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This paper first based on the theory of cooperative learning research. It analyses the characteristics and advantages of cooperative learning under the multimedia network environment. And then take China Three Gorges University and Taiwan I-Shou University English major students for example, using questionnaires and interviews to investigate the students' cooperative learning in the network environment. Survey results showed that cooperative learning teaching mode has been widely used in English classrooms across the Taiwan Strait. Students think highly of cooperative learning in the multimedia-aided, and it can have a positive effect on learning; but on cooperative learning ability and the specific learning process, students still have some problems. Nowadays, cooperative learning in the network environment has various ways, but there exist certain differences in the learning styles across the Strait. Taiwan students rely more on teachers' help and teachers' feedback, while students in mainland depend mainly on networking and panel discussion. On qualitative analysis of interview is a supplement to the questionnaire and further explore its deeper causes, which provide valuable evidence for the study and learning practice. Finally, according to the comparative analysis, the author puts forward some constructive suggestions.

The proposed interactive online group within the cloud computing technologies as a main contribution of this paper provides easy and simple access to the cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) system and delivers effective educational tools for students and teacher on after-class group writing assignment activities. Therefore, this study addresses the implementation of the most commonly used cloud applications, Google Docs, in a higher education course. The learning environment integrated Google Docs that students are using to develop and deploy writing assignments in between classes has been subjected to learning experience assessment. Using the questionnaire as an instrument to study participants (n = 28), the system has provided an effective learning environment in between classes for the students and the instructor to stay connected. Factors influencing students' learning experience based on cloud applications include frequency of interaction online and students' technology experience. Suggestions to cope with challenges regarding the use of them in higher education including the technical issues are also presented. Educators are therefore encouraged to embrace cloud computing technologies as they design the course curriculum in hoping to effectively enrich students' learning.

The purpose of this study is to explore the associations among learning motivation, engagement and outcomes, and the moderating role of various traits in the relationship between deep approaches to learning and outcomes. Based on data from 2,340 students in multiple universities in Taiwan, this study proposes two alternative models, tested by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings suggest that deep approaches to learning play a critical role in improving college students' cognitive and non-cognitive gains. The moderating effect in learning outcomes could be attributed to student and faculty traits, suggesting that in order to understand students' learning process, each trait should be considered individually. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed in this paper.

Oral reading fluency is an indicator of overall reading competence. Many studies have claimed that repeated reading can promote oral reading fluency. Currently, novel Web- or computer-based reading technologies offer interactive digital materials that promote English oral reading fluency using the repeated reading strategy; however, paper-based English materials in physical classrooms are still used to train students in oral reading fluency because most students are used to learning environments with paper, pen, and face-to-face interaction. With the growth of digital pen technologies, developing an interactive learning environment that combines printed textbooks and a digital pen to support English-language classroom learning has become feasible. Thus, this work presents a digital pen and paper interaction platform (DPPIP) composed of a student-learning tier, course management tier, and teacher tutoring tier, in which digital pen technologies are integrated with printed textbooks and Moodle course management system, to support the repeated reading strategy for promoting English-language oral reading fluency, learning motivation, and learning satisfaction. Meanwhile, this work also examined whether the proposed DPPIP provides different benefits in terms of the promotion of the oral reading fluency to students with field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles. Based on the non-equivalent control group design in the quasi-experimental research, this work recruited two junior high school classes from Taoyuan County, Taiwan, to participate in an instructional experiment. One class was randomly assigned to the experimental group, which used the DPPIP to perform the repeated reading strategy in order to enhance English-language oral reading fluency. By contrast, the other class was assigned to the control group, which adopted the traditional paired reading method to support the repeated reading strategy to improve English-language oral reading fluency. Analytical results show that applying the proposed DPPIP to support a regular English-language course in classrooms had significantly positive effects in promoting the English-language oral reading fluency, learning motivation, and learning satisfaction of junior high school students. Moreover, this DPPIP simultaneously helped the experimental group students with the field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles accelerate their oral reading fluency. Importantly, the oral reading fluency of the experimental group students is positively correlated with the frequency which the digital pen was used.

This research aimed to investigate the use of picture books by preschool teachers to instruct environmental concepts and their influence on resource saving by children. The study adopted qualitative research as a method to investigate 11 children aged 5-6 years in Taiwan. In addition, we used "the environmental protector" as a main theme, and designed three sub-themes, which included the Impact of Human Activities on the Environment, the Rubbish Problem and Recycling, and Environmental Protection and Resource Saving. We used eight young children's picture books that were related to environmental education to carry out eight weeks of teaching. The result of the research discovered that children's environmental concepts had increased greatly following the activities. The children learned about different types of recovery and the recycling of reusable resources and the importance of recycling; children also understood how to reduce rubbish, and how to use less water, electricity, and paper, plus other eco-friendly behaviour. Children saved resources through their own actions; for instance, children used less water when washing their hands and brushing teeth and brought their own hankies to school. Moreover, children also used less drawing paper and turned off lights and televisions without being reminded to save electricity. However, the reuse of plastic bags was not improved.

