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Growing human capacities in STEM remain the most practicable way to solving present and future challenges. Improved test score, opportunities to learn, resources and facilities have been recommended in the literature to build capacity and improve achievement for effective and qualitative delivery in STEM classrooms. We focus on the two primary stakeholders in teaching and learning in the university who are students and lecturers. This manuscript explores the causes of underachievement among undergraduates in STEM fields by employing a mixed methods for data collection and analysis among 150 undergraduates and 45 lecturers from six public universities using purposive and quota sampling. Three main research questions were raised on student, lecturer and institution base factors along with perceived hindrances to STEM learning and teaching. Three instruments; Students Factors for Underachievement (SFUA), Lecturers Factor for Underachievement (LFUA) and Lecturers Perceived Factors for Underachievement (LPFU) were employed for data collection through survey and interview. Among other findings, poor prior knowledge among learners, non-utilisation of instructional resources, inaccessibility to library and laboratory and it resources were principal hindrances of undergraduates, lecturers and institution-base factors. The study concluded that efforts and better commitment is required from stakeholders to alleviate the present inadequacies and recommend interventions to remediate areas of need.

The relationship between tutoring and teaching has been a recurrent topic of interest among writing center directors and writing program administrators. While scholarship agrees tutoring experience aids composition teachers with implementing process pedagogy and fostering a collaborative classroom, the relationship between tutoring and assessment of student writing is less clear. This qualitative study uses interviews with eight graduate teaching assistants with tutoring experience to examine how they transfer and juxtapose knowledge, practices, and values for response between the writing center and the classroom. Like previous scholarship, this research finds writing center tutoring contributes to teachers' enactment of constructivist, student-centered pedagogy and enhances their understanding of students' relationship to writing and feedback, standard language ideology, and systemic inequities in education. However, evaluation led these instructors to experience tension between their values and preferred respondent roles, with many reporting anxious grading processes and some experimenting with alternatives to traditional grading. The article concludes with suggestions to build bridges between tutoring and teaching contexts, particularly through explicit attention to antiracist pedagogy and alternative assessment practices.

Throughout the world, schools are visited by students with different native languages. Therefore, the linguistic competencies of the students are diverse. Dealing with this diversity is a great challenge for teachers in general, including in science subjects. To face this challenge, all institutions involved in education should adapt their teaching and learning to linguistic diversity to foster student's language competencies. Non-formal education, such as student laboratories, could enhance formal chemistry education and support students in learning the subject's contents and acquiring language competencies. To this purpose, language-sensitive and language-supportive learning settings for different chemical topics and contexts are developed to enable all students to participate actively and foster language competencies. The learning settings are implemented and evaluated at the Ludwigsburg University of Education (Germany) using a cyclical approach based on Participatory Action Research. Data from 147 students from seven learning groups of various grade levels and school types were collected before and after they experienced the work in student laboratories. The focus was on students' situational interests and their views on offered language-sensitive and language-supportive methods, tools, and activities. The data shows that the approach has a positive effect on students' situational interest. Methods that were especially helpful for the students are filtered. On this basis, implications are drawn for the application to other non-formal education offers

This study aims to: Produce teaching materials in the form of microbiology e-books based on research results on the isolation of styrofoam degrading soil bacteria. Testing the effect of using e-books on improving students' science process skills. The e-book preparation method refers to the Lee and Owens development model and is implemented in learning with the PBL model in the experimental and control groups. The results showed that: e-book material feasibility, e-book teaching materials and e-book practicality with very valid criteria. E-books are proven effective in improving students' science process skills with high criteria, so e-books are suitable for use as teaching materials to support learning. Can be used to solve problems that may be encountered in everyday life.

As part of a large exercise physiology laboratory (lab) reform project, we used blended learning to support graduate teaching assistants and lab technicians in developing their pedagogical knowledge and create an entry point to reflective conversations about teaching and learning. Because self-paced asynchronous online modules can enable reflective and self-determined learning, this asynchronous professional development course is punctuated with reflective questions for the instructional team preparing to teach reformed exercise physiology labs. Asynchronous course content was shared via short videos, podcasts, and readings. We debriefed this self-paced, SoTL-informed course together, in-person. This social debriefing kicked off our weekly synchronous reflective conversations about teaching and learning in a community of practice. Developing a shared language for talking about teaching, enabling student learning, practicing effective teaching, and beginning to contemplate teaching philosophies were described by graduate teaching assistants as notable aspects of this blended learning journey. Lab technicians described discovering SoTL and discussing learning challenges as helpful to their teaching. [Articles in this journal were presented at the University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching.]

This work aims to identify teaching and learning practices in practical classes of Computer Network Technology courses, which promote the use of the Physical Laboratory (PL) as an epistemic tool to improve learning in epistemic terms. Content analysis of Multimodal Narrations (MN) of three classes by two teachers were used. An MN aggregates and organizes the data collected in the PL environment. Based on the results, we infer that the student and the teacher, under certain conditions, use the physical laboratory as an epistemic tool since the physical interactions prove its use and reuse. In addition, this study allows, in the context of work in the physical laboratory of networks, to identify that the orchestrations of mediation patterns adopted by the teacher influence the students' epistemic practices and the use of the laboratory as a tool to produce new knowledge. The following contributions are presented: (1) The quality of the students' epistemic practices is increased if, in the teacher's dynamics of mediation, the control of the students' action is reduced; (2) The orchestration of the teacher's mediation patterns is essential to achieve beneficial results in student learning with the use of artifacts from the physical laboratory of Computer Networks; (3) For the physical laboratory to become an epistemic tool, it is necessary that the mediation standards allow students to develop epistemic practices to a high or very high degree and there is a certain mediation orchestration.

