Search results for: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills and Teamwork Skills

Authors: Linda Mei Sui Khoo, Dorit Maor, Renato Schibeci

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Graduate attributes have received increasing attention over recent years as universities incorporate these attributes into the curriculum. Graduates who have adequate technical knowledge only are not sufficiently equipped to compete effectively in the work place; they also need non disciplinary skills ie, graduate attributes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of an eportfolio in a technical communication course to enhance engineering students- graduate attributes: namely, learning of communication, critical thinking and problem solving and teamwork skills. Two questionnaires were used to elicit information from the students: one on their preferred and the other on the actual learning process. In addition, student perceptions of the use of eportfolio as a learning tool were investigated. Preliminary findings showed that most of the students- expectations have been met with their actual learning. This indicated that eportfolio has the potential as a tool to enhance students- graduate attributes.

Keywords: Eportfolio, Communication Skills, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills and Teamwork Skills

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Authors: Mohammad Shahid Jamil, Mohamed Chabi

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In this study, students’ learning has been investigated and satisfaction in one of the course offered at Qatar University Foundation Program. Innovative teaching has been implied methodology that emphasizes on enhancing students’ thinking skills, decision making, and problem solving skills. Some interesting results were found which could be used to further improvement of the teaching methodology. In Fall 2012 in Foundation Program Math department at Qatar University has started implementing new ways of teaching Math by introducing MyMathLab (MML) as an innovative interactive tool in addition of the use Blackboard to support standard teaching such as Discussion board in Virtual class to engage students outside of classroom and to enhance independent, active learning that promote students’ critical thinking skills, decision making, and problem solving skills through the learning process.

Keywords: Blackboard, MyMathLab, study plan, discussion board, critical thinking, active and independent learning, problem solving.

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Authors: Halizah Awang, Ishak Ramly

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Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the student centered approaches and has been considered by a number of higher educational institutions in many parts of the world as a method of delivery. This paper presents a creative thinking approach for implementing Problem-based Learning in Mechanics of Structure within a Malaysian Polytechnics environment. In the learning process, students learn how to analyze the problem given among the students and sharing classroom knowledge into practice. Further, through this course-s emphasis on problem-based learning, students acquire creative thinking skills and professional skills as they tackle complex, interdisciplinary and real-situation problems. Once the creative ideas are generated, there are useful additional techniques for tender ideas that will grow into a productive concept or solution. The combination of creative skills and technical abilities will enable the students to be ready to “hit-the-ground-running" and produce in industry when they graduate.

Keywords: Creative Thinking Skills, Problem-based Learning, Problem Solving.

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Authors: Wei Sun, Yan Dong

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There is an increasing interest in introducing computational thinking at an early age. Computational thinking, like mathematical thinking, engineering thinking, and scientific thinking, is a kind of analytical thinking. Learning computational thinking skills is not only to improve technological literacy, but also allows learners to equip with practicable skills such as problem-solving skills. As people realize the importance of computational thinking, the field of educational technology faces a problem: how to choose appropriate tools and activities to help students develop computational thinking skills. Robots are gradually becoming a popular teaching tool, as robots provide a tangible way for young children to access to technology, and controlling a robot through programming offers them opportunities to engage in developing computational thinking. This study explores whether the introduction of flowcharts into the robotics programming courses can help children convert natural language into a programming language more easily, and then to better cultivate their computational thinking skills. An experimental study was adopted with a sample of children ages six to seven (N = 16) participated, and a one-meter-tall humanoid robot was used as the teaching tool. Results show that children can master basic programming concepts through robotic courses. Children's computational thinking has been significantly improved. Besides, results suggest that flowcharts do have an impact on young children’s computational thinking skills development, but it only has a significant effect on the "sequencing" and "correspondence" skills. Overall, the study demonstrates that the humanoid robot and flowcharts have qualities that foster young children to learn programming and develop computational thinking skills.

Keywords: Robotics, computational thinking, programming, young children, flowcharts.

