ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Jamaican Teachers&apos; Perspectives on the Desirability of Performance-Based Payment: Lessons for Education Policy Makers and School Administrators
Author: Thompson, Canute S.
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,Merit Pay,Teacher Salaries,Public Schools,Teacher Competencies,Performance Based Assessment,Evaluation Methods,Academic Achievement,Leadership Responsibility,Contracts,Teacher Characteristics

This paper examines the perspectives of Jamaican teachers on performance-based evaluation as a mode of compensation for Jamaican teachers. The paper is written against the backdrop of continued unsatisfactory results of the Jamaican Education System. In 2015, having completed inspections of all 953 public schools, the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) found that 55% of schools were performing unsatisfactorily. The study found, among other things, that approximately two-thirds of teachers agree or strongly agree that the performance of teachers and schools can be objectively evaluated. However, only approximately one-third held the view that the performance of the school could be the subject of performance-based compensation. The findings of the study suggest that there is a gap between teachers' belief in the objectivity of the performance evaluation system and their readiness and willingness to embrace the idea of being held contractually responsible for the results realized and to be compensated accordingly. This finding points to the need for further dialogue between policy makers and practitioners on the issue of how to improve educational outcomes. The study recommends that the major players in the education system--the Ministry of Education, the Unions representing teachers, and the University community, among others, convene a series of sessions to discuss the unsatisfactory outputs of the education system and develop strategies to improve both teacher and student performance and accountability. The study proposes that one of the strategies which may be considered is a performance-based payment system.
Making Sense of Multiple Options for the Design of a Classroom
Author: Duncanson, Edward
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Classroom Design,Learning Processes,Models,Grade 3,Grade 5,Elementary School Students,Achievement Tests,Scores,Correlation,Prediction,Case Studies,Decision Making,Strategic Planning,Color,Acoustics,Space Utilization,Safety,Computers,Light,Comparative Analysis,Educational Planning

The changing nature of education has forced educators to rethink the role of classrooms in student learning. Prior research has shown that the environmental and structural design of education centers impact student learning. With a dozen variables to deal with, classroom designers are faced with the daunting task of selecting one plan from the thousands that are possible. This paper demonstrates how tradespace exploration (TSE), an analytical methodology used by NASA and the DoD to design spacecraft and other complex systems, can be applied to the design of classrooms. To demonstrate the TSE methodology, a predictive model was built based on historical data collected by prior researchers on third and fifth grader test performance and data along 86 descriptive variables that they used to characterize the school and classrooms. An analysis of main effects using a multi-way ANOVA allowed the larger data set to be reduced to 8 composite independent variables that are predictive of student tests scores. This model was then used to generate thousands of possible school and classroom design permutations and predict the resulting student test scores. This allowed the authors to identify the Pareto frontier of designs that yield the greatest benefits for a given investment. The case study described in this paper demonstrates how this approach could be applied to enable decision-makers to identify a more effective allocation of resources or determine when changes in total investment are likely to have a significant impact on desired performance.
Gender Differences in Achievement, Interest and Retention of Students&apos; Exposed to Fabrication and Welding Engineering Craft Practice through Cognitive Apprenticeship Instructional Technique in Nigeria
Author: Peter, Ogundola Ilesanmi
Date: 2020-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Gender Differences,Academic Achievement,Student Interests,Academic Persistence,Welding,Teaching Methods,Experiential Learning,Foreign Countries,Apprenticeships,Vocational Education,Postsecondary Education

The study was a pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group quasi-experiment, involving students in intact classes. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The population and sample for the study consisted of all 64 National Technical Certificate (NTC) II students of fabrication and welding engineering craft practice in Ekiti State. These comprise 53 males and 11 females. The instruments used for data collection were the fabrication and welding achievement test and fabrication and welding interest inventory. The instruments were subjected to face and content validation by three experts. The reliability coefficients of the instruments are 0.79, 0.75 and 0.82 respectively. Mean was used to answer research questions, while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The mean score of girls was not significantly different from those of boys in the achievement test. There was a significant difference in the mean interest and retention scores of students based on gender.
Planning for Cyber Security in Schools: The Human Factor
Author: Richardson, Michael D.
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Computer Security,Information Security,Privacy,Crime Prevention,Student Records,Risk Management,Confidentiality,Student Behavior,School Personnel,Employees,Behavior,Strategic Planning,School Policy,Compliance (Legal),Training

