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In this article, I document and analyze all municipal, state, and county-level efforts for Black reparations in the United States. Most efforts resemble H.R. 40's exploratory commission model, possibly due to policy path dependency. Few geographies have allocated funding for committee recommendations, but some have allocated funds for committee activities. Only Evanston, Illinois, has allocated and distributed funds to qualifying residents. On average, cities with reparations efforts demonstrated mixed performance on metrics related to Black wealth, with insufficient evidence to suggest local Black-White disparities are more severe than the nation as a whole. Several proposals emphasize the Black-White racial wealth gap as emblematic of slavery- derived disparity, but no municipal or state proposal can rival the scale or potential of a federal program.

We consider two local reparations cases--the Evanston Restorative Housing Program and Chicago reparations for police torture survivors. We argue that the programs are shaped by the differing political opportunities, the local context, and the social location of their advocates given that one was constructed within government systems in Evanston and the other largely by grassroots organizers in Chicago. Furthermore, both programs are criticized to varying degrees as being exclusive in their design and implementation. We term this exclusion a process of deliberative marginalization, whereby some of the most vulnerable and most directly affected beneficiaries of a redress initiative are left out of deliberations and implementation decisions about the initiative's design. Subsequently, this study shows both the promise and constraints of reparations policy at the level of local government.

The Poya Songbook, an integral part of Zhuang traditional culture, embodies rich music and folklore passed down through generations. This study aims to examine the historical development and literacy transmission of the Poya Songbook for education and literacy studies in Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Drawing upon a combination of ethnographic methods and semiotic analysis, the research delves into the intricate journey of the Poya Songbook, contrasting its state before and after the pivotal year 2006, when it received official recognition as an intangible cultural heritage. Three key informants, deeply rooted in the local cultural milieu, provide valuable insights into the songbook's transformation, its role in education, and the challenges of preserving its authenticity amidst modern influences. The data analysis discerns shifts in transmission methods, content, and performance, shedding light on the evolving relationship between tradition and cultural identity. The findings underscore the importance of balancing preservation with adaptation to ensure the continued vitality of this cherished cultural heritage. Suggestions for the sustained safeguarding of the Poya Songbook include innovative educational initiatives that integrate its teachings into contemporary curricula, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Zhuang cultural identity.

This comparative study looks into the image of the wolf in Genghis Aitmatov's "Plakha" and Jack London's "White Fang." For this purpose, first, the concept of the wolf in fiction is discussed, and the representation of wolves in these two texts is analyzed. This study explores the relationship between wolves and human beings as expressed in the texts in a way that helps understand the image of the wolf with specific cultural beliefs and practices that find aspirations in the text mentioned. The study concludes that Aitmatov associates Kazakh people with the wolf, unlike London's wolf, whose existence does not center around issues of freedom and independence.

There is growing concern about the influence of nomophobia among the majority of young people, attributed to excessive mobile phone use. This study aims to investigate the nomophobia levels of Azerbaijani and Kyrgyz university students. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was employed as the data collection tool. Data were collected from participants during the spring term of the 2021-2022 academic year. A total of 478 students participated: 238 from Azerbaijan and 240 from Kyrgyzstan. Results indicated that Azerbaijani and Kyrgyz students exhibit different nomophobia behaviors. While 36.1% of Azeri students experience a severe level of nomophobia, 23.3% of Kyrgyz students do. Female students in both countries are more affected than their male counterparts. Younger students are also more susceptible to nomophobia. Moreover, smartphone ownership significantly influences students' nomophobia behavior in both Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan.

Female forest landowners (FFLO) are increasing in numbers but have been marginalized in technical training programs in the past. We conducted chainsaw safety training programs geared towards FFLO and compared program evaluation results with results from male-dominated chainsaw training workshops. FFLO are limited in their technical knowledge at the beginning of a workshop, are more likely to own different types of chainsaws than male participants, and generally liked having a women-only workshop. The takeaway is that FFLO strive in a women-only environment and that more women-focused extension training programs are needed to provide with a safe and inclusive learning environment.

