Pedagogical Challenges Research Articles

Co-creative practice reconciling theory and practice in tertiary student documentary production

ABSTRACT Accommodating theory and practice is a significant pedagogical challenge for screen programmes in higher education. Integrating theory and practice within the pedagogy of documentary screen production raises specific issues related to its ethical obligations and social change remit. Designing screen studies programmes that effectively support students to become critically aware and reflexive practitioners requires historical and theoretical knowledge to underpin and inform production skillsets [Wayne 2003. “Reflections on Pedagogy.” Journal of Media Practice 4 (1): 55–61; de Jong 2006. “From ‘Doing’ to ‘Knowing What You are Doing’: Kolb's Learning Theory in Teaching Documentary Practice.” Journal of Media Practice 7 (2): 151–158]. Prompted by the reaccreditation of our degree, this article critically reflects on the suite of practice and theory-based units that collectively strengthen student understanding and skillsets in factual screen storytelling. Mezirow’ three forms of reflection are framed within Kreber and Cranton’s scholarship of teaching model, to guide reflection on curriculum, pedagogy and three student documentaries as exemplars of aspirational learning outcomes. Our reflections identify how co-creative processes embedded in a spiral curriculum course structure supports opportunities for students to innovate fundamentals of praxis within a community of practice.

Māori Academic Challenges: Delivering Mātauranga Māori During COVID-19

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted academic educational programmes in universities across the world, including Aotearoa New Zealand. For Māori academics who implement mātauranga Māori as a pedagogy, it became theoretically and practically challenging teaching virtually and online. The Te Taha Tinana, of Te Whare Tapa Wha model, created by aDurie in 1984 (Health Navigator, 2022) regarding the four dimensions of well-being, focuses on the physical presence, physical embodiment, and physical behaviour. This could not be easily taught virtuality through a computer screen during COVID-19 lockdown. For Māori academics transitioning from teaching Mātauranga Māori in person to an online environment brought forth these challenges. The challenges re-emerged in August 2021 when New Zealand went into Level 4 lockdown overnight because of the new COVID-19 Delta Virus variant. In 2022, the Omicron variant caused many universities in Aotearoa New Zealand to continue their first semester teaching online. Mātauranga Māori is a body of knowledge exercised by Māori people in New Zealand. Sadler (2007) argues Mātauranga Māori was first invented by Māori when Pākehā (English people) arrived in New Zealand. He suggests Mātauranga Māori is a paradigm where Māori define the parameters. Royal (2009; 2012) claims this knowledge was brought to New Zealand by Polynesian ancestors and is an evolutionary continuum of knowledge that relates to encountering the world as Māori with the focus on improving humankind. Le Grice, Braun, and Wetherell (2017) state Mātauranga Māori incorporates theories, practices, and protocols that are bound to relationships, people, and places in a world that supports Māori ambitions. This knowledge, for me an Indigenous Māori academic, incorporates the physical and spiritual worlds embracing the energies of the universe handed down by our forefathers. This position paper discusses the pedagogical challenges encountered during COVID-19 Lockdown for Indigenous academics to continue delivering programmes requiring indigenous expertise and human contact. It explores: 1) the Covid 19 Educational Barriers; 2) Online Academic Challenges; 3) Managing Cultural Shifts; 4) Sustaining Indigenous Pedagogy. It asserts that Mātauranga Māori contributes to the growth of Indigenous knowledge on a world stage and the challenges indigenous academics encounter brought by a global pandemic.

Towards intelligent E-learning systems.

The prevalence of e-learning systems has made educational resources more accessible, interactive and effective to learners without the geographic and temporal boundaries. However, as the number of users increases and the volume of data grows, current e-learning systems face some technical and pedagogical challenges. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the efforts of applying new information and communication technologies to improve e-learning services. We first systematically investigate current e-learning systems in terms of their classification, architecture, functions, challenges, and current trends. We then present a general architecture for big data based e-learning systems to meet the ever-growing demand for e-learning. We also describe how to use data generated in big data based e-learning systems to support more flexible and customized course delivery and personalized learning.

A paradigm shift in studio pedagogy during pandemic times: An international perspective on challenges and opportunities teaching design online

This study advances the debate over the role of technology-enhanced teaching in the practice-based design studio. Framed by the exigencies of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a detailed survey and follow-up interviews illuminate the transformative experiences among 90 experienced design educators from seven countries. At the heart of this study is the question: where did design educators succeed in trying to approximate a physical studio using online technologies and where did technology-enhanced teaching fall short? Content analysis of qualitative data and reflective remarks provide a window into what educators see as the concrete pedagogical challenges and opportunities they have encountered. Their responses are analysed using the four major characteristics of the practice-based design studio: dialogical learning, the critique, studio culture and studio class size. The results clearly demonstrate that the social aspects of the physical studio with its informal learning opportunities are difficult to replicate online and dialogical learning could not be effectively established online unless classes were smaller. There were also positive responses, particularly using online collaboration platforms for online critiques. Design educators can now prototype a new studio pedagogy that incorporates online elements that potentially enhance the learning and teaching experience in the physical design studio, while rejecting those that do not work for their domain.

