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Students' commitment to online collaborative learning poses a significant challenge for higher education institutions. This study explores the factors that affect students' commitment to Learning Management System (LMS) groups. A conceptual framework is developed that integrates social identity theory, DeLone and McLean's information systems success model, and Hofstede's cultural theory. By adopting a quantitative research design, 367 responses were gathered from university students. The data was analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM). The findings reveal that factors such as LMS group identification, adherence to LMS group norms, perceived system quality, perceived service quality, and perceived information quality positively influence students' commitment to the LMS group. Interestingly, collectivism as a cultural variable moderates the positive relationship between compliance with LMS group norms and commitment to LMS groups. Furthermore, uncertainty avoidance amplified the positive relationships that perceived system quality and information quality had with LMS group commitment. The model presented in this study offers significant predictive power concerning commitment to an LMS group. These findings will provide valuable insights for systems developers, higher education institutions, and instructors aiming to bolster online group commitment within LMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has highlighted the barriers that immigrants face due to discrimination in their everyday lives. At the same time, it has been shown that immigrants get civically engaged to counteract discrimination and to work for structural change. To contribute to ongoing research on how discrimination affects attitudes, behaviour, and eventually life opportunities of immigrants, we investigate in a scoping review conceptualisations and measurements of discrimination and civic engagement used in empirical quantitative studies. We take systematic stock of publications that examine the link between discrimination—perceived and experienced—and the civic engagement of immigrants in Western societies. Using three of the leading databases for the social sciences, we systematically search for literature on discrimination and civic engagement over the past 50 years. On the basis of the retrieved publications, we assess how studies conceptualise and measure discrimination and civic engagement and investigate how scholars represent the link between discrimination and civic engagement in their statistical models. We introduce an analytical framework for discrimination that leads to more analytical clarity and may serve as a tool to investigate the link between discrimination and civic engagement more precisely. From our review, we derive recommendations as to how studies from different disciplines can learn and benefit from each other in order to gather knowledge on the mechanisms that underlie the link between discrimination and civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to study the impact of the use of digital interactive information technologies in Chinese political education on the civic participation of Chinese and foreign students. The study involved 347 Chinese and 298 foreign students China University of Political Science and Law University, School of Marxism (Shanghai); East China University of Political Science and Law (Shanghai); China Youth University of Political Studies (Beijing), who studied using digital interactive information technologies (experimental group 2); the control group consisted of 285 Chinese and foreign students who, during the experiment, studied political disciplines without the use of digital interactive information technologies. To investigate the students' civic participation, the authors used a special semi-structured questionnaire, as well as the method "Diagnostics of the socio-psychological attitudes of a person in the motivational-need sphere" by O. Potemkina and the method "Motivation of professional activity" by K. Zamfir modified by A. A. Rean. Both Chinese and foreign students who received political education using digital interactive information technologies during the experiment turned out to be significantly more active in civilian life than those who studied without using these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a clarion call to cultivate EFL teachers' intercultural competence (IC) in supporting their classroom practice, there is a lack of empirical research on how pre-service EFL teachers develop their IC. To fill the gap, the study examined two pre-service EFL teachers' IC development during a service-learning programme in China. Drawing on data from interviews, reflective journals, and researchers' field notes, the findings revealed two IC development patterns derived from the Chinese notion of harmony, i.e., "prioritising harmony" and "seeking harmony in diversity," shaped by the participants' motivations, personality traits, and contextual influences. Implications are provided to facilitate pre-service teachers' IC development in culturally diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature suggests that institutional efforts to cultivate civic engagement may have developmental importance on an institution's mission, values, and culture. This study seeks to detail how anchor and place-based justice network institutions digitally engage with their communities through a website content analysis and using Ostrander's civic engagement framework and Kimball and Thomas' place-building theory. Findings from this study illuminated the contrasting and overlapping strategies anchor, and place-based justice network websites address advancing civic engagement. Through our analysis, we offer an innovative theoretical and practical institutional civic and community engagement website approach for strengthening institutional websites called Digital Place-Based Theory for Social Justice. This study will help scholars and practitioners explore the relationship between sustainable partnerships with local communities and post-secondary institutional responses to ever-evolving justice concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined two mediators of university students' behavioural intention to use digital platforms in the context of science service learning in Taiwanese universities. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), we proposed two cognitive variables as antecedents, self-efficacy and science trust, to verify their influences on students' behavioural intention. We further investigated two mediators, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, to examine to what extent they had effects on students' intention. Questionnaire data were collected from 282 university students who participated in a science service project. A structural equation model (SEM) procedure was used to test the direct and indirect relationships between the variables. The results showed that both self-efficacy and science trust had direct influences on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The two mediators also had direct effects on students' behavioural intention. Nevertheless, as a mediating variable, only perceived ease of use effectively mediated the relationships between both self-efficacy and science trust and students' behavioural intention. Findings of this research could provide some suggestions to enhance students' behavioural intention for institutions where science service learning is a required project/programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeless service users were screened for autism spectrum disorder through one of Ireland's leading not for profit service providers. Keyworkers acted as proxy informants; their caseloads were screened using the DSM-5—Autistic Traits in the Homeless Interview (DATHI). Client current and historical health and behaviour data was collated. A representative sample of 106 eligible keyworkers caseloads were screened, identifying 3% "present" and 9% "possibly present" for autistic traits with the DATHI. These findings suggest a high estimate of autism prevalence and support emerging evidence that, people with autism are overrepresented in the homeless population, compared to housed populations. Autism may be a risk factor for entry into homelessness and a challenge to exiting homeless and engaging with relevant services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the importance of global competence and its incorporation in interventions from Grade 5 to Grade 12 public education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prepare learners for local and global challenges, such as sustainable development, technological innovation, climate change, etc. