Parents’ Expectations about Educational Institutions during the Pandemic: Results of Nationwide Questionnaire Research in Poland

(1) Background: The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the problem of combining work and private life. The pandemic conditions have turned out to be particularly difficult for parents who, due to changes in the organization of the education system, have been forced to reconcile their professional duties with the raising of childcare. Thanks to the recommendations for cooperation between schools and parents proposed in this study, it will be possible to reduce the risk and uncertainty of achieving common goals of the education system. (2) Methods: In the preparation of nationwide research, a questionnaire was provided to a sample of 10,331 respondents, including 7800 professional parents, in a trial form before a transition to the study of children. (3) Results: The analysis of the data showed that educational institutions should shape their activities based on cooperation with the family environment of children. (4) Conclusions: Educational institutions can help working parents in times of increased uncertainty. Parents reported that in caring for children, it would be helpful to operate educational institutions in stationary mode. Moreover, they expect increases in extracurricular and extra-curricular activities.

The Effect of Institutional Support on the Cultural Intelligence of Nursing Students

Background: Cultural intelligence is important for studying, working, and living in multicultural societies. Previous studies have indicated that training and learning support are important for improving students’ cultural intelligence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of institutional support on cultural intelligence. Methods: 933 nursing students in three countries, among Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, answered a rating scale questionnaire. A structural equation model was used to examine the effect of institutional support on cultural intelligence. Results: Institutional support had a statistically significant effect on cultural intelligence, with an effect size of 0.57. Conclusion: For promoting cultural intelligence divided into three aspects, the first concerns the implementation of multicultural experiences in curricula; the second involves extra-curricular activities for being applied in multicultural situations; and the last regards encouraging teachers to realize the importance of culture and integrating cultural content in their teaching and in the students’ learning.

Exploring the Factors that Impact Students' Transitions to University in Australia

There are prominent gaps in educational opportunities and academic outcomes in the Australian education system. The government has made efforts to narrow the gaps and increase the proportion of Australians with higher education qualifications. However, disadvantaged students still lack access to educational opportunities and resources, and are underrepresented in university populations. This essay explores the influential factors that can affect young people's academic and transition outcomes, which involve students' socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, engagement in extra-curricular activities and geographical locations. This essay also mainly draws on Bourdieu's theory on social and cultural capital to explain the associations between those factors and students' transitions to university in Australia.

Framing and facilitating complex problem-solving competences in interdisciplinary megaprojects: an institutional strategy to educate for sustainable development

Purpose Problem-based learning (PBL) has been suggested as an approach to education for sustainable development (ESD); however, the integration of interdisciplinarity is continuously challenged as it requires transfer and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries, as well as integration into an often already-overflowing curriculum. Even in formalized PBL universities emphasizing student responsibility for defining relevant problems, envisioning sustainable solutions and developing transversal competences, interdisciplinary collaboration is still often “relocated” to extra-curricular activities. This paper aims to explore Aalborg University (AAU) Megaprojects as a case for systematically integrating principles of ESD, and particularly interdisciplinarity, into PBL at scale. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes a framework for analysing potentials and challenges concerning interdisciplinary framing and facilitation in large-scale projects based on PBL- and ESD-related research and presents findings from a case study on the first three rounds of megaprojects at AAU in 2019 and 2020. Findings The findings indicate that interdisciplinary megaprojects have the potential to motivate students to engage in sustainable development; however, they require systematic framing and guided facilitation, particularly in the early stages, for students to take ownership, prioritize collaboration and see the contribution to and connection between disciplines. They also need prioritization at all institutional levels to succeed as an institutional strategy of ESD. Originality/value The paper provides insights into the potentials and challenges of framing and facilitating large-scale megaprojects as an approach to integrate the SDGs and interdisciplinary collaboration into higher education. Hence, it aims to provide new insights, concepts and practices for ESD and PBL for sustainability.

Validazione di uno strumento per valutare la partecipazione alle attività extracurriculari in area STEM. Il questionario Science Activities Evaluation Engagement (SAEE)

In this study, we present a new questionnaire, the Science Activities Evaluation Engagement (SAEE) instrument, for the evaluation of the students’ engagement in STEM oriented extra-curricular activities. The questionnaire was administered to about 1000 secondary school students who participated in the activities of the Piano Nazionale Lauree Scientifiche in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Through an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, it was possible to validate a four-factor structure of the instrument: Satisfaction with the followed activities; Utility of the activities; Difficulties in following the activities; Involvement of close people. The obtained factor structure shows a good model fit, with each of the obtained scales showing an excellent reliability. Criterion validity was established through the academic motivation scale. The proposed instrument shows also an adequate convergent validity and a sufficient discriminant validity. Implications of the study for the evaluation of Third Mission activities of the Italian universities are also briefly discussed.

“I don’t know how musically creative they should be at that age”: A qualitative study of parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about young children’s creative and musical capacities

There has been a recent expansion of school curricula and extra-curricular activities emphasizing musical creativity and collaboration. Parents have a crucial role in providing children with access to such experiences; their views on music and the nature of creativity influence the types of musical engagement their children will access. Teachers also have an important role, yet can have difficulties when supporting children in open-ended tasks. A qualitative study investigated parents’ and teachers’ constructions of creativity and music. Interviews were held with 11 parents and 4 teachers of preschool children who took part in improvisation workshops. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis, resulting in identification of three themes. Creativity and musicality were described as fundamental to children’s “human nature” but positioned as a non-fundamental part of their own adult identities. “Values” explored conceptualizations of creativity through artistic products; musicality was appreciated demonstration of technical skill. “Frames for engaging” identified adults engaging with their children in creative tasks mainly through child-led narratives; in contrast, parents took on the role of “teacher” in musical tasks. Understanding these influential views offers insight into the types of activities and guidance offered to pre-schoolers and how they can be built on to foster children’s musical creativity.

