Search results for: pedagogy
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 457

Search results for: pedagogy

307 The Role of Motivational Beliefs and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in The Prediction of Mathematics Teacher Candidates' Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Perceptions

Authors: Ahmet Erdoğan, Şahin Kesici, Mustafa Baloğlu

Abstract:

Information technologies have lead to changes in the areas of communication, learning, and teaching. Besides offering many opportunities to the learners, these technologies have changed the teaching methods and beliefs of teachers. What the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) means to the teachers is considerably important to integrate technology successfully into teaching processes. It is necessary to understand how to plan and apply teacher training programs in order to balance students’ pedagogical and technological knowledge. Because of many inefficient teacher training programs, teachers have difficulties in relating technology, pedagogy and content knowledge each other. While providing an efficient training supported with technology, understanding the three main components (technology, pedagogy and content knowledge) and their relationship are very crucial. The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. A hundred seventy five Turkish mathematics teachers candidates responded to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Scale. Of the group, 129 (73.7%) were women and 46 (26.3%) were men. Participants' ages ranged from 20 to 31 years with a mean of 23.04 years (SD = 2.001). In this study, a multiple linear regression analysis was used. In multiple linear regression analysis, the relationship between the predictor variables, mathematics teacher candidates' motivational beliefs, and self-regulated learning strategies, and the dependent variable, TPACK perceptions, were tested. It was determined that self-efficacy for learning and performance and intrinsic goal orientation are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. Additionally, mathematics teacher candidates' critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, organisation, time and study environment management, and help-seeking were found to be significant predictors for their TPACK perceptions.

Keywords: candidate mathematics teachers, motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning strategies, technological and pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge

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306 An Exploration of the Integration of Guided Play With Explicit Instruction in Early Childhood Mathematics

Authors: Anne Tan, Kok-Sing Tang, Audrey Cooke

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Play has always been a prominent pedagogy in early childhood. However, there is growing evidence of success in students’ learning using explicit instruction, especially in literacy in the early years. There is also limited research using explicit instruction in early childhood mathematics, and play is usually prominently mentioned. This proposed research aims to investigate the possibilities and benefits of integrating guided play with explicit instruction in early childhood mathematics education. While play has traditionally been a prominent pedagogy in early childhood, there is growing evidence of success in student learning through explicit instruction, particularly in literacy. However, limited research exists on the integration of explicit instruction in early childhood mathematics, where play remains prominently mentioned. This study utilises a multiple case study methodology to gather data and provide immediate opportunities for curriculum improvement. The research will commence with semi-structured interviews to gain insights into educators' background knowledge. Highly structured observations will be conducted to record the frequency and manner in which guided play is integrated with specific elements of explicit instruction during mathematics teaching in early childhood. To enhance the observations, video recordings will be made using cameras with video settings and Microsoft Teams meeting recordings. In addition to interviews and observations, educators will maintain journals and use the Microsoft Teams platform for self-reflection on the integration of guided play and explicit instruction in their classroom practices and experiences. The study participants will include educators with early childhood degrees and students in years one and two. The primary goal of this research is to inform the benefits of integrating two high-impact pedagogies, guided play, and explicit instruction, for enhancing student learning outcomes in mathematics education. By exploring the integration of these pedagogical approaches, this study aims to contribute to the development of effective instructional strategies in early childhood mathematics education.

Keywords: early childhood, early childhood mathematics, early childhood numbers, guided play, play-based learning, explicit instruction

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305 Teacher Agency in Media Literacy: A Qualitative Study of Bolivian Teachers and Their Room to Manoeuvre

Authors: Daniela Lamaison Sepulveda

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Critical media literacy teaches people to think analytically about the information they receive through the media. It is heavily influenced by Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy and the necessity of becoming conscious of one’s reality in order to transform it. This qualitative research examines the case of Bolivia, which experienced dramatic political change after the first indigenous president, Evo Morales, was elected in 2006. In 2010, the government passed an education reform — the Avelino Siñani Elizardo Pérez (ASEP) —that draws heavily on decolonial thought and the Freirean notion of critical consciousness. The extent to which these theories were implemented in practice is evaluated in context of a media literacy project, run by an NGO, that trains secondary school teachers from public schools across Bolivia through yearly workshops ranging from producing media to identifying fake news. This context is examined against the backdrop of the highly contested general elections in October 2019. While there is plenty of literature that outlines the benefits of teaching media literacy in the classroom and different ways to apply it, little research has been done analysing implementation at an institutional level and how to best enable teachers who are motivated to teach the subject. Through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and naturalistic observations, this study aims to identify the struggles faced by teachers who are dedicated to teaching critical media literacy in their classrooms and how they navigate educational spaces while being subject to a demanding national curriculum that supposedly also seeks to promote critical thinking. The interplay between the aspirations of teachers and NGOs in contrast to the top-down discourse and policy of governmental institutions provides for a very enlightening case. By exploring these institutional, cultural, sociopolitical and economic barriers the teachers face, this research attempts to contribute to the debate in media literacy theories concerned with implementing the practice in schools.

