Educational Development Projects Research Articles

Symposium 2: A tentative model for sustainable pedagogical digital competence development

This paper addresses one large university initiative for educational development aimed at further developing educations and teacher competence with a focus on technology-enhanced and lifelong learning. The aim of the paper is to describe and problematize the design of an ongoing project for educational development, Higher Education and Digitalisation (HEaD). It focuses on identifying key components of an educational development project for technology enhanced learning as well as how such a project can be organized to sustain in regular university operations. The article discusses how a project for educational development can create over-time durable infrastructures, organization, policy and motivation for maintaining a continual educational development. In the first phase of the project, a model was developed for how competence development can be conducted sustainably. This model contains two perspectives: (1) an organizational perspective that focuses on the key partners to be involved; and (2) a process perspective that focuses on activities and aims in strategic competence development projects. The tentative model with its two perspectives is described and discussed in this article as a preliminary result. The model includes four identified key entities and their roles in pedagogical digital competence development; academic departments and their faculty, educational developers, infrastructure and IT-department and the pedagogical research unit. Further, a process model based on existing support structures, complemented with activities that can be sustained after the HEaD project ends is presented.

Development for Teacher’s 21st-Century Skills Enhancement into Effective Practices

This research used the Research and Development (R&D) methodology, which has research steps in the form of R1D1...R2D2...RiDi to get an educational innovation called “Online Self-Training Program to Development for Teacher’s 21st-Century Skills Enhancement into Effective Practices” that is effective. It is an educational innovation with certified research results that can be used and disseminated to benefit development in schools that are the target population on a large scale. The online self–training program consisted of 2 projects: 1) Development Project for Teachers’ Learning with six self-training modules used to develop teachers; and 2) The Project for Teachers to Bring Learning Outcomes into Practice with Students with one self-training module to be used as a guideline for teachers. The results of the experimental research in the first project revealed that among the experimental group of 17 teachers, the learning outcomes had met the standard of the 90/90 criteria. Moreover, the average test scores after the experiment had been significantly higher than before the experiment, according to statistical analysis. In the experimental research of the second project, it was found that among the 510 students involved in the experiment, the average scores from the assessment of perception towards teachers' practices had been significantly higher after the experiment compared to before the experiment. It was found that the research results aligned with the pre-determined research hypotheses, indicating the effectiveness of educational innovations resulting from the research. These findings can be utilized to enhance and cultivate 21st-century skills for teachers in the targeted schools, demonstrating the potential for future research dissemination and application.

A meeting place for meaningful collaboration – student teachers’ experiences and learning

ABSTRACT Background Internationally, teacher education usually involves close school-university cooperation. In Norway, such collaboration includes enabling student teachers to develop into researching teachers. In this article, our interest lies in how the Change Laboratory (CL), a form of participatory workshop, can lay the foundation for three-way collaboration between student teachers, teacher educators, and practice teachers, in terms of resolving practice issues and facilitating student teachers’ research planning. Purpose The study, contextualised within cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), sought to better understand student teachers’ experiences and learning gleaned from collaboration in the CL. Method Eight student teachers participated in the research, which was carried out over a four-year teacher education research and development project involving one university and one primary school. During this time, the student teachers met in the CL with the teacher educators from the university, and the practice teachers, who were working as mentors in the training schools. The data collected, comprising presentations and dialogues from the CL sessions, were analysed qualitatively. Findings According to the analysis, the student teachers thought that their CL experiences had supported them along the trajectory of becoming reflective, professionally oriented practitioners. They felt that, through participatory meetings with the teacher educators and practice teachers, they had developed in-depth subject knowledge; learned to collaborate; learned about school development; and learned how to be well prepared for the profession they were entering. In addition, they considered whether the project could be expanded to the entire teacher education system. Conclusions The findings draw broader attention to the role of participatory meeting places in creating a community of trust, and their potential to support teachers’ learning at crucial stages of their professional journeys, from early career phases and beyond.

