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Constraints of the pandemic and rolling lockdowns eliminated opportunities to gather in person. Yet, for the learning cities movement, this period of coronavirus curtail was also a time of increased networking and creative collaboration. Where once human energies expended in "process work" left little retrievable trace, now artifacts accumulate apace in electronic clouds. What might a little excavation through material collected since the onset of COVID-19 reveal about ways localities and learning city networks mobilized to address the pandemic? For those on the resourced side of the digital divide, openly available content grants access to a gallery of community responses, transnational strategies, and future forecasting. [For the full proceedings, see ED625421.]

Although gender differences in mathematics are smaller than they have been in the past, prominent voices still attribute these differences to a variety of fixed individual factors, such as genetic characteristics of men and women. We hold the alternative view that these differences can be ultimately attributed to malleable factors. From this vantage, societies could influence gender differences in mathematics by changing students' experiences in school. In this study, we built on prior work suggesting that mathematics anxiety causes lower mathematics scores. In particular, we found that mathematics anxiety entirely explains the gender differences evident in mathematics scores from the 2012 US Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Furthermore, we found that gender moderates the mediating role of mathematics anxiety: math anxiety is more detrimental for male than for female students. Because math anxiety is a malleable individual characteristic, we conclude that gender differences reveal more about gendered societal experiences than they do about innate characteristics of men and women. [For the complete proceedings, see ED629884.]

Utilizing social network analysis, UNESCO international student mobility (ISM) data, and World Bank income classifications, this paper examines patterns of social reproduction in ISM within four established regional education networks from 2008-2012. Findings indicate that the global trend of uneven flows from developing to developed nations is replicated fractally within the Southern African Development Community, the European Higher Education Area, the Union of South American Nations, and University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific. Developed and/or higher income countries play a preeminent role in the regional networks as senders and receivers; whereas, developing (lower income) countries function primarily as source nations. This suggests that elite cultural capital is being centralized through ISM not only globally, but regionally as well.

This report describes the British Voluntary Service Organization (VSO) training model and its implications for teacher education. VSO posts teachers with experience in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or mainstream education to teacher training posts in countries in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. All volunteers must participate first in a skills training course in England that includes professional teaching, country specific, and health and general briefings. The methodology involves a team of trainers who work with a core belief that to become a trainer you need to experience planning, delivering, and evaluating training events. Initial stages are tutor-planned and tutor-lead, to ensure that all participants are up-to-date on current thinking on core English Language Training (ELT) topics and methodologies. The remainder of the course is negotiated with participants who choose sessions to plan and deliver as a team with the tutors. Courses have been generally well-received by participants. The only negative reaction led to a course maximum limit of 20 participants. Pre-planned and completed timetables for a typical course are appended. (NAV)