Keywords: media literacy, critical pedagogy, teacher agency, misinformation, education reform, Bolivia

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304 Pedagogical Agency: A Basic Capacity to Carry out a Humanizing and Democratic Pedagog

Authors: Priscilla Echeverria

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For us grown up in neoliberal societies, it is not always clear that we have not only incorporated an economic logic into our subjectivities, but a technical reason, an instrumental way of relationship with the environment inspired in a control interest that constantly dehumanizes us as takes away our capacity of action, becoming mere objects or bureaucrats, stripped of our citizen dimension to participate in social and political issues responsibly and creatively. To restore the capacity of action -agency- is urgent in our societies to strengthen better democracies. On this, the formal educational system plays a crucial role, which in turn needs teachers prepared to understand their role as integral educators instead of mere curriculum managers. For this reason, initial teacher formation (ITF) programs must assume the responsibility of helping them to develop an ethical/political/epistemic pedagogical agency to deal with a technical school culture and, in turn, able to relate to their students in democratic ways to help them to develop their agency capacities. By highlighting a perspective of education as the opposite of technocracy and bureaucracy, this talk precisely addresses ITF as a crucial and formative space to restore a perspective of what a critical education can look like, enabling pedagogy students with pedagogical agency capacities to, in turn, allow their future students to develop it. This discussion is part of my doctoral research, "The importance of developing the capacity for ethical-political-epistemic agency in novice teachers during initial teacher formation to contribute to social justice", which I currently develop in the Educational Research program of the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom, as a Conicyt fellow for the 2019 cohort. This presentation specifically offers preliminary results of the analysis of critical incidents as a research methodological tool to analyse the capacity of pedagogical agency deployed by novice teachers in their first pedagogical experiences in the Chilean context.

Keywords: initial teacher formation, pedagogical agency, pedagogical interaction, hidden curriculum, critical pedagogy, social justice

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303 Usage of Visual Tools for Light Exploring with Children in the Geographical Istria Region Kindergartens in Republic of Croatia and Republic of Slovenia

Authors: Urianni Merlin, Đeni Zuliani Blašković

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Inspired by the Reggio Pedagogy approach that explores light from physical, mathematical, artistic, and natural perspectives, emphasizes the value of visual tools in light exploring that opens up a wide area of experiential discovery and knowledge, especially if used in kindergartens with children. While there is some literature evidence of visual tool usage for light exploring in kindergartens in the Republic of Slovenia, in the Republic of Croatia there are few researches, and those published are focused at shadow exploring, exploring of physical characteristics and teatrical play of light and shadow. The objectives of this research are to assess how much visual tools are used for light exploring by preschool teachers from geographical Istria kindergartens as part of the activities offered to children and if the usage of the visual tool for light exploring it’s different regarding the work environment (Slovenian and Croatian Istria kindergartens; city vs. village kindergartens; preschool teachers age and length of service). One hundred one preschool teachers from Croatian Istria Region and 70 preschool teachers from Slovenian Istria Region responded to a self-made questionnaire regarding visual tool usage habits in their work. As predicted, results show significant differences in visual tool usage regarding preschool teachers' work environment, length of service, and age. Preschool teachers from Slovenian Istria that work in kindergartens located in the city that have from 15 to 19 years of service and are more than 30 years of age use significantly more visual tools for light exploring. The results highlight the differences in visual tools usage for light exploring in the small Istria peninsula that can be attributed to different University art curricula in Slovenia and Croatia or lifelong education offered in Slovenia that is more open to Italian reggio pedagogy influence and are further used by older preschool teachers with more service experience. Considering the small number of researches, this research significantly contributes to science and motivates preschool teachers and scientists to implement the use of light tools in the preschool and university curriculum, especially in Croatia.

Keywords: activities with light, light exploring, preschool children, visual tools

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302 Overcoming the Challenges of Subjective Truths in the Post-Truth Age Through a CriticalEthical English Pedagogy

Authors: Farah Vierra

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Following the 2016 US presidential election and the advancement of the Brexit referendum, the concept of “post-truth”, defined by Oxford Dictionary as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”, came into prominent use in public, political and educational circles. What this essentially entails is that in this age, individuals are increasingly confronted with subjective perpetuations of truth in their discourse spheres that are informed by beliefs and opinions as opposed to any form of coherence to the reality of those who these truth claims concern. In principle, a subjective delineation of truth is progressive and liberating – especially considering its potential in providing marginalised groups in the diverse communities of our globalised world with the voice to articulate truths that are representative of themselves and their experiences. However, any form of human flourishing that seems to be promised here collapses as the tenets of subjective truths initially in place to liberate has been distorted through post-truth to allow individuals to purport selective and individualistic truth claims that further oppress and silence certain groups within society without due accountability. The evidence of which is prevalent through the conception of terms such as "alternative facts" and "fake news" that we observe individuals declare when their problematic truth claims are questioned. Considering the pervasiveness of post-truth and the ethical issues that accompany it, educators and scholars alike have increasingly noted the need to adapt educational practices and pedagogies to account for the diminishing objectivity of truth in the twenty-first century, especially because students, as digital natives, find themselves in the firing line of post-truth; engulfed in digital societies that proliferate post-truth through the surge of truth claims allowed in various media sites. In an attempt to equip students with the vital skills to navigate the post-truth age and oppose its proliferation of social injustices, English educators find themselves having to devise instructional strategies that not only teach students the ways they can critically and ethically scrutinise truth claims but also teach them to mediate the subjectivity of truth in a manner that does not undermine the voices of diverse communities. In hopes of providing educators with the roadmap to do so, this paper will first examine the challenges that confront students as a result of post-truth. Following which, the paper will elucidate the role English education can play in helping students overcome the complex ramifications of post-truth. Scholars have consistently touted the affordances of literary texts in providing students with imagined spaces to explore societal issues through a critical discernment of language and an ethical engagement with its narrative developments. Therefore, this paper will explain and demonstrate how literary texts, when used alongside a critical-ethical post-truth pedagogy that equips students with interpretive strategies informed by literary traditions such as literary and ethical criticism, can be effective in helping students develop the pertinent skills to comprehensively examine truth claims and overcome the challenges of the post-truth age.