The author, a consultant who has worked on projects in the education, training and professional regulation arena for more than three decades, reflects on factors that make for successful interventions and sustainable project outcomes. Seven key factors are identified: (1) intellectual credibility, both in a substantive and methodological sense; (2) a consistent and explicit ethical perspective; (3) developing a comprehensive rich picture of the practice context; (4) using a 'realisation' or 'co-creation' approach to ensure that the client community has ownership of the project; (5) the development of effective systems architecture; (6) being able to act as a constitutional arbiter to maintain consistency and constancy of purpose; and (7) treating the project as a research process, both internally to build in ongoing review and evolution and externally to provide critique and position it in relation to parallel developments in the field. The importance of methodological fluency is also emphasised to develop approaches that are contextually appropriate, while cautioning against the use of over-formalised methods and processes.

A key focus of linguistic landscape research is the interaction among local language policies, the visibility of minority languages on public signage, and the perceptions of residents regarding language use. In China, ongoing urbanization and eased household registration requirements have precipitated an influx of ethnic minority migrants from autonomous regions to urban locales. This migration raises crucial questions about the integration and acceptance of ethnic minority migrants within the sociolinguistic fabric of urban China. Combining a linguistic landscape analysis and interviews with public sign owners, this study examines attitudes towards Tibetan language and Tibetan migrants in "Little Lhasa" in Chengdu, a major city in western China. Our findings reveal that various social actors, including Han residents, the Neighbourhood Committee, and the municipal authorities, prudently leverage the semiotic potentials of the Tibetan script in crafting public signs. The visibility of Tibetan in the local linguistic landscape reflects ideologies of acceptance, hesitation, or concern regarding Tibetan migrants. Although Tibetan migrants have conceded aspects of their language use in exchange for integration into urban life, they have not yet gained wider community acceptance. This study offers an innovative linguistic landscape lens on the implicit language policy in an ethnic minority migrant community in urban China. It illuminates a reflective case where language planning is much needed for mitigating bias and misunderstanding in multi-ethnic communities.

Given Wikipedia's breadth of coverage, social impact, and longevity as an impactful open knowledge resource, the encyclopedia has been the subject of considerable interdisciplinary research. Building on scholarship related to collaboration, authorship, ownership, and editing in Wikipedia, this study sought to better understand Wikipedians as writers, paying specific attention to their sense of ownership. While previous research has shown that editors engage in individualist editing practices at times, often ignoring community-mediated policy regarding ownership, findings from a mixed-method survey of 117 editors demonstrate the existence of both "individual" and "community" notions of ownership that often reinforce, or mutually inform, each other. This study adds clarity to these issues by demonstrating how feelings of individual ownership, voice, and pride in writing often occur in collaborative circumstances. This research ultimately extends our understanding of collaborative writing in what is one of the most well-known collaborative websites. Despite contemporary theoretical strides advocating for relinquishing ownership concepts in favor of distributed or ecological frameworks, the concept of ownership remains prevalent within digital writing communities, exemplified by Wikipedia.

Numerous learning opportunities have been opened up by the progress of mobile technology to fulfil the need for students' learning of Mathematics. The rapid development of mobile technologies has made it possible for mobile learning to play an essential role in learning. Due to the ability of mobile learning to make the process of learning possible anytime and anywhere, it is viewed as a significant aid to learning. With technological advancement in mathematics education paving the way for improvement in mathematical performance, the sustainability of mobile learning lies in its ability to address current educational needs as well as its capability in adapting to possible changes. Probability is a branch of mathematics that can benefit greatly from the freshness accorded with the advancement of mobile learning. However, before developing a mobile learning environment for the learning of probability, students' readiness needs to be taken into consideration. Even though mobile learning has numerous advantages, it is largely not researched at pre-university level, namely in the Malaysian Matriculation system. This study investigated the readiness of matriculation students on using mobile learning for learning. 35 students from a matriculation college located in the northern region of Malaysia participated in an online questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine students' mobile learning readiness pertaining to equipment, technological skill and psychological readiness' respectively. Data were analysed quantitatively by means of descriptive statistics. The findings showed a good level of readiness by the students, signifying that they were ready to get on board with mobile learning. Therefore, the preliminary study done has given vital evidence to exploit the usage of mobile learning in the development of a mobile learning environment which will be of essence to the process of teaching and learning probability.

