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Most research on information and communication technologies (ICT) differences has been related to gender and ethnicity, and to a lesser extent religious affiliation. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by situating the discussion in the context of British Muslims and extending current research into ICT differences beyond gender and ethnicity.

This paper explores the ICT differences in access and use by British Muslim teenage girls at Islamic faith schools, and ICTs’ perceived influence on learning. The qualitative research was undertaken by conducting 45 semi-structured interviews with British Muslim teenage girls in Islamic faith schools.

The study provides tentative findings that Islamic faith schools are not only framed by the wider diverse Muslim community, but also by the supplementary schooling of madrasahs. The findings suggest that the home use of ICTs was reinforced rather than compensated for by the Islamic faith schools. This seemed to inhibit many pupils’ access to online educational resources. The authors found that didactic instruction was prevalent and this provided tentative insights into the types of digital inequity experienced by many pupils.

The research into ICT differences in the UK adopted the premise that the unity in Muslim identity increasingly transcends ethnicity and gender in the Muslim community.

Alternative credentials are rapidly evolving. The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities arising from this evolution with particular reference to their role in education and employment.

The paper explores the credential initiatives with a unique perspective from introducing alternative credential initiatives that have been influential in recent national policy developments. The paper is led by the experiences of the former General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group, former Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. His experiences and lessons learnt reflecting on alternative credential development during the last 30 years provides a unique insight in seeing the “signals” and moving beyond the “noise” of micro-credentials for successful integration into educational institutions.

A number of key findings are identified in terms of current development challenges that impact on alternative credential use and identifying further developments. Relevant examples and references are provided throughout, with a particular focus on North America, Europe and Australasia where the most progress has been made in alternative credentials.

Implications for those wishing to develop badging and microcredentialing solutions, especially in higher education, are identified for all seeking to maximise the success of alternative credential systems.

Martin Bean has a unique perspective having explored credential initiatives whilst General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group and whilst Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. Martin Bean has also been influential in recent national policy developments in Australia. Martin Bean’s experiences and lessons learnt witnessing alternative credential development during the last 30 years across three continents, and within both public and private sectors, are summarised here to provide context for discussions of some of the key global concepts and related work.

The purpose of this paper is to map the evidence provided on the review types, and explain the challenges faced by classification techniques in sentiment analysis (SA). The aim is to understand how traditional classification technique issues can be addressed through the adoption of improved methods.

A systematic review of literature was used to search published articles between 2002 and 2014 and identified 24 papers that discuss regular, comparative, and suggestive reviews and the related SA techniques. The authors formulated and applied specific inclusion and exclusion criteria in two distinct rounds to determine the most relevant studies for the research goal.

The review identified nine practices of review types, eight standard machine learning classification techniques and seven practices of concept learning Sentic computing techniques. This paper offers insights on promising concept-based approaches to SA, which leverage commonsense knowledge and linguistics for tasks such as polarity detection. The practical implications are also explained in this review.

The findings provide information for researchers and traders to consider in relation to a variety of techniques for SA such as Sentic computing and multiple opinion types such as suggestive opinions.

Previous literature review studies in the field of SA have used simple literature review to find the tasks and challenges in the field. In this study, a systematic literature review is conducted to find the more specific answers to the proposed research questions. This type of study has not been conducted in the field previously and so provides a novel contribution. Systematic reviews help to reduce implicit researcher bias. Through adoption of broad search strategies, predefined search strings and uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria, systematic reviews effectively force researchers to search for studies beyond their own subject areas and networks.

This paper will identify and further explore the ideals versus realities of learning poverty and the consequential effects on our moral obligations and responsibilities. The wealthy nations are now under further pressure to recognise and realise their moral obligations to enabling social justice in the context of access, and distribution, of vaccines for the poorer nations. Learning poverty has always been a feature of our global economic, and institutional order, and has become an increasingly important factor in achieving justice.

