Search results for: 21st century skills

Authors: Mildred Moreno Villanueva

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Public space is essential to strengthen the social and urban fabric and the social cohesion; there lies the importance of its study. Hence, the aim of this paper is to analyze the quality of public space in the XXI century in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In this article, the concept of public space includes open spaces such as parks, public squares and walking areas. To make this analysis, we take Mexico City as the case study. It has a population of nearly 9 million inhabitants and is composed of sixteen boroughs. For this analysis, we consider both existing public spaces and the government intervention for building and improving new and existent public spaces. Results show that on the one hand, quantitatively there is not an equitable distribution of public spaces due to both the growth of the city itself as well as due to the absence of political will to create public spaces. Another factor is the evolution of this city, which has been growing merely in a “patched pattern”, where public space has played no role at all with a total absence of urban design. On the other hand, qualitatively, even the boroughs with the most public spaces have not shown interest in making these spaces qualitatively inclusive and open to the general population aiming for integration. Therefore, urban projects that privatize public space seem to be the rule, rather than a rehabilitation effort of the existent public spaces. Hence, state intervention should reinforce its role as an agent of social change acting in benefit of the majority of the inhabitants with the promotion of more inclusive public spaces.

Keywords: Exclusion, inclusion, Mexico City, public space.

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Authors: Y. Benjelloun Touimi, N. Faddouli, S. Bennani, M. Khalidi Idrissi

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The pedagogy project has been proven as an active learning method, which is used to develop learner-s skills and knowledge.The use of technology in the learning world, has filed several gaps in the implementation of teaching methods, and online evaluation of learners. However, the project methodology presents challenges in the assessment of learners online. Indeed, interoperability between E-learning platforms (LMS) is one of the major challenges of project-based learning assessment. Firstly, we have reviewed the characteristics of online assessment in the context of project-based teaching. We addressed the constraints encountered during the peer evaluation process. Our approach is to propose a meta-model, which will describe a language dedicated to the conception of peer assessment scenario in project-based learning. Then we illustrate our proposal by an instantiation of the meta-model through a business process in a scenario of collaborative assessment on line.

Keywords: Online project based learning, meta-model, peer assessment process.

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Authors: Yun-Husan Huang

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Many English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks are distributed globally as the content development is often obliged to compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands. Therefore, the issue of regional application and usefulness of globally published ESP textbooks has received much debate. For ESP instructors, textbook selection is definitely a priority consideration for curriculum design. An appropriate ESP textbook can facilitate teaching and learning, while an inappropriate one may cause a disaster for both teachers and students. This study aims to investigate the regional application and usefulness of an ESP textbook for information technology (IT). Participants were 51 sophomores majoring in Applied Informatics and Multimedia at a university in Taiwan. As they were non-English majors, their English proficiency was mostly at elementary and elementary-to-intermediate levels. This course was offered for two semesters. The textbook selected was Oxford English for Information Technology. At class end, the students were required to complete a survey comprising five choices of Very Easy, Easy, Neutral, Difficult, and Very Difficult for each item. Based on the content design of the textbook, the survey investigated how the students viewed the difficulty of grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials of the textbook. In terms of difficulty, results reveal that only 22% of them found the grammar section difficult and very difficult. For listening, 71% responded difficult and very difficult. For general reading, 55% responded difficult and very difficult. For speaking, 56% responded difficult and very difficult. For writing, 78% responded difficult and very difficult. For advanced reading, 90% reported difficult and very difficult. These results indicate that, except the grammar section, more than half of the students found the textbook contents difficult in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Such contradictory results between the easy grammar section and the difficult four language skills sections imply that the textbook designers do not well understand the English learning background of regional ESP learners. For the participants, the learning contents of the grammar section were the general grammar level of junior high school, while the learning contents of the four language skills sections were more of the levels of college English majors. Implications from the findings are obtained for instructors and textbook designers. First of all, existing ESP textbooks for IT are few and thus textbook selections for instructors are insufficient. Second, existing globally published textbooks for IT cannot be applied to learners of all English proficiency levels, especially the low level. With limited textbook selections, third, instructors should modify the selected textbook contents or supplement extra ESP materials to meet the proficiency level of target learners. Fourth, local ESP publishers should collaborate with local ESP instructors who understand best the learning background of their students in order to develop appropriate ESP textbooks for local learners. Even though the instructor reduced learning contents and simplified tests in curriculum design, in conclusion, the students still found difficult. This implies that in addition to the instructor’s professional experience, there is a need to understand the usefulness of the textbook from learner perspectives.

