Search Results (35)

Interdisciplinary teaching plays an important role in modern physics education by improving students’ understanding, problem-solving skills, and engagement through the integration of multiple disciplines. This study examines pre-service physics teachers’ perceptions of interdisciplinary teaching, focusing on their confidence in implementing interdisciplinary approaches, perceived benefits, and the challenges they expect. A Likert-scale survey was administered to 292 pre-service teachers from two universities in Kazakhstan. Findings indicate that students’ confidence in interdisciplinary teaching increases over time, while their recognition of its benefits remains consistently high across all academic years. However, barriers such as lack of training and feeling unprepared persist, even at the master’s level, indicating the need for structured interdisciplinary training. Institutional differences significantly impact students’ perceptions, with students from one university showing higher confidence levels than those from another, showing variations in curriculum and support systems. Gender differences in confidence were minimal. Additionally, perceptions of interdisciplinary teaching do not follow a linear trajectory, as students in their second and third years experienced a temporary decline in confidence before recovering in later years. Our findings indicate the need for structured interdisciplinary training in teacher education programs, institutional support to reduce disparities in confidence levels, targeted interventions during academic transitions, and ongoing professional development to address persistent barriers. Full article

In the face of escalating sustainability challenges globally, such as climate change, poverty, inequality, and injustices, the need for a systematic approach to tackle them through the infusion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in higher education has become increasingly critical. This article explores the crucial issue of professionalizing academic teaching, emphasizing the readiness of academic teachers to cope with sustainability and SDGs in higher education. Using the Stages of Concern Theory and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to professionalize academic teaching to address SDGs in teaching, learning, and the curriculum, a sample of 1566 academic teachers in nine Latin American universities responded to the survey. This study aimed to answer two key questions, as follows: (1) How do the years of teaching experience affect academic staff’s stages of concern? (2) How do different academic teaching areas influence the academic staff’s stages of concern? The trend reveals that faculty members with fewer than four years of service scored higher than those with twenty or more years. Similarly, academic teaching staff from the Education Sciences have a significantly higher mean score and effect size than faculty members from the Humanities, Engineering, Social Sciences, Sciences, and Health Sciences across all stages of concern. However, despite these differences, professional development initiatives should be designed to match all teaching staff regardless of years of service and subject area by encouraging teamwork and increasing understanding of the critical importance of transformative teaching and learning. Full article

In recent years, the topic of language teacher motivation has garnered significant attention within the realm of language teacher psychology. Researchers have delved into various aspects, including teachers’ commitments to the teaching career, teachers’ teaching motivation, and teachers’ professional development motivation. Nevertheless, the motivation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers to engage in ongoing in-service learning, particularly the pursuit of a Master of Education (Ed.M.) degree, has received comparatively less scrutiny. To bridge this gap, the present study adopted Boshier’s Education Participation Scale (EPS) and Liu’s seven-dimensional motivation framework to explore the motivation of 529 Chinese EFL teachers in their quest for an Ed.M. degree. Utilizing Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM), the analysis revealed seven types of key motivation: cognitive interest, social responsibility, academic information acquisition, academic achievement acquisition, school context, rival demand, and significant others. An examination of differences in EFL teacher motivation in terms of gender and school type showed that male teachers perceived significantly higher levels of cognitive interest and rival demand than female teachers did. And, teachers in regular schools reported significantly higher levels of significant others than those in key schools. We propose some future directions for EFL teacher motivation research. Full article

This paper presents the design of an integrated STEM education teaching–learning sequence (TLS) for secondary education and the adaptation of this design for the training of future science teachers, as well as the implementation and evaluation during the academic years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 in the master’s degree in secondary teacher training. This is an integrated STEM education project that seeks to design the prototype of an autonomous car using the mBot robot as a base. Thus, it allows for the integration of physics kinematics with robotics programming guided by an engineering design. This study was carried out with 43 pre-service teachers, and the impact on both content and procedural knowledge and attitudes was analyzed. The results show an increase in knowledge; reflect the usefulness of the tools used to work on design, evaluation, and optimization procedures; and, finally, a change in the students’ emotions towards a more positive perception of the disciplines involved and the subject to be dealt with in the project. Full article

