Traditional didactic teaching approaches fall short of adequately supporting diverse student learning styles. Complementing didactic teaching approaches with simulation-based experiential learning can bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. However, few studies have rigorously examined the outcomes of this approach in global health education and training. This study describes participants’ self-reported experiences with the World Health Assembly Simulation (WHA SIM), a complex hybrid simulation consisting of a three-day educational exercise, including a tabletop exercise followed by live-action role play, designed to simulate practical global health governance settings. We conducted a descriptive, sequential exploratory study between September 2022 and July 2023, beginning with an anonymous pre-simulation survey among undergraduate students in the Faculty of Health at York University, followed by qualitative post-simulation interviews. The survey included questions on participants’ background, comfort, and confidence in key practice skills and experiences with simulation-based learning. Data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics for the quantitative data and a framework analysis for qualitative data. Among 39 survey respondents, 18 were interviewed. Participants for interviews were selected through snowball sampling to ensure diverse perspectives. Participants reported feeling more confident in a range of skills, including research capabilities, critical analysis, time management, and organizational effectiveness. They also described increased confidence in interpersonal communication, public speaking, networking, collaboration, and leadership. Several participants reflected on gaining a deeper appreciation of complex global health issues and noted the simulation provided valuable career-relevant insights. Findings highlight the value of simulation-based experiential learning as perceived by undergraduate students in health and science-related degree programs. While this study does not objectively measure knowledge acquisition or skill mastery, it illustrates how the WHA SIM can support confidence and reflective learning in global health education and training contexts.

Private tutoring (shadow education) has become prevalent in many contexts, particularly in those with an examination-oriented education system. The prevalence of shadow education entails attention to private tutors’ professional development (PD), given its impact on tutors’ career commitment and consumer confidence. This narrative inquiry, underpinned by sociocultural theory, explores the dynamic PD of an English as a foreign language (EFL) tutor, Jane, in Mainland China. Constructed from narrative interviews, tutoring materials and WeChat dialogues, Jane’s narrative demonstrates her limited PD, evident PD and self-directed PD successively across career stages. Throughout the pathway, Jane constantly built knowledge on examination-oriented curriculum and instruction, upgraded pedagogical practice from question-and-answer format to tailored instruction and shifted attitude from feeling unsupported to professionally motivated. The narrative also unravels personal, institutional and social contextual factors facilitating and restraining her PD, especially the ongoing ‘Double Reduction’ policy. This paper sheds light on private tutors’ careers before and during policy constraints and offers implications for developing effective PD initiatives in the shadow education context.

The integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been widely acknowledged for its potential benefits. However, there is limited understanding of the factors influencing ICT integration among Chinese music teachers. This research explored technology acceptance amongChina'smusic teachers via the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to bridge existing knowledge gaps. A survey was conducted with 83 music teachers who used ICT in their teaching. Partial least squares structural equation modelling with effect size estimation revealed that Chinese music teachers' Behavioural Intention to use ICT was the strongest predictor of their actual Usage Behaviour. Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Conditions positively influenced Behavioural Intention but did not directly impact Usage Behaviour, suggesting an indirect effect through shaping teachers' willingness to use ICT. Effort Expectancy had no effect on either Behavioural Intention or Usage Behaviour, though multigroup analysis revealed this relationship varied by teacher age and experience. This study demonstrates the applicability of the UTAUT model in understanding ICT integration among Chinese music teachers. The findings highlight the need to prioritise demonstrating benefits of ICT, creating supportive environments, and providing adequate resources and training for ICT in music education, with implementation strategies tailored to teachers' demographic characteristics. These findings suggest potential strategies for fostering technology integration in music education contexts.

