The 3rd Eurasian Conference on Educational Innovation 2020 (ECEI 2020) was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 5–7 February 2020. The Special Issue “Selected Papers from the Eurasian Conference on Educational Innovation 2020” selected excellent papers from ECEI 2020 about the topics of education and awareness of sustainability. There were 36 papers published in this Special Issue from 366 papers presented at ECEI 2020. The topics of published papers are relative to educational innovation, socioeconomic, scientific, cultural, and social sustainability, and integrated approaches to sustainable development. The aim is to encourage the attendees of ECEI 2020 to publish their novel experimental and theoretical research relating to educational innovation and awareness of sustainability in this Special Issue. Full article

Triggered by the rapid development of digital technology, Chinese clothing manufacturers have begun to provide digital customization for clothing. The digital transformation of clothing customization provides new opportunities to meet customers’ personalized needs and optimize production resources, and facilitates the sustainable development of the clothing customization industry. This study constructed dimensions of customer value in clothing customization, based on the development of the industry under digital technology. The research was divided into two phases: the first phase involved establishing customer value indicators through expert interviews, questionnaire design, and statistical analyses in SPSS; and the second stage involved the expert group conducting a consumer experience evaluation of a digital customization platform. Thirty customer value indicators were extracted and four dimensions were established: authenticity value, social value, aesthetic value, and utility value. The results of the study show that the value demands of Chinese consumers for apparel customization have shifted to perceptible authenticity values (service, experience, content). The four customer value dimensions proposed by this research can be used to evaluate customer value in digital customization consumption models. Full article

Promoting learning passion for students in higher education is a vital and challenging issue. Due to the swift changes in society and technology development, many convenient and interesting technologies increasingly interfere with students’ learning performances and reduce students’ motivation for attending classes. For example, mobile games and social networking have led students to lose their passion for learning. MAPS (Mind Mapping, Asking Questions, Presentation, Scaffolding Instruction) is a flipped teaching model which has been proved as an effective approach to increasing students’ reflective learning, allowing students to devote to self-learning and recovering their passion for learning. Thus, this study employed a MAPS teaching strategy that adopts a point-earning approach to encourage students to learn from peer feedback while the teacher can understand students’ learning from the process. When the class is over, students can exchange the points for other rewards through a bidding mechanism which encourages students to regain passion for learning. The concept of Scaffolding Instruction points out that allowing students to sense positive peer pressure, which is caused by their peers’ improvements, and the atmosphere where their peers are studying hard can enhance their learning motivation and reflection. The empirical results of this study found that peer assessment and feedback can improve the learning effectiveness of students with poor performance. Full article

The importance of vocational training and capacity assessment has grown since the 1980s. Vocational education is an important foundation for societal and economic development. Therefore, it is crucial to develop vocational training and education that meet the demands of the labor market. Modern industrial structure is different from that of the past, creating an imbalance in the supply and demand of the labor force. The purpose of the Skills Competition (the collective term for the regional competition under the Taiwan National Skills Competition in this research) is to encourage the young generation to participate in vocational education and training, thereby further improving the effect and efficiency of learning and training. In order to develop suitable indicators for the joinery trade of the regional competition, Taiwan National Skills Competition (hereinafter referred to as the Regional Competition), we first identify the level of importance of each indicator. Firstly, this study formed a hierarchical structure via the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) with six training indicators (drawings, internal and external joints, assembly, measurements, finishing and appearance, and application of materials), and 27 sub-indicators were developed on the basis of these six major indicators. Secondly, in order to develop suitable training indicators for the joinery trade of the Regional Competition, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) was adopted to seek the relative weight value of each indicator by assessing subjects through a paired-comparison. The results show that, among the six indicators, the relative weight value of measurements was the highest, followed by finishing and appearance and drawings. The indicators with higher relative weight value, such as measurement and finishing and appearance, should be paid more attention during the training processes. It is hoped that these results be presented to the trainers or instructors of training institutions or vocational schools as a reference to improve their training models, strategies, and quality. Full article

Upon the development of a linear economy, global enterprises are facing resource depletion, ecological collapse, and unsustainable economic growth, and the living environment is facing ordeals as well. Taiwan’s resources are extremely dependent on imports; hence the need for change in the thinking of economic development is arising. The purpose of this study is, based on the concept of circular economy, to discuss the business model and anticipated benefits of Chyhjiun Jewelry Co. Ltd., by using the method of expert interview, participant observation, and method of secondary data collection with the ReSOLVE framework. The results of the study found the developable ReSOLVE business model of the target company Chyhjiun Jewelry in our case study; the ReSOLVE business model includes the use of renewable energy, maintenance and repair services, modular product design, a recovery mechanism, a virtual online shopping platform, and 3D printing technologies. The model established enterprise recycling model as well as the benefits of green management, of which the research results could reduce costs, help the company in exercising its corporate social responsibility, add value to the brand, and generate anticipated benefits arising from other enterprises’ follow-up actions. Full article

