39 research outputs found

    Changes in Cost Incurred by Indonesian Teachers for Online Training during Covid-19 Pandemic

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    Due to Covid-19 transmission, the educational facilities in Indonesia were closed and teachers had to work from home (WFH). It caused face-to-face learning turn into online learning and online training. This study aimed to identify costs incurred by Indonesian teachers for online training during the Covid-19 pandemic. Data collection was carried out by distributing online questionnaires in Google forms to all teachers participating in the online training. Incoming responses were analyzed using SPSS version 26. The results explained that by having self- isolation at home, teachers used their free time to attend online learning. However, they had to pay extra to buy good internet services to properly attend the training. Before the Covid-19 transmission period, the highest internet cost per month was IDR 0-100,000. While during the Covid-19 pandemic, the highest internet expense per month was IDR 100,000-200,000. It was described by the number of respondents who reached 306 respondents (33.85%)

    TRAINING OF FACULTY FOR WORK IN ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT

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    Helping the improvement of digital competences and more widespread usage of technologies in education are prioritized aims of European commission for 2018 as well. Each next action in support of improvement of those skills would improve the academic teaching and the quality of educational services. This article presents the organization of the conducted training with teachers about working with electronical resources for education in Medical University `Prof. Dr Paraskev Stoyanov` - Varna. The trainings were with intention to increase the knowledge of academic teachers about functional opportunities in the platform `Blackboard Learn+` for the purposes of electronical teaching and her more profound usage like helpful technology in education

    University Virtual Learning in Covid Times

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    Online training is demanded in the ubiquitous society we live in, and this is especially true if we consider the current situation at universities due to the Government issuing a state of alarm decree which requests all citizens to remain at home. The goal of this study is to determine the opinion of university students from different Spanish campuses on e-learning platforms, by the means of a descriptive and correlational study design, with N = 431. The results reveal that there is still a long road ahead to ensure that these tools work optimally to enable professors to fully exert their teaching profession. We can conclude that the online teaching system needs to be improved regarding the technical service that the university offers

    Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times

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    This book is a reprint of papers in the Special Issue published in Education Sciences under the title "Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times: COVID-19 Stories". It includes papers covering Higher Education (post-secondary) sector representing international experience of teaching and learning from the start of the first episode of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic

    Residential Faculty Members’ Differential Use of Blackboard Tools: A Case Study

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    The purpose of this single instrumental case study was to understand the differential use of Blackboard tools for residential faculty members at a large private nonprofit university in the Southeastern part of the United States. The differential use of Blackboard tools was generally defined as the tendency of residential faculty members in universities to use certain Blackboard tools over others available to them. The theory that guided this study was the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis (2003) as it explained factors influencing faculty members’ use of Blackboard tools. The central research question for this study was: Why do residential faculty members select certain Blackboard tools to integrate into their courses more than others? Participants were residential faculty members, information technology administrators and designers, and faculty support coordinators drawn from a large private nonprofit university in the Southeastern part of the United States. Data was collected using interviews, focus groups, and document analysis. Data were analyzed both manually and using NVivo computer software to find codes and themes that explained the causes of the phenomenon. The key themes answering the central question of this study are time, Blackboard, requirements, social support, and fear. Sub-question one was answered by Blackboard and motivation themes. Social support, technical team and support, and requirements are addressed in the second sub-question. The third sub-question was answered by the following themes: Blackboard, requirements, and technical team and support. Theoretical, empirical, and practical implications and recommendations are offered

    Pervasive learning analytics for fostering learners' self-regulation

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    Today's tertiary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in Europe poses problems to both teachers and students. With growing enrolment numbers, and numbers of teaching staff that are outmatched by this growth, student-teacher contact becomes more and more difficult to provide. Therefore, students are required to quickly adopt self-regulated and autonomous learning styles when entering European universities. Furthermore, teachers are required to divide their attention between large numbers of students. As a consequence, classical teaching formats of STEM education which often encompass experimentation or active exploration, become harder to implement. Educational software holds the promise of easing these problems, or, if not fully solving, at least of making them less acute: Learning Analytics generated by such software can foster self-regulation by providing students with both formative feedback and assessments. Educational software, in form of collaborative social media, makes it easier for teachers to collaborate, allows to reduce their workload and enables learning and teaching formats otherwise infeasible in large classes. The contribution of this thesis is threefold: Firstly, it reports on a social medium for tertiary STEM education called "Backstage2 / Projects" aimed specifically at these points: Improving learners' self-regulation by providing pervasive Learning Analytics, fostering teacher collaboration so as to reduce their workload, and providing means to deploy a variety of classical and novel learning and teaching formats in large classes. Secondly, it reports on several case studies conducted with that medium which point at the effectiveness of the medium and its provided Learning Analytics to increase learners' self-regulation, reduce teachers' workload, and improve how students learn. Thirdly, this thesis reports on findings from Learning Analytics which could be used in the future in designing further teaching and learning formats or case studies, yielding a rich perspective for future research and indications for improving tertiary STEM education

    An Investigation of the Effect of Selected Policy Elements on the Function of Faculty in an Online Learning Environment

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    This study examined the perceptions of online teaching faculty and the workload policies which do not often account for the differences in requirements for online teaching including time commitments, professional development and training, technology access and support, and quality standards for course development and teaching. Full-time and adjunct faculty assigned to teach at least one fully online course within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) were included in the study and surveyed electronically. The survey addressed common differences for online teaching and allowed respondents (N = 509) to provide additional comments for each section. While improvements to online course quality and quality assurance efforts have occurred and were noted from respondents, findings suggest challenges for online teaching faculty included the time to design and deliver, interact with students, and manage large enrollment capacities in online courses. Administrative policy and procedure recommendations have been created as a result of the study findings

