Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Education, History of. Education, Higher. Women's studies"

This paper reviews the evolution and development of women's studies in contemporary India from the 1970s to the present. It begins by highlighting the sense of crisis experienced at the very onset of women's studies due to the presence of multiple agendas and the lack of a history to build on. In spite of such problems, the end of the decade of the 1970s also witnessed con vergences between, for instance, sections of the women's movement and women's studies, while the subsequent decade of the 1980s was a time of institutional legitimisation and growth in the field. The essay concludes by recognising new sources of crisis as well as fresh challenges at the turn of the century.

Because Mormons could never fully realize their separatist dreams of a visible Zion in North America, the history of Mormonism has involved highly complex contacts and negotiations with non-Mormons. In their attempts to convert, resist, or appease outsiders, Mormons have engaged in a distinctive dialectic of secrecy and self-disclosure, of esoteric rites and public relations. The result has been an extended process of controlled modernization.Narratives of this process have focused on the 1890 “Manifesto” of LDS President and Prophet Wilford Woodruff, the momentous declaration that Latter-day Saints must cease to contract plural marriages. The Manifesto put an end to the intense federal persecution of the 1880s, when government agents imprisoned or exiled husbands of plural wives, confiscated Mormon assets, abolished Utah women's right to vote, and secularized Mormon schools. President Woodruff's truce with the federal government brought Mormons a relative peace and an important sign of acceptance: the granting of statehood to Utah in 1896.

Abstract The text is devoted to women’s presence in the Polish higher education in 1918-2018. Its history is presented in chronological-thematic order, including information about the beginnings of women’s studies at universities as well as their basic political, economic and cultural conditioning. Although during the discussed period, basis of political system in Poland changed three times, there was a constant development of the size of higher education, as well as an increase of women’s participation among students and academic faculty. The beginnings were very modest. However, today women constitute already the majority of students of higher education and almost a half of academic employees. Women, during their fight for equality in access to studies and academic career, had to overcome many legal obstacles, also informal ones, resulting from vitality of the image of traditional social role of women. Even though, the formal equality was gradually earned, it is still more difficult for women than for men to undertake studies at some faculties, and to get higher degrees and academic positions as fast as men.

Readers theater productions are meaningful expressions of creative pedagogy in higher education. This article presents the script of a readers theater called Identify This… A Readers Theater of Women's Voices, which was researched, written, and produced by undergraduate and graduate students in a women's studies class called Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender. Section one of the article reproduces the script of Identify This that was based on life history interviews with a diverse selection of women to illustrate intersectional identities. Section two briefly describes the essential elements of the process we used to create and perform Identify This.

“Unescorted Guests” provides a richly detailed portrait of a fundamental change at one US institution: Yale University’s 1969 transition from an all-men’s to a coed college. This study disputes several dominant narratives about the 1970s youth and women’s movements, and deepens our understanding of three core issues in higher education research: access, the experiences of previously excluded students, and change towards greater equity. I contest the myth of alumni as foes to coeducation, and show that the greatest opposition to equity for women came instead from Yale’s president and trustees. I document how women students, absent as powerful figures in youth movement history, played a key role in pushing change at Yale. I show how women administrators, missing from standard social movement depictions of change, created power to advance equity despite efforts to undermine them. I chronicle the key role played by the federal government and the broader women’s movement in advancing change for women at Yale, and conversely the ways that Yale used its power to slow progress for women. I challenge, through multiple sources of evidence, the idea that access alone brought equity for women.

“Unescorted Guests” also provides for the first time a comparison of the experiences and activism of black and white women students in a predominantly white college, a description of the sexual harassment and assault experienced by women at an elite college in the early 1970s, a joint portrait of women administrators and students at a newly coeducational institution, and 1970s student outcome data broken out by race, class, and gender. Lastly, this study contributes to the literature through using archival evidence, interviews, and contemporary press absent in earlier studies, most notably those providing the voices of women; showing how theory can strengthen the trustworthiness of historical narrative; and probing the practical implications of this historical study.