In a design department’s practice course there are often group exercises that include intensive interactions between students in the classroom or in the internship factory. In addition, students will deepen the interaction between peers due to course groupings or borrowing of model tools, etc. This study intended to carry out a differential analysis and discussion of the differences among design students from different backgrounds under the three factors of peer relationships, learning motivation, and learning effectiveness. The research method was based on literature analysis and a questionnaire survey, and the research objects were sophomores and seniors in four classes. Statistical analysis methods included the independent sample T-test, one-way ANOVA, and factor and cluster analysis, which were used to summarize different learning styles. The results showed that the students had significant differences of varying degrees in the three factor dimensions. Regarding gender, “care about classmates’ lives” in peer relationships scored higher for the females than the males, and the rest had no effect. Regarding educational system, “care about the classmates’ life” and “sharing life trivia” was included in peer relationships. “keep the enthusiasm in the course of learning” was included in the learning motivation. “recognition for self-directed learning” and “ability improvement” was included in learning effectiveness. The three factors all had significant differences, and the differences for full-time students were higher than for night school students. Regarding grade, there were significant differences in “friends will value my comments” and “sharing life trivia” in peer relationships, “understand course content” in learning motivation, and “data collection ability” and “understanding team member expertise” in learning effectiveness, and seniors scored higher than sophomores in these areas. In addition, the ANOVA and post-hoc tests revealed significant differences in learning the processes between different groups. In peer relationships, full-time seniors scored higher than the other groups; in learning motivation and learning effectiveness, full-time seniors scored higher than night school sophomores. In addition, the overall factors of the full-time seniors were higher than those of the other groups. In the analysis of different learning factors, under the premise of the variation of 58.975%, three factors were extracted by principal axis for analysis with Promax rotation. The different learning factors can be summarized in “emphasizing ability improvement”, “care about peer friendship”, and “careful and active learning”. Classification of learning styles under the three factor dimensions was based on two-stage cluster analysis to obtain two clustering results, including “enthusiastic and friendly” and “active and autonomous”. The results showed that the mastery of self-learning time and the learning experience performance have a key influence on the learning motivation and learning effectiveness of design students from different backgrounds. In addition, the results also showed a new opportunity for course improvement and teaching innovation at night schools. The final results of this study could be used as an important reference for research on peer relationships, learning motivation, and learning effectiveness in design education. Full article

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility that exercise participation can be an important factor in the pursuit of sustainable happiness. For this purpose, this study focused on the causal relationships among the frequency of exercise, self-esteem, stress, depression, school satisfaction and degree of happiness in elementary, junior high and high school students (n = 11,132) in South Korea. The data used for this study were collected in 2016 by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) for the “UN convention on the rights of the child.” The results were as follows; firstly, the exercise frequency had a significant causal relationship with self-esteem, stress, school satisfaction and happiness but not with depression. However, it was found that exercise frequency had an indirect effect on depression through stress. In detail, exercise frequency could positively reduce stress, and less stress affects depression. Secondly, there were significant direct or indirect effects on self-esteem, stress, depression, degree of happiness and school satisfaction. Lastly, only depression did not affect school satisfaction and happiness. Full article

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) forms part of Target 4.7 of Sustainable Development Goal 4 in the 2030 Agenda. This paper presents an effort to propose an evaluation framework of elementary school teaching materials in Taiwan for sustainable development considering three dimensions of sustainability: Environmental, social, and economic. The proposed framework comprises four levels: Lever 1, education for sustainable development; Level 2, teaching scopes; Level 3, learning indicators, and; Level 4, learning topics. This study first, through literature reviews, proposed an initial evaluation framework and then, through in-depth expert interviews, obtained a modified framework. Thereafter, the Delphi questionnaires were conducted to establish the final evaluation framework. The framework includes four teaching scopes, ten learning indicators and twenty-one learning topics. Furthermore, the weights of each scope and its associated indicators were analyzed and compared through AHP questionnaires to obtain the scoring table for sustainability teaching materials implemented in a school. Finally, the scoring table was applied to an existing elementary school to investigate its implementation of the teaching materials on sustainable development. Based on the result from the scoring table, the areas needed for improvement were identified and the improvement strategies were then proposed. Full article

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness of the necessity and importance of liberal arts education and to examine the satisfaction of college students with their liberal arts courses. This study was conducted from June 1–15, 2018, for college students who are taking liberal arts courses. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0 statistical package programs. To understand the general characteristics of the survey subjects, a frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and reliability analysis were performed to measure the reliability and validity of the measurement tools, and a structural model analysis was conducted to verify the proposed research model. The result shows that a professor’s professionalism has a positive influence on the perception of a subject’s importance and necessity after the course, diversity has a positive influence on satisfaction in liberal arts education. Favorable changes in the perception of importance and necessity have a positive effect on satisfaction level. Our findings imply that colleges should operate an integrated student-selective education course that allows all students to select and take liberal arts courses. It should be organized to secure full-time professors who will be exclusively responsible for liberal arts curriculums. Full article

