Search results for: outcome based education

Authors: Irfan Ahmed Rind

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Science education has recently become the top priority of government of Pakistan. Number of schemes has been initiated for the improvement of science teaching and learning at primary and secondary levels of education, most importantly training in-service science teachers on inquiry based teaching and learning to empower students and encourage creativity, critical thinking, and innovation among them. Therefore, this approach has been promoted in the recent continuous professional development trainings for the in-service teachers. However, the follow ups on trained science teachers and educators suggest that these teachers fail to implement the inquiry based teaching and learning in their classes. In addition, these trainings also fail to bring any significant change in students’ science content knowledge and understanding as per the annual national level surveys conducted by government and independent agencies. Research suggests that science has been taught using scientific positivism, which supports objectivity based on experiments and mathematics. In contrary, the inquiry based teaching and learning are based on constructivism, which conflicts with the positivist epistemology of science teachers. It was, therefore, assumed that science teachers struggle to implement the inquiry based teaching approach as it conflicts with their basic epistemological beliefs. With this assumption, this research aimed to (i) understand how science teachers conceptualize the nature of science, and how this influence their understanding of learning, learners, their own roles as teachers and their teaching strategies, (ii) identify the conflict of science teachers’ epistemological beliefs with the inquiry based teaching approach, and (iii) find the ways in which science teachers epistemological beliefs may be developed from positivism to constructivism, so that they may effectively use the inquiry based teaching approach in teaching science. Using qualitative case study approach, thirty six secondary and higher secondary science teachers (21 male and 15 female) were selected. Data was collected using interviewed, participatory observations (sixty lessons were observed), and twenty interviews from students for verifications of teachers’ responses. The findings suggest that most of the science teacher were positivist in defining the nature of science. Most of them limit themselves to one fix answer that is provided in the books and that there is only one 'right' way to teach science. There is no room for students’ or teachers’ own opinion or bias when it comes to scientific concepts. Inquiry based teaching seems 'no right' to them. They find it difficult to allow students to think out of the box. However, some interesting exercises were found to be very effective in bringing the change in teachers’ epistemological beliefs. These will be discussed in detail in the paper. The findings have major implications for the teachers, educators, and policymakers.

Keywords: science teachers, epistemology, metacognition, inquiry based teaching

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Authors: Chiou-Shiue Ko, Pei-Fang Wu, Shu-hsien Tseng

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The researchers adopted two-year action research to investigate the professional collaborative process and development in learning communities for both early childhood and early childhood special education teachers on implementing the children’s school success curriculum framework. The participating teachers were recruited from three preschool sites for this current study. Research data were collected from multiple methods in order to ensure the data quality and validity. The results showed that participating educators had achieved professional growth, and they became more aware of teaching intentions and the preparation for the curriculum. Teachers in this research become more child-focused in teaching and create opportunities for children to participate in classroom activities and routines. The researcher also finds teachers’ participation levels were driven by each individual personality; during professional growth, some teachers are more proactive and reflective, and some are not. According to the research findings, suggestions for future studies and practices are provided.

Keywords: children’s school success curriculum framework, early childhood special education, preschool education, professional learning community

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Authors: Vered Holzmann, Ramzi Halabi

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The current research investigates motivators and barriers to high-tech entrepreneurship in the Israeli-Arab Community. With the aim to exploit the capacity of Israel as a 'start-up nation', we identify the most important aspects to promote integration of Israeli-Arab entrepreneurs in high-tech startups and business companies, thus impact the socio-economic status of the Arab community in Israel. We reviewed the literature on the role of high-tech and entrepreneurship in the Israeli economy, the profile of the Israeli-Arab community with regard to education and employability, and the characteristics of minority entrepreneurship to understand entrepreneurs' intentions, their incentives to choose the entrepreneurial route on one hand and the obstacles that they face on the other hand. Based on the literature review, we conducted an integrated study that included a survey among 73 Israeli-Arabs involved in high-tech entrepreneurship and 16 semi-structured interviews with Israeli-Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs and leaders in the high-tech industry. We analyzed the data to explore personal and social motivating factors to entrepreneurship as well as educational and socio-economical barriers for entrepreneurship. Three major elements were found to be the most influential on Arab high-tech entrepreneurship in Israel: education, financial resources, and strategic-institutional support. The relationship between education and employability that is well-known with regard to general education, requires two additional aspects in the field of high-tech entrepreneurship: education of technology and engineering, and education of business and entrepreneurship. The study findings reveal that the main motivation factors for entrepreneurship are development of creative ideas and improvement of the socio-economic status, while financial-related factors and lack of institutional and governmental support are perceived as impediments to entrepreneurial activities. Financing difficulties are mainly derived from discriminating financial environment and lack of professional networking. The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth seems to be clear and simple; thus it is a national interest to encourage entrepreneurship among the Arab community, and especially high-tech entrepreneurship which has a significant role in the economic growth of Israel.