The service-learning (SL) approach has shown effectiveness in fulfilling both academic and community-oriented objectives. This paper focuses on a specific case study for a Cartography, Remote Sensing, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) course for Environmental Sciences undergraduate students. The main goals for implementing SL practice were (1) to enhance students’ GIS knowledge and to develop cross-cutting skills by working with real-world problems; (2) to share with society the knowledge acquired by students and ensure that it is valued; and (3) to prompt reflection on urban waste issues among students. The activity consisted of analyzing the waste containers along the 1 km riverbanks in León (Spain) and elaborating a proposal for the location of new rubbish bins to deliver to a City Council’s environmental technician. The results showed an improvement in students’ GIS management skills to solve environmental problems compared to those from the previous 3 years and a satisfactory response from environmental professionals with delivering the results. Together, an increase in students discussing urban waste was observed during the sessions. Projects like this not only teach technical skills but also provide a deeper understanding of data collection and implementation processes in environmental issues, which are closely aligned with professional experiences, and awareness of the practical application of the knowledge acquired. Full article

Trillium Health Partners (THP) is a hospital network that serves the Mississauga region of Ontario, Canada, and sees nearly 1.7 million patient visits each year. THP is also a provider of highly specialized services to the region and a fully-fledged academic teaching center, with embedded research and innovation. Background/Objectives: Highly trained, skilled, and experienced nurses are foundational to THPs ability to meet the complex care needs of our patients across specialized programs. In 2024, 50% of the nursing workforce at THP was noted to have less than five years of experience. This generation of nurses are reporting high levels of burnout and are at greater risk of leaving the profession. The more experienced nurses are also facing burnout due to the continued pressures and demands in the workplace, having to manage an increasingly complex patient assignment, while providing mentorship to more novice nurses. Based on the existing literature and our collective experience at THP, we have developed the Transition to Independent Practice Support (TIPS) program, a multi-pronged approach to bolster support for our nursing workforce. The TIPS program at THP is designed to address knowledge gaps and enhance clinical competence among new and aspiring nurses. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the TIPS program in facilitating the transition of novice nurses to independent and competent practitioners, utilizing the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation The specific objectives include (a) assessing participants’ reactions to the TIPS program; (b) measuring the increase in nurses’ knowledge and confidence following program participation; (c) evaluating changes in nurses’ behavior and practice post-program; and (d) determining the program’s impact on nurse retention and quality of patient care. Methods: Grounded in Meleis’s Transition Theory, the program combines webinars, simulations, clinical rounding, and mentorship to build resilience, decision-making, and confidence. Evaluative measures, based on the Kirkpatrick Model, assessed participant satisfaction, learning outcomes, behavior changes, and retention. Results: From September 2023 to March 2024, 388 interdisciplinary participants attended the program, including nursing students (56%), registered nurses (24%), registered practical nurses (14%), and aspiring nurses in other interprofessional roles (6%). Participants expressed high satisfaction with the program, achieving a mean reaction score of 4.80 (SD = 0.2921). Ninety-five percent found the sessions relevant, and 98% rated the facilitators as knowledgeable. Self-reported confidence significantly increased across all topics, with overall mean confidence scores rising from 2.94 to 4.52 (p < 0.0001, Cohen’s d = 3.01), demonstrating a strong impact on skill acquisition and application. Behavioral evaluations through simulations, competency checklists, and follow-up touchpoints confirmed improved clinical performance, with participants achieving 100% compliance to nursing skills during simulations and sustained confidence at three-month follow-ups. Since the program’s implementation, nursing turnover rates decreased from 9.52% to 7.7% by March 2024, with 100% of RNs, RPNs and IENs of TIPS participants retained within six months. Conclusions: This paper outlines the TIPS program and the diverse teaching and learning methodologies used in the design and program implementation to ultimately support the transition experience of the new gradate nurse into acute care. Preliminary outcomes are discussed including nursing retention rates, nurses’ knowledge, confidence, and skill levels. Full article

