Institute of Business Management, Karachi, Pakistan: Journal Management System
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Evolution and Advancement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to Revolutionize Education Sector via Disruptive Technology: The Case of Pakistan
No full textMassive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is a relatively recent advancement in the distance learning and online education. With the strategic collaboration of the founders of MOOC (MIT and Harvard University), many universities and institutions across the world offer a variety of courses in numerous domains. MOOCs have disrupted the global education sector by providing free to subsidized inclusive education. These include state-of-the-art pedagogies, assessment tools and interactive cum engaging learning sessions. This article aims to discover the opportunities and inclinations of adult students in Pakistan toward MOOC, especially their awareness, perceptions, peer and mentor advice and self-motivation and commitment to do such courses. The study deployed in-depth interviews under phenomenology approach using Delphi method for this study. Twenty-four students from management sciences department of a leading university in Karachi were selected: 12 who had done courses through MOOC and 12 who had never done any course on MOOC. Ten experts on distance education and online education were selected through snowball sampling method for the study. The findings uncovered that the inclination of the students towards MOOC is at its inception stage
Personal Characteristics as determinants of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy among University Students in Pakistan
Full text linkEntrepreneurship is considered as a solution to unemployment. It is believed that Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE) is imperative for a person to be an entrepreneur. This study aims to examine the determinants of ESE among university students in Pakistan. This is one of the fundamental constructs in the psychology of entrepreneurship research and often integrated in entrepreneurial intentions models to explain why some persons are more likely than others to become entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Scale prepared by Chen, Greene, and Crick (1998) was used in this study for collecting data. Total 800 questionnaires were distributed among conveniently selected students out of which 742 completely filled questionnaires were returned with a response rate of 92.75%. The results revealed a significant difference between bachelor and master class students in terms of ESE. The model R-squared indicated that 5.7 percent of the variation in the ESE is explained by the personal characteristics. The paper concludes by pointing out some limitations of the study and discussing the possible effect of personal characteristics on ESE
Mothers Perceptions of the Role of Pre-schools in the Development of Self-regulation Skills in Children
No full textIt is considered agreed upon that self-regulation is an important determinant of academic success. Studies suggest that self-regulation begins to develop early in childhood, that is, the pre-school years. This study attempts to find out if mothers of three-year-old children consider it necessary to send their children to preschool and if they consider preschools to be satisfactorily developing their children’s self-regulation skills. Thus, 20 semi-structured qualitative interviews from mothers of preschoolers, belonging to the upper-middle class of Karachi were conducted. Findings indicate that mothers generally deem preschool to be a necessary activity based center for their children, where they could develop trusting relationships with their peers and teachers and learn to regulate their emotions, thereby developing the overall self-regulation skills in them. Interestingly, a major underlying source of this perception is the demographic changes including the prevalence of more nuclear families and the increasing trend of working mothers in Pakistani societ
WHEAT YIELD PREDICTION USING NEURAL NETWORK AND INTEGRATED SVM-NN WITH REGRESSION
Full text linkThe production of wheat plays an important role in Pakistan’s economy. Wheat yield forecasting is significant farming problem as it’s the most important crop of Pakistan. Prediction of the wheat yield has been determined by data mining techniques with different environmental factors. Data mining techniques have been developed for analysing and implementation on wheat yield dataset to predict the yield which is very helpful to produce wheat. In this study, Neural Network and a Novel Integrated approach of Neural Network, Support Vector Machine and Regression are used to analyze and estimates the wheat yield production. We have used these predictive techniques with area, yield, production, soil pH, temperature, air pressure, rainfall, water availability, humidity, pesticides and fertilizer parameter for wheat yield prediction
Identification of key issues and challenges in mobile app development: An insight in to Pakistan industry
Full text linkWith the rapid growth in usage of mobile phones specifically the smart phones, there is an ever increasing demand for latest mobile apps. With this demand, comes the challenge for developers to build apps in such a way as to provide security, easy navigation, efficient memory utilization and reliability to the end users. To find out these and other challenges that are commonly faced by developers, a survey was conducted specifically for the Pakistan industry. It was found that time and budget constraints play vital role in delivering apps to customers at right time. As far as features are concerned security and integration with third party API provide a challenge to the developers
