Search

Despite the growing importance of MOOCs and their application in face-to-face classes since 2020, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, existing literature offers limited research on the factors affecting the quality of hybrid MOOC (hMOOC) learning, particularly from a psychological perspective. Thus, based on the 3P model of teaching and learning, this study aims to build a psychological pathway to empirically investigate the indicators of, and their relationship with, hMOOC learning outcomes by examining task value belief and relational quality as presage variables, and learner engagement and knowledge sharing as process variables, leading to learner satisfaction as the product. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 750 undergraduate learners with prior experience in hMOOC learning in higher educational institutions of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), path, and mediation analyses were conducted based on structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed the hypothesis that task value belief and relational quality both significantly influenced learner satisfaction in hMOOCs. Task value belief exerted indirect effects on satisfaction through learner engagement. However, it failed to predict satisfaction through knowledge sharing indirectly. Instead, task value belief affected learner engagement first and then knowledge sharing, which finally impacted satisfaction, revealing the linear relationship of TVB[right arrow]LE[right arrow]KS[right arrow]SA. Moreover, relational quality had an indirect effect on satisfaction through both learner engagement and knowledge sharing, indicating the interrelationships of RQ[right arrow]LE & KS[right arrow]SA. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed in the conclusion.

The study focuses on the preservation and transmission of Gannan Tea Picking Opera knowledge after the Cultural Revolution in 1949 using qualitative research methods such as interviews and observations with seven key informants. The following findings were obtained, which can be divided into three distinct periods: The tortuous development phase from 1949 to 1966 marked significant growth and development, with the establishment of specialized schools and the implementation of the "three reforms" contributing to knowledge transmission and preservation. The survival dilemma period from 1966 to 1976 during the Cultural Revolution imposed constraints on artistic expression, but the return of artists from rural areas and their role in recruiting apprentices supported the continuity of Gannan Tea Picking Opera. Finally, the Ganzhou Gannan Tea Picking Opera Troupe and educational institutions contributed to the revival of this traditional art form during the period of rebirth from 1976 to 2023. Retired artists continue to play a vital role in knowledge preservation and dissemination, reflecting the enduring resilience of Gannan Tea Picking Opera.

The purpose of this study is to explore the realization of users' information rights (IRs) in the smart service of university libraries. Based on the LibQUAL model, principal component analysis (PCA) is used to measure the quality of smart services in university libraries. The contribution weight of various services to the realization of IRs is calculated by analytic hierarchy process (AHP), then the degree of IR realization is obtained. Users have the highest right to express information, the lowest right to equality, and other rights tend to be moderate. Suggestions to improve the realization of IRs are put forward at the end.

This article examines and discusses the musical and artistic characteristics of Shaanxi folk songs, as well as how they can be more effectively disseminated in today's rapidly changing social environment. This also provides some beneficial information for the dissemination and development of Shaanxi folk songs, allowing them to be disseminated and passed on more effectively. The study's objectives were to analyze the musical characteristics of northern Shaanxi Province's folk songs and to propose guidelines for the dissemination of folk song literacy in northern Shaanxi Province, China. The study investigates and analyzes how to better disseminate Shaanxi folk songs from various perspectives, including educational dissemination, media dissemination, and official institution dissemination, using qualitative research methods. The results of this study show that the folk songs of northern Shaanxi have a strong local flavor and a simple style that people appreciate. They have a distinct musical charm and range from small two-stanza styles to large multi-stanza styles. Guidelines for the dissemination of folk songs in northern Shaanxi Province, China, have been developed in order to introduce the world to the excellent folk songs of northern Shaanxi in a new language form as well as to various contemporary cultural activities and school education.

International students are fundamental actors in the university's knowledge management process, but little is known about their knowledge activities. The purpose of this study is to understand how the knowledge sharing process in higher education unfolds in the context of international students' perspectives. Based on a qualitative approach, data were collected through interviews with Chinese international students studying at Russian universities. The results of this study were synthesized into a proposed process model for knowledge sharing, describing the activities and four stages related to knowledge sharing by international students. This study found that the relative weights of influencing factors vary across the four stages of knowledge sharing and that international students' knowledge sharing is an iterative process that occurs in an incremental way. As a result, the study reveals the knowledge source role of international students, and extends the existing knowledge-sharing model to more accurately reflect the micro-processes of international students' knowledge sharing. Future research can examine the applicability of the identified micro-processes in different higher education contexts. Based on the different needs of international students in the four stages identified in this study, leaders can facilitate knowledge management in higher education.