This paper investigates the use of e-books as learning tools in terms of learner satisfaction, usefulness, behavioral intention, and learning effectiveness. Based on the activity theory approach, this research develops a research model to understand learner attitudes toward e-books in two physical sizes: 10? and 7?. Results suggest that screen size could affect learners' perceived self-efficacy in using 10? and 7? e-books. Interactive learning environments, acceptable screen size, perceived self-regulation, and self-efficacy could positively influence perceived satisfaction with and usefulness of e-books as learning tools. Perceived satisfaction and usefulness are crucial factors in learner behavioral intention which, in turn, contributes to learning effectiveness. The paper also proposes a conceptual research model based on the activity theory approach.

In response to the international trend of educational decentralization in recent decades, many elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan had adopted sub-budgets of the "subordinate unit budgets" in the Local Education Development Fund for years so as to develop school-based budgeting. Furthermore, with the decline in birth rates and the need of enrollment, the establishment of specialist schools has been encouraged nationwide in Taiwan since 2007. These specialist schools took advantage of specific geographical and cultural features to develop their localized educational features so that their educational competitiveness and qualities could be enhanced. The major purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among school-based budgeting, innovative management, and school effectiveness in Taiwan's specialist schools. This paper adopts a questionnaire and employs structural equation modeling for the purpose of analysis. Innovation is a determining point whether schools can make progress or not. The results of the study show that innovative management conduces to direct enhancement of school effectiveness. Moreover, innovative management will be carried out more smoothly when school-based budgeting is performed positively. However, it was surprising to find that school-based budgeting cannot enhance the school effectiveness directly. Instead, it can promote the improvement of school effectiveness indirectly through innovative management.

Group awareness can affect student online learning while self-regulation also can substantially influence student online learning. Although some studies identify that these two variables may partially determine learning behavior, few empirical studies or thorough analyses elucidate the simultaneous impact of these two variables (group awareness and self-regulation) on online learning behavior. This paper compared one online collaboration environments with GA support with one without group awareness (NA) support and further investigated how these two variables, different system types (i.e., GA and NA) and different self-regulation levels (i.e., high and low), influence learning task (i.e., assessment) participation, and peer interaction (i.e., asking for help and willing to help) using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Analytical results first showed that both variables have significant interaction on assessment participation and requesting rate. GA can particularly stimulate students with high-level self-regulation to engage more learning task (assessment) participation and ask for help more, compared with students with low-level self-regulation. Second, both variables have no significant interaction on willingness to help. The GA class can enhance a student's willingness to help regardless of his/her self-regulation level.

This study investigates bilingualized dictionary use of Taiwanese university students. It aims to examine EFL learners' overall dictionary use behavior and their perspectives on book dictionary as well as the necessity of advance guidance in using dictionaries. Data was collected through questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS 15.0. Findings indicate that the subjects held positive perspectives towards the helpfulness of using bilingualized dictionaries in learning English whereas only roughly half of them formed the dictionary use habits out in the classroom. Frequency of looking up aspects of word information might be determined by classroom activities and assignments, in which both L1 and L2 information of head words were considered useful. This paper concludes by arguing that low proficiency students may need solid training in using L2 information in bilingualized dictionaries to expand their knowledge of English vocabulary. Implications and suggestions for classroom practice will also be made.

This paper describes a learning system, named My-Bookstore, where students buy (make records of) books (paper books) which they have read, and then sell (recommend) the books they like to others. This system is designed to encourage elementary students' classroom reading and book recommendation. The long-term influence of the My-Bookstore system on students' reading in terms of word usage and perception among 204 first-grade students who had used the system for three semesters was investigated. The results indicated that (a) the students borrowed a large number of books and were willing to recommend their favorite books in My-Bookstore; (b) most of the students felt that the overall use experience of the My-Bookstore was attractive, and the goal of the game was relevant to their reading. They also had confidence in recommending books and felt satisfaction when other students accepted their recommendations.

The paper investigates the impact of learning effects on the study of life-like multimedia materials (LMMs) which are produced by the LMM tool. Teachers can readily utilize the tool to make the LMMs for their instructions in traditional classrooms. When students study the LMMs out of class, they can realistically recall teacher's teaching situations and/or the instructional procedures in traditional classrooms. The materials powerfully possess high media richness because of their crucial features such as displaying teacher's face, hearing teacher's sound, and presenting teaching materials in the largest region of the screen. A quasi-experiment was also involved to examine the impact of learning effects while using the LMM tool in class and studying the LMMs out of class. In this study, an exploratory method was conducted with 87 students. They were divided into the experimental and the control groups. The results reflect that the experimental group achieved a significant increase in the perceptional effectiveness of the multimedia-based cognitive process with the LMMs in comparison to the control group. Finally, the paper offers discussions for the impact on learning effects when students studied the LMMs out of class.

