Search results for: social networking student affairs

Authors: Teresa B. King

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In the millennial age, with more students desiring a fashion major yet fewer having sewing and manufacturing knowledge, this increases demand on academicians to adequately educate. While fashion museums have a prominent place for historical preservation, the need for apparel education via working collections of handmade or mass manufactured apparel is lacking in most universities in the United States, especially in the Southern region. Created in 1988, Middle Tennessee State University’s historic clothing collection provides opportunities to study apparel construction methods throughout history, to compare and apply to today’s construction and manufacturing methods, as well as to learn the cyclical nature/importance of historic styles on current and upcoming fashion. In 2019, a class exercise experiment was implemented for which students researched their family genealogy using Ancestry.com, identified the oldest visual media (photographs, etc.) available, and analyzed the garment represented in said media. The student then located a comparable garment in the historic collection and evaluated the construction methods of the ancestor’s time period. A class 'fashion' genealogy tree was created and mounted for public viewing/education. Results of this exercise indicated that student learning increased due to the 'personal/familial connection' as it triggered more interest in historical garments as related to the student’s own personal culture. Students better identified garments regarding the historical time period, fiber content, fabric, and construction methods utilized, thus increasing learning and retention. Students also developed increased learning and recognition of custom construction methods versus current mass manufacturing techniques, which impact today’s fashion industry. A longitudinal effort will continue with the growth of the historic collection and as students continue to utilize the historic clothing collection.

Keywords: ancestry, clothing history, fashion history, genealogy, historic fashion museum collection

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Authors: Antonio M. Oliveira, Patricia Oliveira-Silva, Jose Matias Alves, Gary McPherson

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The music teaching is oriented towards offering formal music training. Due to its specificities, this vocational program starts at a very young age. Although provided by the State, the offer is limited to 6 schools throughout the country, which means that the vacancies for prospective students are very limited every year. It is therefore crucial that these vacancies be taken by especially motivated children grown within households that offer the ideal setting for success. Some of the instruments used to evaluate musical performance are highly sensitive to specific previous training, what represents a severe validity problem for testing children who have had restricted opportunities for formal training. Moreover, these practices may be unfair because, for instance, they may not reflect the candidates’ music aptitudes. Based on what constitutes a prerequisite for making an excellent music student, researchers in this field have long argued that motivation, task commitment, and parents’ support are as important as ability. Thus, the aim of this study is: (1) to prepare an inventory of admission requirements in Australia, Portugal and Ireland; (2) to examine whether the candidates to music conservatories and parents’ level of motivation, assessed at three evaluation points (i.e., admission, at the end of the first year, and at the end of the second year), correlates positively with the candidates’ progress in learning a musical instrument (i.e., whether motivation at the admission may predict student musicianship); (3) an adaptation of an existing instrument to assess the motivation (i.e., to adapt the items to the music setting, focusing on the motivation for playing a musical instrument). The inclusion criteria are: only children registered in the administrative services to be evaluated for entrance to the conservatory will be accepted for this study. The expected number of participants is fifty (5-6 years old) in all the three frequency schemes: integrated, articulated and supplementary. Revisiting musical admission procedures is of particular importance and relevance to musical education because this debate may bring guidance and assistance about the needed improvement to make the process of admission fairer and more transparent.

Keywords: music learning, music admission requirements, student’s motivation, parent’s motivation

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Authors: Wu Hong, Pan Cuilian, Wu Panzifan

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The student’s attention during the class is one of the most important indicators for the learning evaluation; the level of attention is directly related to the results of primary education. In recent years, extensive research has been conducted across China on improving primary school students’ attention during class. During the specific teaching activities in primary school, students have the characteristics of short concentration periods, high probability of distraction, and difficulty in long-term immersive learning. In physical education teaching, where there are mostly outdoor activities, this characteristic is particularly prominent due to the large changes in the environment and the strong sense of freshness among students. It is imperative to overcome this characteristic in a targeted manner, improve the student’s experience in the course, and raise the degree of systematization. There are many ways to improve the systematization of teaching and learning, but most of them lack quantitative indicators, which makes it difficult to evaluate the improvements before and after changing the teaching methods. Based on the situation above, we use the case analysis method, combined with a literature review, to study the negative impact of low systematization levels in primary school physical education teaching, put forward targeted improvement suggestions, and make a quantitative evaluation of the method change.

Keywords: attention, adolescent, evaluation, systematism, training-method

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Authors: Mustafa Oz

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This study compares how do people express their opinions on the Facebook versus on Twitter. It was sought to understand whether people were more willing to express their opinions on some social media channels than others. It was assumed that fear of isolation and affordances may influence users’ opinion expression behaviors on social media websites. Thus two most popular social media websites, Twitter and Facebook, were compared. This study aims to provide the comprehensive understanding of political expression on social media platforms. An online survey (N=535) was conducted to understand respondents’ opinion expression behaviors. Overall, the results suggested that people were more likely to express their opinion on Twitter than Facebook when they think the majority does not support their opinion. The study concluded that people operate differently on Facebook versus Twitter.