Based on the purpose of improving the communication power of the computational intelligence short videos of China Communist Youth League, this paper takes six typical computational intelligence short video IDs and their popular computational intelligence short videos of the Communist Youth League at the provincial level as the research object investigates the characteristics along with the influencing factors of communication power from four aspects: expression form, content presentation, title text, and local characteristics through content analysis of Communist Youth League computational intelligence short videos. China communist youth league is the organization of young people between the ages of 14-28 which is run by chinese communist party with the purpose of training upcoming party members as well as officials. These six specific IDs of Communist youth league are selected as these accounts have consistently excellent performance in the ranking of government affairs TikTok accounts, and they have certain typicality and research significance. The novelty of this paper is an empirical analysis of Computational Intelligence short video communication. The methodologies that are included in this research are Release frequency that describes video update frequency, word frequency analysis that describes the keywords to follow in the short videos and statistical analysis of coding strategies. These Analysis were carried out through content and case study which was done using python 3.0's pandas, snownlp and other functional packages. The criterias which are used to evaluate the videos are views, likes, content, video format, form of expression, title form, local specialities show the engagement of the viewers in content as well as it helps in reaching the audience. Through the research, it is found that the computational intelligence short videos' communication power of the provincial Communist Youth League is related to video duration, expression form, video content, title text, local characteristics, and audience psychological behavior, but has no obvious positive correlation with title form. The advantage of computational intelligence short videos of the provincial Communist Youth League is that the party media has clear positioning, rich content, and innovative forms, but at the same time, there are some problems, such as unclear "youth" features, lack of local characteristics and audience interaction. This paper refines the characteristics of excellent computational intelligence in short videos of the Communist Youth League and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for the shortcomings.

Guided by argumentation schema theory, we conducted five psychological studies in the United States and China on arguments about vaccination. Study 1 replicated research about arguments on several topics, finding that agreement judgments are weighted toward claims, whereas quality judgments are weighted toward reasons. However, consistent with recent research, when this paradigm was extended to arguments about vaccination (Study 2), claims received more weight than reasons in judgments about agreement and quality. Studies 3 and 4 were conducted in the United States and China on how people process counterarguments against anti-vaccination assertions. Rebuttals did not influence agreement but played a role in argument quality judgments. Both political position (in the United States) and medical education (in China) predicted differences in argument evaluation. Bad reasons lowered agreement (Study 5), especially among participants studying health care. Political polarization apparently heightens the impact of claim side in the argumentation schema, likely to the detriment of public discourse.

Since 1987, the College of Health and Human Services at San Diego State University has facilitated two-way exchanges of information and service with the Republic of China, a model of a newly industrialized country of the Pacific Rim. The challenges of working creatively to educate the College and University to international opportunities with the Republic of China, Taiwan, are presented in this paper as a case study. It includes a description of the elements of a global shift in relationships between the countries of the Northern Hemisphere (North America and Europe) and those of the Pacific Rim, specifically the Pacific-Asian countries that border the Pacific Ocean including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Singapore. The projected population growth of the countries in the Pacific Rim, combined with their large trade surplus and increased standard of living create a great economic interest to the countries in the Northern Hemisphere. The evolution of the Republic of China from a developing country to a "newly industrialized country" is presented as a case study that illustrates the impetus of the global shift. In addition, a model of assessment of educational training, participation and exchange at the departmental, college and university levels is included as well as a developmental program with the Republic of China. Finally, implications for future international development are addressed. [This article is reprinted from the "Phi Beta Delta International Review," Volume II, Fall 1991, pp. 67-75. The "International Review" is the predecessor of the current publication.]

