Integrating Educational Board Game in Chinese Learning Environment to Enhance Students' Learning Performance and Flow Experience

Game-based learning is a wide-used learning way in recent years. Many research have showed that educational board games cause a positive effect on students' learning motivation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of educational board game on students' Chinese learning performance, flow experience, and learning motivation. Nineteen undergraduate students participated in this study. The outcomes indicated that the integration of educational board game into Chinese learning could maintain and arouse students' learning. Also, the study showed that game-based Chinese learning activities could significantly improve students' learning performance and narrow the learning gap between high-level group students and medium-level group students.

MELANCHOLIC SENTIMENTS TOWARDS MODULAR LEARNING MODALITY: SINGLE PARENTS IN FOCUS

Schools worldwide shuttered their doors in the spring of 2020 to slow the spread of the COVID -19 pandemic virus. This physical closure quickly moved to modular learning, which increased parental and guardian responsibilities. Data were collected from 10 single parents of Rizal Memorial Colleges, Inc. The research design of this study utilized the phenomenological method to determine the Melancholic sentiments towards modular learning modality: single parents in focus in The Rizal Memorial Colleges, Inc. This study aimed to investigate parents’ experiences and struggles by the use of thematic coding with the use of essential themes. Data obtained identified emergent themes clustered, namely; strive to balance parent employment demands and learner needs, strenuous assisting more than one child in the home with learning, lack of personal balance, and parent feels overwhelmed; maintaining a strict schedule; engaging in creative activities; keeping children busy and; organizing daily routine; tracking academic progress, keeping socio-emotional Development, accessing of achievement, and identifying emotional toll. The findings revealed and addressed the learning gap that has emerged in their children’s learning in these challenging times. Furthermore, single parents, being aware of how to manage their time, struggles, hardship, and challenges to cope with their sentiment experiences, and strive on how they can surpass and would be a strong basis for school administrators as this comes as an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of different educational approaches and develop teaching and learning process suited to specific educational needs. Considering the result of this study as input from families, and should be sought to create a program and learning method that is beneficial to all school stakeholders. KEYWORDS: Melancholic sentiments, Modular learning modality, and Single Parents

School teachers’ perception and challenges towards online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic in India: an econometric analysis

PurposeCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has impacted catastrophically every sector of the economy throughout the world. And, the education sector is not leftover from the devastating effects of lockdown, especially in South Asia. It has led to the prolonged closure of schools/universities, subsequently, traditional teaching expeditiously transformed into online teaching. In the light of the events, this study is pertinent to examine teachers’ perceptions of online teaching and the obstacles they face in online teaching during this pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe research takes a quantitative and sample survey approach. A Google Form Questionnaire was used to obtain a sample of 200 Delhi school teachers in March and April 2021. Data were analyzed in SPSS by using Descriptive Statistics, Factor Analysis, Reliability and Chi-Square test, etc.FindingsThe result of the study indicates that on average, teachers have a positive perception about virtual teaching amid COVID-19 for reducing the learning gap and shaping pupils’ future during the crisis. Nevertheless, they encountered several obstacles in online teaching such as technical obstacles, difficulties in online exams and assessment, etc.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study would persuade educational institutions and policymakers for enhancing the quality of online teaching by embracing the newest instructional strategies and providing continuous training to teachers.Originality/valueSeveral studies described obstacles confronted by instructors in virtual teaching in higher education during the Coronavirus while disregarding the perception and challenges of school teachers toward e-learning in an ongoing outbreak. The present study replenishes this gap.

Determinants of Ethnic Differences in School Modality Choices During the COVID-19 Crisis

A growing body of research and popular reporting shows racial differences in school modality choices during the COVID-19 crisis, with White students more likely to attend school in person in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021. This in-person learning gap raises serious equity concerns. We use unique panel survey data to explore possible explanations. We find that a combination of factors may explain these differences. School districts’ offerings, political partisanship, perceived risk from the pandemic, and local COVID-19 outbreaks are all meaningfully associated with and plausibly explain the in-person learning racial gap. Our results illustrate how not only policy decisions but also political leanings and individuals’ beliefs could contribute to inequality in access to learning and illustrate the need for a better understanding of the factors behind observed racial inequalities in education.

Community-Based Research: Perspectives of Psychology Researchers and Community Partners

There is now a growing understanding that translational research must be co-created in collaboration with community partners and that solutions to real-world social problems require stepping outside the academic silo. Fewer than half of psychology programs in Canada, however, offer courses in community-based research or evaluation, leaving a gap in skill development amongst the next generation of scholars. In an effort to partially fill this learning gap, the current paper provides insights into lessons learned from the perspectives of researchers and community partners alike, who have been mutually engaging in community-based research over the last 25 years. Ultimately this paper seeks to provide a roadmap for conducting community-based research and illustrates why it should be a central component to research seeking to answer critical questions in psychological science. First, we provide a conceptual foundation of community-based research. Next, using three specific community-based research projects as examples, we share the challenges and benefits of conducting research in the community context. Finally, we highlight future directions for increasing the uptake of community-based research in Canada.

Would-be Language Teachers' Perceptions and Challenges Towards Synchronous Language Learning

Believed to be a practical solution to eliminate the possibilities of any learning gap to befall, the adaption of online learning specifically the implementation of the synchronous mode of teaching and learning has been practiced in various universities in the arena of education amidst the covid-19 outbreak. In light of this, the present study sought to investigate the different perspectives of would-be language teachers towards synchronous learning. Moreover, this investigation aimed to determine the challenges encountered by the students during the course of learning. The participants of the study were seven students in the tertiary level taking a bachelor’s degree either in English or Filipino. Essentially, a descriptive qualitative research design was employed and individual in-depth interviews were conducted. Furthermore, thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the data gathered. With reference to the findings of this study, it has been noted that the respondents perceive synchronous learning differently, which includes both positive and negative remarks. In addition, internet connectivity issues, limited interaction in virtual platforms, technical difficulties, distractions in the environment, and lack of gadgets were the evident challenges experienced by the students during synchronous learning sessions.

Education Systems for Girls’ Education in the Indo-Pacific Region

Despite substantial progress over the last two decades, girls in many parts of the world experience worse educational outcomes than boys, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have exacerbated this learning gap in many regions, making research on the relationship between girls’ education outcomes and education systems increasingly urgent. This rapid review explores the determinants of girls’ education outcomes in a specific group of Indo-Pacific countries. It examines the education system determinants of these outcomes such as government investment, teacher training, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in schools, school-related gender-based violence, and indirect costs of education, drawing from pre-COVID-19 data. It also investigates societal determinants such as political factors, poverty rates, labour market participation trends, and child marriage rates. By attempting to explain differences in learning outcomes for girls, it also achieves a typology of countries in the region and suggests ideas for further research and FCDO programming.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Control Measures on Widening Educational Inequalities

COVID-19 has resulted in a global public health crisis. Measures adopted by governments across the world to reduce transmission have resulted in the closure of educational institutions and workplaces and reduced social interaction. The aim of the article is to reflect on the consequences of the COVID-19 global pandemic for the lives of young people from different social groups, with a special focus on education. It is a desk-based review of empirical research that has emerged in the wake of COVID-19 that has explored the impact of the control measures adopted, resulting in ‘learning loss’ and the widening of the ‘learning gap’ among students. The review shows that rather than utilizing the current situation to tackle pre-existing social inequalities in education, current debates often narrowly focus on immediate rather than long-term measures. The article calls for a broader research agenda on the short- and long-term compensatory measures needed to re-engage students, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.