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With the development of technology, the circulation of information around the world has accelerated. Journalism has now entered social media and mobile phones and has started to accompany people everywhere. The role of the media in education helps to learn, develop and keep alive a culture, and then transfer it to new generations. Media messages prepared for educational purposes aim to educate the individual and society on certain issues. The media is integrative with publications that raise awareness of the country, state and nation, make people popular, protect and protect national values. Thanks to the developing technology, politicians benefit from the educational role of the media by using new media tools as well as traditional media. In this study, the concepts of communication and media are explained in detail. In the continuation of the study, it was tried to reveal what needs to be done about the realization of a successful corporate perception management by mentioning the importance of corporate perception management in public administration by making use of the developing technology. Using content analysis, the interviews of the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, in the TRNC and universities in Turkey in October 2023 were examined.

This paper is motivated by the idea that the study of the interplay of research and policy related to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in specific national contexts can contribute to global conversations about the relationships between education research and policy-making. It is written by two individuals who have been involved in various roles within the development of ESD research and policy in Cyprus. The study involved thematic analysis of all ESD policy and research documents in Cyprus from 1998 and 2017, in order to examine interactions between research and policy. Findings suggest that ESD research and policy in Cyprus empower each other, with researchers participating to on-going policy development and policy processes highlighting new directions for research. Based on these findings, we discuss the effectiveness of a participatory model for ESD research and policy processes, and the importance of situations where education policy interrupts established research traditions. Further, we highlight the danger of research being suppressed under the power of politics. We conclude that the study of the development of ESD research and policy in specific national contexts, especially beyond Western Europe and North America, can reveal the varied possibilities in the interplay of policy and research, and therefore can inform understandings of the relationships between them.

Purpose: Microteaching is a teacher training method based on microclasses (groups of four or five students) and microlessons lasting no more than 5-20 min. Since it was first explored in the late 20th century in experiments at Stanford University, microteaching has evolved at the interdisciplinary level. The purpose of this paper is to examine the networks found via an analytical bibliometric study of the scientific output related with microteaching in teacher training, through a study and examination of the Web of Science database. Design/methodology/approach: This research was conducted with the VOSviewer tool for content analysis through data mining and scientific network structure mapping by means of the normalisation technique. This technique is based on the association strength indicator, which is interpreted as a measurement of the similarity of the units of analysis. Findings: Two hundred and nine articles were thus obtained from the Web of Science database. The networks generated and the connections among the various items, co-authorship and co-citation are presented in the results, which clearly indicates that there are significant authors and institutions in the field of microteaching. The largest cluster is made up of institutions such as Australian Catholic University. The most often-cited document is by Rich and Hannafin. Allen (1968), who defines microteaching as a technique based on microclasses and microlessons, is the author most often cited and has the largest number of connections. Research limitations/implications: This research's limitations concern either aspects that lie beyond the study's possibilities or goals that have proved unattainable. The second perspective, which focuses on skill transfer, contains a lower percentage of documents and therefore has a weaker central documentary structure. Lastly, the authors have also had to bear in mind the fact that the scientific output hinges upon a highly specific realm, the appearance and/or liberalisation of digital technologies and access to those technologies in the late 20th century. Originality/value: This research shows that microteaching is a promising area of research that opens up vast possibilities in higher education teacher training for application in the realm of technologies. This paper could lead to several lines of future research, such as access to and the universal design of learning from the standpoint of different communication and pedagogical models based on microteaching.

This study aims to identify how feasible it is to use comparative judgement (CJ) and student judges to assess the writing performance of English language learners. For this purpose, 35 paragraphs written by the students who were enrolled in a freshman Academic Writing course at a semi-private university located in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus were selected and uploaded to http://www.nomoremarking.com website. Ten instructors of the Academic Writing course and 112 students taking the course volunteered to participate in the study. Then, the students were taken into 5 groups according to their writing performance level. In total, around 350 comparisons were done by each group. The results suggested that it could be feasible to use CJ to assess short writing performance like paragraphs if the instructors were experienced and trained. Moreover, instructors liked CJ and described it as a more practical, easier, fairer, faster, more enjoyable way of marking student papers. The students also liked CJ and it was also found that students who were high achievers in paragraph writing might be used to mark student papers through comparative judgement as long as they were trained.

Considering the potentially important influence of teachers' beliefs on their practices, the purpose of the present study was to examine what, if anything, pre-service kindergarten teachers from Greece and Cyprus had in common in terms of self-reported beliefs and self-reported practices related to the National Association for the Education of Young Children's policy statement for developmentally appropriate practices. Pearson correlations and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare overall mean scores for beliefs measured by the Teachers Beliefs Scale to those of practices measured by the Instructional Activities Scale. Research analyses revealed both similarities and differences as far as Cypriots' and Greeks' beliefs and practices are concerned. Nationality has been found to be correlated with the mean score assigned in the total survey. Further, beliefs have been found to predict self-reported practices. (Contains 3 tables.)

In qualitative doctoral research the methodological approach, and the research design are extremely important when ensuring the rigorousness of the work. This is particularly significant for all researchers, and even more for doctoral students who are still developing their research and analytical skills. This paper aims to support doctoral students in their research journey by highlighting some of the tensions involved in conducting qualitative research by unpicking the experiences of two doctoral students to learn from the concerns, questions and reflections on the use of qualitative methodology in their doctoral research projects. The findings reveal challenges and insights with regards to reflection, educational research and the developing identity of being a researcher. The paper discusses these reflections to support and guide doctoral students as early career researchers when planning and conducting qualitative research in educational settings.

