Teaching system and network administration using virtual PC

The Department of Clinical Epidemiology (DCE) of the University of the Philippines Manila is the only higher education institution in the Philippines offering graduate studies in clinical epidemiology. The Master of Science Epidemiology (Clinical Epidemiology) was first offered in 1992, while the Diploma in Epidemiology (Clinical Epidemiology) was offered in 1998. While the courses of the programs are continuously updated based on students' feedback and advances on topics covered, the point of view of the students and alumni on the program as a whole has not been done. This study aimed to determine 1) self-reported current positions and affiliations, work areas where clinical epidemiology (CE) training is useful, and skills gained from CE training; 2) research studies completed and deemed by respondents to have considerable impact; and 3) strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement of the DCE graduate programs. This is an online survey of students and alumni of the DCE graduate programs. We sent email invites to all 287 students and alumni. We collected data on their profession, institutional affiliations, positions, skills gained from their training, areas of clinical epidemiology applications, important research involvement, reasons for recommending or not recommending the programs, and how the graduate programs can be improved. Responses were summarized by frequencies and percentages. An analyst performed qualitative content analysis (QCA) to generate strengths and weaknesses of the program. We validated the results of the QCA through 1) presentation to the research team, 2) sending the survey report to study participants and other students and alumni for feedback, and 3) presentation to the DCE faculty and staff. We received 159 responses (55.4% of the total study population)-145 (91.2%) were from the MSc program and 11 (6.9%) were from the Diploma program. Majority of the respondents were physicians (93.7%), had hospital affiliations (81.8%), and were affiliated with the academe (61%). Majority of the respondents used clinical epidemiology in their research endeavors (87.4%), clinical practice (85.5%), and teaching (78%). Majority (93.1%) would recommend the program they have taken. Eleven (6.9%) respondents were hesitant due to the possible mismatch with the students' career path, challenging thesis work, and potential conflicting personal responsibilities. Several strengths of the programs were identified, including excellent and well-implemented programs, supportive faculty and staff, and relevant course work. While completing the course work had not been a problem in general, the main challenge encountered by students is the completion of their thesis, leading to a low graduation rate in the Master of Science program. Suggestions to improve the Master of Science and Diploma programs include 1) Improvement in program implementation, including thesis policies and support, smoother transition from Diploma to MSc Program and vice-versa, and implementation of a blended learning platform; 2) Curricular improvements such as wider choices for electives and tracking towards specialty areas; 3) Innovations in conduct of courses; and 4) Personnel and infrastructure development. This survey reiterated the importance of clinical epidemiology graduate programs in research capacity building of health care professionals. Students and alumni occupied diverse positions in academic, research, clinical, and pharmaceutical setting, and majority accomplished research studies with considerable impact. A major challenge leading to a low graduation rate in the Master of Science program is the completion of thesis work. The survey identified several initiatives towards continuous quality improvement of clinical epidemiology programs, including improvement of thesis policies and support, updating the curriculum content and materials, increasing allotment of hours for hands-on activities, exploring possibilities of offering electives in partnership with other institutions, offering a blended learning platform, maintaining an efficient administrative support for students, and continuing education for alumni. Strong institutional support for personnel and infrastructure development is essential for these initiatives to succeed.

Virtual machines provide a secure environment within which students may install, configure, and experiment with operating system, network, and database software. This paper describes experiences teaching three advanced courses in system and network administration, information security and assurance, and database administration using VMware workstation in a shared student laboratory. The paper describes benefits and challenges in course and lab configuration, security, and administration.

Factors Influencing the Uptake of Taught Master's Programmes Among Physiotherapists

Higher education in Indonesia plays a pivotal role in preparing a generation ready for the professional world. The curriculum of the Master's Program in Sharia Science at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta is integral to this mission. However, this research identifies gaps in the curriculum that do not fully align with alumni needs and job market demands. A field study involving 104 alumni from September 2018 to August 2022 was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method with an empirical approach. Data was collected via a survey sent to alumni and analyzed using Ralph W. Tyler's theory and James A. Banks' multicultural education theory. Findings reveal that courses like Fiqh Studies, Sharia Science, and Islamic Family Law in Indonesia were highly valued and should be further developed. Conversely, courses such as Falak Science and Arabic Text Reading were seen as less relevant and suggested for removal. Additionally, the replacement of the final project with journal publication was criticized. The analysis suggests that the curriculum should evolve to better reflect societal diversity and complexity. The proposed changes emphasize developing relevant courses and revising or eliminating those deemed less beneficial. These recommendations aim to ensure that the Sharia Science Master's Program remains responsive, inclusive, and capable of producing graduates who can compete in the global era.

While policy-makers and educators are thinking hard about making a more marketable Ph.D., a few universities have actually taken steps to equip their students with a broader doctorate. Some of those steps are examined here, and a sidebar takes a peek at a new science master's program, tailored for industry employment.

This paper proposes to adopt the emerging Professional Science Master (PSM) program as a model for enriching power engineering education. PSM programs provide comprehensive training in an academic and technical specialty along with the appropriate professional skills needed for a professional career. The paper outlines the new PSM program-MS in Electric Power Systems Engineering. The program encompasses engineering, management, and other professional skills needed for a successful career in the power engineering industry, and includes both in-depth core power engineering topics as wells as new cross-disciplinary technical topics relevant to the clean-energy Smart Grid.

