Electronic books or Ebooks are becoming more and more common in colleges. In this research, the student book buying patterns are studied at a public engineering institution. Ebooks are becoming more and more common. Based on a research survey, we analyze whether students prefer ebooks or print editions. Comparisons are done across disciplines, level of the student (freshman to graduate), whether the student owns a laptop / desktop / tablet, student work commitments, financial needs, and age; among other factors. Some professors give the option of using the ebooks, while others do not. Students may or may not know about the availability of ebooks for their courses and this may impact their decision to choose either option. Students may make decisions to purchase ebooks or print edition based on cost, readability, availability, and ability to take notes, impact on the environment, ease of use, logistics and the level of the usage of the book in a given course. Students also take into account the resale value of the book at the end of the semester. These and other factors that lead to the student choice are studied. The goal of this study is to understand student book buying behaviors. Authors hope that both students and faculty members can be made aware of the various text book options available so they can make the best choices given the individual circumstances.

Academic Misconduct – What Students Think and a few Case StudiesAbstractThe purpose of this research is to explore, investigate and compile the anecdotal accounts ofacademic misconduct conducted by students in classes in higher education across disciplines.This research is a result of the combined efforts of faculty members representing the disciplinesof humanities, arts, social sciences, business, languages, music and various engineering fields.The goal is to bring to light the various methods and strategies that students use to cheat duringexams, quizzes, term papers etc. As a collaborative effort, the authors also investigate techniquesfaculty can use to prevent academic misconduct in both face-to-face and virtual classrooms.Student viewpoints are also presented as part of this study. Student responses are collectedthrough an anonymous survey. Students get a chance to reveal what motivates them to cheat inexams, quizzes and other assessments. They also indicate some of the techniques their peers usein supervised (e.g. tests, quizzes, exams etc.) and un-supervised (e.g. homework, projects, labreports, online environment etc.) assessments. The survey also reveals whether students are morelikely to cheat in the major required courses or non-major elective courses etc. Some of thetechniques that deter students from cheating are also discussed.In the preliminary results, it is observed that students are more likely to cheat in high valueassignments. Majority of the students indicate that the perception of the ethical values of theinstructor does not determine the level of prevalence of cheating in a class. Most of the studentsindicate that high moral and ethical standards, close monitoring of testing environments andseverity of the consequences deters them from cheating. A high percentage of the students tendto cheat in non-major required classes.

Building a Better Engineer: The Importance of Humanities in Engineering CurriculumAbstract:Engineers are thought to be experts in their field of interest and that is often where theirexpertise ends. Engineers on one hand are good critical thinkers but on the other often lackin communication and interpersonal skills. This lack of interpersonal and communicationskills may be attributed to the lack of importance given to these disciplines during theirengineering education. In this paper, we analyze the importance of humanities inengineering curriculum. Emphasis on liberal arts and humanities can prepare engineers tofulfill their cultural and civic responsibilities. For an engineering educator, it is vital toinculcate in the engineering students, the importance of studying humanities that can openup their minds to the use of creative ideas from great minds outside of science. Humanistsclaim that the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge techniques that engineers learn in theircollege curriculum have a limited shelf life. If they master the humanities, it can providetools for extending that shelf life. One of the most important aspects of engineering iseffective communication, both verbal and written. Humanities study can strengthen theability of engineers to work and communicate with others.

The purpose of this research was to identify extant music programs, their current practice trends; their curricula; and the purpose and philosophy of these music programs within the Jewish day schools located in the Eastern and Southern division of MENC: The national association for music education.

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic UniversityThe goal of an attendance policy is to improve the academic success of students. However,current literature does not provide clear conclusions whether enforcing an attendance policyactually improves student performance. This study explores student and faculty perceptionsregarding the utility of attendance policies in undergraduate courses at a polytechnic university.Anonymous surveys were completed by 89 faculty members and 455 responses from fiveschools (Engineering, Engineering Technology and Management, Computer and SoftwareEngineering, Architecture, and Arts and Sciences) on a single campus. Comparisons between theperceptions of students and faculty members are presented, as are comparisons between theperceptions of lower-level and upper-level students. Variations in perceptions based on major arealso highlighted. Finally, trends in perceptions regarding attendance policies in lower-levelversus upper-level undergraduate courses are revealed.Students, regardless of major, class standing, or course level, reported attending more classes incourses that had attendance policies. The most significant impact of an attendance policy onclass attendance was observed at the freshman level. While 84% of freshmen reported attendingat least 90% of the classes in a course with an attendance policy, only 67% reported attending atthat rate in a course without one. Qualitative data containing student and faculty attitudestowards attendance policies are also analyzed and discussed.Even though class attendance appeared to have improved as a result of attendance policies,students' perceptions about these policies varied significantly. Overall, the majority of students(51%) believed that, for a course with an attendance policy, the policy positively affected finalgrades. For a course without an attendance policy, the majority (57%) felt that the lack of apolicy had no impact of final grades. Faculty members' perceptions about attendance policieslikewise varied. Overall, 61% of the faculty members surveyed reported having an attendancepolicy in one or more of their courses. The majority of faculty members believed that anattendance policy led to improvements in students' grades in lower-level courses, but not inupper-level courses. Collectively, this study can help instructors make better informed decisionsabout the use of attendance policies in their courses.