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018) and a machine learning model, the study presented here reveals that three key "global competence indicators" contribute to student academic performance in both the UAE and member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These three indicators are (1) self-efficacy regarding global issues; (2) awareness of global issues; and (3) awareness of intercultural communication. The study identifies that boys attending public (UAE government-funded) K–12 schools need particular interventions to improve all three key global competence skills, while girls would benefit from building stronger self-efficacy regarding global issues and from improving awareness of intercultural communication. This article details evidence on which global competence interventions can be built and integrated with efforts to close achievement gaps in UAE K–12 public schools. The authors recommend intervention designs and target population groups which would benefit most from the findings of this research study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a high-impact educational practice, service-learning has demonstrated success in positively influencing students' overall development, and much work has been done on investigating student learning outcomes from service-learning. A particular direction is to model students' learning outcomes in the context of their learning experience, i.e., the various student, course, and pedagogical elements. It contributes to a better understanding of the learning process, a more accurate prediction of students' attainments on the learning outcomes, and improvements in the design of learning activities to maximize student learning. However, most of the existing work in this area relies on statistical analysis that makes assumptions about attribute independence or simple linear dependence, which may not accurately reflect real-life scenarios. In contrast, the study described in this paper adopted a neural network-based approach to investigate the impact of students' learning experience on different service-learning outcomes. A neural network with attention mechanisms was constructed to predict students' service-learning outcomes by modeling the contextual information from their various learning experiences. In-depth evaluation experiments on a large-scale dataset collected from more than 10,000 students showed that this proposed model achieved better accuracy on predicting service-learning outcomes. More importantly, it could capture the interdependence between different aspects of student learning experience and the learning outcomes. We believe that this framework can be extended to student modeling for other types of learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Milwaukee and nationwide, cancer incidence, late-stage diagnosis, and mortality are notably higher among some racial/ethnic populations. Cancer education has the potential to impact cancer burden and reduce cancer disparities. In particular, the addition of a service-learning component to academic curriculums has been shown to improve student learning as well as positively impact the surrounding community. This study implemented a cancer health education curriculum (CHEC) at a Milwaukee public high school with the goal of addressing cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism beliefs, and risk behaviors. The curriculum included interactive learning sessions and a service-learning final project. Five-hundred twenty-one students also completed pre- and post-surveys assessing cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism, risk behaviors, cancer-related communication, and a qualitative question asking what they hoped to gain (pre) or did gain (post) from the course. Results indicate (1) a significant improvement in cancer knowledge (p < 0.0001), (2) a decrease in cancer fear and fatalism (p < 0.0001), (3) an increase in fruit consumption (p < 0.0001), (4) a decrease in screen time (p = 0.0004), and (5) an increase in how often students spoke with their family about cancer (p < 0.0001). Qualitative data reflect important gains such as increased interest in sharing their knowledge about cancer with their community. Providing cancer education and leveraging a service-learning requirement led to notable changes in high school students' cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism, and risk behaviors. Students also communicated more with family/friends about cancer. Such efforts could have broader implications for student, family, and community cancer burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching the General Capability of Intercultural Understanding is an Australian government mandate, but an ongoing challenge for teachers, many of whom may have little or no experience dealing with the teaching of intercultural understanding and lack confidence to embed this focus in their classrooms. Hence, teacher preparation is a priority to enable this mandate to be fulfilled. This research project reports on the development of intercultural capability as a result of a short-term overseas Wider Field Experience undertaken by preservice teacher education students attending a regional university in Australia. The results were analysed according to two published frameworks. Survey results and qualitative analysis from 22 participants indicated that the wider field experience enhanced preservice teachers' intercultural capability and their readiness and ability to teach this priority upon graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within citizenship education, literacy is often promoted in a narrow functional sense of skills for civic engagement or is used synonymously with "knowledge" to refer to an awareness-raising process around rights. Through an analysis of evolving models of citizenship, this article moves beyond literacy for citizenship to consider the ways in which literacy learning can emerge through active citizenship. Drawing on published ethnographic studies of literacy in everyday life to analyse both the symbolic and instrumental meanings of literacy in specific contexts, the author introduces a social practice lens on literacy and citizenship. She explores the pedagogical implications for literacy within citizenship education, particularly in relation to informal learning of "real literacies", critical digital literacy to distinguish "fake news" and literature as a way of entering someone else's experiences. UNESCO's current vision for global citizenship education as nurturing empathy and understanding between peoples implies that literacy providers need to recognise participants as not only consumers, but as co-constructors of texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Saudi Arabia has officially recognized learning disabilities as a new category of disability since 1996. The Saudi government has since developed policies to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities in the least restrictive environments. With the growing population of these students in Saudi schools, this search is thus focused on determining a means of identifying students with learning disabilities and providing them with appropriate services. School practices, which refer to the discrepancy between intelligence quotient and academic achievement, are still used for identifying learning disabilities and making