Tertiary level English Language Teachers' Use of, and Attitudes to Alternative and Online Assessments during the Covid-19 Outbreak

This study aims to investigate the English language teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of alternative and online assessments adopted during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, in Saudi Arabia. The current study employs a descriptive method, and the data were collected using a survey questionnaire, which consists of 33 closed-ended and four open-ended questions. The participants were 102 (46 male and 56 female) teachers of English at Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaires were administered online via Google Form. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative responses, whereas content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative responses collected from the open-ended questions. The findings revealed that the teachers had mixed reactions towards alternative and online assessments. The online assessments adopted were in form of both alternative and traditional types, administered via Blackboard. It was found that portfolios and oral presentations were the most frequently used forms of alternative assessments by the English language teachers at the time of Covid-19. Other types of alternative assessments, including, online collaborative/peer assessment, self-assessment, virtual concept map, concept map, article review, and mini-project, were claimed to be less used by the teachers. However, the teachers’ top priority was summative assessment, where by the traditional exams were in fact still be used in online assessment. In addition, teachers reported constraints related to time for the assessments, need for computer literacy, possibility of cheating, and technical issues, when adopting online assessments. However, they believed online assessment covered the content of the course of study. Teachers also reported that students did not initially like online assessment but later warmed to it as it proved easier to do well in. Finally, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the study findings.

Design and Development of an Instructional Program for Teaching Programming Processes to Gifted Students Using Scratch

This chapter examines practical applications of an educational program designed to teach Turkish gifted second, third, and fourth grade students programming using Scratch, an online programming website (https://scratch.mit.edu). This qualitative research study was conducted with gifted identified students in an elementary school in Ankara's Altındağ district. Qualitative data collection methods were used. The study found program strengths included practical orientation, student independence, student free expression, computer literacy, and interdisciplinary connections. Additionally, providing a variety of tools and equipment, using Scratch, having a course web site, and on-line resource sharing were also seen as strengths by the participants. Perceived weaknesses were technical difficulties, the limited number of course hours, some of Scratch's negative features, inadequate help at particular points, and negative situations caused by gender and grade level differences. Results indicate preliminary knowledge of participant computer literacy as important to programming success.

Using Screen-Capture Technology to Authenticate IT Online Learning and Assessment

Assessment has always been fundamental to teaching as it aims to gauge the impact of the teaching on students learning. The current assessment in teaching computer literacy is objective assessment that focuses on making it intentional, informative, and formalized. Although this assessment is the best way when assessing large groups of students at one limited time, it has a drawback of being limited to check the knowledge of understanding terminology and recalling steps of a particular process. This study introduces a screen-capture technology based approach to performative and authentic assessment. It involved design and implementation of screen-capture assignments to assess computer maintenance skills. The sample consisted of 28 students enrolled in computer hardware and software maintenance classes. Data from students was collected through a multi-modal student survey and a semi-structured interview. The results analysis has indicated that screen-capture performative assessment promotes students’ engagement and learning level of solving real-world problems.

A Modern Computer Literacy Course from the Point of View of the New Third Age Generation

The purpose of the study is to identify the needs, attitude and experience of third-age people in the field of using information and communication technologies in the modern stage of informatization. The modern system of additional education for older people in the field of computer literacy is now very outdated and in need of modernization. The transformation of the needs of this category of people for new knowledge and skills is caused by the rapid pace of development of digitalization, the growth of the range of electronic services and the expansion of opportunities associated with the use of information and communication technologies. The involvement of older people in these processes and the need to adapt to a new way of life actualizes the need to study what a modern digital literacy course should be from the point of view of people of the third age, namely, it is necessary to determine their needs for computer training, the experience and resources that they have.Materials and methods. The study was conducted from 2016 to 2019 on the basis of the Municipal government institution of the city of Novosibirsk “Coordination Center “Active City” among 214 people, studying under the program “Academy of Computer Literacy”, dedicated to the basics of working with computers and the Internet, organized with the support of the social programs’ development fund named after L.I. Sidorenko.The research carried out a theoretical analysis of psychological, pedagogical and scientific literature on the research topic, questioning and polling of respondents, analysis and generalization of the data obtained. The main objectives were: a) to reveal the information and communication technology resources available to respondents at home; b) to discover the motivating factors that determine the need for training in the field of computer literacy; c) to identify the requirement for the content of the computer literacy course in modern conditions in accordance with the requirements of the respondents; d) to analyze how these requirements are manifested in different age groups: 55-60 years old, 61-70 years old, 71-80 years old and over 80 years old.Results. The results of the study show the need to develop a course, not computer, but digital literacy of a new format, with the nature of flexibility, contributing to the satisfaction of any need to eliminate the problems of information activity at any level: low, intermediate or advanced. In addition, the rapidly changing information technology necessitates the provision of training that will enable the elderly person in the future to deal with any new and unknown technology. It is very important to adapt modern retirees to the new digital reality, teach them to interact with it and understand the principles of the device.Conclusion. These studies are the basis and prove the need to revise existing computer literacy courses and develop new content and teaching methods that take into account the modern needs of third age people.

