Reaching High Standards: Prospective Special Education Teachers Perceptions about Their Computer Competencies and the Usefulness of Computers in Teaching Students with Disabilities

The current study aimed at exploring prospective special education teachers perceptions about their computer competencies and the usefulness of computers in teaching students with disabilities. Sixty two prospective special education teachers were surveyed using a researcher-developed questionnaire. The results revealed distinguished and satisfactory levels of computer abilities in the areas of communication and information resources, and classroom management; and poor levels in the area of instruction and assessment. Moreover, prospective special education teachers did not seem to understand the role that can be played by computer technology in the teaching and learning of students with disabilities. Recommendations for enhancing teachers’ technology preparation are also discussed. Keywords: Special Education and Technolog

Comparing Effectiveness Of Online and Traditional Teaching Using Students\u27 Final Grades

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of online education. Two sections of Information Management Systems (IST 483) -Real Time Captioning Technology (I) were compared. Comparison of the two sections was based on the students’ final letter grades. The results of the two-tailed T-test show that there were no significant differences in the means of the final scores of both sections, concluding that there were no significant differences in the effectiveness of distance education and traditional face-to-face education. Thus, the null hypothesis was accepted; distance education was as effective as the traditional classroom education

Native-speakerism and professional teacher identity in L2 pronunciation learning

Many studies in different contexts have examined both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ convictions about the connection between nativeness in English and professional teacher identity; however, very few studies solely focused on that connection in second language (L2) pronunciation teaching. This paper explores EFL university students’ experiences in learning English pronunciation from ‘native’- and ‘nonnative’- English-speaking teachers (NESTs and NNESTs). Based on an empirical study of undergraduates-prospective English language teachers-at the University of Jordan, the paper finds that most students still view ‘nativeness’ as the main descriptor of effective teaching, strongly believing NESTs to be the ‘authority’ and source of ‘correctness,’ both of which convictions are emblematic of native-speakerism, which in turns leads to both cultural panic and voicelessness on the part of NNESTs and learners. The study concludes with calling for the need to raise awareness among EFL students of the various manifestations of English as a global language-particularly the irrelevance of nativeness to effective teaching-and incorporating NNESTs into teaching L2 pronunciation and rejecting their marginalisation in teaching pronunciation in EFL contexts

The Effect of Social Media Usage on Course Achievement and Behavior

This study investigated the effects of social media usage as a classroom management tool on students’ achievement and their behavior in class. Groups were determined by choosing random samples of different classes. The treatment group included the social media application “whatsapp” which all students and the instructor were asked to join that enabled constant communication and announcements related to class. The control group consisted of the same number of classes taught by the same instructors without using the social media application of “whatsapp.” The control group received communication from the instructor through traditional use of blackboard and email communication. Results of the study showed no statistically significant differences between the treatment and the control groups with regards to course achievement, however, the results did indicate that students in the treatment groups had notably less class absences and missed assignments, which indicated better class behavior. Further, findings related to gender differences and class type are discussed as well as implications of the findings on future research and current classroom management processes. Keywords: Classroom management, Social media in education, classroom behavior, whatsapp

Euphemistic strategies in Algerian Arabic and American English

This study aims to explore the use of euphemistic strategies by Alge-rians and Americans when dealing with three unpleasant topics: death, lying, and disease. It also examines the effect of degree of formality on the use of euphemistic strategies. To achieve this objective, a discourse completion task (DCT) was distributed to 21 Algerians and 21 Americans. The data were analysed using SPSS. The data analysis revealed that there are some differences and similarities between the two groups. The euphemistic strategies used by the Americans when they deal with death topics are synonyms and part for the whole. The Algerians use part for the whole, over-statement, and synonyms when they deal with death. Regarding the topic of lying, the Americans employ strategies of understatement and deletion, whereas the Algerians use understatement and metaphor. As for the topic of disease, the Americans use vagueness, and the Algerians use vagueness, metaphor, and deletion. These findings reveal that both groups resort to euphemism when dealing with these three unpleasant topics. However, their use of euphemistic strategies is culture-bound

Effect of a Classroom-based Intervention on the Social Skills of Students with Learning Difficulties