This paper describes a structured attempt to integrate flip teaching into language classrooms using a WebQuest active learning strategy. The purpose of this study is to examine the possible impacts of flipping the classroom on English language learners' academic performance, learning attitudes, and participation levels. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, three different formats for flip teaching were developed in this study. The results indicate that the structured and semi-structured flip lessons were more effective instructional designs than the non-flip lessons. With a varying extent, both the structured and semi-structured flip lessons helped the students attain better learning outcomes, develop better attitudes toward their learning experiences, and devote more effort in the learning process. Given the positive results, this paper concludes with a call for more research into this promising pedagogy to contribute to its knowledge base across disciplines.

Research has been valued and given priority over teaching for a long time in academia. In recent decades, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education has pursued objective and quantitative research criteria and has encouraged higher education institutions to ask teachers to publish papers in SSCI or SCI journals as part of the criteria for promotion and evaluation. This policy strengthens the concept that research has priority over teaching because teachers must devote more time to research than to teaching in order to be promoted and evaluated. The purpose of this study is to explore the influences that cause teachers to value research over teaching. To achieve this purpose, document analysis, the analysis of Taiwan Higher Education database and interviews were adapted as methods. First of all, our researchers collected and analyzed the documents for promotion and evaluation of twelve different universities whose areas of specialty included general studies, education, medicine, vocational studies, and the arts. Then, the study used and analyzed the empirical data of teachers' working hours every week for different tasks from the Taiwan Higher Education Database which investigated the working conditions of teachers in higher education in 2004. Additionally, twenty professors who have different areas of study and work in different types of universities were interviewed to collect teachers' opinions of the task priority of research, teaching, and service duties. The results showed that academia in Taiwan exhibits the phenomenon that research is valued over teaching. The reasons are due to the requirements of the reward system. The reward system emphasizes research over teaching and service. Teachers' research achievements are judged based on publishing articles in different types of journals and the amount of research funding they can obtain. The results also showed that every week teachers spend the most time on teaching, then on research, and finally on service. However, teachers emphasize research as the most important task, then teaching, and finally service. Although the majority of teachers think research is the most important duty, there is still twenty percent of teachers who think it is the least important. Although teaching has been thought of as the second most important duty after research, it is the task that the most teachers give as the first priority as far as time spent and none of the interviewees thought it is the least important. Universities and teachers all try to use their professionalism as capital to gain financial support from the government. This situation forces teachers to try to put more time and energy into research, but they still need to maintain teaching and service work quality. Some teachers focus more time and energy on research and ignore the needs of students. Working time endlessly increases even for teachers who out value on both teaching and research. Some suggestions based on the findings have been proposed for Taiwanese higher institutions.

With continued development of related technologies, Web 2.0 has become an important site of learning innovation. In particular, social networking sites such as Facebook, which have become popular, have the potential to function as an educational tool enabling peer feedback, interaction, and learning in a social context. Preparing appropriate environments for learners with different needs is essential to learning in general and online learning in particular. Yet, in order to create such learning environments, educators must understand differences in students' learning styles. Although some research focuses on the effects of individual differences such as age and gender on the use of social networking sites, experimental research related to students' learning styles is still limited. This study used Kolb's Learning Style Model to investigate differences in student learning outcomes and satisfaction using mobile Facebook for learning, according to learning style. Results showed that participants with "Assimilating" and "Diverging" learning styles performed better than those with "Accomodating" and "Converging" learning styles did and had higher self-efficacy, observational modelling and habit strength toward learning in mobile Facebook. The paper also makes suggestions for integrating mobile Facebook into class and recommendations for future research.

The aim of this study was to investigate preschool teachers' use of picture books for teaching environmental concepts and the conservation of resources. Using an action research approach, twelve children aged 5-6 years old were recruited for this eight-week study. Eight picture books with an environmental education theme were selected for use in these classes. The results revealed that the pupils' knowledge of environmental concepts was higher in the post-test than the pre-test. With regard to the conservation of resources, the children learned to bring their own cotton hankies, use less water when washing their hands and brushing their teeth, and reduce the amount of drawing papers on which they doodled. The children were also persuaded to continue saving energy at home, and demonstrated that they understood that turning off the TV and lights were practical steps they could take to achieve this. Nevertheless, they did not appear to grasp the idea of reusing plastic bags.

