INTERRELATIONSHIP AMONG STUDENTS’ ICT USAGE, ATTITUDE, AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN NORDIC COUNTRIES: MULTILEVEL STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING ON PISA 2018 AND TIMSS 2019

The usage of digital devices has been an interest in the field of education as one of the useful instructional methods for students’ better learning. Although the usage seemed to be related to their academic performance (e.g., Pekto et al., 2017; Skryabin et al., 2015), it was still unclear if the usage itself directly affected better academic results. Therefore, this dissertation explored an interrelationship between students’ usage of digital devices and academic performance with a mediation effect of their attitude toward using digital devices. The study analyzed the datasets of five Nordic countries collected from PISA 2018 and TIMSS 2019, where digital devices have been integrated into a part of their educational curricula (Godhe, 2019). A multilevel mediation analysis in the context of multilevel structural equation modeling with demographic control variables was applied to reflect the hierarchical structure of international assessments (i.e., students clustered into schools). The analysis figured out several findings. First, students’ frequent usage of digital devices was associated with their interest in using digital devices (i.e., ICT Interest) and willingness to use them actively to solve problems (i.e., ICT Autonomy), influencing their performances on the two international assessments. Second, there were differences among the variables of interest, depending on their demographic information. Finally, the direction of interrelationship tended to show different patterns across PISA 2018 and TIMSS 2019. Based on the findings, this dissertation expects to contribute to future educational policies regarding the integration of digital devices into education. For example, it would be necessary to find ways to improve students’ interest or autonomous behaviors when they are involved in activities that accompany digital devices

ImpacT2 project: preliminary study 1: establishing the relationship between networked technology and attainment

This report explored teaching practices, beliefs and teaching styles and their influences on ICT use and implementation by pupils. Additional factors explored included the value of school and LEA policies and teacher competence in the use of ICT in classroom settings. ImpaCT2 was a major longitudinal study (1999-2002) involving 60 schools in England, its aims were to: identify the impact of networked technologies on the school and out-of-school environment; determine whether or not this impact affected the educational attainment of pupils aged 816 years (at Key Stages 2, 3, and 4); and provide information that would assist in the formation of national, local and school policies on the deployment of IC

Digitized Local Folklores in EFL Reading Classroom

This study aimed at reporting the implementation of the use of digitized local folklores to empower reading comprehension skills of junior high school students. This classroom action study was applied to a number of grade VII junior high school students. It engaged two stories about Palembang City - the Origin of Musi River and the History of Ikan Belido (Chitala Lopis). Both stories were “packaged” digitally by the use of video, and extended with guided ICT based post-reading activities. Video as one medium of the learning activities could confidently intensify students’ interest in learning due to the fact that most students tend to be more visualized. The result revealed that the use of this digitized media positively enhanced the students on the extent of the pleasure, imaginative visual learning aids, and the involvement and touched upon cultural aspects of the students

Expanding Access and Increasing Student Learning in Post-Primary Education in Developing Countries: A Review of the Evidence

Effective, evidence-based policies on post-primary education are of vital importance as many developing countries start to the see a bulge in secondary and postsecondary enrollment, the product of the achievement of near-universal access to primary school. Finding ways to deliver and promote access to high-quality post-primary education, and to ensure that education is relevant to labor market needs, is one of the great challenges of our times. This must be accomplished in countries where governments face severe budget constraints and many, of not most, parents are too poor to cover the costs out of pocket.International reports such as "A Global Compact on Learning", by the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, emphasize providing opportunities for post-primary education as a first-tier policy challenge. In addition, there has been considerably less progress in gender parity at the secondary level. Meeting these challenges will require a combination of using existing resources more effectively -- which requires both understanding which inputs are key and which are not -- and a range of innovations that may fundamentally alter the current methods of instruction. To that end, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has launched a Post-Primary Education Initiative intended to promote policy-relevant research on secondary and post-secondary education in developing countries, which together will be referred to as post-primary education. This paper is a first step in that process. It reviews the evidence to date on post-primary education and highlight the gaps in the literature, with a focus on identifying policies that should be given the highest priority for future researchDifferent countries define primary and secondary schooling differently, and in many countries students attend middle schools, upper primary schools, or junior secondary schools before attending secondary school. For the purpose of this review, "post-primary education" includes everything from upper primary, middle, or junior secondary school through tertiary education, as defined by the local context in different countries, including vocational school and other alternative tracks for this age group. In practice, this means that in the research reviewed, the majority of children are in 5th grade (i.e. 10-11 years old) and older.The review is organized as follows. Section II provides some background on postprimary education in the developing world. Section III explains how papers were selected for this review. Section IV presents a conceptual framework for thinking about postprimary education (PPE), including a brief discussion of measuring outcomes. Section V reviews the evidence pertaining to the demand for schooling (the impact of policies that attempt to increase the willingness of households to send their children to school), and Section VI reviews the evidence on the supply of schooling (the impact of policies that change school and teacher characteristics, and more generally how schools are organized). A final section summarizes the findings, highlighting several research gaps that should receive high priority in future research

DETERMINANTS OF TEACHERS’USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES IN TEACHING PRE-PRIMARY SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES IN MACHAKOS COUNTY, KENYA

