Reflections of Six Student Teachers Enrolled in an Online Practicum- Case Study

The current qualitative research explores six student teachers reflections on the online practicum after shifting from in-school to online delivery due to the COVID-19 quarantine. This research was undertaken with the application of quasi-structured interviews with six student teachers. The thematic analysis uncovered the student teachers perceptions regarding the online practicum and highlighted opportunities afforded by an online practicum, including time and effort efficiency; accurate performance and rapid completion, significant development of planning skills, ability to understand students and deal with different teaching situations, stimulation of innovation and creativity in teaching; and promotion of self-learning. The findings also underlined potential difficulties, including weak or interrupted internet signal, distractions in the online learning environment; the lack of a quiet place designated for meetings; the lack of trainees technical skills, and the absence of in-school experience. Several implications and suggestions have emerged in light of these findings

The Quality Assessment of the Services Offered to the Students of the College of Education at King Saud University using (SERVQUAL) Method

The goal of this study is Measuring the level of quality service offered to students at the college of education at King Saud University, specifically the gap between students’ perceptions and expectations of the quality of the offered service. The descriptive analytical approach has been applied in the study using SERVQUAL method to collect data from 199 students of the college. Results of the study are: The students order of these dimensions through their answers is that the trust comes first in the scale of priorities.. While responsibility comes last in the scale of priorities. By calculating the difference between the average of expectations as well as perceptions for each aspect, it is found  that trust has the highest gap where the expectations level of students has exceeded their perceptions by (1.90).On the other hand, responsibility has the lowest gap, where the level of students’ expectations in terms of the responsibility has exceeded their perceptions by (1.01)

Saudi Parents’ Perceptions About Their Role In Their Children’s Education In American Elementary Schools

This mixed-methods research study examines the influence of cultural mismatches on minority parents’ involvement in their children\u27s education. Particularly, how Saudi families in the United States perceive their role in their children’s education in American elementary schools. Data were collected from 212 completed self-administered surveys and 20 Saudi mothers’ participation in four focus group interviews. Exploratory statistical analysis for the numerical data and qualitative template analysis for the raw data were utilized. Triangulation of the findings reveals great agreements with few areas of conflicts between the two data sets indicating that Saudi parents understanding of the way of being in the school culture is impacted by their home cultural practices. The survey data indicated a sufficient level of Saudi parents’ involvement. However, the focus group interviews revealed that Saudi parents have different beliefs and role expectations than mainstream schools; such conflict prevents parents from being effectively involved in their children’s learning. Implications of the research findings are discussed and future research topics are recommended

E-learning success factors: comparing perspectives from academic staff and students

This article advances knowledge on the factors that lead to successful e-learning in universities, through a comparative study of the perspectives of academic staff and students. In particular, it contributes to the limited knowledge bases on the effectiveness of e-learning in Saudi Arabia, and on the differences in perspectives of different groups of stakeholders in e-learning. Based on previous research, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to convenience samples of academic staff and students at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. Respondents were invited to express their opinion regarding the importance of a number of factors to the success of e-learning. Principal Component Analysis was conducted on each dataset, in turn, to assess the loading of items onto factors, and the variance explained. The most important finding from this study is that the perspectives of students and academic staff differ, with there being nine factors for academic staff and seven for students. Categories that are common to both groups are: student characteristics, instructor characteristics, ease of access, and support and training. The order for academics is: student characteristics, ease of access, instructor characteristics, and support and training; and, the order foe students is: instructor characteristics, student characteristics, support and training, and ease of access

Inhibition of Clostridium perfringens spore growth by synergistic effects of different antimicrobials

