Search results for: reproductive health education

Authors: Raeda F. Abualrub, Amani Abdulnabi

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Aim: The aims of this study were to (a) examine the levels of nurses' political efficacy and involvement in health policy; and (b) explore the relationships between political efficacy, involvement in health policy, and participants’ background variables. Background: Nurses as citizens and health care providers have the right to express their opinions and beliefs in regard to issues that are concerned with the health care system or the public health domain. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional design using was utilized. A self-administered questionnaire (Political Efficacy Scale & Involvement in Health Policy Scale) was completed by a convenience sample of 302 nurses. Results: The results of this study showed low levels of involvement in health policy and political efficacy and a positive weak correlation between political efficacy and involvement in health policy. The perceived level of political efficacy was associated positively with nurses’ age and experience. Conclusions: Nurse administrators and managers may empower, support, and encourage nurses to enhance their involvement in health policy. Implications for Nursing Management: The findings have implications for nursing leaders and administrators to design appropriate strategies to enhance nurses’ involvement in health policy development.

Keywords: health policy, Jordan, nurses, political efficacy

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Authors: Ge Zhan

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Mobile health (mHealth) concerns the use of mobile technologies to deliver health care and improve wellness. In this paper, we ask the question of what are the drivers of positive consumer attitude toward mHealth programs. Answers to this question are important to consumer health, but existing marketing and health care service literature does not provide sufficient empirical conclusions on the use of mobile technologies for consumer health. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap by investigating mHealth use and consumer attitude. A content analysis was conducted with sample mHealth programs and online consumer reviews in Hong Kong, UK, US, and India. The research findings will contribute to marketing and health services literature.

Keywords: mobile health, consumer attitude, content analysis, online marketing

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Authors: Patrizia Barroero, Saliha Yagoubi

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Mindfulness meditation practices in the context of higher education are becoming more and more common. Some of the reported benefits of mediation interventions and workshops include: improved focus, general well-being, diminished stress, and even increased resilience and grit. A series of workshops free to students, faculty, and staff was offered twice a week over two semesters at Hudson County Community College, New Jersey. The results of an exploratory study based on participants’ subjective reactions to these workshops will be presented. A qualitative approach was used to collect and analyze the data and a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective served as a framework for the research design and data collection and analysis. The data collected includes three recorded videos of semi-structured interviews and several written surveys submitted by volunteer participants.

Keywords: mindfulness meditation practices, stress reduction, resilience, grit, higher education success, qualitative research

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Authors: Chryssi Vitsilaki, Apostolos Kostas, Ilias Efthymiou

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This paper presents selected best practices on online learning and teaching derived from a novel and innovating Lifelong Learning program through e-Learning, which has during the last five years been set up at the University of the Aegean in Greece. The university, capitalizing on an award-winning, decade-long experience in e-learning and blended learning in undergraduate and postgraduate studies, recently expanded into continuous education and vocational training programs in various cutting-edge fields. So, in this article we present: (a) the academic structure/infrastructure which has been developed for the administrative, organizational and educational support of the e-Learning process, including training the trainers, (b) the mode of design and implementation based on a sound pedagogical framework of open and distance education, and (c) the key results of the assessment of the e-learning process by the participants, as they are used to feedback on continuous organizational and teaching improvement and quality control.

Keywords: distance education, e-learning, life-long programs, synchronous/asynchronous learning

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Authors: Lindy Van Vliet, Saloni Phadke, Anthea Nelson, Ann Gallant

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Comprehensive and compassionate palliative care and support requires an integrated system of care that draws on formal health and social service providers working together with community and informal networks to ensure that patients and families have access to the care they need. The objective of this study is to further explore and understand the community supports, services, and informal networks that health care professionals and social service providers rely on to allow their patients to die in their homes and communities. Drawing on an interpretivist, exploratory, qualitative design, our multidisciplinary research team (medicine, nursing and social work) conducted interviews with 15 health care and social service providers in the Ottawa region. Interview data was audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach. The data deepens our understandings of the facilitators and barriers that arise as health care and social service providers attempt to build networks of care for patients with life limiting illnesses and families. Three main findings emerged: First, the variability that arises due to systemic barriers in accessing and providing care; second, the exceptionally challenging workload that providers are facing as they work to address complex social care needs (housing, disability, food security), along with escalating palliative care needs; and, finally, the lack of structural support that providers and informal care networks receive. Conclusion: These findings will facilitate and build stronger person-centred/relationship-centred principles and practices between providers, patients, community, and informal care networks by highlighting the systemic barriers to accessing and providing person-centred care. Further, they will have important implications for future partnerships in integrated care delivery programs and initiatives, community policies, education programs, and provincial and national palliative care strategies.