Keywords: ESP textbooks, ESP materials, ESP textbook design, learner perspectives on ESP textbooks.

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Authors: Tai-Hwa Emily Lu

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This study was a part of the three-year longitudinal research on setting up an math learning model for the disadvantaged students in Taiwan. A target 2nd grade class with 10 regular students and 6 disadvantaged students at a disadvantaged area in Taipei participated in this study. Two units of a market basal math textbook concerning fractions, three-dimensional figures, weight and capacity were adapted to enhance their math learning motivations, confidences and effects. The findings were (1) curriculum adaptation was effective on enhancing students- learning motivations, confidences and effects; (2) story-type problems and illustrations decreased difficulties on understanding math language for students from new immigrant families and students with special needs; (3) “concrete – semiconcrete – abstract" teaching strategies and hands-on activities were essential to raise students learning interests and effects; and (4) curriculum adaptation knowledge and skills needed to be included in the pre- and in-service teacher training programs.

Keywords: curriculum adaptations, mathematics, disadvantaged students, inclusive classroom

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Authors: S. Pancucci

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Professional development is the focus of this study. It reports on questionnaire data that examined the perceived effectiveness of the Train the Trainer model of technology professional development for elementary teachers. Eighty-three selected teachers called Information Technology Coaches received four half-day and one after-school in-service sessions. Subsequently, coaches shared the information and skills acquired during training with colleagues. Results indicated that participants felt comfortable as Information Technology Coaches and felt well prepared because of their technological professional development. Overall, participants perceived the Train the Trainer model to be effective. The outcomes of this study suggest that the use of the Train the Trainer model, a known professional development model, can be an integral and interdependent component of the newer more comprehensive learning community professional development model.

Keywords: change, education, learning community, professional development, school improvement, technology coach, Train the Trainer.

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Authors: Ivana Tadić, Željana Aljinović Barać, Nikolina Plazonić

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Living today in turbulent business environment forces companies to distinguish from each other, securing sustainable competitive growth and competitive advantage. The best possible solution is to invest (effort and financial resources) within companies’ different practices of human resource management (HRM), more specifically in employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities. Applying this approach companies will create enviable level of human capital securing its economic growth. Employees become human capital for their employers at the moment when they contribute with their own knowledge and abilities in creating material and non-material value of the company. The main aim of this research is to explore the relations between human capital investments and business excellence of Croatian companies. Furthermore, the differences in the level of human capital investments with regard to several companies’ characteristics (e.g. size of the company, ownership and type of the industry) are investigated.

Keywords:

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Authors: Hoong C. Chin, Soon H. Chew, Zhaoxia Wang

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Work on sustainable developments and the call for action in education for sustainable development have been ongoing for a number of years. Training engineering students with the relevant competencies, particularly in sustainable development literacy, has been identified as an urgent task in universities. This requires not only a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to education but also a suitable training environment to develop the needed skills and to inculcate the appropriate attitudes in students towards sustainable development. To demonstrate how this can be done, a module involving an overseas field trip was introduced in 2013 at the National University of Singapore. This paper provides details of the module and describes its training philosophy and methods. Measured against the student learning outcomes, stipulated by the Engineering Accreditation Board, the module scored well on all of them, particularly those related to complex problem solving, environmental and sustainability awareness, multi-disciplinary team work and varied-level communications.

Keywords: Civil engineering education, student learning outcomes, sustainable development.

