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Despite the extensive coverage in the literature, limited attention has been paid to the investigation of technostress among academicians who work under special circumstances, such as occupation, and might have different psychological states due to those conditions. To fill this gap, this study examined the level and factorial structure of technostress among 573 Palestinian academicians who worked in a more-than-seventy-years occupied country, and with the addition of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sequential mixed method approach with confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis was used to explore the technostress factors and to measure their level among the academicians. The obtained findings indicated that the four factors of: (1) schedule overload; (2) complexity; (3) uncertainty and uselessness; and (4) invasion and compulsion formed the model of techno-stressors among Palestinian academicians. This can help various stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, practitioners, etc.) to design the needed interventions accordingly and reduce the technostress among academicians; hence, enhancing the latter's teaching practices and experiences.

In this era of rapid technology growth, many countries have begun to adopt emerging technologies into their educational systems to improve learning outcomes. The aim of this study is to explore the factors influencing teachers' experiences of technostress while using new technology in academic classrooms and how it might be mitigated. Prior research has not focused on how technostress develops among individuals over time or how it can be mitigated in an individual context; the intention of this study is to contribute to the technostress literature in these particular areas. To address the research gap, we conducted a qualitative study that collected data through the use of an open-ended question questionnaire. Seventy teachers of different backgrounds and locations responded to the survey. We used thematic analysis to analyze their responses and reveal how lack of school support and their professional identities influence their levels of technostress. Technology characteristics, including the complexity and the benefits of a given technology, and privacy concerns play a crucial role in teachers' experiences of technostress. Moreover, we found that colleague support in using new technology and open educational resources each contributed to mitigating teachers' technostress levels. Our study extends technostress research to examine a new learning environment and context. This focus allowed us to highlight the need to develop open educational resources and better social support structures for teachers and to rethink the professional identities of developing teachers to mitigate their levels of technostress. Suggestions for further research that resulted from this work include using a mixed methods research approach in future studies and including more teachers in future work to determine the relationships among the factors identified by this study.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the challenges associated with emergency remote teaching in the developing countries of Palestine, Libya, and Afghanistan, as reported by middle-school students, their parents, and teachers. These countries have been struggling with an unstable and violent situation for decades. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 participants from the three countries and 60 online classes were observed. Findings revealed that COVID-19 widened the digital gap among students and families, which created challenges in terms of online class attendance. In addition, violation of students' and parents' digital privacy emerged as another key challenge to emergency remote teaching. However, teacher presence and timely feedback in synchronous online sessions strengthened students' engagement within the emergency remote teaching environment. Overall, emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis deepened inequities across students and infringed upon the digital ethics of students, teachers, and parents.

With rapid development of emerging technologies, teachers have been required to integrate mobile technology into their practices to improve learning outcomes. However, teachers have been reluctant to integrate technology into teaching because of technostress. Many studies have investigated the reasons and consequences of technostress in different contexts more than education, specifically teachers in K-12. To shed light on the boundary condition of using new technology, this study investigated technostress as a boundary condition that influences perceived usefulness for continuance intentions of using portable technology. Therefore, the authors introduced a model to describe the relationship among technostress, perceived usefulness, and K-12 teacher attitudes toward and continuance intentions to using mobile technology in the Palestinian context. 367 teachers from different backgrounds participated in the quantitative study. SPSS and AMOS were used to find the path coefficients of the model. The findings revealed that technostress has non-significant direct effects on continuance intentions of using portable technology, where perceived usefulness plays a crucial role in continuance intentions. Technostress has negative effects on both perceived usefulness and teachers' attitudes toward mobile technology. Participants in the study were from northern Palestine, which limited generalizing the findings on other technological tools. Longitudinal future studies are recommended to understand the impact of perceived usefulness and its relationship with technostress, which is important to deepening our understanding of continuance intentions in using mobile technology.

This study proposed and tested an empirical model to examine the relationships between the factors influencing mobile technology integration in higher education from the students' and faculty points of view. A sequential mixed method was used to meet the aim of the study. The findings of the qualitative phase were used to develop the quantitative instrument. The participants in the qualitative data collection were 39 students and faculty members. In addition, the participants were 300 graduate students from two large universities in northern Palestine. The findings of the study revealed that the proposed model helps in explaining factors affecting students' mobile technology integration and exploring relationships between the factors. Furthermore, students' attitudes and beliefs, the quality of service, patronisation, the cost of service and the instructors had a significant impact on students' mobile technology integration in higher education.

