ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Study of End-Users' Attitudes towards Digital Media Approach: The Experience of a Public University in Uganda
Author: Ndawula, Stephen
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Student Attitudes,Access to Computers,Computer Literacy,Prior Learning,Mass Media Use,Questionnaires,Interviews,Teaching Methods,Electronic Learning,User Satisfaction (Information),Majors (Students),College Students,Use Studies,Statistical Analysis

University students in Uganda had been confined to use of traditional educational technologies such as chalkboards, papers and text books. Digital Media Approach recently found its way in the academia at public universities in Uganda. Information and communication technology (ICT) have become popular means of surfing, downloading and obtaining electronic materials among students. The approach has globally facilitated the seeking of academic information at institutions of higher learning in Uganda. However, little research has been conducted in regard to students who are the key users of Digital Media. The purpose of this study was to explore students' attitudes towards Digital Media Approach at a public university in Uganda. The study specifically sought to establish whether university students' attitudes towards digital technology were dependent on computer ownership, field of study and previous computer hands-on experience. A survey research was employed to establish students' attitudes in regard to digital media. Questionnaires and interviews were used as tools for data collection while data was analyzed using a t-test. The findings showed that students who had their own computers as well as previous computer hands-on experience had more positive attitudes towards using the media than their counterparts without previous computer hands-on experience.
Universities in Africa: Working on Excellence for Whom? Reflections on Teaching, Research, and Outreach Activities at African Universities
Author: Zeelen, Jacques
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Colleges,Educational Quality,Instructional Effectiveness,Outreach Programs,Research,Higher Education,Human Capital,Educational Finance,Unemployment,Labor Market,Community Development,Critical Thinking,Lifelong Learning,Institutional Mission

This article discusses the current dynamics at African universities concerning the quality of teaching, the role of research, the level of community outreach, and the position of higher education in the educational sector as a whole. Points of reference are experiences at the University of the North in South Africa as well as experiences at universities in other African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ghana. One of our central conclusions is that the system of education in Africa in general, and higher education in particular, is highly dysfunctional, especially in terms of wasted human capacity as well as financial resources. African higher education institutions cannot close their eyes to the immense skills shortage and the frightening percentages of (youth-) unemployment. This leads to the recommendation that the responsibilities of a university concerning the generation of relevant new knowledge, preparing students adequately as active citizens for the challenges in the labour market, contributing to the development of communities, and fostering critical thinking need to be given high priority.
Faculty Appointments and Scholarly Activity: A Changing of the Guard?
Author: Bowden, Randall G.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Higher Education,Tenure,College Faculty,Instruction,Research,Productivity,Scholarships,National Surveys,Faculty Promotion,Occupational Information,Educational Change,Educational Practices,Personnel Policy

American institutions of higher education are experiencing a rapid change in academic staffing, leaving the tenure model for a more flexible, contingent workforce. Nearly two in five of all full-time instructional staff holds non-tenure-eligible positions as term-limited academic appointments. This study compared faculty appointment types by traditional areas of teaching, research, and service by utilizing the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty 2004 data. Statistical results indicated tenured and tenure-track faculty far outperform contingent faculty in all three traditional areas: teaching, research, and service. This is of substantial concern. Since contingent faculty are rapidly increasing, it brings into question who is doing the work and how it affects production in areas of teaching, research, and service.
Pre-Service Beginning Teachers' Beliefs, Expectations and Other Teacher Preparation Issues of the Practicum at the University of Trinidad and Tobago
Author: Gowrie, George
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Expectation,Teacher Education,Practicums,Comparative Analysis,Semi Structured Interviews,Grounded Theory,Mentors,Resources,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Knowledge Level,Teaching Experience,Attitude Change,Beginning Teachers,Cooperating Teachers

