Tag "students"

Imagine if your classes felt more like a game than a grind. Badges for breakthroughs, points for participation, and friendly leaderboards that spark just enough rivalry to keep you coming back. It’s not a futuristic fantasy—it’s happening now. Gamification in education isn’t just about fun; it's becoming a strategic tool to build the very skills employers are hungry for. A recent study published in Educational Studies Moscow dives into data to show how playing games in class might just be the smartest way to land that dream job.

In a fiercely polarized, starkly unequal world, more young people have found themselves struggling as they navigate a path into an adult life of meaning and impact. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of prefiguration and resilience, a study by Anastasiia Andreeva, Elena Omelchenko, and Pavel Sorokin highlights the diverse ways in which young people in Russia respond to the uncertainties shaping their lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about sweeping changes to daily life across the globe, none more so than for young people whose worlds were turned upside down by lockdowns, school closures, and social distancing measures. In the thick of these unprecedented disruptions, a critical question emerged: How did these abrupt changes affect the wellbeing of adolescents—those in the midst of pivotal developmental years? A study by an international research team, including Alexandra Bochaver of IOE, offers enthralling insights into the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on school students' psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing, shedding light on both the challenges they faced and their capacity to adapt. By examining the complexities of adolescent wellbeing during such a tumultuous time in a global context, it underpins the importance of understanding how external crises influence the mental and social health of young people and the need for continued support in the face of such challenges.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, understanding the capabilities and limitations of large language models (LLMs) in specialized fields such as education is crucial. A study by Elena Kardanova, Alina Ivanova, Ksenia Tarasova, Taras Pashchenko, Aleksei Tikhoniuk, Elen Yusupova, Anatoly Kasprzhak, Yaroslav Kuzminov, Ekaterina Kruchinskaia, and Irina Brun, introduces a novel psychometrics-based methodology to assess LLM performance in the field of pedagogy. By focusing on the educational domain and developing a robust benchmark tailored for LLM evaluation, the authors offer new insights into the strengths and weaknesses of these models.

In an era where the demand for innovative educational strategies is paramount, the effectiveness of teaching methods in fostering student learning has come under scrutiny. A recent study by Evgeniy Terentev, Irina Shcheglova, Denis Federiakin, Yuliya Koreshnikova, and Jamie Costley delves into the contrasting realms of active and passive teaching approaches within the context of economics and management education at a leading Russian university. By examining how these teaching methodologies influence student performance across various cognitive levels, the authors aim to shed light on the vital role of instructional practices in preparing students for success in an increasingly complex and competitive knowledge economy.

Student satisfaction is crucial for universities aiming to improve education and keep students engaged. Irina Shcheglova, Jamie Costley, Elena Gorbunova, and Christopher Lange delve into whether tasks that require higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) make students more satisfied with their academic experiences.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, education systems worldwide underwent an unprecedented transformation, propelled by the urgent need for digital solutions. A study by Diana Koroleva and Anastasia Andreeva explores this phenomenon through the concept of ‘Shock Innovation,’ shedding light on how crises can accelerate technological adoption in education.

While the global tide swayed toward an expansion in doctoral education, Russia found itself swimming against the current, experiencing a dip in enrollments from 2010 to 2019. However, the year 2020 witnessed an unexpected change of fortunes, with an 11% uptick in admissions year-on-year. This curious scenario unfolded in the throes of a global pandemic that had wrought havoc on higher education systems.

IOE’s Natalia Maloshonok, Svetlana Zhuchkova, Saule Bekova, and Evgeniy Terentev have set off on a quest to unveil the forces that have led to the surge in doctoral enrollments in Russia amid the pandemic, and the potential consequences looming on the horizon.

COVID-19 has had a swift and ubiquitously profound social impact arguably unseen at any other point of crisis in recent history. As the pandemic marched on, Russian education experienced a hard time settling into the new lay of the land with COVID-induced disruptions defying much of the system’s common norms, standards, and practices.

Anastasia Andreeva, Diana Koroleva, Sergei Kosaretsky, and Isaak Frumin have embarked on a research journey to explore how various stakeholders in Russian K—11 education interacted amid a tapestry of centrifugal and centripetal winds stirred by COVID-19. A chapter summarizing the study findings has been published in Springer’s Schools and Society During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Education Systems Changed and the Road Ahead.