What drives m-learning? An empirical investigation of university student perceptions in Pakistan

M-learning is gaining popularity in formal and informal education, both in developed and developing countries. Specifically it can be an effective tool to overcome digital divide in developing countries. The success of m-learning at tertiary level depends on the perception of students towards this form of learning. A scientific approach was used in this study to explore the critical factors responsible for m-learning adoption among university students. The findings of this study, based on 628 valid survey responses, have both theoretical and practical implications for researchers and policy-makers.     

An investigation of prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ conceptual knowledge of and attitudes towards statistics

The development of statistical literacy is fast becoming the focus of a large part of mathematics instruction at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This broadening of the mathematics curriculum to encompass a focus on statistics makes considerable demands on teachers. Most mathematics teachers acknowledge the practical importance of statistics and are willing to give more relevance to the teaching of statistics; however, many mathematics teachers do not consider themselves well prepared to teach statistics. The aims of this study were to investigate the conceptual understanding of statistics of prospective secondary mathematics teachers; the nature of their attitudes towards statistics and if there was a relationship between attitude towards statistics and conceptual understanding of statistics. Conceptual understanding was measured using a standard assessment instrument (comprehensive assessment of outcomes in a first statistics course) which allows comparison across other disciplines. Despite being very mathematically able and confident, the prospective mathematics teachers in this study do no better in the assessment than students from other (mostly non-quantitative) disciplines. This, perhaps, gives further evidence that statistical thinking is different from mathematical thinking and that a strong background in mathematics does not necessarily translate to statistical thinking. Conceptual knowledge was poor in some fundamental areas of statistics such as being able to properly describe the distribution of a quantitative variable and data production. The attitudes of these teachers towards statistics were measured using a widely used instrument (survey of attitudes towards statistics). The results indicate generally positive attitudes but an acknowledgement that statistics is not a subject quickly learned by everyone and requires discipline to learn. No strong correlation was found between attitudes and conceptual knowledge. It is recommended that in order to improve teacher knowledge, teacher education programmes must include tailored modules in statistics and highlight the differences between mathematical and statistical thinking.     

Do outreach activities in secondary STEM education motivate students and improve their attitudes towards STEM?

The present study investigated outreach activities, developed by STEM-based companies or universities in co-creation with secondary education with the aim to inform students about and motivate them for a career in STEM by connecting the work-context with school-science. Although many of such activities are being offered, little is known about their effects. We investigated students’ perceptions with the outreach learning environment, perceived need-fulfilment, self-reported motivation and attitudes towards STEM. Data were gathered from 729 high-school students engaged in 12 activities in the USA and the Netherlands. The students completed a questionnaire, which contained questions about four elements of our theoretical frame based on the Self-Determination-Theory (SDT). Perceived needs-fulfilment and motivation were measured using the basic-psychological-needs-scale and the self-regulation-questionnaire. Attitudes were measured using the test-of-science-related-attitudes. Learning environment perceptions were measured in a previous study using subscales of what-is-happing-in-this-classroom (WIHIC), constructivist-learning-environments-scale (CLES) and classroom-environment-scale (CES) and typified by activity characteristics. Multilevel analyses of variance were conducted for the two motivation scales (controlled and autonomous-motivation) and the two attitude scales (social-implication and career-interest). Activity characteristics explained almost all variance in these variables between activities. Specific characteristics of outreach activities that statistically significantly related to autonomous motivation and positive general attitudes towards STEM were: workshop-format, understanding science, an out-of-school component. The attitude towards a possible STEM-career was positively associated with autonomous-motivation and negatively associated with controlled-motivation. Thus, outreach learning environments indeed created opportunities to increase students’ motivation in STEM and attitude towards STEM, but the impact varied according to particular characteristics of the activities.     

What influences Chinese undergraduates’ time management in online groupwork? An empirical investigation

The present investigation examines models of factors influencing time management in online groupwork for Chinese undergraduates. Multilevel findings showed that time management was positively related to five individual-level variables, including online courses taken previously, learning-oriented reasons, arranging the environment, help-seeking and feedback. Furthermore, at the group level, time management was positively correlated with feedback and learning-oriented reasons. Our investigation suggests that results concerning feedback and arranging the environment have the potential to be applicable in cross-cultural settings. It further suggests that time management may be influenced by cultural differences (eg value of education and polychromic time orientation). Finally, our result concerning help seeking lends empirical support to the theoretical claim that seeking help may serve to enhance individuals’ efforts to manage their work, in the context of Chinese undergraduates’ time management in online groupwork.     

What is global education and where is it taking us?

Global education began as a movement to reform education and society in the 1960s and 1970s, through the work of educationalists, NGOs and also intergovernmental organisations. The global approach seeks to break with a curriculum that is grounded in subject knowledge and national culture. Instead, it seeks to explore alternative rationales for education and alternate futures. A second wave of global or international education occurred from the 1990s alongside discussion of globalisation, which brought the movement into mainstream education. One of the characteristics of global/international education is its ambiguity. It seeks to break with the past curriculum, but it is not always clear what will take its place. For some, preparing young people for the global market is foremost, while others aim to facilitate the child's sense of himself or herself as a personal being. What is common to both is a desire to challenge the boundaries that previously gave meaning to education (especially theoretical knowledge and culture) and a search for meaning and opportunity in the projection of power beyond national boundaries. We conclude by questioning whether children are adequately prepared to act as global citizens without an education based on academic knowledge and an ethical framework that is culturally grounded.     