The study examined the extent to which there were changes in pre-service teachers' beliefs, expectations and other teacher preparation issues over a four-year period at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. The study was guided by the conceptual framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997)--the personal, critical, academic, practical and technical orientation--and compared pre-service teachers' reflections on these five components before and after their exposure to the practicum at the university. The participants in the study were 36 pre-service beginning teachers who were never exposed to any teacher training programme. There were 12 males and 24 females whose average ages were 24 years. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews at the beginning and the end of the four year period. The interview data were audio-taped and later transcribed in the tradition of grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Systematic coding was used to uncover key features and emerging themes from the first and second phases of the study. Five categories consistent with the conceptual framework of the study were identified: beliefs and expectations, mentorship support, resource adequacy, content and pedagogical knowledge and adequate classroom experiences. The findings suggested there were some changes in pre-service beliefs and expectations and other preparation issues. There were also mixed messages from the beginning teachers with regard to adequate resources, mentorship support and classroom experiences. Recommendations were made for the continuing professional development of these novice teachers.
Research in Greek Universities: Non-Compatible Categorizations and Dysfunctional Structures
Author: Kyridis, Argyris
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Scientific Research,Ethics,Politics,Criticism,Universities,Research Methodology

The issue of research within the Greek Universities pushes forward the learning and maturation procedure through action, a procedure that will change the framework of the University Community function by developing, on the basis of a rational reorganization, structural relationships with society. This study presents and analyzes the state of scientific research in the Greek university in the present unfavourable economic and social era. In this paper are analyzed inter alia, the structural malfunctions of the Greek university structures, the interaction between academic research and politics, the ethics and the good practices related to the scientific research in Greece.
AACSB Accreditation in China--Current Situation, Problems, and Solutions
Author: Zhang, Xinrui
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Business Administration Education,Accreditation (Institutions),Professional Associations,Language Skills,Misconceptions,Colleges,Accessibility (for Disabled)

This paper first introduces the background of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation, and then analyzes the current status of the participation of Chinese business schools in AACSB accreditation. Based on the data analysis, the paper points out that there are two main problems in the Chinese business schools AACSB accreditation: low participation rate and low success rate. The causes of these problems are concluded as language factor, standard factor as well as the misconception of the accreditation. Suggested solutions from the aspects of learning, communication, and ability enhance are given at the last part of the paper.
E-Learning Readiness in Medicine: Turkish Family Medicine (FM) Physicians Case
Author: Parlakkiliç, Alaattin
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Physicians,Family Practice (Medicine),Technology Uses in Education,Readiness,Online Courses,Technological Literacy,Human Resources,Attitude Measures,Statistical Analysis,Access to Computers,Environmental Influences,Costs,Online Surveys,Likert Scales,Coding,Cultural Influences

This research investigates e-learning readiness level of family medicine physicians (FM) in Turkey. The study measures the level of e-learning readiness of Turkish FM physicians by an online e-learning readiness survey. According to results five areas are ready at Turkish FM physicians but need a few improvements: &quot;equipment/infrastructure,&quot; &quot;online learning style readiness,&quot; &quot;technological skills readiness,&quot; &quot;cultural readiness,&quot; &quot;financial readiness.&quot; Three areas are not ready and need some work to improve their readiness: &quot;Human resource readiness,&quot; &quot;attitude readiness,&quot; and &quot;environmental readiness.&quot; Finally, the outcomes of e-learning readiness indicate that the Turkish Family Medicine Physicians are ready for adopting e-learning. The overall results show that the e-learning readiness level at Turkish FM physicians has been 68,28%, and ready but needs a few improvements for e-learning.
Advanced Learning Space as an Asset for Students with Disabilities
Author: Císarová, Klára
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Disabilities,Academic Accommodations (Disabilities),Video Technology,Web Sites,Audio Equipment,Visual Impairments,Sign Language,Deaf Interpreting,Hearing Impairments,Assistive Technology

