Accommodations Knowledge and Practice for Students With Visual Impairments

Introduction Classroom accommodations are a primary means of supporting the appropriate education for students with disabilities. Student involvement in the accommodation process is valuable. Therefore, we need to teach students to be knowledgeable and strategic regarding their accommodations. Methods Four high school students with visual impairments were taught the Student Self-Accommodation Strategy (SSA). A comparative case studies approach within a sequential explanatory design was used to investigate their accommodations knowledge and practices. Results Participants improved or maintained accommodations knowledge. Their most-used types of accommodations were access accommodations and accommodations for content support. Three of the participants increased advocacy after strategy instruction. The participants’ accommodation practices were influenced by emotional-behavioral regulation, independence, and teacher involvement. Discussion Findings from this study relate to existing literature on accommodations support, teacher involvement in the accommodations process, instruction in accommodations advocacy, and the relationship between accommodations and emotional-behavioral dysregulation. Implications Findings emphasize the need to be explicit about the accommodations available to students with visual impairments and the need for strategy instruction in the SSA to address emotional-behavioral dysregulation.

Experiencing the Peer Feedback Activities with Teacher’s Intervention through Face-to-Face and Asynchronous Online Interaction: The Impact on Students’ Writing Development and Perceptions

The objectives of this study were to compare the impact of peer feedback implementation with teacher involvement through training in the classroom and asynchronous online communication on the quality of students' writing revisions, as well as to investigate students' perceptions of peer feedback activities. Twenty-five students participated in the experimental study. Eleven students were willingly to be interviewed. Inferential statistical analysis was used to interpret the quantitative data collected from students’ essay writing scores. Meanwhile, the data obtained through observations and interviews was interpreted using qualitative coding analysis. The results of the inferential statistical analysis revealed that peer feedback activities conducted through asynchronous online interactions had more significant effects compared to those conducted face to face on students’ writing revision. Further, after conducting a thematic analysis, six themes emerged: 1) peer feedback activities could increase students’ autonomy in learning, 2) the teacher's involvement in peer feedback activities was beneficial in terms of improving the consistency of feedback and revision, 3) peer feedback through asynchronous online interactions gave extra time to produce more beneficial comments, 4) peer feedback activities through asynchronous online interactions gave more chances to become a writing audience, 5) communicating via Facebook made the students feel awkward, and 6) recorded feedback via Facebook comments was more beneficial for students’ revision. The implication of the research is that teachers of English needs to consider asynchronous online interactions for students’ writing revision when teaching writing.

Sustainability Development-Based Agroindustry in Chemistry Learning to Improve the Preservice Chemistry Teachers’ Competence

This research aims to integrate agroindustry and sustainability development into chemistry learning through the Project-Based Learning model (PjBL) to improve the competence of preservice chemistry teachers. This research employed the qualitative method. The Summer Course program was held collaboratively by Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Institut Pertanian Bogor, and Villanova University. The program was implemented online within six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants consisted of 25 students. The data had been collected through interviews, questionnaires, observations, student portfolios, and reflection journals. Based on the analysis, several projects developed by preservice chemistry teachers increased the application to solve sustainability problems in the agroindustry field. Furthermore, the project was expected to be developed into a natural product that can increase the agroindustry value for coffee farmers. The findings also foster the preservice chemistry teachers to improve their creative thinking, collaboration, higher-order thinking skills, and problem-solving skills. Besides, they developed their communication and collaboration after participating in the program. The paper outline is a project development learning experience in a sustainable field and would be a good resource for student-teacher involvement in teacher education.

Towards an Open Medical School without Checkerboards during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How to Flexibly Self-Manage General Surgery Practices in Hospitals?

Background: Can we create a technological solution to flexibly self-manage undergraduate General Surgery practices within hospitals? Before the pandemic, the management of clerkships was starting to depend less on checkerboards. This study aims to explore undergraduates’ perceptions of doing rotations in teaching hospitals using different teaching styles and elicit their views regarding the options of managing practices to design a mobile app that substitutes for checkerboards. Methods: In this sequential exploratory mixed methods study, 38 semi-structured interviews at a teaching hospital were conducted. The data was used to survey 124 students doing their rotations in four teaching hospitals during the first wave of COVID-19. Results: 21 themes highlighted concerns related to the practices, the teacher involvement in the students’ education, and the students’ adaptation to clinical culture. The students reported positive perceptions concerning self-managing and organizing practices via a mobile application. However, problems emerged regarding transparency, the lack of feedback, and the need for new tools. Regarding the teaching styles, the facilitator and personal models were perceived as optimal, but the personal style had no effect on using or not using a tool. Conclusions: A mobile-learning application designed like an educational opportunities’ manager tool can probably promote self-directed learning, flexible teaching, and bidirectional assessments. However, teachers who employ a personal teaching style may not need either checkerboards or a tool. This solution supports teaching at hospitals in pandemic times without checkerboards.