Keywords: high-tech industry, innovation management, Israeli-Arab community, minority entrepreneurship, motivating factors and barriers

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Authors: Rahaf Mandura

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Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a disorder with elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) more than 250 mm H₂O, without evidence of meningeal inflammation, space-occupying lesion, or venous thrombosis. The aim of this research is to study the clinical profile, evaluation, management, and visual outcome in a hospital-based population of IIH cases in Jeddah. Methodology: This is a retrospective observational study that included the medical records of all patients referred to neuro-ophthalmology service for evaluation of papilledema. The medical records have been reviewed from October 2018 to February 2020 at Jeddah Eye Hospital (JEH), Saudi Arabia. A total of fifty-one patients presented with papilledema in the studied period. Forty-seven patients met our inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Results: Most of the patients were females (43, 91.5%) with a mean age of presentation of 30.83±11.40 years. The most common presenting symptom was headache (40 patients, 85.1%), followed by transient visual obscuration (20 patients, 42.6%), and reduced visual acuity (15 patients, 31.9%). All 47 patients were started on medical treatment with oral acetazolamide with four patients (8.5%) shifted to topiramate because of the lack of response or intolerance to acetazolamide while four patients (8.5%) underwent lumbar-peritoneal shunt because of inadequate control of the disease despite the treatment with medical therapy. For both eyes, the change in visual acuity across all assessment points was statistically significant. Nevertheless, there were no significant changes in the visual field findings among all of the compared assessment points. Conclusion: The present study has shown that IIH-related papilledema is common in young female patients with headaches, transient visual obscurations and reduced visual acuity. Those are the commonest symptoms in our IIH population. Medical treatment of IIH is significantly efficacious and should be considered in order to enhance the prognosis of IIH-related complications. Therefore, the visual status should be frequently monitored for these patients.

Keywords: idiopathic intracranial hypertension, intracranial hypertension, papilledema, headache

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Authors: Xiaoqin Wang, Li Yin

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Background and purpose: In many practices, one estimates causal effects arising from a complex stochastic process, where a sequence of treatments are assigned to influence a certain outcome of interest, and there exist time-dependent covariates between treatments. When covariates are plentiful and/or continuous, statistical modeling is needed to reduce the huge dimensionality of the problem and allow for the estimation of causal effects. Recently, Wang and Yin (Annals of statistics, 2020) derived a new general formula, which expresses these causal effects in terms of the point effects of treatments in single-point causal inference. As a result, it is possible to conduct the modeling via point effects. The purpose of the work is to study the modeling of these causal effects via point effects. Challenges and solutions: The time-dependent covariates often have influences from earlier treatments as well as on subsequent treatments. Consequently, the standard parameters – i.e., the mean of the outcome given all treatments and covariates-- are essentially all different (null paradox). Furthermore, the dimension of the parameters is huge (curse of dimensionality). Therefore, it can be difficult to conduct the modeling in terms of standard parameters. Instead of standard parameters, we have use point effects of treatments to develop likelihood-based parametric approach to the modeling of these causal effects and are able to model the causal effects of a sequence of treatments by modeling a small number of point effects of individual treatment Achievements: We are able to conduct the modeling of the causal effects from a sequence of treatments in the familiar framework of single-point causal inference. The simulation shows that our method achieves not only an unbiased estimate for the causal effect but also the nominal level of type I error and a low level of type II error for the hypothesis testing. We have applied this method to a longitudinal study of COVID-19 mortality among Scandinavian countries and found that the Swedish approach performed far worse than the other countries' approach for COVID-19 mortality and the poor performance was largely due to its early measure during the initial period of the pandemic.

Keywords: causal effect, point effect, statistical modelling, sequential causal inference

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Authors: Md. Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury

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Mobile school is an innovative methodology in non-formal education to increase access to education for children during conflict through theatre for education for appropriate basic education to children during conflict. The continuous exposure to harsh environments and the nature of the lifestyles of children in conflict make them vulnerable. However, the mobile school initiative takes into consideration the mobile lifestyle of children in conflict. Schools are provided considering the pocket area of the street children with portable chalkboards, tin of books and materials as communities move. Teaching is multi-grade to ensure all children in the community benefit. The established mobile schools, while focused on basic literacy and numeracy skills according to traditions of the communities. The school teachers are selected by the community and trained by a theatre activist. These teachers continue to live and move with the community and provide continuous education for children in conflict. The model proposed a holistic team work to deliver education focused services to the street children’s pocket area where the team is mobile. The team consists of three members –an educator (theatre worker), a psychological counsellor and paramedics. The mobile team is responsible to educate street children and also play dramas which specially produce on the basis of national curriculum and awareness issues for street children. Children enjoy play and learn about life skills and basic literacy and numeracy skills which may be a pillar of humanitarian aid during conflict.

Keywords: vulnerable, children in conflict, mobile schooling, child-friendly

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Authors: Jahanzaib

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The rural economy can be uplifted through agricultural extension education for female as the majority is uneducated. The present study was carried out in five districts (Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Raheem Yar Khan, Bahawalnagr, and Vehari) of southern Punjab, Pakistan. The ten females were selected from each district, poor economic background for agricultural training. The training was provided free of cost, through Punjab skills development program. After six month training, the trainees were awarded with certificates and a tool kit. After completion of training data was recorded and analyzed, the results indicate that, female trainees were in a better economic position than the females of nearby districts without training. From this study, we can conclude that agricultural education for female can not only improve the economy of the individual family but also improve the agriculture of Pakistan on the sustainable basis as the majority of workers are female in rural areas of Pakistan.