    Information and Communications Technology Integration in Bahamian Public High School Biology Classrooms

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    More research on information and communications technology (ICT) use for teaching and learning is needed, particularly since the almost global transition from traditional face-to-face to virtual classrooms forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem addressed in this current qualitative project study was the reported challenges experienced by teachers integrating ICT into the delivery of the biology curriculum in Bahamian public high school classrooms. The purpose of the study was to explore the biology teachers’ ICT integration into their virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was grounded in the technological pedagogical and content knowledge conceptual framework. Three research questions focused on the teachers’ decisions to use ICT in their biology classrooms, their challenges with ICT integration and their mitigation of challenges, and their needs for improving ICT use. A purposeful sampling procedure yielded eight participants, and data were collected using semistructured virtual interviews on Zoom. Coding analysis of interview data revealed several emergent themes and four key findings: (a) ICT selection hinged on logistics and teachers’ technological and pedagogical knowledge; (b) teachers experienced infrastructural, technical, and pedagogical challenges but found solutions; (c) the ICT integration was valuable; and, (d) teachers wanted to improve their ICT use to enhance their teaching and students’ learning in remote classrooms. A position paper was developed to be a positive social change catalyst by informing local education policymakers and stakeholders about biology teachers’ suggestions for needed modifications to better support teachers in remote instructional delivery

    Integrating Technology, Curriculum, and Online Resources: A Multilevel Model Study of Impacts on Science Teachers and Students

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    This scale-up study investigated the impact of a teacher technology tool (Curriculum Customization Service, CCS), curriculum, and online resources on earth science teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices and on students’ achievement and engagement with science learning. Participants included 73 teachers and over 2,000 ninth-grade students within five public school districts in the western U.S. To assess the impact on teachers, changes between pre- and postsurveys were examined. Results suggest that the CCS tool appeared to significantly increase both teachers’ awareness of other earth science teachers’ practices and teachers’ frequency of using interactive resources in their lesson planning and classroom teaching. A standard multiple regression model was developed. In addition to “District,” “Training condition”(whether or not teachers received CCS training) appeared to predict teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Teachers who received CCS training tended to have lower postsurvey scores than their peers who had no CCS training. Overall, usage of the CCS tool tended to be low, and there were differences among school districts. To assess the impact on students, changes were examined between pre- and postsurveys of (1) knowledge assessment and (2) students’ engagement with science learning. Students showed pre- to postsurvey improvements in knowledge assessment, with small to medium effect sizes. A nesting effect (students clustered within teachers) in the Earth’s Dynamic Geosphere (EDG) knowledge assessment was identified and addressed by fitting a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM). In addition, significant school district differences existed for student post-knowledge assessment scores. On the student engagement questionnaire, students tended to be neutral or to slightly disagree that science learning was important in terms of using science in daily life, stimulating their thinking, discovering science concepts, and satisfying their own curiosity. Students did not appear to change their self-reported engagement level after the intervention. Additionally, three multiple regression models were developed. Factors from the district, teacher, and student levels were identified to predict student post-knowledge assessments and their engagement with science learning. The results provide information to both the research community and practitioners

    Virtual Provision for Gifted Secondary School Students: Keeping the Best and Brightest in the Bush

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    This evaluative research, using a mixed methods case study approach with triangulated design, investigated the perceived value of a virtual academically selective secondary school provision for Years 7–10 (age 12–16 years) that operated in Western NSW Region from 2010 until 2014. Students replaced regular curriculum study in the areas of English, mathematics and science at their local stategovernment- funded bricks-and-mortar school, with study that was conducted online with a cohort of academically gifted students from across similar schools in Western NSW Region. Perceived value by students and staff in the virtual provision as well as perceived value by parents and local state-government-funded secondary school Principals was positive, with students reporting a strong sense of belonging to the gifted cohort as well as their local school cohort, an improved skill-set to meet 21stcentury learning requirements and the capacity to harness their full potential through development of enabling skills such as organisation and study skills. Academic achievement of the virtual provision cohort in national or state-wide standardised tests matched those of metropolitan selective secondary school counterparts in literacy, numeracy and science understanding. All stakeholders agreed that the virtual provision did not suit all gifted learners, only those who were autonomous learners or were motivated to learn in a lightly supervised environment and who held a positive academic self-concept and as such were comfortable not being first in their class all the time. Some students found the challenge of many academically-able peers overwhelming as they had been the outstanding pupil all their school life. Unexpected benefits reported by parents of the students in the cohort included their choice to stay in employment in the regional, rural or remote areas, or to delay or abandon their plans to send their child to a metropolitan boarding school as their gifted childʼs learning needs were being met by the virtual provision. This decision added to the social fabric of the rural communities and their local school. Teachers in the virtual provision reported being re-invigorated in their career by having a virtual staffroom of like-minded peers who embraced challenge, were curriculum specialists in their area and endorsed technology-enhanced learning. This research contributes to the growing field of knowledge about the suitability of virtual school provisions for gifted secondary school students in rural, regional and remote settings. Keeping the best and brightest students and teachers in the , along with their families, is essential to ensuring dynamic and vibrant rural, regional and remote communities
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