Keywords: public health palliative care, palliative care nursing, care networks, informal care, integrated health care

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Authors: A. Drelick, T. Sondergeld, M. Decarlo-Tecce, K. McGinley

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In 1975, a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) was granted for all students in the United States regardless of their disabilities. As a result, the special education landscape has been reshaped through new policies and legislation. Progress monitoring, a specific component of an Individual Education Program (IEP) calls, for the use of data collection to determine the appropriateness of services provided to students with disabilities. The recent US Supreme Court ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County warrants giving increased attention to student progress, specifically pertaining to improving functional, or non-academic, skills that are addressed outside the general education curriculum. While using technology to enhance data collection has become a common practice for measuring academic growth, its application for non-academic IEP goals is uncertain. A mixed-methods study examined current practices and rationales for implementing technology-based progress monitoring focused on non-academic IEP goals. Fifty-seven participants responded to an online survey regarding their progress monitoring programs for non-academic goals. After isolated analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative results, data were synthesized to produce meta-inferences that drew broader conclusions on the topic. For the purpose of this paper, specific focus will be placed on the perceived barriers and benefits of implementing technology-based progress monitoring protocols for non-academic IEP goals. The findings of this study highlight facts impacting the use of technology-based progress monitoring. Perceived barriers to implementation include: (1) lack of training, (2) access to technology, (3) outdated or inoperable technology, (4) reluctance to change, (5) cost, (6) lack of individualization within technology-based programs, and (7) legal issues in special education; while perceived benefits include: (1) overall ease of use, (2) accessibility, (3) organization, (4) potential for improved presentation of data, (5) streamlining the progress-monitoring process, and (6) legal issues in special education. Based on these conclusions, recommendations are made to IEP teams, school districts, and software developers to improve the progress-monitoring process for functional skills.

Keywords: special education, progress monitoring, functional skills, technology

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Authors: Mobina Sahraee Juybari

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There are around 300 languages spoken in Australia, and more than one-fifth of the population speaks a language other than English at home. The presence of international students in schools raises this number still further. Although the multilingual and multicultural status of Australia has been acknowledged by the government in education policy, the strong focus on English in institutional settings threatens the maintenance and learning of other languages. This is particularly true of universities’ language provisions. To cope with the financial impact of Covid-19, the government has cut funding for a number of Asian languages, such as Indonesian, Japanese and Chinese. This issue threats the maintenance of other languages in Australia and leaves students unprepared for the future job market. By taking account of the current reality of Australia’s diverse cultural and lingual makeup, this research intends to uncover the positioning of languages by having a historical look at Australia’s language policy and examining the value of languages and the probable impact of Covid-19 on the place of languages taught in Australian universities. A qualitative study will be adopted with language program tutors and course coordinators, with semi-structured interviews and government language policy analysis. This research hopes to provide insights into both the maintenance and learning of international language programs in tertiary language education in Australia and more widely.

Keywords: Australia, COVID-19, higher education sector, language maintenance, language and culture diversity

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Authors: Rurui Liu

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Universities have been one of the most important institutions in society. They shoulder the responsibility to do research and teach further generations. Therefore, the governance of universities has been a heated topic and has been learned for years. Recently, it witnessed great changes, for example, the massification of Higher Education, marketization, and privatization. As a result, more stakeholders are involved in the governance of Higher Education, among which students’ participation in HE becomes more important. However, the research about students’ participation in HE governance in China is not sufficient, and the situation requires improvement. The paper aims to not only fill in the research gap but also put forward practical suggestions to follow the world’s trend of HE governance. The methodology of this paper is literature analysis with comparative studies between China and western countries. The research points out that the current situation of students’ participation in HE governance is unideal due to problems in three fields, values and concepts, mechanisms and systems, as well as student unions. Then, the policy implications are based on these reasons: universities should highlight students’ status, respect their subjectivity and adhere to the service awareness; the government requires to build a sound legal system while universities should establish complete mechanisms and systems; student unions should be encouraged by universities to take part in HE governance affairs with sufficient funds, and autonomy. On the one hand, this paper is a further application of four rationales (consumerism, political-realism, communitarian, democracy, and consequentialism) created by Luescher‐Mamashela for the inevitable trend of students’ participation in HE governance. On the other hand, the suggestions it made benefit the students, universities, and society in practical ways.

Keywords: students’ participation, higher education governance, Chinese higher education, university power

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Authors: Chinwe Susan Oguejiofor, Daniel Osamwonyi Iyioha

