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In this special issue, we explore the opportunities and challenges of using Generative AI (GenAI), in particular, text generators in higher education learning and teaching. As GenAI has become increasingly popular with many staff and students, this special issue provides an overview of the current state of the field and offers insights into future research. This introduction paper consists of four parts. It begins by providing an overview of AI and Generative AI, identifying the gap and framing the special issue relating to the gaps. The second part explores the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in higher education, as identified in the literature. The third part provides an overview of the papers included in the special issue. The final part is the self-reflection of the lead author. The special issue aims to serve as a valuable resource for higher education stakeholders, such as students, practitioners, researchers and managers. We hope this collection will help advance knowledge and future research, encourage innovation and inform evidence-based policy and practices in the field of Generative AI in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botswana has achieved a lot in education development since the country's independence in 1966. Public education funding and access increased significantly, literacy rates rose, more schools were constructed and student enrolment rates increased at both primary and secondary schools. However, this paper argues that Botswana's education system has been declining over the past 10 years, but that is concealed by the use of political spectacle. The data collected from secondary sources were used and subjected to content analysis. The findings show high public education expenditure and access in Botswana, but high failure rates; success narratives and pronouncements without commitment to educational effectiveness and efficiency; massive construction of public schools, but poor teaching–learning conditions; and trivialization of meaningful education reforms. This paper concludes by recommending the introduction of learner-friendly methods of assessment, improving teacher–government relations, the inclusion of stakeholders in education decision-making and the implementation of cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness measures in Botswana's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment is an essential part of aphasia management. There are many tools available for aphasia assessment, but relatively scant attention has been paid to how speech pathologists carry out their assessment sessions, or how these sessions are experienced by people with aphasia and their families. The evidence that is available suggests that people with aphasia do not always understand the purposes of the assessments they undertake or receive much useful feedback on their performance. Connections between adult learning and aphasia therapy are being made more explicit, such as through the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia, but the potential for a relationship between adult learning and aphasia assessment has not yet been fully recognised. This paper aims to stimulate thinking to improve current aphasia assessment practices. It uses an adult learning lens and explores theoretical approaches underpinning assessment in adult education contexts. In this commentary paper, we summarise the current, dominant practices around aphasia assessment and then briefly review evidence-based recommended practice for assessment in higher and professional education. We explore useful parallels between the two fields and discuss how we might reassess assessment in aphasia rehabilitation. Aphasia assessments have greater potential to be therapeutic than we currently assume. Ideas from adult education are useful to challenge clinicians to reconsider aspects of their practice. Assessments can be a powerful motivator for learning and engagement in therapy. Through a greater focus on formative and sustainable assessment, and changed feedback practices, there are opportunities to capitalise more fully on the potential for learning during these sessions. Attention to the rich development of ideas about assessment in education is a useful way to challenge our assumptions and perhaps prepare our clients with aphasia for a more productive and sustainable learning journey to support their recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author conducted sampling and statistical analysis of papers on education policy research collected by the China National Knowledge Infrastructure in the period from the years 2004–2013. Under the current state of education policy research in China, the number of papers correlates positively with the year; the papers are concentrated in education journals; the researchers are primarily associated with institutions of higher education; and the studies cover a broad range of topics, while emphasizing the practice of education policy. The development trends of education policy research in China include a general rising trend for research on education policy; in the future, researchers from institutions of higher education will continue to be a dominant force in education policy research, and the authors’ regional distribution will continue to be imbalanced; education policy research will focus more on educational equity and improved quality, and studies of foreign education policies will continue to be a topic of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children’s skills differ between paper and computer versions of the PISA mathematics test. Using data from PISA 2012, where more than 200,000 children from 32 economies completed both paper and computer versions of the mathematics assessment, we find important and interesting differences between the two sets of results. This includes a substantial drop of more than 50 PISA test points (half a standard deviation) in the average performance of children from Shanghai-China. Moreover, by considering children’s responses to particular test items, we show how differences are unlikely to be solely due to the interactive nature of certain computer test questions. The paper concludes with a discussion of what the findings imply for interpretation of PISA results in 2015 and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers aspects of local academic knowledge generation in Uzbekistan by focusing on the mentor – mentee relations and the 'ustoz' and 'shogird' mindset of supervisees concerning their mentors. By doing so, it analyses how these perceptions may represent the challenge in improving the research quality among young Uzbek faculty members. Drawing on a survey of young university teachers, this study argues that the obstacles are not just policy-related but also cognitive and culture-related. This study uses a Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) to identify metaphors associated with the apprenticeship in Uzbekistan and how these relate to images and expectations of supervisors among supervisees in contemporary Uzbekistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing interest in applying gamified designs in higher education is challenged by mixed results in terms of student acceptance. Different players are attracted to games for different reasons and game design elements, and a better understanding of how each learner will connect to different game mechanics