bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EXPLORING SELECTED SETSWANA DRAMA TEXTS AS THE PRINCIPLE OF UBUNTU/BOTHO IN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT
Authors: Mangwegape Bridget
Published: July 2022

Talking about the importance of Ubuntu/Botho in any educational system “Authentic humanism consists in permitting the emergence of the awareness of full humanity, as a condition and as an obligation, as a situation and as a project”. To inculcate a sense of values at schools, is intended to help young people achieve higher levels of moral judgement. This belief is that education does not exist simply to serve the market, but to serve society, and that means instilling in students a broad sense of values that can emerge only from a balanced exposure to the humanities as well as the sciences. Enriching the individual in this way is, by extension, enriching the society. This carries the involvement within the teaching and assessment of Setswana drama texts with third year (BEd) students. Ubuntu is a Nguni term while Botho is a Setswana term from the Southern African region that means a belief in a universal relationship of sharing that connects all humanity. The researcher takes note of the key element of Ubuntu/Botho, understood as “motho ke motho ka batho” (in Setswana). The English translation of this expression is “a human being is a human being because of other human beings”. The participants in this study were 24 BEd students from the language department. The comprehensive analysis includes data gathered from students: peer observation and interviews. Text analysis was used to analyse and interpret qualitative data obtained through interviews and observations with the aim of investigating the principle of Ubuntu/Botho in the characters of the two drama texts and how could students apply Ubuntu/Botho in their teaching to illustrate each theme.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ROMANIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Authors: Ciobotaru Georgiana , Aurica Nicoară
Published: July 2022

Teaching Romanian as a foreign language is a new and challenging field of activity in education in Romania, a field that is growing with the arrival in our country of many students from neighboring countries or as far away as possible, people belonging to other cultures, civilizations, ethnicities, religions, which bring with them their own mentality and vision of the world. Formal and curricular activities are important for language, morpho-syntactic acquisitions regarding the Romanian language, but for the student to develop optimally and to integrate in the new society in which he entered to continue his studies, it is necessary to implement extracurricular activities complementary to the others. These are meant to develop students other skills necessary to continue their studies in a new country in educational contexts different from those in their home country by interacting with both Romanians and other colleagues as foreign to the Romanian language and culture as them. The projects and activities of linguistic and cultural integration of foreign students are defining for the development of the intercultural communication competence that must be developed for them. This paper aims to highlight the impact that extracurricular activities in the field of dramatic art contribute to the development of students both linguistically and from the perspective of expressing emotions, feelings in order to overcome the cultural blockages inherent in a foreign country.
EMPOWERING PRINCIPALS TO LEAD AND MANAGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS EFFECTIVELY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Authors: Mestry Raj , du Plessis Pierre
Published: July 2022

Globally, education systems have been affected by radical social, political and economic changes. Although school principals play a pivotal role in improving student learning and attaining educational outcomes, they work under strenuous conditions to deal with multifaceted transformational issues. Principals experience great difficulty in coping with numerous changes, partly because they are inadequately prepared for their leadership position, or simply lack the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to lead and manage schools effectively and efficiently. Fundamentally, principals should be empowered to effectively deal with challenges facing them in the 21st century. Using qualitative research, this study explored the importance of promoting a culture of professional development that will prepare principals to confront education challenges and obstacles facing them. Fifteen principals were selected to determine their perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared and professionally developed to lead and manage schools. Findings revealed that in South Africa, there is no formal preparation for aspiring or practicing principals taking on leadership and management positions, and very few in-service professional development programmes are available. There is a dire need for education authorities to introduce compulsory training and development programmes for aspiring and practicing school leaders to lead and manage their schools successfully.
STUDENT TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE ASSESSMENT OF VIDEO-RECORDED LESSONS DURING TEACHING PRACTICE
Authors: Letuka Mokete , Mollo Paseka Patric
Published: July 2022