Keywords: social media, spiral of silence, affordances, political expression

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Authors: Thien Van Ngo

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The engineering design process is a systematic approach to solving problems. It involves identifying a problem, brainstorming solutions, prototyping and testing solutions, and evaluating the results. The engineering design process can be used to teach students how to solve problems in a creative and innovative way. The research aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using the engineering design process to enhance student learning outcomes in a physics course. A mixed research method was used in this study. The quantitative data were collected using a pretest-posttest control group design. The qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The sample was 150 first-year students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Cao Thang Technical College in Vietnam in the 2022-2023 school year. The quantitative data were collected using a pretest-posttest control group design. The pretest was administered to both groups at the beginning of the study. The posttest was administered to both groups at the end of the study. The qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews with a sample of eight students in the experimental group. The interviews were conducted after the posttest. The quantitative data were analyzed using independent sample T-tests. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The quantitative data showed that students in the experimental group, who were taught using the engineering design process, had significantly higher post-test scores on physics problem-solving than students in the control group, who were taught using the conventional method. The qualitative data showed that students in the experimental group were more motivated and engaged in the learning process than students in the control group. Students in the experimental group also reported that they found the engineering design process to be a more effective way of learning physics. The findings of this study suggest that the engineering design process can be an effective way of enhancing student learning outcomes in physics courses. The engineering design process engages students in the learning process and helps them to develop problem-solving skills.

Keywords: engineering design process, problem-solving, learning outcome of physics, students’ physics competencies, deep learning

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Authors: Hannele Kuusisto, Paivi Makila, Ursula Hyrkkanen

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Introduction: There have been arguments about the skills university students should have when graduated. Current trends argue that as well as the specific job-related skills the graduated students need problem-solving, interaction and networking skills as well as self-management skills. Skills required in working life are also considered in the Finnish national project called VALTE (short for 'prepared for working life'). The project involves 11 Finnish school organizations. As one result of this project, a five-credit independent online course in study and job engagement as well as in study and job crafting was developed at Turku University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the oral or e-poster presentation is to present the online course developed in the project. The purpose of this abstract is to present the development work of the online course and the feedback received from the pilots. Method: As the University of Turku is the leading partner of the VALTE project, the collaborative education platform ViLLE (https://ville.utu.fi, developed by the University of Turku) was chosen as the online platform for the course. Various exercise types with automatic assessment were used; for example, quizzes, multiple-choice questions, classification exercises, gap filling exercises, model answer questions, self-assessment tasks, case tasks, and collaboration in Padlet. In addition, the free material and free platforms on the Internet were used (Youtube, Padlet, Todaysmeet, and Prezi) as well as the net-based questionnaires about the study engagement and study crafting (made with Webropol). Three teachers with long teaching experience (also with job crafting and online pedagogy) and three students working as trainees in the project developed the content of the course. The online course was piloted twice in 2017 as an elective course for the students at Turku University of Applied Sciences, a higher education institution of about 10 000 students. After both pilots, feedback from the students was gathered and the online course was developed. Results: As the result, the functional five-credit independent online course suitable for students of different educational institutions was developed. The student feedback shows that students themselves think that the developed online course really enhanced their job and study crafting skills. After the course, 91% of the students considered their knowledge in job and study engagement as well as in job and study crafting to be at a good or excellent level. About two-thirds of the students were going to exploit their knowledge significantly in the future. Students appreciated the variability and the game-like feeling of the exercises as well as the opportunity to study online at the time and place they chose themselves. On a five-point scale (1 being poor and 5 being excellent), the students graded the clarity of the ViLLE platform as 4.2, the functionality of the platform as 4.0 and the easiness of operating as 3.9.

Keywords: job crafting, job engagement, online course, study crafting, study engagement

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Authors: Ekapon Thienthaworn

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This research aims to study the reliability of the forecasting factor in social media by using survey research methods with questionnaires. The sampling is the group of undergraduate students in Bangkok. A multiple-step random number of 400 persons, data analysis are descriptive statistics with multivariate regression analysis. The research found the average of the overall trust at the intermediate level for reading the news in social media and the results of the multivariate regression analysis to find out the factors that forecast credibility of the media found the only content that has the power to forecast reliability of undergraduate students in Bangkok to reading the news on social media at the significance level.at 0.05.These can be factors with forecasts reliability of news in social media by a variable that has the highest influence factor of the media content and the speed is also important for reliability of the news.

Keywords: credibility of news, behaviors and attitudes, social media, web board

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Authors: Bashaiar Alsanaa

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The process of decision making requires environment surveillance and public opinion monitoring, both of which can be attained through effective use of social media. This study aims to investigate the extent to which new media influence the decision making process by the Kuwaiti government. The research explores how unprecedented access to information as well as dynamic user-interaction made possible by new technologies play a significant role in all aspects of decision making whether on the end of the public or decision makers themselves. The research analyzes two case studies where public opinion was forceful on social media in order to explore how such media create interactive and liberal environments for individuals to participate in the process of taking action with regards to political, economic and social issues. The findings of this descriptive study indicate the overwhelming extent to which social media are being used in Kuwait to create new social reform by the government based on citizen interaction with current topics.

Keywords: communication, descriptive, new media technologies, social media.

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Authors: Fonseca Jully, Chia Maribel, Rodríguez Ilba

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This paper is a qualitative research report. A group of students form a public university in a small town in Colombia participated in this study which aimed at describing to what extend the use of social ads, published on the internet, helped to develop their critical thinking skills. Students’ productions, field notes, video recordings and direct observation were the instruments and techniques used by the researches in order to gather the data which was analyzed under the principles of grounded theory and triangulation. The implementation of social ads into the classroom evidenced a noticeable improvement in students’ ability to interpret and argue social issues, as well as, their self-improvement in oral and written production in English, as a foreign language.

