Search results for: pedagogical skills

Authors: Tamer Mesallam, Medhat Yousef, Ayna Almasaad

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BACKGROUND: Cochlear implantation (CI) in children with additional disabilities can be a fundamental and supportive intervention. Although, there may be some positive impacts of CI on children with multiple disabilities such as better outcomes of communication skills, development, and quality of life, the families of those children complain from the post-implant habilitation efforts that considered as a burden. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the outcomes of CI children with different co-disabilities through using the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) and the Meaningful Use of Speech Scale (MUSS) as outcome measurement tools. METHODS: The study sample comprised 25 hearing-impaired children with co-disability who received cochlear implantation. Age and gender-matched control group of 25 cochlear-implanted children without any other disability has been also included. The participants' auditory skills and speech outcomes were assessed using MAIS and MUSS tests. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in the different outcomes measure between the two groups. However, the outcomes of some multiple disabilities subgroups were comparable to the control group. Around 40% of the participants with co-disabilities experienced advancement in their methods of communication from behavior to oral mode. CONCLUSION: Cochlear-implanted children with multiple disabilities showed variable degrees of auditory and speech outcomes. The degree of benefits depends on the type of the co-disability. Long-term follow-up is recommended for those children.

Keywords: children with disabilities, Cochlear implants, hearing impairment, language development

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Authors: Marianne Paimre

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Estonia is heralded as the most successful digital country in the world with the highly acclaimed eHealth system. Yet 40% of the 65–74-year-olds do not use the Internet at all, and digital divide between young and elderly people's use of ICT is larger than in many advanced countries. Poor access to ICT resource and insufficient digital skills can lead to detachment from digital health resources, delayed diagnoses, and increased rates of hospitalization. To reveal digital divide within the elderly population itself, the presentation focuses on the health information behavior of Estonian seniors who either continue or have stopped working after retirement to use digital health applications. The author's main interest is on access, trust, and skills to use the Internet for medical purposes. Fifteen in-depth interviews with 65+ working persons, as well as 15 interviews with full-time retirees, were conducted. Also, six think-aloud protocols were conducted. The results indicate that older adults, who due to the nature of their work, have regular access to computers, often search for health-related information online. They exposed high source criticism and were successful in solving the given tasks. Conversely, most of the fully retired older adults claimed not using computers or other digital devices and cited lack of skills as the main reason for their inactivity. Thus, when developing health applications, it should be borne in mind that the ability and willingness of older adults to use e-solutions are very different.

Keywords: digital divide, digital healthcare, health information behavior, older adults

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Authors: Dina L. DiSantis

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Development and implementation of a place-based watershed science course for high school students will prove to be a valuable experience for both student and teacher. By having students study and assess the watershed dynamics of a local stream, they will better understand how human activities affect this valuable resource. It is important that students gain tangible skills that will help them to have an understanding of water quality analysis and the importance of preserving our Earth's water systems. Having students participate in real world practices is the optimal learning environment and can offer students a genuine learning experience, by cultivating a knowledge of place, while promoting education for sustainability. Additionally, developing a watershed science course for high school students will give them a hands-on approach to studying science; which is both beneficial and more satisfying to students. When students conduct their own research, collect and analyze data, they will be intimately involved in addressing water quality issues and solving critical water quality problems. By providing students with activities that take place outside the confines of the indoor classroom, you give them the opportunity to gain an appreciation of the natural world. Placed-based learning provides students with problem-solving skills in everyday situations while enhancing skills of inquiry. An overview of a place-based watershed science course and its impact on student learning will be presented.

Keywords: education for sustainability, place-based learning, watershed science, water quality

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Authors: Athanasia Kouroupa

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Existing research highlights the effect of employing robots in sessions with children and young people on the autism spectrum to develop and practice skills important to independent and functional living. The systematic review aimed to explore the way robots has been used with children and young people on the autism spectrum and the effect of using robots as a therapeutic interface. An electronic bibliographic database search using a combination of expressions was conducted. Data were extracted in relation to robot types, session characteristics, and outcomes and analysed using narrative synthesis. Forty studies were selected in the review. Humanoid robots were predominantly used to practice a range of social and communication skills. On average, children and young people on the autism spectrum had five sessions, twice a week, for approximately half an hour. Having sessions with a robot was commonly equal to or more effective than 'traditional' interventions delivered by a human therapist or having no therapy. The review reported encouraging outcomes to practice and develop a range of skills with children and young people on the autism spectrum. These findings suggest that some form of intervention is favourable over no intervention. However, there is little evidence for the relative effectiveness of the robot-based intervention as an innovative alternative option. Many of the studies had methodological weaknesses that make them vulnerable to bias. There is a need for further research that adheres to strict scientific methods making direct comparisons between different treatment options.

