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The approach to the support of gifted and talented children and youth has changed considerably in the past twenty years. While, until the 2000s, provision programmes predominantly focused on extracurricular activities for pupils, gifted education now follows a systemic and inclusive approach, including all (educational) institutions--kindergarten, school, college and university--as well as the family, the economy, the working world and the community. Furthermore, there have been considerable efforts to provide for gifted children within the regular classroom by way of differentiation and individualised learning. This new approach to talent support was first outlined in 2011 in the "White Paper Promoting Talent and Excellence," which the Austrian Research and Support Centre for the Gifted and Talented published in cooperation with the interministerial Giftedness Research and Gifted Education Task Force. The present article outlines the reasons that led to this new strategy, explains its main features and attempts an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses.

Pre-service teachers often express a strong desire for more practical experience in teacher education, which requires teacher educators to consider new, meaningful opportunities for field experiences. This paper aims to bridge the gap between two 'practice worlds' - university teacher education and school practice - based on the example of the Austrian 'Partner School Programme' in order to overcome the theory-practice divide. In this conceptual paper, we explore how the 'Partner School Programme' has aimed at bridging the two 'practice worlds' by enhancing collaboration between universities and schools in different ways: pre-service teachers can take part in fieldwork in schools within the framework of a project ("project-based learning"), a research activity ("community-based research") or an organised service ("service-learning"). The paper shows the relevance of developing integrated approaches for encouraging pre-service teachers' reflective practice as thorough preparation for their subsequent careers and provides teacher educators with new ideas for practical fieldwork.

This paper explores ways to integrate social justice issues pertaining to decolonization and anti-racism into the world language classroom at all levels of instruction. It describes tasks designed to introduce language learners briefly to German colonialism, raise awareness of colonial legacies in contemporary German-speaking societies, and familiarize students with current decolonization initiatives. By engaging students with the complex diversity of German-speaking societies, the tasks provide examples for diversifying and decolonizing the language curriculum while fostering collaboration, critical thinking, and transcultural sensitivity. The examples highlight approaches to anti-racist pedagogies and ways of incorporating social justice practices across all levels of instruction and applicable to all languages.

Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM) is a discourseoriented learning environment that engages students from diverse cultural backgrounds to participate in collaborative knowledge construction. The objective is to evolve a thematic approach to course design that includes elements of open pedagogy, information literacy, and metaliteracy. IPILM invites participation from educators and learners from around the world and has witnessed an increase in participating countries. This paper describes the concept of IPILM and demonstrates the implementation of this approach in practice. The initiative was well received by students and is both feasible and sustainable as an intercultural learning endeavor. IPILM is an ongoing project and a work in progress that is an adaptable model which may be transferred to disparate fields of teaching and learning or adopted by international communities of instructors.

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through the perspective of university models and missions, noticing relevant aspects regarding the evolution of this institution over time, as well as the transformations undergone. We also consider the main challenges that current higher education systems face in the 21st century. As methodological approaches, we carry out a literature review complemented by a comparative analysis based on data from the higher education systems of ten European countries. The findings show that HEIs can contribute to development through their missions, which are related to the models of higher education. Their first mission (teaching) contributes to improving human capital and attracting highly qualified people to their regions; the second mission (research) improves scientific knowledge which can foster innovative activities; and the third mission (community service) acts as a link between research and business, including patents, business incubators, and collaboration agreements. We also conclude that the challenges of higher education in the 21st century can be categorised essentially in three main areas: (1) globalisation and massification of higher education, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs' missions and diversification of the educational supply to attract new students; (2) new technologies related to the digitalisation of teaching and distance learning; and (3) higher education entrepreneurship, showing the importance of university-company relationships. This paper provides a global setting for a reflection on the role of HEIs in the 21st century, given their connection with society and the need for a more effective contribution to socio-economic development.

This article investigates teachers' professional identity of beginning first-year students through their beliefs about being a teacher. The presented study focuses on Austrian teacher students' (N=18) conceptions of becoming a professional; what convictions student teachers reflect on, which professional identity emerges and what synthesis of a professional teacher identity position can be portrayed at the beginning of teacher education. Through inductively driven content analysis all statements (N=401) have been combined, and a unified synthesis of a beginning student teachers' professional identity was formed. Three main categories were found: the "ideal" teacher, "good" teaching, and the "optimal" working environment. The results showed a highly idealistic view of being a teacher. The majority of statements referred to teaching from a pupil-centered perspective by strongly emphasising personality traits, student-teacher relationships, and teachers' professional knowledge. Based on the results, the role of professional identity in Austrian's teacher education is discussed, and further implementations in research are recommended. [This paper was presented at the TDID Doctoral Students' Conference, 14-16 May 2020.]

This paper reports results from a quantitative curriculum study on literature modules in Austrian undergraduate teacher education programmes. In order to optimise course delivery in literature classes at the University College of Education Upper Austria (PHOÖ), reading habits and attitudes of 153 first-year EFL students for secondary school education were assessed in an online-questionnaire. The questionnaire examined students' exposure to literary texts, their self-assessment as avid readers, their performative literacy, and their preferred reading stance. Results show rather limited avid reading, a self-centred performative literacy as well as a profoundly pragmatic reading stance. Such habits and attitudes could not only jeopardise success within the current teacher education study programmes but also aggravate the well-known Peter Effect, rendering prospective EFL teachers incapable of inspiring enthusiasm for literary reading in their future students. After discussing these results, the paper concludes with potential ramifications for curricular revisions as well as avenues for further research.

