bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ONLINE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY. FOCUS-GROUP BASED STUDY
Authors:   PhD Associate Professor, Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, (Romania), Hațegan Carolina Bodea , Talaș Dorina ,   PhD Associated Lecturer, Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, (Romania), Trifu Raluca ,   PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iuliu Hațieganu, Cluj-Napoca, (Romania)
Published: July 2021

In March 2020, due to the pandemic situation from our country, the National lockdown was imposed for almost two months. Speech and language therapy field was very affected in this period of time and harsh decisions were to be taken. Children who strongly needed therapy were in the situation to either go on with the rehabilitation process in an online setting or to wait and postpone therapy sessions. The aim of this research is to present the situation in a SLT (speech and language therapy) private specialized center and to underline the advantages and the disadvantages of SLT online therapy after one year (from March 2020, till March 2021). In the beginning of March 2020, 37 children attended SLT sessions in this private center, 2 of them were recently assessed and they were supposed to begin therapy exactly on the first lockdown day. From all of them, 20 children (54 %) switch to online therapy sessions progressively. Starting with April 2020, after a three weeks break, 9 children diagnosed with mild to moderate speech and language disorders, switch from face to face to on-line. In May, 6 more children and in June another 5 children were brought back to therapy, even if we remained in an online setting. The other children, 17 (46%), either stopped all therapy sessions or began therapy in other centers that organized onsite therapeutic sessions after the lockdown period of time. At this present moment, in March 2021, at one year distance, the SLT center offers SLT services exclusively online, both assessment and therapy and the number of cases asking directly for online therapy is increasing daily (in March 2021, N=31). Results of this study, organized as focus-groups with 3 parents, 3 children and 3 therapists underlined that online SLT is very efficient as long as parents` involvement is high. The main advantages listed by all persons in the research, even by children are: easier to be more consistent; the attendance in the SLT sessions is definitely higher, parents can participate directly in these activities, resources are easily to be found. Among disadvantages, the fact that parents have to be very involved in this therapeutic process seems to be the most frequently listed. In discussions and conclusions of this study a profile of the online SLT users is about to be depicted, a profile related to the one found in specialized literature from the field.
DIGITAL ENGINEERING: COMPETENCE ACQUISITION AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AS AN OPEN CO-CREATION PROCESS
Authors:   Faculty of Process Engineering, Energy and Mechanical Systems, TH Köln (Germany), Mai Vanessa , Wolf Susanne , Varney Paul , Bonnet Martin , Richert Anja
Published: July 2021

Dealing with the increasingly complex interrelationships in companies, technologies and markets requires engineers to have a holistic, systemic understanding of digital change. Future engineers need future skills and must be able to react to ever faster changing technical requirements by independently expanding their knowledge, developing (technology-based) solution strategies as well as designing, evaluating and communicating these with regard to social, ecological and cultural aspects and requirements. In order to integrate these future skills into existing curricula, study programs must be designed in such a way that they are permeable to continuous and agile adaptation in relation to new knowledge and new technologies. This process can only succeed if universities see themselves as open learning systems that promote co-creation processes among all university stakeholders. The Faculty of Process Engineering, Energy and Mechanical Systems at TH Köln/University of Applied Sciences has recently recognized the resulting need for a transformation process in program development and has further developed the consecutive master's program "Mechanical Engineering/Smart Systems", in which agile learning environments and innovation spaces are created. However, the redesign and further development of modules is not enough. A holistic, systemic understanding in dealing with transformative technologies requires a cultural change in which lecturers and students shape the digital transformation on an equal footing. In a joint learning and research process, they iteratively and agilely test which competencies best prepare students for an increasingly digitalized workplace and which analog and virtual learning spaces this requires. As part of the project "Digital Engineering - Competence Acquisition for Mechanical Engineers in the Digital Age", the faculty is currently implementing the Technology Area, a measure whose aim is to accompany these digital transformation processes at the faculty and to provide lecturers and students with the necessary freedom to experiment with new technologies in teaching. Here, subject-specific teaching and research concepts for the use of new technologies are to be developed and tested together in a co-creation process. The first concepts developed in the Technology Area as well as other Best Practices from the faculty will be presented in the paper. These include the Mixed-Reality-Game FutureING, the Serious Game Worlds of Materials and the development of a StudiCoachBot. In order to promote co-creation processes within and outside the university, a Digitalization Conference was held in May as part of the project to present innovative and forward-looking innovations in engineering education. The reflection of all of the presented initiatives is structurally anchored and professionalized by the House of Excellence in Engineering Education.
ANALYZING INDIGENEITY IN ACADEMIC AND ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORKS
Authors:   Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University (Canada), Estrina Tatiana , Gao Shengnan , Kinuthia Vivian , Twarog Sophie , Werdina Liane , Zhou Gloria
Published: July 2021

