Despite broad interest in fostering high levels of collective teacher efficacy, inquiries into the intentional development of collective teacher efficacy through professional learning are scarce in the literature. This mixed methods study sought to explore whether professional learning designed to enact the sources of efficacy and addressing the positive outcomes correlated with high levels of collective teacher efficacy, the sources of efficacy, and how to leverage those sources to grow and sustain high levels of perceived efficacy would result in increased collective teacher efficacy among participants. A positive impact on collective teacher efficacy was found among the small sample comprised of volunteer participants. Findings suggest there is potential value in embedding the body of research around collective teacher efficacy and detailing the four sources of efficacy in professional learning and in intentionally designing professional learning to enact the four sources of efficacy development. Further inquiry into the potential of professional learning designed to engage teachers as informed agents in efficacy development is indicated. Studies investigating teachers as informed agents in their own efficacy development are currently a unique contribution to the field.
ChatGPT has experienced exponential growth in its number of users since its launch in November 2022. Researchers have begun studying early adopters of the text-generating chatbot and have found positive reactions from those who have used ChatGPT for reading and writing. However, this research is still in its infancy and few studies exist on the impact of ChatGPT on reading motivation. No studies have been published on autistic teens’ reading motivation and behavior when using ChatGPT for story generation. Framed by Self-Determination Theory and Cognitive Evaluation Theory, this case study explores one autistic teen’s use of ChatGPT and his resulting autonomous motivation for leisure reading. Findings reveal that ChatGPT-generated stories increased the teen’s intrinsic reading motivation, addressed his personal interest in fictional characters, and strengthened his literacy practices. Parents and educators may consider permitting the use of ChatGPT for story creation by autistic teens to develop their reading motivation and behavior.
Despite broad interest in fostering high levels of collective teacher efficacy (CTE), inquiries into the intentional development of CTE through professional learning are scarce in the literature. This pilot study examined whether professional learning that positioned teachers as informed agents in efficacy development increased CTE. The professional learning was intentionally designed to 1) engage participants in learning and enacting the sources of efficacy, 2) examine outcomes associated with high CTE, and 3) apply strategies to grow and sustain efficacy over time. Results indicated a positive impact on CTE within the small volunteer sample. Findings invite further examination of designing professional learning to intentionally enact the four sources of efficacy, to emphasize positive correlates of high levels of CTE, and to develop teacher expertise in efficacy development. Such professional learning approaches that engage teachers as informed agents warrant continued investigation, contributing to the growing body of research on CTE.
Education is characterized as a structured and systematic procedure of learning knowledge, skills, and attitudes, forming a fundamental base for the progress of individuals and societies. Countries’ educational systems are varied, indicating the complicated interaction of cultural, social, economic, and technological aspects. The structure of educational systems plays a pivotal role in constituting how students learn knowledge and skills in schools and in shaping the learning experiences of students across the world. The present study delves into the key indicators of four countries’ educational systems, including Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Iran. Key indicators within educational systems encompass the structure and levels of education, governance aspects and distribution of responsibilities, evaluation and assessment strategies, and funding budgets. These indicators are essential parts of educational systems. The choice of such indicators serves to inspire countries to adopt an outward-looking perspective, facilitating comparative analysis of their performance against that of other nations globally (European Commission, 2000).
The purpose of this study is to report on the implementation of the experiential learning cycle in the Public Sector Accounting course at the Accounting Department of Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana Indonesia. Concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation are the cycles. Experiential learning provides learners with practical, real-world experiences necessary for contextualizing their newly acquired skills. One of the learning objectives of the Public Sector Accounting Course is to understand the governance of non-profit or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Students were asked to select a non-profit or NGO to observe for a semester. Students had the opportunity to interview management staff, document the workflow in the organizations, and understand how the organizations report their funding accountability to donors during this project-based learning. At the end of the projects, students report a video as a reflective observation of their learning experiences on Indonesia Care, Habitat for Humanity, Historical Museum of Jakarta, Dwituna Rawinala, Satria Jaya Daraka cooperation, and Sinode Gereja Kristen Indonesia. Following this project, students presented their observations, received feedback, and created a video as the final product. This experiential learning requires students to relate theoretical concepts to real-world applications.