Digital fabrication laboratories (Fab Labs) are accessible to the public, including children and families. However, a variety of technical skills, tools, and expertise are needed in these spaces, and Fab Lab staff--instructors working there--are in a key role in helping Fab Lab users. There is, however, a lack of research on how these instructors can inspire children's genuine participation in Fab Labs. We analyze the challenges faced by four instructors during two months of Fab Lab workshops with 7-12-year-old children. The children worked in child-only or child-parent groups on informal digital design and fabrication activities. Based on genuine participation principles derived from the literature, we designed our workshops, which included the creation of instructor guideline. At the end, we developed a post-workshop framework in which the instructors provided feedback about their performance and experiences. We provide recommendations to help instructors support children's genuine participation in digital design and fabrication.

Biomedical engineering (BME) is a multidisciplinary, constantly advancing field; as such, undergraduate programs in BME must continually adapt. Elective courses provide opportunities for students to select topic areas relevant to their interests or future careers. Specifically, laboratory courses allow experiential learning in specialized topics in a hands-on manner that is suitable and accessible to undergraduate students. In recent years, neural engineering has emerged as a research sub-specialty within BME, and students preparing to pursue careers in this field will require a broad range of fundamental and experiential training. We sought to demonstrate this possibility by implementing a neural tissue engineering module into an existing upper-level undergraduate biofabrication elective. Organoids, which are self-assembling aggregate cell culture models that mimic a tissue or organ in both function and structure, have been made more accessible by genetic tools and commercially available resources. These experimental tools can be incorporated into basic laboratory experiments to model neurological systems that are otherwise difficult to study. In this paper, we describe the execution of this new module in which teams followed an adapted protocol for producing human neural organoids and then designed and manufactured a 3D-printed 'solution' to a common problem in the fields of neural engineering and organoid research. Additionally, we include student feedback as well as advantages, disadvantages, and opportunities for improvement of this laboratory module in future implementations. Skills gained in this project-based setting could be beneficial in subsequent capstone design courses as well as translated into future courses or graduate research studies.

Simulation is accepted as an effective method of learning procedural skills. However, the translational outcomes of skills acquired through simulation still warrants investigation. We designed this study to assess if skills laboratory training in addition to bedside learning (intervention group [IG]) would provide better learning results than bedside learning alone (control group [CG]) in the context of venipuncture training. This prospective, cluster-randomized, single-blind study took place at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Seventeen clusters of second-year medical students were randomly assigned to either IG or CG. The IG trained on venipuncture in the skills laboratory, receiving instruction after modified Payton's Four Step Method. Following the training, students of both IG and CG underwent bedside learning for one month. Afterward, students of both groups performed venipuncture on actual patients in a clinical setting. An independent, blinded assessor scored students' performance using the Integrated Procedural Protocol Instrument (IPPI) and a checklist. Patients assessed students' performance with the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT). Eight and nine clusters were randomized to the intervention and control groups, respectively. IG completed significantly more single steps of the procedure correctly (IG: 19.36 ± 3.87 for checklist items; CG: 15.57 ± 4.95; p < 0.001). IG also scored significantly better on IPPI ratings (median: IG: 27 (12) vs. CG: 21 (8); p < 0.001). Rated by patients, students' communication skills did not significantly differ between the two groups. Simulation-based venipuncture training enabled students to perform the procedure on actual patients with a higher technical accuracy than students who learned venipuncture at the bedside. Students were able to transfer the skills acquired through venipuncture training at the skill laboratory to the bedside.

This article aims to present the design of a GUI application that serves as an educational and analytical tool. The GUI application is intended for educational purposes, allowing users to learn about the linear and renewable energy sources. This GUI has been designed to explain, teach, and implement maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques that enable maximum power extraction from photovoltaic (PV) panels. Contribution: This study introduces a novel educational tool designed to enhance the understanding of different MPPT methods among engineering students. The GUI tool was implemented and utilized throughout a semester in the course named power electronic applications in power systems, specifically aimed at postgraduate level students. Background: Engineering students often encounter challenges in grasping advanced concepts, such as MPPT techniques, which are crucial for optimizing the performance of PV systems. Traditional teaching methods may not fully address the learning needs of students in this complex subject area. Research Question: How does the use of a GUI-based educational tool for MPPT techniques impact the learning outcomes and attitudes of engineering students in a postgraduate course? Methodology: The effectiveness of the GUI was assessed by comparing the performance of students who used this tool with those from the previous year who did not. The study involved a semester-long deployment of the tool in the power electronic applications in power systems course, with participation from students specializing in renewable energy engineering. Findings: Preliminary findings suggest an improvement in the performance of students using the PV-MPPT Lab compared to those from the previous year. The study also indicates positive student attitudes toward the GUI tool, highlighting its potential as an effective learning aid in engineering education.

