Practical Aspects Of Learning Research Articles

Subject and Classroom-based Teacher Forums in the Realm of Teacher Professionalism in Indonesia

The demands of education in today’s world undeniably requires the presence of professional teachers who are knowledgeable, skillful, independent, creative, innovative, visionary, and character. This premise accentuates that teachers at all level of education need to acquire at least four main competences: professional, pedagogic, social, and personal. These main competences would enable them to perform current expected teaching demands. The article employs theories of professional development and social constructivist learning in which social and practical aspects of learning and teaching are taken into account. It draws on personal observations, reflections on current events, and experience of the authors while taking into accounts some empirical findings of researchers in the field of education. Given the central role of professional teachers in the era of industrial revolution 4.0, the article discusses three main issues in regards to current teaching and learning realms: a) teacher professionalism; b) challenges to teaching profession in contemporary world and how teachers deal with them; and c) urgency for effective Subject-based Teacher Forum - STF and Classroom-based Teachers Work Group - CTWG that are expected to support teachers to achieve their professional goals. Hence, the article is expected to provide conceptual and practical information regarding teacher professionalism and its challenges and how STF and CTWG forums support teachers to perform their teaching tasks and responsibilities and overcome the ever-increasing challenges to teaching setting in contemporary educational settings. In particular, the article informs the urgent needs of teachers’ forums which are able to promote teacher professionalism and provide solutions for the improvement of learning and teaching practices in Indonesia.

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The article analyzes the features of the use of case technology in the process of preparing future heads of general secondary education institutions for use in further practical activities of pedagogical management technologies. The purpose, algorithm of application are defined, the example of a case with reflective questions to it is resulted, efficiency is outlined, shortcomings and advantages of application of case technology in professional training are specified. It is revealed that this technology is a set of a whole system of methods. Among them: modeling, structuring, algorithmization, analysis, synthesis, role play of the situation, abstraction, concretization, idealization, decomposition, imaginary experiment, problem method, discussion, compromise, comparison, argumentation, generalization, etc. It was found that the use of case technology in the system of training future heads of general secondary education on the one hand, allows to establish a synergy of theoretical and practical aspects of learning, stimulates individual activity of applicants, forms a positive motivation to learn, interest in management, reduces the number of �passive� and insecure students, provides high efficiency of training and development of future professionals, forms certain personal and managerial qualities and competencies; and on the other hand, it enables the teacher himself: to improve himself, to think and act differently and to modernize his own professional potential. Key words: case, technology, professional training, future leader, pedagogical management.

Project-based learning (PBL): outcomes of students’ engagement in an external consultancy project in Oman

PurposeProject-Based Learning (PBL) is an innovative approach to learning that employs a multitude of strategies critical for success in the twenty-first century. It exposes students to the real world, opens an extended inquiry process, and boosts their communication skills and interdisciplinary learning. However, the extant literature on PBL places more emphasis on learning through internal rather than external projects. Industrial collaboration projects build partnerships and provide opportunities to work on real problems, often seeking multidisciplinary approaches. This study explores and suggests the benefits that students derived from their participation in an external research and consultancy project at a University in Oman.Design/methodology/approachThe study follows a qualitative analysis approach founded on an exploratory research design. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten research assistants, two research coordinators, and two project leaders involved in the project. The data from the interview were subjected to the thematic inductive qualitative analysis using Atlas.ti 8 software.FindingsThe results of the study revealed that students derived some direct academic benefits, mainly in the area of conducting research. The major learning happened mostly in non-academic areas, for they learned many things necessary for success in real-life work situations. The students benefited largely on behavioural skills and abilities such as communication, self-confidence, English language skills, planning, thinking, and time management skills. Altogether, project-based learning offered them a different skillset beyond what they usually acquire in the conventional teaching and learning environment.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of this research support the development of curriculum design and instructional pedagogy in higher education in a specific context, concluding that PBL has much to do with the practical aspects of learning and employability. The finding suggests that by engaging in PBL, students can develop certain skills that cannot be acquired in a conventional teaching environment. PBL enables self-learning and prepares students to deal with different situations and challenges on the ground while inculcating professionalism to act in real-life situations. This study advocates the introduction of some PBL based courses in the curriculum to nurture a balanced set of skills and abilities among business students.Social implicationsThe research outcomes support Oman’s Vision 2040 and one of its strategies for capacity building that aims to adopt innovative methods for individual/collective development of students, as well as for their life-long learning.Originality/valueProject-based learning described in this study provides a pedagogical way to connect university education to a real-life situation. These results offer promising prospects for infusing outdoor multidisciplinary projects in the course curriculum. This work bears significant value for educators in designing curriculum and facilitating projects, particularly in environments where students exhibit weaknesses or inhibitions to receive the knowledge, appropriately, from the conventional mode of teaching.