eligibility decisions for special education services in resource rooms. This article examines the discrepancy model and suggests the usage of the response to intervention approach as an alternative model. Additionally, the article suggests the use of a multifaceted approach for identifying and supporting students with learning disabilities. Recommendations regarding investment in data, use of evidence-based practices, and monitoring of the progress of students with learning disabilities are provided. The recommendations underscore the need to create procedural guidelines to identify students with learning disabilities, offer relevant professional development programs, and improve the accountability of the education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on early childhood preservice teachers' perceptions of online technology, service learning, and their understanding of their role as community leaders through service learning. A survey was conducted among preservice early childhood teachers in Taiwan. The questionnaire was comprised of three factors: online engagement, civic responsibility, and service learning. These variables were tested for their relationships and interactions with mediating and moderating effects. The findings showed that early childhood preservice teachers had positive perceptions of using online technology in their service learning course, and that they employed this tool to perform their civic responsibilities as teachers and citizens. Most importantly, they responded that service learning experiences were helpful in expanding their civic awareness and sense of social responsibility to help disadvantaged groups achieve better social living situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The learning customization and monitoring are considered key aspects of the teaching-learning processes. Some works have proposed mobile learning systems that provide teachers and students learning monitoring and personalization services. One of the main requirements of these kinds of systems in terms of software quality is usability; however, few works have addressed the usability issues using laboratory studies with users in real domains. In this work, we present a usability evaluation of the learning monitoring and personalization services of a mobile learning platform based on a laboratory study in which nine teachers and ten students participated. In our usability evaluation, the aspects evaluated were effectiveness, efficiency, and level of user satisfaction as proposed by the ISO/IEC 25000 family of standards. The results show that the teachers presented effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction considered satisfactory, while the students presented effectiveness and satisfaction classified as satisfactory and acceptable efficiency. The usability evaluation described in this work can serve as a reference for developers seeking to improve learning monitoring and personalization services development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the effects of a fact family fluency intervention on math facts fluency and quantitative reasoning. Sixty-three students in Grades 5–8 participated in the study, including 14 students receiving special education services and 15 students receiving additional support. The researchers employed a quasi-experimental, switching replications design that included three waves of assessment. The first group to receive intervention achieved statistically significant gains in performance on both math facts fluency and quantitative reasoning. The second group then received intervention and demonstrated a similar performance. Implications of the current findings and potential directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 global pandemic has shaken the status quo including the way university counseling and assessment centers provide training to graduate students and psychological services to the community. The pandemic brought high levels of uncertainty and contradictory telehealth guidelines across organizations. Guidelines related to telehealth assessment services were especially challenging to navigate. Center directors worked collaboratively with faculty and campus leadership to follow best practices and mitigate training and service disruptions to the best of their ability. The tension created by the pandemic offered an opportunity for centers to challenge long-standing practices, experiment with new practices, and ultimately enhance their programs. This paper offers reflections on our experiences in following best practice guidelines for telehealth counseling and psychoeducational assessment service delivery within a university counseling and diagnostic training center. Training considerations for directors and faculty affiliated with counseling and diagnostic training centers are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Aim: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Setting: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Participants: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Program Description: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Program Evaluation: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.Discussion: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners.To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs).A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city.Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff.The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy.Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO’s mission, residents’ volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts.Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School psychologists play an essential role in the provision of school-based mental health services yet continue to spend the majority of their time conducting psychoeducational assessments. In California, changes in law regarding the provision of mental health services have increased the tension around the role of school psychologists and led to models for determining the need for mental health services that are inefficient and present a potential barrier to students receiving services in a timely manner. The paper proposes case conceptualization as a more useful and efficient approach, than traditional assessment processes for determining students' mental needs and writing goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are incredibly vulnerable to poor post-school outcomes. Two mandates, the Higher Education Opportunity Act and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, have emerged that may provide avenues to counter the discrepancy between the desire for career and college paths and actualization of employment and enrollment. The authors explore these legislative acts, their impact on transition services for students with IDD, and how school personnel can collaborate to create family, school, and community partnerships. Based on these acts, a practice framework, and the unique transition needs of students with IDD, practice recommendations are provided. Specific strategies for promoting application of these laws in the school setting are offered. Special attention is given to the partnership between special educators and school psychologists to help them navigate the legal implications for students with IDD and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based learning is a pedagogical technique designed to bring students out of the classroom and into their communities. Students typically pair with local nonprofit organizations to complete work which ties into their scholarship. Faculty, students, and community members can all benefit from these partnerships, and university-community relations are strengthened by them. These connections deepen the educational experience and improve student success and retention, and build civic engagement skills that benefit the university community and the student's home community (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Bednarz in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32:87–100, 