Due to the rising linguistic heterogeneity in schools, the inclusion of pupils with a first language other than the language of instruction is one of the major challenges of education systems all over the world. In this paper, attitudes of in-service teachers, pre-service teachers and parents towards the inclusion of pupils with a first language other than the language of instruction are examined. Additionally, as the paper focused on how the participants perceive the development of this pupils in different school settings (fully included, partly included, fully segregated). Data from 1501 participants were investigated. Descriptive results showed that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the inclusive schooling of pupils with different language skills in composite classes were rather positive, while attitudes of in-service teachers and parents rather tend to be neutral. Regarding the results concerning the participants' attitudes towards the pupils' development in different school settings, all three sub-groups belief that pupils with German as first language would develop in a more positive way, compared to pupils without German as first language. Moreover, the migration background of pre-service teachers and parents had a positive influence on the participants' attitudes.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the manoeuvring room of higher education institutions to take action to reduce emissions from academic flying. In particular, this study investigates how university staff and central actors in university management evaluate potential measures in this area. Design/methodology/approach: The authors applied a single case study design encompassing an online survey directed at staff (N = 338) and 11 semi-structured interviews with key actors from management at an Austrian university. The authors used descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis to examine the data. Findings: This study found considerable support among university staff in principle for implementing measures to reduce academic flying, but also serious concerns about the fairness and viability of some restrictive measures, especially disincentives and caps on flying. However, bans on short-haul flights were largely supported. Actors from university management saw their manoeuvring room limited by the potential resistance and non-compliance of staff, as well as by framework conditions external to the university. Practical implications: Dedicated leadership is needed to facilitate broad commitment within the university and to avoid shifting the responsibility between different governance levels. Restrictive measures to reduce academic air travel will be more readily accepted if perceived as fair and viable. Originality/value: Although several papers have addressed the behavioural and institutional factors that sustain extensive flying in academia, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first contributions to investigate the potentials and challenges of introducing measures to reduce air travel in higher education institutions.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the effects of digital transformation on educational institutions and to outline the challenges that arise and need to be addressed in this context. Teaching and learning processes should be continuously developed due to changes in educational requirements as well as social and technological changes. Therefore, within this paper, these technological changes are described in the first step. In the next step, the challenges facing higher education institutions, as a result of digital transformation are discussed, and strategies for the further development of higher education, regarding digital transformation, are described. In this context, a research study that focuses on the self- assessment of the digital competencies of students is outlined and the results are presented. The first results emphasize the need for further development in technology-supported teaching and learning processes at higher education institutions. The implementation of technology-supported teaching and learning settings and the rethinking of present teaching content is seen as both a challenge and an opportunity for preparing students -- as well as lecturers -- for digital transformation. With regard to the current COVID-19 situation, this is a challenge that must be met sooner rather than later.

Open educational resource (OER) as free teaching and learning materials can contribute to the collaborative design and development of teaching. To support higher education teachers in their work with teaching in general and OER in particular and to encourage their use of OER, it is necessary to pay attention to their needs and requirements. This paper presents the results of a research project, identifying the usage behaviour of German-speaking higher education teachers. In an interview study, they were asked about their experience with OER to get detailed insights into their practices concerning their 'use' and 'revise' of materials. From this, four user types were derived according to different OER activities, such as creating, reusing, editing, and publishing OER, and their scope. Finally, these user types are transferred to considerations when designing OER infrastructures and establishing support options. These are aligned with the specifics of each user type, making the research findings a complementary contribution for application in higher education.

Teacher education's primary goal is to train prospective teachers, which differs from study programmes, such as philosophy or mathematics, that do not cater to defined professions. This traditional understanding of the teaching profession becomes apparent when students ask: 'How is this content, topic, method, task, or question relevant to school work?' It is also reflected in the inclusion of practical school training in teacher education curricula. In Austria's teacher training, these practical elements are accompanied by theoretical and methodological teaching foundations. However, students often question the applicability of theoretical knowledge to the teaching profession, which creates tension between the academic and pedagogical orientations. This paper discusses these very theory-practice tensions in teacher education based on findings from the project Habitus.Power.Education, which involved student teachers at an Austrian university. We argue that teacher training at universities is neither merely a place for producing a future workforce nor a self-growth space without purpose. Teacher training, rather, combines both (sometimes ambivalent) elements: education in its broadest sense and professional training. Using our empirical material, we show that the theory-praxis gap manifests in the tension between academic and pedagogical orientation. To address and mediate this tension, we propose the concept of habitus reflexivity. Promoting such a form of reflexivity among students makes it possible to bridge the gap between the different logics of university and school. Furthermore, it helps to comprehend inequality and power imbalances in the education system and develop agency, which is essential for navigating the ever-changing and complex world of modern schools.

The paper focusses on a collaboration between academia and industry. As an introduction, we present typical behavior of university researchers, who often define the area of application without consulting it with industrial partners, and we propose different approach which led to the definition of the scope of the WrightBroS project. The project, entitled "Collaborative Factory of the Flight Simulators Branch of RISE" is financed by the European Union in the frame of Horizon 2020 MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) programme. The international Consortium composed of Higher education (Silesian University of Technology from Poland) and industrial (LG Nexera from Austria and Virtual Reality Media from Slovakia) sectors, has designed a project as a collaborative platform whose know-how results from knowledge sharing among partners. Then, from the experience gained in the implementation of the WrightBroS and other similar projects, by using case-study methodology we demonstrate how representatives of education and industry in the new joint environment supplement each other in common research efforts. We also present methods for knowledge sharing, in particular achieved by intersectoral staff exchanging. Then we present the results achieved by collaboration of Higher Education with Industry in the WrightBroS project. Finally, the discussion in the context of tackling broader challenges of intersectoral collaboration leads to the conclusions that this kind of environment is very efficient way to overcome typical difficulties in academia and industry dialog, which is so common in the global world.