Drawing on insights from a four-day online workshop, which explored geo-engineering and policy making with 13 youth participants, an academic and youth authorial team provide a guide to the co-creation of policy briefs. Drawing on excerpts from the policy brief at different stages of development and commentary provided by the authors during the workshops, we set out four stages including (1) Identifying the key message and audience, (2) Reading and critically engaging with examples of policy briefs during the drafting process, (3) Developing the policy brief text, and (4) Reviewing and revising the policy brief. We have developed this guidance with a co-creative, group work approach in mind and suggest that this has relevance for those working in and beyond the discipline of geography.

Active teaching and learning support pedagogies typically require student vocal participation in the classroom. However, very little is known about strategies used to promote student voice especially in teacher-dominated classroom cultures in many parts of the developing world. This paper reports action research that explored student responses and challenges to the use of student-produced audio podcasts in teaching a module focusing on Africa in a transnational university in China. Mixed methods involving a written questionnaire and mechanical reviews of student essays vindicate student podcasts as perceived valuable tools not only for promoting student voice but also for enhancing learning motivation and teaching-back misconceptions about Africa. Variation in accent, pace, audibility, and clarity of student podcasts posed a major challenge to comprehension of some podcasts and participation in podcast-based discussions. Based on students' feedback, this study prescribes use of visual aids alongside audio podcasts to optimize the benefits of podcasting pedagogy in transnational education contexts.

As the disseminator of information, news media play a vital role in the public speech community. Especially the mainstream English media in China, which not only carefully design the topic, content, and framework of news to broadcast information but also construct cultural identity and build China's image. Exemplified by a piece of news from "China Daily," the present study analyzes its language features and function of transitivity system based on the theory of transitivity, and attempts to explore its implicit meaning and cultural identity beyond the literal text.

This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project "'Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures--EduArc,'" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries' political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country's context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.

The use of online learning courses can have a positive effect in the context of the study and dissemination of Chinese folk music. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an innovative teaching model of massive open online courses to assess the possibility of changes in the approaches to the study of Chinese folk music in higher education. The study used Massive Open Online Courses and a survey of respondents. The study, which took place from January to July within the framework of the 2020-2021 academic year, involved second-year students from four educational institutions of the People's Republic of China: Zhengzhou Sias College, China Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Fujian Normal University. A total of 419 people participated in the experiment. Comparison of the academic performance in folk music in the two groups of students suggests that the use of online courses in the context of teaching Chinese folk music is effective. The difference is 12.1% compared to the control group. The students noted that working on MOOC platforms helped them better master performance skills. The respondents also appreciated the fact that online courses with developed curricula can be an effective means of popularizing Chinese culture. This study has both practical and scientific value as it demonstrates the effectiveness of the impact of distance learning courses in the context of studying Chinese folk music. The results can be implemented in the development of training programs, the scope of application includes higher educational institutions.

Causal inference under treatment interference is a challenging but important problem. Past studies usually make strong assumptions on the structure of treatment interference in order to estimate causal treatment effects while accounting for the effect of treatment interference. In this article, we view treatment diffusion as a concrete form of treatment interference that is prevalent in social settings and also as an outcome of central interest. Specifically, we analyze data from a smoking prevention intervention conducted with 4,094 students in six middle schools in China. We measure treatment interference by tracing how the distributed intervention brochures are shared by students, which provides information to construct the so-called treatment diffusion networks. Besides providing descriptive analyses, we use exponential random graph models to model the treatment diffusion networks in order to reveal covariates and network processes that significantly correlate with treatment diffusion. We show that the findings provide an empirical basis to evaluate previous assumptions on the structure of treatment interference, are informative for imputing treatment diffusion data that is crucial for making causal inference under treatment interference, and shed light on how to improve designs of future interventions that aim to optimize treatment diffusion.