Keywords: Ads, critical argumentation, critical thinking, social issues

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Authors: Nji Clement Bang, Rosemary Shafack M., Kum Henry Asei, Yaro Loveline Y

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Scholars perceive learner-centered teaching-learning reform as roles and resources in teacher education (TE) and professional outcome with transformative learning (TL) continuum dimensions. But, teaching-learning reform is fast proliferating amidst debilitating stakeholder systemic dichotomies, resources, commitment, resistance and poor quality outcome that necessitate stronger TE and professional continuums. Scholars keep seeking greater understanding of themes in teaching-learning reform, TE and professional outcome as continuums and how policymakers, student-teachers, teacher trainers and local communities concerned with initial TE can promote continuous holistic quality performance. To sustain the debate continuum and answer the overarching question, we use mixed-methods research-design with diverse literature and 409 sample-data. Onset text, interview and questionnaire analyses reveal debilitating teaching-learning reform in TE continuums that need TL revival. Follow-up focus group discussion and teaching considering TL insights reinforce holistic teaching-learning in TE. Therefore, significant increase in diverse prior-experience articulation1; critical reflection-discourse engagement2; teaching-practice interaction3; complex-activity constrain control4 and formative outcome- reintegration5 reinforce teaching-learning in learning-to-teach role-resource pathways and outcomes. Themes reiterate complex teaching-learning in TE programs that suits TL journeys and student-teachers and students cum teachers, workers/citizens become akin, transformative-learners who evolve personal and collective roles-resources towards holistic-lifelong-learning outcomes. The article could assist debate about quality teaching-learning reform through TL dimensions as TE and professional role-resource continuums.

Keywords: transformative learning perspectives, teacher education, initial teacher education, learner-centered pedagogical reform, life-long learning

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Authors: Seda Muftugil-Yalcin

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With the proliferation of the number of social enterprises worldwide, there is now a whole ecosystem full of different organisational actors revolving around social enterprises. Impact hubs, incubation centers, and organisations (profit or non-profit) that offer consultancy services to social enterprises can be said to constitute one such cluster in the eco-system. These organisations offer a variety of services to social enterprises which desire to maximize their positive social impact. Especially with regards to impact measurement, there are numerous systems/guides/approaches/tools developed that claim to benefit social enterprises. Many organisations choose one of the existing tools and craft programs that help social enterprises to measure and to manage their social impacts. However, empirical evidence with regards to how the services of these consultancy organisations are precisely utilized on the field is scarce. This inevitably casts doubt on the impact of these organisations themselves. This research dwells on four case studies from the Netherlands and Turkey. In each country, two university-affiliated impact centers and two independent consultancy agencies that work with social entrepreneurs in the area of social impact measurement are closely examined. The overarching research question has been 'With regards to impact measurement, how do the founders/managers of these organisations perceive and make sense of their contribution to social enterprises and to the social entrepreneurship eco-system at large?' As for methodology, in-depth interviews were carried out with the managers/founders of these organisations and discourse analysis method has been used for data analysis together with grounded theory. The comparison between Turkey and Netherlands elucidate common denominators of impact measurement hype and discourses that are currently existing worldwide. In addition, it also reveals differing priorities of social enterprises in these different settings, which shape the expectations of social enterprises of consultancy organisations. Comparison between university affiliated impact hubs and independent consultancy organisations also give away important data about how different forms of consultancy organisations (in this case university based and independent) position themselves in relation to alike organisations with similar aims. The overall aim of the research is to reveal the contribution of the consultancy organisations that work with social enterprises to the social entrepreneurship field as perceived by them through a cross cultural study. The findings indicate that in both settings, the organisations that were claiming to bring positive social impact on the social entrepreneurship eco-system through their impact measurement trainings were themselves having a hard time in concretizing their own contributions; which indicated that these organisations were in need of a different impact measurement discourse than the ones they were championing.

Keywords: consultancy organisations, social entrepreneurship, social impact measurement, social impact discourse

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Authors: Şefika Dilek Güven, Gülden Küçükakça

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Objective: Learning the process of interaction with patient occurs within the process of nursing education. For this reason, it is considered to provide an opportunity for questioning and rearrangement of nursing education programs by assessing attitudes of nursing students towards caring nurse-patient interaction. Method: This is a descriptive study conducted in order to assess attitudes of nursing students towards caring nurse-patient interaction. The study was conducted with 318 students who were studying at nursing department of Semra and Vefa Küçük Health High School, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University in 2015-2016 academic year and agreed to participate in the study. “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researchers utilizing the literature and “Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction Scale (CNPIS)”, who Turkish validity and reliability were conducted by Atar and Aştı, were used in the study. The Cronbach α coefficient of CNPIS was found as 0.973 in the study. Permissions of the institution and participants were received before starting to conduct study. Significance test of the difference between two means, analysis of variance, and correlation analysis were used to assess the data. Results: Average age of nursing students participating in the study was 20.72±1.91 and 74.8% were female, and 28.0% were the fourth-year students. 52.5% of the nursing students stated that they chose nursing profession willingly, 80.2% did not have difficulty in their interactions with patients, and 84.6% did not have difficulty in their social relationships. CNPIS total mean score of nursing students was found to be 295.31±40.95. When the correlation between total CNPIS mean score of the nursing students in terms of some variables was examined; it was determined there was a significant positive correlation between ages of the nursing students and total mean score of CNPIS (r=0.184, p=0.001). CNPIS total mean score was found to be higher in female students compared to male students, in 3rd–year students compared to students studying at other years, in those choosing their profession willingly compared to those choosing their profession unwillingly, in those not having difficulty in relations with the patients compared to those having difficulty, and in those not having difficulty in social relationships compared to those having difficulty. It was determined there was a significant difference between CNPIS total mean scores in terms of the year and state of having difficulty in social relationships (p<0,005). Conclusion: Nursing students had positive attitudes towards caring nurse-patient interactions, attitudes of nursing students, who were female, studying at 3rd year, chose nursing profession willingly, did not have difficulty in patient relations, and did not have difficulty in social relationships, towards caring nurse-patient interaction were found to be more positive. In the line with these results; it can be recommended to organize activities for introducing nursing profession to the youth preparing for the university, to use methods that will increase further communication skills to nursing students during their education, to support students in terms of communication skills, and to involve activities that will strengthen their social relationships.