Keywords: autism, children, robots, outcomes

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Authors: Nalin Simasathiansophon

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This research aims to study English communication of Thai travel agencies and the impact of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on Thai travel industry. A questionnaire was used in this research. The multi-stage sampling method was also utilized with 474 respondents from 79 Thai travel agencies. Descriptive statistics included percentage, average, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that English communication for most travel agencies was between the poor and intermediate level and therefore improvement is needed, especially the listening and speaking skills. In other words, the majority of respondents needed more training in terms of communicating in English. Since the age average of travel agencies was around 30-39 years, the training technique should integrate communicating skills together, such as stimulating technique or cooperating technique that could encourage travel agencies to use English in communicating with foreigners.

Keywords: travel agencies, English communication, AEC, Thai

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Authors: Noha Desouky Aly, Maged Makram Habib

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Given the imperative role educational institutions have in the creation of a motivational learning community that develops and engages their students, the influence of evoking the same environment for their teachers needs to be examined. Teachers and their role lie at the core of the efficiency of the learning experience. One exigent aspect in the process of providing professional development to teachers is to involve them in this process, and the best manner would be through creating a learning community in which they are directly engaged and responsible for their own learning. An educational institution that thinks first of its teachers learning and growth would achieve its goals in providing an effective education for its students. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the effect of engaging teachers in a learning community in which they are responsible for their own learning through conducting and providing the material required for the training on their self efficacy, engagement, and perceived autonomy. The sample includes twenty instructors at the German University in Cairo teaching Academic skills at the Department of English and Scientific Methods. The courses taught at the department include Academic skills, writing argumentative essays, critical thinking, communication and presentation skills, and research paper writing. Procedures for the duration of eight weeks will entail pre-post measures to include The Teachers Self Efficacy Scale and an interview. During the weekly departmental meeting, teachers are to share resources and experiences or research and present a topic of their choice that contributes to their professional development. Results are yet to be found.

Keywords: learning community, self- efficacy, teachers, learning experience

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Authors: Mahmoud Mohamed Emam

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In Oman the number of students referred for reading disabilities is on the rise. Schools serve these students by placement in the so-called learning disabilities unit. Recently the author led a strategic project to train teachers on the use of curriculum based measurement to identify students with reading disabilities in Oman. Additional the project involved training teachers to use phonemic awareness based activities to improve reading skills of those students. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in words. We know that a student's skill in phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty. Using multiple baseline design across four participants the current studies investigated the effectiveness of using phonemic awareness based activities to improve decoding skills of third grade students referred for reading disabilities in Oman. During treatment students received phonemic awareness based activities that were designed to fulfill the idiosyncratic characteristics of Arabic language phonology as well as orthography. Results indicated that the phonemic awareness based activities were effective in substantially increasing the number of correctly decoded word for all four participants. Maintenance of strategy effects was evident for the weeks following the termination of intervention for the four students. In addition, the effects of intervention generalized to decoding novel words for all four participants.

Keywords: learning disabilities, phonemic awareness, third graders, Oman

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Authors: Loreta Axhami

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Media literacy in the digital age emerges not only as a set of skills to generate true knowledge and information but also as a pedagogy methodology, as a kind of educational philosophy. In addition to such innovations as information integration and communication technologies, media infrastructures, and web usage in the educational system, media literacy enables the change in the learning methods, pedagogy, teaching programs, and school curriculum itself. In this framework, this study focuses on ICT's impact on teaching and learning methods and the degree they are reflected in the Albanian education system. The study is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of scientific research. Referring to the study findings, it results that student’s limited access to the internet in school, focus on the hardcopy textbooks and the role of the teacher as the only or main source of knowledge and information are some of the main factors contributing to the implementation of authoritarian pedagogical methods in the Albanian education system. In these circumstances, the implementation of media literacy is recommended as an apt educational process for the 21st century, which requires a reconceptualization of textbooks as well as the application of modern teaching and learning methods by integrating information and communication technologies.

Keywords: authoritarian pedagogic model, education system, ICT, media literacy

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Authors: Dongshuo Wang, Minjie Xing

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International businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language. With the booming of China’s market, industries and trade, business leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in a Chinese cultural context, and therefore an increasing number of tertiary students choose a Business Chinese (BC) course. As a result, BC syllabus design is urgently needed. What business knowledge should be included in China’s context? What aspects of BC culture should be included? How much Chinese language should be introduced to conduct business in China? With these research questions, this research explores a syllabus design that integrates the three aspects of subject knowledge of business in communication, business practice including the procedure of and strategies for communicating business in practice and language skills including the disciplinary and professional contexts in which linguistic choices are made. After literature review and consultancy with China-related business professionals, senior staff from business schools and representatives of students, the authors of this paper, together with language tutors drafted a syllabus based on the integrated approach to include subject knowledge, business practice and language skills. Due to the nature of this research which requires trial/test and detailed description for each correction, qualitative methods are adopted. Two in-depth focus group interviews (with 2 staff and 4 students in each group), and 18 individual interviews (8 staff and 10 students) were conducted. QDA was used for systematizing, organizing, and analysing qualitative data. It was discovered that the business knowledge related to a Chinese cultural context, including face value, networking skills, strategic plans for signing a contract, marketing, sales, and after-sale service, should be introduced through lectures and seminars; business practice could be implemented by students setting up their own companies, virtual or real; and language skills would be trained via writing business messages and presenting their companies in fairs and exhibitions. After a longitudinal study of trials and amendments for three years from 2013 to 2016, the syllabus was approved by staff and students and the university. Students appreciated the syllabus, as they could apply the subject knowledge into practice by using it in their own companies and Chinese language was used throughout the process. The syllabus is now ready to be used in universities offering BC, and the designing process can be applied to other new courses as well.

