Assistive technologies: saviour of Mathematics in higher education

The pervasion and inclusion of new technologies into teaching and learning processes are continuously changing the higher education landscape. Selected and specific technologies termed as “assistive technologies” are being used as key tools for enabling students to access education and actively and independently participate in the education process, improving learning and supporting inclusive education. This paper presents students’ perception of the use of various assistive technologies such as mobile learning, tablet learning, lecture capture, gamification, and online intelligent systems that have been developed for learning and student support at a higher education institute. There is also a broad discussion on how these can be adopted and adapted in mathematics learning in higher education. It is well documented that students have low-esteem toward or while doing the subject and have math phobia, particularly in higher education. An online questionnaire on the students’ perception of using assistive technologies was deployed to the mathematics students. The results show that assistive technologies are indeed a saviour of mathematics with a significantly positive attitude garnered toward using them for learning mathematics

Readiness and Perception of Pacific Students to Mobile Phones for Higher Education

The emergence and advancement of Information Communication Technologies have transformed facilitation and content delivery in higher education worldwide, the Pacific region being no exception. The extensive use of mobile phones in the Pacific, especially with the student-aged populace, is gradually creating a niche for mobile learning in the education landscape. However, there is a growing concern on the effectiveness of this innovative intervention keeping in mind the digital intelligence of Pacific students. This paper explores the readiness and perception of the Pacific students using mobile devices for learning. An online questionnaire was used to collect data for this exploratory research. While the results revealed the student’s willingness and positive perception to leverage on mobile phones for learning in higher education, their readiness for the mobile-driven education is rather dependent on various factors which are explored in detail. The paper concludes with recommendations for the higher education institutes and education ministries in the Pacific region

Predicting media literacy level of secondary school students in Fiji

The digital revolution has set a platform for all the information and means of communication to be digitised, thus creating a digital media society. This explosion of digital media requires individuals to have a set of skills and knowledge to survive in this lifelong digital media society. In such a context, many countries around the world are now leveraging on Media Literacy to enhance the necessary skills of individuals and improve upon responsible media engagement. Therefore, predicting media literacy of students is essential so that suitable interventions can be put in place. This paper presents an analysis of Media Literacy status of Year 12 and Year 13 students at randomly selected secondary schools in Fiji, and it presents a set of predictive models using classification techniques. A quantitative study using a reliable survey was conducted to determine the Media Literacy of students using a Likert scale of 1-5. The analysis for this study was using the R software whereby classification algorithms such as Random Forest Classifiers, Decision Trees and Support Vector Machine Algorithm (SVM) were used to build the predictive models. These models will be used to derive appropriate interventions to improve Media Literacy of students. The baseline data from the study provide information on media literacy of Fijian students. The paper concludes with the important attributes that contribute towards an individual's competency on media literacy

Digital literacy: a catalyst for the 21st century education

The seamless integration of new digital technologies into higher education teaching and learning has transformed education pedagogies and changed how students learn. The students are now required to have digital competencies to survive in the era of learning with technology; therefore, measuring the students’ digital competencies is of utmost importance. This study evaluates the first-year university students’ digital competencies at a higher education institute using a newly designed digital literacy measuring tool named digitlitfj. The digitlitfj is an online tool consisting of a 5 point Likert scale questionnaire ranging from ‘No understanding’ to ‘Advanced level of understanding’ that was piloted to the first-year university students. The results show that 86.15% of the students were average to very highly digitally literate. Also, Deep learning, Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Decision Tree algorithms in RapidMiner were used to evaluate the most important and influential variables in predicting an individual’s digital literacy competency. The results show that all the variables utilized in the research were important, with computer literacy being the most influential variable in predicting an individual’s digital literacy

Contextualized game - based intervention for digital literacy for the Pacific Islands

In the digital age, advocating and improving digital literacy is a global challenge. There have been scales developed to measure individuals' digital literacy competencies; however, intervention programs have been only a few. This research paper articulates design details, validity, reliability and effectiveness of a new online modulated digital literacy intervention program (DLIP). For the development of DLIP, digital literacy is stipulated in this research as a universal framework that consists of six different literacies; media, information, technology, computer, visual, and communication literacy. An online module has been designed for each of these six literacies, and the concept of game-based learning has been used to engage the users and secure high user satisfaction. To test the reliability of the intervention, the Kuder- Richardson- 20 (KR-20) test was performed. The developed intervention was deemed to be reliable with the KR-20 value of 0.86. The construct validity was measured using the spearman’s correlation test and since the values for all the constructs were above 0.3, the DLIP was valid. The effectiveness of the DLIP was evaluated by calculating the effect size. The Cohen’s d test was used and the results show that the intervention was moderately effective. Although DLIP has been developed for the Pacific Islands it has global applicability