The paper describes an e-learning system called Advanced Learning Space that was developed at the Technical University of Liberec. The system provides a personalized virtual work space and promotes communication among students and their teachers. The core of the system is a module that can be used to automatically record, store and playback lectures. Recently, we extended the system by new features such as sound websites and lecture recordings with a sign language interpreter. This further enables students with disabilities to study the same courses as other students.
Determination of Critical Success Factors Affecting Mobile Learning: A Meta-Analysis Approach
Author: Alrasheedi, Muasaad
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Meta Analysis,Telecommunications,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Handheld Devices,Electronic Learning,Success,Access to Computers,Internet,Attitudes,Competence,Web 2.0 Technologies,Teaching Methods,Feedback (Response),Technological Literacy

With rapid technological advancements, mobile learning (m-Learning) offers incredible opportunities, especially in the area of higher education. However, while interest in this area has been significant and several pilot studies have been conducted within universities, relatively less is known about how higher educational institutions can make efficient use of the m-Learning platform to support teaching and learning. Although there are numerous studies in the area, the lack of this insight is mostly due to the fact that very little effort has been made to collate these studies and determine a common set of key success factors that affect the acceptance of m-Learning within universities. This study conducts a systematic analysis of several studies conducted in the area of m-Learning to assess the critical success factors, by making use of the meta-analysis technique. Our investigation has shown that the most important perceived advantages of m-Learning, from learner perspectives, are collaboration during studies, the prospect of ubiquitous learning in space and time, and user friendly application design.
Adaptation of the Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle Scale to Turkish
Author: Dogan, Türkan
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Wellness,Life Style,Foreign Countries,Construct Validity,Factor Analysis,Factor Structure,Reliability,College Students,Counseling,Program Design,Correlation,Measures (Individuals)

Problem Statement: Studies show that wellness is closely associated with individual life style. Thus, any efforts toward improving wellness should target aspects of a person's life style. A means of assessing holistic wellness is needed to design programs that increase individuals'/clients' health and wellness and to develop psychological counseling approaches. In other words, a valid and reliable measurement instrument is required. Recent years have witnessed the development of a great number of models of wellness and of a variety of measurement instruments. In Turkey, however, there are few studies on this subject. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to adapt the Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle (WEL) scale to Turkish. The WEL-TJ form of the scale was applied. Methods: The study sample consisted of 425 students (232 female; 193 male) from a university in Ankara, aged between 18 and 29 years (X-bar = 21.4; SD = 1.74). We performed explanatory factor analysis, to examine both the construct validity and factor structure of the WEL. Principle component analysis (PCA) rotation and concurrent validity tests were also performed. The reliability of the WEL was also subject to test-retest and internal consistency testing. Findings and Results: Varimax rotation was used to analyze factors and items, and it was observed that, with the exception of items in the &quot;Work&quot; subscale, similar items gathered under the same factor. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.38 to 0.84 for the WEL subscales. Total test-retest reliability was 0.67. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the overall scale was 0.92. Conclusions and Recommendations: The findings of this study indicate that the Turkish version of the WEL scale is suitable for measuring wellness levels among university students in Turkey; however, we also recommend that validity and reliability studies be conducted with a larger group of varied ages.
Language and Narrative Skills in Young Children with Special Health Care Needs
Author: Ergül, Cevriye
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Young Children,Health Needs,At Risk Persons,Language Impairments,Narration,Correlation,Language Skills,Classification,Severity (of Disability),Personal Narratives,Gender Differences,Scores,Expressive Language,Prompting,Measures (Individuals),Task Analysis,Intervention,Learning Problems,Statistical Analysis