Keywords: post-truth, pedagogy, ethics, English, education

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301 Interdisciplinary Urban Design: Toward Egyptian Manifesto

Authors: Hisham M. G. Abusaada

Abstract:

This article focuses on the field the art of the city, at the beginning of the third millennium, in the 21st century. It seems that a few Egyptian architects suffer from the lack of the ability to create and share knowledge in their field of proficiency. The assumption is that this weakness is the main reason that led to the invalidity of the local theorizing process. The presupposition is that the absence of respecting the conceptualization of enlightenment during the two phases of preparing and teaching the educational programs makes the students urban design projects not well designed. This paper submits an Egyptian Manifesto, to formulate some guidelines for the development of the work of some researchers, scholars and specialist's method.

Keywords: Egyptian manifesto, pedagogy, knowledge, urban design

Procedia PDF Downloads 416
300 Overcoming the Challenges of Subjective Truths in the Post-Truth Age Through a Critical-Ethical English Pedagogy

Authors: Farah Vierra

Abstract:

Following the 2016 US presidential election and the advancement of the Brexit referendum, the concept of “post-truth,” defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief,” came into prominent use in public, political and educational circles. What this essentially entails is that in this age, individuals are increasingly confronted with subjective perpetuations of truth in their discourse spheres that are informed by beliefs and opinions as opposed to any form of coherence to the reality of those to who this truth claims concern. In principle, a subjective delineation of truth is progressive and liberating – especially considering its potential to provide marginalised groups in the diverse communities of our globalised world with the voice to articulate truths that are representative of themselves and their experiences. However, any form of human flourishing that seems to be promised here collapses as the tenets of subjective truths initially in place to liberate have been distorted through post-truth to allow individuals to purport selective and individualistic truth claims that further oppress and silence certain groups within society without due accountability. The evidence of this is prevalent through the conception of terms such as "alternative facts" and "fake news" that we observe individuals declare when their problematic truth claims are being questioned. Considering the pervasiveness of post-truth and the ethical issues that accompany it, educators and scholars alike have increasingly noted the need to adapt educational practices and pedagogies to account for the diminishing objectivity of truth in the twenty-first century, especially because students, as digital natives, find themselves in the firing line of post-truth; engulfed in digital societies that proliferate post-truth through the surge of truth claims allowed in various media sites. In an attempt to equip students with the vital skills to navigate the post-truth age and oppose its proliferation of social injustices, English educators find themselves having to contend with a complex question: how can the teaching of English equip students with the ability to critically and ethically scrutinise truth claims whilst also mediating the subjectivity of truth in a manner that does not undermine the voices of diverse communities. In order to address this question, this paper will first examine the challenges that confront students as a result of post-truth. Following this, the paper will elucidate the role English education can play in helping students overcome the complex demands of the post-truth age. Scholars have consistently touted the affordances of literary texts in providing students with imagined spaces to explore societal issues through a critical discernment of language and an ethical engagement with its narrative developments. Therefore, this paper will explain and demonstrate how literary texts, when used alongside a critical-ethical post-truth pedagogy that equips students with interpretive strategies informed by literary traditions such as literary and ethical criticism, can be effective in helping students develop the pertinent skills to comprehensively examine truth claims and overcome the challenges of the post-truth age.

Keywords: post-truth, pedagogy, ethics, english, education

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299 Video Club as a Pedagogical Tool to Shift Teachers’ Image of the Child

Authors: Allison Tucker, Carolyn Clarke, Erin Keith

Abstract:

Introduction: In education, the determination to uncover privileged practices requires critical reflection to be placed at the center of both pre-service and in-service teacher education. Confronting deficit thinking about children’s abilities and shifting to holding an image of the child as capable and competent is necessary for teachers to engage in responsive pedagogy that meets children where they are in their learning and builds on strengths. This paper explores the ways in which early elementary teachers' perceptions of the assets of children might shift through the pedagogical use of video clubs. Video club is a pedagogical practice whereby teachers record and view short videos with the intended purpose of deepening their practices. The use of video club as a learning tool has been an extensively documented practice. In this study, a video club is used to watch short recordings of playing children to identify the assets of their students. Methodology: The study on which this paper is based asks the question: What are the ways in which teachers’ image of the child and teaching practices evolve through the use of video club focused on the strengths of children demonstrated during play? Using critical reflection, it aims to identify and describe participants’ experiences of examining their personally held image of the child through the pedagogical tool video club, and how that image influences their practices, specifically in implementing play pedagogy. Teachers enrolled in a graduate-level play pedagogy course record and watch videos of their own students as a means to notice and reflect on the learning that happens during play. Using a co-constructed viewing protocol, teachers identify student strengths and consider their pedagogical responses. Video club provides a framework for teachers to critically reflect in action, return to the video to rewatch the children or themselves and discuss their noticings with colleagues. Critical reflection occurs when there is focused attention on identifying the ways in which actions perpetuate or challenge issues of inherent power in education. When the image of the child held by the teacher is from a deficit position and is influenced by hegemonic dimensions of practice, critical reflection is essential in naming and addressing power imbalances, biases, and practices that are harmful to children and become barriers to their thriving. The data is comprised of teacher reflections, analyzed using phenomenology. Phenomenology seeks to understand and appreciate how individuals make sense of their experiences. Teacher reflections are individually read, and researchers determine pools of meaning. Categories are identified by each researcher, after which commonalities are named through a recursive process of returning to the data until no more themes emerge or saturation is reached. Findings: The final analysis and interpretation of the data are forthcoming. However, emergent analysis of the data collected using teacher reflections reveals the ways in which the use of video club grew teachers’ awareness of their image of the child. It shows video club as a promising pedagogical tool when used with in-service teachers to prompt opportunities for play and to challenge deficit thinking about children and their abilities to thrive in learning.

