Search results for: pre-service teachers teacher education

Authors: S. J. Hachar

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The goal of this paper is to provide educators an overview of international practices supporting young learners, arming us with adequate information to lead effective change. We will report on research and observations of Service Learning Projects conducted by one South Texas University. The intent of the paper is also to provide readers an overview of service learning in the preparation of teacher candidates pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. The objective of noting the efficiency and effectiveness of programs leading to literacy and oral fluency in a native language and second language will be discussed. This paper also highlights experiential learning for academic credit that combines community service with student learning. Six weeks of visits to a variety of community sites, making personal observations with faculty members, conducting extensive interviews with parents and key personnel at all sites will be discussed. The culminating Service Learning Expo will be reported as well.

Keywords: elementary education, junior achievement, service learning

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Authors: Ssekamanya, Mastura Badzis, Khamsiah Ismail, Dayang Shuzaidah Bt Abduludin

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With rising incidents of school violence worldwide, educators and researchers are trying to understand and find ways to enhance the safety of children at school. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the demographic variables of gender, age, length of service, position, academic qualification, and school location predicted teachers’ awareness about school safety practices in Malaysian primary schools. A stratified random sample of 380 teachers was selected in the central Malaysian states of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Multiple regression analysis revealed that none of the factors was a good predictor of awareness about school safety training, delivery methods of school safety information, and available school safety programs. Awareness about school safety activities was significantly predicted by school location (whether the school was located in a rural or urban area). While these results may reflect a general lack of awareness about school safety among primary school teachers in the selected locations, a national study needs to be conducted for the whole country.

Keywords: school safety awareness, predictors of school safety, multiple regression analysis, malaysian primary schools

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Authors: Osman Okumuş

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The pandemic has significantly affected every aspect of life. Especially in recenttimes, as a result of this effect, we have come closer to technology. Distance education has taken the place of formal education rather than supporting formal education. Thiscreatednewexperiencesforbothteachersandstudents. This research focused on revealing the experiences of the same students in distance and formal education, especially in history lessons. In the study, which was designed as a case study, 20 students were interviewed through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The results show that both learning environments provide students with important experiences. However, despite the fact that the students developed their digital competencies and experienced different learning environments, they focused on formal education in the name of socialization.

Keywords: history lessons, distance education, pandemic., formal education

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Authors: Ahmed Mohammed Omer Alghamdi

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, a rapid, unexpected transition from face-to-face to virtual classroom (VC) teaching has involved several challenges and obstacles. However, there are also opportunities and thoughts that need to be examined and discussed. In addition, the entire world is witnessing that the teaching system and, more particularly, higher education institutes have been interrupted. To maintain the learning and teaching practices as usual, countries were forced to transition from traditional to virtual classes using various technology-based devices. In this regard, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is no exception. Focusing on how the current situation has forced many higher education institutes to change to virtual classes may possibly provide a clear insight into adopted practices and implications. The main purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate how both Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students perceived the implementation of virtual classes as a key factor for useful language teaching and learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic period at a Saudi university. The impetus for the research was, therefore, the need to find ways of identifying the deficiencies in this application and to suggest possible solutions that might rectify those deficiencies. This study seeks to answer the following overarching research question: “How do Saudi EFL instructors and students perceive the use of virtual classes during the COVID-19 pandemic period in their language teaching and learning context?” The following sub-questions are also used to guide the design of the study to answer the main research question: (1) To what extent are virtual classes important intra-pandemic from Saudi EFL instructors’ and students’ perspectives? (2) How effective are virtual classes for fostering English language students’ achievement? (3) What are the challenges and obstacles that instructors and students may face during the implementation of virtual teaching? A mixed method approach was employed in this study; the questionnaire data collection represented the quantitative method approach for this study, whereas the transcripts of recorded interviews represented the qualitative method approach. The participants included EFL teachers (N = 4) and male and female EFL students (N = 36). Based on the findings of this study, various aspects from teachers' and students’ perspectives were examined to determine the use of the virtual classroom applications in terms of fulfilling the students’ English language learning needs. The major findings of the study revealed that the virtual classroom applications during the current pandemic situation encountered three major challenges, among which the existence of the following essential aspects, namely lack of technology and an internet connection, having a large number of students in a virtual classroom and lack of students’ and teachers’ interactions during the virtual classroom applications. Finally, the findings indicated that although Saudi EFL students and teachers view the virtual classrooms in a positive light during the pandemic period, they reported that for long and post-pandemic period, they preferred the traditional face-to-face teaching procedure.

Keywords: virtual classes, English as a foreign language, COVID-19, Internet, pandemic

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Authors: T. Dubayova

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Slovak, as well as foreign authors, believe that the influence of non-cognitive factors on a student's academic success or failure is unquestionable. The aim of this paper is to establish a link between the mental vulnerability and coping strategies used by 4^th grade elementary school students in dealing with stressful situations and their academic performance, which was used as a simple quantitative indicator of academic success. The research sample consists of 320 students representing the standard population and 60 students with special education needs (SEN), who were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) by their teachers and the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist (CCSC-R1) filled in by themselves. Students with SEN recorded an extraordinarily high frequency of mental vulnerability (34.5 %) than students representing the standard population (7 %). The poorest academic performance of students with SEN was associated with the avoidance behavior displayed during stressful situations. Students of the standard population did not demonstrate this association. Students with SEN are more likely to display mental health problems than students of the standard population. This may be caused by the accumulation of and frequent exposure to situations that they perceive as stressful.

