Assessment on LSPU-SPCC Students’ Readiness towards M-learning

Today, the use of technology is a powerful advantage in every field in the society. With the advent of development in information and communications technology (ICT), the process of learning and acquiring new knowledge had undergone a shift marked by a transition from desktop computing to the widespread use of mobile technology. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission on Higher Education said that colleges and universities following the new school calendar will no longer require students to attend face-to-face classes. One of the state universities that had been affected by this inevitable situation is the Laguna State Polytechnic University. This study aims to determine the readiness of the students in shifting to m-learning. Specifically, it aims to determine the availability of mobile devices, equipment readiness, technological skills readiness and psychological readiness. A survey-based methodology was used to obtain the data and descriptive statistics to analyze the results. It was determined that almost all of the students own mobile devices, are fully equipped with applications, have high technological skills and are quite ready in terms of psychological readiness.

“We Have All the Data in One Place”: Examining Principals’ Use of a Data Warehouse During an Academic School Year

In this article, I describe how principals accessed teacher and student data on a centralized data warehouse (DWH) during an academic school year. I found that principals did not use the DWH very often during the year. When logged on, principals most often looked at reports on student achievement, teachers’ performance, or student demographics. Principals’ use also seemed to be influenced by the school calendar and the release of student and teacher data, along with personal and organizational characteristics.

Saving the Curriculum or Saving Life? The Risk of Opening Schools in South Africa at the Peak of the Country’s COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite stringent preventative measures, the corona virus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had adversely affected the contemporary global community. The pandemic has had an inevitable negative impact on education globally. This paper critiques the South African Department of Basic Education’s opening of schools at the beginning of severe winter in June 2020 based on the claim of having the capacity to implement preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Using literature, government statements and constitutional frameworks, we argue that it was unrealistic, irrational and contradictory to open schools when the government was decongesting other public sectors and at a time when the country was in severe cold season, which is suitable for the survival of the corona virus. We note that schools opened when the COVID-19 infections and fatalities were heightening in the country, when winter was at its doorsteps and personal protective equipments (PPEs) were inadequately supplied in schools. We also argue that it was a myth that children are safe from COVID-19 and saving the school calendar at the expense of human life was catastrophic and therefore schools should not have opened in the severe winter, without a cure or vaccine for the COVID-19. Received: 26 November 2020 / Accepted: 27 January 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

Deprived of the Sea: Being a Kenyan Final-year Medical Student During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Five months after the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in Kenya, the cases and fatalities due to the disease is still on the rise. The effects of the disease in the developing country have been far-reaching, and closure of all learning institutions has now shifted attention to online learning. However, challenges such as inconsistent access to the internet and electricity have led to inequality in education access. As final-year medical students, online lectures have been a new exciting experience, but it also came with challenges. The halt in clinical medical education has significantly affected the learning and school calendar. Although we are almost done with our journey through medical school, we cannot proceed any further. However, we remain hopeful that a leeway shall be found, and we shall join other healthcare workers in serving our country.

The Seven Time Managing Strategies of English Teachers to Adapt with the Change in Curriculum

The Indonesian school system curriculum was changed from KTSP to curriculum 2013 (K13) since the year 2013. This alteration of the curriculum dealt an impact by changing the allocated time for English classes. Within KTSP, Teachers taught English subject for four hours session per week, which means four times 45 minutes each week, whereas, within the K13, the allocated time for English subject is a two hours session per week which means two times 45 minutes which means there is a reduction in time for English subject. This study aims to determine how English teachers manage their time by conducting interviews, observations, and documentation analysis on 11th grade English teachers at MAN 1 Pasaman, Indonesia. Findings revealed seven strategies, namely following the school calendar, setting goals and working on achieving those goals, prioritizing the more important goal, making a daily schedule of classroom activities, making a to-do list, setting a time limit for the task in the classroom, and utilising transition time effectively. The findings are a novelty because few studies have identified the specific strategies that English teachers used to successfully adapt to the curriculum change. Thus, this study contributes to future educators preparing and anticipating possible curriculum changes that may drastically change teaching time.

Changes in Estonian School Calendar Holidays in 1992–2018

The paper compares changes in the celebration of holidays in the period from 1992 to 2018. The data originate from large Estonian children’s lore corpora from 1992, 2007, and 2018. The first collections are preserved at the Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum (ELM) in Tartu, Estonia, and the 2018 collection as well as the digitized data of the earlier campaigns are available in the digital archives EFITA – the Research Archives of the Department of Folkloristics of the ELM. The calendar corpus allows us to monitor changes in the structure and essence of folk/ethnographic/local traditions, feasts celebrated at home, church feasts, and public holidays at school. The authors indicate that endeavours to establish national public holidays to accompany traditional agrarian ones began in the early 20th century. During the 20th century, the system of holidays changed three times (1918, 1940, 1991) due to political changes: the establishment of an independent state in Estonia, the loss of independence and continuation as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, and restoration of independence in 1991. In addition to state, church, and folk holidays different ways to introduce novel international holidays (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Mother Tongue Day), and a search for new forms of celebration were also noteworthy during this period. As students, youngsters participate in the celebrations of their school as well as in the celebrations of public holidays, and at the same time are involved in maintaining their family traditions.