This quantitative study investigates students’ perceptions of a virtual language exchange implemented between two higher education institutions. By examining two successive cohorts, the research aimed to identify shared patterns, institutional differences, and changes over the duration of the exchange.

Data were collected through two opinion questionnaires administered at the beginning and at the end of the exchange in each academic period. Quantitative analyses included descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, chi-square tests, and Pearson correlation analyses. The results were examined globally, by institution, and longitudinally to capture overall trends and contextual variation.

Across both successive cohorts, students entered the exchange with strong initial motivation, particularly a desire for intercultural openness, alongside comparatively low self-confidence in the target language. By the end of the exchange, participants reported high satisfaction with their exchange partners, positive evaluations of the interactional framework, and increased self-confidence, involvement, and cross-cultural awareness. Institutional differences emerged in specific areas, such as perceived language level, satisfaction, and cultural learning, but these did not substantially alter the overall pattern of findings. Correlation analyses revealed strong and significant relationships among key variables, indicating that linguistic development, learner engagement, self-confidence, and intercultural knowledge were closely interconnected and mutually reinforcing.

The findings suggest that virtual language exchanges supported by clear guidelines and a structured pedagogical design can enhance undergraduate learners’ language skills and cultural growth. The study contributes to existing research by demonstrating the consistency of these outcomes across cohorts and institutional contexts, and by highlighting the dynamic links between affective, linguistic, and cultural dimensions. These results support the integration of virtual language exchanges as a sustainable and effective component of internationalization at home in higher education since they offer students opportunities for authentic interaction and sensitivity to cultural diversity without physical mobility. Therefore, they can promote multilingualism and intercultural understanding, the keystone of democratic societies.

This study examines how experienced teachers’ engagement in the Family Pizza Sharing Challenge (culturally situated mathematical modeling task) supports development of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) awareness. Grounded in CRP and equity‑oriented teacher noticing, the analysis focuses on how teachers activate personal and cultural resources, critique task contexts, and connect mathematical reasoning with ethical considerations of fairness and representation. Thirty‑five elementary teachers completed the task and produced written artifacts and reflections, which were analyzed using ethnographic thematic content analysis. We examined how teachers redesigned a familiar ‘Family Pizza Sharing’ problem to make students’ cultural and community knowledge consequential to the mathematics while sustaining cognitive demand and rigor. Data included original and revised task artifacts and teacher annotations. Analytically, we iterated open coding with a framework for culturally relevant design (e.g., purposeful contexts, opportunities for student authority/voice, language supports, and attention to power/identity), corroborated through artifact tracing and peer debriefing. Findings show that the activity surfaced cultural assumptions, prompted redesigns for inclusivity, and supported shifts from equal to equitable interpretations of fairness demonstrating growth in CRP awareness and illustrate how task design serves as a productive context for equity‑focused teacher learning. We argue that task redesign functioned as a lever for teacher learning about equity: when the task changed, so did teachers’ noticing, talk, and enactment. The use of culturally situated mathematical modeling task artifact-anchored PD may make teachers’ equity work more observable and improvable.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping higher education, offering new opportunities for enhancing productivity and efficiency, while also raising important challenges for instructors. No longer a theoretical concept, AI is now embedded in the daily practices of teaching, research, advising, and administrative work. AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and MagicSchool AI are becoming increasingly common as faculty seek ways to manage demanding workloads more efficiently.

This presentation shares findings from a Fall 2025 study conducted by full-time university faculty members, examining how instructors in higher education are currently using AI for productivity and efficiency. Using survey methodology, the research team collected responses from full- and part-time faculty regarding the types of AI tools they use, how often they use them, and their perceptions of the benefits and concerns related to AI integration in academic settings. The session will present key data from the study, alongside real-world examples of how higher education instructors are incorporating AI into their work. Attendees will explore how the research compares to their own experiences and consider practical steps for future AI implementation.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to describe current trends in AI usage among faculty, including the most commonly used tools and patterns of use. They will be able to identify concerns and benefits associated with AI adoption in higher education. Finally, they will be able to develop a personalized plan for integrating AI into their own teaching practice.

Introduction: Reflective learning is frequently cited as a core competency in higher education, yet it is often indirectly embedded within curricula rather than explicitly taught or assessed. This study examines whether structured weekly learning journals, when incorporated into formal assessment as an integral component of learning, can serve as a direct and active pedagogical tool for stimulating critical thinking, personal growth, and meaningful knowledge construction.

Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted involving 134 students enrolled in six university courses. Students submitted weekly learning journals via a Learning Management System, assessed on depth of reflection, logical development, and personal growth rather than rigid academic structure. Students selected their four strongest journal entries for formal evaluation, preserving individual agency within the assessment framework. Using MaxQDA, we conducted a qualitative textual analysis of 124 final reflections detailing the students' journaling experiences.