A digital literacy model to narrow the digital literacy skills gap

The concept of digital literacy is increasingly prevalent in the 21st century. Growing demands from the work sector for individuals to be digitally literate has prompted targeted interventions and innovations from the education sector to instil digital skills into the future workforce. However, despite efforts the digital skills gap remains visible globally. This paper explores the prominent educational frameworks and models, their advantages and limitations in 21st-century learning and teaching. Furthermore, a new innovative digital literacy model has been proposed to be integrated into the existing and future education frameworks and models to assist educationists in narrowing the digital skills gaps and preparing graduates for the work sector. The digital literacy model consists of two components: (1) the digital literacy framework- South Pacific Digital Literacy Framework (SPDLF) and (2) the digital literacy tool. The SPDLF reflects six major literacies identified for the 21st-century while the digital literacy tool--digilitFJ consists of a digital literacy measuring scale and an online intervention program. The exploratory factor analysis showed that the SPDLF was valid. On the other hand, heuristics, student attitude, and satisfaction and effectiveness of the digital literacy tool were also evaluated from the student's perspective to reflect its usefulness. The survey results also showed a positive attitude and perception of the use of the tool. Additionally, Cohen's d value showed that the digital literacy tool was effective. Therefore, if the tool is implemented and adopted, it can narrow the existing digital skills gap in the South Pacific

Talismans of digital literacy: a statistical overview

The individuals living in the 21st century have become the consumers of digital innovations and have to adapt, adopt and adapt to the new norm of surviving and thriving in the digital society. Familiarity with the latest technologies is not the only requirement for survival. One also needs to have relevant digital competencies to complete tasks with optimized outputs and efficiently deal with the chain of digital changes. The current study introduces the South Pacific digital literacy framework (SPDLF) driven by 6 essential literacies and sixty attributes. The study intends to provide a three-stage statistical validation for the South Pacific digital literacy framework. The three stages of validation include;(1) evaluating the strongest predictors of digital literacy from the six literacies in the SPDLF, (2) evaluating the significant predictors of each of the six literacies and (3) evaluating the significant attributes from a total of sixty attributes in the SPDLF. The results show that all attributes in the SPDLF are statistically significant, therefore, all attributes are significant contributors to digital literacy in the South Pacific digital literacy framework

Attitude and achievement of first-year chemistry undergraduate students at the university of the South Pacific

Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles. Copyright © 2022 Johnson, Reddy, Sharma, Wakeling, Mani, Benveniste, Naiker and Brown

Student Perception on the utilization of Tablet Learning Devices for a Blended Course in the South Pacific Region

of new ICT devices has also enabled the possibility of having internet medicated teaching, web based education, computer mediated communication, cyber space learning, e-learning, blended learning and mobile learning. Higher Education Institutes are utilizing these new innovative tools and technologies inside and outside classrooms to provide flexible learning for students and inter alia enable they discover their critical thinking and problem solving skills. This study was conducted to evaluate the readiness, acceptance and the perception of students towards utilizing tablet devices for a course offered through blended mode in the South Pacific region. A total of 15 students from three different campuses were tracked on voluntarily basis for a period of five weeks. The results of this study showed that students had positive attitude towards the use of tablet learning devices in a blended course. The study also showed that tablet learning enhanced student’s ability to share and create new knowledge

Effectiveness of Tablet Learning in Online Courses at University of the South Pacific

In recent years, technology has become the game changer in the world of higher education. The handheld mobile devices are emerging as one of the most promising technologies and tools to support learning and venture into new pedagogies. This provides uncharted opportunities for educationists and facilitators to make learning pervasive and boost lifelong learning. Mobile devices like tablet computers have proven to be effective in accelerating student engagement, enhancing focus and supporting teacher interaction. To evaluate the effectiveness of tablet learning in a higher education institution, a study was conducted on a sample of 10 students who were picked on voluntarily basis from a seven weeks online course. The attitude of students to the new technological device was analysed. The study also considered the quality of tasks and assessments produced by the students and their success rate. The results of this study showed that students have a positive attitude towards tablet learning and there was an agreement that the mobile device was a good learning tool for the online courses. Interestingly, there was no significant difference noted with the success rates and the grades of the two groups