Commerce and Economics at the London School of Economics

The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 to teach vocational and commercial subjects to part-time students. By 1920 the majority of students were full-time, studying the London BSc (Econ.) degree that was, however, a general social sciences degree for which very few students pursued the economics major option. The appointment of Lionel Robbins as Professor of Economics in 1929 opened the way for undergraduate teaching at the LSE to be moved towards economics, with staff appointments being made that would further this end. The bulk of the student body, however, continued to pursue a broad social sciences pathway, and it was only by shutting down the BCom degree in the later 1940s that Robbins was eventually able to bring about the shift from a broadly vocational school to one in which ‘modern’ social sciences dominated.

Catastrophe or Catalyst? Reflections on COVID’s Impact on Community Colleges

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a steep decline in enrollments at community colleges, especially among Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous populations, males, and part-time students. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Acts provided funds for emergency aid and engaging disconnected students, and community colleges moved swiftly to shift services and instruction online. In this essay, we discuss how students and community colleges responded to the pandemic and what their experiences reveal about inequities in higher education. We argue that the crisis was worsened by years of underinvestment in these institutions and by entrenched structures and practices that do not address the needs and aspirations of many students. We review evidence on reforms that aim to remake community colleges in ways that improve student outcomes. While COVID-19 can rightly be viewed as a catastrophe, it may also serve as a catalyst for fundamental and lasting improvements in how community colleges are funded, organized, and operated to help more students achieve their goals.

Nursing students' attitudes about their profession

Introduction: Positive attitudes toward the nursing profession among nursing students improve the sustainability of the profession. Studying the attitudes of nursing students toward nursing is of great importance, as it can indicate their remaining in the profession. This study aimed to determine the attitudes of nursing students toward the nursing profession.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study. The research was conducted at the Faculty of Health Studies at the University of Sarajevo from May to June 2019. The study involved a convenience sample of 107 currently enrolled Bachelor of Nursing students from the 1st to the 4th (and final) year of full-time study and part-time students in the Baccalaureate of Nursing Care program at the University of Sarajevo. The students voluntarily and anonymously completed a questionnaire consisting of demographic information and the Nursing Image Questionnaire.Results: Overall, 107 students participated in the research. Their mean age was 23 years old (standard deviation, 5 years). Spearman’s correlation factor shows a statistically significant correlation between the scores and the mode of studying (full-time or part-time) (rho = −0.200*, p = 0.039) and whether respondents working in the profession or not (rho = 0.249*, p = 0.010).Conclusion: The attitudes of future Bachelor of Nursing toward the nursing profession were very positive. Full-time students had more positive attitudes toward the profession, compared with part-time students, although the difference was not statistically significant.

APPLICATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING TOOLS IN TEACHING UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN FOR STUDENTS OF NON-PHILOLOGICAL SPECIALTIES

