The Assesment of Emotions in Music Rhythm Training with Computers at Three Chilean Music Education Institutions

The primary aim of this work is to investigate the 'emotional dimension' as a criterion for evaluating an educational music software called Tactus. In order to collect data, two training sessions were carried out with volunteer students (N=45) in specialized music education at three Chilean institutions. After, an evaluation was carried out using an assessment instrument, which was devised to determine the emotions, both positive and negative, which come into play when a student uses Tactus, and thereby measure the emotional dimension to determine the quality of the program in the affective domain. This instrument, a checklist of positive and negative emotions, was completed as part of a student/user report, included in a more global evaluation questionnaire completed at the end of the two weeklong training sessions with Tactus. The positive results confirm previous, other traditional assessments that describe Tactus as a useful support tool for teaching rhythm in educational environments. The results of this study also suggest that that evaluation of the emotional dimension may be useful in the general scope of the evaluation of educational software

'Connecting Communities': Evaluation of a Pilot Project aimed at promoting digital inclusion in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

This report is a final evaluation of the ‘Connecting Communities’ Project launched in June 2020. The project provides a model for addressing digital exclusion in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, through a digital UBS pilot with the provision of a free broadband connection, digital skills training, and a Google Chromebook. Digital inclusion is a pillar of livelihood security. The Institute for Global Prosperity defines livelihood security as an infrastructure of overlapping assets that provide the foundations for prosperous lives and proposes a programme of Universal Basic Services (UBS) as part of its livelihood security framework. UBS is a radical, feasible policy that can secure people’s livelihoods through a shared infrastructure of public goods and services; it works to enhance the capacities and capabilities of citizens and helps to build the resilience necessary to weather social, economic or public health crises (Moore, Snower and Bruni, 2022; Moore and Boothroyd, 2022). The ‘Connecting Communities’ Project is modelled on the IGP’s proposal for a Universal Basic Service for ‘Information’ and provides valuable insight into how this policy might help to address digital exclusion, and broader livelihood security

Development and Use of Social Media-Based Mathematics Instructional Module for Grade 7 Students of Geras Integrated School

The purpose of the study was to develop a Social-Media Based Mathematics Instructional Module (SMBMIM) for the Grade 7 students. Specifically, it answered the questions: 1) what are the desirable characteristics of the module in terms of validity and reliability; 2) what are the pre-delivery appropriateness of the SMBMIM in terms of learning objectives, lesson content, language used, and evaluation activities; and (3) what is the educational use of the SMBMIM in meeting the learning competencies of students in Mathematics as revealed in their Pre-Post-test results? The process of module development was anchored on ADDIE Model by McGriff (2000). The validity of the module was determined using Kappa statistics with Pairwise Agreement, while Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine module’s reliability and pre-delivery appropriateness. In terms of educational use, the learning gains of students measured in terms of Pretest and Posttest scores for every learning competency was used as indicator for the variable module use. As for the validity and reliability of the SMBMIM an inter-rater fair agreement  and an alpha value of (  described as acceptable and very highly reliable respectively were obtained, while the pre-delivery appropriateness of the SMBMIM showed an alpha ( and (x=4.71) described as highly reliable and strongly acceptable respectively. In terms of educational use, results revealed a positive mean gain in 3 out of 4 learning competencies. These findings imply that the SMBMIM is valid, reliable and effective for use as instructional material. However, it is recommended that a further study be done adopting a quasi-experimental method to further validate the effectiveness of the developed module as an instructional tool in meeting the grade 7 Mathematics learning competencies. Keywords: social media, mathematics achievement, mathematics instructional module, module development, social media-based mathematics instructional modul