This study investigated how music education activities integrated into bookstore culture can enhance cultural literacy, customer engagement, and employee development, using Sisyphe Bookstore in Qingdao, China as a case. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from social learning, behaviorism, and multiple intelligences, the research examines the cognitive and social mechanisms by which music activities influence both patrons and staff. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining surveys (n = 45 customers; n = 6 employees) with semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that music education activities improved customers’ musical literacy, heightened their enjoyment and loyalty to the bookstore, and fostered greater interest in music-related products. Employees reported increased job satisfaction, creativity, and teamwork, while also gaining musical knowledge. Both groups emphasized the value of practice-based learning, collective participation, and the creation of a socially enriching atmosphere. Results align with prior research on music’s role in shaping consumer behavior, workplace satisfaction, and cultural identity. This study contributes to the cognitive sciences of music by showing how informal educational contexts—such as bookstores—can serve as platforms for music learning and cultural engagement. Implications extend to music education practice, retail innovation, and community-based cultural development. Limitations include the single case-study design and reliance on self-reported data. Future research should examine cross-cultural bookstore contexts and employ longitudinal measures.

This study examines the effectiveness of role-playing as an active learning strategy in enhancing students’ critical thinking and conceptual understanding in economics education at Madrasah Tsanawiyah. Addressing the paucity of evidence on interactive pedagogies in faith-based secondary schools, the research contrasts role-play with conventional lecture-based approaches that often fail to foster higher-order reasoning. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group was employed, involving two intact classes (N = 70) assigned to either a role-play intervention or traditional instruction. Data were collected using validated instruments assessing four dimensions of critical thinking and standardized tests of conceptual understanding. ANCOVA results demonstrated significant improvements in the experimental group, with adjusted mean differences of 5.27 points for critical thinking and 10.50 points for conceptual understanding (p < .001), supported by large effect sizes. These outcomes suggest that role-playing creates experiential learning contexts that stimulate analytical reasoning, perspective-taking, and reflective judgment, thereby promoting deeper and more transferable learning. The findings not only reinforce existing evidence on the value of active learning but also underscore the unique potential of role-playing to cultivate 21st-century competencies in religious educational contexts. The study concludes that role-playing represents a robust pedagogical approach for advancing cognitive development in secondary economics, while further research is recommended to explore its long-term and cross-disciplinary applicability

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), diploma fraud and document forgery remain significant challenges, undermining trust in educational credentials and creating barriers for graduates in both local and international job markets. Traditional manual verification processes are often slow, opaque, and prone to manipulation. This research proposes a novel blockchain-based framework to ensure secure, immutable, and transparent verification of academic diplomas in the DRC. By leveraging the decentralized and tamper-proof nature of blockchain technology, the system guarantees the integrity and authenticity of issued diplomas, thereby eliminating reliance on fragile paper records and reducing administrative bottlenecks. The framework integrates smart contracts to automate verification requests and responses, ensuring that only authorized institutions can issue and validate academic credentials. The proposed architecture employs a permissioned blockchain, tailored to meet privacy and scalability requirements within the Congolese higher education context. Through rigorous system modeling and a prototype developed in Python, the research demonstrates how diploma issuance, storage, and verification can be seamlessly managed on a distributed ledger. Performance evaluations show the system’s resilience against common security threats such as data tampering and unauthorized access. The framework also offers substantial cost and time savings over legacy systems. Furthermore, fostering trust among employers, educational institutions, and graduates contributes to improving the overall quality and competitiveness of the Congolese workforce. This study not only addresses the pressing issue of credential fraud in the DRC but also serves as a blueprint for other developing countries grappling with similar challenges. Future work includes integrating decentralized identity (DID) standards and exploring interoperability with international credential verification platforms to broaden the system’s applicability and impact.

The integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been widely acknowledged for its potential benefits. However, there is limited understanding of the factors influencing ICT integration among Chinese music teachers. This research explored technology acceptance among China’s music teachers via the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to bridge existing knowledge gaps. A survey was conducted with 83 music teachers who used ICT in their teaching. Partial least squares structural equation modelling with effect size estimation revealed that Chinese music teachers’ Behavioural Intention to use ICT was the strongest predictor of their actual Usage Behaviour. Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Conditions positively influenced Behavioural Intention but did not directly impact Usage Behaviour, suggesting an indirect effect through shaping teachers’ willingness to use ICT. Effort Expectancy had no effect on either Behavioural Intention or Usage Behaviour, though multigroup analysis revealed this relationship varied by teacher age and experience. This study demonstrates the applicability of the UTAUT model in understanding ICT integration among Chinese music teachers. The findings highlight the need to prioritise demonstrating benefits of ICT, creating supportive environments, and providing adequate resources and training for ICT in music education, with implementation strategies tailored to teachers’ demographic characteristics. These findings suggest potential strategies for fostering technology integration in music education contexts.