"Lecturers have not been able to go to schools where student teachers were placed for teaching practice, to physically sit in classrooms to observe and assess their lessons. This is due to Covid-19 lockdown regulations in South Africa. For this reason, students were instructed to video-record their lessons, and submit them to lecturers for observation and assessment of their teaching competence. As a result of this unprecedented venture, the researchers sought to determine student teachers’ perceptions of the video-recorded lessons, and the assessment thereof. A qualitative research approach was employed to carry out this study because the researchers intended to understand in-depth, the student teachers’ views and perceptions regarding their video-assessed lessons. Individual interviews were conducted among a sample of 40 third-year students, which were purposefully selected. Collected data were analyzed by means of identification of patterns and themes. Findings revealed that most student teachers preferred video-recording their lessons and sending them to lecturers for assessment. They felt less nervous and anxious, and thus made fewer mistakes when it was just them and the learners in the classroom, as opposed to when the lecturer or mentor teacher sits in and observes them as they conduct lessons. However, they preferred mentor teacher/lecturer feedback over feedback from their peers. The study highlighted the need for a shift, from lecturers being physically present in the classroom to observe and assess student teachers’ teaching competence, to assessing video-recorded lessons and providing students with feedback."
DEALING WITH MULTICULTURALISM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN DIVERS SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASSROOMS: PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF INTERMEDIATE PHASE STUDENT TEACHERS
Authors: Williams Titus
Published: July 2022

"This qualitative study reflects the perceptions and experiences of intermediate phase student teachers in dealing with multiculturalism and social justice in diverse classrooms. The content of Social Science as a subject in the intermediate phase, respond to many societal challenges currently associated with issues such as urban and rural settlement, pandemics, climate change, poverty, racism, etc. -these contents as portrayed in some subject themes, fulfils a role in enhancing social cohesion and tolerance for one another. In an age in which diversity, multiculturalism and social justice are increasingly prominent features of higher education and society, researchers are tirelessly exploring numerous ways to meet the educational needs of diverse populations. Social Science as a subject in the intermediate schooling phase of South Africa deals with the interrelationship of humans and their environment and can thus play an integral role to meet the needs of diverse populations. Through a qualitative research methodology, data was gathered from Focus Group Discussion (FGD) sessions with three groups of five teacher education students from the same race, in their final year, specializing in Social Science teaching. The results of the study indicate that student teachers find the teaching of Social Science in a multicultural classroom very challenging, irrespective of their race, culture, or socio-background. The study therefore recommends regular exposure to diverse learners through mandatory teaching practice at multicultural schools, appropriate training and development throughout the students’ teacher training with supported policies and integration of social justice into the curriculum content."
CAREER INDECISION AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CASABLANCA: LEVEL AND FORM OF INDECISION
Authors: Amini Najia , Sefri Youssef , Radid Mohamed
Published: July 2022

"Students are urged to make decisions regarding their future course of study and career after completing mandatory education. Making decisions is a challenge for many students. Therefore, we conducted a study by a questionnaire (CDS) and semi-directive interviews in order to assess the level and forms of indecision among the students of the high school. 67 students answered our questionnaire (26 male and 41 female). The results show the presence of indecision among the students by its different forms: anxiety about the career, lack of information about the careers, lack of self-confidence."
THE RELEVANCE OF FEEDBACK MESSAGES IN COMMUNICATING QUALITY IN EDUCATIONAL CLASSROOM SETTINGS
Authors: Yáñez-Monje Verónica , Aillon-Neumann Mariana , Maldonado-Elevancini Cecilia
Published: July 2022

"This paper put forward an in-depth reflection grounded on two studies. The first regards to doctoral research designed to investigate teachers ‘interpretations of feedback in terms of theory and practice and it explores how this might be informed by their conceptions of how students learn. The inquiry involves three Year 5 and one Year 4 teachers from three different primary schools in London. The main sources of data comprise classroom observation and teachers’ interviews focusing on teachers’ feedback practices and the underlying principles that guide them in the actual conducting of classroom interaction and through pupils written assignments. Analysis suggested that feedback focused on correcting basics errors, seeking further actions on the task at hand and contrasting the work with learning objective and success criteria. The main lessons learnt from the practices and views held by teachers in England were distilled into little stories and made them accessible to other teachers to help them to reflect on their own positions on the feedback issues. This was endeavoured in the context of the work in Chile within a teacher professional development programme with 60 enrolled primary school teachers. They were asked to select written assignments stemming from their pupils work to design written feedback for these tasks. This is followed by an iterative process of reflection about the messages conveyed through their comments. Data show that the teachers faced difficulties at the initial stages of development as their comments were evaluative, that is, centred on what was missing, with little room for students’ self-assessment. The participants greatly improved their elaborated comments as being more descriptive, and with a focal point on the task features. Both studies provide insightful data in terms of the problematic nature of teachers’ comments as pupils cannot achieve a broader understanding of quality within their pieces of work. It seems that teachers still hold a remedial approach to feedback. (Black & Wiliam, 2012, Swaffield, S. 2011; Sadler, 2007,2010)."
WHY DO A MASTER’S? UNDERSTANDING THE MOTIVATIONS OF MASTER’S STUDENTS IN IRELAND, NORTH AND SOUTH
Authors: Hagan Martin , Dolan Rose
Published: July 2022

