Search Results (727)

In Philippine state universities and colleges (SUCs), faculty are mandated to balance instruction, research, and extension as “trifocal” functions. Yet, research often competes with heavy teaching loads, administrative work, and community engagement, especially in science disciplines that demand laboratory-based and fieldwork. This qualitative multiple-case study examined how twelve science faculty members across academic ranks in a Philippine SUC system enact the research function within their trifocal roles. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, institutional and policy documents, and cross-case analysis, this study employed a case study design through the lens of systems thinking to identify how research function is embedded in institutional structures and professional life-worlds. Findings show that faculty construct research as (1) a catalyst that propels instruction and anchors extension programs; (2) a strategic requirement intertwined with promotion and career progression; and (3) a relational and infrastructural practice dependent on collegial networks, mentoring, and institutional support systems. Feedback loops link these themes wherein research output fuels promotion and time protection, which, in turn, shape opportunities for further research and mentoring. Additionally, verbatim accounts reveal how faculty members navigate structural pressures, such as bureaucratic processes and workload policies, while framing research as a moral and professional responsibility. This article argues that designing research support in SUCs requires moving beyond compliance-driven metrics to system-level arrangements that honor research as a form of scholarly work deeply connected with teaching quality and community impact. Implications are suggested for workload policy, mentoring, and research-capable learning environments in the Philippines and comparable higher education contexts. Full article

Veterinary education is academically demanding and emotionally intensive, affecting student performance, well-being, and long-term professional development. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on academic stressors, admissions predictors, coping mechanisms, and institutional responses in veterinary training. Cognitive indicators such as Grade Point Average (GPA) and standardized test scores reliably predict early performance in pre-clinical biomedical courses. However, these measures do not adequately capture essential non-cognitive attributes, including resilience, adaptability, motivation, and communication skills, which are critical for sustained success in clinical environments. Holistic admission approaches show promise but remain inconsistently validated across institutions. Academic stress in veterinary programs arises from heavy curricular loads, frequent high-stakes assessments, financial pressures, and transitions into clinical training. Persistent stress exposure is associated with anxiety, depressive symptoms, and burnout risk. Evidence suggests that structured wellness initiatives, peer mentoring, and resilience-building programs can mitigate these effects when embedded systematically within the curriculum. Current literature is largely cross-sectional and geographically concentrated in Western educational contexts, limiting causal inference and generalizability. Longitudinal, multi-institutional research linking admissions profiles to academic trajectories and psychological outcomes is needed. Integrating cognitive and non-cognitive evaluation with sustained institutional support may enhance retention, academic performance, and professional preparedness in veterinary education. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified faculty emotional labor as instructors were expected to sustain learning while responding to students’ grief, isolation, and uncertainty. Educational leadership educators occupy a distinctive role as mentors and models for current and aspiring PK–12 and higher education leaders. Using a secondary phenomenological analysis, we reanalyzed de-identified Zoom interview transcripts (2022) from nine U.S. educational leadership educators (seven women; four educators of color) originally collected to examine caring pedagogies. Guided by Hochschild’s emotional labor theory and feminist care ethics, with particular attention to Tronto’s political theory of care, we conducted a theoretically informed thematic analysis focused on caring expectations, role boundaries, and well-being. Findings highlight five interrelated themes: serving as an “anchor” during crisis; blurred instructional–counseling roles and invisible care work; gendered and racialized expectations of availability; competing care obligations across work and home; and boundary-setting as resistance and sustainability. Participants described deep relational commitments to students alongside exhaustion, role strain, and frustration with institutional cultures that assumed limitless capacity to care without reciprocal support. Emotional labor in leadership education should be recognized as central leadership work, and sustainable cultures of care require systemic policies that redistribute and resource care labor. Full article

Children diagnosed with autism face many barriers to learning. Animal Assisted Services and Interventions (AAS/AAI) have been adopted to support children within schools. The Dog Mentor is a UK-based organisation that provides training for handlers and assesses dogs to be integrated within schools. It adopts a rigorous and continuous training package and ensures the safety and welfare of all involved by adopting a whole school approach. This research uses content analysis to understand the types of activities and outcomes in The Dog Mentor programme, as established by teachers and dog handlers, across 58 schools. Teachers and dog handlers perceived that The Dog Mentor successfully supported children with autism, using a variety of sessions. This variability is seen as a benefit as it enables the intervention to be tailored to meet the needs of the students. Handler-reported benefits include creating a calm environment, promoting engagement, and supporting learning. Improved self- and emotion regulation, mental health, and resilience were also noted by the handler reports. Future research needs to investigate these perceived benefits using quantitative data, as well as look into outcomes relating to the dogs supporting others with bereavement and trauma. This topic was briefly mentioned by two of the schools, but there was not enough data to understand the impact in depth. Full article

