Learning Gaps Research Articles

Exploring the Assessment Strategies of Secondary School Teachers in Schools: Views of Novice Teachers

This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of secondary school teachers in one of the Clusters of Schools in the Division of Davao City regarding their assessment practices during the post- pandemic era, utilizing phenomenological design. A semi- structured interview guide was used to gather the data. Ethical considerations were observed in data collection. The themes were extracted using thematic content analysis. The findings were: addressing learning gaps, technological challenges, social and emotional considerations, reteaching basic literacy and numeracy skills, transition to online assessment, professional development needs, and supporting diverse learners are the experiences of the teachers; their coping mechanisms are collaboration and peer learning, individualized support, clear communication, incorporate social and emotional support, adaptability and resilience, staying informed, and employ flexible assessment methods; while their insights include need for professional development, flexibility in assessment approaches, recognition of individual learning needs, technology integration assessment, considers social and emotional well-being, and collaboration and sharing best practices. The recommendation advanced included recognizing the significance of technology in assessment by the Department of Education and invest in the required infrastructure and tools, ensuring that teachers have access to reliable technology and training in order to properly use digital technologies into their assessment processes.

Learning general features to bridge the cross-domain gaps in few-shot learning

Few-shot learning (FSL) methods have attracted great attention in recent years. However, under the cross-domain few-shot learning (CDFSL) setting, where domain gaps exist between the source and target domains, many FSL methods face performance degradation. One possible reason is the well-trained model can easily learn discriminative features on the source domain but may fail on target domains. To alleviate this problem, it is desirable to learn a model that can extract useful general features from target tasks regardless of domain gaps during the source domain training. In this paper, we propose a dynamic representation enhancement (DRE) framework that maximizes the model’s representation ability to learn diverse and meaningful features on unknown domains. First, we proposed a stage-wise cycling and warm-up feature activation training strategy to make the model continuously explore useful general features during training, instead of just satisfying with fitting well on the limited training data. Second, we designed a task-adaptive loss function to enhance the learning of diverse features by making the model focus on inter-class discriminative features during training. Experimental analysis shows that the proposed DRE framework effectively extracts informative features across various target domains. On the popular cross-domain BSCD-FSL benchmark, the performance of the DRE framework is competitive with the state-of-the-art methods with an average classification accuracy of 51.01%, 66.71% and 74.13% in the 5-way 1-shot, 5-way 5-shot and 5-way 20-shot settings, respectively. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/ideal-123/Dynamic-Representation-Enhancement-framework.

Utilization of artificial intelligence in Outcome-Based Curriculum Evaluation and Development

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has revolutionized traditional teaching and learning methodologies, offering significant improvements in curriculum evaluation and development. This study explores the utilization of AI in the evaluation and development of an Outcome-Based Curriculum (OBC). AI technologies, including machine learning algorithms and natural language processing, are employed to analyze vast amounts of educational data, providing insights into student performance and curriculum effectiveness. The research highlights how AI can identify learning gaps, predict student outcomes, and recommend personalized learning paths, thereby enhancing the overall educational experience. By leveraging AI, educators can design more adaptive and responsive curricula that meet the dynamic needs of students and industry standards. The findings suggest that AI-driven tools not only streamline the evaluation process but also facilitate continuous curriculum improvement, ensuring that educational programs remain relevant and outcome-focused. This paper underscores the potential of AI to transform curriculum development practices, promoting a more efficient, data-driven approach to education that aligns with contemporary educational goals and outcomes.

SPNet: Semantic preserving network with semantic constraint and non-semantic calibration for color constancy

Recent methods introduce semantics obtained from pre-trained classification models into color constancy to guide the model in learning object-color mapping, thereby improving the illumination estimation ability. However, the task discrepancy between classification and color constancy leads to a representation learning gap, resulting in semantic loss during training. Moreover, semantic-based methods emphasize semantic regions, leading to the neglect of clues contained in non-semantic regions. Overall, semantic-based methods face the challenge of underutilizing critical information. To address this problem, we propose a Semantic Preserving Network (SPNet). We first design a Semantic Constraint Module (SCM) in SPNet. SCM provides semantic constraints to ensure uninterrupted semantic knowledge transfer during training, which prevents semantic loss. Additionally, we further propose an Auxiliary Calibration Module (ACM). ACM explores background regions with a restricted range of innate colors. The high consistency property of their color contributes to the calibration of illumination colors. Meanwhile, ACM recalibrates local–global consistency to avoid large estimation bias in other background regions where illumination clues are insufficient. Extensive experiments on the benchmark datasets show that our method achieves superior performance without extra inference consumption.