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Authors: Ahmet Ok, Banu Yücel Toy

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Promoting critical thinking (CT) in an educational setting has been appraised in order to enhance learning and intellectual skills. In this study, a pedagogical course in a vocational teacher education program in Turkey was designed by integrating CT skill-based strategies/activities into the course content and CT skills were means leading to intended course objectives. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the importance of the course objectives, the attainment of the objectives, and the effectiveness of teachinglearning strategies/activities from prospective teachers- points of view. The results revealed that although the students mostly considered the course objectives important, they did not feel competent in the attainment of all objectives especially in those related to the main topic of Learning and those requiring higher order thinking skills. On the other hand, the students considered the course activities effective for learning and for the development of thinking skills, especially, in interpreting, comparing, questioning, contrasting, and forming relationships.

Keywords: Critical thinking, critical thinking-based instruction, higher order thinking skills, teacher education

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Authors: B. Özlük, A. Karaaslan

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This study has been conducted as a supplementary and relationship seeking study with the purpose of measuring the tendency and success of support among peers amid nursing students studying at university in solving interpersonal problems. The population of the study (N:279) is comprised of nursing students who are studying at one state and one private university in the province of Konya, while its sample is comprised of 231 nursing students who agreed to take part in the study voluntarily. As a result of this study, it has been determined that the peer support and interpersonal problem solving characteristics among students were at medium levels and that the interpersonal problem solving skills of students studying in the third year were higher than those of first and second year students. While the interpersonal problem solving characteristics of students who are aged 20 and over were found to be higher, no difference could be determined in terms of the interpersonal problem solving skills and tendencies among students, based on their gender and where they reside. A positive – to a medium degree – and significant relationship was determined between peer support and interpersonal problem solving skills, and it is possible to say that as peer support increases, so do the skills and tendencies to solve problems.

Keywords: Interpersonal problem, nursing students, peer support, problem solving.

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Authors: Abdul Halim Abdullah, Nur Liyana Zainal Abidin, Mahani Mokhtar

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Problem-solving is an activity which can encourage students to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Learning fractions can be challenging for students since empirical evidence shows that students experience difficulties in solving the fraction problems. However, visual methods can help students to overcome the difficulties since the methods help students to make meaningful visual representations and link abstract concepts in Mathematics. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were any changes in students’ HOTS at the four highest levels when learning the fractions by using Thinking Blocks. 54 students participated in a quasi-experiment using pre-tests and post-tests. Students were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n=32) received a treatment to improve the students’ HOTS and the other group acted as the control group (n=22) which used a traditional method. Data were analysed by using Mann-Whitney test. The results indicated that during post-test, students who used Thinking Blocks showed significant improvement in their HOTS level (p=0.000). In addition, the results of post-test also showed that the students’ performance improved significantly at the four highest levels of HOTS; namely, application (p=0.001), analyse (p=0.000), evaluate (p=0.000), and create (p=0.000). Therefore, it can be concluded that Thinking Blocks can effectively encourage students to use the four highest levels of HOTS which consequently enable them to solve fractions problems successfully.

Keywords: Thinking blocks, higher order thinking skills, fractions, problem solving.

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Authors: Sirimanee Banjong

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This study aimed to 1) develop pre-service teachers’ leadership skills through camp-based learning, and 2) develop preservice teachers’ teamwork skills through camp-based learning. An applied research methodology was used. The target group was derived from a purposive selection. It involved 32 fourth-year students in Early Childhood Education Program enrolling a course entitled Seminar in Early Childhood Education provided during second semester of academic year 2013. The treatment was camp-based learning activities which applied a PDCA process including four stages: 1) plan, 2) do, 3) check, and 4) act. Research instruments were a learning camp program, a camp-based learning management plan, a 5-level assessment form for leadership skills and a 5-level assessment form for assessing teamwork skills. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were: 1) pre-service teachers’ leadership skills yielded the before treatment average score at x= 3.4, S.D.=0.6 2and the after-treatment average score at x 4.29 , S.D.=0.66 pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills yielded the before-treatment average score at x=3.31, S.D.=0.60 and the after-treatment average score at x=4.42, S.D.=0.66 Both differences were statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, the pre-service teachers’ leadership and teamwork skills were significantly improved through the camp-based learning approach.

Keywords: Learning camp, leadership skills, teamwork skills.