Children with learning difficulties often face challenges in social skills, hindering their ability to adjust and interact within society. The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program designed to enhance the social skills of individuals with disabilities. The quasi-experimental study involved 20 primary school students with learning difficulties exhibiting deficits in social skills in the United Arab Emirates. To evaluate the level of social skills of the sample children, a social skills assessment scale was employed, which was developed by the researchers. The assessment scale consisted of 24 statements that were organized into three dimensions based on previous research and theoretical frameworks. The results of the present study showed that the training program significantly and positively impacted the social skills of these children. There were statistically significant disparities between the mean ranks of the experimental group and the control group's scores on the social skills assessment scale after program completion. In conclusion, the study recommends integrating the developed training and similar programs into the public and private education curricula, including both government and private schools, to improve the social communication abilities of children with learning difficulties. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-SIED2-011 Full Text: PD

Assessing Information Security Competencies of Firm Leaders towards Improving Procedural Information Security Countermeasure: Awareness and Cybersecurity Protective Behavior

Cybersecurity threats are a serious issue faced by many organizations in this new information era. Therefore, security leaders play a significant role not only to ensure that all their employees are practicing good security behavior to protect organizational information assets but also to ensure that security technology has been installed properly to protect network infrastructure. This study aims to examine cybersecurity protective behavior (CPB) among employees in the organization and focus on the role of leadership competencies and information security countermeasure awareness. The questionnaires were distributed via email and self-administered, and the study managed to obtain 245 responses. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used to analyze the final data. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) testing shows that all the measurement items of each construct were adequate in their validity individually based on their factor loading value. Moreover, each construct is valid based on its parameter estimates and statistical significance. The research findings show that Procedural Information Security Countermeasure (PCM) awareness strongly influences CPB compared to a leader's information security competencies (ISI). Meanwhile, ISI significantly influences PCM awareness. This study adapts the theory of leadership competencies in the context of cybersecurity, which is particularly beneficial to any industry in improving organizational information security strategic plans

Dates Fruit Disease Recognition using Machine Learning

Many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia are among the top exporters and consumers of palm date fruits. Date fruit production plays a major role in the economies of the date fruit exporting countries. Date fruits are susceptible to disease just like any fruit and early detection and intervention can end up saving the produce. However, with the vast farming lands, it is nearly impossible for farmers to observe date trees on a frequent basis for early disease detection. In addition, even with human observation the process is prone to human error and increases the date fruit cost. With the recent advances in computer vision, machine learning, drone technology, and other technologies; an integrated solution can be proposed for the automatic detection of date fruit disease. In this paper, a hybrid features based method with the standard classifiers is proposed based on the extraction of L*a*b color features, statistical features, and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) texture features for the early detection and classification of date fruit disease. A dataset was developed for this work consisting of 871 images divided into the following classes; Healthy date, Initial stage of disease, Malnourished date, and Parasite infected. The extracted features were input to common classifiers such as the Random Forest (RF), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Na\"ive Bayes (NB), and Fuzzy Decision Trees (FDT). The highest average accuracy was achieved when combining the L*a*b, Statistical, and DWT Features

Utilization of Smartphones in Learning

The purpose of this research is to find out how college students in Saudi Arabia utilize their smartphones in their learning and to find out the effect of its use in their learning and investigate ways that are more effective for such use. In order to achieve this goal, a researcher developed questionnaire was distributed to 93 college students. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach in collecting data. Investigation Results are analyzed and demonstrated with charts, followed by a discussion of the main findings

A cross-cultural analysis of disagreement strategies in Algerian and Jordanian Arabic

This study aims to explore the use of disagreement strategies in two Arabic dialects: Jordanian and Algerian Arabic. It also investigates the effect of social status on the choice of disagreement strategies adopting Muntigl’s and Turnbull’s (1998) taxonomy. To achieve these objectives, 40 participants (20 Jordanians and 20 Algerians) were randomly recruited to respond to a discourse completion task (DCT). The participants were requested to read six situations and to react to them by making disagreements with people of higher, equal and lower statuses. A mixed-method approach was used to analyse the data. The results showed that the participants in the two study groups share similar preferences in the use of two main disagreement strategies that scored the highest in High to Low, Low to High, and in Equal statuses. The findings are discussed in the light of (im)politeness and provide implications for socio-pragmatic research in Arabic linguistics