Search Results (452)

Background/Objectives: Older adults (65+) are the fastest growing age group in Canada, comprising 18.8% of the country’s population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, use of virtual care, including telehealth and tele-medicine, increased dramatically among older adults in Canada who often face higher health risks, mobility limitations, and many barriers to accessing healthcare. Despite the rapid expansion in virtual care, no systematic review has focused specifically on virtual care among older adults in Canada. This review aims to explore the factors influencing virtual care adoption and the experiences of older Canadians during the pandemic through a systematic review. Methods: Conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the review involved a comprehensive search of PubMed, Scopus, ESCBOHost, and Web of Science on 2 May 2025, yielding 281 unique citations. After screening and applying eligibility criteria, 15 studies employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods designs, with sample sizes ranging from 15 to 2,282,798, were included and appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Results: The review identified three domains of factors and the ways in which each factor shapes older adults’ virtual care experiences: (1) personal factors influencing virtual care use and demand (e.g., age, education, language, income, immigration status, community sizes), (2) resource factors impacting virtual care adoption (e.g., technology access, support), and (3) varying virtual care experiences among older adults (e.g., in assessment and communication efficacy, privacy, care quality, convenience, safety, and costs). Conclusions: This review highlights the complexities of virtual care engagement among older adults and underscores the need for inclusive, tailored strategies to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of virtual care delivery in both pandemic and post-pandemic contexts. Full article

In the digital age, online teacher professional development (TPD) has become a key strategy for enhancing instructional quality and ensuring equitable access to continuous learning. This research compares and analyzes Chinese online teacher professional development (TPD) with the United States over a period of ten years, from 2014 to 2024. This study uses a mixed-methods approach based on policy documents, structured surveys, and interviews to investigate how governance regimes influence TPD outcomes for fair education. Both countries experienced a massive expansion of web-based TPD access and engagement, with participation rates over 75% and effectiveness scores over 4.3 by 2024. China focused on fast scaling by way of centralized mandates and investments in infrastructure, while the United States emphasized gradual expansion through decentralized, locally appropriate models. Most indicators had converged by the end of the period, even with these different approaches. Yet, qualitative evidence reveals persisting gaps in functional access and contextual appropriateness, especially in rural settings. Equality frameworks with attention to teacher agency, policy implementation, and digital usability must supplant weak access metrics. A hybrid paradigm presents itself as an attractive means toward building equitable and productive digital TPD environments through the symbiotic integration of China’s successful scalability and the United States’ professional autonomy. Full article

This study used the Q methodology to examine how Korean science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students perceive the experience of reading classical texts and how such experiences relate to their overall well-being. We developed 31 statements for the Q-sorting process and collected data from 39 undergraduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The analysis identified three distinct perception types: type 1—exploratory type, which broadens thinking through diverse perspectives, type 2—experience type, which shares achievement and enjoyment through reading together, and type 3—insight type, which seeks universal values and truth. These findings suggest that, for science and engineering students, reading classics offers a multidimensional experience—encompassing intellectual expansion, relational engagement, and philosophical reflection—beyond conventional academic activities. In particular, the therapeutic dimension of reading, as discussed in bibliotherapy, has emerged as a mechanism that supports self-reflection and emotional resilience. Although each type approached classical reading differently, the participants demonstrated varied perceptions that reflect dimensions of well-being, such as emotional awareness, relational connection, and self-reflection, as expressed through the Q-sorting of pre-defined statements. Based on these results, this study concludes that classical reading can function as a significant mechanism for promoting well-being, offering new directions and practical implications for classical reading education. Full article

With deepening global higher education reforms, outcome-based education has emerged as the core paradigm for teaching model innovation. This study investigates the structural dependencies and teaching effectiveness of the Environmental Design curriculum at Hubei Engineering University in medium-sized cities, China, addressing challenges of enrollment decline and market contraction critical for urban sustainability. Using network analysis, we construct curriculum support and contribution networks and course temporal networks to assess structural dependencies and teaching effectiveness, revealing structural patterns and optimizing the OBE-based Environmental Design curriculum to enhance educational quality and student competencies. Analysis reveals computer basic courses as knowledge transmission hubs, creating a course network with a distinct core–periphery structure. Technical course reforms significantly outperform theoretical course reforms in improving student performance metrics, such as higher average scores, better grade distributions, and reduced performance gaps, while innovative practice courses show peripheral isolation patterns, indicating limited connectivity with core curriculum modules, which reduces their educational impact. These findings provide empirical insights for curriculum optimization, supporting urban sustainable development through enhanced professional talent cultivation equipped to address environmental challenges like sustainable design practices and resource-efficient urban planning. Network analysis applications introduce innovative frameworks for curriculum reform strategies. Future research expansion through larger sample validation will support urban sustainable development goals and enhance professional talent cultivation outcomes. Full article