Keywords: nurse-patient interaction, nursing student, patient, communication

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Authors: Jin Koo

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The main purpose of this study is to investigate the comparability of student scores obtained from Test Center (TC) vs. Online-Proctored (OP) Delivery in the three subject areas of Verbal, Reading, and Mathematics for each level (Middle and Upper). Also, this study examines whether there is an interaction effect between test deliveries (TC vs. OP) and gender/ethnicity/ability level in each subject area. The test used in this study is a multiple-choice standardized test for students in grades 5-11. For this study, data were collected during the 2022-23 test administration. This research used a one-factor between-subjects ANOVA and Cohen’s d to compare the TC and OP groups’ test means for each level and each subject area. Also, 2-factor between-subjects ANOVAs were conducted to investigate examinee characteristics: gender (male and female), ethnicity (African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Multi-racial, and White), and ability level (low, average, and high-ability groups). The author found that students’ test scores in some subject areas varied between TC and OP test deliveries by gender, ethnicity, and ability level, meaning that gender, ethnicity, and ability level were related to the score difference. These results will be discussed according to the current testing systems.

Keywords: ability level, ethnicity, gender, online-proctored delivery, standardized test, test center

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Authors: Haykal. Kay-Anne

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The health and well-being of students is a priority for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. The demands of medical studies are extreme, and many studies confirm that the prevalence of psychological distress is very high among medical students and that it is higher than that of the general population of the same age. The main goal is to identify risk factors for mental health among medical students at the University of Ottawa. The secondary objectives are to determine the variation of these risk factors according to demographic variables, as well as to determine if there is a change in the mental health of students during the 1st and 3rd years of their study. Medical students have a mandatory first and third-year wellness check meeting. This assessment includes a questionnaire on demographic information, mental health, and risk factors such as physical health, sleep, social support, financial stress, education and career, stress and drug use and/or alcohol. Student responses were converted to numerical values and analyzed statistically. The results show that 61% of the variation in the mean of the mental health score is explained by the following risk factors (R2 = 0.61, F (9.396) = 67.197, p < 0.01): lack of sleep and fatigue (β = 0.281, p < 0.001), lack of social support (β = 0.217, p <0.001), poor study or career development (β = 0.195, p < 0.001) and an increase stress and drug and alcohol use (β = -0.239, p < 0.001). No demographic variable has a significant effect on the presence of risk factors. In addition, fixed-effects regression demonstrated significantly lower mental health (p < 0.1) among first-year students (M = 0.587, SD = 0.072) than among third-year students (M = 0.719, SD = 0.071). This preliminary study indicates the need to continue data collection and analysis to increase the significance of the study results. As risk factors are present at the beginning of medical studies, it is important to offer resources to students very early in their medical studies and to have close monitoring and supervision.

Keywords: assessment of mental health, medical students, risk factors for mental health, wellness assessment

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Authors: Janice Cheong, Tan Seying

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The growing years in adolescence are often a tumultuous time for both the individual and family; this is especially so for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Social Communication Disorder (SCD). Tea Club, which is adapted from the PEERS® for Young Adults, seeks to address some of the social challenges faced by Singaporean adolescents with ASD/SCD while navigating social situations. Tea club (hybrid) consists of face-to-face sessions and virtual sessions. These sessions work with both the adolescent and their parents to tackle the individual's difficulties with social skills, empathy, and loneliness. Prior to the group intervention, both participants and their parents scored on the Test of Adolescent Social Skills Knowledge (TASSK) and Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), respectively. The session was spread across four months. At the end of the group based intervention, participants’ and parents’ scores were collected again and compared. Inputs on the programme and participant’s confidence in socialization were also gathered from both participants and their parents and looked at thematically. The findings highlight some of the challenges faced by teens with ASD in Singapore and the benefits of the intervention. Parental sentiments are also examined and discussed.

Keywords: adolescence autism, group intervention, social communication disorder, social skills

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Authors: Harper Staples

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A necessary outcome of today’s contemporary globalised reality, current views of multilingualism hold that it no longer represents the exception, but rather the rule. As such, the simultaneous acquisition of multiple languages represents a common experience for many of today's students and therefore represents a key area of inquiry in the domain of foreign language learner identity. Second and multilingual language acquisition processes parallel each other in many ways; however, there are differences to be found in the ways in which a student may learn a third language. A multilingual repertoire will have to negotiate complex change as language competencies dynamically evolve; moreover, this process will vary according to the contextual factors attributed to a unique learner. A developing multilingual identity must, therefore, contend with an array of potential challenges specific to the individual in question. Despite an overarching recognition in the literature that pluri-language acquisition represents a unique field of inquiry within applied linguistic research, there is a paucity of empirical work which examines the ways in which individuals construct a sense of their own identity as multilingual speakers in such contexts of learning. This study explores this phenomenon via a mixed-methods, comparative case study approach at four school sites based in Finland, France, Wales, and England. It takes a strongly individual-in-context view, conceptualising each adolescent participant in dynamic terms in order to undertake a holistic exploration of the myriad factors that might impact upon, and indeed be impacted by, a learner's developing multilingual identity. Emerging themes of note thus far suggest that, beyond the expected divergences in the experience of multilinguality at the individual level, there are contradictions in the way in which adolescent students in each site 'claim' their plurilingualism. This can be argued to be linked to both meso and macro-level factors, including the foreign language curriculum and, more broadly, societal attitudes towards multilingualism. These diverse emergent identifications have implications not only for attainment in the foreign language but also for student well-being more generally.