Racialized narratives of academic ability, perpetuated by ahistorical interpretations of student performance data, have led to educational policies focusing on short-term solutions, instead of the ongoing legacies of racism and settler colonialism. The aim of this paper is to show how the racially defined achievement gap operates within the structure of settler colonialism. Informed by theories of settler colonialism (Tuck & Yang, 2012, Veracini, 2010) and critical race theory (Harris, 1993; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), I closely examine some Toronto District School Board documents that address the so-called achievement and opportunity gaps. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper shows how the notion of achievement is racialized to protect white settler property rights, and how the discourse of achievement gaps functions as a settler technology to concurrently include and exclude individuals from the settler project. Understanding the settler colonial constructions of race brings to the foreground the relations between Indigenous erasure, anti-Blackness, and othering of racialized communities within the contemporary multicultural nation (Haque, 2012; Tuck & Gorlewski, 2016).

The aim of the study reported on here was to explore the effects of principals' distributed leadership (DL) practices on learners' learning achievement as mediated by teachers' commitment. In the study we employed survey data with a sample size of 603 learners from 8 technical and vocational education training schools in Eritrea. The proposed model of this study was tested through multiple regression analyses and structural equation modelling using teachers' commitment as a mediator. The findings of this study show that distributed leadership practices have a positive and significant effect on teachers' commitment and an indirect effect on learners' learning achievement. The results also show that teachers' commitment has a partial mediation effect. Moreover, the variance test analysis reveals the effect of distributed type of leadership practices by school principal determined by school type, size, location, and ownership.

An Engineering Success Centre was formed with the long-term goals of providing targeted first-year support, increasing retention, and developing leaders. The novelty of the Centre is that the priorities and activities were defined by the students that were employed to run it in a shared leadership model. Student leaders were in various years of undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees, which provided multiple years for leadership opportunities and organizational memory. The priorities identified by the student leaders were to: (1) guide students through their time in engineering, (2) connect students with campus resources, (3) impact the overall experience for students in a positive way, and (4) assist students with educational needs such as tutoring, writing support, and CAD development. Between the drop-in hours and professional development programs, 145 students (55% of engineering students) interacted over 400 times in formal Centre activities throughout the year, and at least 77% of students engaged in online or asynchronous platforms. This paper was written by two of the student leaders and the faculty coordinator to document the motivations, successes, and challenges of the Centre in its inaugural year and promote shared ownership in academic support centres. Goals were derived, and a model was developed to map Centre activities, priorities, and goals to assess the success of the Centre.

E-learning is becoming more popular than conventional teaching methods, particularly in science education. The use of e-learning has increased worldwide, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, students' e-learning styles have gained even more importance. The participants of this survey, which aimed to examine e-learning styles for selected variables, consisted of 401 pre-service science teachers from two public universities in Turkey. The personal information form was used to obtain data on gender, university, personal computer ownership status, type of device used to connect to the internet, grade level, number of social network memberships, internet usage purpose, and duration of social media use. Another tool used in face-to-face data collection was the E-Learning Styles Scale (ESS). As a result of the analysis, it was understood that participants' e-learning style scores were generally on the positive side. In terms of gender, grade level, and duration of social media use variables, there were statistically significant differences in the ESS and some of its sub-dimensions, while differences were found in only some sub-dimensions for the university variables, internet usage purpose, and number of social network memberships. Several suggestions were made in conjunction with the results of the descriptive and inferential analyses.

This study focused on addressing underperformance in chemistry in Anglophone West African countries. The main purpose of the study was to determine if factors such as gender, school location and ownership impact students' perception of the difficulty of chemistry concepts and to suggest how these difficult concepts can be made easy to learn from the perspectives of the students. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Participants were 1,292 chemistry students from nine public and 12 private secondary schools in Nigeria and Ghana with about three-quarters of the schools from urban areas. About 51% of the participants were females. Twenty-four students were interviewed to gather qualitative data. The Difficult Concept in Chemistry Questionnaire (DCCQ) and the Difficult Concepts in Chemistry Interview Guide (DCCIG) were used for data collection. The test-retest reliability coefficient of the DCCQ was 0.88. We found a slight difference in the perception of male and female students while school type came as a major determinant factor on students' perception of difficult concepts in chemistry, just as school location. Phobia for calculations came out as a major cause of difficulty in the top five perceived difficult concepts. Findings on causes of learning difficulties were reported as well as suggestions for improvement as viewed by the students. Recommendations were made for improving the teaching and learning of chemistry in Anglophone West African schools.