Establishing an entrepreneurship education ecosystem is crucial for the continual nurturing of young entrepreneurs and, consequently, the enhancement of economic development. Beyond the expansion of entrepreneurship programs, the active involvement and support from relevant resources and external stakeholders are pivotal to constructing such ecosystems. However, obstacles arise from the lower intention of external stakeholders to participate, and constraints imposed by information technology, hindering the ecosystem’s development. The Metaverse, an innovative technology amalgamating three-dimensional virtual technologies with blockchain and artificial intelligence, emerges as a potential solution to overcome these barriers and construct an entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Despite this potential, there is a lack of analysis explaining how the Metaverse achieves this. To address this gap, a framework for entrepreneurship education ecosystems is established in this study, highlighting two barriers and elucidating how these barriers impede ecosystem construction. Furthermore, four efficiencies of the Metaverse are identified as key factors with positive effects in terms of surmounting barriers to ensure the successful establishment of an entrepreneurship education ecosystem: communication convenience, enhanced simulation environment, information filtering, and the creation of valuable information. Full article

Higher education and science (HES) is one of the key drivers of a country’s economic growth. In this study, we examine national projects and research capacity in HES in Kazakhstan from 2014 to 2024. We conducted a content review and scientometric analysis with network and temporal visualizations. Our data sources included policy documents, statistical reports, and the Scopus database. Our findings suggest that, while Kazakhstan aligns with global trends in the field (e.g., digitalization, scientometrics monitoring, and internationalization), these are achieved through a state-led, policy-driven approach shaped by its post-Soviet context. Additionally, we note a dual structure in Kazakhstan’s HES sector, characterized by a strong top-down direction and increasing institutional engagement. In terms of the thematic trends from the temporal analysis, the country experienced a three-staged evolution: foundational reforms and system modernization (2014–2017), capacity building and evaluation (2018–2021), and, most recently, strategic expansion, inclusivity, and globalization (2022–2024). Throughout the analyzed period, low R&D intensity, disciplinary imbalances, and structural barriers still undermine desired development efforts in HES. The analyzed case of Kazakhstan can serve as “lessons learned” for policymakers and researchers working in the science evaluation and scholarly communication area in similar emerging or transition countries. Full article

Individual willingness to pay (WTP) for green energy plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. Based on social cognitive theory (SCT), which emphasizes the dynamic interaction among individual cognition, behavior and the environment, this study develops a theoretical model to identify factors influencing green energy WTP. The study is based on 585 valid questionnaire responses from urban areas in China and uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to reveal the linear causal path. Meanwhile, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is utilized to identify the combined paths of multiple conditions leading to a high WTP, making up for the limitations of SEM in explaining complex mechanisms. The SEM analysis shows that social trust, social networks, and social norms have a significant positive impact on individual green energy WTP. And this influence is further transmitted through the mediating role of environmental self-efficacy and expectations of environmental outcomes. The FsQCA results identified three combined paths of social capital and environmental cognitive conditions, including the Network–Norm path, the Network–efficacy path and the Network–Outcome path, all of which can achieve a high level of green energy WTP. Among them, the social networks are a core condition in every path and a key element for enhancing the high green energy WTP. This study promotes the expansion of SCT, from emphasizing the linear role of individual cognition to focusing on the configuration interaction between social structure and psychological cognition, provides empirical evidence for formulating differentiated social intervention strategies and environmental education policies, and contributes to sustainable development and the green energy transition. Full article