The study focusses on a human rights approach to learning poverty and the ideals versus the realities of what we are beginning to see in the times of a global pandemic. The major challenges to justice is inherent to the recognition that wealthy nations continue to have a pivotal role in the reduction of poverty. The identified major challenges in the context of learning poverty are: “nation states and the global pandemic”, “international interactions and learning poverty” and “global institutions and learning inequalities”. In particular, the authors explore the concept of ideals versus realities through three “challenges”, which continues to challenge any semblance of justice in the current global vaccine distribution. Nation states and borders, international interactions and global institutions remain barriers in overcoming what is becoming a reality of learning poverty.

This paper seeks to look beyond the economics of vaccine trade and seek a way to accept a moral claim of justice for all. The authors consider how wealthy nations are active participants in the emergence of learning poverty for many nations.

By exploring the ideals versus realities of learning poverty, and human rights, the authors highlight some of the challenges, and wealthy nations moral obligations, through the emergence of a new dimensional indicator of poverty, learning poverty.

Overall quantitative research aims to observe certain fundamental principles of logic and scientific frame of reasoning. There continues to be challenges on how quantitative research is conducted in the field of information systems.

Structured equation modelling (SEM) research identifies concerns about the standard of scientific enquiry method, the issue of the misconception of sustaining the consequent and the issue of collective validity. Therefore, rigor and robustness in instrument validity, constructs validity and path analysis validity maybe better achieved by attending to these three concerns. Measuring a multiple mediator construct in a hypothetical model continues to be a challenge for researchers in information systems research and related fields.

This paper aims to provide a thoughtful assessment of the contemporary issues of structural equation modelling methodology (SEMM), by providing rigid and robust SEMM that has several stages in specifying valid multiple mediators construct and the process to measuring in a path analysis model. This paper attempts to develop each stage of the methodology using relevant research to construct a methodology specified to test effects in multiple mediators in SEM using AMOS software. The methodology developed contains the two main phases; first is prior to data collection phase and the second phase is after the data collection, the use of this methodology design, for implementation, intended to support high methodological standards and subsequent quality in MIS research findings.

The research paper provides SEMM that has several stages in specifying valid multiple mediators construct and the process to measuring in a path analysis model.

The purpose of this study is a reaction to COVID-19 and is intended to transcend the regular thoughts to deeper issues towards humanity and nature. The study explores the notion of extinction, and what we value, and alludes to humanity increasingly having fractured self-awareness in the context of the uncharted health threat of the global pandemic of 2020. The study focusses on a holistic perspective towards pedagogy that explores related issues of knowledge, spirituality, self-awareness and embodied actions.

This study adopts a reflective, and exploratory, style that is an enabler for future research into pedagogy that is focussed on humanity and nature.

The conceptual paper explores an holistic perspective towards pedagogy that considers issues of knowledge, spirituality, self-awareness and embodied actions.

This study’s intention is to extend our notion of pedagogy that looks beyond educational institutions in seeking a wider understanding of humanity and nature. The concept of “pedagogy of life beyond extinction” is used as a way to identify a selfless way in life that is underpinned by self-awareness. This provides a lens to intrinsic and extrinsic values that come from an interpretation of truth in our existence beyond self-interest.

The purpose of this study is to react to COVID-19 and is intended to transcend the regular thoughts to deeper issues towards humanity and nature. This paper also extends further the article “pedagogy of life beyond extinction” published in the Journal for Multicultural Education. This paper continues this discussion by further inward reflections on the self and the search for ultimate happiness amid the current pandemic that emerged in 2020. The study focusses on a holistic perspective towards a pedagogy that extends further the previous article by focussing on issues of happiness, dialogue and self-awareness.

This study adopts a reflective and exploratory, style that is an enabler for future research into a pedagogy that is focussed on humanity and nature.

The conceptual paper explores a holistic perspective towards a pedagogy that considers issues of happiness, dialogue and self-awareness.