Emergence and development of the blockchain technology, which is able to transform into "a most powerful disruptive innovation", shall definitely concern universities. Moreover, nowadays the blockchain technology meets the challenges that both the system of higher education and the entire society are currently facing. Advantages of the blockchain technology are decentralized open data, absence of forgeries, safe storage of information, and reduction of transaction expenses related to data checkup, control, and verification. This paper provides a critical analysis of application of the blockchain technology considering with its applicability opportunities and restrictions in education; it also aims to identify the consequences of its influence upon the development of education. The article analyzes real cases when this technology was applied, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an example. The MIT applied it to protect and validate the certificates that it issued. Another example is the Sony Global Education that forms individual data on its trainees' competencies and productivity; a third one relates to the University of Nicosia, which was the first to use smart contracts and accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The paper also considers the elements of the blockchain technology at universities (both in Russia and outside it), which participate in massive open online courses. It determines the scope of application of this technology in the Russian educational system. In addition, this article provides a literature review related to application of the blockchain technology; the review includes works by such renowned researchers as D. Tapscott, B. Bleir, A. Watters, A. Grech, A. Camilleri, M. Swan, A. Zaslavsky, etc. The paper analyzes the obtained findings of the survey that its authors have conducted among experts, professors, and specialists involved in accreditation. Thus, the paper provides an analysis of opportunities and restrictions related to application of the blockchain technology in higher education.

Although concepts such as research without borders have become more commonplace in recent decades, few studies have investigated the capabilities that global researchers require to cross both cultural and disciplinary borders. This paper explores global capabilities along with strategies and spaces that may facilitate academic researchers' acquisition and development of global research competence. The study's dataset comprises responses of 26 participants across 15 countries -- all of whom are members of a specific comparative education society -- who contributed their views via e-questionnaire. Findings indicate that research capacity building is a dynamic process and global competence calls for complex skills and conscious attitudes. Commitment to expand scientific curiosity beyond one's own culture and academic discipline appears to be a main criterion in achieving global competence. Results of this study are not meant to be prescriptive but rather exploratory and informative for a broad group of academic stakeholders.

International students are not only agents for the internationalisation of a campus environment but also a crucial source of income for universities and a country's economy. Thus, their recruitment and retention are vital and prioritised by university leadership and policymakers. However, scant attention has been given to investigating international student withdrawal, even more so on visa-related matters. This paper focuses on the lived experiences of five former students from Syria who withdrew from education pursuits in Malaysia due to visa-related issues. This phenomenological study found the absence of clear knowledge of immigration procedures among institution staff and unsympathetic treatment towards international students were the primary reasons behind withdrawals. These findings suggest negative student experiences affect not only current students but also potential students. Whilst the findings add to existing knowledge and future studies, the study marks the first in-depth investigation concerning the impact of visa-related issues on international student withdrawal.

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

This paper engages with the issue of teacher education for inclusion and particularly with the approach of employing disability arts and narratives of people with disabilities in university based courses for inclusion. It draws on three examples of anti-oppressive curricula that were developed as part of a graduate university module in Cyprus that encouraged student teachers to engage with disability arts and narratives in order to understand key ideas developed in disability studies and inclusive education. The three examples presented in this paper are representative of the three approaches all the participating student teachers followed, and indicate the strategies they used and the nature of the materials they chose. The discussion considers how these approaches can further inform teacher education for inclusion and how using disability arts and narratives can inform the discussion on other issues concerning teacher education of inclusion.

It is a known fact that every profession needs to be developed during its practice. To be able to acquire this we need to know the characteristics of teachers related to their professional development. For this purpose this study tries to develop a scale to measure teacher characteristics which would help in designing in-service training programs to educate teachers. The first draft of the scale had 69 items and was administered to 99 senior teacher candidates in the faculty of education. The results were analysed by using exploratory factor analysis. As a result it was found that the scale contains three components, namely, teacher-student interaction characteristics with 13 items, characteristics related to teaching profession with 11 items, humanistic and justice characteristics of teachers with 9 items. [This paper was presented at the International New Horizons in Education (INTE) Conference (7th, Vienna, Austria, 2016).]

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

This paper draws on design-based research to develop a real-world classroom Augmented Reality (AR) scenario, which was accompanied by tasks used to mediate intercultural telecollaboration. It investigates the role of these tasks and AR scenario in enacting affordances to enrich students' learning experiences, to establish a connection between classroom management techniques, their local context and future teaching practices and to promote insightful reflections on such practices. The trajectories upon which these tasks were designed were practice-oriented, where students were invited to explore three options in dealing with classroom misbehavior and reserved students. Using their mobile devices, students could view in AR a classroom setting, a student's disruptive behavior and three possible approaches in dealing with such behavior. Upon exploring the three options in handling classroom misbehavior, students across the two participating academic institutions in Europe could post their comments on a newly created platform, ReDesign.

Environmentally friendly occasions allow foreign language learners to further concentrate on realizing their extensive knowledge of the English language. Exercises and activities performed in foreign language classes have been criticized for a lack of authenticity, which prevents language learners from learning the real-life usage of language. In this paper, we developed a qualitative model based on the thematic analysis method (TAM) to distinguish the efficacy of research strategies. The number of participants was defined based on theoretical saturation. To collect the data, 18 participants were selected from the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Cyprus. The selection of participants was according to their involvement in research-based projects. Theoretical saturation occurred after 15 semi-structured interview forms from participants; however, we selected three extra participants to obtain more reliable results. The reliability of the qualitative model was explicitly illustrated by colleagues who were experts in this field by reviewing and analyzing the proposed model with previous models. It was concluded that the two principles of motivation (principle 11) and provision of collaborative opportunities (principle 4) had the highest frequencies, of 22.47% and 19.66%.