provides valuable input for game design and evaluation. In this paper, we present and validate a scale to measure the affinity of each player with different game elements. First, a theoretical review was carried out on three profile classifications and six motivational theoretical models, proposing a taxonomy for twelve player profiles based on three axes: relational, competence and motivational. Then, a pilot test was carried out with 54 subjects, analysing content and comprehension validity through the judgment of six experts and construct validity through an exploratory factorial analysis. Subsequently, with a sample of 1010 subjects, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The scale was made up of 30 items, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.822; three main components were obtained: dominators, interactors and trackers. The results show the validity of the scale, with high levels of confidence. It provides an understanding of the player's profile in a playful context, their motivational orientation and their affinity with the specific game design. This can be used to improve the design of gamified experiences in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), specifically AI text generators (ChatGPT), on critical thinking skills in UK postgraduate business school students. Using Bloom's taxonomy as theoretical underpinning, we adopt a mixed-method research employing a sample of 107 participants to investigate both the influence and challenges of these technologies in higher education. Our findings reveal that the most significant improvements occurred at the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy. We identify concerns relating to reliability, accuracy, and potential ethical implications of its application in higher education. The significance of this paper spans across, pedagogy, policy and practice, offering insights into the complex relationship between AI technologies and critical thinking skills. While highlighting the multifaceted aspects of the impact of AI in education, this article serves as a guide to educators and policymakers, stressing the importance of a comprehensive approach to fostering critical thinking and other transferable skills in the higher education landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-Apartheid era South Africa's universities have faced serious questions about the quality of their student learning in the face of near impossible challenges. The University of Cape Town, widely seen as the country's leading higher education institution, has shown remarkable resilience, however, in the range of initiatives it has launched to support and enhance student learning. These initiatives, designed with a common purpose, are of course intended to work together so that their effects might be compounded and realized in enhanced student learning outcomes. Drawing substantially on the power of compounding (which is itself redolent of the claim made by complexity theory that relations and emergence are crucial concepts), complexity theory offers unique insights into how and why things change – and also into how and why things remain largely the same or inexorably grind towards failure. The networked initiatives undertaken by the University of Cape Town constitute a case of learning refurbishment that is also well explained and understood in terms of complexity theory. This paper draws on concepts from complexity theory both to understand how learning might be enhanced in higher education institutions in severely straitened circumstances and to offer insights for education leaders and policy-makers in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three decades ago, the term Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) entered educational discourse. However, it is important to note that the concept of 'ESD' did not emerge from scholarly debates on education, rather as a tool to carry forward the agenda of sustainable development. As a result, it has been conceptualized in many different ways. This article is an attempt to further the debate on ESD-conceptualization. The paper discusses connections between constructivism, transformative learning, and Erich Fromm's idea of 'to be' and argues that the focus of ESD needs to change from narrow behavioural outcomes to emancipating learners to ask critical questions, decide (without the influence of anonymous authority of capitalism) and engage in activities that allows them to develop an authentic relationship with their world. The article suggests that consistent opportunities (inside and outside the classroom) to reflect and question the 'having' mode and taking steps towards 'being' mode will address the problem of 'otherness' and contribute towards a more sustainable world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education since its launch in 2010 and situates it within the context of European Union (EU) governance. The paper adopts a public policy perspective and Ashley Jochim and Peter May's framework for analysing boundary-spanning policy regimes. Based on critical discourse analysis of social dialogue documents and interviews, we argue that the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education, as a distinctive institution, has been profoundly shaped by EU's boundary-spanning policy regime of education and employment and at the same time has contributed to its reinforcement. In particular, we demonstrate that the sectoral social dialogue committee since its creation has been embedded in wider institutional arrangements, that it seeks to mobilise education employers and workers on a large scale across Europe, and that it aligns with central issue framings and ideas of EU's boundary-spanning policy regime of education and employment. Thereby, the paper contributes to understanding how institutions, by mobilising interests and channelling attention towards specific issues and ideas, play a central role in structuring and legitimising contemporary EU governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized cross tabulation statistics, word frequency counts, and content analysis of research output to conduct a bibliometric study, and used CiteSpace software to depict a knowledge map for research on entrepreneurship education in China from 2004 to 2013. The study shows that, in this duration, the study of Chinese entrepreneurship education experienced a progression through three stages, an “exploratory stage of learning from foreign models,” a “developmental stage geared toward employment problems,” and a “transformative stage promoting cultivation of student abilities,” and featured three primary characteristics, “multidisciplinary fusion,” “imbalanced regional distribution,” and “policy orientation.” In the future, popular fields in the study of entrepreneurship education are to be concentrated in the three areas, namely “entrepreneurship education and talent cultivation,” “entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial environments,” and “entrepreneurship education and innovation education.