The image of country is overall impression and evaluation of the country itself given by countries and people at home and abroad. It is a concrete expression of the country's strategic resources and overall strength. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, its national image has evolved over the past 70 years. It has realized the transformation from a monist image of "political supremacy" to "democracy, livelihood, and civil rights", from a poor and backward country in the East to a rich and advanced socialist country, and from "hard power" to "soft power". In the future, the national image construction needs to improve the theoretical building and strengthen the top-level design, highlight the strategic perspective of the international communication system, expand the communication path, and enhance the time-effectiveness of the dissemination of the Chinese national image.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of new media on scientific literacy. Content analysis with a coding scheme was performed on 42 filtered websites and 20 microblogs to analyze the role of new media in disseminating scientific knowledge. The results showed that the quality of science-oriented websites was higher than that of microblogs. Although both types of new media include valid and accurate information, concerns have been expressed regarding the lack of in-depth analysis of scientific knowledge. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to 1,870 sampled college students to determine their scientific literacy levels. According to the results, the use of science-oriented microblogs does not produce a statistical difference, whereas students who use science-oriented websites have higher scientific literacy level than the non-users. Furthermore, students' identification ability for scientific information from new media is significantly correlated with their scientific literacy. Students' education, major, and identification ability contributed to their scientific literacy. Suggestions about how to improve the quality of science-oriented new media and how to develop students' scientific literacy through new media have been discussed.

We explored Chinese adolescents' perceptions of the types of career-related teacher support they had experienced and found helpful. Four focus group discussions were conducted with 30 15-18-year-old high school students in Hong Kong, China. Students perceived the most helpful forms of teacher support for career planning to be those that related to emotional connectedness, information resourcefulness, accessibility, and encouragement of student autonomy. The group discussions also indicated that any support from teachers that helped with stress relief was a very important type of teacher support under the exam-driven teaching culture in Hong Kong. Implications of these findings include enhancing the quality of teacher support in secondary schools.

Existing research on the effectiveness of career courses often lacks evidence on the comparative effects of different pedagogical formats. This study compared the effects of a flipped classroom approach to a traditional lecture-based approach for delivering a career course among Chinese undergraduate students. A longitudinal quasi-experimental field design was used to assess changes in the career outcomes between the flipped and non-flipped groups over three time points (pre-, post-, and two-month follow-up). Mixed-factorial ANOVAs showed the overall effects were stronger immediately post-course and at the two-month follow-up for the flipped approach, although both course designs decreased lack of career information and increased environmental exploration. The study suggests that the flipped classroom design has the potential to outperform traditional teaching approaches.

Globally, international student recruitment has been one of the main features of higher education internationalisation. Institutions, therefore, continue to devise strategies to attract and recruit international students. Within a globalisation discourse, the current study explores strategies utilised in recruiting international students at a Chinese institution -- Southwest University. Data analysis of the university's admission brochures, web pages and semi-structured interviews, reveal scholarships, English-taught programmes, digital channels, university collaboration and student advocacy as main recruitment strategies. Influenced by globalisation and government-led efforts, institutions worldwide are increasingly employing similar strategies at varying emphasis to drive international student recruitment. While globalisation continues to wield significant influence on international student recruitment and mobility, its influence relies greatly on the involvement of governments and higher education institutions. Ultimately, institutions must specifically define their target market, and understand how international students make choices about where and what to study.

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities have historically been at high risk for social exclusion and other vulnerabilities. The Western world has shifted away from institutionally-based services and toward community-based services that allow for greater social inclusion as well as for meeting individual developmental needs, and China is beginning the process of exploring how to make this shift. In 2014 and 2015, a situation analysis examining the lived experiences of parents of children with disabilities in Zhengzhou, Henan, China, was undertaken. Perceptions of strengths, needs, opportunities, and barriers experienced by parents of children in intact families (i.e. families where children with disabilities remain in their birth families) were explored by means of parent interviews and focus groups. Families identify experiences of stigma and acceptance related to traditional and alternative social constructions of intellectual and developmental disabilities, and how they use social networks and information-sharing to help develop community-based services.