Student engagement in online learning enhance students performance and the outcomes of the learning process in online learning environment. The existed literature revealed various factors influencing student engagement in online leaning, however these studies were before the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of the current paper is to explore the factors that influence student engagement in online learning during the COVID-19 crisis in middle school settings in developing countries where is a lack of studies about the factors influencing student's engagement in emergency remote learning during the crisis. A qualitative approach was used for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews with 34 participants (14 students, 13 teachers, and 7 parents) were conducted for 20-30 min. Furthermore, online class observations were used for data collection; 13 online classes were observed. Each class was 40 min. A thematic analysis was used to categorize the findings into themes and subthemes. The findings of the study revealed that various factors influence student engagement in online learning during the crisis including infrastructure factors, cultural factors, digital inequality, and the threat to digital privacy. Cultural factors were the important factor that influences females because of parents' culture and their bias against females using online learning compared to male students. Teachers' presence and quality of content were the major factors that influence student engagement, where parental concerns, norms, and traditions emerged as the major factors in the crisis, influencing engagement. Most of the participants reported that teaching and learning online during the crisis has broadened the digital inequality and threatened their digital privacy which influenced negatively student engagement. The limitations of this research included the limited number of participants covering a large geographic area, and the research design using diverse and often limited educational software and delivery methods. Future studies could utilize a mixed-method approach and include more participants.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the types of students' interaction, as well as their discussion patterns in an online course. The study took place in a large Midwestern University and 17 graduate students participated in the study. The primary data was obtained from students' discussion forum postings. The researchers used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to describe and analyze the types of discussion and interaction. The researchers developed a coding scheme based on theories and models. The findings of the study reveal that computer mediated communication (CMC) has a positive potential to increase interaction among students. Furthermore, the findings confirm the effectiveness of asynchronous online environment in supporting online learning community. Participants were engaged in social interaction to build their knowledge. This study recommends two-way interaction for achieving sustainable discussion and promoting higher level of interaction.

This study sought to understand the experiences of female 11th-graders in English classes that used Google Classroom applications during emergent e-learning due to COVID-19. Teachers and students used Google Classroom in place of face-to-face learning in Palestine as required by the Ministry of Education. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was used to explore the experience of students using Google Classroom, with thematic analysis to analyze the data. Results indicated that most students were interested in using the Google Classroom application; however, the findings revealed that some students preferred face-to-face learning over the Google Classroom application because they suffered from internet speed issues. The study suggests that in training teachers and students on how to use Google Classroom more effectively the Ministry of Education should play a vital role in encouraging both teachers and students to use this application for teaching purposes.

There is little research which explores middle school teachers' response to school closures in developing countries in times of crisis. This article presents a case study of Afghanistan, Libya and Palestine as developing countries which have suffered from violence for many years prior to the COVID-19 crisis. It focuses on how teachers in middle school responded to school closure to fight the spread of COVID-19. Twenty-two teachers from these countries participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews and three diverse focus group sessions were used to collect data and evidence. The study found that teachers developed their skills to use emerging technologies and design suitable digital content. Moreover, they built strong relationships with the local community to assume their responsibility in emergency remote learning (ERL) by establishing community centres for students from poor families. Assessing and engaging students were crucial issues in ERL which need more research in different contexts.

This study examines the factors that may impact the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) tools for students' assessment in tertiary education from the perspective of early-adopter instructors in the Middle East. It utilized a self-administered online survey and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to collect data from 358 faculty members from different countries in the Middle East. The Smart PLS software 4 was used to analyze the data. The findings of this study revealed that educators developed new strategies to integrate Gen AI into assessment and used a systematic approach to develop assignments. Moreover, the study demonstrated the importance of developing institutional policies for the integration of Gen AI in education, as a driver factor influencing the use of Gen AI in assessments. Additionally, the research identified significant factors, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influences, and hedonic motivation, shaping educators' behavioral intentions and actual use of Gen AI tools to assess students' performance. The findings reveal both the potential advantages of Gen AI, namely enhanced student engagement and reduced instructor workloads, and challenges, including concerns over academic integrity and the possible negative impact on students' writing and thinking skills. This study emphasizes the significance of targeted professional development and ethical criteria for the proper integration of Gen AI in educational assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the level of attitudes of faculty members in Palestinian universities regarding the opportunities and challenges of employing artificial intelligence applications in higher education. The researchers used a descriptive approach, and the study's sample consisted of (130) faculty members at An-Najah National University. Data was collected using two specific questionnaires, one focused on opportunities and the other on challenges. Data analysis was conducted using statistical tests, specifically calculating means and standard deviations, Independent Samples Test, Mann-Whitney test, One Way ANOVA, and Kruskal-Walli's test. The study's results indicated that the average level of attitudes among faculty members regarding the opportunities and challenges of employing artificial intelligence applications in higher education was high. Furthermore, the results revealed no statistically significant differences in all areas of opportunities and challenges related to gender, except in "supporting learning and teaching processes," which favored males. The results indicated no statistically significant differences in all areas of opportunities and challenges related to the educational qualifications, except for the "Benefits of AI applications in teaching and education," in favor of an associate professor. The results also indicated no statistically significant differences in the opportunities and challenges of employing artificial intelligence applications attributed to variables of years of experience and the college. Based on this, the study recommends the necessity of implementing intensive training programs for university faculty members to enhance their skills in using artificial intelligence applications in higher education, as well as addressing the concerns and risks that hinder the adoption of these applications. Additionally, conducting experimental research to explore the integration of artificial intelligence applications in education and evaluate their effectiveness is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study seeks to identify teachers' perceptions regarding STEM teaching professional development and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the success of teachers' professional development. The participants of the study were 35 teachers. A qualitative approach was used for data collection by conducting semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers out of 35. All the participants were involved in the three focus group sessions. The findings of the study revealed that teachers have various perceptions toward the STEM professional development based on their experience, knowledge, and skills. Moreover, the study revealed different factors influencing STEM professional development among teachers including personal characteristics and internal factors including attitudes and beliefs toward STEM professional development activities, and teachers' capacity. Also, external factors such as design of the training program, availability of training material, and timing of training. The findings of the study could benefit the decision-makers to be aware about these factors that influence professional development and the teachers' needs.

