The article analyses the effectiveness and challenges of the use of the white cane and makes suggestions for its effective use. We explain that the white cane is one of the widely used and famous orientation and mobility (O&M) tools designed for pupils with visual impairment to move independently in their environment. By employing the descriptive qualitative design, we draw our findings from 12 participants who were pupils of the Akropong School for the Blind in Ghana. We make implications and conclude on the findings for policy formulation on the white cane, and make suggestions for future research work.
To meaningfully determine how well students have achieved learning targets, instructors must adopt specific formative assessment techniques. During the COVID-19 pandemic, existing studies have discovered the techniques instructors in higher education use in their formative assessment practices. However, there has not been any consensus on the prevalent formative assessment techniques used. In this study, we examined empirical documents to determine to what extent formative assessment has supported formal or informal techniques, or both. A total of 15 samples of published documents on the formative assessment techniques used by instructors in higher education were purposively selected and subjected to summative content analysis. The findings revealed that instructors have used more formal than informal formative assessment techniques. The most predominant techniques were paper and pencil tests. The findings imply that formative assessment in higher education amid COVID-19 has followed responsive evaluation/feedback techniques compared to assessment conversations and dialogues. This calls for the need to refocus formative assessment to include both informal and formal techniques by embracing and adapting to technologically enhanced assessment and learning.
As a partial condition for the successful completion of school, and for certification reasons, undergraduate distance education students in Ghanaian universities are required to conduct research work. Due to the mode of teaching and learning activities, it appears such students are at a disadvantage. In this study, we examined the challenges distance education students encounter in conducting their research work in two universities in Ghana. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using 866 distance education students sampled from the study centres across the country. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis, using 5,000 bootstrap samples, revealed challenges from the students, supervisors and the institutions. Based on our results, we recommend that there should be structured policies by university management and supervisors to relieve students of the challenges they encounter when conducting their research work. The study also encouraged students to devote the needed time, commitment and motivation to complete their research work on time. Suggestions for further studies were made based on the findings.
This study investigated the efficacy of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in a flipped classroom in enhancing vocational students’ conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills of vocational students. We conducted IBL interventions in a flipped classroom through a pre-experimental design (i.e., one-group pretest-posttest approach). A total of 14 second-year students of the HNTec in Agro-technology programme in one of the vocational schools in Brunei Darussalam were conveniently sampled. Data were collected through achievement tests and online interviews, and analysed using the paired sample t-test, the Wilcoxon-signed rank test, and thematic analysis. The findings showed that the IBL intervention in a flipped classroom improved the conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills of vocational students. There were significant differences (p=0.001<0.05) between the pretest and posttest scores of students’ conceptual knowledge: declarative, procedural, and semantic, and the dimensions of inquiry skills: observation, questioning, hypothesising, investigation and interpretation. Students reported positive perceptions toward IBL in a flipped classroom although they faced accessibility and adaptability challenges. This study concluded that IBL in a flipped lesson environment enhances the conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills that are fundamental in developing soft skills among vocational students. Recommendations were made based on the need to ensure a simultaneous use of IBL and flipped pedagogical approaches in vocational education.
Questioning is one of the critical repertoires in dialogic teaching. Teachers who set dialogic classrooms need to be able to use questioning effectively. Effective questioning techniques by teachers improve teacher-student instructional dialogues in primary school mathematics classrooms. In this study, the questioning practices of three primary school mathematics teachers were analysed in their journey to incorporate dialogic teaching. Data were gathered through lesson observations, video recordings and teacher interviews. The three teachers’ classroom discourses were transcribed verbatim, and teachers’ questions were analysed to find out the types of questions, how the teachers asked the questions and the feedback given to the student’s responses. Findings from this study indicated that the three teachers used effective questioning techniques in ensuring dialogic teaching, with focusing, genuine enquiry, and closed testing questions being the most predominant. The teachers portrayed positive attitudes towards dialogic teaching and shared their comprehensive understanding of the approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.