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Purpose: This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-based English textbooks and question papers in developing second-language higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive analysis establishes a causal relationship between learning objectives and second language (L2) writing proficiency. Content analysis is used to compare and analyze tabulated data for textbooks and question papers for the English language by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and CBSE. This method categorizes the materials and their assessments under HOTS and lower-order thinking skills to ascertain the relationship between learning objectives and L2 writing proficiency. Findings: The study highlights teaching material and assessment shortcomings and their alignment with learning outcomes to enhance students' writing skills. It underscores the need for HOTS-focused materials, discussing their impact on writing skills. The study also explores how textbook-question paper mismatch hampers Bloom's taxonomy-based cognitive skills. Practical implications: This research illuminates the efficacy of teaching and learning English as a second language (ESL) writing skills to improve the quality of education, which has real-world implications. The study highlights flaws in the educational system in India and suggests curricular and pedagogical changes. Originality/value: The research examines NCERT and CBSE ESL textbooks and question papers to align teaching and assessment methods. The results aim to improve education through ESL writers' HOTS.

The paper examines how new age pedagogies and neoliberal policies consciously work towards "naturalizing" English language's hegemony in institutions of Higher Education (IHE) in India. An ethnographic study the paper foregrounds the precarious positioning of non-English Indian languages "vis-à-vis" the pervading discourses of internationalization and education as job/skill oriented. Hegemony of English in the present is coupled with a restructuring of language departments as well as fleeting market demands for human capital. The paper also brings into question the role of the Internet and related technologies in reorganizing the linguistic dynamics of HE. Instead of democratizing, the Internet produces new monopolies in knowledge production, controls knowledge traffic from global North to South and further legitimizes the language hegemony. The paper argues that, in the last two decades, the neoliberal rupture has been leading HE institutions to a death of vernaculars within their physical, cultural and academic spaces.

The technology-supported education systems seamlessly integrated throughout the globe in response to the demands of post COVID-19 pandemic. The swift developments of the digital tools with Artificial Intelligence (AI) support are also readily diffused among the educational communities. This research paper investigates the synergistic impact of digital literacy, the incorporation of AI tools, and Peer Supported Collaborative Learning (PSCL) on the learning perceptions of university students. The research aims to discern the implications of these technological and social facets on students' attitudes towards AI assisted learning process. Structured questionnaire-based survey among the University students were done for this descriptive research. 409 responses collected were analysed with SPSS, Excel and Process Macro. It is found that the students' Digital Literacy, Use of AI tools and PSCL on AI assisted learning were positively correlated. The partial mediatory path through the PSCL and AI tool usage has a significant positive influence on students learning process. The insights gathered from this study can inform educators, policymakers, and institutions on optimizing the amalgamation of digital literacy, AI tools and PSCL to enhance the contemporary learning environment. As universities navigate the digital age, this research provides a nuanced understanding of the dynamics shaping students' perceptions, offering valuable insights into the multifaceted aspects of AI influencing the educational landscape.

Aim and Objectives: Although inclusive education of children with intellectual disability is currently an accepted practice, it is often challenged by negative attitude of schoolteachers. We undertook two surveillance studies aimed at Study A - identifying knowledge and teachers' attitudes towards children with intellectual disability and practices of inclusive education in a semi-urban school of South India. Study B -Determining the effect of educational intervention towards attitudes on inclusive education. Method: Knowledge, Attitude and Practice surveillance questionnaires (KAP and ATPD) were given to ninety-six consenting schoolteachers in Study A and twenty schoolteachers in Study B and analyzed. Results: In Study A, the overall attitude mean indicated a favorable attitude towards the children with intellectual disability. The mean overall attitude score was 77.1 (SD: 9.58), with a normal distribution. Forty to fifty percent were aware of intellectual disability and attributed them to biological causes. Ninety-two percent agreed on the need for education and stepwise training for a child with an intellectual disability. In real-life practice, results of classroom management were inaccurate. In Study B, knowledge, attitudes and practices towards inclusive education improved with educational intervention with a positive change of 7.19% on the ATDP scale. Conclusion: These findings suggest a generally positive attitude towards intellectual disability and inclusive education. Comprehensive training programs improve knowledge and attitudes towards inclusive education.