While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada fosters agency for Indigenous Canadians, this mandate like others, attempts to Indigenize an existing colonial system. The acknowledgement of the Indigenous experience within academic institutions must begin with a deconstruction of educational frameworks that are enforced by pre-existing neo-colonial policies and agendas. The colonial worldview on institutional frameworks is rooted in systemic understandings of property, ownership and hierarchy that are supported by patriarchal policies. These pedagogies do not reflect Indigenous beliefs or teachings, resulting in an assimilation or dissociation of Indigenous members into Western-centric educational systems. Addressing this disconnect through Indigenizing existing institutional frameworks within state control favours a system that re-affirms settler-societies. The tokenization and lack of Indigenous participation in the decision-making process reinforces misinformed action towards reconciliation. decentralized. The case studies explored emphasize the rediscovery of an authentic culture-specific vernacular, facilitation of customs through programme, and the fundamental differences between Indigenous and colonial worldviews. The critical analysis of these emerging academic typologies may continue to inform future architectural projects while fostering greater responsibility for architects and positions of authority to return sovereignty to Indigenous communities and incorporate design approaches that embody Indigenous values. This paper will propose the decolonization of academic frameworks to reconstruct postcolonial methodologies of educational architecture that serve Indigenous knowledge and agency.
ENSURING SUCCESS IN THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM WHEN TEACHING ON- LINE
Authors:   Faculty of Education, Queen’s University (Canada), Myers Marie J.
Published: July 2021

As teaching moved on-line we had to rethink and readjust what approaches to use in order to reach the outcomes. Adjustments had to be made to the designed activities especially when groups had to meet in breakout rooms. We will present the various aspects that came under scrutiny, as for example, peripheral participation, the development of mini-communities of practice, cooperation, collaboration and mediation. We analyzed instructor’s journal notes and students’ products. There were 53 students in the classes concerned. The main research question is what was effective in making participants improve learning and how did the implementation increase their understanding of working together virtually. The method used is qualitative (Creswell, & Poth, 2018). The instructor took observational notes of processes and actions during planned activities. These notes were analyzed to uncover insights. In addition, student ‘products’ of group work were analyzed for the triangulation of results. Results show that the effort put into creating more engagement in the module brought about a number of interesting results that increased student understanding. Overall, findings show that participants reiterate expectations and summarize them, the repetition allowed a better grasp and this could also be due to the fact that during the reconversion, participants had to make sure they really understood the contents, i.e. ensuring that the meanings were clear which, in turn led to a better intake of specific features. As regards working together, several issues were identified, yet overall, all students were highly successful, due mostly to a supportive approach as regards feedback or a ‘feed-through’ approach. The theoretical underpinnings came from research on learning and pointed to the requirement of additional insights on the part of instructors especially when teaching has to take into account equity, diversity, inclusion and indigenization (EDII). Instruction had to be more connected to students’ lives. Bransford et al (2000) assert that “to develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application” (p. 16).
VIRTUAL LEARNING APPLYING EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES IN TIMES OF COVID-19; CASE OF TECHNOLOGY IN MILITARY SCIENCES
Authors:   Departamento de Seguridad y Defensa, Garcés Mancero Flor Emperatriz ,   Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE (Ecuador), Narváez Ríos Magaly Margarita , Gutiérrez Albán Luis Germánico , Lazo Alvarado Víctor Danilo
Published: July 2021