Keywords: coping, mental vulnerability, pupil with special education needs, school performance, school success

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Authors: Mohammad Matin

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Nowadays, one of the basic problems of higher education is a significant decline in the quality of education and reduction in efficiency of training. These research and studies are aiming to assess affecting factors of the erosion of academic quality, including educational environmental and content, social and economic factors, elements of the training, elements of education, family factors, from the perspective of students. The result of such improper competition, totally, has led to the decline of education quality in higher education centers, and in many aspects. The results showed a significant difference between male and female students' perspective for two areas of social and economic factors.

Keywords: higher education, decline, the quality of education, student

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Authors: S. R. Santhanam

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A gifted child is one who gives evidence of creativity, good memory, rapid learning. In mathematics, a teacher often comes across some gifted children and they exhibit the following characteristics: unusual alertness, enjoying solving problems, getting bored on repetitions, self-taught, going beyond what teacher taught, ask probing questions, connecting unconnected concepts, vivid imagination, readiness for research work, perseverance of a topic. There are two main areas of research carried out on them: 1)identifying gifted children, 2) interacting and channelizing them. A lack of appropriate recognition will lead the gifted child demotivated. One of the main findings is if proper attention and nourishment are not given then it leads a gifted child to become depressed, underachieving, fail to reach their full potential and sometimes develop negative attitude towards school and study. After identifying them, a mathematics teacher has to develop them into a fall fledged achiever. The responsibility of the teacher is enormous. The teacher has to be resourceful and patient. But interacting with them one finds a lot of surprises and awesomeness. The elementary algebraic identities like (a+b)(a-b)=a²-b², expansion of like (a+b)²(a-b)² and others are taught to students, of age group 13-15 in India. An average child will be satisfied with a single proof and immediate application of these identities. But a gifted child expects more from the teacher and at one stage after a little training will surpass the teacher also. In this short paper, the author shares his experience regarding teaching algebraic identities to gifted children. The following problem was given to a set of 10 gifted children of the specified age group: If a natural number ‘n’ to expressed as the sum of the two squares, will 2n also be expressed as the sum of two squares? An investigation has been done on what multiples of n satisfying the criterion. The attempts of the gifted children were consolidated and conclusion was drawn. A second problem was given to them as: can two natural numbers be found such that the difference of their square is 3? After a successful solution, more situations were analysed. As a third question, the finding of the sign of an algebraic expression in three variables was analysed. As an example: if a,b,c are real and unequal what will be sign of a²+4b²+9c²-4ab-12bc-6ca? Apart from an expression as a perfect square what other methods can be employed to prove an algebraic expression as positive negative or non negative has been analysed. Expressions like 4x²+2y²+13y²-2xy-4yz-6zx were given, and the children were asked to find the sign of the expression for all real values of x,y and z. In all investigations, only basic algebraic identities were used. As a next probe, a divisibility problem was initiated. When a,b,c are natural numbers such that a+b+c is at least 6, and if a+b+c is divisible by 6 then will 6 divide a³+b³+c³. The gifted children solved it in two different ways.

Keywords: algebraic identities, gifted children, Indian scenario, research

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Authors: Adelaide Rethabile Motshabi Pitso-Mbili

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The disparity between universities in rural and urban areas of South Africa is still an ongoing issue. There are a lot of variations in these universities, such as the performance of the students and the lecturers, which is viewed as a worrying discrepancy related to knowledge gaps or educational inequality. According to research, rural students routinely perform worse than urban students in sub-Saharan Africa, and the disparity is wide when compared to the global average. This may be a result of the various challenges that universities in rural and urban areas face. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the challenges faced by rural and urban universities, especially in hospitality and tourism programs, and recommend possible solutions. This study used a qualitative methodology and included focus groups and in-depth interviews. Eight focus groups of final-year students in hospitality and tourism programs from four institutions and four department heads of those programs participated in in-depth interviews. Additionally, the study was motivated by the teacher collaboration theory, which proposes that colleagues can help one another for the benefit of students and the institution. It was revealed that rural universities face more challenges than urban universities when it comes to hospitality and tourism education. The results of the interviews showed that universities in rural areas have a high staff turnover rate and offer fewer courses due to a lack of resources, such as the infrastructure, staff, equipment, and materials needed to give students hands-on training on the campus and in various hospitality and tourism programs. Urban universities, on the other hand, provide a variety of courses in the hospitality and tourism areas, and while resources are seldom an issue, they must deal with classes that have large enrolments and insufficient funding to support them all. Additionally, students in remote locations noted that having a lack of water and electricity makes it difficult for them to perform practical lessons. It is recommended that universities work together to collaborate or develop partnerships to help one another overcome obstacles and that universities in rural areas visit those in urban areas to observe how things are done there and to determine where they can improve themselves. The significance of the study is that it will truly bring rural and urban educational processes and practices into greater alignment of standards, benefits, and achievements; this will also help retain staff members within the rural area universities. The present study contributes to the literature by increasing the accumulation of knowledge on research topics, challenges, trends and innovation in hospitality and tourism education and setting forth an agenda for future research. The current study adds to the body of literature by expanding the accumulation of knowledge on research topics that contribute to trends and innovations in hospitality and tourism education and by laying out a plan for future research.