Research article publication is often considered a critical indicator of academic institutions' success and productivity. It improves the institution's reputation, attracts talented students and faculty members, and increases the institution's chances of receiving funding opportunities from different funding agencies. This paper provides a reliable and sustainable methodology for improving the quality and quantity of research article publications for engineering institutions in India. The various tools, techniques, and initiatives that promote research culture and improve its outcome in terms of research papers are also discussed. A case study of Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering (PCCOE), Pune, India, depicts how predictive, prescriptive, descriptive, and diagnostic data analytics approaches help to identify the barriers in the research article publications in academic institutions and provides the ways to overcome them. It also helps to set the publication targets and develop the path to perceive the targets. The outcomes and effectiveness of the case study are discussed using the papers published in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The challenges, opportunities, and recommendations are also provided for the smooth and effective implementation of the developed methodologies.

As universities shifted to online education with the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, both pedagogy and assessment patterns across disciplines underwent a change, with a shift towards collaborative digital assessments. In this context, using qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection from an assessment conducted for 55 students who worked in groups to create YouTube videos on pre-selected modules, our analysis reveals that this assessment tool had a significant impact on peer learning, motivation and group dynamics. Students were more motivated to learn and share their learning, and they could also successfully engage in recognising and addressing group dynamics, thereby cultivating more than just subject knowledge. This finding aligns with existing scholarship and the paper adds to research about pedagogy and assessment via digital education in the Indian context, which is still upcoming.

There is an ever-increasing demand for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to engage with the challenges of the changing labour market contexts and trends, such as the Fifth Industrial Revolution and the new normal. However, a major criticism is that higher education institutions do not often prepare graduates for real-life contexts. For that reason, it is not surprising that graduate employability and the competencies required have become the primary concerns of HEIs. Often, we see the phrases "competency" and "employability" presented in the literature as essential requirements for graduates to attain gainful employment streams. Some studies also present them as interrelated concepts. However, we seldom find studies that unravel their intertwined relationships. This article tries to bridge this gap by looking into the role of HEIs in promoting the development of competencies for employability. We used a structured questionnaire to collect the quantitative data from 389 postgraduate students enrolled in a generic stream from an Indian State, Kerala. This paper proposes and tests a structural model of relationships between the perceived competencies of the postgraduates and their perceived career preparedness and, subsequently, perceived employability. This paper also highlights the need to reimagine tertiary education to suit the demands of changing times.

This paper reports the findings from a pre- and post-survey of participants and interviews with a small number of course members. A three-day course of training in qualitative research methods was delivered to a cohort of inexperienced researchers, all of whom were working in the field of special educational needs and disability, in Kolkata, India. The study examines the effectiveness of the training, taking into account the teaching methods used and the structure of the workshop. The findings suggest that emerging researchers prefer a hands-on workshop approach to more traditional lecture delivery of research training. The levels of support provided by tutors and the interaction with practical activities using bespoke resources found favour with participants. Following the training workshop, members expressed greater confidence in their ability to use qualitative research methods and understood the relation of this approach to quantitative studies. Some who completed the course have begun to conduct independent research investigations using the methods taught.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India reframed the present structure of higher education such as syllabi, examinations, and assessments. Due to the pandemic, many educational and research institutions are building a knowledge and skill-based curriculum and designing new credit-based courses, while encouraging students to attend online courses as a way to meet the recommendations of NEP. Any e-learning platform or online course has four basic components: Videos, Activities, Additional Reading Material, and Discussions, with Additional Reading Material being a more important component. Online courses that are open to everyone (MOOCs) can be adopted irrespective of the students' specialization or area. The instructor provides the reading material to the learners as a fixed, recommended list irrespective of the learner's interest or specialization. Instructors are finding it difficult to cater to the diversity of learners' interests and learning styles. In this paper, I have focused and analyzed the additional reading material and digital reading patterns of learners in various MOOC platforms by conducting online surveys. I concluded that there is a need to use learning eXtension Trajectories (LxT) in the learner-centric MOOC model where an instructor can identify various supportive domains and provide a shortened list of resources comprising various media to the learners.