"This research considers the role of Master’s study in the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers in Ireland, North and South. Countries with the highest pupil assessment outcomes emphasise the importance of teachers having Master’s degrees and effective CPD for teachers has been widely acknowledged as a key characteristic of mature systems of teacher education. There has also been a developing focus on the concept of teachers as researchers which clearly places an onus upon teachers to reframe and reconceptualise their work; in this sense, it can be seen how the Master’s qualification can have increasing relevance. Despite attempts to better understand and standardise the general definition of Master’s qualifications there is still much variation in terms of its value in relation to the professional status, identity and practice of teachers. In addition, whilst there is some evidence to suggest that teacher confidence can benefit from Master’s study, there is limited research on the extent to which Master’s work can influence professional identity and subsequent practice. This research aims to address some of these questions by generating a profile of teachers studying for Master’s degrees in Education across the island of Ireland. The research aims to clarify issues around motivation and the influence that having a Master’s degree might have on the participants’ professional identity and practice. Working within a qualitative, interpretative design and using a mixed methods approach employing survey and focus groups, primary survey data were collected from cohorts of students studying for Master’s in Education in all universities across Ireland in the time period 2017 – 2022. This first round of data collection will be presented here. The research may help inform programme design and also have the potential to influence policy-makers in terms of developing coherency around the professional development of teachers, beyond the initial stage."
“I FEEL LIKE ANOTHER I HAS GROWN”: BIOGRAPHICAL LEGACY OF THE COMMUNITY-ENGAGED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors: Ilić Bojana Ćulum , Miloš Brigita
Published: July 2022

"Anchored in a qualitative approach, yet informed by the constructivist theoretical perspective, this paper addresses a research issue related to the transformative potential and biographical legacy and impact of community-engaged learning model (service-learning) on twelve students who participated in the Gender, Sexuality, Identities - From Oppression to Equality course. This course is the first such in Croatian universities that, integrating the community-engaged learning model, covered the thematic areas of human rights, gender equality, gender-based violence and gender theory. For students who participated in this research, all of it represents the first such educational experience - so far they have not been exposed to the mentioned contents, they have not participated in a course of such specific didactic and methodological features, they have never collaborated with civil society organisations, they have never written reflective diaries, nor were they previously engaged in tasks similar to those that awaited them in this course. This paper therefore intends to contribute to the current academic debate on the positive outcomes of community-engaged learning for students in the context of its transformative potential viewed from the perspective of contributing to changes in student biographies. In addition, the paper seeks to answer the (research) question of whether the narratives of students who participated in such a course for the first time are narratives of disappointment or empowerment, continuity or change, and whether they have developed a tendency to modify (their) habitus? The main identified dimensions of the students’ experienced change are classified through new knowledge or competencies, educational and professional paths, intentions of further (civic) engagement and personal development. Drawing on Turner’s concept of “liminality” (1969), Bourdieu’s habitus (1977, 1984) and Mezirow’s Theory of transformative learning (1981), students’ participation in the course with full integration of community-engaged learning model is interpreted in this paper as a liminal phenomenon of the otherwise traditional (higher education) teaching and learning field, which led to the modification of students’ habitus, while indicating their empowerment and propensity for further socially responsible and active contribution within their communities."
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND PROFESSION VALUES TRANSPOSED INTO NURSING EDUCATION
Authors: Marcean Crin , Alexandru Mihaela
Published: July 2022

