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The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the pivotal role of digital learning and online lecture videos, leading a shift toward blended and flipped classrooms in the post-pandemic era. This shift calls for development and (or) refreshment of novel online educational resources, such as Voice-Over PowerPoint (VOPPT) presentations, specifically designed for asynchronous or synchronous learning methods. However, resource limitations often impede the timely delivery of high-quality instructional materials. In this descriptive article, the use of AI-voice cloning technology to automate the creation of VOPPT presentation has been explored. Descripts' Overdub tool, an AI-voice cloning program, was trained on the 15-min voice sample of an anatomy professor, and the synthesized voice was used to narrate presentations on inguinal canal and extrahepatic biliary anatomy. The educational use of this novel approach was evaluated based on the second-year undergraduate medical students' qualitative feedback. Voice similarity analysis using Resemblyzer, an open-source Python tool, showed a high similarity score of 0.92 between the cloned and original voices. Despite this, students raised concerns about the robotic voice, quick pace, punctuation problems, pronunciation difficulties, and expressed reservations about AI-generated lecture narration. While the cloned voice closely matched the original, the AI-generated narration fell short of capturing the nuanced details needed for an effective anatomy instruction. This uncovers AI's current limitations in the educational contexts but establishes a foundation for future progress in AI-voice cloning technologies aimed at enhancing online educational resources for anatomy and medical education.

Pragmatics in the field of English language teaching has recently received increasing research interests, but studies on teachers learning to teach pragmatics are limited. The present study extends this research agenda by investigating how well second/foreign language preservice teacher education (SLPTE) prepares teachers to teach pragmatics. Adopting a multi-site case study approach, this study examines (1) the representation of pragmatics and instructional pragmatics in SLPTE programmes at Australian and Vietnamese universities, and (2) programme leaders' beliefs about pragmatics instructor preparation. Data were collected from curriculum document analysis, a questionnaire, and four individual semi-structured interviews. The findings show that pragmatics was represented to different extents across the programmes but instructional pragmatics was entirely absent. The findings further show three sets of the programme leaders' beliefs: (1) preservice teachers were not well-prepared to teach pragmatics; (2) teaching pragmatics and instructional pragmatics to preservice teachers is important; and (3) pragmatics and instructional pragmatics need to be sufficiently addressed in SLPTE. The study has important implications for teacher educators, curriculum designers, and relevant stakeholders regarding L2 pragmatics teacher preparation.

This article originated from a working group on "Learning beyond formal schooling through human--computer--human interaction (HCHI)" convened at the UNESCO EDUSummIT 2023 in Kyoto (Japan). A polylogue approach was adopted by engaging eight co-authors whose diverse perspectives culminated in propositions that addressed the pivotal question: How should the connections between formal, non-formal, and informal learning be considered in a digitally mediated world? Formal learning is typically structured, organized and chronologically arranged institutional learning, whereas informal learning is associated with everyday learning across contexts throughout one's life, and non-formal learning is a hybrid of these forms of learning. Considering the growing prominence of informal and non-formal learning in a digitally mediated world, the evolving learning ecosystem calls for a recalibration of the emphasis on formal learning. In this regard, HCHI has the potential to mediate human--human interactions, thereby bridging formal and informal learning. Our articulated position is to preserve the distinct boundaries and inherent complexities of each type of learning while creating opportunities or 'bridges' to authentically draw on the processes of each through meaningful actions. The polylogue yielded three propositions to bridge the connections between formal, non-formal and informal learning spaces in a digitally mediated world: (a) formal education institutions can establish strategic alliances and collaborations with learning organizations beyond the formal educational system, (b) the creation of digital learning communities within formal and non-formal spaces exemplify a paradigm of operation in an unregulated, student-centric cohesive space where the educator is a co-participant, (c) the recognition of the value of informal learning experiences by formal education institutions is critical, with emphasis on the learning process rather than the product.