Mentoring in Clinical Placements: Conceptualization of Role and Its Impact on Practices

ABSTRACTAlthough the call for increased clinical experiences is clear and the influence of clinical preparation is recognized as the most influential portion of teacher preparation programs, more attention is being directed at investigating the role of cooperating teachers in the transformation of clinical practices. This study focused on how cooperating teachers understand their role and how this internalized conceptualization influenced the cooperating teachers’ externalized practices within a teacher preparation program. The results point toward a need to develop learning partnerships to extend mentoring practices beyond the practical aspects of learning to teach toward collaborative inquiry across the mentoring system that is in alignment with broader teacher preparation outcomes.

Learning Practices in a Higher Learning Institute in United States

Abstract This study is an attempt to assess the level of learning practices among undergraduate and postgraduate students in a higher learning institute in the United States. The sample population comprised 181 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 22 instructors from the School of Education. Questionnaires using a 6 point Likert-scale were administered to all 203 respondents whilst interviews were conducted with 5 undergraduates, postgraduates and instructors. In addition, document analysis was also conducted on the syllabus used for the 12 courses. Descriptive analysis indicated that most of the learning practices (dimensions or overall) recorded above moderate level in higher education. Overall, students exhibited high levels of learning obligation, but moderate levels of learning effort and collaboration in learning. Therefore, in an effort to raise the current level of effort and collaboration in learning among the students might entail increasing the scores on each dimension of the two main aspects of learning practices appropriately. More efforts have to be considered to increase the levels of learning effort and collaboration in learning among the students. This suggestion is made on the basis that takes into consideration that these two dimensions were found to be experienced at a relatively lower level than the dimension of learning obligation. This observation informs us that steps need to be taken when planning intervention programs to raise the overall level of learning effort and collaboration in learning among students in higher education.

Machine learning in agent-based stochastic simulation: Inferential theory and evaluation in transportation logistics

Multiagent-based simulation is an approach to realize stochastic simulation where both the behavior of the modeled multiagent system and dynamic aspects of its environment are implemented with autonomous agents. Such simulation provides an ideal environment for intelligent agents to learn to perform their tasks before being deployed in a real-world environment. The presented research investigates theoretical and practical aspects of learning by autonomous agents within stochastic agent-based simulation. The theoretical work is based on the Inferential Theory of Learning, which describes learning processes from the perspective of a learner’s goal as a search through knowledge space. The theory is extended for approximate and probabilistic learning to account for the situations encountered when learning in stochastic environments. Practical aspects are exemplified by two use cases in autonomous logistics: learning predictive models for environment conditions in the future, and learning in the context of evolutionary plan optimization.

Leisure of the Aged and Social Development: An Indian Model

The world today has two types of situations: 1. countries which are facing an increase in the number of aged as against the young, 2. countries having larger younger populations with not enough possibilities for the aged to share their experience and be an integral part of society. Traditional societies had highly evolved methods, and theoretical frameworks, of not only integrating the older persons but also gaining from their experience by enabling them to share their wisdom with others in a structured yet leisurely mode. The objective of this paper would be to draw on the Indian philosophical system to explore the methodology devised therein for suggesting a model for today's problems. It will also suggest modes of networking, internationally, as well as across the age groups so that the integration may be a) meaningful, b) provide possibilities for inter-cultural learning. The paper is based on the wisdom drawn from classical Indian texts—the Upanishads, Epics and the Dharma Shastras. It draws on the section concerning Ashrama Dharma which divides the duration of individual human life into four stages, each having different responsibilities and obligations suited to that particular state. Ashrama Dharma enables the preparation for the next stage in the foregoing stages and this allows for a total integration of the different ages, both at individual and social levels. In keeping with the vedantic tradition, which lays emphasis on the experiential and practical aspects of learning, the paper suggests methods of implementing the theory thus proposed.