Cybersecurity has emerged as one of the most critical issues confronting schools in the 21st century. Computer security is an essential instrument for protecting children, but K-12 schools are considered one of the most attractive targets for data privacy crimes often due to the less-than-effective cybersecurity practices in schools. The human factor is the underlying reason why many attacks on school computers and systems are successful because the uneducated computer user is the weakest link targeted by cyber criminals using social engineering. Formal cyber security awareness is required to mitigate the exploitation of human vulnerabilities by computer hackers and attackers.
Proceedings from the 2019 CEA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana: The Joy Project--Helping Faculty to Find Joy in and out of the Classroom
Author: Clair, Erin
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Motivation,College Faculty,Family Work Relationship,Faculty Advisers,Stress Variables,Stress Management,Faculty Development,Sense of Community,Collegiality

To help many students stay in college today, faculty need to advise students in areas such as financial struggles, coping with stress, mental or physical issues, and family pressures as much as they need to advise them about what classes to take. But what Erin Clair found in surveying the faculty at Arkansas Tech University and in the surveys of faculty at other institutions is that faculty members themselves tend to struggle in the same areas as their students…except they don't have the same level of support as students. The question then became, &quot;How can we help our faculty members build an effective work-life balance, as that will also better train our faculty as advisors?&quot; In search of that answer, she thereby asked, &quot;How do we help faculty to experience joy (i.e., epiphany, transcendent revelation, breakthrough discovery, and synergy) within their lives and within their classrooms, especially at an underfunded state institution where the rewards for faculty are unlikely to be financial?&quot; This article explains the steps Clair undertook in her work for the dean's office at the College of Arts &amp; Humanities at Arkansas Tech University to address the above questions via a College-wide endeavor called &quot;The Joy Project.&quot; Herein, she shares the resources that have been made available to faculty to help them understand joy both inside and outside the classroom; she discusses the partnerships being created with local institutions to understand joy and stress in the workplace; she shares the reactions from faculty to this project (both positive and less positive); and she outlines the future plans for The Joy Project.
Architectonic Criticism: Re Form in the Literature Classroom
Author: Young, Thomas
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Fiction,Teaching Methods,Literary Devices,Literary Criticism,Music,Fairy Tales

This article presents an approach to fiction devoted to detailing, visually presenting, and analyzing structural patterns in the literary text. This enhanced formalism will be illustrated with elementary examples ranging from the world of music to the world of the Brothers Grimm. Employing this &quot;architectonic&quot; approach would complement more familiar critical approaches and perhaps, given its more &quot;objective&quot; quality, appeal to the technically oriented student and encourage that student to engage more fully in the literature classroom.
Proceedings from the 2019 CEA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana: Imaginative Revision Strategies in the Foundational Writing Classroom--Envisioning an Essay as a Documentary Film
Author: Walsh, Andrea
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Revision (Written Composition),Writing Strategies,Writing Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Imagination,Essays,Documentaries,Undergraduate Students,Audiovisual Instruction,Introductory Courses

This article, based on Andrea Walsh's teaching experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), focuses on a strategy to inspire students to approach the revision process proactively with imagination and critical insight: envisioning essays as documentary films. It first looks at some central tasks of revision and then explores the ways that documentary films can help address those challenges.
Homelessness in Higher Education Is Not a Myth: What Should Educators Be Doing?
Author: Karlin, Angela
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Homeless People,College Students,Resilience (Psychology),Social Justice,Barriers,Intervention,School Holding Power,Academic Persistence,College Faculty,Advocacy,Enrollment Trends,Graduation Rate,Teacher Student Relationship,College Housing,Administrator Attitudes

