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This article focuses on the assessment of entrepreneurship competence by selected vocational teachers in Italy. The exploratory research question addresses the extent to which entrepreneurship assessments are competence based, and the research seeks to identify fully fledged assessment programmes with both a formative and summative component, and the use of assessment rubrics. It also explores the extent to which entrepreneurship competence is referred to in school documentation and later assessed, and the tools and strategies used for such assessment.

This case study is part of a larger European research project promoted by Cedefop; in Italy it focused on six selected vocational IVET and CVET programmes and apprenticeship schemes. It used a wide range of instruments to ensure triangulation and multiple perspectives: analysed policy documents and undertook online interviews with experts and policy makers. At VET providers' premises it deployed: analysis of school documents; observations of learning environments; interviews and focus groups with (in schools) teachers, directors and vice directors, learners and alumni (in companies) instructors, company tutors and employers, apprentices and alumni.

Assessment tasks were rarely embedded within fully fledged assessment programmes involving both formative and summative tasks, and assessment rubric for grading. Most of the time, entrepreneurship programmes lacked self-assessment, peer assessment and structured feedback and did not involve learners in the assessment process. Some instructors coached the students, but undertook no clear formative assessment. These findings suggest institutions have a testing culture with regard to assessment, at the level of both policy and practice. In most cases, entrepreneurship competence was not directly assessed, and learning outcomes were only loosely related to entrepreneurship.

One limitation concerned the selection of the VET providers: these were chosen not on a casual basis, but because they ran programmes that were relevant to the development of entrepreneurship competence.

At the policy level, there is a need for new guidelines on competence development and assessment in VET, guidelines that are more aligned with educational research on competence development. To ensure the development of entrepreneurship competence, educators need in-service training and a community of practice.

So far, the literature has concentrated on entrepreneurship education at the tertiary level. Little is known about how VET instructors assess entrepreneurship competence. This study updates the picture of policy and practice in Italy, illustrating how entrepreneurship competence is developed in selected IVET and CVET programmes and apprenticeships.

What does special education mean for general education teachers of students with disabilities? In this chapter, we share our approach to advancing values in the classroom placement of special education students in the general education setting. We will take the reader on a journey through time with “Jessie,” a special education student, as we examine the historical exclusion of students with disabilities to their inclusion in general education schools, environments and finally, general education classrooms. In doing so, we will examine the evolution of the general education teacher's role and how the historical perspective impacts current practices. Then, we will elucidate the benefits of inclusion, not only for the special education student but for the nondisabled peers as well. We will recommend values that should be maintained and practices that should be examined. This chapter will conclude with a connection between the values and recommendations of best practices for inclusive instruction.

This study aims to explore motives behind teachers' and students' use of translanguaging and how they use it in Tanzanian public secondary school classrooms.

Data were collected using interviews and non-participant observations.

The findings indicate that translanguaging was used to facilitate content comprehension, promote classroom interaction and increase students' motivation to learn. Translanguaging was implemented using three strategies: paraphrasing an English text into Kiswahili, translating an English text into its Kiswahili equivalent and word-level translanguaging.

By highlighting the motivations for translanguaging and corresponding strategies associated with translanguaging pedagogy in the Tanzanian context, this study has significant practical implications for teachers and students to showcase their linguistic and multimodal knowledge, while fostering a safe learning space that relates to students' daily experiences.

The study offers new insights into previous research on the role of language-supportive pedagogy appropriate for teachers and students working within bi-/multilingual education settings.

Computer-Assisted Learning in Pediatrics Program (CLIPP) and National Board of Medical Examiners Pediatric Subject Examination (NBMEPSE) are used to assess students’ performance during pediatric clerkship. International Foundations of Medicine (IFOM) assessment is organized by NBME and taken before graduation. This study explores the ability of CLIPP assessment to predict students’ performance in their NBMEPSE and IFOM examinations.

This cross-sectional study assessed correlation of students’ CLIPP, NBMEPSE and IFOM scores. Students’ perceptions regarding NBMEPSE and CLIPP were collected in a self-administered survey.

Out of the 381 students enrolled, scores of CLIPP, NBME and IFOM examinations did not show any significant difference between genders. Correlation between CLIPP and NBMEPSE scores was positive in both junior (r = 0.72) and senior (r = 0.46) clerkships, with a statistically significant relationship between them in a univariate model. Similarly, there was a statistically significant relationship between CLIPP and IFOM scores. In an adjusted multiple linear regression model that included gender, CLIPP scores were significantly associated with NBME and IFOM scores. Male gender was a significant predictor in this model. Results of survey reflected students’ satisfaction with both NBMEPSE and CLIPP examinations.

Although students did not perceive a positive relationship between their performances in CLIPP and NBMEPSE examinations, this study demonstrates predictive value of formative CLIPP examination scores for their future performance in both summative NBMEPSE and IFOM. Therefore, students with poor performance in CLIPP are likely to benefit from feedback and remediation in preparation for summative assessments.

In this chapter, we focus on specially designed instruction (SDI) as a core value for the field of specific learning disabilities (SLD). SDI is at the heart of special education, and the field of LD has been built on the core value that effective instruction improves student outcomes. We describe a two-step test and an extended example of what is and is not SDI for Matt, a student with an SLD. Finally, we discuss some of the confusion surrounding SDI and the need for the field to return to its core value of individualized, intentional, targeted, evidence- or high leverage practice–based, and systematic instruction for students with SLD.