Empowering Teachers' Learning to Strengthen Students' Teamwork Skills

This study aimed to create an educational innovation called “Online Self-Training Program for Empowering Teachers' Learning to Strengthen Students' Teamwork Skills” conducted with Research and Development (R&D) to be effective according to specified criteria. It can be broadly applied to the development of teachers and students in target schools in research publications. This online self-training program consists of 2 projects that are continuously operated as follows: 1) a teacher development project involving the use of 7 self-training modules for teachers' learning, and 2) applying learning outcomes to a student development project, with 1 self-training module to be used as a guideline for teachers. The findings of the first online self-training program revealed that twelve teachers in the experimental group achieved 90/90 post-test scores, which were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. Furthermore, the results of the second project revealed that 300 students in the target group obtained statistically significantly higher post-test scores than pre-test scores. The findings are therefore consistent with the hypotheses. It illustrates that the educational innovation, “Online Self-Training Program for Empowering Teachers' Learning to Strengthen Students' Teamwork Skills”, is effective and meets the specified criteria. It can also be disseminated for teacher and student development in the target schools.

Multimodal practices of unpacking and repacking subject-specific knowledge in CLIL physics and chemistry lessons

BackgroundDifferent school subjects have their specific meaning-making practices for building and conveying knowledge. Research drawing on the Semantics dimension of the Legitimation Code Theory has noted the importance of shifting between levels of abstraction and context-dependency in knowledge-building. There is a need to better understand how such shifting between different levels of abstraction is accomplished with multimodal resources in classroom interaction. AimsThis study aims at exploring subject-specific knowledge construction as a form of translanguaging, i.e., as movement between different registers and multimodal resources of meaning-making. DataThe data comes from a Finnish teacher development project aimed at supporting CLIL teachers' professional development. This exploratory study analyses teachers’ knowledge-building practices in two STEM lessons video-recorded in the project, Physics and Chemistry. MethodsThe data is analysed using multimodal conversation analysis and analysis of semantic waves. Analysis focuses on how the teachers engage in unpacking and repacking subject-specific knowledge by talking, gesturing, as well as displaying, handling, and modifying various kinds of multimodal materials and artefacts. ResultsThe teachers were found to use a versatile set of multimodal translanguaging practices for unpacking and repacking. The findings also indicate complexity in semantic waves due to multimodal resources accomplishing simultaneous shifts in semantic gravity and density, with either aligning or diverging functions. ConclusionsThe simultaneous use of different multimodal resources and their potential to serve different functions point to the need to acknowledge the multidimensionality of semantic waves. The multimodal translanguaging approach also has implications for conceptualising subject-specific knowledge-building as inherently multimodal.

Preschool teachers’ discussions of attempted play-responsive science teaching

ABSTRACT In this study, the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC) and science in preschool is introduced in a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) project for preschool teachers. The aim of this article is to highlight opportunities and challenges for play-responsive science teaching based on a thematic analysis of eleven preschool teachers’ discussions in various focus groups. In the analysis, three main themes have been developed, i.e. discussion about (1) the selection of the science content, (2) preschool teachers’ ways of initiating play-responsive science teaching, and (3) children's actions in attempted play-responsive science teaching. The result showed that the content the preschool teachers intended to focus on in play and how the preschool teachers opened up for the activity to shift between as if and as is created both opportunities and challenges for play-responsive science teaching, and furthermore, what opportunities the children had of influencing the play. By using PRECEC as a theoretical starting point in discussions, opportunities emerged for preschool teachers to develop awareness of what happens in play, especially when they laboured to introduce science content. Furthermore, a shared professional language emerged by starting to use concepts from PRECEC.

From acting as a crutch to activating as a catalyst: a spectrum of responses from Irish adults regarding religious education and faith development in COVID times

ABSTRACT The Adult Religious Education and Faith Development project (AREFD) was launched in 2018 at the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, DCU. As part of the study, the research team consulted variety of people involved in AREFD across a range of contexts. The purpose of these consultations was to harness their ‘lived wisdom’, showcasing the wide variety of opportunities for engagement in and identifying possible new approaches to AREFD. When COVID-19 struck, the research team availed of the opportunity to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the religious education and faith development of this particular cohort of Irish adults. Thematically analysed, the data showed a spectrum of responses. The pandemic prompted deep reflection and a re-evaluation of the importance of religion and faith in their lives. Ranging from gaining comfort and solace from their faith to being moved to acts of compassion and altruism based on their religious beliefs, the impact of the pandemic on the faith lives of these Irish adults was diverse. This paper provides an account of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the faith lives of some Irish adults, prompting reflection on how this impact might shape the future of AREFD in Ireland.

