A Review of Curriculum Change and Innovation for Higher Education

The effective curriculum has become a critical component of higher education because of the shifts in the techno-socio-economic landscape and digital revolutions in industry 4.0. In this paper, a review of existing works related to curriculum change and innovation for higher education institutions provides insight into the topic. The paper is divided into several sections of the review. A general understanding and introduction of the context of Curriculum 4.0 in higher education are elaborated in this review. The relative theories that underpin curriculum change and innovation in educational institutions are presented. The paper also discusses and reviews the processes and procedures involved in managing curriculum change and innovation. The issues related to embracing and managing curriculum change and innovation are also highlighted and discussed in this paper.

Commentary and Opinions: The Utilization of Social Media by Medical Residency Programs During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, medical training has been greatly impacted globally. In Canada, out-of-province visiting clinical electives were cancelled. In addition, the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) interviews were transitioned to being virtual since 2020. As residency programs are exploring new ways to overcome the challenges of elective cancellation, there has been a surge of residency program social media accounts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Social media serves as a platform for residency programs to promote themselves in addition to posting interactive educational materials. Moreover, social media residency accounts provide a platform for medical students to learn about the programs and network virtually with fellow applicants, residents, program directors, and faculty members. Overall, social media is becoming a popular and valuable tool for residency programs to connect with the applicants during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Among the different social media platforms, Instagram seems to be more appealing to both residency programs and the graduating medical students. We report our observations regarding selected Canadian residency program Instagram accounts. To maximize the success of using social media, it is important for the residency programs to consider the attitudes of applicants towards the residency social media accounts. Future studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of the Canadian residency program social media accounts for the final year students applying for these programs.

Reviewer Acknowledgements

Journal of Education and Training Studies (JETS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether JETS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 10, Number 1 Alphonce John Amuli, ADEM, TanzaniaAurora Q. Pestano, University of San Jose Recoletos, PhilippinesChris Mutseekwa, Bindura University of Science Education, ZimbabweDaniel Shorkend, University of the People Wizo School of Design, IsraelFathia Lahwal, Elmergib University, LibyaGuilherme Tucher, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), BrazilJohn Cowan, Edinburgh Napier University, UKJonathan Chitiyo, University of Pittsburgh Bradford, USAKendall Hartley, University of Nevada, USAKeyla Ferrari Lopes, UNICAMP, BrazilKun-Hsi Liao, Taiwan Shoufu University, TaiwanMaria Rachel Queiroz, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, BrazilMaria Rosa M. Prado, Faculdades Pequeno Príncipe, BrazilMehmet Inan, Marmara University, TurkeyMinh Duc Duong, Thai Nguyen University, VietnamMuhammad Haris Effendi-Hasibuan, Universitas Jambi, IndonesiaMu-hsuan Chou, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, TaiwanMustafa Çakır, Marmara University, TurkeyNiveen M. Zayed, MENA College of Management, JordanRichard H. Martin, Mercer University, USASandro Sehic, Oneida BOCES, USASarah Nabih Nasif, October University, EgyptSenem Seda Şahenk Erkan, Marmara University, TurkeyWong Ken Keong, Inspectorate of School Sabah, Malaysia Robert SmithEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of Journal of Education and Training StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAE-mail 1: [email protected] 2: [email protected]: http://jets.redfame.com

Middle School Physics Experiment Teaching Within “Internet Plus”: From the Status Quo to Implications

Middle school physics experiment is a significant basic course with extensive content and strong practicability. This course has high requirements for students to master and understand the background and basic principles of various physical experiments, as well as the working principles and the use of various experimental devices. Based on the importance of physics experiment teaching and the limitations of the traditional experiment teaching mode, this paper first reviews the traditional mode in the context of the Internet and puts forward the new physics experiment teaching mode within "Internet Plus" in the new era, including theoretical guidance of constructing the experimental teaching mode, the innovation of teaching methods and examination methods, and the prospect of promoting the development of education industry. At the same time, this paper puts forward the network teaching platform system that can implement the new physics experiment teaching, including exercises, flipped classroom, and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), and discusses them separately, hoping to provide research reference for middle school physics teaching and research in the future.

How Korean K-12 Educators Adapted to Online Teaching and Promoted Digital Equity During COVID-19: A Mixed-Method Study on Practices and Perceptions

The abrupt transitions to online teaching during COVID-19 have exacerbated educational discrepancies worldwide. South Korean schools faced similar challenges primarily due to the insufficient infrastructure and pedagogical guidelines for online teaching. This mixed-method case study investigated how Korean K-12 teachers and administrators converted to online teaching and addressed related digital equity issues during their first semester of online teaching in response to the pandemic. Interviews, as well as survey responses at the beginning and end of the semester, were analyzed through Activity Theory (AT) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) frameworks. The study's key insights were that the digital equity issue is related to quality teaching issues beyond infrastructural problems and that teachers took various strategies to maximize the effectiveness of their blended teaching. We aim to shed light on supporting equitable online learning and sustaining positive changes in the post-COVID era.

