十三卷特刊(2025) Special Issue  

Preface

General education curricula are increasingly tasked with cultivating lifelong learning skills that integrate with disciplinary content. Colleges and universities around the world also now recognize that graduates must be equipped not only with academic knowledge but with competencies such as self-directed learning, critical and analytical thinking, creativity, intercultural awareness, and adaptive problem-solving. These expectations demand a purposeful rethinking of how general education is designed, delivered, and assessed.

The four articles featured in this special issue represent an emerging body of scholarship that meets this challenge head-on. They explore the evolving landscape of general education from varied yet complementary research perspectives—focusing on pedagogical innovation, contextualized learning, professional development, and technological design—each contributing to a more responsive and future-ready educational paradigm.

In the opening article, “Influence of EMI and service-learning pedagogy on cognitive load and holistic education of undergraduates in e-learning curriculums,” Hou and colleagues investigate how integrating English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) and service-learning into an information literacy course fosters students’ global engagement, communication skills, and humanistic values. The findings suggest that when general education incorporates authentic, socially grounded tasks such as storytelling and game design, students develop the kind of self-directed learning and moral reasoning essential to civic and global competence.

The second article, “The relationship between the perception of practice experiences abroad and within the country and students’ career maturity” by Rasimi and Ramadani, offers a comparative exploration of student development in varied field experiences. The study reveals how both international and local practice contexts shape students’ reflection, adaptability, and professional confidence. These insights directly support the broader goal of general education to produce graduates who are analytically aware and capable of navigating complex, multicultural environments with purpose and autonomy.

In “User interface design considerations of competency-based instructional portal for professional development,” Kalota, Hung, and Zhou present a case study evaluating the design of a digital learning portal supporting Illinois college educators in implementing Transitional Math curricula to promote college readiness in high school seniors. By incorporating competency-based instruction, micro-credentials, and digital badges, the portal enables personalized professional learning while modeling pedagogical strategies that promote critical thinking, flexible pacing, and goal-setting—skills that reflect and reinforce the lifelong learning competencies we seek to instill in students.

The issue concludes with “Predicting student engagement in online learning from socio-demographic characteristics, online learning self-efficacy, and cultural attributes" by LaGrone. This study uses large-scale data to examine how factors like self-efficacy and cultural orientation are related to learners’ ability to engage in online settings. The research highlights how general education must account for student diversity not only through demographic considerations but also by recognizing and accommodating differences in learning identities and access. Inclusive, culturally responsive design becomes a necessary condition for developing analytical and self-regulatory skills across all student groups.

Collectively, these four contributions point to a future in which general education is no longer bound by content delivery alone but is reimagined as a transformative, interdisciplinary space for fostering reflection, creativity, and lifelong adaptability. These studies demonstrate that general education’s success will not rest in specific topics or content areas, but in its ability to create environments—curricular, pedagogical, and cultural—that allow both educators and students to think deeply, act ethically, and grow continuously.

This issue also reflects the value of international academic collaboration. Several of these works have emerged in the context of a Fulbright-Hays Group Research Project Abroad, fostering dialogue between U.S. and Taiwanese educators around civic literacy, STEM instruction, and cultural engagement. We are honored to include scholarship that speaks across borders and educational systems.

We extend our gratitude to the authors whose rigorous and creative work is presented in this issue, to the peer reviewers who provided insightful and constructive feedback, and to the readers who carry this work forward into their own classrooms, institutions, and communities. We hope this volume offers new perspectives, practical strategies, and inspiration for future scholarship in general education.

Thomas J. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor, Educational Technology, Research & Assessment
Northern Illinois University

Wei-Chen Hung, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Educational Technology, Research & Assessment
Northern Illinois University

1. Influence of EMI and service-learning pedagogy on cognitive load and holistic education of undergraduates in e-learning curriculums.

2. The relationship between the perception of practice experiences abroad and within the country and students' career maturity.

3. User interface design considerations of competency-based instructional portal for  professional development.

4. Predicting student engagement in online learning from socio-demographic characteristics, online learning self-efficacy, and cultural attributes.