Keywords: hospitality and tourism education, rural and urban universities, collaboration, teacher and student performance, educational inequality

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Authors: Zoe Boon Suan Loy

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An exploratory research undertaken in 2000 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic examined the changing roles of Singapore school leaders as they lead teachers in developing future-ready learners. While it is evident that ‘LEADER’ qualities epitomize the knowledge, competencies, and skills required, recent events in an increasing VUCA and BANI world characterized by massively disruptive Ukraine -Russian war, unabating tense US-Sino relations, issues related to sustainability, and rapid ageing will have an impact on school leadership. As an increasingly complex endeavour, this requires a relook as they lead teachers in nurturing holistically-developed future-ready students. Digitalisation, new technology, and the push for a green economy will be the key driving forces that will have an impact on job availability. Similarly, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, including ChatGPT, will aggravate and add tremendous stress to the work of school leaders. This paper seeks to explore the key school leadership shifts required beyond the ‘LEADER’ qualities as school leaders respond to the changes, challenges, and opportunities in the 21st C new normal. The research findings for this paper are based on an exploratory qualitative study on the perceptions of 26 school leaders (vice-principals) who were attending a milestone educational leadership course at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A structured questionnaire is designed to collect the data, which is then analysed using coding methodology. Broad themes on key competencies and skills of future-ready leaders in the Singapore education system are then identified. Key Findings: In undertaking their leadership roles as leaders of future-ready learners, school leaders need to demonstrate the ‘LEADER’ qualities. They need to have a long-term view, understand the educational imperatives, have a good awareness of self and the dispositions of a leader, be effective in optimizing external leverages and are clear about their role expectations. These ‘LEADER’ qualities are necessary and relevant in the post-Covid era. Beyond this, school leaders with ‘LEADER’ qualities are well supported by the Ministry of Education, which takes cognizance of emerging trends and continually review education policies to address related issues. Concluding Statement: Discussions within the education ecosystem and among other stakeholders on the implications of the use of artificial intelligence and ChatGPT on the school curriculum, including content knowledge, pedagogy, and assessment, are ongoing. This augurs well for school leaders as they undertake their responsibilities as leaders of future-ready learners.

Keywords: Singapore education system, ‘LEADER’ qualities, school leadership, future-ready leaders, future-ready learners

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Authors: Milene Magalhães Pinto, Irlen Antônio Gonçalves

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the historical processes of organization and reform of professional education contributed with the educational projects for the training/education starting from the idea of modernization of Brazil by way of industry and skilled worker. In the discourse of Congress Legislative of Minas Gerais is possible to identify the role of education as a mediating body of construction processes and rationalization modernizing of the country. The hypothesis is that education is an important instrument for promoting progress and citizenship and the way to form the professional who would serve the social and economic purposes of modernization of Brazil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this sense, we investigate the relationship of the concept of professional education with the ideas of modernization and modernity.

Keywords: education, modernization and education, legislative congress of Minas Gerais, professional education

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Authors: Godaye Gobena Gomiole

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The purpose of this study was to investigate school context-related factors that affect principals' instructional leadership competence in primary schools in Tarcha Town, Ethiopia. A qualitative case study research design was used. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Twelve senior principals were included in the study through purposive sampling. Interviews were used to collect in-depth data. The data was analyzed thematically. The findings of the study indicated that primary school principals face both internal and external challenges. Internally, they face limited knowledge and skills, a lack of courage and commitment, and administrative work overload. Their external challenges included negative attitudes from parents and teachers, a lack of instructional materials, and little support from local education authorities. Consequently, they can't serve effectively as instructional leaders or resource people. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Ministry of Education, South West Regional Education Bureau, Dawuro Zone Education Department, and Tarcha Town Administration Education Officers and Cluster Supervisors regularly monitor and support school leaders and prepare and provide pertinent teaching materials and training so that the principals can lead in the capacity that is appropriate for the position.

Keywords: instructional leadership, primary school, principals, school context related factors

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Authors: Majno Ajbani

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Difficulties in teaching and learning English pronunciation in Sindh province, Pakistan Abstract Sindhi language is widely spoken in Sindh province, and it is one of the difficult languages of the world. Sindhi language has fifty-two alphabets which have caused a serious issue in learning and teaching of English pronunciation for teachers and students of Colleges and Universities. This study focuses on teachers’ and students’ need for extensive training in the pronunciation that articulates the real pronunciation of actual words. The study is set to contribute in the sociolinguistic studies of English learning communities in this region. Data from 200 English teachers and students was collected by already tested structured questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS 20 software. The data analysis clearly demonstrates the higher range of inappropriate pronunciations towards English learning and teaching. The anthropogenic responses indicate 87 percentages teachers and students had an improper pronunciation. This indicates the substantial negative effects on academic and sociolinguistic aspects. It is suggested an improper speaking of English, based on rapid changes in geopolitical and sociocultural surroundings.

Keywords: alphabets, pronunciation, sociolinguistic, anthropogenic, imprudent, malapropos

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Authors: Ihsan Ullah Khan, Asim Kareem, Naveed Saif

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This research study examined the application of innovative strategies for improving writing skills of Secondary level students. It also examined the steps taken by Secondary level teachers for the improvement of writing skills of their students. Effective written communication is the problem faced by all the ESL students at secondary level. The objective of the study was to help the secondary level students to overcome this problem. More specifically, this research study aimed to guide the teachers, teaching at secondary level, to bring innovation in their teaching by showing the results of innovative strategies. In order to know about the practices of the teachers, inside the classroom, data was calculated through rating scale questionnaire. After that experimental study was carried out. For the experimental study a 10th grade class was selected. Results were drawn by analyzing the pre and post-tests of the students with the help of independent sample t-test. The results showed that a significant change occurred in the writing skills of the students, belonging to Treatment group. No improvement was observed in the writing skills of the students, belonging to Control group. Thus this research study proved to be a great contribution by guiding the teachers to bring a significant change in the writing skills of the students.

