International Journal of Educational Innovation and Research

Do the Learners are inclining towards the student credit card scheme? the reality and its prospect

Koushik Bar, Anujit Patra, Abhijit Guha — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0700

Recently, taking an educational loan is a major concern of matter in the economics of education research. The researchers attempted to understand the perception of postgraduates’ students about the student credit card scheme launched by the state government of West Bengal in India. Three hundred fifty-four students were chosen randomly from 12 universities. Five points Likert-type scale was used to measure the perception of the students about student credit card. The researchers used a quasi-mixed method. Data were analysed by the use of descriptive, inferential statistics and also qualitatively by thematic analysis. The study found that the perception of the postgraduates ‘students about student credit card schemes has changed significantly due to their duration of study in university. But, perception about the same scheme has not been influenced by gender, age, academic stream, residential location, family income, caste category, availed or not of the scheme. Study also found that thirty six percent of students are satisfied with the scheme. On the other side large percent (47%) students are opposing the scheme in terms of either they feel not satisfied directly, or criticise this policy due to various reasons. However, some students favour it as the scheme has an inherent motive to promote students to receive higher education.

School principal’s training programs, challenges, and improvement opportunities: rapid review

Judicaël Alladatin, Roche Lionel, Al-chikh Insaf — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0700

Effective school leaders, with relevant training programs, high-quality management, and in-service pedagogical training, are recognized for their ability to positively influence student performance (Sanfo, 2020). In this study, we focus on analyzing training programs for school principals, assessing aspects such as their strengths, shortcomings, opportunities, as well as potential challenges. The aim was to identify the most effective models for training and preparing school principals in order to optimize their impact on educational success. To this end, we conducted a rapid review of 27 articles from scientific and gray literature. The results of this rapid review will be discussed with a view to an in-depth reflection on the strengths, challenges and opportunities inherent in the various training methods. The analysis shows that school principals’ training is vital in the sense that it prepares trainees for their demanding and increasingly complex future roles. However, these programs sometimes suffer from shortcomings related to the selection process, the consistency between what is taught and what is experienced in the field, and the incoherence of the content of the training curriculum. The analysis also highlighted some opportunities that could improve these programs if integrated, as well as factors that could be barriers to the correct implementation of these valuable training programs.

Students’ Inconsistency when Solving a Geometry Problem in Three-Dimensional Context

Fiki Alghadari, Abdul Hakim Ma’ruf, Audi Yundayani — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

There is an issue regarding students' consistency in completing geometry assignments, as indicated by several research findings and assessments. Diagnosing how students integrate concepts in the conceptual design and understanding the reasons behind their inconsistency in completing assignments are the main focuses of this case study. This research was conducted with 58 high school students in Tanjungpandan, Indonesia. The data were obtained from students' answers to problems of the three initial levels of geometry thinking and retrospective reports about their answers. The data were analyzed based on three phases: the concept-eliciting and integrating phase, the relationship-eliciting phase, and the relationship-integrating phase. The study revealed that students' performance in geometry analysis aligned with the epistemological concept issue. Visual objects garnered the most attention from students, leading to their analysis techniques being primarily object-oriented. Some stages of property analysis were skipped, causing students to make claims about objects of thought when they should have been establishing relationships between properties to classify shapes through rigorous geometry analysis. Numerical computation remains an essential aspect of geometry analysis. The conceptual design has not yet reached the abstraction stage, resulting in experiments to solve problems not always yielding the correct solutions. In education, this highlights the need for a deep understanding of concept epistemology, efficient concept integration, and the cultivation of abstract thinking skills.

