Digitalization and higher education for sustainable development in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic: A content analysis approach

Higher education for sustainable development (HESD) in the Covid-19 pandemic faces different challenges. Empirically few studies to date have introduced much on the digitalization of higher education for sustainable development. This study aims to explore and explain the digitalization of HESD from different attitudes and to build linkages of the digitalization in HESD. Furthermore, the study makes content analysis where 1,200 tweets on digitalization in higher education for sustainable development are collected from Twitter, and 19 documents have further categorized information data via NVivo. In addition, 22 students and 9 instructors were invited for a semi-structured interview to further supplement this study and confirm its findings. This study finds that attitudes towards digitalization in the study area can be divided into three correlated attitude layers. Teaching attitudes and educational attitudes are the first level, and the second level is the digital platform attitude, technology use attitude, and resource attitude. Furthermore, network attitude, service attitude, and development attitude are the third level. Thus, through the analysis, this study suggests higher education institutions should make improvements in digitalized teaching, education quality via innovation, technological development, resources use, and development via creating a better digital platform or environment is essential for genuinely promoting the HESD.

Not all elementary school teachers are scared of math

Teachers are strong role models for their pupils, especially at the beginning of education. This also holds true for math: If teachers feel anxious about math, the consequences on the mathematical education of their pupils is detrimental. Previous studies have shown that (future) elementary school teachers have higher levels of math anxiety than most people studying other subjects. Here, we set out to conceptually replicate these findings (e.g., meta-analysis by Hembree, 1990, https://doi.org/10.2307/749455) by comparing math anxiety levels of pre-service and in-service German and Belgian elementary school teachers to a reference group of German university students from various fields of study. Moreover, we questioned this finding by asking which elementary school teachers experience math anxiety, considering gender, specialization, and experience, and investigated how math anxiety relates to teaching attitudes towards math. We replicated the previous finding by showing that female elementary school teachers have a higher level of math anxiety as compared to other female students. Importantly, female elementary school teachers without math specialization indeed had higher levels of math anxiety than female students from other fields and almost a quarter of them experience critical math anxiety. In contrast, female elementary school teachers with math specialization did not show an increased level of math anxiety as compared to the reference sample. Considering that not only these but all teachers, regardless of specialization, teach math in elementary school in the investigated educational systems, the math anxiety of elementary school teachers is a potential problem for their pupils’ math attitudes and learning.

Leading the Charge in the Education Sector: Development and Validation of the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS)

BackgroundStrategic implementation leadership is a critical determinant of successful implementation, hypothesized to create a more supportive implementation climate conducive to the adoption and use of evidence-based practices. Implementation leadership behaviors may vary significantly across contexts, necessitating studies that examine the validity of established measurement tools in novel health service delivery sectors. The education sector is the most common site for delivering mental health services to children and adolescents in the United States, but research focused on implementation leadership in schools is in the early phases, and there is a need for adaptation and expansion of instruments in order to tailor to the school context. The current study adapted and validated the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS) (based on the Implementation Leadership Scale) in a sample of elementary school personnel from six school districts who were implementing one of two well-established prevention programs for supporting children’s mental health.MethodsParticipants were 441 public school teachers from 52 elementary schools in the Midwest and West Coast of the United States. Participants completed a survey that contained: (1) an adapted and expanded version of the SILS with additional items generated for four existing subscales as well as three new subscales (Communication, Vision/Mission, and Availability), and (2) additional tools to evaluate convergent and divergent validity (i.e., measures of general/molar leadership and teaching attitudes). Data underwent: (1) examination of item characteristic curves to reduce items and ensure a pragmatic instrument, (2) confirmatory factor analyses to establish structural validity, and (3) evaluation of convergent and divergent validity.ResultsItem reduction analyses resulted in seven subscales of three items each. Results indicated acceptable fit for a seven-factor structural model (CFI = .995, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .08, WRMR = 0.95). Second-order factor loadings were high (λ = .89 to .96), suggesting that the SILS subscales comprise a higher-order Implementation Leadership factor. All subscales demonstrated good inter-item reliability (α = .91 - .96). Convergent and divergent validity results were generally as hypothesized, with moderate to high correlations between SILS subscales and general leadership, moderate correlations with teaching attitudes, and low correlations with school demographics.ConclusionsOverall, results provided strong structural, convergent, and divergent validity evidence for the 21-item, 7-factor SILS instrument. Implications for the measurement of implementation leadership in schools are discussed, as well as strategies to support leaders to enhance their strategic behaviors related to the implementation of mental health prevention programs (e.g., adaptation of existing leadership-focused implementation strategies).Clinical Trial Registration: Not applicable.