Pedagogical adaptability as an essential capacity: reflective practice of applying theory to practice among first-year early childhood teachers during remote instruction

ABSTRACT Situated within the theoretical framework of reflective practice, this phenomenological study investigated how early childhood teachers reflected on the ways in which they were able or unable to engage in developmentally appropriate practices during the first four months of the 2020–2021 school year in the context of COVID-19-induced remote instruction. The participants were nine first-year early childhood teachers (teaching preschool to third grade) in a northeastern state of the United States. These teachers (ages 22–32 years, M= 28 years) were all females, consisting of five Hispanics, two Caucasians, one Black, and one Mexican. Except for one Caucasian teacher educating all Caucasian children from affluent backgrounds, the other eight teachers were teaching children from mostly ethnic/racial minority and low-income backgrounds. The data were collected from interviewing each teacher virtually via Zoom for 1.5 hours. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted. The findings revealed four salient themes: (1) theory-practice consonance, (2) theory-practice dissonance, (3) pedagogical challenges due to contextual constraints, and (4) pedagogical adaptability emanating from reflective practice. Collectively, the affordances and constraints engendered by the remote environment seemingly created both a fluid and a constricted space for the teachers to apply theory (e.g., developmentally appropriate practice) to practice. The findings of this study yielded important implications for preparing preservice teachers in teacher education programs and supporting in-service teachers in professional development activities.

Character creation as an inclusion tool: cartographies of a science teaching experience in elementary education

The challenge of a special educator to accompany inclusive processes of students with disabilities, in collaboration with a regular classroom teacher, co-exists with the one of testing collective disposals in science teaching and learning contexts. Facing these obstacles, this study seeks to answer the question of how a "problematizing character" can operate as an inclusion mechanism for students with intellectual disabilities and contribute to the integration of a special educator in the pedagogical activities developed in a 5th grade class in a public school. Based on the Invention of Worlds methodology, the regular teacher and the special educator have built strategies of collective disposals with the students and the character. This methodology seeks to create conditions for learning that are guided by an active, creative, and problem-oriented conception, with flexibility to articulate ideas and suggestions brought by the students. The study adopted, methodologically, the cartography of the interactions of the character with the class, especially with three students diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, in a collectively constructed narrative. The results show that the collaborative work between the special educator and the teacher was strengthened by the pedagogical challenge of mobilizing the character and making it a problem solver. The " problematizing character" emerges for the students loaded with inspiration and creative ideas, provoking their involvement and interest in the pedagogical activities. During the interdisciplinary challenges and problems that defied them to think about Science in the interface with imagination and inventiveness proposed in the activities of Invention of Worlds, it was noticed that the feeling of "not knowing" expressed by the students with intellectual disabilities was giving way to the (self) recognition of the unique creative and authorial capacity. The interlocutions that the students established with the character constituted a common plan of interactions and cooperation with the teacher and the special educator, configuring an inclusive collective disposal.

Some Aspects of Respect and Dignity of Individual On the Europeanism as Values-system: Moral and Individual

The most philosophical writer of the 20th century, Robert Musil wrote: the individual is nothing else but one’s own primary performance. God has become Deus absconditus—claims Milan Kundera—humans have become all’s stone. In this matter, Europeanism signifies that the individual becomes what one makes oneself become. I think the great challenge of pedagogy (from theoretical and practical aspect aspect): how can the ability and competence of independent thinking be realised during educational work? How does the schooling system facilitate the development of the autonomy of pupils, students and teachers? In my opinion (summary of this study) the respect and dignity are the most beautiful and charming quests of Europeanism and education.

Challenges Faced by Technical Communication Educators in the Field of ICT- A Systemic Study

The article examines ways and means of using computers in technical communication classrooms, including the ways in which we address literacy and humanistic issues through our current instruction. Over the next decade and through the next century, we will face three pedagogical challenges as we use computer technology to support our teaching initiatives.
 A knowledge-based and globalized society would not be possible without ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies). The 21st century workforce and the institutions that prepare them for it must adapt to as much change as there is in ICT itself. As a global phenomenon, ICT is posed as a major challenge and an opportunity for television education. As well as the issues and potential solutions to their effective integration in TVET, the chapter describes TVET's meaning, philosophy, objectives, types of ICT, and role in TVET.

Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies in Inclusive Education for Minority Students: A Systematic Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies are having a pervasive impact on modern societies and communities. Given the potential of these new technologies to transform the way things are done, it is important to understand how they can be used to support inclusive education, particularly regarding minority students. This systematic review analyzes the advantages and challenges of using AI and new technologies in different sociocultural contexts, and their impact on minority students. In terms of advantages, this review found that AI and new technologies (a) improved student performance, (b) encouraged student interest in STEM/STEAM, (c) promoted student engagement, and (d) showed other advantages. This review also identifies the main challenges associated with the use of AI and new technologies for inclusive education: (a) technological challenges, (b) pedagogical challenges, (c) dataset limitations, (d) low satisfaction using technology, and (e) cultural differences. This review proposes some solutions to these challenges at the pedagogical, technological, and sociocultural levels, and also explores important aspects of inclusive education that address the students’ sociocultural diversity. The findings and implications will aid teachers, practitioners, and policymakers in making decisions on the effective use of AI and new technologies to support sociocultural inclusiveness in education.

The transformation of post pandemic hybrid teaching and learning through experiences of remote digital learning in French business schools

ABSTRACT Since March 2020, French Business Schools have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to imposed sanitary restrictions. Higher education deployed different online and offline teaching settings to ensure the continuity of students’ learning. Literature proposes hybrid teaching, which combines face-to-face activities with online technology enhanced activities as the way forward for business schools to prepare students for a hybrid business world. Nevertheless, the study identifies cultural constraints that have both built resistance to change from tutors and a consumer-based attitude to learning from students, causing significant pedagogical challenges. This qualitative study reviews the limits of the current approach to hybrid learning and its future direction. The content analysis provides novel insights into hybrid teaching and a unique dimension to knowledge optimisation. A new post-pandemic hybrid teaching and learning conceptual model is proposed that offers students an innovative learning experience within their social context.

Teaching information literacy in the humanities: Engaging students with primary sources and cultural heritage material

Many university libraries hold large cultural heritage collections that are unknown to most students. The digitisation of these collections offers new ways of working with primary sources, and with it, an increased interest in archives and older collections, both in digital and physical form. This article discusses how archival material and other primary sources can be used in our information literacy classes, thus broadening the understanding of information literacy to include primary source literacy. I share two examples of how my colleagues and I have engaged students with primary sources and discuss the pedagogical challenges and opportunities. The article also addresses the disciplinary aspect of information literacy and what a humanities approach to teaching information literacy could incorporate. Drawing on own experiences and previous research, the article concludes that using primary sources in information literacy classes can enrich learning, engage students, and develop our teaching practices.

A systematic literature evaluation on Definitions, Attitudes and Pedagogical Challenges

To find a shared understanding of what inclusive education means, this study looks at several different points of view from researchers in various fields. From the perspectives of students, teachers, and the general public, the attitudes section looks at the problems that teachers and students with disabilities face in todays educational systems (parents). There is also a clear plan for how to teach literature to students with different levels of background knowledge. Last but not least, a general review focused on the two main models used in this study (the social and medical models).

Pedagogical Challenges of Architectural Education in Nigeria; Study of Curriculum Contents and Physical Learning Environment

The current curriculum design, program and the state of the physical learning environment in the Nigerian schools of architecture seem inadequate and ineffective. The study examined the teaching of architecture in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The aim is to ascertain the state of the present curriculum contents and learning facilities. Major Challenges identified in this study include dearth of learning facilities, inability to reform the curriculum contents and limited financial resources allocation to run the schools. Also increasing unemployment for architecture graduates and unskilled nature of practicing graduates were also included. Highlighted in the discussion for necessary intervention by stakeholders of Nigerian tertiary institutions includes review and upgrading of existing curriculum, efficient time-management skills and collaborative teaching and learning techniques. For physical learning environment, literature points that a clean, bright, organized and open-plan ventilated space strengthens learning by motivation. The result from the survey carried out on physical classroom environment among students of tertiary institutions, indicates that the level of satisfaction was fairly satisfactory and that the students expressed that large halls, large corridors were the most available facilities (63.2% and 52.8% respectively). The major equipment in the classroom were whiteboards (100%), personal computers (47.2%) and digital projector or smart board (30.4%), while the available facilities for pleasant environment were attractive surroundings (100.0%). Adjustment of training methodology, improving training skills, retraining the trained, upgrading infrastructure and facilities; expansion of the curriculum and training program were recommended in order to comply with the current global trends.