Background: Learners' writing skills are critical to their academic and professional development. Previous studies have shown that learners' self-assessment during writing is essential for assessing their writing products and monitoring their writing processes. However, conducting practical self-assessments of writing remains challenging for learners without help, such as formative feedback. Objectives: To facilitate learners' self-assessment in writing, we developed a writing analytics toolkit and used data visualisation and cutting-edge machine learning technology that provides real-time and formative feedback to learners. Methods: To investigate whether our newly-developed tool affects the accuracy and process of learners' self-assessment, we conducted a lab study. We assigned 59 learners to complete writing (2 h) and revising (1 h) tasks. During the revision stage, we randomly assigned the learners to two groups: one group used the writing analytics toolkit while the second group was not granted access to the toolkit. Learners' self-assessment accuracy and process of self-assessment were compared between the two groups. Results: In our study, we found the toolkit helped learners in the experimental group improve the self-assessment accuracy of their writing products compared to the learners in the control group. In addition, we also found that the affordances of the toolkit affected the learners' self-assessment process, and poor design affordances may have prevented the learners from reflecting by themselves. Conclusions: Together, our empirical study shed light on the design of future writing analytics tools which aim at improving learners' self-assessment during formative writing processes.

Background: This study examined the effect of computer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) on secondary school students' understanding of socio-scientific issues (SSI). Engaging students in collaborative argumentation is known to help with deepening their understanding of SSI. Methods: In this study, a mixed-method design is used to investigate 84 students' collaborative argumentation processes and outcomes. The statistical analysis, epistemic network analysis and qualitative uptake analysis results showed that CSCA was effective in supporting secondary school students' evidence-based argumentation skills on SSI. Findings and Conclusion: Several cases were presented to show how students engaged in CSCA to explore meaningful learning opportunities and how CSCA helped students' learning on SSI. Implications: The findings provided insights for future innovative teaching and learning SSI in authentic classroom settings.

This study contributes to a growing body of scholarship at the intersection of bilingual education and education policy and examines reclassification, or the transition out of formal English language services in schools, as one potential lever in accelerating or decelerating multilingual learners' science learning. More specifically, it traces multilingual learners' science academic achievement vis-à-vis science test scores over a six-year period using the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) data set. We use regression analyses with panel data to explore the relationship of reclassification with MLs' science achievement at a national scale, and then, how variation in contextual factors (including family, school, and individual characteristics) shapes this relationship. Results show that, after controlling for covariates and prior test scores, reclassification is not significantly associated with differential science test scores when compared to students that retain their EL status. Results further show that reclassification is associated with higher science achievement for MLs who were previously in a dual-language program but lower scores for those with higher prior achievement. We conclude with implications for the reclassification process, as well as directions for future research on reclassification, multilingual learners, and academic achievement.

Ostracism and school engagement have important implications for adolescents' academic perseverance and success. However, limited previous studies have investigated the mediating effects of school engagement on the association between ostracism and academic achievement in the Chinese cultural context. The present study fills in this research gap by examining the mediating effects of emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, and behavioral engagement on the association between ostracism and adolescents' academic achievement. Clustered random sampling was employed, and a total of 728 adolescents (52.6% female) were recruited as participants. The results showed that ostracism was negatively associated with academic achievement. Ostracism was negatively associated with emotional engagement and cognitive engagement, which in turn were related to worse academic achievement. Notably, within the Chinese cultural context, behavioral engagement did not exhibit a mediating effect between ostracism and academic achievement. The findings of the present research have theoretical and practical implications for curtailing ostracism and improving adolescents' academic achievement.

The educational approach known as positive education emerged from positive psychology and frequently attributes its conception of flourishing to Aristotelian eudaimonia. This is a point of contention between scholars who see positive psychology's flourishing as an epithet of Aristotelian virtues and others who have identified critical divergences between the philosophical foundations of positive psychology and Aristotle's normative ethics. Few scholars have examined whether adolescent understandings of flourishing reflect Aristotelian eudaimonia, and whether this is different in positive education students. This paper explores notion of the good life through the writings of 226 adolescents, 93 of whom attend a school that has implemented positive education. These are analysed through an Aristotelian lens, finding more similarities than differences between the groups. Both groups discussed relationships, emotions, and accomplishments, but moral goodness and virtue were not prominent. Conclusions are drawn about the implications of this for 'positive' education and the role it plays in nurturing flourishing.

