ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Contribution of Counseling Providers to the Success or Failure of Marriages
Author: Ansah-Hughes, Winifred
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Failure,Success,Marriage Counseling,Counseling Effectiveness,Counseling Services,Marital Satisfaction,Investigations,Churches,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Counseling Techniques,Counseling Psychology,Counselor Role,Incidence,Performance Factors,Foreign Countries,Interviews

This study is an investigation into the contribution of counseling providers to the success or failure of marriages. The purposive and the simple random sampling methods were used to select eight churches and 259 respondents (married people) in the Techiman Municipality. The instrument used to collect data was a 26-item questionnaire including a five-point Likert type scale designed by the researcher and was administered to married people. The researcher however had three research questions to work with. The major result was that counselling providers contribute positively in the Techiman Municipality so far as marriage is concerned. It is therefore being suggested that premarital counselling should be maintained and encouraged in all churches.
Image of Nursing Profession as Perceived by Egyptian and Jordanian Undergraduate Male Nursing Students: A Comparative Study
Author: Ibrahim, Azza Fathi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Nursing,Nursing Education,Nursing Students,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Reputation,Males,Questionnaires,Positive Attitudes,Statistical Analysis,Comparative Education

The hiring and maintaining of male nurses in the nursing field is a very apparent issue nowadays. Hence, there is an urgent need to promote a professional nursing image and enhance its standing in the community, especially for men. Although they have an important position in nursing, men are still proportionately in the minority. This study aimed to explore and compare the perceptions of undergraduate male nursing students regarding the image of the Nursing Profession in the two different Arabian countries of Egypt and Jordan. The study was conducted at two governmental nursing faculties; Alexandria University in Egypt and Jordan University in Jordan. The study subjects were all undergraduate male nursing students who enrolled in the fourth academic year, from the previous mentioned colleges, forty one students from Egypt and one hundred from Jordan. The Nursing Image, as a profession questionnaire (NIPQ), was used for data collection. Based on the analysis of the subject's responses, the results revealed that there is a significant positive perception as regards the image of nursing profession among both Egyptian and Jordanian male nursing students in relation to the description of the profession, societal view, benefits of the nursing profession and view of self satisfaction in nursing. The clinical instructor and the relationship with the medical staff are the apparent perceived enhancing factors, while the public view is the major perceived inhibiting factor regarding the image of the profession. The highest percentage of both study subjects ranked the nursing profession in the second position after the medical profession and agreed that they faced several problems in being a male nurse such as: assuming some obstetric nursing practices, lack of specific job title, embarrassment while explaining a sensitive topic with female patients and the refusal of the presence of male nurses in female wards. Conclusion: Egyptian and Jordanian male students have approximately a similar positive perception towards the image of the nursing profession. The worth of the nursing profession have been understood more than in past decades, even though they are exposed to some clinical problems in assuming their role as male nurses.
Principals' Gender and Management Effectiveness in Secondary Schools: Case of Mtito Andei Division, Kenya
Author: Matheri, Eunice Wangui
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Gender Differences,Principals,Secondary Schools,Administrator Effectiveness,Case Studies,Questionnaires,Interviews,Statistical Analysis,Hypothesis Testing,Personnel Management,Instructional Leadership,School Administration,Money Management,Leadership Effectiveness,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries

Educational leadership has a critical role in the transformation of society, and for change to happen, effective leaders are key. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of principals' gender on management effectiveness in secondary schools in Mtito-Andei Division, Kenya. The study sought to establish the relationship between the Principals' gender and their effectiveness in management of the discipline, staff, students and school finance. The study used ex-post facto research design. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents for the study. The sample size was 28 principals and 140 teachers. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and interview schedules and was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Conceptually, the chi-square test of independence statistic was computed. In hypotheses the four scores in management of discipline, management of staff personnel, management of students and management of financial resources were converted from continuous data to discreet data (categories) respectively and then Chi-square used to test the hypotheses. The researcher adopted a significance level of 0.05. The results of the data analysis show that there was a significant relationship between the principals' gender and effectiveness in management of discipline. It was also found out that there was no significant relationship between the principles gender and their effectiveness in personnel management, student management and financial management.. The study recommends that the teachers' employer (The Teachers' Service Commission) should consider gender while promoting deputy principals to become principals in order to ensure that there is gender equity in the secondary schools.
Self-Regulation of Facebook Usage and Academic Performance of Students in Kenyan Universities
Author: Wanjohi, Racheal N.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Social Media,Mass Media Use,Mass Media Effects,Web 2.0 Technologies,College Students,Self Management,Academic Achievement,Questionnaires,Hypothesis Testing,Student Attitudes,Likert Scales,Use Studies,Incidence,Correlation