This paper uses Edgar Dale's Audio-visual Learning Theory and Jean Piaget's Constructionist Learning Theory as the theoretical framework to conduct two control experimental tests and a questionnaire research to investigate students' impression and expectations toward WeChat public account based mobile learning mode as well as its validity, advantages and shortcomings. The findings of the research are as follows: (1) students who use the WeChat public account based mobile learning mode can perform better in acquiring knowledge and passing examinations than non-users; (2) students' mobile learning habits find a good basis for their acceptance of the new WeChat learning mode; (3) most students respond to the new WeChat learning mode with a positive attitude, and universities can introduce this mode into the course design; (4) this new WeChat learning mode helps students learn literature in the aspects of interest stimulation, ability improvement and literature content learning; (5) WeChat mobile learning is only an extension of the current form of learning and cannot replace the current traditional school education; (6) Mobile learning mode based WeChat public account is an important teaching aid for teachers in the aspects of information dissemination, interactive mode and updated contents; (7) The experience of improving the current mobile learning model of WeChat public account can be enriched from students' feedback. It is hoped that WeChat mobile learning will efficiently activate students' learning potentials and promote English and American literature teaching innovation.

Health information sharing has become especially important during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic because people need to learn about the disease and then act accordingly. This study examines the perceived trust of different COVID-19 information sources (health professionals, academic institutions, government agencies, news media, social media, family, and friends) and sharing of COVID-19 information in China. Specifically, it investigates how beliefs about sharing and emotions mediate the effects of perceived source trust on source-specific information sharing intentions. Results suggest that health professionals, academic institutions, and government agencies are trusted sources of information and that people share information from these sources because they think doing so will increase disease awareness and promote disease prevention. People may also choose to share COVID-19 information from news media, social media, and family as they cope with anxiety, anger, and fear. Taken together, a better understanding of the distinct psychological mechanisms underlying health information sharing from different sources can help contribute to more effective sharing of information about COVID-19 prevention and to manage negative emotion contagion during the pandemic.

Multilingual crisis communication has emerged as a global challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Global public health communication is characterized by the large-scale exclusion of linguistic minorities from timely high-quality information. The severe limitations of multilingual crisis communication that the COVID-19 crisis has laid bare result from the dominance of English-centric global mass communication; the longstanding devaluation of minoritized languages; and the failure to consider the importance of multilingual repertoires for building trust and resilient communities. These challenges, along with possible solutions, are explored in greater detail by the articles brought together in this special issue, which present case studies from China and the global Chinese diaspora. As such, the special issue constitutes not only an exploration of the sociolinguistics of the COVID-19 crisis but also a concerted effort to open a space for intercultural dialogue within sociolinguistics. We close by contending that, in order to learn lessons from COVID-19 and to be better prepared for future crises, sociolinguistics needs to include local knowledges and grassroots practices not only as objects of investigation but in its epistemologies; needs to diversify its knowledge base and the academic voices producing that knowledge base; and needs to re-enter dialogue with policy makers and activists.

Translation is an important means of enabling access to information in an emergency response. Increasingly, volunteer translators have been using social media platforms to self-organize and carry out urgent translation tasks that effectively complement official disaster relief efforts. However, the role of crowdsourced translations and the capacity of volunteer translators in reducing the impact of disasters remain underestimated and therefore understudied. Based on semi-structured interviews with five volunteer translators and online observation of their translation practices, this study investigates the role of a volunteer-driven crowdsourced translation effort in facilitating the donation and procurement of medical supplies between Wuhan and the world. By addressing the real challenges of urgent crisis communication in Wuhan in the early stages of the pandemic, this study draws attention to the need to integrate information and communication technologies with multilingual resources for disaster relief. In addition, it calls for the inclusion of multilingual logistics in national emergency preparation, response and recovery plans.

Purpose: This paper explores the information sharing between farmers clustered around a formal plant health information source, using six case studies of plant clinics in China and Zambia. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was carried out with 327 farmers; six plant doctors were interviewed and plant clinic records reviewed. Data were analysed using social network analysis and descriptive statistics. Findings: Clinic attendees shared plant health information with an average of 4.6 other farmers in China and 3.8 farmers in Zambia. However, the effective secondary reach of plant clinics, i.e. clinic attendees sharing information with non-attendees, was considerably lower, especially in China, where most sharing took place among clinic attendees. The Zambian plant clinics, managed by public extension services, show a more open pattern where information is also shared with non-attendees. Practical implications: Plant doctors could play a more proactive role in bridging formal and informal networks to enhance the diffusion of plant health information within farming communities. Strategies to optimize the secondary reach of plant clinics should be informed by the agro-ecological and socio-economic context, as well as the type of organization operating the service. Theoretical implications: The type of production system (degree of market orientation) and clinic's institutional setup (private vs. public sector) determine the characteristics of the social network around it. The closed, crop-specific networks in China result in high uptake of advice but limited secondary reach. The open, more crop-diverse networks in Zambia have higher secondary reach but lower uptake. Originality/value: This is the first study examining how information travels within social networks linked to plant clinics, and patterns of information sharing and use.