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Authors: Kamolrat Turner, Boontuan Wattanakul

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Critical thinking and creativity are prerequisite skills for working professionals in the 21^st century. A survey conducted in 2014 at the Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chon Buri, Thailand, revealed that these skills within students across all academic years was at a low to moderate level. An action research study was conducted to develop the EREC IF Model, a framework which includes the concepts of experience, reflection, engagement, culture and language, ICT, and flexibility and fun, to guide pedagogic activities for 75 sophomores of the undergraduate nursing science program at the college. The model was applied to all professional nursing courses. Prior to implementation, workshops were held to prepare lecturers and students. Both lecturers and students initially expressed their discomfort and pointed to the difficulties with the model. However, later they felt more comfortable, and by the end of the project they expressed their understanding and appreciation of the model. A survey conducted four and eight months after implementation found that the critical thinking and creativity skills of the sophomores were significantly higher than those recorded in the pretest. It could be concluded that the EREC IF model is efficient for fostering critical thinking and creativity skills in the undergraduate nursing science program. This model should be used for other levels of students.

Keywords: Critical thinking, creativity, undergraduate nursing students, EREC IF model.

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Authors: Nomusa Dlodlo, Ronald Noel Beyers

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This paper reports on an effort to address the issue of inequality in girls- and women-s access to science, engineering and technology (SET) education and careers through raising awareness on SET among secondary school girls in South Africa. Girls participated in hands-on high-tech rapid prototyping environment of a fabrication laboratory that was aimed at stimulating creativity and innovation as part of a Fab Kids initiative. The Fab Kids intervention is about creating a SET pipeline as part of the Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa Initiative.The methodology was based on a real world situation and a hands-on approach. In the process, participants acquired a number of skills including computer-aided design, research skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, technical drawing skills, writing skills and problem-solving skills. Exposure to technology enhanced the girls- confidence in being able to handle technology-related tasks.

Keywords: Girls, design engineering, gender, science, women.

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Authors: Mimi N. A. Mohamed

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The complexity of teaching English in higher institutions by non-native speakers within a second/foreign language setting has created continuous discussions and research about teaching approaches and teaching practises, professional identities and challenges. In addition, there is a growing awareness that teaching English within discipline-specific contexts adds up to the existing complexity. This awareness leads to reassessments, discussions and suggestions on course design and content and teaching approaches and techniques. In meeting expectations teaching at a university specified in a particular discipline such as engineering, English language educators are not only required to teach students to be able to communicate in English effectively but also to teach soft skills such as problem solving skills. This paper is part of a research conducted to investigate how English language educators negotiate with the complexities of teaching problem solving skills through English language teaching at a technical university. This paper reports the way an English language educator identified himself and the way he approached his teaching in this institutional context.

Keywords: English Language Teaching, Teacher Agency, Problem Solving Skills, Professional Identities.

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Authors: Canan Aslan

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The aim of this research is to determine how preservice Turkish teachers perceive themselves in terms of problem solving skills. Students attending Department of Turkish Language Teaching of Gazi University Education Faculty in 2005-2006 academic year constitute the study group (n= 270) of this research in which survey model was utilized. Data were obtained by Problem Solving Inventory developed by Heppner & Peterson and Personal Information Form. Within the settings of this research, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found as .87. Besides, reliability coefficient obtained by split-half technique which splits odd and even numbered items of the scale was found as r=.81 (Split- Half Reliability). The findings of the research revealed that preservice Turkish teachers were sufficiently qualified on the subject of problem solving skills and statistical significance was found in favor of male candidates in terms of “gender" variable. According to the “grade" variable, statistical significance was found in favor of 4th graders.

Keywords: Problem Solving, problem solving skills, PreserviceTurkish Language Teachers.

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Authors: Malathi Balakrishnan, Gananathan M. Nadarajah, Saraswathy Vellasamy, Evelyn Gnanam William George

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The purpose of the study is to explore how the fun game-learning approach enhances teacher trainers’ higher order thinking skills. Two-day fun filled fun game learning-approach was introduced to teacher trainers as a Continuous Professional Development Program (CPD). 26 teacher trainers participated in this Transformation of Teaching and Learning Fun Way Program, organized by Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia. Qualitative research technique was adopted as the researchers observed the participants’ higher order thinking skills developed during the program. Data were collected from observational checklist; interview transcriptions of four participants and participants’ reflection notes. All the data were later analyzed with NVivo data analysis process. The finding of this study presented five main themes, which are critical thinking, hands on activities, creating, application and use of technology. The studies showed that the teacher trainers’ higher order thinking skills were enhanced after the two-day CPD program. Therefore, Institute of Teacher Education will have more success using the fun way game-learning approach to develop higher order thinking skills among its teacher trainers who can implement these skills to their trainee teachers in future. This study also added knowledge to Constructivism learning theory, which will further highlight the prominence of the fun way learning approach to enhance higher order thinking skills.