Paid full-time summer undergraduate research programs (SURPs) increase persistence in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees and later careers. Research disruptions during the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic required a transition to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) and created the opportunity to explore whether online-only SURPs were feasible. Data science projects emerged as a particularly feasible option for both mentors and students. A total of 65 students working with 49 mentors employed at five different research sites matriculated into a 10-week full-time paid SURP in 2020, with most projects focused on data science. Program implementation and impact were explored using online student surveys before (n = 62) and after (n = 56) participation, interviews with students conducted after the program ended (n = 10), online surveys of mentors conducted after the program ended (n = 35), and data on persistence in relevant fields. Scholars reported satisfaction with the program and described how the program developed their scientific skills and interest in data science. Mentors surveyed reported that they would be willing to invite another undergraduate student to perform research under their direction using a distance model. About half of the mentors reported that mentoring students online took about the same amount of time as mentoring in-person. Students who completed the program in-person in 2019 and those who participated in the remote program in 2020 had similar early career trajectories, with approximately 60% of both cohorts remaining in related fields five to six years later. Our experience suggests that an online SURP can be feasibly implemented across multiple sites, with positive impacts on student interest in data science. Full article

Journalism is an inherently fast-paced and pressure-filled profession with features such as industry competition and reporting on traumatic events that can cause mental health issues for journalists. However, little work has examined the extent to which rapid implementation of new technologies might also contribute to the stress that journalists experience. In this study, I carried out qualitative interviews with working journalists to understand how they manage technostress in their work. The journalists’ experiences indicated that they approach technostress based on different levels within the decision-making process to adopt, reinvent, or reject an innovation. At the individual professional level, journalists used the strategies to adapt and alter technology for their needs and implement new tools when meeting timeliness, not just deadlines; at the social connection level, journalists built off educational encouragement through personal experimentation and engaged with mentors, coworkers, and audience for support; and at the foundational meaning level, journalists took breaks from technologies while acknowledging their downsides and kept humanity at the center of journalistic work. These findings contribute to diffusion of innovations theory by focusing on the ongoing decisions made to manage adverse impacts of a new tool being adopted. Further, the findings showcase that humanity remains central to the journalistic enterprise even in the technology-saturated digital age. Full article

Although faculty service is fundamental to higher education, particular forms of service, described as hidden service, are not formally recognized in faculty evaluation and reward processes. Studies show that hidden service is disproportionately performed by women, faculty of color, and other historically marginalized groups, creating additional barriers to advancement. This narrative review synthesizes research on hidden service in U.S. higher education, focusing on three key areas: how hidden service is conceptualized, how faculty engagement in hidden service is measured, and what strategies have been proposed for its recognition. Findings indicate multiple mechanisms by which faculty service work becomes invisible and examples of hidden service activities across professional, mentoring, and emotional labor domains. Additionally, our findings point to multiple institutional strategies for integrating the recognition and valuation of hidden service into faculty evaluation and reward systems. Full article

This paper examines the cinematic portrayals of ascetic women within contemporary film. Historically, the early desert fathers and mothers are venerated figures who embody a life of ascesis—spiritual discipline amidst the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Renowned as spiritual mentors and referred to as Abba (father) for men and Amma (mother) for women, they exemplify a way of Christian life rooted in ascetic practice. Their teachings, preserved in texts such as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, offer profound insights into Christian spiritual praxis. This spiritual praxis has been vividly depicted through iconography and asceticism continues to hold reverence, particularly within Eastern Orthodox Christianity, where it serves as the basis of spiritual–liturgical life. While the core goal and meanings of asceticism have been conveyed through ascetic iconography and aesthetics, cinematic portrayals of ascetic life and ethos remain a relatively under-researched area. The focus of this study is on the film A Cross in the Desert, adapted from a literary source, which dramatises the hagiography of St. Paraksevi the New, also known as Sveta Petka and St. Paraskevi of the Balkans (Epivates 944–1012). Through the analysis of film language, this paper aims to shed new light on the ways in which iconographic language has been translated into cinematic language, assessing the ways in which women ascetics have been depicted from a contemporary perspective. The film’s representation of a woman ascetic offers valuable insights into the conceptualisations of the notion of gender as a virtue—embodying sanctity—and potential site of desecration—representing iniquity—as these are experienced as both embodied and spiritual realities. The study offers an analysis of how cinematic language operates, focusing on the visual techniques used to depict the intersection of gender, holiness, and spiritual discipline, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of how film functions as a medium for engaging with complex religious and gendered identities. The analysis of film will provide novel understandings of how cinema depicts and challenges gender within the context of asceticism, exploring how these representations influence contemporary perceptions of women’s spirituality. Full article

