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This study aims to examine the relationship between undergraduates' course experience and their deep learning approach and to identify areas of improvement to facilitate students' deep learning in the private higher education context.

Data were collected from 844 Malaysian undergraduate students who studied in six private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Penang and Selangor. This study used partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis.

The findings revealed that good teaching and appropriate assessment have no significant relationship with deep learning. Generic skills, clear goals and standards, appropriate workload and emphasis on independence are positively related to deep learning. Generic skills and emphasis on independence are two domains that deserve attention to enhance deep learning among undergraduates.

Lecturers need to focus on to the cultivation of generic skills to facilitate students' deep learning. Student autonomy and student-centred teaching approaches should be empowered and prioritised in teaching and learning.

The current study has its originality in providing empirical findings to inform the significant relationship between dimensions of course experience and deep learning in Malaysian private HEIs. Besides, it also identifies the areas of improvement concerning teaching and learning at the private HEIs using importance-performance matrix analysis (IPMA) in a non-Western context.

The digital construction transformation requires using emerging digital technology such as deep learning to automate implementing tasks. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the current state of using deep learning in the construction management tasks to enable researchers to determine the capabilities of current solutions, as well as finding research gaps to carry out more research to bridge revealed knowledge and practice gaps.

The scientometric analysis is conducted for 181 articles to assess the density of publications in different topics of deep learning-based construction management applications. After that, a thematic and gap analysis are conducted to analyze contributions and limitations of key published articles in each area of application.

The scientometric analysis indicates that there are four main applications of deep learning in construction management, namely, automating progress monitoring, automating safety warning for workers, managing construction equipment, integrating Internet of things with deep learning to automatically collect data from the site. The thematic and gap analysis refers to many successful cases of using deep learning in automating site management tasks; however, more validations are recommended to test developed solutions, as well as additional research is required to consider practitioners and workers perspectives to implement existing applications in their daily tasks.

This paper enables researchers to directly find the research gaps in the existing solutions and develop more workable applications to bridge revealed gaps. Accordingly, this will be reflected on speeding the digital construction transformation, which is a strategy over the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to adopt a structured technique to assess deep learning-based construction site management applications to enable researcher/practitioners to either adopting these applications in their projects or conducting further research to extend existing solutions and bridging revealed knowledge gaps.

The majority of existing studies about named entity recognition (NER) concentrate on the prediction enhancement of deep neural network (DNN)-based models themselves, but the issues about the scarcity of training corpus and the difficulty of annotation quality control are not fully solved, especially for Chinese ancient corpora. Therefore, designing a new integrated solution for Chinese historical NER, including automatic entity extraction and man-machine cooperative annotation, is quite valuable for improving the effectiveness of Chinese historical NER and fostering the development of low-resource information extraction.

The research provides a systematic approach for Chinese historical NER with a three-stage framework. In addition to the stage of basic preprocessing, the authors create, retrain and yield a high-performance NER model only using limited labeled resources during the stage of augmented deep active learning (ADAL), which entails three steps—DNN-based NER modeling, hybrid pool-based sampling (HPS) based on the active learning (AL), and NER-oriented data augmentation (DA). ADAL is thought to have the capacity to maintain the performance of DNN as high as possible under the few-shot constraint. Then, to realize machine-aided quality control in crowdsourcing settings, the authors design a stage of globally-optimized automatic label consolidation (GALC). The core of GALC is a newly-designed label consolidation model called simulated annealing-based automatic label aggregation (“SA-ALC”), which incorporates the factors of worker reliability and global label estimation. The model can assure the annotation quality of those data from a crowdsourcing annotation system.

Extensive experiments on two types of Chinese classical historical datasets show that the authors’ solution can effectively reduce the corpus dependency of a DNN-based NER model and alleviate the problem of label quality. Moreover, the results also show the superior performance of the authors’ pipeline approaches (i.e. HPS + DA and SA-ALC) compared to equivalent baselines in each stage.