Exploring Agile Methodology in Developing a Web-Based Result Computation and Transcript System: A Case Study of Federal Polytechnic Ukana

In today's rapidly changing technological landscape, there is a great demand for efficient, adaptable, and responsive software development methodologies. This article examines how agile methodology was used in practice to create a web-based transcript and result computation system for Polytechnic Ukana. Agile methodology, which is renowned for its incremental and iterative approach, was used to increase flexibility, foster better teamwork, and produce a workable product on schedule. The article describes the goals and requirements of the project, including how Scrum was chosen as the agile framework and what stages it went through in implementation. Along with the roles and responsibilities of the development team, the planning, execution, and review processes for sprints are highlighted. The team demonstrated flexibility in responding to evolving needs, effective problem-solving, and sustained stakeholder engagement through a sequence of sprint cycles. The system was deployed on schedule, fulfilling all requirements and substantially boosting the accuracy and efficiency of the institution's transcript generation and result computation. This is proof that the project was successful. This case study provides a useful manual for implementing agile approaches for comparable educational software development projects.

A classification tool to foster self-regulated learning with generative artificial intelligence by applying self-determination theory: a case of ChatGPT

AbstractGenerative AI such as ChatGPT provides an instant and individualized learning environment, and may have the potential to motivate student self-regulated learning (SRL), more effectively than other non-AI technologies. However, the impact of ChatGPT on student motivation, SRL, and needs satisfaction is unclear. Motivation and the SRL process can be explained using self-determination theory (SDT) and the three phases of forethought, performance, and self-reflection, respectively. Accordingly, a Delphi design was employed in this study to determine how ChatGPT-based learning activities satisfy students’ each SDT need, and foster each SRL phase from a teacher perspective. We involved 36 SDT school teachers with extensive expertise in technology enhanced learning to develop a classification tool for learning activities that affect student needs satisfaction and SRL phases using ChatGPT. We collaborated with the teachers in three rounds to investigate and identify the activities, and we revised labels, descriptions, and explanations. The major finding is that a classification tool for 20 learning activities using ChatGPT was developed. The tool suggests how ChatGPT better satisfy SDT-based needs, and fosters the three SRL phrases. This classification tool can assist researchers in replicating, implementing, and integrating successful ChatGPT in education research and development projects. The tool can inspire teachers to modify the activities using generative AI for their own teaching, and inform policymakers on how to develop guidelines for AI in education.

Contribution of community participation in education development projects: A case of community secondary schools in Butiama District council

Community participation in education development projects is very vital. However, studies left the area of community participation in education development projects unstudied. This study was conducted in Butiama District Council to explore the contribution of community participation in education development projects. Specifically, the study assessed the contribution of community participation in school projects. The study used a case study research design with a sample of 123 respondents which involved households. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were employed to obtain respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study indicated that community participation in school projects had a great contribution to schools in the construction of more classes/school facilities, recruitment of more teachers, and purchase of stationery; in terms of students it reduced students' dropout cases, increased completion rate and school attendance; and in terms of households it contributed on provision of employment opportunities to households and money contribution to the schools. It was recommended that facilitators need to deliberately create an enabling environment for the community to participate effectively in their development projects, the awareness creation of the need for all community members to effectively contribute to their development plans, irrespective of gender, social economic, and educational prominence. This study recommends that school management should collaborate with Community Development officers, Ward Executive Directors, and community members to discuss school-based matters to counteract challenges facing school projects.

ШТУЧНИЙ ІНТЕЛЕКТ ЯК ДРАЙВЕР ІННОВАЦІЙ В ОСВІТІ

The article analyzes various approaches to the use of artificial intelligence in education. The main trends of scientific research in this direction are clarified. The currently existing models and implementations of artificial intelligence and their potential opportunities for innovation in education are described in detail. It is shown that the majority of scientific research on the use of artificial intelligence, in particular generative models, is focused on evaluating their capabilities for accurate and adequate answers to questions, solving problems, etc. Instead, there is a lack of research on the development of new teaching methods and technologies that include artificial intelligence as a means of learning. One of these areas of scientific research can be the use of artificial intelligence in the development of educational projects, STEM projects. It is important to focus the efforts of methodologists and scientists on the following aspects of the application of artificial intelligence in education: development of research skills by means of artificial intelligence; the use of artificial intelligence as a teacher’s assistant in preparing for lessons; development of new teaching methods and technologies using artificial intelligence; the formation of critical thinking in students without the involvement of artificial intelligence, instead, the development of critical thinking (previously formed) with the use of artificial intelligence.