This study explored the emotions experienced by two English teachers at a public university in Ecuador and how these emotions influence their teaching practice and professional well-being. Through interviews, observations, and visual narratives, both pleasant emotions such as enthusiasm and joy, and unpleasant emotions such as nervousness, frustration, sadness, and stress were identified. The teachers used various emotion regulation strategies, including breathing exercises and not taking situations personally, to maintain their resilience. While one teacher showed consistent emotional stability, both faced emotional challenges related to administrative responsibilities, family loss, and student behavior. The findings highlight the importance of acknowledging teachers’ emotional dimensions and supporting the development of skills to manage emotions in complex educational contexts with multiple demands.

Despite the rapid evolution of digital pedagogy, Students with Upper Limb Motor Impairments (USULMI) continue to encounter difficulties accessing Educational Support Tools (ESTs), particularly WhatsApp and Google Meet. This study introduces Ewoxa Meet, a Windows-based, speech-controlled hybrid application designed to enable independent, multilingual interaction with these tools under variable connectivity conditions. In this study, we adopted an enhancement-driven methodological paradigm that embeds a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach with Agile methodology under a consolidated framework. We conducted performance tests by executing 120 speech commands across three internet scenarios, alongside usability testing with 17 university students via the System Usability Scale (SUS). The developers’ assessment confirmed technical stability across diverse usage conditions, with no crashes or forced terminations observed, achieving a near-optimal successful execution rate of 98% for speech commands in target ESTs. The results indicated an overall mean reaction time of 1.92 ± 0.69 s, with stable internet achieving an average of 1.39 ± 0.27 s, weak connectivity extending to 2.74 ± 0.39 s, and offline mode yielding 1.64 ± 0.41s. Field usability testing produced a mean SUS score of 79.41 with a Cronbach’s Alpha (α = 0.821), indicating high reliability and strong user satisfaction. Ewoxa Meet consequently illustrates resilient accessibility through multilingual speech control, adaptive connectivity, and a cognitively transparent interface. Moreover, these integrated methodologies scale the development of inclusive Assistive Technologies (ATs). Future work will endeavor to integrate more ESTs and investigate long-term implementation in diverse educational contexts.

This study aims to examine the relationship between Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Job Satisfaction among contract educational staff at Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP). POS refers to employees' beliefs regarding the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being, while job satisfaction reflects an individual’s positive or negative attitude toward their work. A quantitative approach with a correlational design was employed. The population consisted of 488 contract staff, with a sample of 208 respondents selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected using the Perceived Organizational Support Scale developed by Eisenberger et al. (1986) and adapted by Syahputra et al. (2022), as well as the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) by Spector (1994), translated by Junaedi and Aisyah (2021). Data were analyzed using Spearman Rank correlation due to the non-normal distribution of the data. The results show a strong and significant positive relationship between POS and job satisfaction (ρ = 0.795; p < 0.001), indicating that higher perceived organizational support is associated with higher job satisfaction among contract staff. These findings support Organizational Support Theory and emphasize the critical role of organizational support in enhancing employees' psychological well-being and positive work attitudes. Theoretically, this study reinforces the literature on the POS–job satisfaction relationship within the higher education context, while practically offering recommendations for UNP’s management to develop human resource policies that are more supportive of contract employees.

3D holograms and emotional intelligence: Transforming interactive learning in higher education.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed the field of education by enabling personalized learning, automated assessment, intelligent tutoring systems, and data-driven decision-making. While these innovations offer significant benefits, they also raise complex ethical challenges that demand careful consideration. This paper explores the ethical implications of AI integration in education, focusing on issues such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, and the potential loss of human interaction in the learning process. It examines how AI systems can inadvertently reinforce existing inequalities and questions the extent to which educational decisions should be delegated to machines. Furthermore, the study discusses the responsibility of educators, policymakers, and developers in ensuring that AI tools are used fairly, responsibly, and inclusively. By analyzing current literature and real-world case studies, this research aims to propose guidelines for ethical AI implementation in educational contexts, emphasizing the balance between technological advancement and moral responsibility.

