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Published By Kazan Federal University

1991-7740, 1991-7740

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Gulzhana Kuzembayeva ◽  
◽  
Zhumagul Maydangalieva ◽  
Bakit Kulbaeva ◽  
Anara Urkunova ◽  
...  

This study investigated international students’ adaptation experience in a higher education institution. A sociological survey was conducted among one hundred and seventy Indian students in their first and second year of medical studies at West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University, Aktobe, the Republic of Kazakhstan. Against the background of many studies in this field, this topic is contextualized within the higher medical education system in the western region of Kazakhstan. The study helps to improve understanding of such phenomena as international students’ dimensions of psychological, sociocultural, and academic adaptation. The differences in the various dimensions of adaptation from the gender perspective and the year of study were investigated. The impact of the adaptation level on the students’ study achievements was assessed. The study results demonstrated challenges in psychological adaptation in the first-year international students, which decreased over time. The differences in the psychological, sociocultural, and academic adaptability between girls and boys were not statistically significant. Second-year international students felt more emotionally comfortable and psychologically safe in the group, and this reflected their high grades GPA. Based on the findings, the authors propose recommendations on how to improve the international students’ comfortableness in the Kazakhstani university setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Jukova ◽  
◽  
Maxim Kozyrev ◽  
Irina Ilina ◽  
◽  
...  

When there is high competition between universities for applicants, research into the applicants’ motives becomes relevant. This research used a survey questionnaire, the results of which were subjected to correlation analysis. The survey involved students from four Moscow universities, differing in both rating and quality of admission. The main reasons why applicants choose their university were the availability of budget places and the cost of training. The source of information about the university is also important. Modern youth (and also their parents) focus mainly on Internet sites for applicants and on the university’s website social networks. The role of Internet resources will only increase in the future although traditional forms of attracting applicants, such as open days and Olympics should not be discounted. They attract at least a quarter of the admissions. The research revealed that school graduates who are strongly oriented toward higher education prepare for exams very seriously. More than two-thirds of all students surveyed noted several options for preparing for the exam. However, not all applications had a solid life position with regard to their future profession. Many have chosen those courses that are easier to pass. One of the important factors in making a choice and in preparation is the image of the university. The higher the rating of the university, the more motivated applicants it attracts and as a result, the level of training of graduates also increases. It is proposed that distance forms of participation in university events are developed so as to expand coverage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 64-73
Author(s):  
Mária Lalinská ◽  
◽  
Jana Hučková ◽  
Silvia Hvozdíková ◽  
◽  
...  

One of the priorities of European language policy is to maintain linguistic diversity, cultural identity and, last but not least, to promote effective foreign language learning. French language has a long tradition in the Slovak geographical area, whether in a historical, cultural or economic context. In the educational context over the last decade, however, it has become a second foreign language, which has begun to be reflected in particular in the declining numbers of pupils studying French. Quantitative indicators in the form of statistical yearbooks show a sixty to seventy-five percent decrease in the number of pupils learning French at different levels of education. The lower numbers of lessons, normally allocated for a second foreign language, affects the quality of the knowledge and language skills that the pupil has to acquire in order to be able to communicate at the required level in French. Based on the current position of French language in the Slovak school environment and the requirements that are placed on the language level of students, our goal was to design an effective tool that would take into account the various factors affecting the acquisition of foreign language competence of students in French. The main aim of our contribution is to present to the professional public a tool in the form of an intervention program, which specifically focuses on the development of one of the key language skills included in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, namely reading comprehension in French language. The degree of difficulty of its acquisition depends on several factors. The mastery of the linguistic, sociolingual and intercultural specifics typical for French language plays an important role in this process. In a broader sense, however, it is a much more complex process, which is also conditioned by cognitive, social and personality variables. These variables can also be called predictors or factors that significantly affect the understanding of a foreign language text. The overall concept of the intervention program is based on pre-research associated with measuring the level of reading comprehension and determining the predictors affecting students' comprehension of the text. Considering the pre-research carried out to determine the achieved level of pupils in reading comprehension, the proposed intervention program can be regarded as a preventive, but also a corrective tool for the development of language competence in French language. The compilation of an intervention program in the form of ten model intervention units for the development of reading comprehension in French has a precise structure and takes into account the ontogenetic specifics of the target group (third-year students of secondary education). The ambition of the intervention program is to include various possibilities and ways of working with text in French with regard to the development of the relevant predictor, and thus contribute to improve the quality of language education of students and last but not least to be an inspiration for teachers (as well as future teachers) of French language in a new original way.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 136-147
Author(s):  
Roza Bogoudinova ◽  
◽  
Ekaterina Tsareva ◽  