Remote proctoring: Lessons learned from the COVID‐19 pandemic effect on the large scale on‐line assessment at Tel Aviv University

AbstractBackgroundThe global COVID‐19 pandemic turned the adoption of on‐line assessment in the institutions for higher education from possibility to necessity. Thus, in the end of Fall 20/21 semester Tel Aviv University (TAU)—the largest university in Israel—designed and implemented a scalable procedure for administering proctored remote examinations. This procedure is applicable to different kinds of examinations in diverse disciplines and to disparate degree levels.ObjectivesThis study aims to deepen the knowledge with respect to the design and adoption of remote proctoring at an institutional levelMethodsFirst, based on lessons learned from the first semester of COVID‐19, we describe the development and implementation of an institution‐wide protocol for conducting on‐line proctored assessment. We show the large‐scale applicability of the protocol for administering examinations via Moodle with remote proctoring via Zoom. The accurately designed procedures that included careful consideration of all parties involved—academic staff members, students, administrative staff and proctors—enabled TAU to successfully assess the learning outcomes of its 25,000 students, while maintaining validity, compatibility and reliability of the assessment. Second, we report combined data from surveys of 4380 students and 188 faculty‐members (18% and 12% response rate respectively), conducted at TAU following these examinations.Results and ConclusionsWith over 90% of the students experiencing at least one, and 80% of faculty‐members administering at least one proctored remote examination, these heterogeneous sources of data allow us to investigate a unique and complementary perspective of the process. Some of the significant findings consist of the over‐all perception of the students' integrity by both groups surveyed; the discrepancy in the groups' perspectives of the adequate form of learning‐assessment—with the instructors preferring proctored examinations and the students—formative‐assessment; and the influence of the pedagogical challenges on the perception of validity that outweighed other factors, for example, the pandemic‐related stress, the on‐line assessment challenges and other.

How university teachers navigate social networking sites in a fully online space: provisional views from a developing nation

Although social networking sites (SNS) have been widely investigated, very limited information is available about how teachers navigate them within a fully online learning space, the challenges they confront, and the strategies they use to overcome them. Thus, we examined these underexplored areas by interviewing 14 higher education teachers in the field of social sciences. Using a cross-case analysis, overall data indicates that teachers had varied reasons for and considered different factors when adopting SNS for online teaching. Our study also reveals that they used SNS affordances depending on their own teaching contexts and took different roles when teaching online via this platform. Although teachers generally viewed SNS as an instructional approach, they also reported several technical, pedagogical, and learner-related challenges, which they attempted to confront using a variety of strategies. These findings confirmed that teachers’ pedagogical practices and decisions in an SNS-mediated learning environment are shaped by the interaction between and among the teacher-related factors, SNS as an instructional tool, and teaching goals mediated by the policies (existing or not) and their peers. Some key implications of our findings are on designing teacher development programs, recalibrating national, institutional, and classroom policies, and implementing a systemic approach to mitigating pedagogical challenges in an online learning space. Implications for future studies are also discussed.

The Impact of Challenges Experienced by Teachers and Learners on Mathematics Performance in Relation to their Socio-Economic St

Objective – This paper explores the challenges experienced by mathematics teachers and learners of seven high schools in South Africa. A mixed method approach involving interviews and questionnaires was used. Methodology – The sample included 7 principals or deputy principals, 7 departmental heads who supervised mathematics, 1 mathematics teacher who taught mathematics in grades 10 to 12, and 1 mathematics teacher who taught Mathematics in grades 8 and 9. In addition, 1 learner from each grade 8 to 12 was included in the sample. Each participant was interviewed using a structured interview schedule, followed by participants completing a questionnaire. Findings – Vygotsky's socio-cultural and conceptual development theories in mathematics education formed the basis of this study. The 'Inputs, Processes and Output" model of Howie and Kilpatrick's model of the five strands of achieving 'mathematics proficiency was adopted. We identified many systemic, societal, and pedagogical challenges that teachers and learners experienced, which affected their mathematics teaching and learning. Our findings correlated with research in the literature review. Novelty – The researchers concluded there were always intervention strategies that could assist in minimizing or eradicating the challenges faced by the teachers and learners of mathematics, thus improving their socio-economic standing. Type of Paper: Review JEL Classification: A14, 19. Keywords: Challenges, Strategies, Blended Learning, Scaffolding, Conceptual Development, Collaborative Learning. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Brijlall, D; Ivasen, S.J. (2022). The impact of challenges experienced by teachers and learners on Mathematics performance, in relation to their socio-economic standing, J. Bus. Econ. Review, 7(2), 112–126. https://doi.org/10.35609/jber.2022.7.2(1)

