At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, all schools faced unpredictable challenges, and alternative solutions were needed to optimize the functioning of the educational process. One of these was the implementation of the “flipped classroom” in teaching practice. This idea gave rise to the concept of the online flipped classroom, which allows students to continue their educational work in a high-quality, engaging, and attractive way, even outside the physical classroom. Furthermore, the online flipped classroom has proven to be as effective as the traditional one, mainly because it promotes students’ self-directed learning, activity, motivation, collaboration, and successful interactions due to its flexible structure. The study provides a theoretical insight into the application of this teaching method in the period of distance learning and analyzes its advantages and challenges. The most common challenges were found to be difficult access to the Internet and thus to learning materials, the lack of digital skills of teachers, the time and effort required to create videos, the design of a creative learning environment, and the facilitation of different types of activities and teaching materials, which contribute significantly to students’ motivation to learn under exceptional circumstances. Students’ free access to computer equipment and internet connections from home played a key role. Therefore, the flipped classroom approach requires government investment in building/upgrading appropriate information and communication infrastructure, additional teacher commitment, and investment in teachers’ professional development.
Keyword(s) : challenges
Science Teachers’ Integrative Practices in Teaching, Research, and Community Services: The Case of Three Universities in Ethiopia
This study examined university science teachers’ integrative practices in teaching, research and community service at Bahir Dar, Dire-Dawa and Wolkitie universities. The data were obtained through questionnaires and interviews from randomly selected teachers. Interview data was also secured from purposively selected managers and teachers. The one sample t-test revealed that, except in their teaching practices, science teachers performed poorly in their research, community service and integrative practices among the missions (teaching, research and community service) of the university. The multiple regression analysis showed that the multiple contributions of teaching, research and community service practices towards these integrative practices was 44.12%, in which research took the major share (34.56%). The questionnaire data showed that institution-related factors (e.g., rigid financial rules) posed serious challenges in practicing research and community services. The interview data did not minimize the challenges related to personal factors (e.g., interest and motivation). This article shows that the university management are committed to providing practical encouragement to science teachers for research and community service. These are important for promoting better teaching delivery and integrative practices within the missions. Instead of attributing most of the challenges to institutional factors, science teachers should acknowledge their own personal problems and work to cope with the available external/institutional challenges. This will enhance the integrative practices among the missions which build the capacity for an effective science academic unit.
Challenges of initial teacher education in the context of higher education reform in Serbia
In the last few decades, many European countries have introduced changes in the regulation of
education and higher education systems, accepting the provisions of the Bologna Declaration. The
purpose of this declaration is to create a single European Higher Education Area with comparable
and compatible academic standards and quality assurance standards across Europe. Serbia
subscribed to these changes in 2003 reforming its higher education system in accordance with
the declarations. Study modules have been reformed with the aim of achieving higher quality and
more applied knowledge of students. The changes that have taken place have been reflected in the
fundamental goal of an initial teacher education to create quality graduate teachers who are able
to ensure high quality learning outcomes for all the children and young people with whom they
work. The aim of this paper is to examine the effects and the challengies of initial teacher education
in the context of higher education reform in Serbia. The changes that have occurred need to be
seen from three angles: the initial education being implemented in several faculties within the six
state universities; professional teacher training and self-evaluation and quality management of the
teaching process. In the Republic of Serbia initial teacher education is realized in several forms. The
primary form of initial teacher education is carried out at teaching faculties while the secondary
form of initial teacher education is through the training of teachers, which is regulated by law. Some
of the difficulties faced by initial teacher education programs are: the competitiveness of teaching
careers with other careers that are better paid. The results in a lower student response, but also affects
the funding of the teaching faculty itself. Taking into account the importance of education and its
impact on society, it is necessary to monitor changes in the field of teacher education continuously
and systematically in order to find ways to overcome various challenges and difficulties.