The study sheds new light on the automatic extraction of Chinese historical entities in an all-technological-process integration. The solution is helpful to effectively reducing the annotation cost and controlling the labeling quality for the NER task. It can be further applied to similar tasks of information extraction and other low-resource fields in theoretical and practical ways.

Field-based education for environmental studies has been a foundational principle for the Environmental Studies program at Stockton University, which began in 1971. Located within the 445,000 hectare Pinelands National Reserve, on an 800-hectare campus near Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, two professors in the program discuss our rationale and experiences teaching students about the environment within the environment. Expounding on the interdisciplinary literature of field-based learning, we present four unique case studies including local and regional experiences, as well as student learning abroad. The first case proposes that learning outdoors might be beneficial for students with learning disabilities. This is exemplified during a one-week field study to the 2.4 million hectare Adirondack Park & Preserve. The second instance reveals the benefits of working with local towns and environs acting as consultants in a multidisciplinary capstone experience. Next, we show how on-campus data collection and hypothesis formulation help students to learn about environmental design and statistical analysis. Finally, an international trip to the Caribbean opens the minds of students through a service learning project. While on campus, in town, across the United States or at an international destination, learning in the field gives students the opportunity to expand their knowledge through field-based active learning strategies.

One of the misconceptions of teaching and learning for practical-based programmes, such as engineering, sciences, architecture, design and arts, is the necessity to deliver via face-to-face physical modality. This paper refutes this claim by providing case studies of best practices in delivering such courses and their hands-on skillsets using completely online virtual delivery that utilises different formats of 2D and 3D media and tools, supported by evidence of efficiency using learning analytics.

The case studies were designed using pedagogical principles of constructivism and deep learning, conducted within a mixture of 2D and 3D virtual learning environments with flexible interface and tools capabilities. State-of-the-art coding and scripting techniques were also used to automate different student tasks and increase engagement. Regression and descriptive analysis methods were used for Learning Analytics.

Learning analytics of all case studies demonstrated the capability to achieve course/project learning outcomes, with high engagement from students amongst peers and with tutors. Furthermore, the diverse virtual learning tools used, allowed students to display creativity and innovation efficiently analogous to physical learning.

The synthesis of utilised media and tools within this study displays innovation and originality in combining different technology techniques to achieve an effectual learning experience. That would usually necessitate face-to-face, hands-on physical contact to perform practical tasks and receive feedback on them. Furthermore, this paper provides suggestions for future research using more advanced technologies.

This study explored preservice and in-service early childhood teachers' online academic learning beliefs and strategies.

Two hundred preservice and in-service teachers respectively from Taiwan participated in this research. A focus group discussion was carried out concerning the development of the questionnaires. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed good construct validity and reliabilities of the survey.

The survey results showed that in-service teachers generally held more sophisticated learning beliefs than the preservice teachers in all scales. Also, in-service teachers responded with a higher level of online academic learning strategies than the preservice teachers did. Regarding their online experiences, preservice teachers who spent an appropriate amount of time online had more positive beliefs than those with excessive online experiences. However, preservice teachers did not reveal employment of their ICT literacy in their online academic learning strategies. It was found that those in-service teachers with more online learning experience also showed higher levels of online academic learning beliefs. They used more deep strategies in their online academic learning.

The findings of this study could provide insights for the development of online academic learning ability in preschool teacher training programs.

(1) In-service teachers generally held more sophisticated learning beliefs than the preservice teachers. (2) Preservice teachers who spent an appropriate amount of time online had more positive beliefs than those with excessive online experiences. (3) Preservice teachers did not reveal employment of their ICT literacy in their online academic learning strategies. (4) In-service teachers with more online learning experience also showed higher levels of online academic learning beliefs. They used more deep strategies in their online academic learning.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to compare the assessment in two subjects of the Business Administration Degree between Finland and Spain and, second, to test whether there are factors such as gender, age, subject, students’ motivation, or preferences that may have an impact on the assessment.

A survey was designed for students enrolled in Statistics and Financial Accounting subjects in the two universities, and multivariate statistical analysis were run.

