Search

This paper showcases relevant initiatives to address inclusive and sustainable development through the objectives of UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) towards ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. These research projects have been possible thanks to initiatives such as the global Open Educational Resources (OER) Graduate Network (GO-GN), a research network that facilitates collaborative research in the area of open education. These types of initiatives empower collaborative research proposals thanks to joint participation in working groups and seminars, which facilitate research collaborations with a clear focus, in this case, on inclusive and sustainable development. In this paper, several challenges on achieving a more inclusive and sustainable Open Education are discussed, such as the need to use accessibility metadata standards to improve the search and sharing of OERs in open repositories, the recommendation to use frameworks like Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to provide inclusive design feedback, and the benefits of action-oriented Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to promote sustainability.

There is an increasing interest and growing practice in Citizen Science (CS) that goes along with the usage of websites for communication as well as for capturing and processing data and materials. From an educational perspective, it is expected that by integrating information about CS in a formal educational setting, it will inspire teachers to create learning activities. This is an interesting case for using bots to automate the process of data extraction from online CS platforms to better understand its use in educational contexts. Although this information is publicly available, it has to follow GDPR rules. This paper aims to explain (1) how CS communicates and is promoted on websites, (2) how web scraping methods and anonymization techniques have been designed, developed and applied to collect information from online sources and (3) how these data could be used for educational purposes. After the analysis of 72 websites, some of the results obtained show that only 24.8% includes detailed information about the CS project and 48.61% includes information about educational purposes or materials.

Qualitative content analysis is used in this study to review related online education since the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to summarize the impact of online teaching on the education industry during the pandemic, sum up the viewpoints of all kinds of people to draw conclusions, and conclude the practical countermeasures. Based on the result of the analysis, firstly, we think that students and teachers are satisfied with online education, but parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this kind of education. Secondly, this paper lists the advantages and common problems of online teaching during study at home from different aspects. According to deficits, we summarize the solutions from three aspects: network equipment, teaching, and self-adjustment. This research is of great significance. It is not only beneficial to the development of educational platforms and personalized teaching but also helps formulate education policy to reduce the burden of education.

This paper analyzes the professional ethical knowledge of teachers in the use of technologies by teachers in training. Based on the disciplinary pedagogical technological knowledge (TPACK) model, it is intended to measure the correct inclusion of technologies in the classroom. For this, a descriptive exploratory methodological design study was carried out. The instruments used have been the Likert scale questionnaire and the personal interview, organized into four dimensions in which the self-perception of professional ethical knowledge, ethical knowledge of technology, pedagogical technological ethical knowledge and disciplinary technological ethical knowledge of the future teachers. The questionnaire has been applied to a sample of 1.051 trainee teachers from a European university in the context of COVID-19 and 822 students participated in the interview. The results show the scarce training in professional ethical knowledge of teachers in training and the importance of addressing this knowledge in the 21st century, a post-pandemic context. Another of the conclusions is the need to include the ethical component in the TPACK model to achieve a correct and ethical use of digital resources in the classroom.

This study aims to examine the effects of flipped learning on L2 students' overall academic achievements through meta-analysis. Forty studies (e.g., journal articles, M.A/Ph.D. theses and conference papers) on 'flipped classroom', 'flipped learning' and 'academic achievement' were included in this meta-analysis study. The data was analyzed by using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software. The random effects model was used in analyzing the overall effect size and the heterogeneity of the studies included in this meta-analysis. The results revealed that flipped learning has statistically significant effect on L2 learners' academic achievements (g=1.303) compared to traditional learning approaches. This result does not differ according to publication type, educational level and four basic language skills and sub-skills, but it differs according to sample size of the selected studies.