This paper investigates the relationship between the influential factors related to higher education and job satisfaction of engineering graduates in Korea. The education factors considered in this study can be categorized into three groups: those related to personal information, satisfaction with higher-education quality, and participation in career development programs. The Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey data collected in 2016 and provided by the Korea Employment Information Service were used to evaluate the job satisfaction of Korean engineering graduates, which was in turn analyzed using the hierarchical multiple regression approach. The verification of the statistical analysis results indicates the importance of school location and high satisfaction with overall school quality in determining the job satisfaction of engineering graduates in Korea. It also reveals that internship is more efficient in enhancing job satisfaction than relatively short-term programs such as interviews, resume coaching, and job camps. Full article

New knowledge and technology brought about by globalization can be applied to revitalize local cultures in innovative ways. It can start with glocalization community design to sustain unique traditional events so as to energize the community. The paper proposes a study on designing assistive devices for exclusive palanquin carriers for a local religious event. Field investigation, questionnaire survey, and in-depth interviews were adopted to design appropriate assistive devices for palanquin carriers. This design used shoulder protectors to reduce the pain of the palanquin carriers. It is recommended that the palanquin carriers wear a shoulder protective vest with a protector applied to each shoulder to share the weight of the palanquin to maintain a good physical condition so as to facilitate the completion of the event. The task is to develop a protective vest that the palanquin carriers love to wear and will become the focus of attention in the detouring. The designed protective vest could attract more young people to participate in the event, that is how the aging problem could be solved. It is the first but important step to resolve the aging crisis of the event. Full article

Creativity is important and constitutes a part of competitiveness in all walks of life. In the case of designers’ visual images, creativity is vital. Based on the perspective of visual design, visual image thinking has always been a widely used thinking mode in the field of design. Regarding whether or not other sensory stimuli can also provide a source of inspiration for designers, many studies have pointed out that different sources of inspiration can create different thinking patterns and even affect the behavior of a designer. Therefore, this study explores whether or not different sensory stimuli have an impact on the thinking of a designer, which in turn allows the designer to spark different inspirations. Here, we explore the relationships between creativity and vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. In this study, novice designers are required to use their creativity to design their works. Through the execution of design tasks, works are produced in two stages. First of all, a scenic spot is decided as the main theme, while the data of the field are collected through observation and experience. Next, the five senses are used to feel the stimulation delivered by the field when located in the field. Last but not least, the five stimuli are transformed into abstract visual pictures. Different sensory stimuli do affect the thinking of a designer and inspire different types of works. A multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) forecasting method is also used to establish a method for evaluating creative designs. By making a comparison between the students and the experts, the results of the creative thinking test show that different sensory stimuli do affect the thinking of a designer and inspire different types of works. Full article

“Salt” is an indispensable necessity in people’s livelihood. In Taiwan’s islands surrounded by the sea and the western coastal areas, salt was boil the sea for a long time in the early stages, and seawater was introduced into the depression in the later stages and evaporated in the sun. With the development of the times, different characteristics of the construction and building materials in the field of the salt industry have entered the era of the industrial revolution. With the development of technology, salt processing technology and the use of imported salt in foreign trade have forced salt fields to be abandoned along with historical development. The Yantian cultural relics still preserved today are actively preserved by government departments to continue to apply the Yantian culture. This study selected the Yantian community in Annan District of Tainan City as the focus of planning. It is hoped that through the development of design education, it will emphasize practical ability and practice-oriented research. The study combines design practice and practical theory, based on the original ecological culture of Yantian, through the reconstruction plan of Yantian’s cultural resources, the mobilization of residents in the Yantian community and the tourism planning of the Yantian Cultural Village, to find a transition direction suitable for the Yantian Cultural Village. Market needs with combining core values of the community with a patchwork of practical experience and action research to build participatory research theories will result in effective internal practice and learning. This research adopts the method of service research through service design, including: 1. diagnosing problems; 2. choosing solutions; 3. seeking cooperation; 4. implementation; and 5. assessing the response from a practical perspective, with the importance of action research, where “Yantian” combines with the local “salt-making” characteristic culture, develops cultural innovation experience, and guides students to truly enter the community to learn. The plan explores the possibility of long-term introduction of design education in the local community, discusses how to communicate and collaborate with community residents, and uses design tools to help solve the problem of community image promotion and application. The research results finally put forward the preliminary construction of the role of the Tainan Yantian community volunteers as a design education platform based on practical experience. It is hoped that it can be used as a local practice of design education and as an accumulation of reference experience. Full article

Eye movement technology is highly valued for evaluating and improving digital learning content. In this paper, an educational innovation study of eye movement behaviors on digital learning content is presented. We proposed three new eye movement metrics to explain eye movement behaviors. In the proposed method, the digital content, which were slide-deck-like works, were classified into page categories according to the characteristics of each page. We interpreted the subjects’ eye movement behaviors on the digital slide decks. After data regularization and filtering, the results were analyzed to give directions for how to design an attractive digital learning content from the viewpoint of eye movement behaviors. The relationships between the subjects’ evaluation scores, page categories, and eye movement metrics are discussed. The results demonstrated that the proposed fixation time percentage (FTP) was a representative, strong, and stable eye movement metric to measure the subjects’ interest. Moreover, a reasonable portion of semantic content had a positive influence on the subjects’ interest. Full article