Keywords: agricultural extension education, sustainable rural development, agriculture, rural development in Pakistan

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Authors: Abdulbasit Musa Ahmad Karkarku

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Knowledge is the best asset you can leave for your child, especially the knowledge of Islam because it facilitates success in this life and the next. This made it necessary for every Muslim male and female to acquire Islamic education. The objective of this research is to highlight the role played by Muslim scholars in promoting Islamic education in Katsina State, Nigeria. There are so many problems facing Muslim scholars in the area of study; some of these problems include a lack of government support for Muslim scholars, a lack of community support, and a lack of financial support from wealthy individuals and philanthropists. In this research, two methods were used concurrently, i.e., library and interview methods. In the library method, the researcher consulted books and other academic works. In the course of this research, parents and religious leaders were interviewed in order to collect needed data information from them. The major findings of this research have shown that the Muslim scholars in area of study have contributed tremendously toward the development of Islamic education. Also, Muslim scholars played a vital role in the promotion of Islamic education in the area of study and beyond. In view of the above, some suggestions were highlighted with the view toward solving the associated problems; the government at every level should come to the aid of these Muslim scholars in order to provide them with basic amenities. The Philanthropists and wealthy individuals should help the Muslim scholars by giving them financial assistance. Also, communities have a vital role to play in order to improve the condition of Muslim scholars by giving them more donations.

Keywords: education, Islamic, Muslim, scholars

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Authors: Mary Holstein

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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate nurse leader confidence in emergency management and disaster preparedness in the state of Texas. My project was a replication study of a survey conducted in 2022 by Reedy et al, for members of the Northwest Organization for Nurse Leaders (NONL). Background: In 2022, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) approved new essentials for academic nursing education programs to demonstrate competencies in disaster management, yet no integration of such information into nursing curriculum had been reported in the literature. Research replicated by members of the Texas Organization for Nursing Leadership suggested significant gaps in nurse leader confidence across roles and in structured education that prepares nurse leaders across the spectrum of experience to lead in a crisis. Methods: An exploratory, cross-sectional survey used a sample of 86 RNs who were members of TONL. Results: Results replicated comparable results with significant variance in nurse leader confidence across roles, experience, and previous disaster-related education. Positive associations regarding nurse leaders' confidence in managing disasters were obvious with more advanced positions, further education, and mandatory training. Conclusions: Nursing leaders in Texas lack mandatory and structured education to prepare for emergency and disaster management. The call for mandatory emergency management training and disaster preparedness for nurse leaders remains unmet.

Keywords: confidence, disaster, education, emergency

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Authors: Rose Mutuota

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Western knowledge have influenced the Kenyan education system through colonisation and policies borrowed from the global North. Researchers argue that studies of education and systems based on Northernframeworks ignore the lived experiences of the global South. The history of colonization is one such example. In light of this, there is a need for schools to consider the lived experience of the Kenyan child and integrate Indigenous knowledge in the education system. The study reported here explored the possibility of creating a blended/hybrid curriculum that values Indigenous knowledge and practices but also selectively use side as from the global North. Acasestudyformat was employed. Teachers and principals in four schools were interviewed. The findings indicated that teachers and students brought indigenous knowledge to the classroom but were limited in their use by existing educational policies.AnotherfindingwasthatpoliciesborrowedfromtheglobalNorthdid not suit the context in the Southincountries with a history of colonization. There was the need for policymakers to ensure the policies borrowed from the North suit the Kenyan context. The recommendations included the deliberate and mandated use of indigenous knowledge in classrooms including indigenous languages for instruction, the use of locally available assets to support students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, and the use of a hybrid curriculum that privileges indigenous knowledge over Westernknowledgesintheschoolcurriculum.

Keywords: global North, global South, inclusive educate indigenous knowledges

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Authors: Ghazal Doostmohammadi, Susan Rahimzadeh

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Aim: This research aimed to investigate the relationship between empathy and interpersonal trust and recognize the mediating role of loneliness between them in both genders. Methods: With a correlational descriptive design, 192 university students (130 female and 62 male) responded to the questionnaires on “empathy quotient,” “loneliness,” and “interpersonal trust” tests. These tests were designed and validated by experts in the field. Data were analysed using Pearson correlation and path analysis, which is a statistical technique that uses standard linear regression equations to determine the degree of conformity of a theoretical causal model with reality. Results: The data analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between interpersonal trust, both with loneliness (t=0.169) and empathy (t=0.186), while there was a significant negative correlation (t=0.359) between empathy and loneliness. This means that there is an inverse correlation between empathy and loneliness. The path analysis confirmed the hypothesis of the research about the mediating role of loneliness between empathy and interpersonal trust. But gender did not play a role in this relationship. Conclusion: As an outcome, clinical professionals and education trainers should pay more attention to interpersonal trust as a basic need and try to recreate and shape it to prevent people's social breakdown, and on the other hand, self-disclosure training (especially in Men), expression of feelings and courage should be given double importance to prevent the consequences of loneliness.