This study investigates the possibility and efficacy of paper-based, in-class, data-driven learning (DDL) of academic lexical bundles below the C1 level of proficiency described by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR; advanced high ACTFL). A two-stage experimental design involving three groups (n = 41) and 24 two-to-four word academic items was implemented. First, the question of whether this type of learning works with these items below the C1 level is addressed through a nonequivalent-groups quasi-experimental design covering a five-week period. The results indicate that this technique is effective at the B2 level, but not at the A2-B1 level. Next, an equivalent-groups experimental design compares this style of learning to conventional techniques at the B2 level. The results of this stage suggest that paper-based, in-class DDL is more effective than conventional learning with academic lexical bundles at the B2 level.

This paper describes aspirations and contributions that grew out of a developmental cycle of design-based research (DBR) implementation conducted over a three-year project. DBR engineers new learning environments and improves learning in context whilst communicating usable knowledge for learning and teaching in complex settings. This project employed constructionism as an overarching framework, a theory of learning, teaching, and design, which supports that learning occurs more effectively when learners understand the world around them by creating meaningful artifacts that can be probed and shared. In an attempt to infuse elements of constructionism in the use of social technologies, groups of learners were assigned to construct an artifact within social technologies. The main data collection tools employed were students' and instructor's reflections, a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and observation of groups' activity within social technologies. Such an inquiry revealed both strengths and challenges with regard to implementing DBR and reporting how designs function in real-life settings. This paper brings forward considerations related to reporting intentionally designed interventions, potentials and limitations of DBR and implications for future DBR implementations.

COVID-19 changed not only the way we live but also the way we teach and prepare pre-service teachers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the shift from a conventional STEM fair to an online teaching environment prepared by elementary pre-service teachers after the closure of the educational system in Cyprus as of March 2020. We describe a 3-steps process followed for the design, development, and delivery of the STEM fair concerning the technological equipment used, the activities' adaptations made by the pre-service teachers', and the level of readiness to teach online based on the initial outcomes of the STEM fair. The brief paper concludes with practical implications and suggestions for future attempts about online teacher education.

Stress is an unavoidable part of our educational life as well as our social life and it is a fact that we have to learn how to cope with it. The aim is to study the relationship of the educational and social stressors among university students according to the year of study and gender. After collecting data via Educational and Social Related Stress Questionnaire, cross-tabs, graphs and independent t-test are carried out by using IBM SPSS Statistics 25. Educational Stress Factors are analysed in the following groups: lack of self-confidence, exams after graduation, difficulty of courses, lack of being good in profession, lack of being a good student. Also, students' answers to other stress factors like frequency of visiting parents, sleeping routine, living away are analysed. There were interesting differences according to gender. For instance, male students are found to have more stress about "Lack of Confidence about being a Good Student" and "Exams after Graduation" than female students. Implications of the study are discussed in light of the findings and recommendations are given accordingly. [This study was presented as an oral presentation at 11th International Congress on New Trends in Education, April 18, 2020, Turkey.]

The purpose of the paper is to present the framework and design of modules aiming to teach socio-scientific issues and the related pedagogy to pre-service teachers. Specifically, the work presented in this paper is part of the PreSEES project, a Comenius/LLP project with the main aim of engaging elementary and secondary pre-service teachers in critical discussions of everyday science through socio-scientific issues (SSI) and prepare them to teach SSI. We first present the aims of our project, and a framework designed around learning to teach SSI, including pedagogical and theoretical aspects concerning teaching SSI. Finally we present three modules that were designed based on the framework aiming to present these guidelines to pre-service teachers (primary and secondary). The emphasis of the modules is on presenting pedagogical issues related to SSI, with an emphasis on the nature of SSI issues, and pedagogical implications of teaching and assessing SSI. The aforementioned issues are presented in various contexts, such as global warming and edible insects.

The aim of this paper is to problematize the concept of foreign language (FL) teacher self-reported preparedness to respond to the special educational needs of FL learners with dyslexia by employing appropriate inclusive teaching practices. The paper shortly characterises dyslexia and then elaborates on the components of preparedness, namely, teacher knowledge on dyslexia and self-efficacy in implementing inclusive instructional practices with dyslexic learners as well as attitude to inclusion. The paper discusses the influence of a number of demographic variables on FL teachers' beliefs relating to their preparedness to include dyslexic learners and suggests implications for teacher training and further research on FL teacher education on dyslexia, special educational needs (SEN) and inclusive instructional practices.

The paper explores how might teacher educators engage with teachers' difficult knowledge and negotiate competing moral truths, when this effort obviously fails to provide adequate 'answers' or 'solutions'. Although the paper is theoretical, this question's point of departure is an incident from a series of teacher workshops in Cyprus. The question is explored from the vantage of two thinkers, Deborah Britzman and Margaret Walker, who, in different ways, theorize the moral challenges of engaging with difficult knowledge in ways that disrupt stereotypical categories of victims and perpetrators. It is argued that drawing on Britzman and Walker offers a pedagogical theory in peace and moral education that is less about offering definitive answers and settling the questions of moral wrongdoing and more about 'staying with the trouble', that is, staying with difficulty for regenerating thinking around issues of morality and peace education. The paper concludes by suggesting under what conditions peace education may function as transformative moral education.