The educational system in times of pandemic has had to transform itself urgently and unexpectedly to a virtual modality. This paper presents an exploratory study on the main difficulties encountered in the Soldiers Training School "Vencedores del Cenepa", where the objective of this work was to expose some strategies mediated by ICTs, for the virtualization of the teaching-learning process; When the didactic and functional methodology was applied in virtual education, I necessarily involve externalizing the demands of the teachings where they are enrolled; in this online educational process-COVID 19; the students of the institution consider their class grade as a basic educational tool, where the student himself, Virtual learning behaves as an extension of the face-to-face classroom, mainly supported by technologies that allow, even remotely, activities that challenge students to produce a collective text, electronic portfolio, infographic or video that address a topic, can be worked collaboratively. in particular related to the topic of the class, they are generally more accepted by students than exercises or questionnaires whose objective is to record the content of a discipline; Therefore, we must see the opportunity that shortens the distances and enriches the teachers' process, maintaining their structure and development of methods according to reality; where the development of study programs is allowed, strengthens relationships and instills collaboration among all actors.
SERVICE LEARNING INTEGRATED WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGES LEARNING: PROMOTING TRANSVERSAL COMPETENCIES
Authors:   Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University (Slovakia), Hanesová Dana
Published: July 2021

In this article, the author will present an innovative way how to develop students' foreign language communicative and intercultural competence alongside with a whole set of transversal competencies via an innovated version of foreign language courses. They may be attended by both university students or secondary school students. The basic idea of such a course, in our case called "Global Encounters in Local Settings", is giving students space to create a service-learning project for a community. Students have to work in linguistically and ethnically mixed groups. Each group decides to about the focus of their project and the procedures of its implementation. Via these cooperative projects accomplished while using various foreign languages - suitable also for online learning space, the students can develop various transversal competencies, such as critical and reflective thinking, plurilingual and intercultural competence, problem-solving, team-work skills, interpersonal and other social competencies, willingness to take risks and seek challenges, leadership development skills, time management and planning skills, inclusive approach, and active citizenship. The first version of such course was tested on several groups of university students in Slovakia (in 2020). The post-tests and reflections after accomplishing this course showed evident growth in the above-mentioned competencies.
ONLINE LEARNING QUESTIONNAIRES BASED ON RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH EQUIPMENT
Authors:   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Maseda Rego F. Javier , Martija López Itziar ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Alkorta Egiguren Patxi ,   Engineering School of Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Garrido Hernández Izaskun ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Garrido Hernández Aitor J. ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain)
Published: July 2021

This paper resumes the main ideas to develop different sets of questionnaires based on renewable energy research equipment to improve online learning in engineering education. These educational activities, on the one hand, promote the connection between technological and education environments and, on the other hand, improve the motivation for studying theoretical and practical issues. The implementation of the proposed teaching and learning tasks will contribute to integrate students with different motivation and attitudes since the use of the close physical equipment for questionnaires development has an evident educational benefit when using it as a study model. The evolution of technological environments to educational units involves a functional Disassembly/Analyze/Assembly conversion to different modules adapted to specific subjects, the link with the theoretical knowledge, and finally, the questionnaire construction. The combination proposed offers the following positive results in master or grade studies: the effectiveness of competences training is improved, the students experimental work progresses significantly and the students’ motivation for better theory comprehension is more intensively developed. The use of these kind of questionnaires as educational tools is not new and their advantages are well known: the quick feedback results and the systematic data collection to support the educational proposal effectiveness, among others. Nevertheless, this tool has become a necessity with the massive use of online education. In summary, promoting the evolution of engineering education to online techniques and the use of renewable energy research equipment to promote the students’ vision on social necessities are two examples of educational goals stated in this paper.
EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES TO DEVELOP TRANSVERSAL SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT SUBJECT OF MASTER'S DEGREE IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITAT POLITÉCNICA DE VALÉNCIA
Authors:   Centre for Quality and Change Management, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, València, (Spain), Martínez-Gómez Mónica , Jabaloyes José , Conchado Peiró Andrea
Published: July 2021