Critical success factors in e-marketing adoption and implementation among the fast-moving consumer goods retailers in Zimbabwe

The institutionalization of e-marketing strategies, their adoption, and implementation hinges on the customers' perceptions of the critical success factors that the literature identifies in terms of an online competitive advantage, online shopping infrastructure development, online customer relationship, and online shopping risk. To assess the critical success factors, a sample of 300 customers of the fast-moving consumer goods retailers throughout the provinces of Zimbabwe participated in this study. The results indicated that customers' province of residence, their education and computer literacy levels are significantly associated with the critical success factors (CSFs) of e-marketing adoption and implementation. However, the study found that gender does not significantly affect the e-marketing CSFs. It is suggested that the demographic characteristics, related to education, computer literacy levels, and the province of residence are the strategic criteria for niche market segmentation and development that the fast-moving consumer goods retailers need to leverage for the successful adoption and implementation of e-marketing.

Pupil diameter dynamics as an indicator of the respondent’s cognitive load: Methodological experiment comparing CASI and P&PSI

In recent years, the increase in general interest in methods for measuring cognitive load and subjectively perceived mental effort when solving various tasks and in the interpersonal communication was accompanied by an increase in the specific interest of social researchers in the multimodal assessment of the cognitive load of interviewers and respondents based on objective and subjective indicators, including paradata and webcam data, in order to control this loads impact on the quality of survey data. The authors argue that the possibilities of relatively new approaches to measuring cognitive load with neurophysiological methods (such as the use of wearable devices for oculography - eye tracking and pupillometry - which do not disrupt the natural course of respondents and interviewers activity) are still underestimated, although they allow an accurate time linkage of measured parameters dynamics (primarily the size of the pupil) to the question format, mode and phase of survey completion, external influences localized in time, etc. As a rule, quantitative studies of surveys cognitive load and its possible impact on the quality of survey data focus on computer-assisted (CAPI) or paper-based (PAPI) interviewing, while the specificity of the cognitive load in the self-completed computerized (CASI) and paper (PPSI) surveys was not studied. The article presents the results of the methodological experiment based on a modified version of the multimodal approach to the comparative assessment of the cognitive load of interviewers working with paper and computerized questionnaire. We expanded the range of methods for assessing cognitive load by using a wearable oculographic device (eye tracker) to measure the dynamics of pupil size when answering different survey questions. The results of the experiment confirmed the hypothesis about the approximate equivalence of the two modes of survey completion in terms of their cognitive load for younger respondents with a high level of functional computer literacy, and allowed an initial assessment of the technical and metrological capabilities and limitations of the use of pupil dynamics indicators, measured with a wearable oculographic device, to study the respondents cognitive load.

Student evaluation of teachers’ pedagogical skills during the first COVID-19 period

With the COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of 2020, many language teachers worldwide who were successfully implementing face-to-face teaching had to abruptly switch to online education, which was not something they were trained for or had experience with. Were they successful? The present study asked students from Turkey (TUR), Poland (POL), the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) to evaluate their teachers’ professional adaptation and success during the first emergency online teaching semester. The results of the study showed that there were important similarities in the ways students in the examined four countries approached and evaluated the level of professionalism of their teachers in the first COVID-19 period regarding their teachers’ computer literacy, online teaching skills, creation of materials appropriate for online teaching.

The Impact of Tertiary Students' Entry Characteristics and their Academic Performance

This article examines the effect of tertiary students’ entry characteristicson academic performance using the ‘value added’ approach and METPolytechnic, Ghana as a case study. The input-process–output-contextframework presented in the Global Monitoring Report (2005) by Scheerenswas used to select appropriate variables for the study. The studyfocused on three generic courses - African Studies, Communicative Skills,and Computer Literacy. Data from different sources, including secondarydata and administrative records from the Polytechnic were analysed usingmultilevel analysis. The overall effect of the selected variables was mixedand outcomes specific. For example, English language impacted positivelyon African Studies but negatively on second-semester Computer Literacy,while age and gender had a negative effect on first-semester ComputerLiteracy. Although the findings may not directly benefit analogous institutions,several lessons, including the need to create appropriate institutionaldatasets for future comparisons across institutions can be learnt. Key words: Age, gender, department context, previous achievement, SES,‘value added’.

Perceptions of Social Determinants of Successful Aging Among Older Men Living With HIV

The overall purpose of this qualitative study was to examine barriers and facilitators of successful aging among older men living with HIV (OMLH). Participants were recruited through HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program at the University of California, San Diego. Our sample included 14 OMLH: average age - 62 years old (range: 53 to 72), 79% white, 43% living alone, 79% men who have sex with men, 57% having college education or higher. Semi-structured interviews lasted from 43 to 114 minutes and were fully transcribed. Several themes emerged related to perceived barriers to successful aging stemming from social institutions: i.e., age discrimination and ageism, sexual and HIV-related stigma, social isolation, lack of resources, and food insecurity. Perceived institutional solutions promoting successful aging included mixed-age/inter-generational support groups, computer literacy training, health education, information and resources related to healthy lifestyle on a limited budget, and increased transparency of resources available to older adults.

Migrating From Face-To-Face to Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Psychology Students at a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an accelerated migration from face-to-face to online learning. This article aims to explore and describe how psychology students experienced the migration from face-to-face to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. It entailed a qualitative research design with an exploratory and descriptive approach. The participants were 28 purposively sampled psychology students from a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng. An online survey method was employed to gather the needed information which was then subjected to a thematic analysis. It emerged that the challenges experienced by students were internet connectivity issues, insufficient computer literacy, reduced class time, anxiety, physical impact, and communication issues. Moreover, some benefits related to flexibility, the convenience of online studies and safety from infection with COVID-19 were identified. It was also noted that having certain attributes such as independence, time management skills, having support and being tech savvy improved the online learning process. Some opportunities for Higher Education Institutions to improve the experiences of students included creativity in module delivery as well as providing guidelines on how to use these online platforms.