Integrating Evaluation as a Componential Element in the Development of the Course: The Case of Two Courses in the Faculty of Education (AUTH) during the Pandemic

Evaluation, as a process, can positively contribute to the formation of better educational experiences for both instructors and students, as well as lay the foundations for the development of an evaluation culture in student participants. This article sets out to present the evaluation process carried out in two online courses at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) during the pandemic period, how it has constituted an integral component of each course and in what ways it has contributed to the students’ active participation in the development of the courses. To evaluate the courses, communication and collaborative online tools were used, through which students’ views were systematically recorded throughout the semester within the framework of the formative evaluation. The data analysis has been conducted mainly in the light of thematic analysis and according to the findings, students have stated their satisfaction about their active involvement in setting up the course as well as the fact that their voice has been heard and taken into account by the instructor, both in terms of content modulation and the educational process itself.

Dexterity, Deliberateness, And Disposition: An Investigation of Instructional Strength for Early Literacy

This mixed-methods study examines the relationship between an emergent conceptualization of teachers’ instructional strength and their students’ progress in early literacy. The conceptualization includes three components: a teacher’s deliberateness, their instructional dexterity, and a set of teacher dispositions that catalyse and maximize these attributes. Based on the results of qualitative inquiry, the authors developed a measure of individual teachers’ instructional strength according to this conceptualization. Regression analysis reveals that all three components are significant predictors of students’ growth in early literacy. The study includes 318 teachers and 1,181 students from 227 schools across the country.

NEETs and “Structured Social Interventions” in Rural Areas: The Case of Thessaly in Greece

This article aims at approaching the phenomenon of Young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) using the empirical data from an action against unemployment in the region of Thessaly in Greece. The main purpose of the study was to examine the attitudes and perceptions of NEETs on important issues related to employment, training, entrepreneurship, as well as their main decisions and perspectives regarding their future. This approach tries to shape a multidimensional proposal which is linked to the core peculiarities of the region of Thessaly by highlighting the transition from “specialized individual action plans” to “structured social interventions”. In conclusion, it attempts to promote a structured and applicable policy framework, shedding light on the dimensions of a crucial social issue such as NEETs promoting the drastic role of structured interventions on local and regional level.

Virtually Uncharted Waters: How a Global Pandemic Has Taken Pre-Service Teachers out of Physical Classrooms and Perpetuated Pre-Identified Gaps in Preparedness for Working With Emergent Bilingual Students

COVID-19 has changed the way of life for nearly every individual in the US. One of the greatest causes of familial and systematic turmoil has been the transition of K-12 schools to the uncharted waters of remote learning. When COVID-19 forced the termination of practicum placements for pre-service teachers, it also limited the opportunity for pre-service teachers to have in-person exposure to Emergent Bilingual Students (EBS), an essential piece of creating Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions (KSDs) needed for their future classrooms. In this essay, I look back at research addressing the KSD gaps created through the lack of exposure pre-service teachers have when it comes to working with EBS. Building on previous research related to the KSDs gained from practicum placements with EBS, pre-service teacher gaps are identified, pandemic perpetuation of gaps are put forth, and potential solutions are named.

Analysis of Verbal Interactions Between Brazilian Students in a Physics Investigative Activity Class With STS Approach: A Case Study

This article presents results on the analysis of verbal interactions of students from a federal public high school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during an investigative activity class about the properties of magnets. This experimental assignment was part of a didactic sequence developed for the study of Electromagnetism, which was structured using a Science, Technology and Society (STS) approach combined with the investigative activities method, in which students divided into groups carried out a series of experimental essays on the contents that were presented to them. The objective was to determine if students were able and capable of structuring their own causal statements to a problem involving knowledge of Physics, when given the proper conditions to work with an experimental setup. Differently from the traditional transmission-reception didactic model, the STS didactic orientation seeks out to incorporate the scientific syllabus into the students' daily life relationships. A qualitative methodology was used from the transcriptions of video and digital audio recordings that were registered during classes, some scenes of an educational episode were selected and the verbal interactions of the students among themselves were analyzed, looking for some indicators that could identify whether scientific literacy was accomplished. Analysis showed evidence that students were able to construct meaning with their own words by reasoning about what was observed in the experiments performed.