Testing Resilience: Secondary School Teachers’ First- Hand Experiences on the Full Implementation of Face-to-Face Classes

This study explored the lived experiences, challenges encountered, coping mechanisms, and insights of public secondary school teachers on the full imple- mentation of face-to-face classes in schools. The partici- pants were coming from Cogon National High School of the Island Garden City of Samal Division (IGACOS), Region XI. There were eight teachers who participated in the study. This study made use of a phenomenological approach to extract the ideas from the participants. The participants were purposely selected as representatives from the group of secondary school teachers who are assigned in the same school. The virtual in-depth inter- view was employed to gather significant information with regard to their respective lived experiences. Using the thematic analysis, the following themes emerged per- taining to their lived experiences: focusing on learners‘ interpersonal skills, teaching with limitations, and hur- dling work fatigues. There were three sub-themes that emerged from the challenges encountered or work fa- tigue by the participants. These are heavy additional workloads, interactions hindered by protocols, and obvi- ous learning gaps. The two coping mechanisms of teach- ers as participants in the challenges they experienced were creating recovery programs and professional de- velopment training for teachers in the new normal. The two educational management insights drawn from the participants were adherence to safety protocols and the importance of blended learning. Thus, Division officials, District Supervisors, School administrators and heads may encourage and support their teachers by reviewing their workloads and by supporting their efforts to ad- dress learning gaps in schools. They may also implement a comprehensive program or capacity building and pro- fessional development to help teachers to be effective and efficient in the full implementation of face-to-face classes and alternative modalities in schools.

Job content plateau and career commitment: the mediating role of developmental i-deals and the moderating role of proactive personality

PurposeGiven the detrimental effects of job content plateau, the paper aims to study the impact of job content plateau on employees’ career commitment. In doing so, the authors examine whether the lapses in job content plateau can be addressed through developmental i-deals. A final purpose is to examine whether proactive employees are better positioned to obtain work arrangements that help them develop and remain committed to their careers.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from full-time working executives employed in different organizations. These executives enrolled in a part-time MBA program. Data was collected at different time points and analyzed using the process macro (Preacher and Hayes, 2004).FindingsThe results suggest that developmental i-deals mediated the relationship between job content plateau and career commitment. In addition, proactive employees were better disposed to seal the deal and develop themselves – helping them to stay committed to their careers.Originality/valuePrior studies highlight the negative consequences of job content plateau because it does not provide avenues to learn and develop. This paper addresses the gap in locating opportunities to learn and develop (an aspect that was missing in the job content plateau) through developmental i-deals. First, the study helps answer how to address learning gaps in jobs. Second, who can capitalize on their efforts once the organization sponsors learning opportunities.

Challenges and Experiences of the Teachers during the Face-to-Face Transition and their Performance

This study was purposely conducted to study the challenges and experiences of the teachers during the face-to-face transition and their performance. Specifically, this study attempted to answer the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, years in service, and number of trainings, the perception of the teacher respondents in terms of challenges during the face-to-face transition classes as to health protocols, pupils’ behavior, learning gaps, and instruction, the perception of the teacher respondents based on the experiences during the face- to-face transition classes in terms of stress, work overload, and time management, and the level of the performance of teachers during the face-to-face transition classes in terms of content knowledge and pedagogy, learning environment and diversity of learners, curriculum and planning, assessment and reporting, personal growth and professional development, and plus factor. The study also utilized a descriptive correlational study to examine the relationship between the teachers’ challenges and experiences and their performance and the difference between the teachers’ challenges and experiences and their performance when grouped according to profile. The respondents were 100 elementary teachers of Fule Almeda District in the Division of San Pablo City. The relationship between the teachers’ challenges and experiences was significant to their performance. However, there is no significant relationship between learning gaps and instruction relation to curriculum and planning; between learning gaps and instruction to assessment and reporting; and between health protocols, leaning gaps, instruction, and stress to plus factor. There are significant differences in the perceived challenges in terms of health protocol, pupils’ behavior, and learning gap, experience in terms of stress, and teachers’ performance in terms of learning environment and diversity of learners when grouped according to age. There is a significant difference in the perceived challenges in terms of pupils’ behavior when grouped according to highest educational attainment. There are significant differences in the perceived challenges in terms of health protocol and the teachers’ performance in terms of learning environment and diversity of learners when grouped according to the years in service. It is proposed to create responsive programs towards the challenges and experiences of teachers for more improvement of teaching quality and enhancement of the learning gaps of the pupils.