The Impact of Stakeholder Involvement in Evaluation System Design: Lessons from the Zimbabwe Education Sector Experiences

The design of a performance evaluation system should ideally be inclusive and participatory to enhance stakeholders’ buy-in, acceptance and ownership of the system, whilst at the same time, ensure relevance and sustainability of the process. This paper examines the design process of the teacher evaluation system in one education district of Zimbabwe. The study intended to establish the extent of teacher involvement in the design of the evaluation system and to determine the relationship between the design process and effectiveness of the evaluation system. The study used the convergent mixed method design. A quantitative sample of 292 teachers and a qualitative sample of 12 educators, namely teachers, heads of departments and school heads drawn from 10 secondary schools participated in the study. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted. Atlas ti. 8 was used to analyse the qualitative data. The study established that the design process was exclusive and non-participatory, which led to lack of ownership and buy-in by the teachers. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the design process was faulty and negatively impacted the effectiveness of the teacher performance evaluation system. The study recommends that policy formulation should be inclusive and pilot tested to allow input of the users before full scale implementation. Received: 14 October 2020 / Accepted: 29 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

Strategi Lembaga Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini dalam Melibatkan Guru Laki-Laki

The involvement of male teachers in Early Childhood Education (ECE) institutions is still a matter of debate. Data for the last 10 years shows a decrease in the number of male teachers in ECE institutions. Even though their involvement is as a substitute figure for their father at school. This study aims to determine the strategy carried out at ECE institutions in KB-TK Al-Fath Cirendeu in involving male teachers. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method. The research subjects included: the principal, 2 female teachers and 7 male teachers. Data collection was carried out employing observation, in-depth interviews and documentation. Data analysis using Miles Huberman through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, verification, and concluding. The results of the study found that the ECE institutional strategy to involve male teachers in the institution was carried out through the planning of male teacher involvement objectives, recruitment plans, provision of special facilities, preparation of organizational structures, division of job descriptions between male and female teachers and institutional supervision of male teacher performance.

Professional Institutional Engagement as a Framework for Negotiating Space for Teacher Autonomy in Authoritarian Work Environments

Teacher involvement in decision making at school leads to increased motivation, engagement and empowerment. Using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) framework to increase opportunities for teacher participation in school affairs, we found that traditional hierarchical power relations and bureaucracy are barriers to teachers’ autonomy, participation and engagement in the day-to-day decision making process. The conceptual model of Professional Institutional Engagement (PIE) was used to enable teachers to frame the challenges to autonomy and decision making within their professional practice, craft interventional strategies to mitigate them, which included open communication, reflection and dialogue within the school environment. The results highlighted that PIE provided a practical mechanism through which traditional hierarchical relations and bureaucracies were circumvented, resulting in increased collaboration, improved institutional communication; which motivated and engaged teachers.RésuméL’engagement des enseignants dans le processus de prise de décision à l’école conduit à une augmentation de motivation, engagement et affranchissement. Faisant usage du cadre de Recherche d’Action Participative (RAP) dans le but d’augmenter les opportunités pour la participation des enseignants dans la gestion de l’école, nous avons trouvé que les hiérarchies traditionnelles de relations de pouvoir ainsi que la bureaucratie sont des barrières à l’autonomie, participation et engagement des enseignants dans le processus quotidien de prise de décision. Le modèle conceptuel d’Engagement Institutionnel Professionnel (EIP) fut utilisé pour permettre aux enseignants de formuler les défis à l’autonomie et processus de prise de décision dans leur pratique professionnel, d’élaborer des stratégies interventionnelles pour les mitiger, incluant la communication ouverte, réflexion et dialogue dans le milieu scolaire. Les résultats ont montré que EIP a fourni un mécanisme pratique à travers duquel les relations hiérarchiques traditionnelles ainsi que bureaucraties étaient dépassées, résultant ainsi en une grande collaboration et une communication institutionnelle améliorée, chose qui avait motivé et engagé les enseignants.

General Education Teachers’ Perceptions of the Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS) Model

The purpose of this study was to explore general education teachers’ perceptions of their experiences while implementing the Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS) model. REAPS is an evidence-based teaching model for challenging and engaging gifted students in a variety of settings. Twenty-three teachers answered 7 semi-structured questions. Using a general inductive approach, three coders with extensive experience in education analyzed the data by conducting independent parallel coding. The core theme, Student-Teacher Involvement in the Process of Discovery, was identified as the teachers' perceptions of the REAPS model. The responses were in three main categories: (a) Creating Meaningful Learning-Teaching Experiences, (b) Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap, and (c) Increasing Learning Effectiveness. Each category included three to four identified subcategories to describe a specific phenomenon from teachers’ responses. Discussion included the core theme and its relationships with the categories and sub-categories. Ways to implement REAPS in classrooms and as a school-wide approach are discussed.

Teacher Engagement in Poland: Research Contexts and Support Tool Proposals

In the process of the effective management of business enterprises and educational institutions, in addition to other factors affecting their success, the involvement of leaders and employees proves to be the critical issue. Enterprises incur a considerable expenditure of time and work on managing and increasing the commitment of their employees, as opposed to the education sector. Effective school management and teacher involvement have a considerable impact on the quality of teachers’ work, and this affects the level of education and upbringing of students. The authors of the study describe the involvement of the work of teachers in four contexts: their professional development, professional advancement system, burnout processes, and the assessment of the effectiveness of their work based their students’ learning. Cooperation within the international Engagement & Beyond project, aiming at developing a practical tool for school management, facilitates the process of understanding the main mechanisms of teacher engagement. The system will automatically adjust the tools for measuring and raising the level of teacher involvement, taking the form both of detailed surveys developed by psychologists and human resource specialists, and materials prepared at the diagnosed motivation level of each participant. School management will be able then to diagnose the level of involvement of employees and create an action plan appropriate to needs at both personal and organisational levels.