ABSTRACT
The Moroccan cooperative sector is increasingly important, not only in the social and economic fabric of Morocco, but also in the sustainable development of the Kingdom. With the advent of COVID, the cooperative sector offers more inclusive and sustainable economic alternatives than ever before. In this context, organizational resilience is essential to preserve the sustainability of cooperatives and anticipate potential crises. This study addresses the following issue: What are the organizational factors necessary to strengthen the organizational resilience of the Moroccan cooperative in the Fez-Meknes region in times of COVID-19 crisis? The purpose of this paper was to test the hypothesized relationships between a set of latent constructs (actor involvement and mobilization, organizational learning in times of a crisis and social innovation) and the organizational resilience of cooperatives in times of a COVID-19 crisis. The methodology adopted is structural equation modeling based on the PLS-SEM method under the "SmartPLS Version 3” used on data collected through a printed questionnaire administered to 160 cooperatives in the Fez-Meknes region. The results show the significant and positive influence between the exogenous constructs on the strengthening of organizational resilience of cooperatives as an endogenous construct. The novelty of the study lies in the identification of the organizational resources needed to strengthen the organizational resilience of cooperatives in the Moroccan context. The results show that organizational resilience depends on three selected organizational factors: stakeholder involvement and mobilization, organizational learning in the times of a crisis and social innovation.
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Happiness index is an all-inclusive methodology to assess well-being and happiness aspects of human resilience and sustainability. Pandemic like COVID-19 has brought deep level changes to human lifestyle and social behaviours. The world has been reshaped and life has more than likely changed permanently. This has led to calls for mental health, yet there is a dire need to introspect the mental state of health and behavioural changes. Happiness index is calculated based on factors such as GDP, freedom to make choice, health life expectancy and social support. These factors are analysed using datasets from social media with machine learning algorithms to map human response to the pandemic. This research focuses on use of artificial intelligence on the impact of lockdowns due to COVID-19 on the global happiness index.
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On Friday, March 13, 2020, academic and sport activities at a Mexican university were happening as on a normal day. However, the following Monday, students and teachers had to stay at home for an undefined period. In this work, we show how a course with problem-based learning (PBL) and social sustainability (SS) approaches was adapted to pandemic times. We start with the COVID-19 context at the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) and then provide a theoretical overview of PBL, SS, Latin American self-produced quartiers, soccer in vulnerable communities, and general aspects about pandemic times. Following this, we discuss the methodology used for reaching out to vulnerable communities in Monterrey City, Mexico, using soccer as a strategy. The students conducted a project together with a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose main task is to promote this sport practice in vulnerable communities around the world. We conclude from our study that students need pedagogical platforms that allow them to respond to the requirements of different social groups, as well as to develop skills to face real problems.
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Background: Social media is a ubiquitous phenomenon that serves as a tool for communication, collaboration, and creativity. In the long term, it has an indispensable place in the field of education. The research paper discusses the use of certain social networking sites where learning management systems are extensively and consistently used in the teaching and learning process at universities. The rapid transition to online platforms had a tremendous impact on the educational process, exposing and promoting the effectiveness of heutagogy. The circumstances made it necessary to emphasize the value of self-directed learning and the capacity to identify educational requirements and strategies for reaching study objectives. This kind of research corresponds to the increased need to develop desired self-study skills in students. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how undergraduate students perceive the trends in acceptance and the degree of appropriateness of social media for academic purposes. Methods: Research on social media use in education was inspired by a review of the literature. The purpose of the questionnaire is to track awareness, use, general satisfaction, communication, testing, and revision. The set of social media examined in the survey (years 2021 and 2022) was modified to reflect the social media landscape at the time. This study compares the findings of four different studies. The outcomes are displayed in graphs. Results: Two areas are analyzed: social media as a means of communication in the process of education and social media as a tool enabling students' revision and testing of study materials. The first two studies, which were conducted in 2014 and 2019, are based on the same set of examined social media and fit the comparison, enabling to define the trend in students' perceived satisfaction with social media for study purposes. The third and fourth studies discussed in this paper were run during the winter semesters of 2021 and 2022. Conclusions: The most significant differences between 2021 and 2022 can be seen in Instagram, Twitch, and other platforms, where a substantial drop in satisfaction in the communication field can be seen. The biggest difference in revision and testing is found in Facebook, Twitch, and Teams, which are abandoning online teaching and learning after the COVID-19 event. Social media use for studying has significantly decreased, with noteworthy decreases in Wiki, Facebook, and video calls.
