Design and Development of a Mobile Writing Application for Students With Dysgraphia

Writing plays a vital role in both daily life and academic life. Students begin learning to write in the first years in school and then they use writing skills their whole life. However, some students, such as students with dysgraphia, experience difficulties in writing. The purpose of the chapter is to develop a mobile writing application for students with dysgraphia and to reveal ideas of special education experts, educational technology experts, and classroom education experts, and a teacher about application. A pilot study was conducted with three students with dysgraphia firstly, and necessary revisions were made. After revisions, experts' views were taken. The results indicated that experts reflected positive ideas about mobile writing application for students with dysgraphia. However, the experts suggested some minor revisions for improving the mobile writing application. To sum up, final improvements were made, and a mobile writing application was developed.

Hybrid Classroom – The Experience оf the 107th Khan Krum Primary School in Sofia, Bulgaria

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a quick introduction of distance learning for many students. In Bulgaria, the Ministry of Education and Science obliged schools to work synchronously with their pupils using video conference rooms. After the easing of the containment measures, regular classroom education was restored. However, the problems with quarantined students persisted. School principals had to solve new organizational challenges. The hardest and most frequent issue was the split of a given class into students present in school, and students learning online. The article introduces an organizational model of a hybrid classroom where teaching is carried out in a physical and an online classroom at the same time. The authors describe their experience with specific hardware and software used for the first time in Bulgaria for educational purposes. They also show their experience with the organization of traineeships for university students as primary school IT teachers using a hybrid classroom.

Sexual Risk-Taking in Adolescents; a Narrative Review

A review of recent literature on sexual activity in adolescents revealed a prevalence range of 6-65 % in different countries that may relate to sampling different age groups as well as various types of sexual activity. Many risk factors have been researched including parental factors (e.g. parent risk behavior), peer variables (e.g. peer pressure), religiosity (e.g. spiritual intelligence), mood (e.g. depression), health-related behavior (e.g. sexting), substance use (e.g. marijuana) and physiological markers (e.g. activation of various areas of the brain on fMRI scans). The few interventions have included motivational interviewing by clinician or computer and classroom education and condom distribution. Limitations of this literature include a paucity of longitudinal studies and intervention research.

The Inconspicuous Relationships between Language Acquisition and Learning

This research paper throws light on the inconspicuous relationships between language acquisition and learning. It introduces the meanings of language acquisition and learning based on the researches of Pritz Hutabarat and Imran Hussain. Tools for language acquisition, such as movies, games and social networks, are explained clearly in this research paper followed by the definitions of language acquisition and its characteristics. Tools of language learning, such as classroom education and activities, are explained in detail along with the definitions of language learning and its characteristics. These mentioned parts have the testimonials of Fernandes Arung, Aladdin Assaiqeli, Yolanda A.Rankin, Rachel Gold, Bruce Gooch, Hosni M.El-Dali, Parlingdungan Pardede, Eva Alcon, and Jenny X. Montano-Gonzalez. Behaviourist Theory, The Innateness Theory, Cognitive Theory, The Motherese Theory, and Socio-Cultural Theory are the theories of language development that present in this research paper. To prove these language developmental theories, Entisar Khalifa Aljoundi and Dr. Md. Enamel Hoque’s research findings based on the experimental findings of Edward Thorndike, B.F Skinner, Noam Chomsky, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are provided with suitable examples. This research paper is aimed to spotlight the two most inconspicuous relationships between language acquisition and learning.

The Quality of Selected Online Learning Platforms and Their Effect on Education in the Sultanate of Oman

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the largest interruption in education around the world, affecting some 1.6 billion students. Classroom education stopped, to be replaced by online e-learning platforms. In higher education, e-learning is made available through recorded lectures, with online platforms becoming a significant part of the overall system. This study aims to identify the quality of online learning platforms, applying a set of criteria from the perspective of faculty members and students in higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman. The descriptive approach is used and the researchers collected data through a questionnaire directed at 32 faculty members and 104 students. The results show that e-learning programs are generally of high quality, from the perspective of the participants, but with statistically significant differences according to the type of program.

Practical Teaching System Reform for the Cultivation of Applied Undergraduates in Local Colleges

Practical teaching is an important teaching link in safety engineering. It plays an irreplaceable role in cultivating innovative spirit and practical ability. At present, there is a series of problems in practical teaching of safety engineering in China, such as the incomplete practical teaching system, the substandard teaching organization, and the lack of funds. Drawing on the best practice of Anhui University of Science & Technology (AUST), this paper puts forward a basket of measures to cultivate the practical and innovative abilities of students in safety engineering. The specific measures include developing “peak” disciplines, fusing multi-discipline theories, setting up school-enterprise cooperation platforms, deepening second-classroom education, and promoting institutional construction. Our measures help local colleges to train advanced safety engineering talents with practical and innovative abilities.

Design and Construction of a PBL Based Evaluation Index System for Classroom Music Education

The quality of classroom education is essential to the construction and development of departments and colleges, and a mirror of the teaching level and quality of teachers. Project-based learning (PBL) tries to create problem scenarios for learners, and encourage them to think deeper and communicate more. Inspired by PBL, this paper analyzes the existing evaluation index systems (EISs) for classroom music education in colleges, and summarizes the application of PBL in music teaching. Besides, a novel EIS is designed and constructed for classroom music education. The results show that: PBL stresses the changes of learners through the learning, and enables teachers to combine pre-, in-, and post-class methods to comprehensively evaluate the music literacy of students; PBL exerts a positive effect on students’ learning. The results lay a theoretical basis for reforming the EIS of classroom music education.

Students’ Perceptions Concerning Emergency Remote Teaching During COVID-19

The sudden shift from physical classroom education towards emergency remote teaching (ERT) in higher education during the unprecedented global pandemic SARS-CoV-2, or more commonly known as COVID-19, caused an abrupt change in the learning environment for students and educators alike. The disruptive overnight change to convert entire courses to emergency remote teaching caused distress for not only educators, but also students as they had little time to adapt to the new circumstances. While the embedment of technologies in the classroom is not a new concept, this quantitative research examined the impact on perceived student engagement as a result of the sudden change, and how students in higher education in Finland (n = 121) and Thailand (n = 137) responded to this change. One of the primary findings of the research was that students in Thailand indicated difficulties completing group assignments digitally, while, contrary to that finding, students in Finland consented to ease in digital collaboration concerning their group works. As a logical next step, it is recommended to conduct qualitative research to gain a more comprehensive insight into how the views on this particular statement differed significantly between both focus groups of students.

Perceived Satisfaction of Emergency Remote Teaching: More Evidence from Thailand

The sudden shift from physical classroom education towards emergency remote teaching (ERT) in higher education during the unprecedented global pandemic caused an abrupt change in the learning environment for students and educators alike. The disruptive overnight change and conversion of entire courses to emergency remote teaching caused concern for not only educators, but also students that had little time to adapt to the new circumstances. While the embedment of technologies in the classroom is not a new concept, this quantitative research expands a case study that sought to examine the perceived satisfaction of undergraduate students with the emerging paradigm of ERT. Responses based on empirical data (n=450) as well as secondary data (n=219) were analyzed to conclude that, in particular, younger freshmen students struggled more with online emergency remote teaching than their older peers. Furthermore, the study identified numerous similarities between both data samples. The current research informs educators about student perceptions and preferences during these extraordinary circumstances of uncertain duration. Furthermore, the paper concludes with recommendations that aim to provide institutions and educators with practical guidance on how to tackle the outlined issues.