Geospatial technologies have revolutionised the field of hazard research as well as geography field-courses, providing powerful tools to analyse and visualise geospatial data for decision-making purposes. This paper presents a case study of Paper2GIS, an application for field data collection tested during an international field course in Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland. The field course was designed to expose students to the practical application of interdisciplinary geospatial technologies in hazard research. Students experienced geological/physical geography field mapping as well as data collection using Paper2GIS. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of Paper2GIS in facilitating hazard research with a participatory component, as well as the simplification of data collection during geography field courses. Paper2GIS proved to be an effective tool for enhancing collaboration, data visualisation, and decision-making. The findings provide valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and educators looking to incorporate low-tech geospatial technologies into their work.

This follow-up study presents a design-based research (DBR) setting implemented over a three-year project called 'eKidZ - Teach Your Parents Well' which uses research-based learning and follows the four phases of DBR. In an iterative cycle, 20 teenagers aged 14-16 took on the role of researchers and investigated intergenerational learning and the multiplier effects of students participating in the Climate Change Education project 'k.i.d.Z.21 - Competent into the Future' on their parents, using the complete research process. Simultaneously, scientists implemented and tested the DBR setting to validate student research findings and to evaluate the quality of the educational setting. In this fully integrated DBR, using multiple methods (quantitative and qualitative), educational and scientific perspectives are brought together to evaluate students' findings and draw conclusions regarding their learning effects. These research results demonstrate that not only did students generate valid and reliable research, but - when changing perspectives - teenagers also contribute to the discussion about closing the gaps in science education and practice. By examining young people's research on Climate Change Education and recognising their contribution in scientific discourse, this paper offers a host of new insights. Highlights: Teenagers take on the role of researchers and perform reliable and valid research results on intergenerational learning and multiplier effects in Climate Change Education, by completing all phases of research-based learning. Design-based research is an effective method to combine science and education and thus delivering novel insights into science education and practice. High-quality Climate Change Education fosters constructive cooperation among all participants with inter - and intragenerational learning and multiplier effects. Constructivism, transdisciplinarity and research-based learning form the basis for effective design-based research and Climate Change Education.

From an understanding of knowledge mobilisation as a set of strategies that favour responsible and inclusive research, the aim of this paper is to identify the obstacles or barriers to carrying out such research in higher education institutions, as perceived by researchers. In this descriptive study, content analysis is used to examine semi-structured interviews carried out with eighty research groups from five European countries (Austria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain) that participated in the research. Results reveal the main barriers researchers perceived are associated with social commitment, relational aspects, encouragement to participate (attitudinal, organisational and institutional barriers) and knowledge mobilisation practices (derived from the research process and research evaluation policies). Ethical and policy implications for more responsible and inclusive research are drawn in the conclusions.

Purpose: While sustainability experts point to interrelated social, economic and environmental goals, students may think about sustainability primarily as natural resources. To prepare students to tackle global challenges to well-being, this paper aims to show that educators need to assess and address students' shortcomings in considering socioeconomic dimensions. Design/methodology/approach: This study coded essays on the meaning and components of sustainability written by 93 undergraduate and graduate students in environmental policy, business and engineering courses at US and Austrian universities. Then, the study reviewed a teaching strategy using diverse experts, case studies and assignments. Finally, the analysis evaluated students' final projects proposing sustainability legislation with social, economic and environmental dimensions. Findings: Students usually connect sustainability with limited natural resources affecting current and future generations, but seldom think that sustainability means acting on prominent socioeconomic challenges like poverty, food insecurity, pandemics and violence. Teaching in diverse courses through multidimensional case studies and legislation broadened and deepened students' understanding and preparedness to act. Originality/value: Despite experts' attention to the interconnected Sustainable Development Goals, educators and policymakers need information on whether students associate sustainability with socioeconomic challenges. Open-response questions can reveal gaps in the respondents' sustainability beliefs. In a wide range of courses, teaching can use diverse experts and multidimensional case studies and legislative assignments.

Purpose: Sustainability is a major concern in education policies. This paper aims to describe how alternative economic education including concepts of the circular economy (CE), cradle to cradle (C2C) and zero waste can be addressed by teacher education. The author asks to what extent such alternative concepts contribute to sustainability education and transitions and empower students and future teachers, through fieldtrips. Design/methodology/approach: Fieldtrips to three extracurricular learning places in Graz (Austria) -- a plastic waste disposal facility, an upcycling design atelier and a supermarket without packaging -- were organized as part of a university seminar on economy and sustainability. Based on student essays reflecting the fieldtrips, this praxeological paper provides insights on how students perceive awareness-raising and innovative responses to mass consumption, recycling/upcycling and waste prevention issues. Findings: Including altermatic economic frameworks, such as CE/C2C and zero waste, into teacher education contributes to reflections on the economic growth paradigm and promotes more sustainable futures. In various statements, students highlighted social-ecological change and awareness-raising. They rather focussed on recycling, upcycling and (plastic) packaging than on the problematic eco-efficiency of downcycling. Originality/value: Alternative economic concepts can be addressed and critically reflected in sustainability education, even if rarely taught. Although the extracurricular learning places described offer partial solution from the perspective of degrowth, they can serve as an eye-opener and promote alternative economic education, where students can share experiences, knowledge and creative ideas to engage in sustainability transitions.