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Over the last two decades, Nigeria has witnessed an upsurge in graduate unemployment occasioned by the lack of industries and proliferation of tertiary institutions churning out thousands of graduates every year to compete for the few available job space. The astronomical rise in the unemployment rate amongst Nigerian graduates however, is principally assumed to be the defective curricula of the universities and other tertiary institutions whose focus is on training for white-collar jobs. Although graduate unemployment has become a global scourge, its adverse economic impact is believed to be more in developing economies like Nigeria with a huge young population within the working age who cannot seem to find gainful employment to make out a respectable livelihood. Thus, higher institutions especially Universities found itself under pressure and intense competition to produce graduates who can think outside the box and create jobs; hence there was the need to focus on instilling hands-on practical job skills into their students that will make them job creators rather than job seekers on graduation. In the same vein stakeholders in education have continued to lend their voices to the philosophy that the undergraduate curricula should be completely overhauled to accomodate the development of hand-on practical skills and innovative capacity relevant to creating solutions to societal problems. In a bid to correct this anomaly, the Federal Government of Nigeria in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment inaugurated a programme tagged “University Entrepreneurship Development Programme” (UNEDEP) whose objective was basically to promote self-employment among the youth right from the institutions of higher learning. But the question is whether the objectives of the programme have actually been achieved. Despite the inclusion in Nigerian educational curriculum close to two decades now,, one wonder if the essence has been aborted. Thus, the paper focused on the concept of entrepreneurship education, objectives of entrepreneurship education, Graduates unemployment, rethinking entrepreneurship education programme in tertiary institution for employment generation , role of entrepreneurship in job creation, challenges of entrepreneurship education in tertiary institution in Nigeria, conclusion and recommendations were drawn accordingly.

Keywords: rethinking, entrepreneurship education, remedy, unemployment, job creation

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Authors: Sanaa Ali Ahmed Alrashid

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The present study aimed to investigate the effect of synchronous music in gymnastics' motor skill performance among undergraduate female students in physical education college at Basra University. The researcher used an experimental design. 20 female students of physical education divided equally into two groups, (10)experimental group with music, (10) control group without music. All participants complete 8 weeks in testing. Data analysis based on T-test shows a significant difference at (α = 0.05) in all skills level between experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. Results of this study contribute to developing the role of synchronous music in improving gymnastic skills performance.

Keywords: performance, motor skill, music, synchronous

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Authors: G. Murtaza, H. Faiza, M. Rafiq, S. Gul, F. Raza, Sarwat Anjum

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Our objective was to investigate whether and how extensively there is a correlation between aging in men, gonadotropin hormone regulation, and a decline in sperm parameters and whether it is possible to identify an age limit beyond which the decrease in sperm feature and hormonal regulation reaches statistical significance. A total of one hundred and twenty men (age: 20–50 years) were divided into two groups; each group contained 60 males (Group A with a young age of 20–35 years and Group B with an older age of 36–50 years) who visited the Center for Reproductive Medicine (CRM) in Peshawar General Hospital (PGH) Peshawar, Pakistan. Clinical assessment and sperm analysis were investigated. Hormone testing and semen analysis were carried out in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Hormone tests, sperm morphology, and the total motile spermatozoa count (TMS) were computed. SPSS 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for the statistical analysis. It was observed that the testosterone levels in Group A (mean = 3.770) and Group B (mean = 3.995) were comparable, with a significant P-value <0.005 in both age groups. Furthermore, similar levels are shown by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (Group A mean = 19.73, Group B mean = 15.64) and luteinizing hormone (LH) (Group A mean = 12.25, Group B mean = 11.93) in both groups, with a significant P = <0.005. Sperm concentrations were most similar in Group A, with a mean of 4.44, and in Group B, with a mean of 4.42 and a significant P value of 0.005 in both groups. Additionally, it was discovered that sperm motility was higher in Group A, with a mean of 22.40 and a P-value of 0.052, which was non-significant when compared to Group B. Morphological differences were also observed in both age groups. This research found that advancing in male age does not affect sex hormone regulation; in contrast, the fraction of motile and morphologically normal spermatozoa decreases as male age increases, with the strongest evidence being when the age exceeds 40 years. To clarify the causes and clinical implications of these correlations, more research is necessary.

Keywords: gonadotropins, motility, spermatozoa, testosterone

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Authors: Cathy Basterfield

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Issue: To engage in one’s own health care, health professionals need to be aware of an individual’s specific skills and abilities for best communication. One of the most discussed is health literacy. One of the assumed skills and abilities for adults is an individuals’ health literacy. Background: A review of publicly available health content appears to assume all adult readers will have a broad and full capacity to read at a high level of literacy, often at a post-school education level. Health information writers and clinicians need to recognise one critical area for why there may be little or no change in a person’s behaviour, or no-shows to appointments. Perhaps unintentionally, they are miscommunicating with the majority of the adult population. Health information contains many literacy domains. It usually includes technical medical terms or jargon. Many fact sheets and other information require scientific literacy with or without specific numerical literacy. It may include graphs, percentages, timing, distance, or weights. Each additional word or concept in these domains decreases the readers' ability to meaningfully read, understand and know what to do with the information. An attempt to begin to read the heading where long or unfamiliar words are used will reduce the readers' motivation to attempt to read. Critically people who have low literacy are overwhelmed when pages are covered with lots of words. People attending a health environment may be unwell or anxious about a diagnosis. These make it harder to read, understand and know what to do with the information. But access to health information must consider an even wider range of adults, including those with poor school attainment, migrants, and refugees. It is also homeless people, people with mental health illnesses, or people who are ageing. People with low literacy also may include people with lifelong disabilities, people with acquired disabilities, people who read English as a second (or third) language, people who are Deaf, or people who are vision impaired. Outcome: This paper will discuss Easy English, which is developed for adults. It uses the audiences’ everyday words, short sentences, short words, and no jargon. It uses concrete language and concrete, specific images to support the text. It has been developed in Australia since the mid-2000s. This paper will showcase various projects in the health domain which use Easy English to improve the understanding and functional use of written information for the large numbers of adults in our communities who do not have the health literacy to manage a range of day to day reading tasks. See examples from consent forms, fact sheets and choice options, instructions, and other functional documents, where Easy English has been developed. This paper will ask individuals to reflect on their own work practice and consider what written information must be available in Easy English. It does not matter how cutting-edge a new treatment is; when adults can not read or understand what it is about and the positive and negative outcomes, they are less likely to be engaged in their own health journey.