Keywords: Constructivism, game-learning approach, higher order thinking skill, teacher trainer.

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Authors: Fonseca Jully, Chia Maribel, Rodríguez Ilba

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This paper is a qualitative research report. A group of students form a public university in a small town in Colombia participated in this study which aimed at describing to what extend the use of social ads, published on the internet, helped to develop their critical thinking skills. Students’ productions, field notes, video recordings and direct observation were the instruments and techniques used by the researches in order to gather the data which was analyzed under the principles of grounded theory and triangulation. The implementation of social ads into the classroom evidenced a noticeable improvement in students’ ability to interpret and argue social issues, as well as, their self-improvement in oral and written production in English, as a foreign language.

Keywords: Ads, critical argumentation, critical thinking, social issues.

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Authors: Sri Kusumawati Md Daud, Fauzan Mustaffa, Hanafizan Hussain, Md Najib Osman

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Does open ended creative technology give positive impact in learning design? Although there are many researchers had examined on the impact of technology on design education but there are very few conclusive researches done on the impact of open ended used of software to learning design. This paper sought to investigate a group of student-s experience on relatively wider range of software application within the context of design project. A typography design project was used to create a learning environment with the aim of inculcate design skills into the learners and increase their creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The methods used in this study were questionnaire survey and personal observation which will be focus on the individual and group response during the completion of the task.

Keywords: Learning Tool, Creative Technology, Software, Software Skills, Typography Design.

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Authors: Charlie Y. Shim, Mina Choi, Jung Y. Kim

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Software engineering education not only embraces technical skills of software development but also necessitates communication and interaction among learners. In this paper, it is proposed to adapt the PBL methodology that is especially designed to be integrated into software engineering classroom in order to promote collaborative learning environment. This approach helps students better understand the significance of social aspects and provides a systematic framework to enhance teamwork skills. The adaptation of PBL facilitates the transition to an innovative software development environment where cooperative learning can be actualized.

Keywords: problem-based learning, software engineering, software process models, teamwork.

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Authors: Hairuzila Idrus, Zullina Hussain Shaari, Razol Mahari Mohd Ali

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Peer review is an activity where students review their classmates- writing and then evaluate the content, development, unity and organization. Studies have shown that peer review activities benefit both the reviewer and the writer in developing their reading and writing skills. Furthermore, peer review activities may also enhance students- soft skills. This study was conducted to find out the benefits of peer review activity in a technical writing class based on engineering students- perceptions. The study also highlights how these benefits could improve the students- soft skills. A set of questionnaire was given to 200 undergraduate students of a technical writing course. The results of the study indicate that the activity could help improve their critical thinking skills, written and oral communication skills, as well as team work. This paper further discusses how the implications of these benefits could help enhance students- soft skills.

Keywords: Peer review, soft skills, technical writing.

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Authors: Huda S. Al-Azmi

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There is a growing consensus that adoption of teachers’ self-efficacy measurement tools help to assess teachers’ abilities in specific areas in order to improve their skills. As a result, different instruments to assess teachers’ ability were developed by academics and practitioners. However, many of these instruments focused either on general teaching skills, or on the other hand, were very specific to one subject. As such, these instruments do not offer a tool to measure the ability of teachers in teaching 21^st century skills such as innovation skills. Teaching innovation skills helps to prepare students for lives and careers in the 21^st century. The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument measuring teachers’ self-efficacy of teaching innovation skills related to the classroom context and evaluating the teachers’ beliefs regarding their ability in teaching innovation skills. To reach this goal, the 16-item instrument measures four dimensions of innovation skills: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. 211 secondary-school teachers filled out the survey to quantitatively analyze the quality of the instrument. The instrument’s reliability and item analysis were measured by using jMetrik. The results concluded that the mean of self-efficacy ranged from 3 to 3.6 without extreme high or low self-efficacy scores. The discrimination analysis revealed that one item recorded a negative correlation with the total, and three items recorded low correlation with the total. The reliabilities of items ranged from 0.64 to 0.69 and the instrument needed a couple of revisions before practical use. The study concluded the need to discard one item and revise five items to increase the quality of the instrument for future work.

