Are Professors Prepared to Teach?

Chinese universities hire thousands of Western professors and tutors each year. This is to encourage different outcomes for Chinese graduates in terms of entrepreneurship, leadership, and opportunity. However, students who receive instruction from American lecturers find a very different experience from other Western faculty. So, in 2020 a survey was developed to ascertain the perspectives and instructional processes western tutors brought to Chinese universities. This 3,000-professor survey would determine how much learning knowledge students graduated with prior to becoming a professor, how much development they sought once professors, and how much integration of current teaching and learning methodologies and theorists were brought to the classroom, including online classrooms. Results indicated that faculty who were trained in countries such as Australia, England, Germany, or Spain had more learning knowledge prior to teaching, as well as continuing to seek learning information once teaching classrooms, than their American counterparts.

Using Instructional Screencast to Teach Digital Immigrants: A Paradigm Shift in the 21st Century Learning Process

This paper intended to study the attitudes of postgraduate diploma in education (PGDE) students towards the use of instructional screencast for learning. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Population of the study include the 13 postgraduate diploma in education students admitted as at 2018/2019 academic session, and all were selected as sample for the study. Objectives of the study were to: categorize the postgraduate diploma in education students offering CSI 702 in the 2019/2020 academic session into digital native and digital immigrants based on their dates of birth; and determine the attitudes of the postgraduate diploma in education students offering CSI 702 in the 2019/2020 academic session towards the use of screencast for instructional process. The instrument pegged “students’ attitudes to using screencast for learning” (SAUSL) was used to obtain necessary information from the respondents. It was validated, pilot study conducted, and reliability index of 0.98 was obtained using Cronbatch Alpha. Results from the study revealed that 92% of the respondents were digital immigrants, and they had positive attitudes towards the use of screencast for learning. The study concluded that even though the digital immigrants (respondents) had shown a positive attitude towards the use of the screencast, the paradigm shift in the education sector “new normal” necessitated the use of technology to facilitate the instructional processes. Therefore, digital immigrants are left with no option than to embrace the use of technology for learning. It was recommended by the study that lecturers, especially in the higher institutions of learning, should adopt the use of screencast in their instructional process. This would help flip the classroom, and economically manage lecture time.

ENHANCING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF COMMERCE STUDENTS THROUGH BLENDED E-LEARNING

Blended e-learning is being adapted in education to enhance the students learning ability. Its contemporary methods of instruction, e-learning tools facilitate the enhancement of academic achievement of students and make them active participants in classroom. In the blended e-learning, various forms like video lessons, live online teaching, LMS (learning management system), e-books and supporting tools are used for effective and creative instructional processes. Using the Google Classroom with Google meet, five lessons of economics subject under CBSE, Delhi syllabus of XI Commerce class. The purpose of study was to enhance the academic achievement of XI Commerce students through blended e-learning in Economics. The sample of 60 students was taken from two CBSE affiliated private schools of , Punjab. The and post-test experimental design were used in the study. The data analysis showed higher academic achievement score of post-tests than the in economics. A significant difference between the mean scores of academic achievements in economics of and post-test was found. It can be inferred that blended e-learning enhances the academic achievement of Commerce students.

Exploring the Landscape of Researching the Teaching Practicum in the ELT Context

This paper describes a review of the research developed on the English Language Teaching Practicum (ELTP) as part of a doctoral study on the senses of the ELTP through the experiences and interrelations of the English language teaching practicum community (ELTPC): preservice teachers (PTs), school and university mentors, (SMs-UMs [1]) in the Colombian context. In the first part, the paper situates the ELTP in Initial Language Teacher Education (ILET) and elaborates on the contributions Colombian English Language scholars have made in regard to the ELTP. This review portrays instructional processes, reflective approaches, beliefs, expectations and dichotomies, identity construction, and research as a central axis in ELTP core tendencies. The majority of the studies continue to invisibilize the three-voiced experiences of those subjects who live the ELTP. In the second part, the paper discusses pedagogical colonialism in English Language Teaching (ELT) extended to the ELTP as a static-limited conceptualization that normalizes ELTP. From a decolonial standpoint, I would affirm that understanding the senses of the ELTP through the experiences and interrelations of pre-service teachers, school, and university mentors might contribute to questioning the hegemonic views rooted in epistemic perspectives of the Global North that have dominated the ELT field and therefore the ELTP. Furthermore, we can comprehend the holistic formation processes that pre-service teachers go through with their SMs and UMs to envision different ways of being, doing, and thinking about the plurals and particularities of the ELTP. [1] These terms are used in this paper to address cooperating teachers and university advisors, which have been traditionally named in the literature.

