Teacher Learning Community and EFL Teacher Professional Development

This study explores the impact of teacher learning community on EFL teachers’ professional development. The participants are 17 EFL teachers from Hebei University in China. A year-long study was conducted on these teachers' group leaning activities through participatory observation and in-depth interviews. The preliminary results are as follows: 1) Generally speaking, through conversation, interaction and online peer evaluation in learning community, participant teachers have improved professionally in terms of critical thinking, academic writing, reflective thinking and research awareness; 2) In learning activities of the community, the experienced teachers focused more on the construction of knowledge regarding research methodology, through interaction with others and participation in teaching-based research activities, to reconstruct their knowledge about teaching and research; while the novice teachers placed more emphasis on the reconstruction of knowledge regarding pedagogical theories and the way these theories are applied in teaching practice, through social interaction with other teachers.

Scaffolding Students’ Learning through Teacher’s Questioning

Questioning plays a significant role in teaching as teachers’ questions can help develop students’ learning and enhance students’ engagement in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to investigate on the types of questions asked by Commercial Studies teachers and on how they used questions to scaffold their students’ learning. The study focused on three secondary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The data collection processes involved classroom observations during Commercial Studies lessons and interviews with three teachers. The findings showed that the questions asked by Commercial Studies teachers varied according to the purpose of the lessons and teachers’ perceptions on the requirements of syllabus and examinations. Teachers were observed to have used questions to scaffold students’ learning by utilising lower-level questioning which focused on remembering, understanding and applying in order to engage the students with the new content. As the students progressed, the teachers began to employ higher order questioning which focused on analysing, evaluating and creating. As part of the process of scaffolding, the teachers drew on students’ personal experiences, linked what students had known to the new content, broke the questions into parts and offered clues or hints to the students. This study also recommended for teachers to be given professional development training to further improve their questioning techniques.

A Comparative Study on Chinese Teachers' Implicit Theories of Creativity in the Context of Cross-cultural Communication

Teachers' Implicit theories of creativity affect cultivation of students' creativity. This study aimed to investigate Chinese teachers' implicit theories of creativity in international schools in Chinese mainland by comparing the effect size with the previous research data. Results showed that there are mixed patterns of implicit theories in cross-cultural groups. Mixed patterns can be further divided into Native, Westernized, Continuous, Mutational, and Common patterns. Combined with individual interviews, this study further analyzes the deep reasons for the formation of the mixed patterns of implicit theories in cross-cultural groups from the perspectives of creative thinking and creative personality, and finds that school evaluation methods and the definition of students' achievements affect teachers' implicit theories of creativity.

Optimizing Legal Education through Technology-Driven Pedagogy

Legal Education has its own realm of pedagogy that for quite some time have remained to be resistant to change. However, with the advent of an exponentially improving technology, it cannot be denied that a certain degree of transformation to legal education has been adapted by law schools. While the benefits are arguably evident, the extent and effectivity of these pedagogical tools have remained to be murky. This paper provides a brief overview on legal education and how technology pressures it to transform. It discusses how legal academics adapt to the changing need of times and how technology has become useful in furthering the potential of legal education. Many academicians who employ the use of technology realize its potential from the natural desire of 21st century learners to increase interaction over social media platforms and their unparalleled improvement in terms of digital literacy. The effect of using this however was noted to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it was able to be a reliable support in teaching the law to students. At the same time, it presents several problems including academic dishonesty, loss of focus, misinformation, and passive learning. An increasing gap between web-connected learners versus those who are not is also stressed. In conclusion, the need to effectively integrate technology to legal education is key to making lawyers who are more prepared to real life applications. The attempt to integrate technology, when effectively done, will be beneficial to learners of the law.

Blended Learning Strategies for Japanese Literature Classes in the University

In Brazil, the country with the largest population of Japanese descent outside Japan, there are currently one private and eight public universities offering undergraduate studies in Japanese Language and Literature. Even though there is a considerable amount of research about blended learning strategies concerning the study of foreign languages, it does not happen the same way when it comes to foreign literature. Besides, learning literature demands more than knowing the language in which it is written. This work presents some reflections on blended learning strategies with the aim of contributing to Japanese literature classes in the context of Brazilian undergraduate courses.

