Impact of Mobile Money Transfer on the Education Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Digitalization of payments related to education has played a significant role in driving the fourth agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aimed at providing free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education to children by 2030. Since the launch of mobile money transfer (MMT) technologies by Safaricom in Kenya in 2007, many providers have developed a range of services to ensure efficient, transparent, and sustainable means of paying for school and college fees. This has led to enhanced teacher-student interaction times, reduced absenteeism, improved security in handling money, and made it easier for families to save, plan, and educate their children. This chapter reviews key success cases of countries and institutions that have digitalized payments and other education services to empower disadvantaged communities.

Learning From Our Ancestors

This chapter reflects on the challenges of criterion-referenced final examinations in higher education within the context of Micronesian cultural realities and suggests alternative approaches that may contribute more constructively to student success. The first explores the transformative role that mentor relationships can have on both student engagement and purposeful and meaningful faculty-student interaction. The second appreciates the powerful contribution that connectivity plays as professors work to create a community of scholars within their university courses. And finally, the authors highlight the value of publishing as a pedagogic tool within a university course that elevates the process of research and writing making the work all the more important and meaningful to students. All three approaches are particularly meaningful due to the cultural relevance of each to Micronesian people.

The Impact of Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning Environments on Students’ Satisfaction in the Context of Covid-19 Pandemic

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the present study aimed to examine students’ perceptions of online learning environments and students’ satisfaction based on their academic stream. The study also investigated the impact of students’ perceptions of online learning environments on students’ satisfaction. A quantitative descriptive survey method was applied. This study included 230 students (130 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate students) from colleges and universities of West Bengal. Online Learning Environments Survey, an adapted and translated (Bengali) version of the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) by Scott L Walker (2003), was used for collecting data. For data analysis, statistical techniques, ANOVA and regression analysis were performed. The results revealed significant mean differences among arts, commerce, and science students’ perceptions of online learning environments in the dimensions of student interaction and collaboration, personal relevance, authentic learning, active learning, and student autonomy except in instructor support. Furthermore, a significant mean difference in student satisfaction was found based on the academic stream. The result revealed that overall students’ perceptions of online learning environments had a significant impact on student satisfaction, with student interaction and collaboration being the most significant predictor of all; however, instructor support, active learning, and student autonomy were not found to be significant predictors of student satisfaction.

The Role of School Principals in Increasing Student Interaction with Educational Platform in Light of Corona Pandemic from the point of view of teachers in the schools of Ajloun Governorate: دور مدير المدرسة في زيادة تفاعل الطلبة مع المنصات التعليمية في ظل جائحة كورونا من وجهة نظر المعلمين بمدارس محافظة عجلون

This study aimed to identify the role of school principals in increasing student interaction with educational platform in light of corona pandemic from teachers' perspectives, the study used the descriptive analysis approach, a questionnaire was development consisted from (31) paragraph, the sample of study consisted from (650) male and female teachers. However, the findings of study showed that the role of school principals in increasing student interaction with educational platform in light of Corona pandemic from the teachers’ point of view came to a medium degree and with an arithmetic mean (3.66), and the arithmetic averages ranged between (1.75-4.60), and there weren’t any significant differences in the degree in the role of school principals in increasing student interaction with educational platform in light of Corona pandemic from teachers' perspectives refer to variable of teacher's sex (male| female). Furthermore, there were significant differences at (α ≤ 0.05) according to teacher qualification for higher education. Therefore, a set of recommendations was set one of the most importance was the necessity of holding training courses for school principals on the concept of educational platforms and benefit from them.

Socialization of Zoom Application Utilization for Making a Learning Presentation in Video Form

Learning is a process of student interaction with teachers and learning resources in a learning environment. The article clearly states that learning is a process of interaction between teachers (educators) and students (students). During this pandemic, all learning processes are carried out remotely. Because face-to-face learning in class cannot be carried out as a result of the highly contagious corona virus outbreak. The selection of the right learning media must pay attention to and adjust the needs of the subject matter so that the media functions as a tool that can increase understanding and interest in learning. Zooming presentation learning media is one of the newest applications that has a fresh, unique, attractive appearance and has sophistication in zooming in and out and can combine videos, images and animations. With this community service, it is hoped that it can help the problems of teachers at Darul Faizin High School regarding online learning problems. So that this socialization can be a solution in providing learning materials to students.