This work presents an improvement of the structure and methodology of a subject entitled Management, belonging to the Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering (ETSII) at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). The presented subject deals with the basic and fundamental aspects that the student will need in order to correctly perform the functions of business management in changing and competitive markets and environments and contributes to the formation of professionals capable of carrying out management, direction and evaluation tasks in productive organizations. From the subject, the students' management skills are strengthened to elaborate and build strategic alternatives of decision, both in relation to the understanding of the problems, as well as in the decision making and in the evaluation of the consequences that the own actions can have for the company and for the people. It is centered on the improvement of professional skills. In this context, UPV transversal competences (TC), aim to synthesize a competence profile acquired by all UPV graduates. This study comes from an Institutional Educational Innovation and Improvement Projects to develop a methodological coordination through webs of support in ETSII CT (PIME/19-20/151). The main goal of this project was to make easier our students to acquire the more complex CTs-UPV with an effective model that does not place an additional burden on instructors, providing students with e-learning resources such as support for their training. This study is focused in CT04.-Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship. Innovation is shown as a key competence for companies to remain competitive in the market. Innovation is based on creativity, knowledge and organization, understood as a way of working to achieve objectives. A new trend in higher education is the current shift towards improving innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship of students. To work on these skills, students of Management have to do different exercises in groups where there are 4 to 6 randomly selected students with different roles. Each working group will start by creating a company, on which the different tools and methodologies will be developed through practical cases to achieve innovative and creative solutions that add value to the main stakeholders. The achievement of the proposed techniques for developing Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship competency has been revealed as a significant aspect for the students, and the web CTs-UPV designed on the project (https://ctetsii.blogs.upv.es) has been considered as a strong support for their achievement.
SLEEP QUALITY AND SLEEP HABITS IN STUDENTS
Authors:   Student, Project “Verão com Ciência”, IPV-Higher School of Health, Viseu (Portugal), Almeida Beatriz , Albuquerque Carlos ,   Doctor Professor, IPV-Higher School of Health, Viseu, UICISA:E, CIEC - UMinho (Portugal), Cunha Madalena ,   Doctor Professor, IPV-Higher School of Health, Viseu, UICISA:E, CIEC - UMinho (Portugal), Antunes Anabela ,   Nurse, Centro Hospitalar Tondela-Viseu, Viseu (Portugal)
Published: July 2021

Introduction: The student stage is marked by many changes that will affect different aspects of young youth life, including changes in sleep patterns. Sleep is known to play an active role in the overall development of students, mainly because of its restorative functions and an insufficient number of hours of sleep can be associated with consequences on physical and mental health. Objectives: To analyze the factors that interfere with higher education students’ sleep quality. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was carried out drawing on a selection of articles published between 2012 and 2020, following the method proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute and according to the Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyzes (PRISMA). This selection was carried out using PubMed, B-On and SCIELO search engines. The review was based on 5 articles whose methodological quality was found to be undeniable. Results: Results show that, on the whole, students suffer from a poor quality of sleep. This situation is commonly associated with factors such as being a higher education student worker, shift work, or caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco use, among others. Conclusions: In view of the outcomes, it became clear that higher education students need to be made more aware of the importance of sleep habits and daytime sleepiness, and to improve their health literacy. They need to be informed and trained in these areas so they may reduce or at least prevent certain risk behaviours that increasingly threaten their sleep quality and overall health.
QUALITY CONTROL TOOLS IN THE ANALYSIS OF COVID-19 CAUSED PROBLEMS
Authors:   Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico), Dominguez-Vergara Nicolas , Dominguez-Perez Daniel Nicolas ,   Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
Published: July 2021

Quality control tools are taught in engineering careers to analyze and try to solve problems in the production of goods and in the performance of service businesses. Those tools can be used to analyze and understand many problems. The coronavirus pandemic has caused many problems around the world, like many people infected in people’s agglomerations in public transportation, in celebrations like parties, in political rallies and in public markets because of the people not wearing masks. A Pareto diagram clearly shows the most dangerous comorbidities in case of covid-19 infection. A lot of doctors and nurses have been contagious around the world in many cases because of lack of protection materials for them, hopefully health and safety procedures (check lists) and Poka Yoke devices are being created and implemented to reduced contagion. In this paper we identified and analyzed some covid-19 caused problems using basic quality control tools and for some cases we proposed solutions to them. Examples of a Pareto Diagram in analyzing the death rate in age ranges is used to explain the decrement in deaths in the United States of America if certain age groups are first vaccinated, an Ishikawa Diagram is used to analyze the ineffective distant learning in Mexico, a Check List is elaborated to avoid contagion in shopping and a Dispersion Diagram is used to find a relation between the number of contagious and the number of deaths in many countries of the world. Some other tools are briefly explained and some problems which could be analyzed with those are identified. The examples could enhance the interest of the students in learning the usefulness of those tools in a variety of fields.
ACTION RESEARCH - APPROACH FOCUSED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE
Authors:   Kindergarten Maslačak, Zaprešić (Croatia), Domazet Maja , Opić Siniša ,   Faculty of Teacher Education – University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Published: July 2021