This study sought to find out the determinants of pre-primary school teachers’ use of instructional resources in teaching science and mathematics activities. Its effects in learning achievement which has led to poor performance in science and mathematics activities the current study sought to establish the extent of teachers’ use of instructional resources in teaching pre-primary science and mathematics activities in Athi-River Sub County of Machakos County, Kenya.The study also found out the influence of teachers’ training level, gender, attitude and motivation on the use of instructional resources in teaching science and mathematics in pre-primary schools. This study employed Bruner’s learning theory (1966), which was on the determinants of pre-primary teachers’ use of instructional resource. The study targeted 40 pre-primary head teachers, 600 pre-primary teachers and 1800 pre-primary children in Athi-River Sub-County, Machakos County. Athi-River Sub-County was sub-divided to 5 bases and stratified sampling technique was used to select 6 pre-schools from each base translating to a total of 30 pre-schools. Random sampling was used to select 6 pupils from each of the sampled schools for focused study giving a sample size of 1800 pupils. Purposive sampling was also used to select 2 teachers for science and mathematics activities from each of the sampled schools. All head teachers from all the 30 sampled schools were selected leading to a sample of 30 head teachers. A sample size of 270 respondents including 60 teachers, 30 head teachers and 180 pupils) was used in the study. Questionnaires and oral-interviews were used to collect data. Validity of the instruments was determined through examining of the items using face validity. A. Pilot test of the research instruments was done in two schools in the neighboring sub county. Quantitative data was generated from the close-ended items from the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data such as frequency; standard deviation and mean data analysis was analyzed according. The data was presented in tables. Qualitative data produced from the questionnaire, interview schedules, focused group discussion, as well as data obtained through the observation checklists was analyzed with regards to relevant themes and discussed in line with the research objectives. The study found out that pre-primary teachers with higher training qualifications were more likely to use instructional resources in teaching science and mathematical activities than their counterparts with less or no training. Male teachers were found to use instructional resources more often in teaching science and mathematics than their female counterparts. Teachers with positive attitude towards science and mathematics were also found to use more instructional resources than teachers with negative attitude. The study recommends that the ministry of education should facilitate pre-primary school teachers to advance their studies through in-service training and that the government of Kenya should motivate pre-primary teachers by paying them reasonable salary. All stakeholders should ensure that instructional resources are made available for better pupil achievement in science and mathematics

Impact of Technology Interventions on Student Achievement in Rural Nigerian Schools

Increasing technology intervention in rural schools is still a herculean task, especially with the lack of adequate infrastructures and limited resources. The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative study was to determine the impact of technology interventions on student achievement in rural Nigerian schools. The study explored the differences in student achievement in mathematics and English between technology and nontechnology schools and established a relationship between teachers\u27 level of technology implementation and student achievement. The convenience sample comprised 2,369 examination scores in mathematics and English of Senior Secondary Level 2 (SS2) students and purposive sampling of 34 teachers who participated in an online survey. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the level of technology implementation (LoTi) framework, and Pearson\u27s correlation coefficient test. The results showed significant differences in student achievement between technology and nontechnology schools. However, the LoTi framework results indicated a low level of technology implementation in classroom instruction and no significant relationship between teachers\u27 technology integration and student performance. Thus, the mere presence of technology seems to have more impact on student grades than the ways in which teachers use it. This study is resource material for stakeholders in education to ascertain the technology that worked best, teachers\u27 professional development, and other infrastructures, prior to the deployment of technology interventions. The results could be useful for increasing teachers\u27 technology integration and improving student performance, thereby leading to positive social change

Students’ Perception of Vodcast and Podcast as Instructional Material

The study was conducted to examine students’ perception of vodcast and podcast as instructional material. The study employed a survey research design. The total sample size for the study was two hundred and twenty-five (225) respondents. Data was analyzed and presented using mean statistic and standard deviation. Hypothesis for the study was analyzed using t-test with a p≤0.05 level of significance. Students in the study to a low extent (=1.97) agreed that vodcast and podcast increase productivity, promote creativity and facilitate academic learning. Respondents are of the view that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka postgraduate program is not yet advanced enough to use vodcast and podcast technologies for teaching students (=2.88). Unavailability of technologies had a significant influence on barriers that hinder students from using vodcast and podcast. Based on the findings and conclusion, it is recommended among others, that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka organize a capacity building workshop hinged on the use of top-notch technology for 21st century education; that departments in the university should motivate lecturers to employ technological tools in teaching through incentives as these will encourage every lecturer to key into the move

EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE 8TH GRADE NAEP MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT

The purpose of this study was to examine if teachers’ participation in the educational technology professional development was a significant predictor in the 8th grade students’ mathematics achievement on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This non-experimental study analyzed selected variables from the 2013 NAEP 8th grade mathematics restricted dataset. The study considered students’ socio-economic status (SES), gender, race/ethnicity, teachers’ educational technology professional development, tenure-certification, and professional development on mathematic peer collaboration. Factors were created in principal component analysis with promax rotation method. The researcher has also used hierarchical regression analysis to explain how much of student achievement can be predicted through the independent variables. The study was guided by the amalgamation of two theoretical framework with Bandura’s self-efficacy (2013): Schulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) from 1987 and Mishra and Koehler’s Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) from 2006. The researcher used multiple regression analysis and hierarchical regression to assess the effects of SES, gender, race/ethnicity teachers’ educational technology professional development, tenure-certification, and professional development on mathematic peer collaboration with mathematics achievement serving as the dependent variable. In the initial step of the regression analysis, SES was considered as independent variable. In the following step, the students’ gender was included as an additional variable. This permitted the researcher to identify the influence of the students’ gender on the amount of explained variance. In the next step, the factor of educational technology professional development along with other factors were added to the analysis. The researcher was able to isolate the effect of the factor the amount of variance explained by repeating the process and filtering it for each of the race/ethnic subgroups reported in the NAEP. All these factors were then analyzed in hierarchical regression with mathematics achievement as the dependent variable to check the level predictability by each independent variable. Teachers should possess the necessary skills, including proficiency in technology, to develop lessons that effectively incorporate technology in instructional practices. The present study adds to the existing research that highlights the significance of technology-focused professional development for educators