2008; Mohan in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 19:129–142, 1995). Spatial citizenship, while vital to such engagement and to effective community participation, is seldom taught in traditional pedagogy (Kanwischer, Schulze, and Gryl in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Spatial citizenship—dimensions of a curriculum, Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). Connecting place to pedagogy with spatially-enabled learning helps students investigate complex global concepts at a manageable local scale. Geography is an intrinsic part of scholarship, to varying degrees, and spatial thinking can bring added dimension and value to the educational process (Vogler in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). The intersectionalities which exist within the community, when examined with a spatial lens, are the core of community geography, a praxis-focused method of engaged scholarship (Shannon in Progress in Human Geography, 10.1177/0309132520961468, 2020). Community-based learning is not clearly defined, yet some established models exist. Place-based learning communities move cohorts of students through a curriculum that is centered on local community issues, with the community as both laboratory and lens, and building place attachment (Schweizer, Davis, and Thompson in Environmental Communication 7:42–62, 2013). Service learning, while less clearly defined, typically involves direct work with community organizations, identifying, investigating, and contributing to solutions for local issues (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Cal Corps Public Service in Designing Community-Based Courses, 1–45, 2015). Built around the concept of place, the added dimension of improved spatial citizenship benefits both community and students. This paper will review community-based learning as practiced through upper-division service learning courses in geography at two universities, and the development of a new course, as methods of engagement with local communities through a spatial lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean to conduct community-based and praxis-oriented research at a time when those whose lives you study and with whom you work are the subjects of increasing levels of xenophobia, marginalization, and demonization? How does one conceive of research ethics, of the relationship between the roles of scholars, teachers, and citizens in light of such dynamics? In what ways can scholarship help to intervene in the world around us, in particular to improve the perception and amplify the voices of marginalized groups and individuals? This paper considers these issues in the context of research ethics and the growing field of community geography. I draw in particular on an example from a multi-year study of refugee resettlement in non-traditional destinations across the US. When the study began, refugee policies and settlement patterns were little known to the general public in the US. Since then, refugees and migration more broadly have become increasingly prominent and controversial worldwide. In this paper I explore some of the challenges regarding collaborations between university researchers and community partners, highlighting the tensions exposed through the use of the visualization technique known as Photovoice, meant to provide alternative perspectives on ideas for urban change amongst participants. I also consider some ideas for steps to address these challenges, including the building of networks and training for researchers and formalized partnership processes for community groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry-based science instruction (IBSI) has the potential to contribute to social justice through widening participation and success in science. However, teachers struggle to implement IBSI because of contextual factors. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of agency as a framework for understanding teachers' decision-making, by asking the question: what was the agency of six science teachers in their social-justice aspirations and use of IBSI? An agency framework recognizes that teachers' decisions are informed by their internal conversations at the intersection of personal aspects (their history, repertoire, and aspirations) with the cultural and structural constraints and resources of their contexts. However, research on IBSI has focussed on teachers' personal aspects or their perceptions of contextual factors. The sample had learnt IBSI through service learning in the context of a science fair. From teacher interviews, it emerged that these teachers had strong social-justice aspirations to serve disadvantaged students. The teachers linked their social-justice aspirations to their choice of school rather than their use of IBSI. The teachers at better-resourced schools initiated participation in science fairs at their schools, whilst the rest judged that science fairs were not appropriate for their students. The results suggest that, rather than prescribing particular pedagogies, teacher education programmes should aim to increase teachers' pedagogical repertoires, in order to enrich their agency in whatever contexts they teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasingly prevalent, intervention costs are high, and long-term outcomes are poor. Proactive implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs; Steinbrenner et al., Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism, 2020) through an assessment or planning process can lead to more effective services (Rubin et al., Admin Policy Mental Health Mental Health Serv Res 43(6), 1023–1028, 2016). The objective of this study is (a) to identify factors associated with the use of proactive versus reactive strategies for school-based services for students with ASD and (b) to examine school personnel perceptions of the use of proactive versus reactive strategies. Data were from a larger project in which 6 semi-structured focus groups were conducted to understand school personnel perceptions of how school districts implement new programs for ASD. Transcripts were coded using an iterative coding and review process. In the present study, primary themes were identified and classified as proactive or reactive. Participants reported both proactive and reactive allocation of district resources for intervention implementation. Reactive implementation was associated with litigation or due process, escalated student behavior, and non-public school placement, whereas proactive implementation was associated with ASD-specific programming, grants, personnel experience with EBPs, and prospective needs assessment. Participants perceived the reactive strategies as disadvantageous, and yet these strategies were sometimes still employed. Understanding the role of proactive and reactive strategies and the factors that influence their use could enable more effective planning for EBP use to improve both cost savings and student outcomes. This study is an important first step to explore resource allocation for school-based services for students with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many may consider the work of educators to be isolated to teaching in lecture theatres or classrooms, the work of educators is incredibly varied and operates in all sorts of border spaces. In the current higher education context, performative metrics encourage us to categorise our work as teaching or research or engagement. An invitation to interdisciplinary educational work In seeking contributions to this Special Issue, we invited researchers and educators to experiment with narrative methodologies as they told their stories of engaging in "interdisciplinary educational work". All this "boundary work" has involved the "complex negotiations" that Newman et al. ([6]) identified, and it has ensured that my work as an educator/researcher has been an ever-evolving learning experience. [Extracted from the article]