Results: Qualitative analysis identified three recurring themes: objective organisation of thoughts and consolidation of weekly learning; expanded curiosity and intrinsic motivation; and strengthened critical thinking through written self-examination. However, these benefits were conditional. Key challenges included time constraints, emotional frustration with unfamiliar critical thinking demands, and anxiety over grading. Courses assigning higher grade weights and mandating minimum length requirements yielded deeper and more authentic reflections, subsequently preventing superficial responses that could be submitted without the guidelines.

Conclusions: Reflective learning journals are an effective but conditionally realised tool, with their benefits emerging only when journaling is accompanied by assessment and guidelines rather than treated as an optional task. Students typically require several weeks before recognising the value of structured self-questioning, indicating that the inclusion of the tasks as a regular part of class design is as important as implementing journals. When designed with clear expectations, meaningful grade weighting, and structured rubrics, reflective journals build metacognitive awareness and move students toward genuine knowledge construction.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to rapidly adapt to remote teaching, profoundly affecting their professional and personal lives. These abrupt changes disrupted daily routines, heightened stress, and raised concerns about long-term well-being. Understanding how teachers’ lifestyles and mental health were impacted is crucial for designing effective support strategies during crises.

Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 105 teachers using an online questionnaire. Data collected included sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle habits (Fantastic Lifestyle Questionnaire), and psychological indicators (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—EADS-21). The intervention component focused on promoting healthy eating behaviors.

Results: Most participants were female (88.6%), over 51 years of age (60%), and had more than 15 years of teaching experience (86.7%). Remote teaching required 93.3% of respondents to reorganize work schedules, while 89.5% reported modifying lifestyle and family routines. Over half expressed dissatisfaction with teleworking. Results from the EADS-21 revealed that stress showed the highest mean score (0.98), indicating a considerable burden compared with depression and anxiety. These findings suggest that lifestyle disruptions and professional pressures contributed to increased stress levels among teachers.

Conclusions: Educators experienced significant lifestyle changes, high stress, and dissatisfaction with telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results highlight the urgent need for targeted health promotion programs, particularly those addressing stress management and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Future research should focus on the long-term effects of such interventions on teachers’ mental health, resilience, and professional performance.

Textbooks play a central role in mathematics education, structuring learning, guiding teachers, and influencing teaching practices (Remillard, 2005; Ball & Cohen, 1996).

This paper presents an analysis of secondary school textbooks using the theory of Modeling Eliciting Activities (MEA) and semiotic register theory (Duval, 1993). The MEA approach, created by Lesh et al. (1987), aims to develop open-ended, contextualized activities that encourage students to construct mathematical models applicable in various contexts.

The analysis of textbooks is conducted using the evaluation criteria proposed by Lesh and Doerr (2003), which examine authenticity and contextual relevance, openness and cognitive complexity, construction of mathematical models, transferability of models, communication and collaboration, and evaluation and feedback.

This study adopts a comparative qualitative approach focusing on the following textbooks from three countries (Morocco, Italy, and the Philippines):

• "Al Mofide en Maths", edition : DAR ATTAKAFA, 2018.
• "Manuale blu 2.0 di matematica", third edition, 2020.
• "Matematica blu 2.0", third edition, 2020.
• "Basic Calculus Learner’s Material", Department of Education, Republic of the Philippines. First Edition, 2017.
• "Precalculus Learner’s Material", Department of Education, Republic of the Philippines, First Edition, 2016.

To analyze these textbooks, an evaluation grid based on the six criteria proposed by Lesh and Doerr (2003) was developed and used to identify the presence and quality of modeling activities. Additionally, another grid was used to analyze the types of frameworks and semiotic registers employed in these textbooks.

Preliminary results show that most analyzed textbooks emphasize procedural exercises and offer limited opportunities for authentic modeling consistent with the MEA framework. Moreover, the use of semiotic registers is mainly restricted to symbolic representations, with limited coordination between graphical, tabular, and verbal registers, which may constrain students’ understanding and engagement in mathematical modeling processes.

This study synthesizes recent scholarship and policy guidance to propose a practical, measurable model for digitally enabled student partnership in higher education quality assurance (QA). Traditionally, institutions have measured student engagement by activity volume rather than its genuine impact on educational outcomes. This research maps how digital feedback and participation platforms—embedded within transparent governance structures—can shift QA from compliance-focused processes toward demonstrable improvements in program quality, student experience, and employability outcomes.

Drawing on European QA practice, Jisc sector-wide data, UNESCO ethical guidelines for AI and digital tools, and peer-reviewed studies on Students as Partners (SaP) and employability, the study develops testable propositions, a comprehensive implementation playbook, and key performance indicators (KPIs) with operational definitions and measurable targets. Utilizing a synthesis methodology combined with realist Context–Mechanism–Outcome (CMO) mapping, it integrates evidence from 2012 to 2025, emphasizing ethical oversight, equity, and human agency in digital engagement processes.