The world is marked by the twin processes of economic and cultural globalization in an era of information technology. The identities of all societies are evolving as social and political boundaries are shrinking day-by-day. As a result of significant economic and political changes, cross-cultural contact is at an all-time high in human history. Over the past three decades, however, significant social, political and technological changes appear to have seriously revamped policies, set new paradigms, and shifted philosophies that contribute to the dramatic alteration of the educational landscape. This globalized world is controlled by a triple deity--money, markets, and media--that have seamlessly entrenched themselves in how "education is imparted" around the globe. This infiltration has affected practices, practitioners, and programs. This paper presents the changing landscape of higher education in the global market, in terms of opportunities and threats to higher education institutes and universities around the world.

Educational narrative inquiry has gained popularity since it was exported to China at the end of 1990s. The journey of educational narrative inquiry from western countries to China experiences four typical stages of the way any theory or idea traveling, which was put forward by Edward W. Said in 1983. The new curriculum reform and the trends of teacher professionalization and teacher education integration, as well as the experiential and temporal characteristics of narrative inquiry itself, stimulate their dissemination in China, where they also encounter evitable resistance because of the tradition of quantitative and speculative methodology. Due to the different cultural backgrounds and the impact of translation, the educational narrative inquiry has been transformed to some extent. The transformation can be classified into five aspects: the modeling of procedures and forms; the presupposition of aims and too many voices from researchers; the lack of deep description and interpretation; the little reflection on the method itself and closing structure. The most important factor responsible for its transformation is the Chinese thinking mode, including holistic and intuitive thinking, "complete thinking", inveterate subject-object dichotomy thinking and the tendency of making value judgment before factual judgment. For its better development in China, more exploration and reflections is required.

Video podcasts have become one of the fastest developing trends in learning and teaching. The study explored the effect of the presenting mode of educational video podcasts on the learning process and learning outcomes. Prior to viewing a video podcast, the 94 Chinese undergraduates participating in the study completed a demographic questionnaire and prior knowledge test. The learning process was investigated by eye-tracking and the learning outcome by a learning test. The results revealed that the participants using the video podcast with both the instructor and PPT slides gained the best learning outcomes. It was noted that they allocated much more visual attention to the instructor than to the PPT slides. It was additionally found that the 22 min was the time at which the participants reached the peak of mental fatigue. The results of our study imply that the use of educational technology is culture bound.

This article synthesises findings from two systematic reviews that examined evidence of the link between large-scale assessments (LSAs) and education policy in economically developing countries and in countries of the Asia-Pacific. Analyses summarise evidence of assessment characteristics and policy goals of LSAs that influence education policy, when LSAs are used in the policy-making cycle and types of education policies impacted, and factors that influence the use of LSAs in policy-making. Results show national assessments conducted at both primary and secondary school levels to have an impact on education policy. LSAs are used more often for monitoring education quality and equity purposes followed by accountability purposes. International assessments are more often used to leverage policy priorities than other assessment types. LSAs feature mainly at the monitoring and evaluation stage of the policy cycle. The education policies impacted by LSAs relate considerably more to curricular reforms and performance standards as well as assessment bodies and activities and far less to resource allocation and teaching and learning policies. Finally, whereas the quality of assessment programmes facilitate impact, financial constraints and uncertainty as well as weak assessment bodies hinder the impact of LSAs on education policy.