Keywords: foreign language learning, student identity, multilingualism, educational psychology

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Authors: Arezoo Fallahi‎

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Background: Exercise behavior (EB) has a significant impact on infertility, but the magnitude of the effect is not easily determined. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of social support and self-regulation, as external and internal factors, on changes in exercise behavior among infertile women. Methods: For a cross-sectional study conducted in Sanandaj (Iran) in 2020, we recruited infertile women (n=483) from 35 comprehensive healthcare centers by means of convenience sampling. Standardized face-to-face interviews were conducted using established and reliable instruments for the assessment of EB, social support, and self-regulation. Logistic regression models were applied to assess the association between EB, social support and self-regulation. Results: The majority of the participants (56.7%) had secondary infertility, while 70.8% of them did not perform any exercise. Self-regulation and social support were significantly higher in women with secondary infertility than in those with primary infertility (p < 0.01). Self-regulation was significantly lower in women whose height was below 160 centimeters (cm) (p<0.05). Social support was significantly higher among participants aged ≥ 35 years and weighing ≥ 60 kilograms (kg) (p < 0.01). The odds of EB adoption increased with self-regulation and social support (OR=1.05, 95% CI=1.02-1.09, p <0.01), (OR=1.06, 95% CI=1.02-1.11, p <0.01). Conclusion: Social support and self-regulation almost equally influenced EB in infertile women. Designing support and consultation programs can be considered in encouraging infertile women to do exercise in future research.

Keywords: social support, regulation, infertility, women, exercise

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Authors: Bernard Morais Joosa

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Kerala, the southern state of India, is known for its accomplishments in universal education and enrollments. Through this mission, the Government proposes comprehensive educational reforms including 1000 Government schools into international standards during the first phase. The idea is not only to improve the infrastructural facilities but also to reform the teaching and learning process to the present day needs by introducing ICT enabled learning and providing smart classrooms. There will be focus on creating educational programmes which are useful for differently abled students. It is also meant to reinforce the teaching–learning process by providing ample opportunities to each student to construct their own knowledge using modern technology tools. The mission will redefine the existing classroom learning process, coordinate resource mobilization efforts and develop ‘Janakeeya Vidyabhyasa Mathruka.' Special packages to support schools which are in existence for over 100 years will also be attempted. The implementation will enlist full involvement and partnership of the Parent Teacher Association. Kerala was the first state in the country to attain 100 percent literacy more than two and a half decades ago. Since then the State has not rested on its laurels. It has moved forward in leaps and bounds conquering targets that no other State could achieve. Now the government of Kerala is taking off towards new goal of comprehensive educational reforms. And it focuses on Betterment of educational surroundings, use of technology in education, renewal of learning method and 1000 schools will be uplifted as Smart Schools. Need to upgrade 1000 schools into international standards and turning classrooms from standard 9 to 12 in high schools and higher secondary into high-tech classrooms and a special unique package for the renovation of schools, which have completed 50 and 100 years. The government intends to focus on developing standards first to eighth standards in tune with the times by engaging the teachers, parents, and alumni to recapture the relevance of public schools. English learning will be encouraged in schools. The idea is not only to improve the infrastructure facilities but also reform the curriculum to the present day needs. Keeping in view the differently-abled friendly approach of the government, there will be focus on creating educational program which is useful for differently abled students. The idea is to address the infrastructural deficiencies being faced by such schools. There will be special emphasis on ensuring internet connectivity to promote IT-friendly existence. A task-force and a full-time chief executive will be in charge of managing the day to day affairs of the mission. Secretary of the Public Education Department will serve as the Mission Secretary and the Chairperson of Task Force. As the Task Force will stress on teacher training and the use of information technology, experts in the field, as well as Directors of SCERT, IT School, SSA, and RMSA, will also be a part of it.

Keywords: educational standards, methodology, pedagogy, technology

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Authors: Ozge Gurcanli

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Recent studies in active-learning focus on how student experience varies based on the content (e.g. STEM versus Humanities) and the medium (e.g. in-class exercises versus off-campus activities) of experiential learning. However, little is known whether the variation in classroom time and space within the same active learning context affects student experience. This study manipulated the use of classroom time for the active learning component of a developmental psychology course that is offered at a four-year university in the South-West Region of United States. The course uses a blended model: traditional and active learning. In the traditional learning component of the course, students do weekly readings, listen to lectures, and take midterms. In the active learning component, students make a documentary on a developmental topic as a final project. Students used the classroom time and space for the documentary in two ways: regular classroom time slots that were dedicated to the making of the documentary outside without the supervision of the professor (Classroom-time Outside) and lectures that offered basic instructions about how to make a documentary (Documentary Lectures). The study used the public teaching evaluations that are administered by the Office of Registrar’s. A total of two hundred and seven student evaluations were available across six semesters. Because the Office of Registrar’s presented the data separately without personal identifiers, One-Way ANOVA with four groups (Traditional, Experiential-Heavy: 19% Classroom-time Outside, 12% for Documentary Lectures, Experiential-Moderate: 5-7% for Classroom-time Outside, 16-19% for Documentary Lectures, Experiential Light: 4-7% for Classroom-time Outside, 7% for Documentary Lectures) was conducted on five key features (Organization, Quality, Assignments Contribution, Intellectual Curiosity, Teaching Effectiveness). Each measure used a five-point reverse-coded scale (1-Outstanding, 5-Poor). For all experiential conditions, the documentary counted towards 30% of the final grade. Organization (‘The instructors preparation for class was’), Quality (’Overall, I would rate the quality of this course as’) and Assignment Contribution (’The contribution of the graded work that made to the learning experience was’) did not yield any significant differences across four course types (F (3, 202)=1.72, p > .05, F(3, 200)=.32, p > .05, F(3, 203)=.43, p > .05, respectively). Intellectual Curiosity (’The instructor’s ability to stimulate intellectual curiosity was’) yielded a marginal effect (F (3, 201)=2.61, p = .053). Tukey’s HSD (p < .05) indicated that the Experiential-Heavy (M = 1.94, SD = .82) condition was significantly different than all other three conditions (M =1.57, 1.51, 1.58; SD = .68, .66, .77, respectively) showing that heavily active class-time did not elicit intellectual curiosity as much as others. Finally, Teaching Effectiveness (’Overall, I feel that the instructor’s effectiveness as a teacher was’) was significant (F (3, 198)=3.32, p <.05). Tukey’s HSD (p <.05) showed that students found the courses with moderate (M=1.49, SD=.62) to light (M=1.52, SD=.70) active class-time more effective than heavily active class-time (M=1.93, SD=.69). Overall, the findings of this study suggest that within the same active learning context, the time and the space dedicated to active learning results in different outcomes in intellectual curiosity and teaching effectiveness.