The paper discusses the socio-communicative function of the engineer’s foreign language training in which content is based on materials relating to the latest global technological advances and understanding of the essence of production culture in different countries. It discusses the structure and content of foreign language training taking into account the potential of multilingualism, technical communication and metalinguistic competence. Foreign language training contributes to the formation of linguistic, communicative and metacognitive skills. It sets out the modern international requirements in an engineering university, identifies the contradictions and features of pedagogical forms, methods and tools, and sets out the content and structure of multilingualism, technical communication and metalinguistic competence. A methodology for the implementation of foreign language training in combination with multilingualism, technical communication and metalinguistic competence is proposed and proved through the realization of group international study trips. Here, the students showed an understanding of technologies in foreign languages and a metalinguistic awareness focusing on the cultural traditions of the region and local features of production. The article argues for a conscious approach to deeper linguistic knowledge, cultures of different countries and technologies with advanced language and communications requirements in the field of science and technology, combining linguistic and engineering thinking in the human mind for a more complete understanding of the essence and content of engineering education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-24
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nafari ◽  
◽  
Mehrshad Ahmadian ◽  
Ebrahim Fakhri ◽  
◽  
...  

A portfolio is a document describing skills, experience, interests or knowledge of an individual. Recently, the conventional paper-based portfolio has been no longer able to keep pace and therefore, some researchers have suggested e-portfolios overcome this weakness. It is rare to find research on e-portfolio for managing certification of professional competence. Considering that developing an Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) teaching e-portfolio helps teachers to become more reflective in their teaching, the present study tried to merge this issue by exploring the effects of developing edTPA teaching e-portfolios on pre-service and in-service teachers’ self-reflection in a teacher preparation program in the Iranian EFL context. The researchers employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach. A self-reflection survey was administered to 100 EFL pre�service and in-service teachers. The participants developed edTPA teaching portfolios with three specific types of tasks (planning, instruction, and assessment) in their classrooms. After the teaching classroom, a self-reflection survey was administered as a posttest. Then six of the participants were surveyed using a follow-up interview. The results of the study showed that there was a significant improvement in the EFL teachers’ self-reflection in both groups through developing three types of edTPA and underlying five factors of reflection in their teaching. Research on edTPA as a tool measures teacher readiness and reflection. Further research efforts should focus on edTPA performance, teacher evaluation and student performance to add to the professional discourse on teacher preparation, teacher quality, and policy making.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Daniel Doz ◽  

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a shift from face-to-face to online and distance learning. Teaching methods and assessing strategies changed, as well as grading standards. The focus of this paper is to address the differences between pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic mathematics grades and, in particular, to investigate the possible differences between mid-term and end-term grades in Italy. To this end, 231 Italian middle and high school students’ grades were analysed. Using the Wilcoxon rank test (a non-parametric statistical test) the results showed a statistically significant difference in pre- and post-COVID-19 quarantine grades. End-of-year grades were higher than those before the COVID-19 confinement. Furthermore, the results indicated that more than half of the students in the sample achieved a higher grade at the end of the school year. Gender differences in mathematics grades were examined, since the literature about gender gap in mathematics achievement is not coherent about whether boys outperform girls or vice versa. Statistically significant differences at the end of the first semester were reported, in favour of female students although gender differences were not detected at the end of the school year. The findings suggest that greater caution should be paid in interpreting students’ grades pre- and post-COVID-19 confinement, since it cannot be excluded that such students’ achievements are inflated. Excessively high students’ grades that do not represent their actual knowledge and competencies could give educators and legislators misleading and even false information about the quality of distance learning and students’ knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Nick Rushby ◽  