Reading strategies are beneficial to learners' reading comprehension. The strategies can be divided into different categories, such as global reading strategies, problem solving strategies and support strategies. Most previous studies investigated the importance of reading strategies in the paper-based reading. However, relatively few studies examined online reading strategies and their effects on reading comprehension. Online reading materials are important sources for EFL students since an increasing number of learners read texts and learn through the Internet. EFL learners in Taiwan, unfortunately, are reported to be overwhelmed with English online materials on the Internet. Therefore, this study intends to examine EFL learners' perceived use of online reading strategies and whether their perceived strategy uses are different in terms of proficiency levels and gender. There are 94 Taiwanese EFL learners (43% of them are males, n = 40 and 57 % of them are females, n = 54), who received the Online Survey of Reading Strategies (OSORS) adapted from Anderson (2003) in the study. The result showed that EFL online readers tend to use more global strategies, such as using contextual clues and observing tables, figures, and pictures in the on-line text to increase understanding. High level learners used more global and problem solving strategies than low level learners, which corresponds to previous studies. Additionally, there is no difference of strategy use between males and females. Several pedagogical implications, such as the need to raise students' awareness of strategy use, are addressed in the present study.

This study illustrates a teaching model that utilizes a Blackboard (Bb) course management system (CMS) to support English writing instruction. It was implemented in a blended English research paper (RP) writing course, with specific learning resources and activities offered inside and outside the Bb CMS. A quasi-experimental study in which the results of two academic years were analysed is presented. The results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in their final drafts. The research methodology included the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to evaluate the course. The results of the survey showed that most students displayed positive learning outcomes, indicating that the instruction model could contribute to the effectiveness of learning English writing. Major factors influencing the improvement of writing performance included technical support, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude; however, the influence of writing activities on the Bb was limited in comparison to the other variables.

This paper explored the relationships among career development, personality trait, and organizational commitment and examines whether career development mediates the relationship between personality trait and organizational commitment. The sample was 275 sport communication technology talents in Taiwan. The instrument included the Personality Trait Scale, Career Development Scale, and Organizational Commitment Scale. The relationship between personality trait and organizational commitment was mediated by career development. According the findings, some suggestions and recommendations for administration agency, and further researchers were made.

The primary purpose of this study was to uncover determines of students' intention to adopt online teaching evaluation at the end of semester by proposing a research model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The second purpose was to investigate the efficacy of the theory for predicting such intention. Besides users' attitude and perceived behavior control, the study further decomposed the subjective norms into four different categories in order to identify the best practices and strategies that a school can use to promote the intention of participation. Valid questionnaires were collected from university students in Taiwan to test the raised research hypotheses in the paper. The results provide support for using the theory to predict students' intention of usage and many practical implications are thus suggested.

Aims: Psychological insulin resistance is a common barrier to initiation and persistence with insulin therapy that affects approximately 42.7% of people living with type II diabetes mellitus, which may negatively impact self‐management. This study aimed to assess patients' levels of psychological insulin resistance and to identify factors associated with self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy. Methods: We adopted a cross‐sectional design. Subjects from the metabolism and endocrinology outpatient departments of a regional teaching hospital in central Taiwan were recruited by consecutive sampling. Patients were assessed for psychological insulin resistance and self‐management using the barriers to insulin treatment questionnaire and the partners in health scale. Results: A total of 222 patients with type II diabetes mellitus were recruited. Patients had an average psychological insulin resistance score of 3.14 (maximum of 8). Positive self‐management was associated with insulin therapy injection by patient, fewer expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, no diabetes‐related complications, less fear of injection and self‐testing, no hypoglycaemia within the previous year, and younger age. Conclusion: Insulin therapy injection by patient and no diabetes‐related complications were the most common factors associated with overall self‐management and with each domain of self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy. Insulin therapy education should be offered to improve patients' beliefs about insulin therapy and enhance patients' ability to perform self‐management. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Psychological insulin resistance is a common psychological barrier to initiation and persistence with insulin therapy.Psychological insulin resistance causes poor glycaemic control and diabetes‐related complications.Psychological insulin resistance may negatively impact self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. What is the contribution of this paper? Positive self‐management was associated with insulin therapy injection by patient, fewer expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, no diabetes‐related complications, less fear of injection and self‐testing, no hypoglycaemia within the previous year, and younger age.Insulin therapy injection by patient and no diabetes‐related complications were the most common factors associated with overall self‐management and with each domain of self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy.Patients with poor self‐management had statistically significantly higher levels of overall psychological insulin resistance, fear of injections and self‐testing, expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, and stigmatization by insulin injections, compared to those with appropriate self‐management. What are the implications of this paper? Knowing in advance the factors associated with diabetes self‐management will allow healthcare professionals prevent psychological insulin resistance in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy.Healthcare professionals can design and provide patient‐centred diabetes education based on education level to enhance self‐management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating Internet-related applications into preschool instructional activities can enable children to develop multiple aspects of their learning abilities as well as their cognitive, affective, and relevant skills. Because of the trends toward an Internet society and parents' expectations from preschools, many teachers have considered parents' perceptions about the usefulness of the Internet in daily life and in workplace settings. This study examined the impacts of parents' attitudes toward Internet use and their expectations of preschools to use Internet-related applications. We administered a questionnaire in Taiwan comprising five factors: usefulness, work value, preschool expectations, teacher competence, and learning performance. The survey data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that parents perceived the Internet as an innovative and useful tool that enhances their lives and improves their work performance. Their perceptions toward the usefulness and work value of Internet-related practices positively influenced their attitudes toward preschool expectations, and acknowledge the pedagogical advantages associated with integrating Internet-related applications into teaching for developing young children's learning abilities. The implications of the findings are also discussed in this paper.