Keywords: active learning, learning outcomes, student experience, learning context

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Authors: Claudia Trillo

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Regional innovation eco-ecosystems are composed of a variety of interconnected urban innovation eco-systems, mutually reinforcing each other and making the whole territorial system successful. Combining principles drawn from the new economic growth theory and from the socio-constructivist approach to the economic growth, with the new geography of innovation emerging from the networked nature of innovation districts, this paper explores the spatial configuration of urban innovation districts, with the aim of unveiling replicable spatial patterns and transferable portfolios of urban policies. While some authors suggest that cities should be considered ideal natural clusters, supporting cross-fertilization and innovation thanks to the physical setting they provide to the construction of collective knowledge, still a considerable distance persists between regional development strategies and urban policies. Moreover, while public and private policies supporting entrepreneurship normally consider innovation as the cornerstone of any action aimed at uplifting the competitiveness and economic success of a certain area, a growing body of literature suggests that innovation is non-neutral, hence, it should be constantly assessed against equity and social inclusion. This paper draws from a robust qualitative empirical dataset gathered through 4-years research conducted in Boston to provide readers with an evidence-based set of recommendations drawn from the lessons learned through the investigation of the chosen innovation districts in the Boston area. The evaluative framework used for assessing the overall performance of the chosen case studies stems from the Habitat III Sustainable Development Goals rationale. The concept of inclusive growth has been considered essential to assess the social innovation domain in each of the chosen cases. The key success factors for the development of the Boston innovation ecosystem can be generalized as follows: 1) a quadruple helix model embedded in the physical structure of the two cities (Boston and Cambridge), in which anchor Higher Education (HE) institutions continuously nurture the Entrepreneurial Environment. 2) an entrepreneurial approach emerging from the local governments, eliciting risk-taking and bottom-up civic participation in tackling key issues in the city. 3) a networking structure of some intermediary actors supporting entrepreneurial collaboration, cross-fertilization and co-creation, which collaborate at multiple-scales thus enabling positive spillovers from the stronger to the weaker contexts. 4) awareness of the socio-economic value of the built environment as enabler of cognitive networks allowing activation of the collective intelligence. 5) creation of civic-led spaces enabling grassroot collaboration and cooperation. Evidence shows that there is not a single magic recipe for the successful implementation of place-based and social innovation-driven strategies. On the contrary, the variety of place-grounded combinations of micro and macro initiatives, embedded in the social and spatial fine grain of places and encompassing a diversity of actors, can create the conditions enabling places to thrive and local economic activities to grow in a sustainable way.

Keywords: innovation-driven sustainable Eco-systems , place-based sustainable urban development, sustainable innovation districts, social innovation, urban policie

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Authors: Kimberley Kennedy

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The major findings of this study discuss the importance of understanding and applying Systems thinking concepts to ensure an effective Project-Based Learning environment. A pilot project study of a major pedagogical change was conducted over a five year period with the goal to give students real world, hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to apply what they had learned over the past two years of their business program. The first two weeks of the fifteen week semester utilized teaching methods of lectures, guest speakers and design thinking workshops to prepare students for the project work. For the remaining thirteen weeks of the semester, the students worked with actual business owners and clients on projects and challenges. The first three years of the five year study focused on student feedback to ensure a quality learning experience and continuous improvement process was developed. The final two years of the study, examined the conceptual understanding and perception of learning and teaching by faculty using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as compared to lectures and more traditional teaching methods was performed. Relevant literature was reviewed and data collected from program faculty participants who completed pre-and post-semester interviews and surveys over a two year period. Systems thinking concepts were applied to better understand the challenges for faculty using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as compared to more traditional teaching methods. Factors such as instructor and student fatigue, motivation, quality of work and enthusiasm were explored to better understand how to provide faculty with effective support and resources when using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as the main teaching method. This study provides value by presenting generalizable, foundational knowledge by offering suggestions for practical solutions to assure student and teacher engagement in Project-Based Learning courses.