Contributions: This article presents the results of a study carried out as part of two large-scale pilots and analyzes the impact of the use of modern technologies in education in term of knowledge acquisition in case of students with hearing disabilities. Background: Teaching topics from STEM area is a challenging task for all teachers who have students with hearing disabilities in their class. On the one hand, because of the high degree of difficulty of the information in this field and on the other hand, because of the difficulties that students with hearing disabilities face in understanding this information. In this context, the use of modern technologies in education, but especially the way they are used together with traditional ones, can provide great support for teachers of students with special needs. Intended Outcomes: A set of modern technologies, i.e., virtual lab, virtual reality (VR), in the game-based learning context of the EU-funded NEWTON project, were employed in education as part of the Earth Course. The goal was to increase the accessibility of STEM information in the area of natural sciences for the benefit of students, especially those with hearing disabilities. Application Design: The study targeted secondary school students with hearing disabilities. Content related to natural sciences (i.e., wildlife and sealife) was presented as part of the Earth Course via innovative applications that included virtual laboratories and VR. Avatars were used to support the students with special needs (sign-language translation). Findings: The results of this study demonstrate that the use of modern technologies, combined with game-based learning in science lessons for students with hearing disabilities, contribute to increasing their knowledge level. The best results were obtained when these technologies were used in mixed lessons, alongside the traditional teaching methods.

There is considerable literature describing the use of Change Laboratory as a simultaneous research and intervention methodology in workplace settings. However, there is limited literature describing Change Laboratory from the researcher-facilitator perspective. This paper examines the ethical dimensions of Change Laboratory from this perspective and specifically how a 'rule of care' became a conscious rule. The context is a series of Change Laboratories implemented with Centre Directors and Educational Leaders from early childhood education and care centres in Darwin and Melbourne, Australia. Based on our analysis we attribute the emergence of this rule to a particular vulnerability of the participants: that they were all recruited from centres that had been publicly designated as "Working Towards National Quality Standard" requirements for quality early childhood education and care practices. We present evidence of this 'rule of care' in our work as researcher-facilitators from our data. We conclude that attention to a 'rule of care' is necessary to support transformation, particularly for vulnerable participants such as Educational Leaders.

Could a transformative, inclusive and emancipatory educational framework like the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) advance academic success for all? Could racism and dis/ableism be dismantled through such an emerging educational trend that offers a redefinition of dis/ability abolishing oppressive pedagogical practices that perpetuate constructed views of special needs, often negatively correlated with racial and intellectual superiority? Could such a framework that foregrounds physical, cognitive and linguistic injustices advance achievement beyond merely meeting academic literacy standards within higher education settings like writing centres in a post-COVID 21st-century South Africa? These critical questions are some of the tensions raised in this paper proposing a compelling, yet controversial attempt at advancing student learning and achievement within an expanded definition of disability offered by the UDL framework developed by Rose and Meyer at the Center for Applied Special Technology at Harvard University. While COVID-19 centred around a pandemic, this global catastrophe accelerated the technological thrust into virtual and blended learning mediums of learning and engagement. Yet, given the technological explosion of the mid- and late 20th century, in many ways education have headed towards this direction. Now more than ever, the awareness of the Universal Design for Learning within the role of the writing centre and academic literacy is especially critical, given the drive for technologically driven approaches to address issues of social justice. This paper seeks to understand the obstacles and opportunities of the UDL framework within the role of writing centres in post-COVID 21st-century South African higher education. Through professional insights as a qualified practising writing consultant both locally in South Africa and in the United States, this reflective critique on the emerging vociferous dialogue around the adoption of the Universal Design for Learning framework at higher education institutions in South Africa, and its implications for the role of the writing centre, are based on this author's pragmatic, commonplace experiences as well as research studies conducted on UDL and the Harvard Review. It is hoped that this reflective paper may make visible some of the inherent juxtapositions Universal Design for Learning may hold for meeting individual students' learning needs principled on its universal approach to learning success for all, affording opportunities for further research and critique.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been proposed as a mechanism to democratize access to the benefits of apprentice-style scientific research to a broader diversity of students, promoting inclusivity and increasing student success and retention. As we evaluate CUREs, it is essential to explore their effectiveness within the environments of regional comprehensive universities and community colleges, because they are important access points for a wide variety of students. It is also important to address the potential influence of volunteer bias, where students can opt to enroll in either the CURE or a traditional lab, on the outcomes of CUREs. We evaluated a CURE at a regional comprehensive university under conditions both with and without volunteer bias. We find that nonvolunteer students report a lower sense of discovery and relevance of the CURE compared with students who volunteered for the course. Importantly, we also find that our replacement of the traditional lab class with a CURE resulted in lower scores on exams in the associated lecture course among students who are both BIPOC and Pell eligible. We call for additional research on the effects of CUREs at nonresearch-intensive institutions and without volunteer bias, to better understand the impact of these classes. When a traditional lab was replaced with a CURE a Regional Comprehensive Institution, students who are both BIPOC and Pell eligible have lower scores on the exams in the associated lecture course. Also, students who did not volunteer for the CURE report a lower sense of discovery and relevance in the course.