The role of extra-curricular activities in increasing student engagement

PurposeThe first objective of this study is to review the mechanism of conducting extra-curricular activities (ECAs) in the open and distance learning (ODL) setting. To achieve this objective, the procedure of ECAs at the Virtual University of Pakistan has been studied. The second objective of this study is to find the impact of ECAs on student engagement.Design/methodology/approachThis is a cross-sectional quantitative study. The questionnaire has been used to collect the data. The purposive sampling technique has been used, while this study's sample size is 970. An independent sample t-test has been used to find the difference between the groups.FindingsThis study shows a significant difference between the engagement levels of students who have been part of any ECA at university compared to the students who never participated in any ECA.Research limitations/implicationsThe results have been derived from the data gathered from one university only that might hinder the generalizability of the findings. The same study can be conducted in other ODL institutions to authenticate the findings.Practical implicationsThis study will help in realizing the policymakers of ODL about the importance of ECCAs. This study has also discussed an existing system of conducting ECCAs in an ODL setting that can be generalized and implemented across all the ODL universities to enhance student engagement.Originality/valueThis study has highlighted the importance of ECAs in ODL institutions that have been neglected since forever. This study is novel because it has highlighted the importance of social interaction of students in ODL and its relation with student engagement that has not been highlighted by any study so far.

PENERAPAN PEMBELAJARAN ONLINE INTERAKTIF MENGENAI TEKNIK INFORMATIKA DAN MULTIMEDIA KEPADA SISWA SMA KALAM KUDUS JAKARTA

SMA Kalam Kudus is one of the schools that is aware of the need to hold IT extra-curricular activities in their schools and requires experts who really understand this field. In this case, FTI UNTAR cooperates to provide extra-curricular IT and Multimedia by implementing an online learning system that remains interactive. Because they are aware of school students who need more encouragement for learning awareness. Experience from research and similar PKM is also applied in bringing learning materials to be more interactive, the use of software & services such as Gather Town, LightBot, PC Building Simulator and other interactive software is an option to bring basic materials for the introduction of IT and Multimedia. The purpose of this PKM is that students understand the basics of IT, are ready for lectures and of course with easy and interesting material to learn. This kind of activity indirectly also becomes the promotion of FTI UNTAR to schools.SMA Kalam Kudus menjadi salah satu sekolah yang sadar akan perlunya mengadakan ekstra kurikuler TI di sekolahnya dan memerlukan pakar yang memang mengerti di bidang tersebut. Dalam hal ini FTI UNTAR menjalin kerja sama menyediakan ekstra kurikuler TI dan Multimedia dengan menerapkan sistem pembelajaran online yang tetap interaktif. Karena sadar dengan siswa sekolah yang perlu dorongan lebih untuk kesadaran belajar. Pengalaman dari penelitian dan PKM sejenis juga diterapkan dalam membawakan materi pembelajaran agar lebih interaktif, penggunaan software & service seperti Gather Town, LightBot, PC Building Simulator dan software interaktif lainnya menjadi pilihan untuk membawakan materi dasar pengenalan TI dan Multimedia. Maksud dari PKM ini adalah siswa mengerti dasar TI, siap untuk perkuliahan dan tentunya dengan materi yang mudah dan menarik dipelajari.Kegiatan semacam ini secara tidak langsung juga menjadi promosi FTI UNTAR ke sekolah.

Modern Directions of Implementation of Volunteer Practices and Existing Volunteer Training Systems in the Regions of the Russian Federation

The article analyzes the specifics of the implementation of volunteer practices in the regions of Russia based on the material of available Internet sources. The authors believe that conducting a psychological and pedagogical study of programs for the implementation of volunteer (volunteer) activities will make it possible to predict the formation of a social institution of volunteering (volunteering) and develop scientifically based recommendations for the application and dissemination of effective practices of volunteering. The purpose of the article is, on the basis of theoretical analysis, to identify and substantiate the current directions for the implementation of volunteer practices and the features of training volunteers on the example of the Tomsk, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk regions and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Methodology. The research was carried out on the basis of structuring the understanding of volunteer activities in the regions of the Russian Federation through the prism of axiological, system-activity, culturological and project methodological approaches. It is shown that volunteer practices and the work of volunteers themselves are structured on the basis of a combination of these approaches and traditionally fit into extra-curricular activities to a large extent. In conclusion, it is concluded that the implementation of volunteer practices is carried out through a combination of various approaches, therefore it should be considered as a multimodal educational and educational practice. The training of volunteers is structured through a combination of forms of individual, group, collective work, but it is not systemic, which requires the additional development of a set of standardized and validated tools to assess the effectiveness of the results of the implementation of volunteer programs.

Social impact of extracurricular activities in terms of the universality of the benefits involved

In the field of educational management, extracurricular activities play a very important role. In most schools, pupils come from different backgrounds and in the academic environment they form a new, special community. And extra-curricular activities help the pupils to integrate into the team more easily. Creating specific skills in those activities, especially coping quickly with potential challenges, is important for pupils who feel more relaxed in such an informal environment than during class. And the high possibility of diversification that extracurricular activities entails has increased potential to bring benefits throughout the lives of current pupils. The topicality of the research derives from the fact that high school pupils must be prepared to direct their own learning and development, and extracurricular activities contribute significantly to this process. Based on this reality, the author aimed to elucidate the essence of extracurricular activities and analyze the benefits that their practice brings to the students involved, from a short and long-term perspective