Building professional resilience: School music teachers’ instructional practice development under curriculum reform

This study used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the characteristics and development of teachers’ resilience profiles during ongoing school music curriculum reforms in mainland China. During a 12-month voluntary teacher development project, seven mid-career schoolteachers based in Shenzhen City, South China, helped collect longitudinal data on their resilience profiles and instructional practices. Inspired by Mansfield’s resilience model, this study developed a model of the essential dynamics in the resilience development process of individual teachers. The working model mapped the identified factors of teachers’ resilience development into a coordinate system that incorporated two approaches (receptive and autonomous) to resilience building, with two scenarios (mandatory or conditional) in curriculum implementation. The findings suggested that (a) teachers exhibited different resilience properties shaped by both personal and contextual factors, as well as the connection pathways between factors, and (b) teachers used a variety of strategies to build resilience to policy and environmental constraints, including mentoring, peer support, problem-solving, relationship management, and pedagogy innovation. These strategies were mapped onto a functional model for resilience development in curriculum implementation, which further extended the application of Mansfield’s conceptual framework to teacher education programs. Although this study recognized the value of quantitative research instruments in capturing resilience profiles, the ecological validity and reliability concerns of these measurements were also discussed.

Learning and the ‘change enterprise’: inclusion and ambivalences in an educational action research and development project

ABSTRACT Educational action research in development projects applies participative methods to include people with diverse backgrounds, experiencing learning collaboratively. In this article, I explore the learning activities, and their outcomes, unfolding in those settings. Based on project documents, 34 interviews with project staff and smallholder farmers, and participant observations for three months in Nepal, I analyse the action research and development project ‘Strengthening Adaptive Farming in Bangladesh, India and Nepal’ (SAF-BIN), and show how inclusive activities allow for critical reflection, individual experience, and dialogue. I find dialectics in this process of adjustment, such as resistant social and cultural arrangements that are activated. The inclusion of specific social groups, for example, goes along with exclusionary dynamics. This case illustrates that inclusion and action research can be conceptualised at least threefold: from a dialectical, institutional, and learning perspective. I conclude that action research in development provides a fruitful basis for learning, allows for legitimacy, and temporarily leads to social change at a micro-level, for better or worse.

Evaluation of the Teacher Development Project for the Local Development Scholarship Program in Northern Thailand

Evaluation of the Teacher Development Project for the Local Development Scholarship Program in Northern Thailand

Evaluating CSR Commitment of Cement Companies across Multiple Social Sectors in India

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business / responsible business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. This study aims to evaluate CSR commitment of cement companies across multiple social sectors in India. The research is based on secondary data obtained from the national CSR portal of selected five cement companies in India for the period 2014-2015 to 2020-2021. At the completion of the study, we conclude that UltraTech Cement Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd. topped the list in terms of the average CSR amount spent while Shree Cements Ltd expended moderately in comparison. The rest of the two companies namely; Ramco Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd. remained laggards when it came to the seven-year average CSR spent figure. Furthermore, the evaluation of the CSR spent of the companies under study across multiple social sectors brought successive gist to light. Education, Health Care and Rural Development Projects initiatives bagged the highest spending while Environmental Sustainability, Women Empowerment, as well as Art and Culture attracted moderate CSR funding. The rest of the sectors comprising list received lower and lower commitment from the companies under study. Those segments included the likes of Vocational Skills, Senior Citizens Welfare, Agro Forestry, Sanitation, Safe Drinking Water, Gender Equality, Socio-Economic Inequalities among others.

Assessment of a training project of English as a media of instruction(EMI) using Kirkpatrick model

BackgroundEnglish as a Media of Instruction (EMI) teacher development project is based upon the framework for teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and aims to effectively improve both the confidence and overall capacity of EMI lecturers. Kunming Medical University(KMU) conducted the EMI training project to improve teachers’ competence for MBBS education. This study aimed to assess teachers’ changes following the implementation of this training project, via the Kirkpatrick evaluation model.MethodsA total of trainees (n = 84) were invited as the research objects. The effects of the EMI training project implemented in KMU were evaluated in terms of the reaction, learning, and behavior dimensions based on the Kirkpatrick model. The self-administered online anonymous questionnaires and observations of participants’ EMI lectures were administered to all participants to collect the data. Furthermore, to understand participants’ perceptions of the management and trainers of the training project, some open-ended questions were required to answer.ResultsBased on 1–3 level of the Kirkpatrick model, all participants were highly satisfied with the EMI training implementation on the reaction level, and expressed positive comments about the management of the training and trainers. On the learning level, participants’ scores on awareness of EMI teaching techniques increased significantly(t = 7.122, P < 0.001)with the training process. Concerning the behavior level, the participant’s confidence as an EMI instructor increased dramatically at end of the whole training(p < 0.001). Moreover, trainees had applied some EMI skills in class and would like to make some commitment to implement learner-centered learning, to do more practice on EMI techniques.ConclusionThe findings of this study confirm that EMI training has an effective impact on the competence and confidence of participants as EMI instructors at levels 1–3 of the Kirkpatrick evaluation model. This training may be a potentially beneficial effect on the teaching quality of MBBS education.

