THE IMPORTANCE OF E-LEARNING FOR MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES STUDENTS

The pandemic situation in Slovakia has shown that e-learning teaching within educational institutions has not received sufficient attention so far. The purpose of the paper is to stress the importance of e-learning application in foreign language teaching as well as show the possibilities of creating new educational portals for university students using professional foreign language texts. The KEGA project “Innovative Methods and Forms of Education for Needs and Development of Language and Communication Skills within Technical Professional Foreign Language Study Material” is still ongoing at the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities. The aim is to emphasize the importance of foreign language training for future engineers, and at the same time to look for modern and innovative mixed methods of education, which includes the use of e-learning. The paper compares the study results of more than 200 students in different study programmes at the Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies in Prešov Technical University of Košice achieved during the academic year 2020/2021. The research findings prove that the experimental group of students from different study programmes achieved the best study results in those manufacturing technologies e-tests which are closely connected with their study programme. The results confirm that English teaching focused on tailor-made professional texts and topics within the engineering levels of studies was effective. Teachers also identified the strengths and weaknesses of students within tasks to practice language competencies. By applying e-tests students were able to improve their language skills, which can be practised in selected foreign companies or in their future careers as engineers, technicians, managers or computer programmers.

The acceptance of spelling variants as symbols of Croatian spelling changes (1994–2013)

This paper discusses the impact of several spelling changes in Croatian on the level of the literacy of native speakers. Since 1986, there have been five official recommendations for usage that pertain to five different orthographic manuals. This research focuses on three spelling points with considerable identity-related repercussions among the public and the media, which are sometimes named the spelling symbols of Croatian. A questionnaire-survey comprised of 36 tests was completed among 1063 students on a technical study programme each year for eight consecutive academic years. Eight generations of first-year undergraduates, who do not study language in an educational setting, have accepted the new spellings, contingent on a frequency principle. The more frequent a spelling variant occurs, the less the chance that the new spelling variant is accepted, and vice versa. Given the lack of established and enduring spelling norms, combined with ideological oppositions between the old and new spelling forms, students have been guided mainly by their capacity to write the most common form.

How do Specific Conditions Shape Values of Undergraduate Early Childhood Education Students in Slovenia?

The purpose of the study is to examine the early childhood education students’ values and what are the differences in the students’ values in specific conditions related to social environment. The values of undergraduate students who study early childhood education are very important for professional development and practice. The purpose of this study is to determine, if their values change during their study programme; which values are more important to the students; and what are the differences in the students’ values in terms of the type of study (full time/part time), years of study, age, work experience and work status. Results indicate that employed students have higher scores on other-centred values than unemployed students, older students express more others-centred values than younger students, while in self-centred values there are no age differences. Students who have more work experience express more others-centred values and students who study longer express more others-centred values than fresh students, while in self-centred values differences by years of study do not occur. These results reveal important changes in the hierarchy of values related to measured variables and interplay between various conditions.

Pedagogical Digital Competence and its Acquisition in a Teacher Education Programme

Pedagogical digital competence can be characterised as an opportunity to improve the pedagogical process by using digital technologies in professional activities (From, 2017). In 2017, the European Commission presented a model of pedagogical digital competence, viewing teacher professional pedagogical competence, as well as demonstrating their impact and developing students’ digital literacy (Redecker, 2017). The aim of this study is to research pedagogical digital competence and its planned acquisition in one teacher professional bachelor study programme. As a result of the analysis of the theoretical literature, the concept of digital literacy and pedagogical competence was defined, and the understanding of pedagogical digital competence was provided. The empirical research looked at 1553 learning outcomes advertised in 201 course descriptions of one teacher professional bachelor study programme and analysed them from the perspective of pedagogical digital competence. As a result of the study, a concept-model of pedagogical digital competence was developed.

Predisposition Towards Sustainable Behaviour Among Students in the Pre-school Education Study Programme

Starting from the importance of sustainable behaviour among educators for sustainability in kindergarten, the aim of this empirical quantitative study was to investigate the prevalence of predispositions towards sustainable behaviour among students from the first cycle of the Preschool Education study programme at three universities. The connection between predispositions, the existence of a difference between cognitive and non-cognitive predispositions, and the absence of a statistically significant difference between the predispositions of the students in relation to home faculty and place of residence were determined.

