Rigor and Relevance

The term ‘differentiate' is often used in the field of education to signify the modification of learning based on student readiness, learning profile, and academic skills, with changes being made to the depth, pace, and breath of the process (instruction), content (curriculum), and product (students' work and assessments). This chapter will focus on differentiation as it relates to gifted culturally different students, with an emphasis on the inclusion of cultural considerations within learning profiles discuss the necessity of both rigor and cultural relevance in lessons, while also being affirmed by what is taught. The curricula and program challenges within general and gifted classrooms will also be discussed. A brief overview of Bloom's taxonomy and James Banks's multicultural curriculum model will be shared in addition to an overview of Ford's Bloom-Banks matrix along with a revised layout of Trotman Scott's color-coded layout of Ford's matrix with pros and cons for each matrix quadrant.

Online Educational Activities of Students: Readiness and Self-Efficacy

Introduction. The widespread use of telelearning raises the issue of ensuring its effectiveness. Researchers consider various factors, but student readiness for such learning has not yet become the subject of systemic research in domestic science. The objectives of the article are: to reveal personality predictors of online learning success, to identify the components of student readiness for such learning (on the basis of foreign works); to characterize the readiness and self-efficacy of students’ online educational activities drawing on empirical data. Materials and Methods The researchers utilized the methods of theoretical analysis of the problem and the survey method. The author’s questionnaire was used to collect the data on the online activity of the students, self-assessment of readiness and effectiveness of online learning. 252 first- and second-year IT-students participated in the survey. Results. Five components of students’ readiness for online learning have been identified: attitude towards online learning, self-directed learning, time management, communicative competence, and technical competence. The students’ attitudes towards online learning are ambivalent. The students understand the importance of such training, but they are not willing to invest enough time and effort into it. Two interrelated components (self-directed learning and time management) contribute most to the overall online learning readiness. Online learning self-efficacy is related to technical competence and attitudes towards online learning. Discussion and Conclusion. The results will be useful for further research of the factors and ways improving online learning effectiveness. The research prospects are the development of psychodiagnostic tools for assessing the online learning experience and readiness of students and the diversification of the sampling by adding students from different programme tracks and with different experiences in online educational activities.

Realistic Job Preview as an Alternative Tool to Improve Student Readiness for Online Learning

Readiness for online learning has been established as a key component of student success in online classes. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored how vital being prepared for online can be. This paper highlights an orientation technique widely used in the business field, namely Realistic Job Preview (RJP), as a method to prepare students for what online learning might be like. Our research proposes an RJP would help students adapt to their new role as online learners. For the purposes of this study, we developed a video providing a realistic preview of online learning following recommendations from RJP research. We then conducted a mixed methods study to examine student perceptions of our realistic preview video and an online readiness self-assessment. Overall, our findings provide strong evidence for the use of RJP as a strategy to improve student readiness for online learning.

Pengetahuan dengan Kesediaan Pelajar Program Pendidikan terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan di Universiti Utara Malaysia

Pelan Tindakan Keusahawanan IPT 2021-2025 dan Panduan Pendidikan Keusahawanan Bersepadu IPT (EIE) merupakan satu naratif baharu kepada program pembangunan keusahawanan di IPT. Kerangka strategi yang dibangunkan memberi fokus kepada pembentukan ekosistem keusahawanan yang bersinergi antara keusahawanan, akademik, industri, kerajaan dan komuniti dalam landskap sistem pendidikan tinggi negara. Justeru, amat penting kepada para pelajar di IPT didedahkan kepada ilmu pengetahuan, kemahiran dan nilai tambah dalam bidang keusahawanan dan anjakan minda daripada job seeker kepada job creator. Dengan itu, institusi pendidikan sebagai pusat pembangunan keusahawanan perlu memainkan peranan yang besar dalam memupuk persekitaran keusahawanan. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti hubungan antara Pengetahuan Keusahawanan dengan Kesediaan Pelajar program Pendidikan terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan. Pendekatan kajian kuantitatif dalam kajian ini adalah berbentuk korelasi. Populasi kajian ini adalah 148 orang pelajar Sarjana Muda Pendidikan di Universiti Utara Malaysia. Teknik persampelan bertujuan digunakan untuk memilih sampel kajian. Kajian ini menggunakan borang soal selidik yang diadaptasi dari kajian-kajian lepas. Instrumen Pengetahuan Keusahawanan mempunyai nilai pekali Cronbach alpha 0.89 dan instrumen Kesediaan Pelajar program Pendidikan terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan mempunyai nilai pekali Cronbach alpha 0.91. Data yang dikumpul dianalisis dengan menggunakan statistik deskriptif, ujian-t sampel bebas dan korelasi. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan signifikan Kesediaan Pelajar Program Pendidikan terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan antara pelajar lelaki dan pelajar perempuan. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara Pengetahuan Keusahawanan dengan Kesediaan Pelajar program Pendidikan terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan. Dapatan kajian ini menjelaskan bahawa pihak universiti perlu mengadakan pelbagai aktiviti keusahawanan supaya dapat meningkatkan Kesediaan Pelajar terhadap Kursus Keusahawanan. The Higher Education Institution (HEI) Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2021-2025 will focus on forming a synergistic and holistic entrepreneurial ecosystem, create high impact entrepreneurship involving various strategic parties and emphasize on innovation and technology-based entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that students can be exposed to knowledge, skills and added value in the field of entrepreneurship and shift of mind from job seeker to job creator. Educational institutions as centers of entrepreneurial development need to play a major role in fostering an entrepreneurial environment. This study aims to identify the relationship between Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Education Student Readiness towards Entrepreneurship Courses. The quantitative research approach in this study is using correlational study. The population of this study is 148 Bachelor of Education students at Universiti Utara Malaysia. Purposive Sampling technique is used to select sample of the study. This study uses a questionnaire adapted from previous studies. The Entrepreneurship Knowledge Instrument has a Cronbach alpha coefficient value of 0.89 and the Education Student Readiness towards Entrepreneurship Courses has a Cronbach alpha coefficient value of 0.91. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests and correlations. The findings of the study show that there is a significant difference in Education Student Readiness towards Entrepreneurship Courses between male and female students. The findings of the study also show that there is a significant relationship between Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Education Student Readiness towards Entrepreneurship Courses. The findings of this study explain that the university needs to hold various entrepreneurship activities to increase the Student Readiness towards Entrepreneurship Courses.