Educational agents (including animal companions) are a kind of interface agent, which is a significant component in educational systems, and has great impacts on student learning. However, with the development of emerging technologies (e.g., tangible technology), few studies have yet investigated how tangible technology can be used to combine with animal companions to foster student learning and interaction. In addition, different representation styles of animal companions on student learning are also seldom investigated. To address these research questions, this paper develops a My-Dragon system which blends tangible and animal companions for maximizing young student interaction. The system is further evaluated by an empirical study by eighteen pupils compared with a static and an animated version. The results reveal that such a tangible system is of benefit to the student learning perception in terms of attention, emotion, and interaction aspects. Some implications on findings and future system development are also discussed.

This paper describes a narrative-based design framework that organizes three narrative elements (i.e., storyline, character, and quest) to support a contextual game-based environment for language learning. Using this design framework, a PlanetAdventure system was developed to examine its feasibility and its effects on student language learning. A case study with 61 college students who used the game-based system to learn English vocabulary words was conducted. The findings revealed that their learning achievement was enhanced after using the system. The majority of the students favored the game-based learning experience. Based on these data and behavior logs, the students can be sorted into three clusters with different learning patterns. The findings and implications of developing contextual game-based learning environments are also discussed.

The application of online learning and educational technologies in higher education has changed teaching methods, the channels of delivering learning materials, and modes of communication between teachers and students. This study is aimed to improve learning effects and investigate, via quasi-experiments, the effects of web-mediated socially-shared regulation of learning (SSRL) and experience-based learning (ExBL) on improving students' learning results. The experimental design in this study was a 2 (SSRL vs. non-SSRL) × 2 (ExBL vs. non-ExBL) factorial pretest/post-test design. Four classes in a one-semester course titled "Applied Information Technology: Data Processing" at university level were chosen for this study. Based on the analysis carried out in this study, students who received the treatments of web-mediated SSRL and/or ExBL did not have significantly better computing skills in using Excel. The reasons for these insignificances and implications thereof are discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, students in the SSRL and non-ExBL class had significant increases in scores for their learning motivation at the end of semester compared with the beginning.

This paper proposes a novel interactive ubiquitous learning system (IULS) for authentically teaching a cultural heritage course and imparting relevant concepts to students. Experimental results demonstrated that learning performance was significantly improved after students used the IULS. This study also demonstrated that students using the IULS achieved superior results to those achieved using conventional teaching models. No gender bias affecting the performance of students in the experimental group was observed because each student consistently performed to a higher standard on the learning tasks compared with students in the control group, particularly in learning comprehension-related content. The IULS was more effective in enhancing the overall learning performance of students exhibiting different cognitive styles in liberal arts education courses. Furthermore, the results of a survey on Instructional Materials Motivation Survey revealed that Relevance was the most highly rated motivational factor among students who used the IULS, suggesting that students were motivated to use the IULS. Thus, we believe that a liberal arts education supplemented with the IULS yields a significant learning advantage for students by improving overall learning performance and motivation.

Researchers have recognized the potential of educational computer games in improving students' learning engagement and outcomes; however, facilitating effective learning behaviors during the gaming process remains an important and challenging issue. In this paper, a collaborative knowledge construction strategy was incorporated into an educational computer game to facilitate students' knowledge sharing and organizing during the game-based learning process. An experiment was conducted to examine the students' learning behavioral patterns, group efficacy, and problem-solving awareness. The experimental results revealed that the proposed approach improved the students' learning achievements and awareness of problem-solving. Moreover, from the analysis of the students' behavior sequences, it was found that, with the collaborative knowledge construction mechanism, the students revealed significantly more aggressive learning behavioral patterns, such as "comparing and observing the learning targets" and "seeking clues and answers" during the gaming process. This implies that integrating the collaborative knowledge construction mechanism into the gaming process has great potential for helping students effectively learn and organize knowledge as well as fostering their awareness of applying the acquired knowledge to dealing with problems.