This essay argues for the reciprocal benefits of joining the new theories of matter emerging out of critical posthumanism and the psychedelic drugs currently experiencing a so-called “renaissance” in global north societies. While the former’s twin emphasis on relationality and embodiment is perfectly suited to capture and ground the ontological, epistemological, and ethical implications of psychedelic experiences of interconnectedness and transformation, these substances are in turn powerful companions through which to enact a “posthuman phenomenology” that helps us with the urgent task to “access, amplify, and describe” our deep imbrication with our more-than-human environments. In other words, I argue that while the “new materialism” emerging out of posthumanism can help elaborate a psychedelic rationality, psychedelics can in turn operate as educators in materiality. It is from this materialist perspective that we can best make sense of psychedelics’ often touted potential for social transformation and the enduring suspicion that they are somehow at odds with the “ontoepistemological order” of modernity. From this point of view, I contend that a crucial critical move is to push against the common trope that this opposition is best expressed as a turn from the narrow scientific and “consumerist materialism” of modern Western societies to more expansive “spiritual” worldviews. Pushing against this science-–spirituality binary, which in fact reproduces modern “indivi/dualism” by confining psychedelic experience inside our heads, I argue instead that what is in fact needed to think through and actualize such potentials is an increased attention to our material transcorporeality. In a nutshell, if we want psychedelics to inform social change, we must be more, not less, materialist—albeit by redefining matter in a rather “weird”, non-reductive way and by redefining consciousness as embodied. By the end of the essay, attaching psychedelics to a new materialism will enable us to formulate a “material spirituality” that establishes psychedelics’ political value less in an idealistic or cognitive “politics of consciousness” and more in a “materialization of critique”. Full article

Indigenous students remain significantly underrepresented in medical education, contributing to persistent health inequities in their communities. Systemic barriers, including cultural isolation, inadequate resources, and biased curricula, hinder their success. But what if generative artificial intelligence (GAI) could be the game-changer? This scoping review explores the potential of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in making medical education more inclusive and supportive for Indigenous students through a comprehensive analysis of existing literature. From AI-powered engagement platforms to personalised learning systems and immersive simulations, GAI can be harnessed to bridge the gap. While GAI holds promise, challenges like biased datasets and limited access to technology must be addressed. To unlock GAI’s potential, we recommend faculty development, expansion of digital infrastructure, and Indigenous-led AI design. By carefully harnessing GAI, medical schools can take a crucial step towards creating a more diverse and equitable healthcare workforce, ultimately improving health outcomes for Indigenous communities. Full article

Amid the rapid expansion of the digital economy, online shopping has become increasingly common among rural households in China, yet the social interaction mechanisms driving such behavior remain insufficiently explored. This study examines the impact of peer effects on farmers’ online shopping behavior using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) covering the years 2014 to 2022. A Logit model is applied to estimate peer influence, and interaction terms are introduced to assess the moderating roles of land assets and social expenditures. The results reveal that peer behavior significantly increases the likelihood of rural households participating in online shopping, with the effect being particularly strong among low-income, less-educated households and those in western regions. Additionally, both land-rich households and those with higher social expenditures demonstrate greater responsiveness to peer influence. These findings highlight the importance of local social interaction in shaping rural online shopping behavior and provide theoretical and practical implications for digital inclusion and rural e-commerce strategies. Full article

With the rapid expansion of higher education in China, university teachers are facing increasing workloads and mounting performance pressures, posing significant threats to their occupational health. Consequently, how to enhance job performance while safeguarding faculty well-being has become a critical issue for higher education administrators. This study aims to explore the role of health-promoting leadership (HPL) in addressing the dual challenge of enhancing university teachers’ job performance while maintaining their occupational health. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study conceptualizes job burnout as both a core indicator of occupational health and a mediating variable, as well as proposing a dual-path model to examine the direct and indirect effects of HPL on teachers’ job performance. A survey of 556 university teachers in Jiangxi Province, China, was conducted; the data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 and AMOS version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The findings suggest that HPL is positively associated with job performance, both directly and indirectly through reduced burnout, supporting a dual-pathway mechanism consistent with COR theory. These results contribute to a better understanding of the potential role of HPL in balancing teacher well-being and performance in the context of Chinese higher education. This study also extends the cross-cultural application of COR theory and provides theoretical and practical insights into how HPL may help alleviate teacher burnout and support the development of health-promoting universities. Full article