PENGARUH SIKAP MENGAJAR GURU TERHADAP MOTIVASI BELAJAR SISWA PADA MATA PELAJARAN PJOK

The purpose of this study was to determine the analysis of teachers' teaching attitudes towards students' learning motivation and also to find out which teaching attitudes motivated students the most. This research is a quantitative research with Ex Post Facto method. Subjects in this study amounted to 274 students. Collecting data in this study in the form of a questionnaire. Based on the results of calculations from One Way Anova through the SPSS program, there are significant differences in the three teachers' teaching attitudes in influencing students' learning motivation with a significant value of 0.000 which is smaller than the significant level of 0.05. Real teaching attitudes with permissive teaching attitudes have a significant difference in influencing students' learning motivation, as evidenced by a significant value of 0.000 <0.05. Authoritarian teaching attitude with permissive teaching attitude has a significant difference in influencing student learning motivation, as evidenced by a significant value of 0.000 <0.05. However, there is no significant difference between real teaching attitudes and authoritarian teaching attitudes in influencing learning motivation, as evidenced by a significant value of 0.126 > 0.05. Meanwhile, the teaching attitude of the teacher which has the greatest influence on students' learning motivation is the real teaching attitude with a value of 4.896. In the second place, there is an authoritarian teaching attitude that has an influence on students' learning motivation with a value of 3,624. And lastly, there is a permissive teaching attitude which has an influence on learning motivation with a value of -3.624.

1691 Survey of Patient Attitudes Towards Face-To-Face and Telemedicine Teaching in the COVID-19 Era

Background COVID-19 has profoundly impacted the healthcare education environment and telemedicine has been used to augment face-to-face learning and support social-distancing. There is little evidence which examines how patients feel about participating in teaching with this technology. Method A prospective survey of 229 surgical inpatients/outpatients was conducted at a university hospital between August–September 2020. The survey consisted of 31 questions (7-point Likert scales, quantitative items, and free-text answers) to explore: general attitudes towards teaching, attitudes towards COVID-19, perceptions of face-to-face teaching and perceptions of telemedicine teaching. Relationships between demographics and areas of interest were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results Patients reported a positive attitude towards both face-to-face (mean 5.5 [1.1SD]) and telemedicine teaching (5.4 [1.2]) however there was a preference for the face-to-face approach (mean difference [MD]=.16, p = 0.14). Face-to-face teaching was found to be less bothersome (MD=.32, p=.002) and more rewarding (MD.33, p&lt;.001). Older patients were more likely to report both teaching techniques as embarrassing (face-to-face r=.16, p=.048; telemedicine r=.15, p=.036) or as an infringement on their privacy (face-to-face r=.13, p=.048; telemedicine r=.17, p=.017). Qualitative analyses revealed four themes of the patient experience: apprentice role of students, communication skills, transient need for telemedicine during COVID-19 and privacy concerns. Conclusions Despite reporting a favourable impression of telemedicine teaching, patients prefer traditional face-to-face styles as they find telemedicine more bothersome and less rewarding. Educators should take this into consideration during planning of teaching during the pandemic.

Teaching Attitudes towards Students with Disabilities

(1) Background: Inclusive education has been a recurring topic during the last decades. However, not every teacher is equally enthusiastic about how to implement it. Understanding these discrepancies can help to identify improvement procedures. Therefore, even though teachers’ beliefs and attitudes around inclusion have been thoroughly explored, it is necessary to delve further on this type of study to understand possible changes derived from the socio-educational transformations experimented by current societies. (2) Methods: This study examined the attitudes of 122 teachers, both Primary and Special Needs ones, working in rural and urban schools, regarding inclusion of students with disabilities. The data were collected from two scales: Attitude Survey Inclusive Education–Teachers (ASIE-T) and Scale for Measuring Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions about Inclusion the Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R). A quantitative approach was employed, of descriptive and correlational type. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed by means of parametric tests. Furthermore, the bivariate correlation technique Person’s r was carried out in order to verify the intensity among variables. The effect sizes are provided as Cohen’s d. (3) Results: The results revealed positive beliefs concerning inclusion and the existence of differences among teachers, depending on their specialisation and gender. The variables “age” and “stage of education” were not significant in terms of generating in terms of attitude generation. (4) Conclusions: Understanding the association between socio-demographic variables and stigma is crucial when it comes to accomplishing an inclusive and high-quality education. The general findings of this study contribute to justify the implementation of programmes to stimulate and encourage meaningful interactions between general education teachers and students with disabilities.

The relationship between preschool teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their teaching attitudes

This study examined the relationship between preschool teachers’ selfefficacy beliefs and their teaching attitudes. In the study, it was considered whether preschool teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their teaching attitudes change in terms of certain variables. The research was carried out using a correlational survey model. The target population of the study is the preschool teachers working in Küçükçekmece district, İstanbul Province, in the 2017-2018 academic year. The working group consists of 264 preschool teachers working at the schools in said district. The following assessment instruments were used in the research: “Personal Information Form,” “Preschool Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs Scale,” to identify preschool teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and ‘Preschool Teachers’ Teaching Attitudes Scale’ to determine the teachers’ attitudes. The obtained data were analyzed using Pearson multiplication moment correlation analysis, and Regression analysis was performed to determine the level of self-efficacy beliefs of preschool teachers affecting teaching attitudes. Preschool teachers were found to have full self-efficacy beliefs in the teaching-learning process, communication skills, planning, and regulation of learning environments and classroom management, and firm self-efficacy beliefs in family participation. Teachers’ attitudes of preschool teachers were found to be democratic at the highest level, followed by autocratic and laissez-faire at the lowest level. As a result of the regression analysis made to determine the level of the effect of self-efficacy beliefs of preschool teachers on their teaching attitudes, the learning and teaching process positively predicts democratic teaching attitudes and negatively predicts laissez-faire attitudes.