The review article presents an analysis of the literature on environmental literacy in sustainable development. By utilizing techniques to examine multiple documents published between 2013 and 2023, including citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, subject area analysis, and keyword analysis, this study aims to provide valuable information and insights into the research landscape surrounding environmental literacy and its contribution to promoting sustainable development. A systematic search was conducted to gather several scientific articles, conference papers, and publications from the Scopus database from 2013 to 2023. The findings of this analysis shed light on authors, influential institutions, and active research groups that contributed to the study of environmental literacy and sustainable development. This comprehensive review offers an understanding of the state of research in this field while identifying areas for further exploration and research gaps. The insights gained from this study can be highly beneficial for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to advance knowledge and take action toward promoting literacy's role in sustainable development. This analysis is a foundation for advancing our understanding of literacy's significance while emphasizing its vital role in sustainable development efforts.

Background: The literature has expounded on the impacts of international service-learning (ISL) in teacher education as positively affecting everything from improving academic achievement to developing a greater moral and ethical sense. Other studies have examined the role of cultural competence and dimensions of power between those providing and receiving service. Purpose: This paper examines a decade-long ISL immersion program to understand the outcomes on students in three key areas that have received attention in the literature: motivation, employment, and academics. Methodology: A longitudinal case study comprising a cross-section of students who were asked to reflect on their immersion experiences, which took place from 2011 to 2020. Reflective journals completed during and directly after each immersion supplemented the survey data. Findings: While much of the data supports previous studies regarding the impacts of ISL, there are some anomalous findings, especially in the longer-term effects of ISL within teacher education. While participants' perceptions of the impacts were significant, evidence of that impact was lacking. Implications: Although short-term impacts of the immersion were more significantly noted, students perceived the impact for more extended periods than previously thought. However, the evidence to suggest that these perceptions are realizable is lacking.

The adoption of large language models (LLMs) in education holds much promise. However, like many technological innovations before them, adoption and access can often be inequitable from the outset, creating more divides than they bridge. In this paper, we explore the magnitude of the country and language divide in the leading open-source and proprietary LLMs with respect to knowledge of K-12 taxonomies in a variety of countries and their performance on tagging problem content with the appropriate skill from a taxonomy, an important task for aligning open educational resources and tutoring content with state curricula. We also experiment with approaches to narrowing the performance divide by enhancing LLM skill tagging performance across four countries (the USA, Ireland, South Korea and India-Maharashtra) for more equitable outcomes. We observe considerable performance disparities not only with non-English languages but with English and non-US taxonomies. Our findings demonstrate that fine-tuning GPT-3.5 with a few labelled examples can improve its proficiency in tagging problems with relevant skills or standards, even for countries and languages that are underrepresented during training. Furthermore, the fine-tuning results show the potential viability of GPT as a multilingual skill classifier. Using both an open-source model, Llama2-13B, and a closed-source model, GPT-3.5, we also observe large disparities in tagging performance between the two and find that fine-tuning and skill information in the prompt improve both, but the closed-source model improves to a much greater extent. Our study contributes to the first empirical results on mitigating disparities across countries and languages with LLMs in an educational context.

Developing countries around the world are scaling up education interventions. New educational technologies offer opportunities to develop new models to deliver quality education at scale. However, the literature suggests that defining scale is complex, especially in heterogeneous contexts. This paper provides a conceptualization of scale as a dynamic process with three key dimensions: 'quantity', 'diffusion,' and 'quality' through the case of a multi-state, multi-stakeholder program called Connected Learning Initiative in India. It also describes the implementation processes that involve teacher professional development, student engagement, technological developments, and efforts to improve classroom processes in a multifactor environment of stakeholder needs, context, and variance in resources. In conclusion, robust and flexible design approaches for scale are discussed, with implications for further research.

In relational event networks, the tendency for actors to interact with each other depends greatly on the past interactions between the actors in a social network. Both the volume of past interactions and the time that has elapsed since the past interactions affect the actors' decision-making to interact with other actors in the network. Recently occurred events may have a stronger influence on current interaction behavior than past events that occurred a long time ago--a phenomenon known as "memory decay". Previous studies either predefined a short-run and long-run memory or fixed a parametric exponential memory decay using a predefined half-life period. In real-life relational event networks, however, it is generally unknown how the influence of past events fades as time goes by. For this reason, it is not recommendable to fix memory decay in an ad-hoc manner, but instead we should learn the shape of memory decay from the observed data. In this paper, a novel semi-parametric approach based on Bayesian Model Averaging is proposed for learning the shape of the memory decay without requiring any parametric assumptions. The method is applied to relational event history data among socio-political actors in India and a comparison with other relational event models based on predefined memory decays is provided.