In recent years, an increasing number of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) undergraduates have chosen to study in STEM fields and pursue careers in research. Yet, very little research has been undertaken on the barriers and inclusive experiences often faced by D/HH undergraduates who prefer to use spoken English in research settings, instead of American Sign Language (ASL). To identify barriers and inclusive strategies, we studied six English speaking D/HH undergraduate students working in research laboratories with their eight hearing mentors, and their three hearing peers sharing their experiences. Three researchers observed the interactions between all three groups and conducted interviews and focus groups, along with utilizing the Communication Assessment Self-Rating Scale (CASS). The main themes identified in the findings were communication and environmental barriers in research laboratories, creating accessible and inclusive laboratory environments, communication strategies, and self-advocating for effective communication. Recommendations for mentors include understanding the key elements of creating an inclusive laboratory environment for English speaking D/HH students and effectively demonstrating cultural competence to engage in inclusive practices.

Laboratory courses can help students learn in a meaningful way. In the past, students encountered difficulties in chemistry laboratory courses due to limited access to equipment and space for practicing experimental operations. In recent years, virtual laboratories have allowed students to repeatedly practice in order to achieve their experimental goals. However, even when students follow the experimental protocol, some still cannot fully understand the principles and meaning of the experimental procedures. Therefore, when they encounter unexpected situations in experiments, they may not know how to handle them. Thus, this study incorporated a concept mapping-guided learning approach to facilitate students' understanding of the concepts of the experimental process and the relationship between experimental procedures before virtual laboratory practice. Using a quasi-experimental approach, 51 middle school students aged 12 to 13 years were assigned to an experimental group (M = 12, F = 14) using the concept mapping-guided virtual laboratory learning approach, and a control group (M = 12, F = 13) using the conventional virtual laboratory learning approach. The experimental group improved their science process skills, problem-solving awareness, and creative thinking tendency. Teachers can employ guided virtual laboratory learning approaches to help students experiment and understand concepts.

This article provides an account of the making of KBLab, the data lab at the National Library of Sweden (KB). The first part discusses the work involved in establishing a lab as both a physical and a digital site for researchers to use digital collections at previously unimaginable scales. The second part explains how the lab has deployed the library's collections as data to produce high quality Swedish AI models, which constitute a significant new form of digital research infrastructure. We situate this work in the context of uneven AI coverage for smaller languages, and consider how the lab's models have contributed to the making of important AI infrastructure for the Swedish language. The conclusion raises the possibilities and challenges involved in continuing this type of library-based AI development.

Recently writing centers are expanding to Asian higher education contexts. However, there is a scarcity of research from writing centers in Asian settings and from non-native English speaker (NNES) tutor perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to enrich understandings of the challenges and expectations perceived by NNES tutors during tutoring writing sessions with intermediate level Japanese EFL (English as Foreign Language) students. A qualitative approach was employed utilizing two data collection methods: 16 interviews with writing tutors, and two quasi-focus groups. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five major categories for challenges perceived by NNES tutors: miscommunication, student silence, mismatched expectations, interpretation of teacher feedback and error correction. It is argued that these are the main challenges that EFL writing tutors face and hence indicate the necessity to train tutors how to deal with them. The implications for creating Asian writing centers and tutor training are discussed.

The authors, a chemistry professor and a librarian, used a qualitative survey to assess student perceptions of a Wikipedia editing assignment that they included in a large upper-level biochemistry course. The assignment was initially intended as a public-facing alternative to a short research paper, emphasizing information literacy and scientific literacy. The goal of the survey was to use the results to enhance the assignment. The results of the survey and research for the literature review inspired a novel approach to the assignment using the perspective of metaliteracy. This approach encourages students to think critically about their role as scholars in a participatory environment.

Despite suggestions being a common speech act used by writing center tutors, very limited research is available on the use of suggestions in online writing center practice. Drawing upon multiple sources of data including the chat transcript, screen recording of the session, and final revised version of the writer's text, this case study explores the types and frequency of the suggestion strategies employed by a tutor and the degree of writer uptake of tutor suggestions in a synchronous online writing center session. The findings indicate that the tutor's use of suggestions throughout the session only led to a partial revision of the writer's text. While factors contributing to the partial revision include overuse of indirect suggestion linguistic realization strategies (SLRSs) and addressing multiple errors at the same time, using multiple and more direct SLRSs appeared to contribute to successful uptake. The observations of the study suggest that tutors might consider addressing one error at a time, utilizing multiple suggestion strategies per error, and focusing on using more direct rather than indirect suggestion strategies in order to increase the degree of uptake and provide suggestions more effectively in online synchronous writing center sessions.

STEAM is an interdisciplinary educational approach. Based on the idea that different disciplines can meet on a common ground, the STEAM approach aims to give students the habit of working together, to provide rich learning experiences and to focus on real-world problems. This study investigates STEAM-based digital learning applications used in music education, their contents and age group suitability. For this purpose, the method of the research is the narrative review study. In this context, we analyzed the Chrome Music Lab, Scratch Music, Groove Pizza, earSketch, UPISketch and iMuSciCA applications. Studies have proved that digital-based STEAM applications used in music education increase students' creativity, improve their music learning, and increase their interest in the lesson because they offer fun learning. With the development of technology, it has become necessary to adapt the methods and techniques used in music education to the age. By integrating art education, which has an important place in STEAM education, with other disciplines, music lessons can be effective and more permanent. The study shows that the more effective use of related applications by music teachers will contribute to music education and it is important in this regard.