Keywords: asset-based teaching, critical reflection, image of the child, video club

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298 Teaching Physics: History, Models, and Transformation of Physics Education Research

Authors: N. Didiş Körhasan, D. Kaltakçı Gürel

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Many students have difficulty in learning physics from elementary to university level. In addition, students' expectancy, attitude, and motivation may be influenced negatively with their experience (failure) and prejudice about physics learning. For this reason, physics educators, who are also physics teachers, search for the best ways to make students' learning of physics easier by considering cognitive, affective, and psychomotor issues in learning. This research critically discusses the history of physics education, fundamental pedagogical approaches, and models to teach physics, and transformation of physics education with recent research.

Keywords: pedagogy, physics, physics education, science education

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297 Alterations in Habitation and Architectural Education Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Operation of the Architectural Studio as a Crossroad

Authors: Chrysi K. Nikoloutsou, Gianna Th. Siapati

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The pandemic limitations have altered architectural education as the discourse shifted towards virtual studios and blended learning. In addition, lockdown conditions and remote working have affected habitation. Adaptability is now a key factor. The architectural studio needs to adjust to these new terms both in education and in inhabitation. This paper will investigate the operation of an architectural studio in relation to how one experiences their house due to the pandemic, based on a literature review and qualitative research methods (interviews & workshops with students). Zenetos’ prophetic ideas of ‘Electronic Urbanism’ and ‘tele-activities’ are now more present than ever.

Keywords: architectural education, pandemic, residential design, studio pedagogy

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296 An Exploratory Case Study of Pre-Service Teachers' Learning to Teach Mathematics to Culturally Diverse Students through a Community-Based After-School Field Experience

Authors: Eugenia Vomvoridi-Ivanovic

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It is broadly assumed that participation in field experiences will help pre-service teachers (PSTs) bridge theory to practice. However, this is often not the case since PSTs who are placed in classrooms with large numbers of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds (culturally diverse students (CDS)) usually observe ineffective mathematics teaching practices that are in contrast to those discussed in their teacher preparation program. Over the past decades, the educational research community has paid increasing attention to investigating out-of-school learning contexts and how participation in such contexts can contribute to the achievement of underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and their expanded participation in STEM fields. In addition, several research studies have shown that students display different kinds of mathematical behaviors and discourse practices in out-of-school contexts than they do in the typical mathematics classroom since they draw from a variety of linguistic and cultural resources to negotiate meanings and participate in joint problem solving. However, almost no attention has been given to exploring these contexts as field experiences for pre-service mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore how participation in a community based after-school field experience promotes understanding of the content pedagogy concepts introduced in elementary mathematics methods courses, particularly as they apply to teaching mathematics to CDS. This study draws upon a situated, socio-cultural theory of teacher learning that centers on the concept of learning as situated social practice, which includes discourse, social interaction, and participation structures. Consistent with exploratory case study methodology, qualitative methods were employed to investigate how a cohort of twelve participating pre-service teacher's approach to pedagogy and their conversations around teaching and learning mathematics to CDS evolved through their participation in the after-school field experience, and how they connected the content discussed in their mathematics methods course with their interactions with the CDS in the after-school. Data were collected over a period of one academic year from the following sources: (a) audio recordings of the PSTs' interactions with the students during the after-school sessions, (b) PSTs' after-school field-notes, (c) audio-recordings of weekly methods course meetings, and (d) other document data (e.g., PST and student generated artifacts, PSTs' written course assignments). The findings of this study reveal that the PSTs benefitted greatly through their participation in the after-school field experience. Specifically, after-school participation promoted a deeper understanding of the content pedagogy concepts introduced in the mathematics methods course and gained a greater appreciation for how students learn mathematics with understanding. Further, even though many of PSTs' assumptions about the mathematical abilities of CDS were challenged and PSTs began to view CDSs' cultural and linguistic backgrounds as resources (rather than obstacles) for learning, some PSTs still held negative stereotypes about CDS and teaching and learning mathematics to CDS in particular. Insights gained through this study contribute to a better understanding of how informal mathematics learning contexts may provide a valuable context for pre-service teacher's learning to teach mathematics to CDS.

Keywords: after-school mathematics program, pre-service mathematical education of teachers, qualitative methods, situated socio-cultural theory, teaching culturally diverse students

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295 Codifying the Creative Self: Conflicts of Theory and Content in Creative Writing

Authors: Danielle L. Iamarino

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This paper explores the embattled territory of academic creative writing—and most focally, the use of critical theory in the teaching and structuring of creative practice. It places creative writing in contemporary social, cultural, and otherwise anthropological contexts, and evaluates conventional creative writing pedagogies based on how well they serve the updated needs of increasingly diverse student congregations. With continued emphasis on student-centered learning, this paper compares theoretical to practical applications of discipline-specific knowledge, examining and critiquing theory in terms of its relevance, accessibility, and whether or not it is both actionable and beneficial in the creative writing classroom.

Keywords: creative writing, literary theory, content, pedagogy, workshop, teaching

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294 Developing a Model for the Lexical Analysis of Key Works of Children's Literature

Authors: Leigha Inman

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One of the most cutting-edge interdisciplinary topics in the social sciences is the application of understandings from the humanities to traditionally social scientific disciplines such as education studies. This paper proposes such a topic. It has often been observed that children enjoy literature. The role of reading in the development of reading ability is an important area of research. However, the role of vocabulary in reading development has long been neglected. This paper reports an investigation into the number of words found in key works of children's literature and attempts to correlate that figure with years elapsed since publication of the work. Pedagogical implications will be discussed.

