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The study aims to analyze pedagogical e-leadership in online higher education in Spain through the application of VAL-ED at the International University of La Rioja.

The methodology used to achieve the objectives has been a descriptive and quantitative methodology through a cross-sectional study based on the implementation of the questionnaire: Adaptation of the VAL-ED to the university context, developed by Palomino et al. (2022a).

Indeed, the data obtained allow the authors to affirm how both directors and supervisors, as well as teachers, have been able to evaluate the leadership behavior of directors, compared to the competence standards of VAL-ED, having obtained very positive results that show how their leadership is, without a doubt, oriented to students. Given the fact that in the second specific objective the study sets out to determine to what extent the three groups of respondents (faculty, supervisors and directors) coincide in the effective performance of the pedagogical leadership of the directors, it can be highlighted that no great differences have been found in the responses of effectiveness obtained from directors, supervisors and teachers, since the results of the resulting scores among these three groups of respondents were reasonably similar.

The research is original as the sample was collected personally by the authors of this article.

In this study, the impact of access to electricity on poverty reduction for Botswana is examined using the annual data from 1990 to 2021. The study was motivated by the need to establish if access to electricity could be a panacea on poverty reduction in Botswana. Given that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals deadline is fast approaching, and Botswana being one of the signatories, is expected to end poverty in all its forms – Goal 1. Establishing the role that electrification plays in poverty alleviation, helps in refocusing Botswana’s poverty alleviation strategies on factors that have high impact on poverty. The main objective of this study, therefore, is to investigate the relationship between poverty alleviation and access to electricity in Botswana.

The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to investigate the nature of the relations. Two poverty proxies were used in this study namely, household consumption expenditure and life expectancy.

The study found access to electricity to reduce poverty in the long run and in the short run, regardless of the poverty measure used. Thus, access to electricity plays an important role in poverty alleviation and Botswana is recommended to continue with the rural and urban electrification initiatives.

The study explores the impact of access to electricity on poverty reduction in Botswana, a departure from the current studies that examined the same relationship using energy consumption in general. This is on the back of increasing dependence of economic activities on electricity as a major source of energy.

Adolescent mental health is a global concern. There is an urgent need for creative, multimedia interventions reflecting adolescent culture to promote mental health literacy and well-being. This study aims to assess the impact of a film-based intervention on adolescent mental health literacy, well-being and resilience.

A pretest-posttest intervention with a multi-methods evaluation was used. A convenience sample of ten schools facilitated students aged 15–17 years to engage in an online intervention (film, post-film discussion, well-being Webinar). Participants completed surveys on well-being, resilience, stigma, mental health knowledge and help-seeking. Five teachers who facilitated the intervention participated in post-implementation interviews or provided a written submission. Analysis included paired-t-test and effect size calculation and thematic analysis.

Matched pretest-posttest data were available on 101 participants. There were significant increases in well-being, personal resilience and help-seeking attitudes for personal/emotional problems, and suicidal ideation. Participants’ free-text comments suggested the intervention was well-received, encouraging them to speak more openly about mental health. Teachers similarly endorsed the intervention, especially the focus on resilience.

Intinn shows promise in improving adolescents’ mental health literacy and well-being. Film-based interventions may encourage adolescents to seek professional help for their mental health, thus facilitating early intervention.

This paper aims to explore virtual simulations, merging artificial intelligence with real-world simulations, supporting Canadian armed forces (CAF) junior military leaders (JMLs) leadership development. Our research questions are: (1) How do virtual simulations support CAF junior military leadership development within a globalized and complex environment in the 21st century? (2) Could virtual simulations support a leadership culture change through efficacious “soft skills” training? In this paper, we explore the efficacy of virtual simulations for enhancing or developing leadership in JMLs in the CAF through a four-day pilot project with twenty JMLs (n = 20).

To assess the efficacy of virtual simulations for leadership development, we designed and studied a four-day leadership workshop for JMLs in the CAF using several virtual artificial intelligence leadership role-play simulations developed by McGraw Hill in their smart book textbook (Manning & Curtis, 2022) and several non-virtual in-class simulations for comparison. We selected four twenty to thirty-minute virtual role-play simulations that synergized with the in-person morning leadership workshop. We facilitated the three-hour leadership workshops and virtual/in-class simulations over four consecutive days. We emulated the ELESS model (De Freitas & Routledge, 2013) to assess soft and leadership skills.