As of 2018 there are 18 universities active in Northern Cyprus offering education. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Education, there are nearly 93,000 students studying in this country. Approximately 65,000 of these students are of Turkish origin (Republic of Turkey--Northern Cyprus) whereas 27,000 students are foreign nationals. An examination of the universities in Northern Cyprus shows that, in addition to Northern Cyprus nationals, students from various countries, such as Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Ghana, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Ghana, Brazil, Moldova, Brazil, and Ukraine, are studying in this country. Paying attention to the cultural and social structures of individuals in such a wide student spectrum is an extremely delicate, but essential, topic. Concepts such as race, ethnic origin, language, sexual orientation, age, special needs, social class, religion, and sect are elements of multiculturalism and inclusive/integrated education should be considered at every level of education, including university, thus education settings and curricula should be planned accordingly. In the paper, opinions of Turkish and foreign national students studying at Northern Cypriot universities in "multicultural and inclusive/integrated education settings" are obtained, their expectations are identified and comparisons and recommendations are provided. The conclusions drawn from the research indicate that fundamental expectations of students from multicultural in inclusive/integrated education settings is providing equal opportunity to education whilst making sure that everyone can have the chance for experiencing their culture properly. In addition, other expectations of students include organization of new activities for socialization, development and display of positive and supporting attitudes by lecturers towards different social groups and cultures and being able to easily express their ethnic identities in different settings in universities. Another conclusion obtained from this study is that Turkish students appear to have more positive opinions compared to foreign students in terms of experiencing multiculturalism in university settings in Northern Cyprus.

This paper aims at examining how neoliberalism actually functions in universities and whether human instruction can actually be replaced by computerized instruction. The study reported in this paper is a qualitative study since it takes reality as a subjective human experience happening in a social context, and in historical time. It mainly employs methods of qualitative research to uncover what academicians think and feel about neoliberal approaches to education and computerized teaching and distance education. The academicians involved in the study are mainly faculty members from Faculties of Arts and Sciences in North Cyprus. Arguments put forward by academicians participating in this study has shown that instruction in virtual environments hinders the reproductive nature of passing on and taking in information/knowledge, the emotive and intellectual exchange between the instructor and the student, does away with the instrumental elements of education such as humanly contact, expression of feelings through eye contact, gestures and mimics, and joking while learning in a delightful environment based on sharing. Learning in a virtual environment is being in contact with someone that one does not see and come to know as a person leading to indifference, which in turn will create individuality. Indifference may kill motivation of participating and sharing with others in a society. Information and communication technologies (ICT) which are said to be connecting the world are actually separating and disconnecting people from each other and from their environment. There is enormous research and study to conceptualize and understand social interactions and constructs within a classroom and their consequences on students' self-concept, self-esteem, and social relationships. However, there has been little work concerning the individual, social, attitudinal and cognitive results of online instruction serving neoliberal aims and objectives. This means that (a long) time is an important element to be able to see how the packaged instructional programs and online education in general will affect the society as a whole in the future.

This paper aims to readdress the lack of empirical data concerning university learning and in particular the dynamics students' conceptions of learning may have on students' learning outcomes. This paper is written at a time when the EU commission for Higher Education (HE) through the Bologna Process declaration has put into action, since 1999, a series of reforms needed to make European Higher Education compatible, efficient and competitive for students and academics alike. One of the reforms was the development of learning outcomes in the form of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). As part of the process the European universities require to identify and describe the learning outcomes a student is supposed to achieve, in a particular course. The learning outcomes are, now, expected to be clearly specified in all the university course syllabuses. The main argument stated within this paper is that the design of effective learning outcomes, such as the ECTS, especially for curriculum development, cannot be successfully achieved in the absence of the students' own experience of how they conceive learning to be, including the methods (approaches) they use for learning. Thus, the first aim of this investigation is to analyse the students' conceptions of learning and the second aim is to examine, through prior research evidence, the effects these conceptions may have on learning approaches and specifically on learning outcomes. Drawing on a 2007 study of Cypriot students' conceptions of learning, this paper discusses the possibility of a relation between these issues and outlines the importance of taking them into consideration when exploring learning outcomes, curriculum and syllabus design and the professional development of faculty.

This practical paper reports on significant Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) work currently being undertaken at The University of Nicosia in Cyprus; a growing number of full e-courses have been, and are being, created using LAMS and a suite of specialized programs in order to provide an alternate and more convenient educational service for students. Critical administrative, organizational, personnel, pedagogical and technological issues have had to be addressed to support this important project. Some implications of the way students work online will be discussed, sample e-lecture materials will be presented, and suggestions for future technical development will be made. The paper concludes with the assertion that LAMS can be used to deliver local and international full e-learning courses effectively and inexpensively within a supportive and dynamic administrative and organizational superstructure.

Families have been getting more and more involved in their children's education. This paper presents findings of a study investigating family involvement in their members' undergraduate studies attending a state (non-fee-paying) and a private (fee-paying) university in Cyprus. The data presented in the paper were collected via online logs completed by administrative personnel in the two universities documenting incidents of family involvement. The data analysis demonstrates how similarly the phenomenon manifests in both universities and suggests that where the two universities differ is more in the intensity of the various modes of family involvement. It also projects students' desires and encouragement of their family's involvement and their families' intervention to protect or guide them. The findings of the study are discussed in view of cultural and societal norms and changes about parenthood and the relationship between families and their university age members in a marketized higher education context.