Keywords: business Chinese, syllabus design, business knowledge, language skills

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Authors: Olusegun Adeleke Adenuga

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The study examined effect of fishbone creative thinking strategy on problem-solving skills of public teachers in Ogun state, Nigeria. A 2x2x2 factorial design was employed for the study which consisted of 80 participants made up of 40 male and 40 female public teachers randomly selected among public teaching personnel from the two local government area headquarters (Ijebu-ode and Ijebu-Igbo) within Ogun East Senatorial District. Each treatment group received 45minutes instructions and training per week for 8weeks. Data was collected from participants with the use of standardized instrument tagged ‘Problem Solving Inventory’ (PSI) developed by the researchers prior to the training to form a pre-test and immediately after eight weeks of training to form a post-test. One hypothesis was tested; the data obtained was analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) tested at significance level of 0.05. The result of the data analysis shows that there was a significant effect of the fishbone creative thinking technique on the participants (F (2,99) = 12.410; p <.05). Based on the findings, it is therefore recommended that the report of this study be used to effect organizational change and development of teaching service in Nigeria through teachers’ retraining and capacity building.

Keywords: fishbone, creative thinking strategy, and problem-solving skills, public teachers

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Authors: Ambissah Asah Brigitte

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This research is guided by observations in the types of education offered at the secondary level in Cameroon. The secondary education system in Cameroon comprises two types of education, including General Education and Technical and Vocational Education. Although General Education and, Technical and Vocational Education are given equal importance by public authorities, General Education remains on the thriving trend, enjoying the greatest enrolment. In the meantime, Technical and Vocational Education is still to reach the adequate momentum expected to fostering the country’s full-fledged development, as specified in the National Development Strategy, which is the blue print of State policies in Cameroon for the 2020-2030 decade. Vocational Education is credited for its ability to foster a country’s development, since it teaches students the precise skills and knowledge needed to carry out a specific craft, technical skill or trade. Yet, formal training on Vocational Education for teachers offers a pale face in secondary education. This limits the ability of the educational system to nurture vocations and provide the country’s economy with the manpower necessary to achieving development goals. This article seeks to analyse how concretely does the institutional framework spur vocational skills in secondary school teachers. It overviews the instruments instituting Vocational Education at the secondary level in Cameroon, then assesses their effective implementation on the ground. Questionnaires addressed to both active teachers and vocational education policy-makers serve to collect data which are analysed using descriptive statistics. The final objective is to contribute in the debate urging to rethink the role of teachers in bolstering Vocational Education, which is the cornerstone of industrial development. This is true everywhere in the world. In Cameroon and in Africa in general, teachers must be empowered in this field with specific sets of competencies they will need to pass on to learners. They equally need to be given opportunities to acquire and adapt their knowledge and teaching skills accordingly.

Keywords: vocational education, cameroon, institutional framework, national development, competencies and skills

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Authors: Ekaterina G. Lipatova

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The developing potential of a video task in teaching foreign languages involves the opportunities to improve four aspects of speech production process: listening, reading, speaking and writing. A video represents the sequence of actions, realized in the pictures logically connected and verbalized speech flow that simplifies and stimulates the process of perception. In this connection listening skills of students are developed effectively as well as their intellectual properties such as synthesizing, analyzing and generalizing the information. In terms of teaching capacity, a video task, in our opinion, is more stimulating than a traditional listening, since it involves the student into the plot of the communicative situation, emotional background and potentially makes them react to the gist in the cognitive and communicative ways. To be an effective method of teaching the video task should be structured in the way of psycho-linguistic characteristics of speech production process, in other words, should include three phases: before-watching, while-watching and after-watching. The system of tasks provided to each phase might involve the situations on reflecting to the video content in the forms of filling-the-gap tasks, multiple choice, True-or-False tasks (reading skills), exercises on expressing the opinion, project fulfilling (writing and speaking skills). In the before-watching phase we offer the students to adjust their perception mechanism to the topic and the problem of the chosen video by such task as “what do you know about such a problem?”, “is it new for you?”, “have you ever faced the situation of…?”. Then we proceed with the lexical and grammatical analysis of language units that form the body of a speech sample to lessen the perception and develop the student’s lexicon. The goal of while-watching phase is to build the student’s awareness about the problem presented in the video and challenge their inner attitude towards what they have seen by identifying the mistakes in the statements about the video content or making the summary, justifying their understanding. Finally, we move on to development of their speech skills within the communicative situation they observed and learnt by stimulating them to search the similar ideas in their backgrounds and represent them orally or in the written form or express their own opinion on the problem. It is compulsory to highlight, that a video task should contain the urgent, valid and interesting event related to the future profession of the student, since it will help to activate cognitive, emotional, verbal and ethic capacity of students. Also, logically structured video tasks are easily integrated into the system of e-learning and can provide the opportunity for the students to work with the foreign language on their own.