Keywords: empathy, loneliness, interpersonal trust, gender

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Authors: Claire Griffin

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Recent years have witnessed a surge in the use of innovative teaching approaches to support student engagement and higher-order learning within higher education. This paper seeks to explore the use of collaborative, interactive teaching and learning strategies to support student engagement in a final year undergraduate Developmental Psychology module. In particular, the use of the jigsaw method, in-class presentations and online discussion fora were adopted in a ‘lectorial’ style teaching approach, aimed at scaffolding learning, fostering social interdependence and supporting various levels of student engagement in higher education. Using the ‘Student Course Engagement Questionnaire’, the impact of such teaching strategies on students’ college classroom experience was measured, with additional qualitative student feedback gathered. Results illustrate the positive impact of the teaching methodologies on students’ levels of engagement, with positive implications emerging across the four engagement factors: skills engagement, emotional engagement, participation/interaction engagement and performance engagement. Thematic analysis on students’ qualitative comments also provided greater insight into the positive impact of the ‘lectorial’ teaching approach on students’ classroom experience within higher level education. Implications of the findings are presented in terms of informing effective teaching practices within higher education. Additional avenues for future research and strategy usage will also be discussed, in light of evolving practice and cutting edge literature within the field.

Keywords: learning, higher education, scaffolding, student engagement

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Authors: Felicia Darling

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In Yucatec Maya middle schools in the Yucatán, mathematics scores are low and high school dropout rates are high. While addressing larger social and economic causes is crucial, improving mathematics instruction is a feasible approach. This paper draws from a six-month ethnographic, mixed-method study documenting two cultural approaches to problem solving. It explores the extent to which middle school mathematics instruction capitalizes upon these cultural assets and pilots two real-life mathematics tasks that incorporate them. Findings add details to the school/community culture gap around mathematics knowledge and have implications for mathematics education for marginalized students in México and the US.

Keywords: math education, indigenous, Maya, cultural assets, secondary school, teacher education

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Authors: Cindy Davis

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Higher education is changing globally and there is increasing pressure from professional social work accreditation bodies for academic programs to demonstrate how students have successfully met mandatory graduate competencies. As professional accreditation organizations increase their demand for evidence of graduate competencies, strategies to document and recording learning outcomes becomes increasingly challenging for academics and students. Studies in higher education have found support for the pedagogical value of ePortfolios, a flexible personal learning space that is owned by the student and include opportunity for assessment, feedback and reflection as well as a virtual space to store evidence of demonstration of professional competencies and graduate attributes. Examples of institutional uses of ePortfolios include e-administration of a diverse student population, assessment of student learning, and the demonstration of graduate attributes attained and future student career preparation. The current paper presents a case study on the introduction of ePortfolios for social work graduates in Australia as part of an institutional approach to technology-enhanced learning and e-learning. Social work graduates were required to submit an ePortfolio hosted on PebblePad. The PebblePad platform was selected because it places the student at the center of their learning whilst providing powerful tools for staff to structure, guide and assess that learning. The ePortofolio included documentation and evidence of how the student met each graduate competency as set out by the social work accreditation body in Australia (AASW). This digital resource played a key role in the process of external professional accreditation by clearly documenting and evidencing how students met required graduate competencies. In addition, student feedback revealed a positive outcome on how this resource provided them with a consolidation of their learning experiences and assisted them in obtaining employment post-graduation. There were also significant institutional factors that were key to successful implementation such as investment in the digital technology, capacity building amongst academics, and technical support for staff and students.

Keywords: accreditation, social work, teaching, technology

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Authors: Yei Mian Adrian Yap

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How we idealize the regular schools to be inclusive as much as possible hinges on mainstream teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy towards the inclusion of students with special needs in the regular schools. This research studies the Japanese and Singaporean mainstream teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy towards the inclusion of students with special needs in the regular classrooms by investigating what key variables influence their attitudes and teaching-efficacy and how they strategize to address their challenges to include their students with special needs in their regular classrooms. In order to understand the nature of teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy towards the inclusive education, a mixed-method research methodology was carried out in Japan and Singapore; it involved an explanatory sequential method of employing quantitative research first before qualitative research. In the quantitative research, 189 Japanese and 183 Singaporean teachers were invited to participate in the questionnaires and out of these participants, 38 Japanese and 15 Singaporean teachers shared their views during their semi-structured interviews. Based on the empirical findings, Japanese teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy were more likely to be influenced by their experiences in teaching students with special needs, knowledge about disability legislation, presence of their disabled family members and level of confidence to teach students with special needs. On the other hand, Singaporean teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy were affected by gender, educational level, received trainings in special needs education, knowledge about disability legislation and level of confidence to teach students with special needs. Both country results also demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between their teaching-efficacy and attitude. Narrative findings further expanded the reasons behind these quantitative factors that shaped teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy. Also it discussed the various problems faced by Japanese and Singaporean teachers and how they identified their coping strategies to circumvent their challenges in including their students with special needs in their regular classrooms. The significance of this research manifests in necessary educational reforms in both countries especially in the context of inclusive education. These findings may not be as definitive as expected but it is believed that it could provide useful information on the current situation about teachers’ concerns towards the inclusive education. In conclusion, this research could potentially make its positive contribution to the body of literature on teachers’ attitudes and teaching-efficacy in the context of Asian developed countries and these findings could posit that regular teachers’ positive attitudes and strong sense of teaching self-efficacy could directly improve the success rate of inclusion of students with special needs in the regular classrooms.