This study argues that the coupling between higher education, economic growth, and innovation ability is of great significance for regional sustainable development. Through the experience of Jiangsu Province in China, this study establishes a coupling coordination evaluation index system and applies the coupling coordination model to evaluate interactive relationships among the three. It finds that during 2007–2017, the level of coupling of 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu was increasing over time, which fully verified the previous scholars’ view that the three can improve each other over a long period. However, this study finds that there are obvious differences within Jiangsu. Inadequate investment in higher education has become a crucial constraint on sustainable economic growth in northern and central Jiangsu, which are backward regions of Jiangsu. By contrast, in southern Jiangsu, which is the advanced region of Jiangsu, although the resources of higher education are abundant the growth of innovation ability cannot support sustained economic growth well. Thus, the quality of higher education should be improved to meet the needs of the innovation-based economy. Accordingly, cross-regional cooperation and balanced investment in higher education are the keys to practicing a balanced and sustained regional development. The results of this study’s coupling coordination analysis and evaluation can serve as a reference for governments in enhancing regional sustainable development. Full article

In order to draw and analyze the current status of the research on the relationship between international urban street space (public space, public open space) and residents’ health, we explore the hotspots and frontiers of this research field and the overall evolution path from 1999 to 2019. This study uses 4552 related research articles included in the core database of Web of Science as the basis for data analysis, and uses the advantages of VOSviewer and CiteSpace’s bibliometric visualization software to study countries, institutions, literature keywords, and literature co-citation networks, combined with the Alluvial Generator analysis of landmark literature. In this research area, the research content is constantly enriching, including urban street networks, health systems, green spaces, road traffic, thermal comfort, and vulnerable people. The research methods are also constantly enriching. By analyzing and sorting out the current research status, research hotspots and possible future trends in this field of research, the paper hopes to provide more reference for research implementation. Full article

Recently, traditional cultural resources (TCRs) have become a core part of enterprise clothing branding strategies. Such clothes, expressed in traditional culture, are widely accepted and recognized by audiences. Unfortunately, industry has leveraged these brands poorly and created ones that lack sign-cognition of TCRs. This has resulted in products reflecting shallow traditional cultural patterns (sign-form) rather than deeper adapted cultural expressions. The negative association resulting from this shallow and generic patterning in branding can be harmful for TCRs and damage the image of a brand in the minds of the people, thereby threatening the survival and long-term development of the brand. In order to solve this problem, this study divides the solution into three steps: (1) defining and understanding sign-meaning and sign-function in TCRs from the context of existing literature; (2) assessing, evaluating and breaking down sign-meanings, via in-depth interviews, into several sign-production sub-categories: (a) cultural attribution orientation; (b) knowledge perception orientation; and (c) stakeholders orientation; (3) Utilizing a typical brand development case study to demonstrate how these sign-meaning sub-categories can be help a brand better communicate with its audience. Firstly, it is noted that cultural attribution orientation: (a) expands the notion of brand culture; (b) promotes the movement of the design language of a brand from a dependent development into an independent development; and (c) connects the brand with potential audiences through a cultural gene transmission. Secondly, it is noted that knowledge perception orientation not only expands the foundation of expert groups but also provides TCRs-related to platforms of learning for audiences (e.g., to convey the brand’s social reputation of responsibility through educational communication). Thirdly, stakeholder orientations provide a foundation for brand integration with commercial resources and thus transform the brand to combine with social, commercial and industrial forms of collaboration. Beyond these three sub-categorizations, the study shows that sign-functions of TCRs can have an influence on cultural transformation, academic cohesion and social connection for clothing brands. This study provides a new perspective on TCRs with respect to sign-meaning and sign-function. TCRs can help clothing brands expand to reach audiences of traditional communication media, such as fashion shows. They can also help establish a more stable community mode of communication for non-commercial purposes. Full article

Water resources are a very important issue in the Global Risk 2015 published by the World Economic Forum. The research objective of this study was to construct a Water Poverty Index (WPI) for islands. The empirical scope of this study was based on Kinmen Island in the Taiwan Strait, which has very scarce water resources. Kinmen has a dry climate with low rainfall and high evaporation. Therefore, the Kinmen area is long-term dependent on groundwater resources and faces serious water resource problems. This study used the WPI to examine various issues related to water resources. In addition, this study selected several main indicators and performed time series calculations to examine the future trends of water resources in Kinmen. The results show that the overall water resources of Kinmen are scarce. To ensure sustainable development of water resources in Kinmen, policies to improve water scarcity, such as water resource development, water storage improvement, and groundwater control, should be researched. The research results of this study can be used as a reference for government agencies in formulating and revising water resources to achieve the sustainable development of island-type water resources. Full article