The aim of the paper is to introduce a different approaching perspective of the children with internalizing behaviors using the implemented action research. In fact, this action research is a tool for approaching to the study of the internalizing behavioral problems. Practitioners and other participants of the research can awake their own practice and thus start some changes and improvements while using it. Considering the fact that in the literature are not many described models of prevention, support and action targeted to these behaviors, especially in the facilities of early and preschool education, the approach using action research has been imposed as the most appropriate. It is the most suitable for working with children who do not manage to create social opportunities by themselves nor develop their social and emotional skills and resistance. The largest part of this research is referred to direct interaction of children identified as reclusive, shy and fearful. Specific workshops and targeted activities contributed to a significant change in children’s social skills. This research will result in strong awareness of educators, expert teams, principle and parents for the necessity of the children. A different organization of educators’ working hours will influence the quality of support which has proven to be an irreplaceable reliance of safety, so it is important that it is available to children even after structured working hours. Hence, the principle introduces a special professional training and different structure of working hours in order to keep the quality of support reached through this research.
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF STORYTELLING WITH SCRATCHJR TO DEVELOP EARLY MATHS SKILLS
Authors:   Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Calabria (Italy), Serpe Annarosa
Published: July 2021

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding children and digital storytelling by focusing on its application in preschool to develop early maths skills. Starting from a literature review, the paper describes a brief relevant question of how storytelling and teaching programming can be mutually supporting and outlines the educational potential of this approach. At the crossroads between the examination of some pedagogical practices, the paper shows a modality of didactic work that is relevant and practicable for conducting digital storytelling activities in the preschool.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND PILOTING OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE NATURE OF SCIENCE (NOS) UNDERSTANDING
Authors:   Department of Science and Technology Education, University of Johannesburg (South Africa), Chanetsa Tarisai , Ramnarain Umesh
Published: July 2021

The study describes the development of an instrument, to measure NOS understandings of science teachers and a subsequent pilot study to test the instrument. The pilot measured NOS understanding of two teachers using a questionnaire that had been developed by the researcher. The objective of the study was to construct a questionnaire that could measure NOS understanding based on the family resemblance approach (FRA). The NOS is a construct that has been defined by various scholars and there exists multiple perspectives. For this study, two schools of thought defining the nature of science: the consensus view (CV) and the reconceptualized family resemblance approach to NOS (RFN) were considered. The CV has been widely accepted for years to represent the NOS through its tenets, and there exists reliable tools to document NOS. Based on the CV researchers developed an instrument, views of nature of science (VNOS), to document NOS understanding. In the past decade, scholars have challenged the CV of NOS and highlighted shortcomings in its tenets. FRA was developed that depicts science in a holistic system with dynamic interactions unlike the CV that represents NOS as independent tenets. From FRA, emerged RFN consisting of social and cultural categories that affect how science is done. The approach of RFN due to its holistic approach will be preferred in this study. The authors of RFN developed a RFN questionnaire to assess views about NOS using a Likert scale. Due to the limitations of the Likert scale, an open-ended approach is preferred in the qualitative analysis of views of NOS as is found in the VNOS form. To collect data on NOS understanding, the researcher compared VNOS and the RFN questionnaire and developed an integrated family VNOS (IFVNOS) questionnaire. The IFVNOS questionnaire was administered in a pilot test followed by interviews to elaborate on responses. The responses were analysed by two coders and triangulated to ensure reliability. The responses were allocated codes to document NOS understanding, on a range from naïve to explicit understanding. The findings revealed that the IFVNOS questionnaire developed can be used as a tool to measure NOS understanding and more testing is required to assess reliability.
PROCESSABILITY APPROACHES TO RECEPTIVE THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: IMPLICATIONS FOR MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS
Authors:   Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy), Forsyth Helen
Published: July 2021

