ICT in prison during the Covid-19 pandemic: a case study

In the presented case study we deepen the results of an international comparative research concerning the section of the survey carried out in Italy, going into detail about the situation related to the use of ICT in prison in our country during the Covid-19 pandemic. By proposing large excerpts of the interviews collected from four privileged witnesses (a prison manager, a school principal and two teachers), the article, through the examination of the practices told and the reflections collected, intends to probe the existing imaginaries on the use of ICT in the prison context, comparing points of view of different roles and examining the diachronic perspectives: pre/post pandemic and the prospects of future development. Le TIC in carcere durante la pandemia da Covid-19: uno studio di caso. Nello studio di caso presentato approfondiamo i risultati di una ricerca comparativa internazionale che riguardano la sezione dell’indagine svolta in Italia, scendendo nel dettaglio della situazione relativa agli utilizzi delle TIC in carcere nel nostro Paese durante la pandemia da Covid-19. Proponendo ampi stralci delle interviste raccolte da quattro testimoni privilegiati (un dirigente carcerario, un dirigente scolastico e due docenti), l’articolo, attraverso l’esame delle pratiche raccontate e delle riflessioni raccolte, intende sondare gli immaginari esistenti sull’utilizzo delle TIC in contesto penitenziario, confrontando punti di vista di ruoli differenti ed esaminandone lo svolgimento diacronico pre/post pandemia e le prospettive di sviluppo futuro.

The Persian Language Version of the Obsession With the COVID-19 Scale for Adolescents

Objective: The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused significant public health burdens and psychological dysfunctions. In this challenging time, adolescents require special care. The Persian version of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) for adolescents was developed to screen for dysfunctional obsession associated with the coronavirus during the global pandemic. The structure and internal consistency of the OCS were established.Design and Measures: Although there are different language versions of the OCS, this is the first study to validate the psychometric properties of the OCS in Iranian adolescents. Seven hundred and nine students (369 girls) participated in the study. Demographic questions and the OCS were administered.Results: The findings provided support for the existence of a unidimensional structure that met the criteria for configural, metric, and full scalar invariance across gender (girls and boys), inhabitancy (urban and rural), and infection experience (infected and non-infected). The OCS is short and highly reliable measurement. However, further research is necessary to establish the validity of the scale in Iranian population.Conclusions: The development of such valid scales is an essential part of both research and practice during times of crisis, like a global pandemic. Diagnosis of pandemic related to obsessive thoughts in adolescents is needed as the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and as experts point out, it can be expected that the effects of the pandemic will be observed in the coming years. The Persian version makes it possible to conduct international comparative research on the anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Searching for Practical Wisdom in Higher Education with Logos, Pathos and Ethos. Case: Finnish Universities of Sciences

In our complex and highly connected world, educating for life—that is, educating students with knowledge, skills, and competences infused with practical wisdom (PW) and ethical and moral values—is essential. The paper seeks to answer the question: how could university education facilitate the progress to a wiser and better world? The methodology involves case study research (CSR) based on both secondary and primary data. The missions, visions, and values of fourteen public Finnish universities are analyzed for PW. The findings demonstrate that universities, by becoming more open, unbounded, and enacting organizations, and by enhancing collaboration with businesses, could foster the cultivation of PW in higher education (HE). The novelty of this paper is the creative communication of the case study, where kairos, logos, pathos, and ethos are used to explore a new reality for HE. The article contributes to the contemporary discourses in the literature on the future of HE. Educators in HE need to transform from knowledge workers to wise leaders, wisdom workers, creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. The context of the case study research makes it difficult to generalize. Therefore, international, comparative research is used to complement the findings. The eight-stage change process applied to universities and HE could help in solving the urgent problems of society and facilitating progress to a wiser and better world.

Research Project Preparation within Education and Special Needs Education: Introduction to Theory of Science, Project Planning and Research Plans

Careful planning is a key to quality research. This anthology is addressed to anyone who is in the planning phase of a major study – individually or in national or international cooperation. The examples discussed concern critical analysis of individually tailored inclusive practices in the community of the class, with a critical view of their successes, shortcomings and obstacles. The book is divided into four parts: Part One contains a discussion of the international concept of the inclusive school and articles on theory of science. Part Two contains historical and empirical discussions of the emergence, development and current state of doctoral programs. Part Three describes development of research plans, while Part Four consists of research plans in a joint international comparative classroom studies project towards inclusion. This is the first of three anthologies related to the international comparative research cooperation project WB 04/06: Development towards the Inclusive School: Practices – Research – Capacity Building.