We explored the use of mobile social software, in the form of a mobile group blog, to assist cultural learning. The potential of using this technology for cultural adaptation among overseas students was examined as those students adapted to the everyday life of studying abroad. Two pilot studies and a successful field study of a mobile group blog as used by U.K. overseas students are reported. A further study with prospective overseas students witnessing this "moblogging" in China revealed the advantages of communicating through this technology as a form of peer-supported preparation for cultural adaptation. Potential advantages for learning a second language, via this system, were highlighted as communication was interwoven with cultural adaptation and exercised in the blog entries. Given mobile Internet, the language experience together with cultural observation impressively supported these students' growing confidence with time, space, and imagination.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the information about haze, a term used in China to describe the air pollution problem, is portrayed on Chinese social media by different types of organizations using the theoretical framework of the health belief model (HBM). Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis was conducted based on the 756 posts retrieved from Sina Weibo, the top microbloging platform in China, following the simple random sampling method. ?[superscript 2] analysis was conducted to examine the relationships across the three types of organizations (governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and corporations) and the use of the HBM concepts (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action) in terms of haze and its threat to health. Findings: The results of this study indicated that corporations posted more Weibo messages categorized as perceived benefit and most of these posts are related to their products, while governmental organizations posted fewer Weibo messages categorized as perceived severity. Social implications: This study provides health decision makers and media consumers with knowledge about how to use social media more effectively in terms of haze-related issues. Originality/value: Given the severity of air pollution and the influential role microblogging takes, the study aims to fill the gap in the limited literature on haze information dissemination on social media in China. In addition, this study aims to shed theoretical light on HBM as applied to a non-westernized context.

Few studies have been conducted to identify what kinds of online information are provided by institutions and needed by international students in social media. This study aims to identify critical constructs of study abroad information (SAI) that can generate positive attitudes toward the university. Specifically, this study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of persuasive communication via social media among students looking to study abroad as well as examining their impacts on attitude change. This paper used the elaboration likelihood model to map out information processing flow of students looking to study abroad. Based on a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, the findings highlighted the importance of peripheral communication cues in influencing students' attitudinal change toward overseas institutions and countries. This study uncovered that the peripheral cues mediate the relationship of study abroad online reviews and attitude change.

On the eve of her birthday, August 14, 1904, the young Jewell Legett recorded in her diary that she had "been feeling so strange today … 20 years old! What an age it is! Just the time to be a girl and learn to live" (Legett 1904). Her summer vacation from the 1903-1904 term at Baylor University was spent with her parents and brothers in Port Lavaca, Texas. After a summer of reflection, she would return to Baylor and declare her intent to be a missionary on a foreign field. This analysis is based on Jewell's personal diaries recorded during her student days and during her years in China. First the authors will outline Jewell's college preparation at Baylor University and the Woman's Missionary Union Training School, analyzing retrospectively how her higher education in Southern Baptist schools prepared her for her life's work. Next, using her diaries and other primary source materials, the authors will recount her mission work in evangelism and supervision of girls' schools. Secondary sources provide the historical context for women's evangelical and educational work with Chinese women and girls. Finally, the authors will conclude by describing the impact of missionary efforts like Jewell's on the education of girls in China.

This paper investigates the potential of mobile learning for creativity in and out of school with a focus on media production. In doing so it attempts to move beyond binary choices around the nature of creativity (e.g., individual vs social) and the role of technologies for creative learning. To this end, it presents the literature on how creativity has been conceptualized, especially in education, and provides the theoretical underpinnings that supported the study by referring to the Vygotskyan perspective of creativity as a transformative process of culture and the self. It then moves to a description of three experiences addressing young people and entailing the creation of digital artifacts through mobile devices. It also presents some results, exploring learners' and teachers' perspectives and showing how mobile devices serve as cultural resources that young people use for meaning making and transforming themselves. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research.