A long time ago and in a galaxy far away, my first degree was in electrical engineering. This was over fifty years ago, at a time when many people believe that technology-based learning had not been invented. This of course, is not true and is a consequence of amnesia in the education technology community (Rushby, 1983; Romiszowski & Rushby, 2015). However, it was not until the 1970s that viable systems to manage the learning process became available. By the late 1970s, Plato (developed by the University of Illinois) was supporting several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers (Smith & Sherwood, 1976). So, my undergraduate course was wholly class-room (and laboratory) based.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
Nick Rushby ◽  

Это было настолько давно, что может показаться неправдой, но свое первое образование я получил в области электротехнической инженерии. Это произошло более 50 лет назад, и многие думают, что технические средства обучения в то время ещё не существовали. Конечно, это неправда и объясняется некоторой амнезией в сообществе образовательных технологий (Rushby, 1983; Romiszowski & Rushby, 2015). Хотя эффективные системы управления образовательным процессом поя- вились действительно только в конце 1970-х годов.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 48-63
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Khonamri ◽  
◽  
Monireh Amirdehi ◽  
Martina Pavlikova ◽  
Hedviga Tkacova ◽  
...  

The study explores Iranian English teachers' perceptions of the importance of critical thinking skills and the extent to which they practice their beliefs in real classroom setting. As a secondary purpose, the study discovered the possible hindrances in the way of implementing critical thinking in reading classes. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, data were collected through survey questionnaire, interviews and class observations from 4 universities and several English language institutes. Fifty participants took part in the study. A questionnaire with 16 closed-ended and two open-ended questions was utilized to collect data about the teachers' beliefs. For the next phase of the study, one teacher from among 10 teachers who showed strong beliefs was conveniently selected for class observation and interview. The results of one sample T-test and independent sample T-test indicated that teachers believed critical thinking was important and that there was not any significant difference between male and female regarding critical thinking. Qualitative analysis of the data showed that despite the teachers' strong beliefs about the importance of critical thinking, they did not implement it much in their classroom practices. The hindrances as well as the implications of the study are fully explained in the paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 120-135
Author(s):  
Inna Zakharova ◽  

Given the negative demographic trends and the aging of labor resources in most regions of Russia, it is important to curb educational migration away from them. The study of the mechanisms of professional self-determination of schoolchildren goes beyond pedagogical tasks in the field of public administration and regional economy. Psychological mechanisms of career choice and educational strategy building were widely studied during the twentieth century, but the question of the influence of social conditions in a particular region on the professional self-determination of young people remains poorly understood. Solving the problems of professional self-determination of schoolchildren requires the synthesis of personality-oriented and socially-oriented pedagogical approaches. The article examines the factors that determine the professional self-determination of school graduates and analyzes the conditions and patterns of schoolchildren’s professional self�determination, together with the potential of their influence on educational strategy by regional universities. The research hypothesis is that, when providing pedagogical support for professional self-determination of pupils, it is necessary to take into account both their personal characteristics and individual motives, as well as socio-economic factors that determine the choice of educational strategy. The research used comparative analysis, classification, generalization, an inter-disciplinary review of literature and socio-economic statistics, a sociological survey, and expert assessments. The main results are the description of models of professional self-determination of school graduate based on their awareness, values, self-efficacy assessment, and the justification of the principles of career guidance. A survey of school graduates in the Ulyanovsk region in 2018-2019 (n=2075) showed that a significant number of graduates lacked professional plans and knowledge about regional universities and universities in other cities. The study revealed the professional interests of school graduates and their plans for educational migration from the region. School graduates did not justify their choice of a career and educational strategies by their professional interests, but rather on their desired standard of living upon graduation. It established that the quality of education at the university is not a determining factor for potential applicants. As actors in the regional educational space, professional education organizations can have a greater impact on the processes of professional self-determination of high school students. The results indicate the importance of regional socio-economic conditions for professional self�determination of school graduates, their educational strategy and choice of university. The study confirmed that their professional self-determination follows the principles of the Social Cognitive Career Theory.


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