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

This paper examines practices of teaching and learning in the era of digitalization. More specifically, it addresses practices of teaching and learning for students with professional experience who work alongside their studies. Based on the assumption that digitalization is a means of allowing more open and flexible pathways for teaching and learning in higher education, the paper focuses on the perspectives and perceptions of both students and teachers in digital supported teaching and learning environments as forms of blended learning. It brings together findings from two qualitative empirical studies: one focused on students' perspectives of their development over the course of their studies; the second addressed teachers' perspectives and their teaching strategies and activities. Based on the findings of these two research studies, the paper outlines future perspectives for teaching and learning and the role of digitalization, with a particular emphasis on programs of lifelong learning at universities.

The aim of this paper is to unfold the process of integration in CLIL by describing the role of the cognitive processes involved in the construction of knowledge. While there has been extensive research of various aspects of CLIL, the actual process of integration of content and language has largely been neglected. Therefore, this paper argues that the role of language in building knowledge has to be stressed further and made transparent to CLIL practitioners, particularly in "hard" versions of CLIL. Raising teachers' awareness of the epistemic function of language and drawing their attention to the human cognitive architecture can help them achieve a higher level of understanding of the process of integration of content and language. Using the example of a task taken from a training course for CLIL teachers, this paper describes how a focus on the cognitive architecture of learners can improve the integration of content and language in CLIL.

In this paper, the author analyzes 89 studies published from 1990 through 2020 that focused on literacy preservice teachers' involvement in action research as part of learning to teach. In doing so, the author provides an example of why critical reflexivity is necessary in qualitative literature review methods. The author relies on a social practice view of race and uses activity theory to answer the questions: How have researchers considered race as a factor in research on literacy preservice teacher education? How can preservice teachers' experience with research be (re)designed to help develop their racial literacy? Findings demonstrate that in the reviewed studies, 51% of researchers addressed preservice teachers' race, and 34% addressed K-12 students' race. Far fewer studies, however, acknowledged their own race or that of field supervisors and mentor teachers, which ultimately minimized their roles. Findings also emphasize four design principles for literacy teacher education programs that aim to include research: collaboration between K-12 partners and universities; selective teacher educator scaffolding; engagement with diverse communities; and extensive time spent as part of the pathway toward racial literacy. The implications and uses of an existing literature base that reflects shifting reporting standards related to race are also examined.

The aim of this paper is to outline the consequences which arise from the digital transformation of the multidimensional teaching and learning setting of practice enterprises and to discuss how digital collaboration of students can be supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an evolutionary moment also in the field of education, one can consider the experiences of COVID-19 as a catalyst for digital transformation and distance learning in education. How digital collaboration can be fostered in times of distance learning is shown by using the example of business simulations such as practice enterprises (PE). While previously this multidimensional teaching and learning setting was organized to a large extent onsite in a special classroom, a new learning and working environment had to be created with the transition to distance learning. By presenting two specific PE-activities (the Erasmus+ Project HEIPNET and the Online Trading Day at the University of Graz) a better insight is gained into how practice enterprises work and how the digitalization of teaching and learning settings is achieved in this context. It is concluded that COVID-19 has led to an accelerated need for teachers to rethink their didactical settings, with the role of the teacher as a designer of an adequate learning and working environment getting even more relevant than before. In addition, the article aims to identify opportunities to promote digital collaboration and contribute to learners' employability.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

This paper deals with a set of geometrical problems for mathematical problem-solving at different difficulty levels. All of these are presented as national flags and one has to investigate invariant area proportions when changing the locus of any corner of the flag. This dynamic element suggests the usage of dynamical geometry environments. Considering applications in mathematics classes, it allows training students' ability to find a proof above all in the phases of production of a conjecture and exploration of the conjecture. First, the paper introduces results of selected studies on reasoning and proof in mathematics classes. Then the formulation of the problems and their sample solutions are given. Finally, the paper reports on experiences teaching some of the posed problems.

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

In an increasingly complex interconnected world, STEAM practices have gained attention in Higher Education (HE). The integration of Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics pedagogies with those from the Arts takes many forms with myriad intentions, processes and outcomes. Common aspirations pertain to equipping students with interdisciplinary skills required for the jobs market, increasing intellectual curiosity and collaboratively developing creative, socially equitable responses to complex global challenges. The Erasmus+ project "STEAM Innovation and Curriculum" involves seven European partners who have been pioneering STEAM approaches and methods. Using workshops, discussions, hacking processes and reflective practice, this collaborative work is the first comprehensive attempt to systematically analyse and showcase European approaches to STEAM in HE. Project outputs relate to the three project phases and include defining STEAM and a Handbook on STEAM approaches (Phase 1), the development of new STEAM methods (Phase 2) and developing evaluation frameworks (Phase 3). The Handbook collects and codifies HE STEAM approaches and provides a working definition highlighting key elements of STEAM projects and processes as well as guidance and inspiration for those looking to develop and introduce STEAM approaches in their institution. This paper focuses on Phase 1 outcomes and insights to help foster STEAM thinking and to tackle issues around joint STEM/Arts standards, and concerns in the HE arena such as modes of intellectual investigation, curriculum planning and the case for inter- and transdisciplinarity.

