International Journal of Higher Education

To all our Journal’s readers and followers, a warm welcome to the August issue of 2023! 

In this issue, we explore nine papers on higher education practices by authors from China, Oman, Mexico, and the United States of America. They share their focus on teaching, learning and assessment in education, and issues of training and human resources in industry and learning institutions.

The first article by Nong and Cao explores the effectiveness of blended learning to improve the teaching of preschool education research method courses, and the learning retention of preschool education students to cultivate their scientific research ability in the post-pandemic era. The study found the experimental class had blended learning in consideration of objective, preparation, instructional video, review, test, activity, transfer, discussion/summary (O-PIRTATD/S) flipped classroom teaching, and the knowledge retention was significantly higher than the control class with blended learning based on traditional teaching.  The next article by Khalid Salim Saif Al Jardani examined the perspective of academics on the impact of internal quality assurance system in the A’Sharqiyah University on the teaching and learning process. The study concluded that the Faculty staff are aware of the quality process, and agreed on its positive impact on teaching and learning. The third article by Gao and Wang focused on measures college administrators in China took to help college students regulate the emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study concluded that college students’ emotion regulation difficulties had a significant predictive power on their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study provides insights into the factors affecting college students’ mental health in the current post-pandemic context, and serves as a reference for how colleges and universities can prevent mental health problems in the current uncertain environment of China. 

The fourth article by Toro-Troconis and colleagues report on research conducted during the 2022-2023 Learning Design and Education for Sustainable Development Bootcamp. The Bootcamp was designed by the Association for Learning Design and Education for Sustainable Development (ADLESD), and delivered in collaboration with UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their findings indicate that the Bootcamp and the use of the CoDesignS Education for Sustainable Development Framework and Toolkit Planner, significantly increased participants' willingness, confidence, and ability to integrate ESD into curriculum design effectively.  The fifth article by Wang and Selah developed the ASSURE model to improve the teaching process of a current Chinese pop music module, to achieve the teaching objective and improve teaching effectiveness. They found that the current Chinese pop music module improves knowledge and understanding of Chinese music, but also enhanced the cognition of Chinese culture, which is helpful for studying and living in China. The sixth article by Xóchitl Adriana Hernández Martínez used a feedback loop of initial draft, feedback on first draft, final draft, and marking study, as a strategy for guiding and improving the teaching-learning process of 28 students in at the University Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The findings showed a general improvement after feedback sessions and learners were able to present enhanced final versions of tasks. The study’s main contributions are the confirmation of positive results on effective feedback as well as an opening to discussion, adaptation, and improvement of the practices presented. 

The seventh article by Young Lim and colleagues reports on a qualitative study that explored Myanmar refugee mothers' perceptions and experiences, of social and cultural capital use for their children’s education and cultural adaptation, while resettling in the host country of the United States. Their findings showed that refugee mothers strived to utilize their past experiences as well as cultural and social resources, such as their home language, nurturing relationships, and networking with fellow ethnic mothers, to provide diverse social and cultural capital for their children. Their study offers valuable insights for teachers and policymakers when considering the successful integration of refugee children and families into current school systems. The second last article in this edition is from Wang and Zhou who examine the teaching practice of ideological and political education in the Financial Management course as an example, illustrate the real scenes of content innovation in the teaching practice process, analyze the innovative ideas of integrating the ideological and political concepts into professional courses in universities, and expounds the specific content of the reconstructed teaching system and evaluation reform of Financial Management teaching based on the ideological and political concepts. Finally, it summarizes the experience in the ideological and political practice of the financial management course, and reflects on the problems encountered and the shortcomings therein, with a view to providing broader ideas and research paradigms for the continuous construction of the Financial Management course in the future. The final article considers the efficacy of student success prediction from a math assessment developed and administered as a university-wide mathematics placement test. The study reported that an institution-wide pre-enrolment math skill assessment, such as the Math Placement Exam, has the potential to serve as a predictor for student success in introductory statistics Courses. 

With that, I would like to thank all authors, reviewers and editors for making this issue possible.  I sincerely hope that the broad range of topics and information shared are of benefit to our readers. Importantly, I would like to thank all contributors and reviewers who continue to make the timely publication of the current issue possible.  I look forward to receiving more contributions from researchers and practitioners for our future issues. Wishing all readers all the very best with their research studies.

Warm regards, 

Dr Ingrid Harrington

Senior Lecturer, Classroom Behaviour Management

Coordinator, Commencing Student Success Program

School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Education (HASSE)

University of New England, Australia

& Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Higher Education

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1898-4795

We are seeking submissions for forthcoming issues published in October and December 2023. The paper should be written in professional English. The length of 3000-8000 words is preferred. All manuscripts should be prepared in MS-Word format, and submitted online: http://ijhe.sciedupress.com or sent to: ijhe@sciedupress.com

For any further information about the journal, please log on its website: http://ijhe.sciedupress.com

Deadline for Submission (October Issue): September 25, 2023

Deadline for Submission (December Issue): November 25, 2023