A Study on the Efficiency and Countermeasures of Network-Based Autonomous Learning Platform for Vocational College English Learners

This paper investigates the efficiency of 289 vocational college English learners using the network-based autonomous learning platform in Guangdong province in China. The results show that learners have a positive attitude toward the network-based extracurricular English autonomous learning, and learners with different English foundation have different requirements for extracurricular online autonomous learning. This paper puts forward some countermeasures on how to make full use of the network-based extracurricular English autonomous learning.

Validity and Reliability of Students Perceptions on OBE Approach in Malaysian VC Using Rasch Model

This pilot study aims to produce empirical evidence regarding the validity and reliability of instrument of the perception of vocational college diploma students towards the Outcome Based Education (OBE) approach. Validity and reliability were analysed using Rasch Model Measurement assisted by Winsteps 3.72 software. This research instrument contained 26 items and was distributed to 60 diploma students of vocational college at the Northern Zone. Validity analysis of the instrument was done through four functional testings. For reliability and separation of respondents, it was found that the individual reliability value was 0.91, while that for items demonstrated an item value of 0.94 and item separation index of 3.90. Results from the analysis of polarity item found that 25 items had a positive PMC value between 0.52-0.83. Meanwhile, analysis on item fit found 23 items with an outfit mean-square value between 0.41 and 1.24. This situation suggested three items that require attention. In the analysis on local dependence that determines dependent items based on the standardised residual correlation value, it was shown that the correlation value for the items used did not overlap with that of other items. These findings provided the evidence that the instrument of perception of vocational college diploma students on OBE approach has a high level of validity and reliability to be used in actual studies.

Inequality in the Initial Wage of College Graduates at the College-Level Perspective

College graduates, as a labor force with high human capital accumulation, have the problem of initial wage inequality, which is worth paying attention to. Based on the collated micro-survey data form “Employment and Entrepreneurship Development Report of Chinese College Graduates”, which contains 339 samples from vocational colleges, 453 from common colleges, and 360 from key colleges, this study empirically analyzed the inequality of college graduates’ initial wages at the college level. We found that the initial wage income level of college graduates is significantly influenced by the college level. The higher the level is, the higher the initial wage. The initial wage of graduates from key colleges is the highest, and the income inequality between them and vocational college graduates is the most significant. Moreover, there are structural differences in the wage premium effect of the college level on college graduates with a change in wage level. In addition, the study found that there is an obvious gender wage difference among college graduates, and political status, academic ranking, and student cadre experience as well as the nature of the workplace all contributed to the formation of wage premiums to a certain extent.

Research on the Optimization Strategy of Innovation Behavior and Entrepreneurship Intention in Entrepreneurship Teaching

Entrepreneurial intention is a necessary prerequisite for prospective entrepreneurs to start a new business, and today’s college students are the potential entrepreneurs of the future. How to improve students’ willingness to start a business is an important topic that a large number of scholars continue to pay attention to. The purpose of this work is to disentangle how college students’ previous innovative behavior affects their entrepreneurial intention from the view of social psychology. Survey data from a vocational college in China indicate that college students’ previous innovative behavior facilitates flow, which in turn affects their entrepreneurial intention. Our empirical findings flourish the research on antecedents of college students’ entrepreneurial intention, make contributions to the research on flow in entrepreneurship, and provide useful recommendations and suggestions in entrepreneurship teaching.

Research on the Teaching of Landscape Engineering by Foreign Teachers in Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education in SUCC

Sino-foreign cooperative education plays an important role in undergraduate education. It has also proved itself popular in higher vocational education in recent years, in which foreign teachers are undertaking the task of teaching some specialized courses. The teaching by foreign teachers has certain irreplaceable advantages, but nonnegligible disadvantages as well. Questionnaires have been distributed to the students majoring in Landscape Engineering from Shanghai Urban Construction College to investigate the teaching of specialized courses by foreign teachers. Based on the statistics, the advantages and disadvantages of their teaching have been analyzed, and several suggestions on how to adopt the good points and avoid the shortcomings are offered, so as to improve the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education in higher vocational college.

Examining the Strengths and Limitations of Ethnographic Research

Ethnography offers a holistic approach to qualitative researchers in educational contexts and appeals to scholars who wish seek to reveal rich narratives through their immersion in specific domains. This review paper examines the mobilization of the ethnographic research approach reported in studies from two distinctive learning contexts: an elementary school and a vocational college. Employing the specific evaluative criteria of Punch (2005), the desk-based study draws on existing literature to document the strengths and limitations of ethnographic method and reportage to reveal edifying insights to novice and experienced qualitative researchers who may be contemplating an ethnographic study in the future. The review reveals how extensive ethnography lends itself well to presenting thick descriptions in rich narratives to demonstrate high veracity. In contrast, this research approach may be limited in its verisimilitude, especially if ethnographers abridge their methodological and analytical descriptions and fail to acknowledge reactivity

Exploring Interest Formation in English Learning through XploreRAFE+: A Gamified AR Mobile App

The use of gamification and AR technology is found to have the capacity to enhance students’ interest. In this study, the researchers chose a class in a vocational college in China as a specific case that used the gamified AR mobile application, called XploreRAFE+. This study aimed to explore the use of XploreRAFE+ in the formation of learners’ interest in order to answer the research question: What is the process of interest formation among vocational college students in a gamified AR environment, and how does it sustain students’ motivation in learning English? The data for the study were collected via observations, interviews, and document analysis. The findings of the study indicated that in a gamified AR environment, vocational college students’ interest was triggered by piquing curiosity. This then led to optimal learning experiences, where eventually the students began to have positive perceptions of English lessons and were motivated to extend learning experience on their own. These three components of interest formation formed a dynamic loop where interest formation was developed in a cyclical process. It is proposed that a cyclical formation of interest developed through a gamified AR environment over time could sustain learners’ motivation.

The Promotion of Creativity of Vocational College Students: The Role of Parent-Child Relationship, Emotional Intelligence, and Grit

Objective: To examine whether emotional intelligence played a mediation role in the association between parent-child relationship and vocational college student’s creativity, and whether grit moderated this mediating process.Methods: 663 vocational college students participated in this study and completed four questionnaires at three time points, which included measures of parent-child relationship, creativity, emotional intelligence, and grit.Results: (1) Emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between parent-child relationship and vocational college student’s creativity; (2) grit moderated the mediating role of emotional intelligence between parent-child relationship and vocational college student’s creativity.Conclusion: Parent-child relationship had both direct effects on vocational college student’s creativity and indirect effects through emotional intelligence. Grit moderates the effect of emotional intelligence on vocational college student’s creativity.