BackgroundWhile evaluation is, in theory, a component of training programmes in health planning, training needs in this area remain significant. Improving health systems necessarily calls for having more professionals who are skilled in evaluation. Thus, the Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and the Université de Montréal (Canada) have partnered to establish, in Burkina Faso, a master's-degree programme in population and health with a course in programme evaluation. This article describes the four-week (150-hour) course taken by two cohorts (2005–2006/2006–2007) of health professionals from 11 francophone African countries. We discuss how the course came to be, its content, its teaching processes and the master's programme results for students.MethodsThe conceptual framework was adapted from Kirkpatrick's (1996) four-level evaluation model: reaction, learning, behaviour, results. Reaction was evaluated based on a standardized questionnaire for all the master's courses and lessons. Learning and behaviour competences were assessed by means of a questionnaire (pretest/post-test, one year after) adapted from the work of Stevahn L, King JA, Ghere G, Minnema J: Establishing Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators. Am J Eval 2005, 26(1):43–59. Master's programme effects were tested by comparing the difference in mean scores between times (before, after, one year after) using pretest/post-test designs. Paired sample tests were used to compare mean scores.ResultsThe teaching is skills-based, interactive and participative. Students of the first cohort gave the evaluation course the highest score (4.4/5) for overall satisfaction among the 16 courses (3.4–4.4) in the master's programme. What they most appreciated was that the forms of evaluation were well adapted to the content and format of the learning activities. By the end of the master's programme, both cohorts of students considered that they had greatly improved their mastery of the 60 competences (p < 0.001). This level was maintained one year after completing the master's degree, except for reflective practice (p < 0.05). Those who had carried out an evaluation in the intervening 12 months reported a negative gap between their declared mastery and their actual application. However, this is only statistically significant for reflective practice (p < 0.05).ConclusionThis study shows the importance of integrating summative evaluation into the learning process. Skills-based teaching is much appreciated and well-adapted. Creating a master's programme in population and health in Africa and providing training in evaluation to high-level health professionals from many countries augurs well for scaling up the practice of evaluation in African health systems.

We present a system for automatically and iteratively grading student work in a Systems Administration course. This system can grade and give feedback regarding live (running) virtual machines the students have configured. It is appropriate for both face-to-face and online course offerings.

This research attempts the implementation of an improved smartphone application for remote system administration. The work was motivated by the inability of network administrators to access their virtual servers from a remote location without worrying about the security implications, inaccurate and unreliable reports from a third party whenever he is out of town. The cloud server can be monitored and administered because various task such as creating users, manage users (grant access, block or delete users), restart server and shutdown server can be handled by the remote system administrator. This will involve of securing the system with a one-way hashing of encrypted password and a device ID for only whitelisted devices to be granted access. It will be observed that remote access for system administration can be implemented using a smartphone app based on a Point-to-Point Protocol and also reveal the advantages of PPP protocol, therefore making the enormous responsibilities of a remote system administrator much easier to accomplish.

1.1 - Commentary

5.2 - On the Complexity of Change and Configuration Management

Michael Genovese's summer 1985 article, “Politics and Science Fiction Films,” is an excellent introduction to the broader topic of futurism and forecasting as methods of public policy analysis. These methods can be an interesting and challenging aspect of a graduate public administration course in public policy analysis.“The future does not simply happen. We create it. We can choose our future.” Accepting this assumption, I have integrated futures studies and forecasting into the Troy State University European Region graduate public administration course, “Policy and Decision Making in Government.” The course is a required component of a master's degree program offered under contract with the U.S. Air Force European Command. I have taught the course seven times, at bases in England, Turkey, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.

After a long period of stagnation in the last decades of 20th Century Russia started investing into development of IT and engineering education. In 2017 Kazan Federal University launched a novel master program in Intelligent Robotics, which was established based on the analysis of curriculums of world leading universities in robotics field and is being taught in English language. The paper presents result of surveys that were conducted among first year students of Robot Operating System (ROS) course, which serves as a basic backbone of the program. We analyzed dynamics of English language comprehension, self-efficiency, and active learning strategies among students within a semester while highlighting their attitude and motivation to study ROS as a part of robotics education. Special language environment was created during the class that allowed students to obtain positive results of material comprehension in English language. Additionally, a significant increase of motivation in studying robotics was observed among the students.

SEEDS–The international postgraduate master program for preparing young systems engineers for space exploration

Students, who are leaving their home country for taking part in an international study program, face several challenges. Not only the new course of studies can be very challenging but also their whole living conditions may change significantly. This can be a severe clash especially for students who are moving to a country with a totally different cultural background in comparison to their home countries. Moreover, it can profoundly complicate the first weeks at the new university. Knowing about the difficulties the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction (IUL) at TU Dortmund University in Germany developed a preparational online course for those international students, who are coming to the IUL for their Master of Science program in Manufacturing Technology (MMT; a special international master program). In context of this course the use of the IUL’s remote laboratory equipment was a key aspect. The course itself was implemented and delivered for the first time in 2014. By now a second updated edition was delivered in 2015. It was designed to prepare the students as best as possible for their new studies at a German university and at the same time prepare them for transnational collaboration. Hence, this course is a good example for a meaningful integration of remote laboratories into an innovative online course concept. On the one hand making use of remote laboratories and its practical integration in online courses helps to connect the international students and on the other hand it brings them into the situation to interact in context of a typical engineering situation, the experiment. The paper presents the course itself and experiences from its first and second implementation.