Keywords: continuous improvement, project-based learning, systems thinking, teacher engagement

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Authors: Vivienne Cameron

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Background: Between 2010 and 2017, teachers in a suburban public school district struggled to get students to consistently produce adequate writing samples as measured by the Pennsylvania state writing rubric for measuring focus, content, organization, style, and conventions. A common thread in all of the data was the need to develop stamina in the student writers. Method: All of the teachers used the traditional writing process model (prewrite, draft, revise, edit, final copy) during writing instruction. One teacher taught the writing process using word processing and incentivizing with publication instead of the traditional pencil/paper/grading method. Students did not have instruction in typing/keyboarding. The teacher submitted resulting student work to real-life contests, magazines, and publishers. Results: Students in the test group increased both the quantity and quality of their writing over a seven month period as measured by the Pennsylvania state writing rubric. Reluctant writers, as well as students with autism spectrum disorder, benefited from this approach. This outcome was repeated consistently over a five-year period. Interpretation: Removing the burden of pencil and paper allowed students to participate in the writing process more fully. Writing with pencil and paper is physically tiring. Students are discouraged when they submit a draft and are instructed to use the Add, Remove, Move, Substitute (ARMS) method to revise their papers. Each successive version becomes shorter. Allowing students to type their papers frees them to quickly and easily make changes. The result is longer writing pieces in shorter time frames, allowing the teacher to spend more time working on individual needs. With this additional time, the teacher can concentrate on teaching focus, content, organization, style, conventions, and audience. S/he also has a larger body of works from which to work on whole group instruction such as developing effective leads. The teacher submitted the resulting student work to contests, magazines, and publishers. Although time-consuming, the submission process was an invaluable lesson for teaching about audience and tone. All students in the test sample had work accepted for publication. Students became highly motivated to succeed when their work was accepted for publication. This motivation applied to special needs students, regular education students, and gifted students.

Keywords: elementary-age students, reluctant writers, teaching strategies, writing process

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Authors: Oluyinka Ojedokun, S. E. Idemudia

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In Nigeria, statistics is a compulsory course required from all social sciences students as part of their academic training. However, a rising number of social sciences undergraduates usually express statistics anxiety. The prevalence of statistics anxiety among undergraduates in social sciences has created a growing concern for educators and researchers in the higher education institutions, mainly because this statistics anxiety adversely affects their performance in statistics and research methods courses. From a societal perspective it is important to reverse this trend. Although scholars and researchers have highlighted some psychosocial factors that influence statistics anxiety in students but few empirical studies exist on the association between personality traits of NEO five factors and statistics anxiety. It is in the light of this situation that this study was designed to assess the extent to which the personality traits of NEO five factors influence statistics anxiety of students in social sciences courses. The participants were 282 undergraduates in the faculty of social sciences at a state owned public university in Nigeria. The findings demonstrate that the personality traits contributing to statistics anxiety include openness to experience, conscientious, extraversion, and neuroticism. These results imply that statistics anxiety is related to individual differences in personality traits and suggest that certain aspects of statistics anxiety may be relatively stable and resistant to change. An effective and simple method to reduce statistics anxiety among social sciences students is to create awareness of the statistical and methodological requirements of the social sciences courses before commencement of their programmes.

Keywords: personality traits, statistics anxiety, social sciences, students

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Authors: Nargiza Nuralieva

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This meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of mental health interventions tailored for international students in China, with a specific focus on Uzbek students and Silk Road scholarship recipients. The comprehensive literature review synthesizes existing studies, papers, and reports, evaluating the outcomes, limitations, and cultural considerations of these programs. Data selection targets mental health programs for international students, honing in on a subset analysis related to Uzbek students and Silk Road scholarship recipients. The analysis encompasses diverse outcome measures, such as reported stress levels, utilization rates of mental health services, academic performance, and more. Results reveal a consistent and statistically significant reduction in reported stress levels, emphasizing the positive impact of these interventions. Utilization rates of mental health services witness a significant increase, highlighting the accessibility and effectiveness of support. Retention rates show marked improvement, though academic performance yields mixed findings, prompting nuanced exploration. Psychological well-being, quality of life, and overall well-being exhibit substantial enhancements, aligning with the overarching goal of holistic student development. Positive outcomes are observed in increased help-seeking behavior, positive correlations with social support, and significant reductions in anxiety levels. Cultural adaptation and satisfaction with interventions both indicate positive outcomes, underscoring the effectiveness of culturally sensitive mental health support. The findings emphasize the importance of tailored mental health interventions for international students, providing novel insights into the specific needs of Uzbek students and Silk Road scholarship recipients. This research contributes to a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted impact of mental health programs on diverse student populations, offering valuable implications for the design and refinement of future interventions. As educational institutions continue to globalize, addressing the mental health needs of international students remains pivotal for fostering inclusive and supportive learning environments.

Keywords: international students, mental health interventions, cross-cultural support, silk road scholarship, meta-analysis

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Authors: Ejoke U. P., Smitha Dev., Madwuke Ann, DuPlessis E. D.

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The study examines the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and social well-being among international faculty members in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE has become a significant destination for global academic talent, yet challenges related to social integration, acceptance, and overall well-being persist among its international faculty. The study focuses on the predictive role of PsyCap, encompassing hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, in determining various dimensions of social well-being, including social integration, acceptance, contribution, actualization, and coherence. Additionally, the research investigates the potential moderating or mediating effects of institutional support and Faculty Job-Status position on the relationship between PsyCap and social well-being. Through structural equation modeling, we found that institutional support mediated the positive relationship between PsyCap and SWB and the permanent Faculty job-status position type strengthens the relationship between PsyCap and SWB. Our findings uncover the pathways through which PsyCap influences the social well-being outcomes of international faculty in the UAE. The findings will contribute to the development of tailored interventions and support systems aimed at enhancing the integration experiences and overall well-being of international faculty within the UAE academic community. Thus, fostering a more inclusive and thriving academic environment in the UAE.