Keywords: communicative situation, perception mechanism, speech production process, speech skills

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Authors: Aziz Soubai

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The primary issue is that English as foreign language learners don’t use English outside the classroom. The only little exposure is inside the classroom, and that’s not enough to make them good language learners! Edmodo, like the other Learning Management Systems, can be used to encourage students to collaborate with each other and with global classrooms on projects where English is used- Some examples of collaboration with different schools will be mentioned and how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model and its stages can be applied in the activities, especially for teachers who are hesitant to introduce technology or don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. There will also be some focus on Edmodo groups and on how flipped and blended learning can be used as an extension for classroom time and to help the teacher address language problems and improve students’ language skills, especially writing, reading and communication. It is also equally important to use Edmodo badges and certificates for motivating and engaging learners and gamifying the lesson.

Keywords: EFL learners, language classroom-learning management system, edmodo, SAMR, language skills

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Authors: Laura M. Espinoza, Karen A. Hernández, Diana B. Ledezma

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Currently, in Chile, migratory movements are generated, where the country receives constantly people from Latin America such as Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Haiti, among others. This phenomenon has reached the schools of Chile, where immigrant children and adolescents are educated in a context of cultural diversity. However, education professionals face this recent phenomenon without prior preparation to carry out their pedagogical practices in the classroom. On the other hand, research on how to understand and guide the processes of cultural diversity especially within the school is even scarce and recent in Latin America and specifically in Chile. The general purpose of the study is to analyze the relationships between teaching efforts towards multiculturalism and inclusive pedagogical practices in the schools of the city of La Serena and Coquimbo, in Chile. The study refers to a quantitative approach, with a correlational design. The selection of the participants was not intentional probabilistic. It comprises 88 teachers of preschool, primary, secondary and special education, who work in two schools with similar characteristics. For the collection of information on the independent variable, the attitude scale towards Immigration and the attitude scale towards Multiculturalism in the school are applied. To obtain information on the independent variable, the guide for the evaluation of inclusive practices in the classroom is applied. Both instruments have statistical validation. A Spearman correlation analysis was made to achieve the objective of the study. Among the main findings, we will find the relationships between the positive perceptions of multiculturalism at school and inclusive practices such as the physical conditions of the classroom, planning, methodology, use of time and evaluation. These findings are relevant to the teaching and learning processes of students in Chilean classrooms and contribute to literature for the understanding of educational processes in contexts of cultural diversity.

Keywords: cultural diversity, immigration, inclusive pedagogical practices, multiculturalism

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Authors: Alena Kulikova, Leonid Parmaksiz, Ekaterina Orel

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Social and emotional skills are considered by modern researchers as predictors of a person's success both in specific areas of activity and in the life of a person as a whole. The popularity of this scientific direction ensures the emergence of a large number of practices aimed at developing and evaluating socio-emotional skills. Assessment of social and emotional development is carried out at the national level, as well as at the level of individual regions and institutions. Despite the fact that many of the already existing social and emotional skills assessment tools are quite convenient and reliable, there are now more and more new technologies and task formats which improve the basic characteristics of the tools. Thus, the goal of the current study is to develop a tool for assessing social and emotional skills such as emotion recognition, emotion regulation, empathy and a culture of self-care. To develop a tool assessing social and emotional skills, Rasch-Gutman scenario-based approach was used. This approach has shown its reliability and merit for measuring various complex constructs: parental involvement; teacher practices that support cultural diversity and equity; willingness to participate in the life of the community after psychiatric rehabilitation; educational motivation and others. To assess emotion recognition, we used a situational judgment task based on OCC (Ortony, Clore, and Collins) emotions theory. The main advantage of these two approaches compare to classical Likert scales is that it reduces social desirability in answers. A field test to check the psychometric properties of the developed instrument was conducted. The instrument was developed for the presidential autonomous non-profit organization “Russia - Land of Opportunity” for nationwide soft skills assessment among higher education students. The sample for the field test consisted of 500 people, students aged from 18 to 25 (mean = 20; standard deviation 1.8), 71% female. 67% of students are only studying and are not currently working and 500 employed adults aged from 26 to 65 (mean = 42.5; SD 9), 57% female. Analysis of the psychometric characteristics of the scales was carried out using the methods of IRT (Item Response Theory). A one-parameter rating scale model RSM (Rating scale model) and Graded Response model (GRM) of the modern testing theory were applied. GRM is a polyatomic extension of the dichotomous two-parameter model of modern testing theory (2PL) based on the cumulative logit function for modeling the probability of a correct answer. The validity of the developed scales was assessed using correlation analysis and MTMM (multitrait-multimethod matrix). The developed instrument showed good psychometric quality and can be used by HR specialists or educational management. The detailed results of a psychometric study of the quality of the instrument, including the functioning of the tasks of each scale, will be presented. Also, the results of the validity study by MTMM analysis will be discussed.

