Seng, Yvonne Bee Gek

Character, citizenship, and values are areas of education that have received increasing attention in the international community. This is also the case for Singapore (Lee, 2012) with an education system guided by the student-centric, values-driven philosophy (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2011, 2012). In his speech at the 2011 MOE Work Plan Seminar, Singapore’s Minister for Education at that time, Mr. Heng Swee Keat, highlighted, “We need to develop our children holistically, in all aspects – moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic or what is termed in Chinese as 德智体群美 (de zhi ti qun mei)” (MOE, 2011, para. 16) and that, “… between academic achievement and values, it must not be “either/or”. We should strive to achieve both” (MOE, 2011, para. 53).
An important out-of-classroom experience recognised to play an important role in holistic development, character building, and 21st century skills and competencies is co-curricular activities (CCAs; Chong-Mok, 2010; MOE, 2010, 2011; Schwarz & Stolow, 2006). In Singapore, CCAs are an integral part of school curriculum and proposed to offer an authentic platform for (a) development of moral values, (b) acquisition and practice of soft skills, (c) social integration of children from differing backgrounds and ethnicities, (d) provision of safe learning environment, (e) opportunities for character and leadership development, and (f) lifelong pursuit of interests and greater outward expression (Chong-Mok, 2010; MOE, 2011). While participation in CCAs during primary education is not compulsory, CCAs are emphasized in secondary schools and categorized into Core (or Main) and Merit (or Secondary/Optional) CCAs. Core CCAs are mandatory for all students, whereas Merit CCAs are offered as an option for students with an interest in a particular CCA area. In both primary and secondary levels, the range of CCAs offered is categorized into four major groups: Physical Sports, Uniformed Groups, Visual and Performing Arts, and Clubs and Societies. With the increased investment in CCAs in Singapore schools (MOE, 2011, 2012), there is a priority to examine the potential impacts of CCAs on the holistic development of Singaporean students. This study was a timely response to this call.

MOE and MCCY have been working on a National Outdoor Adventure Education (NOAE) Master Plan since 2014. The NOAE Master Plan intends for the entire cohort of secondary 3 students to experience a capstone 5-day expedition-based programme at Outward Bound Singapore (Ubin / Coney campuses). This programme aims to strengthen our youths’ self resilience and social cohesion, where students from different schools will be mixed together. Shared common experiences will be created through team-based challenges and expeditions around our island. There is currently a lack of valid and reliable instruments that allows educators to assess learners’ values and dispositions such as confidence, resilience, independence and inter-dependence during the expedition-based camping experiences. Thus, there is a need to develop and validate instruments to collect information on the different aspects of the secondary three students during such adventure-based camp experiences, as well as to inform future refinement for outdoor education for all students.

The contemporary discourse that sport contributes to the holistic development of adolescents remains fervidly deliberated. While there is increasing recognition that sport can potentially promote positive youth outcomes, researchers also contended that mere participation in youth sports does not necessarily translate to adaptive outcomes. Positive youth development (PYD) through sports does not occur automatically; attaining optimal positive outcomes through Physical Education and sports (PES) participation requires meticulous planning and deliberate implementation of well-designed programmes. Through careful planning and systematic efforts from the different stakeholders in the school and at home, this potential in PES could be capitalised to teach youth to embrace the best of the human character. Although this research area has gained traction in recent years, there is still a lack of studies on practitioners’ understanding of the application of strategies to teach values and life skills (VLS) and facilitate their transference to other contexts beyond PES in Asian contexts. To optimise the effectiveness of school-based sports programmes in positive youth development, there is a need to examine the educational initiatives to cater to the pedagogical needs of the Physical Education teachers and sports coaches (PETSC) in facilitating the development of VLS through PES and the transference to other contexts.

The three studies in this research culminate to address the current gaps in the literature and practices. Mixed methods were used in this research to harness the strengths of both the quantitative and qualitative approaches and increase generalizability. A qualitative approach was used in Study 1 to examine how outstanding PETSC teach VLS and facilitate the transference of the acquired VLS beyond PES contexts. The synthesis of the findings from Study 1 and the relevant literature guided the design of a robust 10-week T2VLSPES intervention programme for Study 2. The effectiveness was assessed with quantitative and qualitative data collected before and after the intervention. The longitudinal effect of the intervention programme was examined six months after the completion of the intervention programme. Study 3 further investigated the mechanism that brings about the changes in VLS outcomes.

The findings from Studies 2 and 3 reported significant and positive effects both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analyses by repeated measure MANCOVA and MANCOVA reported significant differences across all outcome variables between the intervention and control groups. The qualitative analyses concurred with the quantitative findings on the effectiveness of the intervention. The findings of the path analyses indicate that the change in the perceived autonomy-supportive climate significantly predicted the change in the motivation and engagement mediators and VLS outcomes. The change in the motivation and engagement mediators, particularly dedication, strongly mediated the change in the VLS outcomes. The qualitative findings concurred with the results from the quantitative analyses. The effective use of the prescribed strategies fostered an autonomy-supportive climate that strongly predicted the change in motivation and engagement and successively mediated the VLS outcomes.

The present research was conceptualised to address the literature gaps and provide policymakers, schools, and practitioners with a comprehensive T2VLSPES intervention programme to develop VLS through PES. T2VLSPES is one of the few compendious PYD intervention programmes designed to support the PES community to promote PYD in Singapore schools. The limitation and future directions were also presented to contextualise this research and recommend future directions in this area of research.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained attention because they offer the prospect of mass-scale, globally accessible, high-quality education. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge of interest in MOOC as learning across the globe had to be moved online. Yet, designing online courses intended for a wide audience is challenging. To facilitate the design of good online courses, it is imperative to have in place a set of principles that is able to guide the creation and presentation of course content. Extant in the literature are design principles for the use of technologies in education. However, these principles have not been extensively applied to actual MOOC development and design. Given the challenges involved in designing MOOCs, establishing a set of design principles is critical for improving learner outcomes. This chapter will examine the rise of MOOCs as well as their importance and benefits. It will describe the different types of MOOCs. Various educational psychology theories and pedagogical principles that can be applied to the development of MOOCs will be discussed. The chapter will illustrate some of these pedagogical principles and technical aspects by means of a case study of a MOOC that was designed for parents and educators.