"Professional identity is the concept that describes how we perceive ourselves in our occupational context and how we communicate it to others. Professional identity is not static, but fluid. It is strongly influenced by how we see ourselves, how we perceive others and how we are viewed by society. Professional values are inherent characteristics of every profession and are part of the professional identity. Personal values are a powerful tool that influences our lives. They are the standards that each of us defines in order to live according to them and often influence our attitude and behavior. The profession of nurse/ midwives is defined by the values that each practitioner experiences every day in relation to his profession and each patient with whom he interacts. The professionalism of nursing profession requires that the nurses, midwifes to be able to provide quality health care services adapted to the society healthy needs, no matter age, social position, gender, political and sexual orientation or other differentiation criteria. In this way they will be able to increase the population’s health level. The Order of Nurses and Midwives of Romania implemented POLMED project which objective was to develop a set of fundamental professional values for nurses and midwives, for the benefit of the medical-patient staff relationship. The project aimed at developing an analysis of European public policies on the values of nursing and midwifery, conducting a survey of the current situation in Romania on the values of nursing and midwifery by involvement of 200 nationally selected nurses and midwives, as well as the training of 45 nurses and midwives in the design and evaluation of public policies. As a result, the ability of medical personnel to meet the citizen’s need to have quality health system is directly linked first and foremost to the reform of the educational system of professional training, which internalizes a values system centered on professionalism, empathy towards the patient and cooperation with patients and other categories of professionals in the medical system. The paper work is divide in two parts, the first part presents a survey in order to develop a set of fundamental professional values for nurses and midwives, and the second part presents the way these values were transposed in the nursing education. The paper presents a study on the ways of transposing the professional identity and profession values into the nursing education."
PRONUNCIATION EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR EFL LEARNERS
Authors: Vančová Hana
Published: July 2022

"Pronunciation is one of the competencies foreign language learners of English are implicitly or explicitly judged for in classroom context as well as real-life communication. At the same time, both teachers and learners express concerns concerning this competence, as relatively little attention is being paid to pronunciation issues. While accuracy was desired in the past, comprehensibility is preferred as the goal of pronunciation instruction in recent years. Mistakes and errors the speakers make vary across the language background of speakers and can be manifested at segmental and suprasegmental levels; however, familiarity with the topic discussed may help overcome many obstacles the foreign language speakers may make. Pronunciation may be judged by human raters as well as automatically by specialized software. The presented study aims to current practices presented in research papers published in the past ten years. The results suggest different criteria applied to pronunciation evaluation. The paper presents partial research outcomes of the projects KEGA 019TTU-4/2021 Introducing new digital tools into teaching and research within transdisciplinary philological study programmes and 7/TU/2021 Pronunciation mistakes of pre-service teachers of English."
EVALUATION OF PRE-PANDEMIC AND PANDEMIC EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE STUDENTS
Authors: Němejc Karel
Published: July 2022

"The circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought a turbulent change to all levels of education around the world. Even in these cases, however, it is necessary to maintain accountability, i.e. the responsibility of educational institutions for both consequences and quantity and quality of their services. For this purpose, various evaluation processes are implemented across universities to identify and ensure the quality of teaching and learning. In this context, the paper deals with the first results of a comparison of higher education in both pre-pandemic and pandemic period, causing the closure of all types of schools and a complete, forced transfer to a distant, untested forms of education. In both monitored periods, the same research tool was used, namely an online evaluation questionnaire, in which the respondents had the opportunity to express their opinions on the lectures and seminars studied, on the conditions of teaching and learning, on the approach of the teacher, and on the overall assessment of the course. The target group were students of bachelor study programmes of a university institute in the Czech Republic. This study provides evidence that, although the pandemic struck without warning and very fast, the university institute concerned was able to cope with the necessary reforms in the organization of education, and from the students' point of view, while maintaining the quality of teaching provided. Even, the complete distance teaching and learning at the time of the pandemic was on average rated better than the pre-pandemic."
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON COMMUNICATION PRACTICES IN THE ENGINEERING WORKPLACE: A STUDENT-DRIVEN SURVEY AND AN EXPLORATION OF POTENTIAL CURRICULAR RAMIFICATIONS
Authors: Lievens Jeroen
Published: July 2022

"In 2012, the Faculty of Industrial Engineering Technology of Leuven University, Campus Diepenbeek, initiated a student-driven action research project to optimize the communications curriculum and tether it to trends and evolutions in the engineering workplace. The methodological pivot of the action research cycle is a questionnaire that students send out to professional engineers on a yearly basis. To date, the questionnaire has been completed by over 2000 engineers. The survey polls the importance and salient features of contemporaneous communication practices for engineers, on the basis of which the curriculum is continuously refined and optimized to match workplace expectations. The existence of this historical dataset allowed for an accurate measurement of the impact of COVID-19 on communication practices in the field of engineering. The perhaps unsurprising, but nevertheless striking rise in online meeting and collaboration practices in the engineering workplace prompts urgent curricular questions with potentially far-reaching ramifications, as the communications curriculum rests, as yet, on a bedrock of traditional, face-to-face interaction. With urgent 21th century concerns surrounding mobility and climate change, screen-to-screen interactions might well evolve into the “new normal” for business communication. This presentation discusses the findings of the questionnaire on the impact of COVID-19 on engineering communication practices and follows through with a preliminary exploration of the ramifications of these findings on the future communications curriculum for engineers."
HOW TO BECOME POLITICAL? BASIC CONCEPTS FOR EXPLORING EARLY CHILDHOOD UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICS
Authors: Marci-Boehncke Gudrun , Rath Matthias O. , Goll Thomas , Steinbrecher Michael
Published: July 2022