Because innovations in media technologies affect all aspects of our daily lives, multimodal and computational literacies are becoming increasingly important as a way to empower English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in their second language practices. Content-sharing platforms, such as YouTube, provide instant access to authentic language environments in a wide variety of contexts. While many learners operate emergent software services intuitively and with great ease, their potential benefits for language learning remain widely unexplored. This paper examines multimodal and computational meaning-making practices in EFL contexts from a theoretical and empirical perspective. More specifically, it focuses on how competencies in multimodal meaning-making and software programming can be combined with the lexical approach to language learning when repurposing YouTube videos to teach English idioms and phrases. Based on a prototype language learning website designed and implemented by students at the University of Klagenfurt and improved by students from Bundeswehr University Munich, the paper identifies fundamental literacy skills required for a critical and self-determined application of software services in English language classrooms in terms of four emergent digital meaning-making practices: multilinear choices, multimodal meaning-making, data curation and procedural reasoning. The prototype language learning website that evolved as part of this project can be accessed at www.lingo.farm.

Online courses have become an increasingly attractive format for delivering teacher training. However, the low retention rates are a critical and still unsolved issue. This paper presents the results of a randomized controlled trial aimed at testing the impact of a personalized support model on teachers' retention in online training courses. The support consisted of a package of nine messages triggered by teachers' characteristics and their specific (in)actions on the course platform. The study involved 3,777 lower-secondary education professional and student teachers from nine European Union Member States and Turkey, who were invited to participate in four new online courses in school year 2018/2019. The experimental estimates show that the offered support increased course completion by 10 percentage points among professional teachers in EU Member States, while it had no effects among student teachers nor in Turkey. Implications for online teacher training providers--such as the importance of reaching out to participants with poor online training experience and who do not start the courses in time--are discussed.

Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including potential students) and to groups in risk of social exclusion (immigrants, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, etc.) or in need of various kinds of care and support. However, for libraries to be able to fulfil those tasks, they need properly trained staff who not only have the required competencies but also the right social attitudes. The paper presents an analysis of the social attitudes of academic librarians from twenty countries across the world as compared to the personnel of other types of libraries. The level of individual social capital, activity in social networks, aspirations in life and social and civic engagement were investigated. It was noted that the respondents tend to undervalue the importance of the work done by libraries for local communities. At the same time, the research showed that academic librarians have a somewhat lower level of individual social capital and trust than public librarians and less extensive social networks. Nonetheless, they are open to relationships with others, which enables them to engage in various social projects.

The paper begins with an overview of migration-related diversity in Austria and Ireland, both countries with high levels of cultural, linguistic and religious diversity in schools. Research in Europe indicates that migration produces a new context for teaching, for which many teachers do not feel sufficiently prepared. Hence, teacher education is at stake and rarely looked at systematically in migration-related research in education. Therefore, in this article secondary teacher education courses are analysed to ascertain how higher education institutions in these two countries are preparing secondary teachers for culturally responsive teaching. After describing the methodology used to examine the Initial Teacher Education curricula of the two countries an analysis of the research findings is provided. It turns out that relevant courses in the compulsory sections of the curricula are largely missing in both countries. Finally, based on an analysis of the literature and research findings, a discussion of the consequences for teacher education together with recommendations for improvement are formulated. It provides countries with a foundational discourse to equip student teachers with the necessary skills to embed cultural responsivity into their classrooms upon completion of their apprenticeship for teaching.

The phenomenon of increasing tuition fees is one of the factors which reinforce the increasingly consumerist attitudes among students towards the product (understood as a whole process of university education) they receive from universities. The aim of the study is to characterise the difference between the expectations of students and the extent to which those expectations are met by universities. This analysis also focuses on the conditions that determine this perception of what universities offer and discusses selected issues concerning the relations between universities and industry. The findings demonstrate why creativity, apart from practical knowledge, is one of the most important aspects in the process of education, where a student's graduation work is aimed at solving specific problems in companies and institutions. In the empirical part of the paper, students' opinions about the importance of selected aspects of the education process are compared with the level of support provided by universities. The research covered 505 students of economics from 10 different countries. Their expectations of the educational process with regard to the majority of its aspects (apart from theoretical knowledge) proved to be higher than those of their universities. The findings of this research may thus be useful in formulating optimal study plans.

Knowledge in Computer Science (CS) is essential, and companies have increased their demands for CS professionals. Despite this, many jobs remain vacant. Furthermore, computational thinking (CT) skills are required in all contexts of problem solving. A further serious problem arises from the gender disparity in technology related fields. Even if tech companies want to hire women in technology, the number of women who enter these fields is remarkably low. In high schools with no technical focus, most teenagers acquire only low-level skills in CS. The consequences are misleading preconceptions about the fundamental ideas of CS and stereotype-based expectations. Consequently, many teenagers exclude computing from their career path. In this paper, two promising concepts to overcome these challenges are presented. In 2018, a voluntary gamified lecture "Design your own app", held at the University of Graz for students of all degree programs, was introduced. The course attracted over 200 students and received positive evaluations. This led to the second concept. In January 2019, a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) with the title "Get FIT in Computer Science" was designed and launched in August 2019 on the platform iMooX.at with the goal to provide a basic introduction to different concepts of CS, including programming and the application of game design strategies. The MOOC was accompanied by an offline lecture, following the principles of flipped classroom and inverse blended learning. For evaluation purposes, we collected data at three stages: 1) during the MOOC, 2) during the offline lecture, and 3) two months after the lecture. The results showed that the MOOC framework was a promising approach to support and motivate at least a certain group of first-semester students, especially those who had no prior knowledge in CS.