Keywords: attitudes, inclusive education, special education, teaching-efficacy

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Authors: Micah J. Dobson

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After-school programs of physical education provide children with opportunities to engage in physical activities while developing healthy habits. To ensure that these programs are inclusive, diverse, and engaging, however, schools must consider various factors when designing and implementing them. This study sought to bring out efficient strategies for structuring after-school programs of physical education. The literature review was conducted using various databases and search engines. Some databases that index the journals include ERIC, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost. The search terms were combinations of keywords such as “after-school,” “physical education,” “inclusion,” “diversity,” “engagement,” “program design,” “program implementation,” “program effectiveness,” and “best practices.” The findings of this study suggest that schools that desire inclusivity must consider four key factors when designing and implementing after-school physical education programs. First, the programs must be designed with variety and fun by incorporating activities such as dance, sports, and games that appeal to all students. Second, instructors must be trained to create supportive and positive environments that foster student engagement while promoting physical literacy. Third, schools must collaborate with community stakeholders and organizations to ensure that programs are culturally inclusive and responsive. Fourth, schools can incorporate technology into their programs to enhance engagement and provide additional growth and learning opportunities.In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into efficient strategies for structuring after-school programs of physical education that are inclusive, diverse, and engaging for all students. By considering these factors when designing and implementing their programs, schools can promote physical activity while supporting students’ overall well-being and health.

Keywords: after-school programs of physical education, community partnership, inclusivity, instructor training, technology

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Authors: Mostafa Najim, Alaa Rahhal, Fadi Khir, Safae Abu Yousef, Amer Aljundi, Feryal Ibrahim, Aliaa Amer, Ahmed Soliman Mohamed, Samira Saleh, Dekra Alfaridi, Ahmed Mahfouz, Sumaya Al-Yafei, Faraj Howady, Mohamad Yahya Khatib, Samar Alemadi

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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases the risk of coagulopathy among critically ill patients. Although the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) has been proposed as a possible mechanism of COVID-19 induced coagulopathy, their clinical significance among critically ill patients with COVID-19 remains uncertain. Methods: This prospective observational study included patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units (ICU) to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of aPLs, including anticardiolipin IgG/IgM, anti-β2-glycoprotein IgG/IgM, and lupus anticoagulant. The study outcomes included the prevalence of aPLs, a primary composite outcome of all-cause mortality, and arterial or venous thrombosis among aPLs positive patients versus aPLs negative patients during their ICU stay. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the influence of aPLs on the primary composite outcome of mortality and thrombosis. Results: A total of 60 critically ill patients were enrolled. Of whom, 57 (95%) were male, with a mean age of 52.8 ± 12.2 years, and the majority were from Asia (68%). Twenty-two patients (37%) were found to have positive aPLs; of whom 21 patients were positive for lupus anticoagulant, whereas one patient was positive for anti-β2-glycoprotein IgG/IgM. The composite outcome of mortality and thrombosis during ICU did not differ among patients with positive aPLs compared to those with negative aPLs (4 (18%) vs. 6 (16%), aOR= 0.98, 95% CI 0.1-6.7; p-value= 0.986). Likewise, the secondary outcomes, including all-cause mortality, venous thrombosis, arterial thrombosis, discharge from ICU, time to mortality, and time to discharge from ICU, did not differ between those with positive aPLs upon ICU admission in comparison to patients with negative aPLs. Conclusion: The presence of aPLs does not seem to affect the outcomes of critically ill patients with COVID-19 in terms of all-cause mortality and thrombosis. Therefore, clinicians may not screen critically ill patients with COVID-19 for aPLs unless deemed clinically appropriate.

Keywords: antiphospholipid antibodies, critically ill patients, coagulopathy, coronavirus

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Authors: Morakinyo Akintolu, Moeketsi Letseka

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In the year 2015, the United Nation member states, through the representative of all heads of states present, adopted the 17 Global goals known as the Sustainable Development Goals in their capacity to bring about social, economic, and cultural development to the world. Therefore, the need to accommodate equitable development one of the major goals is to achieve equitable and quality education for all to bring about international development. In this light, the study investigates the role of open distance learning in achieving sustainable development goals. Open distance learning comes as a second chance to individuals in disseminating educational content to students who missed the opportunity of attending the traditional school setting. Therefore, this study investigates if the SDGs reflect this type of learning (ODL) in creating Education for all according to the 2030 agenda by the United Nations. It further ascertains the role of ODL in achieving SDGs, the challenges encountered as well as the way forward.

