Race for Social Justice in Higher Education

In the last decade, there has been a greater focus on social justice concerns in United States. These concerns include addressing situations of racism, microaggressions, and racial injustices. As a result of these concerns, the need for social justice has become more apparent for institutions of higher education to adjust and rethink how they become more inclusive and provide more equitable opportunities for all stakeholders. Institutions of higher education are being pushed into unfamiliar territory, and the role of academics and high education institutions will need to be redefined in a new model of true systematic change and policy overhaul. How do institutions of higher education (colleges and universities) become more accountable in reshaping their purpose and mission statements through the lens of social justice and inclusivity? This chapter will generate insights and illuminate ongoing institutional conversations regarding the successful adoption of social justice frameworks and practices in the foundations of higher education.

A Framework for Serious Games in High Education

With the ubiquity of technology, we have nowadays, many processes have taken advantage of information technology mechanisms to leverage their outcomes. Education is not an exception. In fact, technology has been playing an increasingly important part in learning experiences. For instance, game elements have been effectively used in educational settings, with very promising results. Hence, we propose a framework for applying game elements in a serious game to be used in higher education settings. It comprises a set of game mechanisms and leverages the importance of a coherent narrative and collaboration. We have deployed this framework in an instance of an engineering course as proof of concept, with promising results. Extensive empirical testing will be conducted, with advanced statistical analysis, to validate our framework. It will then be a tool to be used by educators to enhance learning processes.

INVESTIGATING THE MOTIVATION LEVEL OF STUDENTS IN ONLINE LEARNING IN JUNIOR HIGH EDUCATION INSTITUTION DURING PANDEMIC COVID-19

The purpose of this study was to investigate and explore the level of junior high student’s motivation during online learning in pandemic COVID-19. In this design-based research study, motivation level is examined by ARCS survey, interview and observation. The total of respondents were 180 students with different degree levels of study, gender and academic achievement. The analyzed data was measured by SPSS. From this research, the result shows that students of middle degree level have the highest motivation level during pandemic. A statistically significant difference in motivation level is also seen at the beginning of online learning and at the middle of online learning.

Building the Resilient Indonesia’s Education in Pandemic Era: Lessons from Taiwan and the United States

The aim of the study is to analyze the measures from Taiwan and the United States that responded to the Covid-19 in high education institutions. The method that was conducted in this study is qualitative with a narrative review as a data technique. Data collected from reviewed the relevant literature that meets inclusion criteria as the primary object. The descriptive qualitative analysis technique was used. The result of this study concludes that some measures from Taiwan and United States can be matched according to the characteristic in Indonesia. These two countries provide several lessons in tackling the Covid-19 problem in the education sector by preventing the transmission since the beginning, taking mitigation steps to reduce the speed of the spread of the virus, applying clear regulations and guidelines in various fields of life including education, and have a sense of sensitivity to relaxed and tightened of regulations.

Excess mortality by individual and spousal education for recent and long-term widowed

Objectives The loss of a spouse is followed by a dramatic but short-lived increase in the mortality risk of the survivor. Contrary to expectations, several studies have found this increase to be larger among those with high education. Having a spouse with high education is associated with lower mortality which suggests that losing a spouse with high education means the loss of a stronger protective factor than losing a spouse with low education. This may disproportionately affect the high educated because of educational homogamy. Methods We use Swedish total population registers to construct an open cohort of 1,842,487 married individuals aged 60 to 89 during 2007—2016, observing 239,276 transitions into widowhood and 277,946 deaths. We use Poisson regression to estimate relative and absolute mortality risks by own and spousal education among the married, recent, and long-term widows. Results We find an absolute increase in mortality risk, concentrated to the first six months of widowhood across all educational strata. The relative increase in mortality risk is larger in higher educational strata. Losing a spouse with high education is associated with higher excess mortality, which attenuates this difference. Discussion When considering the timing and the absolute level of excess mortality we find that the overall patterns of excess mortality are similar across educational strata. We argue that widowhood has a dramatic impact on health, regardless of education.

Toward Age-Friendly High Education: An Intergenerational Participatory Co-Design Approach

Objective When aging becomes a global challenging, we believe it is timely important to equip aging knowledge among university students regardless of their disciplinary study subjects. This study aims to describe principles and process of development an aging-related curriculum in high education entitled “Intergenerational Participatory Co-design Project (IPCP)” and evaluate its impacts. Methodology: Guided by a key principle of involving participants of any learning context as co-creators of both the learning process and learning outcomes, IPCP went through four stages of development including capacity building, co-creation on learning objectives, deliberated content learning, and learning outcome dissemination. Mixed methodology including qualitative in-depth interview and quantitative questionnaire were applied in evaluation. A total of 26 participants, from three generations recruited from one university, one secondary school, and a pool of senior champions under a geron-infusion initiative participated. Findings: after attaining capacity building workshops applying Optimal Quality Intergeneration Interaction Framework, three learning groups formulated. A common theme “preserving cultural heritage” emerged, while each group has identified a specified focus (e.g., food, Tai Ji, and historic sites guide). Quotes collected and survey data revealed positive impacts in reducing stereotype and enhancing learning experiences. Conclusion IPCP demonstrated good practices in role models in multi-disciplinary collaboration in pedagogy innovation. It also paved solid way towards a learning community interwoven with continuous innovation: IPCP becomes a pioneer contributor of library’s digital data hub solution; common core office starts to develop a human lifespan cluster; two research team members started new collaboration on geron-infusion in Faculty of Education.

