EDSIGCON Proceeding 2016

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Review of Masters in Business Analytics Curriculum

Wendy Ceccucci
Quinnipiac University

S Kruck
James Madison University

Alan Peslak
Penn State University - Worthington Scranton

Patricia Sendall
Merrimack College

Scott Hunsinger
Appalachian State University

Stephen Hill
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Tuesday - 11/8/2016 in Sierra 3 & 4 at 9:50 am
https://iscap.us/proceedings/2016/abstracts/4188.html

The number of large data sets, popularly known as “big data” continues to grow exponentially. Businesses in every industry have an ever increasing need for analysts to interpret, use, and present the information that can be gleamed from this data. (Regan, 2014) However ,the amount of data is growing faster than the number of specialists trained to analyze it: According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the U.S. is facing a shortage of up to 190,000 analysts and 1.5 million managers within the next four years. To meet this shortage, many universities are now offering degrees in data science, business analytics, and business intelligence. According to North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics the number of Master degree programs in data science, business analytics, and analytics have increased more than tenfold in the last five years, from under 10 programs in 2011 to over hundred programs in 2016. The purpose of this research is to review Masters of Science in Business Analytics programs. ....

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An Analysis of Challenges Confronting Big Data Research in the Physical and Social Sciences

James Lawler
Pace University

H. Howell-Barber
Pace University

Tuesday - 11/8/2016 in Sierra 5 at 9:50 am
https://iscap.us/proceedings/2016/abstracts/4186.html

The advantages of Big Data are apparent in applications in different fields of research. The authors of the paper consider an evaluation of Big Data in the physical and social sciences. The goal of the paper is to explore factors facilitating or not facilitating the inclusion of governmental and industrial data bases for interpretation by researchers. The information in the data bases is broad and complex covering dimensions from agriculture, climate and energy to genomics and physics and is expanding in further fields of the sciences. The methodology of the paper is focused on the efficacy and efficiency of information policies perceived to be open to researchers that will be surveyed by the authors in a preliminary period of study. ....

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The Language of Text: How Typeface and Emojis Affect Student Perception of Online Instructors

Michelle Louch
Duquesne University

Robert Bajko
Ryerson University

Elizabeth Stork
Robert Morris University

Tuesday - 11/8/2016 in Sierra 3 & 4 at 10:05 am
https://iscap.us/proceedings/2016/abstracts/4190.html

Typeface design and its influence on the reader’s perception is neither a new science nor a deep secret. As nearly a century of studies on typeface atmospheres and metacommunication demonstrate, understanding and acknowledging that a word’s appearance is as important as its meaning is critical for users of written language. In online education, communication is typically limited to emails, instant messages, and discussion boards. Face-to-face, synchronous interaction is not a given. As a result, the student’s perception of his or her online instructors is highly influenced by the words on the screen. In addition to the content, the appearance of text takes on significant meaning and students are likely to ascribe the typeface’s attributes to the personality of the instructor. Emoticons, the combination of the words and icons/images that symbolize emotions, were introduced in 1982 to represent facial expressions (Dresner & Herring, 2010; Hogenboom et al., 2013). In the 1990s, the Japanese introduced emojis, a term which literally means “picture”(e) ”character” (moji) (Park et al., 2013). These are symbols used to express an idea or emotion in a visually suggestive and appealing way (Yuasa et al., 2006). ....

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Instructional Design Skills, Methods, and Knowledge in the era of MOOCs: A Research Proposal

Sarohini Chahal
Columbia University

Tuesday - 11/8/2016 in Sierra 5 at 10:05 am
https://iscap.us/proceedings/2016/abstracts/4187.html

The profession of instructional design continues to evolve as new technologies emerge. The exponential growth of e-learning technologies, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), have provided the field of instructional design a variety of opportunities and some unique challenges. MOOCs, which are open, free, and can thus include an unlimited audience size, are accelerating. The total number of participants nationally grew from 16-18 million in 2014 to over 35 million in 2015. In 2015, 1800 new MOOC courses were announced, bringing the total to 4200 announced since its inception (Shah, 2015). Managing an increasingly compressed MOOC production plan and catering to massive audiences poses challenges of quick development and iteration. Unfortunately, little is known of current skills, methods, and knowledge instructional designers employ to successfully develop MOOCs for the aforementioned challenges. The present work aims to address the following research questions: (1) What skills, methods, and knowledge do instructional designers employ for successful development of a MOOC course? (2) Which skills, methods, and knowledge do instructional designers find most important to the successful development of a MOOC course? ....