaires, and participatory focus groups, the research comprehensively explored the challenges and opportunities associated with upholding children's rights in Saudi Arabian primary education. The results of the research revealed that teachers generally agreed on certain UNCRC principles, such as free primary education, prohibition of physical or emotional punishment, and respect for children regardless of background. However, uncertainties existed regarding the dissemination of the UNCRC in schools, cooperation between children's rights organizations and schools, and the active implementation of children's rights within educational settings. Children reported instances of teacher cruelty, harsh disciplinary actions, fear of retaliation for reporting violations, and discrimination based on various factors. Furthermore, inadequate facilities and safety concerns persisted, reflecting challenges in implementing UNCRC principles effectively. The research recommended exploring the professional development needs of Saudi educators to enhance their understanding and implementation of UNCRC-related principles.