Adjusting 1st year students' teaching practice to the online environment

The current study aimed to collect relevant feedback on teaching practice effectiveness in relation to the tutors, students’ engagement in teaching practice, as well as self-reflection regarding necessary competences for a primary school teacher. Pedagogical activities within the teaching practice have considered: students’ online attendance to the classes held by the primary teacher, filling in an observation form regarding the lessons taught, mentorship session for analyzing the lessons along with the teachers, drafting a psycho-pedagogical record for a pupil, filling a form on reviewing the student’s performance and implication in the teaching practice. Having concluded the study’s results, we can now state that the teaching practice’s way of planning in the second school semester has proven efficient. The mentor-student / inter-student interaction has contributed to developing competences that a primary school teacher does require, through the feedback provided by the observation forms, as well as by involving students directly in the didactic activities, encouraging initiative and self-reflection. Objective analysis of results, suggestions, proposals, as well as difficulties encountered has made it possible to build a solid reference for future teaching practice – both online and in the classroom – and working towards improving it and all its partakers.

Chinese University Students’ Perceptions of Facilitation Strategies, Learning Motivation, and Satisfaction in Cloud-Based Virtual Classrooms

This study investigated university students’ perceptions of facilitation strategies, learning motivation, and satisfaction, and the relationships between them in a cloud-based virtual classroom in mainland China. The results of an online questionnaire survey from a sample of 7,210 university students showed that students perceived high levels of facilitation strategies, learning motivation, and satisfaction. Students’ demographic characteristics, such as discipline, university type, gender, and grade, did not significantly affect their perceptions of facilitation strategies and learning outcomes. Instructor-student interaction and instructor innovation were positively related to student learning motivation and satisfaction whereas the relationships between student interaction and learning motivation and satisfaction were weak and had no practical meaning. The findings of this study have implications for creating more effective synchronous online learning environments and achieving desirable learning outcomes.

Switching Gears

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic turned into an urgent priority for higher education institutions in that they had to move to remote teaching within a matter of weeks. This paper presents the results of a quantitative survey looking at the challenges university faculty were facing when moving their course(s) online during the first semester of the COVID-19 crisis.The survey looks specifically at course design and formats used in online teaching during the crisis and compares differences occurring between disciplines (STEM and management education). The outcomes overall mirror a sense of achievement due to the successful delivery of online courses with little preparation. Difficulties lecturers identified were related to promoting student interaction and engagement, technical issues, the effort required to plan and prepare online learning materials, and challenges with regard to online assessment. Having access to training and support in various forms was highlighted as an important success factor.

Student Participation and Interaction in Online Case-Based Discussions: Comparing Expert and Novice Facilitation

Discussion is an essential component in case-based learning (CBL), as it offers students the opportunity to consider diverse perspectives, clarify confusion, and construct understanding. As a facilitator bears most of the responsibility for the overall success of CBL, understanding how facilitation strategies influence interactions during discussions is worthwhile. However, previous CBL facilitation research has primarily considered student perspectives during case discussions, without examining relationships between facilitator experience and student interaction and participation. This study combined social network analysis and content analysis to compare the structure of expert and novice instructors’ discussion posts and to consider their relationship to student participation and interaction in online case discussions. Results showed that both the expert and novice instructors used facilitation strategies involving social congruence, cognitive congruence, and content expertise frequently in the discussions; however, when and how they used a combination of these strategies was noticeably different. These differences influenced student interaction. More specifically, students tended to interact with others more actively and densely as a result of questions initiated by the expert facilitator. Suggestions are provided for novice facilitators.