Keywords: writing skills, innovative strategies, teachers, students, treatment group, control group

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Authors: Khaled M. Alhawiti

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Natural Language Processing (NLP) is an effective approach for bringing improvement in educational setting. This involves initiating the process of learning through the natural acquisition in the educational systems. It is based on following effective approaches for providing the solution for various problems and issues in education. Natural Language Processing provides solution in a variety of different fields associated with the social and cultural context of language learning. It is based on involving various tools and techniques such as grammar, syntax, and structure of text. It is effective approach for teachers, students, authors, and educators for providing assistance for writing, analysis, and assessment procedure. Natural Language Processing is widely integrated in the large number of educational contexts such as research, science, linguistics, e-learning, evaluations system, and various other educational settings such as schools, higher education system, and universities. Natural Language Processing is based on applying scientific approach in the educational settings. In the educational settings, NLP is an effective approach to ensure that students can learn easily in the same way as they acquired language in the natural settings.

Keywords: natural language processing, education, application, e-learning, scientific studies, educational system

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Authors: A. Meydanlioglu, F. Arikan

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In recent years, thanks to the development of information and communication technologies, the computer and internet have been used widely in higher education. Internet-based education is impacting traditional higher education as online components increasingly become integrated into face-to-face (FTF) courses. The goal of combined internet-based and traditional education is to take full advantage of the benefits of each platform in order to provide an educational opportunity that can promote student learning better than can either platform alone. Research results show that the use of hybrid learning is more effective than online or FTF models in higher education. Due to the potential benefits, an increasing number of institutions are interested in developing hybrid courses, programs, and degrees. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of hybrid learning. This paper is designed to determine the impact of hybrid learning on higher education.

Keywords: e-learning, higher education, hybrid learning, online education

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Authors: R. W. C. Devindi, S. M. Buddika Harshanath

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E-learning is a widely used technology for learning in the modern world. With the pandemic situation the popularity of using e-learning has been increased in a larger capacity. The e-learning educational systems require software resources as well as hardware usually but it is hard for most of the education institutions to afford those resources. Also with the massive user load e-learning has to broaden the server side resources as well. Therefore, in the present cloud computing was implemented in order to make the e – learning systems more efficient. The researcher has analyzed the quality of the e-learning systems on the perception of the learners and the teachers with the aid of hypothesis and has given the analyzed results and the discussion in this report. Therefore, the future research will be able to get some steps to increase the quality of the online learning systems furthermore. In the case of e-learning, quality assurance and cost effectiveness are essential. A complex quality assurance system is used in the stated project. There are no well-defined standard evaluation measures in this field. As a result, accurately assessing the e-learning system's overall quality is challenging. The researcher has done the analysis with the aid of standard methods and software.

Keywords: LMS–learning management system, SPSS–statistical package for social sciences (software), eigen value, hypothesis

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Authors: Luz Janeth Ospina M.

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The fourth industrial revolution is changing the role of education substantially and, therefore, the role of instructors and learners at all levels. Education 4.0 is an imminent response to the needs of a globalized world where humans and technology are being aligned to enable endless possibilities, among them the need for students, as digital natives, to communicate effectively in at least one language besides their mother tongue, and also the requirement of developing theirs. This is an exploratory study in which a control group (N = 21), all of the students of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level, after taking a Spanish class, responded to an online questionnaire about the engagement, atmosphere, and environment in which their course was delivered. These aspects considered in the survey were relative to the instructor’s teaching style, including: (a) active, hands-on learning; (b) flexibility for in-class activities, easily switching between small group work, individual work, and whole-class discussion; and (c) integrating technology into the classroom. Strongly believing in these principles, the instructor deliberately taught the course in a SCALE-UP room, as it could facilitate such a positive and encouraging learning environment. These aspects are trends related to Education 4.0 and have become integral to the instructor’s pedagogical stance that calls for a constructive-affective role, instead of a transmissive one. As expected, with a learning environment that (a) fosters student engagement and (b) improves student outcomes, the subjects were highly engaged, which was partially due to the learning environment. An overwhelming majority (all but one) of students agreed or strongly agreed that the atmosphere and the environment were ideal. Outcomes of this study are relevant and indicate that it is about time for teachers to build up a meaningful correlation between humans and technology. We should see the trends of Education 4.0 not as a threat but as practices that should be in the hands of critical and creative instructors whose pedagogical stance responds to the needs of the learners in the 21st century.