The increasing connectivity of places to the internet platform has led to widespread use of the social media platforms in homes, workplaces and schools wherein it is preferred by mostly the young people christened as dot.com generation. The use of social media platforms has a potential effect on the productivity of the users either in their places of work, schools and society in general. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of self-regulation of Facebook usage on academic performance among university students in Kenya. To achieve this objective, the study employed the &quot;ex post facto&quot; research design. Purposive and stratified random sampling methods were used to select participating campuses (n = 4) from (N = 12) and students (n = 348) from (N = 2698) third year regular students. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire. The null hypothesis was tested at 0.01 level of significance using Kendall's &quot;tau_b&quot; correlation coefficient. The findings revealed that there was a moderate level of self regulation on Facebook usage by university students thus depicting ambivalence in attitude towards controlling the urge to use Facebook when in site. Further, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the level of Facebook self regulation and academic performance (p&lt;0.01). The implication of this finding was that the more one self regulates, the higher the likelihood of improving in academic performance. From the findings, it is recommended that universities incorporate time management skills in the curriculum in order to help the students achieve balance between leisure activities and academics.
Rational and Challenges of Competency-Based Education and Training: The &quot;Wickedness&quot; of the Problem
Author: Oyugi, Jacob L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Competency Based Education,Problem Solving,Climate,Sustainable Development,Environmental Education,Change Strategies,Barriers,Educational Strategies,Educational Practices,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries

Our students will continue to be confronted with many environment and sustainability issues during their lifetimes because they are unpredictable, serious and complex by nature. These issues challenge not just our technologies but our universities and educational institutions, values and way of living and interaction. Competency-based education and green skills for work and life in post-2015 Africa will involve dealing with very complex problems. These problems go beyond the capacity of any one organization to understand and respond to, and there is often disagreement about the causes of the problems and the best way to tackle them. These problems are called &quot;wicked&quot; problems. These wicked problems quite often have become policy issues. There are numerous examples of wicked policy issues such as climate change, environment degradation, and sustainable development. Usually, part of the solution to wicked problems involve changing the behaviour of groups of citizens or all citizens. Other key ingredients in solving or at least managing complex problems include successfully working across both internal and external organizational boundaries and engaging citizens and stakeholders in policy making and implementation. Wicked problem require innovative, comprehensive solutions that can be modified in the light of experience and on-the-ground feedback. All the above can pose challenges to competency-based education approaches and their implementation. This discussion paper explores the characteristics of wicked problems and challenges they pose for competency-based education approaches. Although developing effective ways to tackle wicked problems is an evolving art, this paper contributes by identifying some of the rationale that seem to be required. The first part of this paper introduces the concepts of competency-based education and the wicked problems. The second part of the paper discusses the characteristics/challenges of wicked problems in the context of competency-based education. The third part suggests possible strategies/rationale for taming wicked problems. The last part draws conclusions and finally proposes the way forward.
Staff Development Practices of Open and Distance Learning Institutions in Ghana: The Case of the Distance Education Programme of University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
Author: Owusu-Mensah, Francis
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Distance Education,Open Universities,Foreign Countries,Faculty Development,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Administrator Attitudes,Human Resources,Labor Force Development,Workshops,Administrator Education,Program Descriptions

Staff development plays a crucial role in Open and Distance learning programmes because most of the staff working on these programmes are products of the conventional face to face system. Lack of proper training of staff in ODL can lead to high dropout rate among distance learners. The purpose of this study was to investigate staff development practices of the Distance Education programme of the University of Education, Winneba. The study adopted the quantitative methodology which employed survey questionnaire to collect data from 39 administrators of the Distance Education study centres. The study found among others that, the University does not have a strong pre-service programme for the administrators at its study centres. It also found that, the administrators were satisfied with the first in-service training organised for them. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, the University should put in place strategic human resource development policies in relation to distance education for teaching, technical and administrative and part-time staff and institute regular inservice training programmes for its administrators at the distance Education study centres.
Psychometric Evaluation of an Arabic Version of the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale in Jordanian Muslim College Nursing Students
Author: Musa, Ahmad S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Muslims,Nursing Education,Factor Analysis,College Students,Universities,Construct Validity,Foreign Countries,Beliefs,Spiritual Development,Religious Factors,Semitic Languages,Translation,Correlation,Factor Structure,Measures (Individuals),Student Attitudes,Psychometrics