This study’s intention is to extend the notion of pedagogy that looks beyond educational institutions in seeking a wider understanding of humanity and nature. The concept of “pedagogy of life beyond happiness” is used as a way to understand levels of the “self” as a way to gain deeper self-awareness. This provides a lens for seeking ultimate happiness.

In madrasahs around the world, teaching and learning methods regarding the memorisation of the Qur’an follow the same notion of repetition and the need for embodiment, going beyond rote memorisation, to include a form of active learning. The process of memorisation for automaticity and inculcation of the Qur’an is seen when an individual can accurately recite the text in an illuminating way. This approach of repeatedly reciting, reading and writing Qur’anic texts is seen as an enduring method for achieving accuracy, fluency and automaticity. The purpose of this study is to extend the existing body of knowledge in the field by proposing that memorisation in the Islamic context is evident through embodied interactions in the spiritual and physical realm. Educational research on madrasahs is scarce, and the limited research that has been conducted focuses primarily on children’s madrasahs. This study is unique, in that its focus is British madrasahs for adults.

After conducting observations and interviews at three British adult madrasahs, a narrative analysis using a “holistic-form” approach to gain complete narratives of recitation, oral repetition and embodied learning in the Islamic context was performed. It was found that memorisation and the desire for embodied learning were an integral part of madrasah life and the foundation of the pedagogical approach and of students’ relationship with the teachers. This study concludes that the pedagogical approach used in the madrasahs reflects deep learning through an action-oriented methodology. This study’s fieldwork provides insights into the distinctiveness of the madrasah approach.

The study provides insights into the characteristics of the memorisation process as represented in the embodied actions of the learner. The results indicate that, in the future, the Islamic memorisation methodology must continue to support deep learning where rote memorisation is integral to an iterative process of practice.

The Islamic memorisation methodology needs to retain an approach that supports higher learning where rote memorisation is integral to an iterative process of practice and in this study, some, in achieving embodied learning. This in turn is instrumental in sustaining an Islamic epistemological perspective of the inseparable nature of knowledge and the sacred. This study provides some insights into the “heart” of the Islamic approach towards memorisation for embodiment that represents a complex process of individual renewal based on the notion of adab through an approach to deep learning.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the interconnectedness of the Muslim community, madrasah and memorisation in realising the process of embodiment.

Our anthropological study was conducted in 2011 at a prominent madrasah for higher education in England. The madrasah has approximately 400 adult learners that are studying Islamic studies programme. For our anthropological study, the notion of Islamic teaching and embodiment was integral to each other and was illustrative of a long educational tradition of the pedagogy of Islam. For this research, we follow a sensory narrative style in expressing our descriptions.

The findings provide an insight into the nature of memorisation for embodiment. The research suggests that the madrasah was teaching memorisation with a purpose to support the process of personal embodiment. Moreover, what we also see when considering madrasah life is that the notion of the “walking Qur’an” endures, and it transcends in the form of locally flavoured articulations of embodiment. To reiterate, the Islamic approach to memorisation for embodiment was found to be a practice relevant to all of us, as individuals, communities and institutions, reflexively engaging in the world around us. For the British madrasah, this was seen to be pivotal to the Islamic pedagogy shaped by the interplay between orality, facilitating memorisation and the didactic approach towards the sacred. From our observations, embodiment has a physical and spiritual dimension where prophecy is retained and is inherent to existence and daily madrasah practice.

Our narrative experiences bring a spiritual order to the pedagogical matters of memorisation represented by the inseparable nature of knowledge and the sacred. The interweaving of experiential narrative with a theoretical perspective brings forth our understanding towards the nature of memorisation for embodiment.

Fast product innovation and creativity is driving the development strategies of most nations enjoying high economic growth. The diverse range of technological possibilities creates unprecedented change bringing both product and market uncertainty and as a consequence new challenges for organisations. To meet such challenges organisations need to engender both a responsive and an adaptable approach to market demands. The article provides an insight into the relationship between technological and organisational integration variables and the speed of new product development.