Keywords: Critical thinking, collaboration, innovation skills, self-efficacy.

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Authors: Huay Lit Woo, Qiyun Wang

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Weblog is an Internet tool that is believed to possess great potential to facilitate learning in education. This study wants to know if weblog can be used to promote students- critical thinking. It used a group of secondary two students from a Singapore school to write weblogs as a means of substitution for their traditional handwritten assignments. The topics for the weblogging are taken from History syllabus but modified to suit the purpose of this study. Weblogs from the students were collected and analysed using a known coding system for measuring critical thinking. Results show that the topic for blogging is crucial in determining the types of critical thinking employed by the students. Students are seen to display critical thinking traits in the areas of information sourcing, linking information to arguments and viewpoints justification. Students- criticalness is more profound when the information for writing a topic is readily available. Otherwise, they tend to be less critical and subjective. The study also found that students lack the ability to source for external information suggesting that students may need to be taught information literacy in order to widen their use of critical thinking skills.

Keywords: Affordance, blog, critical thinking, perception, weblog.

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Authors: Hai Ming Wong, Kuen Wai Ma, Lavender Yu Xin Yang, Yanqi Yang

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Objectives: In recent years, the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong have extended the implementation of 3D electronic models (e-models) into problem-based learning (PBL) of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) curriculum, aiming at mutual enhancement of PBL teaching quality and the students’ skills in using e-models. This study focuses on the effectiveness of e-models serving as a tool to enhance the students’ skills and competences in PBL. Methods: The questionnaire surveys are conducted to measure 50 fourth-year BDS students’ attitude change between beginning and end of blended PBL tutorials. The response rate of this survey is 100%. Results: The results of this study show the students’ agreement on enhancement of their learning experience after e-model implementation and their expectation to have more blended PBL courses in the future. The potential of e-models in cultivating students’ self-learning skills reduces their dependence on others, while improving their communication skills to argue about pros and cons of different treatment options. The students’ independent thinking ability and problem solving skills are promoted by e-model implementation, resulting in better decision making in treatment planning. Conclusion: It is important for future dental education curriculum planning to cope with the students’ needs, and offer support in the form of software, hardware and facilitators’ assistance for better e-model implementation.

Keywords: Problem-Based learning, curriculum, dental education, 3-D electronic models.

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Authors: Anneke Harmse, Roelien Goede

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Information and communication technology (ICT) is essential to the operation of business, and create many employment opportunities. High volumes of students graduate in ICT however students struggle to find job placement. A discrepancy exists between graduate skills and industry skill requirements. To address the need for ICT skills required, universities must create programs to meet the demands of a changing ICT industry. This requires a partnership between industry, universities and other stakeholders. This situation may be viewed as a critical systems thinking problem situation as there are various role players each with their own needs and requirements. Jackson states a typical critical systems methods has a pluralistic nature. This paper explores the applicability and suitability of Maslow and Dooyeweerd to guide understanding and make recommendations for change in ICT WIL, to foster an all-inclusive understanding of the situation by stakeholders. The above methods provide tools for understanding softer issues beyond the skills required. The study findings suggest that besides skills requirements, a deeper understanding and empowering students from being a student to a professional need to be understood and addressed.

Keywords: Dooyeweerd, Maslow, Work Integrated Learning.