Effects of Audio-visual Aids on the Academic Performance of Nursery Schools Pupils in Alphabets Reading in Sokoto Metropolis, Nigeria

The study aims to determine the effects of audio-visual aids on the performance of nursery school pupils in alphabet reading in Sokoto metropolis. The study sets out three research objectives, three questions, and two hypotheses. The study adopted a survey design method. All Nursery school pupils in Sokoto metropolis form the population of the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select two schools (New Dawn and Nagarta College) to participate in the study. New Dawn and Nagarta College were respectively allocated to experimental and control groups through balloting. An intact class from each of the two schools was used for the study. An achievement test instrument was developed by the researchers, validated by experts. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, a pilot study was conducted and a reliability index of 0.94 was obtained using KR-21. The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics, and the two hypotheses were tested using independent sample t-test statistics. Results from the study reveal that the treatment was effective in improving pupils’ academic performance. It was also found that there was a significant difference between the academic performance of the pupils taught using audio-visual aids and those taught the same using the conventional approach in favour of those exposed to the treatment. The study concludes that pupils’ poor academic performance could be a result of poor utilization or inadequacy of instructional media. Therefore the study recommends that Schools management should make audio-visual aids available for effective delivery in the instructional processes, and schools authorities concerned should encourage teachers to make efficient use of the audio-visual teaching aids during the instructional process.

Course Design for Technology Mediated Learning

As a practitioner with over twenty-five years of experience in the domain of education and training, educators at all levels of education face serious challenges while attempting to embrace technology in instructional processes. To cope with the new trends, educators in the field of education and professional training are challenged to update their skills and benefit from the flexibility offered by contemporary learning technologies. Based on the wealth of experience acquired while assisting institutions of learning at all levels of education to put their courses online, I thought it necessary to assist colleagues with a book entitled "Course Design for Technology Mediated Learning". Course Design for Technology Mediated Learning is structured into seven chapters: Chapter 1: Basic Notions of Learning Theories. Chapter 2: Structure and Processes of the Human Memory Chapter 3: Classification of Learning Domains and Objectives Chapter 4: Instructional Design Models Chapter 5: Searching Electronic Resources on Internet Chapter 6: Learning Management Systems Chapter 7: Basic Steps in Course Creation and Learners Enrolment in Moodle It is important to note that the chapters are not organised in a hierarchical order thus providing you with a greater flexibility to explore each chapter independently based on your needs. However, it is important to walk through from chapter one. Even if you are familiar with the different topics, there might be something new. I believe in the psychology of learning which upholds that concepts are best mastered when we rehearse existing knowledge. With this in mind, this book provides an opportunity to rehearse what you already know. References for further reading have been provided at the end of each chapter thus making it easy for those who are interested in deepening their knowledge in the issues discussed.

Onto-semiotic complexity of the Definite Integral

Teaching and learning Calculus concepts and procedures, particularly the definite integral concept, is a challenge to teachers and students in their academic careers. In order to develop an informed plan for improving instructional processes, it is necessary to pay attention to the nature and complexity of the mathematical features of the definite integral, that students are expected to understand and apply. In this research, we supplement the analysis made by different authors, applying the theoretical and methodological tools of the Onto-Semiotic Approach to mathematical knowledge and instruction. The goal is to understand the diverse meanings of the concept of the definite integral and potentials semiotic conflicts based on the given data. We focus attention on a first intuitive meaning, which involves mainly arithmetic knowledge, and the definite integral formal meaning as Riemann’s sums limit predominantly in the curricular guidelines. The recognition of the onto-semiotic complexity of mathematics objects is considered as a key factor in explaining the learning difficulties of concepts, procedures and its application for problem-solving, as well as to make grounded decisions on teaching. The methodology analysis of a mathematical text, which we exemplify in this work applying the tools of Onto-Semiotic Approach, provides a microscopic level of analysis that allows us to identify some semiotic-cognitive facts of didactic interest. This also allows for the identification of some epistemic strata, that is, institutional knowledge that should have been previously studied, which usually goes unnoticed in the teaching process.

