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Social networking (SN) technology has been presented to human beings as a means of communicating, collaborating, connecting, and cooperating to exchange knowledge, skills, news, chat, and to maintain contact with peers world-wide. This article examines SN awareness in the Asia-Pacific (AP) education sector (ES) with a specific focus on the advantages and disadvantages of SN; and investigated whether AP culture influences SN adoption by the ES. An online survey was distributed to 1014 AP students and a total of 826 students responded. Several new advantages of adoption emerged from the data analysis. SN enabled students to accomplish their study tasks more quickly; it allowed them to communicate and collaborate with peers world-wide; and it fostered sustainability. The disadvantages perceived by students include depression, loneliness, and distraction, lack of interest in pursuing traditional activities, and security and privacy concerns. Finally, culture does influence SN adoption by ES institutions in AP countries.

Au cours des dernières décennies, les décideurs et les scientifiques se sont montrés de plus en plus préoccupés par la mise en œuvre du programme de développement durable (DD). À ce jour, peu d'efforts sont déployés pour inculquer une sensibilisation et une éducation précoces au développement durable (EDD) aux étudiants de première année afin qu'ils deviennent des citoyens du monde efficaces et responsables. En tant que tel, l'apprentissage des questions socioscientifiques (SSI) à base de produits chimiques organiques dans le monde scientifique est important pour promouvoir une prise de conscience précoce parmi les étudiants en chimie de premier cycle en développement durable. Dans ce manuscrit, pour la première fois, le dessin de bande dessinée est utilisé comme instruction d'apprentissage pour inculquer l'apprentissage de l'EDD aux étudiants de première année à l'Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Dans cette activité, les élèves ont créé leurs propres bandes dessinées en ce qui concerne les SSI à base de produits chimiques organiques qu'ils ont lus et ont partagé leurs propres bandes dessinées, ainsi que leurs essais de réflexion sur le système de gestion de l'apprentissage (LMS). Sur la base d'un résultat d'enquête, l'implication des élèves dans l'activité en cours leur a permis de se familiariser avec les SSI à base de produits chimiques organiques. En outre, ils ont exprimé un degré élevé de satisfaction à l'égard de l'activité mise en œuvre et du contenu chimique qu'ils ont appris dans ce cours sur la base de l'essai de réflexion reçu par l'instructeur du cours dans le LMS. En las últimas décadas, ha habido una creciente preocupación por parte de los responsables políticos y científicos para implementar la agenda de desarrollo sostenible (SD). Hasta la fecha, se hacen pocos esfuerzos para inculcar la conciencia temprana y la educación para el desarrollo sostenible (eds) entre los estudiantes de primer año para convertirse en ciudadanos globales efectivos y responsables. Como tal, el aprendizaje de cuestiones sociocientíficas basadas en productos químicos orgánicos (ISQ) dentro del mundo científico es importante para promover la conciencia temprana entre los estudiantes de química en SD. En este manuscrito, por primera vez, el dibujo de cómics se utiliza como instrucción de aprendizaje para inculcar el aprendizaje de ESD entre los estudiantes de primer año de la Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. En esta actividad, los estudiantes hicieron sus propios cómics con respecto a las ISQ basadas en productos químicos orgánicos que han leído y compartido sus propios cómics, junto con sus ensayos reflexivos sobre el sistema de gestión del aprendizaje (LMS). Según el resultado de una encuesta, la participación de los estudiantes en la actividad actual ha resultado en su familiaridad con las SSI basadas en productos químicos orgánicos. Además, han expresado un alto grado de satisfacción hacia la actividad implementada y el contenido de química que aprendieron en este curso basado en el ensayo reflexivo recibido por el instructor del curso en el LMS. Over the past decades, there had been a growing concern for policy makers and scientists to implement the sustainable development (SD) agenda. To date, little efforts are made to instil early awareness and education for sustainable development (ESD) amongst the first-year undergraduates to become effective and responsible global citizens. As such, the learning of organic chemical-based socio-scientific issues (SSIs) within the scientific world is important to promote early awareness amongst chemistry undergraduates in SD. In this manuscript, for the first time comics drawing is being used as learning instruction to instil the ESD learning amongst first-year undergraduates at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. In this activity, students made their own comics with regard to organic chemical-based SSIs they have read and shared their own comics, together with their reflective essays on the learning management system (LMS). Based on a survey result, students' involvement in the current activity has resulted in their familiarity with the organic chemical-based SSIs. In addition, they have expressed a high degree of satisfaction toward the implemented activity and the chemistry content they learnt in this course based on the reflective essay received by the course instructor in the LMS. على مدى العقود الماضية، كان هناك قلق متزايد لدى صانعي السياسات والعلماء لتنفيذ جدول أعمال التنمية المستدامة (SD). حتى الآن، لا يُبذل سوى القليل من الجهود لغرس الوعي المبكر والتعليم من أجل التنمية المستدامة (ESD) بين طلاب السنة الأولى ليصبحوا مواطنين عالميين فعالين ومسؤولين. على هذا النحو، فإن تعلم القضايا الاجتماعية والعلمية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية العضوية (SSIs) داخل العالم العلمي مهم لتعزيز الوعي المبكر بين طلاب الكيمياء الجامعيين في التنمية المستدامة. في هذه المخطوطة، يتم استخدام الرسم الهزلي لأول مرة كتعليم تعليمي لغرس تعلم التعليم من أجل التنمية المستدامة بين طلاب السنة الأولى في جامعة ماليزيا تيرينجانو. في هذا النشاط، صنع الطلاب قصصهم المصورة الخاصة فيما يتعلق بـ SSIs العضوية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية التي قرأوها وشاركوها في قصصهم المصورة، جنبًا إلى جنب مع مقالاتهم التأملية حول نظام إدارة التعلم (LMS). استنادًا إلى نتيجة الاستطلاع، أدت مشاركة الطلاب في النشاط الحالي إلى إلمامهم بدراسات الحالة الاجتماعية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية العضوية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، أعربوا عن درجة عالية من الرضا عن النشاط المنفذ ومحتوى الكيمياء الذي تعلموه في هذه الدورة بناءً على المقال التأملي الذي تلقاه مدرس الدورة في نظام إدارة التعلم.