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With the development of computer and information technology, mobile teaching has enjoyed pride of place among teaching mediums in the past two decades. To visually explore the mobile learning hotspots and trends present in international journals, this study adopted two science mapping tools (CiteSpace and VOSviewer) to first detect and then visualise emerging trends (i.e., hotspots) in the mobile learning literature. A total of 528 mobile learning articles published between 2003 and 2021 that appeared in 21 international educational technology journals indexed in the SSCI database were retrieved for bibliometric analysis. The results show (1) there was a remarkable increase in academic output in this field starting in 2008 that topped out in 2021;(2) co-authorship with academics from diverse countries/regions and institutions was evident;(3) three trending foci in the literature include defining mobile learning, designing learning systems, and exploring mobile learning effectiveness;and (4) the high-frequency co-cited publications focus on the effectiveness of mobile devices via different research methods. This study provides scholars with an accessible summary of the current trends in mobile learning, identifies the active researchers in this field, and reports on which outlets are most relevant for research produced on this topic. In addition, the findings have direct implications for the education and private sectors. Mobile devices are not widely adopted in classroom settings and are often considered a learning tool more suited for out-of-class assignments or practice. Therefore, it is necessary for information technology educators to invest in actively initiating the integration of mobile technology into the classroom. Those in the technology industry should aim to develop mobile devices and relevant educational applications/software that can be utilised not only within the confines of the classroom but also to bridge in-class and out-of-class learning.
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Social media platforms have become a substratum for people to enunciate their opinions and ideas across the globe. Due to anonymity preservation and freedom of expression, it is possible to humiliate individuals and groups, disregarding social etiquette online, inevitably proliferating and diversifying the incidents of cyberbullying and cyber hate speech. This intimidating problem has recently sought the attention of researchers and scholars worldwide. Still, the current practices to sift the online content and offset the hatred spread do not go far enough. One factor contributing to this is the recent prevalence of regional languages in social media, the dearth of language resources, and flexible detection approaches, specifically for low-resource languages. In this context, most existing studies are oriented towards traditional resource-rich languages and highlight a huge gap in recently embraced resource-poor languages. One such language currently adopted worldwide and more typically by South Asian users for textual communication on social networks is Roman Urdu. It is derived from Urdu and written using a Left-to-Right pattern and Roman scripting. This language elicits numerous computational challenges while performing natural language preprocessing tasks due to its inflections, derivations, lexical variations, and morphological richness. To alleviate this problem, this research proposes a cyberbullying detection approach for analyzing textual data in the Roman Urdu language based on advanced preprocessing methods, voting-based ensemble techniques, and machine learning algorithms. The study has extracted a vast number of features, including statistical features, word N-Grams, combined n-grams, and BOW model with TFIDF weighting in different experimental settings using GridSearchCV and cross-validation techniques. The detection approach has been designed to tackle users' textual input by considering user-specific writing styles on social media in a colloquial and non-standard form. The experimental results show that SVM with embedded hybrid N-gram features produced the highest average accuracy of around 83%. Among the ensemble voting-based techniques, XGboost achieved the optimal accuracy of 79%. Both implicit and explicit Roman Urdu instances were evaluated, and the categorization of severity based on prediction probabilities was performed. Time complexity is also analyzed in terms of execution time, indicating that LR, using different parameters and feature combinations, is the fastest algorithm. The results are promising with respect to standard assessment metrics and indicate the feasibility of the proposed approach in cyberbullying detection for the Roman Urdu language.
ABSTRACT
E-learning is expected to become a common teaching and learning approach in educational institutions in the near future;thus, the success of e-learning initiatives must be ensured in order to make this a sustainable mode of learning. In order to improve students' learning performance through the use of e-learning in Saudi Arabia's higher education, it was the objective of this paper to examine the relationships between social cognitive theory and learning input factors and the reflective thinking and inquiry learning style as well as the indirect effects of student problem-solving and critical thinking skills. As a result, this study thoroughly assessed the social cognitive theory that is currently in use, along with learning input components and situational factors that should be carefully taken into account while introducing an online education system into Saudi Arabia's top universities as a way of ensuring learning sustainability. As a result, 294 university students completed a questionnaire that served as the initial dataset for the research study, and the proposed conceptual model was comprehensively assessed using SEM. The research results demonstrated that the inquiry style of learning and reflective thinking have always had a significant impact on the social involvement, human engagement, social power, social identity, and social support. Similar findings were obtained regarding the impact of problem-solving and critical thinking skills on the inquiry-based learning approach and reflective thinking. Thus, students' ability to learn in Saudi Arabia's higher education is greatly influenced by their ability to solve problems and think critically. Therefore, it is almost certain that this research study will aid university policy makers in their decision on whether to fully deploy an online learning system as a way of ensuring learning sustainability at educational institutions throughout Saudi Arabia.