Purpose: This study investigates the challenges faced by European teachers when assessing student learning of democratic citizenship competences by asking about their experiences and opinions in their teaching practices. Design/methodology/approach: Through focus group interviews conducted with the teachers, we investigate the underlying reasons for teachers' choices of using certain forms of assessment methods while excluding other methods. This paper presents the analysis of interviews with 82 schoolteachers from lower secondary schools in eight European countries (average 19 years of teaching experience) participating in an Erasmus + project. Findings: The teachers' responses uncover a need for teachers to be better equipped with relevant knowledge, tools and approaches to practice formative assessment to develop students' democratic citizenship competences. The current common understanding of the summative assessment of knowledge using simple and standardised tools poses one of the main challenges for teachers to use formative assessment methods. Practical implications: The focus on summative assessment significantly limits the teachers' room to work on democratic citizenship competence. There is a need to strengthen this as a democratic citizenship education as a cross-curricular element in education, with an emphasis on formative assessment, to monitor and support students' democratic values and attitudes.

The paper introduces a novel approach to university rankings that considers a university's contribution to sustainable development. It addresses the usual controversies surrounding the construction of rankings using composite indicators. The conventional approach typically involves normalizing sub-indicators and applying subjective weights for aggregation, which raises concerns about the reliability of the rankings. In response to this issue, we propose an alternative method based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that utilizes flexible weights. Our approach is applied to the data from the UI-GreenMetric World University Ranking. We initially employ a general Benefit of the Doubt DEA model and subsequently enhance its discrimination power by computing super-efficiency. In the third model, we impose weight restrictions on sub-indicators. The results of our analysis offer valuable insights for all stakeholders, as illustrated by the implications derived for Czech universities included in the sample. Furthermore, we compare the results of universities in various European countries, establishing a connection between rankings and the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) within individual countries. This research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between university performance, sustainability, and the associated implications for policy and benchmarking.

Within an ever-increasing time of globalisation, globalised learning and international mobility, international professional experience can provide a range of opportunities for personal and academic growth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pre-service teachers commonly attest to the positive impact of international placements. What is less well understood is the impact on the learning and teaching that occurs at the university curriculum level prior to and after an international placement. An emergent aspect of this research and the focus of this paper is the impact of these experiences in terms of what they offer the university teaching and learning context. To gain a further understanding of the extent of these impacts, a set of reflective narratives from 10 pre-service teachers and seven teacher educators were gathered and analysed using inductive, thematic analysis. The findings showed that for pre-service teachers and teacher educators that context both culturally and educationally were paramount. The reflections highlighted the impact on the development of a range of general capabilities for both sets of participants. Additionally, international placement experiences increased levels of reflection for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators, which led to further understanding and refining their teacherly identity.

The White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, published in 2008 by the Council of Europe, is one of the first European level attempts to provide a common guideline for diversity politics in Europe. It introduces the idea of ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a new focus and a method of governing diversity. Our paper aims to investigate the explicit and implicit meanings included in the idea of ‘intercultural dialogue’ and how the idea is rhetorically operationalized as a policy in the White Paper. The investigation is conducted with a lexical and semantic analysis of the text in the White Paper and a discourse analysis of its rhetoric, in order to explore how the ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a policy relies on a mixture of ideas borrowed from different political discourses. The investigation revealed how the concept of intercultural dialogue and other related concepts, such as culture and diversity, embrace power hierarchies. The meanings of these concepts are produced from a hegemonic point of view which grants the ‘intercultural dialogue’ with the power positions of a dialoguer and a dialoguee . The policy rhetoric in the White Paper emphasizes social cohesion in Europe. Its policy discourse does not recognize the societal, cultural, historical, religious, or linguistic differences between European societies, but offers unified – and profoundly Western European – views for the governance of diversity. Formulating a common and generic diversity policy for Europe as a whole inevitably simplifies the idea of diversity in Europe and produces new hierarchies between the subjects and objects of these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been theoretically substantiated the topicality of the specialized learning of the senior pupils of secondary educational institutions. There has been revealed the essence of specialized learning as of one of the leading forms of educational process organization in a modern school, which in its goal remains between a secondary and vocational education, providing a functional interrelation and succession between them. There has been presented a substantial analysis of state documents and curricula in physical training for senior pupils of national and foreign sports oriented secondary schools. A retrospective analysis of pedagogical literature and Internet resources in the issues of incepting ideas of pupils' specialized differentiation of learning has been conducted. It has been found out that personal direction of the sports oriented educational process envisages the wholesome system approach to each pupil's choice of a sports specialization profile, its content, means and forms of educational and extracurricular physical culture and health-improving activity, taking into account the age and individual peculiarities, locomotive and creative aptitudes to the chosen specialization profile. The work of physical training teachers of sports oriented specialized grades has been analyzed. The importance of taking into account the level of knowledge, pupils' physical fitness, their interests, aptitudes and skills for defining and studying the components of the elective module has been stressed.