This study investigated children’s perceptions and adaptive behaviors related to indoor thermal conditions of classrooms in primary schools with no air-conditioning systems during both summer and winter in Dehradun City, Uttarakhand, India. Responses were collected from 5297 school children aged 6–13 years. During the measurement periods, 100% and 94% of the samples were obtained under conditions outside an 80% thermally acceptable comfort range in winter and summer, respectively. The analysis using receiver operating characteristics suggested that the students had the least sensitivity to the temperature variation for all scales of the thermal sensation vote (TSV). Approximately 95.1% of students were “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, or “slightly satisfied” with the thermal conditions under the condition of “extreme caution” or “danger” of heat risk. In contrast, adaptive thermal behaviors, such as adjusting clothing insulation ensembles, opening or closing classroom windows and doors, and utilizing ceiling fans, were found to be the most affordable options for optimizing indoor thermal comfort. Children’s reports of thermal sensations and thermal satisfaction did not correspond to the actual physical environment. This draws attention to the adequacy of applying widely used methods of TSV-based identification of the thermal comfort range in classrooms for children, especially in hot environments. The findings of this study are expected to serve as an evidence-based reference for local governments and authorities to take appropriate measures to mitigate heat risks for schoolchildren in the future.

Abstract With increasing concern for energy savings in universities, operational solutions, such as control strategies and occupant interventions, have been recommended to reduce energy use, due to the limited responsibilities of faculties and students for energy saving. Additionally, the energy-efficient allocation of classrooms can contribute to achieving further energy saving, because they have different spatial and functional capacities, which result in variation in energy use. In this context, course timetabling can be regarded as a basic source of allocating specific classrooms to lectures. However, there have been few attempts to consider spatial and functional capacities related to energy use in classrooms. Further, little is known about investigating the impact of course timetabling on energy consumption in classrooms. Therefore, this research proposes an energy efficiency-based course timetabling algorithm that identifies an optimal timetable in terms of energy use. The experimental results using the proposed algorithms make it evident that the optimal timetable produces 4% energy saving during cooling and heating season compared to the existing timetable. In addition, more energy savings up to 5.0% are achieved by mitigating hard constraints. The developed algorithm allows for administration staff and facility managers to schedule a course timetable that achieves energy savings in university buildings.

