ABSTRACT: Student evaluation of teaching surveys (SETS) is one of the most controversial tools used in higher education, globally. Recently the impact that SETS had on innovation in pedagogy has been raised as a potential problem. The teaching team experienced a gap between the SETS results generated for a final-year undergraduate class that utilized flipped learning as the innovation and an empirical research project using the same cohort of students that investigated the effectiveness of that pedagogy. Accordingly, from 2014, we established this crosssectional sequential study over seven semesters to understand how students used the SETS after experiencing this innovation. We conducted a thematic analysis on the 588 SETS results from a final-year undergraduate class studying at an Australian university and found resisting students used the SETS as a weapon with adoption of the innovation of the prime casualty. We recommend SETS be tailored for use where students experience innovation in pedagogy as the use of SETS by students may undermine the adoption of otherwise effective pedagogy and impact the willingness of faculty to pursue innovation in pedagogy.

ABSTRACT: The goal of this research study was to investigate the effects of D.A. Kolb’s active experimentation stage of experiential learning theory (ELT) on teacher professional development. This qualitative interpretive phenomenological study addressed the problem of teachers’ desires for effective professional learning experiences to improve student learning and instruction in the classroom. The research questions explored the perceptions of private school teachers regarding professional development sessions, specifically in the context of active experimentation. The study aimed to investigate the advantages of promoting a professional culture of continuous learning and teamwork among teachers through various methods such as lab classrooms, peer observation, professional learning communities, and peer coaching. The study adopts a descriptive approach utilizing focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews for data collection. Purposeful sampling was used to determine the sample and criterion sampling was used to select the participants. Biographic data were collected to provide background information about the participants involved. The biographic data allowed for stratification enabling the examination of various factors connected to the aim of the study. The study focused on understanding the benefits of providing teacher support through active experimentation during professional development sessions. Results showed that although teachers did not explicitly reference ELT when discussing effective strategies during professional development sessions, they referenced the value of hands-on, active participation in realclassroom stimulations during teacher professional development. The study’s findings also indicate a need for creating a consistent framework for professional development sessions that includes active learning, teacher collaboration, and continuous support in a culture anchored in trust.

ABSTRACT: Research indicates differences between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority groups in Israel in terms of academic achievements. Some explanations refer to cultural and social differences between the groups, which are expressed in greater reliance on
family support among the students of Arab origin. The present research examined the relationship between social support from family and friends and first-year grades of undergraduates studying together. In order to examine these questions, 204 students studying together were examined, half of them of Arab origin and half of them of Jewish average. For all the subjects, grades over time, the degree of social support, and a number of other variables were examined. The findings indicate a complex association between level of social support and student grades. Among students who sensed a high level of threat, social support actually correlated with lower grade levels. This effect was found mainly regarding family support among the students of Arab origin and mainly regarding support from friends among the students of Jewish origin.

ABSTRACT: In Japanese language classrooms, students have become more globalised in terms of the students’ educational and life experience background. Teaching pedagogies which have been used before globalisation may not be appropriate and effective for students after globalisation. The aim of this study is to investigate any cultural identity characteristics of students who studied Japanese at two British universities in the South of England between 2012 and 2023. The significance of this study is to investigate how students’ individualist or collectivist cultural background may affect students’ cultural identity. Participants were a total of 22 students who studied Japanese language through an Institution-Wide Language Programme. The majority of these students have studied Japanese for a minimum of 1–3 years. The data were collected between 2012/13 and 2022/23 academic year from two British universities. The research design to investigate students’ cultural identity characteristics was a mixed method, using variables such as hometown, languages they speak, their values and their first name. Students’ origin, where they were born and where they were educated, was also taken into consideration to analyse the data. The key finding of students’ characteristic was that students’ identification was closely related to their sense of belonging in the results of students’ hometown, languages they speak, their values and their first name, which is in line with other previous research results in the literature. Other findings included that some of the students found it difficult to determine their hometown, that the majority of students were multilingual who have experience in several language learning, that students’ values were often influenced by their parents’ individualist or collectivist cultural values and that students’ first names often showed the students’ identification and a sense of belonging. Taking into consideration the individualist or collectivist culture, recommendations are discussed on how the language teaching practitioners may be able to support the sense of belonging of the current students who have diverse educational and life background.

ABSTRACT: Sub-Saharan Africa having remained economically poor throughout its more than sixty years of independence and relying on the finding that the acquisition of a high level of digital and entrepreneurship skills tends to create wealth for nations in modern times, this study investigates the extent to which sub-Saharan Africa’s higher education institutions may leverage the facilitation of the learning of digital technologies and entrepreneurship for Africa’s economic emancipation through lifelong learning. The work carried out at the level of eight (8) lifelong learning outfits of eight (8) premier universities drawn from the four (4) regions of sub-Saharan Africa is scrutinized through the administration of a six (6)-item questionnaire with a view to establish whether or not Africa’s higher education institutions are currently facilitating the learning of digital technologies and entrepreneurship through lifelong learning to a level that may promote Africa’s economic emancipation. The findings of the current study are that sub-Saharan Africa (i). possesses very few higher education institutions in comparison to the global average, (ii). is yet to prioritize lifelong learning both nationally and at the higher education level, and (iii). is incapable to produce the needed population of digital and entrepreneurship graduates that may propel its economic emancipation as a result of its current level of neglect of lifelong learning.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, calls for modernization have increased, with subjects being introduced from basic and secondary education levels to Islamic university institutions. This is particularly relevant for studies on Islamic education through Bibliometrics analysis. This current study aims to create a Bibliometrics research trend mapping with respect to the modernization of Islamic education. The study is empirical in the sense that it seeks to rely on the use of data in a bid to establish the number of articles on modernizing Islamic education that have been published in some countries around the world. In the study dataset, data analysis was done with the help of R-Tool Bibliometrics and displayed with Vosviewer. The relevant articles to the research of modernized Islamic education have contributed to Bibliometrics mapping with 197 relevant articles from 160 different journals in the period from 1965 to 2022 using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer. The leading authors who have written on this topic include Mukhibat, Hidayatulla Azra, and La Hadisi. The VOSviewer shows that most of the research trends were on the subject of Islamic education. The words “Indonesia,” “Turkey,” and “Egypt” in this illustration lead to the impression that most of the work in relation to modernization of Islamic education is done from these three countries. These findings highlight the key contributors and regional focus of research on modernizing Islamic education, providing insights for policymakers and educators working to align traditional Islamic values with contemporary educational frameworks. The study provides a foundation for future research exploring successful strategies to synthesize religious principles with modern pedagogical practices in diverse contexts