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Due to the increasing appearance of global contagious diseases such as COVID-19, the goal of this research is to directly and explicitly advance the learning motivation, interests, and performance of online course participants into developing sustainable development and strategic approaches to discover the effective solution of the research question: how to provide the most effective online courses of sustainable development strategy for contemporary higher education in order to advance the student’s learning motivation, confidence, and desires? This is accomplished by integrating the three briefest analytical aspects of the Social Learning Theory, the main theoretical philosophies of Learning Community, and 10 core technological features to determine the most critical core determinants. Beyond the complex measured results, the most valuable conclusions were: (1) the highest Standardized Comparative Weight Scales (SCWS) was located in the Publicity Philosophy for contemporary online higher education sustainable development strategy, which meant the first hypothesis was accepted and the second and third hypotheses were denied. Hence, the Publicity Philosophy (PP) of the learning community directly and effectively advanced the contemporary online higher education sustainable development strategy for educational institutions as the best solution to the research question in order to achieve the main research objective. (2) Continuously, in detail, the PP of the learning community was directly and effectively enforced by the Professionalization Technology Feature of Course Function. This directly indicated that most online course participants focus on the professionalized technological features in the system operation, such as friendly operational platforms for easy uploads, convenient downloads of online course information, and real-time news during online courses at higher education institutions. Significantly, the aggregated technology in group discussions or teamwork assignments and the complete and fair evaluation of online course technological system can facilitate collaborative lesson preparation and lesson observation of the PP of the learning community in order to advance online course interests and learning performance to be the sustainable development strategic approach in contemporary higher education era.
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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without quality education and the cultivation of innovative and international talents. This study examined high school students’ English learning motivation structure, the differences between male and female students, and the motivational impact on English learning achievement. Participants included 778 high school students (385 boys and 393 girls) from two Chinese high schools in two representative regions. The results showed that the English learning motivation of high school students mainly included four types, namely, intrinsic interest, learning situation, social responsibility, and personal development. Females’ English learning motivation was significantly higher than that of males. Further, intrinsic interest and personal development had a significantly positive impact on English achievement, whereas social responsibility had a significantly negative impact, and learning situation had no significant impact. The above findings contribute to further understanding of the internal structure of second language learning motivation and the influence mechanism of motivation on achievement, which are of great significance to students’ growth and the sustainable improvement in the quality of education.
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There has been a gradual shift over the years towards the use of social networking sites (SNS) in formal and informal English language learning which was accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though there is an abundance of articles dedicated to probing into the in-depth use of SNS in English language learning, a clear correlation between the formal and informal application of SNS in English language learning is still scarce. Therefore, this systematic review aims to exhaustively analyse the recent findings regarding the integration of SNS in English language learning in both formal and informal learning contexts. Two databases were employed, which are the Web of Science (WoS) and Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC) and thirty articles were extracted for further review. These articles were selectively restricted to a five-year (2018–2022) range and have been screened for any contradiction against the research objectives. As an overview, SNS is favoured for different kinds of applications in teaching and learning purposes due to observed improvements in overall language skills, social interactions, motivation and flexibility. It is proposed for future researchers to focus on a specific target group as well as specific SNS platforms which could help the researchers to minimize discrepancies.
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The end goal of technological advancement used in crisis response and recovery is to prevent, reduce or mitigate the impact of a crisis, thereby enhancing sustainable recovery. Advanced technological approaches such as social media, machine learning (ML), social network analysis (SNA), and big data are vital to a sustainable crisis management decisions and communication. This study selects 28 articles via a systematic process that focuses on ML, SNA, and related technological tools to understand how these tools are shaping crisis management and decision making. The analysis shows the significance of these tools in advancing sustainable crisis management to support decision making, information management, communication, collaboration and cooperation, location-based services, community resilience, situational awareness, and social position. Moreover, the findings noted that managing diverse outreach information and communication is increasingly essential. In addition, the study indicates why big data and language, cross-platform support, and dataset lacking are emerging concerns for sustainable crisis management. Finally, the study contributes to how advanced technological solutions effectively affect crisis response, communication, decision making, and overall crisis management.
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Blended synchronous learning (BSL) is becoming increasingly widely implemented in many higher education institutions due to its accessibility and flexibility. However, little research has been conducted to explore students’ engagement and persistence and their possible predictors in such a learning mode. The purpose of this study was to investigate how to facilitate students’ engagement and persistence in BSL. In detail, this study used structural equation modeling to explore the relationships among specific predictors (self-regulation, teaching presence, and social presence), learning engagement, and learning persistence in BSL. We recruited 319 students who were enrolled in BSL at a Chinese university. The online survey was administered to gather data on the variables of this study. The results demonstrated that self-regulation, teaching presence, and social presence were positively associated with learning engagement. Self-regulation and learning engagement were positively associated with learning persistence. Moreover, learning engagement mediated the relationships between self-regulation, teaching presence, social presence, and learning persistence. This study suggests that self-regulation, teaching presence, and social presence are significant predictors for student learning engagement and persistence in BSL.