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Authors: Lin, Huifen, Fang, Yueh-chiu

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This study explores perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners on using computer mediated communication technology in their learner of English. The data consists of observations of both synchronous and asynchronous communication participants engaged in for over a period of 4 months, which included online, and offline communication protocols, open-ended interviews and reflection papers composed by participants. Content analysis of interview data and the written documents listed above, as well as, member check and triangulation techniques are the major data analysis strategies. The findings suggest that participants generally do not benefit from computer-mediated communication in terms of its effect in learning a foreign language. Participants regarded the nature of CMC as artificial, or pseudo communication that did not aid their authentic communicational skills in English. The results of this study sheds lights on insufficient and inconclusive findings, which most quantitative CMC studies previously generated.

Keywords: computer-mediated communication, EFL, writing

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Authors: What Factors Contributed to the Adaptation Gap during School Transition in Japan?

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The present study was aimed to examine the structure of children’s adaptation during school transition and to identify a commonality and dissimilarity at the elementary and junior high school. 1,983 students in the 6th grade and 2,051 students in the 7th grade were extracted by stratified two-stage random sampling and completed the ASSESS that evaluated the school adaptation from the view point of ‘general satisfaction’, ‘teachers’ support’, ‘friends’ support’, ‘anti-bullying relationship’, ‘prosocial skills’, and ‘academic adaptation’. The 7th graders tend to be worse adaptation than the 6th graders. A structural equation modeling showed the goodness of fit for each grades. Both models were very similar but the 7th graders’ model showed a lower coefficient at the pass from ‘teachers’ support’ to ‘friends’ support’. The role of ‘teachers’ support’ was decreased to keep a good relation in junior high school. We also discussed how we provide a continuous assistance for prevention of the 7th graders’ gap.

Keywords: School transition, social support, psychological adaptation, K-12.

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Authors: A. Harmse, R. Goede

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Students with high level skills are in demand, especially in scare skill environments. If universities wish to be successful and competitive, its students need to be adequately equipped with the necessary tools. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is an essential component of the education of a student. The relevance of higher education should be assessed in terms of how it meets the needs of society and the world of work in a global economy. This paper demonstrates how to use Habermas's theory of communicative action to reflect on students- perceptions on their integration in the work environment to achieve social integration and financial justification. Interpretive questionnaires are used to determine the students- view of how they are integrated into society, and contributing to the economy. This paper explores the use of Habermas-s theory of communicative action to give theoretical and methodological guidance for the practice of social findings obtained in this inquiry.

Keywords: Discourse, Habermas, Information Systems Education, Theory of Communicative Action, Work Integrated Learning.

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Authors: Narong Anurak

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The objectives of this research were to investigate the knowledge and understanding of public relations principles for public relations officials of the office of the faculty of management science in Ratjabhat Suan Sunandha University and to determine the approach of public relations for the Office of Faculty of Management Science.  The questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis. The results of the research showed that the public relations officials misunderstood on public relations principles. The lack of the perception in media of the target groups both in-house and outside caused the misunderstanding on the roles, mission, and responsibilities. It would be beneficial to public relations division and other divisions of the office of the faculty of management science to be trained and obtained more knowledge and skills on the public relations to support the public relations work for the organization.

Keywords: Faculty of Management Science, Public Relations, Ratjabhat Suan Sunandha University.

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Authors: F. Saptouw

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This paper will examine the digitization process of the |Xam and !Kun notebooks, authored by Lucy Lloyd, Dorothea Bleek and Wilhelm Bleek, and their collaborators |a!kunta, ||kabbo, ≠kasin, Dia!kwain, !kweiten ta ||ken, |han≠kass'o, !nanni, Tamme, |uma, and Da during the 19th century. Detail will be provided about the status of the archive, the creation of the digital archive and selected research projects linked to the archive. The Digital Bleek and Lloyd project is an example of institutional collaboration by the University of Cape Town, University of South Africa, Iziko South African Museum, the National Library of South Africa and the Western Cape Provincial Archives and Records Service. The contemporary value of the archive will be discussed in relation to its current manifestation as a collection of archival and digital objects, each with its own set of properties and archival risk factors. This tension between the two ways to access the archive will be interrogated to shed light on the slippages between the digital object and the archival object. The primary argument is that the process of digitization generates an ontological shift in the status of the archival object. The secondary argument is an engagement with practices to curate the encounters with these ontologically shifted objects and how to relate to each as a contemporary viewer. In conclusion this paper will argue for regarding these archival objects according to the interpretive framework utilized to engage secular relics.