"In the interdisciplinary project PoJoMeC, we investigate children's understanding of politics at preschool and primary school age. The interdisciplinary research approach is based on the perspectives of political didactics, literature and media didactics, and journalism. Initially, we will use qualitative approaches to find out how children's political awareness is shown. Our research methods focus on the one hand on the children's explicit knowledge, but on the other hand already on concepts of rule-governed action. The different degrees of abstraction of these concepts are based on a modification of the ecological model of human development according to Uri Bronfenbrenner (1979). The paper reconstructs the argumentative process of developing an acceptable interdisciplinary concept of politics for our joint research. Considering political didactics, literature and media studies, and philosophy, a research framework is presented that does not start with terms and concepts but considers more fundamental forms of social perception."
DELIVERING INNOVATIVE, ONLINE TEFL COURSES TO FOSTER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND POSITIVELY IMPACT ENGLISH EARNERS
Authors: Badger James , Al Bukhari Juman
Published: July 2022

"This paper reports on findings from a U.S. federally-funded research project involving American universities that created online courses to develop Jordanian K-12 English teachers’ instructional strategies and communication skills who are employed in disadvantaged or vulnerable rural and urban schools. The four innovative, online courses address Jordanian English teachers’ desire to motivate learners (Al-efeshat & Baniabdelrahman, 2020), develop students’ critical reading skills (Bataineh & Al-Shbatat, 2018), reduce students’ reading anxiety (Al-Shboul et at., 2013), and foster metacognitive reading strategies (Alsarayreh, 2020) among other challenges. Studies have found that increasing mobile technologies to students and teachers and integrating basic technology in public and refugee schools would profoundly impact the scope of learning and instruction (UNESCO, 2018; UNHRC, 2018). Further, research on teacher quality shows that weaknesses in teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and classroom practice undermine effective student learning and achievement (Phetla & Newman, 2020; Pontefract and Hardman 2005). Continuing professional development and PCK positively impact schools and embodies the ability to evaluate students thinking, plan appropriate learning opportunities, and modify, combine, and use instructional materials to develop conceptual understanding (Darling-Hammond et al., 1999). Teachers’ professional development through teachers’ collaboration has been reported to be effective for the improvement of schools’ performance and students’ learning outcomes in all curriculum subjects. Research repeatedly demonstrates that continuing professional development makes a difference to teachers’ pedagogic knowledge and skill which is reflected in enhanced student learning outcomes (AL-Wreikat & Bin Abdullah, 2010; Mahmoud, 2015). This project seeks to narrow these gaps and positively impact learning outcomes and student competencies through the innovative online and in-person PDP with Jordanian teachers of English. Using gathered qualitative and quantitative data, we identify the program’s impact on TEFL teachers’ integrated service learning projects and culturally relevant pedagogies to positively affected students’ learning, advanced teachers’ knowledge of research-based instructional strategies, and addressed other challenges identified by the teachers. We will also share the process for selecting teachers to participate in the program and collaborations we developed with international stakeholders."
HOW RORY’S STORY CUBES CAN IMPROVE THE ABILITY OF STORYTELLING IN WRITING AND SPEAKING
Authors: Zsiray Barbara , Koós Ildikó
Published: July 2022

"Using board games in the classroom is an opportunity for experiential learning and teaching. The presentation is an example of how board games can be used in mother tongue teaching. Our previous questionnaire proves that 9–10-year-old children show a positive attitude towards board games, and its use in lessons helps to increase interactions between students. In addition, cooperation within the group was strengthened. We have reflected on this with a new project. Our goal is to examine how the popular board game, Rory's Story Cubes, can develop written and oral communication of 9–10-year-old students. In the first period, essays were written by the members of the experimental group and the control group, in which five previously specified words were used. The quantitative and qualitative indexes of the data were analysed by Mean Length Utterance (MLU) and the Hungarian adaptation of Developmental Sentence Scoring (KFM), and creativity was considered. In the second phase, the members of the experimental group took part in an activity process that lasted 15 weeks and was held twice a week. The games with the Story Cubes were carried out under the supervision of the methodical leader of the experiment and recorded with the video camera. The oral texts were analysed in the same way. In the last period of the process, the participants again wrote an essay. The results show that the consistent use of the given board game is beneficial for the semasiological and syntactic cohesion of the students' oral and written texts. The project's achievements may contribute to the widespread use of Rory's Story Cubes, thereby expanding the methodology of native language teaching."
DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING FROM FREEHAND DRAWING TO DIGITAL PROCESSES
Authors: Ugliotti Francesca M. , Giaveno Sara , Aschieri Davide L. D. , Osello Anna
Published: July 2022