Assessing the quality of chest compressions with a DIY low-cost manikin (LoCoMan) versus a standard manikin: a quasi-experimental study in primary education

Extending the access to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to a wider public is an important step in increasing survivability of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, often price and maintenance of CPR manikins are barriers that prevent training at schools. This study aims to evaluate the learning of hands-only (HO) CPR by practicing with a low-cost manikin (LoCoMan) with visual qualitative feedback and to compare the results with the skills acquired by practice on a conventional manikin. A quasi-experimental study with 193 schoolchildren (10 to 12 years old) who were allocated to two groups: the LoCoMan group was taught via an integrative approach (science combined with physical education (PE)) and practiced on a handmade manikin, and a control group practiced in a traditional setting with a commercial manikin (Resusci Junior, Laerdal, Norway). All participants practiced for 1 hands-on skill session before performing a post-test on an instrumented CPR manikin. The outcomes including HO-CPR performance variables were compared between groups. The LoCoMan and control groups both achieved acceptable percentage of HO-CPR quality (57% and 71%, p = 0.004). Among 6th-graders, there were no significant differences in HO-CPR quality between LoCoMan 68% and control 71%, p = 0.66. The control group achieved better chest compression depth while the LoCoMan group showed more compressions with adequate chest recoil. Conclusion: Schoolchildren are able to build and use a low-cost manikin with visual feedback. The integrative learning approach used in this study may be a feasible alternative methodology for training and learning HO-CPR in schools when commercial manikins are not available.What is Known:• Access to CPR training should be universal and independent of age, location, financial means, or access to qualified instructors.• Scientific societies promote the implementation of CPR in schools, so that teachers and schoolchildren can play a multiplier role in their environment, but the gap in CPR learning is related to cultural, economic factors or access to resources and materials.What is New:• LoCoMan may be a useful device for teaching and learning CPR in schoolchildren from the age of 10 and upwards.• LOCOMAN shows that it is feasible and possible to build a low-cost manikin (about €5 in the European Region) and to integrate it into an integrative educational project, and outlines how this could be done. this approach can be an incentive for teachers to attempt teaching CPR, but also for education outside the formal environment.

Gender gap in school learning: Micro-level evidence from Morocco

The gender gap in education has been a significant concern for Moroccan policymakers and researchers, but the quantitative measurement of this gap has often been overlooked. This study specifically examines the gender gap in academic achievement in reading and mathematics at both the national and residential levels. The objective is to identify the factors that influence gender performance differences and their magnitude. To achieve this, micro-level data from 5427 students extracted from the PIRLS 2016 and TIMSS 2015 surveys were analyzed. The Blinder-Oaxaca (1973) decomposition technique was employed to assess the significance of the differences and to break down the performance gaps by incorporating explanatory variables related to schools, teachers, and students' characteristics. The results reveal a significant gender difference in favor of girls in reading, both nationally and in urban areas. In mathematics, the gender gap is not statistically significant and is approximately 3 points at the national level. Only 29% of the reading gap can be explained by the selected variables, while this percentage is around 20% for the math gap. Pre-school attendance, maternal education, schools, and schools' characteristics are identified as significant factors influencing the reading gap at the national and urban levels. In contrast, at the rural level, home conditions and the characteristics of the school and teacher play a more decisive role.