Much has been theorized about the positive correlation between education and the change in women's status in society. Yet, in 1995, a United Nations report on women showed that although there has been much effort to eliminate discrimination based on sex, with greater opportunities and access to education, or formal learning, the most bias was due to socialization, or informal learning, as expressed through cultural values, norms and traditions. The report also showed that although governments claimed to be dedicated to erasing illiteracy and improving educational opportunities, they are very quick to claim cultural relativity when asked to review other elements of concern, such as harmful laws and customs. Education of girls and women has not accomplished the anticipated social transformation, especially the socially constructed patriarchal ideology which places them as primarily providers of biological and sexual services and unpaid labor. In a study on women and higher education in Modern Lebanon one finds the Lebanese case mimics international trends in the unwillingness to confront and reinterpret the strict ideology which impose on women the primary and at times sole function as "mother and wife." In Lebanon, one also finds that this hegemony has obviated the transformation of much female educational progress into change in the role of women in society. Although education has become more accessible, the hierarchy of opportunities is maintained and is more complex as it now intertwines class, religious affiliations and gender. Girls' formal education at the primary level was introduced into Lebanese society in the early nineteenth century. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the doors of higher education were opened to them. Today, women make up half of the student population at the tertiary level. Not only are they able to enter and compete with young men, they are exceeding all expectations by graduating at higher rates. However, there are a few points of concern. First, most women still register and graduate from traditionally female fields. Second, although there has been a tremendous increase of women attending universities, participating in the labor force and the political sphere, there is little change in the way society views women. Women and men regard education and work as secondary functions to women's primary purpose as "wife and mother." Third, when efforts are made to change harmful laws and customs, women are accused of trying to divide their community by placing mundane women's issues before national interest. Even worse, they may be accused of conspiring with the West to destroy Lebanese or Arab identity and traditions. Fourth, in the last six years, the initiation of various policies seem to thwart the advancement of women in the marketplace as government plans push women back into the home. Finally, one must not underestimate the role of the religious authorities in the continuous attempt to shape the strict division of labor between the sexes in Lebanon. The question remains, how can Lebanese women actively and cautiously participate in the formation of new truths, which will generate more inclusive and empowering myths for both girls and boys in the future?

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Education, 2006.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-01, Section: A, page: 0113. Adviser: Edward P. St. John. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 24, 2007)."

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of History
Sue Zschoche
Historians have often linked the route of the second wave of the women's movement on college campuses with the development of women's liberation as young women involved in the New Left came to feminist consciousness working in civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests. This dissertation considers a “longer, quieter” route to feminist consciousness on a college campus by considering the role of a dean of women, Dr. Emily Taylor, at the University of Kansas between 1956 and 1974. Through her office that centered on women’s affairs, Taylor used the student personnel and counseling profession to instigate the dissolution of parietals at KU, a project that has long been associated with New Left student protests. A liberal feminist committed to incremental change to benefit women’s equal status in society, Taylor structured her office to foster feminist consciousness in undergraduate students, and provided staff support to New Left and radical women’s groups as they emerged on the KU campus. As a result, the inter-generational exchange that occurred within the KU dean of women’s office illustrates one example of how liberal and radical feminists interacted to foster social change within an institution of higher learning. The projects undertaken within her office illustrate that these seemingly separate groups of women overlapped, collaborated, and sometimes clashed as they worked toward achieving feminist goals. Her career at KU also shows that the metaphor of a first and second wave of the women’s movement may not be an accurate picture of the growth of feminism on co-educational campuses. Little scholarly work exists on the role of deans of women in higher education, or regarding women college students in the years immediately following World War II. This dissertation adds to the literature in both areas, showing that in the case of KU the administration was not a monolithic obstacle to student protest, the New Left, civil rights, and feminism. Instead, Taylor as dean of women pushed initiatives that bore on all of these areas. While Taylor is one example, her career illustrates patterns in deans of women’s activities that deserve further study and consideration.

Women's studies has become a recognisable subject area in higher education in the UK since the first named postgraduate degree programme was offered at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1980. This multi-disciplinaiy subject area gained impetus from the politics of the second wave women's movement, growing in popularity through adult education courses for women, and gradually entering higher education as undergraduate options mainly within sociology degree programmes. This thesis locates the growth of feminist and women's studies courses within the political and higher education context of the 1970s and 1980s. The research is based on a qualitative, case study approach of four higher education institutions. The data consist of fifty interviews with staff and students who were in various ways involved in the early years of feminist scholarship at the chosen institutions during the time period studied, as well as historical documentation about the universities and from the women's movement. The women's studies literature has constructed an account of the development of women's studies which has emphasised connections with the women's movement, and in so doing has glossed over the significance of the changing higher education context. In particular, the disciplinaiy differences between women academics and the differences in institutional cultures will be shown to have made an impact on the types of feminist and women's studies courses which were developed. In order to explore the divergent nature of the integration of feminist knowledge into the mainstream curriculum, the variety of feminist and women's studies courses which were developed in the case studies will be examined historically through the construction of their curricula, the pedagogical strategies employed, and issues of assessment on these courses.

