Rapid migration from traditional or hybrid to fully virtual education in the age of the coronavirus pandemic: challenges, experiences and views of college and university students

The abrupt outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the world in March 2020 resulted in the sudden closure of all schools, colleges and universities, institutions, and an unprecedented pivot to remote learning. Students and teachers were confronted with the overwhelming challenge of migrating from the traditional face-to-face or hybrid mode of education to fully virtual learning and assessment environments within an extremely short amount of time. This migration was exceptionally difficult, as it took place halfway through the academic or school year in most countries. While pandemic restrictions currently vary across different regions, the 2020-2021 academic session continues to pose challenges despite the experience gained. In addition to a review of the current state-of-the-art in relation to the effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning, this paper reports on an empirical study carried out in 26 countries (from Asia, Europe, Africa and America), by 36 academics from 29 academic institutions. Through an extensive global survey of college and university students, information was collected about the challenges (technological, economic, psychological) faced by them, as a result of the pandemic. We also asked the students’ to offer their ideas and suggestions for further improvements in teaching and learning, as we look toward a post-COVID world. In this paper, we address issues relating to the availability of, and accessibility to, necessary digital technologies (e.g., learning and communication platforms), isolation, disconnection, and loneliness among students, the overall impact of the pandemic on learning and academic performance, and the reliability of assessment methods., cybercrime dangers and fake information. A total of 1005 responses to the survey were received and analysed. The results are presented in this paper together with reflections of the authors. The paper concludes with a summary of suggestions for process improvements in distance education, and the need for preventive preparedness in the post-COVID period

Variation in the Vowel System of Mišótika Cappadocian: Findings from Two Refugee Villages in Greec

This paper discusses changes in the vowel system of contemporary Mišótika, the Cappadocian variety originally spoken in Misti. We compare the speech of native speakers from two Cappadocian refugee communities and analyse the differences between the two, taking into consideration mechanisms of language contact and linguistic change, and also the social parameters that influence the dialectal system. The study is based on recordings of native speakers of Mišótika who live in two different villages, one in the prefecture of Kilkis (Neo Agioneri), and the other in Thessaloniki (Xirohori). Although these villages are very close to one another, they present two major differences. Neo Agioneri is a homogeneous village, whereas Xirohori is a mixed village, since not only Cappadocians but also other Greek-dialect speakers live there. 78 Another distinguishing characteristic between the two villages is the attitude of the inhabitants towards Mišótika. It seems that speakers from Neo Agioneri are more receptive to the use of the dialect. The inhabitants from Xirohori, by contrast, present a different attitude, reflecting the consequences of social stigmatization and linguistic attrition that their dialect has undergone after the population exchange of the 1920s. To conclude, the current vowel system of Mišótika seems to diverge significantly from the older one described by Dawkins (1916). At the same time, the preliminary findings of our research indicate that there are also differences in the phonological status of the vowels between speakers of the same linguistic system. Dawkins, R. M. 1916. Modern Greek in Asia Minor: a Study of the Dialects of Sílli, Cappadocia and Phárasa with Grammar, Texts, Translations and Glossary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Proceedings of Abstracts 12th International Conference on Air Quality Science and Application

© 2020 The Author(s). This an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Final Published versio

Музикологија / Musicology (36 I/2024)

Настављајући да доприноси актуелним истраживачким токовима у наукама о музици, часопис Музикологија пажњу овогодишњих бројева усмерава на студије музике и културне трауме. Главна тематска рубрика броја 36 обихвата испитивања традиционалне, уметничке и филмске музике и трауматских искустава у различитим локалним контекстима, уводиећи у фокус питања избеглиштва и дијаспоре, ратних разарања и послератних одговорности, репресије и цензуре, као и теоријска и практична разматрања комбинована са студијама сећања, пост-сећања идентитетских политика и балканизма. Рубрика "Varia"доноси разноврсне радове, од анализе погребних тужбалица словачке националне мањине у Србији, преко текста о византијским кратимама инспирисаним певањем птица, до студије о католичкој музици током Другог ватиканског концила и прегледа звучних снимака традиционалног српског црквеног појања, који се чувају у Музиколошком институту САНУ.The journal Muzikologija-Musicology focuses this year’s issues on studies of music and cultural trauma, thus continuing to contribute to current research streams in the science of music. The Main Theme of issue 36 includes examinations of traditional, art and film music and traumatic experiences in different local contexts, bringing into focus issues of refugee and diaspora, war destruction and post-war responsibilities, repression and censorship, as well as theoretical and practical considerations combined with memory studies, post-memory, identity politics and Balkanism. The "Varia" section comprises diverse articles, ranging from the analysis of the funeral laments of the Slovak national minority in Serbia, through the study of Byzantine kratēmata inspired by birdsongs, the research on the status of the Roman Catholic liturgical music during the Second Vatican Council, to the discussion od audio recordings of traditional Serbian church chant preserved at the Phonoarchive of the Institute of Musicology SASA

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE BALKANS - from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management