Purpose: In this paper, the authors focus on a professional development programme in Cyprus aiming to enhance teachers' intercultural understanding, awareness and competencies. This paper aims to focus on trainers' and teacher trainees' reflections upon a teacher professional development programme in the primary school in Cyprus with the largest number of Roma children. Design/methodology/approach: The training was provided by a small team of six trainers. Immediately after each training session, each trainer participated in an interview, while three of the trainers participated also in a focus-group interview at the end of the training. The trainers' data were complemented by semi-structured interviews with a number of trainees either before or after the training. All interviews were transcribed, while interview questions comprised the framework for the qualitative analysis. The findings are presented by means of content analysis which formed the basis for emerging themes. Findings: The authors claim that trainee teachers appeared culturally aware and sensitive, as well as knowledgeable about intercultural education; furthermore, they seemed to implement different teaching methodologies and curriculum interventions to support Roma children's inclusion in the local school community. At the same time, they seemed to adopt instrumental approaches towards the content and purpose of the programme, seeking explicit instructional guidelines, plans and heuristics to deal with Roma inclusion. Considering the mis-recognition of teachers' efforts by stakeholders outside the school and the expectations of the educational authorities -- voiced via their school inspectors -- teachers desperately asserted the need for tangible strategies to help them cope with difference in their classrooms. Research limitations/implications: The authors argue that such professional development programmes should aim at facing, deconstructing and bringing to the fore prejudices and discrimination against the Other/s by valuing teachers, first, as reflective individuals and, second, as professionals with their own cultural backgrounds and identities, on which any training programme, of the kind presented in this paper, could start from and build on. Practical implications: Even though there is no tailored magic recipe to make teachers' daily professional enterprise in multicultural settings easy, to help teachers master the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence, the authors suggest that training should be directly linked to classroom practice and acknowledge stress and helplessness that accompany work in multicultural school settings. Social implications: The inclusion strategy in many educational systems needs to become more comprehensive to cope with varying sources of social exclusion, faced by vulnerable groups of a different cultural background, such as Roma. Teacher training thus needs to meet the challenges of working in a diverse and multicultural environment in general and with Roma children in particular. In view of the multicultural character of local societies, a more critically oriented humanistic education is needed based on tolerance and understanding. Originality/value: The limited participation of Roma in the school system could be related to teachers' (mis)conceptions about the Roma culture and that the widely different ways in which Roma relate to schooling are often disregarded by the school.

Purpose: This study intends to examine these misconceptions in a bid to reaching a valid conclusion. More importantly, this study intends to elicit information from instructors and preservice teachers on their experiences, successes and challenges on the sudden switch from flipped classroom to emergency remote online teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a qualitative research design and the main focus of this research design which was is a form of exploratory research design was to understand the reasons opinions and viewpoints of a particular group of people concerning a situation. This paper deems this research design fit for eliciting relevant information from instructors and preservice teachers on their opinions and perceptions on the sudden shift from flipped classrooms to emergency remote online teaching during the previous semester. Data collection for this study was carried out through the use of focus group discussions where participants were asked questions based on the objective of the study. Findings: The present findings confirm that the mode of instruction delivery was not online teaching rather emergency remote online teaching. Another conclusion that was drawn was with regards to training, use of resources and issues of measurement and evaluation. The study summarized that there was little or no training for the teaching staff before the switch to EROT as instructors were only given guidelines on what to do to implement their lesson plans. Originality/value: Emergency remote online teaching is a newly emerging approach to lesson delivery, especially in an emergency situation. This study elaborates more on this new dimension of teaching and future prospects as well.

Globalisation, technological changes and the industry-to-service economy transition has produced dramatic changes in the labour market, thus affecting higher education. It is no longer sufficient to provide students with disciplinary knowledge. Graduates are also expected to be adaptive, innovative and flexible. As these competencies are better developed in connection with practice, this implies modifications in the learning design. In this context, work-based learning (WBL) emerges as a relevant approach as it provides students learning experiences oriented for the appreciation of work and practical knowledge. However, several issues still restrain its expansion in the European Union (EU). There is (1) a great disparity in WBL implementation among EU countries which relates to educational cultures, (2) a concentration in certain disciplinary areas such as business and engineering, and (3) a lack of quality assurance. Drawing on reports and materials produced by the Erasmus+ project Integrating Entrepreneurship and Work Experience into Higher Education (WEXHE), this paper explores these issues by identifying differences in the level of implementation as well as design and delivery of WBL in seven EU countries across four disciplinary areas. It then brings forward success factors and drivers instrumental to the further development of better WBL.

The increasing number of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe places new demands on European education systems. In this context, the role that free digital learning (FDL) could play in fostering inclusion has attracted renewed interest. While the existing literature highlights some general design principles for developing FDL for migrants and refugees, there is little information on the use of FDL at specific education levels, or for specific learning purposes. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that was carried out as part of the Moocs4Inclusion project of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) between July and December 2016. The study, which has a European focus, disaggregates the analysis of FDL initiatives by what were identified as its three most common purposes: (a) language learning, (b) civic integration and employment, and (c) higher education. For each of these topics, the study sheds light on the approaches used by a wide sample of initiatives, users' levels of awareness of what is available and take up, and migrants' and refugees' perceptions of the current offer. In order to collect the information needed to cover different approaches and perspectives, semi-structured interviews with 24 representatives of 10 FDL initiatives and four focus groups with 39 migrants and refugees were carried out. The results show that there are indeed overlaps between the purposes of FDL initiatives and their design principles. Specific recommendations on how to better design FDL initiatives for migrants and refugees, taking into account their specific purposes, have also been identified.