Aims: To assess the effectiveness of an unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Background: A few recent studies have shown that unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can improve the clinical outcome of patients with COPD. More studies are needed to prove its benefits. Design: This study used a quasi‐experimental design. Methods: Seventy‐two admitted COPD patients were assigned to experimental group or control group through purposeful sampling. Data were collected from March 2016 to November 2017 in the Thoracic Intensive Care Unit of a Medical Center in Taiwan. The Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, the COPD Self‐Efficacy Scale and the Clinical COPD Questionnaire were measured before education and at the first, second and third months after discharge. Results: The Medical Research Council dyspnea scale and COPD Self‐Efficacy Scale results in the experimental group were significantly improved compared with the control group in the third month after discharge. The Clinical COPD Questionnaire score continued to improve in both groups in the third month after discharge, and there was no difference between the two groups. Conclusion: A short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐ management program had significant benefits for patients with COPD. The long‐term effects need to be confirmed. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? The literature emphasizes the importance of alternative supervision of home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation rather than center‐based pulmonary rehabilitation for patients who find this inconvenient to access.Few studies have shown that unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can improve the clinical outcome of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). What this paper adds? This study demonstrates that a short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program can improve dyspnea during physical activity, self‐care efficacy in certain activities and quality of life after discharge in patients with COPD. The implications of this paper: The findings of this study can be used as the basis for providing a short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program for patients with COPD after discharge.We recommend that patients with COPD undergo unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management for 3 months after discharge, especially if regular hospital visits for this are not convenient.The effect of longer‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can be further studied in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of mobile game-based learning has encouraged many related studies, which has enabled students to learn more and faster. To enhance the clinical path of cardiac catheterization learning, this paper has developed a mobile 3D-CCGBLS (3D Cardiac Catheterization Game-Based Learning System) with a learning assessment for cardiac catheterization, and which also evaluates the learning effectiveness, based on ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) theory. This study implemented a quasi-experimental design, using 102 students with the relevant medical background, divided into three groups. The learning achievements of this study show that the experimental group achieved higher scores than both control groups. The statistical analysis of the learning motivation and learning achievement shows ARCS-R (Relevance) as the most important factor, followed by of ARCS-C (Confidence). The results show that the learning content was relevant to the learner's level, and that it brought more confidence and increased the effectiveness of learning.

Game-based learning comprises of a set of concrete scenarios, which can be presented with various presentation modalities (e.g., text, text with graphic, and context). Such presentation modalities disseminate information in different ways. On the other hand, cognitive styles affect how people process information. Accordingly, the study presented in this paper investigates the influences of cognitive styles on students' performance within different levels of game-based scenarios. More specifically, this study examines how students with different cognitive styles (i.e., Holist/Serialist) react to three presentation modalities (i.e., text, text with graphic, and context) in game-based scenarios. The results of an empirical study with 96 students revealed that all students made improvement, regardless of any presentation modalities. However, Holists significantly performed better than Serialists in the context version. According to the results, further suggestions for system design are discussed.

This study examines 1630 tertiary students in regard to their entrepreneurial career intentions (ECIs) and their influencing factors. The findings may serve as academic reference for the development of entrepreneurship-related education. The results show that students' computer self-efficacy (CSE) has a significant direct effect on ECIs, and entrepreneurship cognition (EC) has a significant effect on ECIs via CSE. The pattern and empirical data of EC and CSE on ECI have a good fit. This paper provides insights from Taiwan's tertiary institutions about the ECIs of students and contributes to a better understanding of them. We describe the development of the influencing factors, discuss the implications and provide suggestions for entrepreneurship education development.

Teaching with a classroom feedback system can benefit both teaching and learning practices of interactivity. In this paper, we propose a dual-channel classroom feedback system integrated with a back-end e-Learning system. The system consists of learning agents running on the students' computers and a teaching agent running on the instructor's computer. The learning agent collects both instructional and social responses from the students and then sends them back to the instructor's computer through a two-channel mechanism. The instructional responses are obtained by recognizing the spoken keywords; while the social responses are obtained by analyzing the social signals provided by students' head movements. Later, the teaching agent displays the summarized responses on the teaching dashboard for the instructor to evaluate their teaching practices. Empirical experiment results show that the system has an acceptable performance and provides enhanced interactivity in both learning and teaching. Also, further analysis reveals that the dual-channel mechanism not only provides the basic functions of a classroom feedback system, the student's responses to the instructor's questions, but also promotes both students and instructors to be engaged and attentive in class. As the two-channel feedback mechanism can be embedded into an e-Learning system, the proposed system is an enhancement of a digital classroom environment. In short, with the help of the two-channel feedback mechanism, interactivity on teaching practices and learning activities can be greatly improved. Students can then acquire a much better learning experience and satisfaction.

