Research Article
Hung-Hsuan Kao, Chiou-Hui Chou
Mediterranean Journal of Social & Behavioral Research, Volume 2, Issue 1, pp. 3-7
ABSTRACT
Since 2006, the Ministry of Education in Taiwan has collaborated with universities to launch synchronous online one-on-one tutoring in afterschool programs at rural schools to provide educational e-learning opportunities. The purpose of implementing the free online tutoring program is further to bridge the gap of students’ academic performance and the gap of learning opportunities between urban and rural schools. This study investigated how EFL university students learned to tutor junior high students English in an online afterschool program. Twenty-two students participated in this tutoring program. The research data were collected from the tutors’ reflective journal notes after each tutoring session, meeting discussions, and the post-project survey. Research results showed this tutoring project inspired the tutors to be teachers, to develop their sense of responsibility, to be independent, and to learn to care students. This study then offers pedagogical implications and suggestions for researchers and educators interested in researching into this topic.
Keywords: EFL, online tutoring, synchronous online tutoring
Research Article
Joghee Shanmugan, Sajal Kabiraj
Mediterranean Journal of Social & Behavioral Research, Volume 2, Issue 1, pp. 9-17
ABSTRACT
Academia-industry partnerships have been discussed before by many researchers and during the last two decades and academic spin-offs have received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their ability to advance industrial application of scientific knowledge. (Barbara et al, 2013). The outcomes of these spin-offs have not generated much enthusiasm amongst the industry due to consistent failures. This fact can be attributed to the fact that there are concerns which needs to be addressed like clear guidelines on joint ownerships, IP ownership patterns, patents, profit sharing and technology transfer norms amongst others. The idea that universities should go beyond education and research and undertake a third mission of direct interaction and contribution to the industry has found increased attention in past decade. This direct interaction and contribution in the form of university incubations and spinoffs provides a win-win situation for both universities as well as the industry. However, it is not easy to manage these university start-ups. This paper makes an attempt to explore the challenges faced by university spinoffs and present incubators as a potential enabler to overcome such challenges. The study identifies some of the important challenges that university spinoffs face such as product development, technology push problem, finances, market uncertainty, human capital and business strategy. The research tries to facilitate the establishment of clear guidelines for collaborative win-win partnership amongst academia and industry.
Keywords: university industry linkages, spin-offs, product development, technology, human capital