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This dialogic composition captures the interconnected experiences of two racialized doctoral students co-teaching a critical social work practice course in a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program parallel to undertaking a doctoral independent study on anti-racism and decolonizing curriculum and pedagogies. The undergraduate course sought to articulate the distinct desires of and connections between anti-racism and decolonization by drawing on pedagogies of discomfort and affect to support students in engaging difficult knowledges. This paper animates the layered entanglements of multiple actors: two doctoral students, a BSW student, and a faculty member. To capture these layered understandings and constitution of social work education through critical reflection on teaching practices, we weave together our various voices as a way of making visible the need for relationality within higher education. Through our experiences of holistic (un/re)learning, we reflect on tensions, resistance, and (im)possibilities that emerge when curriculum, pedagogies, and bodies collide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lecturers who use the 'one-minute paper' generally praise it as a learning tool, for the teacher as well as the students. This article surveys the literature on this widely applicable technique and presents new evidence on students' opinions of it and the extent of its use in the classroom. The benefits for both students and teachers appear sizeable for such a modest amount of time and effort, and students generally perceive the one-minute paper favourably. However, the one-minute paper can be easily employed to excess, reflected in quickly declining response rates over the course of two lecture series. Survey evidence suggests that the one-minute paper is perhaps not used especially extensively in UK and US higher education, largely due to lack of knowledge of its existence and the perception that it would be too time-consuming to analyse the responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the drivers of student dropout from higher education has been a policy concern for several decades. However, the contributing role of certain factors—including student mental health—remains poorly understood. Furthermore, existing studies linking student mental health and university dropout are limited in both methodology and scope—for example, they often rely on small and/or non-representative samples or subjective measures, and focus almost exclusively on main effects. This paper overcomes many of these shortcomings by leveraging unique linked administrative data on the full population of domestic students commencing undergraduate studies at Australian universities between 2012 and 2015 (n = 652,139). Using these data, we document that approximately 15% of students drop out of university within their first academic year. Critically, students receiving treatment for mental health problems are 4.3 (adjusted) to 8.3 (unadjusted) percentage points more likely to drop out of higher education. This association remains in the presence of an encompassing set of potential confounds, and is remarkably uniform across segments of the student population determined by individual, family, and programme characteristics. Altogether, our findings call for increased policy efforts to improve student mental health and to buffer against its deleterious effects on retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual and theoretical paper seeks to analyze the dynamics and consequences of psychologization and therapization, key mechanisms of the therapeutic turn in education. In particular, it focuses, on how the pathologization of social problems occasions individualization and the production of self-reliant and inward-looking subjects trained to maximize human capital according to the tenets of neoliberalism. Second, it explains the principles of a critical approach to education that is informed by the concept of intersectionality. It shows how this concept might be helpful in interrogating and addressing structurally embedded inequalities and injustices. Informed by the insights of Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, this approach engenders a contextualized and nuanced analysis of social forces, social identities, and ideological instruments through which power and disadvantage are expressed and legitimized. To further illustrate its importance, insurgent citizenship education, a concept drawn from the experiences of a Philippine school for displaced indigenous groups will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic positioned digital education in a new light. The need for educational institutions to develop strategies, standards and establish quality assurance across digital education became even more evident. This paper describes the four-step process of designing an interactive European Union (EU) Digital Education Quality Standard Framework and Companion Evaluation Toolkit to guide the design, delivery and evaluation of effective digital education. (1) A review of literature of existing digital education frameworks and models is presented. (2) Variables and sub-variables inherent in designing, delivering and evaluating effective digital education are identified. (3) Next the variables and sub-variables in the framework are defined. (4) The process of designing the interactive framework diagram is described with the companion evaluation toolkit outlined. The proposed framework is flexible and applicable to entities and audiences regardless of where they are in the online learning adoption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the experiences of participation in the strike carried out by students of Unit 071 of the National Pedagogical University of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. From a reflective approach, the historical memory of the process is recovered from documentary analysis, records of assemblies and marches, as well interviews with students and leaders of the movement. The information was grouped into two blocks: From the pandemic to the student strike. Subjectivation and existential plot; in which the vicissitudes of organization and actions carried out are exposed; and, The word must be worth, which discusses the network of actions, synergies, meetings and disagreements between students to undertake negotiations with educational and governmental authorities. The confluence of other social movements, the mobilization and taking of the streets, contributed to the strike's resolution, which inaugurated an unprecedented experience of struggle and resistance for these students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the prosperity of nation states and the availability of skilled labour for the global economy, many countries have encouraged students with low socio-economic status (SES) and minorities to enrol in colleges and universities. In Israel, a significant effort was made starting in 1995 to create more colleges and to provide more access to higher education for students within the mentioned groups. Yet the question arises concerning what was achieved by this effort. This paper analyses the relationship between (i) wealth and higher education in population clusters, (ii) higher education and geographical areas, and (iii) higher education and ethnic subsets in Israel. The evidence indicates a strong correlation between the SES of a locality and the number of students per residents in that locality. This correlation, however, is affected by the existence of an affordable local college. After the correlations are presented and explained, recommendations for enabling low-SES students to be successful in higher education are explored, including developing a new curriculum for middle and secondary students, creating transitional 'discourse