The paper is part of the qualitative research project Educational Aspirations, Opportunities and Challenges for Immigrants in University Education in Iceland, conducted in Iceland’s three biggest universities. The main goal of the paper is to investigate immigrant students’ experiences of communication with teachers during the learning process and their perspectives on multicultural group work. Furthermore, the paper explores immigrant students’ experiences of learner-centred approach and culturally responsive teaching methods applied by some teachers. The data was collected through focus group interviews and qualitative, semi-structured individual interviews with immigrant students. The theoretical framework is mainly based on the constructivist theory, which emphasises the importance of communication and the learner-centred approach. Additionally, the theoretical framework includes multicultural education theory, which puts an emphasis on applying culturally responsive teaching methods in classrooms with diverse student populations. The analysis of the interviews revealed that the participants’ experiences of communication with teachers and peers were mostly positive. However, culturally responsive teaching is still a rare phenomenon in Icelandic universities. When it comes to the participants’ perspectives on group work, the experiences ranged from being highly positive to negative.

Achieving the maximum efficiency in teaching a second language (L2) has always been an important issue for educators. Current globalization processes, development of international business relations, political integrations among the various countries throughout the world, and the abilities of latest information and communications technologies (ICT) dictate the more significance of knowledge of foreign languages. All living conditions should be constructed according to the mentioned surrounding changes during the ICT era. Correspondingly, teaching methodologies are also being adapted in order to teach people more efficiently. This paper studies how cellular phones (cell phones) can be used in learning English phrases. In order to examine the impact of cell phones on learning a language an experiment was run among the college and university students in Kazakhstan, supported by GSM Network of KCell (Kazakhstan). This paper discusses the experiment results, in which 126 college and university students participated, and makes some suggestions based on the experimental mobile learning. Study reveals that users could make noticeable improvements learning through their cell phones after the conducted experiment. Positive improvements were noticed on the results of general tests of English language those conducted among all participants of the research.

The purpose of the present study is to determine if high school students' character strengths composed of twenty-four different features, being virtuous including six dimensions and demographic characteristics predict risky behaviors. The participants of the study were 380 students aged between 14-19 years and enrolled in general high schools. The data was collected by using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Young People and the Risky Behaviors Scale. From the findings, it was determined that the risk of school drop-out score was higher in the ninth grades and the male students had more risky behaviors compared to the their female counterparts. Moreover, it was also determined that the risky behaviors were significantly related to many character strengths. Besides this, as a result of the regression analyses, it was found that the character strengths predicted risky behaviors composed of the areas of anti-social behaviors, use of alcohol/cigarette, eating habits, suicide tendency and school leave at different levels. The findings were discussed within the context of adolescents’ psychological counseling needs and suggestionThe purpose of the present study is to determine if high school students' character strengths composed of twenty-four different strengths, virtues including six dimensions and demographic characteristics predict risky behaviors. The participants of the study were 380 students aged between 14-19 years and enrolled in general high schools. The data was collected by using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth and the Risky Behaviors Scale. From the findings, it was determined that the risk of school drop-out score was higher in the ninth grades and the male students had more risky behaviors compared to their female counterparts. Moreover, it was also determined that the risky behaviors were significantly related to many character strengths. Besides this, as a result of the regression analyses, it was found that the character strengths predicted risky behaviors composed of the areas of anti-social behaviors, use of alcohol/cigarette, eating habits, suicide tendency and school dropout at different levels. The findings were discussed within the context of adolescents’ psychological counseling needs and suggestions were proposed.