Training pre-service teachers has become more important with the significant changes in the utilization of educational technologies in the 21st century. That said, educators are now expected to be digitally literate, capable of accepting and using new technologies by employing skills in the use of web tools. Accordingly, this quantitatively driven research investigates pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' levels of web-pedagogical content knowledge (WPACK) together with critical digital literacy (CDL) in order to address technology acceptance in teaching and learning practices. In doing so, 94 pre-service EFL teachers are recruited from the department of English Language Teaching at a state university in Türkiye during 2020-21 academic year. The results have showed that pre-service EFL teachers' levels of CDL are moderately high where their levels of WPACK are even higher, albeit with no significance regarding gender, age and personal computer ownership. To note, pedagogical implications and further recommendations are listed to better understand their technology adoption.

Positive life aspirations among adolescents and young adults have been associated with greater wellbeing in the future. However, belonging to a stigmatized minority may jeopardize this process. In this work, we sought to understand the role of sexual and gender identity in the life aspirations (desires and expectations) of adolescents and young adults (14-19 years), attending secondary education in Portugal (N = 888). Two MANOVAs with sexual and gender identity as a between-subjects factor (LGBTQ+ vs. Cis-heterosexual) were conducted to inspect differences in future desires and expectations in three life domains: family, social, and material. LGBTQ + youth expressed lower desires and expectations regarding all future life domains, when compared to their cis-heterosexual peers, with greater effect sizes detected for the family domain. In general, results suggest that when contemplating their future, LGBTQ + youth may be at a disadvantage. The findings highlight the need for parents, teachers, and policymakers to recognize the adversities LGBTQ + adolescents and young people still face in the present which and might extend to their future.

The number of international schools has increased significantly this century, with new schools predominately situated in Asia and the Middle East. This growth has also seen a shift from not-for-profit to for-profit education, and from such schools being primarily for children of expatriates to being mainly for host nation children. New actors, such as global chains of international schools, have also entered the arena. This article explores the impact of the contemporary landscape on the professional relationship between international school principals and their governors/owners, by drawing on a study of 12 international school principals in Malaysia. There were five emergent themes from the analysis: principal autonomy; ownership support; principal accountability; principal affective dissonance and the locus of control. There were wide-ranging levels of autonomy given to principals, significant support from owners in terms of financial backing for areas of development and methods of accountability that ranged from formal to informal. Principals seemingly had affective dissonance over working in for-profit schooling and there were issues surrounding the locus of ownership. There is little research in this area, particularly in Asia and this work appears to be the sole work that includes consideration of leadership in international school chains.

The importance placed on passing Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) in Nigeria has led to the emergence of 'Miracle Examination Centres' (MECs). MECs are schools where candidates get undeserving excellent SSCE results through institutionally enabled malpractice. This undermines the Nigerian education sector and its leadership. But well-researched empirical evidence on MECs in Nigeria is scarce. Through a reconnaissance technique (recce), we provide new evidence on MECs' activities, including their nature and patronage, while providing informed remedial pointers that can be harnessed by the education sector leadership. Interviews were conducted with 97 persons, comprising community members, teachers, and school owners across 16 communities in four study sites (Abuja, Anambra, Edo, and Kogi), and data were supported by observations. Elicited data were thematically analysed. Findings show that MECs were more interested in rents (informal and undue fees) by compromising SSCE standards and less interested in academic training. Community members were aware of the activities of MECs and could readily identify or discuss them. We uncovered the adopted processes in facilitating this kind of malpractice. A feasible strategy to address MECs and similar examination fraud syndicates across countries is for the education sector leadership to strategically focus on the demand and supply sides.

This study reports on a four-year project to embed academic literacy within one core course of a Bachelor of Education program. It involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between learning advisors, as literacy specialists, and lecturers, as subject specialists. It examines their roles and responsibilities and lecturers' perspectives when handing over the teaching of academic literacy to them. Data encompasses interviews with lecturers, meeting notes, and cohort statistics about assessment grades. Discourse analysis with theory from Systemic Functional Linguistics identifies the shifting contributions of the collaborators and how lecturers evaluate their experiences. Findings suggest that handover is smooth when it is done gradually and involves intensive prior collaboration. However, the contrasting views of the lecturers raise questions about what is optimal for students. Although limited, data indicates that reductions in resubmission rates and students achieving in the minimal passing range co-occur with the addition of mini videos about reading and writing critically.