Purpose: This research aimed to capture undergraduate students' experiences in the transition from face-to-face (F2F) learning to online learning. This study explored their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of online learning in their academic lives, challenges encountered and suggestions for enhancing online learning in the post-COVID-19 era. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a concurrent mixed-methods research design and selected 118 undergraduate students using a multistage random sampling technique from four colleges in Assam. Standardized questionnaires and open-ended interview schedules were used. Findings: Undergraduate students reported a positive attitude and satisfaction with online learning, valuing its adaptability to their schedules, its role as a motivating factor for self-learning, its effect on making them more technically proficient and enhancing their communication skills to articulate their thoughts. However, the challenges identified by the students have the potential to overshadow the promises of online learning. This research provided more constructive suggestions under the themes of "content delivery", "systemic and infrastructural issues", "pedagogy" and "capacity building" to enhance their experiences with online learning. Practical implications: Our research findings would assist educational institutions in adopting innovative approaches for simpler and more efficient online learning experiences post-COVID-19 pandemic. Institutions should prepare themselves and design dual-mode courses for F2F and online learning. Originality/value: The paper addressed a relevant topic in this era of online learning by examining undergraduate students' viewpoints that added complementary information to the current body of literature on online learning in rural India. The insights gleaned from their experiences would be beneficial for the development of best practices for online learning in the coming decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the development of digital applications and inspired everyone to adapt to the technologies to curb the spread of outbreak. As this crisis intensifies, the rapid usage of digital devices and apps has echoed the serious concerns about civil liberties, privacy, and data protection. Considering the situation, this research aimed to explore the internet using habits of the youths of West Bengal, a state in eastern India, during COVID-19. Besides, the paper explored their experiences of using various digital applications, the fundamental digital literacy and how safely they protect data from breaches. Thus, the paper presents the results by conducting an online survey among the youths in West Bengal. The result, from 215 participants, highlighted that the increased use of these digital applications has not matched the demand for digital privacy literacy among the young generation of the state. While this pandemic has raised their concerns over digital privacy and data protection, yet they do not undertake any strong protection mechanisms to safeguard them digitally. Besides, this paper suggests suitable plans to raise awareness among this generation and form a healthy digital citizenship with a proper regulatory framework as it is the need of the hour.

There are steps formally initiated by the Government of India to maintain its adherence to the norms of Inclusive Education. Such schemes, acts and policy drafts are brought into discussion in this paper along with an appraisal of their draft and scope. This include the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which became operational from the year 2001, The Right to Education Act, which is implemented from the year 2009 and the Action Plan for Inclusion in Education of Children and Youth with Disabilities of 2005, which was revised in the year 2009. The discussion is anchored around, though not limited to the aspect of 'Diversity' which is very pertinent to the Indian scenario and the philosophy of Inclusion. Cultural and geographical diversity of the Indian sub-continent provoke challenges in 'Doing Diversity' in classrooms and at the same time it is contributing for the teacher and the taught. Considering the scope of the concept of social inclusion and inclusive education, the paper argues that at an implementation level, inclusive education should be one that is responsive to diversities in a classroom and cultural space. Rather than reproducing social structures pertaining to the above mentioned social categories of class, gender, language etc., policy drafting and implementation of inclusive education should make certain attempts which are pro-inclusive. They need to be less privileging towards certain ways of learning and certain ways of evaluation, considering the physical and cultural diversities of the learners. In our discussion on these schemes and their scope in ensuring diversity in classrooms, questions pertaining to certain disadvantaged sections are covered including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Gender nonbinaries, migrants etc.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of existing literature concerning the domains of accreditation and quality assurance in various sectors. Accreditation and quality assurance play vital roles in ensuring the credibility, transparency, and effectiveness of educational institutions, healthcare facilities, industries, and other domains. This paper synthesizes the findings of numerous studies, focusing on the conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and outcomes associated with accreditation and quality assurance processes. The review encompasses a wide range of perspectives, including historical context, best practices, challenges, and advancements in accreditation and quality assurance. Through a systematic analysis of these scholarly works, this paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the evolving landscape of accreditation and quality assurance across diverse sectors and shed light on potential future research directions.

