Destination choice of cross-border Chinese students: an importance-performance analysis

Higher education institutions are competing with one another to recruit students. As a major developing country with emphasis on human capital development, China has the largest group of tertiary students studying locally and aboard, including cross-border students in the Greater China region. This paper examines the destination choice of cross-border Chinese students. The empirical findings reveal that the most important attributes are programme reputation, recognition of university qualifications, availability of course information, safety and cost of living in the host cities. Importance-performance analysis was applied to the survey data. Results show that students are satisfied with the safety aspect, but not with the cost of living. Regression analysis indicates that student satisfaction was significantly affected by the perceived value of the programme, followed by accessibility. These findings can help improve the quality of education services of higher education administration by addressing the perceptions and concerns of cross-border Chinese students.     

The role of facial microexpression state (FMES) change in the process of conceptual conflict

This paper explores whether facial microexpression state (FMES) changes can be used to identify moments of conceptual conflict, one of the pathways to conceptual change. It is known that when the preconditions of conceptual conflicts are met and conceptual conflicts are detected in students, it is then possible for conceptual change to take place. There were 102 university and high school students who were involved in this research, and about 80% of the participants held erroneous preconceptions on the scientific topic chosen. The results showed that FMES changes were detected in the majority of the students who made erroneous predictions as they underwent conceptual conflict. Furthermore, the lack of FMES change was shown to indicate a lowered likelihood of conceptual change, while the presence of FMES change doubled the likelihood of conceptual change. The results confirm that FMES can be useful in determining learners’ awareness of conflicting concepts and their progress towards scientific understanding. Educational implications are discussed.     

推动澳门职业培训新发展的挑战、机遇与对策

澳门的职业培训自澳门特别行政区政府成立后有较显著的发展，获得初步成效。未来澳门职业培训需落实在企业经营决策上，企业可通过行业间的中介作用，通过人力资源市场调节。形成人力培育发展的机制。     

Fear of failure, 2 × 2 achievement goal and self-handicapping: An examination of the hierarchical model of achievement motivation in physical education

In this study, the hierarchical model of achievement motivation [Elliot, A. J. (1997). Integrating the “classic” and “contemporary” approaches to achievement motivation: A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. In P. Pintrich & M. Maehr (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Vol. 10, pp. 143–179). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press] is used to investigate the motivational mechanism behind the relationship between fear of failure and self-handicapping adoption. A cross-sectional design was employed. The participants were 691 college students enrolled in physical education in Taiwan. Students completed the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory (PEAI-S; Conroy, D. E., Willow, J. P., & Metzler, J. N. (2002). Multidimensional measurement of fear of failure: The performance failure appraisal inventory. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 76–90), the Chinese 2 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Physical Education (CAGQ-PE; Chen, L. H. (2007). Construct validity of Chinese 2 × 2 achievement goal questionnaire in physical education: Evidence from collectivistic culture. Paper presented at the 5th conference of the Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology. Bangkok, Thailand) and the Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS; Wu, C. H., Wang, C. H., & Lin, Y. C. (2004). The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of self-handicap scale for sport. Journal of Higher Education in Physical Education, 6(1), 139–148). Structural equation modeling was conducted. Generally, the results showed that mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals partially mediated the relationship between fear of failure and self-handicapping. The results are discussed in terms of the hierarchical model of achievement motivation, and its implications for physical education are also highlighted.     

The perceived value of higher education: the voice of Chinese students

This paper describes an exploratory study on the perceived value of higher education by Chinese students in Macao SAR, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Taipei. Using responses from 316 students, we find that the Sheth–Newman–Gross Theory of Consumption Values explains how students perceive the services offered by higher education institutions. Students have different opinions on the value items, which we group into two functional values (the usefulness of a degree and the experiential aspect), social value, emotional value, epistemic value, and conditional value using factor analysis. A stepwise multiple regression analysis shows that students’ satisfaction depends, to a large extent, on two functional values—the experiential aspect and the usefulness of a degree. Moreover, when comparing value judgments based on gender as well as other demographic and social variables, the results show no significant differences between the mean scores in perceived values. Implications for delivering effective educational services in higher education conclude the paper.     

Intent to pursue further studies among Chinese Students

The number of students pursuing graduate qualifications has increased, especially in Asian countries and cities, such as China, Macao and Hong Kong. This paper examines the intent to pursue further studies among Chinese students according to the theory of planned behaviour. Based on responses from 321 final-year students in higher education institutions in Macao, Hong Kong and mainland China, path analysis shows that subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and attitude toward graduate studies owing to intrinsic motivation significantly affects the intent to pursue further studies. The paper also identifies the important attributes that influence students’ choice of a graduate programme. These findings can help higher education management improve the effectiveness of graduate recruitment and address the concerns of Chinese students.     

Constructivism-informed variation theory lesson designs in enriching and elevating science learning: Case studies of seamless learning design

The constructivist paradigm opens abundant opportunities for effective knowledge construction in which student build knowledge and continually evaluated and improved their knowledge. The teaching mode under constructivist pedagogy redefines the role of students and the teachers and their interrelationships by creating a nurturing environment. By adapting constructivist framework, this article demonstrates how the variation of learning practices was critical in facilitating Primary 4 students in Singapore to carry out seamless science learning. The variation of learning practices enables the students to explore a particular scientific concept through various learning experience across the contexts. The study adapted the framework of the Objects of Constructivist Learning Model for the improvement of the seamless science learning design. When redesigning the lesson, a conscious effort was made by the teacher to create relevant patterns of variation, that is, varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students discern those critical aspects. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in analyzing seamless learning as well as designing for constructivist learning experiences. The findings have also demonstrated that the complementary practice of constructivist pedagogy with variation theory as a viable and effective approach in seamless science learning, at which it deepened students' understanding through constructing the critical aspects of a phenomenon. Engagement with primary school students in experiencing the variations allowed the translation of theory into practice.     

Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning: a research agenda

Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that personal, portable, wirelessly networked technologies will become ubiquitous in the lives of learners—indeed, in many countries, this is already a reality. We see that ready‐to‐hand access creates the potential for a new phase in the evolution of technology‐enhanced learning, characterised by ‘seamless learning spaces’ and marked by continuity of the learning experience across different scenarios or contexts, and emerging from the availability of one device or more per student. The challenge is to enable learners to learn whenever they are curious and seamlessly switch between different contexts, such as between formal and informal contexts and between individual and social learning, and by extending the social spaces in which learners interact with each other. In this paper, we review the potential of mobile learning research for designing seamless learning environments that can bridge both formal and informal learning, present a research agenda and discuss important methodological issues that concern research into formal and informal learning.