For the success of efficient socioeconomic development, it is crucial that budget allocation in higher education is effectively managed, with a clear focus on targeting SDG 4 (Quality Education), which is vital for every country and should be prioritized globally. This research article attempts to assess the socio-economic impact of Chiang Mai University based on the impact of both its expenditure and teaching and training programs on the Northern Thailand economy. Moreover, it also aims to develop the best model to predict the SROI for academic projects before investing the budget for efficient financial management. All the data utilized in this research article come from official organizations such as Chiang Mai University, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), and the Provincial Comptroller’s Office of each province in Northern Thailand, with the data collection covering the study period from 2023 to 2025. The key finding is that Chiang Mai University played a significant role in creating a socioeconomic impact on Northern Thailand’s economy, both in the industry sector and the service sector, totaling more than an average of THB 3 billion per year for direct and indirect effects. In addition, every THB 1 million that this university spends can create more than 703 jobs in the agribusiness sector, and, for the same budget spending, it can create 241 jobs in the service sector and 113 jobs in the industry sector, respectively. Technically, for the prediction model to predict the SROI value, it was found that the best model is the Decision Tree model. If the findings of this research can be applied to other universities in Thailand or globally, it would represent a significant initiative in optimizing budget allocation, with a particular emphasis on supporting SDG 4 (Quality Education) as a priority. Full article

The quality of teacher education plays a key role in equipping students with the skills they need and it is important in avoiding learning inequalities. To bridge the digital divide and ensure that all students have equal access to technology and digital resources as well as advanced teaching–learning processes using digital tools, it is crucial to analyse the current state of teacher education in order to identify the key issues. The sample in this research consisted of 325 master of education students and in-service teachers studying at various universities (in Spain, Cyprus, and México) in the 2022–2023 academic year who filled out a questionnaire partly based on DigComEdu and this was expanded with questions relating to other digital and educational aspects. The findings reveal that there is potential for enhancement in many areas. Despite teachers having technical training associated with their profession, they lack the necessary training to overcome inequalities or digital gaps. Moreover, it is striking that those who are already working as teachers are the most pessimistic about aspects such as the use of digital resources, perhaps because of the difficulties they face in their daily work. Full article

Pedagogic Conversational Agents (PCAs) are interactive systems that engage the student in a dialogue to teach some domain. They can have the roles of a teacher, student, or companion, and adopt several shapes. In our previous work, a significant increase of students’ performance when learning programming was found when using PCAs in the teacher role. However, it is not common to find PCAs used in classrooms. In this paper, it is explored whether pre-service teachers would accept PCAs to teach programming better if they were co-designed with them. Pre-service teachers are chosen because they are still in training, so they can be taught what PCAs are and how this technology could be helpful. Moreover, pre-service teachers can choose whether they integrate PCAs in the teaching activities that they carry out as part of their degree’s course. An experiment with 35 pre-service primary education teachers was carried out during the 2021/2022 academic year to co-design a robotic PCA to teach programming. The experience validates the idea that involving pre-service teachers in the design of a PCA facilitates their involvement to integrate this technology in their classrooms. In total, 97% of the pre-service teachers that stated in a survey that they believed robot PCA could help children to learn programming, and 80% answered that they would like to use them in their classrooms. Full article

The COVID-19 lockdown has had serious consequences, including rethinking higher education. The study aims to enhance the knowledge base of online education and academic integrity through a case study of the Ludovika University of Public Service (LUPS), Budapest, Hungary. The research aimed to assess the teachers’ experience with distance learning and examinations, including the change in workload, digital competencies, Moodle, Turnitin, and other software used during and after the lockdown. This paper summarizes the university-level policy changes induced during the lockdown, covering the introduction of emergency distance teaching and online examinations in academic integrity at the university. Two years after the first lockdown, the researchers made a survey (n = 145) about the continuation of the introduced solutions. The results show that a remarkable reordering started while the technical and technological backgrounds were available for the changes. The teachers could feel a significant increase in workload with distance education and have low trust in maintaining the standards of academic integrity. However, the research shows moderate and low levels of digital competencies in the majority of teachers, which clearly defines the most crucial task leading to success. Maintaining the monitoring system with objective indicators of the development and the opinions of the interested parties is essential for successful strategies in the field. Full article

The study of the affective domain has grown in relevance ever since educators and researchers showed its influence in the process of teaching and learning, playing a fundamental role in the evolution of student learning. Anxiety is one component of the affective domain. The study of mathematical anxiety in pre-service primary teachers at university is the focus of this study. We analyse mathematical anxiety by examining specific data from the sample (age, gender, the subjects they studied in upper-secondary education, and academic performance). One hundred and nineteen students from the Primary Education degree completed the mathematical anxiety questionnaire, obtaining an average anxiety score considered negative (3.08 above the neutral value of 3). The results show a high anxiety toward examinations (3.68) and a negative relation with academic performance. Furthermore, the results show that women, 19-year-old university students, and those from a humanities-based upper-secondary education present greater levels of anxiety than men, older students, or students from other areas of upper-secondary education, respectively. All values of mathematical anxiety are higher than pre-pandemic levels. We can conclude from the studied sample that the students show low–medium global anxiety over mathematics, medium anxiety over problem solving, and high anxiety about exams. Full article