The Development of Funding Schemes at Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences

This article examines the development of funding schemes at Finnish universities of applied sciences (UASs) between 2012 and 2018. During that period, the rudiments of the financing of Finnish UASs changed from cost-based to performance-based funding schemes. In a performance-based funding scheme, the state allocates funding based on the achievement of predefined objectives. The reform was intended to improve the processes and structures of UASs and to increase their effectiveness. This study explores the development of funding schemes from simple cost-based funding schemes towards more complex performance-based funding schemes with many indicators of performance. The results of the study offer empirical evidence on the impact of funding schemes on the measures of the performance of UASs, interpretations of the research object in context and causal connections between the above-mentioned elements.

English Language Learning Motivation among Students in QiLu University of Technology in China

The difficulty of learning English is very obvious in non-Native English-speaking countries. China has a long history Chinese language culture. Chinese students are deeply influenced by their mother tongue. They are influenced by the educational system, Chinese language environment and English motivation. These factors lead to poor English learning results for Chinese students. This article studies the influence factors of English learning motivation in QiLu University of Technology freshmen's English learning. It uses the questionnaire survey to the Likert scale. Through the survey data and the use of statistical measurement method, it analyzes QiLu University of Technology freshmen's English learning motivation. Then the paper explores the influence of Qi Lu industrial university freshman English learning motivation. The study found that the Qi Lu industrial university freshman English learning motivation level is low. The low level of English learning motivation in English learning effects is small. The family socio-economic status of the respondents did not influence their motivation of English language learning. The respondents’ exposure influencing their motivation of English language learning. In view of this situation, this study provides strategies for college freshmen to improve their English learning motivation and provides theoretical basis for Chinese college students to better learn English.

Investigation and Reform Measures of the Current Situation of Cultivating the Innovative Ability of HVAC

This article conducted a questionnaire survey on HVAC graduate students in the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, analyzed the problems existing in the cultivation of innovative ability of them and combined with the actual situation of HVAC major postgraduates, it was proposed that the cultivation mode of hierarchically classifying and teaching students according to their aptitudes for students with different professional abilities and development directions. It is proposed some reform measures such as the reform of the graduate course system and teaching mode, strengthen the cultivation of post-graduates ability to discover and solve problems, implement joint schools-enterprises training and strengthen experimental teaching, which promote the cultivation of HVAC graduate students' innovative ability.

Why do Universities Rankings have Such Different Lists?

University rankings feature lists of higher education institutions ranked by item and weight. As they are available in the internet, they can be consulted by anyone wishing to find the best universities: students who want to enter higher education, teachers and researchers looking for new positions and governments/investors who want to fund the best. The lists are easy to consult and available to everyone. There are different classifications which are published: some are global, some are subdivided by areas, and others are only for one country. The results are very different from each other because they follow different systems. Many of the rankings have a huge number of Asian (mainly Chinese) universities in top positions while others consist mostly of American universities. This article compares the lists of computer science universities that appear in the rankings and analyzes the criteria for creating each of these rankings. Our goal is to understand why there are so many differences and which rankings favor each type of investigation. There is a direct relationship between the massive presence of top Asian universities and the total dependence on WebOfScience publications. The same is not true when the data source is the Scopus database.

Exploration and Practice of the Undergraduate Training Mode in Electronic and Information Engineering with Marine Characteristics

Marine higher education plays an important role in ocean countries in the world. Interdisciplinary integration of ocean and other disciplines has been the development trend and characteristics since the 21st century. In this paper, some explorations and practices have been carried out about the talents cultivation in Electronic Information Engineering with marine characteristics in Ocean University of China. This is a practical choice based on the national marine strategy and regional development demand for marine talents, and also benefiting the discipline intersection of information and ocean in College of Information Science and Engineering. We develop the professional training program with marine characteristics, including curriculum system and course syllabus. In order to strengthen the students’ engineering practice, we construct multi-level, multi-stage and diversified practical teaching system; offer students various innovative practice out of class; open advanced experimental platform. As a result, the specialty construction in Electronic Information Engineering based on all of these measures is feasible and effective in improving the engineering ability of students, especially the application ability of electronic information in the ocean.