Under the background of the constant development of sharing economy and constant upgrade of Internet technologies, various knowledge sharing platforms have emerged in recent years. As a new form for sharing economy, knowledge sharing platforms have made great strides, thus, providing new channels of knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and individual knowledge storage for users. Nevertheless, knowledge sharing platforms are still faced with problems, such as uneven product quality (Content quality) and poor user experience. Therefore, how to maintain consumers’ continued use intention without impairing consumer satisfaction has obviously become an issue of great concern on the development path of knowledge sharing platforms. Based on the expectation confirmation theory (ECT) and information system (IS) success model, and integrating major characteristics of knowledge sharing platforms, the conceptual models and hypotheses influencing consumers’ continued use intention of knowledge sharing platforms are built to study primary factors affecting consumers’ continued use intention. Through online and offline questionnaires, 428 copies were collected online, and 150 copies were collected offline, with a total of 578 copies recovered. We deleted some questionnaires with untrue and contradictory answers, because these interviewees might not have carefully read. A questionnaire is conducted with 512 valid copies collected from respondents. At the same time, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to verify and analyze hypotheses. Results show that various variables have a direct or indirect influence on consumers’ continued our intention. Meanwhile, it is observed that perceived usefulness and satisfaction degree have a significant influence on continued use intention of knowledge sharing platforms. The higher the satisfaction degree is, the more likely the consumers will continue using knowledge sharing platforms. The expectation confirmation degree exerts an indirect influence on consumers’ continued use intention of knowledge sharing platforms via perceived usefulness. The IS success model can also significantly influence consumers’ satisfaction degree of knowledge sharing platforms. Additionally, perceived usefulness is observed to have the strongest influence on consumers’ continued use intention of knowledge sharing platforms. According to the above research findings, knowledge sharing platforms should strengthen their content quality control, ensure the consistency between service quality and payment, and improve the platform quality. To sum up, this research can provide theoretical bases for sustainable development and follow-up research of the knowledge sharing platform industry. Full article

This paper investigates the sustainable inheritance of contemporary lacquer art in the Guangzhou area. Based on the traditional teaching mode dominated by folk inheritance and university education, this paper develops the advantage of contemporary information technology and proposes the application of the e-learning mode to assist the popularization of lacquer art education in society, which plays a positive role in promoting the sustainable development of the lacquer art culture in Guangzhou. This study adopts literature analysis and the questionnaire survey method, and then integrates this learning mode into the lacquer art learning curriculum in primary schools. Finally, this paper summarizes and reflects on the teaching results, and presents the effective role of this model in promoting the teaching of lacquer art culture, which is of important practical significance for consolidating the sustainable development of contemporary lacquer art culture. Full article

In learning based on socio-scientific issues, teachers primarily use role playing in situation learning to promote students’ knowledge and responsibility and to teach them how to reach a consensus in multirole scenarios. However, if participants only engage with the material from the perspective of having one role, they will ignore comprehensive information on said issue. Therefore, the roles students play during multirole situational learning lead to diversity biases in learning results. To help participants enhance their competencies related to issues and eliminate learning gaps, we developed an issue-based board game named Water Ark based on the following four design ideas: multirole simulation, reflective goal, systemic situation, and interactions of society. The results indicated that after playing the game, participants’ knowledge and responsibility regarding water resource adaptation improved significantly. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the gap between the learning outcomes of participants with different roles in the game was not statistically significant, except in terms of students’ personal willingness to act. Thus, these design ideas could improve the utility of board games for learning about socio-scientific issues with multirole scenarios. Full article

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trajectories of multicultural adolescents’ ego-resilience, to compare the effects of neglectful parenting and bilingual competency on the trajectories, and to analyze the longitudinal mediation effect of ego-resilience on these variables’ influence to acculturative stress. In order to accomplish these aims, analysis was conducted using the data of 1,392 adolescents from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study. For statistical analysis, AMOS 20.0 was utilized for latent growth modeling and structural equation modeling. Results indicated: (1) a quadratic increase in ego-resilience of multicultural adolescents; (2) a difference in the trajectory of ego-resilience according to gender, with males displaying lower initial values and more rapid growth; (3) significant effects of neglectful parenting and bilingual competency on the trajectories of ego-resilience; and (4) mediating effects of ego-resilience between (a) neglectful parenting and acculturative stress, and (b) bilingual competence and acculturative stress. In accordance with the view of adolescents as prospective leaders in promoting a sustainable future, this study offers insight on the positive psychosocial development and well-being of multicultural adolescents. Full article

According to the United Nations Development Program, sustainable development goals are fundamental for attaining a better and more sustainable future for all of us, and are a primary concern today. New indicators, such as the Economic Complexity Index (i.e., ECI), can be used to predict human development index (i.e., HDI). To be defined as a complex economy, a country, through a vast network of individuals, should be able to interlink extensive quantities of relevant knowledge to create diversified products. Political, cultural, and environmental factors should also be included in this model to improve the measurement of human development. This paper aimed to study the relationship between the ECI and HDI and the mediating effects of income inequality among developing countries. Hierarchical linear modeling was used as a statistical tool to analyze 87 developing countries from 1990 to 2017, which also studied the country-level effects of gender inequality and energy consumption. Different year lags were used for more robustness. The results show that human development increased with higher economic complexity. This relationship was, however, partially mediated by income inequality. Country-level predictors, gender inequality, and energy consumption also impacted sustainable development. Finally, it is essential to note that this model cannot be applied to developed economies. Full article