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Authors: Do Thi Ha, Khanitta Nuntaboot

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Background: Competency of nurses is vital to safe nursing practice as well as essential component to drive quality of nursing services. There exists little up to date information concerning actual competency among Vietnamese nurses. Purposes: The purpose of this study is to identify the actual nursing competency among nurses in clinical settings in Vietnam. Methods: A qualitative study, ethnographic method, comprised of the participant-observation, in-depth interview, and focus group discussion with multidisciplinary groups of nurses employing in Cho Ray hospital, Vietnam, managers/administrators, nurse teachers, medical doctors, other health care providers, patients and family members which derived from purposeful sampling technique. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: Five essential themes of nursing competencies among nurses were identified include (1) knowledge, (2) skills, (3) attitude and value-based nursing practice, (4) legal and ethical competencies, and (5) transcultural competencies. Basic and advanced knowledge were identified as further two dimensions of knowledge. There were five sub themes identified as further dimensions of skills include technical skills, communication skills, organizing and management skills, teamwork and interrelationship, and critical thinking skills. Conclusions: The findings from this study provide valuable information and understanding of the actual competency among nurses in clinical settings in Vietnam. It is expected that this understanding would assist in developing a guide to nursing education and training, nursing practice and relevant policy regulation used for promoting nursing competency among nurses.

Keywords: Nursing competency, qualitative design, ethnographic method, Vietnam.

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Authors: Robin Lok-Wang

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how engineering students’ motivation and interests are maintained through a project-based course in their lifelong learning journeys. In recent years, different pedagogies of teaching including entrepreneurship, experiential and lifelong learnings as well as dream builder, etc., have been widely used for education purpose. University advocates hands-on practice, learning by experiencing and experimenting throughout different courses. Students are not limited to gain knowledge via traditional lectures, laboratory demonstration, tutorial and so on. The capabilities to identify both complex problems and its corresponding solutions in daily lives are one of the criteria/skill sets required for graduates to obtain their careers at professional organizations and companies. A project-based course, namely Mechatronic Design and Prototyping, was developed for students to design and build a physical prototype for solving existing problems in their daily lives, thereby encouraging them as an entrepreneur to explore further possibilities to commercialize their designed prototypes and launch it to the market. Feedbacks from students show that they are keen to propose their own ideas freely with guidance from instructor instead of using either suggested or assigned topics. Proposed ideas of the prototypes reflect that if students’ interests are maintained, they acquire the knowledges and skills they need, including essential communication, logical thinking and more importantly problem solving for their lifelong learning journey.

Keywords: Problem solving, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, mechanical engineering.

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Authors: Priyadharshini Ahrumugam

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Cooperative groups through much research have been recognized to churn remarkable achievements instead of solitary or individualistic efforts. Based on Johnson and Johnson’s model of cooperative learning, the five key components of cooperation are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual accountability, social skills, and group processing. In 2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) introduced the Holistic Student Development policy with the aim to develop morally sound individuals equipped with lifelong learning skills. The Community Service project was included in the improvement initiative. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship of team-based learning in facilitating particularly students’ positive interdependence and face-to-face promotive interaction. The research methods involve in-depth interviews with the team leaders and selected team members, and a content analysis of the undergraduate students’ reflective journals. A significant positive relationship was found between students’ progressive outlook towards teamwork and the highlighted two components. The key findings show that students have gained in their individual learning and work results through teamwork and interaction with other students. The inclusion of Community Service as a MOHE subject resonates with cooperative learning methods that enhances supportive relationships and develops students’ social skills together with their professional skills.

Keywords: Community service, cooperative learning, positive interdependence, teamwork.

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Authors: Ahmed Amin Mousa, Gehan Azam

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The current study presents an electronic test to measure teaching skills. This test is a part of the admission system of the Faculty of Education for Early Childhood, Cairo University. The test has been prepared to evaluate university students who apply for admission the Faculty. It measures some social and physiological skills which are important for successful teachers, such as emotional adjustment and problem solving; moreover, the extent of their love for children and their capability to interact with them. The test has been approved by 13 experts. Finally, it has been introduced to 1,100 students during the admission system of the academic year 2016/2017. The results showed that most of the applicants have an auditory learning style. In addition, 97% of them have the minimum requirement skills for teaching children.

Keywords: Electronic test, early childhood, skills, teacher student.