This essay focuses on the development and early activism of the Association for Women Faculty, an organization created by and for women faculty and professionals at the University of Arizona. Emphasizing the pay equity struggle engaged by AWF in the early 1980s, this work analyzes the methods used to challenge salary inequities and evaluates the overall outcome of these efforts. Salary inequity in academia has functioned as a mobilizing issue since it affects nearly all women working in higher education. This essay details how the Association for Women Faculty (AWF) at the University of Arizona challenged these inequities and the methods they used to contest institutional discrimination. Through the use of primary historical documents, salary studies, and oral histories, this essay recreates AWF's history and situates this history within the feminist economic theory of the period.

AbstractThe Republic of Moldova has a long history of shifting borders, and a short history as an independent state. The real development of higher education started only after 1944, in the form of an integral part of the Soviet system of education and research. After independence, its development was shaped strongly by market forces, a demographic decline, alternative study options abroad and last but not least, the all-too-often contradictory policy preferences of changing governments and ministers for education. As a result, on the one hand, the country perpetuated many of the Soviet institutional arrangements in the higher education system, especially the centralised governance arrangements and the academy of science system. On the other hand, the political will to break with the Soviet past and to orientate the country towards Romania and the European Union has spawned a number of policy initiatives, including the ascension to the Bologna Process, greater institutional autonomy, governance democratisation and the implementation of a quality assurance framework along European models. Their implementation, however, has often been hampered by relatively weak institutions and political factionism. As a consequence, the differentiation of the HE system of the Republic of Moldova takes the shape of a dynamic, often contradictory process in which instable institutions are attempting to cope with growing pressures of global, European and local origins.

AbstractOver the past century Turkmenistan developed a modern system of higher education that grew from a single university under Moscow’s direction to 24 institutions today. Under Presidents Niyazow and Berdimuhamedow, educational infrastructure developed dramatically. Despite this growth, the system of higher education suffers from a lack of faculty—universities meet the needs of less than ten percent of high school graduates. Additionally, curricula continue to reflect a strong and pervasive state ideology. Overall, the state—the only purveyor of higher education in Turkmenistan—is not meeting societal needs. This article explores the history of education policy in post-Soviet Turkmenistan, focusing on the reforms initiated by that country’s first two presidents.

AbstractThe chapter explores the developmental trajectory of Ukraine’s higher education system since the middle ages. Starting with just a few comprehensive universities in the western parts at first and later Eastern parts of the country, the system gradually evolved into a diverse and differentiated institutional landscape. The variety and scope of HEIs reflects the internal logic of the system’s own development as well as outside factors, including changes of the ruling governments, fluctuations in the demographic trends, shifts in political alliances and cultural and language oscillations, which have been characteristic of the Ukrainian history. The authors elaborate on several policy rationales that came to underpin some of the changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as policy discussions and policy silences (lack of dialog amongst various stakeholders) that have taken a lot of energy and yet have not lead to any noticeable changes in the institutional scene. The chapter also discusses the most recent changes in the legislation and practical implementations leaving space for future research to draw conclusions as to their effectiveness.

AbstractBetween 1991 and today, the Soviet system of state-funded and Communist Party controlled higher education institutions (HEIs) in Kyrgyzstan has been transformed into an expansive, diverse, unequal, semiprivatized and marketized higher education landscape. Drawing on national and international indicators of higher education in Kyrgyzstan and data about the history and substance of these changes in policy and legislation, this chapter examines key factors which have shaped patterns of institutional differentiation and diversification during this period. These include the historical legacies of Soviet educational infrastructures, new legal and political frameworks for HE governance and finance, changes to regulations for the licensing of institutions and academic credentials, the introduction of multinational policy agendas for higher education in the Central Asian region, changes in the relationship between higher education and labor, the introduction of a national university admissions examination, and the adoption of certain principles of the European Bologna Process. The picture of HE reform that emerges from this analysis is one in which concurrent processes of diversification and homogenization are not driven wholly by either state regulation or forces of market competition, but mediated by universities’ strategic negotiations of these forces in the context of historical institutional formations in Kyrgyzstan.

