Customized moodle-based learning management system for socially disadvantaged schools

This study aims to develop Moodle-based LMS with customized learning content and modified user interface to facilitate pedagogical processes during covid-19 pandemic and investigate how teachers of socially disadvantaged schools perceived usability and technology acceptance. Co-design process was conducted with two activities: 1) need assessment phase using an online survey and interview session with the teachers and 2) the development phase of the LMS. The system was evaluated by 30 teachers from socially disadvantaged schools for relevance to their distance learning activities. We employed computer software usability questionnaire (CSUQ) to measure perceived usability and the technology acceptance model (TAM) with insertion of 3 original variables (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use) and 5 external variables (i.e., attitude toward the system, perceived interaction, self-efficacy, user interface design, and course design). The average CSUQ rating exceeded 5.0 of 7 point-scale, indicated that teachers agreed that the information quality, interaction quality, and user interface quality were clear and easy to understand. TAM results concluded that the LMS design was judged to be usable, interactive, and well-developed. Teachers reported an effective user interface that allows effective teaching operations and lead to the system adoption in immediate time.

Do disadvantaged schools have poorer teachers? Rethinking assumptions about the relationship between teaching quality and school-level advantage

Improving educational performance, including narrowing equity gaps, is frequently touted as a matter of improving the quality of teachers in the lowest performing, often disadvantaged, schools. However, the assumption that teaching is of poorer quality in disadvantaged schools is largely unsubstantiated. Using the Quality Teaching Model of pedagogy, we observed 832 lessons in 193 New South Wales primary schools and found a small relationship between teaching quality and school-level advantage. However, when 174 teachers from across the school spectrum participated in Quality Teaching Rounds we found equivalent, and substantial, gains in teaching quality across all levels of school advantage. This result indicates that differences in teaching quality are less a reflection of teacher capabilities than of the challenging circumstances in disadvantaged schools. We argue that policies seeking more equitable achievement should address wider social inequities, rather than unfairly blaming teachers for being unable to level an unequal playing field.

The Effect of Bonuses on Teacher Retention and Student Learning in Rural Schools: A Story of Spillovers

We estimate the direct and indirect effects of recruitment bonuses paid to teachers working in rural schools in Peru on their retention and student learning. This is the first study to estimate the indirect effects of a bonus aimed at attracting teachers to disadvantaged schools. This is important for assessing whether the incentive has improved the distribution of teaching resources and for estimating the direct effect without bias. We exploit the exogenous variation produced in the size of the bonus by the rule used to classify rural schools, and allow ineligible schools to be affected if they have an eligible school nearby. We find the bonus produces positive direct effects on teacher retention but also a negative spillover on the probability of filling teacher vacancies in neighboring schools. This spillover indicates that the bonus is redistributing resources between equally disadvantaged schools. We also find that the bonus has no direct effects on student learning and produces a positive spillover on the scores of students in neighboring schools. We argue these results are due to the poor pedagogical skills of the teachers being mobilized by the scheme. A reasonable policy alternative is a scheme that targets talented teachers with larger bonuses.

The Role of Mindset in Education : A Large-Scale Field Experiment in Disadvantaged Schools

This article provides experimental evidence of the impact of a four-year inter-vention aimed at developing students’ growth mindset and internal locus ofcontrol in disadvantaged middle schools. We find a 0.07 standard deviationincrease in GPA, associated with a change in students’ mindset, improved be-havior as reported by teachers and school registers, and higher educational andprofessional aspirations. International empirical benchmarks reveal that theintervention is at least ten times more cost-effective than the typical educa-tional intervention. However, while reducing between-school inequality whentargeted to disadvantaged schools, the program benefits less to more fragilestudents, therefore increasing within-school inequality.

Support for the Underprivileged in the South

This chapter presents the support provided by the countries in the West to the underprivileged schools in Zimbabwe, through a non-profit organisation. Theoretical concepts drawn from decolonial theory, Ubuntu philosophy, and social model of disability were used to analyse the kind of support provided by the West to the South, and the activities of the organisation in disadvantaged schools and communities in rural Zimbabwe. Data were collected by scanning the organisation's website, newsletters, published material, and resources on the organisation, including journal articles and books on literature on the specific theoretical concepts. The argument for this chapter is that though it has been conceived that the West through coloniality oppresses the South, there are humanitarian lessons, both the South and West can learn from each other, which can improve both worlds educationally, socially, and culturally.