The increasingly severe ecological and environmental problems in rural areas pose a serious threat to agricultural sustainability and human well-being. Protecting the ecological environment of cultivated land is fundamental to ensuring food security and achieving sustainable development goals. The effective integration of digital technology into farmers’ production and daily life is a key driver for transforming farming practices and advancing the ecological protection of cultivated land. This study draws on data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) to systematically examine the impact of farmers’ digital participation on the ecological protection of cultivated land. The main findings are as follows: (1) Digital participation significantly promotes ecological conservation of cultivated land, with each unit increase associated with a 7.8% reduction in fertilizer use intensity; (2) the results are robust across various empirical strategies, including instrumental variable estimation, the ERM approach, residual analysis, and alternative indicator specifications; (3) mechanism analysis indicates that digital participation reduces fertilizer use through three main channels: expansion of social networks (accounting for 7.10%), enhancement of subjective cognition (29.66%), and adoption of agricultural technologies (10.18%); and (4) heterogeneity analysis shows that the protective effects on cultivated land are more pronounced among households with off-farm employment experience, in villages where leaders have higher educational attainment, and in regions with more advanced digital environments. Based on these findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas, strengthening the training of agricultural practitioners, and developing localized digital environments tailored to local conditions. Full article

This paper presents an integrated digital training twin framework for adaptive aircraft maintenance education, combining real-time competence modeling, algorithmic orchestration, and cloud–edge deployment architectures. The proposed system dynamically evaluates learner skill gaps and assigns individualized training resources through a multi-objective optimization function that balances skill alignment, Bloom’s cognitive level, fidelity tier, and time efficiency. A modular orchestration engine incorporates reinforcement learning agents for policy refinement, federated learning for privacy-preserving skill analytics, and knowledge graph-based curriculum models for dependency management. Simulation results were conducted on the Pneumatic Systems training module. The system’s validation matrix provides full-cycle traceability of instructional decisions, supporting regulatory audit-readiness and institutional reporting. The digital training twin ecosystem offers a scalable, regulation-compliant, and data-driven solution for next-generation aviation maintenance training, with demonstrated operational efficiency, instructional precision, and extensibility for future expansion. Full article

The rapid expansion of virtual education has highlighted both its opportunities and limitations. Conventional virtual learning environments tend to lack flexibility, often applying standardized methods that do not account for individual learning differences. In contrast, Artificial Intelligence (AI) empowers the creation of customized educational experiences that address specific student needs. Such personalization is essential to mitigate educational inequalities, particularly in areas with limited infrastructure, scarce access to trained educators, and varying levels of digital literacy. This study explores the role of AI in advancing virtual education, with particular emphasis on supporting differentiated learning. It begins by selecting an appropriate pedagogical model to guide personalization strategies and proceeds to investigate the application of AI techniques across three key areas: the characterization of educational resources, the detection of learning styles, and the recommendation of tailored content. The primary contribution of this research is the development of a scalable framework that can be adapted to a variety of educational contexts, with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness and personalization of virtual learning environments through AI. Full article

Building Information Modeling (BIM) concepts are permeating the approach to the design of buildings and landscapes for the architectural, engineering, and construction sectors. Recent regulations require that even medium–small-size public works are managed through BIM-driven design. These circumstances have led to an increase in research on the topic. The expansion of the demand of BIM-skilled professionals urges higher education institutions to re-engineer their design programs. The aim of this paper is to evaluate this academic education transition in the Department of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Sassari, Italy. The method consists of a BIM academic education assessment framework based on ten criteria clustered into three macro-issues. The application of this framework to the assessment of three diploma final theses signals that some actions have been undertaken (i.e., introducing BIM basic concepts in rural building and landscape design, stimulating interest in students, clarifying the dimensions of BIM, and promoting the concept of 3D object design and management), but still, much work must be carried out. The work confirms typical barriers to the implementation of BIM concepts in the core curriculum and the need to mobilize the whole educational ecosystem to achieve satisfactory progress toward effective innovation in contemporary BIM-led design teaching. This work represents the first attempt to evaluate the progress of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, toward the integration of BIM concepts in its courses and to position this transition in an international panorama. Full article