The recent phenomenon of worldwide declining enrolments in engineering-related degrees has led to the gradual decrease in the number of engineering graduates. This decrease occurs at a time of increasing demand in the labour market for highly qualified engineers, who are necessary for the implementation of fundamental societal functions. This paper initially presents a survey of practices, which are currently employed by academic institutions in Europe in order to increase the attractiveness of their engineering studies. It then provides a detailed analysis of the benefits and proliferation of distance education to increase attractiveness of engineering studies based on a set of interviews. Results of this study highlight a lack of a distance-learning dimension in the implementation of engineering studies in the European Area and discusses in detail ways in which distance learning can be utilised in engineering studies for the benefit of increasing their attractiveness. It has also been noted that institutions employing distance learning as part of their engineering studies, see this as highly beneficial for their students but also for the academic institution itself with some reservations in terms of the pedagogical adequacy of materials and instructional approaches used in distance education courses.

Research points to several determinants of the private demand for higher education, which include individual, social, economic, and institutional variables. Of these variables, economic factors are considered to be highly relevant, especially in the current financial crisis. The paper investigates the link between expected rates of return to higher education and the intention of secondary education graduates to pursue university studies. The effect of additional variables influencing the choice of higher education (ability, gender, socioeconomic status [SES], type of secondary school, area of residence) is also examined. The findings show a significant link between the perceived rates of return and the intention of secondary school graduates to enter tertiary education. With the exception of residence, all independent variables are strong determinants of the intention to enter higher education. The paper also points to the considerable effect of the financial crisis on students' expectations in that respondents reported lower perceived rates of return compared to previous estimates in the same country. The implications of the findings for higher education policy are discussed.

This paper presents the results of a study which examined the role of particular tasks implemented through two instructional methods on college students' achievement in probability. A mixed methods design that utilized a pre-test (with multiple-choice items) and post-test (with multiple-choice and open-ended items) in treatment and control groups in an introductory statistics course was used. An analysis of pre-test scores indicated that students in the control and treatment groups had comparable initial probability knowledge. The results of the Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test indicated that the multiple-choice scores of students in the control group were significantly lower on the post-test compared to the pre-test. In the case of the treatment group, student scores on the multiple-choice items did not increase significantly from the pretest to the post-test. In addition, the results of the Mann-Whitney test showed that the normalized gain scores of the treatment group were significantly different from those of the control group. Relative to the open-ended post-test items, the Mann-Whitney test indicated that the scores of the treatment group on these items were significantly higher than the scores of the control group. Overall, the total post-test achievement of students in the treatment group was significantly higher than that of students in the control group.

This study is concerned with prospective elementary teachers' beliefs about collaborative problem solving and dialogue in mathematics classrooms. Participants (n = 16) attended an undergraduate module titled "Problem Solving in Primary Mathematics", which was specifically designed to provide them with opportunities in collaborative problem solving and dialogic activities. Students were invited to answer an open-ended questionnaire at the beginning and end of the course. In addition, at the end of the semester, students wrote individual reflective reports commenting on their experiences. Qualitative analyses revealed three areas of beliefs for which positive changes were observed: (a) dialogue and its relation to school mathematics, (b) the characteristics of a "good" interlocutor, and (c) the importance of collaborative problem solving. This paper closes with a discussion concerning the implementations of our findings and suggestions for future research.

Lifelong education is a process including positive and negative experiences at the same time. Negative experiences mostly appear as impediments to the overseas students. They need to overcome impediments they experience throughout their education. The paper discussed the key findings of a two-year research project for identifying the impediments and their frequency faced in the higher education sector and for proposing a managerial model. This case study adopted a descriptive methodology under qualitative research paradigm. Data were collected through focus group interviews (FGIs) and in-depth interviews (I-DIs). Focus group members (FGMs) were 50 OSs studying various departments and various universities in NC. I-DIs were taken place with 75 different overseas university students (dOSs) studying at various departments of universities in NC. The impediments are identified on mobility, adaptation, internationalization and maturation which are strongly affected by the feelings and affections, changes, irregularities and barriers. The managerial model is based on managing accommodation and transportation; managing studentship; managing student health; managing students' welfare and managing being worldwide.

The purpose of this study is to observe prospective teachers' cognitive structures related to Turkish World. In this scanning model study, WAT (Word Association Test) had been applied to 332 prospective teachers in Nigde Ömer Halisdemir University. And they were asked to write what comes into their heads when it is said Turkish Republics and Turkish World. Words were given to the prospective teachers. According to the research, "Turk" is the only common Word which is related to the concept of six independent Turkish Republics and Turkish World. There is no any other common word except this, perceived by prospective teachers. Students generally independent Turkish Republic and Turkey they do not have a lot of information and perceptions about the world; they know the general concept of popular culture, it said they did not know specific concepts or people belonging to the country. Independent of the Turkish states K.K.T.C. It has become the most irrelevant and disconnected with other countries. K.K.T.C. with the only common link between other countries "Turkey" was the word. Students are most perceptive grasp of Azerbaijan, while country-owned; they have been gripping the country at least perceptually Uzbekistan. [This article was presented at the 3rd International Dynamic, Exploratory and Active Learning Conference (IDEAL 2016).]