In many high-stakes testing situations, test-takers are not allowed to draw on external writing resources while writing, a practice observed more frequently in classroom settings. This may pose problems with the representativeness of test tasks and score interpretations. This study investigates the domain definition of one particular test known as the English Placement Writing Test within an argument-based validation framework. Focusing on the domain definition inference, the following rebuttal was evaluated: Certain essential contextual factors in the academic writing domain are not modeled in the test tasks. To do so, lower- and intermediate-level ESL students (n=92) who previously took the test were surveyed and interviewed regarding their uses of computer-based and face-to-face human-assisted writing tools. Results showed that students at both levels were statistically similar in their attitudes toward and uptakes of such tools while writing. The difference in availability of external writing tools between the target and test domain may point to issues with task authenticity of the test.

The learning process must actively involve students and provide opportunities for them to study and prove the theories they learn. This study determined the influence of the application of Project-Besad Learning (PjBL) using a laboratory approach on learning outcomes and critical thinking in marine biology. This study used a descriptive quantitative method, with the independent variable being the implementation of PjBL with a laboratory approach and involved 32 students in the sixth semester of Biology Education at Pattimura University Indonesia enrolled in marine biology courses. The dependent variables were students' learning outcomes and critical thinking, and the data were collected by tests (knowledge and critical thinking) and observations (attitude and skill). The analysis revealed that the integration of the PjBL with a laboratory approach had a weak effect on knowledge (0.003

For schools to successfully deliver the computer studies curriculum, they should have, among other things, qualified teachers and computer laboratories. This study investigated the availability of qualified computer studies teachers and computer laboratories in public secondary schools in Lusaka City, Zambia. A mixed-methods approach was employed in which 61 schools out of 72 were randomly selected to take part in a survey, and this was followed by interviews, observations, interviews and documentary analysis. Among those surveyed, 50 schools completed the questionnaire, and the results show that 76% of computer studies teachers have qualifications in computer studies or information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the majority (55%) hold a diploma. However, there is a higher teacher-pupil ratio of as high as 1:276. The findings further show that 98% of the schools have computer laboratories and the majority have a lower computer-pupil ratio of 1:2 and 1:3. The results also show that data projectors and air conditioning units are available in many computer laboratories. However, many computer laboratories do not have servers and Internet connectivity. Given the above findings, it has been recommended that the Government of Zambia recruit more computer studies teachers and that school managers ensure the availability of facilities such as Internet connectivity in the computer laboratories.

This qualitative study explores how educators can foster creativity across disciplines through a conceptual framework for creative interdisciplinary collaboration. The article introduces the Creativity Lab process model, which generates collaboratively developed, multifaceted but cohesive project ideas. The author argues that while creativity and collaboration are recognized as important 21st-century skills, opportunities for learning the granular mechanics of creative interdisciplinary collaboration are not yet fully integrated into higher education. The process model addresses this and offers a practical way to foster creative confidence in participants, encourage pluralities and possibilities through gamification, and emphasize integration and cohesion of multiple perspectives in ideas. The article concludes that educational institutions have an opportunity to build the capacity of students and faculty to become skilled at creative collaborations across disciplines, and the Creativity Lab process model offers a specific approach to doing this.

Pursuant to pedagogical changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this study was designed to determine which aspects of an online anatomy course students most preferred and most disliked using Q-methodology. Data were collected in fall 2020 and winter 2021, and 166 student responses were analyzed via by-person factor analysis. Three distinct subgroups were identified: Group 1 (n=66) reported being comfortable with the technology skills required for studying anatomy online; Group 2 (n=50) reported dissatisfaction with several elements of course delivery, including evaluations, laboratory assignments, and the amount of lecture content, believing that they were essentially "teaching [themselves]"; Group 3 (n=29) was characterized by being happy with tutorial activities and the guidance received from teaching assistants. Common to all groups was the preference for physical rather than virtual specimens and for faculty-made practice questions as opposed to the overwhelming number of online specimens available for review. There was an overall positive attitude shift among students regarding online delivery across semesters. Given ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, these findings provide important considerations for future potential online/blended classes on anatomy education.

With growing numbers of multilingual students who have first or primary languages other than English seeking the services of Canadian university writing centres where English is the language of instruction, providing these students with supportive and effective teaching and learning experiences is an important part of their post-secondary education. However, little research has been carried out to examine the impact of writing centre tutor skill development programs to foster meaningful teaching and learning experiences for multilingual students. This qualitative study employed focus group research methods to gather the writing centre tutors' shared perceptions of their skill development opportunities for working with multilingual students. Data were coded and analyzed using a thematic approach. Findings point to multilingual student expectations, tutoring challenges, program effectiveness, and program applicability as elements that impact the tutors' overall impressions of the skill development opportunities they encountered. While there were still areas for improvement, implementing a program of skill development for working with multilingual students in a writing centre was generally beneficial for the tutors in this study.

Scientific argumentation is a higher-order thinking skill that is a major focus in education in the 21st century. This is a skill that plays an important role in knowledge construction which in reality is rarely implemented in science learning. The facts show that most students have low scientific argumentation skills and still need to be improved. In improving scientific argumentation skills, the learning design used must give students more opportunities to build and criticize arguments, make claims, and use evidence in the process of reasoning based on inquiry activities. Based on the results of previous research, it is known that inquiry-based learning has extraordinary potential in developing students' scientific argumentation skills. Interestingly, no research has been found that reveals the effect of inquiry-based online learning on students' scientific argumentation skills. Therefore, this study aims to determine the impact of inquiry-based online learning with a virtual laboratory on students' scientific argumentation skills. This study uses a onegroup pretest-posttest design with n-gain analysis. The results of this study indicate that the application of inquiry-based online learning with a virtual laboratory can improve students' scientific argumentation skills. Uniquely, this only significantly impacts the claim, evidence, and reasoning components, but not the counterclaim and rebuttal components.