Higher education (HE) in India has seen an exponential growth phase over the last two decades. Challenges of meeting expansion demands along with goals of equity and quality have underpinned discussions on educational reforms as well. The dynamics of market-supported increased access have compromised on goals of equity, whereas the role of technology in assisting growth has been fraught with similar and greater social challenges. A new normal seems to have emerged into the HE landscape across the world in the form of legitimising and rationalising 'digital' as an equal alternative to the face to face. In the context of a developing postcolonial economy like India, this development has further highlighted the contradictory pulls within the emerging aims/purposes of HE. The digital divide even as it impacts or reflects the existing asymmetries in access to resources, also engenders a dilemma with respect to the desired aims of higher education. There appears to be a contingent shift in approach appropriating the discourse of democratisation of knowledge/educational institutions and materially undermining prospects for enhancing social capital of graduates essential for a critical participation in the social, political and economic realm. In this context, the paper aims to problematize the idea of inclusion of the marginalised through digitalisation of education with focus on the pedagogic space and the possibilities for a participatory, mediated, empathetic and empowering pedagogy. The paper begins by contextualising the digital emphasis in the neo-liberal imagination of higher education in India.

This paper focuses on Seligman's (2011) PERMA components (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) of well-being. Teachers' reflection data have been analysed deductively to identify components of PERMA as relevant to themselves as well their perceptions of their learners' well-being during and after a longitudinal classroom action research project in India. The original British Council study was not focused on well-being but instead on exploring the feasibility of working with children in partnership in classroom research. Teachers reported positive emotions, high levels of engagement, closer relationships with learners in their classes, and they also felt that their work became more meaningful and purposeful. Researching classrooms in partnership with children has the potential to promote many benefits for both learners and teachers, including increased levels of well-being. The paper argues therefore that working in partnership with learners may be an excellent starting point to promote well-being in any classroom.

Despite having one of the largest and fastest-growing post-secondary sectors in the world, there has been increasing protest against the lack of academic freedom within HEIs in India in the past decade. This research study carries out a comparative analysis of academic freedom within HEIs in India and the U.S., with a specific focus on how the notion is formulated within key policy documents and the provisions to safeguard it. Preliminary data from the systematic review revealed that while policy documents within both the countries frame the notion along similar lines, various sections within the Indian Penal Code are used to criminalize useful dissent and freedom of expression within HEIs. The study recommends that in order to safeguard academic freedom in India, certain specific sections within the Indian Penal Code (Section 124A, Section-153A, Section-292, Section-295A) should be either repealed or reformulated so that they are not amenable to misuse by the government.

Implicit prejudice can be simply understood as any negative feelings or beliefs people hold towards a particular outgroup without being aware of it. One such form is microaggression, which can be defined as everyday verbal or nonverbal subtle, unconscious putdowns, slights, or negative remarks towards members of an outgroup. One of the most common and harmful forms is gender-based microaggression. Gender microaggression is defined as subtle, unconscious, everyday putdowns, slights, remarks, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, directed at a particular gender, notably women. Despite a plethora of literature and research on gender microaggression, the focus has predominantly been on understanding microaggressions faced by women in various domains, largely neglecting the experiences of men as victims of microaggression. One such overlooked experience is that of Afghan male students studying in universities in Delhi. Each year, thousands of students from Afghanistan travel to Delhi to pursue higher education, often unaware of the prejudices they may encounter due to associations with terms like 'terrorism' or 'terrorist.' Therefore, this paper aims to understand and study the microaggression faced by Afghan male students by employing the Gender Implicit Association Test on a sample of 103 Indian students studying in universities in Delhi, selected using a snowball sampling technique. This study adapts and modifies the Weapon-based Implicit Association Test. The goal is to uncover the implicit biases of Indian students towards Afghan male students by examining the association (reaction time) between images of weapons and harmless objects, in conjunction with adjectives related to Afghan males and Afghan females. In other words, words or images that are congruent in our minds should result in shorter reaction times and fewer errors compared to words and images that are incongruent. The results indicate that Indian students were quicker in associating weapon images with Afghan male adjectives (D = -0.64) compared to Afghan female adjectives (D = 0.89).

