International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 3 (5), pp. 001-012, May, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Crossing traditional boundaries: How do practitioners and university faculty describe their experience with educational research literature?

Abebayehu A. Tekleselassie

Department of Leadership, Technology and Human Development , Georgia Southern University. Email: [email protected]

Accepted 20 September, 2016

Abstract

For many years, university based educational research has been blamed for being dominated by positivistic research tradition at the near exclusion of field based ethnographic work. Several findings have also portrayed this domination among the major explanations for practitioners’ lack of interest in educational research literature. With the recent popularity of qualitative work in the educational research parlance, the question however remains whether a paradigm shift from positivistic research tradition to ethnographic and field based approach brings the interest among practitioners to turn to research literature. On the basis of data from both practitioners and researchers, this study argues that while most ethnographic studies “approximate” the “narrative” experiences of public school teachers much better than quantitative works, the available ethnographic studies either suffer from the same norm that distances the university based positivistic researchers from practitioners or fall in the traps of institutional and organizational factors that have remained so resilient in bridging the gap between the world of research and practice in education.

Key words: Educational Research; Perceptions about Research; Research Utilization; Practitioner Knowledge; Narrative Experience.

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 3 (4), pp. 001-006, April, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Students’ attitudes toward campus environment: A comparative study of public and private universities in Kenya

Micah C. Chepchieng, Joel K. Kiboss, Aggrey Sindabi, Mary. W. Kariuki and Stephen, N. Mbugua

Department of Psychology, Counselling and Educational Foundations, Egerton University, P.0 Box 536, Egerton

Accepted 23 October, 2016

Abstract

One of the serious problems facing education in Kenya’s public universities has been a persistent student disturbance. Private universities on the other hand, seem to have established a reputation of having minimal incidence of student disturbances. As such private universities are known to have had a good record of student conduct. This may be attributed to the attitudes that students hold towards their Campus environment. Attitudes are acquired and influenced by the social, academic, psychological and physical aspects of an environment. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Campus environments on students’ attitude toward them. The study employed the Causal-comparative study design. Quantitative data was collected through a Students’ Attitude Questionnaire that was administered to 352 randomly selected second and third year full-time students enrolled in three public and three private universities in Kenya. T-tests were used to test the significance and determine whether to reject or accept the study hypotheses. Results indicated significant differences in attitudes toward Campus environment between students enrolled in Public and those enrolled in Private universities. This helped to shed light on the understanding of the student behaviours witnessed in Kenya’s universities. However, the effects of gender did not seem to exert any influence on students’ attitudes toward campus environment. The study recommended that Managers of public universities need to critically investigate on the social, academic, psychological and physical aspects of their institutions that seem to negatively affect their students attitudes toward campus environment.a

Key Words: Students' attitudes, Campus environment, private university, public university, student disturbances.

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 3 (3), pp. 001-005, March, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Learning traditions and teachers role: The Indian perspective

Seema Dogra** and Anjali Gulati*

**Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow (India).

*Isabella Thoburn College, Dept. of Library and Information Science, Lucknow (India)

Accepted 18 September 2016

Abstract

In this paper, the authors discuss about the Indian learning traditions and the role played by teachers in imparting education. They discuss the efforts played by government in enhancing education, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) contribution in spreading literacy, various learning traditions from past to present such as Gurukula, Kautilya, participative learning. Further, they highlighted the educational technologies used like EDUNET, E-campus and EDUSAT in various schools giving the example of Delhi Public School (DPS) and open learning trends of India. Furthermore, they discussed the role of a teacher in Indian tradition and in modern education with the examples of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The paper concludes with the remarks of the authors in which they suggest to reframe the educational policy, emphasize on enhancing professional education in government institutions and universities and development of industry-academia partnership.

Key Words: Indian learning traditions; educational technology; learning trends of India; open learning trends; role of teacher in Indian education system.

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 3 (2), pp. 001-003, February, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Short Communication

The relationship between the need for cognition, Metacognition, and intellectual task performance

Savia A. Coutinho

Northern Illinois University, E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 13 August, 2016

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the need for cognition, defined as the tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activity, and metacognition which is one’s thinking about thinking and how these variables relate to intellectual task performance. Participants completed measures of need for cognition, metacognition, and problem -solved GRE analytical items. There was a significant correlation between the need for cognition and metacognition. However, only the need for cognition was a significant predictor of intellectual task performance.

Key Words: cognition, metacognition, GRE analytical item.

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 3 (1), pp. 001-006, January, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

An investigation of the effectiveness of the school-based workshops approach to staff development in secondary schools in Botswana

PP Monyatsi

University of Botswana GABORONE. E-Mail: [email protected]

Accepted 18 June, 2016

Abstract

The development of staff in any organization in order to attain quality results is a sine qua non. The human resource of any organization, including schools and colleges is central to its effectiveness. What matters is the model that is used to enable the development of staff, in this case the development of teachers in secondary schools. This article argues that the school-based workshops as a component of staff development in the schools is the most effective due to several reasons, among them, the contextuality of the approach, it needs-driven nature, and the collaboration and teamwork that are its hallmark. Apart from the above, the study highlights some advantages that accrue such as being cost-effective and time saving and not being disruptive to the teaching and learning processes. The study combines both the qualitative and quantitative approaches to research.

Key words: staff development; school-based staff development; Botswana; school-focused.

International Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 2 (12), pp. 001-007, December, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Social Skills Intervention for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: A Literature Review from the American Perspective

Kaili Chen¹

Nanyang Walk, Early Childhood and Special Needs Education, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 637616 Tel: 65-67903301 Fax: 65-68969152. Email: [email protected]

Accepted 21 July, 2016

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to review literature associated with social skills training for students with behavioral difficulties in both the general and special education settings. Research findings presented in this review were based on data collected from books, research papers, and reports published from the 1970s to 2004 in the United States of America.

Key words: social skills training, emotional/behavioral disorders, interventions.