This study determined the influence of the competency of teachers and the laboratory environment in an online setting on the students' science process skills using mixed methods approach-convergent design. Participants of the study were 2nd year students from different Higher Education Institutions in Region XI, Philippines. Further, to gather data relative to the research questions, the researcher used adapted survey tools and an interview guide. Results showed that students always observed the competence of their teachers, with a favorable laboratory environment in an online setting leading to the acquisition of science process skills. Furthermore, regarding the relationship of variables, the study revealed that the competency of teachers did not have a significant relationship with students' science process skills. At the same time, there was a considerable correlation between the laboratory environment in an online setting and students' science process skills. The students' lived experiences in acquiring science process skills formed essential themes. Moreover, there was a merging-converging nature of the competency of teachers and the laboratory environment in an online setting and a merging-diverging character on students' science process skills and significant influence of the variables under study. Results of the study will help the teachers identify the factors that can affect the acquisition of science process skills of students in an online learning environment and develop intervention programs to ensure globally competitive graduates. It is further believed that this study will benefit the institution, teachers, and most especially the students who were the main reason for the teaching and learning process. Hence, future studies may be conducted by academic scholars or researchers based on the information gathered from this research. Areas of interest can be other factors that affect the students' acquisition of science process skills and utilize a comparative study involving different courses with chemistry laboratory subjects.

In learning during the current epidemic, students cannot meet face to face on campus, and learning geometry in universities is a dreadful lesson before the pandemic. Both at UPGRIS and other private universities so far, students are required to use a compass and ruler in making flat shapes and building spaces so they have to face to face with the lecturer, but now it can't because it is still online. So it is necessary to make learning media that aims to help students sketch flat shapes and build spaces virtually with practice making it online with a van Hiele theory approach, so the resulting product is truly capable of teaching. The result of this study is a virtual geometry lab application with van Hiele theory that is valid according to material and media experts with an average score of 93 and can be used in classrooms. At PGRI University Semarang, 96% of students agreed that virtual media improved students' spatial ability.

The case focuses upon 1) a public health outcome, namely improving access to healthcare, 2) systems and design thinking approaches to software development and the internet of things, 3) mockup tools and user interface design, 4) understanding stakeholder requirements and feature requests, 5) presentation of a prototype application. This case presents a blend of healthcare management and technology concerns and is an appropriate capstone project for an undergraduate information systems course. Depending on the instructor's individual academic needs, the various assignments can also be modified for lower-level courses. The tasks were originally designed by one of the authors for a course called Creating Solutions with Integrated Technology and are used with permission.

The Anatomy Outreach Program (AOP) at The Ohio State University aspires to enhance anatomical knowledge and appreciation of the human body through interactive laboratory experiences. In May 2022, the AOP held a 3-day outreach event called Anatomy Outreach Days (AOD). AOD exposed more than 300 high school students across Ohio to various human anatomical donor materials, a facilitator panel, and an anatomy-themed game room. Anatomy Outreach Team (AOT) members were recruited to facilitate the different activities with student participants. AOT facilitators guided students through nineteen anatomy stations across five laboratory spaces, spending roughly ten minutes per station. At these stations, students were taught using human anatomical donor materials such as hearts, lungs, and joint prostheses or participated in activities like listening to heart sounds. Post-event Likert-based surveys evaluating student and teacher experiences of the event were distributed following the event; 48 student responses and 7 teacher responses were received. Participant satisfaction with their experience at AOD was rated as 'excellent' with a score of 4.56 for students and 4.86 for teachers. The survey results also showed that students and teachers would highly recommend AOD to their peers. It was concluded that the logistical format of AOD at The Ohio State University was conducive to a positive experience for student and teacher participants.

The Maryland Action for Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Research (MADDPR) Program provides hands-on lab experience and mentoring to underserved minority high school students. Over 4 years, 93 high school students and their science teachers participated in the two-week summer camp program which was led by 15 faculty from the School of Pharmacy. Graduate student mentors led small student mentor groups. The program offered labs with a diverse set of topics ranging from drug design to applied clinical pharmacy. Across study years, student data showed that Black/African American, Hispanic and "Two or more races" groups accounted for 40, 13 and 11% of students, respectively. Survey data from pre- and post-sessions show that the MADDPR program significantly influenced students' career choices with most opting to choose future careers in life sciences, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences. Data from a demographically matched comparison group showed that the MADDPR respondents reported statistically significant higher levels of agreement with the statements "I know I would like to pursue a STEM career" (p=0.00424) and "I know I would like to pursue a biomedical science career" (p=0.0004) compared to a comparison group. The MADDPR program is supporting the STEM career exploration by minority underserved high school students to ultimately enhance the diversity of the biomedical workforce.