Enhancing Student Feedback Efficacy: A Critical Analysis of University's Module Evaluation Questionnaires

Junko Winch, Sam Demirkol — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This report discusses a British university Module Evaluation Questionnaires (MEQ) which was produced as a part of university-wide interdisciplinary MEQ project at a British University. Purpose: The aim of this report is to investigate the purpose of university MEQ and to review aims and weakness of the current Sussex University MEQ seven questions/statements. Methods: The method is quantitative and critical review and analysis was conducted. Data was collected at University of Sussex, UK. The participants were three members of the MEQ project team. The focus of analysis is to identify the aim and weakens of the current University MEQ questions/statements. Results: MEQ has three stakeholders, students, university and staff. Each stakeholder’s purpose of MEQ are different. University has institutional and teaching staff have teaching and academic promotional purposes. It is suggested to MEQ designers to take consideration of students whose mother tongue is not English and to write questions as simple and clear language as possible. Implications: The primary recommendation of this report is to undertake a staff-student partnership to agree the purpose of the MEQs and co-design a revised instrument that meets the stated purpose.

The Fossilization: What Initial Representations of Future Instructors?

Imane Chmanti-Houari, Mohammed Oudrhiri Hassani — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Previous research has shown the influence of teachers' initial representations on their assimilation and transmission of scientific concepts to students. In this regard, the aim of the present study is to identify the difficulties faced by future Life and Earth Sciences (LES) teachers in assimilating the concept of fossilization, particularly those related to the mobilization of time and space. Using a mixed-methods approach, we designed a questionnaire that was administered to 30 trainee teachers at the RCJET in Fez, selected by simple random sampling. The data was processed using statistical data processing software (answers to closed questions) and the content analysis method (answers to open and semi-open questions). Various types of obstacles to the mobilization of time and space were detected. The inability to apply the principle of actualism. The conception of the evolution of fossilization processes outside the space-time framework. The inability to conceive fossilization as a contingent and exceptional phenomenon, requiring a long time, difficult to observe with the naked eye, difficult to experiment due to their taking place in different palaeogeographic sites. They also raised the need for special training in geology. As a result, we are proposing an increase in the number of hours spent on practical work, the scheduling of geological field trips, the development of new methods and approaches, and the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In order to generalise and validate its results, although they were significant, our research will be extended to a larger sample, and in other countries.

Cooperative learning as a strategy of improving mathematics performance and attitudes

Matthew Bugre Ndebil, Clement Ayarebilla Ali — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

There has been an increasing concerns that the traditional instructional methods militate against students’ performance and positive attitudes towards school mathematics. This study employs cooperative learning strategy to provide an innovation as a way of ameliorating the canker. We utilised the quasi-expermental (prepost non-equivalent) design. In this design, two senior high schools selected. One school was the experimental (SHS A) and the other was the control (SHS B). A sample of 224 students were assigned to the experimental (110) and control (114) groups. After treatments, mathematics achievement tests were used to gather the data. The data was analysed with means, standard deviations, percentages, p-values and t-statistics. The outcomes revealed that students who had tutorials in the cooperative strategy performed better than those who had tuition through the traditional. Even within the experimental group, there was no statistically significance differences between boys and girls. It was concluded that students’ performance and attitudes toward learning mathematics were positively enhanced by cooperative learning. It was therefore recommended that stakeholders make conscious efforts to inspire teachers to model more cooperative learning techniques in mathematics instruction.

Formative assessment in Timor-Leste: teachers’ perception and practice

Melky Costa Akoyt — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Formative assessment is vital in many educational contexts because it helps improve students' learning outcomes. Like many other countries, Timor-Leste education promotes formative assessment alongside other educational assessments. Yet, the use of formative assessment in Timorese classroom is still a subject of inquiry. This study aimed to investigate Timorese teachers' perceptions and practices of formative assessment in the classrooms and examine their differences. The sample was drawn from 50 teachers working in 14 primary schools within Dili municipality. The data was gathered through a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, teachers' perceptions, and their practices. The results showed that many Timorese teachers had positive perceptions of formative assessment. They knew the importance and the role of formative assessment for learning. However, the teachers' practices of formative assessment differed from their perceptions. Most teachers rarely apply formative assessment and its various strategies in their classrooms. This research suggests that relevant government bodies, such as the Ministry of Education, must consider the importance of educational qualifications and continuous professional development programs. Large class sizes and the lack of internal school support also become essential aspects that need attention from the government. The findings of this research provided insights that can be incorporated into the existing literature and serve as the basis for further research in the Timorese education context, particularly in primary education.

