This study investigates the beliefs and practices of secondary school mathematics teachers in Malta regarding the potential of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly through tools like ChatGPT, in teaching, using the TPACK framework. Through a case study methodology involving pre- and post-professional development (PD) session surveys and analysis of field notes, the research examines the alignment between teachers’ self-reported beliefs and pedagogical practices and their perceptions of ChatGPT’s utility. Findings show teachers, particularly those with discovery and connectionist educational philosophies, view ChatGPT positively, believing it fosters active learning, encourages exploration, and supports individualised engagement. Despite challenges like interpreting visual mathematical representations and inaccuracies, teachers see ChatGPT as a tool for creating practice problems, assessments, and personalised feedback, aligning with trends in existing literature. The study underscores the necessity of ongoing PD to equip teachers with the skills to integrate ChatGPT effectively into their pedagogy, suggesting a deeper understanding of both the opportunities and challenges presented by GenAI in education. The alignment of teachers’ beliefs and practices with their perceptions of ChatGPT’s potential suggests a readiness among educators to adopt innovative technologies that align with contemporary pedagogical values, enhancing the teaching and learning experience in mathematics. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on GenAI integration in education, highlighting the importance of aligning educational technology with teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices to maximise its benefits and recognising the potential of ChatGPT to change mathematics education by facilitating active engagement and personalised learning, while also acknowledging its limitations and ethical implications.

This paper investigates unplugged computing as a formal pedagogical strategy to teaching computing to a Maltese secondary class of Year 9 students. It aims at identifying the effectiveness of this pedagogy outlining the strengths and weaknesses in its application, taking into consideration the level of attainment for students, as well as the impact on teachers’ lesson preparation. This research study is based on the delivery of five unplugged activities. It analyses students’ reaction when exposed to such unplugged activities to assess the viability of using this pedagogy when teaching computing concepts in a formal setting. The study concludes that unplugged computing is an effective pedagogical strategy that helps attain a high level of engagement and student involvement, encouraging teamwork and collaboration. Students experience a wide attention span and good retention through the constant link of computing scenarios to real-life examples and the use of tangible non-computing related objects. Notwithstanding, the study also identifies certain limitations of this pedagogy, mainly that it is not sufficient as a standalone pedagogy, but needs to be applied in conjunction with other pedagogies to be able to cover all the expected learning objectives of the curriculum.

Programming is one of the most important aspects of a Computing course. Teaching programming is a challenging task due to a number of factors, ranging from lack of student problem solving skills to different teaching methods. This paper focuses on Maltese Computing teachers’ perspectives about the difficulties encountered when teaching programming to secondary school students in order to determine whether introducing programming to secondary school students through creating mobile-based games is an effective method to teach programming constructs. A resource pack consisting of various activities using MIT App Inventor 2 was created which incorporated constructivist approaches to teaching. This resource pack was reviewed by the teachers and their feedback was collected by means of a case study. The teachers agreed that developing mobile-based games would be highly stimulating to their students but there were uncertainties how this would affect students with different learning abilities and due to a general lack of computational thinking and problem-solving skills by most students.

The misalignment between the skills learned in tertiary education and the skills demanded by industry is well documented. One of the ways this misalignment can be reduced is through the introduction of an internship phase in degrees. This article identifies the perceived benefits and challenges that internship programmes offer academic staff in a tertiary educational facility. It also determines how feedback from the industry helps shape the curriculum of the degree. A qualitative case study is employed through interviews with various staff working at a tertiary education institution. The data generated is analysed using a thematic approach. The results show that internships not only place value on soft skills but also build a communication channel between the mentors that visit students whilst out on placement and the industry staff that oversee the students during the work-based phase. This mutually beneficial interaction between the industry and the education institution helps the mentors maintain familiarity with the latest technologies adopted in the industry and allows the industry to influence the curriculum of the degrees. Internships were shown to offer a means of advertising the skills gained in academia to the audience that would eventually employ the graduates.

MOOCs: Exploiting Networks for the Education of the Masses or Just a Trend?: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4904-0.ch018: MOOCs have become a new trend in education, taking the world by storm in 2012. Is this just a fad or is it because of their nature in opening education to the