In this study, it was aimed to examine existing condition of parental support taken by pre-service music teachers in instrumental education according to some variables and to determine the relationship between them. 123 students, who study in Uludag University Department of Music Education, constitute the sample of the research. The data collected with “Parental Support Scale Perceived in Instrumental Education” is analyzed with t-test, ANOVA and Mann-Withney U test. The results demonstrated that parental support perceived in instrumental education does not change according to gender, living together/separate status of parents, mother’s working/not working status, income level of parents or students living together/separate with parents’ status. Nevertheless, when the class level increases, the parental support perceived in instrumental education decreases. Also, it is determined that the students who has someone playing musical instrument in their family has higher points for parental support perceived in instrumental education. There was a significant linear trend, indicating that as the education level of mother increased, both the sub-dimensions and total scores of parental support perceived in instrumental education increased proportionately. On the other hand, as the education level of father increased, only the total scores increased proportionately.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate pre-service science teachers’ argumentation skills, attitudes and knowledge levels regarding organ transplantation and donation (OTD). Teachers play a fundamental role in providing information to children/adolescents and could influence their attitudes. Organ transplantation is a life-saving hope for many people, but shortage of organs for transplantation is a universal problem. Having a positive attitude and true knowledge are essential for teachers that affect students’ future attitude toward this topic. The research method was descriptive and cross-sectional. The sample of research was 472 pre-service science teachers, who were sampled by using convenient sampling method and are students of Science Education Department at four different public universities. Data collection instruments were developed by researchers as valid and reliable questionnaire in order to determine the attitudes, knowledge levels and argumentation skills of pre-service teachers regarding OTD. Results observed that the pre-service science teachers' argumentation skills in a socio-scientific subject such as OTD were at a very low level, their attitudes were at a moderate level, and their knowledge level was above the average. Results of the study have shown that graduated high school type and grade level have played important roles in the positive attitudes, high argumentation skills and high knowledge level about organ donation. No significant difference was found in the attitudes and knowledge level of pre-service science teachers toward OTD in terms of gender. The gender only affected the ability of argumentation.

In this study it is aimed to analyze the smartphone addiction, fear of missing out (FoMO), and perceived social and academic competence that predict social media addiction on high school students. Study group consists of 296 (136 females and  160 males) high school students studying in Anatolian High Schools and Vocational High School in Mersin during the 2017-2018 academic year. Simple random sampling was used. In the study, descriptive survey method was used. As data collection tools, Personal Information Form, Social Media Addiction Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale, Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMO), Perceived Competence Scale developed by Ozer et al. were used. In analyses of data, regression was used. According to stepwise regression analysis, smartphone addiction (β = .34), fear of missing out (β = .26) and perceived academic competence (β = -.12) predict social media addiction level on high school students. As the result of the study, smartphone addiction, fear of missing out, and perceived academic competence predict social media addiction on high school students. When the smartphone addiction level and fear of missing out decrease, and also perceived academic competence improve, students’ smartphone addiction levels reduce.

Currently, it is taken for granted that teachers have to take into account the conceptions in order to achieve some efficient learning, the latter are generally resistant and may hinder the learning. Studies have shown that learning amounts to make conceptions evolve which play a determining role in the appropriation of scientific concepts such as neurotransmission, which is the subject of our study. This concept is present in the Life Science syllabus as early as high school. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of an interactive approach on the evolution of students' conceptions of neurotransmission. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the first two years’ students (second year) in the Life Sciences stream at Dhar El Mahraz Faculty of Science in Fez during the academic year 2016-2017. This questionnaire was in the form of a pre-test and a post-test on learning/teaching of neurotransmission. The results of the study showed that the approach which was adopted had a positive effect on the evolution of the students' conceptions of neurotransmission in that it apparently contributed to a conceptual change for them.

The aim of this study is to present pre-service biology teachers with reading texts about the research of Van Helmont and Joseph Priestley relate to the subject of photosynthesis, for their familiarization with the processual and contextual aspects of science and their understanding of the nature of science, and to reveal the extent to which these texts contribute to the teacher candidates. The study was carried out by “action research method”.  The sample consisted of 66 biology pre-service teachers studying at Karadeniz Technical University between the years of 2016 to 2018. In this study, two separate reading texts were prepared in order to increase pre-service teachers’ processual and contextual understanding, and after the teacher candidates had read the texts, they were asked to answer the related questions. Percentage and frequency values were determined by grouping the answers as “correct, partially correct, incorrect and unanswered”. The fact that in this study, only 47% of the pre-service teachers were able to form a correct hypothesis means that their skills in this regard are in need of development. Candidates experienced some difficulty in interpreting statements that were not given explicitly in the text. The candidates' level of critical thinking is at a good level. It has been determined that they have post-modern view as epistemological belief. There is a need for designing instructional materials covering conceptual, processual, contextual dimensions of science in different subjects at university level and presenting them to biology teachers in book format.