The goal of this paper is to re-examine the curricular framework of math education, particularly around rational numbers in early middle school. Through an exploration of math achievement data, research on successful organizations and systems, research on learning theory, research on math learning theory, the importance of understanding the rational number domain as a sequential step to the academic gateway of algebra, and the physio-cultural evolution of our number system, arguments and strategies for humanizing rational numbers for students are presented. The author hypothesizes that a dual pronged approach of 1) increasing students' sense of agency and belonging in the math classroom by offering students a way to recognize themselves as successive participants in the global journey of math, and 2) providing base-10 contextualized algorithmic lessons that demystify common operational stumbling blocks within the rational number domain, holds the potential to appease both sides of the math education debate (accessibility vs. rigor) and increase students' math achievement by laying the groundwork for their further studies in STEM fields.
The advent of generative AI has revolutionized higher education, presenting opportunities and challenges, both of which require educators to not only embrace artificial intelligence as a pedagogical tool, but also to develop strategies and modify traditional assessment methods to mitigate AI-assisted plagiarism thereby ensuring ongoing academic integrity. This paper evaluates the impact of ChatGPT on traditional methods of assessment in higher education and makes practical recommendations as to how to redesign coursework to mitigate AI-assisted plagiarism today. It argues that artificial intelligence is not an existential threat to higher education, but rather, ought to be understood as a tool to greatly enhance it. It suggests educators embrace AI to develop new pedagogical concepts, utilizing it to create assignments that reduce opportunities for AI-assisted plagiarism. Generative AI not only has the potential to support teaching and learning in the classroom but is also the very tool necessary to help redesign traditional forms of assessment in a post-ChatGPT context. As virtual education grows, ensuring academic integrity will become increasingly important. Educators must harness the advantages of AI by modifying assignments so that they are not only challenging for today’s digitally versed students but are also difficult to plagiarize using AI tools. Overall, the paper advocates for embracing AI in higher education and adapting pedagogical practices to leverage its advantages while also utilizing it to safeguard overall academic integrity. It encourages educators to be at the forefront of AI experimentation and research to harness the potential of AI in transforming the learning environment.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which took place in early 2020, had a huge impact on online learning throughout the world. In Malaysia, all the students from the primary level to the postgraduate level had to cope with emergency remote lessons (ERL), where it was a necessity for students to equip themselves with digital devices such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and other relevant gadgets with sufficient internet connection for their education. However, as Malaysia entered an endemic phase in April 2022, online learning remains relevant in higher education institutions, as COVID-19 redefines teaching and learning in the 21st century. Therefore, the objective of this study is to find out the significant effects of implementing Microsoft Teams, the digital tool in the English language reading and writing skills in two Malaysian private institutions. The study seeks to find out if implementation could enhance their classroom participation and involvement in these areas during the endemic phase using the individual action research method. During the Covid-19 period, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Segi University used Microsoft Teams as the secondary digital tool to post announcements, class activities and as an additional discussion platform for communication and feedback besides the primary Learning Management System (LMS) set by the university. During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and online learning with digital tools and devices showed positive outcomes. Future activities should incorporate technology, such as mobile phones, to enhance students' learning abilities, particularly in teaching writing.
Globally, there is considerable investment in education technologies leading to increased attention from stakeholders (Trucano, 2017). For a deeper understanding about the implementation of various technologies, research is needed to examine how teachers are incorporating them in teaching and learning. This study focused on eight countries to examine how teachers used ICT in mathematics instruction and factors that contributed to ICT use. Results show that teachers’ education levels and cooperation amongst educators are associated with ICT use in instruction. The paper includes recommendations and implications for practice and future research.