Existing research indicates a qualitative difference between Second Language Learning and Third Language Acquisition, and certain psycholinguistic and developmental aspects to multilingual learners merit investigation. The present paper examines stages in receptive learner acquisition of English as a Third Language at Italian-medium primary schools in South Tyrol in Italy employing a picture selection task and implicational scaling analysis. It highlights the role that processing approaches to acquisition proposing constraints on developmental readiness and cross-linguistic influence may play for the emergence of receptive competence in morpho-syntactic structures.
COGNITIVE AND LINGUISTIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL: ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION FOR EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE
Authors:   University of Minho – Child Studies Centre CIEC (Portugal), Martins Inês , Nunes Cristiane Lima ,   University of Minho – Child Studies Centre CIEC (Portugal), Capellini Simone Aparecida ,   São Paulo State University LIDA (Brazil), Carvalho Graça S. ,   University of Minho – Child Studies Centre CIEC (Portugal)
Published: July 2021

Linguistic and Cognitive skills play an essential role in the development of communication, language and literacy. Therefore, their assessment of school children is crucial since it allows the child's cognitive and linguistic profile characterisation, according to the school year she attends. This study intended to describe the adaptation and validation process of the instrument – Cognitive and Linguistic Skills Assessment Protocol. This Protocol was adapted from a Brazilian (Portuguese) version to a European Portuguese version to evaluate the cognitive-linguistic skills of school children (1st to 5 th grade). It consists of two versions, the collective version and the individual version. The collective version consists of writing, arithmetic, auditory processing and visual processing skills; the individual version consists of reading, metalinguistic, auditory processing, visual processing and processing speed skills. After adapting the linguistic aspects (morphosyntactic and semantic), a pilot study was carried out to verify whether the instrument was well-adapted and easy to understand for the study’s target population. The sample consisted of a class for each school year, excluding children with special educational needs or intellectual/auditory deficits. A total of 75 children were evaluated: 12 children of the 1 st grade; 18 of the 2 nd grade; 15 of the 3 rd grade; 15 of the 4 th grade; and 15 of the 5 th grade. The results showed that the protocol was, in general, well adapted. The instrument was then applied to a larger sample (2 classes per school year) in a total of 157 children (without special educational needs or intellectual/auditory deficits), and the data were processed in the statistical program IBM SPSS. In general, the mean values were the expected ones in all subtests of the Protocol Collective Version and some tests of the Individual Version, from the 1 st to the 4 th grade, but not the 5 th grade, which showed non-expected mean values. This work provided the possibility for developing the subsequent phase of the study, where percentiles will be calculated to obtain the standard/normalised values to classify children’s performance as standard, above average or lower than expected.
MOTIVATIONAL POWER OF GAMIFICATION: THE EFFECT OF PLAYFUL LEARNING ON PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS OF SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY
Authors:   Business School, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany), Kutun Bahar , Martens Alke ,   Fakultät für Informatik und Elektrotechnik, Universität Rostock (Germany), Schmidt Werner ,   Business School, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany)
Published: July 2021

Gamification, i.e. the integration of game design elements into a non-gaming environment, aims to increase users’ engagement and motivation to achieve their goals regarding a given task. It is placed at the border between formal and informal learning approaches. Motivational difficulties are well known in educational settings, especially in Computer Science, where strict formal content meets very playful computer gamers. Hence, we followed the approach of gamification to raise the motivation of learners in the field of Business Process Management (BPM) lifecycle. We developed a board rallye game, based on 16 game design elements. The core of the rallye game is to convey knowledge in a playful way. In order to be able to determine the effects of the rallye game on several aspects, e.g. knowledge transfer and (learning) motivation, we carried out field experiments with 57 students at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt and at the Hochschule Augsburg. In this paper the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT), that has found general acceptance in motivational research, is used to understand and analyze the motivational power of gamification.
FACULTY & STUDENT RETENTION: KEEPING OUR HBCU-UDC ALIVE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Authors:   Department Education, University of the District of Columbia (USA), King-Berry Arlene , Charles Carolene Eslyn
Published: July 2021

