Search Results (53)

Physical activity (PA) integration in special education has gained recognition as a neuroeducational intervention supporting emotional and social development in students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), yet teacher perceptions remain underexplored. This cross-sectional study examined how Israeli special education teachers perceive physical activity’s benefits and how teaching experience and educational setting influence these perceptions. A structured questionnaire was administered to 45 female special education teachers from northern Israel. The instrument assessed perceptions of physical activity’s emotional benefits, social outcomes, and implementation practices using Likert-type scales. Teachers strongly endorsed PA as a means to foster emotional resilience and coping, with most preferring group-based activities. Mixed activities were the most preferred approach, followed by movement games. Experienced teachers reported significantly stronger perceptions of emotional benefits compared to less experienced colleagues. Secondary teachers demonstrated higher extracurricular promotion and perceived greater social benefits than elementary teachers. Despite positive attitudes, implementation barriers, including infrastructure limitations and training gaps, were evident. These findings highlight physical activity’s potential as a neuroeducational tool for fostering regulation and inclusion while revealing the need for differentiated professional development, infrastructure investment, and policy integration. Full article

Inclusive education emphasizes the right of all students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), to access equitable learning opportunities in mainstream classrooms. This study presents the implementation and evaluation of a school-based intervention within the BATTIE (Bottleneck Analysis and Teacher Trainings for Inclusive Education) project in Greece, aiming to enhance inclusion through differentiated instruction (DI) and a whole school approach. The intervention was conducted across 26 schools and involved 116 educators and 130 students with SEND. A qualitative methodology was employed, utilizing structured classroom observations, field notes, and semi-structured interviews with teachers. The data were thematically analyzed using NVivo 11. Findings indicated notable improvements in student engagement, academic participation, and classroom collaboration, especially among students with SEND. Teachers reported enhanced professional confidence, better understanding of inclusive strategies, and improved collaboration with special education staff. However, limitations in interdisciplinary cooperation—particularly with school psychologists—were identified. This study concludes that sustained professional development, school-wide collaboration, and differentiated instruction are essential for fostering inclusive practices. It underscores the potential of structured, whole school interventions to improve learning environments for diverse student populations and provides insights for educational policy and practice reform. Full article

Educational cooperation in higher education offers valuable opportunities for students and institutions alike. However, it also introduces significant challenges, particularly regarding student enrollment processes. Traditional centralized systems for managing this task can pose issues around authority, transparency, accountability, security, and cost, often hindering scalability and sustainable growth. This paper introduces the Cross-Institutional Blockchain Enrollment System (BCHEEN), a novel decentralized platform designed to streamline and enhance cross-institutional enrollment processes. Un-like existing solutions, BCHEEN employs a unique hybrid architecture that leverages blockchain technology to ensure transparency and security while maintaining scalability through innovative off-chain data management using the “replicate when used” approach. The platform was prototyped as a permissioned blockchain platform using the Hyperledger Composer framework and evaluated through functional, performance, and security analyses using tools such as Cucumber and Hyperledger Caliper. Evaluation results show that BCHEEN achieved a peak throughput of 18 tps at a send rate of 47 tps, with an average latency of 4.32 s under the same conditions, demonstrating its scalability and reliability. Furthermore, a computational cost analysis highlights the efficiency of the “replicate when used” approach in reducing storage overhead while preserving data integrity. BCHEEN’s practical impact includes streamlining enrollment processes, reducing administrative costs, and fostering secure, scalable, and transparent inter-institutional collaboration. These contributions position BCHEEN as a transformative tool for higher education, supporting policy advancements and promoting resilience and sustainability in educational practices. Full article

Depression in adolescents has been linked to poor life outcomes, including suicidal ideation, peer victimization, and fewer friendships. Less is known about how depressed adolescents perceive their peer interactions. Based on the depression-distortion model, we expected that adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their social ties by being less likely to like some peers, and more likely to dislike other peers. An Italian dataset about adolescent relationships was used, including 275 first-year secondary school students (M age = 11.80, 46% female) in 12 classrooms across nine schools. Adolescents were asked to nominate classmates they liked and disliked. Longitudinal social network analyses (stochastic actor-oriented models) were conducted, including structural network effects (reciprocity, transitivity, indegree-popularity) and covariates such as gender, immigrant origin, and highest parents’ education level. The results indicated that adolescents with depressive symptoms were less likely to send liking nominations, and conversely, they were more likely to send disliking nominations than non-depressed classmates. Interestingly, adolescents with depressive symptoms were not more disliked or less liked by their peers. These findings seem to support the depression-distortion model by suggesting that, compared to non-depressed peers, adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their relationships by overstating negative relationships and underestimating positive ones. Full article