This study investigated the online flow frequency among college students in regard to different internet activities, and analyzed the effect of flow frequency on internet addiction. This study surveyed 525 undergraduate internet users in Taiwan by using convenience sampling to question participants. In this paper, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to examine the differences in usage activity regarding the level of flow frequency. To test the effects of the flow frequency factor on perceived internet addiction, multiple regression analysis was performed for the constructs of internet addiction from different internet usage activities. The analytical results indicate that online gaming by undergraduates in Taiwan reporting higher level of flow frequency than their primary internet activities and their flow frequency of online gaming will predict internet addiction.

Numerous studies have been published heralding the benefits of physical education in school education. Sport and physical activities form the major content in learning and the arrangement serves as the major source of development in students. This paper identifies "quality" as an internationally concerned issue and within the concept, the perceptual framework in learning is then placed with focus. To conduct this study, a sample of N = 799 ("11 Asian cities") physical education professionals working in different levels were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey with 37 items designed to forge the conceptualization of quality learning in physical education. Results from statistical analysis showed 24 items grouped in 3 subfactors being retained after EFA, of 37 items that were framed through content analysis to assess the quality physical education learning among the PE professionals. The retained three factors from the EFA were further assessed with robust confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The 3-factor model demonstrated a good fit with the data (CMIN/DF = 7.367, NFI = 0.888, CFI = 0.901, PCFI = 0.748, RMSEA = 0.089). In this sample, the QPEL demonstrated an acceptable three-factor structure, internal consistency and inter-factor correlation. These items were appropriate to provide the necessary understanding of the diversified practice in the learning of quality physical education.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore structural relationships among the variables of brand association, student trust, commitment, and satisfaction in the higher education sector. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was used to collect data from a sample of 500 students who studied at universities in Taiwan in 2016. These data were gathered using a convenience sampling method and analyzed using a structural equation model. A total of 371 questionnaires (74.2 percent) were considered valid. Due to testing and identifying the hypothesis and structure among those variables, structural equation modeling was used to determine the best model among brand association, trust, commitment, and satisfaction. Findings: For the conceptual framework, the author found that this structural equation model complies with the empirical data. The structural equation model shows that brand association, student trust, and commitment were significantly related to student satisfaction. Brand association has a direct influence on student trust, commitment, and satisfaction in higher education institutions. Student trust and commitment also had a direct influence on student satisfaction, and they are all mediating variables. Originality/value: The findings of the current study add to the existing literature by contributing to a better perception of university management and providing acceptable strategies to improve the higher education industry.

Research on problem-based learning (PBL) has tended to focus on the graduate level of education, paying less attention to the primary school level and to what is involved for students during the implementation of PBL. In this paper we take a step towards addressing this need for research by reporting findings from a descriptive, explanatory case study of a one-year PBL intervention in a fifth-grade (ages 10-11) mathematics classroom in Taiwan. We documented and analysed the students' actions to reveal details in their part in the intervention. We compared the students' performances on the five researcher-designed written tests, which were conducted at different points in time. Our findings cast light on the level of the students' participation in PBL. The comparison between the test results shows improvements in students' understanding of the concepts and supports the idea that PBL has positive effects on long-term knowledge retention.

The touch mouse is a new type of computer mouse that provides users with a new way of touch-based environment to interact with computers. For more than a decade, user experience (UX) has grown into a core concept of human-computer interaction (HCI), describing a user's perceptions and responses that result from the use of a product in a particular usage context. This paper presents an empirical study of UX on touch mice via the user experience questionnaire (UEQ) survey, the purpose of which is to uncover how target users perceive the selected touch mice after interacting with them. A total of 20 university students were recruited as target users to participate in the UX test to perform defined tasks with the 6 selected touch mice under the Windows 8 operating environment. The experimental results can help researchers understand how users perceive and value such a new type of computer mouse, thus ensuring positive UX and leading to more desirable touch mice.