This paper provides an account of the topological and its description of contemporary culture and use as a research methodology, a topological lens, generally, and in education research specifically. Some commentary is proffered on the relationships between the topological and the topographical, between relations and locations. A critical account is then provided on each of the papers in the special issue on the topological in education research and the specific contributions of each. The editors of the special issue make the important point that the topological is a spatio-temporal phenomenon, not just a spatial one. The topological does not exist in time and space, but rather constructs both and they change in a conjoint manner. As such, a topological lens rejects a construction of space as static and of time (and the temporal) as simply linear and chronological. The topological has been facilitated and articulated by and through practices of commensuration, datafication and digitalisation, flows and scapes, global connectivities and new relations, mobilities of various kinds and multiple networks. The paper argues that much greater emphasis has been given to the spatial in topological research; that is, there has been some neglect of the temporal in the spatio-temporal character of topologies.

Humanitarian events are increasing globally, both in number and intensity. In response, the international community spends approximately US $30 billion annually to alleviate both the immediate consequences of these climatic, geographic, and human-induced events but also to support mitigation and recovery. Over the past two decades, the humanitarian sector has increasingly professionalised. One under-studied aspect of this professionalisation is an increase in postgraduate studies in humanitarian action over the last 20 years. Despite this increase, there is no agreement on core curriculum or pedagogy across humanitarian studies courses. How do current Masters of Humanitarian Assistance (MHA) offerings converge and differ, and how can such courses further their contribution to the humanitarian endeavour? This paper surveys 26 anglophone courses offered in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Nigeria, exploring key characteristics of course entry requirements, flexibility, research, practical components, and academic foci. It does not recommend what a core curriculum for humanitarian courses should be, but does argue that core curriculum for humanitarian courses should be identified by relevant and diverse stakeholders such as affected communities, humanitarian agencies, disaster management bodies, and governments, to ensure that courses in this field provide appropriate learning outcomes. The paper suggests how such a 'charter' may be developed.

The paper investigates reputational status dynamics (coolness and popularity) in a Hungarian primary school sample. The data derives from an emergent mixed methods research study, where one wave of a panel data collection (N = 754) was complemented with focus group interviews (N = 144) among sixth grade students (age 12-13). The quantitative analysis applied multilevel regression models, while the qualitative part relied on thematic analysis. Our results, mostly in line with the international literature, underlined the importance of athletic abilities, verbal aggression, and physical appearance, while some interesting gendered and ethnic patterns also emerged. For instance, verbal aggression was associated with status for girls and non-Roma boys, while physical aggression was only associated with status for Roma girls. The novelty of the research study lies in the mixed approach, while the paper also contributes to our knowledge about status dynamics in the Hungarian, and Eastern European, context.

Post-secondary institutions spend considerable resources on programs, such as study abroad and international work-integrated learning, which involve students' participation in international experiences. One significant impetus for these programs is the hope that through exposing students to international settings these students will be better prepared to be successful in global workplaces upon graduation, in essence be more "global-ready". However, simply having an international experience does not necessarily lead to the development of capabilities that result in global workplace success. In addition to the knowledge, skills and abilities required for any workplace, being successful in these global workplaces also requires intercultural effectiveness. This paper presents the findings of a study that examined the development of cultural intelligence (CQ), the ability to be effective in intercultural encounters, in students participating in a Canadian-European exchange program (CANEU-COOP) where the European students had a study term in Canada and the Canadian students had a co-op work term in Europe. The study found that while both groups of students developed CQ, there were differences between the groups. These findings reaffirm the importance of intentionally structuring international experiences to include curriculum about and assessment of intercultural effectiveness. [Paper presented at the World Association for Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, (2nd, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2016).]