Are there demonstration effects of fiscal expenditures on higher education in China? An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the spatial demonstration effects of local governments' fiscal expenditures on higher education in China. Using regional panel data from 1999 to 2015 and spatial econometric models, this paper finds that the developed region of Eastern China has not shown greater willingness to spend on higher education than the less developed regions of Central and Western China. Local governments' fiscal expenditures on higher education have significant spatial demonstration effects, which are strongest in Central China. The attenuation boundary test shows that, as the economic distance increases, the demonstration effect becomes weaker. Econometric models, including the interaction of economic growth and the spatial lag term show that the demonstration effect is enhanced by economic growth. Henceforth, this paper concludes that, to increase fiscal expenditures on higher education in China and save incentive costs, with the local governments being the main investors, the central government can achieve the goal of increasing the total fiscal expenditures on higher education by exerting the spatial demonstration effect. It will eventually drive local governments to spend more on higher education by strongly encouraging others beforehand.     

Is it all memory recall? An empirical investigation of intellectual skill requirements in Leaving Certificate examination papers in Ireland

The terminal examination of post-primary education in Ireland, the Leaving Certificate, is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher order thinking skills in the assessment process. In order to examine the evidence base for these critiques, this article presents an empirical investigation of the intellectual skills and knowledge domains implicit in the tasks in the written examination papers of 23 subjects in the Leaving Certificate in Ireland from 2005 to 2010. Data were collected from two sources: examination papers and student interviews. In an in-depth document analysis of the examination papers, 14,910 occurrences of command verbs were coded for the intellectual skill and knowledge domains required by the assessment task. As the same verb can require different intellectual skills in different subjects and in different tasks, each occurrence of every verb was assigned a specific value depending on its context. The article presents the frequencies and distributions of intellectual skills and knowledge domains within and across subjects. In light of key points in the literature search, the findings indicate concern regarding the level of challenge and stimulation for the development of students of the Leaving Certificate.     

What do I think about inclusive education? It depends on who is asking. Experimental evidence for a social desirability bias in attitudes towards inclusion

Recently, research has focused on attitudes towards inclusive education, and the majority of studies use questionnaires to measure this vital variable. In two consecutive experiments, we showed that attitudes towards inclusive education are not stable but instead are significantly influenced by social context. We manipulated information on the organisation conducting a survey regarding attitudes of participants towards inclusive education. The results show that the attitude of the organisation conducting the survey – as perceived by the participant – outperforms well-documented variables (e.g. sex, age, and contact to a person with disability) in predicting the attitudes of the participant towards inclusion. This one variable explains as much variance as all other predictors combined. We argue that social desirability is a neglected issue in research on attitudes towards inclusive education. Our findings challenge the validity of numerous studies on this topic because they show a positive bias in the attitudes of participants when they were surveyed by a university. Thus, we outline the first steps to reduce social desirability-induced validity problems in research on attitudes towards inclusion.     

Where have all the flowers gone? An investigation into the retention of religious education teachers

The authors dedicate this article to the memory of Canon Gordan Pavey 1919–2007: priest, teacher and loving friend.

This article reports on an investigation into the retention of secondary religious education teachers trained at one institution over a ten‐year period. The initial hypothesis was that many of these teachers would no longer be teaching, or would no longer be teaching religious education. However, the authors found that a high percentage of respondents were still teaching religious education. The article then analyses the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that underlie this finding. Factors affecting retention are described and illustrated, making extensive use of qualitative data. The authors found that the overriding reason for continuing to teach religious education, despite the discouragements, was commitment to the subject: love of subject, belief in the value of the subject for pupils, a sense of vocation. The authors suggest therefore that, should these findings be replicated in other studies, a more useful hypothesis might be that a strong sense of vocation is a predominant factor in the retention of religious education teachers.     

What is an affordance and can it help us understand the use of ICT in education?

This paper revisits the concept of affordance and explores its contribution to an understanding of the use of ICT for teaching and learning. It looks at Gibson’s original idea of affordance and at some of the difficulties long associated with the use of the word. It goes on to describe the translation of the concept of affordance into the field of design through the work, in particular, of Norman. The concept has since been translated into research concerning ICT and further opportunities and difficulties emerge. The paper locates key points of divergence within the usage of ‘affordance’, as involving direct perception, invariant properties and complementarity. It concludes by arguing that affordance offers a distinctive perspective on the use of ICT in education because of its focus on possibilities for action.     

Private secondary schools in Indonesia: What is driving the demand?

Despite recent evidence that students in public schools significantly outperform their private school counterparts, private schooling continues to account for approximately 40% of secondary school enrolments in Indonesia. In an effort to explain this sustained demand, we combine analyses of PISA data with in-country interviews and school visits. Ultimately, we find that although government dependent private schools are underfunded with a high proportion of uncertified, underpaid teachers (with limited access to training and professional development), demand remains high due to their focus on religious training and education, as well as their ability to increase educational access for low-income families.     

‘I will do it but religion is a very personal thing’: teacher education applicants’ attitudes towards teaching religion in Ireland

There has been extensive research internationally describing teachers’ homogenous socio-demographic backgrounds and critiquing the associated equity and diversity issues, most especially with regard to ethnicity and gender, and to a lesser extent, social class and disability. Yet, teachers’ religious affiliations and/or convictions have rarely been explored. Since 96% of state primary schools in Ireland are denominational, considering religious diversity in teaching is both critically important and a complex undertaking. This paper examines primary initial teacher education (ITE) applicants’ religiosity, and views of teaching religion, in Ireland. Our data suggest low levels of religious practice and religiosity among ITE applicants, many of whom would prefer to teach religion using a non-confessional approach. The paper raises critical questions regarding the experiences, constitutional rights and professional practice of increasingly secular and/or non-practicing Catholic teacher cohorts in a predominantly Catholic primary education system that has survived the trend towards progressive ‘unchurching’ of Europe.