Mellan mission och sionism

This article discusses the establishment of the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem in 1951. My claim is that the missionary plan of the Swedish Mission to the Jews was mitigated towards a programme of biblical studies. Several factors contributed to this transformation. The change facilitated the relations with the Israeli authorities. Another challenge was to overcome the common Christian negative comprehension of Zionism as a mere materialistic, political enterprise. Such attitudes complicated a connection to political Zionism, however the Swedish Theological Institute related rather to the cultural Zionist agenda of promoting Jewish culture and the Bible and could later connect to the topic of the Bible and the land. The experiences of the Swedish Mission in Vienna during the Second World War and their anti-Nazi stance also en­abled the founding of the institute. Two former missionaries, Greta Andrén and Hans Kosmala, were appointed as heads of the institute. Andrén had previously experienced that missionary work in Jerusalem was considered as utterly suspicious. Thereto both the Anglican and the Swedish missionaries had under ambivalent presuppositions supported an evacuation of baptized Jews, so-called "Hebrew Christians", from Palestine to England in April and May 1948. This enterprise, named "Operation Mercy", was later proved to be primarily an excuse for these Hebrew Christians to leave the country. The links to any overt mission­ary work was thus disengaged when negotiating permits for the Swedish Theological Institute. Instead, a qualified study programme in the Bible, the land, and Judaism was initiated; concepts that reflected esteemed values of the new Israeli state.

The Organisation of Formal Education of Fencing Coaches in Hungary, Great Britain and the Czech Republic

The paper deals with formal educational programmes for fencing coaches in Hungary, Great Britain and the Czech Republic. Based on a content analysis of mainly curricular documents, we were able to identify and describe similarities and differences in approaches to coach education. They were apparent primarily on the legislative, organisational and content level. The research shows that the road to coaching excellence takes a different length of time in different countries. It is even in sharp contrast to formal licence education of some fencing federations when it comes to a bachelor study programme. Differences were also found in the approach towards the organisation of practical training. The more traditionally designed education of coaches in Hungary and the Czech Republic differed from the education in Great Britain from a philosophical and content point of view, specifically in topics such as the application of soft skills and setting, planning and assessment of goals in coaches´ practice.

A longitudinal investigation of mental health, perceived learning environment and burdens in a cohort of first-year German medical students’ before and during the COVID-19 ‘new normal’

Background Medical students’ propensity to develop mental morbidity has been described for decades but remains unresolved. To assess student mental health person-centred and longitudinally, we have been investigating a cohort of German students since October 2019. After their first semester under ‘normal’ conditions, rapid changes became necessary due to the COVID-19 situation. In line with the initial aim, we investigated students’ change of mental health, perceived learning environment and burdens in the ‘new normal’. Methods Students in a newly founded German medical study programme (n = 63) answered a questionnaire each semester (October 2019 = entering medical school; December 2019 = ‘old normal’; June 2020 = ‘new normal’; December 2020 = ‘new normal’) on their well-being (FAHW-12), burnout (Maslach Inventory), depression (PHQ-9), perception of the learning environment (DREEM), burdens and protective attitudes in the ‘new normal’ (items designed for the study). Results Friedman tests reveal overall significant differences (all p < .001) in depression and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, personal accomplishment); changes in well-being were identified as just non-significant (p = .05). The effects were explained by a significant increase in burnout and depression identified post-hoc from October 2019 to December 2019. No increase in severity was identified in the ‘new normal’ semesters. The learning environment was perceived positively even with a significant improvement for June 2020 (repeated measures ANOVA p < .001). Study-related burdens (e.g. procrastination of online-learning material) took on greater relevance than burdens related to physicians’ occupation (e.g. potential for students' recruitment to the healthcare system during their studies). Conclusions The ‘new’ when entering medical school had a greater impact on our students’ mental health than the ‘new normal’. The readiness for change in the context of a newly designed study programme may have been beneficial with regard to students’ positively perceived learning environment during the virtual semesters. Monitoring medical students’ mental health longitudinally should be a concern regardless of a pandemic.

Drawing Skills of Candidates for Architectural Studies vs. Learning Outcomes of Graduates. Comparative Research Based on the Example of The Faculty of Architecture, Poznan University of Technology

Major changes in the organisation of the teaching process at universities in Poland had to be introduced in response to the current pandemic situation and threat of further spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus. This article presents the results of the research conducted at the Faculty of Architecture, Poznan University of Technology in view of the pilot, experimental entrance exam that excludes the evaluation of drawing skills of candidates for architectural studies in the 2020/21 recruitment process. The purpose of the research was to find a correlation between the quality of candidates accepted for the BSc (engineer) programme studies, evaluated on the basis of their drawing skills demonstrated during the entrance exam and the learning outcomes of graduates. For that purpose, the authors hereof have carried out an analysis with the use of the Spearman Rank Correlation formula. The comparative analysis has shown that candidates whose drawing skills were evaluated highly during the entrance exam did not necessarily rank as the top grade scoring graduates of the first degree study programme, and thus, it has further been shown that good drawing skills at the beginning of the study programme do not guarantee top learning results at the end of the studies. In effect, the research should become a starting point for a discussion in Poland on whether there are any justified grounds for entrance exams in drawing or whether a portfolio of works may replace it and be an effective recruitment criterion.