Keywords: Archive, curatorship, digitization, The Digital Bleek and Lloyd.

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Authors: A. Althobaiti, M. Munro

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Communication and effective information exchange within technology has become a crucial part of delivering knowledge to students during the learning process. It enables better understanding, builds trust and respect, and increases the sharing of knowledge between students. This paper examines the communication between undergraduate students and their lecturers during the traditional lecture and when using the Interactive Electronic Lecture System (IELS). The IELS is an application that offers a set of components which support the effective communication between students and their peers and between students and their lecturers. Moreover, this paper highlights communication skills such as sender, receiver, channel and feedback. It will show how the IELS creates a rich communication environment between its users and how they communicate effectively. To examine and assess the effectiveness of communication, an experiment was conducted on groups of users; students and lecturers. The first group communicated in the traditional lecture while the second group communicated by means of the IELS application. The results show that there was more effective communication between the second group than the first.

Keywords: Communication, effective information exchange.

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Authors: Andy Handouyahia, Tony Haddad, Frank Eaton

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Recent quasi-experimental evaluation of the Canadian Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has provided an opportunity to examine alternative methods to estimating the incremental effects of Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs) on program participants. The focus of this paper is to assess the efficiency and robustness of inverse probability weighting (IPW) relative to kernel matching (KM) in the estimation of program effects. To accomplish this objective, the authors compare pairs of 1,080 estimates, along with their associated standard errors, to assess which type of estimate is generally more efficient and robust. In the interest of practicality, the authorsalso document the computationaltime it took to produce the IPW and KM estimates, respectively.

Keywords: Treatment effect, causal inference, observational studies, Propensity score based matching, Kernel Matching, Inverse Probability Weighting, Estimation methods for incremental effect.

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Authors: Paul N. Napari, Patrick B. Cobbinah

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The 21^st century has been characterized by rapid urbanization with its associated environmental sanitation challenges especially in developing countries. However, studies have focused largely on institutional capacity and the resources needed to manage environmental sanitation challenges, with few insights on the attitudes of city residents. This paper analyzes the environmental sanitation situation in a rapidly urbanizing Tamale metropolis, examines how city residents’ attitudes have contributed to poor environmental sanitation and further reviews approaches that have been employed to manage environmental sanitation. Using secondary and empirical data sources, the paper reveals that only 7.5 tons of 150 tons of total daily solid wastes generated is effectively managed. The findings suggest that the poor sanitation in the city is influenced by two factors; poor attitudes of city residents and weak institutions. While poor attitudes towards environmental sanitation has resulted in indiscriminate disposal of waste, weak institutions have resulted in lack of capacity and pragmatic interventions to manage the environmental sanitation challenges in the city. The paper recommends public education on environmental sanitation, public private partnership, increased stakeholder engagement and preparation and implementation of environmental sanitation plan as mechanisms to ensure effective environmental sanitation management in the Tamale metropolis.

Keywords: Environmental sanitation, developing countries, waste management, developing countries, Tamale, urbanization.

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Authors: Mohamed Chabi, Mohammad Shahid Jamil, Mahmoud I Syam

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The purpose of this study is to determine whether paper assessment especially in the subject mathematics will ever be completely replaced by online assessment using Learning Management System and Content Management System such as blackboard. Testing students has moved from the traditional scribbling and sketching on paper towards working online on a screen and keyboard. It is found that online assessment by using selective types of questions like multiple choices, true or false and final answer questions don’t reflect the actual understanding of students in solving the problems and teachers can’t determine the weakness points of students. In addition, it is showed that OBMCQs are a very good tool for self-assessment and when teachers are testing for knowledge and facts. But when it comes to the skills, OBMCQs are poor tools for measuring the ability to apply knowledge to complex math problem. 