Teaching through research has a great potential for Master's studies. The paper presents how this has been done in a particular case, comparing scientific and subjective theories, and how this course was simultaneously used to do research about this topic. The course proved to be a win-win-situation for the students and for the teacher/researcher. The rational and the method of the assessment and analysis of subjective theories through the dialogue-consent method is described and applied to the analysis of scientific theories. The procedures with the students is then presented, which differs slightly from the standard dialogue-consent procedures. In the result section, first, some outcomes of the data analysis are presented, then based on the students' papers their experiences are described. The discussion section shows in what regard the course was beneficial to the students and for research.

The purpose of this paper is to review the role of software within an ePortfolio (ePF) initiative for students of a five-semester master's program for Business Education and Development. The didactical aim of the ePF initiative presented is to enhance students' ability for (self-)reflection. An accompanying study of the implementation process allows for evaluating the impact of the ePF initiative as well as for the evaluation of its implementation. At six points of time students fill in questionnaires regarding their self-perception of their own competences and their rating of the side conditions of the implementation, leading to 1,925 questionnaires up to September 2018. Results show a positive impact on students' self-perception of their own competences and the perceived importance of self-reflective learning. Regarding the ePF implementation, students generally value the ePF work, especially with regard to the support of their reflection process by an external coach. However, they criticize the time intensity of the reflection process, resulting in the need of a clear communication of the aims of portfolio work to uphold students' motivation. Although the software only represents a side condition in the ePF initiative discussed, students have specifically criticized the software provided -- leading to the conclusion that the software might act as hygiene factor on students' motivation to reflect. From these findings arises the need for further research, which is subject to an interview study among the participants of the ePF initiative being currently in preparation.

This paper reports on crossing borders virtually via an e-Tandem scheme and presents the findings of a study, in which students of English from an Austrian university were paired with students of German from the UK and the USA. Drawing on data from 19 in-depth interviews, the study aims to identify links between e-Tandem language learning and foreign language enjoyment (FLE) (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014, 2016). A category-based qualitative text analysis (Kuckartz, 2014) revealed that a majority of the interviewees felt e-Tandem language learning contributed to their FLE. Furthermore, a range of reasons underlying students' perceived enjoyment of learning a language in Tandem emerged: having authentic conversations in the target language with L1 (first language) users (Dewaele, 2018), perceiving each other as cultural mediators and a difference from language classroom contexts on the level of power relations, which made students feel more at ease. Helping each other, receiving one-on-one feedback and perceiving improvement in their linguistic mastery were furthermore mentioned as factors they felt boosted their enjoyment and so was developing friendships with L1 users. According to the interviewees, these aspects specifically increased their interest and enjoyment in using and learning the language and their eudaimonic happiness. The findings demonstrate that e-Tandem language learning can be a resource to enhance perceived enjoyment in foreign language learners at tertiary level and they illustrate that social and private components of FLE seem to be interlinked.

The aim of this paper is to give an insight into the perspectives of Erasmus students. The focus is on their experience, in particular, and how and to what degree ELF speakers in the study became accustomed to a new educational environment, and whether any obstacles materialised in the process. The goal is to demonstrate the significance of ELF-awareness and the role of English in this particular speech community. Qualitative methods were deployed to obtain the research results i.e. semi-structured, informal ELF conversations between Erasmus exchange students at a university in Austria were tape-recorded and transcribed accordingly. During the interviews, students were asked questions about English as spoken at the university, and were instructed to compare and contrast the experiences gained at a university in Austria with those at their primary universities of instruction. The analysis will show the extent to which a new surrounding can influence the attitudes of Erasmus students.

The article states the analysis of the curriculum that regulates the main purposes, essence and directions for petroleum training. The importance and necessity of positive usage of Austrian, English and Norwegian experience at the time of petroleum engineers training in the petroleum industry has been stressed on. The structure and content of curricula in the process of the petroleum engineers training at the universities of pointed out countries have been analyzed. It has been designated that the terms "curriculum" and "programme" are connected with such outstanding British and American scholars as A. Bosanquet, D. Clark, S. Fraser, F. Hunkins, L. Lattuca, M. Linn, G. O'Neill, A. Ornstein, J. Stark et al. Based on their views it has been found out that these papers define the basic goals, meanings and essential rules for training. It has been outlined that an educational program plays a principal part in the organization of higher technical education, both as the way of interplay and as the foundation for judgment and student appraisal. Three beds of curriculum, e.g. national curriculum, internal, or municipal curriculum, university curriculum and annual plan are considered. All these are designed in an accessible, broad and collective methods, thus, educational program is more a series of actions to achieve results than a commodity. In essence, curriculum is a key paper and it considers the comprehension of humankind, community and training; it also combines the work of any university to regional and nationwide tactics. Moreover, lecturers develop their own provincial curricula established on their national certificates. Close attention has been paid to key contextual filters that influence the curriculum planning process. It has been emphasized that a curriculum is formed on future direction and competence-based pertaining to thought; it is integrated and condensed, it joins all fields of training and university activity. The article discloses special aspects of petroleum specialists' cycle education. The requirements of employers towards HEI graduates' competences are presented.

