TAPMI was proud to host the Third Editon of  FDP (Faculty Development Program) on SEM (Structured Equation Modeling) using R Studio on October 6-7, 2018. The program was carried out as a workshop by Dr.Kartikeya Bolar, using hands on lab sessions with valid data sets and RStudio. Dr. Kartikeya Bolar  has 15 years of Academic and Research experience. The program was open to Faculty Members and Research Scholars. Structured Equation Modelling (SEM) has emerged as one of the most powerful approach/tool to look at relationships between data. Consider a situation where a series of dependent-independent relationships are examined simultaneously or a situation where the validity of the measure has to be established. These situations are typical in research in most disciplines like psychology, marketing, organizational and information systems research. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) provides the power to analyse such situations. In research publications, use of SEM is considered to be the epitome of rigor. Several software packages exist for fitting structural equation models like LISREL, Mplus, EQS and Amos. However either they are not easy to use; and even one is determined to master its complexity, the cost of the software would be too high to fit the pocket of the institute with adequate number of licenses for entire faculty. In contrast an open source software which is easy to use and available to everyone on an individual basis which one can use at will whenever was the logic for swinging to R.The learning outcomes of the program were as follows

• Create structural and measurement models using RStudio
• Determine the reliability and validity of the constructs
• Analyze the structural relationships between the constructs
• Integrate and post the results of the analysis appropriately in a research paper

The program was attended by 5 participants which included faculty members from  JKSHIM (Nitte), School of Management (Manipal University)and TAPMI. The inaugural address and the official release of the Web application on “Structural Equation Modelling”  was  done by Dr. Raghunath Rudran ,Dean Reseach , TAPMI. The Web application  designed by Dr. Kartikeya incorporates Dynamic Research Writing feature which means a narrative will be prepared dynamically integrating the results of the technique. The Web application can be accessed on any device and any platform without any requirement of installation of any software. The link to the web application is  https://kartikeyab.shinyapps.io/semwebappk/.The feedback was collected from the participants about the program. The mean rating of the participants about the program is 4.6 out of 5. The participants appreciated the design of the program, the knowledge, efforts and commitment of the resource person in conveying complex concepts with ease..