Find a Fossil and “Choose your own Adventure”

Shem Unger, Mark Rollins — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Science education university curriculum should foster transformative methods of teaching and learning for science majors, including science communication. Pedagogical methods for increasing student awareness of paleontological fossils present challenges as fossils are often presented as preserved remains with little visualizations or reconstructions of fossils. As part of increasing scientific literacy and increasing confidence in professional development skills, student presentations can provide an avenue for promoting these necessary skills for biology majors. This study reports on a short multi-week activity whereby students A) selected a fossil to investigate, B) completed a one to two slide presentation on their fossil of choice, and C) presented their fossil overview to their peers in a lecture classroom. Post-activity surveys and reflections indicate that students found this activity engaging, a fun method for learning about a large diversity of fossils important to evolution, and finally, enjoyed selecting their own fossil. Therefore, allowing students to present on fossils and the evolutionary story they each tell may have increased engagement, piqued interest, and enabled students to both learn and focus on taxa of interest to them personally. We recommend science educators incorporate short, low risk presentations as a learning tool in biology courses to “bring fossils alive” and increase engagement among biology students by promoting student science communication.

Status of teaching and learning descriptive writing in Zanzibar secondary schools: a case of Wete District

Ali Juma Hamad, Placidius Ndibalema, Kulwa Matalu — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This paper investigated the status of teaching and learning descriptive writing among Secondary Schools in Zanzibar. The paper focused on (i) Identifying the types of errors made by secondary school students in their descriptive writing skills and (ii) exploring teaching and learning materials in descriptive writing for secondary schools. A mixed method approach was used, and a case study design employed. Simple random sampling was used to select 140 form four students and they have given a test. Also, eight English language subject teachers and two quality assurers were purposively selected. Data were collected using students’ test, interview, and documentary reviews. The results depict that students had different errors such as grammatical errors, punctuation marks, coherence and content problems. Also, the findings show that many topics prosed using non-digital materials such as textbooks, and written text for teaching and learning descriptive writing in secondary schools. These materials were also not sufficient to give students ability and competence in descriptive writing in ordinary secondary schools. This indicates that there is a need for designing digital lessons for supporting teaching and learning descriptive writing for F1 students. The study concludes that proper teaching and learning digital contents lessons is needed to support teachers and motivate students in the teaching and learning of descriptive writing to secondary school students. To achieve effective descriptive writing to secondary school students, curriculum developers, teachers and other education stakeholders should emphasize on digital materials to motivate students in teaching and learning process.

E-learning in Belgium: a case study of Mons University

Lidia Pokrzycka — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0700

The implementation of e-learning in higher education in some European countries is a real challenge. Academics still face resistance from university authorities to launching e-learning centres because of the costs, but they also do not see the point of investing in an inferior type of didactics (they believe that it is impossible to teach effectively online, only possibly in crisis situations such as a pandemic). It turns out that e-learning in the form of bottom-up initiatives was already being organised many years ago in Belgium, for example, and the results have led university authorities to take an interest in investing in e-learning. The aim of the article is to present the innovations implemented at the Belgian university, with particular regard to open e-learning courses. The research is based on participant observation, interviews with employees from the team introducing e-learning at the Belgian university, as well as on source materials from the visited higher education institution. The publication demonstrates that it is possible to implement professional e-learning from scratch, even without substantial support from the university authorities. The research shows that it is possible to implement effective online courses, targeting lecturers, students and external audiences, thanks to innovators who want to implement modern educational methods, while improving their own skills all the time.