Livelihood assets which are considered and recognised for their life-supporting role contribute significantly and basically to the standard of living of people. These contributions as deemed more meaningful are considered necessary to farmers whenever an opportunity exists to diversify their investment. This study looked at how the benefits from increase in farmers' rice yield contribute to farmers ability to acquire livelihood assets to enhance their standard of living. A sample size of 265 from a population of 880 farmers trained by Japan International Cooperation Agency on sustainable rainfed low-land rice production technology was used. The objective was to establish how proceeds from rice sale influenced the acquisition of livelihood assets by farmers to support their standard of living. Using spearman rho correlation, it was found that a strong positive correlation exists between increase rice output and livelihood assets acquisition. It is recommended that the technology should be disseminated nationwide specially in low-land rice farming areas so that all farmers in the country could benefit.

Parent-child communication concerning sexual and reproductive health (SRH) has significant potential to reduce children's risky sexual behaviour. Despite these benefits, few parents communicate with their children about SRH issues in Uganda. Using multi-stage stratified sampling in a cross-sectional survey, we estimated the prevalence and investigated the factors that were associated with recent parent-child communication among 600 children (10-17 years) in border districts of Uganda (Busia and Tororo). Results indicated that 61% of children reported to having received parent-child communication on SRH. Communication was more likely to happen among children living in urban areas (OR=4.88; 95% CI=1.79-13.33), boys (OR=1.84; 95% CI=1.13-3.00), those aged 15-19 years (OR=2.59; 95% CI=1.51-4.46) and among children from households that owned a mobile phone (OR=2.11; 95% CI=1.05-4.21) than their counterparts. Parent-child communication was also higher among children who were comfortable discussing SRH issues (OR=27.12; 95% CI=16.02-45.89) and children from Tororo district (OR=2.34; 95% CI=1.36-4.01). The findings provide a rich understanding of the factors associated with Parent-child communication in the border districts of Uganda. These results provide a basis for policy enactment or revision regarding the encouragement of parent-child communication about SRH in Uganda.

The product owner role is one of three key roles in the Scrum software development process. Industry demand for product owners is growing exponentially, and educators need effective techniques for teaching students the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to be effective product owners. To address this need, this Teaching Tip describes how SimAgile, an experiential learning simulation, may be used as one part of a series of Scrum-based assignments to help students better understand the product owner role and the competencies required to be an effective product owner. Results from a graduate class on agile project management indicate that when SimAgile is combined with complementary Scrum workflow assignments students report high levels of active learning, relevance, and utility and closely mirrors real world product-owner experiences. Furthermore, students are able to successfully identify product-owner competency requirements upon completion of assignments. With minor modifications, the simulation and Scrum workflow assignments may also be used for undergraduate students. Using the simulation in combination with supplemental Scrum workflow assignments appears to be an approach well suited for teaching students about the product owner role in a classroom setting and will help educators meet the growing demand for product owners in industry.

For those experiencing them, educational transitions include not only the present time but are embedded within institutions that precede and extend beyond the individuals. This article explores how, as an institutional space, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) setting is (re)produced within young children's encounters with others during a transition period. Video-recorded observations of three infant-toddlers' first months of attendance to an ECEC setting were analysed following analytic induction and video interaction analysis. Two examples illustrating object ownership negotiations are discussed. The results show that, in their encounters with others, newcomers actively contributed to (re)producing the ECEC setting by advancing their own understandings of objects and ownership, practicing their own ways of being with objects. Moreover, the results indicate that teachers' contributions strongly influenced the outcomes of the encounters and, consequently, the constitution of shared understandings of objects and object ownership within the ECEC setting.

Discussion of learner autonomy has often been led by educationalists and policy makers. How do learners interpret the notion? This question, as well as addressing how students' understandings compared to those of their instructors' were the questions that the research sought to answer. The research undertook to explore the notion of the autonomous learner as understood by 115 students and 49 instructors at a select French higher education engineering school. Data was collected using open-ended questions and analysed using triangulation to reduce systemic bias via multiple qualitative data analysis methods. Four themes emerged from the analysis. Analyses pointed to similarities and to differences in the ways students and instructors understood the meaning of learner autonomy. Divergent perspectives that students and instructors had revealed that students were more concerned with their ability to compose their curricular programme and choose means to attain objectives. Instructors, on the other hand, were concerned with students' course subject ownership. Recommendations to bridge understandings and help form a shared vision of goals when speaking of learner autonomy are presented.