First, coursework marks are higher than the final examination marks. In both universities and subjects, learning is enhanced by student involvement in coursework activities that are directly related to the learning outcomes. Second, there are differences in assessment by culture, gender, and type of subject. Finnish students are more used to work in teams and apply varied teaching resources than Spanish students.

The sample size and the analyses are from two subjects in two universities. More similar studies are needed to generalize the findings.

There are several implications for Higher Education. First, university policymakers should design training courses on the good implementation of new assessment processes and criteria in order to align learning objectives and assessment criteria. Second, teachers from different countries should openly discuss their manner of assessment and promote creativity and innovation in their methodologies to assess learning outcomes. Third, students should engage with deeper learning and competence development in subjects. This will contribute to their future employability.

Our findings not only question the concept of assessment validity and the compulsory relationship between assessment and learning but also provide suggestions to improve assessment criteria.

In general, active participation increases learning outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to explore how: information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to improve the participation of students during lectures and the effect of ICT on the learning outcomes of students.

The authors tested a specific tool, Soapbox, in a compulsory course of a Masters’ program, at VU University, The Netherlands. During half of the lectures the students were invited to participate using their mobile phone or laptop, for the other half of the lectures, taught by the same lecturer, the tool was not used. The authors compared the two groups of lectures. For the evaluation the authors used observations in the classroom, a questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions with students and with the lecturer.

The results show that the ICT tool facilitated and increased the level of communication and interaction among the students and between the students and the lecturers. Students’ scored lectures with the tool consistently higher on the item “engaging.” Most of the students appreciated the use of the ICT tool and said that they felt more involved.

Despite the knowledge about the limited learning effect of lectures on larger groups, most of the teaching at universities is conducted through such lectures. The research shows that the majority of the students felt more involved in the lectures with the ICT tool, and almost half of the students feel that the learning effect of lectures with the tool is higher than the learning effect of lectures without. Although observations could not confirm the perceived enhanced involvement, about 80 percent would recommend using the tool in other classes, providing a case for the use of interactive technology in large-scale lectures.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education instructors were forced to make necessary changes in the conversion from face to face instruction to the use of online and virtual platforms. Even before this shift, scholars have long advocated the introduction of active and constructivist learning practices, and to move away from the traditional lecture as a means to disseminate information in the classroom. This chapter highlights ways in which active learning and constructivist-related activities such as motivational activities, critical-thinking activities, creative-thinking activities, and collaborative learning activities can be employed in the online classroom for successful teaching practice. Also detailed is a case study of the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a Jigsaw activity used in a Master’s level human resource development (HRD) course. HRD as a field takes well to learner centered instruction, as it is an applied discipline that is deeply concerned with the aspirational development of adults in training, organization change, and careers. Lessons learned from the deployment of active learning and constructivist-related activities within the case are adaptable and applicable for online instructors both in and outside of the field of HRD who are interested in building such experiences for students in online programs.

This research clarifies the birth and evolution of “Social Study” in Myanmar through analyzing the differences of contents and approaches between “Social Studies” under the military administration and that under the recent democratic administration.

The author obtained “Social Studies” textbooks that were used both in the past as well as in present day and translated them into English. The textbooks’ contents were analyzed in detail while referring Japanese and American “Social Studies” textbooks. Specifically, the author focused on the content structure of the textbooks and the learning objectives and approaches used. Each textbook was analyzed in accordance with the era in which they were used considering the social and political conditions at those times. In addition, the author clarified the necessary competencies for the people of Myanmar during the new era through discussions with many Myanmar educators. Based on this research, the author advised the Ministry of Education on the content of new “Social Studies” textbooks and supported their development.

The idea of child-centered education introduced under the military administration was further strengthened in the recent new “Social Studies” textbooks allowing students to learn by tapping into their interests and also encouraging deep thinking and creativity. This approach changed their learning from memorization without deep thinking in the past to contemplating things and creating new ideas.

The findings can provide curriculum developers and educators in other countries with a broad direction on how to reform “Social Studies” and related subjects curricula and textbooks in their own countries in the future.