Reading motivations, strategies, and interventions of teachers in bridging learning gaps

The changes in the education landscape due to the pandemic allowed an agency for an understanding of a situation in elementary schools located in an urban poor area in the Philippines to strengthen literacy particularly in reading. While most studies on reading especially in the Philippines investigated on reading performance and ways to increase reading fluency of learners, it is important to investigate as well teachers’ motivations, strategies, and interventions. This qualitative study described teachers’ motivation, strategies and interventions to bridge learning gaps in reading. These teachers are from selected elementary schools located in the Division of San Juan City, Philippines Based on the results, teachers are motivated because they want to teach the content better and that their concern for students motivates them. Moreover, the use of various reading strategies like free reading choice, phonological activities and empathy to level with students are strengthened by interventions that are teacher, student, and community oriented.

Bridging Gaps in Teaching and Learning Biochemistry: A Qualitative Study

Objective: To identify the sources of learning gaps in biochemistry teaching and learning and explore new teaching and learning strategies, considering the students' perceptions and felt needs. Study Design: Exploratory qualitative study (Social-constructivist philosophical worldview). Place and Duration of Study: Public Sector Medical College, Pakistan, from Jul 2020 to Jul 2021. Methodology: Students from all five years of medical college were recruited voluntarily after their written consent. Ten focus group discussions were conducted, each consisting of approximately 8 to 12 participants. Each session was recorded and then later transcribed verbatim. Verbatim FGDs were reviewed, and codes were given as the concept became recognizable. A code structure was developed via an inductive approach, and then sub-themes and themes were generated. Results: Ten major themes were generated from the FGDs. These themes were teaching, students’ motivation, clinical irrelevance, educational needs, transition difficulty, attitudes, student support, senior peers, curriculum coherence, and assessment. These themes were further elucidated to explain the causes of the learning gaps and provide suggestions. Conclusion: This study concludes that teaching, students’ motivation, clinical irrelevance, educational needs, difficulty in transition, student attitude, student support, senior peers, curriculum coherence, and assessment are the potential sources of the learning gap to achieve intended learning outcomes of biochemistry for medical students.

Man and the Machine: Effects of AI-assisted Human Labeling on Interactive Annotation of Real-time Video Streams

AI-assisted interactive annotation is a powerful way to facilitate data annotation—a prerequisite for constructing robust AI models. While AI-assisted interactive annotation has been extensively studied in static settings, less is known about its usage in dynamic scenarios where the annotators operate under time and cognitive constraints, e.g., while detecting suspicious or dangerous activities from real-time surveillance feeds. Understanding how AI can assist annotators in these tasks and facilitate consistent annotation is paramount to ensure high performance for AI models trained on these data. We address this gap in interactive machine learning (IML) research, contributing an extensive investigation of the benefits, limitations, and challenges of AI-assisted annotation in dynamic application use cases. We address both the effects of AI on annotators and the effects of (AI) annotations on the performance of AI models trained on annotated data in real-time video annotations. We conduct extensive experiments that compare annotation performance at two annotator levels (expert and non-expert) and two interactive labeling techniques (with and without AI assistance). In a controlled study with \(N=34\) annotators and a follow-up study with 51,963 images and their annotation labels being input to the AI model, we demonstrate that the benefits of AI-assisted models are greatest for non-expert users and for cases where targets are only partially or briefly visible. The expert users tend to outperform or achieve similar performance as the AI model. Labels combining AI and expert annotations result in the best overall performance as the AI reduces overflow and latency in the expert annotations. We derive guidelines for the use of AI-assisted human annotation in real-time dynamic use cases.

Edge based content delivery scheme to ensure quality video streaming for online course material access in smart learning