Aim of this study is to determine the preferences of Computer Information Systems students as regards to knowledge sharing technologies. In this paper, qualitative method is preferred in order to obtain detailed opinions of university students on knowledge sharing and its technologies in the Northern of Cyprus. The study group of the research consists of 69 students who studied at Computer Information Systems department in the fall semester of 2017-2018 academic year. It has been found out that Computer Information System department students generally use knowledge sharing technologies. Students prefer using the opportunities offered by the technology in knowledge sharing process. This finding contributes to future directions on developing strategies to improve knowledge sharing in the classroom by enhancing the classroom environment. This study also discusses the implications of knowledge sharing and web technologies for researchers and educators.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue and some issues surrounding choosing management as a career. A jointly developed questionnaire is also presented. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is descriptive in nature. Findings: It is crucial for researchers and practitioners to expand their perspectives to include other cultures and other theoretical perspectives beyond those offered by traditional vocational choice theories. Originality/value: Understanding the antecedents, correlates and consequences of people's vocational choice to become managers will not only help researchers and practitioners and benefit managers, but will improve the understanding of career choice in general. (Contains 1 note.)

This paper describes a qualitative study that explored the understandings of human rights, pedagogical perspectives and practices in human rights teaching of three Greek-Cypriot elementary teachers. The study revealed some significant challenges in human rights teaching that seemed to be common for all three participating teachers. First, all of the teachers experienced pedagogical difficulties in defining and talking about human rights. A second challenge was that these difficulties seemed to influence both their pedagogical perspectives about the teaching of human rights and their teaching practices. And the third challenge was that the difficulties that teachers faced in preparing their lessons were also reflected in their teaching practices in four ways: the dominance of a "declarational" approach; decontextualization; the trivialization of human rights; and the retreat to familiar discourses and activities. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for teachers, teacher educators, and theory in human rights education.

Background: Effective plagiarism deterrence in the Republic of Cyprus, requires the identification of any gaps, best practices and case studies relating to plagiarism across the Higher Educational Institutions in the country. This paper discusses the findings of the first research conducted among university students and faculty in Cyprus and focuses on students' awareness of and perceptions towards academic plagiarism. Methodology: The research instrument for students was initially designed based on experts' feedback, as part of the IPPHEAE project. It was translated into the national language and pilot tested. The questionnaire included 33 questions of the following types: i) open-ended questions; ii) multiple choice questions in two variations: those requiring mutually exclusive options and single response and those permitting multiple selected answers and iii) Likert-type scale questions. The target population of the study included all students, undergraduate and graduate, pursuing an academic degree, in public and private universities in Cyprus. A total of 318 correctly completed questionnaires were collected. Results: It is clear from the findings of this study that there is a need for a clear and uniform definition and understating of the terms "plagiarism" and "academic dishonesty". There is also a need to develop mechanisms for communicating these definitions both to students and to faculty, in addition to ensuring that these terms have been understood. In the setting up of policies, procedures and penalties for plagiarism and academic dishonesty, it is necessary to have uniformity and consistency in both implementation and especially in the imposition of penalties. The results also indicate that the use of tools, such as software for the detection or discourage of plagiarism, would definitely contribute positively to reducing plagiarism. Conclusions: Findings and recommendations outlined in this paper have been included to a national report distributed to interested stakeholders and it may contribute towards improved perceptions of students regarding plagiarism and relevant policies in Cyprus.

This paper presents a critical account of the extent and the ways in which learner-centred education approaches are used as a tool for enhancing adult learning in distance learning universities as well as the conditions and restrictions they face. The exploration is illustrated by qualitative data from interviews with eight adult educators and 16 adult learners/students and adopts a case study approach within a phenomenological mode. In this study, learner-centred education approaches are seen as being at one end of the educational practice continuum and comprise of a number of elements, namely: motivation, epistemology, techniques and relationships that are used as a conceptual framework to guide data analysis and interpretation. Findings reveal the partial and unintentional use of learner-centred education approaches in the distance learning programmes explored and make recommendations for the implementation of learner-centred education in the teaching of adults in distance education universities.

This paper reports on the use of design-based research (DBR) for the development of a framework that grounds the use of social technologies in learning. The paper focuses on three studies which step on the learning theory of constructionism. Constructionism assumes that knowledge is better gained when students find this knowledge for themselves when engaging in the making of concrete and public artifacts. In an attempt to implement theoretically designed learning environments in real-world classrooms, DBR was employed as an overarching framework of inquiry. The three cycles of DBR inquiry provide deep insights into the use of social technologies as social constructionist tools and inform a novel framework for their use. The implementation of the framework is specified along with further implications for researchers and practitioners.

With the advent of learner-centered approaches to second or foreign language teaching, the research on learners' beliefs or what learners bring into the classroom in terms of their prior knowledge and experiences, their expectations, and their attitudes towards different aspects of language learning has gained momentum. Learners may, for example, develop core beliefs about language learning that undergo change or otherwise resist change when moving to a new learning context. This study examines overseas Iranian undergraduate students' (n = 160) beliefs about language learning in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) context and investigates the impact of the old and new learning environments on shaping or affecting these beliefs. The data from a survey and a semi-structured interview revealed that the students' previous learning experiences and the socio-political factors of the old learning context affected the shaping of the trajectory of their belief development. The results also suggested that the new learning environment hardly affected the students' core beliefs about language learning and in some cases even consolidated them. The paper concludes with a discussion of the main findings and offers several implications for further research and practice.

The paper reports on the experienced educator perspective regarding human-to-human connection in distance education. The research questions aimed to fill gaps in the existing research literature, to investigate the role of the educator, to discover how learning and subject content are affected by contextual factors, to find out if it enhances the sense of togetherness (immediacy and intimacy). The Informed Grounded Theory and the Community of Inquiry model provided a scaffolding framework for designing interview questions and analyzing findings. The outcome of the analysis formulated a new theory called tele-proximity, which gives an explanation of how presences could work in synchronicity. The findings may help educators gain insight into how to use Synchronous Video Communication (SVC) and lead future research to dig deeper into the field of synchronicity and the importance of audiovisual cues.