The Strategic Incremental Rehearsal (SIR) intervention, a modified version of Incremental Rehearsal, is an efficient flashcard procedure that has demonstrated effectiveness on sight word acquisition for children who exhibit reading difficulties. However, to date, the procedure has not been evaluated with children identified with a reading disability who have a history of receiving special education services. This study uses a multiple baseline design across participants to examine the effects of SIR with a modified criterion for removal on sight word reading with three third-grade participants receiving special education services for a specific learning disability in reading. Results indicated sight word reading increased for all 3 participants at the onset of intervention compared to baseline. The total intervention time for each participant ranged from 16 to 48 min. All 3 participants correctly read a minimum of 21 out of 25 targeted words at a 5-week maintenance check. The results indicated that SIR with a modified criterion of removal is a potentially effective and efficient intervention for sight word reading for participants with specific learning disabilities in reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning is disruptive. At the same time, machine learning can only succeed by collaboration among many parties in multiple steps naturally as pipelines in an eco-system, such as collecting data for possible machine learning applications, collaboratively training models by multiple parties and delivering machine learning services to end users. Data are critical and penetrating in the whole machine learning pipelines. As machine learning pipelines involve many parties and, in order to be successful, have to form a constructive and dynamic eco-system, marketplaces and data pricing are fundamental in connecting and facilitating those many parties. In this article, we survey the principles and the latest research development of data pricing in machine learning pipelines. We start with a brief review of data marketplaces and pricing desiderata. Then, we focus on pricing in three important steps in machine learning pipelines. To understand pricing in the step of training data collection, we review pricing raw data sets and data labels. We also investigate pricing in the step of collaborative training of machine learning models and overview pricing machine learning models for end users in the step of machine learning deployment. We also discuss a series of possible future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshmen in Higher Education are required to exhibit a strong inclination to taking ownership of their own learning. It entails well-developed self-regulated learning competences. This demand is further exacerbated in purely online settings such as open distant learning, MOOCs, or disruptive circumstances like the COVID pandemic. Time management skills are an essential component in this process and the target of this study, wherein 348 students covered a course through two conditions: the control group attended the semester in an unchanged way, while students in the experimental group were weekly invited to estimate and log their workload and time allocations, via "reflection amplifiers" provided on their mobile devices. While no major difference in time management and learning performance was observable, data reveals that perceived time allocation and prescribed study-time differ substantially. These results raise questions, on the students' side, about the potential of qualitative (self-inputted) learning analytics to raise awareness on where time investments go. On the teachers' side, the results highlight the need to better plan the curricula workload specifically for first-year students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional school models and policy frameworks have often neglected the outside-of-school factors that can impact students' academic achievement and well-being at school. However, a number of schools in the USA have been or are beginning to integrate community-based support services to address students' varied needs. School-based wraparound is an approach to promoting student success through a process of identifying, securing, and coordinating relevant supports. This article will describe some of the history of wraparound, its use as a school-based approach, the core principles of the process, and some examples of implementation in schools. The article will then provide a review of the outcomes research. In general, the current literature and research on the use of wraparound services suggest that it is a promising and cost-effective approach that can help to support student success. Finally, some current resources for planning and implementing wraparound services available to education professionals will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When analyzing classroom video, pre-service teachers can improve their professional vision, that is, their ability to notice important events in a classroom and to interpret them based on theoretical knowledge. However, learning with video is especially challenging for novice learners. Thus, video needs to be embedded into an instructional context to be effective. In an experimental study with 89 pre-service biology teachers, we investigated the effect of a short professional vision training and whether two design principles from multimedia learning research—namely segmenting and self-explanation prompts—could additionally increase training effects. In a one-hour training session on small-group tutoring strategies, participants watched practice video examples either as a whole or segmented. After each video or video segment, respectively, they received either open or focused self-explanation prompts to analyze the scene. We assessed participants' professional vision skills before and after training. Overall, participants' performance substantially increased from pretest to posttest. Moreover, during training, both segmented video examples and focused self-explanation prompts led to increased noticing of relevant strategies. This advantage during training, however, did not result in higher professional vision improvement in posttest scores compared to participants who worked in the less supported training phase conditions. We discuss possible explanations why additional support increased training performance but not learning gains and suggest an additional fading phase as a means to achieve persistent effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classroom observation is an accountability practice which promotes the evaluation of teachers' capacity to meet standards, improve teaching practices, and enhance student learning outcomes. Prior research has revealed that these practices are not without bias: the reliability of observation can be challenged because of classroom or observer characteristics. Unlike general education learning environments, much less is known about the reliability of observing classrooms that service students with disabilities. