Abstract
Online masters’ program chairs need up-to-date information to monitor efficiently and effectively all the courses in the program for which they are responsible. Learning Management Systems supporting the operation of the online programme collect vast amounts of data about the learning process. These systems are geared to support individual teachers and students, not program chairs. This article presents the process that led to the development of a Dashboards for program chairs, based upon an analysis of their regular supervision tasks, decision-making information needs, and available data in the learning management system, Moodle. The information presented via the dashboard is aggregated and contextualised for all students enrolled in the program, in all its courses, contributing to improve decision-making in program chairing. The dashboard prototype is presented as a concrete outcome of this process, which can be replicated to achieve more advanced and updated versions, hopefully contributing to better program chairing. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract

Abstract
Informatics engineers are currently in the spotlight of innovation. It is, therefore, relevant to analyse and reflect on how higher education can, and should, prepare future engineers to innovate as expected in this ever-changing world. This paper aims to further research and foster scholarly debate regarding the requirements and implications of teaching innovation. For that purpose, we examine an exploratory case study on interdisciplinary cooperation between two higher education courses, designed to promote students’ active learning of innovation through the progressive development of their soft and hard skills. Both courses engaged in an emancipatory pedagogical approach, mostly grounded in project-based work, active learning, and formative assessment. To obtain feedback on this interdisciplinary cooperation, questionnaires were devised to ascertain the students’ perceptions about this pedagogical approach. Individual responses were collected from both courses and data was analysed through simple statistical procedures. Articulating a priori soft skills development with a posteriori hard skills learning process is perceived by students as beneficial in gradually, yet successfully, understanding the subject of innovation. Also, there were even some external success indicators which showed the recognition of successful innovation skills development in informatics engineering students. Thus, according to students’ perceptions of their experience with an emancipatory pedagogy that connected soft with hard skills development, we conclude that such approach encouraged students to create new knowledge and allowed them to develop the necessary skills to innovate.

Abstract
Brazil has been failing to offer the most favorable conditions for the implementation of onshore wind farms, due to the presence of multiple barriers. However, the country has observed a fast and expressive wind energy (WE) diffusion (the installed WE capacity grew 37 times in the last decade). Furthermore, its onshore wind farms have reached impressive capacity factors (with productivity levels much higher than the average around the world) and a very low levelized cost of electricity. This study aims at identifying how wind developers plan onshore wind farms to overcome existing barriers. Based on forty-one interviews with relevant stakeholders of the Brazilian WE sector, the study identified efforts targeted at overcoming twenty-four previously identified barriers. Although most barriers may be overcome directly through developer initiatives, addressing higher level barriers, namely an unstable macroeconomic environment, a poor transmission infrastructure, and inadequate access to capital, depends on government actions.

Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to research the way in which Lean practices are affecting the performance of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), analyzing the effects of Lean practices on companies' operational, financial and market performance. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was distributed among Portuguese organizations that fitted the category of SMEs and belonged to the manufacturing sector. A sample of 329 enterprises was analyzed with partial least squares-structural equation modelling. Four hypotheses on the impact of Lean practices on company performance were tested. Findings The results show that the effects of Lean on performance are positive, which stresses the benefits attainable with the implementation of Lean practices. The aggregated implementation of Lean practices, namely, customer involvement, statistical process, continuous flow and total productive maintenance leads to improvements in company's global performance measured by market, financial and operational performance measures, and also improves each of these performance measures individually. It was also noticed that financial capability is one of the indispensable factors for the successful implementation of Lean practices. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the impact of the effect of Lean on operational, financial and market performance in a discriminated and simultaneous way.

Abstract
Onshore wind energy (WE) has achieved a significant diffusion worldwide, in spite of the existence of multiple barriers to the large-scale implementation of wind farms. These barriers have been reported in a large number of studies, but the literature is lacking a systematized overview of their categories and locations. Based on a framework for the analysis of barriers to the penetration of renewable energy sources proposed by Painuly [363], this systematic literature review contributes to addressing this gap, identifying barriers to the large-scale implementation of onshore wind farms by category (market failures, market distortions, economic and financial, institutional, technical, social and other barriers) and location (countries around the world), and characterizing them by the level of economic development (least developed, developing, in transition, and developed) and stage of diffusion (recent or advanced) in their locations. The framework showed a high level of fit with the case of WE and allowed the identification of 31 barriers in 159 countries. The barriers were found to be mostly present in developing economies with recent diffusion, although some barriers were found to occur broadly across developed economies, regardless of the stage of diffusion. The three most frequently observed barriers were the inadequate consideration of externalities, uncertain and unsupportive governmental policies, and insufficient transmission grids.