communities' for first-year college students from low-SES, and investing in local colleges in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary policy discussions on higher education, the idea that this environment is in danger of becoming isolated from the world, ignoring the wishes and needs of society at large, is a constant background. From a historical point of view, it is mostly true that the academic spectrum has been rather impermeable in both directions: the knowledge generated and transmitted within it was very little based on the outside world and less concerned with its application to the problems of the outside world. In the globalised world of the 21st century, this kind of impermeability is no longer possible. The expansion of higher education systems in all regions has brought new socio-economic groups into the educational environment, with a greater diversity of cultures, levels of academic preparation, and expectations. In order to gain a better insight into the topic, we used an examination approach by overlaying information from different sources of exploration and analyzing the level of comparability over time. This paper examined the main characteristics of education as a pillar for defining human capital and its effects on academia. The findings are explained in the conclusion section, but it is mandatory to specify one conclusion regarding the fact that the costs of academic expansion have also led to increased pressure from governments to justify state funding, a justification that is usually couched in terms of direct and measurable social and economic impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of diaries and journals as learning and assessment vehicles into programmes of study within higher education has enabled the further growth of reflection, creative writing, critical thinking and meta-cognitive processes of students' learning. However, there is currently little research that aims to compare how different types of diary are used and for what specific learning and teaching purposes, so, with this in mind, a study was carried out to investigate digital diary use within a group of undergraduates, to some of whom the authors allocated Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), which they used to contribute to a blog (digital diaries), and to some of whom hard-backed format (paper diaries) were given. This paper is the first of two from this study. The findings indicated that whilst students found both forms of diary acceptable and convenient, differences emerged in the way that the diaries were being used on a day-to-day basis, both in the frequency of entry and in the length of entries made. Throughout the study, the digital diaries were used more frequently, although the entries were often brief and incomplete. Conversely, students completing the paper diaries made significantly fewer entries in total, but those that were made were longer and more discursive in nature. Further, it was found that the paper diaries possessed positive qualities related to handling and attractiveness that promoted more prolonged use, whilst the negative qualities of the digital diaries were linked to technical limitations. The implications of this work are considered in relation to more general notions of using dynamic devices to encourage students to engage in reflexive criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fair access and widening participation currently occupy a prominent position in the UK higher education agenda, but these terms remain ambiguous. In this paper we identify two prominent strands of policy in the government's approach to access and the widening of participation and contrast these with a third, more progressive perspective. The academic strand seeks to attract 'gifted and talented' young people into an unreformed higher education system. The second strand, which we term the utilitarian approach, posits a need for reform. However, this is undertaken largely to meet the requirements of employers and the economy. In contrast, a transformative approach values diversity and focuses on creating a system of higher education that does not place the burden of change upon potential entrants. This framework is used to explore some of the implications of the government's White Paper The future of higher education. First, the purpose of higher education is discussed, with particular reference to the distinction between economic and social objectives. Second, the government's view of the structure of the higher education sector is examined, by scrutinizing the notion of institutional differentiation and the role of the access regulator. We conclude that within a more differentiated higher education sector different aspects of the access discourse will become dominant in different types of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although pervasive throughout counseling psychology and other training programs that incorporate experiential activities, reflective journals have sparse, fragmented and disparate theoretical bases to support their use. Coming from the fields of counseling and professional education, the authors use counselor education as a template to explore the use of reflective journaling in higher education. This article reviews literature supporting the use of reflective journaling, presents descriptions of various types of reflective journals, and proposes a method that allows instructors and students to critique journal entries collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for higher and tertiary education in Africa is now high, and as a result, public institutions are enrolling many students, a phenomenon now called massification (Pillay, 2020; Noui, 2020). The term massification is defined as the increase in the enrollment of students without a proportionate boost in resources (Adetiba, 2019; Mohamedbhai, 2016). Zimbabwean universities are enrolling many students to fund operations since government funding has dwindled (Garwe, 2016; Madzimure, 2016). The provision of quality education is becoming a challenge due to the high lecturer-student ratio, especially on courses that are highly practical in nature (Adetiba, 2019). There is a lack of proper management and engagement of students in very large classes, and as a result, students resort to memorizing content learned instead of engaging in critical thinking (Madzimure, 2016; Lee, 2016). Literature points out that if students develop self-regulated learning strategies, they will overcome challenges brought by massification. The purpose of this paper was to develop and evaluate the impact of a multimedia teaching tool in assisting students to develop selfregulated learning strategies so that they improve their performance while learning computer programming in a large class setup. Purposive sampling was used in this study, and the researcher adhered to design science research methodology.Students enrolled in introduction to computer programming used the multimediaClearn teaching tool that was developed hencepurposive sampling was used in this study.One class (BITH131) was the control group and students enrolled in BSIT 131 were the experimental group. Results obtained indicated that students who used the Clearn teaching tool performed better in a programming test as compared to students in the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper wants to share the project called "Participative Community methodologists in ludoteca