The current volume reproduces papers presented in the Workshop which was organized in Athens, in February 2010 by the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the Faculty of Public Administration – National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA), Bucharest. The workshop entitled “Public Administration in the Balkans – from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management†has aimed to reveal relevant aspects on the developments of national public administrations in some Balkan states related to the traditional or actual models of the administrative organization. The organizers have proposed to approach theoretical and practical aspects focusing on Weberian bureaucracy and New Public Management (NPM). In this context, the general framework of debates was based both on specificity of public administration in the Balkan states and the European integration process, particularly the enlargement of the European Administrative Space to the Balkan area. As shown by a profound analysis in the papers, the characteristics of the public administrations are moreover diverse and get closer to the developments of the public administrations in Europe, such as the Mediterranean ones (Greece, Cyprus etc.) or those of the states in transition (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia etc.). The interactions with different intensities between Weberianism and New Public Management emphasise, generally, the characteristics of “a new Weberian state†(NWS) for the Balkan states (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Meneguzzo et al, 2010), revealing a higher NPM impact (Cyprus, Greece, Croatia etc.) or a lower one (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia etc.). NWS represents a metaphor describing a model that co-opts the passive elements of NPM, but on a Weberian foundation (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Brown, 1978). The fact that the Balkan states belong more or less explicit to NWS triggers their position in post-NPM era, thus the state remaining an important actor, able to facilitate the public-private dialogue and to sustain the processes for enhancing the effectiveness of public services and administration. The public administration reforms in the Balkan states have targeted one or several European models of national administrations. Even if the concepts on reform comprise visible differences, the tradition, geo-political specificity, human and material resources have determined similarities and common characteristics, which could be emphasized in the development and actual status of administration in the Balkan states. At the same time, the administrative reforms have already introduced elements that enable the administrations in the Balkan states to get closer to the features of “public governanceâ€. Herewith we refer mainly to participating in decision-making, introducing the elements of “neo-corporatism†governance etc. The capacity of adaptation and openness represent a valuable feature of the Balkan administrations, most of them holding systemic connections of low intensity, thus being far away from what we call “strong administrationâ€, found especially in the European developed states. Recent studies support the above ideas, referring to “main drivers of public administration modernizationâ€, placing most Balkan states in the “very low†or “medium†area (Demmke et al., 2006). When referring to open government or ethics, the same studies place the Balkan states under the heading “very high influenceâ€. Based on the above assertions, the papers emphasize concrete issues that could be synthesized in some large categories: - Balkan public administrations between tradition and modernity; - National experiences on the impact of the administrative reforms in Balkan states; - Myth or reality in considering “a Balkan model of public administrationâ€; - Administrative convergence and dynamics as support of the evolution towards a certain model; - Assessing relevant case studies on enforcing NPM in local governance. It is also worth to mention that the approach of the participants in the workshop has been marked by the institutional innovations and trends in European governance, the debates concerning the model and characteristics of the European administration etc. The workshop was organized within the framework of Jean Monnet project “South-Eastern European developments on the administrative convergence and enlargement of the European Administrative Space in Balkan states†with the financial support of the European Community.public administration, balkans, bureaucracy, New Public Management, South-Eastern European Administrative Space

Open Access Publishing and Scholarly Communication Among Greek Biomedical Scientists

urpose: The purpose of this research is to study in what ways the open access publishing can improve the scholarly communtication among biomedical sciences in Greece over a period of about five years and provide new roles for health librarians to support open access.\ud Methods: The implementation of Critical Realism as research philosophy allowed the multi-level analysis of the research object; a mixture of research tools were used. Supplementary research methods were adopted to provide more accurate and reliable conclusions. The Literature review contributed to the identification of the open access publishing context and the relations which were forming and re-forming in it. Additionally, similar studies were found and the research gaps were identified as well. Bibliometrics demonstrated the participation of Greek scientists in world research could be evaluated. The research was conducted in five world databases (PUBMED, SCI, BIOMED CENTRAL, DOAJ, GOOGLE) for two different periods (2006-2007 and 2011). Publishers? aggrements provided information about the role of Greek biomedical publishers to the awareness of Greek biomedical scientists on journal related issues such as copyright. Additionally, and journal cost analysis presented publishers? subscription and open access policies and provided an approach of the costs requested for the access to journals. Web 2.0 offers new scholarly communication channels that seem to be cheaper and effective ones. The participation of Greek biomedical scientists in social networks such as ResearchGate, LinkedIn was analysed to evaluate the trends towards these new information sources. Case study methodology provided the qualitative and quantitative tools to explain the attitudes and awareness of Greek biomedical stakeholders about open access publishing and open access biomedical journals and also helped to the longitudinal study of the changes. A questionnaire survey among biomedical scientists took place in three phases (2007-early in 2010, September 2010 to May 2011). In addition, Greek biomedical publishers were interviewed in January and February 2010 .\ud Findings: The bibliometric findings indicated an increasing participation of Greek scientists and Greek biomedical journals in world research. Greek biomedical scientists also use social networking as a means of scholarly communication. The questionnaire surveys showed that the physicians are the most active researchers and more familiar with the open access publishing concept. However, across all the phases the majority of Greek biomedical scientists seem to be unaware of aspects of publishing in open access journals, although by the third phase more participants seem to be aware. Greek biomedical publishers seem to approve the deposit in repositories, and the self-archiving process under specific terms, because, the publishers? agreements analysis demonstrated, the publishers want to be the copyright holders and information about authors? rights is omitted. Biomedical scientists are confused over copyright. As far as cost analyses are concerned, the journal prices depend on the publisher (commercial or scientific) and the subscriber (the institutional prices are higher than individual ones). The findngs were interpreted according to Roger?s diffusion of innovations theory and Lewin?s force field analysis.\ud Conclusions: Open access seems to be acceptable in Greece but the stakeholders, including libraries, need to co-operate more. Greek academic biomedical libraries can actively reinforce the driving forces and reduce the restraining forces (around copyright, mainly) (Lewin?s Force Field Analysis) in order to move into the ?refreeze stage?. However, institutional repositories do seem to be an innovation that (according to Rogers? theory) will take time to develop