Background/Objectives: Mentoring is defined as a supportive relationship between an experienced professional (mentor) and a less experienced individual (mentee), influencing skill development, professional confidence, and psychological well-being. This systematic review addresses the question: “Can support from a senior colleague positively impact junior healthcare workers?” Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic literature search was performed (January 2004–December 2024) in Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases, yielding 399 studies. Results: After rigorous screening and quality assessment using the QuADS checklist, 74 studies were included in the final analysis. The reviewed articles span various healthcare fields, including nursing, medicine, and midwifery, utilizing qualitative, quantitative, observational, and mixed-methods approaches. Key findings highlight the mentor’s role in academic and emotional support; fostering clinical and transversal skills such as communication, collaboration, and problem-solving; and enhancing self-efficacy, resilience, and autonomy, particularly during transitional or emotionally demanding periods. Challenges identified include the need for inclusive environments and standardized mentoring models. Conclusions: Overall, mentoring supports the professional and personal growth of junior healthcare professionals and contributes positively to training quality and clinical work. However, issues regarding equitable access, program standardization, and the need for further research to establish consolidated guidelines remain. Full article

The teaching profession increasingly demands complex competencies, including collaboration, professional networking, and adaptability, beyond subject-specific knowledge, due to rapid educational, technological, and labor market changes. This study addresses the limited national data on the professional relational capital of teacher education students and examines how relational networks affect professional identity, commitment, and retention. A pilot questionnaire was developed from focus group interviews conducted in spring 2024 at the University of Nyíregyháza and analyzed with ATLAS.ti 7. The instrument includes four dimensions: parental influence, initiative during high school, initiative during university, and future employment plans, with indicators such as place of residence, cooperation patterns, network durability, domestic and international collaborations, and professional aspirations. Results indicate that students’ relational networks are central to early professional socialization and engagement in collaborative teaching communities. Mapping these networks offers diagnostic and developmental insights, supporting targeted mentoring, inter-institutional cooperation, and international mobility. Findings suggest that deliberately developing relational capital during teacher training enhances professional preparedness, satisfaction, and retention. Overall, the study highlights the value of integrating professional networking and collaborative competencies into teacher education to promote sustainable career paths, align training with labor market expectations, and strengthen the quality, resilience, and long-term sustainability of the teaching workforce. Full article

To overcome the limitations of the standard Student Psychology-Based Optimization (SPBO) algorithm, such as strategy homogeneity, insufficient elite-guided diversity, and inefficient evolution of low-quality individuals, this paper proposes a Hierarchical Teaching–Learning Enhanced Student Psychology-Based Optimization (HTL-SPBO) algorithm. The proposed method introduces a fitness-based three-layer teaching mechanism to realize differentiated learning behaviors for individuals with different evolutionary states. In addition, a multi-elite mentor pool strategy is employed to generalize elite guidance and alleviate premature convergence, while an elite-neighborhood-guided restart mechanism is designed to improve the evolutionary efficiency of poorly performing individuals. The effectiveness of HTL-SPBO is comprehensively evaluated on the CEC2017 and CEC2022 benchmark test suites under multiple dimensional settings. Experimental results demonstrate that HTL-SPBO achieves superior performance in terms of convergence accuracy, convergence speed, and robustness when compared with several State-of-the-Art optimization algorithms. The convergence behavior shows that the proposed algorithm is capable of rapid early-stage exploration followed by stable and accurate exploitation in later iterations. Furthermore, HTL-SPBO is applied to an optimal scheduling problem for a grid-connected microgrid to verify its practical applicability. The results indicate that HTL-SPBO attains the lowest average operating cost while maintaining small performance variance across multiple independent runs, highlighting its effectiveness and stability in solving complex engineering optimization problems. Overall, the proposed HTL-SPBO provides a robust and efficient optimization framework and exhibits strong potential for application in large-scale and real-world optimization scenarios. Full article

