College Students’ Attitudes Towards Remote Instruction During the Coronavirus Pandemic: Future Directions

Undergraduate and graduate education students completed a survey to examine their attitudes toward remote instruction during the coronavirus pandemic. At the conclusion of the Spring 2020 semester in which all courses transitioned from a face-to-face to an online format, students, N = 93, were asked to describe what worked well in their courses in regards to their remote instruction experience and, when things did not go so well, what would have helped to make their experience better. The qualitative data were coded, and inductive analysis was used to generate categories (Johnson, 2012; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Responses were grouped into labeled categories, and illustrative quotes were chosen to represent categories. Results revealed that remote instruction was somewhat worse than regular instruction. Across all respondents, analysis of responses to the open-ended questions revealed four themes that students believed were integral to remote instruction, (1) communication between students and faculty, (2) flexibility with assignments, (3) increased virtual interaction, and (4) support. Findings suggest how faculty can facilitate and ameliorate remote and hybrid instruction for their students.

Barriers to implementation of distance learning during the COVID-19 outbreak: Teacher perspective

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, distance learning has become one of the main educational issues globally. With the transition of all instruction to the online environment, teachers in Serbia have faced a number of challenges and barriers that have affected the quality of their work. In this paper, we wanted to analyse the barriers that teachers faced during the first months of distance learning. The research was conducted combining quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected on a sample of 122 high school teachers from the Southeast Serbia (Nis, Leskovac). The results show that teachers recognise evaluation barriers as the predominant ones, followed by organisational-administrative ones, while the least represented were material-technical barriers to distance learning. The findings also confirm that material and technical barriers are most common among teachers with the longest work experience, as well as that organisational-administrative and socio-emotional barriers are the least common among teachers of vocational subjects. Although the focus of the paper was on the barriers in the implementation of distance learning, it can be concluded that teachers recognise certain benefits of this type of instruction and indicate that it can be used as a supplement to regular instruction. The main pedagogical implications of the paper refer to the empowerment of teachers through professional development in the field of distance learning, but also to the need to create new professional development programmes in this field which will enable the development of functional knowledge and relevant competencies for the immediate situational context of modern instruction.

Creating space for interactive dialogue during preschool circle time using play-based pedagogies and dramatic inquiry

In this study, we examined how preschool students with language delays engaged in interactive dialogue during regular circle time and dramatic inquiry activities. Using frequency recording of three preschool students’ linguistic engagement and multimodal analysis of classroom video data, this article explores how these students produced social, instructional, and academic language as well as multimodal actions to engage in interactive dialogue with their teachers and peers. Overall, students exhibited higher levels of linguistic engagement during traditional instruction; however, multimodal analysis revealed the ways students engaged in interactive dialogue during dramatic inquiry was far more complex. We conclude that dramatic inquiry created opportunities for students to learn and produce academic language and corresponding multimodal actions while regular instruction provided students opportunities to practice social and instructional language. Our analysis demonstrates the complexities of how preschoolers with language delays use different forms of verbal and non-verbal language to share their personal experiences and content knowledge with others. In all, this study emphasizes the importance of considering both quantitative and qualitative data when trying to understand how preschoolers engage in interactive dialogue in the classroom.

Digital Posters to Engage EFL Students and Develop Their Reading Comprehension

This study investigates the effect of digital posters on the reading comprehension and engagement of EFL students. Thirty-three 3rd-year EFL college students were divided into a control group (n = 17) and an experimental group (n = 16). Both groups were pretested on reading comprehension and engagement before the experiment and then posttested after it. For 12 weeks, participants in the control group received their regular instruction while those in the experimental group used digital posters. Using digital posters went through six steps: orientation, preparation, production, presentation, evaluation, and reflection. While Mann-Whitney U Test showed no significant differences between the two groups in the pretest of reading comprehension (U = 118.00; p > 0.05) or engagement (U = 102.00; p > 0.05), it showed significant differences between them in the posttest of reading comprehension (U = 70.00, p < 0.05) and engagement (U = 57.00, p < 0.05). This led the researcher to reach the conclusion that digital posters significantly improved the reading comprehension and engagement of EFL students.