Retirement Age Modifies the Association Between Education/Occupation and Cognition

Introduction According to the cognitive reserve and use-it-or-lose-it hypotheses, engagement in stimulating activities seems to benefit cognition, with engagement often associated with more education or higher occupational position. However, whether retirement may modify the association between education/occupation and cognition is unclear. We aimed to assess how age at retirement may modify the relationship between education/occupation and cognition. Methods Older adults (n=360) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative who were cognitively normal and retired at baseline participated. Linear regression was used to assess how educational attainment (high/low) or occupational position (managerial, intermediate/clerical, routine/manual) related to executive functioning (EF) or memory, controlling for age, sex, depressive symptoms, and health status. Effect modification by retirement (early, on-time, late). Results High education (EF: b=0.37, SE=0.08, p<.001; memory: b=0.22, SE=0.05, p<.001), intermediate (EF: b=0.26, SE=0.11, p=.019; memory: b=0.18, SE=0.08, p=.018) and managerial (EF: b=0.23, SE=0.12, p=.045; memory: b=0.16, SE=0.08, p=.045) occupations (compared to routine/manual occupations) were associated with better EF and memory performance. High education was significantly associated with better EF and memory for participants who retired early (EF: b=0.43, SE=0.12, p<.001; memory: b=0.29, SE=0.10, p=.004) or on-time (EF: b=0.51, SE=0.15, p=.001; memory: b=0.24, SE=0.10, p=.014), but not for participants who retired late (EF: b=0.19, SE=0.15, p=.200; memory: b=0.09, SE=0.09, p=.334). Intermediate occupations were associated with EF only for participants who retired on-time (b=0.58, SE=0.21, p=.007). Conclusion Education and occupational position may influence cognition after retirement differently based on retirement timing, with effects most apparent for on-time retirement and substantially reduced for late retirement.

The physical development of the 1th-2nd course students of professional pre-high education institutions

The article provides the results of determining the level of physical development of the 1th-2nd course students of design specialties of the College of Construction, Architecture and Design. The physical development of students was determined by indicators of harmony of the bodybuilding (Kettle index 2), functional state of the cardiovascular system (Ruffier index), and respiratory system (Stange test). Length and weight of the body, heart rate, breathing delay time were measured. As a result of the researches, the “average” level of the physical development is determined in the 1th-2nd course girls and “sufficient” - in boys. Thus, mass-growth indicators of students according to the calculation of Kettle 2 index, both boys and girls correspond to the assessment of 5 points, which indicates a harmonious physique of students; indicators of the functioning of the cardiovascular system (Ruffier Index) of 1st year boys and the 2nd year students make 2 points, which corresponds to the ”below average” level, and the results of the 1st year girls equal to the assessment of 3 points, “average” level; indicators of the functional state of the respiratory system (Stange test) of boys of the 1th-2nd course correspond to the assessment of 4 points (“above the average” level), and girls of both courses - 3 points (“average” level). In the age and gender aspects, physical development indicators, in general, don’t significantly differ with the general tendency to increase results with age and the dominance of boys over such in girls. The exception is the Ruffier index, where there is an opposite trend - the results decrease with age in girls and they are higher than in boys. Thus, the results of the research indicate the feasibility of introducing the 1th-2nd course students of professional pre-high education of special physical exercises into the process of physical education to improve the functional state of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

THE ACTIVE LEARNING ATTRIBUTES AND EMPLOYABILITY READINESS AMONG ENGINEERING GRADUATES IN THE HIGH EDUCATION INSTITUTES IN OMAN

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of Active Learning attributes on the employability readiness of the engineering graduates of the High Education Institutes in Oman. The study adopted self-directed structured questionnaire was distributed to a sample of engineering students and graduates from a number of colleges and universities. The study used the structural equation modelling (SEM) for analysed the collected data. The findings of the study reveal that universities active learning facilities have high positive attribution for promoting team work skills, learning in safe working environment, endorsing adaptability skills, and developing analytical thinking abilities among graduates. However, the findings of the study indicate that HEIs are requested to effectively utilise active learning facilities to promote the attainment of technical skills, development of lifelong learning skills especially the openness to new ideas and the drive to use new technologies, endorsement of problem-solving skills, and the engagement and the development of graduates’ intrinsic motivation to improve their graduates’ Readiness for Employability. Specifically, study findings showed Active Learning attributes factor could have high influence on the Readiness for Employability of the graduates in Oman when they are utilised effectively. Finally, the study’s implementations and recommendations could be transferred to the Gulf and Arab or other countries’ contexts having similar settings of HE systems and similar issues of skills gap and employability concern of their graduates.