Purpose: Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This paper aims to reveal whether selected universities in Australia and Austria meet the reporting expectations about their activities on sustainability in very heterogeneous environments. Design/methodology/approach: Annual reports of selected universities in Australia and Austria are screened by the qualitative text analysis suggested by Mayring to identify their information policy on sustainability. Following the standard definitions, sustainability comprises economic, environmental and social aspects as main categories, which are supplemented further by specifically adapted eight subcategories. Findings: The results reveal that the universities concentrate on economic information, preferably on accounting, whereas social aspects are of second importance. Environmental activities that essentially shape the image of sustainability for the majority of the stakeholders are mostly unattended. Research limitations/implications: For further research, the authors suggest analyzing the reports of additional countries to get a bigger picture on the role of sustainability information in university reporting. Possible limitations are because of language use and time requirements, as each report must be encoded manually. Practical implications: The results reveal the gaps that standard setters should fill by enforcing sustainability content in universities' reports. Originality/value: This paper is the first to analyze the annual reports of international universities in respect to sustainability. Hereby, we further fill a gap by applying a qualitative text analysis on the basis of individually derived categories to reveal the sustainability aspects more precisely.

To investigate how physics students perceived the sudden shift to online learning at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, 18 semistructured interviews were conducted with university students in Austria, Croatia, and Germany. Based on the interviews, a questionnaire was developed and data from N ¼ 578 physics students from five universities in Germany, Austria, and Croatia were gathered. In this paper, we report how students perceived synchronous and asynchronous physics lessons, how their perception correlates with their self-organization skills, which activities and teaching methods were perceived as helpful, and what are the implications for future physics courses. The most common advantages of synchronous course elements reported by students were the possibility to immediately ask questions, the feeling of community and interaction with other students, and the defined daily structure, whereas the most common advantages of asynchronous course elements reported were flexible time management and the possibility to watch videos at their own pace. The data indicate a correlation between preference for synchronous courses and their general self-organization, so instructors should be aware of this connection when planning future courses. Face-to-face lectures at university were perceived as the most helpful course element, followed by the recorded lectures from the instructor and the group work on the assignments, projects, and problems with other students. Furthermore, our results suggest that most students would in the future like to preserve the upload of learning materials and recorded video of the lectures in addition to classroom lectures. Overall, the results of this study suggest that both synchronous and asynchronous course elements should be combined in future online and in-person physics courses.

In our paper, we aim to give an overview about the emergence and evolvement of the history of education in Hungary. Nevertheless, we intend to surpass the traditional approach of giving a schematic description of these processes as we would like to depict the interconnectedness of the Hungarian history of education with the European research tendencies and the thematic variety of the Hungarian research activities. We used literature analysis, historical source analysis and descriptive statistical analysis as primary methods. Within Hungary, we pay special attention to the University of Budapest but we also reflect special peculiarities regarding the other full universities in the country. The Hungarian history of education followed the pathway of the German-speaking countries regarding the approach and the function until 1948. History of education had a self-legitimising role in the emerging national education system and modernised university environment; however, this characteristic feature did not exclude the incorporation of international research approaches. This function was slightly altered in the interwar period since leading researchers of the subfield contributed to maintaining the ideological coherence of the political structure. During the socialist period, researchers were expected to follow the directives of their Soviet colleagues; however, in the 1970s the homogeneity in themes and research approaches began loosening. As the result of the political regime change in 1989/1990, Hungarian research was given an opportunity to be integrated into the European exchange of ideas and implement research approaches prevalent in Western countries.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of approaches to and insights for impact assessment on open educational resources (OER) in higher education and building on this to sketch a framework for university focussed OER impact assessment. The authors describe the literature on impact assessment in the OER context and the existing contributions to OER impact assessment in higher education. Findings of the analysis are that there are few contributions on the effects of OER in general or of specific OER initiatives. Four contributions are presented in more detail. From these examples and the literature analysis, derivations, and challenges for OER impact assessment are drawn, such as the large diversity in OER purposes and the invisibility of the re-usage of OER. The contribution sketches a framework model for describing OER-relevant results, outcomes, and impact, and more specifically demonstrates how this can be done for exemplary OER-related objectives. This contribution is thus of relevance to funding bodies and institutions working in the context of higher education that wish to systematically evaluate and monitor statements about the effectiveness of OER activities according to the UNESCO (2019) OER recommendation.

Purpose: Even though research on teacher wellbeing has recently generated considerable interest in the field of teacher psychology, investigations of the subjective wellbeing of ICLHE teachers remain relatively scarce and have not found their way into teacher development. It is therefore worth investigating whether teachers in tertiary education struggle or flourish in their role as ICLHE teachers, what factors appear to diminish or enhance their wellbeing and how teacher development can address these factors. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a nation-wide study on the subjective wellbeing of Austrian CLIL teachers in primary and secondary education, data for this paper were generated from ten semi-structured interviews with ICLHE teachers who discussed their ability to cope with the spate of new tasks and to remain optimistic despite the emotional and social demands they have to face. The findings below are the result of a thematic analysis following procedures laid out by Braun and Clarke ([2006] "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology." "Qualitative Research in Psychology" 3 (2): 77-101.). Findings: Our study shows that teachers manage the challenges of having to teach in English better if they perceive their work as rewarding, have a strong social network and see a clear purpose in their work. It seems that particularly in tertiary education, goals, motivation and possibly prestige connected with ICLHE help reduce the impact of stress and other challenges. Originality/value: Based on our findings, we developed a combined Interactive Balance Model for Managing Wellbeing which offers a feasible avenue to explore individuals' positive psychological resources. We hope that this model will provide a framework for effective ICLHE teacher development.