Keywords: educational pedagogy, young learners, vocabulary teaching, reading development

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293 Mathematics as the Foundation for the STEM Disciplines: Different Pedagogical Strategies Addressed

Authors: Marion G. Ben-Jacob, David Wang

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There is a mathematics requirement for entry level college and university students, especially those who plan to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Most of them take College Algebra, and to continue their studies, they need to succeed in this course. Different pedagogical strategies are employed to promote the success of our students. There is, of course, the Traditional Method of teaching- lecture, examples, problems for students to solve. The Emporium Model, another pedagogical approach, replaces traditional lectures with a learning resource center model featuring interactive software and on-demand personalized assistance. This presentation will compare these two methods of pedagogy and the study done with its results on this comparison. Math is the foundation for science, technology, and engineering. Its work is generally used in STEM to find patterns in data. These patterns can be used to test relationships, draw general conclusions about data, and model the real world. In STEM, solutions to problems are analyzed, reasoned, and interpreted using math abilities in a assortment of real-world scenarios. This presentation will examine specific examples of how math is used in the different STEM disciplines. Math becomes practical in science when it is used to model natural and artificial experiments to identify a problem and develop a solution for it. As we analyze data, we are using math to find the statistical correlation between the cause of an effect. Scientists who use math include the following: data scientists, scientists, biologists and geologists. Without math, most technology would not be possible. Math is the basis of binary, and without programming, you just have the hardware. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is also used in almost every program written. Mathematical algorithms are inherent in software as well. Mechanical engineers analyze scientific data to design robots by applying math and using the software. Electrical engineers use math to help design and test electrical equipment. They also use math when creating computer simulations and designing new products. Chemical engineers often use mathematics in the lab. Advanced computer software is used to aid in their research and production processes to model theoretical synthesis techniques and properties of chemical compounds. Mathematics mastery is crucial for success in the STEM disciplines. Pedagogical research on formative strategies and necessary topics to be covered are essential.

Keywords: emporium model, mathematics, pedagogy, STEM

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292 A Triad Pedagogy for Increased Digital Competence of Human Resource Management Students: Reflecting on Human Resource Information Systems at a South African University

Authors: Esther Pearl Palmer

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Driven by the increased pressure on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce work-ready graduates for the modern world of work, this study reflects on triad teaching and learning practices to increase student engagement and employability. In the South African higher education context, the employability of graduates is imperative in strengthening the country’s economy and in increasing competitiveness. Within this context, the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) calls for innovative methods and approaches to teaching and learning and assessing the skills and competencies of graduates to render them employable. Digital competency in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) is an important component and prerequisite for employment in HRM. The purpose of this research is to reflect on the subject HRIS developed by lecturers at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT), with the intention to actively engage students in real-world learning activities and increase their employability. The Enrichment Triad Model (ETM) was used as theoretical framework to develop the subject as it supports a triad teaching and learning approach to education. It is, furthermore, an inter-structured model that supports collaboration between industry, academics and students. The study follows a mixed-method approach to reflect on the learning experiences of the industry, academics and students in the subject field over the past three years. This paper is a work in progress and seeks to broaden the scope of extant studies about student engagement in work-related learning to increase employability. Based on the ETM as theoretical framework and pedagogical practice, this paper proposes that following a triad teaching and learning approach will increase work-related skills of students. Findings from the study show that students, academics and industry alike regard educational opportunities that incorporate active learning experiences with the world of work enhances student engagement in learning and renders them more employable.

Keywords: digital competence, enriched triad model, human resource information systems, student engagement, triad pedagogy.

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291 The Politics of Health Education: A Cultural Analysis of Tobacco Control Communication in India

Authors: Ajay Ivan

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This paper focuses on the cultural politics of health-promotional and disease-preventive pedagogic practices in the context of the national tobacco control programme in India. Tobacco consumption is typically problematised as a paradox: tobacco poses objective health risks such as cancer and heart disease, but its production, sale and export contribute significantly to state revenue. A blanket ban on tobacco products, therefore, is infeasible though desirable. Instead, initiatives against tobacco use have prioritised awareness creation and behaviour change to reduce its demand. This paper argues that public health communication is not, as commonly assumed, an apolitical and neutral transmission of disease-preventive information. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, it examines such campaigns as techniques of disciplining people rather than coercing them to give up tobacco use, which would be both impractical and counter-productive. At the level of the population, these programmes constitute a security mechanism that reduces risks without eliminating them, so as to ensure an optimal level of public health without hampering the economy. Anti-tobacco pedagogy thus aligns with a contemporary paradigm of health that emphasises risk-assessment and lifestyle management as tools of governance, using pedagogic techniques to teach people how to be healthy. The paper analyses the pictorial health warnings on tobacco packets and anti-tobacco advertisements in movie theatres mandated by the state, along with awareness-creation messages circulated by anti-tobacco advocacy groups in India, to show how they discursively construct tobacco and its consumption as a health risk. Smoking is resignified from a pleasurable and sociable practice to a deadly addiction that jeopardises the health of those who smoke and those who passively inhale the smoke. While disseminating information about the health risks of tobacco, these initiatives employ emotional and affective techniques of persuasion to discipline tobacco users. They incite fear of death and of social ostracism to motivate behaviour change, complementing their appeals to reason. Tobacco is portrayed as a grave moral danger to the family and a detriment to the vitality of the nation, such that using it contradicts one’s duties as a parent or citizen. Awareness programmes reproduce prevailing societal assumptions about health and disease, normalcy and deviance, and proper and improper conduct. Pedagogy thus functions as an apparatus of public health governance, recruiting subjects as volunteers in their own regulation and aligning their personal goals and aspirations to the objectives of tobacco control. The paper links this calculated management of subjectivity and the self-responsibilisation of the pedagogic subject to a distinct mode of neoliberal civic governance in contemporary India. Health features prominently in this mode of governance that serves the biopolitical obligation of the state as laid down in Article 39 of the Constitution, which includes a duty to ensure the health of its citizens. Insofar as the health of individuals is concerned, the problem is how to balance this duty of the state with the fundamental right of the citizen to choose how to live. Public health pedagogy, by directing the citizen’s ‘free’ choice without unduly infringing upon it, offers a tactical solution.