Understanding Women’s Perceptions of Promoting Education and Policy Initiatives about Climate Change in Rural Areas of Sindh, Pakistan
Full text linkClimate change is inevitable issue of modern world. Women often share the greater burden of all the impacts due to their lower knowledge base that leads to their limited adaptive capacity. Studies suggests that knowledge and education can result in better resilience and sustainable development. It helps in encouraging changes in attitude and behaviors that help them adapt to climate changes. This paper aims to explore the understanding of local rural women regarding current climate change education perception and try to gauge their knowledge of the policy initiatives that have been taken in this areas. A qualitative study was chosen to explore the current understanding for this study. The interviews of 20 women participants from rural areas of Sindh were taken. The study finding reveled that there is a lack of awareness regarding any policy initiatives and education programs, the main reasons for this may be lower literacy level and cultural hindrance they face in developing knowledge. The Lack of gender inclusiveness at all the levels was also highlighted as key issue
Conducting Narrative Studies in Pakistan: Reflections from the Field
Full text linkThis reflective paper emerges from the reflections on my experience to carry out narrative studies in Pakistan —a country where narrative research in education is still very young. Field-notes, reflective journals and research memos were the key sources of triggering reflections on my learning to take the identity of a narrative researcher in a context where this approach is very young. My reflections show the learning experience in conceptualising and practicing narrative studies in the country. The paper shows that I took the roles of an insider, co-constructor of stories, and trust-builder while taking up the identity of a narrative researcher in Pakistan. In addition, becoming a gender sensitive and knowing language and culture of the research participants enabled me to take up the role smoothly. Findings have pertinent implications for life history research studies in Pakistan and elsewhere
Local players giving a run for the share to a global giant: A case study of Pampers brand of Proctor and Gamble Pakistan
No full textPakistan is a densely populated country with a population of around 200 million people with an annual birth rate of 29.8 births/1000 people that approximates to around 13 million babies per year with a majority of births in tier three and four socio-economic classes (Geoba, 2017). Based on marvelous demand and consumption patterns, the market for diapers seemed ever-increasing. This instrumental single case based study addressed the concerns regarding competitiveness of Pampers with other diaper brands. It undertook eight interviews from industry experts till saturation point and availed thematic analysis technique to categorize themes pertinent with core issues. Pampers is an expensive brand, primarily due to its higher cost of importing and local value additions. Despite being a global giant in diaper industry and having first mover advantage in Pakistan, the company is continuously losing its value and volume share against much cheaper local players since 2013. The case addressed shortcomings of Pampers Pakistan that were needed to be addressed and strategic branding and marketing decisions that were likely to regain its market share. Their marketing strategists realized revisiting its procurement plans, pricing strategies and distribution strategies, and brand management on urgent basis in order to maintain its sustainable competitive advantage
Competency Assurance Management System: Enhancement of Assessment and Verification Process
Full text linkThe paper addresses Competency Assurance Management Systems (CAMS): design, developing and implementing of learning programs. Competency Development Framework (DFW) skills profile of a specific job consists of set of components: competencies, levels of proficiency, and Performance Criteria -Behavior Indicators. To implement CAMS DFWs successfully, the learning development programs need to meet the SMART principles. One of which is to be measurable through mapping real work tasks to a specific Key performance Indicator(s) and achievable through mapping them to a specific competence(s). Competencies achievement may be ensured though conducting assessments. The paper explores the quality of assessment and verification (A&V) process that make CAMS DFW implementation more effective and reliable. It focuses on technical coaching as a main stage of the A&V process and how to enhance its quality and the outcome of the CAMS system accordingly
Artificial Intelligence Based Load Scheduling for Plugged in Electric Vehicles in Smart Grid
Full text linkPlugged in Electric Vehicles (PHEV’s) are enormously eco friendly and highly appreciated transportation system in various developed countries. The PHEV’s integration into the conventional grid required significant modifications in order to control load shedding, reducing unit cost, even out peak demands in quest to make a grid reliable. Recent research studies are mainly focusing to counter these issues by employing multi objective optimization techniques. The objective of this method is to reduce demand; energy cost and enhances the presence of PHEV’s for charging and discharging by creating substantial scheduling vector. This research work has proposed split scheduling vector to charge and discharge an EV, to achieve the required results by minimizing peak to average demand ratio (PAR) and generate profit for the owners by decreasing the total energy cost