The world has changed drastically in terms of telecommunication, running online businesses and daily life activities to keep social distancing and to perform the regular everyday tasks since the pandemic COVID-19. Governments have several times declared smart, partial or full lockdowns to deal with the health crisis situation, that has impacted the social activities, gatherings and has impacted the functionality of several professions, including education that are directly or indirectly impacted by the lockdowns. In the education environment the students in large numbers are expected to gather for lectures, labs and meet folks from industry and/or other sectors. The lockdown required the teachers to come up with alternative to meeting in person to online meetings and adapting to online-synchronous and asynchronous teaching styles. To meet the targets set for an academic year, a distinctive rise in e-learning has been observed where teaching and learning is undertaken remotely using digital platforms. This study aims to reveal the impact of computer-assisted teaching on the development of technostress among Pakistani teachers during the pandemic COVID-19. In addition, the role of teachers’ self-efficacy is evaluated and motivation to leave the teaching profession is investigated in the coming endemic climate. The researchers have opted to a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional survey to generalize the statistically obtained results and test hypotheses. A total of 242 teachers at different levels of education voluntarily participated in the research during the lockdown from March to April 2020, where all regular educational activities were suspended and online classes were introduced as an alternative way to meet educational goals. The findings revealed that Learning Teaching Process Oriented and Technical Issues Oriented are the main contributing factors towards the development of technology stress and motivation to leave the teaching profession. Moreover, teachers' perception of self-efficacy in using computers is negatively associated with technology stress. It is recommended that computer-based instructional coaching be designed for teachers prior to engaging them in digitally oriented online courses to improve their self-efficacy in using computers and to promote a well-developed digital infrastructure to avoid the development of technology stress and discouragement for tutelage.

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PurposeIn this study, researchers applied blended learning program to investigate the success of a blended learning program on satisfaction of the psychological needs, and academic achievement of chemistry students of O-Levels, following curriculum prescribed by University of Cambridge.Design/methodology/approachResearch pattern is quantitative aligned with the quasi-experimental and pre-post experimental design which aimed at examining the efficiency of a motivational strategies adopted with the use of blended learning program on psychological needs satisfaction (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and achievement in chemistry O-Levels Syllabus, at the end of the research program.FindingsHypothesis testing represented that use of blended learning program has significant and positive impact on academic achievements through the mediation of autonomy. Results also revealed the substantial association of blended learning on other psychological needs (i.e., competence and relatedness); however, the competence and relatedness have no effect on academic achievements in this study. Thus, research concludes that providing an autonomous environment in substitution of the controlled environment promotes learning and produces positive outcomes.Originality/valueBlended learning or use of Learning Management Systems is being commonly used mostly in the tertiary level of studies; however, blended learning with secondary classes especially in the field of chemistry is yet not studied in detail. Similarly, the usefulness of the motivational strategies to learn chemistry is observed with university-level students, but very rare data about encouraging students at the secondary level have been gathered. Therefore, the researcher designed this blended learning program to enhance students’ motivation towards achievements in secondary chemistry.

This study intended to investigate the effects of Assessment as Learning (AaL) strategy on satisfaction of academic performance and motivational beliefs of ESL (English as Secondary Language) students of Public sector school. Using the quasi-experimental pre-post-test control group design, and assessment strategy recommended by Lee and Mak (2014), this study examined the effects of Assessment as Learning (AaL) on students’ studying ESL writing skills in Argumentative Essay. Through the convenience sampling technique, 60 ninth standard students were selected to participate in the study. Students' performance was analyzed with the help of Argumentative Essay Test and Motivation was investigated by using Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Both control and experimental groups were trained through traditional teaching ESL strategies; however, experimental group students practiced an additional intervention identified as "Assessment as Learning (AaL)" strategy. After seven weeks of study, both groups' performance and motivation were evaluated through post-tests. The data from pre-tests and post-tests were analysed by Independent Sample t-tests. The results demonstrated that the experiment group’s academic scores and motivation were significantly higher, thus the implementation of AaL practice is recommended to raise self-regulation and performance of students.

The study examined the common parental style and its influence on children’s aggressive behavior and academic achievements among Pakistani Children. One hundred and twenty parents (44 father and 76 mothers) and their preteen and teenaged children (46 boys and 84 girls) aged between 9 and 19 years were randomly selected from Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistani families in UAE, Ireland, and United Kingdom were randomly selected and included in studies. Academic achievements of children were found by demographic information. Parents filled in section A of the questionnaires, which measured parental styles in terms of their beliefs and practices and classified them into permissive, autocratic, and active parents. Children of the same parents filled section B of the same questionnaire to measure children’s antisocial behavior and aggression. Commonly found parenting style is authoritative and parenting practices are free of parents’ gender. Direct relation of autocratic parenting styles on increased level of aggression and diminution of academic achievement of child is found through regression analysis. Independent sample t test and one-way analysis of variance revealed similar trends in the development of aggression among girls and boys of different age groups. Similarly, academic achievements and aggression of children are found independent of each other. The impact of parent’s gender, qualification, and professionalism on parenting was also explored in the current study. Parent’s gender and educational achievements have no impact on parenting practices; however, profession of parent has influence on adoption of parenting practices in case of autocratic parenting style and further needs to be explored. Further research to surface other factors contributing to the development of aggression among juveniles is recommended.