Keywords: Paper assessment, online assessment, learning management system, content management system.

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Authors: Eric Ho

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Pedagogical approaches in Asia nowadays are imported from the West. In Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC), however, there is a dichotomy between the perceived benefits of Western pedagogies and the real classroom practices in Chinese societies. The success of Hong Kong students in large-scale international assessments has proved that both the strengths of both Western pedagogies and CHC educational approaches should be integrated for the sake of the students. University students aim to equip themselves with employability skills upon graduation. Formative assessments allow students to receive detailed, positive, and timely feedback and they can identify their strengths and weaknesses before they start working. However, there remains a question of whether university year 1 students who come from an examination-driven secondary education background are ready to respond to more formative assessments. The findings show that year 1 students are less concerned about competition in the university and more open to new teaching approaches that will allow them to improve as professionals in their major study areas.

Keywords: Formative assessment, higher education, learning styles, Confucian heritage culture.

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Authors: Brittany E. Coff, Tommy K. K. Ngai, Laura A. S. MacDonald

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Many organizations in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector provide education and training in order to increase the effectiveness of their WASH interventions. A key challenge for these organizations is measuring how well their education and training activities contribute to WASH improvements. It is crucial for implementers to understand the returns of their education and training activities so that they can improve and make better progress toward the desired outcomes. This paper presents information on CAWST’s development and piloting of the evaluation methodology. The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) has developed a methodology for evaluating education and training activities, so that organizations can understand the effectiveness of their WASH activities and improve accordingly. CAWST developed this methodology through a series of research partnerships, followed by staged field pilots in Nepal, Peru, Ethiopia and Haiti. During the research partnerships, CAWST collaborated with universities in the UK and Canada to: review a range of available evaluation frameworks, investigate existing practices for evaluating education activities, and develop a draft methodology for evaluating education programs. The draft methodology was then piloted in three separate studies to evaluate CAWST’s, and CAWST’s partner’s, WASH education programs. Each of the pilot studies evaluated education programs in different locations, with different objectives, and at different times within the project cycles. The evaluations in Nepal and Peru were conducted in 2013 and investigated the outcomes and impacts of CAWST’s WASH education services in those countries over the past 5-10 years. In 2014, the methodology was applied to complete a rigorous evaluation of a 3-day WASH Awareness training program in Ethiopia, one year after the training had occurred. In 2015, the methodology was applied in Haiti to complete a rapid assessment of a Community Health Promotion program, which informed the development of an improved training program. After each pilot evaluation, the methodology was reviewed and improvements were made. A key concept within the methodology is that in order for training activities to lead to improved WASH practices at the community level, it is not enough for participants to acquire new knowledge and skills; they must also apply the new skills and influence the behavior of others following the training. The steps of the methodology include: development of a Theory of Change for the education program, application of the Kirkpatrick model to develop indicators, development of data collection tools, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and use of the findings for improvement. The methodology was applied in different ways for each pilot and was found to be practical to apply and adapt to meet the needs of each case. It was useful in gathering specific information on the outcomes of the education and training activities, and in developing recommendations for program improvement. Based on the results of the pilot studies, CAWST is developing a set of support materials to enable other WASH implementers to apply the methodology. By using this methodology, more WASH organizations will be able to understand the outcomes and impacts of their training activities, leading to higher quality education programs and improved WASH outcomes.

Keywords: Education and training, capacity building, evaluation, water and sanitation.