The participants (JMLs) reported beneficial learning utility associated with the virtual simulations. Participants also expressed that further utility might be leveraged through virtual simulations incorporating greater complexity with multiple potential outcomes. They also suggested that leadership simulations designed around military situations would prove highly beneficial, something that was outside of the scope of this small pilot project.

Since this phase of our research is a pilot project, we secured a small amount of funding to test our hypothesis that simulations enhance leadership development for JMLs. These funding limitations resulted in several constraints in the research, such as the availability of virtual simulations articulating leadership from a military perspective. However, we believed the assigned organizational leadership simulations in the McGraw Hill Smart Book ecosystem would approximate generic leadership situations enough to test the hypothesis with the JMLs. As a pilot project, our sample size was relatively small (n = 20 JMLs) since participation was voluntary amidst a busy spring season for the JMLs. Since this is a pilot project, we suggest that twenty JMLs are an adequate sampling to test the hypothesis that simulations enhance JML leadership development. We will expand the sample size in the next phase of our research as we work with the CAF to expand the pool of participants to at least forty JML participants (n = 40). We also plan to secure further funding to collaborate with subject matter experts to design virtual simulations based on Canadian military leadership scenarios.

The CAF host robust simulations capabilities for combat training, but have not exploited the potential training and analytical capacity of virtual leadership simulations for leadership development within the CAF. We believe that virtual simulations provide an opportunity for the CAF to effect desired culture change through leadership development that leverages the substantial pedagogical benefits of simulations.

The CAF encountered several detrimental leadership scandals that eroded the reputational capital of the CAF. In the current geo-political climate of an expanding North American Treaty Organization (NATO) and threats from several international actors, the CAF seeks to expand its capabilities by adding and enhancing its human capital. However, the CAF currently experiences a significant gap in its human capital aspirations. There is a unanimous consensus that the endemic traditional culture of the CAF, as expressed in the recent explosive leadership scandals, is a deterrent to recruitment and thus weakens the CAF’s capability. The CAF targets leadership development with new leadership paradigms as pivotal to culture change. The CAF suggests that by enhancing leadership development in the CAF the new cadre of leadership will change the culture of the CAF and thereby enhance the reputational capital of the CAF. It is believed that this rejuvenated culture will lead to greater recruitment and retention, leading to a strengthened military. A strengthened military is important to provide effective support and protection for the Canadian people in these volatile and uncertain times. This expanded capacity will enable the CAF to address external military threats more effectively and also the increasing operations other than war (OOTW), such as the military support of long-term care facilities during COVID-19 or the military’s support in fighting record wildfires and the military’s support in climate change related disasters such as flooding.

The satisfaction measures indicated by the participants are typical evaluative measures of leadership development (Noe, 2023). These satisfaction ratings do not, however, indicate whether training has produced a change in behaviour (Brown, 2022). The implications of these outcomes for leadership education are that role-player simulations are useful leadership education and development tools because they provide a theatre of practice in which mistakes are not detrimental and serve as learning moments (Moore, 2012; Piro and O’Callaghan, 2021; Riotto, 2021). Further, the importance of role-player simulations that closely approximate the sector where leadership is experienced and practiced is perceived to enhance the experience. While the CAF invest in combat related simulations, but leadership development simulations are not as evident in the training and development array. This study seeks to assess their potential value as a leadership development tool within the wider context of character development as a leadership competency.

The study seeks to understand what teachers know about students’ friend networks and how they use that information for instruction.

This qualitative study relied on interviews and sociograms that teachers drew of students’ friend networks.

Our data suggest that teachers’ awareness of their students’ friend networks varies by their experience and their exposure to students. Also, their use of this information for instruction coalesces around dimensions of grouping and social support.

This study took place at one school. To more deeply understand what teachers perceive about their students’ friend networks and how they use that information for instruction, more studies could be done with teachers in more schools.

Implications might suggest developing teachers’ social competence to support their students’ learning and development.

While studies cited in this paper have explored teachers’ knowledge of students’ social networks, this study builds on this work by exploring how that information can be useful for instruction. In addition, this study explores the use of teachers drawing sociograms as representations of what they know about students’ friend networks.

This paper will discuss one university’s efforts to initiate a process to better support PK-12 continuous school improvement goals for all 13 schools in their PDS network as a way to broaden the university’s mission and respond more formally to the individual school communities with which they partner.

The paper is conceptual in that it presents an innovative idea to stimulate discussion, generate new ideas and advance thinking about cross-institutional collaboration between universities and professional development schools.