Technical writing skills allow prospective professionals to be competitive engineers, be effective at the workplace, reach high positions, and gain self-confidence in Agricultural Engineering. Therefore, technical writing is an integral part of English for Specific Purposes communication of prospective agricultural engineers. The current study aims to examine the influence of Online Writing Lab (OWL) resources on the development of students' technical writing skills. To achieve the outlined aim, a mixed research design was employed, which involved 58 Masters of Podillia State University. Two groups were formed based on students' preferences: experimental (n=28) and control (n=30). The Pearson criterion was used to process the results, which indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their technical writing performances. The study has shown that using OWL resources positively influences the development of Master's technical writing skills. OWL can be considered an effective tool for teaching students technical writing. It engages and motivates the students in technical writing skills and further self-study. Additionally, the study revealed that the majority of the students have positive attitudes toward the use of OWL resources in the learning process.

Writing centers have long been a hallmark in supporting the development of student writers at North American academic institutions. Writing centers are often connected to a writing program or learning center open to all students for one-on-one tutorials regarding a writing project. Tutors function as coaches or collaborators, rather than as teachers, to address individual needs. Through active listening, a tutor may engage writers in discussion to help develop ideas, offer reader feedback, and suggest writing strategies (Harris 1988). In an increasingly internationalized academia, and in turn an increased pressure to publish internationally, more initiatives are being made to establish multilingual writing centers in tertiary institutions across the globe. Although this article is framed within a university context, a writing center can adapt to most learning environments, including schools and community-based programs. In this article, the authors share their insights and lessons learned from working with local teams to establish writing centers at two of the universities.

Postgraduate research plays an important role in the knowledge economy, yet attrition rates among postgraduates remain a global concern. Numerous studies have cited anxiety around academic writing as a primary cause for declining completion rates, particularly among L2 students. Further exacerbating the problem is the acceleration of academic life where students are often expected to publish multiple papers prior to graduation. Despite assumptions that L2 postgraduates matriculate with requisite English academic writing skills, countless studies suggest otherwise. Such students face significant challenges developing these skills and accessing relevant institutional support, which calls for innovative solutions. This mixed-method comparative study analyzes historical data to understand the impact of a writing center's hybrid approach to supporting the development of English academic writing skills among L2 postgraduates. Findings reveal that postgraduate students require flexibility in accessing academic writing support and prefer online and distance options over traditional, in-person support. Additionally, findings indicate that program faculty are willing to collaborate with writing centers to support students' academic writing through a hybrid approach. Study findings also suggest that participants from the hybrid approach are more likely to publish prior to graduation compared to those from the traditional approach. These findings offer important insight for higher education administrators, writing centers, faculty, and postgraduate students as the "onlining" of higher education accelerates in the post-COVID era.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Computer Science and STEM-related fields were among the most resistant to online courses. This is because of a perception of the need for more hands-on instruction with labs, clinicals, field studies, etc. Additionally, many STEM students had perceptions based on limited experience of an online STEM course. Therefore, investigating how the pandemic affected students' perceptions over time is very important. This study investigates the evolution of student perceptions after one and a half years relative to synchronous courses, asynchronous courses, overall satisfaction with online courses, and lab and project-based courses. Our analysis is based on two surveys conducted in the Spring 2020 and Spring 2021 terms, i.e., the first and last semesters that the university converted to a fully online mode. We hypothesize why there were significant empirical shifts in some areas and not in others, and make recommendations based on the qualitative student responses relative to best, acceptable, and poor practices. Our main findings include: (1) Students' perceptions of online classes have improved but are far from equivalent for a lot of the students. (2) Lab resources have improved a great deal, but lab experiences have only improved modestly. (3) Although students' preference between synchronous and asynchronous online modalities were evenly divided, it did not significantly affect students' perception of their learning experience. (4) Grading policies have left many students anxious and confused. Recommendations are provided at the end of the paper.

Purpose: Design an innovative Flipped classroom's Delivery through virtual laboratory. Design/methodology/approach: The fundamental framework of the present investigation is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design. By merging the impetus of "action." with the inclusiveness of "participation," PAR establishes a "network" for collaborative teaching or research. PAR is pertinent to our research because it facilitates the participation of infrastructures and individuals in formulating a critical community. This community encourages critical self-reflection, promotes accountability, redistributes authority, and cultivates confidence in research. PAR fosters constructive transformation in educational environments by utilizing participants' combined insights and experiences to establish a structure for substantive dialogue and proactive measures. Findings: As virtual laboratories are becoming essential in 21st-century science education, we found groundbreaking evidence that can support our novel approach to enhance the quality and equity in education. Our results show that virtual labs engage scientific goals and practices, develop scientific literacy, foster scientific inquiry and problem-solving, and promote metacognition. The effects of the virtual laboratory can develop high self-efficacy and positive attitudes among students. It improves students' laboratory performance, which we noted from laboratory activities, simulations, and long exam results. Originality/value: The study offers groundbreaking account to depict epistemic fluency aided by virtual laboratory.

This piece informs my journey of thinking and contextualizing the validity of autoethnography as a decolonial qualitative research method in writing center scholarship. This piece provides the lilt of everyday writing center initiatives, labor, and workings using five email exchanges as data depicting my interactions with various writing center stakeholders as a transnational writing center studies student-tutor, administrator, and doctoral student from South Asia, specifically India. This piece also argues how I used my experiences as one of a writing center's personnel as a tool of empowerment in my liminal position in my writing center and elaborates on those experiences, broadening the scope of research trajectories and mediums within writing center scholarship using counternarratives in the existing literature.