felt and thought from education". It stared in 2022. The idea is part of a process in the subject Community and Institutional Psychology, that belongs to the career of University technicality in Social Education of the Faculty of Education of the National University of Cuyo. This process began 5 year ago and aims deepening and building bridges of knowledge and meanings between Social Education and Community Psychology. Furthermore, this experience is part of the Educational Social Practices Program (PSE) belonging to the Secretariat of Extension and Linkage of the UNCuyo. This project sought to ensure that students who were studying the university subjectof Community and Institutional Psychology, of the FED - UNCuyo, applied participatory community methodologies. They recived the tutoring of advanced students and graduates of the carrear and teachers. The project was carried out in a place called "ludoteca" in the "Nucleus of Innovation and Development of Opportunities" (NIDO). In addition, the specific objectives were: 1- Carry out methodologies that promote understanding of the socio-historical context; 2- Analyze current problems and needs that afflict the child population; 3- Understand the population dynamics involved and 4- Maintain, through play, a healthy space that favors the construction of strategies to address the problems of daily life. The starting point was theoretical references that put in a constant dialogue between community psychology and social education knowledges in latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While European governance of individual policy sectors has received considerable academic scrutiny, less attention has been paid to the development of intersectoral coordination. This paper charts the emergence of a supranational boundary-spanning policy regime (BSPR) in education and employment in Europe. By looking at issues, ideas, interests and institutions, we gain a deeper understanding of the conditions for the emergence and further institutionalisation of European intersectoral coordination in education and employment from the 1990s onwards. The study relies on semi-structured interviews with European policy-makers in education and employment and EU policy documents. We analyse how endogenous and exogenous factors frame (policy) issues that contribute to the emergence and further strengthening of intersectoral coordination, the extent to which ideas for European education and employment stress intersectoral policy designs, how interests support or hinder intersectoral work, and which institutions are developed with an intersectoral reasoning. We find that endogenous forces (rather than exogenous ones) played a significant role in the emergence of a European BSPR in education and employment. Structural aspects and policy instruments (institutions), alongside ideas and interests, then contribute to the institutionalisation of the European BSPR in education and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study analyses the design of programming literacy in the sixth grade of Primary Education, starting from the use of simple activities with visual block‐based programming, through Scratch, and progressively linking difficulty to the use of the Unity engine, and the C# language, with simple activities identical to those created in Scratch. Objectives: This research aims to evaluate future teachers' abilities and attitudes regarding programming and its educational possibilities. We intend to evaluate the viability of a teaching proposal that combines a visual block‐based programming environment and a more advanced one, based on C#. Method: In the settings of two public Spanish universities, we analyse the possibilities in the training of future teachers who are studying for a degree in Primary Education Teaching and a degree in Pedagogy. Based on a test and three scales, descriptive data and statistical inference are detailed through a quasi‐experimental design with a Student's t‐test in the first dimension, and a Wilcoxon test in the second dimension. Results: The participants improved their performance and attitudes towards programming with the intervention of the study in the use of coding. Conclusions: It can be concluded that coding is essential in teacher training, and that a greater presence of programming training in higher education is essential. The benefits are visible in the pedagogical approach of coding related to creativity, innovation, motivation, an active approach and interest, highlighting the fact that the implementation of visual block‐based programming by blocks and engines is feasible in Elementary Education. The training proposal—provided by appropriate progression, selection, and sequencing of content—fosters basic and practical teacher training, and this can be defined as an apt training solution. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Visual Programming Language (Scratch) provides benefits in educational contextsEducational Technology in classroom provides motivation and encouragement.Active methods and interactions are interesting and beneficial to elementary school students What this paper adds: Visual programming and game engine are feasible in Elementary Education, detailing significant improvements regarding academic outcomesWe found benefits in this pedagogical approach related to creativity, innovation, motivation, active approach and interest. Implications for practice and/or policy: Due to the benefits and positive results obtained in this research it is recommended to implement Visual Programming LanguageWe recommend the introduction to engine in educational settings in 6th grade in primary education though a cross‐curricular implementation.We recommend to apply an active approach, innovation, and learning computational concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares education undergraduates with high or low-spatial-skill scores in hypertext, CAI, paper and program control. Patterns of high- and low-ability learners under learner control; Enjoyment rating or misconceptions; Analysis of the sequence of choices made.

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the demand for mobility in higher education to understand the critical elements of students' mobility and the potential impact of accessing sustainable alternatives. The demand for different means of transportation accounts for socioeconomic variables such as household income and size, gender, age, among other travel factors such as distance, time, speed and direct cost. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a unique data set encompassing a representative sample of households across gender and municipalities in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area in Mexico. This paper uses the value of transportation time savings approach to estimate the derived demand for mobility in higher education across different means. The empirical strategy uses a linear utility framework in a multinomial non-ordered logit model to analyze the conditional selection of transportation as a function of sociodemographics, direct monetary costs and travel determinants such as travel time, distance and speed. Findings: Men students are more likely to use an unsustained transportation mode such as a car or cab than women. Income is a crucial determinant for transportation demand. There is a negative relationship between household income and walking or riding the bus but positive with driving a car. An increase in the time of the trip decreases the probability of walking while increasing the likelihood of using a car or riding the bus to school. Students who feel safe while riding a bus are more likely to use the bus or walk as transportation than using a car. Finally, having access to better quality sidewalks significantly incentive walking over other transportation options. Practical implications: Results show that individuals would almost always choose private vehicles because of the personal comforts and time savings. Social implications: Understanding the demand for higher education and access to sustainable transportation might provide new insights into campus planning and development. Access to public transportation options can reduce the travel costs for students with lower incomes and enlarge options for students who have to commute longer distances by car. Sustainable transportation access plays a role in promoting equality and economic development. Originality/value: This study's results bring new light on how transportation becomes an essential component of the opportunity cost of college education and could define its role in promoting equality or increasing inequality. This study's finding is of particular interest for cities where housing location seems to be independent of access to school, work or other amenities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harmful effects of Covid 19 on children living in poverty have refocused attention on the complex nature of child poverty and the vexed question of its relationship to education. The paper examines a tension at the heart of much discussion of child poverty and education. On the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children's flourishing and a means by which children can "escape" poverty; yet on the other hand, education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. Narratives concerning education as an escape from poverty tend not to deal in any depth with the injustices associated with poverty, stressing instead the transformative potential of education. By contrast, largely sociological analyses of the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities tend to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children's lives. In working to move beyond this analytic impasse, the paper shows how the cluster of concepts, which Robeyns (2018) locates as central to the capability approach, give insights which help to address these two different lacunae. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of children living in poverty. Drawing on literature on the heightened inequalities associated with poor children's experience of lack of schooling during the COVID pandemic, the paper sketches some of the ways in which sociological analysis and normative evaluation can be linked in taking forward an "ethically engaged political philosophy" (Wolff, 2018) to discuss child poverty and education in real schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work takes a critical and cursory look at the term 'education' as well as the challenges of higher education in Nigeria. The paper explicates these issues from Hegel's model of development. It argues that education is imperative for the development of any nation and underscores the relevance of man to his socialcultural milieu. It insists that the current problems or challenges bedeviling higher education in Nigeria is a systemic one, especially given the long, total neglect by the Nigerian political institution. The article concludes that Hegel's view of society as containing intrinsic or inner contradictions; exemplified by the dialectic of history--portrayed by the triadic movement could not be sustained when x-rayed vis-à-vis the enormous problems plaguing higher education in Nigeria. However, the view of the paper is that though the challenges are not insurmountable, determined and pragmatic efforts must be made by all stalk-holders to address the ills bedeviling Nigerian education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education using the Internet that characterizes the current generation of remote learning, thanks to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, has become a necessity at the beginning of 2020 and the subject of new, previously unknown educational experiences for all actors in the higher education process around the world. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of these experiences with particular attention to the perception of this process and its consequences - by students. The author's intention was to pay special attention to the differences in the perception of selected aspects of the analyzed form of education by students of different modes of study, which, despite the small size of the research sample, fills the gap in this thematic area. In the paper, the results of the analysis of secondary sources and primary surveys were used. The research, carried out using a face-to-face survey and CAWI, was conducted among 119 students of both full-time and part-time studies at two public universities in Rzeszow - Rzeszow University of Technology and the University of Rzeszow. Summarizing the results of the study, it was found that the perceived benefits of e-learning, which mainly include time savings, convenience of studying, less stress during classes, justify the positive attitude of most students towards the remote form of education. The balance of the aforementioned benefits as well as numerous perceived drawbacks of such a form of education implies the preference of the majority of students surveyed for hybrid education, which they expect to continue after the end of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The skillsets of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates are widely recognised to be important for economic prosperity. At the same time, it is broadly accepted that in England there is a need to increase the number of people studying STEM degree courses and working in STEM. However, despite decades of interventions post-16, STEM participation rates remain lower than projected requirements. Some research reports suggest a lack of positive attitudes towards these subjects and aspirations amongst some social groups. As these debates continue, official reports such as those released by the Department for Education show these patterns from the labour market and higher education (HE) extend to both attainment and participation in science and math in school. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors summarise the authors' findings from the analysis of official reports, policy documents and major research reports focussing on attainment in school science and math and post-compulsory STEM participation. Findings: The authors identify the problematic ways in which STEM subject choices are made across the student life cycle and then discuss how the leaky pipeline metaphor can be ambiguous and needs to be used with caution. Research limitations/implications: Some aspects identified here warrant further research and will be of particular interest to researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Originality/value: In this new report, the authors identify the problematic ways in which STEM subject choices are made across the student life cycle in England and then discuss how the leaky pipeline metaphor can be ambiguous and needs to be used with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing times force us to rethink our academic policies in higher education institutions. Traditional narrow views on students coming to campuses might be problematic for full inclusion. In this paper, we present an innovative model for student inclusion with the goal of producing a new framework for practice in higher education. We suggest re-examining the interactions between student characteristics while taking them into account as a whole and adopting a new holistic view of their identity-derived needs. The New Multimodality Diversified Campus (NMDC) model takes into account multiculturism, multiple technological literacies, multiple identities, multilingualism, multiple religions, and multiple disabilities. This model, based on multiple pedagogies, multiple curricula, multiple evaluations and multiple policies, serves as a compass to reach our desired destination, which is a fully inclusive campus. We present new observations about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a guiding tool that can be used in higher education, contextualising it in the framework of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a longitudinal study in the North of England with 13 educators in schools, colleges and universities during two lockdowns. The project was designed to 'unlock' education by providing spaces to co‐create new ways of thinking about education in light of the Covid‐19 pandemic. Focus groups were conducted with school and college teachers as well as university staff at the end of the first and second English lockdowns, in summer 2020 and spring 2021. An initial analysis identified issues with expectations and communication between educators and executive management as well as a lack of agency of educators, and how participants framed them as impacting on their identity as educators. Therefore, the framework of tactics of intersubjectivity was adopted to explore how educators discursively positioned themselves and others through constructions of similarity and difference, realness and power, and how their professional identities were affected by the experience of working through the pandemic and by those around them. Whilst educators took opportunities to authenticate their identity and reimagine education, their agency was undermined by top‐down governing involving little successful communication, leading to denaturalising and illegitimising experiences for educators. Executive management were perceived as lacking engagement with staff and understanding of the implications of their decisions on them. The findings call for relationship building and recognition of educators' voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, based on a local experience, the tensions arising from the interaction between educational practices, access to rights, and the bureaucratic dynamics of penitentiary institutions, disciplinary administration, and punishment. The methodology employed was based on a qualitative and interdisciplinary approach, primarily involving active and participatory observation, emphasizing the concept of 'being there' in the field of study. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with local agents, and documentary analysis was used to enhance the understanding of the dynamics under study. The results highlight the numerous challenges involved in the development of this practice in penitentiary environments for both students and teachers. This practice is hindered by institutional violence and the prioritization of security over rights, despite the rhetoric of regulations and even the penitentiary authorities acknowledging the rights of detainees. In this context, self-management and activism have become essential tools to facilitate access to education. In conclusion, educational practices in penitentiary contexts as a human right constitute a complex experience riddled with conflicts and contradictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the development of Latin America over the past three decades by using growth incidence curves and weighted growth rates calculated on the basis of harmonized microdata from national household surveys. Over the past three decades, Latin America has made progress in fundamental socioeconomic indicators. On average, there has been significant growth in income as well as some educational and housing variables, particularly among the lower income strata. In contrast, progress was slower among the most vulnerable population in other important areas (e.g., higher education, female labor participation). Despite notable improvements in various areas of development captured through household surveys, the evidence reveals that substantial shortfalls and disparities still persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article outlines the conceptual foundations of the formation of academic integrity among students of higher education; the essence of the concept of academic integrity, its content in relation to the formation of personal and professional characteristics of a competent specialist was investigated; defined attitude to manifestations of academic dishonesty among students. A study of cases of violations of the principles of academic integrity in institutions of higher education was conducted. The analyzed European experience in the formation of moral and ethical behavior of the future specialist in the field of education is highlighted as a model for Ukraine regarding the fight against tolerance for manifestations of academic dishonesty in the educational process. This paper uses the concepts and definitions found in the international academic discussion on this topic. Under the synonymous concepts of "academic fraud" and "dishonest behavior" we will understand the actions of students aimed at gaining advantages in the learning process and which violate the academic norms and rules governing the educational process at the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will propose an idea of education as conversations between friends on matters of common concern. In a scholarly and pedagogical climate of competition, testing and accountability, there seems to be little room for true pedagogical and scholarly conversation. What we aim to develop here, is a vocabulary that is able to capture some educational experiences that are being repressed in the current educational and academic discourse and practice. Starting from our own experiences as higher education workers, we argue for a way of speaking about educational practices that focus on the matters of common concern that gather – and put into conversation - students and teachers. We call this conversation a studious discourse so as to distinguish it from other forms of conversation and outline a definition of the kinds of friendships that potentially revolve around this form of communication. We base our argument on a reading of Jürgen Oelkers and Martin Wagenschein's pedagogical and didactical reflections and propose ultimately that education is not about the inner development of measurable skills or competences, but rather about becoming part of particular forms of communication about matters of common concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reputation disparity between teaching and research has stirred up an unending debate. The age‐long notion that teaching and research overlap has become a controversial issue in academia. Consequences of the institutionalization of Publish OR Perish (POP) abound in the literature. This paper investigates