The purpose of this study is to identify the main perspectives and trends in educational data mining (EDM) in the e-learning environment from a managerial perspective.

This paper proposes a systematic literature review to identify the main perspectives and trends in EDM in the e-learning environment from a managerial perspective. The study domain of this review is restricted by the educational concepts of e-learning and management. The search for bibliographic material considered articles published in journals and papers published in conferences from 1994 to 2023, totaling 30 years of research in EDM.

From this review, it was observed that managers have been concerned about the effectiveness of the platform used by students as it contains the entire learning process and all the interactions performed, which enable the generation of information. From the data collected on these platforms, there are improvements and inferences that can be made about the actions of educators and human tutors (or automatic tutoring systems), curricular optimization or changes related to course content, proposal of evaluation criteria and also increase the understanding of different learning styles.

This review was conducted from the perspective of the manager, who is responsible for the direction of an institution of higher education, to assist the administration in creating strategies for the use of data mining to improve the learning process. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is original because other contributions do not focus on the manager.

This paper aims to shed light on how the composition of future blended learning (BL) courses can be changed to provide students with quality academic learning experiences. The model suggested in this study will guide instructors on how to design their course learning outcomes to ensure effective delivery.

The new model has been developed by combining Bloom's taxonomy and Carman's model. Later, a new framework entitled “PATHCO” based on an extensive literature review is applied to enhance the quality of all five components of Carman's model.

The PATHCO conceptual framework has been developed to ensure quality in the five main teaching and learning factors. This framework covers criteria like pedagogical, assessments, technical, health care and organizational. Further research is required to broaden the main elements of the suggested framework and to validate this research through a case study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the landscape of the education sector by encouraging an extensive acceptance of technology-enhanced learning and teaching. Blended learning (BL) has become the most appropriate medium to deliver online learning (OL). However, educators and students have reported dissatisfaction with the BL mode of delivery. To address this dissatisfaction, this study outlines, using the PATHCO model, all the essential building blocks which are required to find the right blend of both face-to-face and online components.

Although the fitness switching costs scale (FSCS) was shown to have sound psychometric properties, the length of the 54-item may impose burdens on survey participants and present methodological and analytic challenges for researchers and practitioners. Therefore, the present study shortened and validated two versions of the FSCS, namely the 33-item FSCS (FSCS-33) and the 11-item FSCS (FSCS-11).

In Study 1 (n = 411), the most useful items from the FSCS for the FSCS-33 and FSCS-11 were identified using item response theory (IRT). Study 2 (n = 391) and Study 3 (n = 400) assessed the psychometric properties of the FSCS-33 and FSCS-11, respectively, using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The FSCS-33 and FSCS-11 demonstrated strong reliability and validity in assessing switching costs in fitness centers.

The psychometrically sound short-form scales provide researchers and practitioners with convenient and accurate means of measuring switching costs in fitness centers.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the appropriateness of equal weights estimation (sumscores) and the application of the composite equivalence index (CEI) vis-à-vis differentiated indicator weights produced by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The authors rely on prior literature as well as empirical illustrations and a simulation study to assess the efficacy of equal weights estimation and the CEI.

The results show that the CEI lacks discriminatory power, and its use can lead to major differences in structural model estimates, conceals measurement model issues and almost always leads to inferior out-of-sample predictive accuracy compared to differentiated weights produced by PLS-SEM.

In light of its manifold conceptual and empirical limitations, the authors advise against the use of the CEI. Its adoption and the routine use of equal weights estimation could adversely affect the validity of measurement and structural model results and understate structural model predictive accuracy. Although this study shows that the CEI is an unsuitable metric to decide between equal weights and differentiated weights, it does not propose another means for such a comparison.

The results suggest that researchers and practitioners should prefer differentiated indicator weights such as those produced by PLS-SEM over equal weights.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of the CEI’s usefulness. The results provide guidance for researchers considering using equal indicator weights instead of PLS-SEM-based weighted indicators.

Green practices are essential for sustainability. However, it is challenging due to the socioeconomic and environmental concerns. Similarly, after the induced SDG-12 and SDG-13 by United Nations, the pressure groups forced manufacturers to consider sustainability. Therefore, this research aims to examine the sustainability through multifaceted green functions in manufacturing is examined.

Data were collected from 293 supply chain professionals of manufacturers from a developing economy. Hypotheses were tested through a quantitative method using partial least squares-structural equation modeling with the help of SmartPLS version 4 to validate the measurement model.

The findings revealed that all six direct hypotheses were supported. However, out of four hypotheses of mediation, one was not supported. Besides, a sequential mediation of green supply chain environmental cooperation and green human resource management was supported. The findings illustrated that green supply chain practices positively influence all used variables.

This research provides practical insight to practitioners to implement green practices in their supply chain networks for social, economic and environmental sustainability and compliance with SDG-12 and SDG-13. The sustainability was validated in a higher-order construct (HOC) (formative), including sequential mediation in the model with the support of resource dependency theory. Therefore, this study adds substantial literature to the existing body of knowledge.

This research provides an interdisciplinary framework by adding knowledge to the Resource Dependency Theory to address Sustainable Development Goals-12 (SDGs) and SDG-13. Likewise, this research provides an extension towards the body of knowledge on the issue, which can be used in future research and critical examinations for cleaner and sustainable production. So far, in Pakistan, no research has looked at the function of these integrated variables in the manufacturing industry with a diligent focus on sustainability as it was validated in a higher-order construct (formative) with one sequential mediation, which makes this research unique.