Since it was first published by the Council of Europe in 2001, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has become one of the most widely referenced documents in language education, particularly in English language teaching and assessment (Savski, in press). The recently released CEFR Companion Volume (2020), with its new descriptions of plurilingual and pluricultural competence and mediation, has done much to extend the potential of the framework, as it provides a more concrete foundation for using CEFR to support heteroglossic pedagogies. In this way, CEFR has acquired a greater level of potential relevance to innovative pedagogies in English language education, such as Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT), which seeks to equip learners with communicative skills and dispositions needed for success in a world where the target interlocutors are linguistically and culturally diverse (Rose & Galloway, 2019). In this paper, we examine the prospects for using CEFR to support heteroglossic pedagogies like GELT, highlighting points of convergence between descriptions of competence in CEFR and current scholarship in Global Englishes, as well as points of divergence between the two. We underline the need to embed CEFR in decentralizing educational reforms, in which the framework is used to facilitate teacher agency, rather than to impose objectives and methods upon them.

The aim of this study was to compare bibliometric indicators of scientific productivity in physical activity (PA) in children and adolescents with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Down syndrome (DS) in the PubMed database. A bibliometric study was conducted for the last 5 years (2017 to 2021). The data collected for each article were: year of publication, language of publication, country, journal name, and type of paper. The results showed that there was higher scientific productivity in the population with DS (20 studies) relative to their counterparts with ASD (31 studies). The language of publication in both cases was English. There were 10 countries that published on PA in ASD and 14 countries that published on DS. Overall, the greatest interest in publishing on PA in children and adolescents with ASD was in North America (6 studies), followed by Asia (5 studies) and Europe (4 studies). In the DS population it was in Europe (13 studies), North America (9 studies) and South America (4 studies). Nineteen journals were identified that published in the ASD population and 29 journals in DS. Six experimental studies were identified in ASD and 7 in DS. There was a higher scientific productivity with original studies. There was a positive trend of increasing scientific productivity over the years in both populations. We suggest the need to promote research on PA in both populations, regardless of the type of study, as it is an indicator of overall health status.

During the past decade, responsible research assessment (RRA) has become a major science policy goal to advance responsible research and innovation and open science. Starting with the DORA declaration in 2012, common understanding of the needs and demands of RRA has been shaped by a growing number of initiatives, culminating in a European Commission supported Agreement on reforming research assessment published in July 2022. In this paper, we outline and investigate the normative framework for RRA, ranging from binding legal norms (hard law), rules of conduct which, in principle, have no legally binding force but which nevertheless may have practical effects' (soft law) to self-regulation in supranational (the European Union) and one national (Italy) context. As shown by our analysis of hard and soft legal sources for RRA, apart from constitutional and legal provisions regarding freedom of research, autonomy of universities and non-discrimination and gender equality, the legal foundation for RRA rests mainly on soft law and policy norms. In the discussion we relate the normative framework for RRA to research integrity guidelines and consider the challenges of ensuring coherent RRA implementation across countries and research funding and performing institutions. We conclude that self-regulation and soft law are good starting points and may pave the way for hard law down the line: this can be seen as the optimum mix of regulatory mechanisms to mainstream RRAs.