Shaping the competences of future teachers in a way that is appropriate to the current stage of development of the information society is, in the post-COVID era, a topical and important subject. The accumulation of experience in recent years with the use of digital edtech has forced the search for optimal solutions to support the learning and teaching process. Among such (still undervalued) solutions are video tutorials. This article answers the three research questions: (1) What are the benefits of using video tutorials in education? (2) What difficulties do future teachers face when creating educational tutorials? (3) What key knowledge and skills are required of teachers who wish to create video tutorials? The study (qualitative, based on structured interviews) involved 16 pre-service teachers (Poland) who attended a course on the introduction to the use of information technology in 2022/2023 at one of the leading academic universities in Poland. The collected data, showing the complexity of the use of this type of edtech, provide not only a simple diagnosis regarding the processes of creating and using video tutorials by future generations of teachers, but also allow for the modernisation of academic programmes that prepare pedagogical graduates to work in an increasingly digitalised world of education. Full article

In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of mental health concerns in academia, with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression being reported among faculty members. The demanding work environment, the need to balance personal and professional duties, and the constant pressure of productivity while navigating multiple tasks of teaching, research, mentorship, professional development, and service all impact the mental health and overall well-being of faculty. Higher education institutions have structurally changed as has the research landscape. These changes as well as faculty-specific and student-specific factors coupled to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to profound effects on the mental health of academics. This paper is a narrative review of the pertinent literature describing faculty mental health and well-being. It summarizes the available evidence on factors influencing faculty mental health and shows the prevalence of anxiety, depression, stress, and burnout among faculty from various academic fields and along the whole academic ladder. Using a suggested framework that collates the efforts of leaders and faculty, the paper concludes by exploring strategies that promote work–life balance among academics and suggesting effective interventions to improve their mental health outcomes. Full article

Undergraduate learners are ideal candidates for participation in service-learning projects, which allow learners to apply course concepts in a community setting where both the university and community benefit. In pre-health fields, undergraduate students can serve as teachers for concepts such as food literacy. This study examined whether a rigorous virtual professional development model would improve self-efficacy of undergraduate participants to teach food literacy to adolescents. A purposive sampling of participants (n = 12) from two universities participated in a yearlong virtual service-learning project and a community of practice professional development model. Tasks included virtual lesson modeling and virtual development of short, learner-centered activities for an adolescent food literacy curriculum. Informal interviews were conducted at the end of the academic year. Participants reported that the virtual service-learning project connected to their coursework, improved their confidence and professional communication, and was a safe space for growing their teaching practice. Findings were not generalizable due to the small n and purposive sampling, and participants were unable to teach adolescents during the pandemic. The service-learning project may be transferable to local health departments as there is a demonstrated need of alternative implementation models for health education interventions. Full article

Less than 20% of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff members working in British early childhood centres agree that the inclusion of all children is an essential part of their working agenda, as they feel unqualified to take care of children with complex SEN or disabilities. This study makes a novel contribution by drawing on data compiled from a one-year ethnographic study which addressed the in-service learning experiences of seven teaching staff members that work inclusively. The participants included 2 classroom teachers, 1 SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator), and 4 teaching assistants from a preschool class that teaches 92 children between the ages of 3 and 4, located in a primary school in England. We explore what professional learning means for the participants’ role, which professional learning opportunities are meaningful to them, and under which circumstances had been offered. This study not only does consider their opportunities for professional development on the job but also outside of work. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, artifact analysis, and ongoing participant observation over one academic year. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The results demonstrate that this case study offers a unique perspective of a microsystem that could be at risk due to a lack of awareness by leaders and administration. The study is divided into four themes that directly impact inclusive professional service-development practices: (1) challenges posed to continuous professional development by differing professional roles, (2) motives for in-service training: combining career, school, and authorities’ interests, (3) promotion of meaningful professional development experiences by school, and (4) self-determined classroom motivated by respect and recognition. Full article