This paper investigated homelessness and housing insecurity on college campuses in the United States. Using a mix design and framed by the theoretical frameworks of resiliency and social justice theories, this research sought to assess the barriers and interventions, if any, for students encountering homelessness while in college. The data analysis found three recurring themes: &quot;Education regarding homelessness, resource development, and the elimination of barriers.&quot; Research from this study underscored the need for interventions to be developed to assist the student in supporting retention. Additionally, the development of interventions allows faculty and staff to advocate for students while helping the university in meeting enrollment and graduation goals.
Quality Framework of Higher Education in Vietnam, Malaysia and Nigeria
Author: Hanh, Nguyen Duc
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Higher Education,Educational Quality,Educational Policy,Quality Assurance,Foreign Countries,Cross Cultural Studies,Technical Education,Public Agencies,Comparative Analysis,Accountability,Institutional Autonomy,Educational Improvement,Guidelines,Social Influences,Policy Analysis

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Vietnam, Malaysia and Nigeria quality assurance agencies operate towards ensuring quality in higher education institutions. Quality assurance systems was investigated with respect to social demands and it was compared based on the key concepts: autonomy, accountability and improvement. The study relied on qualitative document analysis methods and was conducted on relevant higher education and policy, quality assurance systems of Viet Nam Ministry Education and Training, quality assurance of National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education of Nigeria and Malaysian Qualification Agency respectively and their challenges were assessed and compared. There are deals of convergence between Quality Assurance systems of Viet Nam, Malaysia and Nigeria. Viet Nam and Malaysia has a single Quality Assurance system while Nigeria has multi Quality Assurance systems. In all three countries' Quality Assurance systems made achievements in terms of autonomy, accountability and improvement. In Vietnam, Vietnamese Qualification Agency: internal Quality Assurance is embedded within an accreditation system, but still requires a recognition external quality assurance agency. In Malaysia, Malaysian Qualification Agency: internal Quality Assurance is embedded within accreditation system and reduced the involvement of external Quality Assurance agency. In Nigeria, the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education and National Commission for Colleges of Education of Nigeria provides guidelines for higher education institutions to assist build their internal Quality Assurance. Vietnam and Malaysia Quality Assurance experienced accountability being demonstrated for continuous improvement while Nigeria Quality Assurance accountability is seen with invisible improvement due to challenges associated with the quality frameworks. The study gives appreciated vision into Quality Assurance systems and frameworks of higher education institutions and how Quality Assurance responds to the social demands of stakeholders.
Role of University Principals&apos; Leadership Strategies on Teachers&apos; and Management Performance: Mediating Role of Support and Rewards in Australia and Pakistan
Author: Fatima, Urooj
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Leadership Effectiveness,College Administration,Job Performance,Performance Factors,Rewards,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Administrators,Leadership Styles,Leadership Qualities,College Faculty,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Faculty Development

Leadership strategies of principals in educational institutes is considered an important factor in order to increase support and rewards. Universities in Pakistan suffer from the problems of low support and rewards, due to which most of the teachers and management staff members remain dissatisfied with their principals. This study investigated whether transformational or transactional leadership is better for providing support and rewards to teachers and management staff, along with evaluation of principles' leadership qualities. For that, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was utilised to assess the performance of principals by investigating 75 management and 75 teachers of 3 universities of Pakistan. Critical review approach was used for comparison between Pakistan and Australia. It was found that transformational leadership is much better as compared to transactional leadership, because it improves interaction and support, as observed in Australia. However, teachers and management staff members in Pakistan reported dissatisfaction, when asked about leadership role of their principals. They said that their principals never motivate them, support them nor reward them in contrast to leadership approaches in Australia.
Academic Accreditation Process of English Language Institute: Challenges and Rewards
Author: Khojah, Aishah
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accreditation (Institutions),English Instruction,English (Second Language),Educational Practices,Foreign Countries,College Faculty,College Administration,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Work Environment,Organizational Change,Administrators,Educational Improvement

Accreditation plays a vital role in promoting self-assessment and excellence in English language teaching and administration. It ensures high quality teaching, and provides proper tools and various types of educational support for productive learning to take place. In this connection, the present research is a case study to assess the academic and administrative practices based on the accreditation and reaccreditation experiences of the English Language Institute (ELI), female section, at King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia. It aims to document both initial accreditation and reaccreditation and the changes that are fostered. It also aims to report accreditation challenges along with its impact on administrative and academic levels. Semi-structured interview was used to collect data for the study. The study participants were ELI faculty and administrators who were involved in the accreditation process. The findings revealed a positive impact of accreditation on the ELI administrative and academic practices in terms of organizational structure, work atmosphere, and cultural influence.
Footnoting Edward Jenner: Using Textual Editing to Teach Information Literacy
Author: Malone, Katherine
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Literacy,Undergraduate Students,Instructional Effectiveness,Editing,Citations (References),Computer Software,Research Skills,Student Role,Critical Reading,Pamphlets,Cultural Context,Access to Information,Audience Awareness,Humanities