This paper is based on longitudinal ethnographic work among Bulgarian migrant women who work as live‐in caregivers and domestic workers in Italian households and explores the analytical potential of place and place making for transmigration literature by conceptualizing the co‐production of place with subjectivities. Such approach sensitizes to mundane practices of care and belonging, which actively create migratory lives of meaning. Drawing on Deleuze's concept of the fold as subjectivity and Clifford's notion of dwelling‐in‐travelling, I propose the term 'dwelling‐in‐folds' – and its mechanism 'folding place' – in order to make sense of temporary migrants' experience of place(s) that foregrounds their ability to connect and reconcile fractures and discontinuities, particularly when doing transnational motherhood. In doing so, the paper folds place empirically – showing how 'dwelling‐in‐folds' is achieved and unfolds place analytically – demonstrating the potential of this concept for sociology and transmigration studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of countries' development level in sports medicine, exercise and sports performance on their success in Olympic Games. Within this purpose, 1027 papers that were published between 2010 and 2018 in the journal of Sports Medicine, of which impact factor was 7.074 in 2017, were examined in analytical and correlational terms considering the first author and total author numbers. Pearson Correlation was utilized to find out the relationships between the papers from various countries and their success at Olympic Games. Regarding the number of medals won by the countries in the 2016, 2012 and 2008, Olympic Games were found significantly correlated with the number of first author (r = 0.73) and total author (r = 0.74).

In times of globalisation of higher education, alternative theoretical and methodological approaches were introduced in the field of comparative higher education research. To stimulate the debate on this issue, this paper firstly addresses them theoretically by combining the concept of institutional isomorphism and the 'glonacal' analytical heuristic. On this basis, it discusses arguments in favour of convergence and diversity from the perspective of the internationalisation of higher education and also points to the limits of institutional isomorphism resulting from 'glonacal' influences of agencies and agency on the development of (internationalisation of) higher education. Secondly, the paper also draws attention to the influence of globalisation on the selection of methodology in comparative higher education research by exposing the limits of methodological nationalism. Along these lines, it portrays the reversed pyramid model of different horizontal and vertical levels of comparisons with which it establishes the (missing) link between the selected theoretical and methodological framework of comparative (higher education) research. In conclusion, it acknowledges the need to integrate the contextual element into the comparative framework which allows thorough analysis of complex relationships between globalisation and higher education both theoretically and methodologically.

This paper presents and discusses the results of a study which investigated the needs, attitudes and beliefs of foreign language teachers of refugees in Greece and other countries of Europe. The research which was conducted in two phases, with the one being the pilot phase, involved approximately 120 teachers who commented on the difficulties that they face in contexts with students from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Students' trauma experiences, lack of schooling experience, behavioral problems, lack of specially designed materials catering for the needs of refugees, and of course the language barrier, were among the most frequently claimed problems. The paper ends with some empirically derived suggestions on how teachers could deal with the challenges related to this new reality.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to widespread temporary school closures and a deep economic recession. School closures have threatened children's ability to learn and later return to school well prepared. The impact of the economic recession is going to be even more devastating: first for students, but also for the ability of some Catholic schools to maintain their enrollment and remain sustainable financially in countries where they do not benefit from government support. This paper, the first in a set of two, looks at some of the likely impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on Catholic Schools in developed countries with a particular focus on the United States, a country not only hard hit by the crisis but also where Catholic schools are especially vulnerable to downturns. While Catholic schools may be able to respond to the immediate challenge of school closures among others through distance learning options, their ability to maintain enrollment during the economic downturn is less clear. How schools will respond to the twin challenges of ensuring learning during school closures and beyond, and remaining affordable for families at a time of economic stress, may affect whether they are able to maintain their comparative advantage. A key aim of the paper is to make Catholic school teachers and leaders aware of some of the discussions on how to respond to the crisis, and provide links to online resources that may be useful. [For Part II of the series, see EJ1278501.]