Keywords: active learning, education 4.0, higher education, pedagogical stance

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Authors: Dragana Gnjatovic

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Assessment is a burning topic in education policy and practice due to measurement-driven neoliberal agendas of quality and standardisation of assessment practice through high stakes standardised testing systems that are now influencing early childhood education. This paper presents a collaborative, arts-informed action research project which places children at the centre of their learning, with assessment as an integral part of play-based learning processes. It aims to challenge traditional approaches to assessment that are often teacher-led and decontextualised from the processes of learning through exploring approaches where children's voices are central, and their creative arts expressions are used to assess learning and development. The theoretical framework draws on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Freire's critical pedagogy, which indicate the importance of socially constructed reality where knowledge is the result of collaboration between children and adults. This reality perceives children as competent agents of their own learning processes. An interpretive-constructivist and critical-transformative paradigm underpin collaborative action research in a three to five-year-old setting, where creative methods like storytelling, play, drama, drawing are used to assess children's learning. As data collection and analysis are still in process, this paper will present the methodology and some data vignettes, with the aim of stimulating discussion about innovation in assessment and contribution of the collaborative enquiry in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Keywords: assessment for learning, creative methodologies, collaborative action research, early childhood education and care

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Authors: Ogbeta I. Joseph, Habiba B. A. Awwalu, Otokiti Jimoh

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This paper entitled science education in Nigeria issues and challenges highlighted the role of science education to the development of science and technology in Nigeria. Science embraces every attempt of human to explore and manage the natural world, the contribution of science education to the technological development of the nation, the role of science education in ICT development, the importance of mathematics in the development of science education, the paper also analyzed the challenges facing the development of science education to include corruption, insecurity, and political instability, the paper concluded by encouraging the government and other stakeholders in educational sector to pay more attention to the teaching and learning of science in our schools. Therefore recommended the development that emphasizes should be on the teaching and learning of science base subjects in the school.

Keywords: education, science, technology and national development, challenges

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Authors: Cezarina da Conceição Santinho Maurício, José Duque Vicente

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Established in 1987, the Erasmus Programme is a program for the exchange of higher education students. Its purposes are several. The mobility developed has contributed to the promotion of multiple learning, the internalization the feeling of belonging to a community, and the consolidation of cooperation between entities or universities. It also allows the experience of a European experience, considering multilingualism one of the bases of the European project and vehicle to achieve the union in diversity. The program has progressed and introduced changes Erasmus+ currently offers a wide range of opportunities for higher education, vocational education and training, school education, adult education, youth, and sport. These opportunities are open to students and other stakeholders, such as teachers. Portugal was one of the countries that readily adhered to this program, assuming itself as an instrument of internationalization of polytechnic and university higher education. Students and social work teachers have been involved in this mobility of learning and multicultural interactions. The presence and activation of this program was made possible by Portugal's joining the European Union. This event was reflected in the field of portuguese social work and contributes to its approach to the reality of european social work. Historically, the Portuguese social work has built a close connection with the Latin American world and, in particular, with Brazil. There are several examples that can be identified in the different historical stages. This is the case of the post-revolution period of 1974 and the presence of the reconceptualization movement, the struggle for enrollment in the higher education circuit, the process of winning a bachelor's degree, and postgraduate training (the first doctorates of social work were carried out in Brazilian universities). This influence is also found in the scope of the authors and the theoretical references used. This study examines the participation of graduates and students of social work in the Erasmus program. The following specific goals were outlined: to identify the host countries and universities; to investigate the dimension and type of mobility made, understand the learning and experiences acquired, identify the difficulties felt, capture their perspectives on social work and the contribution of this experience in training. In the methodological field, the option fell on a qualitative methodology, with the application of semi-structured interviews to graduates and students of social work with Erasmus mobility experience. Once the graduates agreed, the interviews were recorded and transcribed, analyzed according to the previously defined analysis categories. The findings emphasize the importance of this experience for students and graduates in informal and formal learning. The authors conclude with recommendations to reinforce this mobility, either at the individual level or as a project built for the group or collective.

Keywords: erasmus programme, graduates and students of social work, participation, social work

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Authors: Ovidiu Domşa, Nicolae Bold

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Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) notions in education and three basic processes of education (teaching, learning and assessment) can bring benefits to the pupils and the professional development of teachers. In this matter, we refer to these notions as concepts taken from the informatics area and apply them to the domain of education. These notions refer to genetic algorithms and arborescent structures, used in the specific process of assessment or evaluation. This paper uses these kinds of notions to generate subtrees from a main tree of tests related between them by their degree of difficulty. These subtrees must contain the highest number of connections between the nodes and the lowest number of missing edges (which are subtrees of the main tree) and, in the particular case of the non-existence of a subtree with no missing edges, the subtrees which have the lowest (minimal) number of missing edges between the nodes, where a node is a test and an edge is a direct connection between two tests which differs by one degree of difficulty. The subtrees are represented as sequences. The tests are the same (a number coding a test represents that test in every sequence) and they are reused for each sequence of tests.

Keywords: chromosome, genetic algorithm, subtree, test

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Authors: Sumaira Taj

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Blended learning is emerged as a prerequisite approach for teaching in all schools after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, how much public elementary and secondary schools in Pakistan are ready for adapting this approach and what should be done to prepare schools and students for blended learning are the questions that this paper attempts to answer. Mixed-method research methodology was used to collect data from 40 teachers, 500 students, and 10 mothers. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data. As for as readiness is concerned, schools lack resources for blended/ virtual/ online classes from infra-structure to skills, parents’ literacy level hindered students’ learning process and teachers’ skills presented challenges in a smooth and swift shift of the schools from face-to-face learning to blended learning. It is recommended to establish a conducive environment in schools by providing all required resources and skills. Special trainings should be organized for low literacy level parents. Multiple ways should be adopted to benefit all students.