Problem Statement: Previous studies showed that children with special health care needs are at increased risk for future linguistic problems and deficits in narrative abilities. Despite this evidence of increased risk, there has been limited research on the impact of young children's health problems on specific aspects of linguistic development. Purpose of Study: This study examined the relationship between the complexity of health care needs and language and narrative skills in young children with special health care needs. Method: Ninety-nine children, ages 4 to 6 years, were classified using a rating system in which the number of organ systems affected and severity of complications determined the complexity of health care needs. Children were stratified by rating complexity, which resulted in three groups. While Group 1 included healthy children, Group 2 included children with less complex health care needs, and Group 3 included children with more complex health care needs. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - Revised (WPPSI-R) and the Test of Early Language Development (TELD-III) were administered to each child in the study. Children also completed a story generation task and produced personal narratives in response to three conversation prompts. Children's narratives were evaluated on two dimensions: productivity (total number of words and C-units) and quality (where performance was rated in accordance with nine indicators of quality). Results: Groups with different levels of complexity of health care needs were compared on language and narrative measures, using gender and WPPSI-R scores as covariates. The results showed that children with more complex health care needs demonstrated greater weaknesses on expressive language and narrative tasks than children with less complex health care needs and those who were healthy. Conclusions: The findings support the contention that health issues are related to children's language status. The complexity of health care needs may hinder the development of language and narrative skills. The results of this study suggest that professionals in health care, speech and language, and education should be alerted to the potential connection between health and language. Yet efforts to identify language and narrative deficits early in this special population should lead to earlier interventions for children who are at risk for the development of later learning difficulties.
Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Effective Physics Teacher Characteristics
Author: Korur, Fikret
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Physics,Science Teachers,Teacher Characteristics,Teacher Effectiveness,Questionnaires,High School Students,Secondary School Teachers,Factor Analysis,Scoring,Statistical Analysis,Student Motivation,Science Achievement,Comparative Analysis,Teacher Influence,Gender Differences,Grade 11,Grade 10,Grade 9,Geographic Location,Public Schools,Age Differences,Teacher Behavior,Teaching Methods,Multivariate Analysis

Problem Statement: What do teachers and students in Turkey perceive as the common characteristics of effective physics teachers? Purpose of Study: The first aim was to investigate the common characteristics of effective physics teachers by asking students and teachers about the effects of teacher characteristics on student physics achievement and motivation. The second aim was to explore whether the effects of these characteristics were significantly associated with the geographical region, grade level, and gender of students, as well as with the region, gender, and year of teaching of teachers. Methods: The data were gathered via a questionnaire that was administered to 2,177 high school students and 214 physics teachers in 9 cities from 3 geographical regions in Turkey. A mean score table was prepared, to compare effective physics teacher characteristics. Factor analysis was used to categorize these characteristics. After conducting missing data analysis and identifying descriptive statistics, MANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis. Findings and Results: Teachers perceived teacher characteristics as having a greater effect on student motivation and achievement than did students. The eight main categories of effective physics teacher characteristics each had a strong effect on student motivation and achievement. These characteristics affected student achievement more than student motivation, according to teachers. Female students declared more than male students that physics teacher characteristics affected their motivation and achievement. Mediterranean-region students declared more than students from other regions that these characteristics significantly affected their motivation and achievement. Eleventh grade students declared more than tenth and ninth grade students that these characteristics affected their motivation and achievement. Conclusions and Recommendations: The findings suggested that both students and teachers perceived physics teacher characteristics as affecting student achievement and motivation. The category that included the most effective characteristics was &quot;Pedagogical and Subject Matter Knowledge&quot;. Physics teachers should be aware of their characteristics, and the characteristics of teachers should be taken into account in the process of selecting and assigning teachers.
Authentic Teaching Experiences in Secondary Mathematics Methods
Author: Stickles, Paula R.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Instruction,Secondary School Mathematics,Teaching Methods,Preservice Teachers,Video Technology,Developmental Programs,Remedial Mathematics,Student Teaching,Methods Courses,Student Surveys,Likert Scales,Algebra,Lesson Plans,Reflection,Pretests Posttests,Program Effectiveness,Educational Change,Self Efficacy

Often secondary mathematics methods courses include classroom peer teaching, but many pre-service teachers find it challenging to teach their classmate peers as there are no discipline issues and little mathematical discourse as the &quot;students&quot; know the content. We will share a recent change in our methods course where pre-service teachers teach in developmental mathematics classes, videotape lessons, and analyze and reflect on the experience.