As linguistic diversity continues to increase in the United States public school system, schools are expected to meet the needs of their ever-changing student body. While much attention within education research has understandably focused on multilingual learners' (MLs) English language acquisition, an emergent body of work points to science as an important subject for attention among elementary MLs. We suggest that understanding what "science and language inputs" are afforded to MLs in schools can contribute to understanding the needs and opportunities for enhancing MLs' science learning. This study leveraged nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 2010-2011 to explore the science and language inputs available to MLs in elementary school. Using descriptive statistics, our analysis of science and language inputs provides evidence on what MLs have, or do not have, access to inside of their schools. Science inputs appear to be relatively evenly distributed across classrooms serving non-MLs, MLs, and subgroups therein. In comparison, language inputs are differentially distributed across ML subgroups, but they are distributed in ways that may align with student needs. However, while the science inputs do not necessarily vary across subgroups, the language inputs do, and this may affect how students can engage with science inputs. In understanding what science and language inputs MLs are afforded, this study provides a foundation for how to improve formal learning environments for them, especially regarding science learning.

Background: Data sharing improves the value, synthesis, and integrity of research, but rates are low. Data sharing might be improved if data sharing policies were prominent and actionable at every stage of research. We aimed to systematically describe the epidemiology of data sharing policies across the health research lifecycle. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of the data sharing policies of the largest health research funders, all national ethics committees, all clinical trial registries, the highest-impact medical journals, and all medical research data repositories. Stakeholders' official websites, online reports, and other records were reviewed up to May 2022. The strength and characteristics of their data sharing policies were assessed, including their policies on data sharing intention statements (a.k.a. data accessibility statements) and on data sharing specifically for coronavirus disease studies. Data were manually extracted in duplicate, and policies were descriptively analysed by their stakeholder and characteristics. Results: Nine hundred and thirty-five eligible stakeholders were identified: 110 funders, 124 ethics committees, 18 trial registries, 273 journals, and 410 data repositories. Data sharing was required by 41% (45/110) of funders, no ethics committees or trial registries, 19% (52/273) of journals and 6% (24/410) of data repositories. Among funder types, a higher proportion of private (63%, 35/55) and philanthropic (67%, 4/6) funders required data sharing than public funders (12%, 6/49). Conclusion: Data sharing requirements, and even recommendations, were insufficient across health research. Where data sharing was required or recommended, there was limited guidance on implementation. We describe multiple pathways to improve the implementation of data sharing. Public funders and ethics committees are two stakeholders with particularly important untapped opportunities.

Systematic reviews have witnessed significant growth across many fields, including education. In this article, we outline the background of this growth, highlight the tendency to focus on methodological considerations, and propose a framework to support education researchers in preparing systematic reviews with broad impact. We draw on our experience working with education stakeholders in Singapore and on international scholarship to propose a framework that supports education researchers in clarifying and specifying their aims and audiences and crafting syntheses of appropriate types. Our aim is that this framework, which includes examples illustrating four categories of reviews, acts as a reflective tool which researchers can use to maximize the utility, value, and potential impact of education research.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have the potential to improve education by personalizing learning. However, ChatGPT-generated content has been criticized for sometimes producing false, biased, and/or hallucinatory information. To evaluate AI's ability to return clear and accurate anatomy information, this study generated a custom interactive and intelligent chatbot (Anatbuddy) through an Open AI Application Programming Interface (API) that enables seamless AI-driven interactions within a secured cloud infrastructure. Anatbuddy was programmed through a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) method to provide context-aware responses to user queries based on a predetermined knowledge base. To compare their outputs, various queries (i.e., prompts) on thoracic anatomy (n = 18) were fed into Anatbuddy and ChatGPT 3.5. A panel comprising three experienced anatomists evaluated both tools' responses for factual accuracy, relevance, completeness, coherence, and fluency on a 5-point Likert scale. These ratings were reviewed by a third party blinded to the study, who revised and finalized scores as needed. Anatbuddy's factual accuracy (mean ± SD = 4.78/5.00 ± 0.43; median = 5.00) was rated significantly higher (U = 84, p = 0.01) than ChatGPT's accuracy (4.11 ± 0.83; median = 4.00). No statistically significant differences were detected between the chatbots for the other variables. Given ChatGPT's current content knowledge limitations, we strongly recommend the anatomy profession develop a custom AI chatbot for anatomy education utilizing a carefully curated knowledge base to ensure accuracy. Further research is needed to determine students' acceptance of custom chatbots for anatomy education and their influence on learning experiences and outcomes.

To date, most globally reported mpox sequences have come from Europe and North America, where sustained human-to-human transmission has resulted in explosive mpox outbreaks, especially in 2022 (1). A hallmark [...]