"Learning never stops, and neither does teaching. Stimulating critical thinking at the university plays a critical role in shaping a generation of professionals capable of meeting the ever-changing challenges of the modern world. The experience is related to the course of Building Drawing in the first year of Building Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino. The methodological approach adopted explores the potential of the drawing itself as a language of communication for the construction sector. The course becomes a learning path with the students: theoretical notions are provided as the foundation, then tools and methods for representing the survey and the project between tradition and innovation are analysed and evaluated with a critical attitude. Real-world (freehand sketching), digital (CAD vs BIM), augmented and virtual practices are presented to provide a synoptic picture of possibilities that the student may choose to use in subsequent courses and in working life. The recent pandemic has promoted further opportunities to innovate in teaching by adopting tools that stimulate creativity. The teacher becomes an avatar who can interact with students in cyberspace to evaluate and discuss project ideas. Students are continually asked to self-reflect and assess lesson content by identifying key concepts. The final evaluation also involves a discussion of a mind map in which keywords are put in order, reworked, linked to form a personal interpretation of the teaching. Through the introduction of these actions, it has been noticed an increasing involvement of students, both individually and in groups, leading to the achievement of quality results sometimes higher than required."
SURVIVAL MODELS FOR PREDICTING STUDENT DROPOUT AT UNIVERSITY ACROSS TIME
Authors: Masci Chiara , Giovio Mirko , Mussida Paola
Published: July 2022

"The aim of this study is to develop a tool to recognize major responsible factors of student dropout through time, both in terms of student characteristics and type of degree courses, and to accurately predict the student time to dropout, if any. From a predictive point of view, we aim at developing an early warning system to early predict the status of a student career, identifying the risky timings in terms of dropout, as a supporting tool for early interventions policies. To this end, we follow a Survival Analysis approach, applying time-dependent COX frailty models, in which the target variable is the time to dropout of students within the first three years after the enrolment. Student careers are tracked over time, collecting time-dependent information. Results show that first year information is already powerfully predictive of the time to dropout and that dropout trends differ across degree courses and student profiles."
TEACHING AND LEARNING CENTERS: A STEM PERSPECTIVE ON THE IMPACT FOR AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors: Foroozesh Maryam
Published: July 2022

"The true pillar of quality higher education is well-trained, effective, and knowledgeable faculty who are invested in the success of their students. The discipline-specific knowledge required for entering an academic career as a STEM faculty member is mostly gained through academic graduate and post-doctoral training. However, formal preparation in the areas of teaching and mentoring are often lacking, and typically occur through observation of more senior colleagues. In reality, when it comes to teaching and mentoring, many STEM faculty members “build the plane while flying it,” and mainly learn by trial and error. As all interactions between faculty and students can seriously impact student retention and success, there is a great need for faculty development opportunities in these areas. The focus of this communication is on the impact of mentor and pedagogical training at Xavier University of Louisiana from the STEM faculty perspective."
A CALL FOR DIVERSITY TRAINING FOR CHILDREN IN JAPAN
Authors: Morrone Michelle Henault , Matsuyama Yumi
Published: July 2022

"Growing diversity in Japan's population has not been matched by changes in attitudes regarding ""difference."" The old notion of racial and cultural homogeneity still holds sway in Japan, especially within the official education system. This has led to a disconnect between classroom realities and government policies which do little to address the changing needs of an increasingly diverse student body. For historical reasons, and as a result of more recent demographic trends, there are now large numbers of Koreans, Brazilians, South Asians and other foreign nationals in Japan. Many of these foreign residents have children attending Japanese public schools that were never intended to educate anyone but Japanese students. Moreover, marginalized groups such as members of the LGBTQ and special needs communities are gaining an increasing presence both in public awareness and within the public school system. Despite these changes, changes that are only accelerating, the official school system has done little to foster changes in attitude toward people who are different from the idealized norm. In addition, studies show that these sorts of attitudes can become fixed at a very early age, effectively at the preschool level. This has led us to produce a children’s book intended to serve as a form of diversity training for young children. In this way we hope to encourage more open and accepting attitudes among those who will grow up in an ever more diverse Japan."
CREATIVE WRITING IN CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITIES
Authors: Weirauch Angelika
Published: July 2022