This study developed a Kinect-based somatosensory English learning system. The main design concept was to integrate Kinect as an interaction technique with theories of situated learning and the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model, to design relevant learning activities and materials, thereby enhancing students’ learning outcomes. The proposed system allows for planning and designing learning activities and content according to situated learning components and the ARCS model. The somatosensory interaction system Kinect was used to provide users with a virtual learning environment to achieve actual spatial and physical experiences, assisting learners’ engagement in stories and scenarios as well as enhancing their motivation to learn. English vocabulary related to supermarkets was set as the learning objective and 70 students ranging from third to sixth grade at a learning center in Tainan, Taiwan were selected as participants. During the experiment, participants were divided into two groups: the experimental group, which employed the proposed learning system, and the control group, in which students learned using printed materials coupled with mobile devices. Pre- and posttest scores of the two groups were used to assess learning outcomes and analyze the ARCS model-based questionnaire. The results revealed that the proposed system effectively improved learners’ motivation to learn and learning outcomes. Full article

This study identified the relational paths between children’s ego function and fear of negative evaluation affecting academic failure tolerance across three grades. The ego function consisted of four factors: competence, initiative, resilience, and sociality. In total, data of 872 elementary school students (Grade 1–3) in South Korea were collected through parent-reported questionnaires. Results reflected various paths between these variables. Firstly, in all three grades, greater initiative and resilience and less fear of negative evaluation resulted in higher tolerance for academic failure. In particular, fear of negative evaluation was found to fully mediate the effect of academic failure tolerance on resilience. Secondly, notable differences in paths were found among grade levels. For first grade students, competence lowered the fear of negative evaluation and academic failure tolerance. For second grade students, initiative had an indirect effect on academic failure tolerance through fear of negative evaluation. For third grade students, sociality lowered the fear of negative assessment and increased academic failure tolerance. Fear of negative evaluation partially mediated the relationship between first graders’ competence, second graders’ initiative, and third graders’ sociality and academic failure tolerance. Conclusively, children’s ego function is an important factor affecting academic failure tolerance, and the fear of negative evaluation mediates the relationship between the two variables. The four factors of ego have been found to have a different impact on each grade level. In consideration of effectiveness and sustainability, viable methods of psychological intervention to improve children’s academic motivation, specifically created to meet the needs of children at each grade level, are necessary. This study is meaningful in that it provides applicable results for sustainability-based psychological interventions to improve children’s academic failure tolerance. Full article

Nowadays, with respect to the rapid development of technology education, the rigorous issue of students’ employability, and the swift awareness of University Social Responsibility (USR), a majority of higher education institutions have necessarily dedicated themselves to discovering the most effective sustainable strategies in order to survive in the current hyper-competitive and low birthrate era. Therefore, this research creatively employed the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to interdisciplinarily and mutually assay the correlationships among technology education, students’ employability, and institutions’ developmental sustainability. Further, it also cross-applied and consolidated the Factor Analysis (FA) approach and the Entropy Analysis (EA) model to comprehensively probe in-depth into the results from a large-scale questionnaire completed by various experts in order to delve into the most critical determinants of students’ employability in technology education to advance higher education enrollment sustainability. As a result, the most valuable finding of this research is to directly point out “poverty, unemployment, and educational equitability” as the three most materially considered factors by students during their higher education institution selection process. As a result, higher education institutions have necessarily developed the Concurrent Usages Convenience Technological Feature (CUCTF, Information Immediacy Usability Openness Technological Feature (IIUOTF), Course-Professionalization Technology Assessment (CPTA), and Course-evaluation Technology Analysis System (CTAS) of technology education to strengthen the covered Self-control Capability (SCC), Communication Expression Ability (CEA), Active Attitude and Ambition (AAA), and Problem-solving Ability (PSA) of students’ employability to interdisciplinarily explore the most critical determinants of students’ employability in technology education to advance higher education enrollment sustainability. Full article

The urban space environment has been proven to be related to the health of the elderly. However, as a high-density city, Macau’s limited urban space must cope with the growing population and the arrival of an aging society. In the existing studies, less attention has been paid to Macau, especially the relationship between Macanese elderly and urban space. This study uses Baidu Street View (BSV) on the Macau Peninsula and conducts field surveys to obtain street view data to evaluate the openness, greenness, interface coverage, and road area ratio of street space and its association with the physical and mental health of the elderly and social health. The results show that the data truly reflect the overall street space conditions on the Macau Peninsula. The street openness, greenery rate, and interface enclosure are all related to the elderly in various evaluations in areas with a higher population dependency index and aging index. Human space perception is related to health gain, and road area ratio is weaker than other indicators. The research results have certain policy implications and have practical significance for city managers and designers. Full article