Keywords: blended learning, challenges in online classes, education in covid-19, public schools in pakistan

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Authors: Christo Swart, Lidia Pottas, David Maree

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Background: It is a sine qua non that the South African educational system finds itself in a profound crisis and that traditional school leadership styles are outdated and hinder quality education. New thinking is mandatory to improve the status quo and school leadership has an immense role to play to improve the current situation. It is believed that the servant leadership paradigm, when practiced by school leadership, may have a significant influence on the school environment in totality. This study investigates the private school segment in search of constructive answers to assist with the educational crises in South Africa. It is assumed that where school leadership can augment a supportive and empowering environment for teachers to constructively engage in their teaching and learning activities - then many challenges facing by school system may be subjugated in a productive manner. Aim: The aim of this study is fourfold. To outline the constructs of servant leadership which are perceived by teachers of private schools as priorities to enhance a successful school environment. To describe the constructs of organizational climate which are observed by teachers of private schools as priorities to enhance a successful school environment. To investigate whether the participants perceived a link between the constructs of servant leadership and organizational climate. To consider the process to be followed to introduce the constructs of SL and OC the school system in general as perceived by participants. Method: This study utilized a qualitative approach to explore the mediation between school leadership and the organizational climate in private schools in the search for amicable answers. The participants were purposefully selected for the study. Focus group interviews were held with participants from primary and secondary schools and a focus group discussion was conducted with principals of both primary and secondary schools. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed and identical patterns of coded data were grouped together under emerging themes. Findings: It was found that the practice of servant leadership by school leadership indeed mediates a constructive and positive school climate. It was found that the constructs of empowerment, accountability, humility and courage – interlinking with one other - are prominent of servant leadership concepts that are perceived by teachers of private schools as priorities for school leadership to enhance a successful school environment. It was confirmed that the groupings of training and development, communication, trust and work environment are perceived by teachers of private schools as prominent features of organizational climate as practiced by school leadership to augment a successful school environment. It can be concluded that the participants perceived several links between the constructs of servant leadership and organizational climate that encourage a constructive school environment and that there is a definite positive consideration and motivation that the two concepts be introduced to the school system in general. It is recommended that school leadership mentors and guides teachers to take ownership of the constructs of servant leadership as well as organizational climate and that public schools be researched and consider to implement the two paradigms. The study suggests that aspirant teachers be exposed to leadership as well as organizational paradigms during their studies at university.

Keywords: empowering environment for teachers and learners, new thinking required, organizational climate, school leadership, servant leadership

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Authors: Ryoo Hye Jin Agnes

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This study aims to investigate the efficacy of clickers in fostering L2 class interaction. In an L2 classroom, active learner-to-learner interactions and learner-to-teacher interactions play an important role in language acquisition. In light of this, introducing learning tools that promote such interactions would benefit L2 classroom by fostering interaction. This is because the anonymity of clickers allows learners to express their needs without the social risks associated with speaking up in the class. clickers therefore efficiently help learners express their level of understanding during the process of learning itself. This allows for an evaluative feedback loop where both learners and teachers understand the level of progress of the learners, better enabling classrooms to adapt to the learners’ needs. Eventually this tool promotes participation from learners. This, in turn, is believed to be effective in fostering classroom interaction, allowing learning to take place in a more comfortable yet vibrant way. This study is finalized by presenting the result of an experiment conducted to verify the effectiveness of this approach when teaching pragmatic aspect of Korean expressions with similar semantic functions. The learning achievement of learners in the experimental group was found higher than the learners’ in a control group. A survey was distributed to the learners, questioning them regarding the efficacy of clickers, and how it contributed to their learning in areas such as motivation, self-assessment, increasing participation, as well as giving feedback to teachers. Analyzing the data collected from the questionnaire given to the learners, the study presented data suggesting that this approach increased the scope of interactivity in the classroom, thus not only increasing participation but enhancing the type of classroom participation among learners. This participation in turn led to a marked improvement in their communicative abilities.

Keywords: second language acquisition, interaction, clickers, learner response system, output from learners, learner’s cognitive process

Procedia PDF Downloads 522

Authors: Lauren B. Birney

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The project utilizes the Billion Oyster Project (BOP-CCERS) place-based “restoration through education” model to promote computational thinking in NYC high school teachers and their students. Key learning standards such as Next Generation Science Standards and the NYC CS4All Equity and Excellence initiative are used to develop a computer science curriculum that connects students to their Harbor through hands-on activities based on BOP field science and educational programming. Project curriculum development is grounded in BOP-CCERS restoration science activities and data collection, which are enacted by students and educators at two Restoration Science STEM Hubs or conveyed through virtual materials. New York City Public School teachers with relevant experience are recruited as consultants to provide curriculum assessment and design feedback. The completed curriculum units are then conveyed to NYC high school teachers through professional learning events held at the Pace University campus and led by BOP educators. In addition, Pace University educators execute the Summer STEM Institute, an intensive two-week computational thinking camp centered on applying data analysis tools and methods to BOP-CCERS data. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed throughout the five-year study. STEM+C – Community Based Restoration STEM Hubs. STEM Hubs are active scientific restoration sites capable of hosting school and community groups of all grade levels and professional scientists and researchers conducting long-term restoration ecology research. The STEM Hubs program has grown to include 14 STEM Hubs across all five boroughs of New York City and focuses on bringing in-field monitoring experience as well as coastal classroom experience to students. Restoration Science STEM Hubs activities resulted in: the recruitment of 11 public schools, 6 community groups, 12 teachers, and over 120 students receiving exposure to BOP activities. Field science protocols were designed exclusively around the use of the Oyster Restoration Station (ORS), a small-scale in situ experimental platforms which are suspended from a dock or pier. The ORS is intended to be used and “owned” by an individual school, teacher, class, or group of students, whereas the STEM Hub is explicitly designed as a collaborative space for large-scale community-driven restoration work and in-situ experiments. The ORS is also an essential tool in gathering Harbor data from disparate locations and instilling ownership of the research process amongst students. As such, it will continue to be used in that way. New and previously participating students will continue to deploy and monitor their own ORS, uploading data to the digital platform and conducting analysis of their own harbor-wide datasets. Programming the STEM Hub will necessitate establishing working relationships between schools and local research institutions. NYHF will provide introductions and the facilitation of initial workshops in school classrooms. However, once a particular STEM Hub has been established as a space for collaboration, each partner group, school, university, or CBO will schedule its own events at the site using the digital platform’s scheduling and registration tool. Monitoring of research collaborations will be accomplished through the platform’s research publication tool and has thus far provided valuable information on the projects’ trajectory, strategic plan, and pathway.