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of special-education classroom observation by school personnel. Using a systematic scorer design modeled after the MET Project, we examined different combinations of observers (special educator, school leader, paraprofessional, and researcher) and lessons to test the impact of prior exposure to a teacher on scoring the RELATE Tool for Special Education Classroom Observation (RELATE). Analyses of RELATE scorer reliability, comparison of school personnel and researchers on their scores' aggregates and variance, and the implications for generalization and special education classroom observation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discuss the application of Internet of Things (IoT) in the agriculture, an agricultural product price prediction model is constructed based on the improved Elman neural network (ENN) of deep learning. Simulation experiment of pest prediction is carried out based on MATLAB, and then the agricultural IoT information service system is combined with the improved ENN prediction model to predict and analyze agricultural product prices. The results show that the agricultural product price prediction model based on the improved ENN has high accuracy, which reaches 0.9241. Through this agricultural product price prediction model, the agricultural IoT information service system can predict the price trend of agricultural products better, and it can also predict the shortcomings in the production and sales of agricultural products, so that corresponding management and control measures can be realized. This work can provide an important reference for the application of deep learning methods in agricultural IoT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Creativity; Mindfulness; Educational technology; Schools; Teaching; Wellbeing EN Creativity Mindfulness Educational technology Schools Teaching Wellbeing 125 130 6 03/16/22 20220301 NES 220301 I Mindful and creative, a child who has neither a past, nor examples to follow, nor value judgments, simply lives, speaks and plays in freedom. Many teachers reported that they found the synchronous instructor-supported time to be beneficial to them in reinforcing their asynchronous learning; particularly, when mindfulness instructors helped to troubleshoot and assist teachers in adapting the practice in ways that were individually meaningful to them. Teachers have adapted this philosophy to teaching mindfulness to their own students and reported that they enjoy the creative adaptations to mindfulness practice in virtual settings. Teacher interviews have so far shown that mindfulness practice has lowered their levels of stress and raised levels of individual wellbeing, with increased effectiveness in communication, ability to regulate emotions, detach from negative thinking and enhanced levels of compassion, for themselves and their students. [Extracted from the article]

This paper proposes a self-adaptive mobile web service (MWS) discovery approach based on the modified negative selection algorithm (M-NSA) to improve the effectiveness and accuracy of MWS discovery in dynamic mobile environment. The main contributions of this work are the service relevance learning model and a MWS matchmaking algorithm that it is capable of changing as soon as the discovery demonstrates the feasibility of attaining improved effectiveness or accuracy. This is achieved by transforming the two stages of modified negative selection algorithm (M-NSA) into service relevance and self-adaptive matchmaking, respectively. The proposed approach is evaluated in terms of both binary and graded relevance. After an experiment with the largest MWS dataset, the proposed approach records better results in comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches. This is owing to the self/nonself discrimination mechanism, in addition to the decent parameter analysis, and the use of more comprehensive information that covers the entire discovery space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient resource provisioning is one of the important research challenges in cloud computing. Cloud providers use auto-scaling techniques for resource provisioning to manage the fluctuating workload as well as SLA violations. Auto-scaling is necessary for optimal and efficient resource allocation to manage the workload that will reduce power consumption and will also guarantee for better quality of service (QoS). It is essential for those services which support rigorous quality of service (QoS) requirements such as minimum response time or maximum throughput. Cloud providers implement service elasticity through auto-scaling mechanisms. This paper uses a novel prediction technique for resource provisioning through the auto-scaling mechanism. The prediction is done using time series data analytics with the help of the deep learning technique (i.e., LSTM). The predictive resource provisioning technique will predict the traffic load over the server and then estimates the required number of computing resources. The estimated computing resources are provisioned through the queuing theory so that it optimizes the response time and satisfies the SLA contract between the end-user and provider. The optimal resource provisioning will also reduce the consumption of computing resources while attenuating resource over-provisioning minimizes energy consumption and reduces the infrastructure's operating costs. The experimental results show that the workload prediction through LSTM obtains better accuracy than other traditional models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most students have interacted with scientific representations that are used as teaching resources in schools. Often these external representations present challenges for understanding. By utilizing a framework based on an inferential, epistemic approach to scientific representations, we have analyzed students' representational constructions of the day/night process. This study identified the ways students build their representations or models based on their interpretations of school representations. The study participants were 151 students from a semi-urban primary school. Data were obtained through questionnaires and interviews. Analysis utilized the inferential approach to identify intentionality, interpretation, denotation, reasoning, and coordination rules in students' constructions. The results showed that only a few students were able to integrate school representations coherently as intended, and most of these students were in the upper grades. Even when students in the middle grades constructed reasoning processes, they did so use other elements of interpretation and denotation that are not equivalent to those in the school representations. We also found that most children failed to establish any discernible process that would indicate whether they used elements from the school model to infer explanations for the day/night process; that is, they had fragmented elements of representations that prevented them from making valid inferences. Finally, the approach described in this paper is useful for identifying difficulties that students face when dealing with scientific school representations since it offers elements for reconsidering the usual external representations that are used to teach science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile social media are increasingly being used in education. They provide an effective way to address the imbalance between teaching supply and demand for older adults. However, few studies have investigated which factors contribute to older adults' intention to use mobile social media for learning. This study uses a sequential explanatory mixed method to investigate the factors impacting older Chinese adults' adoption of mobile social media for learning. Results of the quantitative phase indicated that Technology Anxiety (TA), Self-efficacy (SE), Previous Experience (PE), and Subjective Norm (SN) had significant effects on Perceived Usefulness (PU). TA, SE, PE, and Facilitating Conditions (FC) had significant effects on Perceived Ease of Use (PEU). PU and PEU are significant predictors of Behavioral Intention (BI), and PEU had a positive effect on PU. In the qualitative study, the significant effects of these extension factors on PU and/or PEU were investigated further. Perceptions and concerns about using mobile social media for learning were analyzed based on the participants' interview data. On the basis of these results, recommendations are made to promote the use of mobile social media for learning by older adults. Specifically, teachers and colleges should: (a) select appropriate social media applications and set up relevant courses, and (b) supply inexpensive network service and high-quality learning support service. These research results have important implications for academic researchers, senior college managers, and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can school psychologists effectively address and respond to the myriad needs of students in our nation's schools? As these needs are ever-growing and diversifying, should the profession of school psychology consider mirroring this diversification through