The global talent gap is a consequence of skills mismatch among job seekers. Although micro-credentials appeared to be a potential solution to narrow the talent gap, it is unclear how they can be effectively implemented in a structured academic pathway. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of a proposed micro-credential model for formal education via the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning Micro-credentials (APEL.M), to support the talent gap challenges faced by companies in Malaysia. The study used a qualitative case study method with data collected mainly from a focus group discussion among relevant faculty heads, administrators, and senior management team members. The findings indicated that despite potential challenges and issues towards implementing the new micro-credential model, the proposed model is significant for policymakers, higher education providers, and industry stakeholders interested in addressing the talent gap and creating alternative pathways to formal academic qualifications.

When studying grammar, students must not only focus on its structure but also on its form. Form-focused activities are integral to this process, requiring students to identify and manipulate language forms. A well-established technique for facilitating language acquisition is the consciousness-raising task (CR), which aims to heighten learners' awareness of language form. By prioritizing the language input, students can cultivate a more precise comprehension of grammar structures, thereby enhancing their own language proficiency. This approach entails various strategies, such as inferring grammatical rules from examples, comparing different forms of expression, and examining differences between a learner's usage of a grammar item and that of native speakers. However, designing effective CR tasks is cognitively demanding, time-intensive, and laborious for teachers, as it entails accommodating numerous requirements, including the definition of clear objectives, task relevance, and task engagement. To address these challenges, it is worth utilizing ChatGPT which is an advanced conversational AI system with the capability to process and generate various modalities of language. It has access to extensive databases and can produce written content that is frequently indistinguishable from human-written text. Accordingly, ChatGPT can be utilized to generate CR tasks or materials that may be applied in class. The present study endeavors to offer a range of CR tasks for grammar teaching that have been generated by ChatGPT. The tasks include identification tasks, text correction tasks, word choice tasks, and others.

The procedures of carrying out factorial invariance to validate a construct were well developed to ensure the reliability of the construct that can be used across groups for comparison and analysis, yet mainly restricted to the frequentist approach. This motivates an update to incorporate the growing Bayesian approach for carrying out the Bayesian factorial invariance, as well as the frequentist approach, using the recent add-on R packages to show the procedures systematically for testing measurement equivalence via multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The practical procedure and guidelines for carrying out factorial invariance under MCFA using a classic empirical example are demonstrated. Comparison between the frequentist and the Bayesian procedures and demonstration using priors are another two nuclei of the paper.

Teaching is often regarded as a profession with a high probability of job burnout. Research has shown a close relationship between teachers' motivation and their burnout, but it has not been closely explored among EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers in Chinese contexts. Considering the large number of college English teachers in Chinese universities and recent changes in their role, the study explores the relationship between their motivation and burnout, as well as the factors that affect teacher burnout among Chinese college English teachers. For this purpose, a total of 261 college English teachers from ten Chinese universities participated in the survey. Among them, 68 teachers submitted their narratives on teacher burnout using the narrative frame. The results showed that high mastery and relational goals and a low level of work avoidance goals contributed to higher motivation and less teacher burnout. The demand for research, lack of autonomy, and guanxi-based practices influenced Chinese teachers' burnout. The results show that teacher burnout is highly context-dependent and affected by the organizational structure and cultural practices. An organizational support needs to be provided for teachers to maintain their mastery goal orientations and increase their autonomy as professional teachers.

This article explores the relation between future-readiness and Islamic education from the perspectives of Islamic learning centers in Singapore. The main research objective is to examine how the concept of future-readiness and related terms are interpreted, framed, and facilitated in Islamic textbooks. Based on a content analysis of the textbooks used at Islamic learning centers for primary students in Singapore, two research findings are reported. First, the Islamic textbooks interpret future-readiness as equipping Muslim learners with Islamic knowledge and values as well as application and learner-centeredness in the modern world. Second, the Islamic textbooks promote information and communications technology (ICT) as part of preparing students for future-readiness. A major implication from this study is that Islamic curricula evolve in tandem with changing times to support the development of future-ready students. In addition, the advancement of future-readiness is situated within an Islamic worldview that emphasizes religious beliefs and values. A significant limitation of this study is that its research method centered on an analysis of textbooks; hence, empirical research is recommended to corroborate the research findings and implications.