The Effect of Technology-Integrated Curriculum Dimensions on Student Engagement among Higher Education Students in Shandong, China

Quality higher education plays a vital role in sustainable development by equipping graduates with knowledge, competencies, and skills required for economic and societal development. This study examined the relationship between instructional strategies and the employability skills of undergraduate students in the School of Art and Industrial Design at Kyambogo University, Uganda. Specifically, it investigated the relationships between cooperative teaching, collaborative teaching, inquiry/discovery learning, independent study, experiential (authentic) learning, project-based learning, and students’ employability skills. The study adopted a quantitative approach using a correlational research design. Data were collected from 378 third-year undergraduate students using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Pearson’s product-moment correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the direction and statistical associations between instructional strategies and employability skills. Findings showed that cooperative teaching, inquiry/discovery learning, and experiential teaching had positive statistically significant associations with employability skills, whereas collaborative teaching had a negative statistical association. Independent study and project-based teaching had no statistically significant unique associations with employability skills. Inquiry/discovery teaching demonstrated the strongest statistical association with employability skills among the strategies examined. The study concluded that instructional strategies had different statistical associations with employability skills and that learner-centred approaches are most beneficial when they actively engage students in cooperative, inquiry-oriented, and authentic learning experiences aligned with intended graduate outcomes. The study recommended strengthening cooperative, inquiry, and experiential teaching through structured group tasks, inquiry-based activities, and authentic practical experiences. It further recommended improving the design and implementation of collaborative, independent, and project-based learning to enhance their contribution to graduate employability skills.

Assessment in Arabic language learning as a foreign language (Arabic as a Foreign Language) is currently undergoing a significant paradigm shift. This transformation is influenced by the development of digital technology, the utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum in Indonesia, which emphasizes flexibility, differentiation, and learning personalization. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) aimed at identifying, examining, and synthesizing developments, innovations, methodological approaches, and various challenges in the assessment of the four Arabic language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing, during the period from 2020 to early 2026. The review employed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) protocol to identify and analyze relevant literature. The findings indicate a shift from conventional evaluation systems based on discrete tests toward the implementation of Technology-Enhanced Assessment (TEA) and more authentic forms of assessment. The literature synthesis reveals several key findings. First, diagnostic assessment, encompassing both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects, plays an important role in designing differentiated learning within the framework of the Merdeka Curriculum. Second, the development of assessment instruments for Arabic language maharah is increasingly oriented toward measuring higher-order thinking skills (Higher Order Thinking Skills/HOTS). Third, the utilization of Generative AI, including ChatGPT, as well as various gamification-based learning platforms, has introduced new approaches to providing faster, more adaptive, and interactive feedback. Based on the synthesis, the effectiveness of modern assessment is not determined solely by the sophistication of the technology employed, but also by the alignment between technology and pedagogical objectives, the transparency of assessment procedures, and its ability to comprehensively represent learners' communicative competence while maintaining the principles of academic integrity.

Over the last decade, there has been a visible surge of students participating in and leading different forms of activism. Following the cultural reckoning of 2020, the United States saw a rise in awareness and engagement in activism among young individuals. Continuing this trend, higher education institutions have seen an increase in on-campus demonstrations in recent years. Given the recent increase in activism, political engagement, and the globalization of social issues, this study examined how attitudes, beliefs, individual factors, and prior behaviors relate to undergraduate students’ willingness to engage in different forms of activism (i.e., conventional and high-risk). Across both forms of activism, institutional advocacy (i.e., the behavioral targeting of institutional racism) was the most consistent unique predictor of a student's willingness to engage in activism. Need for cognition and individual advocacy were significantly and positively related to conventional activism, whereas political orientation was negatively related to it. Social justice orientation was significantly and negatively related to high-risk activism.

Slovak Republic has accumulated significant experience in integrating digital technologies into the professional development of educators, and a systematic analysis of this experience could serve as a resource for modernising the Ukrainian system of postgraduate education. The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical analysis, systematisation and classification of digital technologies for professional development of educators in Slovakia and to justify a model for professional development of educators using digital technologies. General scientific methods such as analysis, classification and systematisation of the results of scientific publications, as well as content analysis of strategic and regulatory documents of the EU and the SR, were employed. The article highlights the results of national and international projects implemented at Comenius University in Bratislava, which are aimed at supporting the professional development of teachers in digital environment. Strategic and regulatory documents, project materials, methodological resources and practices developed within the framework of national and international initiatives have been analysed, with particular attention paid to the DiTEdu project and the digital professional development of educators. Based on the systematisation and comparative analysis of the identified practices, an original structural-functional model of professional development for educators using digital technologies has been developed, and a classification of the main types of digital tools used in the Slovak context has been proposed. The findings have made it possible to identify the key organisational, pedagogical and technological conditions for effective digital professional development, in particular personalised learning, blended formats, professional networking, learning using artificial intelligence, the development of digital competence and ongoing methodological support. Recommendations are proposed at the national, institutional and individual levels for Ukrainian postgraduate education regarding the implementation of the Slovak experience in the using of digital technologies in the professional development of educators.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI), such as ChatGPT, has brought significant changes to higher education, including Arabic language learning for non-native speakers (Arabic as a Foreign Language). Writing skills (Maharah al-Kitabah) are considered a relatively complex productive skill. Learners are required not only to master word formation (Sarf) and Arabic grammar (Nahwu), but also to organize ideas coherently and logically. This article employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach based on the PRISMA 2020 standards to map the use of ChatGPT in Arabic writing, examine the reliability of AI in Arabic grammar, and identify research gaps that remain underexplored. The review findings indicate that ChatGPT can serve as a useful writing partner (human-AI co-writer), particularly for generating ideas, enriching vocabulary, and correcting basic grammatical errors. However, AI still frequently produces errors or “hallucinations” when dealing with morphologically complex words, variations in Arabic dialects, and unvocalized texts. As a result, AI-generated writing may appear linguistically polished on the surface while containing grammatical inaccuracies. Furthermore, excessive reliance on AI may pose risks to academic integrity, while AI detection tools themselves often produce inaccurate results when identifying Arabic-language texts (false positives). This review also finds that existing research remains overly focused on English, tends to examine only the final writing outcomes without investigating students’ cognitive processes, and has paid limited attention to AI models specifically developed for the Arab region, such as ALLaM and Jais. Therefore, the approach to AI-assisted learning needs to shift from merely using AI toward purposeful and reflective utilization through frameworks such as the Spiral Learning Model and Genre-Based Pedagogy, so that AI functions as a scaffold without diminishing students’ autonomy and critical thinking.