Keywords: social and emotional skills, psychometrics, MTMM, IRT

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Authors: Naziema B. Jappie

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The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between college readiness characteristics and learning outcome assessment scores. About this, it is important to examine the first-year retention and success rate. In order to undertake this study, it will be necessary to look at proficiency levels on general and domain-specific knowledge and skills reflected on national benchmark test scores (NBT), in-college interventions and course-taking patterns. Preliminary results based on data from more than 1000 students suggest that there is a positive association between NBT scores and students’ 1st-year college GPA and their retention status. For example, 63% of students with a proficient level of math skills in the NBT had the highest level of GPA at the end of 1st-year of college in comparison to 56% of those who started with a primary or intermediate level, respectively. The retention rates among those with proficiency levels were also higher than those with basic or intermediate levels (98% vs. 93% and 88%, respectively). By the end of 3rd year in college, students with intermediate or proficient entering NBT math skills had 7% and 8% of dropout rate, compared to 14% for those started at primary level; a greater percentage of students qualified by the end of 3rd-year qualified among proficient students than that among intermediate or basic level students (50% vs. 44% and 27% respectively). The findings of this study added knowledge to the field in South Africa and are expected to help stakeholders and policymakers to better understand college learning and challenges for students with disadvantaged backgrounds and provide empirical evidence in support of related practices and policies.

Keywords: assessment, data analysis, performance, proficiency, policy, student success

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Authors: H. M. Avanesyan

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Economists have been discussing the importance of intangible assets for the success of organization for many years. The term intellectual capital was popularized in the 1990s by Thomas Stewart. “Intellectual capital is the knowledge, applied experience, enterprise processes and technology customer relationship and professional skills which are valuable assets to an organization.” Human capital – includes employee brainpower, competence, skills, experience and knowledge. Customer capital – includes relations and networks with partners, suppliers, distributors, and customers. The objective of the article is to assess one of the key components of organizational culture – organizational values. The focus of the survey was on assessing how intellectual capital presented in these values of the organization. In the conclusion section the article refers to underestimation of intellectual capital by the organization management and the various possible negative effects of the latter.

Keywords: human capital, intellectual capital, organizational culture, management, social identity, organization

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Authors: Iori Hamada

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Australia's skilled migrant selection system is constantly changing its target skills and criteria according to the labour market demands. The government's intention to employ this highly selective market-driven selection system is to better target the skills needed in the economy, enable skilled migrants to be employed in industries that have the highest need, and consequently boost the economy and population. However, migration scholars have called this intention into question, arguing that the system is not making the best use of skilled migrants. This paper investigates the impact of recent reforms in Australian skilled migration system on skilled migrants' employment and related life conditions. Drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews with Japanese skilled migrants in Australia, it argues that Australia’s skilled migrant selection system guarantees neither skilled migrants' employment nor successful transfer of their skills to the labour market. The findings show that Japanese skilled migrants are often unemployed or under-employed, although they intend to achieve upward occupational mobility. The interview data also reveal that male unemployment or under-employment status prompts some Japanese men to leave Australia and find a job that better matches their skills and qualifications in a new destination. Further, it finds that Japanese male skilled migrants who experience downward occupational mobility tend to continue to take a primary breadwinner role, which affects the distribution of paid and unpaid work within their families. There is a growing body of research investigating skilled migrants’ downward career mobility. However, little has been written on skilled Japanese migrants. Further, the work-family intersection is a 'hot public policy topic' in Australia and elsewhere. Yet, the existing studies focus almost exclusively on non-migrant families. This calls attention to the urgency of assessing the work-family lives of skilled migrants. This study fills these gaps, presenting additional insight into Japanese skilled migrants’ work and family in and beyond Australia.

Keywords: Australia, employment, family, Japanese skilled migrants

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Authors: Kuznetsova Tamara, Sametova Fauziya

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Modern period of educational development is characterized by various attempts in higher quality and effective result provision. Having acquired the modernized educational paradigm, our academic community placed the personality development through language and culture under the focus of primary research. The competency-based concept claims for professionally ready specialists who are capable of solving practical problems. In this sense, under the circumstances of the current development of Kazakhstani society, it is inevitable to form the ability to conduct argumentative discourse as the crucial element of intercultural communicative competence. This article particularly states the necessity of the culture of argumentative discourse formation presents theoretical background of its organization and aims at identifying important argumentative skills within educational process.