Due to policy changes across Europe, work-based learning pedagogies are on the increase in Higher Education programmes. This paper discusses the development of a theoretical framework and conceptual model used to underpin an investigation of work-based learning in postgraduate nurse education. An original conceptual model for analyzing the influences and outcomes of work-based learning and studying these concerns from a social learning theory perspective is presented. The model is based on the assumption that individuals learn within and across communities of practice, yet also recognizes the duality of individual and social contributions required for successful work-based learning. The research aimed to explore how different cultural tools and processes, in addition to social and personal contributions, influenced and sustained outcomes during and following work-based learning. A qualitative case study was employed to investigate the experiences and perceptions of WBL students and those in support roles, using interviews and documentary analysis. Four main categories of data emerged from the thematic analysis: navigating workplace cultures and contexts; learning within and across practices; practitioner trajectories and transformations; and practice transformations. The findings support the conceptual model proposed in this paper as a means of investigating, understanding and promoting discourse concerning the interrelated influences and outcomes of WBL in differing contexts.

Emergence and development of the blockchain technology, which is able to transform into "a most powerful disruptive innovation", shall definitely concern universities. Moreover, nowadays the blockchain technology meets the challenges that both the system of higher education and the entire society are currently facing. Advantages of the blockchain technology are decentralized open data, absence of forgeries, safe storage of information, and reduction of transaction expenses related to data checkup, control, and verification. This paper provides a critical analysis of application of the blockchain technology considering with its applicability opportunities and restrictions in education; it also aims to identify the consequences of its influence upon the development of education. The article analyzes real cases when this technology was applied, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an example. The MIT applied it to protect and validate the certificates that it issued. Another example is the Sony Global Education that forms individual data on its trainees' competencies and productivity; a third one relates to the University of Nicosia, which was the first to use smart contracts and accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The paper also considers the elements of the blockchain technology at universities (both in Russia and outside it), which participate in massive open online courses. It determines the scope of application of this technology in the Russian educational system. In addition, this article provides a literature review related to application of the blockchain technology; the review includes works by such renowned researchers as D. Tapscott, B. Bleir, A. Watters, A. Grech, A. Camilleri, M. Swan, A. Zaslavsky, etc. The paper analyzes the obtained findings of the survey that its authors have conducted among experts, professors, and specialists involved in accreditation. Thus, the paper provides an analysis of opportunities and restrictions related to application of the blockchain technology in higher education.

In a recent paper, Simpson and Dervin (2019a) offer a radical critique of the Council of Europe's "Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture" (RFCDC). However, Simpson and Dervin's paper contains numerous factual errors, interpretative errors and category errors in its description of the RFCDC. We identify 12 such errors which invalidate the conclusions drawn by them. We correct all of these errors, and suggest that, rather than using Simpson and Dervin's paper as a source of information about the RFCDC, readers should read the RFCDC itself, before drawing their own conclusions about the RFCDC and the adequacy of the arguments offered by Simpson and Dervin.

The adoption of a system based on cycles has been one of the core action lines in the Bologna Process. It represents the base for promoting student mobility, employability, and international competitiveness. The implementation of the degree-cycle system -- conditioned by the achievement of other policy objectives (i.e. ECTS) -- started hot debates on multiple levels including on the relevance of different study stages, or the extent to which the curricular emphasis would differ between the two levels. After almost two decades since the reform has been introduced, rather than looking at the state of implementation, current research should focus on how the reform has been implemented and what are its effects. By using the Romanian case as an illustration of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), this paper aims to answer the following questions: to what extent have the intentions and expectations linked to the introduction of a tiered structure of degrees have been fulfilled and what are some the (unintended) effects of such reforms? Based on a series of interviews done in November 2017 with academic staff, student representatives and decision-makers from Romania, this paper presents an analysis of the deliberate intentions and expectations of the introduction of the degree structure. The conclusions show that issues related to (1) financing; (2) quality (3) access and participation; (4) content and curricula (5) career path and opportunities after graduation are the main implications of the implementation of the degree-cycle system.

Modern societies, new technical equipment and technology confirm the importance of knowledge acquisition in everyday life, especially in economy. An education system is a non-profit system. Since it strongly affects economic efficiency, its quantification becomes a very complex process. In order to make the quantification process possible, this paper analyses the already existing criteria for measuring efficiency in higher education systems. The already existing models of measuring educational efficiency are universal and do not analyse different professions' specific qualities. In this paper, models of measuring educational efficiency were analysed separately, whereas their interrelations were not a part of the analysis. A conceptual model of measuring maritime higher education institutions' (hereinafter: MHEI) efficiency was proposed on the basis of the above-mentioned analysis. All the evaluation criteria relevant for MHEI and their interrelations were determined.