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(1) Background: Children spend an ever-increasing amount of time performing sedentary behaviors, and an important part of their daily life is at school. Learning in an outdoor environment improves children’s physical activity levels, and their cognitive and social spheres. Furthermore, physically active breaks are a solution to reduce sedentary behaviors and improve well-being and academic performance. The study evaluated the published literature on physically active breaks during school hours and explored (a) if the interventions were proposed in an outdoor context and (b) the outcomes of these interventions. (2) Methods: This review collected 31,559 articles from different electronic databases. After the screening, the results were analyzed narratively. (3) Results: 41 studies have been included in the analysis. As reported by the results, most of the interventions took place in the classroom, and only three studies were performed outside. A common aspect of all studies is the feasibility of active breaks, assessing positive outcomes. (4) Conclusions: Physically active outdoor breaks are poorly adopted, highlighting the necessity for deeper study on this topic. Although the protocols considered present differences, generally breaks increase physical activity levels, present positive learning outcomes, and improve social well-being. Furthermore, they are sustainable in terms of time, cost, and effort of the teacher.
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The year 2020, due to the pandemic, was a milestone in the history of digital technology in the education sector, allowing a sustainable education although the world was facing a pandemic crisis without precedents. Therefore, in a few days occur a transformation from traditional classroom teaching to online teaching and consequently forced to use digital learning. Nevertheless, more researches are needed to know how was this experience and if there is the intention to maintain the online format. The main goal of this article is to study how digital learning can be an educational format focused on sustainable education. This paper presents a systematic literature review on digital learning through PRISMA methodology, based on a literature search and field research aimed to analyze the significant predictors related to the digital learning experience on the likelihood of choosing to “keep” the online format in the next academic year. An online survey was conducted with 173 university students. The results obtained showed that the significant predictors were factor 1-”Characteristics of online classes;factor 2-”Support from the School and Professors;factor 3-”Online classes vs. face-to-face classes” and gender. The probability of choosing to keep online classes increases exponentially with the characteristics of online classes, with Support from school and teachers;Online classes vs. Face-to-face classes, and keeping factors 1, 2, and 3 constant the probability if a man chooses the online format compared to a woman is higher. This online format thus acquires central importance in the contemporary sustainability debate. The kind of life, education, and society we will have in the future will depend on the quality, depth, and extent of the learning processes we can create and exercise individually and socially. Education, and educators in particular, who concentrate on the tasks of designing and implementing social teaching and learning models, have a unique responsibility in this process. Although the reduced sample size the present work can provide strategic information for university staff, contributing to designing and implementation a sustainable education.
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As Manak and Puig write this article amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they are more aware than ever of the overlapping and interconnected nature of science, literacy, and real-world issues. This pandemic is not simply a problem to be solved by expertise in any one discipline but necessitates a transdisciplinary approach requiring the integration of many fields including biology, virology, economics, politics, engineering, education, and psychology. As they adapt instruction to educate students and support social-emotional learning, we must collaboratively seek new solutions to these dynamic, real-word issues in our global society. We propose building on the STEM acronym (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) with Stamina, Transdisciplinarity, Engagement, and Mindfulness crosscutting STEM subjects to foster students' acceleration of critical thinking of disciplinary practices across core ideas. Within the concept of three-dimensional learning, they situate stamina, transdisciplinarity, engagement, and mindfulness as a framework for enhancing instruction across the disciplines to engineer solutions to real-world issues.
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Featured ApplicationThe presented narrative-driven technique of storyfication can be used in online education to transform e-learning courses into engaging, motivating stories.A team of e-learning specialists was assigned the mission to design and develop seven short e-learning modules for young learners on popular topics with a prime focus on social-emotional learning. However, these courses had to be produced on a limited budget, hosted in a Moodle platform, and be delivered for free in asynchronous only mode. Hence, a playful method of meaningful storyfication was applied in e-learning to captivate attention and spark interest. In each module, a fictional story or metaphorical challenge with playful elements was introduced where learners were invited to assist the story’s protagonists or become the heroes themselves by engaging with content. As the role of teachers is vital for the adoption of technology-based solutions in education, a mixed method evaluation was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the method. Forty-two educators reviewed the courses, answered a questionnaire and participated in interviews. Results indicated that participants highly appreciated the narrative aspects, visual, and auditory elements rendering the e-learning courses effective for the target audience. This article can assist educators, distance education designers and developers to adopt a playful mindset and learn how to integrate practically storytelling elements into their classroom-based and online teaching.