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The purpose of this paper is to present the design and first results of the integration of a web‐based system person‐centred group‐activity support system (PEGASUS) in university instruction, as a means for advancing person‐centred learning by supporting group activity. The PEGASUS is expected to help students and teachers in two distinct objectives: enhancing metacognition (students and teachers are supported to identify their learning and teaching preferences, which in turn is used as a framework for reflection), and group formation (the system suggests homogeneous or heterogeneous workgroups, supporting also teacher‐students negotiations of the final group synthesis).

First, a theoretical framework is built to reflect the process of transforming the principles for learner‐centred learning into a pedagogical model which becomes the basis for defining the PEGASUS specifications. Then, qualitative field evidence is provided from the initial integration of the system into the teaching process to support students' group activity.

From the pilot testing of PEGASUS it is evident that learning style‐based group formation might not be acceptable to all students in the typical classroom setting where students already know each other. The early implementation data indicate that not every student might accept the theory‐based grouping suggestions of the instructor.

The research is limited to qualitative and preliminary results from undergraduate as well as postgraduate students.

Systems like PEGASUS can initiate fruitful discussions among students and teachers on the role of learning styles in learning. However, group activity is a complex socio‐cognitive phenomenon that cannot be approached simply on the basis of students' learning styles. Still, such a system can help identify how students' learning styles can be of significance under certain conditions.

The paper describes the development of a web‐based system for personalised learning and system integration in everyday teaching.

The purpose of this study is to identify the types of questions that students ask during the learning of chemistry; discuss the role of students' questions in the process of constructing knowledge, and investigate the relationship between students' questions, approaches to learning, and learning styles.

The questions raised by 100 first‐year chemistry students in Science and Engineering courses at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, were collected. These students were invited to complete Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) and were observed during diverse class activities. Ten of these students were then selected for interview.

The paper finds that the data enable the placement of students at different stages of learning development, at an “acquisition”, “specialisation” or “integration” phase. The ten interviews confirm the results of the LSI survey, and indicate that these students show either “deep” or “surface” approaches to learning, with evidence of a meso approach (intermediate between the two, with characteristics of both). The paper concludes that it is possible to relate students' questions to their learning styles and approaches to learning. Students, who show a surface approach and stay within the acquisition stage, tend to formulate low‐level questions. Students at the other end of this continuum seem disposed to ask higher‐level questions.

The generalisability of the overall study is limited because of the few students involved in the interviews. However, there are some clear pointers here for the relationship between the level of students' question asking and increasing sophistication in learning.

Appreciating the diversity of learners, and their approaches to learning, enhances the possibilities of improving the quality of teaching at this level.

This paper expands on two congruent models that are frequently considered separate and distinct.

The aim of this study is to present an approach for creating an educational process that can affect teacher trainees’ moral resilience, while investigating the manner in which they – as teachers – perceive the concept of moral resilience.

A study questionnaire, designed especially for the current study, was distributed online among trainees in a teacher-training college in Israel and was completed by 123 participants.

Two major themes emerged in trainees’ conceptualizations of the notion of moral resilience: the role of the organisation in which the teaching takes place, and mechanisms that contribute to the development of moral fibre, which creates resilience.

The following points should be addressed early on in the teacher-training process: The teaching and acquisition of tools that are fundamental to the development of moral resilience, through cognitive and experiential processes, not only through theoretical study. The construction of a supportive environment will enable students to use their internal resources for coping with events that require mental resilience and which thus serve to develop moral resilience.

This paper helps to establish a discourse and develop terminology to implement this subject.

Epistemological beliefs, defined as individuals' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing, are assumed to serve an important function in regulating the application of individuals' learning behaviour. Previous research has mainly been shaped by the framework of results of white, well‐educated people from North America. More empirical work is needed to examine epistemological beliefs in a cross‐cultural context. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of using cultural classifications to indicate the development of epistemological beliefs in different countries.

A cross‐cultural pilot‐study is carried out in Germany and Australia with a total of 103 participants. A German and English version of the Schraw et al.'s epistemic beliefs inventory, based on Schommer's model, is employed for the study. The cultural comparison between Germany and Australia is carried out by using Hofstede and Hofstede's cultural classification.

The cultural comparison between both countries leads to the hypothesis that the development of the epistemological beliefs is different. Although factor analysis indicates the same three dimensions of epistemological beliefs for both countries (structure, source, and control), the development for each dimension is different.

It might be possible to indicate epistemological beliefs in various countries due to cultural classification.

The paper provides a new perspective of epistemological beliefs within cross‐cultural research and might lay the path for cross‐field research projects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how one tertiary enabling programme designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students uses a specifically designed pedagogy which goes beyond a focus on discrete academic skills to help students develop the resilience and knowledge about learning they need to be successful in tertiary learning contexts.

A narrative methodology is used to explore how graduates analysed and evaluated their experience of the course.

The stories show that for these students, resilience is a dynamic and multifaceted construct. Strength, confidence and resilience for these students come from seeing and valuing the strength and resilience that already exists in Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge systems and using this as a basis for developing their own resilience.

This focus on resilience can provide a transformative experience for students who have largely been marginalised from the mainstream educational system, assisting them to build the crucial “cultural capital” required to be successful in their tertiary studies, while reinforcing the strength and knowledge they already bring with them. Through this process students are offered a way of navigating the higher education landscape on their own terms.