Background: Internationally, teacher education usually involves close school-university cooperation. In Norway, such collaboration includes enabling student teachers to develop into researching teachers. In this article, our interest lies in how the Change Laboratory (CL), a form of participatory workshop, can lay the foundation for three-way collaboration between student teachers, teacher educators, and practice teachers, in terms of resolving practice issues and facilitating student teachers' research planning. Purpose: The study, contextualised within cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), sought to better understand student teachers' experiences and learning gleaned from collaboration in the CL. Method: Eight student teachers participated in the research, which was carried out over a four-year teacher education research and development project involving one university and one primary school. During this time, the student teachers met in the CL with the teacher educators from the university, and the practice teachers, who were working as mentors in the training schools. The data collected, comprising presentations and dialogues from the CL sessions, were analysed qualitatively. Findings: According to the analysis, the student teachers thought that their CL experiences had supported them along the trajectory of becoming reflective, professionally oriented practitioners. They felt that, through participatory meetings with the teacher educators and practice teachers, they had developed in-depth subject knowledge; learned to collaborate; learned about school development; and learned how to be well prepared for the profession they were entering. In addition, they considered whether the project could be expanded to the entire teacher education system. Conclusions: The findings draw broader attention to the role of participatory meeting places in creating a community of trust, and their potential to support teachers' learning at crucial stages of their professional journeys, from early career phases and beyond.

This critical self-reflection is not a success story; rather, it is an effort of decolonial thinking that reckons with the idea, experience, and practice of centerlessness during pandemic-induced online transitions and operations in a graduate writing center (GWC). By tracing the contours of a series of interlocking disruptions the author and her graduate writing center community experienced during COVID-19, this article brings into sharp focus present colonial legacies inhibiting effective developments, moves, and adaptations to the GWC physical center space and praxis. Through retrospectively following pandemic-induced disruptions to her center, the author critically engages how epistemologies of coloniality and modernity cultivate a narrative of centeredness that unintentionally objectifies graduate writing centers and reduces them to disembodied artifacts of the institution. Ultimately, the author shares how the struggle with feelings of centerlessness--in space, practice, and ideology--provides insights into how we might move toward different, always emergent, and unrealized alternative relational praxis for decolonial and ecological graduate writing center futures. Rather than conceive of and experience the graduate writing center as a placed and institutionalized entity, the author imagines how the disruptions she felt with her center might instead suggest storying and practicing the GWC as a distributed interactional space.

This article examines connections among disability, colonization, university policies, and writing center work in North America. By positing that university policies have long mimicked medical and scientific processes for creating--and then discriminating against--perceived categories of disability, this article makes interventions into traditional writing center practices and pedagogies without dismissing the spirit with which these aspects of our field came to be. The article has several central claims: (1) Disability has been constructed by nondisabled entities (including doctors, scientists, and institutions); (2) Disability's "drift" and myriad forms act as both specter and insidious insurance against progress or inclusive design; (3) Writing center scholarship has consistently made claims toward equity yet still must reframe its points of engagement; and (4) Disability itself provides opportunities to reconstruct not only our relationships to one another but to our field and world. While these claims do situate writing centers (under the auspice of the institution itself ) as agents of colonization and control through their ableism and expectations for bodies, bodyminds, and identities, they also leave ample opportunity to imagine and build upon the values that shape our praxis. What can we imagine for one another, beyond accommodations and retrofits? What does a decolonized, disabled body have to offer? How can we find out?

In this exploratory study, we took as our point of departure Lori Salem's (2016) call to investigate the factors that affect students' decisions to visit the writing center. Rather than exploring student decision-making through a sociological lens, as Salem does, we drew on insights from social psychology to understand students' motivations. We explored two self-theories drawn from social psychology that are associated with students' academic achievement and with students' help-seeking: (1) implicit beliefs about intelligence or "mindsets"; and (2) sense of belonging. Using questions from previously validated scales, we measured first-year students' mindsets and sense of belonging and tested the relationships between these self-theories and students' visits to the writing center. We found correlations between students' mindsets and their willingness to seek support, but the relationships differed between minoritized students and comparison students. Although the numbers are modest, we noted a difference in the relationship between sense of belonging and writing center visits for minoritized students. Our study suggests areas for future research, which has the potential to change the way that writing centers conduct outreach to students and has possible implications both for our marketing efforts and tutor training.

First-generation students (FGS) make up a significant percentage of college populations. However, they experience hardships that are less common for their continuing-generation peers. They struggle to understand the "rules" of college and lack the cultural capital that can help students succeed through generations of knowledge about how to navigate college. Writing centers attempt to lessen these burdens by providing outreach to marginalized student populations, including FGS. However, there has been a lack of cross-institutional research that examines exactly how writing centers support FGS. This article presents a mixed-methods study that begins to close that knowledge gap and demonstrate common patterns of FGS support across institution types in the United States. Results show that most FGS support is "accidental" and highly context-specific, which makes measuring success difficult. The results of this study also show that tutor staffing and training play a significant role in FGS support and should be further researched in writing center studies. The author argues that we need to do more assessment of our outreach and its outcomes for FGS, going beyond our narratives of what does or does not work for marginalized students.

On archives and archival impressions, this essay extends archivalresearch to the elsewhere and otherwise. The essay asks, how do we reposition thecontents of archives so that we can position ourselves in relation to it otherwise? Itputs forward a theory of (decolonizing) archival impressions.