Keywords: health literacy, inclusion, Easy English, communication

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Authors: Dalvin D. Hill, Hector M. Castro Garcia

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A growing number of individuals utilize wearable devices on a daily basis. The usage and functionality of these wearable devices vary from user to user. One popular usage of said devices is to track health-related activities that are typically stored on a device’s memory or uploaded to an account in the cloud; based on the current trend, the data accumulated from the wearable device are stored in a standalone location. In many of these cases, this health related datum is not a factor when considering the holistic view of a user’s health lifestyle or record. This health-related data generated from wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can serve as empirical information to a medical provider, as the standalone data can add value to the holistic health record of a patient. This paper proposes a solution to incorporate the data gathered from these wearable and IoT devices, with that a patient’s Personal Health Record (PHR) stored within the confines of a Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Keywords: electronic health record, health information exchanges, internet of things, personal health records, wearable devices, wearables

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Authors: Josephine Mutwale-Ziko, Nonde Lushinga, Inonge Akakandelwa

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The study discusses the effectiveness of health and safety induction practices on construction sites against the background of the Zambian construction industry experience. The research design included the literature review of relevant literature. Questionnaires and interviews were administered to regulatory bodies, health, and safety personnel. Observation was also employed on construction sites to assess the health and safety practices being used. Health and safety in the construction industry are not something to be ignored or overlooked. The construction industry needs to take heed of the serious consequences of inadequate health and safety induction practices. The implications of inadequate health and safety induction procedures included among others threats to profitability, corporate social responsibility and increased turnover of the workforce leading to poor productivity. Adequate health and safety practices can improve the health and wellbeing of employees, reduce financial implications on firms and encourage productivity on construction sites. Despite this, accidents are still prevalent on construction sites in Zambia. The overall result of this research denotes that the implementation of health and safety induction practices is inadequate, as indicated by the negligent and non-adherent attitude to health and safety induction aspects on the sites by most stakeholders on construction sites. Therefore, health and safety induction practices are ineffective as preventive measures for reduction of accidents on construction sites in Zambia.

Keywords: accidents, health and safety, inadequate, induction

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Authors: Chunfang Zhou

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The growing issues of sustainability have increased the discussions on how to foster “green engineers” from diverse perspectives in both contexts of education and organizations. As creativity has been considered as the first stage of innovation process that can also be regarded as a path to sustainability, this paper will particularly propose creativity as a scientific literacy meaning a collection of awareness, ability, and skills about sustainability. From this sense, creativity should be an element in IT engineering education and organizational learning programmes, since IT engineers are one group of key actors in designing, researching and developing social media products that are most important channels of improving public awareness of sustainability. This further leads this paper to discuss by which pedagogical strategies and by which training methods in organizations, creativity and sustainability can be integrated into IT engineering education and IT enterprise innovation process in order to meeting the needs of ‘creative engineers’ in the society changes towards sustainability. Accordingly, this paper contributes to future work on the links between creativity, innovation, sustainability, and IT engineering development both theoretically and practically.

Keywords: creativity, innovation, IT engineers, sustainability

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Authors: Eunice Tan

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The purpose of this presentation is to look at an alternative to the approach and methodologies of working with special needs. The strength-based approach to education embodies a paradigm shift. It is a strategy to move away from a deficit-based methodology which inadvertently may lead to an extensive list of things that the child cannot do or is unable to do. Today, many parents of individuals with special needs are focused on the child’s deficits rather than on his or her strengths. Even when parents Recognise and identify their child’s strengths to be valuable and wish to develop their abilities, they face the challenge that there are insufficient programs committed to supporting the development and improvement of such abilities. What is a strength-based approach in education? A strength-based approach in education focuses on students' positive qualities and contributions to class instead of the skills and abilities they may not have. Many schools are focused on the child’s special educational needs rather than the whole child. Parents interviewed have said that they have to engage external tutors to help hone in on their child’s interests and strengths.