Moodle allows communication between students through the chat window, where you can send text messages and emoticons. A study carried out on 45 students identified which method they prefer to use to send attachments—which seems to them to be the most effective and easy to use. The challenges we started with in this implementation of the solution were the non-existence of this way of transmitting files within the Moodle platform and the need to introduce this new method, which has an impact on the communication process that is beneficial to users. When a requirement arises from users such as sending files through the chat window, a feature that does not exist now, the IT administrator has the possibility to create a new method by implementing a plugin that may be imported into the Moodle platform settings. By writing the necessary parameters, arguments, and command lines in the developed plugin, it was possible to create a new way to send files. This paper presents a new solution that contributes the possibility of transmitting files through the chat window, with various extensions such as .pdf, .zip, .docx, .jpg, .xls, .mp4, and other types and sizes of files that can be sent at any time and as many as desired, not limited by the number of uploads related to the transmission. Full article

Sexting has become a common mode of expression within the digital realm. Understanding sexting in the context of African college campuses is crucial, as it reflects the impact of technological advancements and the interplay of cultural norms, values, and societal factors. This review seeks to provide evidence to inform context-specific initiatives and policies aimed at promoting responsible digital communication and enhancing the well-being of college students within the continent. This scoping review followed the guidelines by Askey and O’Malley. The search for records was conducted in four main electronic databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, Central, and JSTOR. Additional searches were conducted using Google Scholar, Google, and ProQuest. A total of 11 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Results: The findings of this review are grouped under the following four main headings: type of sexting, prevalence, predictors of sexting, and outcomes of sexting. The main types of sexting were sending and receiving nude pictures and sexually explicit messages and posting explicit videos and photos on social media. The prevalence rates for general sexting ranged from 9.9% to 74.4%. Positive outcomes of sexting included increased condom negotiation skills and sexual communication that contribute to safer sexual practices. Negative sexual outcomes included high-risk-taking sexual behaviour such as multiple sexual partners. This review highlights the intricate facets of sexting among African college students, and emphasises the interplay between digital communication, societal norms, and individual behaviours. Policies should prioritise cyberbullying prevention, privacy protection, and ethical technology use. Full article

Nowadays, online examination (exam in short) platforms are becoming more popular, demanding strong security measures for digital learning environments. This includes addressing key challenges such as head pose detection and estimation, which are integral for applications like automatic face recognition, advanced surveillance systems, intuitive human–computer interfaces, and enhancing driving safety measures. The proposed work holds significant potential in enhancing the security and reliability of online exam platforms. It achieves this by accurately classifying students’ attentiveness based on distinct head poses, a novel approach that leverages advanced techniques like federated learning and deep learning models. The proposed work aims to classify students’ attentiveness with the help of different head poses. In this work, we considered five head poses: front face, down face, right face, up face, and left face. A federated learning (FL) framework with a pre-trained deep learning model (ResNet50) was used to accomplish the classification task. To classify students’ activity (behavior) in an online exam environment using the FL framework’s local client device, we considered the ResNet50 model. However, identifying the best hyperparameters in the local client ResNet50 model is challenging. Hence, in this study, we proposed two hybrid bio-inspired optimized methods, namely, Particle Swarm Optimization with Genetic Algorithm (PSOGA) and Particle Swarm Optimization with Elitist Genetic Algorithm (PSOEGA), to fine-tune the hyperparameters of the ResNet50 model. The bio-inspired optimized methods employed in the ResNet50 model will train and classify the students’ behavior in an online exam environment. The FL framework trains the client model locally and sends the updated weights to the server model. The proposed hybrid bio-inspired algorithms outperform the GA and PSO when independently used. The proposed PSOGA not only outperforms the proposed PSOEGA but also outperforms the benchmark algorithms considered for performance evaluation by giving an accuracy of 95.97%. Full article

