Iterative redesign of a caregiver-mediated intervention for use in educational settings

Teachers endorse disruptive behavior as a considerable concern for autistic students, which is compounded by the lack of adequate resources for behavioral intervention planning in the classroom. The RUBI program is an evidence-based, low-intensity manualized intervention, initially developed for parents of autistic children ages 3–14 and co-occurring disruptive behavior. Utilizing the Discover, Design/Build, Test (DDBT) framework, which combines user-centered design and implementation science, RUBI intervention content was collaboratively and iteratively redesigned with elementary school stakeholders (40 school staff from 28 schools) to ensure the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of the redesigned intervention, RUBI in Educational Settings (RUBIES). Iterative quantitative and qualitative methods were conducted with stakeholders to identify targets for RUBI redesign. Conventional content analysis was used to code qualitative data and identify usability issues. Recommendations were provided for modifications to RUBI sessions to address the needs of the school context and end-users to develop RUBIES. Feasibility scores improved following the redesign. The use of the DDBT framework to redesign the RUBI intervention may promote greater usefulness and usability in school contexts. Lay abstract Teachers often report concerns about behavior challenges in their students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the school setting. Furthermore, teachers often report that they do not have adequate training in how to manage these challenging behaviors effectively. The RUBI program is an intervention initially developed for parents of children with ASD and co-occurring challenging behavior in clinic settings. The present project used school staff input to systematically redesign RUBI to be used with educators in schools. School staff gave input at multiple stages of development to ensure the adapted intervention was appropriate to use in a school setting. Responses were coded and analyzed to identify strengths and weaknesses of the RUBI manual in schools and adaptations were made accordingly. Scores of how appropriate, possible, likable, and usable RUBI would be in schools rose after the intervention was redesigned. The redesigned RUBIES manual may give school staff the tools they need to manage disruptive behaviors. In addition, collaborating with providers over multiple stages to redesign established interventions for new contexts may be a promising way to help bring research tools to practice in the future.

Exploring modality in multimodal macrogenre: A social semiotic analysis of EFL pedagogic materials in China

Given the evolving multimodal features in educational settings, modes other than language further enable the diversity in the realization of meanings and pedagogic goals. This paper explores modality in multimodal pedagogic materials for teaching English as a foreign language in China. Drawing upon the social semiotic approach to modality in visual media, this study provides a comparative analysis of modality markers in different elemental genres that constitute the macrogenre of a teaching unit, with a focus on explaining the underlying reasons for the different choices in terms of coding orientation. It is shown that different degrees of deviation from the accepted coding orientation are employed in different constituent genres of the macrogenre of a given text.

An adaptable multi-learner serious game for learning cultural heritage

The current study presents an adaptable light game engine, which is used to produce interactive educational settings focused on cultural heritage. The tool is implemented using inexpensive and open source technologies. In this paper we first discuss the architecture of the application and we then present two games developed by using the proposed engine. The produced games are multi-user and support the collaboration and communication among learners and among learners and instructors. Learners earn marks, badges and certificates as they study the material and complete the quizzes. Various evaluation experiments have been realized to understand the suitability of the produced content in educational activities. The evaluation results of the authentic educational actions were quite positive and supportive by both students and teachers.

Using Technology to Support Culturally Responsive Practices in Post-Secondary Settings

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is a research-based method of instruction that centers students' racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds in the curriculum and pedagogy to ensure equitable outcomes as well as promote critical consciousness related to social injustice. CRT is typically associated with P-12 educational settings; however, the principles and mindsets of culturally responsive education have been applied in post-secondary educational settings. The practices associated with CRT require intentional planning, preparation, and implementation. The abrupt shift to virtual and remote learning required quickly leveraging various technology tools to ensure CRT practices were incorporated into teaching and learning in order to create an equitable and culturally-responsive learning environment.

Mindfulness in Education

Complexity of the modern era has led to increased difficulties of people, especially the youth. Living in the current stressful, uncertain, and highly stimulating technological era is not very easy for the young ones. Hence, there is an urgency to teach skills of stress management and resilience among children through mindfulness-based practices. This change in the present scenario has attracted the attention and interest of psychologists and educationists to the practice of mindfulness-based interventions with children and adolescents for enhancing their overall well-being. The last few years have observed a growing number of research and applications of mindfulness in educational settings because of its effectiveness and the urgent need of prevention and interventions of the youths' problems. In this chapter, the author has discussed research supporting the idea of mindfulness in education for both students and teachers and its usage to increase the academic performance, enhance overall wellbeing, and reduce the stress level of youth.

Investigating psychological characteristics of self-regulation in schoolchildren with cognitive disorders

Introduction. The authors investigate psychological characteristics of self-regulation in primary schoolchildren with cognitive impairments. The purpose of the article is to identify key determinants of the manifestation of self-regulation as the leading mechanism of adaptation. The results obtained can contribute to developing psychological support programs within school conditions and facilitate adaptive strategies of behavior and components of self-regulation. Materials and Methods. The methodological foundations of the research included leading positions of psychology about the formation of the behavior of children with cognitive disabilities. The research was carried out in the logic of the ascertaining psychological and educational experiment; the material obtained from the collection of empirical data was analyzed and generalized. The sample consisted of 456 schoolchildren aged between 8 and 11 years, who were divided into three groups: NID (normal intellectual development), MR (mental retardation) and MID (mild intellectual disability). The data obtained were interpreted and subjected to statistical analysis using various methods of mathematical and statistical processing: the reliability of differences according to statistical criteria, the F * angular transformation, the criterion for comparing the distribution of Pearson χ2 levels, correlation analysis, and the method of correlation pleiades. Results. The research findings include identifying the main psychological characteristics of self-regulation in primary schoolchildren with cognitive impairment. The research data enabled to develop self-regulation skills in schoolchildren with cognitive impairment. The results obtained are considered as a socio-psychological resource for improving cognitive health in primary schoolchildren. Conclusions. The study concludes that after identifying the psychological characteristics of self-regulation in primary schoolchildren with impaired cognitive health, it is possible to develop programs of psychological assistance for educational settings. The research data can be used within educational settings teaching children with cognitive disabilities to increase the effectiveness of classroom and extracurricular activities and their successful integration into society.

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.

Russian language maintenance among multilingual teachers in Israeli educational settings

The present paper focuses on language maintenance among multilingual teachers and presents a research project with Russian-Hebrew speakers on their ideas of language-related normality in educational settings. The main objective is to investigate the role of migration-related multilingual teachers within the multilingual turn. The project approached the topic from three perspectives: the macro level of educational policies, the meso level of educational institutions, and the micro level of linguistic development. Data were collected through biographical interviews with 17 teachers and interpreted within the theoretical framework of language beliefs using the concepts of linguistic market, language awareness and language education policy as well as pedagogical competence. The results show the close interconnectedness of language beliefs on all the three levels. They also show that beliefs can experience a reconstruction. In order to challenge the monolingual idea of normality among teachers, an interwoven intervention on all the three levels is necessary: there is a need for education policy measures (macro level) that would anchor training on dealing with multilingualism (meso level) in regular teacher training and, in doing so, would draw on the existing migration-related multilingual practices of prospective teachers (micro level). This interaction between top-down (professionalization in dealing with multilingualism anchored in educational policy) and bottom-up (migration-related multilingual practices among prospective teachers) measures can enable a shift toward multilingualism as an idea of normality in educational contexts. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the formation, development and reconstruction of language-related idea of normality among teachers and discusses its methodological and theoretical implications.