Keywords: differential learning needs, special needs, instructional style, talents

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Authors: Loreta Axhami

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

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

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Authors: Tsai Su Hui

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Background: Hyperphosphatemia in patients receiving dialysis can cause hyperparathyroidism, which can lead to renal osteodystrophy, cardiovascular disease and mortality. Data showed that 26% of patients receiving dialysis had blood phosphate levels of >6.0 mg/dl at this unit from January to March 2017, higher than the Taiwan Society of Nephrology evaluation criteria of < 20%. After analysis, possible reasons included: 1. Incomprehensive education for nurse and lack of relevant training. 2. Insufficient assistive aids for nursing health education instruction. 3. Patients were unsure which foods are high or low in phosphate. 4. Patients did not have habits of taking medicine with them and how to correctly administer the medication. Purpose: To reduce the percentage of patients receiving dialysis with blood phosphate levels of >6.0 mg/dl to less than 20% at this unit. Method: (1) Improve understanding of hyperphosphatemia and food for patients receiving dialysis and their families, (2) Acquire more nursing instruction assistive aids and improve knowledge of hyperphosphatemia for nurse. Results: After implementing the project, the percentage of patients receiving dialysis with blood phosphate levels of >6.0 mg/dl decreased from 26.0% to 18.8% at this unit. By implementing the project, the professional skills of nurse improved, blood phosphate levels of patients receiving dialysis were reduced, and the quality of care for patients receiving dialysis at this unit was enhanced.

Keywords: hemodialysis, hyperphosphatemia, incidence, reducing

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Authors: Catarina Maria Neto da Cruz, Ana Maria Reis d'Azevedo Breda

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Emotions are manifestations of everything that happens around us, influencing, consequently, our actions. People experience emotions continuously when socialize with friends, when facing complex situations, and when at school, among many other situations. Although the influence of emotions in the teaching and learning process is nothing new, its study in the academic field has been more popular in recent years, distinguishing between positive (e.g., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative emotions (e.g., boredom and frustration). There is no doubt that emotions play an important role in the students’ learning process since the development of knowledge involves thoughts, actions, and emotions. Nowadays, one of the most significant changes in acquiring knowledge, accessing information, and communicating is the way we do it through technological and digital resources. Faced with an increasingly frequent use of technological or digital means with different purposes, whether in the acquisition of knowledge or in communicating with others, the emotions involved in these processes change naturally. The speed with which the Internet provides information reduces the excitement for searching for the answer, the gratification of discovering something through our own effort, the patience, the capacity for effort, and resilience. Thus, technological and digital devices are bringing changes to the emotional domain. For this reason and others, it is essential to educate children from an early age to understand that it is not possible to have everything with just one click and to deal with negative emotions. Currently, many curriculum guidelines highlight the importance of the development of so-called soft skills, in which the emotional domain is present, in academic contexts. The technical report “OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills”, developed by OECD, is one of them. Within the scope of the Portuguese reality, the “Students’ profile by the end of compulsory schooling” and the “Health education reference” also emphasizes the importance of emotions in education. There are several resources to stimulate good emotions in articulation with cognitive development. One of the most predictable and not very used resources in the most diverse areas of knowledge after pre-school education is the literature. Due to its characteristics, in the narrative or in the illustrations, literature provides the reader with a journey full of emotions. On the other hand, literature makes it possible to establish bridges between narrative and different areas of knowledge, reconciling the cognitive and emotional domains. This study results from the presentation session of a children's book, entitled “From the Outside to Inside and from the Inside to Outside”, to children attending the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of basic education in the Portuguese education system. In this book, rationale and emotion are in constant dialogue, so in this session, based on excerpts from the book dramatized by the authors, some questions were asked to the children in a large group, with an aim to explore their perception regarding certain emotions or events that trigger them. According to the aim of this study, qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative research was carried out based on participant observation and audio records.

Keywords: emotions, basic education, children, soft skills

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Authors: S. Alfalah, J. Falah, T. Alfalah, M. Elfalah, O. Falah

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The field of education is an ever-evolving area constantly enriched by newly discovered techniques provided by active research in all areas of technologies. The recent years have witnessed the introduction of a number of promising technologies and applications to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Virtual Reality (VR) applications are considered one of the evolving methods that have contributed to enhancing education in many fields. VR creates an artificial environment, using computer hardware and software, which is similar to the real world. This simulation provides a solution to improve the delivery of materials, which facilitates the teaching process by providing a useful aid to instructors, and enhances the learning experience by providing a beneficial learning aid. In order to assure future utilization of such systems, students’ perceptions were examined toward utilizing VR as an educational tool in the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) in The University of Jordan. A questionnaire was administered to IT undergraduates investigating students’ opinions about the potential opportunities that VR technology could offer and its implications as learning and teaching aid. The results confirmed the end users’ willingness to adopt VR systems as a learning aid. The result of this research forms a solid base for investing in a VR system for IT education.

