Strategies.

Impact of early reading skills and teachers perceptions in English as a foreign language using ICT: Evidence from Vietnam (Published)

This study aimed to identify the early reading skills in English as a foreign language via information and communication technology in Vietnam as well as early childhood student teachers perception. Currently, information and communication technology and part of the teacher’s perception in the classroom practices performed an effective role in the learning aptitude of students and enhanced their reading skills in English as a foreign language. The nature of the study was cross-sectional and data were collected from 100 students and teachers from Hanoi National University of Education. The output of the study revealed that more students were agreed and had a positive perception towards the uses of information and communication technology in teaching reading in English as a foreign language. The results also indicated that teachers used the best skills and strategies to enhance children’s vocabulary in the classrooms. Lastly, findings indicated that students faced a lack of resources and technical support as significant barriers. Implications for early childhood pre-service teacher training and educational policy are discussed.

Keywords: Barriers, Early Childhood Education, Reading, Strategies., Students, Teachers’ Perception, Vietnam, and skills

The Preferred Crisis Management Strategies among Lecturers in Tertiary Institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria and the Need for Guidance and Counselling Intervention (Published)

The aim of this study was to investigate the preferred crises management strategies among lecturers in tertiary institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria. The population of the study was one thousand two hundred and forty-two (1,242) lecturers. The total sample used for the study was five hundred respondents who were drawn through stratified random sampling from four institutions of higher learning in Cross River State. The instrument used for the data collection was the researcher’s developed Preferred Crisis Management Strategies Questionnaire (P.C.M.S.Q). It has two sections, A and B. Section A contained the personal data while B contained four point Likert scale type, made up of sixteen (16) items. The data collected from the samples were subjected to statistical analysis using the population and independent t-test. To accomplish the study objective, two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The following findings emerged; the preference for force crisis management strategy by lecturers was significantly low in tertiary institutions in Cross River State. Sex does not influence lecturers’ preference for dialogue as a crisis management strategy. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made. The government should adequately fund education, and the schools should devise local sources of generating funds while well-meaning individuals and companies should assist, dialogue should be adopted as evidenced in the study.

Keywords: Lecturer, Management, Preferred, Strategies., Tertiary Institutions, crises

Is There Any Match Between Students’learning Style, Strategies, And Lecturers’ Teaching Techniques ? A Case Study of Benin EFL Students at the University Level (Published)

Educational research has identified a number of factors for some of the differences in how students learn (Reid, 1987). One of these factors, learning styles, is of widespread interest in the education area. In fact, each of us has an individual learning style, which means that we learn and process information in different ways. Also, there has been a prominent shift within the field of  learning strategies, and teaching techniques over the last twenty years. How students process new information and what kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of number of researchers. Furthermore, the way courses are delivered by lecturers, the teaching techniques used has a great impact on students’ achievement. The objective of this current study aims at establishing a comparison between two groups of students at  the university level. (A Training College and a Public University) in order to determine their learning preference, strategies, and the teaching techniques that they would best select. The researcher collected data from a sample of approximately  225 students. From the data, there is a significant  difference between the two types of  students  in terms of the appropriate teaching, techniques used by lecturers and their match with students’ learning style and strategies.

Keywords: Learning Style, Strategies., Students, Teaching Techniques

The Challenges Encountered by the Selected Private Universities in Kenya in Implementing Strategies that Would Lead to a Financially Sustainable University (Published)

Great expectations of high quality education are held by many people due to a high demand of tertiary education in private Kenyan universities. Higher education in Kenya has experienced a lot of numerical growth of the number of universities chartered. As of November 2015, Kenya had a total of 70 chartered universities. Of these, 17 were private chartered ones which had grown in number from 3 to 17 in just two decades (CUE 2015, Chacha 2004,4). That notwithstanding, private universities face numerous challenges, which if not addressed, their sustainability will be threatened.  This paper therefore seeks to explore the challenges encountered by selected private universities in Kenya, in implementing strategies that would lead to a financially sustainable university. These challenges were classified into two categories: the internal and external challenges. The internal challenges, experienced from within the university included: inadequate finances, university leadership and structures while the external ones include: government funding, government regulations and donor support. Qualitative grounded theory design was used in which an  interview guide and a self-developed interview schedule were used in data collection. Twenty respondents were involved from four theological private universities. A fifth university was used for a pilot study. Data was organized manually and analyzed qualitatively through the use of codes and formation of categories. The strategies utilized were: students’ recruitment, internal and external funding, program development, review and diversification. The findings show that different universities are engaging in different strategies without much success in terms of income generated. This was attributed to the many internal and external challenges being faced by these universities. Therefore, this study proposed a financial sustainability system that is based on grounded theory which recommends the need to prioritize income generating strategies – developing, reviewing and diversifying revenue streams (input activities) that will generate adequate income to overcome the challenges in the system that are a major impediment to implementation of activities (output) that would lead to establishment of a financially sustainable university. This paper concludes by suggesting ways of developing, reviewing and diversifying revenue streams that will enhance the financial sustainability of the sampled universities. Moreover, it recommends that universities should develop more creative strategies that are not yet in place, review their status and also diversify their strategies to achieve financial sustainability.

Keywords: Challenges, Donor, Financial Sustainability, Higher Education, Private University, Strategies.