Abstract Hughes and Saieva outline the history and rationale of the development of Higher Degree Apprenticeships (HDAs) as well as explore how to embed the real world ideologies to innovate curriculum. The necessity of strong support structures across the tripartite relationship to best meet the requirements of both apprentices and employers are also emphasised. The chapter will also review the added value that HDAs bring, not only to the individual apprentices, but to the organisations too, with the use of case studies and feedback from employers on the impact that the apprentice’s work-based learning journey. Reflections are provided on the lessons learnt so far and the chapter presents some of the main areas for consideration.

The objective of this chapter is to provide a more thorough understanding of the current United States intercollegiate athletics model that includes competitive sport opportunities within its system of higher education, the history and emergence of women in sport within higher education, the experiences of women leaders within intercollegiate sport, and future women sport participant and leader empowerment initiatives within higher education. While women were provided opportunities to compete in sport competitively within higher education at a much later date than their men counterparts, the significant impact of athletic participation for women and girls at this level has been established within the previous research. Most notably, women and girls with past sport participation experience at the college level have been found to represent a high proportion of women in leadership roles across a variety of industry segments. These insights provide significant evidence of the importance of equitable access to sport participation within the higher education model.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

The present paper deals with a proposal for enhancing students’ engagement in the course ‘History of the English Language’ of the Degree in English Studies (Universitat de València). For the purpose, the traditional lectures will be combined with a research project carried out by groups of students (research teams) in which two digital tools will be used: electronic linguistic corpora and YouTube. Electronic linguistic corpora, on the one hand, will allow students to discover the diachronic development of certain linguistic features by looking at real data and making conclusions based on frequencies by themselves. YouTube, on the other, is a most appropriate online environment where students will share a video lecture so that their classmates can benefit from the research work they did, fostering peer-to-peer learning. The expected results are to make students more autonomous in their learning process, as they will be working on their project from the very beginning of the course; and to engage them more effectively since they will be working in a format that resembles what they do at their leisure time.

This paper originates from research carried out by an international team of university professors interested in protective factors promoting the resilience of graduate students, in particular regarding the student-supervisor relationship. Following a literature review on the subject, the paper presents the resilience factors affecting the student and those relating to the supervisor. The main factors that appear to promote the resilience of graduate students are individual, family and environmental protective factors (as gender, temperament, cultural background, personal history of schooling, motivation, family support, being childless, wealth of the social support network, means offered by the supervisor and the university). For the supervisor, the main protective factors appear to be individual (experience, style and role assumed towards the student, support the student’s empowerment as his/her schooling progresses). The reciprocal adjustment throughout the studies between the supervisor and the student appears essential to promote their tuning for the resilience and the success in the graduate studies.

Aim/Purpose: This study examined students’ attitudes to characteristics of learning in Zoom, attitudes to the quality of teaching in Zoom and ways of learning, about a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. Background COVID-19 crisis caused exposure to online learning on the largest scale known in human history, and that together with the challenges of the transition to online learning, there are also opportunities to change perceptions of teaching and learning, and to include new ways in the learning and teaching process in higher education. Methodology: The research question was: What are students’ attitudes to the characteristics of learning in Zoom, the quality of teaching in Zoom and ways of learning in Zoom? The study is a quantitative one, the questionnaire contained closed questions, and 712 students who study in higher education institutions in Israel participated in the study. Contribution: Facilitators, inhibitors, implications and recommendations were identified. Findings: The findings showed that most students are satisfied with learning in Zoom, and that there was a significant improvement in the students’ attitudes towards learning in Zoom during their studies in the shadow of Covid-19. It was found that older students have more positive attitudes towards learning in Zoom, and learning disorders are connected to more negative attitudes towards learning in Zoom; however, there was also an improvement in the attitudes of students with learning disorders, during their learning experience in the shadow of COVID-19. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study shows that most students are satisfied with learning in Zoom and that there was a significant improvement in students’ attitudes towards learning in Zoom during their studies in the shadow of COVID-19, a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. Recommendations for Researchers: It was found that older students have more positive attitudes towards learning in Zoom, and learning disorders are connected to more negative attitudes towards distance learning; however, among students with learning disorders there was also an improvement in attitudes during their studies in the shadow of COVID-19. Impact on Society: The present crisis could be a catalyst for processes that have been taking place in recent years in the use of technology in teaching and learning and in the transition to online learning. Future Research: Future research on the effectiveness of learning by means of Zoom in higher education could examine parameters such as evaluation of the learners’ achievements, the quality of the assignments presented by the students, meeting schedules, whether lecturers manage to teach all the subject matter, the quality of the discussions in Zoom, use of technological tools, use of 21st century skills and similar.