Keywords: faculty job-status, institutional-faculty, psychological capital, social well-being, UAE

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Authors: Aldona Guzik

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Experts have always played a special role in society. Drawing on their opinions was and most certainly is one of the most important strategies that direct people when they make decisions; something often used with the aim of exerting influence and ensuring social conformism. Many factors decide on who becomes an expert. The most important of these have hitherto been: the possession of extensive knowledge, charisma, authority as well as experience. Increasingly, however, these factors are insufficient and may even be deemed unnecessary. This state of affairs has been brought about (among other things) by the development of the media and the media’s influence on our lives. The inspiration to write the present article has its grounding in the book by Tom Nichols The Death of Expertise. The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, in which the author claims that in our present-day open society experts and their expertise count for increasingly less for everyone who has unlimited access to the Internet and education. This has, in turn, resulted in the creation of so-called ‘collective wisdom,’ which is placed higher than any of the specialist knowledge proclaimed by experts. However, this is an incomplete picture, because admittedly, access to knowledge is nowadays unlimited, but on the other hand, the ubiquitous risk causes that the expert is someone who allows them to minimize it. Therefore, a modern society so readily refers to their opinion; from the smallest matters, eg home appliance, to important political issues. Hence, many information services include numerous experts (scientists, journalists, specialists, celebrities), whose task is to explain to the viewers in a simple way the presented reality. However, more and more often their role is also to give credence to what they explain. Hence the questions arise: who are the experts, what is their typology and what roles they play in Polish information services? To answer them, quantitative and qualitative research was used, such as analysis of lists of 100 most influential experts, analysis of expert profiles and their statements in three differentiated information services (TVN - commercial, TVP1 - public, TV Trwam - non-commercial/religious). They will be the basis for answering the above-mentioned questions and, above all, determining their role in information services in Poland.

Keywords: experts, media, public discours, symbolic elites

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Authors: Laila Alkhayat

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In this study, the researcher explored the positive and negative effects of children watching YouTube on changing social values from the perspective of parents in Kuwait. This study also explored whether any correlation exists between changed values from watching YouTube and the following variables: relationship with a child, social situation, school level, gender, and age. The researcher collected data from 286 questionnaires distributed randomly to parents in Kuwait. The results of the study show that parents face many disadvantages when dealing with children watching YouTube, such as children spending too much time in front of screens, inability to organize bedtime, and children’s social isolation. However, the researcher found some positives come from watching YouTube, such as learning new information, enabling children to search for new information, and introducing children to the culture of their society and other cultures around them. Moreover, this study found that boys are more likely to have negative viewing habits than girls. Given the results, this study shows that the biggest impact on social values from children watching YouTube is that they are preoccupied with watching YouTube and they waste time, which makes them feel disturbed, and this affects the value of time management and delays children’s sleeping times. This study concludes that watching YouTube simultaneously has negative and positive effects on changing social values, but it plays a negative role in changing social values of children from the parents’ perspective.

Keywords: YouTube, children, social value, social media effects

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Authors: Abubakar Mohammed Bakoji

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The paper examine business ethics through it pursuit for corporate social responsibility to the society in which the business long existed, Zenith bank PLC was selected as case study for it longer period of its business in the state, in order to achieve the research objective of the paper which sought the following: i. To examine relationship between business ethics and corporate social responsibility in Zenith bank PLC Jalingo; ii. To establish whether or not such ethics statement that acclaim corporate social responsibility are adhere to by the Zenith bank PLC Jalingo; iii. To determine the benefit drive by the society on the corporate social responsibility of Zenith bank PLC Jalingo to the people of the state of their operation. The research was conducted using qualitative research design approach, where convenience sampling technique was adopted using semi structured interview to one of the key staff of Zenith bank PLC Jalingo and five other beneficiaries of Zenith bank PLC corporate social responsibility projects served as respondents. The data obtained was analyze using content analysis and the result of the findings revealed that Zenith bank PLC has a Good business ethics and they adhere to the ethics, that they have completed several viable projects to the state as their corporate social responsibility and the beneficiaries and the respondents beneficiaries has confirmed and have produced evidence of how the projects has assisted in stifle their hardship. Hence, business ethics has a significant relationship with corporate social responsibility in Zenith bank PLC Jalingo.

Keywords: business ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Zenith Bank PLC, business ethics

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Authors: Banazzouz Halima

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Throughout the ages, language has been viewed not only as a simple code of communicating information but rather as the most powerful and versatile medium of maintaining relationships with other people. While,by the end of the 18th century, such matters of scientific investigation concerning the study of human language began to occur under the scope of “Linguistics” generally defined as the scientific study of language. Linguistics, thus, provides a growing body of scientific knowledge about language which can guide the activity of the language teacher and student as well. Moreover,as times passed, the linguistic development engaged language in a broadly practiced academic discipline having relationship with other sciences such as: psychology, sociology, anthropology etc. Therefore, “Sociolinguistics” was given birth during the 1960’s. In fact, the given abstract is mainly linguistic, inserted under the scope of “Sociolinguistics” and by far it highlights on the process of linguistic variation and language change to show that all languages change through time and linguistic systems may vary from one speech community to another providing there is a sense of vitality where people of different parts of the globe may mutually and intelligibly communicate and comprehend each other.

Keywords: language change-sociolinguistics, social context-speech community, vitality of language, linguistic variation, urban dialectology, urban dialectology

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Authors: Ana Ramsha, Samrah Hidayat

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This study examines the role of social parameters in the choice of address forms used in kinship domain in Punjab, Pakistan. The study targeted 140 respondents in order to test the impact of social factors along with the regional differences in the choices of address forms in kinship domain. Statistical analyses are done by applying t-test for gender in relation to choices of address forms and ANOVA for age, income, education and social class. The study finds out that there is a strong connection of different social parameters not only with language use and practice but also in choices and use of address forms, especially in kinship relationships. Moreover, it is highlighted that gender does not influence in the choices of address forms, even the participants belonging to young and middle categories show no significant difference with regard to the choices of address form despite the fact that all the factors and parameters exert influence on the choices of address forms. Hence address forms as being one of the major traits of language and society is affected by all the social factors around and regional differences are also most important as they give identity and ethnicity to the society.

Keywords: address forms, kinship, social parameters, linguistics

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