Authentic learning

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.

Teaching Factory (TEFA) provides vocational students with authentic, industry-oriented learning experiences. However, its evaluation often focuses on technical performance and final learning outcomes, leaving employability skills insufficiently assessed. Previous studies have largely examined TEFA implementation and digital assessment separately, highlighting the need for an integrated evaluation model. This study aimed to develop and validate a Digital Teaching Factory Evaluation Model that integrates authentic learning, digital assessment, and employability skills evaluation. A research and development approach was employed using the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). Data were collected through literature reviews, observations, interviews, questionnaires, document analysis, expert validation, and pretest-posttest assessments. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, while qualitative data were examined through coding, categorization, and triangulation. The results showed that the model achieved 88.0% expert validation and 90.0% practicality, indicating that it was highly valid and very practical. Students’ average employability skills scores increased from 67.8 to 84.4, with a reported relative gain of 51.7%. Work readiness showed the highest relative gain (58.1%), followed by collaboration (53.3%), problem-solving (51.4%), communication (50.0%), and adaptability (45.5%). These findings suggest that the model offers a practical framework for assessing employability skills within authentic TEFA activities. It can help vocational teachers document student performance, provide timely feedback, and align assessment with workplace expectations. Further research involving larger samples and stronger experimental designs is needed to examine its effectiveness across different vocational education contexts.

This study aimed to develop and examine the validity, practicality, and preliminary effectiveness of the Outcome-Based Authentic Learning Model (OBALM) for strengthening the professional competence of prospective vocational educators. This Research and Development (R&D) study employed the ADDIE model and involved 54 third-semester students of the Vocational Makeup Education Study Program at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Padangpanjang. Data were collected through expert validation, implementation observations, student responses, and a professional performance rubric, and were analyzed using Aiken’s V, percentage scores, N-gain, and inferential statistics. OBALM comprises six stages: Authentic Problem Orientation, Problem Analysis, Strategy Design, Implementation, Feedback, and Reflection. Expert validation yielded an Aiken’s V of 0.89, indicating high content validity, while the overall practicality score was 85.0%. Students’ mean professional competence score increased from 62.18 to 82.94, with an N-gain of 0.55. The pretest–posttest difference was statistically significant, t(53) = 13.44, p < .001, with a very large effect size (Cohen’s dz = 1.83). Improvements were observed across the seven targeted professional competence dimensions. These findings provide initial empirical support for OBALM as a structured learning approach that integrates outcome-based learning, authentic problems, practical performance, feedback, and reflection in vocational higher education. Keywords: outcome-based education, authentic learning, professional competence, vocational education, instructional model.

As inclusive education expands, PreK–12 classrooms increasingly include learners with diverse strengths, needs, and learning profiles. Teacher preparation programs are expected to prepare educators to support this diversity in inclusive settings. Preservice educators also bring varied backgrounds, experiences, and learning needs to coursework, requiring teacher educators to design learning environments that are responsive to this variability while preparing special education candidates to support diverse learners in PreK–12 classrooms. However, instructional approaches in teacher preparation do not always reflect these principles, and preservice educators may learn about inclusive instructional frameworks without experiencing how they are enacted in practice. This article introduces the Plan–Model–Embed framework, which integrates universal design for learning and differentiated instruction within teacher preparation coursework. The framework supports teacher educators in planning for learner variability, modeling instructional decision-making, and embedding opportunities for reflection and application across coursework. Drawing on course-based examples, the framework is illustrated through approaches to differentiating content, process, and product to support preservice educators with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and learning needs. These practices position preservice educators to both experience inclusive instructional approaches and examine their application within authentic learning contexts.

با گسترش آموزش فراگیر، کلاس‌های پیش‌دبستانی تا دوازدهم به طور فزاینده‌ای شامل یادگیرندگانی با توانمندی‌ها، نیازها و پروفایل‌های یادگیری متنوع می‌شوند. انتظار می‌رود برنامه‌های تربیت معلم، آموزگاران را برای حمایت از این تنوع در محیط‌های فراگیر آماده کنند. دانشجومعلمان نیز با پیشینه‌ها، تجربیات و نیازهای یادگیری متفاوت وارد دوره‌های آموزشی می‌شوند و این امر مستلزم آن است که مدرسان تربیت معلم محیط‌های یادگیری را به گونه‌ای طراحی کنند که به این گوناگونی پاسخ دهد و در عین حال داوطلبان آموزش ویژه را برای حمایت از یادگیرندگان متنوع در کلاس‌های پیش‌دبستانی تا دوازدهم آماده سازد. با این حال، رویکردهای آموزشی در تربیت معلم همواره بازتاب‌دهنده این اصول نیستند و دانشجومعلمان ممکن است درباره چارچوب‌های آموزشی فراگیر بیاموزند بدون آنکه تجربه‌ای از اجرای عملی آن‌ها داشته باشند. این مقاله چارچوب Plan–Model–Embed را معرفی می‌کند که طراحی جهانی برای یادگیری و آموزش تفکیکی را در دوره‌های تربیت معلم ادغام می‌کند. این چارچوب به مدرسان تربیت معلم کمک می‌کند تا برای گوناگونی یادگیرندگان برنامه‌ریزی کنند، تصمیم‌گیری‌های آموزشی را مدل‌سازی نمایند و فرصت‌هایی برای تأمل و کاربرد در سراسر دوره‌های آموزشی فراهم آورند. با بهره‌گیری از نمونه‌های مبتنی بر دوره، این چارچوب از طریق رویکردهایی برای تفکیک محتوا، فرایند و محصول به منظور حمایت از دانشجومعلمان با پیشینه‌ها، تجربیات و نیازهای یادگیری متنوع، تبیین می‌شود. این شیوه‌ها دانشجومعلمان را در موقعیتی قرار می‌دهد تا هم تجربه رویکردهای آموزشی فراگیر را داشته باشند و هم کاربرد آن‌ها را در زمینه‌های یادگیری اصیل مورد بررسی قرار دهند.