The main goal of this paper is to briefly describe the educational quality assurance procedures of Jubail Industrial College and share its experience with other local and international institutions that are potentially interested in implementing similar quality assurance procedures in their various departments. This paper follows a document and descriptive method. Document analysis qualitative approach was opted. In essence, implementing quality assurance procedures within any educational institution ensures quality education and helps to maintain an organized structure. Internal quality assurance policies and practices guarantee that the quality of education in an academic institution is consistently monitored. This paper can be utilized by both academic planners and quality assurance personnel in academic institutions. The quality assurance procedures described in this paper are used to ensure the quality of education specific to the Jubail Industrial College; however, it can be applied in other academic institutions as well.

The advent of the new economy brought university reforms to the limelight, and higher education research concentrated on the study of interactions of multi-level, multi-actor policy reforms, to the detriment of studying policy implementation. The ebbing of implementation analysis in the mid-1980s has probably put researchers off following up policies to the point of delivery, resulting in what critics dubbed a 'missing link'. Policymakers more pronounced need to evaluate the impact of the policies they adopt, inter alia, has led to a renewed interest in bottom-up implementation in other public policy fields, but not as much in higher education research. The article builds on a Network Governance-informed approach for studying policy reform in higher education and adapts it to study of policy implementation with a focus on transition systems. Witte's actor-centered new institutional framework is taken as a springboard, and some of its underlying assumptions are reviewed for that purpose, adding insights from public administration literature (NPM) and Lipsky's street-level bureaucracy (SLBy). Ultimately, it proposes a politics-institutions framework to account for the institutional change entailed to the reforms.

The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of music teacher candidates on computer self-efficacy perceptions and digital technology according to different variables. In this research, correlational survey model is used as a general survey model and also during data collection process of research, criterion sampling is used as purposive sampling.   The focus group of the research consists of 102 students studying music education at Ondokuz Mayis University in the 2018-2019 academic year. Computer Self-Efficacy Perception Scale and Attitude Scale towards Digital Technology Scale were used as data collection tools for the study. According to the results of the study, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the levels of computer self-efficacy perception and the attitudes towards digital technology of the music teacher candidates who participated in the research. The self-efficacy perceptions of the students significantly differed according to their gender, to have a personal computer and the time they first used the computer for educational purpose and their attitudes towards digital technology significantly differed according to their gender, class level and computer ownership.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not teachers’ lifelong learning tendencies vary by gender, professional field, educational level of service, professional seniority, and frequency of reading a book, magazine, and newspaper. The study employs a descriptive research model. Its population consists of primary teachers and field teachers working in the central district of Kayseri province, located in the middle part of Turkey, in the 2015-2016 academic year. The study group consists of 380 teachers chosen from this population through stratified sampling. The data were collected through Personal Information Form and Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale developed by Diker-Coskun. The obtained data were analyzed via SPSS 20.00 at 0.05 significance level. The study revealed that the teachers working in the middle part of Turkey have low lifelong learning tendencies. Also, the study determined that the teachers’ lifelong learning tendencies significantly vary by gender, professional field, educational level of service, and frequency of reading a book, magazine, and newspaper, but professional seniority is not a factor that leads to a significant difference in lifelong learning tendency.