Integrated Curriculum and Instruction based on Local Wisdom in Sekolah Alam Bengawan Solo (SABS)

Society and schools as the main agents of education must carry out innovations and creative methods in instructional processes in order to give their supports to the implementation of character education that has been launched by the Indonesian government through the Indonesian Ministry of Education. As an attempt to implement the character education in the instructional process, Sekolah Alam (nature-based school) Bengawan Solo (SABS) integrates the instructional process with environmental issues based on local wisdom. The curriculum developed by SABS has the holistic characteristics including: 1) character; 2) knowledge; 3) leadership; 4) entrepreneurship; and 5) an environmental insight. The instructional process in SABS has five main objectives: 1) fostering physical and mental health; 2) building a fighting spirit; 3) developing students’ critical thinking; 4) building perseverance; and 5) encouraging a simple life style. The social and cultural issues related to the Javanese and Islamic culture that take place in the community in the surrounding SABS are also taken into consideration by integrating themes related to the issues in the instructional process.

Cultivating Pedagogical Proficiencies for Facilitating Discussions About Diverse Youth Literature

The effective facilitation of discourses about diverse youth literature (DYL) is dependent on teachers' application of vital instructional approaches. This has implications for how pre-service teachers (PSTs) are prepared to involve their students in relevant dialogues that critically examine how DYL mirror authentic life experiences. Hence, the author undertook this action research to execute a methodology model which illustrated instructional processes that may be employed in training PSTs to make conscious decisions about planning, designing, and guiding discussions in a lesson. The participants were 20 PSTs who pursued a literature methods course at a teacher training institution in Jamaica, and studied the texts “Bright Thursdays” by Olive Senior and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy. The application of the model provided insights into the benefits and considerations for training PSTs to practice how to facilitate discussions about DYL during lessons and how to use their literature classes as opportunities for developing social responsibility among their students.

The Benefits of Backward Design in the English as a Foreign Language Context

ABSTRACTThe Backward Design Model (BDM) is a curriculum approach in language teaching, which begins with the specification of learning outcomes that are the basis for developing instructional processes and input (Richards, 2013). This study aims to display a theoretical analysis of how the integration of the BDM has impacted English as a Foreign Language class. Thus, this study provides the results of reviewing research-based articles about how the integration of the BDM has benefited EFL teachers and students. These benefits are related to the main elements of the BDM, namely, designing learning to provide enduring understandings, assessing students’ performance based on acceptable evidence, and planning learning experiences and instructions based on desirable outcomes. The results indicated that the BDM indeed brought benefits to EFL teachers and students, revealing that this model's efficient application can help (a) teachers better understand the procedural knowledge of learning and (b) students improve their English language skills.ABSTRAKBackward Design Model merupakan pendekatan kurikulum dalam pengajaran bahasa yang diawali dengan spesifikasi hasil belajar yang menjadi dasar untuk pegembangan proses dan masukan pembelajaran (Richards, 2013). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menampilkan analisis teoritis tentang bagaimana integrasi Backward Design Model (BDM) berdampak pada kelas bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing. Penelitian ini merupakan hasil dari telaah artikel berbasis penelitian tentang bagaimana integrasi BDM bermanfaat bagi para guru dan siswa EFL. Manfaat ini berkaitan dengan elemen utama BDM yaitu merancang pembelajaran untuk pemahaman yang bertahan lama, penilaian kinerja siswa berdasarkan bukti yang dapat diterima, dan merencanakan pengalaman dan instruksi pembelajaran berdasarkan hasil yang diinginkan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa BDM memang membawa manfaat bagi para guru dan siswa. Hasil penelitian juga mengungkapkan bahwa penerapan model yang efisien ini membantu para guru untuk memiliki pemahaman yang lebih baik tentang pengetahuan prosedural pembelajaran dan juga membantu siswa untuk meningkatkan kemampuan berbahasa Inggris mereka.