the promotion of specialized skill sets? Such efforts would echo the development of related disciplines of education, medicine, and psychology, disciplines that have long recognized the need for the division of skills and services in specified areas to meet the developing needs of their profession. We present and discuss questions related to specializations in school psychology under a broad subject of the potential for additional concentrated skill-based training to better impact service delivery and student outcomes. In exploring these questions, consideration is given to the ever-increasing needs of the schools coupled with the goal of school psychology: to empower school psychologists to promote the learning, behavior, and mental health of all children and youth. With very preliminary data in mind, the following areas are presented, with no particular order or emphasis, as potential topics and areas from which to build communities of discussion and exploration: bilingual–multilingual, behavior analytic, autism, and counseling, with introduction to other areas such as research, preschool/early childhood, neuropsychology, and leadership. Implications and recommendations for future directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Afforestation is one of the major drivers of land cover change in the world. In spite of its multiple applications, forest generation has been fostered during the last century to achieve few specific objectives such as timber production or catchment erosion protection. However, new afforestation programs are required to meet multiple objectives such as carbon sequestration, reducing environmental risks and enhance biodiversity conservation to reach sustainability. Objectives: Assessing the general efficiency of past large-scale afforestation programs on the provision of ecosystem services (ES) and other socio-ecological attributes. We also determined whether this efficiency depended on the type of ecosystem used for comparison. Methods: We carried out a semi-quantitative meta-analysis from 75 studies analyzing the effects of 128 afforestation actions developed in one of the EU countries with larger areas of afforested land during the twentieth century. Results: Spanish afforestation policy improved timber provision and carbon sequestration. However, our results show that afforestation programs did not enhance regulating ES when compared to natural land plots, but only when compared to highly degraded areas prior to restoration actions. Conclusions: Large-scale afforestations have difficulties in assuring the provisioning of regulating ES and the conservation of biodiversity when only productivity criteria are prioritized. Our results suggest the need for an afforestation agenda that embraces more comprehensive landscape management approaches that allow reducing undesired ES trade-offs while getting multiple objectives from different ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic triggered distance education in higher education. Decisions such as isolation, social distancing and quarantine made by countries unexpectedly and suddenly forced face-to-face education to change to distance education within days. All academics around the world had to move online overnight. All the educational and academic activities in higher education (courses, exams, meetings, etc.) had to be conducted online in a few days. Based on these changes, this study aimed to analyze the relationships among student, faculty (adaptations of faculty members to distance education) and institutional (distance learning capacities of the universities) variables that affected satisfaction of the students related to distance education in higher education institutions in Turkey during COVID-19 pandemic using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The study group included 14,962 students and 3631 academics from 30 universities. The results showed that universities with higher distance education capacities got higher satisfaction scores. HLM analysis showed that 43% of the variation in satisfaction scores resulted from universities. The second HLM analysis showed that 44% of the overall satisfaction score variance of the students could be explained by the factors of university features (Level 2: distance education capacity and acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members). Thus, it was determined that 44% of the university factor calculated as 43% in Model 1 (which is calculated within students' general satisfaction scores) resulted from the distance education capacity and the acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members. The findings of this study provide insights to improve distance education by stakeholders of higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the problem that the traditional learning service recommendation does not fully consider the distinct differences between individuals, it is easy to lead to the contradiction between unchanging learning resources and learners' personalized learning needs that are constantly improving, so an adaptive learning service recommendation improvement algorithm based on big data is proposed. Idea is based on adaptive learning platform and function modules. We consider the individual differences between students, to students as the center, collect students' personalized learning demand data, and according to the data information to build student demand model. On the basis of using data mining methods for clustering recommendation service resources in learning, the adaptive recommend according to students' individual need is proposed. The experimental results show that the adaptive learning service recommendation algorithm based on big data has high recommendation accuracy, coverage rate and recall rate, which is of great significance in the actual learning service recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a game-design workshop built around a digital art installation featuring video games displayed over a real-world skyscraper to stimulate students' interest in computer science and a study testing its short-term effects on improving middle school students' computational thinking (CT) skills and attitudes towards computing. Following a STEAM approach, the workshop aimed to engage participants in age-appropriate activities that focus on CT skills through the lens of creating their own game. A web-based game design interface that allows students to code and play games as simulated on a skyscraper was developed to support the workshop's core activities. The web environment also featured step-by-step tutorials and fully functional games to promote the accessibility of the learning materials for a diverse body of students and educators around the globe. The results of the study indicated that the workshop helped students improve their CT skills and differentially influence their attitudes towards computing. In particular, the workshop experience led students from underserved community districts to lower their attitude ratings, whereas the reverse pattern was observed for students from more affluent districts. The workshop reportedly informed students' perception of computing as a profession and their appreciation of the analytical effort required for developing functional games. Qualitative analysis of artifact-based interviews indicated that students could begin to make abstractions and devise algorithms by associating variables through conditional statements while solving problems related to game development. Interview analysis also revealed that students took pride in the effort that they made during the workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes the case for why higher education institutions should take the teaching of peacebuilding seriously. It is co-authored by a team from four countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Colombia and the United Kingdom) who were involved in a small international research project looking at "Pedagogies for Peacebuilding". Together they are trying to answer questions about the legitimacy of bringing these