There is an ongoing debate that first-year assessment does not prepare students to deal successfully with future writing tasks. This paper suggests that one of the reasons might be a narrow focus on assessment strategies and interventions that meet immediate learning goals to help reduce assessment shock. It is suggested that designing scaffolded…

In light of the increasingly complex international and regional educational landscape, enhancing student academic achievement has emerged as a critical, shared objective for nations, institutions, educators, and students alike. This volume presents an in-depth review of the current conditions, challenges, and dilemmas confronting students in their…

Within an international context, the role Online Learning Environments (OLEs) play in offering students opportunities to engage with other students to co-create positive experiences is complex. This paper examines the engagement facilitated by an OLE between students at a UK university and its Chinese partner. Findings show that OLEs can…

Japan has become the most popular study destination among non-English-speaking countries in Asia. Within the broader literature on students' personal motivation and parental influence, this study examines how Chinese students construct motivational factors when Japan is chosen as their study destination. In this study, 17 participants at a…

Creativity is a critical skill for problem-solving and innovation, yet its development is influenced by cultural and educational contexts. This study examines pathways to student creativity using data from 15-year-old students in Australia and Thailand who participated in PISA 2022. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to…

Student engagement and well-being are critical for academic success and overall development. This Spotlight explores strategies to create supportive and engaging learning environments that foster student motivation and well-being. From re-emphasizing the importance of play in kindergarten to leveraging the power of outdoor learning, these articles…

Sociocultural theory (SCT) is a powerful basis for exploring and guiding L2 (second/foreign language) learner development. For the most part, however, the focus of classroom SCT-L2 has been on single activities, for example, teacher mediation of learners' writing process or peer scaffolding. In this paper, we expand on these studies, building on…

Classroom teaching has many challenges, and these are compounded when you're also preparing students to navigate the world in a way that is healthy and forward-looking. But what if you could take a few minutes every day to not only help your students develop social-emotional skills, but also take stock, recenter, and reset yourself? This engaging…

Societal expectations are rising for higher education to help learners develop into engaged, responsible and resilient citizens of the world. Against this backdrop, the 2024 EUA Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group 'Learning and teaching to empower students' explored a crucial prerequisite for cultivating these qualities in graduates: an…