There is a national crisis around recruiting and retaining students from HBCUs. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education surveyed 64 of 100 HBCUs and found that only five of the schools surveyed graduated more than 50 percent of their students. The statistics are startling because HBCUs, some of which date to Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War (widely accepted as the period from 1865 to 1877), ostensibly was designed to improve an underserved community. Despite the large number of freshmen admitted each year to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), a low number graduate (Tinto, 1993). It is, therefore, imperative that HBCUs implement strategies most likely to increase retention and persistence rates. When it comes to taking a closer look at pedagogy and practice in teaching, the COVID-19 Pandemic has created innovative environments for faculty to assess the students. The new perspective has many faculties utilizing evidence-based practices regarding performance-based assessment and other innovative techniques to assess students learning. Online teaching & learning and online assessment are likely to occupy a higher percentage of the future curriculum, which can be seen as a positive development for online learning. A correlation assumed that university faculty satisfaction and fair promotion could have a positive effect on student retention and engagement with a comprehensive analysis of these studies. It is paramount to consider that not only was fundamental student engagement found of tremendous relevance, but the literature is evident that student engagement during the entire higher education experience also leads to higher student retention rates and increased institutional commitment (Burke, 2019). This paper defines retention and persistence at HBCUs and presents the results of a systematic literature review that (a) identifies the challenges that impact student retention and persistence at HBCUs during the COVID-19 Pandemic and (b) delineates research-based practices/strategies recommended to address the academic, socio-emotional, and financial and health/wellness challenges of students attending HBCUs.
STUDENT TEACHERS’ OPINIONS ABOUT USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS AND TASKS FOR ACQUIRING ESTONIAN CULTURAL HISTORY
Authors:   Institute of Education, University of Tartu (Estonia), Ruutmets Kristel , Saluveer Evi , Niitra Mari
Published: July 2021

According to the Estonian National Curriculum for Basic Schools (2011), students should value their cultural heritage. Therefore, schools should do everything to develop students’ cultural awareness and knowledge. Despite the importance of the topic the curriculum does not specify how and where it should be taught and does not say which material to use. One possibility to address the problem is to use authentic materials and tasks. The latter offer numerous ways to learn about one’s cultural history, and help to create a bridge between the classroom and real life. Authentic materials are not specifically created for pedagogic purposes while authentic tasks require students to learn, practise and evaluate material the same way as they would do in real life. The focus of the use authentic materials has so far been mostly on foreign language teaching and learning. However, they have a huge potential in acquiring cultural knowledge as they offer both current and historical information. The aim of the study was to find out future primary school teachers’ opinions about the authentic materials and tasks used during the course “The Child in Estonian Cultural History”. 25 first-year students who attended the course participated in the study. The data was collected from the students’ written reflection and analysed qualitatively. The results revealed that the students understood the relevance of authentic materials and tasks in acquiring and appreciating one’s cultural history. They believed that authentic materials and tasks enrich the teaching and learning process, and help to make connections to their everyday life. It also became evident that the students needed better instructions of how to find appropriate authentic materials and exploit them effectively in their future teaching career.
TRANSFER EFFECT OF N-BACK TRAINING: MATHEMATICAL IMPLICATIONS IN SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Authors:   Department of Education, Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), Boz Selma
Published: July 2021

Working memory (WM) is the system which is used for short-term storage and where information about cognitive tasks is manipulated. One of the most important characteristics of WM is its limited capacity, which restricts cognitive performance. Despite of this limit in WM capacity, the efficiency of WM can be improved with WM training and this training effect can be transferred to performance on complex tasks, such as mathematical operations. Such training tasks are complex and necessarily include core processes and these measures, therefore, contribute to difficulty to design tasks and interpret the outcomes for specific changes gained from the training. For example, n-back tasks which are used in a wide range of research are based on core training. Since core trainings address the executive functions of WM and enhance the domain-general aspects, increasing performance on domain-general factors may promote both near and far transfer effects of training. In the current study, WM training will be constructed on the basis of the interference framework that characterizes individual differences in WM performance. The aim of this study is to explore individual differences in training and the way transfer effects occur, evaluating gains from Mathematics proficiency. An adaptive version of n-back tasks will be implemented for the proposed study, within WM load and interference lures. The study will be carried out with 40 school-age children between the ages of 9 and 12, and Solomon four group design method will be used to group them. d’ (D-Prime) theory will be conducted in order to obtain detailed comparison between groups as well as interpretation of individual differences in processing of information.
SMART CV FOR LIFELONG QUALIFICATIONS CERTIFICATION BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN
Authors:   SMILE lab, University of Macedonia (Greece), Economides Anastasios A. , Perifanou Maria
Published: July 2021

