The development of an entrepreneurial mindset in primary education

This article provides insights into the design thinking method, a teaching strategy for developing creativity, innovative thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset in young people as a universally applicable skill. It presents results from a study of 146 seventh- and eighth-grade students, aged 12–14 and 20 teachers across 10 Slovene schools. Teachers used the design thinking method to facilitate hands-on student projects and evaluated their effectiveness in cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset. The two teachers per class submitted a combined final report of their experience and observations. In addition, a study facilitator visited each school several times to discuss the project with the teachers, observe the class, and take notes. Thirteen factors that contributed to students’ entrepreneurial mindset were identified and organized into three clusters: project factors, the learning environment in which it was carried out, and the learning and teaching factors.     

The Influence of 16‐year‐old Students’ Gender,Mental Abilities,and Motivation on their Reading and Drawing Submicrorepresentations Achievements

Submicrorepresentations (SMRs) are a powerful tool for identifying misconceptions of chemical concepts and for generating proper mental models of chemical phenomena in students’ long‐term memory during chemical education. The main purpose of the study was to determine which independent variables (gender, formal reasoning abilities, visualization abilities, and intrinsic motivation for learning chemistry) have the maximum influence on students’ reading and drawing SMRs. A total of 386 secondary school students (aged 16.3 years) participated in the study. The instruments used in the study were: test of Chemical Knowledge, Test of Logical Thinking, two tests of visualization abilities Patterns and Rotations, and questionnaire on Intrinsic Motivation for Learning Science. The results show moderate, but statistically significant correlations between students’ intrinsic motivation, formal reasoning abilities and chemical knowledge at submicroscopic level based on reading and drawing SMRs. Visualization abilities are not statistically significantly correlated with students’ success on items that comprise reading or drawing SMRs. It can be also concluded that there is a statistically significant difference between male and female students in solving problems that include reading or drawing SMRs. Based on these statistical results and content analysis of the sample problems, several educational strategies can be implemented for students to develop adequate mental models of chemical concepts on all three levels of representations.     

A conceptual framework for analysing the impact of influences on student engagement and learning

The notion that ‘customer satisfaction’ should be the ultimate measure of quality provision of any service organization is often accepted in the higher education context. However, measuring the quality of an educational institution based on students’ satisfaction is insufficient as it diverts the focus from student development, advancement and growth to an affective evaluation of the service. More appropriate measures of quality of higher education institutions are student engagement and learning. This study describes the likely impact of perceived overall quality of higher education institutions on student engagement. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it draws attention to the importance of higher education institution quality as the main institutional-level determinant of student engagement and, second, it suggests a comprehensive multilevel conceptual framework for its empirical testing.     

(7) Yugoslavia: Library education in Yugoslavia

This paper discusses Nigerian university library buildings from 1948, when the first university institution was established, up to 1998. Through the use of a questionnaire, study visits to 12 of the 31 university libraries, interviews with library staff and review of the literature, it was found that all Nigerian university libraries started from temporary sites. While all five first generation universities had their first permanent library buildings erected within the first decade of their establishment, only five of the eight second generation universities have moved into their permanent library buildings after over 25 years of existence. Of the 15 third generation universities established in the 1980s, only five have erected and occupied their permanent buildings. Library buildings of the first generation universities were found to be very standard and grand in design while the same cannot be said of most of their second and third generation counterparts. For libraries with permanent structures, the designs were mostly modular. The paper recommends that library buildings be given priority in universities' physical development plans and that realistic library building standards be formulated with the co-operation of the National Universities Commission, the Nigerian Library Association and the Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (CULNU).     

Variability analysis for effectiveness and improvement in classrooms and schools in upper secondary education in Slovenia: Assessment of/for Learning Analytic Tool

From 1995, data on students' achievement in schools (i.e., teacher's grades) and all data on achievement in the 5-subject group certificate – the Matura exam – have been systematically gathered for the entire yearly cohort of students in upper secondary education in Slovenia. This paper describes an on-line data selection system and data analysis tool designed for national subject testing committees, schools, and teachers as feedback for analyses of effectiveness, for the improvement of teaching in the classroom and for better learning. The use of data to influence teacher planning of future instructional activities for new groups of students (or for adjustment of policies) can in the long run lead to systematic improvement. This might be considered a secondary level of formative assessment – a key step in a continuous PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) process to establish and assure the quality of education.     

Sliding manifold design for linear systems with unmatched disturbances

This paper offers an efficient sliding manifold design method that minimizes the impact of unmatched disturbances onto SM dynamics and system accuracy. System sensitivity upon unmatched constant or slowly varying external disturbance vector is evaluated by the steady-state dependent criterion function. An infinite set of sliding manifolds that minimize the chosen optimization criterion is determined and a way of selecting a manifold out of that set that provides adopted SM dynamics is suggested. The proposed approach has been demonstrated on numerical examples and verified by simulations.     

Changing the landscape of cybersecurity education in the EU: Will the new approach produce the required cybersecurity skills?

Education and Information Technologies - Recruiting, retaining, and maintaining sufficient numbers of cybersecurity professionals in the workplace is a constant battle, not only for the technical...     

Institutional Quality of a Higher Education Institution from the Perspective of Employers

The present paper proposes a theoretical model of institutional quality of a higher education institution (HEI) which, in addition to the internal dimensions of quality, incorporates also the external dimension, i.e. the outcomes dimension. This dimension has been neglected by the quality standards and models examined in our paper. Furthermore, the standards and models analyzed consider stakeholders as one of the quality factors of a HEI. The stakeholders’ perspective is seen as a lens through which stakeholders define, control and assess the quality of a HEI. The proposed model therefore gives stakeholders greater significance compared to the dimensions of institutional quality of a HEI. The model has been validated from the employers’ perspective. On the basis of 339 completed questionnaires or a 39.74 % response rate we concluded that outcomes constitute the most important dimension of institutional quality of a HEI from the perspective of employers in Slovenia. The outcomes dimension is followed, in descending order, by the non-financial resources and inputs, sustainable development, value chain, and, finally, the financial resources and inputs dimensions. The results of the study have shown that of the 44 quality factors of a HEI the following data are of key importance to employers: information on the participation of students in practical training, achievements of graduates at the workplace, implementation of a HEI’s research achievements in practice, graduate employability, and a HEI’s responsiveness to the demands and changes in the environment.     

A conceptual model for the development of broadband and e-government

The paper discusses the interconnection of the adoption and diffusion of broadband (‘BB’), e-government (‘EG’) and e-commerce (‘EC’) services. It provides a structured literature review and proposes a conceptual framework for studying the interconnection of the development and adoption of BB, EG and EC. The interconnections of various concepts are shown along with several hypotheses that are thoroughly theoretically grounded. The role of different technology acceptance models is discussed, while the importance of including various aspects in policy preparation analyses is emphasized.