Keywords: information, technology, virtual reality, education

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Authors: Dominique Parrish

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Globally, higher education institutions are responsible for the quality assurance and accreditation of their educational programmes (Courses). The primary purpose of these activities is to ensure that the educational standards of the governing higher education authority are met and the quality of the education provided to students is assured. Despite policies and frameworks being established in many countries, to improve the veracity and accountability of quality assurance and accreditation processes, there are reportedly still mistakes, gaps and deficiencies in these processes. An analysis of Australian universities’ quality assurance and accreditation processes noted that significant improvements were needed in managing these processes and ensuring that review recommendations were implemented. It has also been suggested that the following principles are critical for higher education quality assurance and accreditation to be effective and sustainable: academic standards and performance outcomes must be defined, attainable and monitored; those involved in providing the higher education must assume responsibility for the associated quality assurance and accreditation; potential academic risks must be identified and management solutions developed; and the expectations of the public, governments and students should be considered and incorporated into Course enhancements. This phenomenological study, which was conducted in a Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health in an Australian university, sought to systematically and iteratively develop an effective quality assurance and accreditation process that integrated the evidence-based principles of success and promoted meaningful and sustainable change. Qualitative evaluative feedback was gathered, over a period of eleven months (January - November 2014), from faculty staff engaged in the quality assurance and accreditation of forty-eight undergraduate and postgraduate Courses. Reflexive analysis was used to analyse the data and inform ongoing modifications and developments to the assurance and accreditation process as well as the associated supporting resources. The study resulted in the development of a formal quality assurance and accreditation process together with a suite of targeted resources that were identified as critical for success. The research findings also provided some insights into the institutional enablers that were antecedents to successful quality assurance and accreditation processes as well as meaningful change in the educational practices of academics. While longitudinal data will be collected to further assess the value of the assurance and accreditation process on educational quality, early indicators are that there has been a change in the pedagogical perspectives and activities of academic staff and growing momentum to explore opportunities to further enhance and develop Courses. This presentation will explain the formal quality assurance and accreditation process as well as the component parts, which resulted from this study. The targeted resources that were developed will be described, the pertinent factors that contributed to the success of the process will be discussed and early indicators of sustainable academic change as well as suggestions for future research will be outlined.

Keywords: academic standards, quality assurance and accreditation, phenomenological study, process, resources

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Authors: Kim Haekyoung, Au Yunkyoung

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As digital technology continues to advance and become more widely accessible, young children are also growing up experiencing various media from infancy. In this changing environment, educating young children on media literacy has become an increasingly important task. With the diversification of media, it has become more necessary for children to understand, utilize, and critically explore the meaning of multimodal texts, which include text, images, and sounds connected to each other. Early childhood is a period when media literacy can bloom, and educational and policy support are needed to enable young children to express their opinions, communicate, and participate fully. However, most current media literacy education for young children focuses solely on teaching how to use media, with limited practical application and utilization. Therefore, this study aims to develop an inquiry-based media literacy education program for young children using topic-specific media content and explore the program's potential and impact on children's media literacy learning. Based on a theoretical and literature review on media literacy education, analysis of existing educational programs, and a survey on the current status and teacher perception of media literacy education for young children, this study developed a media literacy education program for young children considering the components of media literacy (understanding media characteristics, self-regulation, self-expression, critical understanding, ethical norms, social communication). To verify the effectiveness of the program, it was implemented with 20 five-year-old children from C City S Kindergarten, starting from March 24 to May 26, 2022, once a week for a total of 6 sessions. To explore quantitative changes before and after program implementation, repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted, and qualitative analysis was used to analyze observed changes in the process. significant improvement in media literacy levels, such as understanding media characteristics, self-regulation, self-expression, critical understanding, ethical norms, and social communication. The developed inquiry-based media literacy education program for young children in this study can be effectively applied to enhance children's media literacy education and help improve their media literacy levels. Observed changes in the process also confirmed that children improved their ability to learn various topics, express their thoughts, and communicate with others using media content. These findings emphasize the importance of developing and implementing media literacy education programs and can help children develop the ability to safely and effectively use media in their media environment. Based on exploring the potential and impact of the inquiry-based media literacy education program for young children, this study confirmed positive changes in children's media literacy levels as a result of the program's implementation. These findings suggest that beyond education on how to use media, it can help develop children's ability to safely and effectively use media in their media environment. Furthermore, to improve children's media literacy levels and create a safe media environment, a variety of content and methodologies are needed, and continuous development and evaluation of educational programs are anticipated.

Keywords: young children, media literacy, media literacy education program, media content

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Authors: Şule Yanık, Emel Ertürk-Mustul, Zerrin Turan, Hasan Gürgür