Clostridium perfringens is a spore-forming anaerobic organism that is commonly present in fresh meat and poultry. The organism's spores can survive a range of food processing methods. C. perfringens type F isolates are the causative agents of C. perfringens type F food poisoning (FP) and non-food borne (NFB) human gastrointestinal diseases. Previous studies showed that only high concentrations of Chitosan 2mg/ml , and AITC 2% can effectively inhibit spore germination and outgrowth of C. perfringens FP isolates in cooked meat products ( Alnoman et al., 2017; Alanazi et al., 2018). Therefore, in this study we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combined different antimicrobials at low concentrations against C. perfringens FP isolates grown in laboratory medium and chicken meat. The lower concentrations that were used in the laboratory medium (nisin 0.075% and AITC 0.025%) or (nisin 0.075% and chitosan 0.025%) effectively inhibited spore germination of C. perfringens FP isolates. Furthermore, all tested antimicrobials combinations [nisin 0.075% and AITC 0.025%) or nisin (0.075%) and chitosan (0.025%)] illustrated significant inhibitions in spore outgrowth of C. perfringens FP isolates. In the meat experiment, nisin (0.01%) and AITC (0.1%) or nisin (0.01%) and chitosan (0.1%) were the lowest concentrations that could effectively inhibit C. perfringens FP isolates. Collectively, the mixture of nisin and AITC or nisin and chitosan at low concentrations effectively inhibited spore germination and outgrowth of C. perfringens FP isolates in cooked meat products

Critical success factors for eLearning in Saudi Arabian universities

© 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the development of eLearning systems and the perceptions of key players in the management of eLearning systems in three large universities in Saudi Arabia. It establishes the relative importance of different factors and compares these findings with studies conducted elsewhere in the world. Design/methodology/approach: Desk research was conducted to gather a profile of the eLearning initiatives in the participating universities. Structured interviews were conducted with senior managers with responsibility for implementing and promoting eLearning in their universities. The interview protocol prompted discussion of the importance of the following sets of factors in the success and acceptance of eLearning: student characteristics, instructor characteristics, learning environment, instructional design, and support. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Supported by the Saudi Government, the three universities in this study have been developing their eLearning services. The two most important groups of critical success factors in this process were regarded as those related to student and instructor characteristics. Further analysis within each group of factors suggested that participants regarded instructor knowledge with learning technologies and student knowledge of computer systems, and technical infrastructure as important facilitators of success. Amongst instructional design factors, clarity of learning objectives and content quality were regarded as important. Insights are offered as to the reasons for these selections. Originality/value: This study furthers earlier research on eLearning managers’ views and contributes to understanding of eLearning and its management in the Middle East

Weakly Semi-2-Absorbing Submodules By

In this paper we introduce and study the concept weakly semi-2-absorbing submodule as a generalization of 2-absorbing subomdule, and give some of it is basic properties and characterization of this concep

Increased colonic propionate reduces anticipatory reward responses in the human striatum to high-energy foods

Background: Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), metabolites produced through the microbial fermentation of nondigestible dietary components, have key roles in energy homeostasis. Animal research suggests that colon-derived SCFAs modulate feeding behavior via central mechanisms. In humans, increased colonic production of the SCFA propionate acutely reduces energy intake. However, evidence of an effect of colonic propionate on the human brain or reward-based eating behavior is currently unavailable. Objectives: We investigated the effect of increased colonic propionate production on brain anticipatory reward responses during food picture evaluation. We hypothesized that elevated colonic propionate would reduce both reward responses and ad libitum energy intake via stimulation of anorexigenic gut hormone secretion. Design: In a randomized crossover design, 20 healthy nonobese men completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) food picture evaluation task after consumption of control inulin or inulin-propionate ester, a unique dietary compound that selectively augments colonic propionate production. The blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) signal was measured in a priori brain regions involved in reward processing, including the caudate, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, anterior insula, and orbitofrontal cortex (n = 18 had analyzable fMRI data). Results: Increasing colonic propionate production reduced BOLD signal during food picture evaluation in the caudate and nucleus accumbens. In the caudate, the reduction in BOLD signal was driven specifically by a lowering of the response to high-energy food. These central effects were partnered with a decrease in subjective appeal of high-energy food pictures and reduced energy intake during an ad libitum meal. These observations were not related to changes in blood peptide YY (PYY), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), glucose, or insulin concentrations. Conclusion: Our results suggest that colonic propionate production may play an important role in attenuating reward-based eating behavior via striatal pathways, independent of changes in plasma PYY and GLP-1. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00750438