У процесі вивчення української мови іноземними студентами разом із традиційними методами навчання, які передбачають «живе спілкування», чільне місце посідають і засоби дистанційної освіти. Вони мають достатню кількість переваг перед іншими формами навчання. Так, під час дистанційного навчання покращуються комунікативні навички іноземних громадян як у навчальних, так і в позана-вчальних ситуаціях, що сприяє прискореному та якісному засвоєнню навчального матеріалу, а також є зручними у використанні. Завдяки телекомунікаційним технологіям, наприклад, відеозв’ язку, інозем-ні студенти мають змогу підтримувати регулярний контакт з викладачем, навіть перебуваючи в іншій країні. Практичний навчальний матеріал можна оперативно отримати в електронному вигляді. У статті наводиться визначення поняття «дистанційне навчання», його концепція та форми реалізації. Окрес-люється, що основна мета дистанційної освіти полягає у наданні знань та навчальних матеріалів за допомогою сучасних інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій. Розглядається застосування засобів дистанційного навчання під час викладання української мови як іноземної студентам нефілологічних спеціальностей. Аналізуються результати експериментального дослідження, а саме впровадження дистанційного курсу для студентів заочної форми навчання. Розглядаються переваги та недоліки дистанційного навчання. Відзначається ефективність комбінованого виду навчання. Наводиться низка доводів на доказ того, що впровадження дистанційного навчання сприятиме успішній адаптації іно-земних студентів до навчання у закладах вищої освіти України. Рекомендується подальше створення певних навчальних дистанційних програм, які сприятимуть задоволенню комунікативних потреб іноземних студентів-нефілологів у позааудиторний час та забезпечуватимуть самостійну роботу студентів усіма необхідними навчальними матеріалами.Ключові слова: дистанційне навчання, засоби, дистанційний курс, українська мова як іноземна, студенти-нефілологи. In the process of studying Ukrainian language by foreign students, along with traditional teaching methods that imply “live communication”, the means of distance education are also of prime importance. They have a sufficient amount of advantages over other forms of studies. Thus, during distance learning, the communication skills of foreign citizens are improved both in educational and extracurricula situations, which facilitate to the accelerated and high-quality learning of educational material, and are also easy to use. Owing to telecommunication technologies, for example, video communication, foreign students are able to keep regular contact with the teacher even while in another country. The practical training materials can be quickly obtained electronically. The article describes the definition of the concept of “distance learning”, its concept and forms of implementation. It is outlined that the primary purpose of distance education is to provide knowledge and educational materials with the help of modern information and communication technologies. The use of distance learning tools in teaching Ukrainian as foreign language to students of non-philological specialties is considered. The results of the experimental research are analyzed, namely the introduction of a distance course for part-time students. The advantages and disadvantages of distance learning are considered. The effectiveness of the combined type of training is noted. A number of arguments are presented to prove that the introduction of distance learning will contribute to the successful adaptation of foreign students to studying at universities in Ukraine. It is recommended to further create certain educational distance learning programs that will contribute to the satisfaction of the communicative needs of foreign non-philologist students in extracurricula times and ensure the independent work of students with all the necessary educational materials.Key words: distance learning, tools, distance course, Ukrainian as a foreign language, non-philologists.

Remote learning in basic education schools in Latvia during COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of pedagogical internship

Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most students were forced to study remotely, including students in Latvia. This publication aims to reflect on the remote learning process during Covid-19, analysing the results obtained by students during their internships. The research study involves 81 full-time and part-time students of Liepaja University study programmes. This publication is based on qualitative empirical research, using the case study method within a natural environment. The results were analysed using content analysis. As the result of this study, the conclusions are drawn, revealing the identified problems, strong points and contradictions in the learning process, providing a basis for improvements. The obtained research results can serve as a foundation for the research in future. Keywords: consequences of Covid -19, remote learning process, internship

Népesség, szelekció, oktatás

Összefoglaló. Írásunk a középiskolai és a felsőoktatási felvételi adatokat felhasználva mutatja be az elmúlt évtizedek beiskolázási trendjeit, fókuszálva az elmúlt másfél-két évtizedben végbemenő folyamatokra. A középiskolai beiskolázás adatai szerint egyrészt megállapítható, hogy a rendszerváltás utáni trend 2011 után megtört, a középiskolás korosztályon belül egyre csökken azok aránya, akik részt vesznek valamilyen középfokú képzésben, másrészt a képzésben maradók preferenciái ugyan az általános képzés felé törekednek, de a felvettek számát és arányát tekintve mégis a szakképzésben tanulnak többen. A felsőoktatásba újonnan bekerülők jelentős hányadát adják a frissen érettségizettek, akiknek a létszáma az utóbbi 15 évben folyamatosan csökken, ezzel egyidejűleg azonban a részidős képzésekben tanulók létszáma is meredeken visszaesett. Summary. The study presents enrolment trends using secondary and tertiary enrolment data, focusing on trends over the last two decades. The data on secondary school enrolment shows that, on the one hand, the post-transition trend was broken after 2011, with the proportion of secondary school students enrolled in some form of upper secondary education decreasing, and on the other hand, while the preferences of those who remain in education are tending towards general education, more people are enrolled in vocational education and training in terms of both the number and the proportion of enrolments. A significant proportion of new entrants to higher education are recent graduates from secondary education, whose number have been declining steadily over the last 15 years, but at the same time the number of part-time students in higher education has also fallen sharply.