Facilitating the Transitioning of an EFL Teacher from Teaching Older Learners to Teaching Younger Children Through Mentoring

This paper reports the professional journey of an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher from teaching older learners to teaching younger children at a primary school, and the impact of mentoring on the teacher in facilitating the transitioning process. The participant is a Turkish native-speaker male English teacher with 23 years of teaching experience. He participated in the mentoring program, which was organized as a collaborative action research teacher development project, and implemented by the author of the present study. During this process, the participant completed three cycles of action research. For each cycle, he identified a problem and/or any aspect of teaching he wished to improve, designed an action plan, applied it in his Grade 2 English classes, reflected upon his action, and documented his action research. He was also interviewed to gain additional insight into his experiences. Qualitative inductive analysis was used to analyse the interviews and reflective writings. The findings suggest that the mentoring process led to an increase in the teacher’s self-efficacy in young learner pedagogy and teaching performance, helped him socialize into the community of young learner teachers, and gain teacher-researcher identity, which is perceived to smooth his transition into teaching a younger age.

Transculturally rural: challenging convivial imaginations of ‘bettering’ life

ABSTRACT During the 1960s–1970s in Ecuador, Indigenous and peasant movements challenged the descriptions of rural life in government education programmes while offering a space of transculture. As Sylvia Wynter [2003. ‘Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation – An Argument.’ CR: The New Centennial Review 3 (3): 257–337.] proposes it, such space allows to narrate human life with sensibilities non-aligned with normalised cultural particularities of the ideal tacit ‘we’ in national(ised) stories. This text engages with the convivial movements between narratives and counternarratives about rural lives and ways of living. It argues that rural can be thought as a genre and ruralness as a practice of existence, which disrupt overdetermining notions of what counts as dignified life, valid political demands, and possible futures. That disruption is an exercise of conviviality where Indigenous and racialised peoples challenge a living together under rules and practices that demand their assimilation or erasure. Their luchas (fights) are proposals for coexistence through social change. Particularly the article looks at how the poem The Bread of Life, published in the bilingual Kichwa/Spanish newspaper Jatari Campesino, pushed back against the logics of ‘bettering’ lives offered by Fundamental Education and Community Development projects. These were projects espoused by the Ecuadorian Government and UNESCO and funded by the Alliance for Progress, among other foreign aid agencies.

The politics and pitfalls of academic enthusiasm in peace building: examining researchers’ role in a rural education development project in Colombia

ABSTRACT This article is an effort to unveil how colonialism gets inscribed in research education initiatives during peace-building. To this end, we look behind the scenes of an education development project that sought to support a rural school in consolidating high-quality education during Colombia’s recent peace process. We examine how, in our roles as principal investigator and research assistant, our enthusiasm inadvertently contributed to perpetuating the colonial rule of the state in an area traditionally controlled by revolutionary groups. To do so, we follow the project from its design and negotiation to the delivery of results. By depicting how enthusiasm may shape a researcher’s reasoning, we aim to complicate our understanding of the research process and the enthusiasm that underpins peace efforts.

Investigating and implementing a student vocational education model for educational innovation

The development of each student's awareness serves as the governing principle for high school vocational education programs. This awareness then becomes the driving force behind the progression of the educational process. Career education activities for students are the relationships between the objectives, contents, methods and forms of organization of educational activities that are directly and constantly influenced by the educational environment. Student career education activities are the relationships between these aspects of educational activities as determined by research into the programs, textbooks, systematization and theoretical analysis of these activities. This investigation focuses on the following areas: (1) Developing preschool and high school teachers in the province of Dong Thap to meet the criteria of the new educational program (2) Developing models of applying local educational material for students in the province of Dong Thap. Both of these initiatives are part of the Dong Thap Educational Development Project. Findings: Assess the current state of activities for students in the province of Dong Thap that are related to vocational education between 2018- 2021. Develop a model for carrying out activities for students participating in vocational education in the province of Dong Thap to fulfill educational innovation requirements.