Decolonising the Curriculum of Architectural Education in Nigeria: A Case of Negotiated Pedagogy

The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent to which negotiated pedagogy as a decolonised pedagogy that calls for more social forms of learning is capable of enabling students to acquire skills for future practice in Nigeria. The curriculum of architectural education in Nigeria has been predicated on the British and American pedagogic learning models. These models do not reflect the diverse cultural practices and rarely enable students to acquire and develop capabilities to self-initiate projects and create jobs without waiting for commissions. The study utilised critical review of existing literature to expose the weaknesses of the current studio models in enabling students and future architects to acquire skills for future practice. The paper employed interview and case study to examine how negotiated pedagogies at the margins are opening up new ways of engaging in practice. The findings reveal that negotiated pedagogy challenges the orthodoxy of existing studio models by empowering today’s graduating architecture students to develop a critical voice to question how their learning is equipping them for practice. By negotiating and integrating multiple approaches to learning and producing architecture, the line between education and practice, architects and users, educators and students and real and imagined is redrawn.

EMBEDDING A GROUP PROJECT INTO INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING TO TEACH THE ETHICS OF EARNINGS MANAGEMENT

We propose a novel pedagogic design to integrate teaching earnings management and accounting ethics at the undergraduate level. Earnings management is an extensive topic related to almost every topic in collegiate accounting education. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) give accountants discretion to exercise professional judgment on how to report earnings. The ethicality of earnings management has its profound pedagogical challenges. This flexibility exposes many ethical dimensions for professional training. The interaction of earnings management and accounting ethics offers a particular perspective to design a course project module to integrate the detection of earnings management schema and its ethicality. We follow the accounting ethics pedagogic framework (Apostolou & Schleifer, 2013) to demonstrate and validate our course design: (1) assess the need to embed the ethicality of earnings management in the curriculum; (2) articulate learning objectives; (3) identify the nature of the content; (4) select suitable delivery modes; and (5) conduct learning assessment. The paper has three contributions to accounting ethics education. First, the proposed course module offers a solution to relieve the limited space in the curriculum to train accounting ethics. Second, the ethicality of earnings management can act as a bridge to integrating ethical accounting decision-making and professional judgment. Third, the course design offers a virtual platform to engage the instructor and students in exploring the boundary of positive and fraudulent earnings management.

Pedagogical Challenges Facing The Teaching Business Studies in Secondary Schools in Bauchi State, Nigeria

The study determines the Pedagogical challenges facing the teaching of business studies in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 248 business studies teachers from secondary schools in Bauchi State. Since the population size is manageable, the researchers used all populations. The researchers developed a structured questionnaire for data collection. The instrument was validated by two experts from the rank of senior lecturer and above in the department of Test and Measurement of Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Cronbach Alpha method was used to test the reliability of the instrument which yielded a coefficient value of 0.77. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while a t-test was used to test the two null hypotheses formulated for the study at 0.05 level of significance. The finding indicated among others, that some Business studies courses are taught mostly by unqualified teachers. Data analysis revealed that some of the teachers were not familiar with the curriculum and since some of the teachers were not trained, they set internal examinations that only tested the low levels of the cognitive domain that is knowledge and comprehension while the national examinations tested all the levels of the cognitive domain. The study concludes that the Government should employ qualified lecturers in the area of Business Studies in the state, providing appropriate resources, retraining teachers in pedagogical competency needs. Appropriate recommendations were made including retraining of the teachers.

Developing and Comparing Indices to Evaluate Community Knowledge Building in an Educational Research Course

This paper implements a novel approach to analyzing the degree of Collective Cognitive Responsibility (CCR) in a Knowledge Building community, based on socioeconomic and scientometric measures. After engaging in Knowledge Forum (KF) discussions for one semester, 36 students identified impactful ideas in their portfolios, which were then used to develop their impact scores. These scores were then transformed and plotted along the Lorenz Curve and the Gini coefficient to visualize the degree of equidistribution of recognition in the community and, by extension, the degree of collective responsibility shared by members of the community. Additionally, students were classified into member roles based on the impact of their contributions, and we explored the flow of member roles across several discussion topics, based on Price’s model of scientific production. Our results show convergence between peers’ and teachers’ ratings of impactful contributions, which both point to medium levels of collective responsibility in the community. In short, on the one hand, this procedure shows its sensitivity to detect communities that could not comply with the CCR principle. On the other hand, we discuss the necessity of reflective evaluation to address the pedagogical challenge of fostering collective responsibility for knowledge advancement and empowering novel students to take charge of their knowledge work at the highest levels.