A review of the nursing and health-related literature on spirituality revealed that no valid and reliable research tool exists in Arabic for measuring spiritual beliefs and practices for Arab Muslim population. This study translated the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) into Arabic and examined the psychometric properties of the Arabic version in a sample of Jordanian Arab Muslim nursing students by examining its factorial validity, convergent-related validity, and internal reliability. A convenience sample of 394 Jordanian nursing college students (all Muslims) were recruited from governmental universities in the northern region of Jordan. The SIBS was translated from English to Arabic using a back-translation method, reviewed by an expert panel for lingual, cultural and spiritual consistency, and was piloted with 15 Jordanian nursing college students. Correlational and factor analysis were used. The internal consistency reliability of the Arabic SIBS was acceptable, with alpha coefficient of 0.76. Evidence of construct validity was supported by significant moderate to high positive correlations between the Arabic SIBS and both religiosity and the spiritual well-being (convergent validity), and by a resultant three-factor structure to the SIBS which was simple, easily interpretable and had a conceptual meaning. The resultant three factors were labeled as &quot;Spiritual Beliefs&quot;, &quot;Spiritual Involvement&quot;, and &quot;Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Outcomes&quot; subscales. In conclusion, these preliminary findings suggest that the Arabic version of the SIBS can be used as an instrument to measure levels of spiritual beliefs and practices in Arab Muslim populations. In addition, it would appear that spiritual beliefs and practices, spiritual well-being, and religiosity are important dimensions for Jordanian Muslim nursing students which have potential implications for nursing education, practice, and research.
Educators' Rating of Strategies Considered Necessary for Motivation of Potential Entrepreneurs among Secondary School Students for Poverty Alleviation in Anambra State
Author: Okoli, Constance. I.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Secondary School Students,Student Motivation,Entrepreneurship,Motivation Techniques,Business Education,Secondary School Teachers,Teacher Surveys,Questionnaires,Poverty,Reinforcement

Timely planning and strategizing for the future had remained the major strength of wealthy nations; who in a bid to unleash their full development potentials, have set up educational programmes, necessary to fight poverty in all its ramifications. This study aimed at assessing strategies considered necessary for the motivation of potential entrepreneurs among secondary school students for poverty alleviation in Anambra State of Nigeria. The study was a descriptive survey conducted with 110 business educators purposively sampled from five local government areas in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the conduct of the study and one null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. A validated structured questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.94 was used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using mean scores and z-test statistic. The findings of the study revealed among others that cash and scholarship awards, exposing students to entrepreneurship education such as interacting with small scale business owners, display of project materials and government sponsorship, were considered as highly necessary strategies. However, special gift from teachers and school authority, recognizing students through assigning of responsibilities were considered as barely necessary strategies by the business educators. It was concluded that the strategies considered fairly necessary and above should be used to motivate potential entrepreneurs in secondary schools. It was recommended among others that educators should constantly be provided with in-service training on entrepreneurship programmes to help them develop entrepreneurial skills required for effective motivation of potential entrepreneurs in their subjects.
Discourse Analysis of the Political Speeches of the Ousted Arab Presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution Using Halliday and Hasan's Framework of Cohesion
Author: Al-Majali, Wala'
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Speeches,Discourse Analysis,Presidents,Conflict,Language Usage,Connected Discourse,Foreign Countries