Keywords: environmental science, citizen science, STEM, technology

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Authors: Jutta Ransmayr

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The digital age has long arrived at Austrian schools, so both society and educationalists demand that digital means should be integrated accordingly to day-to-day school routines. Therefore, the Austrian school-leaving exam (A-levels) can now be written either by hand or by using a computer. However, the choice of writing medium (pen and paper or computer) for written examination papers, which are considered 'high-stakes' exams, raises a number of questions that have not yet been adequately investigated and answered until recently, such as: What effects do the different conditions of text production in the written German A-levels have on the component of normative linguistic accuracy? How do the spelling skills of German A-level papers written with a pen differ from those that the students wrote on the computer? And how is the teacher's assessment related to this? Which practical desiderata for German didactics can be derived from this? In a trilateral pilot project of the Austrian Center for Digital Humanities (ACDH) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Education and the Council for German Orthography, these questions were investigated. A representative Austrian learner corpus, consisting of around 530 German A-level papers from all over Austria (pen and computer written), was set up in order to subject it to a quantitative (corpus-linguistic and statistical) and qualitative investigation with regard to the spelling and punctuation performance of the high school graduates and the differences between pen- and computer-written papers and their assessments. Relevant studies are currently available mainly from the Anglophone world. These have shown that writing on the computer increases the motivation to write, has positive effects on the length of the text, and, in some cases, also on the quality of the text. Depending on the writing situation and other technical aids, better results in terms of spelling and punctuation could also be found in the computer-written texts as compared to the handwritten ones. Studies also point towards a tendency among teachers to rate handwritten texts better than computer-written texts. In this paper, the first comparable results from the German-speaking area are to be presented. Research results have shown that, on the one hand, there are significant differences between handwritten and computer-written work with regard to performance in orthography and punctuation. On the other hand, the corpus linguistic investigation and the subsequent statistical analysis made it clear that not only the teachers' assessments of the students’ spelling performance vary enormously but also the overall assessments of the exam papers – the factor of the production medium (pen and paper or computer) also seems to play a decisive role.

Keywords: exam paper assessment, pen and paper or computer, learner corpora, linguistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Juliane Toce, Steven Holochwost

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A substantial and growing literature has demonstrated that arts education benefits young children’s socioemotional and cognitive development. Less is known about the capacity of arts-integrated instruction to yield benefits to similar domains, particularly among demographically and socioeconomically diverse groups of young children. However, the small literature on this topic suggests that arts-integrated instruction may foster young children’s socioemotional and cognitive development by presenting opportunities to 1) engage in instructional content in diverse ways, 2) experience and regulate strong emotions, 3) experience growth-oriented feedback, and 4) engage in collaborative work with peers. Start with the Art is a new program of arts-integrated instruction currently being implemented in four schools in a school district that serves students from a diverse range of backgrounds. The program employs a co-teaching model in which teaching artists and classroom teachers engage in collaborative lesson planning and instruction over the course of the academic year and is currently the focus of an impact study featuring a randomized-control design, as well as an implementation study, both of which are funded through an Educational Innovation and Research grant from the United States Department of Education. The paper will present the early results from the Start with the Art implementation study. These results will provide an overview of the extent to which the program was implemented in accordance with design, with a particular emphasis on the degree to which the four opportunities enumerated above (e.g., opportunities to engage in instructional content in diverse ways) were presented to students. There will be a review key factors that may influence the fidelity of implementation, including classroom teachers’ reception of the program and the extent to which extant conditions in the classroom (e.g., the overall level of classroom organization) may have impacted implementation fidelity. With the explicit purpose of creating a program that values and meets the needs of the teachers and students, Start with the Art incorporates the feedback from individuals participating in the intervention. Tracing its trajectory from inception to ongoing development and examining the adaptive changes made in response to teachers' transformative experiences in the post-pandemic classroom, Start with the Art continues to solicit input from experts in integrating artistic content into core curricula within educational settings catering to students from under-represented backgrounds in the arts. Leveraging the input from this rich consortium of experts has allowed for a comprehensive evaluation of the program’s implementation. The early findings derived from the implementation study emphasize the potential of arts-integrated instruction to incorporate restorative practices. Such practices serve as a crucial support system for both students and educators, providing avenues for children to express themselves, heal emotionally, and foster social development, while empowering teachers to create more empathetic, inclusive, and supportive learning environments. This all-encompassing analysis spotlights Start with the Art’s adaptability to any learning environment through the program’s effectiveness, resilience, and its capacity to transform - through art - the classroom experience within the ever-evolving landscape of education.

