COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Brazilian Postgraduate Research

The education area is being deeply affected by COVID-19, and Brazilian students are trying to adapt. This chapter aims to research how postgraduate students are dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. From the following research question, “How did COVID-19 impact different dimensions of students´ lives enrolled at master and doctorate programmes?” the chapter describes the challenges that students from Master and Doctorate programmes of two federal institutes are dealing with and the future perspectives in the context of the pandemic. The research methodology is based on an exploratory approach, grounded on a survey for data regarding the impacts of COVID-19 in three dimensions: private life, professional life, and academic life, aiming to understand if and how their research and educational products development were affected. The results show that, despite stress and efforts, the students could adapt their research for the pandemic situation.

Design Thinking as Meaning Creation: The Case of Descomplica

ABSTRACT Context: the design language was introduced to innovation management as a mechanism to increase creativity, given the predominance of an economic rationality in the innovation theory and practice. Among the design thinking discourse, meaning innovation gained relevance in post-industrial societies. Objective: explore the adherence of Descomplica strategy to the meaning innovation model. Method: an exploratory survey with a qualitative approach and a narrative method was carried out. Results: the data collected shows that the company does have a strategy to build and consolidate an emotional relationship with its users. This emotional connection can be perceived in students’ narratives, mainly when they came from public schools. Results also brought evidence that traditional education methods can be threatened by EdTech, mainly in environments where regulatory controls are weak. Conclusion: even though meaning innovation proved to be effective from the point of view of Descomplica’s strategy, it cannot be considered a radical innovation in the sense attributed by sustainability-oriented innovation theory. The results reinforce the urgency to discuss, from organizational and educational perspectives, the impacts of online platforms in Brazilian students’ perceptions, behaviors, and capabilities development.

SENNA Inventory for the Assessment of Social and Emotional Skills in Public School Students in Brazil: Measuring Both Identity and Self-Efficacy

Responding to the need for school-based, broadly applicable, low-cost, and brief assessments of socio-emotional skills, we describe the conceptual background and empirical development of the SENNA inventory and provide new psychometric information on its internal structure. Data were obtained through a computerized survey from 50,000 Brazilian students enrolled in public school grades 6 to 12, spread across the entire State of São Paulo. The SENNA inventory was designed to assess 18 particular skills (e.g., empathy, responsibility, tolerance of frustration, and social initiative), each operationalized by nine items that represent three types of items: three positively keyed trait-identity items, three negatively keyed identity items, and three (always positively keyed) self-efficacy items, totaling a set of 162 items. Results show that the 18 skill constructs empirically defined a higher-order structure that we interpret as the social-emotional Big Five, labeled as Engaging with Others, Amity, Self-Management, Emotional Regulation, and Open-Mindedness. The same five factors emerged whether we assessed the 18 skills with items representing (a) a trait-identity approach that emphasizes lived skills (what do I typically do?) or (b) a self-efficacy approach that emphasizes capability (how well can I do that?). Given that its target youth group is as young as 11 years old (grade 6), a population particularly prone to the response bias of acquiescence, SENNA is also equipped to correct for individual differences in acquiescence, which are shown to systematically bias results when not corrected.

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Sociocultural Adaptation of Brazilian Students in New Zealand

<p>Global mobility means increasing numbers of individuals are exposed to potentially stressful experiences in their cross-cultural transition. A process of cultural learning is required to overcome differences between host and home culture during sociocultural adaptation. To study this process, this thesis employed a mixed-methods approach examining adaptive trajectory over a six-month educational exchange. The study analysed a unique population of 279 Brazilian high school students from low SES backgrounds arriving in New Zealand. Results from cross-lagged panel models in Study 1 indicated that higher initial ratings of English progress led to subsequent higher levels of interactions with New Zealanders three months after, which then led to higher ratings of language progress at the final time-point. A longitudinal mediation showed interaction with New Zealanders at the mid-point of the sojourn helped explain increased English ability over time. No longitudinal relations were observed for culture shock, indicating the influence of language progress and interactions with host culture on culture shock may vary across populations. In Study 2, we used thematic analysis on students’ open-ended interview responses to examine what their experiences in the new culture were. Three themes were identified: opportunities, difficulties, and general feelings. The identified themes supported the findings of Study 1 and highlighted the crucial role of language and social support during the students’ experiences. Combined, the studies partially confirmed previous research with our unique sample of Brazilian students, and placed further emphasis on the need to sample different populations in the study of adaptation.</p>