In today’s Higher Education System (HES), Smart Learning (SL), also known as Intelligent Learning (IL) or Adaptive Learning (AL), plays an increasingly vital role. No longer is the traditional, one-size-fits-all method of education suitable for filling the several demands of students. Using SL technologies powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms can potentially revolutionize the HES. An emerging area of study, edge-based SL helps use Edge Computing (EC) to provide learners with instantaneous, specialized, and context-aware learning. Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming increasingly well-liked, and data is proliferating. Using video data as a primary source of learning content and delivering it via EC infrastructure is what is referred to as “Video Streaming (VS)” in Edge-Based Learning (EBL). By examining the importance of providing mobile video clients with a high-quality visual experience—especially considering that video streaming (VS) traffic makes up a significant amount of mobile network traffic—the research gap is filled. The proposed Content Delivery Scheme (CDS), which is based on long short-term memory, is intended to improve security and privacy protocols, accelerate network service response times, and increase application intelligence. The project intends to close the current gap in edge-based Smart Learning (SL) technologies, namely in the distribution of video material for adaptive learning in higher education, by concentrating on these elements. Given that VS traffic forms a considerable portion of mobile network traffic, this paper aims to investigate the significance of delivering a performing visual experience to mobile video clients. Fast network service response, enhanced application intelligence, and enhanced security and privacy are all made possible by the proposed LSTM-based Content Delivery Scheme (CDS). The proposed approach attains minimal stall time of 2347 ms, which outperforms the existing techniques.

Utilization of Teacher-Made Learning Activity Sheets as a Tool in Improving Learners’ Numeracy Skills: An Action Research

Developing learners’ numeracy skills has been a pressing issue in the field of education, as it is one of the battlecries of the agency along with literacy. Studies revealed that addressing these learning gaps varies widely across schools, classrooms, and learners. Moreover, students learn better through the activities that their teachers provide to them. Thus, under the Mathematics Foundation Fluency Program, a numeracy intervention program of Langkaan II National High School, teacher-made learning activity sheets were used as learning materials of the learners under numeracy intervention. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of utilizing teacher-made learning activity sheets in improving the numeracy skills of the learners particularly in Langkaan II National High School. The findings of the study will serve as a help in improving the numeracy intervention program of the school. The results revealed that there was a marked improvement in the numeracy skills of the learners as manifested in the improved scores of the learners during the post-test. Moreover, no non-numerates were reported during the end-of-the-school year numeracy assessment. Thus, using the teacher-made learning activity sheets were found to be an effective tool in improving the numeracy skills of the learners including number sense, number operations, measurement, geometry, patterns and algebra, and statistics and probability. It helped the students to cope up certain topic/lessons in basic mathematics that develops their numeracy skills. These materials can contribute to a more comprehensive program to improve the numeracy skills of the learners. Further studies may also be conducted as to other aspects relevant to the implementation of the whole program. Validation or modification of these learning materials may also be conducted for further enhancement.

The "Loss Years" of Residency Education: Overcoming COVID-19 Learning Gaps among Trainees.

The "Loss Years" of Residency Education: Overcoming COVID-19 Learning Gaps among Trainees.

Delimitation and Mitigation of Selected Gaps in Learning and Teaching

This paper explores the complex challenges, persistent problems, and unexpected setbacks within the educational ecosystem that inevitably lead to teaching and learning gaps. It analyzes the entire extent of their occurrence chain, examining what causes these weaknesses and what measures can be taken to prevent them. The paper briefl y presents learning theories, followed by contributions from major educational thinkers, notably David Paul Ausubel (1918-2008) with his concept of meaningful learning, and some teaching and learning models, with emphasis on William G. Huitt’s (1995) “A systems framework of the teaching/learning process.” On the other hand, it discusses the constructs of teaching, highlighting that the process refers to the fl ow of knowledge from teacher to student, or broadly, from the educator to the learner. It features John Dewey (1859-1952), the educator who advocated for contextualized teaching tailored to individual student interests. The paper concludes by considering the main drivers of 21st-century education and proposes some initiatives to mitigate the identifi ed problems.

E-Moticon's Effective Curriculum Revolutionizes Technical Education

This research focuses on developing an E-Moticon E-Module as a digital learning tool for classroom use in the field of basic computer network and telecommunications. Utilizing the ADDIE method, the study includes expert validation and student trials to assess the media's effectiveness. Results show an 84.31% approval rate from experts and an 82.14% acceptance rate from students, indicating high feasibility and positive reception. This E-Module addresses a knowledge gap in tailored technical learning resources and highlights the potential impact of digital media integration in enhancing classroom learning experiences. Further research is recommended to validate its broader applicability and effectiveness in larger-scale classroom settings. Highlight: Tailored Technical Resource: E-Moticon fills gaps in technical learning for classrooms. High Feasibility: Expert and student approval rates exceed 80%, validating effectiveness. Structured Development: ADDIE method ensures systematic and effective media creation. Keyword: E-Moticon, E-Module, Digital Learning, Classroom Integration, ADDIE Method