The purpose of this paper is to explain and develop a classification of cognitive structures (or typologies of thought), previously designated as spoke, chain and network thinking by Kinchin et al.

The paper shows how concept mapping can be used to reveal these conceptual typologies and endeavours to place the concept‐mapping method in the broader context of learning styles and learning theory.

The findings suggest that spoke structures are indicative of a naïve epistemology, or of “learning‐readiness”; chain structures are indicators of “goal‐orientation” and networks are indicators of expertise. Furthermore, change that comprises simple elaboration of existing spokes or chains is likely to be the result of surface learning styles and the emergence of networks indicative of deep learning. The utility of these different cognitive approaches is discussed.

The work is limited by the general lack of empirical testing, but the approach is presented as an important source of hypotheses for future research.

The practical implications of the research are considerable. First, concept mapping provides a framework for documenting and assessing understanding at “novice” and “expert” levels. Second, where definitive criteria can be developed from the learning styles literature, cognitive change in the course of learning can be evaluated to distinguish between deep versus surface or holist versus serialist approaches, for example.

The papers original and comprises a synthetic approach to the study of learning style and learning theory through the use of the concept‐mapping method. It has both practical and theoretical value because it suggests a new approach and is an important source of testable hypotheses.

The purpose of the paper was to explore students’ learning experiences in culturally diverse urban higher education environments.

The project used an action research method approach with a mixed-method collection of data. The data consist of a survey of undergraduate students from the two different faculties, business and science, in two London institutions (n = 393) and ten focus groups (consisting of 92 students) as well as participant observations. The survey was based on an adapted version of the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) developed in the USA. The authors also piloted the use of Facebook as a learning tool and monitored the effects on communication between students and between lecturers.

The authors identified statistical significance in the items that addressed the development of students’ relationships with others and found that there was a link with specific students’ profiles, that is those students who were non-native speakers of English who were less likely to engage with “others” and the learning environment. Focus groups highlighted the importance of communities of practice and that these communities aided students in developing what can be seen as resilience outcomes.

The findings from the research indicated that resilience can be seen as key to increasing engagement and communication for students. The piloting of social media across a module at each research site indicated that such a tool can be useful in addressing issues of communication, but the introduction of such tools needs to be generated through the students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a cultural gap in student perceptions of online collaborative learning and to investigate to what extent student perceptions, motivation, and learning strategies change over time due to the actual involvement in a collaborative e‐learning environment (ELE).

A parallel e‐learning environment for a first‐year university course is implemented for a Flemish group (n = 217) at Ghent University and a Chinese group (n = 165) at Beijing Normal University. Student perceptions of the online collaborative learning environment and their motivation and learning strategies before and after the ELE are measured.

The findings show that the Flemish group perceive the online collaborative learning environment more positively compared to the Chinese group. However, Chinese students' motivation, and learning strategies change significantly towards a way that is more in line with a social‐constructivist learning approach after the online collaborative learning experience.

The current results indicate that students from different cultural contexts perceive online collaborative learning environments differently. Specific cultural adaptations in e‐learning design could be considered when an ELE is to be implemented cross‐culturally.

This study can help both Chinese and Western instructors to become aware of different perceptions of online collaborative learning and to be more supportive to the students.

Studies investigating intuition from a cultural and cross‐cultural perspective have a long tradition in various disciplines but, due to the increased internationalization of business, an understanding of the mental lives of other cultures became one of the priorities of management practitioners and theoreticians. Cultures of Anglo‐American and East Asian origins have drawn particular attention. However, an analysis of management research studies and those in other disciplines shows that the former do not back up the “intuitive East versus analytical West” pattern set by the latter. The article aims at discussing this discrepancy, its origins as well as the implication for the managerial practice.

The article provides an overview of the various concepts of intuition and methods of measuring it across cultures. It seeks to understand how various epistemological assumptions incorporated in the research affected the results obtained. An aspect under particular scrutiny in the article is the concept of cognitive style, which is employed frequently in management studies.

One explanation for inconsistent results is a premature effort of management science to test a hypothesis generated by other disciplines, applying different conceptualizations, definitions, methodologies as well as populations. The conclusion is that the cross‐cultural research in management is in need of a more exploratory research, paying attention to the specificity of management context and local knowledge.

The article proposes that a methodology that potentially has a capacity to meet these requirements is the narrative approach. Possible implications of this observation are discussed in the context of multicultural teams management practice.

The article provides useful information on managerial intuition and methods of measuring it across cultures.

From earliest times the land and all it produced to feed and sustain those who dwelt on it was mankind's greatest asset. From the Biblical “land of milk and honey”, down through history to the “country of farmers” visualised by the American colonists when they severed the links with the mother country, those who had all their needs met by the land were blessed — they still are! The inevitable change brought about by the fast‐growing populations caused them to turn to industry; Britain introduced the “machine age” to the world; the USA the concept of mass production — and the troubles and problems of man increased to the present chaos of to‐day. There remained areas which depended on an agri‐economy — the granary countries, as the vast open spaces of pre‐War Russia; now the great plains of North America, to supply grain for the bread of the peoples of the dense industrial conurbations, which no longer produced anything like enough to feed themselves.