Keywords: open distance learning, sustainable development goals, distance education, achieving, 2030 agenda

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Authors: Amogh Katti, J. Sai Asritha, D. Nivedh, M. Kalyan Srinivas, B. Somnath Chakravarthi

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Today's modern education system uses Learning Management System (LMS) portals for the scoring and grading of student performances, to maintain student records, and teachers are instructed to accept assignments through online submissions of .pdf,.doc,.ppt, etc. There is a risk of data tampering in the traditional portals; we will apply the Blockchain model instead of this traditional model to avoid data tampering and also provide a decentralized mechanism for overall fairness. Blockchain technology is a better and also recommended model because of the following features: consensus mechanism, decentralized system, cryptographic encryption, smart contracts, Ethereum blockchain. The proposed system ensures data integrity and tamper-proof assignment submission and grading, which will be helpful for both students and also educators.

Keywords: education technology, learning management system, decentralized applications, blockchain

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Authors: Karen Odendaal

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Accounting transactions are becoming more complex, and more extensive accounting guidance is provided on a continuous basis. It is widely perceived that conceptual teaching of accounting contributes to lifelong learning. Such a conceptual teaching approach also contributes to effective accounting problem-solving. This framework-based approach is rooted in educational psychologies such as constructivism and Ausubel’s subsumption theory. This study aimed at investigating the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems by using only concepts underlying the Conceptual Framework. An assignment was administered to pre-graduate students at a South African university and this study made use of an interpretative research design which implemented multiple research instruments to investigate the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems using only concepts underlying the Conceptual Framework. Student perceptions were analysed and were aided by a related reflective questionnaire. The importance of the study indicates the necessity of Accounting educators to enhance a conceptual understanding among students as a mechanism for problem-solving of accounting issues. The results indicate that the ability of students to solve accounting problems effectively using only the Conceptual Framework depends on the complexity of the scenario and the students’ familiarity with the problem. The study promotes a balanced and more conceptual (rather than only technical) preference to the problem-solving of complex accounting problems. The study indubitably promotes considerable emphasis on the importance of the Conceptual Framework in accounting education and the promotion of life-long learning in the subject field.

Keywords: accounting education, conceptual teaching, constructivism, framework-based, problem-solving

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Authors: Reda Mankbadi

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There are several technologically-important flow situations in which there is a need to control the outcome of the fluid flow. This could include flow separation, drag, noise, as well as particulate separations, to list only a few. One possible approach is the passive control, in which the design geometry is changed. An alternative approach is the Active Flow Control (AFC) technology in which an actuator is imbedded in the flow field to change the outcome. Examples of AFC are pulsed jets, synthetic jets, plasma actuators, heating and cooling, Etc. In this work will present an overview of the development of this field. Some examples will include: Airfoil Noise Suppression: LES is used to simulate the effect of the synthetic jet actuator on controlling the far field sound of a transitional airfoil. The results show considerable suppression of the noise if the synthetic jet is operated at frequencies. Mixing Enhancement and suppression: Results will be presented to show that imposing acoustic excitations at the nozzle exit can lead to enhancement or reduction of the jet plume mixing. In a vertical takeoff of Aircraft or in Space Launch, we will present results on the effects of water injection on reducing noise, and on protect the structure and pay load from fatigue damage. Other applications will include airfoil-gust interaction and propulsion systems optimizations.

Keywords: aerodynamics, simulations, aeroacoustics, active flow control (AFC), Large-Eddy Simulations (LES)

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Authors: Rim Khemiri, Mariam Dammak

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The aim of this study is to trace the historical evolution of Tunisian higher accounting education and to understand and highlight the circumstances of its birth and its development. A documentary study (archival documents, official documents, public speeches, etc.), as well as semi-directive interviews with key actors, were carried out as part of this research work. These interviews aim to fill a lack of information on this subject and to confirm events addressed by other sources, but for which it lacks the elements necessary for a good understanding. After having put forward the specificities of the Tunisian context, we will, first of all, proceed to a review of the literature related to our theme in various contexts of the world. Then, we will present the evolution of the accounting curriculum by highlighting the circumstances of its birth and those of the successive reforms led by the Tunisian government. The study of higher accounting education in Tunisia and its evolution has several interests. The first lies in understanding the circumstances of its birth and its evolution in relation to the historical, socio-economic, and political context of the country. The second is to propose a reading grid that allows an understanding of the reforms that led to the university accountancy accounting course as we know it today. And, the third, aims to complete the literature on the processes of evolution of higher education accounting, by treating a different context, in order to provide additional knowledge necessary to compare experiences in this area around the world.