The purpose of this study is to describe the actions taken by college students to face their future retirement. For this, the test designed by the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Financial Services Users (CONDUSEF) in Mexico was used, which has items related to financial knowledge, specifically topics about savings, emergency funds and life insurance, among others. The instrument was applied to 60 UPAV college students of different levels, during the school cycle of February-August 2018, in the city of Xalapa, Veracruz; it should be noted that the range of age was older than 21 but younger than 23 years old. The descriptive analysis showed results that lead us to believe that students have emergency funds (53%) but these are used to face unexpected situations (59%); also, students do not have life insurance, which could be concerning in their personal and family life if/when they have to face a present or future illness. Regarding car insurance, most of the respondents stated that they do not own one, besides considering it an unnecessary expense. One of the study limitations was the surveyed population; hence the need to widen this research to encompass more students from such geographical area in order to obtain a wider outlook of said behavior.

This paper endeavors to ascertain the prevailing classroom management styles of instructors as well as the prevailing instructor-student relationship in a Philippine higher education institution. It   employed mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative methods of research to investigate the line of inquiry. A total of thirty faculty members and three-hundred students sampled from the population were the sources of data for the quantitative component of the study while eighteen students were selected as informants for the FGD to gather qualitative data. Findings showed that a great deal of authoritative classroom management style is being adhered by instructors while the students manifested a moderate level of connectedness and anxiety towards the classroom management styles of their instructors. Variables such as civil status, years of teaching experience, and level of educational attainment spelled differences on the classroom management styles instructors. It was uncovered that the different classroom management styles of instructors were attached with positive and negative labels and typifications. Implications of this study will serve as a reference to better prepare classroom managers of 21st-century college classrooms.

This study considers the interaction between an e-learning system, the Blackboard system, and the students who use it in Saudi Arabia. While previous work exists, there is limited consideration of the assessment of the preferences of e-learning system usability variables based on students’ perspectives, especially in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. This paper attempts to fill the gap by investigating the relative importance of the design criteria developed for e-learning system usability evaluation from the students’ perspective in Saudi tertiary education. Based on reviewed literature, a set of usability principles was developed that have had an influence in the students’ learning process and use of the e-learning system. The list includes system navigation, system learnability, visual design, information quality, instructional assessment and system interactivity. An exploratory study was carried out to identify the most important usability design characteristics from a student’s perspective and then evaluate the overall usability of the current e-learning system, based on this subset. A quantitative approach was adopted to weigh usability design characteristics, based on 181 learners’ perceptions. The sample consists of undergraduates who are users of a web-based e-learning system in a university in Saudi Arabia. The research instrument was tested for construct validity and reliability. The analysed results have shown that information quality is the most important dimension followed by the navigation of the e-learning system. The study has also revealed that the system learnability and visual design came third and fourth in order of importance of e-learning system usability assessment. Finally, the least important design categories that influenced the e-learning system usability assessment were instructional assessment and system interactivity. The empirical results of this study may help to provide insights for designers and evaluators leading to a more effective approach to improve the usability and uptake of the e-learning system.

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the academic motivations and academic achievements of pre-service visual arts teachers in the Division of Art Education in the Department of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Education in terms of some variables. The study group consisted of 127 (79 female/ 48 male) students in the division of art education. As the data collection tool, the “Academic Motivation Scale (AMS)”, developed by Vallerand et al. and then, translated into Turkish for university students by Karaguven, was used to find out the academic motivations of students, and the personal information form was used to get the personal information of students in the study. In the research, in which the relational screening method was used, the descriptive analysis was applied to determine the motivation levels of pre-service visual arts teachers; independent sampling t-test to compare their average scores according to gender; one-way variance analysis to test according to the class variable, and Pearson Correlation test to determine the relationship between their academic motivation and academic achievement. The findings of the study show that the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of pre-service visual arts teachers are at a good level. It was found that the amotivation levels of pre-service visual arts teachers were at a low level. As the average scores according to gender were investigated, the meaningful difference was encountered in favour of female participants for intrinsic motivations. It was found that the intrinsic motivations of females related to the achievement were higher. An increase, from 1st year to 4th years students, was observed in terms of the academic motivation levels of pre-service visual arts teachers according to the class variable. However, no meaningful difference was encountered between the average scores of the students' academic motivations according to the class variable. It was found that the relationship between academic motivation and academic achievement was low.