"We present an old process developed more than a hundred years ago at American universities. It means professional, journalistic and academic forms of writing. It also includes poetry and narrative forms. Creative writing has always been at the heart of university education. Today, there are more than 500 bachelor's degree programs and 250 master's degree programs in this subject in the United States. In other fields of study, it is mandatory to enrol in this subject. After World War II, it came to Europe, first to England and later to Germany. Here, ""... since the 'Sturm und Drang' (1770-1789) of the early Goethe period, the autodidactic poetics of the cult of genius prevailed. The teachability of creative writing has been disputed ever since and its dissemination has therefore always had a hard time in Germany"" [von Werder 2000:99]. It is rarely found in the curricula of German universities. At the Dresden University of Applied Sciences, we have been practicing it for five years with great response from social work students. They learn different methods: professional writing for partners and administration, poetic writing for children's or adult groups, scientific language for their final thesis and later publications. Although we offer it as an elective, more than 80% of students choose it. Final papers are also written on these creative topics or using the methods learned. ""Writing forces economy and precision. What swirls chaotically around in our heads at the same time has to be ordered into succession when writing"" [Bütow in Tieger 2000:9]. The winners of this training are not only our former students! Children in after-school programs and youth clubs improve their writing skills through play. Patients in hospitals work on their biographies. People who only write on the computer discover slow and meaningful writing, activating their emotional system. Therefore, this paper will show how clients benefit from creative writing skills of their social workers and what gain other disciplines can expect as well."
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL RISKS OF DIGITALIZATION IN ADOLESCENTS
Authors: Šramová Blandína , Hamranová Anežka
Published: July 2022

"The paper is primarily focused on the psychological and social risks of digitalization in adolescent girls and boys. Recently, we have witnessed an increasing digitalization in adolescents, especially during Covid-19 restrictions. Several factors play a positive and negative role in using digital media in the development process. In this paper, we focus on clarifying key problems from the psychological point of view. The research was based on a qualitative (interview) research design. The sample consisted of 45 adolescents aged between 16- and 23-year-old. It is well known that contemporary adolescents are surrounded by digital media that fulfil entertaining and educational, informational, and social functions. It is essential to have good models during identity-forming, and adolescents are often looking for their models online. Our findings showed fundamental problems of adolescents these days: the FOMO effect (Fear of missing out), feeling of loneliness and cyberbullying. On the other hand, we found a high level of digital literacy, a substitute for face-to-face social interaction by the mobile application during Covid-19 restrictions, and the use of digital devices for relaxation, entertainment, and education."
AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH IN THE EVALUATION OF SERVICE QUALITY IN A PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING PROGRAM
Authors: Athanasiadis Anastasios , Kasimatis Katerina
Published: July 2022

"Quality is a term that is commonly considered to indicate a high level of customer satisfaction relative to factors that characterize a specific service. The most effective way to measure quality is to determine whether or not customers are satisfied. In the educational area, the constant search for improvements in the quality of educational services has led the scientific community to implement specialized measurement approaches in order to meet the quality expectations of trainees. The current research combines the evaluation model CIPP with the EppaikQual scale to measure the quality of the educational services of a Greek pedagogical training program. In this way, a management-oriented evaluation model is combined with a satisfaction measurement scale for the purpose of evaluating the program’s quality from the trainees’ perspectives. The research questions seek to determine the degree of trainee satisfaction based on the four levels of the evaluation and to define the level of the program’s quality. A total of 489 trainee prospective teachers for the 2019?2020 academic period participated in the survey. The method of sampling without probabilities was adopted. After the completion of the program, participants were electronically provided with the measurement scale. The reliability and validity of the research tool were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Data were analyzed by calculating the mean scores and the percentage frequencies of their agreement?disagreement in each index of the four levels of the evaluation. The survey results show that trainees are in general satisfied with the provided educational services. Their degree of satisfaction is higher for the learning outcomes and lower for the program inputs. In conclusion, it can be inferred that the participants in the training program appear to be satisfied, but they propose specific areas in which structural interventions are required in order to upgrade the level of quality of the educational services. The information gathered can contribute to sound administrative decisions with a view to improving and sustaining the training program."
DEVELOPMENT OF A COURSE FOR E-LEARNING TO THE TEACHING OF THE SUBJECT ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE
Authors: Pineda Miguel , García Omar , Aguilar Armando , León Frida
Published: July 2022