Postdigital education has become a major subject receiving attention and consideration from various perspectives. For instance, there are crucial issues revolving around the meaning of “postdigital” in the context of education with regard to its implications for educational research and practice and its impact on the learning spaces of higher education, among other issues. However, the focus has been on education in general without any specific focus on rural higher education. Thus, the need to consider rural higher education in the era of postdigital education is pivotal, especially considering its peculiar nature. Hence, this study explores the transformation of rural higher education to fit into the postdigital era through the use of a review method. Relevant literature was reviewed from which themes were generated in the presentation of findings. The findings of the study show, among others, that there are misconceptions regarding the postdigital era and postdigital education—technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces. However, the study also showed that, for rural higher education in the postdigital era, hybridity is pivotal. The study recommends, among other things, that policies promoting hybridity and discouraging the notion of technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces should be made and implemented.
Covid-19 has affected the world, and its impact is not limited to medical and health aspects. It has also affected social, educational, business, economic, and work environments. The spread of the virus has forced most companies to implement work-from-home (WFH) policies to reduce the mobility of employees and curb the virus's spread, despite potential adverse effects on employees' productivity and performance. This research aims to rank the criteria for improving employees' productivity during WFH using the Fuzzy- method. Four criteria and eight sub-criteria were identified to promote employees' productivity. The four main criteria are Income, Work Schedule, Work Environment, and Work Partner. Data processing results show that these criteria rank from top to bottom as follows: Work Schedule, Work Environment, Work Partner, and Income. We hope that the rankings observed in this research will help managers set policies to increase their employees' productivity when working from home.
In this paper, I shall shortly investigate if some kind of guiding principle, general message, or fascinating buzzword can manifest in philosophy or pedagogy (in their theory and practice). The question which I am interested in is whether the pedagogical and philosophical aspects can meet in education. To put it more specifically: whether a spirited and noble buzzword exists or not. It is obvious that goodness is not universal and obligatory; one “only” has to strive for it. This article claims that the cultures of philosophy and pedagogy can do a lot for the formation and practice of independent and critical thinking and the virtue of goodness. Critical thinking requires the bravery of the intellect; goodness necessitates the decency, the nobleness of the heart and the catchword of philosophy and pedagogy soul. One has to learn and understand both of these catchwords.
The systems of education in the world have adopted many philosophies of education that are either skewed toward change or committed to conservancy. African philosophy and African philosophy of education form an activity and a process which is context-sensitive, whereby the relativity factor defines the peculiarity of thinking about education. However, alien philosophies have permeated the systems of education in Africa. The fulcrum of this treatise is to initiate thought which is necessary to avert this contemporary situation facing education theory, policy, and practice in Africa by interleaving African ontology and epistemology to augment the systems of education. Additionally, this treatise brings to the frontline the essence of African thought in education. This treatise underlines that education that teaches the learner about learning is insufficient, because the focal point of such education is to draw its attention only to the essentials for the longevity of an alienated pedagogy itself as well as to perpetuate the supremacy of foreign influence.
Gaming has become increasingly popular in the past few years, with many games originating in foreign countries bringing unfamiliar terms within them. With their global releases, a game would usually come with localized terms which are sometimes inaccurate and leave the players scratching their heads in confusion. This study examines the acceptability of translation containing fantasy and gaming terms in the translation of "Dungeons and Dragons" and identifies the difficulties which arose from the interpretation of the unfamiliar terms. The study used two theoretical frameworks to answer the research questions; the first one was Cortales’ (2012) translation strategies, and the second was Nababan et al. (2012) acceptability assessment. The strategy employed aimed to observe the subject from several angles. The local translation from the narrator (Dungeon Master) was examined alongside the interpretation and their acceptability. The data was collected in three steps. The first one was recording and observing a session of gameplay of Dungeons and Dragons. The second step was to interview the player discussing their translation strategy as well as the results of their translation. The last step was to hand out a translation acceptability questionnaire to the players which they then filled out. The data collected was analyzed based on the theories and concluded to synthesize the overall research process.