Pre-service teachers’ preparedness and confidence levels to teach is a topical subject in higher education. Previous studies have commented on the role of teacher in-service training in preparing teachers for provision of meaningful classroom experiences to their learners, but many researchers regard pre-service teacher development as the cornerstone. Whilst teacher competence can be measured in terms of different variables e.g. pedagogy, knowledge of the curriculum, technological knowledge etc., the present study focused on teacher competency in terms of Life Sciences subject matter knowledge (SMK). The study was framed by pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The study sought to answer the research question: How do preservice teachers perceive their levels of preparedness and confidence in teaching high school Life Sciences topics at the end of their four years of professional development? In a qualitative study, a total of 77 pre-service teachers enrolled for the Methodology and Practicum Life Sciences course at a university in South Africa participated in the study. Each participant was tasked to identify topic(s)/concept(s) in Life Sciences they felt challenged to teach, provide a critical analysis of the reasons for that and map the way forward to overcome the challenges. This task was meant to provide the pre-service teachers with an opportunity to reflect and at the same time evaluate the goals of the learning programme they had gone through. Pre-service teachers’ perspectives show their attitudes, values and beliefs based on their personal experiences which therefore help them to interpret their teaching practices. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that whilst pre-service teachers were competent to teach other topics, the majority felt that they were not fully prepared and hence lacked confidence to teach the history of life on earth and plant and animal tissues in grade 10; excretion in animals particularly the functions of the nephron in grade 11; and evolution and genetics in grade 12. Different reasons were proffered for the lack of preparedness to teach these topics. The participants regarded some of these topics as difficult and complex e.g. genetics. Evolution was considered to be antagonistic to the participants’ and learners’ cultural and religious belief systems. Hence the participants had negative attitudes towards them. Some of the pre-service teachers indicated that they lacked interest in some of the topics particularly the history of life on earth which they considered to be more aligned to Geography, a subject they did not like. As remedies for their shortcomings in the content, the pre-service teachers planned to co-teach these topics with colleagues, and others planned to enrol for content enrichment programmes. These findings have implications for teacher professional development programmes.

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of Insomnia Disorder in the household population of Qatar and explore potential associations with depressive and anxiety symptoms in addition to sociodemographic variables. Methods: Probability-based sampling was used to select a representative sample (N= 1,611) of Qatar’s household population. Face-to-face household interviews were conducted by trained staff using computer-assisted technology with consenting participants who were 18 years or older living in Qatar by the Social and Economic Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University as part of the Annual Omnibus survey in February/ March, 2019. The Sleep Condition Indicator (Epsie, 2014), a brief screening tool for DSM-5 criteria, was used to estimate the prevalence of insomnia in Qatar’s general population. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were ascertained using the PHQ-9 and GAD-2. Sociodemographic and health information including personal and family history of autoimmune disease were also collected. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics were conducted. Results: The prevalence of insomnia was 5.5% (95%CI: 4.3-6.7) and was higher in females (6.3%) than males (4.6%), though these differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.216). Insomnia was strongly associated with depressive (OR=5.4, P<0.01) and anxiety symptoms (OR=3.0, P<0.05). Having one or more autoimmune diseases were strongly associated with insomnia (OR=3.9, P<0.001) in Qatar’s general population. Insomnia was positively associated with younger age (P<0.01) and negatively associated with higher (post-secondary) education (OR=0.4, P<0.05). Conclusion: There is a significant association between mental illness and insomnia in Qatar with interesting findings in context of Qatar for role of age, education, and ethnicity. These findings need to be taken into account in provision of mental health services. Future studies should delineate the role of cultural attitudes towards sleep as potential mechanism linking insomnia to mental illness.