In recent decades, technology has changed the methods of teaching and assessment in educational settings all over the world. One notable innovation that has gained prominence in English language teaching (ELT) is the utilization of e-portfolios to evaluate and enhance students' writing and, potentially, speaking skills. While students have shown positive attitudes toward integrating e-portfolios in speaking classes, teachers' attitudes toward this pedagogical method remain undisclosed. Therefore, this study investigates teachers' attitudes toward e-portfolios in speaking classes based on the data collected from semi-structured and focused group interviews. The data was obtained from the Iran Language Institute (ILI), a leading institution for teaching English in Tehran. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze and evaluate 10 semi-structured interviews and focus groups. While some challenges are to overcome, teachers appear positive about implementing e-portfolios in speaking classes. As a result of teachers' attitudes towards e-portfolios, four categories emerged: ownership and responsibility, reflection (peer and self), teacher self-improvement, and drawbacks.

An involuntary international experiment in which the entire student population was switched to digital remote learning due to the measures to stop COVID-19 put the paradigm of "anytime, anywhere learning" to the test. Online survey responses were obtained from 281 preservice primary and subject teachers. Using Structural Equation Modelling, connections were examined by inspection of path coefficients between constructs quality of personal digital technology, satisfaction, health, well-being, motivation, and physical activity. Problems with the quality of personal digital technology had a moderate influence on all constructs except motivation. Satisfaction influenced all constructs, well-being, and health the most. When comparing responses of the bottom and top third students based on the quality of personal digital technology, it was found that students who did not have the appropriate technology and workspace were less satisfied and suffered more. This is reflected in an increased incidence of problems related to health, well-being, and physical activity, along with a decrease in motivation. At least for the technologically deprived, the paradigm of "anytime, anywhere learning" is a myth. The study highlights the need for educational institutions to provide adequate technology and workspaces for all students in order to support their well-being and motivation during remote learning.

The systems of education in the world have adopted many philosophies of education that are either skewed toward change or committed to conservancy. African philosophy and African philosophy of education form an activity and a process which is context-sensitive, whereby the relativity factor defines the peculiarity of thinking about education. However, alien philosophies have permeated the systems of education in Africa. The fulcrum of this treatise is to initiate thought which is necessary to avert this contemporary situation facing education theory, policy, and practice in Africa by interleaving African ontology and epistemology to augment the systems of education. Additionally, this treatise brings to the frontline the essence of African thought in education. This treatise underlines that education that teaches the learner about learning is insufficient, because the focal point of such education is to draw its attention only to the essentials for the longevity of an alienated pedagogy itself as well as to perpetuate the supremacy of foreign influence.

As federal policymakers consider changes to income-driven repayment (IDR) schemes, research examining the characteristics and financial behaviors of student loan borrowers participating in IDR is necessary. Using the nationally representative Survey of Consumer Finances, we examined the demographics of IDR enrollment. Counter to expectations, low-income borrowers, and borrowers with high debt-to-income ratios are less likely to enroll in IDR. Conditional on having a large amount of debt, married women of color are likely to enroll in IDR programs. Findings concerning IDR participation may be highly sensitive to how groups are defined and what covariates are in models. IDR participation does not predict engagement in other financial behaviors such as retirement savings or homeownership.

The American Dream is thoroughly woven into the American life and has broad individual and cultural implications. At its heart, the American Dream represents opportunity and prosperity but has recently developed into a hyper-consumption ideology. Because of the current state of economic and environmental conditions, new ideas of what the American Dream should be are emerging. The current study investigates how the American Dream is perceived among college students and whether the traditional values of the Dream are still relevant among this generation. Results showed that, overall, college students are split as to whether the American Dream is outdated (47% vs. 47%). The results also suggest differing levels of buy-in to the American Dream among college students. Specifically, there are three different groups which vary in their amount of buy-in to the Dream: Disillusioned who make up 47% of the total respondents, Reformers who are 16% of the total respondents, and Status Quo who make up 31% of the total respondents. Those who are Disillusioned believe the traditional Dream is outdated and new values need to be added. In direct comparison, those who advocate a Status Quo American Dream, support the traditional Dream and do not think new values need to be added. In the middle, are Reformers, who advocate new values be added to the American Dream but do not think that the traditional Dream is outdated. These different clusters vary on the factors used in life decisions, their individual values, environmental concern, and frugality. The American Dream will probably continue to evolve as new generations change their beliefs as to what constitutes important life goals. If it remains a flexible construct, the American Dream may never be outdated but may need continual updates as to what exactly the American Dream represents.