Information literacy has become one of the most essential skills we teach undergraduates. One highly effective way of teaching this skill is to put students in the active role of the mediator by asking them to produce a critical edition of an existing, open-access text. The process of inserting explanatory footnotes, writing introductory material, or creating an appendix of cultural contexts teaches research skills for interacting with a wide range of primary and secondary texts. Furthermore, critical editing foregrounds questions of audience and purpose that are essential to metaliteracy. This article discusses a footnoting assignment I designed for an undergraduate humanities course in which we read Edward Jenner's 1798 pamphlet on vaccination against smallpox, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. I developed a sequence of three research assignments that asked students to use online annotation software to create an edited version of Jenner's text aimed at their fellow students. In the first assignment they worked in groups to define key terms, identify the main points of Jenner's argument, and pose critical questions about the text. In the next two assignments, students conducted independent research in nineteenth-century periodicals to discover the popular debates surrounding smallpox and Jenner's work and then used their research to insert explanatory footnotes into Jenner's text.
Core and Activity-Specific Functional Participatory Roles in Collaborative Science Learning
Author: Heinimäki, Olli-Pekka
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cooperative Learning,Science Education,Role,Group Dynamics,Science Activities,Active Learning,Veterinary Medical Education,College Students,Concept Mapping,High School Students,Computer Simulation,Preservice Teachers,Elementary School Teachers

Prior research on the significance of roles in collaborative learning has explored their impact when they are pre-assigned to group members. In this article, it is argued that focusing on assigned roles downplays the spontaneous, emergent, and interactional nature of roles in small task groups and that this focus has limited the development of generalizable frameworks aimed at understanding the impact of roles in and across collaborative learning settings. A case is built for the importance of focusing on the functional participatory roles enacted during collaborative learning and for conceptualising these roles as emergent, dynamic, and evolving in situ (first claim). Further, a flexible conceptual framework for the analysis and understanding of such roles across diverse collaborative science-learning activities is proposed, based on the assumption that during collaborative learning, both core and activity-specific roles are enacted (second claim). The core roles resemble each other across activities as they associate closely with the nature of the science discipline itself, whereas the activity-specific roles vary across activities as their emergence is dependent on the affordances, demands, and characteristics of the particular activity and environment. Data from three diverse science-learning environments, including four totally or partly student-led collaborative science activities, were scrutinized to establish the degree of empirical support for this assumption and, thereby, the conceptual usefulness of the proposed framework. The contributions of the framework for future research of collaborative science learning are discussed.
Measuring the Mathematical Problem Solving and Procedural Skills of Students in an Irish Higher Education Institution -- A Pilot Study
Author: Faulkner, Fiona
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Mathematics,Mathematics Curriculum,Curriculum Development,Educational Change,Problem Solving,Mathematics Skills,Undergraduate Students,Mathematics Tests,Diagnostic Tests

In 2010 the Irish second level mathematics curriculum underwent a period of significant change when a new mathematics curriculum was introduced. Some preliminary research has been carried out into the impact, if any, that this mathematics curriculum is having on students mathematics performance which have suggested that students' procedural skills are declining year on year however their problem solving skills may have improved (Treacy and Faulkner 2015). Additional research in this area also highlighted that students willingness to engage in problem solving activities may have improved (Prendergast et al 2017). However preliminary analysis on the impact of the reformed mathematics curriculum, if any, on students' performance in higher education noted that further research was needed in this area to definitively establish what is happening. This research therefore aims to explicitly determine whether the procedural and problem solving skills of beginning undergraduates are changing over time as a result of the reformed mathematics curriculum introduced in second level education. A paper based diagnostic test designed and developed is used in an attempt to determine this. This paper will detail the piloting of this diagnostic test with a group of higher education students in the Irish context.