Adjustment Strategies of Widows to Widowhood Stress Based on Their Age: The Case of Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)

This study was aimed at investigating influence of age on adjustment strategies employed by widows in coping with widowhood stress in Rivers State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the conduct of the study at 0.05 probability level. A sample of 370 widows in Rivers State was drawn from the population via proportional stratified random sampling technique. Two instruments namely; Stress Level Scale for Widows (SLSW) and Questionnaire for Widows Adjustment Strategies (QWAS), both developed by the researcher were used for data collection. Data were analysed with mean, standard deviation and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance and the statistical package known as SPSS for widows was employed for the analyses. Results showed that; all the eight adjustment strategies (problem solving, cognitive restructuring, express emotion, social support, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism and social withdrawal) are adopted by widows in ameliorating widowhood stress; there are slight differences among the mean values of the different age groups with regards to all the adjustment strategies of widows to widowhood stress. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were made accordingly.

Keywords: Adjustment, Age, Rivers State, Strategies., Stress, Widowhood

The Teacher and Teaching with Instructional Materials in the Teaching of Science Subjects and the Contribution of Guidance and Counselors Therein (Published)

The aim of this study was to investigate the preferred crises management strategies among lecturers in tertiary institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria. The population of the study was one thousand two hundred and forty two (1,242) lecturers. The total sample used for the study was five hundred respondents who were drawn through stratified random sampling from four institutions of higher learning in Cross River State. The instrument used for the data collection was the researcher’s developed Preferred Crisis Management Strategies Questionnaire (P.C.M.S.Q). It has two sections, A and B. Section A contained the personal data while B contained four point Likert scale type, made up of sixteen (16) items. The data collected from the samples were subjected to statistical analysis using the population and independent t-test. To accomplish the study objective, two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The following findings emerged; the preference for force crisis management strategy by lecturers was significantly low in tertiary institutions in Cross River State. Sex does not influence lecturers’ preference for dialogue as a crisis management strategy. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made. The government should adequately fund education, and the schools should devise local sources of generating funds while well-meaning individuals and companies should assist, dialogue should be adopted as evidenced in the study.

Keywords: Lecturer, Management, Preferred, Strategies., Tertiary Institutions, crises

Sources and Effects of Stress on Work Performance, and Coping Strategies among Nurses at University of Cape Coast Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana (Published)

Stress is part of our everyday life and affects all aspects of our activities. In professions, where encountering hundreds of people is a routine could be very stressful. This is the nature of the nursing profession, with its attendant effects on the physical and psychological wellbeing of the nurse. This study set out to find the sources and effects of stress on work performance among nurses at the University of Cape Coast Hospital, and the coping strategies they adopt. Questionnaire was used to solicit data from the respondents. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, fifty nine nurses were sampled for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated, and answered and tested respectively. Independent t-tests, Analysis of Variance, and means were used in analyzing the data collected. No statistically significant differences were found between the ages of nurses and the type of stress experienced, by gender with respect to how they coping strategies toward stress, and among the various ranks of nurses and the effect of stress on their performance. It was concluded that, nurses in the University of Cape Coast Hospital were aware of the sources of stress among nurses, aware of the effects of stress on their performance, and had devised their strategies for coping with stress.It was therefore recommended that management of the Directorate of University Health Services (UCC) organizes seminars, workshops, forum, among others on incidence of stress and stress management strategies for the nurses. This would help the nurses to be abreast with stress coping strategies thereby alleviating stress on them. It was also recommended that counsellors were brought on to put in techniques that would assist nurses who are going through stressful conditions, which are likely to affect their performance on the work.

 

Keywords: Cape Coast, Coast Hospital, Coping, Ghana, Nurses University of Cape, Sources and Effects, Strategies., Stress, Work Performance

Establishing Strategies Influencing UPE Policy Sustainability in Rwenzori Region Western Uganda (Published)

Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy in the form of fee abolition has become popular in Uganda and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.  The current UPE policy is devoid of analytical studies on its impact and challenges beyond school enrollment. This paper is an attempt to make an establishment on the strategies that are thought to influence UPE policy sustainability in the Rwenzori region of Western Uganda. , to identify common and unique strategies of UPE sustainability and to examine them responding to the capacity and needs of the Rwenzori Region. The results show that effective policy implementation would require considerable consultation with key stakeholders and a baseline survey that will enable systematic implementation and consideration of equity. Mutual accountability and a responsibility mechanism between the government and parents/communities is also a key to the sustainability of the UPE policy.

Keywords: Strategies., Sustainability, Universal Primary Education

PERFORMANCE CONTRACT IN KENYAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES; IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND STRATEGIES (Review Completed - Accepted)

The purpose of the study was to investigate performance contract implementation issues and strategies in Kenya, a case study of Moi University.The objectives of study were to; investigate performance contract implementation issues in relation to staff performance review; asses performance contract issues in relation to consequences of signing performance Contract ;establish staff issues in relation to implementation of performance contract policy for lecturers.A case study was used to guide this study which utilized mixed method approach. The target population was 761 academic staff and 994 non academic staff. Purposive sampling was used to select 19 staff of high cadre. Proportionate stratified sampling was used to get 50% of the departments from each school and from departments in the administrative unit. A total of 170 academic staff and118 non academic staff participated in this study. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview shedules. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics whereby frequencies and percentages were used. The study found out that employees were not allowed to participate and contribute in setting targets at the beginning of the contract period. Furthermore, it was found out that signing of performance contract led to improved service delivery,greater job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. However, good work is not noticed, recognized and rewarded and no sanctions were made at the end of the contract period. It was recommended that the institution should ensure that staff are allowed to participate and contribute in setting the realistic and achievable targets in their departments at the beginning of the contract period. The government through universities should design a reward or sanction system as they implement the signing of Performance Contract in government institutions. It was further recommended that; for proper implementation, more training on the content of the performance contract should be done. It is hoped that the findings of this study will form a basis for formulation of policies on strategies for effective implementation of performance contract in gorvenment institutions. Furthermore, policy solutions will be provided on challenges of implementing performance contracting. .

Keywords: Implementation, Issues, Performance Contract, Service delivery, Strategies.