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It is known that there are policies that will support the early special education (ESE) for children requiring special care including the children with hearing loss (CHL) in many countries that give importance to early childhood (0-6 years) education, accordingly ESE services have been gradually increasing and these services provide positive contributions to the child and family. These services begin with medical diagnostics, provision of the use of assistive technologies for hearing and the orientation of children towards early education program (EEP) for the CHL. In 0-3 years of age EEP, education and support services are provided to the children and their families. In 3-6 years of age, children are supported in a pre-school education program (PSE) in which their peers and teachers are present. Therefore, the children with hearing loss and their families are going through a series of medical, educational and social transition process after diagnosed with hearing loss. Depending on their age and development, CHL also go through a transition period from hospital to home, from home to EEP and from EEP to PSE. It is seen that there is no legal regulation regarding the transition process in Turkey and hence different processes have been carried out in the transition process from EEP to PSE. The aim of this study is to reveal the problems confronted by the CHL during the transition period from EEP to PSE and the solution proposals for these problems. In this study, a document review was made by reviewing the national and international studies about transition processes of the CHL in Turkey from EEP to PSE. Accordingly, in the study carried out in two stages, firstly, a review of the body of literature was performed by creating key words related to the subject. Secondly, the problems confronted by the CHL in Turkey during the transition period from EEP to PSE and the solution proposals for these problems were demonstrated by analyzing the obtained data. According to the body of literature, it is seen that there are no laws concerning the transition processes of the children who require special care including the CHL in Turkey from EEP (sending) to PSE (receiving), and correspondingly numerous problems have been experienced during the transition period. It seems that the EEP adopts family-centered approaches for strengthening the families of the CHL. However, PSE program aims to prepare the children to school life by focusing on their social and academical development rather with the adoption of children-centered approaches. Therefore, while the families feel an inseparable part of the team in EEP, they indicated that they felt like a stranger in the school team after their children have started to PSE. Therefore, families find the transition processes worrisome and state that they are not satisfied with the process. We discovered that in the process of transition from EEP to PSE, families are not informed, there is a limited number of PSE options available, children cannot adapt to the new educational environment and cannot benefit from the existing PSE.

Keywords: early education program, early special education, children with hearing loss, transition

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Authors: Jay Martin L. Dionaldo

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This study aimed to develop a causal model on the performance of the basic education teachers in the Division of Malaybalay City for the school year 2018-2019. This study used the responses of 300 randomly selected basic education teachers of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. They responded to the three sets of questionnaires patterned from the National Education Association (2018) on instructional leadership of teachers, the questionnaire of Caluza et al., (2017) for information and communications technology competencies and the questionnaire on the teachers’ performance using the Individual Performance Commitment and Review Form (IPCRF) adopted by the Department of Education (DepEd). Descriptive statistics such as mean for the description, correlation for a relationship, regression for the extent influence, and path analysis for the model that best fits teachers’ performance were used. Result showed that basic education teachers have a very satisfactory level of performance. Also, the teachers highly practice instructional leadership practices in terms of coaching and mentoring, facilitating collaborative relationships, and community awareness and engagement. On the other hand, they are proficient users of ICT in terms of technology operations and concepts and basic users in terms of their pedagogical indicators. Furthermore, instructional leadership, coaching and mentoring, facilitating collaborative relationships and community awareness and engagement and information and communications technology competencies; technology operations and concept and pedagogy were significantly correlated toward teachers’ performance. Coaching and mentoring, community awareness and engagement, and technology operations and concept were the best predictors of teachers’ performance. The model that best fit teachers’ performance is anchored on coaching and mentoring of the teachers, embedded with facilitating collaborative relationships, community awareness, and engagement, technology operations, and concepts, and pedagogy.

Keywords: information and communications technology, instructional leadership, coaching and mentoring, collaborative relationship

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Authors: Yuanyuan Song

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Following the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, significant shifts occurred within society. This study aims to explore whether these events have had an impact on the university preferences of high school students. To delve into these questions, this research immerses itself in the forefront of Hong Kong's educational landscape. It encompasses field studies, interviews, and questionnaires administered to a diverse range of Hong Kong students, as well as their parents and teachers. The findings uncover that the majority of local Hong Kong students and parents possess a limited understanding of mainland China, and this perception has further soured since 2019. Interestingly, the inclination towards pursuing overseas education, particularly in countries like the UK and Australia, has experienced a steady rise. This trend persists despite the fact that esteemed Chinese universities extend preferential admissions policies to Hong Kong students.

Keywords: higher education, university choices, educational sociology, education in Hongkong

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Jinming Du

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With the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, many higher education institutions and education systems are turning to hybrid or fully distance online courses to maintain social distance and provide a safe virtual space for learning and teaching. However, the majority of faculty members were not well prepared for the shift to blended or distance learning. Communication frustrations are prevalent in both hybrid and full-distance courses. A systematic literature review was conducted by a comprehensive analysis of 1688 publications that focused on the application of the adoption of chatbots in education. This study aimed to explore instructors' experiences with chatbots in online and blended undergraduate English courses. Language learners are overwhelmed by the variety of information offered by many online sites. The recently emerged chatbots (e.g.: ChatGPT) are slightly superior in performance as compared to those traditional through previous technologies such as tapes, video recorders, and websites. The field of chatbots has been intensively researched, and new methods have been developed to demonstrate how students can best learn and practice a new language in the target language. However, it is believed that among the many areas where chatbots are applied, while chatbots have been used as effective tools for communicating with business customers, in consulting and targeting areas, and in the medical field, chatbots have not yet been fully explored and implemented in the field of language education. This issue is challenging enough for language teachers; they need to study and conduct research carefully to clarify it. Pedagogical chatbots may alleviate the perception of a lack of communication and feedback from instructors by interacting naturally with students through scaffolding the understanding of those learners, much like educators do. However, educators and instructors lack the proficiency to effectively operate this emerging AI chatbot technology and require comprehensive study or structured training to attain competence. There is a gap between language teachers’ perceptions and recent advances in the application of AI chatbots to language learning. The results of the study found that although the teachers felt that the chatbots did the best job of giving feedback, the teachers needed additional training to be able to give better instructions and to help them assist in teaching. Teachers generally perceive the utilization of chatbots to offer substantial assistance to English language instruction.