Using a transnational framework, this paper focuses on four graduates of Gipsy Hill Training College (GHTC) for nursery school teachers in London, United Kingdom, in the early to mid-twentieth century. Firstly, I explore GHTC's progressive ideals and highlight ways in which its principal, Lillian de Lissa, encouraged students to "think internationally". She was especially proud that a handful of students from countries such as China, Turkey and Canada studied at Gipsy Hill. These included Nevin Nouri and Bek Keng Chui, whose experiences are explored in the second section of the paper. Likewise, British graduates "who carried Gipsy Hill to the ends of the earth" featured prominently in the college magazine, the "Gipsy Trail". Finally, I examine reports from Marjorie Sanders and Barbara Boal for the ways in which they represented their lives and work overseas to readers of the "Gipsy Trail". Together, de Lissa and GHTC graduates constructed the college as a progressive educational institution whose influence transcended national boundaries. However, they exposed a range of social divisions in their portrayals of people and places "in the uttermost parts of the earth" in the process of articulating their ideals. (Contains 63 footnotes.)

One important element of globalization is the dissemination of western educational ideals and organizational frameworks through educational development projects. While postcolonial theory has long offered a useful critique of this expansion, it is less clear about how educational development that eschews neo-imperialist tendencies might proceed. This problem poses a question that requires philosophical reflection. However, much of comparative and international development education ignores philosophical modes of inquiry. Moreover, as Libbrecht (2007) argues, philosophy all too often sees itself as synonymous with the Euro-American intellectual tradition, thus ignoring indigenous educational thought that might more appropriately guide local educational development. Drawing on John Dewey's (1938) call for deeper and more inclusive plans of operations in response to social conflicts and Jurgen Habermas (2008) call for "reciprocal learning processes" and "cooperative acts of translation," we will attempt to reach beyond our individual philosophical borders to explore the necessity and possibilities of comparative philosophy of education by sharing three examples of our current efforts to apply philosophical analysis to international educational development. These examples will articulate and embody the necessity and the challenges of applying philosophical analysis to educational development work. (Contains 4 notes.)

This article explores the communication model and nature of change in terms of deforestation in China since 1949. Through Lasswell's communication model and the theory of change and via historical analysis and extended literature review, we have discovered: First, Mao's government adopted an effective one-way top-down communication model with Chinese characteristics during 1949 and 1978, which facilitated deforestation in China leading to massive economic dislocation and immense waste of resources. Second, the Chinese government's change to practical ideology brought about new administrative practices of enacting forest protection laws and reorientating the relevant workforces to use available technologies for the production of exported furniture with imported timber. Finally, the paradigmatic shift in the Chinese forest management has partially relocated deforestation from China to other countries, which calls for urgent international attention. (Contains 1 table.)

John Lawrence Childs was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on January 11, 1889, the second child of John Nelson Childs and Helen Janette (Nettie) Smith. In childhood Childs absorbed the values of industry, democracy, and a traditional, but socially conscious, religion. Childs was a Methodist and an intensely private person not given to talking about himself, so there are a few accounts of his inner religious life as a youth, but the fact that he held membership in traditional Christian organizations well into adulthood indicates at least a tacit acceptance of historical orthodox Protestant beliefs. Childs served as a missionary in China for 11 years, between 1916 and 1927. However, Childs became disillusioned with the cultural imperialism and elitism he perceived in western missions work and effectively turned his back on his religious profession. In its place, he embraced John Dewey's experimentalism. After 11 years on the mission field in China, Childs stepped away from the social gospel to promote education as the path to a just society. He redirected his considerable energy and intellect into social reconstruction efforts through political activism, experimentalist philosophy, and progressive education. Childs' life and career represent those educational progressives who seek to replace their religious affiliations with modernist philosophies and secular good works. However, like many of his colleagues, Childs could not completely lay aside religious influences. Childs remained passionately devoted to the social and economic justice concerns that had blossomed during his youth and were solidified by his missionary service.

To be effective in higher education, text messaging must be effectively integrated into both the student and staff experience. These user groups provided input into the design of StudyLink, an email to text message service. A small-scale trial was conducted over a period of two academic terms to investigate the feasibility of using this system in a real educational setting. Students reported high satisfaction with the quantity and content of the text messages and tutors reported changes in behaviour that were directly attributable to the use of text messaging. Administrative staff members were able to integrate this service into their current means of communicating with students, though there were some difficulties in composing appropriate text messages. Students were able to effectively receive and act on text messages, but ambiguities introduced with sending text messages were not resolved. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)