The paper provides insights and ideas for bringing about change and growth in a seasoned PDS partnership network by connecting PK-12 continuous school improvement efforts to PDS partnership work.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how seasoned partnerships can participate in simultaneous renewal by offering ideas that school–university partnership leaders can build upon as they make efforts to participate in the process of growth and change.

This article presents our experience in implementing the assessment for learning process (AfL) to enhance the teaching–learning quality, which has faced numerous challenges impacting educational quality. The effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated through a case study conducted in a core course of chemical engineering.

The article shares insights into the systematic course design and planning processes that were discussed and developed through AfL practices. Significant emphasis is placed on implementing formative and summative student self-assessment surveys as simple yet effective methods to meet this purpose. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed over three consecutive academic years (2020–2022) using various statistical parameters such as percentage, interquartile range and the program’s numerical goal (%G).

The AfL process via formative and summative surveys could significantly and effectively improve teaching–learning quality. These findings assist educators in identifying appropriate teaching methods and recognizing areas of weakness and strength, thereby facilitating continuous improvement in the teaching–learning quality. Validation methods, including quizzes and numerical grades, were employed to practically verify the outcome obtained from the questionnaires.

The AfL techniques demonstrated in this study can be directly implemented or adapted for various educational fields to enhance the teaching–learning quality.

The practical implementation of AfL in an engineering context has hardly been reported, particularly in chemical engineering. This work represents the practical implementation of AfL to enhance engineering field education.

The challenges facing 21st-century society are becoming increasingly complex, requiring the development of new citizen competencies. This study aims to validate an educational model focused on developing complex thinking in higher education students. Current educational models lack future-ready competencies, necessitating the emergence of new models to guide future generations toward the common good.

This was an adaptation of the causal-layered analysis (CLA) applied to 415 participants from higher education institutions in Mexico, Panama and Spain. Sessions were designed to present the proposed educational model and explore participants’ perceptions of its significance and contributions to future education.

Key findings include the following: participants perceived complexity as difficult and challenging; causes of problems were linked to outdated educational models requiring replacement by those that develop students’ competencies; participants envisioned changes that would develop individuals capable of understanding and transforming society; and participants recognized the model’s transformative potential, offering a novel proposal for 21st-century education.

This research sought to gather opinions from different stakeholders using the CLA methodology, providing a deep understanding of participants’ perspectives on the proposed solution.

This paper aims to identify and evaluate resolutions to key learning and teaching challenges in very large courses that involve practical mathematics, such as foundational finance.

A design-based research approach is used across three semesters to iteratively identify practical problems within the course and then develop and evaluate resolutions to these problems. Data are collected from both students and teachers and analysed using a mixed-method approach.

The results indicate that key learning and teaching challenges in large foundational finance courses can be mitigated through appropriate consistency of learning materials; check-your-understanding interactive online content targeting foundational concepts in the early weeks; connection points between students and the coordinator to increase teacher presence; a sustained focus on supporting student achievement within assessments; and signposting relevance of content for the broader program and professional settings. Multiple design iterations using a co-design approach were beneficial to incrementally improve the course and consider multiple perspectives within the design process.

This paper develops a set of design principles to provide guidance to other practitioners who seek to improve their own courses.

The use of design-based research and mixed-method approaches that consider both student and teacher perspectives to examine the design of very large, foundational finance courses is novel.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is crucial for successful learning and lifelong learning in today’s rapidly changing world, yet research has shown that many learners need support for SRL. Recently, learning analytics has offered exciting opportunities for better understanding and supporting SRL. However, substantial endeavors are still needed not only to detect learners’ SRL processes but also to incorporate human values, individual needs and goals into the design and development of self-regulated learning analytics (SRLA). This paper aims to examine the challenges that lifelong learners faced in SRL, their needs and desirable features for SRLA.

This study triangulated data collected from three groups of educational stakeholders: focus group discussions with lifelong learners (n = 27); five teacher interviews and four expert evaluations. The groups of two or three learners discussed perceived challenges, support needs and willing-to-share data contextualized in each phase of SRL.

Lifelong learners in professional development programs face challenges in managing their learning time and motivation, and support for time management and motivation can improve their SRL. This paper proposed and evaluated a set of design principles for SRLA.

This paper presents a novel approach for theory-driven participatory design with multistakeholders that involves integrating learners, teachers and experts’ perspectives for designing SRLA. The results of the study will answer the questions of how learners’ voices can be integrated into the design process of SRLA and offer a set the design principles for the future development of SRLA.