Learning Declarative Knowledge in Special Education Treatment Group

An organizing structure that in recent years has had a major impact on how to work with students who don’t respond to regular instruction is Response to Intervention (RTI). Efforts in RTI are divided into three different tiers of instruction: primary, secondary and tertiary. In our study, we investigate the impact of intensive secondary-tier instruction on students’ knowledge of basic combinations of digits in addition. We also focus on how the students develop their use of more advanced calculations in addition during the intervention.The results showed that students became faster at performing simple addition tasks, which indicates that their fluency – declarative knowledge – developed during the intervention phase. Our results thereby strengthen suggestions that a secondary-tier intervention level should take place in a small group of students 20-40 minutes four to five times a week. Meanwhile, the students developed their ability to solve two-digit arithmetic tasks in addition and subtraction, which could be explained by the fact that students had automated simple number combinations and thus could focus on the calculation procedure.

A districtwide commitment to arts integration

Like many school systems in economically stressed parts of the country, the Everett, Mass., school district had cut back on arts instruction over the years, to the point where most students were getting only a single art class per week. But since 2013, and thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Everett has designed and implemented a new model of arts integration in its elementary and middle grades, providing teachers with intensive support and coaching to help them combine their regular instruction with serious lessons in theater, the visual arts, design, and more.

Reading Accuracy in EFL Students with a Transparent L1 Background – a Case Study from Poland

Research indicates that L2 reading competence is influenced by L1 reading ability, L2 proficiency, and L2 decoding competence. The present study investigates the significance of two variables, regularity and frequency, in relation to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading accuracy in students with a transparent L1. Fifteen 6th grade students in their sixth year of regular instruction in English took part in this study. Their mother tongue is Polish whereas English is their foreign language; thus, their language competence in L1 and L2 differs substantially. The research design followed Glusko (1979), Plaut (1996), and Wang and Koda (2007). There are four sets of real words. Two features of real words are manipulated for regularity and frequency. The study reveals that both conditions of script, regularity and transparency, affect reading accuracy in EFL students. However, the dimension of regularity is a stronger predicator of accuracy than the frequency with which the students encounter a word. From the pedagogical perspective, the collected data supports the use of structured reading instructions in the EFL classroom in order to restrain negative transfer of L1 to L2 reading strategies.

Views of Struggling Students on Instruction Incorporating Multiple Strategies in Algebra I: An Exploratory Study

Although policy documents promote teaching students multiple strategies for solving mathematics problems, some practitioners and researchers argue that struggling learners will be confused and overwhelmed by this instructional practice. In the current exploratory study, we explore how 6 struggling students viewed the practice of learning multiple strategies at the end of a yearlong algebra course that emphasized this practice. Interviews with these students indicated that they preferred instruction with multiple strategies to their regular instruction, often noting that it reduced their confusion. We discuss directions for future research that emerged from this work.

Computer-Assisted Instruction in Concept Development of Six-Year-Old Children

Effects of a 15-wk. computer-assisted course or regular instruction on concept development by 6-yr.-old kindergarten children in Ankara ( M age of sample = 66.0 mo., SD = 4.6; M age of girls = 65.0 mo., SD = 4.4; M age of boys = 66.0 mo., SD = 4.5). Children were assigned to two groups of 40 (Experimental group: 18 girls and 22 boys; M girls' age = 65.3 mo., SD = 3.7, M boys' age = 67.1 mo., SD = 4.1; Control group: 21 girls, 19 boys, M girls' age = 64.9 mo., SD = 5.01, M boys' age = 66.7 mo., SD = 5.1). All were given the Bracken Basic Concept Scale–Revised and a general information form. Mean posttest scores in concept development for the group given computer-assisted training were statistically significantly higher.