The aim of the research was to investigate teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion of pupils with disabilities in mainstream education. The research group consisted of 253 physical education teachers (125 male and 128 female) with an average age of 40.52 ± 10.69 working in primary (62%) and secondary (38%) Slovak schools. To obtain empirical data, the standardized questionnaire methods SE-PETE-D and PEATID-III were used. In the analysis of self-efficacy, using the Mann–Whitney U test, significant differences were found in practical experience with pupils with disabilities and (a) teachers’ self-efficacy (p ≤ 0.01) and (b) their attitudes (p ≤ 0.05). The same significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found between participation in APA/APE courses and both (a) self-efficacy as well as (b) attitudes. Moreover, the research found the same significant differences (p ≤ 0.01) between the type of disability and both (a) self-efficacy and (b) attitudes. A significantly positive correlation with a moderate relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their attitudes towards pupils with disabilities (p ≤ 0.01) were also found. Based on our findings, recommendations with specific proposals for physical and sports education practice were formulated.

This study proposes two types of basic assessment indicators named the JCIRP assessment indicators and shows these features. These indicators are a tool of process monitoring, benchmarking and learning outcomes assessment to improve undergraduate education. These indicators are based on the comprehensive I-E-O model and the involvement theory. One type of indicators are made in accordance with the same procedure of the CIRP constructs by the HERI at the UCLA. The other are made the same scoring procedure of the Engagement Indicators by the Center for Postsecondary Research at the Indiana Univ. School of Education. Each type of indicators have their own features. The Japanese higher education system is under the requirement for qualitative transformation of undergraduate education, the JCIRP assessment indicators will be one of the useful tool to guide education practice.

In some countries, renewable energy resources have become one of the mainstreams of energy savings and sustainable development. Thailand is one of the major countries to use renewable energy generation facilities in public buildings. In particular, public educational institutes consume large amounts of electricity from the grid. To reduce the electricity dependency on the national grid connection and greenhouse gas emissions, this paper introduces potential optimized solutions of renewable energy generation systems for a public university in Thailand, Chiang Mai University. Based on the simulation results from HOMER software, the potential configuration organized by PV panels, batteries and converters is proposed. The suggested configuration achieves 100% of the renewable fraction with $0.728 of the cost of energy for per electricity. Moreover, the greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced. Both the implications and limitations are presented based on simulation results.

Cyber Laboratory for FPGA-based logic design course is underdevelopment. It tries to realize real-life logic design and FPGA-run environments and to offer real-life experiences for students, irrelevant of whether they are at remote sites or at actual sites. It combines actual laboratories and remote laboratories to achieve efficient sharing of FPGA design/ evaluation platforms and efficient use of student PCs. It reduces the waiting time for platforms and improves the interactive performance. The use of the cloud storage realizes a smooth and seamless transferring of design files and experiment results. The hardware logic design course consists of the six stage design flow: logic design entry, logic simulation, Verilog-HDL logic synthesis, FPGA compilation, actual FPGA-run and post analysis. The student PC works as a remote desk top mode, when the laboratory platform is served as the actual laboratory mode, where the physical platform has to be used in an exclusive way. The student can enjoy comfortable design environments, but the total number is limited up to the available platforms. When the number of students exceeds the number of platforms, the use of remote laboratory services modes enables to accommodate many students to perform their experiments concurrently in almost the same way as the actual laboratory. The FPGA platforms accept the Verilog-HDL synthesis services and the FPGA setup/ run services in the form of the Web services. Requests are serviced in time and space division fashions. As for the time consuming tasks, i.e. the logic design entry/ simulation and FPG compilation, these tasks can be run on student PCs in order to off-load the platforms' works. So an efficient sharing of platforms can be achieved. This can also improve interactive performance especially at design entry/ simulation time. At the final post analysis phase, students can remotely investigate the logic analyzer measured results which were obtained at the previous run phase. The modern PC-based logic analyzer allows such measurements and stores them in the cloud storage for students to replay the experiments on their own PCs. As design, configuration and result files are transferred via cloud storage, it becomes easy to migrate among different laboratory modes in the Cyber laboratory.