The Pattern of Hybrid Learning to Maintain Learning Effectiveness at the Higher Education Level Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

<p style="text-align: justify;">Online learning during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has awakened and affirmed the necessity of learning based on digital technology. The article was aimed to analyze the effectiveness of online learning at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees of Islamic Religious Education as a reference to develop a learning pattern post-COVID-19 pandemic. The research employed a mixed-method design with a concurrent triangulation model. The samples were taken using stratified random and purposive sampling. Meanwhile, the data were collected through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and forum group discussion. A descriptive analysis and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the quantitative data, while interpretative descriptive for the qualitative data. The research showed that online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees of Islamic Religious Education have been effective. In detail, online learning at the doctoral degree was the most effective among all. On the other hand, face-to-face learning is still necessary. Therefore, the learning pattern developed post-COVID-19 pandemic combines face-to-face and online learning (hybrid learning). The formulation is adjusted to the characteristics, educational purpose and orientation, level of ability, readiness, and learning autonomy of the students at each educational level.</p>

Trends in scientific editing and good research practices: what do researchers-nurses know?

Objective: To verify researchers-nurses’ knowledge about trends in scientific publishing and good research practices. Method: A descriptive study carried out through an online survey with 197 nurses holding master’s and/or doctoral degrees from all Brazilian regions. To raise knowledge, a validated, self-administered and anonymous questionnaire with 18 questions on the subject was used. Descriptive and inferential analyzes were performed on researchers’ scores (Mann-Whitney test). Results: Among the specific questions, the mean of correct answers was 7.1: 6.4 for master’s and 7.4 for doctoral degree holders. There was a significant difference in the mean of correct answers between masters and doctors (p = 0.025), and between productivity scholarship holders and non-scholarship holders (p = 0.021), according to mean difference tests. Questions about predatory editorial practices were those in which researchers had the worst knowledge. Conclusion: We identified that, regardless of the education level (master’s or doctoral degree), nurses have little knowledge about the topics studied, which can compromise the quality of production and the scientific vehicles used to disseminate this knowledge.

Jan Nepomucen Józef Braun (1926–2015), filolog klasyczny, orientalista, kartwelista, sumerolog

Jan Braun, born on 15th May 1926 in Łódź, studied classical philology and classical archaeology at the University of Lodz (years 1947–1951). His MA thesis (1951) was devoted to the ethnogenesis of the Etruscans. He also worked as junior assistant at the Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Lodz (from May 1949 do September 1950) and later as junior lecturer at the Department of Classical Philology of the same university (from October 1950 to September 1951). In October 1951, Braun left for Georgia in order to complete his doctoral studies. From there he returned to Poland as PhD, specializing in Georgian and other oriental languages, especially the ancient languages of the Near East. In the years 1955–2002, he worked at the University of Warsaw, initially as assistant professor. In 1970, he became associate professor. In 1991, he received the higher doctoral degree (habilitation), and in 1995 he obtained the position of full professor. He studied the genetic relations of ancient and modern languages, including a suggested Basque-Kartvelian connection. During his habilitation colloquium, he gave an interesting lecture entitled Basic problems of historical-comparative research over the ancient languages of the Mediterranean area (Warsaw, May 28th, 1991), which is presented in Appendix No. 1 (with some comments and bibliographical references). The paper presents Braun’s main fields of research and his achievements made in Łódź (Poland), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Warsaw. According to Braun’s view, suggested as early as 1951, Etruscan represents an external member of the Anatolian languages (deriving from Luwian), so that it belongs to the Indo-European language family. In his opinion, Basque is a western member of the South Caucasian (or Kartvelian) family.

Music of Razak Abdul Aziz: Preparing Chosen Solo and Collaborative Piano Works for Two Academic Recitals

For the first time in history, full-scale performances on musical compositions by a Malaysian composer, Razak Abdul Aziz, were presented through two academic recitals—27 July 2019 and 6 February 2020—at Orchestra Hall, Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA). These recitals consisted of solo and collaborative piano works, performed by me and a team of music collaborators that were specifically selected for this purpose. Razak Abdul Aziz, who is still actively composing, spent most of his career life as an academic, first serving for Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM), then Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) until his retirement in November 2019. Besides fulfilling the academic requirements set by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) for my doctoral degree, I had chosen to perform works by this composer as he is generally known to the local music community as one of the earliest contemporary composers in the country (started composing in the 1980s). Yet, a full-scale performance of his works was long overdue, though he had the opportunities to have some of his works premiered and performed on local and international platforms as part of concert programmes. This artist project talks about the preparation I made for both recitals, briefly explaining the creative process I journeyed through and the challenges I faced during this time span, discussing each work I had selected for these academic recitals. These recitals could, perhaps, be the pioneers in studying and performing works by Razak Abdul Aziz, hoping to expand this effort to national and international levels.