Keywords: argumentative discourse, teaching process, skills, competency

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Authors: Anila Naz, Arusa Lakhani, Kiran Mubeen, Yasmeen Amarsi

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Pakistan's neonatal mortality rate has the highest proportion in the South Asian region and it is higher in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas. Poor resuscitation techniques and lack of basic newborn resuscitation skills in birth attendants, are contributing factors towards neonatal deaths. Based on the significant outcomes of the Helping Baby Breath (HBB) training, a similar training was implemented for Community Midwives (CMWs) in a low resource setting in Gujrat, Pakistan, to improve their knowledge and skills. The training evaluation was conducted and participant feedback was obtained through both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the quantitative assessment of the training evaluation will be published elsewhere. This paper presents the qualitative evaluation of the training. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the perceptions of HBB trained CMWs about the effectiveness of the HBB training, and the challenges faced in the implementation of HBB skills for newborn resuscitation, at their work settings. The qualitative descriptive design was used in this study. The purposive sampling technique was chosen to recruit midwives and key informants as participants of the training. Interviews were conducted by using a semi-structured interview guide. The study included a total of five interviews: two focus group interviews for CMWs (10 in each group), and three individual interviews of key informants. The content analysis of the qualitative data yielded three themes: the effectiveness of training, challenges, and suggestions. The findings revealed that the HBB training was effective for the CMWs in terms of its usability, regarding improvement in newborn resuscitation knowledge and skills. Moreover, it enhanced confidence and satisfaction in CMWs. However, less volume of patients was a challenge for a few CMWs with regards to practicing their skills. Due to the inadequate number of patients and less opportunities of practice for several CMWs, they required such trainings frequently, in order to maintain their competency. The CMWs also recommended that HBB training should be part of the Midwifery program curriculum. Moreover, similar trainings were also recommended for other healthcare providers working in low resource settings, including doctors and nurses.

Keywords: neonatal resuscitation technique, helping baby breathe, community midwives, training evaluation

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Authors: Vivien Chee Pei Wei

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Today we live in a scenario in which letters share space with images on screens that vary in size, shape, and style. The popularization of television, then the computer and now the e-readers, tablets, and smartphones made the electronic assume the role that previously was restricted to printed materials. Since the extensive use of new technologies to produce, disseminate, collect and access electronic publications began, the changes to reading has been intensified. To be able to read online, it involves more than just utilizing specific skills, strategies, and practices, but also in negotiating multiple information sources. In this study, different perspectives of digital reading are being explored in order to define the key aspects of the term. The focus is to explore how new technologies affect how undergraduates’ reading behavior, which in turn, gives readers different reading levels and engagement with the text and other support materials in the same media. There is also the importance of the relationship between reading platforms, reading levels and formats of electronic publications. The study looks at the online reading practices of about 100 undergraduates from a local university. The data collected using the survey and interviews with the respondents are analyzed thematically. Findings from this study found that both digital and traditional reading are interrelated, and should not be viewed as separate, but complementary to each other. However, reading online complicates some of the skills required by traditional reading. Consequently, in order to successfully read and comprehend multiple sources of information online, undergraduates need regular opportunities to practice and develop their skills as part of their natural reading practices.

Keywords: concepts, digital reading, literacy, traditional reading

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Authors: Longtao He, Han Wu

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Summary: As the need for elder care increases in China due to a growing aging population and, in particular, rising cancer rates, it becomes increasingly important to also support family caregivers, who are often the main source of care. We used a qualitative meta-synthesis to systematically evaluate and integrate the caregiving experiences of family caregivers of elderly cancer patients as revealed by articles published in Chinese journals. Findings: Nine studies are included in the final analysis. The caregiver experiences they describe are synthesized into three primary themes: care needs, care burden, and care gains, with numerous secondary themes. Besides the findings that seem to align with other findings across cultures, we have highlighted three main discoveries from the synthesis that may be quite specific to the Chinese context: 1. more sub-themes related to specific caregiving skills caregivers of cancer patients; 2. a call for health professionals to improve their communication skills with family caregivers; 3. the important role of filial piety. Applications: Our findings can be used to help health social workers and relevant policymakers in China support family caregivers by identifying the education and training required for caregivers, ways to make the most of potential care gains, and ways to ease care burdens.

Keywords: cancer, Chinese family caregivers, caregiving skills, care burden, care gains, health social work

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Authors: Richard Roberts, Anna Kravtcova

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Introduction: The realisation that personality can change over the course of a lifetime has led to a new companion model to the Big Five, the behavioural, emotional, and social skills approach (BESSA). BESSA hypothesizes that this set of skills represents how the individual is thinking, feeling, and behaving when the situation calls for it, as opposed to traits, which represent how someone tends to think, feel, and behave averaged across situations. The five major skill domains share parallels with the Big Five Factor (BFF) model creativity and innovation (openness), self-management (conscientiousness), social engagement (extraversion), cooperation (agreeableness), and emotional resilience (emotional stability) skills. We point to noteworthy limitations in the current operationalisation of BESSA skills (i.e., via Likert-type items) and offer up a different measurement approach: forced choice. Method: In this forced-choice paradigm, individuals were given three skill items (e.g., managing my time) and asked to select one response they believed they were “worst at” and “best at”. The Thurstonian IRT models allow these to be placed on a normative scale. Two multivariate studies (N = 1178) were conducted with a 22-item forced-choice version of the BESSA, a published measure of the BFF, and various criteria. Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis of the forced-choice assessment showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA<0.06), while reliability estimates were reasonable (around 0.70 for each construct). Convergent validity evidence was as predicted (correlations between 0.40 and 0.60 for corresponding BFF and BESSA constructs). Notable was the extent the forced-choice BESSA assessment improved upon test-criterion relationships over and above the BFF. For example, typical regression models find BFF personality accounting for 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores; both studies showed incremental gains over the BFF exceeding 6% (i.e., BFF and BESSA together accounted for over 31% of the variance in both studies). Discussion: Forced-choice measurement models offer up the promise of creating equated test forms that may unequivocally measure skill gains and are less prone to fakability and reference bias effects. Implications for practitioners are discussed, especially those interested in selection, succession planning, and training and development. We also discuss how the forced choice method can be applied to other constructs like emotional immunity, cross-cultural competence, and self-estimates of cognitive ability.