How can teachers be inspired to integrate technology properly into their teaching? As technology has been playing a more crucial role in classrooms, it is highly necessary to investigate how teachers perceive the benefit of technology and feel confident to use it. The present study focused on teachers' self-efficacy and belief regarding mobile computing devices. To investigate the relationship among self-efficacy, belief and technology integration, we administrated a survey to teachers (N = 57) in middle schools adopting one-to-one technology initiatives. Results showed that teachers' self-efficacy toward mobile technology predicted the integration of the technology. Teachers' belief had a positive relationship with, but did not predict, technology integration. Factors related to teachers' self-efficacy and belief were discussed.

Most studies on gamified learning have neglected gamification depth, which has motivated the current study to identify the impact of gamified depth on students' intrinsic motivation and performance levels. A quasi-experimental approach was employed, which involved a total of 117 undergraduate students divided into control (n = 57) and experimental (n = 60) groups. The students were exposed to two gamified platforms, namely Kahoot! for shallow gamification and Classcraft for deep gamification, over four weeks. The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) served to measure changes that occurred in students' intrinsic motivation levels and the achievement test in the final lesson. Paired t-tests, an independent t-test and regression analysis were conducted to test the study hypothesis. Deep gamification significantly increased learners' intrinsic motivation level (+0.1845), while shallow gamification decreased it (−0.6439). Contrarily, students in the shallow gamified learning environment achieved a higher performance with a mean value of 73.42 compared to the counterparts in a deep gamified environment (50.83). Students' language mastery, interest, attitude and familiarity with technology were postulated to impact the study outcomes. Distinct subjects, age groups and a suitable experiment period are recommended for future studies to develop a proper gamified depth framework in the educational sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to explore, in depth, the factors influencing teachers' attitudes towards the integration of tablets into their classroom for teaching purposes. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 teachers from five rural middle schools in Palestine. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the interview data. The findings of the study revealed that teachers use tablets because it facilitates their teaching as well as provides equality of access to the Internet and educational technology for students in rural schools. Furthermore, there was diversity in teachers' attitudes towards tablets based on a variety of factors such as technical support and the availability of suitable educational resources. Further research is needed to conduct a comparative study between schools and different topics.

Factors influencing the adoption and acceptance of tablets as a mobile technology were explored one year after their integration in middle schools in Palestine. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 teachers. The participants held a variety of attitudes toward accepting mobile technologies in their instruction. The findings revealed that teachers' attitudes are an important factor in accepting or rejecting tablet use in classrooms. Many factors influenced teachers' attitudes such as technical support, instructional assistance, and infrastructure. A teacher's prior experience with tablets was also important for integrating technology into the classroom.

This study examined the types of learning behaviors students demonstrated while performing inquiry tasks. It also explored the relationship between the learning behaviors and students' domain knowledge. We observed fourteen students in five groups during a ninth-grade biology course. Three types of learning behaviors (inquiry, collaborative, and minimally productive behaviors) were identified and time on each type was measured. The results suggest that students demonstrated different patterns according to the types of learning behaviors. Correlation analysis revealed that learning outcomes had a strong positive correlation with the inquiry behaviors but a strong negative correlation with the minimally productive behaviors. The results suggest that attention should be paid to facilitate the more meaningful inquiry behaviors while reducing minimally productive behaviors.

Research practices in Arab universities, especially the use of qualitative methods, tend to fall behind international standards of excellence; hence, the relatively small number of qualitative journal articles published by Arab academics. Conducting research in Palestine is particularly problematic due to the continued Israeli occupation and its negative impact on Palestinian education. Certain cultural and historical factors pose further difficulties, specifically for qualitative researchers. To address the challenges with conducting qualitative research for its own staff and students, An-Najah National University (West Bank) collaborated with Coventry University (UK) to design and deliver a joint researcher-development programme on the uses of qualitative research methods, and the process and requirements of scholarly publication. Whilst implementing the programme, the team of British and Palestinian academics sought to examine the socio-cultural challenges of capacity-building between higher education institutions in the Global North and South – specifically in relation to qualitative research practice – and answer the question of how an equitable partnership between Global North and South institutions can be built. By engaging in Action Research, the North-South collaborators observed and analysed how Western researcher-development practices and assumptions were questioned, re-examined and adapted to give rise to a near-symmetrical relationship between the two institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]