The goal of the university professional development course BINE is to encourage participants to address education for sustainable development (ESD) in a reflective way. The main aims are for the participants to learn about action research and to reflect and implement ESD in their work and institutions. This paper briefly describes the concepts of action research in relation to ESD and gives an overview of the structure of the course. The central part reports on the programme evaluation and the main results. Findings indicate that the systematic collection and analysis of data and the writing of a study are regarded as strenuous but conducive to learning. It seems that a balance of provocation and support as elements of a dynamic didactical design offers space for more in-depth reflections on ESD.

We live in a world permeated by digital technologies. Still, however, this digitization is not always reflected in the learning environments of higher education institutions, which raises questions about the adequacy of the instructional outcomes. In this paper, I maintain that the concept of the inverted or flipped classroom may be a fruitful path to including learning "hands-on" with technology even in learning environments absent of any technological resources. The rationale for this proposition is that flipped elements transfer the demand for technology from the teaching environment to the student. I report on a design-based research project to put this claim to a first test. The qualitative and quantitative data collected all support the idea that flipped classroom elements may help overcome differences in terms of availability of technology in different learning environments. The implications for universities and higher education teachers are discussed.

Entrepreneurship education has developed to a field of great significance, since a thoroughly carried out entrepreneurship education might serve as catalyst to enable economic growth and sustainable development. This paper follows a broad understanding of entrepreneurship education and concentrates on entrepreneurship education at universities. Several strategies to foster entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial spirit are introduced and didactical possibilities are presented by practical examples, such as business simulations and the project TIMEGATE. Finally, consequences and limitations of teaching entrepreneurship with a special focus on interest profiles of business teachers are discussed critically. As a practical implication, it becomes apparent that measures of entrepreneurship education require accurate reconcilement of didactical aims, teaching methods and assessment. Additional measures such as the introduction of role models can provide another contribution to foster entrepreneurship education within the classroom.

Even though initial teacher education is a rather short period in comparison to the other phases of a teacher's career, it has a crucial role in shaping student teachers' career-long activities. Many argue that everyday teaching in a classroom setting is comparable to conducting research, as teachers pursue experimenting with different strategies to teaching and learning, as they reflect on their own as well as their colleagues' work, and as they make decisions about their future steps based on these experiences. This paper aims to reveal how the concept of "teachers as researchers" is addressed in initial teacher education programmes by answering two questions: How is the concept of "teachers as researchers" represented in these programmes? What kind of experiences do student teachers have regarding "practice-oriented research"? The research has a case study design with a comparative aspect, in which one Hungarian and one Austrian institution offering initial teacher education serve as the two cases. Results show that both universities have integrated research into their initial teacher education programmes, but in different ways and to different extents. An important notion is that although various courses that deal with research and/or research methodology and could contribute to the development of student teachers' research competences could be identified, the activities of these courses are somewhat restricted to taking place within the university walls (e.g., discussion of research results), detached from practice. The study is expected to contribute to the understanding of structural similarities and differences in initial teacher education systems in the two countries that may foster or hinder the development of student teachers' development during their school-based teaching practice, with a particular focus on those that are required to conduct practice-oriented research.

This paper reports on a study investigating the mindsets of 51 pre-service teachers at an Austrian university using Q methodology. Despite the recent growth in interest in the concept of mindsets, little research has addressed the mindsets of teachers--most of it focusing on the mindsets of learners--and the research that does investigate teachers tends to focus on beliefs about learning or intelligence. This study offers a new perspective by focusing on teachers' beliefs about their own teaching competences. A further aim of the study is to expand the methodological repertoire in language education researchers. This study considers the potential of Q methodology, a research approach used widely in social sciences and education, but, as yet, rare in this field. The data indicate that the most common mindset among the pre-service teachers is one based around a strong belief in the learnability of the more technical aspects of teaching, while interpersonal skills tend to be regarded as more of a natural talent fixed within the individual. One practical implication of this finding is that teacher education programmes may need to pay more attention to explicitly developing the interpersonal side of teaching. A further finding was that teacher mindsets are constructed through individuals' management of various sets of implicit theories and tend not to conform to the established dichotomous model of mindsets.

In response to Europe's societal challenges, such as current issues about migration, the Institute of Music Education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz established Meet4Music (M4M), a low-threshold community music project. M4M is open to individuals from all sociocultural and musical backgrounds and ages, and provides them with the opportunity to socialize with others and to express themselves musically. M4M is based on collaborative learning in an open community ensemble, which includes choir, dance, theatre and percussion, alternating with one another on a weekly basis. University students can choose M4M as an elective course to gain relevant experience in leading heterogeneous and intercultural ensembles. The aim of this paper is to present this project, with a special focus on its dimensions, aims and pedagogical implications for educating reflective teachers. A conceptual framework that contributes to the concept of lifelong learning in (higher) music education will be provided, and foundations for further research and theory will be offered.

Peer review, as an e-assessment tool incorporates the human factor to treat complexity for rating and grading students. It could address the qualitative more than quantitative aspects with flexible human feedback that leads up to metacognitive knowledge aspects, which e-assessment usually is not able to achieve. Peer review is an internationally well-known method for quality assurance in science; it is now used for teaching and assessment in universities. This paper presents an analysis of five teaching scenarios that use peer review. All scenarios have been working with the same technical setting within different courses in Digital Business and included 765 participants. Regarding e-peer review qualitative and quantitative data from 298 students were collected. The tasks in the different learning scenarios differ between well-structured to complex and cognitively ambitious assignments like academic paper writing. Further analysis of criteria like lead time, support expense, dimension of cognitive processes, meeting of professional standards and social interaction shows how the five scenarios lead to either better or less efficient learning performances.