Since social media is increasingly pervasive in modern society, this bibliometric study aims to investigate its educational applications. Using the Scopus database, the bibliometric method analyses publications published between 2010 and 2022. The research indicates that student participation and ease of access are the two main benefits of using social media in the classroom. However, it also spreads misinformation and poses privacy and security risks. Articles that discussed how social media could be used in the classroom were found and organised using a bibliometric analysis based on their subject matter, year of publication, and authors. The research shows that between 2001 and 2020, there was a rise in the number of papers discussing the use of social media in the classroom. In addition, the top five countries in terms of annual publication output include the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia/India, and Canada. To further explore the connections between relevant articles, a co-citation network analysis was performed. Therefore, there must be strict rules and policies for using social media in education to address privacy and security concerns and the spread of false information.

The 2017 general comment (GC21) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on children in street situations, provides a framework of legal guidance for governments developing policies aimed at protecting street-connected children and sets up the rationale for more awareness raising and public education to counter negative and deficit attitudes towards street-connectedness. Within this framework, the media has a role to play in either challenging conceptualisations of street-connected children as out-of-place within the public and predominantly adult domain described by urban streets, or in reinforcing ideological constructions of citizenship and normalised notions of childhood that result in negative stereotypes of these children. GC21 recommends that interventions targeted at street-connected children should be ethically responsible -- adopting child rights approaches aimed at using accurate data/evidence that upholds the dignity of children, their personal integrity, and their right to life. As such, these approaches should also extend to how organisations engage with and utilise the media to represent street-connected children. Focusing on media representations of street-connected children during the six pandemic-affected months of February to July 2020, this paper provides a review of the content of the sources to provide an insight into the structural barriers that face street-connected children because of how they are positioned in society, during the pandemic and in general, and the extent to which the media reinforces or counters the rescue or removal narratives that can lead to inappropriate intervention responses.

Alphabet-based languages are more often researched in literacy acquisition and education than akshara languages. Languages that use alphasyllabaries including symbols, called aksharas, represent a large portion of the world's languages, including the languages of the second most populous country, India. This conceptual research paper addresses teacher education in literacy related to the akshara languages. Using the theory and research base of existing letter and akshara acquisition, with teacher education standards for literacy in alphabet-based languages, this paper presents a model for teacher education in literacy for akshara languages. This framework provides teacher education standards and other considerations, such as evaluation of teacher education curriculum and performance, to enable data-based decision making in literacy instruction. The premise of this paper is to approach the problem of dismal literacy rates by drawing into the robust research in alphabetic language literacy education by using a systematic approach to target the source -- pre-service teacher education. While this paper addresses examples of languages in India, other transparent orthographies that use symbols or aksharas can draw from this to inform their teacher education in literacy.

In this paper, we present a system for automatic evaluation of the quality of a question paper. Question paper plays a major role in educational assessment. The quality of a question paper is crucial to fulfilling the purpose of the assessment. In many education sectors, question papers are prepared manually. A prior analysis of a question paper might help in finding the errors in the question paper, and better achieving the goals of the assessment. In this experiment, we focus on higher education in the technical domain. First, we conducted a student survey to identify the key factors that affect the quality of a question paper. The top factors we identified are question relevance, question difficulty, and time requirement. We explored the strategies to handle these factors and implemented them. We employ various concepts and techniques for the implementation. The system finally assigns a numerical quality score against these factors. The system is evaluated using a set of question papers collected from various sources. The experimental results show that the proposed system is quite promising.

Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM) is a discourseoriented learning environment that engages students from diverse cultural backgrounds to participate in collaborative knowledge construction. The objective is to evolve a thematic approach to course design that includes elements of open pedagogy, information literacy, and metaliteracy. IPILM invites participation from educators and learners from around the world and has witnessed an increase in participating countries. This paper describes the concept of IPILM and demonstrates the implementation of this approach in practice. The initiative was well received by students and is both feasible and sustainable as an intercultural learning endeavor. IPILM is an ongoing project and a work in progress that is an adaptable model which may be transferred to disparate fields of teaching and learning or adopted by international communities of instructors.