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Authors: Natalia Polkanova, Sergey Kazakov

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In the second decade of the XXI century the role of tourism destination attractiveness is becoming increasingly important for destination management. Competition in tourism market moves from ordinary service quality to provision of unforgettable emotional experience for tourists. The main purpose of the present study is to identify the perception of the tourism destinations based on the number of factors related to its tourist attractiveness. The content analysis method was used to analyze the on-line tourist feedback data immensely available in Social Media and in travel related sites. The collected data made it possible to procure the information which is necessary to understand the perceived attractiveness of the destinations and key destination appeal factors that are important for Russian leisure travelers. Results of the present study demonstrate key attractiveness factors or destination ‘properties’ that were unveiled as the most important for Russian leisure tourists. The study targeted five main Spanish tourism destinations that initially were determined by in-depth interview with a number of Russian nationals who had visited Spain at least once. The research results can be useful for Spanish Tourism Organization Representation office in Russia as well as for the other national tourism organizations in order to promote their respective destinations for Russian travelers focusing on main attractiveness factors identified in this study.

Keywords: Tourism destination, destination attractiveness, destination competitiveness, content analysis, unstructured image.

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Authors: Sara Jelodarian

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Organic agriculture is a kind of living and dynamic agriculture that was introduced in the early 20^th century. The fundamental basis for organic agriculture is in harmony with nature. This version of farming emphasizes removing growth hormones, chemical fertilizers, toxins, radiation, genetic manipulation and instead, integration of modern scientific techniques (such as biologic and microbial control) that leads to the production of healthy food and the preservation of the environment and use of agricultural products such as forage and manure. Supports from governments for the markets producing organic products and taking advantage of the experiences from other successful societies in this field can help progress the positive and effective aspects of this technology, especially in developing countries. This research proves that till 2030, 25% of the global agricultural lands would be covered by organic farming. Consequently Iran, due to its rich genetic resources and various climates, can be a pioneer in promoting organic products. In addition, for sustainable farming, blend of organic and other innovative systems is needed. Important limitations exist to accept these systems, also a diversity of policy instruments will be required to comfort their development and implementation. The paper was conducted to results of compilation of reports, issues, books, articles related to the subject with library studies and research. Likewise we combined experimental and survey to get data.

Keywords: Development, production markets, progress, strategic role, technology.

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Authors: Ilario Gabriele Gerloni, Vincenza Carchiolo, Alessandro Longheu, Ugo Becciani, Eva Sciacca, Fabio Vitello

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ICT tools and platforms endorse more and more educational process. Many models and techniques for people to be educated and trained about specific topics and skills do exist, as classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, handheld devices and others. The choice to what extent ICT is applied within learning contexts is related to personal access to technologies as well as to the infrastructure surrounding environment. Among recent techniques, the adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) provides significant impulse in fully engaging users senses. In this paper, an application of AR/VR within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) context is presented. It aims to provide immersive environment experiences for educational and training purposes (e.g. for civil protection personnel), useful especially for situations where real scenarios are not easily accessible by humans. First acknowledgments are promising for building an effective tool that helps civil protection personnel training with risk reduction.

Keywords: Education, virtual reality, augmented reality, civil protection.

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Authors: Huay Lit Woo, Qiyun Wang

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Weblog is an Internet tool that is believed to possess great potential to facilitate learning in education. This study wants to know if weblog can be used to promote students- critical thinking. It used a group of secondary two students from a Singapore school to write weblogs as a means of substitution for their traditional handwritten assignments. The topics for the weblogging are taken from History syllabus but modified to suit the purpose of this study. Weblogs from the students were collected and analysed using a known coding system for measuring critical thinking. Results show that the topic for blogging is crucial in determining the types of critical thinking employed by the students. Students are seen to display critical thinking traits in the areas of information sourcing, linking information to arguments and viewpoints justification. Students- criticalness is more profound when the information for writing a topic is readily available. Otherwise, they tend to be less critical and subjective. The study also found that students lack the ability to source for external information suggesting that students may need to be taught information literacy in order to widen their use of critical thinking skills.

Keywords: Affordance, blog, critical thinking, perception, weblog.