Keywords: public health communication, pedagogic power, tobacco control, neoliberal governance

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290 Promoting Critical Thinking in a Robotics Class

Authors: Ian D. Walker

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This paper describes the creation and teaching of an undergraduate course aimed at promoting critical thinking among the students in the course. The class, Robots in Business and Society, taught at Clemson University, is open to all undergraduate students of any discipline. It is taught as part of Clemson’s online class program and is structured to promote critical thinking via a series of interactive discussion boards and assignments. Critical thinking is measured via pre- and post-testing using a benchmark standardized test. The paper will detail the class organization, and describe and discuss the results and lessons learned with respect to improvement of student critical thinking from three offerings of the class.

Keywords: critical thinking, pedagogy, robotics, undergraduate teaching

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289 State of the Art on the Recommendation Techniques of Mobile Learning Activities

Authors: Nassim Dennouni, Yvan Peter, Luigi Lancieri, Zohra Slama

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The objective of this article is to make a bibliographic study on the recommendation of mobile learning activities that are used as part of the field trip scenarios. Indeed, the recommendation systems are widely used in the context of mobility because they can be used to provide learning activities. These systems should take into account the history of visits and teacher pedagogy to provide adaptive learning according to the instantaneous position of the learner. To achieve this objective, we review the existing literature on field trip scenarios to recommend mobile learning activities.

Keywords: mobile learning, field trip, mobile learning activities, collaborative filtering, recommendation system, point of interest, ACO algorithm

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288 Transformative Pedagogy and Online Adult Education

Authors: Glenn A. Palmer, Lorenzo Bowman, Juanita Johnson-Bailey

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The ubiquitous economic upheaval that has gripped the global environment in the past few years displaced many workers through unemployment or underemployment. Globally, this disruption has caused many adult workers to seek additional education or skills to remain competitive, and acquire the ability and options to find gainful employment. While many learners have availed themselves of some opportunities to be retrained and retooled at locations within their communities, others have explored those options through the online learning environment. This paper examines the empirical research that explores the various strategies that are used in the adult online learning community that could also foster transformative learning.

Keywords: online learning, transformational learning, adult education, economic crisis, unemployment

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287 Toward a Re-Definition of Mobile Learning

Authors: Mirna Diab

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Mobile learning, or M-learning, drives the development of new teaching, learning, and assessment strategies in schools and colleges. With initiatives across states, districts, and institutions, the United States leads mobile learning, significantly impacting education. Since 2010, over 2,3 million American pupils have received their education via mobile devices, demonstrating its rapid expansion. Nonetheless, mobile learning lacks a consistent and explicit definition that helps educators, students, and stakeholders grasp its essence and implement it effectively. This article addresses the need for a revised definition by introducing readers to various mobile learning concepts and understandings. It seeks to raise awareness, clarify, and encourage making well-informed decisions regarding its incorporation as a potent learning tool.

Keywords: mobile learning, mobile pedagogy, mobile technological devices, learner mobility

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286 Critiquing Israel as Child Abuse: How Colonial White Feminism Disrupts Critical Pedagogies of Culturally Responsive and Relevant Practices and Inclusion through Ongoing and Historical Maternalism and Neoliberal Settler Colonialism

Authors: Wafaa Hasan

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In May of 2022, Palestinian parents in Toronto, Canada, became aware that educators and staff in the Toronto District School Board were attempting to include the International Holocaust and Remembrance Definition of Antisemitism (IHRA) in The Child Abuse and Neglect Policy of the largest school board in Canada, The Toronto District School Board (TDSB). The idea was that if students were to express any form of antisemitism, as defined by the IHRA, then an investigation could follow with Child Protective Services (CPS). That is, the student’s parents could be reported to the state and investigated for custodial rights to their children. The TDSB has set apparent goals for “Decolonizing Pedagogy” (“TDSB Equity Leadership Competencies”), Culturally Responsive and Relevant Practices (CRRP) and inclusive education. These goals promote the centering of colonized, racialized and marginalized voices. CRRP cannot be effective without the application of anti-racist and settler colonial analyses. In order for CRRP to be effective, school boards need a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which the vilification of Palestinians operates through anti-indigenous and white supremacist systems and logic. Otherwise, their inclusion will always be in tension with the inclusion of settler colonial agendas and worldviews. Feminist maternalism frames racial mothering as degenerate (viewing the contributions of racialized students and their parents as products of primitive and violent cultures) and also indirectly inhibits the actualization of the tenets of CRRP and inclusive education through its extensions into the welfare state and public education. The contradiction between the tenets of CRRP and settler colonial systems of erasure and repression is resolved by the continuation of tactics to 1) force assimilation, 2) punish those who push back on that assimilation and 3) literally fragment familial and community structures of racialized students, educators and parents. This paper draws on interdisciplinary (history, philosophy, anthropology) critiques of white feminist “maternalism” from the 19th century onwards in North America and Europe (Jacobs, Weber), as well as “anti-racist education” theory (Dei), and more specifically,” culturally responsive learning,” (Muhammad) and “bandwidth” pedagogy theory (Verschelden) to make its claims. This research contributes to vibrant debates about anti-racist and decolonial pedagogies in public education systems globally. This paper also documents first-hand interviews and experiences of diasporic Palestinian mothers and motherhoods and situates their experiences within longstanding histories of white feminist maternalist (and eugenicist) politics. This informal qualitative data from "participatory conversations" (Swain) is situated within a set of formal interview data collected with Palestinian women in the West Bank (approved by the McMaster University Humanities Research Ethics Board) relating to white feminist maternalism in the peace and dialogue industry.