This paper critically examines the centrally administered pre-service teacher preparation program for learning disabilities in India. With no equivalent Indian competency standards, this paper analyses components of the teacher preparation curriculum in the light of 22 high leverage practices (HLPs) outlined by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) as well as examines interview data from teacher educators to better understand challenges on the ground. Overall, the paper notes a heavy emphasis on theory over practice, with limited opportunities for practice. HLPs related to social-emotional and behavioral practices were minimally addressed in the curriculum. Finally, although the program was dedicated to serving children with learning disabilities, prospective teachers tended to get placed in inclusive settings and were required to work with students with a range of disabilities, highlighting the need for a program with a wider range of disabilities, not only learning disabilities. Implications for school and educational psychologists are discussed.

Purpose: Inclusive growth in the education sector is still a major challenge in some countries because of limited access to technologies and internet connectivity, among other reasons. However, as a technology, augmented reality (AR) is expected to be widely used in the field of education in the future. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the use of AR for inclusive growth in education as well as identify the challenges, particularly in countries like India and Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach: This paper applies a systematic literature review by analysing and synthesising relevant documents, mainly journal articles, books and conference papers. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation were used for the analysis. Content analysis was used to evaluate the contents of the reviewed literature. Findings: For the use of AR, it is important to have adequate digital infrastructure, access to universal internet or broadband facilities and the digital empowerment of citizens. Major challenges to inclusive growth in education include the lack of trained teacher educators and students' preference for practical or project-based curriculum. Practical implications: Practitioners in both countries may consider the use of AR for inclusive growth in education. Originality/value: This paper specifically examines the use of AR in higher education and the related challenges based on a review of two countries, namely India and Tanzania.

This paper presents outcomes from a professional development programme (PDP) in India designed to support inclusion of students with disabilities. 107 practising teachers including general educators, special educators, school leaders, and counsellors, among others participated in a six-month PDP. The programme focused on equipping teachers with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices tailored towards the Indian context. The PDP consisted of 24 interactive workshops conducted over six days once a month, along with coaching to support implementation, resource packages, a professional learning community, and visits to the host's and participants' settings. Data from questionnaires and audio-visual evidence suggest that participants were able to apply a range of strategies including attention grabbers, energisers, classroom management, and reading fluency strategies to their classrooms. Participants most appreciated the hands-on strategies and contextually relevant resources that were made available at no additional cost as part of the PDP. The paper highlights the need to create and share open education resources (OERs) that all teachers can contribute to and extend the scope of PD programmes to provide follow-up support.

This paper examines the predicament of the Dalit youth in their pursuit of higher education through a qualitative study in a low-income locality of Delhi. In absence of control over material resources historically, education offered promise in liberating socially excluded groups for its instrumental link with modern occupational structure. The policy of universal public education backed up with affirmative action in India has formally aided its access across sections. Even as the participation of the hitherto marginalized groups has been increasing manifold, privatization and marketisation in the education sector under the neo-liberal regime have transformed the educational landscape. Dalit youth is largely segregated into low-quality distance and social sciences education. The paper discusses various constraining and motivating factors embedded within and outside the neighbourhood and educational institutions which shape their educational interests, choices, and decisions. It elaborates on how cumulative socio-cultural, spatial, and historical disadvantages continue to shape the process of educational exclusion, even when these groups live in a metropolitan city amidst educational institutions. However, we also stress that the state policies, informed mentors, shared aspirations, and diversity in socio-cultural interactions hold the potential to alter and widen educational aspirations, access, and outcomes.

Contrary to common assumptions, the vast majority of the world's refugees reside in neighbouring countries in the Global South. This paper explores the complex interaction of global vocational education policies with the local realities of five communities within the under-researched yet highly relevant refugee context of India, across three major cities. It examines whether the stated policy purpose of VET addresses the practical requirements and aspirations of refugees. Drawing on interviews, focus groups, and participatory drawing with 66 respondents from Afghan, Rohingya, Somali, Chin, and Tibetan communities, and staff members from refugee organisations, this paper argues for a move away from the unidimensional goal of economic self-reliance for refugees. By bridging the capabilities approach with intersectionality, the paper calls attention to, and draws policy suggestions for, increment and diversification of VET opportunities to address multiple facets of refugees' lives, and their inclusion in national VET institutions.