Keywords: arts-integration, social emotional learning, diverse learners, co-teaching, teaching artists, post-pandemic teaching

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Authors: Henry Nicholas Lee, George Thomas, Juliana Johari, Carmilla Freddie, Caroline Val Madin

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Research in comparative and international education often provides value-laden views of an education system within and in between other countries. These views are frequently used by policy makers or educators to explore similarities and differences for, among others, benchmarking purposes. In this study, a comparison is made between Malaysia and England, focusing on the process of writing children went through to create a text, using a multimodal theoretical framework to analyse this comparison. The main purpose is political in nature as it served as an answer to Malaysia’s call for benchmarking of best practices for language learning. Furthermore, the focus on writing in this study adds into more empirical findings about early writers’ writing development and writing improvement, especially for children at the ages of 5-9. In research, comparative studies in English as a Second Language (ESL) writing pedagogy – particularly in Malaysia since the introduction of the Standard- based English Language Curriculum (KSSR) in 2011 as a draft and its full implementation in 2017; reviewed 2018 KSSR-CEFR aligned – has not been done comparatively. In theory, a multimodal theoretical framework somehow allows a logical comparison between first language and ESL which would provide useful insights to illuminate the writing process between Malaysia and England. The comparisons are not representative because of the different school systems in both countries. So far, the literature informs us that the curriculum for language learning is very much emphasised on children’s linguistic abilities, which include their proficiency and mastery of the language, its conventions, and technicalities. However, recent empirical findings suggested that literacy in its concepts and characters need change. In view of this suggestion, the comparison will look at how the process of writing is implemented through the five modes of communication: linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and gestural. This project draws on data from Malaysia and England, involving 10 teachers, 26 classroom observations, 20 lesson plans, 20 interviews, and 20 brief conversations with teachers. The research focused upon 20 primary children of different genders aged 5-9, and in addition to primary data descriptions, 40 children’s works, 40 brief classroom conversations, 30 classroom photographs, and 30 school compound photographs were undertaken to investigate teachers and children’s use of modes and semiotic resources to design a text. The data were analysed by means of within-case analysis, cross-case analysis, and constant comparative analysis, with an initial stage of data categorisation, followed by general and specific coding, which clustered the data into thematic groups. The study highlights the importance of teachers’ and children’s engagement and interaction with various modes of communication, an adaptation from the English approaches to teaching writing within the KSSR framework and providing ‘voice’ to ESL writers to ensure that both have access to the knowledge and skills required to make decisions in developing multimodal texts and artefacts.

Keywords: comparative education, early writers, KSSR, multimodal theoretical framework, writing development

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Authors: Waleed Alanzi

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to add to the existing literature and provide a more detailed understanding of the individual experiences and perceptions of 15 Deans at the University of Kuwait regarding their first year of planning, developing, and implementing crisis distance education (CDE) in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. An interpretative phenomenological approach was applied, using the thematic analysis of interview transcripts to describe the challenging journeys taken by each of the Deans from the first-person point of view. There was objective evidence, manifested by four primary themes (“Obstacles to the implementation of CDE”; “Planning for CDE”; “Training for CDE,” and “Future Directions”) to conclude that the faculty members, technical staff, administrative staff, and students generally helped each other to overcome the obstacles associated with planning and implementing CDE. The idea that CDE may turn homes into schools and parents into teachers was supported. The planning and implementation of CDE were inevitably associated with a certain amount of confusion, as well as disruptions in the daily routines of staff and students, as well as significant changes in their responsibilities. There were contradictory ideas about the future directions of distance education after the pandemic. Previous qualitative research on the implementation of CDE at higher education institutions in the Arab world has focused mainly on the experiences and perceptions of students; however, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of the students at the University of Kuwait during the COVID19 pandemic, providing a rationale and direction for future research.

Keywords: distance learning, qualitative research, COVID-19 epidemic, Kuwait university

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Sagheer Ahmad

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Teaching is a sacred profession whereby students are developed in their mental abilities to cope with the challenges of the remote world. Thinkers have developed plenty of interesting ways to make the learning process quick and absorbing for the students. However, third world countries are still lacking these remote facilities in the institutions, and therefore, teaching is totally dependent upon the skills of the teachers. Skillful teachers use self-devised and stimulating ideas to grab the attention of their students. Most of the time their ideas are based on local grounds with which the students are already familiar. This self-explanatory characteristic is the base of several local ideologies to disseminate scientific knowledge to new generations. Biology is such a subject which largely bases upon hypotheses, and teaching it in an interesting way is needful to create a friendly relationship between teacher and student, and to make a fantastic learning environment. Taxonomic classification if presented as it is, may not be attractive for the secondary school students who just start learning about biology at elementary levels. Presenting this hierarchy by exemplifying Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, family, genus and Species as comparatives of our division into continents, countries, cities, towns, villages, homes and finally individuals could be an attention-grabbing approach to make this concept get into bones of students. Similarly, many other interesting approaches have also been adopted to teach students in a fascinating way so that learning science subjects may not be boring for them. Discussing these appealing ways of teaching students can be a valuable stimulus to refine teaching methodologies about science, thereby promoting the concept of friendly learning.

Keywords: biology, innovative approaches, taxonomic classification, teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 251