"The random design is the simplest of all the designs that are used to compare two or more treatments. The analysis of variance is the central technique in the analysis of experimental data, the general idea of this technique is to separate the total variation in the parts which contributes each source of variation in the experiment. In the case of the random design, separates the variability of treatment. To facilitate education students, it focused on interpreting the results and not developing. It is important to use new technologies as a support to the teaching of the subject, in this document we propose different forms of feedback to the subject as statistical software, specialized web pages, applets, and virtual labs. In this work an E-Learning course was developed on the platform Dokeos as support for the traditional kinds of design of experiments. In which, the subject of analysis of variance explains in a simple way what is the random design. The Dokeos platform was used because it is a free software based online learning suite and provides all the features that an online learning application needs, from the authorship of courses up to reports. The objective was to adapt the above mentioned subject to an E-learning model in order (a) optimize the contribution of content, skills, and competencies that students must have, (b) the integration of statistical software in courses to emphasize applications to the real problems as contexts, concepts and methods, (c) the development of interactive materials that facilitate updating and learning by experimentation, (d) the use of a model of continuous assessment that guide and prepare the students in their formation, (e) the participation of the collaborative learning online by assigning projects and activities to be carried out in working groups. E-learning course helps students for three things. First, to save time, since they have different tools that help to solve real problems. Second, they make use of computer science to understand the themes of the platform and at the same time are at the forefront of technology. On the other hand, it is also transmitted to the students the idea that learning is a continuous process and that it should be done. Third, show students that these tools offered the platform is not important memorizing formulas or perform arithmetic calculations, if not who can concentrate on results more quickly. The third, show that students with these tools offered by the platform is not as important memorizing formulas or perform arithmetic calculations, if not who can concentrate on results more quickly."
LIFELONG LEARNING AND THE SAFE USE OF COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Authors: Meneses Rute F. , Giovagnoli Anna Rita , Miyazaki Maria Cristina
Published: July 2022

"Research has shown the frequent use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), its potentialities and risks. Aim: To characterize adults’ knowledge and practices of CAM in order to identify the need to develop lifelong learning programs. After obtaining the necessary authorizations, between 1/10-5/12/2021, 115 adults living in Portugal, mostly women with a higher education degree, working full-time, with a monthly income perceived as medium, answered a Google Forms questionnaire on health (self-)care practices (HsCP). Most considered their health as good (44.3%), being satisfied with it (53%). The majority: took some care of their health (60.5%; 28.1% a lot); had no physical (56.1%) or psychological (78.3%) health problem diagnosed by a conventional health care professional. Regarding the extent to which the participants had knowledge of non-conventional health (self-)care practices (NCHsCP), most (39.5%) knew little about it (10.5% had no knowledge). The majority: had already looked for information about NCHsCP (55.8%), was interested in having (more) knowledge about it (77.2%), and had someone close to them who used and/or was using some non-conventional practice - NCP (57%). Only 14.2% had done training in some NCP and 5.3% considered it impossible to reconcile conventional and NCHsCP. The majority (65.8%) stated that knowledge about NCP is important to them as (future) health professionals (not applicable to 26.3%). As for the last time participants performed any HsCP, 30.2% considered it a NCP (19.8% were not sure). In terms of HsCP, 66.7% reported using conventional and NCP. Among those who have ever used any NCP: 47.1% did it with a professional and 34.3% by themselves and with a professional; 45.8% use it rarely; 93.2% had never done it against the recommendation of a (conventional) health professional. Among those regularly (at least once a year) accompanied by one or more conventional health care professionals, 54% had never talked about NCP. Regarding negative experiences with NCP, 89.8% never had any. The minor children of 13.9% had done some NCP (not applicable to 60.2%). Among the health care professionals, 80.2% had no course during their training mentioning NCP; in their professional experience, 64.2% had knowledge of situations in which conventional and NCP were used simultaneously; in the context of their professional activity: 51.9% had recommended, and 40.7% had referred someone to NCP. Even though these preliminary results are not worrying, they suggest adults living in Portugal would greatly benefit from lifelong learning programs focusing on the potentialities and risks of CAM."