Unravelling the interplay of grit, learned helplessness, and vocabulary proficiency in ELT students.

Investigating standardized criteria to evaluate the impact of agro-healing programs on psychological and interpersonal outcomes: Utilizing normalization methods.

Although digital technology has been widely adopted in English language instruction, existing research often emphasizes general applications or large-scale platforms without closely examining how specific digital tools function within the context of vocational education. Most prior studies have focused on university students or general high school populations, with limited attention to how audio and visual elements in applications like Memrise influence motivation and vocabulary acquisition among vocational students. Furthermore, while Memrise has been recognized for its gamification and multimedia features, few empirical studies explore how these features interact with the unique learning needs, habits, and infrastructural challenges faced by students in vocational schools, particularly in rural or under-resourced settings. The lack of in-depth, context-specific studies examining the practical integration of Memrise into structured classroom routines—especially using qualitative insights—creates a significant gap in the literature. This study addresses that gap by exploring the perceptions and experiences of Class X students at SMKN 3 Metro, focusing on how Memrise’s visual, audio, and gamified elements affect motivation and vocabulary learning within a vocational education framework.

This study explores the implementation of gamification as an instructional strategy to support the learning of whole numbers in a rural Colombian school with limited technological resources. The intervention involved 23 sixth-grade students who participated in a Genially based digital escape room titled “Agent 00+7.” The activity was structured around five missions designed to foster motivation, collaboration, and active participation. A survey instrument encompassing five dimensions—motivation, role performance, task completion, learning/interaction, and gro integration—was administered across all missions, producing 180 valid responses. The instrument demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.872). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, revealing significant mission-level variations in students’ perceived motivation, role performance, task completion, and integration, while learning/interaction remained stable. These outcomes suggest that gamified digital environments may shape students’ perceptions of engagement and teamwork, even in resource-constrained settings. Although the results are exploratory and descriptive, given the absence of a control group or pre–post comparison, they provide preliminary evidence of the feasibility and pedagogical promise of gamification in rural educational contexts, contributing to the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, 9, and 10.

L2 motivational self system and learning emotions as predictors of syntactic complexity.

This systematic review examines the complex relationship between cultural identity and English as a Second Language (ESL) acquisition in African rural contexts. A comprehensive literature search strategy was conducted across multiple academic databases, from which 127 peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2024 were identified. Through an analysis of relevant theoretical frameworks and a purposively selected sample of 49 empirical studies, this examination synthesizes current understanding of how rural African learners navigate cultural identity challenges while acquiring English proficiency. The review integrates psychosocial theories, sociocultural learning theory, social learning theory, and postcolonial perspectives to provide a multidimensional understanding of the intersections between identity and language. The findings reveal that rural African ESL learners face unique challenges, including cultural identity conflicts, community resistance, intergenerational tensions, and limited culturally responsive pedagogical resources. They suggest that successful ESL acquisition in rural African contexts necessitates culturally responsive approaches that validate local identities while promoting English proficiency development. This review contributes to the growing body of literature on culturally sustaining pedagogy and provides recommendations for educators, policymakers, and researchers working in African rural educational contexts. The implications extend beyond language learning to encompass broader questions of cultural preservation, educational equity, and sustainable development in rural African communities.

Teachers’ social-emotional competence (SEC) underpins students’ SEC, and selfassessment helps educators identify strengths and areas for improvement. Our study adapted CASEL’s Personal SEL Reflection tool for the Estonian educational context. Data from 528 primary and secondary school teachers resulted in a refined and shortened 15-item instrument with five CASEL core factors. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a five-factor structure with good internal consistency and convergent validity (α = .74–.89; ω = .64–.81; AVE = .49–.73). The study establishes the reliability and validity of this culturally adapted tool for self-assessment purposes and highlights its potential for professional growth and teacher development initiatives. Keywords: SEC; Psychometrics; Factor analysis; Personal SEL Reflection; CASEL.

The fundamentals of care framework in nursing education: A scoping review.