Changes in perceptions of teaching quality in secondary schools in Rwanda during the COVID-19 global pandemic and the subsequent closing and reopening of schools.

The stability of measures of teaching quality is essential for making generalizations of results stemming from these measures to other teaching situations. However, no research has examined the effects of unexpected situational factors on the stability of these measures. Therefore, the purpose of this two-phase quantitative research study was to examine the following aspects among secondary school teachers in Rwanda, using a score-validated, multiple-dimension measure: (a) perceptions of teaching quality (PTQ) prior to the onset of the COVID-19 context (Phase 1; descriptive and correlational design); and (b) the extent to which COVID-19 and the subsequent closing and reopening of secondary schools affected PTQ among STEM teachers in Rwanda, and the associations between these changes in PTQ and selected socio-demographic/locational variables (Phase 2; descriptive and correlational research design). Phase 1 findings revealed that two measures of cultural values (i.e., Attitudes Towards Cultural Values Scale, Inculcating Cultural Values Scale, respectively) generated the most positive attitudes, whereas the Satisfaction with Resources and Material Subscale yielded the least positive attitudes. Phase 2 findings revealed that for four of the nine PTQ scales/subscales, the COVID-19 context negatively affected PTQ. These findings provide compelling evidence of the importance of monitoring PTQ, especially during times of crises. Moreover, these findings have implications for Rwandan educational policymakers, Rwandan administrators, teacher training administrators, and, above all, the teachers themselves, as they all seek to maximize teaching quality in Rwandan secondary schools.

A Meta-Methods Analysis of Academics' Challenges Affecting Research Productivity During COVID-19: Insights from a South African University

The purpose of this research study was to examine challenges experienced by academics at Stellenbosch University that hinder their research productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, involving 248 academics who completed an online questionnaire. A qualitative analysis of open-ended responses revealed five themes that characterized the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted these academics ' research productivity: Online Teaching, Increase in Research Productivity, No Difference to Research Productivity, Reduced Research Productivity, and No Research Productivity. A mixed methods analysis revealed that only 25% of academics were not adversely affected by online teaching in terms of research productivity. Two thirds of the academics experienced either a reduction in productivity or reported no research productivity at all. Compared to academics who reported an increase in productivity, academics who reported undertaking no research productivity at all tended to be women, not to hold a professor position, not to have a doctorate degree, to have less experience as academics, to have access at home to a tablet, but not to have access at home to cellphone data.

University students’ experiences of learning in an online environment in COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-methods research study of perceptions and attitudes of South African students

The purpose of this meta-methods study was to examine challenges experienced by students that hinder their ability successfully to learn online during the emergency remote teaching of a South African University that began in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, 4,419 students completed an online questionnaire. Analyses of the open-ended responses via WordStat 8.0.29 topic modeling and VOSviewer 1.6.14 text mining, independently led to the identification of five meta-themes, indicating triangulation of findings. Most notably, mental health issues emerged as an important meta-theme, with 10% of the participants reporting mental health challenges. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Passing the Baton for the Research in the Schools Journal: Cheers and ...(Goodbye) from Tony Onwuegbuzie and Eunjin Hwang!

[...]Research in the Schools (RITS) was born! (p. i) From its inception, the Research in the Schools journal has included an editorial board of national, international, and graduate student members (McLean & Kaufman, 2003), making it a nationally and internationally refereed journal. In addition to MSERA (circa 1972), over the years, the following four different universities have cosponsored/supported Research in the Schools: The University of Alabama, The University of North Florida, The University of South Florida, and Sam Houston State University. Since 2019, it has been supported by Dialectical Publishing, owned by Tony Onwuegbuzie and John Hitchcock, which publishes the International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches-a premiere journal that publishes empirical, methodological, theoretical, conceptual, historical, and humanistic discussions related to multimethod research and mixed methods research- for which Tony Onwuegbuzie and John Hitchcock serve as editors-in-chief. Research in the Schools has been, and continues to be, devoted to research conducted in any educational setting-from a conventional elementary school, middle school, or high school, to a training program conducted within an industry or organization. [...]this goal is consistent with that of MSERA, which is "to encourage and provide results of quality educational research in elementary and secondary schools and in institutions of higher learning" (MSERA, n.d., ¶ 1). [...]I teamed up with Dr. John Slate, a departmental colleague from Sam Houston State University, who replaced Larry as co-editor.