Keywords: accounting history, higher accounting education, socio-economic and political context, Tunisian context

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Authors: Irina Rönnqvist

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The world is constantly changing; therefore previous views or cultural patterns and programs formed by the “old world” cannot be suitable for solving actual problems. Indeed, reformation of an education system is unlikely to be effective without understanding of the processes that emerge in the field of employment. There is a problem in overcoming of the negative trends that determine imbalance of needs of the qualified work force and preparation of professionals by an education system. At the contemporary stage of economics the processes occurring in the field of labor and employment reproduce the picture of economic development of the country that cannot be imagined without the factor of labor mobility (e.g. migration). On the one hand, adult education has a significant impact on multifaceted development of economy. On the other hand, Sweden has one of the world's most generous asylum reception systems and the most liberal labor migration policy among the OECD countries. This effect affects the increased productivity. The focus of this essay is on problems of education and employment concerning social inclusion of migrants in working life in Sweden.

Keywords: migration, adaptation, formal learning, informal learning, Sweden

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Authors: Vânia Graça, Paula Quadros-Flores, Altina Ramos

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The use of Digital Technologies in teaching and learning processes is currently a reality, namely in initial teacher training. This study aims at knowing the digital reality of students in initial teacher training in order to improve training in the educational use of ICT and to promote digital technology integration strategies in an educational context. It is part of the IFITIC Project "Innovate with ICT in Initial Teacher Training to Promote Methodological Renewal in Pre-school Education and in the 1st and 2nd Basic Education Cycle" which involves the School of Education, Polytechnic of Porto and Institute of Education, University of Minho. The Project aims at rethinking educational practice with ICT in the initial training of future teachers in order to promote methodological innovation in Pre-school Education and in the 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education. A qualitative methodology was used, in which a questionnaire survey was applied to teachers in initial training. For data analysis, the techniques of content analysis with the support of NVivo software were used. The results point to the following aspects: a) future teachers recognize that they have more technical knowledge about ICT than pedagogical knowledge. This result makes sense if we consider the objective of Basic Education, so that the gaps can be filled in the Master's Course by students who wish to follow the teaching; b) the respondents are aware that the integration of digital resources contributes positively to students' learning and to the life of children and young people, which also promotes preparation in life; c) to be a teacher in the digital age there is a need for the development of digital literacy, lifelong learning and the adoption of new ways of teaching how to learn. Thus, this study aims to contribute to a reflection on the teaching profession in the digital age.

Keywords: digital technologies, initial teacher training, pedagogical use of ICT, skills

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Authors: Anatoliy Kharkhurin

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This presentation picks up on a widely discussed topic in both multilingualism and creativity research that comes from pedagogical considerations. The research conducted by the author over last 10 years has delivered a solid argument that speaking more than one language facilitates an individual’s creative capacities. The author has expanded the scope of his research and implemented these findings in education. After reviewing the empirical evidence concerning a relationship between multilingual practice and creative behavior, he proposes a new program that includes teaching strategies from both fields, a unified Bilingual Creative Education program. The program is grounded in several conceptual premises. Specifically, it aims at facilitation of the overall linguistic, intellectual and creative competences of young children regardless of their intellectual and creative predispositions thereby meeting the recommendations of a number of governmental policies. It is designed for both migrants who speak their native language and attempt to acquire the language of the migration country and autochthones who want to acquire a foreign language simultaneously with their mother tongue. The purpose of the program is to introduce students to a school curriculum in two languages and to foster four defining aspects of creativity, novelty, utility, aesthetics and authenticity. To accomplish this goal, the program utilizes the holistic approach which combines cognitive, personal and environmental factors in education. The presentation discusses the empirical findings for the implementation of the program.

Keywords: bilingualism, creativity, education, autochthones

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Authors: Esam Roshdy, Saleh AlRashdi, Turki Alharbi, Rawan Eskandarani, Zurina Cabilo

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Introduction/ background: Consultation in the Emergency Department constitute a major part of the work flow every day. Any delay in the consultation process have a major impact on the length of stay and patient disposition and thus affect the total waiting time of patients in the ED. King Fahad medical City in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia is considered a major Tertiary hospital where there is high flow of patients of different categories visiting the ED. The importance of decreasing consultation time and decision for final disposition of patients was recognized and interpreted in this project to find ways to improve the patient flow in the department and thus the total patient disposition and outcome. Aim / Objectives: 1. To monitor the time of consultation for patients in the Emergency department and its impact on the length of stay of patients in the ED. 2. To detect and assess the problems that lead to long consultation times in the ED, and reach a targeted time of 2 hours for final disposition of patients, according to recognized international and our institutional consultation policy, to reach the final goal of decreasing total length of stay and thus improve the patient flow in the ED. Methods: Data was collected retrospectively for a 92 charts of consultations done in the ED over 2 month’s period. The data was analyzed to get the median of Total Consultation Time. A survey was conducted among all ED staff to determine the level of knowledge about the total consultation time and the compliance to the institutional policy target of 2 hours. A second Data sample of 168 chart was collected after awareness campaign and education of all ED staff about the importance of reaching the target consultation time and compliance to the institutional policy. Results: We have found that there is room for improvement in our overall consultation time. This was found to be more frequent with certain specialties. Our surveys have showed that many ED staff are not familiar or not compliant with our consultation policy which was not clear for everyone. Post-intervention data have showed that awareness of the importance to decrease the total consultation time and compliance alone to the targeted goal have had a huge impact on overall improvement and decreasing the time of final decision and disposition of the patient and the overall patient length of stay in the ED. Conclusion: Working on improving Consultation time in the Emergency Department is a major factor in improving overall length of stay and patient flow. This improvement helps in the overall patient disposition and satisfaction. Plan: As a continuation of our project we are planning to focus on the conflict of admission cases where more than one specialty is involved in the care of patients. We are planning to collect data on the time it takes to resolve and reach final disposition of those patients, and its impact on the length of stay and our department flow and the overall patient outcome and satisfaction.