Keywords: artificial intelligence in education, chatbots, education and technology, education system, pedagogical chatbot, chatbots and language education

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Authors: Xuefan Li, Donghua Li, Juanjuan Li

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This study explores the changes in policies toward Chinese students studying abroad in different countries during the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods. Interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted with participating institutions at the China International Education Exhibition. The results indicate that institutions were impacted by the pandemic differently, with a gradual recovery in the two years following the initial outbreak. Institutions encourage and support Chinese students to resume offline studies during the post-pandemic period. The impact of the pandemic on the recruitment of Chinese students by international institutions varied, with different measures being adopted by different institutions. Compared with universities, colleges were more affected in terms of student employment rates. Some institutions were able to respond quickly and effectively to the pandemic due to their online teaching platforms. Overall, this study is expected to provide insights into the changes in policies toward Chinese students studying abroad during the pandemic and highlights the diverse responses of international institutions.

Keywords: international education, Chinese international education, COVID-19 pandemic, international institutions

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Authors: Borja Bordel, Ramón Alcarria, Marina Pérez

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In March 2020, in Spain, a sanitary and unexpected crisis caused by COVID-19 was declared. All of a sudden, all degrees, classes and evaluation tests and projects had to be transformed into online activities. However, the chaotic situation generated by a complex operation like that, executed without any well-established procedure, led to very different experiences and, finally, results. In this paper, we are describing three experiences in two different Universities in Madrid. On the one hand, the Technical University of Madrid, a public university with little experience in online education. On the other hand, Alfonso X el Sabio University, a private university with more than five years of experience in online teaching. All analyzed subjects were related to computer engineering. Professors and students answered a survey and personal interviews were also carried out. Besides, the professors’ workload and the students’ academic results were also compared. From the comparative analysis of all these experiences, we are extracting the most successful strategies, methodologies, and activities. The recommendations in this paper will be useful for courses during the next months when the sanitary situation is still affecting an educational organization. While, at the same time, they will be considered as input for the upcoming digitalization process of higher education.

Keywords: educational experience, online education, higher education digitalization, COVID, Spain

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Authors: Joshefina Bengoechea Fernandez, Alex Bell

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In its 2021 guidance for policy makers, the UNESCO has proposed 4 areas where AI can be applied in educational settings: These are: 1) Education management and delivery; 2) Learning and assessment; 3) Empowering teachers and facilitating teaching, and 4) Providing lifelong learning possibilities (UNESCO, 2021). Like with wblockchain technologies, AI will automate the management of educational institutions. These include, but are not limited to admissions, timetables, attendance, and homework monitoring. Furthermore, AI will be used to select relevant learning content across learning platforms for each student, based on his or her personalized needs. A problem educators face is the “one-size-fits-all” approach that does not work with a diverse student population. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate if the implementation of Technology is the solution to the Problems faced in Higher Education. The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review and research on key publications and academic reports.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, learning platforms, students personalised needs, life- long learning, privacy, ethics

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Authors: Ragy Raafat Gaber Attaalla

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Despite having the greatest rates of mortality and morbidity in the world, low- and middle-income (LMIC) nations trail high-income nations in terms of the number of clinical trials, the number of qualified researchers, and the amount of research information specific to their people. Health inequities and the use of precision medicine may be hampered by a lack of local genomic data, clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics competence, and training opportunities. These issues can be solved by carrying out health care infrastructure development, which includes data gathering and well-designed clinical pharmacology training in LMICs. It will be advantageous if there is international cooperation focused at enhancing education and infrastructure and promoting locally motivated clinical trials and research. This paper outlines various instances where clinical pharmacology knowledge could be put to use, including pharmacogenomic opportunities that could lead to better clinical guideline recommendations. Examples of how clinical pharmacology training can be successfully implemented in LMICs are also provided, including clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics training programmes in Africa and a Tanzanian researcher's personal experience while on a training sabbatical in the United States. These training initiatives will profit from advocacy for clinical pharmacologists' employment prospects and career development pathways, which are gradually becoming acknowledged and established in LMICs. The advancement of training and research infrastructure to increase clinical pharmacologists' knowledge in LMICs would be extremely beneficial because they have a significant role to play in global health.

Keywords: low- and middle-income, clinical pharmacology, pharmacometrics, career development pathways

Procedia PDF Downloads 63