This study is designed to explore the salient linguistic features of the political speeches of the ousted Arab presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution. The sample of the study is composed of seven political speeches delivered by the ousted Arab presidents during the period from December 2010 to December 2012. Three speeches were delivered by the Tunisian president, Zain Al-Abedeen Bin Ali; three speeches by the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak; and one speech by the Libyan president, Muammer Al-Gaddafi. The selected speeches are taken from the Internet. To achieve the main goal of this study, the analysis of the obtained data is conducted using the Halliday and Hasan's (1976) framework of cohesion. The results of this study revealed that the political speeches which were delivered during the Arab Spring Revolution have their distinctive features which are different from those features of the usual speeches of these presidents during the normal circumstances. Most of the lexical features such as repetition, synonymy, and hyponymy are widely used in the speeches of the ousted presidents to achieve different political ideologies and strategies such as the ideology of threatening the civilian protesters.
Internal Challenges Affecting Academic Performance of Student-Athletes in Ghanaian Public Universities
Author: Apaak, Daniel
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Athletics,Academic Achievement,Public Colleges,Barriers,Questionnaires,Correlation,Hypothesis Testing,Statistical Analysis,Time Perspective,Emotional Disturbances,Physical Characteristics,Scheduling,Athletes,Student Attitudes,Achievement Need,Student Surveys

This paper examined internal challenges affecting academic performance of student-athletes in Ghanaian public universities, using a descriptive survey research design. Proportionate random sampling technique was employed to select Three Hundred and Thirty-Two (332) respondents for the study. The instrument used in gathering data for the study was a questionnaire titled &quot;Questionnaire on Internal Challenges Affecting University Athletes (QICAUA)&quot; structured and developed by researchers. The QICAUA was validated by two jurors in the field of physical education and sport, from Ghana and Nigeria and pilot tested using test-retest method. A reliability correlation coefficient of 0.85r was obtained from the reliability testing. In all, two research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Data collected were analyzed using chi-square (x2 ) statistical method. The findings from the study showed that time constraints and physical/emotional strain were significant internal challenges affecting the academic performance of student athletes in Ghanaian public universities. Based on these findings, the study recommends that Management of universities, university sports administrators and the Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) should collaborate to schedule sports programmes in such a way that student-athletes will have adequate time for both academics and sports; student-athletes should be counselled on how to manage their time effectively on campus; and coaches should ensure that student-athletes are not over worked physically and emotionally during training and competitions.
Preparing Teachers for the Contemporary Nigeria
Author: Okoli, Nkechi J.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Education Programs,Teacher Effectiveness,Preservice Teacher Education,Educational Quality,Educational Objectives,Teacher Education,Educational Needs,Relevance (Education),Performance Factors,Barriers,Educational Improvement,Educational Practices,Change Strategies

This paper focused on preparing teachers for the contemporary Nigeria. Teaching is a versatile field that requires at all times the correct identification of indices of developments in the society. This responsibility makes it imperative that teachers be an embodiment of a constant search for updated knowledge in various fields of Endeavour. The fulcrum of this paper therefore lies on the factors inhibiting teaching profession in Nigeria. This historical approach is used for this study. The findings of the study revealed the fallen standards of education which have been traced to among other factors, the quality of teacher's programmes in the country. This paper recommended an urgent improvement in the programmes for initial teacher education in the country, improved funding of the education sector and complete overhauling of the teacher's education curriculum towards meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the 21st century education in Nigeria.
Colour in Learning: Its Effect on the Retention Rate of Graduate Students
Author: Olurinola, Oluwakemi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Graduate Students,Color,Learning,Attention,Retention (Psychology),Memory,Instructional Materials,Instructional Design,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis,Quasiexperimental Design

Cognitive psychologists have discovered different design principles to enhance memory performance. It has been said that retrieving process depends on many variables and one of them is colour. This paper provides an overview of research on colour and learning. It includes the effect of colour on attention, retention and memory performance, and relates these to the design of instructional materials. The study reported the effect colour had on the retention rate of graduate students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. Thirty graduate students participated in this study. The purpose of this research study was to determine if colour (in prints form) influence the learning process. The independent variable was colour at two levels: Congruent colours (colours corresponding to the words) and Incongruent colours (colours not related to the words), while for the control, Achromatic colours (black and shades of grey) were used. The dependent variable was the retention rate i.e. number of words recalled. The research design was a posttest only design. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data and the results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the number of words recalled based on colour. The groups exposed to congruent colours and achromatic colours performed better than those exposed to incongruent colours, although the group exposed to the congruent colour prints performed better than those of the other groups. Therefore designers of instructional materials need to use colour wisely by paying attention to the effect of colour on learning.