discussions into higher education and lecturer/student relationships. The authors discuss the spaces in which peacebuilding can be usefully considered within higher education curricula; the significance of higher education in helping young people develop habits of peace; and how the citizens and leaders of the future might be helped to understand the meaning and importance of peacebuilding. In the course of their argument, the authors consider the intention and impact of different pedagogical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study about pre-service science teachers' perceptions of the Nature of Science (NOS). Although there is a substantial amount of research on NOS in science teacher education, international comparative accounts particularly of in-depth qualitative data emerging from group discussions are fairly minimal. The primary aim of the research was to determine the changes of pre-service science teachers' NOS perceptions following group discussions in two different national contexts: Turkey and England. Two groups of pre-service teachers from Turkey were contrasted with two groups of pre-service teachers from England. The group discussions were structured with a set of steps. In the first step, the participants were asked to reflect about NOS and record their key ideas on sticky notes. Subsequently, they were presented with a visual framework of NOS, and they were asked to situate their own ideas from the sticky notes in this image. Verbal data from group discussions were investigated by qualitative methodology using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that both groups of pre-service teachers initially focused on epistemic-cognitive aspects of NOS but their ideas became more nuanced in providing some examples about social and institutional dimensions of NOS following the introduction of the NOS image. The study contributes to the understanding of how pre-service teachers view NOS and illustrates how NOS can potentially be incorporated into group discussions in science teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a report of a cross-cultural online collaboration between two cohorts of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, China and an American university in St. Paul, Minnesota. It explicates the pedagogical design and implementation of online tools for group collaboration and students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges. Multiple web-based tools (e.g. Slack, Zoom) were selected and recommended to the students to facilitate resource sharing, communication, and artefact construction. Overall, students valued the experience of collaborating in a global virtual team in spite of some challenges encountered. Findings from this study indicated that the merits and perils of cross-cultural online collaboration coexisted and centered on three aspects: cross-cultural communication, group collaboration, and technological tools. The students greatly appreciated the values of online tools and manifested the ability to appropriate the tools to fulfill the needs of group work. The implications for pedagogical design are also discussed and technological tools supporting cross-cultural online collaboration are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the coronavirus pandemic, educational institutions were forced to shift to virtual learning. Drawing on the Community of Inquiry framework and bioecological perspective, this research explores the virtual learning experiences of female college students at one higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates using an interpretive phenomenological paradigm. A convergent parallel mixed method design was implemented with participants (N = 350) who completed a questionnaire about the challenges of virtual learning followed by semi-structured interviews (N = 10). Observations, journals, and peer-reviewed literature was also used to explore the influence of cognitive, social, and teaching presence on students' perceptions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The researcher found students had a high perception of the three influences of Community of Inquiry framework and were aware of its importance. Furthermore, there were clear relationships between cognitive and teaching presence and cognitive and social presence. The importance of online teaching and learning strategies supports the interactivity of these presences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was developed within the scope of a PhD thesis that intends to characterize the use of mobile applications by the students of the University of Aveiro during class time. The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of an initial pilot study that aimed to fine-tune data collection methods in order to gather data that reflected the practices of the use of mobile applications by students in a higher education institution during classes. In this paper we present the context of the pilot, its technological settings, the analysed cases and the discussion and conclusions carried out to gather mobile applications usage data logs from students of an undergraduate degree on Communication Technologies. Our study gathered data from 77 participants, taking theoretical classes in the Department of Communication and Arts at the University of Aveiro. The research was based on the Grounded Theory method approach aiming to analyse the logs from the access points of the University. With the collected data, a profile of the use of mobile devices during classes was drawn. The preliminary findings suggest that the use of apps during the theoretical classes of the Department of Communication and Art is quite high and that the most used apps are Social networks like Facebook and Instagram. During this pilot the accesses during theoretical classes corresponded to approximately 11,177 accesses per student. We also concluded that the students agree that accessing applications can distract them during these classes and that they have a misperception about their use of online applications during classes, as the usage time is, in fact, more intensive than what participants reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning through work is a common feature of preparing health professionals for practice. Current understandings of work-integrated learning or a 'work-based placement', focus on students being consumers of experiences rather than providing a reciprocal benefit to the organisation in which they are placed. More nuanced understanding of the ways that students can offer value to organisations may provide new opportunities and increased capacity for workplace learning. This study drew on Social Exchange Theory to explore the perceived value and benefits of work-integrated learning experiences to the organisations in which students are placed. The focus was on population health placements undertaken by dietetics students at a large Australian university. An interpretive approach was employed with interviews with placement educators and document analysis of student-generated products from their placement. Seventeen of 20 eligible placement educators were interviewed, with interview data coded using thematic framework analysis. These data were supported with document analysis of student scientific posters completed as part of assessment to develop themes which were interpreted with social exchange theory. Three themes were identified: (1) students add to the organisation's capacity, (2) benefits outweigh time cost of planning and supervising and (3) explicitly valuing students for their contributions may build trust and further potentiate bi-directional benefits. Results suggest that student placements can add value to organisations. This reciprocity of benefits should be communicated to all stakeholders involved in the university-community collaboration, including students. Social exchange theory sensitised researchers to nuanced findings that may support the translation of these study findings to other student work-integrated learning settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]