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In line with Singapore's nationwide digital journey, the Training and Adult Education (TAE) sector of Singapore has launched the Innovation Learning 2020 initiative to catalyse the adoption of technology in the TAE sector. This paper presents findings from three projects we have conducted on innovative learning and discusses how learning and innovation can be supported. We first present findings from the first nationwide survey of the TAE landscape on the current status of innovative learning. Our findings show that a good proportion of training providers and adult educators are adopting blended learning to respond to the changes and new demand in the TAE market. We then present a case of a blended learning course for workers from Maritime industry that demonstrates how blended learning can be designed and conducted to provide a seamless learning experience for learners to embrace the affordances of tech-enabled learning, workplace supervisions and face-to-face classroom interactions. Lastly, we discuss how innovation and learning can be enabled at the workplace and present a model to support innovative learning culture at the workplace.

Context: Sense-making, understood as meaning making or giving meaning to experience, is an integral part of everyday life, work and learning, and is a process critical in enabling people to recognise how and when to respond to situations appropriately so that they can resolve problems effectively (Weick et al., 2005). Earlier studies on sense-making in educational or organizational settings (e.g. Harverly et al., 2020; Weick et al., 2005) tended to focus on the sense-making process per se in particular setting such as classrooms or organizations, few of them have paid much attention to the sense-making process in blended learning (BL). BL in vocational training mainly aims to enable adult learners to apply what was learnt in classrooms to solve authentic problems in workplaces or simulated settings. High quality of sense-making is crucial to help the learners achieve the aim. This timely study is to offer a comparative look at how different dynamics of BL interplay together to mediate the quality of sense-making in achieving learning outcomes. The dynamics include industry and training connections, policy and institutional contexts, the inhabited pedagogical practices and curriculum design. Methods: This study adopted phenomenological (Moran, 2000) and semi-ethnographic approaches (Hammersley, 2010), including semi-structured interviews, observations, analysis of relevant documents (e.g. curriculum and learning materials) to capture the rich data in case studies to understand learners’ sense-making experience in BL. Researchers focused on seeking to understand how different environments, tools and artefacts mediate the quality of sense-making as the learners progressed through their learning journey. To triangulate the data, adult educators, curriculum designers and where possible, workplace supervisors, were also interviewed and observed for their perceptions and behaviours in learners’ sense-making in BL. Findings: The findings from two different BL courses (ICT and HR) surface that the degree to which learners’ sense-making is fragmented (low quality) or seamless (high quality) is mediated by the interplay of different contextual factors in BL in multiple ways, such as, the connections (or not) with industry, the use (or not) of authentic problems and tasks. Conclusion: The interplay between different dynamics in BL is of great importance to mediate the curriculum design and pedagogical approaches used in BL for high quality of sense-making of adult learners in vocational training.

Purpose is an intention over the long-term to have an effect on the world that is both meaningful to oneself and to others. What are schools doing to help students use the knowledge and skills they learn in school in their own lives and aspirations? This is the first study that compares adolescent purposes and life satisfaction in Singaporean and Israeli schools. Findings showed four purpose clusters for Singaporean adolescents: No Orientation, Self-focused, Other-focused, and both Self- and Other-focused. Israeli adolescents were in three purpose clusters: Self-focused, Other-focused, and Self- and Other-focused. The purpose groups differed on average life satisfaction in both countries: Self- and Other-focused were highest, followed by Self-focused and Other-focused. The No Orientation group in Singapore was lowest. Notably, beyond these differences between the groups, Israeli adolescents reported significantly higher life satisfaction in each purpose group. We discuss implications for schools and education policymakers.

In order to reveal the relationship between residual stress in Si layers of SiC/SiC composites and the different parameters used in their preparation, the residual stress of the coating surface was tested using X-ray sin2ψ technology and laser Raman spectroscopy. Then, the Raman shift–stress coefficient (P) and the Raman shift with free stress (ω0) were calculated as −201.41 MPa/cm−1 and 520.591 cm−1 via linear fitting with the least squares method. The results showed that all the as-sprayed Si coatings exhibited tensile stress on the surface, ranging from 53.5 to 65.9 MPa. The parameters of the spraying distance and second gas (H2) flow rate were considered to be the most important for controlling the residual stress on the coating surface. Additionally, the surface tensile stress of the Si layers could be eliminated and even changed into compressive stress by annealing above 800 °C. Furthermore, the residual stress distribution in the cross-section of the Si layers was evaluated using laser Raman spectroscopy. Additionally, the particle characteristics, such as in-flight velocity and temperature, were investigated using a diagnostic system. The results of this research contribute to increasing the understanding and control of residual stress in APS Si bond layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strategy of utilizing Zn interface states in wavelength-tunable electroluminescence has been investigated in a ZnO/Al2O3 nanolaminate (ZANL). The wavelength center changes from 650 to 480 nm by decreasing the nominal ZnO sublayer thickness (ZST) from 1.19 to 0.85 nm. With a ZST below the Bohr radius, the quantum confinement widens the gap between the conduction band bottom (CBB) and the Zn-interface-state-related deeplevel (DL), which suppresses nonradiative transitions and promotes a CBB/DL radiative transition. More importantly, white-light emission with a high color rendering index of 93.13 is innovatively achieved by constructing a combined ZANL with different ZSTs, which is beneficial for further lowering the cost of solid-state illumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]