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Authors: Sadık Kartal

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This study was carried out to determine the feedback from the primary school headmasters on in-service training activities. 384 primary school headmasters were asked to give feedback on the in-service training facilities organized by the Ministry of Education through an open –ended question. The study group was formed by 359 primary school headmasters who attended “Management Skills" seminars which were organized in March, April and May in the extent of 2006 In-service Training Facilities Plan by the Ministry of Education and were also volunteers to give feedback on the inservice training activities. The qualitative research method was used in the analysis of the data since the primary school headmasters gave written feedback on the in-service training activities. Having analyzed the feedback, certain categories were formed by coding it. Certain frequencies and percentages were determined according to the codes. It was made obvious that the primary school headmasters benefitted from those facilities by sharing their experiences, problems and their possible solutions mutually

Keywords: In-service training, primary school principles, educates.

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Authors: Carol B.Collins, M. H. N Tabrizi

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The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer science education, (2) justify (using the authors- and others anecdotal evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof of concept research. The authors- experiences, though anecdotal, strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers, and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of such computer science programs will make greater contributions to the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more sophisticated and creative ways.

Keywords: Algorithms, CASE, Problem-solving, UML.

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Anna Musiienko, Nataliia Dzerovych, Roksolana Povoroznyuk, Oksana Ivanyk

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Deficiency and insufficiency of Vitamin D is a pandemic of the 21^st century. Obesity patients have a lower level of vitamin D, but the literature data are contradictory. The purpose of this study is to investigate deficiency and insufficiency vitamin D in postmenopausal women with obesity. We examined 1007 women aged 50-89 years. Mean age was 65.74±8.61 years; mean height was 1.61±0.07 m; mean weight was 70.65±13.50 kg; mean body mass index was 27.27±4.86 kg/m², and mean 25(OH) D levels in serum was 26.00±12.00 nmol/l. The women were divided into the following six groups depending on body mass index: I group – 338 women with normal body weight, II group – 16 women with insufficient body weight, III group – 382 women with excessive body weight, IV group – 199 women with obesity of class I, V group – 60 women with obesity of class II, and VI group – 12 women with obesity of class III. Level of 25(OH)D in serum was measured by means of an electrochemiluminescent method - Elecsys 2010 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) and cobas test-systems. 34.4% of the examined women have deficiency of vitamin D and 31.4% insufficiency. Women with obesity of class I (23.60±10.24 ng/ml) and obese of class II (22.38±10.34 ng/ml) had significantly lower levels of 25 (OH) D compared to women with normal body weight (28.24±12.99 ng/ml), p=0.00003. In women with obesity, BMI significantly influences vitamin D level, and this influence does not depend on the season.

Keywords: Obesity, body mass index, vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency, postmenopausal women, age.

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Authors: Melvin Chan, Chew Lee Teo

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There has been a growing emphasis in elevating the teachers’ proficiency and competencies through continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities. In this era of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world, teachers are expected to be collaborative designers, critical thinkers and creative builders. However, many of the CPD structures are still revolving in the model of transmission, which stands in contradiction to the cultivation of future-ready teachers for the innovative world of emerging technologies. This article puts forward the framing of CPD through a Principle-Based, Technological-Driven Knowledge Building Approach grounded in the essence of andragogy and progressive learning theories where growth is best exemplified through an authentic immersion in a social/community experience-based setting. Putting this Knowledge Building Professional Development Model (KBPDM) in operation via a Professional Learning Team (PLT) situated in a Secondary School in Singapore, research findings reveal that the intervention has led to a fundamental change in the learning paradigm of the teachers, henceforth equipping and empowering them successfully in their pedagogical design and practices for a 21^st century classroom experience. This article concludes with the possibility in leveraging the Learning Analytics to deepen the CPD experiences for educators.

Keywords: Continual professional development, knowledge building, learning paradigm, andragogy.