THE CONTENT OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN LINGUISTICS AT THE UK UNIVERSITIES

The current challenges of linguistic globalization have increased the attention of researchers to professional training of specialists in linguistics. A detailed analysis of relevant scientific works on comparative pedagogy has shown that the problem in question in foreign experience, in particular in the UK, has not been sufficiently justified by Ukrainian researchers. Therefore, the article aims to analyze and justify the content of professional training for specialists in linguistics at the UK universities. The following research methods have been used to achieve the above-mentioned aim: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, structural-functional, comparative-pedagogical, exploratory, prognostic. A detailed study of content characteristics of professional training for linguists at the UK universities has proved that both the structurization and selection of training content rely on the competency-based approach, the principles of subject-specific specialization, interdisciplinarity, modularity, electiveness, fundamentalization. The structure of degree programmes consists of compulsory and optional courses, as well as dissertation preparation. Compulsory courses cover the key areas of linguistics (phonetics, phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax, pragmatics). Optional courses are focused on different linguistic fields (neurolinguistics, applied linguistics, cognitive linguistics, communicative linguistics, forensic linguistics). It must be noted that a wide range of optional courses highlights the innovativeness of the UK approach to student autonomy, given that British educators consider students as the full participants in the educational process, who can choose their own path to achieve expected learning outcomes due to the constructive and effective content of degree programmes in linguistics. This article does not disclose all the aspects of the problem in question. Consequently, further research should aim to substantiate the main characteristics of doctoral degree programmes in the field of linguistics at the UK universities.

Stopień doktora praw w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego w Polsce – regulacje prawne oraz postulaty Wydziałów Prawa

Doctor of Law Degree in the Interwar Period in Poland – Legal Regulations and Postulates of the Faculties of Law Several periods can be distinguished in the creation of legal regulations regarding the doctoral degree, including the doctor of laws. The first one, until 1924, was of a transitional nature, the years 1924-1933 were used to develop general, procedural guidelines, and the period after 1933 was to adapt the existing regulations to the new Act on Academic Schools. It should be noted that all legal acts relating to the doctoral degree were consulted with law faculties, and their opinions had a direct impact on the introduced changes.

Academic Resilience: The Ultimate Thriving Constituent Toward Persistence in Doctoral Studies

A doctoral degree is perceived as a milestone in one’s expedition of educational advancement; however, studies show that 40% to 60% doctoral candidates do not possess persistence to complete their degree. The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to explore the factors that contribute toward increasing the persistence level among the doctoral students. Semi structured in-person interviews of eight participants (four male and four female) selected through snowball sampling were conducted in a university setting. The thematic analysis identified certain motivational factors including career progression, gaining subject command, and the desire to achieve self-actualization. Autonomy, sense of purpose, self-determination, and problem-solving skills were found to be the most effective factors that promote resiliency in the students to help complete their degrees.

An Analysis of Social Media Usage by Public Relations Departments in Select Private Universities in Kenya.

This paper investigates the use of Social Media by Public Relations departments in two large private universities in Kenya. Social media are web-based applications where the creation of profiles and connections of people takes place. Social media use is constantly growing amongst organizations, as technology and globalization evolve, so do the role of Public Relations hence becoming inevitable in everyday practice. Despite the availability of social media platforms, little is known on how they are used to communicate. Contrariwise, the extant literature discloses that at present, there is moderately negligible research with focus on the use of social media in public relations in private organizations. This study is grounded on the outcomes of a research submitted in lieu of a Doctoral degree in Mass Communication at the St Augustine University of Tanzania involving 270 survey participants and 2 in-depth interviews. Data was generated using questionnaires and analysed using SPSS version 23 whereas interviews were analysed thematically. Findings reveal that University K and St Paul University use social media to: publicize activities; send information to the public; change public opinion; enhance information value; lobby public support as well as to provide the public with a question-and-answer platform. This paper highlights need to pay more attention to the content and public’s need besides embracing other available social media tools and technologies to promote trust amongst the public and the organization. And also, need to devise means of adjusting to the inevitable changes regularly besides diverse approaches in strengthening PR practice and regulation.

Education Differences in Older Adults' Performance on Online Assessments of Inductive Reasoning and Verbal Memory

Paper-and-pencil measures of inductive reasoning and verbal memory administered in-person are well-established methods for measuring cognitive ability in adults. However, given recent increases in the use of online surveys, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person research with older adults became difficult, we investigated whether these cognitive measures could be administered effectively online and whether older adults’ performance on these measures of inductive reasoning and verbal memory might differ by education level. Data were collected online between mid-May and mid-June of 2020 from 292 individuals aged 66-90 years (M=69.1, SD=3.3). The sample was primarily White (91%) and had more women (62%) than men; 83 participants had a graduate-level education (master’s/doctoral degree), 101 had an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, and 108 had less than an associate’s degree. Three measures of inductive reasoning (Number Series, Letter Sets, and Word Series) and two measures of verbal memory (Immediate Recall and Delayed Recall of a list of 20 words) were completed by participants on an online platform. One-way MANOVA found a significant main effect for education group on the inductive reasoning measures (Wilks’ lambda=.93, p=.001). However, follow-up univariate ANOVAs indicated significant differences by education group only for Number Series, with Tukey post hoc tests showing that the graduate-level and college-degree groups performed significantly better than the group with less than an associate’s degree. Factorial repeated-measures ANOVA found a significant decline between immediate and delayed recall (p&lt;.001) and that this difference varied by education group (p=.003). Implications of these findings will be discussed.