Inês de Castro on Youtube

Since the fourteenth century, when Inês de Castro was laid to rest in her magnificent tomb in the Monastery of Alcobaça, artists have told the tragic story of the Galician noblewoman who was assassinated for political reasons and became Queen of Portugal after her death. Inês embodies beauty, love, innocence, and saudade, and figures prominently in the lusophone cultural imaginary. Plays, novels, poetry and feature films offer representations of the Dead Queen that range from tragic and defiant to sentimental and trite. In new media, the moving im- ages that currently vie with iconic figurations of the legendary colo de garça are YouTube videos about the love of Inês and Pedro. Responding to homework assignments in Portuguese history or literature courses, primary and secondary school students engage with the love story and create new narratives – plays, animation, and videos – that attract thousands of viewers. In this paper, I consider a selection of YouTube videos made by Portuguese and Brazilian students that tell the familiar love story in a unique way, taking varying degrees of poetic license with their sources, the medieval period and the medieval woman. Some are original and irreverent while others simply glorify dead poets. Through a feminist lens, I analyze the mediated embodiment of Inês de Castro and interrogate the inflexible and hierarchical binary dualisms of man/woman, masculine/feminine, and public/private to posit a fluid conception of historical adaptation and the gendered representation of iconic figures. Image Credit: Still of Encenação D. Pedro e D. Inês

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Sociocultural Adaptation of Brazilian Students in New Zealand

<p>Global mobility means increasing numbers of individuals are exposed to potentially stressful experiences in their cross-cultural transition. A process of cultural learning is required to overcome differences between host and home culture during sociocultural adaptation. To study this process, this thesis employed a mixed-methods approach examining adaptive trajectory over a six-month educational exchange. The study analysed a unique population of 279 Brazilian high school students from low SES backgrounds arriving in New Zealand. Results from cross-lagged panel models in Study 1 indicated that higher initial ratings of English progress led to subsequent higher levels of interactions with New Zealanders three months after, which then led to higher ratings of language progress at the final time-point. A longitudinal mediation showed interaction with New Zealanders at the mid-point of the sojourn helped explain increased English ability over time. No longitudinal relations were observed for culture shock, indicating the influence of language progress and interactions with host culture on culture shock may vary across populations. In Study 2, we used thematic analysis on students’ open-ended interview responses to examine what their experiences in the new culture were. Three themes were identified: opportunities, difficulties, and general feelings. The identified themes supported the findings of Study 1 and highlighted the crucial role of language and social support during the students’ experiences. Combined, the studies partially confirmed previous research with our unique sample of Brazilian students, and placed further emphasis on the need to sample different populations in the study of adaptation.</p>

University engagement of dental students related to educational environment: A transnational study

Objectives To investigate the validity and reliability of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI) in its complete and reduced versions with Brazilian and USA students, and to evaluate the influence of gender and academic level on students’ university engagement in both countries. Methods A cross-sectional observational study with a non-probability sample was conducted. The sample comprised dental students of both genders, 154 from a university in New York, USA (response rate 91.1%) and 459 from two universities in Brazil (response rate 79.1%). University engagement was measured using the USEI. The samples were characterized by gender and academic level. Results The refined reduced version of the USEI presented adequate fit to the samples from both countries. Gender was associated with the behavioral engagement factor of the USEI in Brazilian students. In the USA sample, gender was associated with the behavioral and cognitive engagement factors. There was a significant effect of academic level on behavioral and emotional engagement for the Brazilian and USA samples, respectively. Conclusion The refined reduced USEI presented adequate psychometric qualities for the study samples.

ACADEMIC CAREER INTERESTS IN ACCOUNTING AND DARK TRIAD: EVIDENCE OF THE BRAZILIAN STUDENTS

Objective: The study aimed at verifying the association between Dark Triad and the interest in activities related to academic career among postgraduate accounting students. Method: The sample consisted of 124 students from postgraduate programs in the Accounting Sciences in Brazil. Data were collected through a survey and submitted to multivariate analysis. Results: The results show that narcissism and psychopathy are related to activities inherent to the academic career, while Machiavellian traits do not exhibit the same association. The lack of correlation between Machiavellianism and academic career activities may be related to the desired academic career profile. Students with narcissistic traits are adept at academic career activities mainly related to research and teaching. Psychopathic traits were not adept at activities related to teaching and extension (service to the external community), which may be related to the lack of empathy, lack of concern related to compliance with rules and insensitivity. Contributions: The study contributes to the gap in accounting research that discusses non-pathological personality traits and career interests, since previous research has demanded attention in view of the objective and subjective issues inherent to the career and, at times, marginalize the relevant activities career choice. In addition, such discussions are presented as an advisory material for HEIs in terms of outlining the performance and interest of future teachers regarding the activities inherent to the academic career.