Teachers' Perception of the Phenomenon of Cyberbullying During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Cyberbullying is a negative social phenomenon that takes place online. It consists of harassing technology users through various means and various platforms. Frequent exposure to this phenomenon can cause emotional, mental and social problems for victims, witnesses and aggressors. In the current pandemic context, when education has shifted to the online environment, and students spend a significant amount of time using different devices and online platforms, the number of cyberbullying cases is constantly increasing. There is currently little research describing how this phenomenon influenced online aggression. In preventing and eliminating this phenomenon, teachers play an important role, due to the time they spend with students and the impact they can have on them. In order to identify teachers' perceptions of this phenomenon during the pandemic and how they manage it in the classroom, we conducted a qualitative research on 10 teachers from primary and secondary schools. The results of the research were interesting and offered a new perspective on this phenomenon during Covid-19 crisis.

Interpersonal Competences and Attitude to Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) among Future Pedagogues and Educators—A Polish and Portuguese Perspective

Interpersonal competences in relationship building, collaboration and teamwork are essential both in F2F education and in distance or hybrid styles of education. In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as previous trends, some or all of the higher education didactics were transferred to the online environment. In this context, the Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) model, now known as collaborativism, is gaining importance. This research aims to diagnose and compare the level of interpersonal competences and attitude in the OCL model among students preparing for the profession of an educator, pedagogue or teacher in the autonomous region of Madeira and in Poland. Quantitative studies were conducted using the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire by D. Buhrmester, W. Furman, M.T. Wittenberg and H.T. Reis—as adapted by Poland and Portugal. In addition, the respondents expressed their views on OCL in the self-written questionnaire. According to the research findings, the highest level of competence in the Portuguese group was achieved by the respondents in terms of: Emotional Support (EW), Conflict Management and Resolution (RK) and Negative Assertion—Asserting Influence (AO). In the Polish group, EW was the lowest. The highest level of interpersonal competences was observed for Conflict Management and Resolution (RK), Disclosure (US) and Initiation (IR). The largest group of the surveyed students in both countries expressed a positive attitude towards implementing OCL in their courses of study and declared their willingness to be a member of a group that learns online together.

Developing Confident Computational Thinking through Teacher Twinning Online

In view of the current focus on computational thinking in schools, professional development is needed so that teachers can help students acquire the requisite skills. Enhancing teachers' confidence is one important aspect. This article describes a project which offers teachers a playful, supportive introduction to computer programming, using the language Scratch. The project, CTwins (“Coding Twins” or “Computational Thinking wins”), entails teachers working in pairs called ‘twins' to produce an artefact, by communicating and reflecting in an online environment. The theoretical framework uses research on pair programming and working in online communities. An evaluative action research approach in two cycles was undertaken, the first being a pilot. For each cycle, teachers completed surveys to measure confidence pre- and post-participation, posted to the online environment, and participated in a focus group. The article then outlines implementation of the CTwins strategy, presents the findings – teachers' confidence showed gains overall-– and discusses possibilities for future work.

Students satisfaction with the online teaching process

This study is about student satisfaction in the online teaching process. The pandemic situation forced us to move the educational activities in the online environment for the safety of all its participants. The methodological design is the quantitative one, the research method used is the sociological survey. This study tried to identify students’ perception, effectiveness, satisfaction, and self-perceived efficiency regarding the teaching process in the online environment. The questionnaire was translated and adapted into Romanian. It consists of 26 questions, divided into five dimensions. The sampling method was the non-probabilistic convenience one, with voluntary participation. The results provided tell us those female respondents were more open to online methods, resulting in higher satisfaction despite common knowledge. However, the results should be viewed with reservations, as the data collected are not homogeneous, and the respondents were chosen by the voluntary participation method. This approach can be seen as a starting point for future research related to the satisfaction of the teaching process through e-learning.

Mentoring in an Online Environment

This chapter aims to illustrate how online mentorship can be as effective or even more effective as in-person mentorship. Individuals have been mentored online for years; however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more popular out of necessity. Mentorship can happen in any number of settings. The focus for this chapter will be on different areas that foster mentor/protégé relationships. These include competency-based education programs, doctoral studies, instructional design, adjunct and fulltime faculty, and nonprofit leadership.

Characteristics of Parent-Teacher Communication in Romanian Primary Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the manner in which school activities are organized and the way that interactions occur between all educational actors. According to both teacher and parent opinion, the quality of cooperation and communication between the school and the families has not been affected. The use of modern means of communication is considered by both parents and primary school teachers as an optimal strategy for strengthening the school-family partnership. This study presents several types of activities that parents have enjoyed and which could be organized in the online environment. The authors of the study have discovered that for some parents it was very comfortable to interact with the teacher in the online environment. For these parents, the main advantage of using communication platforms or applications refers to economy of time; thus, travel from their home or job to the school was avoided.

Academic Work and Life of Public Administration Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Slovenia

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically transformed the lives of people, including higher education students. Thus, the main aim of the chapter is to present the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic work and life of public administration students in Slovenia compared with their counterparts from other fields of study. The analysis is based on 1,049 Slovenian respondents, covering 211 students from public administration and 838 students from other fields of study. The results show that at the time of the lockdown public administration students were the most satisfied with real-time online lectures, followed by asynchronous forms of lectures. Compared with the students from other fields of study, they were in general more satisfied with provided course assignments and feedback on performance but less satisfied with lecturers' response, openness, and information. They also found it more difficult to focus, adapt, and achieve better performance in the online environment and were in general less confident in computer skills compared to their counterparts from other fields of study.

Exploring Affective and Cognitive Measurements in Global Online Learning

The chapter tries to identify cognitive and affective factors that affect learners' online learning. Based on a comprehensive review of the theories and frameworks, constructs related to cognitive and affective performance were identified which further serve as the bases for the development of two instruments: cognitive measurement in online learning and affective measurement in online learning. The endeavor is significant at both theoretical and practical levels. Theoretically, the chapter contributes to the understanding of the factors (cognitive and affective) that affect online learning by revealing the underlying constructs in online environment. Practically, it provides educators with the instruments that can be used to measure cognitive and affective aspects in online learning. Finally, the recommendations are made in relation to the use of the instruments.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Digital Feminism Research

Feminism is the body of social movements for the protection of women's rights. With the transfer of feminist activities to the online environment, the concept of digital feminism emerged, and women's rights started to be defended online. The aim of this study is to analyze the articles dealing with the subject of “digital feminism” in the Web of Science and Scopus databases taking various parameters into account. For this purpose, the bibliometric method was utilized, and 53 articles which addressed digital feminism between the years 1975-2021 were examined. This study is the first to discuss digital feminism using bibliometric analysis. In this respect, it is thought that the study will contribute to the literature and will be a reference for researchers.

Analysis of Russian Segment of the Web Development Market Operating Online on Upwork

The Russian segment of the web services market in the online environment, on the platform of the Upwork freelance exchange, is considered, its key characteristics, the composition of participants, development trends are highlighted, and the market structure is identified. It is found that despite the low barriers to entry, the web development market is very stable, since the composition of entrenched firms that have been operating for more than six years remains. The pricing policy of most Russian companies indicates that they work in the middle price segment and have low budgets, which is due to the specifics of the foreign market and high competition.