This paper discusses the conception of a joint intercultural students’ research program of one German and two Kyrgyzstani teachers and students from the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg (Germany) and the American University of Central Asia, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). The paper conceptualizes such a research training program and gives reference to qualitative methods teaching in the two corresponding universities. What follows is a description of the chosen research topic: “The 'Intersections' of Gender, Family, and Society in Kyrgyzstan”, and the course program. With different academic cultures concerning research ethics in the Anglo-Saxon and continental European contexts, a challenge for such a program will be addressed. A short review of the research results of the different students’ teams is provided, and the paper is finalized with a self-reflection upon such a joint intercultural undertaking.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Shuya University. For a year, the students had to do all their academic work online, which has turned out to be both intellectual and emotional lockdown for them. Now that the students are back at the campus, there has been a significant fall in the students’ motivation to study and a rise in the withdrawals from the courses. The escape into the Internet and the absence of face-to-face communication with peers and professors have disorientated the students and have had an impact on their academic integrity. Yet, the crisis has showed some positive implications that result from revealing the potential of virtual learning environments with new methods of interactions between students and teachers and changing the overall way of governing the university. The authors present an overview of a few “new-normal” academic trends that emerged after the pandemic outbreak and seem to have set in at the provincial Russian university in the city of Shuya.
The comprehensive practical activity curriculum can be said to be created to cater to children’s curiosity and nature of exploration. Through the creation of problem situations, children are guided not only to explore what the world is, but also to pay close attention to what the world will be and cultivate children’s key competencies in the real process of exploring and experiencing the world by following the behaviors of participation, reflection, service, protection and improvement of the world, such as humanistic connotation and scientific spirit, responsibility consciousness and feelings of family and country.
Teacher education programs and professional learning programs have increasingly offered opportunities for in-service teachers to engage in video analysis using pre-recorded video clips of teachers using instructional strategies. During the COVID-19 lockdown, teachers were only able to access online learning and teaching due to the inability to watch live classrooms in real time. In this thought piece, the authors advocate for the continued and intentional use of video observations of expert or master teachers that promote culturally responsive teaching (CRT). Integration of video observation and debriefs into teacher education programs for both preservice and in-service educators ought to not only demonstrate the application of instructional strategies being taught but would also deliberately showcase diverse master teachers and content areas in an effort to dismantle existing barriers to equitable education. While there is a persistent call for diversifying the teaching workforce, this can only be sustained with authentic and intentional efforts that ensure underrepresented pre-service and in-service teachers are reflected authentically and consistently throughout teacher preparation programs and curriculum.
The conceptions of teaching and learning influence the ways of teaching and learning, and naturally are associated with students’ motivation, self-efficacy, and achievement. Constructive teaching and learning conceptions provide a productive learning environment to train students equipped with 21st-century skills. Therefore, it is still crucial to examine preservice teachers’ conceptions. This study investigates preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning in terms of gender, grade level, and department and reveals the relationship between preservice teachers’ conceptions and academic performance. Data was collected from 513 preservice teachers by using “The Teaching and Learning Conceptions Questionnaire.” Results indicated that female preservice teachers have more constructive beliefs than males. First-grades had the most traditional beliefs than others. Besides, second and third-grade preservice teachers had more constructive beliefs than fourth grades. Regression analysis that was performed to reveal the relationship between conceptions and academic achievement showed that PSTs’ constructive conceptions increase their academic performance while traditional conceptions decrease.
This essay explores the broader implications for education of the Covid-19 pandemic. It asks: What can Covid teach us? The case is made that Covid is inviting us to consider a relational universe, and what a pedagogy of presence would look like. It takes a futures perspective and is therefore, unabashedly speculative. It draws on the author's many years as both a teacher and as a university lecturer in cultural change and futures studies. The essay speaks to the pedagogical imagination as a tool for rethinking learning and our collective futures. The paper concludes that love, intimacy, and presence are very much part of educational and cultural discourses and that though currently eclipsed by a technocratic and neoliberal discourse, they are being called forth as a possible response to the Covid pandemic.