Background: Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases include a large group of pathologies and constitute one of the most serious chronic health problems facing the 21st century, with high rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Unhealthy diets influence the development of these pathologies. The Mediterranean diet can be an important part in the treatment of these diseases. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a program that aims to increase adherence to the Mediterranean diet on the improvement of different cardiometabolic risk parameters. Methods: A prospective intervention study was carried out on 7034 Spanish workers. Prior to the intervention, 22 cardiometabolic risk scales were evaluated. Participants in this study were informed both orally and in writing of the characteristics and benefits of the Mediterranean diet and were given the website of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare of Spain, which provides advice on nutrition. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was reinforced by sending a monthly SMS to their mobile phones. After six months of follow-up, the 22 risk scales were re-evaluated to assess changes. Means and standard deviations were calculated using Student’s t test to analyse quantitative variables. Prevalence was calculated using the Chi-square test when the variables were qualitative. Results: All the cardiometabolic risk scales studied decreased after implementing a program to improve and enhance adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The number of losses in the sample was very low, standing at 4.31%. Conclusions: The Mediterranean diet is effective in reducing all cardiovascular risk scales evaluated. The mean values and prevalence of high values of the different cardiometabolic risk scales analysed led to lower values after the implementation of the program to increase adherence to the Mediterranean diet. We observed a significant positive difference in metabolic age in both sexes. We have obtained a significant improvement in the insulin resistance index, especially in the SPISE-IR index, data that we have not found in previous publications. Easy access to the Internet and new information and communication technologies facilitate adherence to a diet and can reduce the number of losses. Full article

Conducting quantitative research involving adolescents demands a thoughtful approach to the question of supervision, given that each option comes with its distinct set of implications. This study reviews these implications and empirically tests whether differences in data quality can be found among three modes of standardized survey research with medium-sized groups of adolescents (12–17 years). The data basis is a quasi-experimental survey study testing different forms of digital, hybrid, or in-person supervision that took place in 2021 in secondary schools in Germany (N = 923). The aim of this study is to test how aspects of data quality—item nonresponse, interview duration, drop-out rate, and response patterns—differ between these forms of supervision. Results could help researchers surveying young people to decide (1) whether they allow confidants or other adults to be present during interviews, (2) if they can rely on teachers alone when surveying classrooms, and (3) if it is cost-efficient to send out external supervisors for classroom sessions. While drop-out rates do not differ, item non-response, interview duration, and response patterns differ significantly; students supervised at home by external interviewers answered more questions, took more time to answer, and were less likely to give potentially meaningless answers in grid questions. The implications drawn from the findings question the common approach of solely relying on teachers for survey administration without the support of external supervisors or adequate training. Recruiting respondents via schools and surveying them online in their homes during school hours has been shown to be a robust method with regard to the analyzed indicators. Full article

Grading student programming assignments is not an easy task. This task is even more challenging when talking about complex programming assignments at university graduate level. By complex assignments, we mean assignments where students have to program a complete application from scratch. For example, building a complete web application with a client and server side, whereby the application uses multiple threads that gather data from some external service (like the REST service, IoT sensors, etc.), processes these data and store them in some storage (e.g., a database), implements a custom protocol over a socket or something similar, implements their own REST/SOAP/GraphQL service, then sends or receives JMS/MQTT/WebSocket messages, etc. Such assignments give students an inside view of building real Internet applications. On the other hand, assignments like these take a long time to be tested and graded manually, e.g., up to 1 h per student. To speed up the assessment process, there are different automation possibilities that can check for the correctness of some application parts without endangering the grading quality. In this study, different possibilities of automation are described that have been improved over several years. This process takes advantage of unit testing, bash scripting, and other methods. The main goal of this study is to define an assessment process that can be used to grade complex programming assignments, with concrete examples of what and how to automate. This process involves assignment preparation for automation, plagiarism (i.e., better said similarity) detection, performing an automatic check of the correctness of each programming assignment, conducting an analysis of the obtained data, the awarding of points (grading) for each programming assignment, and other such activities. We also discuss what the downsides of automation are and why it is not possible to completely automate the grading process. Full article

This paper presents a detailed design of an inexpensive, simple, and scalable Distributed Sensor Network (DSN). Each sensor’s hardware consists of a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B microprocessor, a specifically designed and factory-made Printed Circuit Board (PCB), an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Hat based on a High-Capacity Lithium Polymer battery (LiPo), a Power over Ethernet Splitter, a GPS receiver, and a LoRaWAN module. Each sensor is built to capture GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals and sends this information to a network controller implementing a LoRaWAN gateway. Each sensor’s software is developed so that all applications run on top of a Linux operating system. The layer above it includes system daemon applications, such as Air-mon, HCI tools, GPSd, and networking support. An SQLite database sits on top of the daemon applications and records the captured information. After the DSN was successfully tested, it was deployed in a research study. The novelty of this study is that this was the first time that a DSN was used in high schools to detect leakage from IoT devices to educate students about cyber safety. Full article