This study aims to reveal the prevalence of internet addiction among Kurdish university students and its association with self-control. 623 students form 19 universities in various colleges and schools, 335 boys (54 %) and 288 (46%) girls took part in this study in which they were asked to complete an internet addiction and self-control self-report. The findings indicated that the prevalence of internet addiction among Kurdish university population is very high, concluding that 36.5% of the participants met the internet addiction criteria. In addition, it was found that males and females are equally susceptible to becoming addicted to the internet. The results also showed that internet addiction correlates negatively to the self-control and positively with impulsive behaviour. Based on the regression analysis, 15.7% of the variance of internet addiction can be explained by self-control. Further study should investigate the effect of internet addiction on discomfort intolerance.

This study has experimentally tested how the introduction of simulations, adapting the experience of higher educational institutions of the United States, including the elements of gamification, in the training course Professional Foreign Language stimulates the educational activity of students at higher educational institutions of Ukraine students’ educational activity  through the involvement and creation of activity for constructive competition and cooperation, stimulation of interests and motives, maintaining cognitive attention of students and encouraging feedback. To carry out this research, a script, a methodology for arranging the simulation Coffee Import-Export Procedure was developed. To process the collected statistical information, Covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) software, including two-way ANOVA for Mixed Measures, was used, and the Textalyzer software was used to process the answers of the experimental group’s students to the open-type questions. It was found out, that the simulation model Coffee Import-Export Procedure with elements of gamification develops value-motivational, cognitive and activity-reflective components of educational activity of students, develops self-education skills, which are included in the list of key life and career Skills of the 21st Century, moving the formation of competences of self-education from minor to dominant positions, forms the model of future professional activity of students. The scientific and practical results of this research can be used in the practice of corporate training of company’s personnel, professional training of future specialists in management, international business, organizational psychology, law, etc., as well as for the organization of professional training for people with limited access to higher professional education or for those who needs retraining.

In almost all European countries, many schools offer a form of bilingual education provision according to which content subjects are taught either through two different languages or through one foreign language. This approach is known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The main problem addressed in this research article is the need to examine and describe the contribution of CLIL methodology to the development of bilingual language competence of students of a secondary vocational school. In addition, the study looks at the teaching and learning within a bilingual Slovak-English study program of the school, specifically at the implementation of CLIL methodology in content subjects taught within the program. Specifically, the extent, approaches, materials used in the study program to enhance bilingualism at school in general and the bilingual language competence of the students through CLIL methodology in particular, as well as opinions and perceptions of teachers and students were investigated. Three data collection tools were used – interviews with teachers and students, classroom observations and document review. The results of the study indicate that various factors inside and outside the classroom and school enhance students’ bilingual language competence with CLIL methodology playing an important but not a decisive role.

This paper presents how the process of flipped teaching with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) works in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing in the Indonesian context. As well, it also elaborates how the teaching model affects learner autonomy. This flipped teaching with CALL was experienced by some lecturers of private universities in East Java, Indonesia. This study used a multi-site case study research design. The data were yielded from in-class observation, lesson plan analysis, focus group interviews, and questionnaires. The total of 5 EFL writing teachers and 150 students from 5 private universities in East Java, Indonesia had participated in this study. Experimenting with flipped teaching with CALL in teaching EFL writing enabled the teachers, as course developers, to get an idea of their students’ response to the challenges of new ways, methods, and techniques of their study. The flip-class environment fostered better communication amongst learners and learner autonomy as well. The flip-class atmosphere also had a beneficial impact on the motivation of learners. The qualitative results from interviews of the learners showed that the learners had inspired themselves to engage in in-class learning activities and self-regulated teaching environments. The findings gave reflection to the teachers on several vitally necessary conditions enabling a course in a flipped teaching with CALL format to contribute to developing students’ professional competencies.