Problems of Education in the 21st Century

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 51, PEC, 2013

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Authors: Costin Pribeanu

The shift towards constructivism in e-learning creates new opportunities in the modern school and favors the introducing of novel technologies able to promote a learner-centered approach and increase the students’ motivation to learn. Augmented reality (AR) is such a novel technology that promotes a new learning experience by integrating real objects, familiar from the traditional class, into a computing environment. AR has many valuable features from both the teacher’s and learner’s perspective: 3D visualization of complex processes, animation, multimodal interaction with real objects (visual, auditory and haptic), and augmentation. In turn, these features create various learning affordances such as: spatial ability, support to memory cognitive processes, experiential learning, collaboration, and motivation (di Serio, Ibanez & Kloos, 2012). In general, novel technologies are expensive and the costs are not only related to the hardware and software platform. The implementation in the traditional school requires additional costs for maintenance, content development, and training. Therefore, the first key concern when evaluating such e-learning systems is to capture the added value brought in by the novel technology.

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Authors: Christian Byrge, Søren Hansen

This paper presents a study on how a new (5 ECTS/2.5 American credit) stand-alone course for higher education in new thinking may influence key aspects of creative abilities. The course structure and content is based primarily on The Creative Platform with a focus on training, theory and workshop. The study uses the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking and a Reflection Report for Creativity Teaching to identify effects from the course. The results from the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking showed a significant increase in students’ ability in figural and verbal fluency, flexibility, figural and verbal originality, and elaboration as well as in resistance to premature closure. The results show no significant increase in students’ ability in the abstractness of titles. The results from the Reflection Report for Creativity Teaching showed that the majority of students experienced that they were capable of both developing understanding of creativity theory, becoming better at participating in a creative process as well as becoming better at generating and developing new ideas, thoughts and new knowledge. However, some students experienced problems especially related to creativity training. Implications and potentials of a combined focus on training, theory and workshop in creativity courses for higher education is discussed.

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Authors: Lianli Gao

The purpose of the research reported here was firstly to examine the expectations placed on university teachers of English in China in relation to curriculum changes as evidenced in the College English Curriculum Requirements (For Trial Implementation, 2004), designed for non-English majors (hereafter CECR 2004). It further reports on a study of responses to these changes on the part of teachers, administrators and policy-makers as revealed in interviews. The study adopts a mixed method of inquiry to deal with how teachers made sense of multiple realities and constructed complicated interactions between CECR and themselves. Additionally, some aspects of the work of Bourdieu and Bernstein are taken to analyse and interpret the issues. The findings show that CECR gives the impression of being forward-looking, making reference to contemporary English language teaching (ELT) concepts. This leaves a great deal of freedom for individual universities to flesh out the details and adapt the content to their own contexts. However, teachers feel either frustrated with the lack of real change in the syllabus or threatened by new challenges such as the emphasis on speaking and listening for which they believe they have not been adequately prepared.

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Authors: Jolanta Navickaitė

Transformational leadership is essential for school principals who desire to achieve school success and effectiveness, especially when determining a school’s direction, creating a cohesive school community for collective activities, building relationships among all members of the school community, etc. The purpose of the research was to investigate a school principal’s transformational leadership while implementing organizational changes in a school. A semi-structured interview with principals of eight general education schools in Lithuania was used to collect data. Categories and subcategories were identified in the data from which conclusions were drawn. Within the context of the research, the results suggest that the principals who embrace a transformational leadership during the initiation, implementation and institutionalization of change 1) reveal their personal determination to implement change; 2) express their concern for professional development; 3) demonstrate support for school values and a cohesive school community; 4) fosters achieved results by distributing leadership.

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Authors: Maija Rask, Kaarina Määttä, Satu Uusiautti

Youngsters’ health is widely studied from various points of view but a holistic approach to health has been minimal. The purpose of this research was to study general upper secondary education students’ health knowledge and perceptions of health by analyzing their answers concerning the subject of health education in the general studies battery of tests in the Finnish matriculation examination. The sample of the research consisted of 611 essays that were the test answers in health education in 2007. The essays covered altogether eight questions about health education. 81 candidates for the spring 2007 matriculation examination and 60 candidates for the fall 2007 matriculation examination participated in this research; altogether 141 candidates. The research approach was phenomenological-hermeneutic. The data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. According to the results, students recognized people’s responsibility for their own health. They disapproved especially those who consciously neglect their health. According to the findings, it seemed evident that health education as a subject should be further developed so that it supports youngsters’ health appreciation and ability to make health-promoting choices in life. This decade sets special challenges to health education in schools, and therefore, it is important to listen to the youth‘s opinions and perceptions of health in order to, for example, develop curriculum planning.

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Authors: Gonzalo Sacristán-Pérez-Minayo, Ruth María Martín-Moro

Lifelong learning plays an important role due to the actual needs that we have in terms of knowledge-based economy. It provides education both to working and non-working people who want to be part of this developing society. In this study, two different levels of the Spanish Adult Education are assessed but not only from an individual point of view, but also from the point of view of cooperation between them in order to improve the teaching-learning process. Both the Education Centre of Olmedo (Olmedo, Spain) and the University of Burgos (Burgos, Spain) are described deep inside and likewise, the activities that they two are developing to interconnect both the two centres and the educational levels so that the learning process is never interrupted. Activities such as seminars, web pages management, oral presentations and questionnaires showing different aspects of the educational process will be discussed in the present study. The use of the new Information Technology and Communication (ICT) should be enhanced for effective learning of our adult students. From our results, it will be demonstrated that adults can be part of the education system and therefore gain new skills and knowledge that let them succeed in their lives.

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Authors: Valentin Ageyev

The social contradiction between creative (generating) essence of the historical man and cognitive (adaptive) essence of the sociocultural man forms the basis of the research. The scientific-psychological aspect of this problem represents the contradiction between the ability to act on the basis of the appropriated norms, samples and rules of the man as a product of traditional education and the modern society necessity of the man capable to make norm, samples and rules self-independently. As means of the problem solution the new type of educational technologies based not on the mechanism of assignment but the mechanism of generation is offered. The importance of research consists in the fact that the modern sociohistorical situation differs radically from the previous ones. The difference means, that social development is sharply accelerated now. The new educational systems are of great necessity at present such as systems turned not to the past (that is based on the assignment and reproduction of previous social experience) but to the future (that is based on generation of new social experience). Such reorientation is possible only as a result of education reorganisation from consuming past social experience to generating new social experience. Creative method (method of creative experiment). In its basis there is a structure of creative dialogue, as the result of which the students in a problem situation generate new meanings (knowledge), which reveal new possibilities and present psychological means of new abilities designing. Solution of a traditional education selectivity problem. The technology of new possibilities designing represents the method of all the students without any exception self-development process organization. The result of self-development is designing meanings (new possibilities) as means of new abilities generation. Other results of experimental education are: ability to self-development; positive dynamics of educational motivation and self-determination of students; system knowledge designed by students, their "theoretical" (general) character; essential reduction of time of education as a result of qualitative change of its results.