Reading processes of public and private middle school and high school students

IntroductionReading has been widely discussed, mainly due to the published results of international performance tests of schoolchildren. The gaps generated in literacy hinder the development of basic skills necessary for reading, which will have a negative impact on the teaching-learning process from elementary school to high school. This study aimed to compare the reading performance of the students in public and private schools through tests of the Brazilian reading processes-PROLEC-SE-R.MethodsCross-sectional study. The Brazilian adaptation of the PROLEC-SE-R was administered to 436 students: 221 from the state school (G1 6th year, n = 30; G2 7th year, n = 33; G3 8th year, n = 35; G4 9th year, n = 31; G5 1st year, n = 32; G6 2nd year, n = 30; G7 3rd year, n = 30) e 215 private schools (G8 6th year, n = 31; G9 7th year, n = 31; G10 8th year, n = 30; G11 9th year, n = 31; G12 1st year, n = 30; G13 2nd year, n = 31; G14 3rd year, n = 31). Tools of descriptive and bivariate analysis were used.ResultsSuperior performance of the private school students on spelling tests helps their reading as evidenced by their scores for syntactic and semantic processes. When the knowledge of the use of the word in text, extraction of meaning and its understanding was needed, the difficulty of access to the mental lexicon of the studied population became evident.ConclusionThe PROLEC-SE-R, in addition to establishing the reading profile of elementary and high school students, shows that the gaps in teaching and learning, which exist between public and private education in the literacy period, accompany students throughout the basic education cycle. Knowing the reading profile and in which process there is a disruption is important so that the teaching of specific strategies can be promoted throughout the entire schooling process, especially in primary and secondary education.

Structural Analysis of Pedagogic Mediation in a Foreign Language Classroom

Cultural diffusion and a paradigm shift from a “skill-based” approach to an “action-oriented” approach in language pedagogy transform the functions of an educator in a foreign language classroom. A language instructor accepts an intermediatory role in learners’ interactions with the environment, using language as a primary mediation tool. Thus, by being involved in varied social contexts and activities, a language educator mediates learning, communication, and sociocultural environments. This study relies on a structural analysis to investigate the mediating role of a language educator. It suggests that pedagogic mediation should be viewed as a specific form of language educators’ activity and described through three dimensions: mediating learning, mediating communication, and mediating sociocultural space. In the teaching and learning context, these dimensions manifest themselves as skills to adapt to the instructional and linguistic complexity of texts, manage interaction, facilitate communication in sensitive situations, etc. Drawing upon a phenomenological research design and qualitative methods, the study develops illustrative descriptors that can be used in a foreign language classroom to assess the patterns of social, instructional, and communicative behavior of educators. The developed descriptors allowed for exploring the self-perceptions of pre-service language teachers towards their abilities for pedagogic mediation in a foreign language classroom. The results of the study identified the learning gaps among novice language teachers that can be further addressed as learning objectives while designing a curriculum for professional training in language education.

Teaching phonics in context—stories of teachers’ practice and students’ outcomes

This article presents the outcomes of a study conducted in Victoria, Australia, that recognised teachers’ knowledge and understanding of phonics teaching, and early literacy acquisition processes more generally. In total, 45 teachers and 220 students from the 18 focus schools who engaged in the reform initiative agreed to participate in this study. The questions posed considered understandings associated with the professional learning programme and processes that support the implementation of the phonics teaching and the impact this had on students’ literacy learning. We share the data used to map teachers’ stories of change and practice and some of the key factors, including structures, practices and attitudes, that influenced the implementation. The impact on students’ reading and writing outcomes throughout the reform process are also reported. Combined, the findings indicate that the teaching of phonic knowledge, integrated into rich contexts for learning, contributed to improvements in teaching and students’ early literacy skills. Furthermore, this study fills an important and common missing gap in professional learning as it explores implementation processes and practice in the classroom. The results inform continuing reform efforts and targeted research necessary to refine phonics teaching practice and further advance students’ literacy outcomes.