Keywords: decolonial feminism, maternal feminism, anti-racist pedagogies, settler colonial studies, motherhood studies, pedagogy theory, cultural theory

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285 “Those Are the Things that We Need to be Talking About”: The Impact of Learning About the History of Racial Oppression during Ghana Study Abroad

Authors: Katarzyna Olcoń, Rose M. Pulliam, Dorie J. Gilbert

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This article examines the impact of learning about the history of racial oppression on U.S. university students who participated in a Ghana study abroad which involved visiting the former slave dungeons. Relying on ethnographic observations, individual interviews, and written journals of 27 students (predominantly White and Latino/a and social work majors), we identified four themes: (1) the suffering and resilience of African and African descent people; (2) ‘it’s still happening today’; (3) ‘you don’t learn about that in school’; and (4) remembrance, equity, and healing.

Keywords: racial oppression, anti-racism pedagogy, student learning, social work education, study abroad

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284 Disabled Graduate Students’ Experiences and Vision of Change for Higher Education: A Participatory Action Research Study

Authors: Emily Simone Doffing, Danielle Kohfeldt

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Disabled students are underrepresented in graduate-level degree enrollment and completion. There is limited research on disabled students' progression during the pandemic. Disabled graduate students (DGS) face unique interpersonal and institutional barriers, yet, limited research explores these barriers, buffering facilitators, and aids to academic persistence. This study adopts an asset-based, embodied disability approach using the critical pedagogy theoretical framework instead of the deficit research approach. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) paradigm, the critical pedagogy theoretical framework, and emancipatory disability research share the same purpose -creating a socially just world through reciprocal learning. This study is one of few, if not the first, to center solely on DGS’ lived understanding using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) epistemology. With a PAR paradigm, participants and investigators work as a research team democratically at every stage of the research process. PAR has individual and systemic outcomes. PAR lessens the researcher-participant power gap and elevates a marginalized community’s knowledge as expertise for local change. PAR and critical pedagogy work toward enriching everyone involved with empowerment, civic engagement, knowledge proliferation, socio-cultural reflection, skills development, and active meaning-making. The PAR process unveils the tensions between disability and graduate school in policy and practice during the pandemic. Likewise, institutional and ideological tensions influence the PAR process. This project is recruiting 10 DGS until September through purposive and snowball sampling. DGS will collectively practice praxis during four monthly focus groups in the fall 2023 semester. Participant researchers can attend a focus group or an interview, both with field notes. September will be our orientation and first monthly meeting. It will include access needs check-ins, ice breakers, consent form review, a group agreement, PAR introduction, research ethics discussion, research goals, and potential research topics. October and November will be available for meetings for dialogues about lived experiences during our collaborative data collection. Our sessions can be semi-structured with “framing questions,” which would be revised together. Field notes include observations that cannot be captured through audio. December will focus on local social action planning and dissemination. Finally, in January, there will be a post-study focus group for students' reflections on their experiences of PAR. Iterative analysis methods include transcribed audio, reflexivity, memos, thematic coding, analytic triangulation, and member checking. This research follows qualitative rigor and quality criteria: credibility, transferability, confirmability, and psychopolitical validity. Results include potential tension points, social action, individual outcomes, and recommendations for conducting PAR. Tension points have three components: dubious practices, contestable knowledge, and conflict. The dissemination of PAR recommendations will aid and encourage researchers to conduct future PAR projects with the disabled community. Identified stakeholders will be informed of DGS’ insider knowledge to drive social sustainability.

Keywords: participatory action research, graduate school, disability, higher education

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283 Student Absenteeism as a Challenge for Inclusion: A Comparative Study of Primary Schools in an Urban City in India

Authors: Deepa Idnani

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Attendance is an important factor in school success among children. Studies show that better attendance is related to higher academic achievement for students of all backgrounds, but particularly for children with lower socio-economic status. Beginning from the early years, students who attend school regularly score higher on tests than their peers who are frequently absent. The present study in different types of School In Delhi tries to highlight the impact of student absenteeism and the challenges it poses for the students. The study relies on Lewin ‘Model of Exclusion’ and tries to focus on the analysis of children with special needs and the inclusion and exclusion of students in the school.

Keywords: student absenteeism, pedagogy, learning, right to education act, exclusion

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282 Relativity in Toddlers' Understanding of the Physical World as Key to Misconceptions in the Science Classroom

