Beyond letters and numbers: the COVID-19 pandemic and foundational literacy and numeracy in Indonesia

In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across Indonesia and around the world, INOVASI (the Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children) and the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT) initiated a study of foundational literacy and numeracy learning by Indonesian students and the impact of the pandemic on this learning. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) provided technical support. The study developed descriptions of literacy and numeracy achievement levels, referencing both global proficiency frameworks and Indonesia’s curriculum and assessment standards. Student results were benchmarked against descriptors of skills for the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) Minimum Proficiency Levels (MPLs)

A Post-Pandemic Analysis of the Relationship Between Firm Size and Job Embeddedness in Public Accounting Firms

This study examines the relationship between firm size and an employee’s level of job embeddedness. A quantitative survey design was used to gather evidence from full-time accounting professionals working in public accounting firms across the United States. With a sample size of 136 full-time employees, results suggest that there is a positive relationship between firm size and job embeddedness. Two different measures of firm size were analyzed in the study. First, the number of full-time employees in the office was regressed on job embeddedness. Results indicated that the relationship was positive and significant. Second, the number of offices was used to measure firm size. The mean difference was calculated for job embeddedness and each of its six dimensions for firms with only one office, and those means were compared to the means of firms with two or more offices. Results indicated a positive relationship between job embeddedness and firm size; however, only the difference of means for the community fit dimension of job embeddedness was significant

Learning Through Play at School: A Framework for Policy and Practice

Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote student engagement, inclusion, and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years. Policy makers, researchers and educators have promoted the notion that learning though play is developmentally appropriate - as it leverages school-age children’s innate curiosity while easing the often difficult transition from preschool to school. However, there is a dearth of evidence and practical guidance on how learning through play can be employed effectively in the formal school context, and the conditions that support success. This paper addresses the disconnect between policy, research and practice by presenting a range of empirical studies across a number of well-known pedagogies. These studies describe how children can foster cognitive, social, emotional, creative and physical skills through active engagement in learning that is experienced as joyful, meaningful, socially interactive, actively engaging and iterative. The authors propose an expanded definition for learning through play at school based on the science of learning, and summarize key findings from international studies on the impact of children’s learning through play. They identify four key challenges that underpin the considerable gap between education policy and practice, and propose a useful framework that addresses these challenges via a common language and structure to implement learning through play

The Effect of Technostress on the Motivation to Teach Online in Higher Education Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of Business Faculty

This study investigated the relationships among technostress creators (techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, techno-invasion, techno-overload, and techno-uncertainty) on the motivation to teach online using the Motivation to Teach Online – Faculty Version scale. Data were collected from faculty members of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS), a member of the AACSB Business Education Alliance, and the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), an interdisciplinary professional organization comprised of faculty teaching in accounting, finance, management, marketing, organizational behavior, and computer information systems early 2020 (N = 307). The findings indicated that techno-stressed faculty are less motivated to teach online. Techno-insecurity and techno-overload subconstructs were statistically significant pre-pandemic. Techno-insecurity was statistically significant during the pandemic. Gender and years of teaching online were not observed among faculty to modify online teaching motivations. Results are presented to supply institutions of higher learning with evidence to support faculty with online learning undertakings while leveraging opportunities to manage enrollment

An Examination of the Relationship Between Cheating in Online Classes and Technostress: Perceptions of Business Faculty

This research study investigated the relationship between technostress creators (techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, techno-invasion, techno-overload, and techno-uncertainty) and faculty perceptions of student cheating in online classes. Data were collected from faculty members of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS), a member of the AACSB Business Education Alliance, the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), an interdisciplinary professional organization comprised of faculty teaching in accounting, finance, management, marketing, organizational behavior, and computer information systems, and other research panels during 2021 (N = 94). Findings from regression analysis indicated that the techno-complexity subconstruct is positively related to a faculty’s perception of student cheating in online classes. In contrast, the techno-insecurity subconstruct was marginally significant and positively related to the faculty’s perception of student cheating in online classes. Techno-overload, techno-invasion, and techno-uncertainty subconstructs were not identified as statistically significant in predicting a faculty’s perception of student cheating in online classes

Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health

Poor air quality and resulting annual deaths represent significant public health concerns. Recently, rapid delay discounting (the devaluation of future outcomes) of air quality has been considered a potential barrier for engaging in long term, sustainable behaviors that might help to reduce emissions (e.g., reducing private car use, societal support for clean air initiatives). Delay discounting has been shown to be predictive of real world behavior outside of laboratory settings, and therefore may offer an important framework beyond traditional variables thought to measure sustainable behavior such as importance of an environmental issue, or environmental attitudes/values, although more research is needed in this area. We examined relations between discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary gains and losses. We also examined, relations between discounting and self-reported importance of air quality and respiratory health, and nature relatedness. Results showed rapid delay discounting of all outcomes across the time frames assessed, and significant positive correlations between delay discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary outcomes. Steeper discounting of monetary outcomes relative to air quality and respiratory health outcomes was observed in the context of gains; however, no differences in discounting were observed across losses of monetary, air quality, and respiratory health. Replicating the sign effect, monetary outcomes were discounted more steeply than monetary losses. Importance of air quality, respiratory health and nature relatedness were significantly and positively correlated with one another, but not with degree of delay discounting of any outcome, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive measures that predict pro-environmental behaviors that might benefit individuals and public health over time. These results add to our understanding of decision-making, and demonstrate alarming rates of delay discounting of air quality and health. These results implicate a major public health concern and potential barriers to individual and societal behavior that reduce pollution and emissions for conservation of clean air

Investigation of Saudi Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching and Learning after a 12-month Professional Development Programme in Australia

This study investigates the perceptions of teaching and learning of teachers from Saudi Arabia who participated in a 12-month professional development programme based in Australia. Considering the design of the programme and the vast differences between the education systems and cultures of the two countries, this study examines Saudi teachers’ classroom practices and challenges while teaching at schools in their home country, and whether their perceptions of teaching practice changed during and after participating in the professional development programme in Australia. Factors that might have influenced the changes to and nature of their teaching aspirations and plans for their students and schools in Saudi Arabia are also discussed

The responses of Ht22 cells to oxidative stress induced by buthionine sulfoximine (BSO)

BACKGROUND: glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant thiol antioxidant in mammalian cells. It directly reacts with reactive oxygen species (ROS), functions as a cofactor of antioxidant enzymes, and maintains thiol redox potential in cells. GSH depletion has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases, particularly to Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of cellular antioxidant status and basic cell functions in the relatively early stages of GSH depletion. RESULTS: in this study, GSH was depleted by inhibition of glutamylcysteine synthetase using buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) treatment in Ht22, a neuronal cell line derived from mouse hippocampus. Treatment with BSO produced dose-dependent decreases in total GSH level, Fe3+-reducing ability (FRAP assay), Cu2+-reducing ability (Antioxidant Potential, AOP assay), and ABTS free radical scavenging ability (ABTS assay) of the cells, but the sensitivity of these indicators to dosage varied considerably. Most of the changes were completed during the first 8 hours of treatment. Cell viability was tested by MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromid) assay, and cells at lower density in culture were found to be more sensitive to GSH depletion. The activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), and copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) were affected by GSH depletion. A cDNA expression array assay of the effects of BSO treatment showed significantly decreased mRNA level for 3 genes, and significantly increased mRNA level for 10 genes, including the antioxidant enzymes Cu/Zn-SOD and thioredoxin peroxidase 2 (TPxII). CONCLUSIONS: the study suggests that there are BSO-sensitive and BSO-resistant pools of GSH in Ht22 cells, and that different categories of antioxidant react differently to GSH depletion. Further, the effect of GSH status on cell viability is cell density dependent. Finally, the alterations in expression or activity of several antioxidant enzymes provide insight into the various cellular responses to GSH depletion