Positive effect of using just-in-time teaching with part time students in a pedagogical university

This article is centered around the problem of using active learning and online home exercises as an effective means of learning a second language. Just in Time Teaching (JITT) is considered to be the combination of active learning and online exercises which proves its effectiveness. The authors dwell upon the advantages of JIIT in order to give most informative course in the shortest period of time possible. JITT facilitates students’ involving more learning strategies and simple ways to achieve best results and language acquisition. The authors claim that using the new approach makes learning grammar more successful. To find out the data the research was undertaken at the university. It included a survey that was carried out before and after the experiment with JITT. The results of the study showed a large growth in students’ accomplishments and interest to the subject.

HOW UNDERGRADUATE OF PEDAGOGY LEARNS?

We live in a dynamically changing time, when a person must learn throughout life, constantly improve and adapt to new conditions. The ability to learn is one of the four foundations of education. The article presents selected excerpts from empirical research aimed primarily at understanding students' knowledge of teaching methods (mainly in the field of knowledge), as well as the most commonly used methods of memorizing material. The diagnostic study was performed by questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 39 closed and open questions. 130 students of pedagogical specialties of the University of Łód (took part in the survey (48 full-time and 82 part-time students). The experiment showed that students named (on average) two factors (positive and negative) that affect the learning process, only 24 out of 130 mentioned three factors. Respondents do not know teaching methods, in particular effective memorization: 80% of all students use multiple repetition, and other methods (prior knowledge, creating graphs, charts, tables, figures, links, chains of associations, funny stories, rhymes, the use of various colors, mental maps, mnemonics, etc. are used less. Most students (117 out of 130) admit that they have never sought knowledge about the learning process. Students are influenced by external (the need to prepare for exams, tests, practical classes), rather than internal motivation (the desire for self-improvement, professional self-realization). In many respects, full-time students showed more knowledge than part-time students. In addition, full-time students are slightly more likely to study voluntarily (regardless of academic background), not just before an exam or test. In both full-time and part-time study, students focus on gaining qualifications rather than knowledge. Thus, students’ knowledge of the educational process is insignificant; they know only the main factors that affect the educational process, and a few well-known methods of learning. In the future, it may negatively affect the effectiveness of their professional and pedagogical activities. It is necessary to identify the reasons of the gained results: lack of interest in the subject, misunderstanding of the curriculum, indifference, and so on. The author is convinced that it is necessary to change the approach to learning and develop the need for self-improvement.

Psychological problems of distance learning part-time students at university

The article is devoted to the problem of distance learning in higher education. Distance learning is a very important component of the education system and has many advantages. These include: modularity, variability, development of independence and critical thinking, strong-willed personal qualities, as well as digital literacy. In addition, this form of education provides great opportunities for part-time students. Among the disadvantages of distance learning, there is a psychological discomfort that affects the effectiveness of training and satisfaction with its results. Its leveling is an important task for psychologists and other specialists who organise the process of distance learning. The article presents the results of a study aimed at identifying problems that arise in part-time students in the process of distance learning, conducted in Borisoglebsk branch of Voronezh State University. Using a specially designed questionnaire, 71 part-time students were interviewed. The subjects were found to have both technical and psychological difficulties. Among the latter, problems associated with the lack of "live communication", visual direct contact with teachers and other students are particularly common. The result of the study was the development of a number of psychological recommendations for optimising distance learning, which will increase its effectiveness and reduce the students' discomfort.