The language used by teachers, school staff, and parents to talk about autistic students can send either positive or negative messages to other school staff, parents, and all students—with or without autism—about autistic students. Ultimately, these messages also extend to autistic people. Using qualitative focus group methods, we talked to parents, teachers, administrators, and other school staff to better understand how people speak about the inclusion of autistic students in general education classrooms in public schools. Overall, we found that many of our participants thought (1) autistic students need to earn their way into general education classrooms, unlike their peers without disabilities, (2) segregating students with disabilities away from their peers without disabilities is acceptable, and sometimes preferable, in school settings, and (3) there is power in inclusive education opportunities for students with and without disabilities in school settings. The findings from this study suggest that inclusive opportunities for autistic students were largely driven by stakeholder mindsets. These results should encourage school staff to think about and reflect on how they talk about autistic students in inclusive settings with the ultimate goal of creating more welcoming inclusive environments for autistic students. Full article

Federated Learning is identified as a reliable technique for distributed training of ML models. Specifically, a set of dispersed nodes may collaborate through a federation in producing a jointly trained ML model without disclosing their data to each other. Each node performs local model training and then shares its trained model weights with a server node, usually called Aggregator in federated learning, as it aggregates the trained weights and then sends them back to its clients for another round of local training. Despite the data protection and security that FL provides to each client, there are still well-studied attacks such as membership inference attacks that can detect potential vulnerabilities of the FL system and thus expose sensitive data. In this paper, in order to prevent this kind of attack and address private data leakage, we introduce FREDY, a differential private federated learning framework that enables knowledge transfer from private data. Particularly, our approach has a teachers–student scheme. Each teacher model is trained on sensitive, disjoint data in a federated manner, and the student model is trained on the most voted predictions of the teachers on public unlabeled data which are noisy aggregated in order to guarantee the privacy of each teacher’s sensitive data. Only the student model is publicly accessible as the teacher models contain sensitive information. We show that our proposed approach guarantees the privacy of sensitive data against model inference attacks while it combines the federated learning settings for the model training procedures. Full article

CAPBL is an example of a student-led, Creative Arts/Project-Based Learning (CAPBL/PBL) curriculum approach to working with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) learners. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study seeks to explore staff and student perceptions of working in this way and establish key themes for practice in relation to equity and inclusion. Although the literature on PBL is widespread, CAPBL is novel in that it brings these ideas to a specialist SEND, post-16 context, Further Education (FE), with a particular focus on arts education currently absent from the existing literature. This small-scale research project is positioned as a participant-led action research project involving qualitative/quantitative mixed-method instruments, bassline testing, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Preliminary findings indicate that students and staff experience several benefits to working this way, including positive engagement with learning, self-efficacy, and ownership. This paper attempts to provide workable conclusions for practice located within theoretical frameworks that offer professional resistance to prevailing preoccupations with prescription in curriculum design and pedagogy both nationally and internationally. Specifically, civic compassion and pedagogical partnership are considered in relation to the experiences of learners and staff attempting to work this way. By challenging dominant paradigms of knowledge-led learning at a national level, CAPBL seeks to actively include SEND learners in the global processes of curriculum design itself. Full article

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in the economic growth of a nation, and their significance is increasingly acknowledged. More than 90% of commercial establishments, almost 70f% of jobs, and 55% of the GDP are held by SMEs in mature economies. Additionally, this sector accounts for 70% of employment possibilities and up to 40% of the GDP in developing countries. Technologically, the Internet of Things (IoT) enables multiple connected devices, i.e., “things”, to add value to businesses, as they can communicate and send messages or signals promptly. In this article, we investigate various challenges SMEs experience in IoT adoption to further their businesses. Amongst others, the challenges elicited include IoT considerations for SMEs, data, financial availability, and challenges related to the SME environment. Having analysed the challenges, a three-tiered solution framework coined the Secure IoT Control Framework (SIoTCF) to address the said challenges is developed and briefly validated through a theoretical analysis of the elements of the framework. It is hoped that the proposed framework will assist with aspects of design, governance, and maintenance in enhancing the security levels of IoT adoption and usage in SMEs, especially start-ups or less experienced SMEs. Future work in this area will involve surveying SME owners and ICT staff to validate the utility of the SIoTCF further. The study adds to the body of knowledge in general by developing a secure IoT control framework. In the field of ICT, this paradigm is expected to be useful for academics, researchers, and students. Full article