Keywords: Big Five, forced-choice method, BFF, methods of measurements

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Authors: Ahmed Amin Mousa, M. Abd El Salam

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The current study presents a proposed program for acquisition the skills and techniques needed to produce concept cartoon. The proposed program has been prepared for non-specialist students who have never used neither graphics nor animating software. It was presented to postgraduates in Faculty of Education for Early Childhood, Cairo University, during the spring term of the 2014-2015 academic year. The program works in three different aspects: Drawing and images editing, sound manipulation, and creating animation. In addition, the researchers have prepared a questionnaire for measuring the quality of the concept cartoons produced by the students. The questionnaire was used as a pre-test and post-test, and at the end of the study, a significant difference was determined in favour of post-test results.

Keywords: cartoon, concept cartoon, kindergarten, animation

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Authors: Derya Duran, Christine Jacknick

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This study explores post-task reflections in an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) setting, and it specifically focuses on how a teacher performs pedagogical practices such as reformulating, extending and evaluating following students’ spontaneous experience tellings in EMI classrooms. The data consist of 30 hours of video recordings from two EMI content classes, which were recorded for an academic term at a university in Turkey. The course, Guidance, is offered to fourth year undergraduate students as a compulsory course in the Department of Educational Sciences. The participants (n=78) study at the Faculty of Education, majoring in different educational departments (i.e., Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Elementary Education, Foreign Language Education). Using conversation analysis, we demonstrate that the teacher employs a variety of interactional resources to elicit (i.e., asking specific questions) and also provides (i.e., giving scientific information) as much content as possible, which also sheds light on the institutional fingerprints of the current research context. The study contributes to the existing research by unpacking articulation of personal experiences and cultivation of collaborativeness in classroom interaction. Moreover, describing the dialogic nature of these specific occasions, the study demonstrates how teacher and students address learning tasks together (collectivity), how they orient to each other turns interactionally (reciprocity), and how they keep the pedagogical focus in mind (purposefulness).

Keywords: conversation analysis, English as a medium of instruction, higher education, post-task reflections

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Authors: Fred Alinda, Marjorie Negesa, Gerald Karyeija

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Like elsewhere in the world, youth unemployment remains a big problem more so to the most educated youth and female. In Rwanda, unemployment is estimated at 13.2% among youth graduates compared to 10.9% and 2.6 among secondary and primary graduates respectively. Though empirical evidence elsewhere associate youth unemployment with education level, relevance of skills and access to business support opportunities, mixed evidence still exist on the significance of these factors to youth employment. As youth employment strategies in countries like Rwanda continue to recognize the potential role university education can play to enhance employment, there is a need to understand the catalysts or barriers. This paper, therefore, draws empirical evidence from a survey on the influence of education qualification, skills relevance and access to business support opportunities on employment of the youth university graduates in Masaka sector, Rwanda. The analysis tested four hypotheses; access to university education significantly affects youth employment, Relevance of university education significantly contributes to youth employment; access to business support opportunities significantly contributes to youth employment, and significant gender differences exist in the employment of youth university graduates. A cross-section survey was used in lieu of the need to explore the prevailing status of youth employment and contributing factors across the sector. A questionnaire was used to collect data on a large sample of 269 youth to allow statistical analysis. This was beefed up with qualitative views of leaders and technical officials in the sector. The youth University graduates were selected using simple random sampling while the leaders and technical officials were selected purposively. Percentages were used to describe respondents in line with the variables under while a regression model for youth employment was fitted to determine the significant factors. The model results indicated a significant influence (p<0.05) of gender, education level and access to business support opportunities on employment of youth university graduates. This finding was also affirmed by the qualitative views of key informants. Qualitative views pointed to the fact that university education generally equipped the youth with skills that enabled their transition into employment mainly for a salary or wage. The skills were, however, deficient in technical and practical aspects. In addition, the youth generally lacked limited access to business support opportunities particularly guarantees for loans, business advisory, and grants for business as well as training in business skills that would help them gain salaried employment or transit into self-employment. The study findings bear an implication on the strategy for catalyzing youth employment through university education. The findings imply that university education should be embraced but with greater emphasis on or supplementation with specialized training in practical and technical skills as well as extending business support opportunities to the youth. This will accelerate the contribution of university education to youth employment.