The premise of this brief opinion piece is that the fundamental paradigm of education appeared with Plato. It is that there is a co-location in time and space of learners, teachers, and resources. The absence of any of these elements can lead to shortcomings in the meaning of the term "to be educated". Recent events such as COVID-19 demonstrate that the paradigm is subject to challenge but that its premises are firmly established. It is recognised that there are complex philosophical and theoretical arguments surrounding distance education debates. It is not possible in a short article like this to canvass all the possible philosophical positions that affect education. Pointers to these debates are referenced in the article. For the purpose of this article, "philosophy" is taken to mean that department of knowledge or study that deals with ultimate reality, or with the general causes and principles of things. More narrowly, it is the study of general principles of some particular branch of knowledge, experience, or activity--in this case, distance education or flexible learning. "Theory" is taken to mean a scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena.

Digital contact tracing tools were developed to decrease the spread of COVID-19 by supplementing traditional manual methods. Although these tools have great potential, they were developed rather quickly resulting in tools with varying levels of success. The main issues with these tools are over privacy and who might have access to the information gathered. In general, their effectiveness varied globally, where users expressed privacy concerns associated with sharing identity, illness, and location information. This paper reviews these issues in deployments across Asia, Europe, and the United States. The goal is to begin a discussion that improves the design and development of digital technologies that not only improve the control of infectious disease spread, but also achieve an appropriate standard of privacy and security.

This paper is a critical systematic literature review of empirical work on creative pedagogies from 1990 to 2018. It responds to the increased international attention being afforded creativity and creative pedagogies in research, policy and practice and examines the evidence regarding creative pedagogical practices and the potential impact of these on students' creativity. The methodology encompassed four stages. Firstly, an educational database keyword search was undertaken and 801 papers identified, manual searches added 12 further papers. Secondly, through applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 89 papers were identified for closer scrutiny; these papers focused on students aged 0-18 years in formal educational settings and were peer-reviewed reports of empirical work. Thirdly, these papers were subjected to in-depth review and rating, this reduced the included selection to 35 papers. Finally, these papers were subject to further analysis and synthesis. The findings reveal that seven interrelated features characterise creative pedagogical practice, namely generating and exploring ideas; encouraging autonomy and agency; playfulness; problem-solving; risk-taking; co-constructing and collaborating; and teacher creativity. The paper also reveals that the evidence for the impact of these pedagogical practices on students' creativity is inconclusive. It highlights the complexities and challenges of documenting creative pedagogies in the years of formal schooling and concludes with key recommendations and implications for research, policy and practice.

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the education system and forced fundamental changes in the teaching-learning process. The present study aims to explore various modes of education used by educational institutions across the world and provide a holistic understanding of different measures taken by governments and universities to endure the crippling crisis. The radical shift to digital pedagogy followed by online assessments and examinations brought new experiences to both educators and learners. This paper elucidates the extraordinary challenges encountered by various stakeholders in making the required shift to digital learning and the substantial attempts made by educational institutions to minimize learning losses. The paper also presents various opportunities induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the need to develop appropriate mechanisms to deal with such an unforeseen crisis in future. To this effect, some recommendations have been made that may enable educational institutions to eliminate adversities and maintain academic integrity in tempestuous times.

Based on an ethnographic study on studio teaching at five leading European architecture schools, the paper at hand identifies three repeatedly occurring deficiencies (as well as one related problem) in the teaching of architectural design. Drawing on empirical data, the paper describes how 'epistemic positions' are shifted without reflection, that serious efforts at translating tacit into propositional knowledge are (too) scarce, and how procedures are not rigorously linked to the respective objects of study. In addition to tackling these three deficiencies, the paper calls for developing corresponding ways of critique assessment that reflect the aspired improvements.