This article examines graduate employability challenges in the tourism and hospitality sector of Marrakech, a major tourism destination and strategic regional labour market in Morocco, characterised by strong seasonality, high labour turnover, and persistent education–employment mismatches. Rather than focusing exclusively on technology, the study analyses employability as a multidimensional and context-dependent process, in which digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) constitute one influencing factor among others. The research adopts a qualitative, purposive design based on semi-structured interviews conducted between August and October 2025 with 20 stakeholders directly involved in recruitment, training, or early career integration. These include five-star hotel general managers and HR officers, riad managers, travel agencies, recruitment intermediaries, representatives of Morocco’s public employment service (ANAPEC—National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills) and private, regional tourism authorities, academics and young tourism graduates. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed using NVivo to identify recurrent patterns in recruitment practices, skill expectations, and the impact of AI in employability. The results, reflecting stakeholders’ perceptions within this local labour market, show that employability is shaped by six interrelated dimensions: (1) the structure and functioning of the tourism labour market (segmentation, turnover, mobility); (2) partial misalignment between training provision and operational service realities; (3) recruitment standards that prioritise behavioural and relational competences alongside formal qualifications, particularly for frontline positions; (4) language proficiency, especially English and French, as a baseline employability condition; (5) growing expectations regarding digital literacy linked to tourism operations (property management systems, reservation platforms, online reputation management); and (6) the perceived impact of AI-enabled tools (automation of routine tasks, decision-support systems, chatbots), which is seen less as a source of job destruction than as a driver of task reconfiguration and skill upgrading. By situating employer and graduate perceptions within the broader Moroccan employment and training context, the study contributes a place-based understanding of employability in tourism. It highlights the shared responsibility of individuals, employers, and education and training institutions in supporting skill development. The article concludes by discussing policy and practice-oriented levers to strengthen graduate employability, including co-designed curricula, structured internships and mentoring schemes, employer-supported upskilling in tourism-specific digital and AI-related competences, and reinforced labour-market intermediation through ANAPEC and regional governance actors. Full article

This grounded theory study examines how 40 married couples (N = 80) successfully maintained sexual abstinence until marriage, focusing on the strategies, relational processes, and spiritual commitments that sustained this non-normative practice. Because premarital abstinence is statistically uncommon among African Americans, this sample functions as a critical case context—offering a high-contrast environment in which grounded theory can clearly illuminate the relational and spiritual mechanisms that support abstinence maintenance. Using in-depth individual and dyadic interviews, the study explores how couples upheld abstinence in contexts where it was often encouraged within religious settings yet rarely modeled by parents, mentors, or peers. Findings revealed four interrelated processes: (a) a shared spiritual “why” grounded in sacred meaning, (b) mutual commitment and accountability, (c) proactive boundary-setting and trigger management, and (d) grace-based resilience and recommitment after lapses. Together, these processes illustrate the Premarital Sexual Abstinence Sustainability Model through which couples co-manage temptation and align their behaviors with shared spiritual values. Despite limited examples in their communities, many participants reported becoming perceived role models within their families and faith settings, demonstrating how new behavioral templates emerge when social models are absent. Overall, as the first study of its kind to document how abstaining couples sustain their commitment and experience success, this work offers new implications for research, relationship education, counseling, and faith-based program development. Full article

Debates are taking place in the higher education literature regarding the changing roles of learning technology professionals and their contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Whilst much literature discusses motivations and barriers for these professionals in engaging with SoTL, less attention has been directed towards how such engagement might be nurtured and developed. This paper analyses an intervention project designed as a cross-institutional mentoring scheme which aimed to foster SoTL habits and skills in learning technology professionals. The mentor scholar scheme encompassed a series of online group meetings and one-on-one advisor meetings, involving 22 scholars and 18 advisors over a 12-month period. Data was collected using a range of methods including questionnaires and interviews. Our analysis uses Cultural–Historical Activity Theory to grasp the dynamics of the mentor scholar scheme and derive insights into how learning technology professionals attempt to engage with SoTL in their practice. The scheme developed in ways unanticipated by our original design. Key contradictions in the activity were evident through persistent difficulties for learning technology professionals in identifying as a scholar, finding a place within a broader scholarly community, developing a loyalty to scholarship, and positioning it against longstanding professional priorities. Nonetheless, participants viewed the scheme as successful, and we put forward considerable experience of how to mediate and address these issues. The paper contributes new perspectives on catalysing scholarly identity among professional staff in higher education, highlighting the importance of a scholarly community, understanding scholarship as distinct from professionalism, and suggesting that mentoring must be a relational and adaptive process. Full article

In response to the growing need for accessible data analytics education among low-computing disciplines, this study presents the design, implementation, and outcomes of a no-coding graduate-level data analytics course offered within the Engineering Management and Technology Department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The course utilizes Alteryx Designer 2025.2, an end-to-end, drag-and-drop analytics platform that enables students with minimal programming background to conduct complete data workflows, including data cleansing, transformation, and predictive modeling. Through a project-based learning (PBL) approach, students engage in real-world problem solving, developing data reasoning and interpretation skills rather than focusing on programming syntax. Course artifacts, student project outcomes, and instructional observations suggest that the use of a no-code platform, combined with hands-on assessment through video exercises and mentored projects, supports the development of analytical reasoning, engagement, and data interpretation skills. The paper concludes that GUI-based, no-code tools can effectively bridge the technical accessibility gap in data analytics education, making data-driven learning practical and scalable across low-computing academic programs. This paper is presented as a descriptive pedagogical case study, focusing on course design, instructional practices, and observed learning outcomes rather than a controlled empirical evaluation. Full article