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Authors: Agni Stylianou-Georgiou, Eliza Pitri

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This study is a design narrative that discusses researchers’ new learning based on changes made in pedagogies and learning opportunities in the context of a Cognitive Psychology and an Art History undergraduate course. The purpose of this study was to investigate how to encourage creative problem-based play in tertiary education engaging instructors and student-teachers in designing educational games. Course instructors modified content to encourage flexible thinking during game design problem-solving. Qualitative analyses of data sources indicated that Thinking Birds’ questions could encourage flexible thinking as instructors engaged in creative problem-based play. However, student-teachers demonstrated weakness in adopting flexible thinking during game design problem solving. Further studies of student-teachers’ shifting perspectives during different instructional design tasks would provide insights for developing the Thinking Birds’ questions as tools for creative problem solving.

Keywords: Creative problem-based play, educational games, flexible thinking, tertiary education.

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Authors: Alessandro Lanteri, Salvatore Rizzello

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The choice of studying economics instead of another subject should be motivated by the fact that economics training equips students with skills and knowledge that other disciplines do not provide. Which are these skills and knowledge, however, is not always very clear. This article clarifies such issue by first exploring the philosophical foundations and the defining features of the discipline, and then by investigating in which ways these are transferred to the students. In other words, we study what is meant by the 'economic way of thinking' that is passed on to the students.

Keywords: Economists, Expertise, Politics, Surveys.

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Authors: Hiroki Shinkawa, Tadaaki Tomiie

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Many interventions for social skills acquisition aim to decrease the gap between social skills deficits in the individual and normative social skills; nevertheless little is known of typical social skills according to age difference in students. In this study, we developed new quintet of Hokkaido Social Skills Inventory (HSSI) to identify age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation. First, we selected 13 categories of social skills for school adaptation from previous studies, and created questionnaire items through discussion by 25 teachers in all three levels from elementary schools to senior high schools. Second, the factor structures of five versions of the social skills scale were investigated on 2nd grade (n = 1,864), 4th grade (n = 1,936), 6th grade (n = 2,085), 7th grade (n = 2,007), and 10th grade (n = 912) students, respectively. The exploratory factor analysis showed that a number of constructing factors of social skills increased as one’s grade in school advanced. The results in the present study can be useful to characterize the age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation. 

Keywords: Social skills, age difference, children, adolescents.

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Authors: Satu Lautamäki

Abstract:

This paper presents findings from a multidisciplinary course (bachelor level) implemented at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland. The course aims to develop innovative thinking of students, by having projects given by companies, using design thinking methods as a tool for creativity and by integrating students into multidisciplinary teams working on the given projects. The course is obligatory for all first year bachelor students across four faculties (business and culture, food and agriculture, health care and social work, and technology). The course involves around 800 students and 30 pedagogical coaches, and it is implemented as an intensive one-week course each year. The paper discusses the pedagogy, structure and coordination of the course. Also, reflections on methods for the development of creative skills are given. Experts in contemporary, global context often work in teams, which consist of people who have different areas of expertise and represent various professional backgrounds. That is why there is a strong need for new training methods where multidisciplinary approach is at the heart of learning. Creative learning takes place when different parties bring information to the discussion and learn from each other. When students in different fields are looking for professional growth for themselves and take responsibility for the professional growth of other learners, they form a mutual learning relationship with each other. Multidisciplinary team members make decisions both individually and collectively, which helps them to understand and appreciate other disciplines. Our results show that creative and multidisciplinary project learning can develop diversity of knowledge and competences, for instance, students’ cultural knowledge, teamwork and innovation competences, time management and presentation skills as well as support a student’s personal development as an expert. It is highly recommended that higher education curricula should include various studies for students from different study fields to work in multidisciplinary teams.

Keywords: Multidisciplinary learning, creative skills, innovative thinking, project-based learning.

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Authors: Anod H. Alhazmi, Hanaa A. Yamani

Abstract:

The lack of digital transformation professionals could prevent Saudi Arabia’s universities from providing digital services. The task of understanding what digital skills are needed within an organization, measuring the existing skills, and developing or attracting talents is a complex task. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the digital transformation skills needed in the organizations who seek digital transformation and identifies the skills and competencies framework DigSC built on Skills Framework for the Informational Age (SFIA) framework that is adopted by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in Saudi Arabia. The framework adopted identifies the main digital transformation skills clusters, categories and levels of responsibilities for each job description to fill the gap between this requirement and the digital skills supplied by the Umm Alqura University (UQU).

Keywords: Competencies, digital transformation, framework, skills, Umm Alqura University.

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