Research has shown that consistent family support improves higher education (HE) students' chances for adjustment and graduation but family over-involvement negatively affects students' well-being. We theoretically bridge three largely disjointed bodies of literature (namely, family 'support', 'involvement' and 'over-involvement') and show that families of undergraduate students very often engage in roles traditionally reserved for lower levels of education. Through a large-scale, quantitative university student survey in two universities in Cyprus, we empirically show that the three bodies of literature should be unified, because family involvement in HE is better conceptualised and operationalised as a continuum. We further suggest that family involvement in HE can be split into two qualitatively different and empirically not significantly related constructs: rearguard and front line family involvement. In addition, the students seem not only to approve, but also encourage more family involvement (even 'over-involvement'), and state that they would like their families to provide them not just with more financial help, but with more emotional support as well. The discussion extends to include an analysis of students' perceptions of university actors' attitudes towards family involvement.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the implementation and evaluation of knowledge management and e-transformation strategies of higher educational institutions in distance education. After an evaluation of higher educational practices in different countries, distance education was considered a different strategy and was emphasized as an advantage in competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: The study reflects a case study in the context of qualitative research. A written view report was conducted to evaluate the awareness of digital efficiency and roles of the teachers in learning environments and evaluation processes in the organizational structure. The qualitative data were evaluated through Nvivo qualitative data analysis. When the literature is overviewed, it can be observed that there are limited studies in this field. Findings: As a result, distance education contributes a lot to providing equal opportunities in education. It is of great importance that individuals are aware of their roles in the process of accessibility, institutional support, technological infrastructure, support provided for students, learning-teaching environments and evaluation of distance education programs based on equality and life-long learning. In applications of different countries evaluated by Salmon "et al." (2014) based on Carpe Diem Model, it is argued that knowledge management and sharing, the role of teachers and digital capability in distance education applications are crucial. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to 35 research participants. Practical implications: Internationalization has become an important issue in higher educational activities. Social implications: Diffusion of the uses of knowledge management practice in distance education is important. Originality/value: The study has a great value on the use of international perspectives and the Carpe Diem Model for the evaluation.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present ReProTool Version 2.0, a software tool that is used for the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and the Bologna Process re-engineering of academic programmes. The tool is the result of an 18 months project (February 2012-July 2013) project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation (www.reprotool.com). Design/methodology/approach: The project entails the development and pilot use of ReProTool, a software tool that will support the design and development of university academic programmes using Learning Outcomes and the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) of the Bologna Process. The paper briefly describes the various stages of the project: Identification of User and System Requirements; System Analysis and Design; and Software Development. More specifically, it presents the results of on-line questionnaires distributed to students and academics aiming at extracting the user requirements of the system. Based on these results and the results from interviews with experts and literature review, the system was designed. The underlying database is thus presented. The implementation details and the system architecture are also presented. Various screenshots of the system are used in the paper to exemplify the functionality of the tool. Findings: The ECTS process and the supporting methodologies are quite complex and complicated, requiring the involvement of all education stakeholders (faculty, students, industry, etc.). The lack of a software tool to support the available methodologies and the involved stakeholders makes the process even more complex, laborious and difficult to complete. The authors are currently developing such tool. The availability of a free software tool will therefore simplify the process and help all Universities in their effort to obtain the ECTS label and help them towards the full implementation of the Bologna Process directives. Originality/value: The paper presents the software tool ReProTool, which will provide support to the Tuning Methodology, also taking into consideration state-of-the-art developments in the area of ECTS, Learning outcomes and the European Qualifications Framework and will thus make it possible for Universities to re-engineer their academic programs in line with ECTS, achieve ECTS certification/label and fulfill the Bologna Process directives. This will result in the improvement of academic programs offered by Universities and the creation of compatible programmes across Europe, so that students and faculty will be able to utilize the Erasmus and other mobility programmes and participate in exchange visits. Without the use of such a tool, the application of such methodologies is really a non-trivial, error-prone task. This is a very demanding task and very few Universities in Europe have managed to obtain the ECTS label. (Contains 8 figures and 3 tables.)

The current article analyses the papers presented at the 2011 BELMAS Conference in order to understand the sorts of works it contained in terms of topics addressed and types of papers, as well as authorship patterns of the presenters. Based on an analysis of 57 works presented at the Conference, it was found that the typical paper was authored by a single individual, who might originate from countries other than the UK. Additionally, the presenter is usually a university member who presents empirical and conceptual works mostly in the area of policy/reforms and headship (leadership) but not solely. Compared to the 2007 BELMAS Conference, some increase in the works authored by practitioners from schools and a variety of educational agencies was observed. A major shift between the conferences is evident in respect to the topics discussed by the presenters. Some suggestions for BELMAS end this paper. (Contains 7 tables.)

Since the beginning of the use of the e-learning concept in the 1990s, in the context of the information and knowledge society, there has been an explosion of different interpretations and approaches in Higher Education. This range of different interpretations and approaches can lead to a confusing and even contradictory situation given the many different perspectives that give rise to these attempts to explain the concept. Open and face-to-face Universities apply different e-learning models according to their goals, mission and national legislation. The aim of this paper is to present the model chosen by the European University Cyprus, a face-to-face university, which has recently started the implementation of autonomous distance learning master degree programs. The presentation and analysis of different case studies about the e-learning models can create the concept's roadmap in Higher Education and help policy makers to decide which model corresponds better to the characteristics, mission and needs of their institutions.