Under the pressure of globalisation, both China and Europe have active strategies to internationalise their higher education systems. This paper explores the cultural and institutional constraints of these strategies in both territories, analysing their impact on the cooperation and competition among higher education institutions. The article focuses on the historical and current practices of internationalisation in Europe and China, the strategic goals underlying these practices, and the implications of internationalisation strategies in constraining the choices and actions of academic leaders in Chinese and European higher education institutions. This article contributes to the literature on Chinese and European cooperation in higher education by analysing the points of conflict and opportunities for growth. Despite differences (e.g., centralised vs. decentralised systems, top-down vs. bottom-up decision-making processes, and the roles of leadership in the governance of higher education institutions), there is a common interest in promoting economic competitiveness, developing a knowledge-based society, advancing research, attracting and retaining talent, and reducing regional inequalities. The paper concludes that cooperation is possible in specific areas in which neither China nor Europe can succeed alone with the same impact that would be possible with cooperation.

Given the increasing number of learners in massive open online courses (MOOCs), students' self-directed learning (SDL) skills are necessary for their success. The purpose of this study was to explore learners' motivation for enrolling in MOOCs and their SDL strategies, as well as instructional elements that support SDL from learners' perspectives. This qualitative study adopted a phenomenological research design. The data source was semi-structured interviews with 15 learners from three MOOCs. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The researchers found that the motivation for enrolling in MOOCs included intrinsic motivation (e.g., curiosity, improving personal knowledge, and personal interest) and extrinsic motivation (e.g., supporting formal education and career development). The learning strategies used by MOOC learners were task strategies, self-monitoring, and self-management strategies. The task strategies included taking notes, reading texts or subtitles, watching videos, and conducting further research. The self-monitoring strategies included self-assessment, self-reflection, progress indicators, final projects, and authentic tasks. Learners' self-management strategies (e.g., time management and resource management) varied depending on their diverse motivations. In addition, the instructional elements that support SDL were self-assessment and discussion forums, instructor feedback, flexibility, clearly stated learning goals, the authenticity of the content, and small learning units. The implications of the study are discussed in the paper.

There has been a steady increase in popular music programs at Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) across Europe. However, what students actually are supposed to learn at popular music bachelor/master programs has remained largely understudied. Based on 12 in-depth interviews with leaders in higher popular music education, this paper addresses: (1) how popular music is defined and possibly canonized, (2) what the position of popular music programs is, and (3) how the content of popular music programs is constructed--at HMEIs. First, participants struggle to provide a clear definition of popular music. Therefore, they differ in how they name their program -- as popular music, pop music or something else. Because there is little consensus over a canon of popular music, our interviewees work from a mini-canon of British/American popular music, add local music to the curriculum, use jazz as a basis and/or work without a canon. Second, despite their growing popularity, popular music programs still struggle to position themselves, particularly at HMEIs with strong classical music departments. Third, program leaders navigate between different approaches of content construction within the constraints of their institution: (a) craft-centered (top-down, teacher-driven, skill-oriented), (b) arts-centered (bottom-up, student-driven, creativity-oriented), and (c) market-centered (side-to-side, industry-driven, commercially-oriented).

On the one hand, research on religious education is done according to a transnational scientific paradigm, on the other hand, it is performed within particular institutional contexts which vary from nation to nation.This raises the question of how institutional context affect research on religious education. The paper addresses this question on the basis of an international study. N = 49 colleagues across Europe as well as Israel, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey filled in an online-questionnaire regarding their own research. Despite the international character of the sample, research on religious education seems to be practiced quite coherently in regard of the objects of inquiry, the applied methods, and the disciplines the colleagues refer to. The few significant differences indicate that theology and educational studies are slightly more important in contexts of denominational religious education as well as analysing both pupils and processes of teaching and learning. In the context of non-denominational RE, instead, religious studies is slightly more important. These results will be discussed.