Keywords: consultation time, impact, length of stay, in the ED

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Authors: Ali Bakari Mohammed

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Transitioning is a continuous process of radical change in a society which involves co-evolution of institutional, technological, socio-cultural, and ecological developments at different scales and levels. Transition management model is a methodology that influences structural change of complex systems over a period (0-30 years) by experimenting and implementing new techniques. A transition management in the context of groundwater is a radical change from the current operate and control system to a next generation integrated and sustainable system that takes into account quality protection and sustained supply into the future. This study evaluates the transition management model in adopting it as a viable tool for the attainment of sustainable groundwater management. The outcome of the evaluation shows that there are three levels (strategic, tactical and operational) of operating the transition management model. At the strategic level, long-term goals for sustainable groundwater management are formulated, at the tactical level activities such as inter institutional networking, negotiation, planning and financing are carried out, and at the operational level, transition experiments and strategic niche management are carried out at the societal level. Overall, different actors and set of activities are required to partake at each management level. The outcome of this paper will provide basis for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 in Nigeria.

Keywords: transition management, groundwater, sustainable management, tool, Nigeria

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Authors: Tholokuhle T. Ntshakala, Seraphin D. Eyono Obono

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Nations are still finding it quite difficult to win mega sport competitions despite the major contribution of sport to society in terms of social and economic development, personal health, and in education. Even though the world of sports has been transformed into a huge global economy, it is important to note that the first step of sport is usually its introduction to children at school through physical education or PE. In other words, nations who do not win mega sport competitions also suffer from a weak and neglected PE system. This problem of the neglect of PE systems is the main motivation of this research aimed at examining the factors affecting the perceived awareness of physical education teachers on the ICT's that are adoptable for the teaching and learning of physical education. Two types of research objectives will materialize this aim: relevant theories will be identified in relation to the analysis of the perceived ICT awareness of PE teachers and subsequent models will be compiled and designed from existing literature; the empirical testing of such theories and models will also be achieved through the survey of PE teachers from the Camperdown magisterial district of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main hypothesis at the heart of this study is the relationship between the demographics of PE teachers, their behavior both as individuals and as social entities, and their perceived awareness of the ICTs that are adoptable for PE, as postulated by existing literature; except that this study categorizes human behavior under performance expectancy, computer attitude, and social influence. This hypothesis was partially confirmed by the survey conducted by this research in the sense that performance expectancy and teachers’ age, gender, computer usage, and class size were found to be the only factors affecting their awareness of ICT's for physical education.

Keywords: human behavior, ICT Awareness, physical education, teachers

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Authors: Ma. Junithesmer, D. Rosales

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The study is a baseline description of students’ attitude and interests about L2 reading in a state university in the Philippines that uses distance education as a delivery mode. Most research conducted on this area dealt with the analysis of reading in a traditional school set-up. For this reason, this research was written to discover if there are implications as regards students’ preferences, interests and attitude reveal about L2 reading in a non-traditional set-up. To form the corpus of this study, it included the literature and studies about reading, preferred technological devices, titles of books and authors, reading medium traditional/ print and electronic books that juxtapose with students’ interest and feelings when reading at home and in school; and their views about their strengths and weaknesses as readers.

Keywords: distance education, L2 reading, reading, reading attitude

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Authors: Mantas Sakalas, Paulius Sakalas

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This paper presents an analysis and design of a ultrawideband 1.8GHz to 43GHz Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) in 0.1 μm Galium Arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (pHEMT) technology. The feedback based bandwidth extension techniques is analyzed and based on the outcome, a two stage LNA is designed. The impedance fine tuning is implemented by using Transmission Line (TL) structures. The measured performance shows a good agreement with simulation results and an outstanding wideband noise matching. The measured small signal gain was 12 dB, whereas a 3 dB gain flatness in range from 1.8 - 43 GHz was reached. The noise figure was below 4 dB almost all over the entire frequency band of 1.8GHz to 43GHz, the output power at 1 dB compression point was 6 dBm and the DC power consumption was 95 mW. To the best knowledge of the authors the designed LNA outperforms the State of the Art (SotA) reported LNA designs in terms of combined parameters of noise figure within the addressed ultra-wide 3 dB bandwidth, linearity and DC power consumption.

Keywords: feedback amplifiers, GaAs pHEMT, monolithic microwave integrated circuit, LNA, noise matching

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