Creating a Metamodel for Predicting Learners’ Satisfaction by Utilizing an Educational Information System During COVID-19 Pandemic

Faced with the disruption generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the advent of enforced and exclusive online learning presented a challenging opportunity for researchers worldwide, to quickly adapt curricula to this new reality and gather electronic data by tracking students’ satisfaction after attending online modules. Many researchers have looked into the subject of student satisfaction to discover if there is a link between personal satisfaction and academic achievement. Using a set of data, filtered out of a statistical analysis applied on an online survey, with 129 variables, this study investigates students’ satisfaction prediction in a first-semester Mechanical Engineering CAD module combined with the evaluation and the effectiveness of specific curriculum reforms. A hybrid machine learning model that has been created, initially consists of a Generalized Linear Model (GLAR), based on critical variables that have been filtered out after a correlation analysis. Its fitting errors are utilized as an extra predictor, that is used as an input to an artificial neural network. The model has been trained using as a basis the 70% of the population (consisting of 165 observations) to predict the satisfaction of the remaining 30%. After several trials and gradual improvement, the metamodel’s architecture is produced. The trained hybrid model’s final form had a coefficient of determination equal to 1 (R = 1). This indicates that the data fitting method was successful in linking the independent variables with the dependent variable 100 percent of the time (satisfaction prediction).

Designing meta-resources for mathematics teachers in the context of curriculum reforms: the case of digital technology use and student autonomy in France

The study presented in this paper concerns the design and evaluation of curriculum material that supports mathematics teachers’ understanding and enactment of reform curricula and innovative teaching practices. Our focus is on curriculum material supporting mathematics teachers’ practices combining the use of digital technology and the development of student autonomy. We refer to the theoretical framework of the Documentational Approach to Didactics, which considers teachers’ documentation work as a central lever for the evolution of teachers’ practices. Our study took place in the context of curriculum reforms in France, which called on teachers to combine the use of digital technology with the development of student autonomy in their practices. We investigate in this paper the design of a meta-resource with the aim of supporting teachers’ documentation work in this context. The documentation work ranged from choosing a lesson plan offered on a website to designing a completely new lesson. Using a design research approach, we conducted two design and evaluation cycles, involving different groups of researchers and teachers, and we analysed these design processes and their outcomes. The researchers used particular categories to distinguish between different forms of autonomy, and criteria concerning the articulation between student autonomy and digital technologies. The teachers provided elements concerning the features of a lesson plan facilitating its appropriation, and more generally related to their actual design work. Our results illustrate how a multidisciplinary team of researchers can collaborate with teachers to design ‘meta-resources’ supporting teachers’ documentation work in a context of education reform.

A Historical Metamorphosis of Physical Education and Extra-curricular School Sport Activities in Chatsworth, Durban, South Africa (1960–2020)

Chatsworth is a township, which was consciously designed by the South African apartheid government in order to suppress its residents’ educational, social, financial, spiritual, and physical development. The primary aim of this article is to chronologically describe the history of Physical Education and extra-curricular school sport from 1960 to 2020, in the community of Chatsworth, through review of national, provincial, and local educational policies and extra-curricular school sport management structures. A narrative literature surveillance was completed using Google Scholar and Sabinet. Key search terms were “Chatsworth,” “physical education,” and “school sport.” The search identified 2050 records, of which only six were ultimately included. The records were assessed for researcher, bias employing a modified Downs and Black Appraisal scale. Due to the paucity of literature recounting the history of Chatsworth’s Physical Education and extra-curricular school sport, interviews were conducted with two proponent Chatsworth physical education teachers. The article describes the national and provincial education curriculum reforms that influenced Physical Education and extra-curricular school sport in Chatsworth.