Authors: Michael Hast

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Within their first year, infants can differentiate between objects based on their weight. By at least 5 years children hold consistent weight-related misconceptions about the physical world, such as that heavy things fall faster than lighter ones because of their weight. Such misconceptions are seen as a challenge for science education since they are often highly resistant to change through instruction. Understanding the time point of emergence of such ideas could, therefore, be crucial for early science pedagogy. The paper thus discusses two studies that jointly address the issue by examining young children’s search behaviour in hidden displacement tasks under consideration of relative object weight. In both studies, they were tested with a heavy or a light ball, and they either had information about one of the balls only or both. In Study 1, 88 toddlers aged 2 to 3½ years watched a ball being dropped into a curved tube and were then allowed to search for the ball in three locations – one straight beneath the tube entrance, one where the curved tube lead to, and one that corresponded to neither of the previous outcomes. Success and failure at the task were not impacted by weight of the balls alone in any particular way. However, from around 3 years onwards, relative lightness, gained through having tactile experience of both balls beforehand, enhanced search success. Conversely, relative heaviness increased search errors such that children increasingly searched in the location immediately beneath the tube entry – known as the gravity bias. In Study 2, 60 toddlers aged 2, 2½ and 3 years watched a ball roll down a ramp and behind a screen with four doors, with a barrier placed along the ramp after one of four doors. Toddlers were allowed to open the doors to find the ball. While search accuracy generally increased with age, relative weight did not play a role in 2-year-olds’ search behaviour. Relative lightness improved 2½-year-olds’ searches. At 3 years, both relative lightness and relative heaviness had a significant impact, with the former improving search accuracy and the latter reducing it. Taken together, both studies suggest that between 2 and 3 years of age, relative object weight is increasingly taken into consideration in navigating naïve physical concepts. In particular, it appears to contribute to the early emergence of misconceptions relating to object weight. This insight from developmental psychology research may have consequences for early science education and related pedagogy towards early conceptual change.

Keywords: conceptual development, early science education, intuitive physics, misconceptions, object weight

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281 Integrating Historical Narratives with Merge Games as Tools for Pedagogy In Education

Authors: Aathira H.

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Digital games can act as catalysts for educational transformation in the current scenario. Children and adolescence acquire this digital knowledge quickly and hence digital games can act as one of the most effective media for technology-mediated learning. Mobile gaming industries have seen the rise of a new trending genre of games, i.e., “Merge games” which is currently thriving in the market. This paper analysis on how gamifying historic and cultural narratives with merge mechanics can be an effective way to educate school children. Through the study of how merge mechanics in games have currently emerged as a trend., this paper argues how it can be integrated with a strong narrative which can convey history in an engaging way for education.

Keywords: game-based learning, merge mechanics, historical narratives, gaming innovations

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280 The New Economy: A Pedagogy for Vocational and Technical Education Programmes in Nigeria

Authors: Sunny Nwakanma

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The emergence of the new economy has created a new world order for skill acquisition, economic activities and employment. It has dramatically changed the way we live, learn, work and even think about work. It has also created new opportunities as well as challenges and uncertainty. This paper will not only demystify the new economy and present its instrumentality in the acceleration of skill acquisition in technical education, but will also highlight industrial and occupational changes brought about by the synergy between information and communication technology revolution and the global economic system. It advocates among other things, the use of information and communication technology mediated instruction in technical education as it provides the flexibility to meet diverse learners’ need anytime and anywhere and facilitate skill acquisition.

Keywords: new economy, technical education, skill acquisition, information and communication technology

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279 21st Century Computer Technology for the Training of Early Childhood Teachers: A Study of Second-Year Education Students Challenged with Building a Kindergarten Website

Authors: Yonit Nissim, Eyal Weissblueth

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This research is the continuation of a process that began in 2010 with the goal of redesigning the training program for future early childhood teachers at the Ohalo College, to integrate technology and provide 21st-century skills. The article focuses on a study of the processes involved in developing a special educational unit which challenged students with the task of designing, planning and building an internet site for kindergartens. This project was part of their second-year studies in the early childhood track of an interdisciplinary course entitled 'Educating for the Future.' The goal: enabling students to gain experience in developing an internet site specifically for kindergartens, and gain familiarity with Google platforms, the acquisition and use of innovative skills and the integration of technology in pedagogy. Research questions examined how students handled the task of building an internet site. The study explored whether the guided process of building a site helped them develop proficiency in creativity, teamwork, evaluation and learning appropriate to the 21st century. The research tool was a questionnaire constructed by the researchers and distributed online to the students. Answers were collected from 50-course participants. Analysis of the participants’ responses showed that, along with the significant experience and benefits that students gained from building a website for kindergarten, ambivalence was shown toward the use of new, unfamiliar and complex technology. This attitude was characterized by unease and initial emotional distress triggered by the departure from routine training to an island of uncertainty. A gradual change took place toward the adoption of innovation with the help of empathy, training, and guidance from the instructors, leading to the students’ success in carrying out the task. Initial success led to further successes, resulting in a quality product and a feeling of personal competency among the students. A clear and extreme emotional shift was observed on the spectrum from a sense of difficulty and dissatisfaction to feelings of satisfaction, joy, competency and cognitive understanding of the importance of facing a challenge and succeeding. The findings of this study can contribute to increased understanding of the complex training process of future kindergarten teachers, coping with a changing world, and pedagogy that is supported by technology.

Keywords: early childhood teachers, educating for the future, emotions, kindergarten website

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278 Motivating the Independent Learner at the Arab Open University, Kuwait Branch

Authors: Hassan Sharafuddin, Chekra Allani

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Academicians at the Arab Open University have always voiced their concern about the efficacy of the blended learning process. Based on 75% independent study and 25% face-to-face tutorial, it poses the challenge of the predisposition to adjustment. Being used to the psychology of traditional educational systems, AOU students cannot be easily weaned from being spoon-fed. Hence they lack the motivation to plunge into self-study. For better involvement of AOU students into the learning practices, it is imperative to diagnose the factors that impede or increase their motivation. This is conducted through an empirical study grounded upon observations and tested hypothesis and aimed at monitoring and optimizing the students’ learning outcome. Recommendations of the research will follow the findings.

Keywords: academic performance, blended learning, educational psychology, independent study, pedagogy

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