the reputations disparity between teaching and research productivity and the rewards for these academic activities. It explores which, out of teaching activities and research publications receive higher or less attention and rewards. Relevant existing literature was reviewed to establish the institutionalization of POP and its consequences of the reputations disparity between teaching and research and its adverse effects on these activities. Evidence from the literature reviewed reveals the existence of POP reputation disparity as part of its consequences. A key finding is that teaching activities are insignificant and unrewarded as research publications. Neither the effectiveness nor the number of teaching loads counts like the numbers of publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of education to the development of any society cannot be gainsaid. However, decades after the inauguration of Nigeria's National Policy of Education, achieving the required educational goals for the nation's development, has largely, remained a hard sale. In consequence, the country faces alarming rates of social stability and underdevelopment. In the light of the current clamour of tongues and quest for effective ways of achieving more positive outcomes regarding the nation's educational goals, this paper critically interrogates the major challenges to the attainment of these goals. As the way forward, it presents the ideals of Confucius' philosophy of education as a philosophical perspective that could be utilized in transforming Nigeria's education sector towards a more effective attainment of the nation's educational goals. The analytic, critical and prescriptive methods of philosophical research are adopted in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the logics underlying the policies and practices within K-12 schools, colleges, and universities that expose students to carceral systems, such as the police and prisons. Educational institutions at all levels have had the latitude to develop the capacity to discipline, surveil, and control students, which reproduce carceral logics within as well as create pathways to carceral systems. However, our scholarly understanding of such phenomena is bifurcated and uneven. While there is an extensive line of research on exclusionary discipline in the K-12 sector, similar scholarship is emergent at the postsecondary level. The goals of this paper are twofold. First, we review the ways in which carcerality informs the development of discipline, punishment, and control structures throughout the K-16 pipeline. Second, we introduce a relational theory of risk as a unified conceptual approach to examine carceral policies and practices in both the K-12 and the higher education sectors. From a relational risk perspective, we argue that carceral practices can be understood as a relationship between educational institutions and students who are perceived to be threats to institutional interests. Engaging with the organizational imperatives that lead to carceral practices, researchers and practitioners can better attend to dismantling racial exclusion in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. The purpose of the article is to study, analyse and present the readiness of Georgia in the modern period to meet international problems - it is the main goal of sustainable development, including higher education. The government of Georgia, since ancient times correctly understood the role of education for future prosperity, currently the government is doing its best to meet the international challenges in the fourth goal of sustainable development - education, including higher education. Methods. The paper is presented based on official documents, scientific research papers, analysis, and the historical-comparative method. Results. The article presents important challenges for the integration of the Georgian state into the European space at the present stage, which is enshrined in the Constitution (Parliament of Georgia, 2018) and several important documents. In this context, promoting access to education is an important international agreement for the country to overcome modern global challenges - one of the most important goals of sustainable development - an important precondition for strengthening the socio-political and cultural development of society. Conclusion. The paper is based on the study/processing of international and local official materials, as well as expert research has the opportunity to assess the readiness of the higher education system to follow the goals of sustainable development. The country's relevant structures are actively creating all the conditions for the convergence/engagement of the Georgian educational space under modern international standards which has been demonstrated in practice by the capabilities of higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although critical thinking has been widely accepted as an educational goal for decades, clear evidence for the development of students' critical thinking is sparse. Critical thinking has been conceptualised as skill, knowledge, and disposition respectively in psychology, philosophy and critical theory, but which applies to education is unclear. In this paper, we argue that treating critical thinking as skill is most appropriate in education. However, there are still three competing theories of critical thinking as skill: as a single unitary skill, as a set of disparate sub-skills, and as a composite skill with several sub-skills. We evaluated the validity of these theories through conducting Rasch and correlation analyses on the results of 385 undergraduate students in Thailand on the Multi-Purpose Assessment of Critical Thinking (MPACT) test. The findings suggest that critical thinking is a composite skill with several sub-skills with implications for the teaching and testing of critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The growing uncertainty in the world because of economic factors, political issues, natural disasters, global COVID-19 outbreak and technological advancements, make effective risk management (RM) an essential successful strategy for various industries, especially higher education (HE) industry to overcome uncertainties for success. The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) is to present a current overview of RM in HE from 2005 to 2021, with a focus on common risk management practised in HE industry, antecedents towards RM implementation and outcomes of RM. Design/methodology/approach: The publication standard for this SLR was RepOrting Standards for Systematics Evidence Syntheses. Scopus, one of the most prominent scientific databases, was used to select articles. Only articles from the years 2005 to 2021 were studied. This study focussed on RM in the HE industry. Findings: This review identified three main themes: common risk management practised in HE industry, antecedents towards RM implementation and outcomes of RM. An additional ten sub-themes were derived from the three main themes. Originality/value: This paper systematically reviewed developments of RM research in HE from year 2005 to 2021, leads to a clearer understanding of RM issues in HE institutions. The findings allow interested parties to better understand RM and enables top management to create their own personalised list of drivers and implementation policies to respond to risks and uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]