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni, Elvis Fung

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This article is to review and understand the new generation of students to understand their expectations and attitudes. There are a group of students on school projects, creative work, educational software and digital signal source, the use of social networking tools to communicate with friends and a part in the competition. Today's students have been described as the new millennium students. They use information and communication technology in a more creative and innovative at home than at school, because the information and communication technologies for different purposes, in the home, usually occur in school. They collaborate and communicate more effectively when they are at home. Most children enter school, they will bring about how to use information and communication technologies, some basic skills and some tips on how to use information and communication technology will provide a more advanced than most of the school's expectations. Many teachers can help students, however, still a lot of work, "tradition", without a computer, and did not see the "new social computing networks describe young people to learn and new ways of working life in the future", in the education system of the benefits of using a computer.

Keywords: ICT Education, Digital History.

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Authors: Karen Armstrong

Abstract:

Recent concerns about the value of teaching cursive handwriting in the classroom are based on the belief that cursive handwriting or penmanship is an outdated and unnecessary skill in today’s online world. The discussion of this issue begins with a description of current initiatives to eliminate handwriting instruction in schools. This is followed by a brief history of cursive writing through the ages. Next considered is a description of its benefits as a preliminary process for younger children as compared with immediate instruction in keyboarding, particularly in the areas of vision, cognition, motor skills and automatic fluency. Also considered, is cursive’s companion, paper itself, and the impact of a paperless, “screen and keyboard” environment. The discussion concludes with a consideration of the unique contributions of cursive and keyboarding as written forms of communication, along with their respective surfaces, paper and screen. Finally, an assessment of the practical utility of each skill is followed by an informal assessment of what is lost and what remains as we move from a predominantly paper and pen world of handwriting to texting and keyboarding in an environment of screens.

Keywords: Asemic writing, cursive, handwriting, keyboarding, paper.

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Authors: Dejan Metodijeski, Elizabeta Mitreva, Nako Taskov, Oliver Filiposki

Abstract:

Tourism development strategies are an important link in the tourism policy that is used to make its management better and easier. A public-public partnership (PUP) is a partnership between two or more public authorities or between a public authority and any non-profit organization with the goal of providing services and facilities or transferring technical skills. The paper presents this kind of partnership between two public authorities in Macedonia, the Municipality of Gazi Baba on one hand, and the University of Goce Delcev on the other. The main idea of this partnership is the development of a tourism strategy for the Municipality of Gazi Baba by the University on one side, and on the other, the construction of a mini park in the court of the University by the Municipality. This paper presents the causes and analyzes the procedures relating to this partnership and the methodology of the tourism development strategy. It contains a relevant literature review related to PUPs and tourism development strategy. The results and benefits of this partnership are presented with figures.

Keywords: Public-public partnership, tourism development strategy, municipality of Gazi Baba, Macedonia.

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Authors: Ivana Šalinović

Abstract:

The term gender emerged in the second half of the last century and since then a growing body of research dealing with the topic demonstrates its importance. Primarily, the research and the theories that were addressing the topic were focused on stating the differences between the terms sex and gender, where sex refers to the biological aspect of a person, while gender refers to the socially ascribed roles, attitudes, behaviors, and etc., and on gender discrimination whose visible and invisible repercussions are harming society and one of the agents of change should be educators on all educational levels since they are emotionally sculpting their students, that is why considerable effort should be put into implementing education about this topic into the standard curriculum. Not only educators, but it is also necessary to change the mindset of the younger generations because they will be important agents in the further elimination of gender discrimination, thus causing societal changes. Therefore, it is very important to hear their voices and their experiences and for these reasons, this research has been done, to see what the students of the second year at a private college university Aspira in Croatia have gone through in their educational ladder. The hypothesis was that the findings would most certainly show a huge difference between female and male students’ experiences and effects of gender discrimination, but the results have actually shown a very mixed picture and the original hypothesis was somewhat disapproved. Instead of finding out that girls experienced a lot of gender discrimination, it turned out that it was the boys who believed that in their previous and current education, there was no equal time distribution between genders, they noticed that the language was not gender-sensitive, teaching aids were not adopted to the genders. They were also the ones that pointed out that the discipline path was not the same for everyone, and they were the ones that the teacher’s gender had more influence on and were also the ones that experienced more gender discrimination.

Keywords: Gender, discrimination, elementary school, high school.

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