Teachers' feeling of curriculum ownership has been found to be crucial for predicting the success of educational reform initiatives. This study aimed to examine how teachers' feelings of curriculum ownership are reflected in their statements about what they mean by the term 'curriculum'. We analysed written questionnaire responses from 760 schoolteachers across Estonia. Our qualitative content analysis demonstrated that almost half of the qualified responses defined a curriculum as a mandatory, prescriptive document which does not allow for teachers' high feeling of curriculum ownership. Nearly one-third of the respondents expressed a moderate feeling of ownership, describing a curriculum as an external guideline but also seeing their own role as active in curriculum implementation. Only about one-tenth of the respondents expressed a high feeling of ownership in their definitions. In the context of the recent history of curriculum policy in the former socialist European countries, we conclude that the overwhelming rhetoric of the early 1990s related to prioritising teachers' curriculum ownership was in practice quickly and successfully subordinated to globally rising regulatory policies that prioritised external evaluation, benchmarking and standardisation. We will discuss the mechanisms of this phenomenon and the potential avenues for enhancing teachers' curriculum ownership in the context of current education policy realities.

The study aimed to 1) Study the accessibility and use of digital technology in the elderly; 2) Examine the peculiarities of elderly people's use of social media and the differences between elderly persons who use and do not utilize social media; and 3) Create the social media that affect the elderly in terms of loneliness reduction. The study sample was 50 people aged over 60 years, derived by purposive selection criterion. The experimental plan One-shot case design. Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation (SD), percentage, correlations, and t-test. Study findings shown that 1) The majority of the elderly had communication devices. Two elderly people do not have a communication device, but forthyeight others have and use it for different reasons. As a result, using a communication device to address the problem of loneliness among the elderly is possible. 2) The findings with Less Lonely application cater to the needs of the elderly. The specialist indicated that the Less Lonely digital application was of Suitability level "the most" (?[x-bar] = 4.62, SD = 0.40) and efficiency trials passed the 80/80 criteria. The percentage result of the One-to-One testing (80.67%), the small group efficacy findings were efficient (E[subscript 1]/E[subscript ) 80.18/82.00, the field group efficacy findings were efficient (E[subscript 1]/E[subscript 2]) 80.16/80.90. 3). The correlation between the amount of time spent on social networking apps and feelings of loneliness showed a significant correlation which a negative relationship. The social media affected the elderly in terms of loneliness reduction is Less Lonely application allow elderly people to engage with other friends. The results were found between the time spent on social media devices and their state of loneliness was lower.

This study explored device ownership and accessibility, and perceptions of Thai university students toward online teaching and learning of a foundation English course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five hundred and fifty-two university students were randomly selected to complete an online questionnaire, and 20 were randomly selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. The findings of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis are that most university students in the study own a smartphone and iPad with Internet access that enabled them to study the online foundation English course. Students' perceptions towards online classroom engagement and interaction, online lesson tasks and activities, online classroom instructional media, online English skills development, and other related issues were identified. Additionally, recommendations for instructors' use of online tools as well as the redesign of online classroom learning tasks and activities using various instructional media are given.

This study uses a statistical survey over three consecutive years to show how the first-year students of a mid-sized Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) secondary international school perceive the impact of using their own iPad on their learning. The students' perceptions how awareness of the usefulness and challenges associated with using their iPads in school life as well as at home. The students indicate several perceived benefits relating to having instant access to a variety of learning opportunities via the internet. However, they also indicate the challenges of keeping a balanced approach and avoiding overuse of their iPads inside and outside school (e.g., for gaming and social media). The original rationale for implementing the BYOD scheme did not anticipate specific benefits for students' academic outcomes (grades). However, academic performance has continued to be monitored to identify any adverse effects associated with the scheme. Students' overall academic performance has not been adversely affected since the scheme was implemented.

Technology has become invaluable and digital competence has turned into a necessity for students. The research presented here aims to propose mediation models that explain the influence of attitudinal, technology use, and family factors on the level of digital problem-solving skills of compulsory education students (12-14 years old). A quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional design was used. We worked with a sample of 772 students from 18 Spanish educational centres according to a stratified random sampling method. For data collection, an objective assessment test was used for knowledge and skills, and a Likert scale for attitudes. Regression analyses were carried out by creating theoretical reference models based on the bootstrapping technique. The results showed that students who expressed a favourable attitude towards digital problem solving demonstrated a better level of competence, which was also positively influenced by the possession of technological devices and the frequency of their use for school and non-school activities at home.