KONSEP KURIKULUM PENDIDIKAN ISLAM MENURUT MUHAMMAD NATSIR

This article examines the concept of the Islamic education curriculum according to Muhammad Natsir. This study is included in the library research category. The study method used is descriptive-analytical. The primary data in this study came from the book Capita Selecta by Muhammad Natsir. The results of this study indicate that Muhamamd Natsir has made curriculum reforms during his time. The curriculum offered by Muhammad Natsir is an integrated curriculum that integrates religious and general education as the synthesis of the current dichotomy of the Islamic education curriculum.

Teachers’ perceptions on development and implementation of History 2167 syllabus in Zimbabwe

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of teachers on the development and implementation process of the History 2167 syllabus reform in Zimbabwe. Successful implementation of syllabus reforms depends on teachers’ ownership and knowledge about the reform ideas. Teachers are the closest individuals to the circumstances of the decisions made and their role as implementers gives them a significant influence on curriculum decisions. However, studies on syllabus development and implementation have often explored these processes using the input from other stakeholders while overlooking teacher perceptions. Data for this qualitative phenomenological study were generated from transcripts of in-depth interviews with five purposively sampled history teachers drawn from five secondary schools in the Glen. View/ Mufakose District in Harare Metropolitan Province. Findings showed that the success of curriculum reforms largely rests on the shoulders of teachers, since they are the ones who put reform ideas into practice. We conclude that in order for curriculum reforms to succeed, the policy-makers and teachers should work harmoniously to cultivate appropriate instructional practices. We recommend that teachers should actively participate in the syllabus development process, as well as have the power to influence the decisions about the implementation of the curriculum. Key words: development and implementation; History 2167 syllabus; syllabus reform; teachers’ perceptions.

The Role of Teacher Educators in Curriculum Reforms in Lesotho Schools

To a certain extent, many curriculum reforms that have been introduced in Lesotho schools have been unsuccessful. Teachers’ preparedness to implement these reforms has been the major factor for the failures. Involving teacher education providers in the preparation of teacher preparedness could improve the success rate of these school reforms. Therefore, understanding how education educators prepare teachers for curriculum reforms could assist to understand why school teachers often appear to be ill-prepared for curriculum reforms. Accordingly, this paper investigated the views of six teacher educators about their role in the preparation of teachers for curriculum reforms in Lesotho schools. A questionnaire was used to collect data that were analysed thematically. The results obtained indicate that: teacher educators are involved in a limited way in Lesotho curriculum reforms; and they have limited knowledge about the current reforms. As a result, their training practices do not target to prepare teachers for the reforms introduced in schools. This explains why many studies have found teachers to be ill-prepared for any curriculum reforms in Lesotho. These findings raise awareness on the issue that teacher educators should be involved in the reforms in Lesotho. Therefore, the main recommendation of this study is to engage teacher education providers so as to make the reforms successful.

‘Same, same, but different?!’ Investigating diversity issues in the current Austrian National Curriculum for Physical Education

Discussions on educational policy are shaped by current societal transformations associated with diversity. At the same time, the most recent reform of the Austrian National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE) was driven by the desire to stipulate standardised learning outcomes. Building upon Bernstein's framework, this paper explores to what extent issues of diversity are addressed in curricular documents, which inform and structure teaching and learning processes. Based on a qualitative content analysis, the General National Curriculum (GNC) and the latest NCPE were investigated. In a two-stage process, combining predetermined and emerging coding, significant themes were developed throughout the data analysis process. The findings demonstrate differing understandings of what diversity means and how it should be taken into consideration, indicating a less comprehensive way in the NCPE compared to the GNC. Since a uniform understanding of diversity is missing, this ambiguity fails to comply with a NC’s function to act as a systematic framework for teachers. There is friction at the level of education policy, as the NCPE should both reflect generally acknowledged societal transformations associated with diversity and be standardised at the same time. The paper concludes that future curriculum reforms should specifically address diversity-sensitive teaching and learning within the subject in a more comprehensive way, interlink the GNC and NCPE precisely and rethink the tension between diversity and standardisation in the NCPE.