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the factors on the problem-solving competency of engineering graduates. To this end, we use the 2016 Korean survey data among the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey data conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In summary of the study’s major results, older people and females have lower problem-solving competencies (Model 1); higher literacy and numeracy competencies lead to higher problem-solving competencies (Model 2); and those with more experiences of sharing work-related information have higher problem-solving competencies. However, those who give more presentations have lower problem-solving competencies (Model 3), and those who make frequent use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to send or receive e-mails or conduct real-time discussions have higher problem-solving competencies (Model 4). These results present implications from the two perspectives of “sustainability” and “integration.” Sustainability is further classified into the following two perspectives: (1) sustainability from the longitudinal viewpoint of middle school, high school, and then job education, and (2) sustainability from the cross-sectional perspective of sustainable organization cultures. In addition, the implications of integration are based on common growth with other related core competencies besides problem-solving competencies. Full article

In culturally diverse career settings, some designers are performing more effectively than others. The competence and intelligence behind their performance are crucial to sustainable career development in the highly competitive and globalized design industry. We believe that cultural intelligence (or CQ as a shorthand label) is highly required in such cross-cultural design situations, and it could be trained and improved through design education. Therefore, to better prepare students in design colleges for sustainable career development, we extend and assess the CQ model in design education. We begin the study by determining the demographic differences of design students in terms of CQ, then clarify associations between CQ and competitive advantage. The results of variance analyses using both a t-test and ANOVA showed that education level had a significant effect on two dimensions of CQ (cognitive and motivational CQs), whereas gender, age, and design field did not have significant effects on any dimensions of CQ. Further, step-wise regression analyses demonstrated that three dimensions of CQ (motivational, metacognitive, and behavioral CQs) had significant impacts on competitive advantage. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future studies, are further discussed. Full article

The previous literature on the resource curse has not taken resource price fluctuations into account. Using panel data covering the period from 1993 to 2017 from 28 provinces in China and dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM), this article takes a fresh look at the relationship between resource dependence and sustainable economic growth and the potential transmission mechanisms taking resource price fluctuations into consideration. We find that resource price fluctuations represent an important factor when researching the resource curse, and there is a U-shaped relationship between resource dependence and sustainable economic growth. However, over the past 20 years, provinces in China remained on the left of the U-shaped curve, and there is a single negative correlation between resource dependence and sustainable economic growth. This means that resource curse occurs in nearly all provinces in China. The analysis of transmission mechanisms of indirect effects taking resource price fluctuations into consideration shows that human capital investment and physical capital investment are more important than other mechanisms, and there are considerably more indirect effects than direct effects when taking into account the total effects of the resource curse. Full article

In an aging population with a changing demographic structure, the government aims to ensure that elderly people receive care. In the concept of lifelong learning, education opportunities are available to senior learners, not just children and young people. The sustainable development for senior learners becomes a very important issue because it promotes a variety of learning activities for senior learners. Many universities have started to offer education for senior learners in Taiwan. Positive experiences for senior learners in senior universities can be fostered by ensuring the sustainable development of senior education. In this paper, a study on sustainable development for senior learners is proposed. This study aims to explore potential tools or approaches in evaluating the sustainable development for senior learners for decision making. In this study, two approaches are applied to analyze the sustainable development for senior learners. The first is a statistical analysis, and the second is the random forest model. The methodology of statistical analysis focuses on three aspects such as social assistance, inspiration, and the learning fulfillment for senior learners in senior universities. The random forest model is used to generate decision rules to support decision making. The random forest in this study obtained 22 decision rules. The results suggest that the items in the questionnaire and the decision rules from random forest could provide useful information that allows decision-makers to analyze the sustainable development of senior learners. Full article

In the context of the Internet for education, informatized teaching has become the most basic and critical ability of teachers. The application of advanced information technology in education means that the improvement in teaching ability requires instructors to better utilize teaching and learning opportunities. Project-based learning is an inquiry-based learning method that embodies learning by doing. With respect to the training of informatization teaching for pre-service teachers, we choose three aspects: information-based instructional design, information-based teaching resource integration, and information-based teaching evaluation, respectively, from PowerPoint (PPT) skills, multimedia courseware production, and micro lectures. This study explores three experimental projects and undertakes detailed empirical growth research on the cultivation of pre-service teachers. We were able to enhance the informatization teaching design ability of pre-service teachers with the training of PPT skills. In this experiment, we found that integration of information-based teaching resources can be improved by the integration of multimedia courseware production. Information teaching evaluation can be improved through micro lecture production. The mechanism provides a more feasible and practical strategy for the training of pre-service teachers in their informatization teaching ability. Full article

The sustainable development of science and environmental education is a core mechanism in the world education system. The implementation of the goal of establishing science and environmental education comprehensively in higher education, especially in vocational education, poses a challenge. Basic vocational education is a category of the education system, as well as sustainable development, which involves the technical and vocational education (TVE) system (20–30 general/compulsory/elective credits required). Awareness of the sustainable development in science and environment is getting more and more emphasized by educators. For students’ learning to use, it was recommended that universities use education for sustainable development (ESD) in TVE programs. This study proposes clarifying whether anticipating the needs of TVE university students is more conducive for them. Also, for the global understanding about innovative education, the “awareness of the sustainable development in science and environment” was involved in our experimental items. The learning satisfaction derived from students from the collaborative teaching of the industry experts in the TVE system is another point of focus. Students who take the course attend six weekly three-hour periods in class. An e-learning system is utilized so that learning resources created by industry experts can be provided. The deployment facilitates the evaluation of basic vocational education because teaching is not only performed in a traditional class but also prompted via a valuable e-learning system. The results showed that “Level of respect during the collaborative teaching of industry experts” (mean = 3.93; S.D. = 0.751) was rated by students as satisfactory and “Overall efficiency of teaching materials” (mean = 3.47) was rated as the lowest of the items. “Awareness of the sustainable development in science and environment” (mean = 3.86; S.D. = 0.752) was rated by students as highly satisfactory. To verify the result, an analysis of the improvement of learning satisfaction is discussed. Practical implications and future work are also discussed. Full article