International Classroom Studies of Inclusive Practises: Comparing Teaching-Learning Processes

This anthology is addressed to anyone searching for examples of individually tailored inclusive practices in the community of the class, with a critical view of their successes, shortcomings and obstacles. The book is divided into three parts: Part One contains articles that outline important aspects of the research cooperation. Part Two presents individual summaries of findings from each of the seven studies. Part Three consists of the joint comparative research report. This is the third and final anthology related to the international comparative research cooperation project WB 04/06: Development towards the Inclusive School: Practices – Research – Capacity Building.

Comprehensive research on LGBT legal policy in East Asia toward the formation of an international comparative research centre

The legal and human rights of a LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) person has increased in countries around the world in recent years. For example, the UK Parliament passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, which allowed same-sex marriage in England and Wales, in 2013 and it came into force the following year. There has also been a relaxation in the requirements for sex change. In the wake of such changes, international comparative studies and research has gained traction, with many academics establishing projects that seek to look at the differences in policies and rights for LGBT persons in different countries. However, much of the existing research is focused on Western legal policy and is generally centred on Europe and the US. Of course, this only accounts for a small proportion of the people in the world and so while such research is welcomed, knowledge gaps clearly still exist and more needs to be done to fill them. Associate Professor Hiroyuki Taniguchi, based at the Kanazawa University Institute of Liberal Arts and Science is working on a comparative study of LGBT legal policies in the countries of East Asia. He hopes to form an international comparative research centre that will help people access the information they need to understand their rights.

Educational systems of Eastern European countries as a subject of international comparative research

The article analyzes the level of development of educational systems in Eastern European countries by using empirical data from international comparative studies. The tools of comparative analysis are used to group the studied publications, which directly or indirectly consider an educational system at the level of different countries and regions of the world. The newest western approaches to the issue of educational systems are represented. The unsurpassed value of multi-object international comparative research in the study of educational systems of the world enabling the analysis of the phenomenon at the interdisciplinary level is emphasized. The author's definition of “international comparative research” is formulated based on modern scientific studies, which is interpreted as a special type of research, which purpose is to conduct multilevel analysis to compare macro-objects, based on subjective empirical data. Emphasis is done on the lack of a unified terminological apparatus of the studied issue in modern science, which indicates the availability of the following definitive plurality: “comparative studies”, “international issues”, “cross-cultural studies”, and “international comparative studies”. The analysis of the level of development of educational systems of Eastern European countries is based on a comparison of official statistical materials of the World Bank. The processed statistical materials are correlated with the results of descriptive statistics during the testing of statistical hypotheses. Subject analysis of educational systems in Eastern Europe is based on a comparison of empirical data on three criteria – international educational projects, the highest educational results (“S.A.B.E.R”), and the amount of external funding for the educational branch.

PEDAGOGICAL POTENTIAL OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

The content of the article provides a theoretical analysis of international comparative research, which potential is rather significant in pedagogical theory and practice. The relevance of the study has been problematized by the need to deepen the profile of international research cooperation to overcome the current destabilization processes. The priority of comparative analysis has been outlined at the level of phenomenological functioning. The importance of the influence of these factors (in particular, political, social and cultural, scientific, organizational, and methodological) on the development of the phenomenon under study has been considered as a whole. The theoretical (analysis, systematization, and modeling), empirical, and statistical methods have been used as research tools. The prospects for further development of international comparative studies of pedagogical centering have been presented in terms of the priority of the conditions of the decentralization. The cross impact on the domestic phenomenological functioning of two interrelated factors – the transformation of the socialist camp into the post-socialist space, the globalization and the integration of education into the international social and cultural space has been generalized. The supranational social orientation of the studied phenomenon has been considered in terms of its theoretical, methodological, and empirical content. The importance of exogenous (international educational policy, the level of international recognition of educational structures and the quality of educational training taking into account the requirements of the international labor market, indicators of external financing of educational projects, etc.) and endogenous (consistency of the norms of the current legal framework of the state with the trends of world educational progress, financing the development of the industry, the interest of management structures in the innovative development of education, etc.) determinants of the productivity of phenomenological functioning has been highlighted. The advantages of multi-object international comparative research over mono-object research in terms of the study of multifaceted pedagogical phenomena has been emphasized. It is worth noting that the priority of integration trends on the way to resolving everyday problems is especially relevant for the education sector, in which productive functioning is not possible under the conditions of international isolation. It has been emphasized that by comparing domestic and foreign branch achievements to make rationally balanced decisions at the national level, it is possible to gain further social and cultural well-being and educational progress. It has been identified that only with a fair assessment of the functioning of education, upbringing, and learning at the level of different countries, a set of effective measures to improve the efficiency of these branches can be chosen. A special value of pedagogically centered international research, which allows analyzing the chosen subject of the study within wide geographical and time limits has been generalized.