Aim: Repeated occupational exposure and increased stress and fatigue levels contribute to a high risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection among frontline nurses. This study aimed to explore the relationships among teamwork, work environment and resources, work–life balance, stress perception and burnout among nurses working at a dedicated infectious disease control hospital. Methods: The participants were 389 nurses at a dedicated infectious disease control hospital in Taipei City, Taiwan. This study adopted survey design with a questionnaire using the Safety Attitude Questionnaire. Results: The work–life balance among nurses at the dedicated hospital significantly mediated the effects of teamwork and work environment and resources on burnout. In addition, stress perception had interaction effects on work–life balance and burnout. Conclusion: This study's results provide important recommendations for managing teamwork, work environment and resources, work–life balance, stress perception and burnout prevention in nurses to help them better prepare and cope with emergencies. Findings can serve as a reference for developing relevant hospital management policies. Summary statement: What is known about the topic? Organizational changes, information scarcity and shortages of personal protective equipment were the primary factors driving uncertainty when the pandemic began.Work environments can significantly affect burnout, job satisfaction and perceived stress among nurses.Teamwork is an important factor affecting nurse burnout. What this paper adds? Repeated occupational exposure and increased stress and fatigue levels contribute to a high risk of COVID‐19 infection among frontline nurses.Healthcare systems should emphasize the issues of teamwork, work environment and resources and work–life balance among nurses to help them prepare for and cope with emergencies.Nurse supervisors should constantly monitor for burnout among subordinates and eliminate their stressors. The implications of this paper: When teaching nursing management skills during an epidemic, it is essential to focus on strengthening the nursing supervisors' communication role, particularly during an outbreak.To reduce nurse burnout, key leadership and culture aspects in the work environment include prioritizing infection control measures, providing social support, encouraging strong multidisciplinary teamwork, ensuring adequate resources are available and receiving support from hospital superiors and the government. By addressing these factors, healthcare organizations can create a positive work environment that supports nurses' well‐being and promotes better patient outcomes.To manage nurses in the postpandemic era, healthcare organizations can implement routine training programs, new models of cross‐teamwork, emergency response plans, effective systematic monitoring and mental health intervention programs. These strategies can help promote collaboration, support nurses' mental health and ensure preparedness for future crises. Healthcare organizations can create a more effective healthcare system by adopting these measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many universities have opened courses to increase students' knowledge in the field of nanotechnology. These have been shown to increase students' knowledge of nanotechnology, but beyond this, advanced and applied nanotechnology courses should also focus on learning motivation and scientific enquiry abilities to equip students to develop the deeper knowledge and skills required for scientific application. This paper addresses this challenge. Due to the abstract nature of many nanotechnology concepts and in order to move from abstract knowledge to hands-on learning, an inquiry-based learning approach was adopted. Among the diverse inquiry-based learning models proposed, the 5E mobile inquiry-based approach, including the steps of engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation, was considered most effective to enhance learners' understanding of nanotechnology. To evaluate the effectiveness of this proposed approach, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted with a total of 32 university students. Two sections of Nanotechnology Engineering, a general education course, were randomly assigned as either the comparison group (18 students; receiving lecture-based instruction, and using mobile devices) or the experimental group (14 students; receiving 5E inquiry learning, and using mobile devices). Mobile devices were adopted to enhance learners' experience, provide immediate access to information online, and provide enhanced hands-on learning. The empirical results demonstrate that the experimental condition, 5E mobile inquiry learning, had a positive impact on participants' learning motivation and scientific inquiry abilities.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the impact of salespeople's subjective person-job fit on the salespeople's intention to quit. Moreover, this study further investigates how the subjective person -job fit could be influenced by the cooperative learning and support in the organization. Person-job fit is an important issue for salespeople's career development. However, the antecedents of salespeople's person-job fit seem to have been under-investigated in the management literature. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey is used as a research instrument, and Taiwan's full-time life insurance salespeople took part in the investigation. The hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares and structural equation modeling tool (SmartPLS 2.0). Findings: The results confirmed that poor subjective person-job fit would significantly increase the salespeople's intention to quit. Yet, the results also suggested that cooperative learning and organizational support are the mechanisms that reduce this problem. Originality/value: This study provided the initial discussions about the effect of cooperative learning and organizational support on the salespeople's subjective person-job fit.

The documentation of the benefits of blog use in foreign language education has proliferated since 2006. In the field of blogging to write, most studies focus on learners' linguistic performance and perceptions. To provide an analysis of learners' writing performance by using blogs, in addition to the often-researched areas, this study examines two further dimensions--learners' metalinguistic awareness and affective performance. This paper reports findings in these two areas. Twenty-six randomly selected, non-English majors participated in a conventional English writing class, forming the control group, while 18 students took part in a blog-integrated English experimental writing class. The results of comparison showed no significant differences between the two classes in regards to metalinguistic strategy use but there were significant differences in "metalinguistic awareness." It is conjectured that more exposure to the target language materials, the interaction and collaboration among students, the aid of the reverse-chronological order of blogs, and the integration of blogs in the writing class significantly enhanced students' metalinguistic awareness. In affective performance, there were no significant differences between the two classes in writing motivation and writing anxiety. Nevertheless, it was the control class that significantly surpassed the experimental class in writing self-efficacy.