Keywords: education, employment, self-employment, youth

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Authors: Rosanna M. Rooney, Sharinaz Hassan, Maryanne McDevitt, Jacob D. Peckover, Robert T. Kane

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Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems experienced by Australian children and adolescents. Research into youth mental health points to the importance of considering emotional competence, parental influence on the child’s emotional development, and the fact that cognitions are still developing in childhood when designing and implementing positive psychology interventions. Additionally, research into such interventions has suggested the inclusion of a coaching component aimed at supporting those implementing the intervention enhances the effects of the intervention itself. In light of these findings and given the burden of anxiety and depression in the longer term, it is necessary to enhance the Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills program and evaluate its efficacy in terms of children’s mental health outcomes. It was expected that the enhancement of the emotional and cognitive aspects of the Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills program, the addition of coaching, and the inclusion of a parent manual would lead to significant prevention effects in internalizing problems at post-test, 6- and 18-months after the completion of the intervention. 502 students (9-11 years old) were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 347) or control group (n = 155). At each time point (baseline, post-test, 6-month follow-up, and 18-month follow-up), students completed a battery of self-report measures. The ten intervention sessions making up the enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills program were run weekly. At post-test and 6-month follow-up, the intervention group reported significantly lower depression than the control group, with no group differences at the 18-month follow-up. The intervention group reported significantly lower anxiety than the control group only at the 6-month follow-up, with no group differences in the post-test or at the 18-month follow-up. Results suggest that the enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills program can reduce depressive and anxious symptoms in the short term and highlight the importance of universally implemented positive psychology interventions.

Keywords: positive psychology, emotional competence, internalizing symptoms, universal implementation

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Authors: Gina L. Solano

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This project endeavors to enhance learning experiences for undergraduate pre-service teachers and graduate K-12 educators by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). Firstly, the initiative delves into integrating AI within undergraduate education courses, fostering traditional literacy skills essential for academic success and extending their applicability beyond the classroom. Education students will explore AI tools to design literacy-focused activities aligned with their curriculum. Secondly, the project investigates the utilization of AI to craft instructional materials employing gamification strategies (e.g., digital and classic games, badges, quests) to amplify student engagement and motivation in mastering course content. Lastly, it aims to create a professional repertoire that can be applied by pre-service and current teachers in P-12 classrooms, promoting seamless integration for those already in teaching positions. The project's impact extends to benefiting college students, including pre-service and graduate teachers, as they enhance literacy and digital skills through AI. It also benefits current P-12 educators who can integrate AI into their classrooms, fostering innovative teaching practices. Moreover, the project contributes to faculty development, allowing them to cultivate low-risk and engaging classroom environments, ultimately enriching the learning journey. The insights gained from this project can be shared within and beyond the discipline to advance the broader field of study.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, gamification, learning experiences, literacy skills, engagement

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Authors: Kholood Baron

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Chest radiography (CXR) is one of the most important diagnostic examinations in pediatric radiography for diagnosing various diseases. Since, chest X-ray use ionizing radiation to obtain image radiographers should follow strict radiation protection strategies and ALARA principle to ensure that pediatrics receive the lowest dose possible [1] [2]. The aim is to evaluate different criteria related to pediatric CXR examinations performed in the radiology department in five hospitals in Kuwait. Methods: Data collected from a questionnaire and Entrance Skin Dose (ESD) measurements during CXR. 100 responses were collected and analyzed to highlight issues related to immobilization devices, radiation protection issues and repeat rate. While ThermoLumenince Dosimeters (TLDs) measured ESD during 25 CXR for pediatric patients. In addition, other aspects on the radiographer skills and information written in patient requests were collected and recorded. Results: Questionnaires responses showed that most radiographers do follow most radiation protection guidelines, but need to focus on improving their skills in collimation to ROI, dealing with immobilization tools and exposure factors. Since the first issue was least applied to young pediatrics, and the latter two were the common reasons for repeating an image. The ESD measurements revealed that the averaged dose involved in pediatric CXR is 143.9 µGy, which is relatively high but still within the limits of the recommended values [2-3] . The data suggests that this relatively high ESD values can be the result of using higher mAs and thus it I recommended to lower it according to ALARA principle. In conclusion, radiographers have the knowledge and the tools to reduce the radiation dose to pediatric patients but few lack the skills to optimize the collimation, immobilization application and exposure factors. The ESD were within recommended values. This research recommends that more efforts in the future should focus on improving the radiographer commitment to radiation protection and their skills in dealing with pediatric patient. This involves lowering the mAs used during DR.

Keywords: pediatric radiography, dosimetry, ESD measurements, radiation protection

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Authors: Chek K. Loi

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The present study has two objectives. Firstly, it investigates the rhetorical strategies employed in the body paragraphs of ESL (English as a Second Language) undergraduate students’ English academic essays. Peacock’s (2002) model of the discussion section was used as the starting points in this study to investigate the rhetorical moves employed in the data. Secondly, it investigates the writing problems as perceived by these ESL students through an interview. Interview responses serve as accompanying data to the move analysis. Apart from this, students’ English academic writing problems are diagnosed. The findings have pedagogical implications in an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) classroom.

Keywords: academic essays, move analysis, pedagogical implication, rhetorical strategies

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