Culturally sustainable environmental education is a crucial issue that is inseparable from our society and environment; and closely linked to our life. Taiwan’s cultural environment and family activities are characterized by religious beliefs and temple architectures. Incorporating digital technology into learning about the cultural environment of Taiwan can be an effective way to achieve sustainability. To have a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s culture and aesthetics, this study uses AR (augmented reality) technology to bring interactive experiences to the temple, so that the public can interactively experience arts in the temple. Through the AR navigation system, people can ascertain cultural connotations and understand the power of Taiwan’s beliefs. This study will take the Wumiao (martial temple) in Yanshui District, Tainan, Taiwan, as the research field to examine the learning experiences and performance with an AR navigation system. The empirical method is used to collect data of users’ behaviors and feelings; the statistics approach is also used to testify to the AR usability that is if with AR technology people can have a better understanding and learning performance on the culture aspect. Research finding proves one can have a better learning experience with AR tech with a positive result. According to the correlation coefficient analysis, only perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use are moderately correlated, the other differences are highly correlated. It is thus clear that AR navigation systems should be applied for having better folk beliefs, cultural etiquette learning experiences, and learning performance, more, for not merely having faith, but also loyalty as well. Full article

The emergence of networking has been viewed as a critical educational innovation. To highlight some innovations in educational networking (EN) research, this paper provides a bibliometric overview of international EN research from 2000 to 2018. Based on a keyword search, a total of 1005 journal articles with 13,803 citations were obtained. Through careful bibliometric analyses, three main results were concluded. (1) The growth of EN articles and authors was up by 1.5 times from the first decade (2000–2009) to the current one (2010–2018). (2) The most influential journals (over 300 citations) were identified. The research scope covers education technology, higher education, education policy, and even AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) education. (3) Based on some popular bibliometric indicators, the changes of research trends can be seen from the comparison of the main streams, which are identified from the most influential articles. Classification of the main research streams was presented, providing a typological understanding of the EN literature. In the first decade of research, the two articles which ranked first in terms of overall citations and average citations are Horvat et al. (2003) (232 times) and Coburn and Russell (2008) (17.6 times), respectively. In the last decade, the article by Roblyer et al. (2010) received both the highest number of citations (407) and average citations (45.2). Finally, the main ideas of highly-cited articles were categorized into three research streams. While the EN research of the earlier decade focused on interpersonal relationships, that of the recent decade emphasized on some innovative networking approaches, such as social media for learning, and network-based methodologies. Further discussions are provided. Full article

The sustainability approach commits to conserving natural resources and biodiversity. In ports, many efforts that encourage improvement in sustainability exist, such as sustainable ports, eco-ports, or green ports. However, whether the current planning approaches for sustainable ports, eco-ports, and green ports can effectively achieve sustainability remains a question. This study aims to discuss this issue through a literature review. The main findings include (1) the current sustainable port planning following the ambitions of sustainable development and aiming to fulfill this generation’s needs; (2) the eco-port planning approaches emphasizing environmental protection; (3) the planning approaches for green ports that have emerged within environmental management and give attention to the ecological issues; (4) all of the three approaches prioritizing environmental issues. We argue for the integration of eco-centric views for sustainability in port planning from a maritime supply chain perspective, and based on this, the concept of the green port is proposed. This study provides broad and mindful information regarding port sustainability education and can help foster innovation in order to face the challenges in sustainability. Full article

The goal of education for sustainable development is to develop future citizens who can make informed decision and take responsible action to solve the problem. The concept of action competence proposed by Jensen and Schnack in 1997, which emerges as a critical thought from traditional environmental education, gradually attracts the attention with the maturing on the idea of sustainability. This research aims to systematically analyse the peer-reviewed studies published between 1997 and 2017 that embraced the concept of action competence as the instructional approach. After coding 170 articles from two quality databases, some patterns emerge from the year of publication in the resulting 34 empirical studies. Findings on the research design, pathway of intervention, instructional setting, and learning outcome increase our understanding of action competence applied in the authentic context. There is a sharp increase on the inter-disciplinary topic of sustainable development. It reflects the influence of the intergovernmental agreement and the resilience of action competence from environmental education to education for sustainable development. Reviewed studies indicate that action-oriented and transformative pedagogy cultivate students to be active participants, empower their capability of deliberating the causes and effects, and construct their visions for finding strategies toward the problems. Full article