Blended learning or face-to-face? Does Tutor anxiety prevent the adoption of Learning Management Systems for distance education in Ghana?

ABSTRACT

Learning Management System (LMS)-enabled blended learning has been adopted by higher educational institutions for promoting accessible and effective pedagogy and andragogical practices. The introduction of this mode of learning has altered the traditional face-to-face interaction. However, the lack of actual usage and online presence by instructors in an LMS-enabled blended learning environment seems to be a major setback for its success. Consequently, LMS-related anxiety has been cited as one of the behavioural challenges hindering its usage in Africa. Hence, this paper is focused on unravelling the antecedents of tutors’ anxiety towards actual LMS usage based on a Technology Related Stimulus-Response Theoretical Framework (TR-SR-TF). In view of this, the study employed a survey design, adopting a questionnaire as data collection instrument from 267 distance education tutors across study centres within Ghana. The results from Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique revealed three underlying factors determining LMS anxiety, namely; colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support. However, the result of the Importance Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) showed that colleague influence was the most important indicator while outcome expectation was the highest performance indicator of tutors’ LMS related anxiety. The study recommended that such factors like colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support should be consciously addressed in order to reduce (if not totally eliminate) anxiety towards LMS use for blended learning.     

Towards a policy social psychology: Teacher engagement with policy enactment and the core concept of Affective Disruption

The article uncovers the complex process of educational policy enactment and the impact this process has on teachers as policy actors as they undertake the task of introducing a new mathematics curriculum in a Canadian secondary school. The three year study based on in‐depth qualitative interviews adopts a classic grounded theory approach of concurrent iterative cycles of data collection, conceptual categorisation and analytical abstraction, to identify six emergent concepts indicative of policy actor engagement with the policy process: (1) Professional and Emotional Investment; (2) Decisional Legitimacy; (3) Hierarchical Trust; (4) System Integrity and Viability; (5) De‐professionalisation; and (6) Identity Safeguarding. Further, and significantly, the grounded theory analysis identifies the core concept of Affective Disruption, conceived as an interruption to an individual's emotional equilibrium resulting from interference to their cognitive sense‐making in relation to policy. It is proposed these six emergent concepts and Affective Disruption as a core concept are precipitated within policy actors in response to the tensions created by the process of policy enactment; the research findings moving towards what might be tentatively termed a policy social psychology.     

The (non)making/becoming of inquiry practicing science teachers

Teacher education programs have adopted preparing science teachers that teach science through inquiry as an important pedagogic agenda. However, their efforts have not met with much success. While traditional explanations for this failure focus largely on preservice science teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and conceptions regarding science and science teaching, this conceptual paper seeks to direct attention toward discursive practices surrounding inquiry science teaching in teacher education programs for understanding why most science teachers do not teach science through inquiry. The paper offers a theoretical framework centered on critical notions of subjection and performativity as a much needed perspective on making/becoming of science teachers through participation in discursive practices of science teacher education programs. It argues that research based on such perspectives have much potential to offer a deeper understanding of the difficult challenges teacher education programs face in preparing inquiry practicing science teachers.     

A Qualitative Exploration of the Tertiary Education Experiences of Refugee and Asylum Seekers in Australia

Abstract

The world currently has the highest documented level of displaced people in recorded history. This includes a large number of individuals who are spending their youth as asylum seekers or refugees, which often impedes their access to and engagement with educational pursuits. Given that education has been shown to be a fundamental factor to facilitative resettlement and acculturation for newly-arrived refugee families and individuals, continued research attempting to understand the barriers to accessing education is warranted. This study qualitatively examines the educational experiences (with a focus on access to education) of 10 refugee and asylum-seeking students in Australian tertiary education using thematic analysis on semi-structured interview data. Six themes were identified from the interviews as barriers to or facilitators in accessing education. These are: relationships, emotional well-being, logistics, knowledge, instability, and financial hardship. The findings from this study add to a limited empirical knowledge base on this topic, and improve our understanding of the experiences of accessing education for students with refugee backgrounds. This is discussed in relation to its implications for institutes and policy makers.     

The challenges of the faculty members’ commitment: The role of university brand

Commitment in the knowledge‐intensive sectors has today become a key organisational dilemma as well as a serious managerial concern. In the university setting, faculty members’ commitment to various stakeholder bases and the subsequent implications have hitherto been studied only to a limited extent. Through a quantitative survey, this paper studies university professors’ various modes of commitment and investigates the role of university brand in the context of Iranian universities. The findings reveal that university professors with higher level of professional commitment tend to be more organisationally committed. Furthermore, it is shown that university brand can increase the impact of professional commitment on organisational commitment.     

Within‐Family Relations in Objective Sleep Duration,Quality, and Schedule

The current study examined within‐family relations between mothers’, fathers’, and children's objectively assessed sleep. Participants were 163 children (M_age = 10.45 years; SD = 0.62) and their parents. For 7 nights, families wore actigraphs to assess sleep duration (minutes), quality (efficiency, long wake episode, total wake minutes), and schedule (wake time). A sleep log assessed bedtime. Multilevel models indicated that children's sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, wake minutes, and wake time were associated with fluctuations in their mothers’, but not fathers’, sleep that same night. The duration and quality of mothers’ sleep was associated with both fathers’ and children's sleep that night, whereas fathers’ sleep was positively associated with only mothers’ sleep. Findings highlight the importance of examining sleep within a family context.     

Overexpression of the phytochrome B gene from Arabidopsis thaliana increases plant growth and yield of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

The phytochrome B (PHYB) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana was introduced into cotton through Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Integration and expression of PHYB gene in cotton plants were confirmed by molecular evidence. Messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in one of the transgenic lines, QCC11, was much higher than those of control and other transgenic lines. Transgenic cotton plants showed more than a two-fold increase in photosynthetic rate and more than a four-fold increase in transpiration rate and stomatal conductance. The increase in photosynthetic rate led to a 46% increase in relative growth rate and an 18% increase in net assimilation rate. Data recorded up to two generations, both in the greenhouse and in the field, revealed that overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana PHYB gene in transgenic cotton plants resulted in an increase in the production of cotton by improving the cotton plant growth, with 35% more yield. Moreover, the presence of the Arabidopsis thaliana PHYB gene caused pleiotropic effects like semi-dwarfism, decrease in apical dominance, and increase in boll size.     

Does Parental Involvement Matter for Student Achievement and Mental Health in High School?

Parental involvement in education remains important for facilitating positive youth development. This study conceptualized parental involvement as a multidimensional construct—including school‐based involvement, home‐based involvement, and academic socialization—and examined the effects of different types of parental involvement in 10th grade on student achievement and depression in 11th grade (approximately ages 15–17 years). In addition, this study tested whether parental involvement influenced adolescent outcomes by increasing their academic engagement in school. A total of 1,056 adolescents participated in the study (51% males; 53% European American, 40% African American, and 7% other). Parental involvement was found to improve academic and emotional functioning among adolescents. In addition, parental involvement predicted adolescent academic success and mental health both directly and indirectly through behavioral and emotional engagement.