The research addresses critical gaps in current practice where student voice initiatives often lack systematic evaluation and fail to demonstrate tangible impact on educational quality. This model offers institutions and policymakers a clear, evidence-based roadmap for embedding authentic student partnership through digitally supported and ethically governed systems that are accountable, inclusive, and outcome-focused—advancing meaningful student involvement as a strategic driver of continuous quality enhancement and labor market relevance in contemporary higher education.

“Students can find facts on the internet; we should focus on teaching skills.” This observation is common among educators today, but it is also naïve and dangerous. If students lack a framework of accurate and well-connected facts for comparison, it is hard to evaluate new facts for accuracy or relevance. The key word in that sentence is framework. A new observation or internet “fact” might obviously support or contradict another fact in memory, but the real test is how it fits into a larger body of accepted knowledge. This seemingly abstract discussion has gained new urgency as the internet makes all kinds of “facts” easier to access. In this session, a short presentation and handouts will review 21^st-century research on the neural processes of perceiving, processing, and remembering spatial information—the specific category of facts that matter when analyzing any issue that has a geographic component, from agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, and disease to sustainability, tariffs, terrorism, and voting. Session participants then examine some ongoing efforts to develop internet-based presentations, readings, and age-appropriate student activities that engage students, target the brain networks that process spatial information, and help build a scaffold for further inquiry. The centerpiece of this scaffold is a set of interactive maps, which allow users to turn individual layers of information on or off. This website allows easy comparison of memorable maps that are carefully curated to provide background about latitude, resources, population density, cultural diversity, and several other ideas that are causally important around the world. The goal is to build a framework of fundamental geographic facts that can help students (and citizens) interpret information from other internet sites, especially those that promise to provide “a satellite image, ground-level view, and/or census information about any place on earth.”

Introduction: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become essential components of teaching and learning processes in higher education. Their adoption has been accelerated by global digitalization trends, yet disparities remain in terms of institutional support, training, and user experience. This study examines how students and professors in Latin American universities perceive the impact of ICT on educational quality, learning, and professional development.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 1,050 participants, including both students and teachers from various countries in Latin America. The instrument, validated through expert review and reliability testing, comprised multiple dimensions such as usability, accessibility, pedagogical contribution, and professional relevance. Descriptive analyses were complemented with inferential tests (t-tests and ANOVA) to explore differences by gender, age, institutional ownership, and academic role.

Results: The findings revealed that both students and faculty value ICT as an essential facilitator of communication, information access, and academic innovation. Nevertheless, important differences emerged: professors in private universities expressed greater satisfaction with ICT integration, while those in public institutions reported more barriers related to infrastructure and training. Gender and age differences were also evident, with younger participants showing higher confidence in adopting ICT tools. Despite these challenges, both groups recognized ICT as indispensable for improving higher education outcomes.

Conclusions: ICT adoption in Latin American universities is perceived as a driver of quality and modernization, yet its potential is hindered by inequalities in institutional support and digital competence. Expanding training opportunities and reducing infrastructural gaps are crucial steps to promote inclusive and effective ICT integration across the region’s higher education systems.

Happiness has become the core mission of 21st-century holistic education, yet its conceptualization is deeply bounded by cultural contexts. A critical gap in active education research remains: severely insufficient cross-cultural exploration between Eastern European and East Asian education systems. This paper fills this gap through a critical theoretical comparison of the cultural and philosophical foundations underpinning educational happiness concepts in China and Latvia.

Integrating Confucian/Taoist traditions with Nordic-European Enlightenment thoughts, and drawing on positive psychology frameworks (PERMA, Self-Determination Theory), this study develops a five-dimensional cross-cultural conceptual framework of educational happiness: harmonious relationships, purposeful engagement, moral-ethical development, psychological balance, and cultural foundation with identity.

The findings show that while peer relationships, teacher–student interactions, and meaningful learning are cross-cultural common pillars of happiness, fundamental conceptual divergences exist. In China’s educational context, happiness is rooted in collectivist ethics, often framed as resilience amid systemic academic pressure. In Latvia’s setting, happiness is built on individual autonomy, community belonging, and harmony with nature, treated as an inherent component of school experience.

This paper proposes a culture-responsive happiness education model to guide curriculum design and teaching practice, stressing that interventions must integrate local cultural values, educational system features, and students’ subjective needs. It offers a theoretical framework for global active education discourse, insights for context-specific happiness interventions in Central-Eastern European and East Asian secondary schools, and aligns closely with the conference’s S3 (Curriculum and Teaching) and S6 (Teacher Education) themes.