There is a need for fast, automatic, and trusted verification of a person’s qualifications. This paper proposes the Smart CV (Curriculum Vita) that contains links to Blockchain-based certifications of the person’s qualifications. Also, the paper proposes an architecture for the Blockchain-based Smart CV consisting of five layers: 1) Trusted certificate Issuers; 2) Trusted Distributed Ledgers; 3) Trusted management; 4) Smart CV; 5) Users. Educational institutes, accreditation organizations, public authorities, employers and others can cooperate to issue and accept these Blockchain-based certificates presented on a person’s Smart CV.
KNOWING TO EMPOWER: STUDY OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE INFORMAL CAREGIVER
Authors:   Higter School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal), Martins Rosa , Almeida Francisco ,   Continuing Care Unit- ACREDITA (Portugal), Batista Susana ,   Higter School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal), Carvalho Nélia ,   Higter School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal)
Published: July 2021

The Informal Caregiver (IC) faces multiple difficulties in caring for the dependent person. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the levels and dimensions of the difficulties experienced by ICs in caring for the dependent person. Methods: Observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive quantitative study, using a non-probability convenience sample composed of 119 ICs from the Central region Portugal. The measuring instrument used included a sociodemographic data form and an Informal Caregiver Difficulties Assessment Scale (EADCI). Results: Moderate difficulties were mostly observed, which were higher in the dimensions caring for myself and activities of daily living. On the other hand, health status/ risk prevention and community and social resources, were assessed in a more positive way. Conclusion: These results indicate that ICs have difficulties at various levels of caring for the dependent person, strengthening the need to implement new strategies capable of responding to these challenges.
WOMEN IN ENGINEERING, FACULTY OF ENGINEERING IN BILBAO
Authors:   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Maseda Rego F. Javier , Martija López Itziar ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Alkorta Egiguren Patxi ,   Engineering School of Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Garrido Hernández Izaskun ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain), Garrido Hernández Aitor J. ,   Automatic Control Group (ACG), Institute of Research and Development of Processes, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Spain)
Published: July 2021

The situation of women in the engineering world has different aspects. On the one hand, it can be stated that women are well received in certain areas of the technological world, and they are very integrated into academia. In other areas, such as the world of industrial business, recognition is more complex being those less open environments. Last century, the woman who broke the taboo in Spain was the mayor of Bilbao and the first industrial engineer graduated in Spain in 1912, Pilar Careaga. By means of her public presence, her message could reach the general society, but as something exceptional. At the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, the first female Industrial Engineer was Pilar Ipiña, graduated in 1965. Fifty-three years had passed. Women in Engineering, more than a century later, remain a clear minority. While it is true that the presence of women in engineering schools is socially fully accepted, it is no less true that many young women dismiss the possibility of approaching that world from an early age. The lack of benchmarks seems to be a clear factor. Many of the engineers who are being interviewed in the search for ideas to motivate girls and young women, end up seeing lacks of references when asked about it. While the experience of being a woman in such a traditionally male field has lights and shadows, reflect of what can be seen in different referenced studies, a positive message must be transmitted, as this has been the experience of both engineering students and workers in academia or in the business world. Proposing solutions to smooth out the differences in numbers between men and women in the world of Engineering and Science requires knowing the causes, in order to be able to carry out actions that lead to collecting women's talent and with the appropriate training give it all the value that can achieve, both in the improvement of society as a whole and in the personal development of each of them. The aim is to achieve real equal choice between women and men and put everyone at the service of a better society. Equality is theoretically achieved, but it can still be improved.
CREATING LOVEMARKS THROUGH STUDENTS OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN IRELAND
Authors:   Department of Marketing, Valencian International University / Valencia (Spain), Casanoves-Boix Javier , Cruz-García Ana ,   Department of Marketing, Munster Technological University / Cork (Ireland), Murphy Maurice ,   Department of Marketing, Munster Technological University / Cork (Ireland)
Published: July 2021

This research was carried out to examine the role of educational brand capital applied to public universities in Ireland. To this end, the main contributions in the literature related to the study of brand capital and its application in the Irish educational sector were analyzed, identifying which variables determine brand capital in this sector. Once a suitable model was established, an empirical study was realized using a sample of 423 valid responses from students at the two main public universities in Cork (Ireland). The results obtained will show the repercussion of each variable of the brand capital relative to the determining variables (brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty), while laying the foundation for university managers to develop marketing strategies adapted to maximize the building of educational brand capital.