Since the beginning of year 2020, when the whole world were undergoing the COVID-19 epidemic, all schools were lockout and classes were suspended until e-learning was rushed to be online for students to continue their learning, including the students in China. Although many studies had discussed the effectiveness of online learning from many different points of views, it still remained many uncertainties on the qualities of distance learning, especially when under the circumstances of rush and students’ involuntary learning. This manuscript attempted to determine whether students’ learning expectation reach the qualities of distance learning or not. In this manuscript, the snowball sampling method was adopted to have 356 students who studied at vocational-technical teachers’ college in China. Based on the expectation confirmation theory and its model, five hypotheses were proposed to construct a research model to determine relationship between student’s expectancy belief, course satisfaction, learning effectiveness, and continuous learning intention when facing the dilemma of classes suspended but learning continues, learning online during this ongoing pandemic. The results of this study showed that: (1) The expectancy value belief were positively related with theoretical course satisfaction, but negatively related with practical course satisfaction; (2) Theoretical course satisfaction and practical course satisfaction were positively related with learning effectiveness; and (3) Learning effectiveness was positively related with continuance to learn. In addition, three factors influencing the most on the qualities of theoretical course were environmental interference such as surrounding noises, poor internet connection, and poor absorption of learning contents, respectively, while three factors influencing the most on the qualities of practical course were inaccessible to practice, poor absorption of learning content, and lack of practical materials, respectively. Based on the results analyzed, this study suggested schools and teachers focused on how to improve the qualities and to reduce or prevent any disturbances to the class given to fulfill students’ class expectation first and then to ensure students’ learning effectiveness and intention to continuous learning.

C-STEAM education is aimed at preserving local culture, while also improving students’ interests and skills in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics-related fields. Other goals are to cultivate students to solve complex and practical problems through interdisciplinary thinking or integrate learning subjects with local senses in the context. In the present curriculum implemented in China, STEAM education mainly focuses on K-12 education and kindergarten education, and it is not widely implemented in colleges and universities, and most of the existing courses are carried out in general technical courses such as robotics and 3D printing, and less in design courses, since the concept of STEAM education has just begun to be advocated recently. Nevertheless, STEAM courses are still limited to special educational systems and disciplines, even though these courses have been vigorously promoted in China. Thus, this study designed an innovative higher vocational college curriculum based on the interdisciplinary principle of C-STEAM, using art design as a meta-theme framework and integrating Chinese local culture. A single-subject quasi-experimental design method was used. A total of 45 students majoring in art design in a higher vocational college were invited to participate in this study. The teaching experiment lasted for 9 weeks. Through teachers’ teaching and, demonstration and students’ independent learning of C-STEAM knowledge in the field of art and design, the concept of C-STEAM was introduced to the creation of packaging design. At the same time, a model composed of six hypotheses was constructed, using the creative self-efficacy scale, learning engagement scale, and creative performance assessment as measurement methods, to discuss students’ participation in the art and design courses of higher vocational colleges based on the concept of C-STEAM integration of creative self-efficacy, learning engagement, and creative performance over time. The results showed that students with higher creative self-efficacy had higher learning engagement (cognitive, affective, and behavioral), and students with higher learning engagement performed better in terms of creative performance. The results of this study can help researchers and educators to focus on C-STEAM courses and provide suggestions for the cultivation of art and design professionals in higher vocational colleges.

In an attempt to prevent and control the outbreak of COVID-19, education systems worldwide have comprehensively implemented online courses to fulfill the educational goal of the suspension of classes without suspending school. Numerous online courses have been developed under these circumstances. From the perspective of sustainable development goals, these online courses should be continued. However, as the epidemic gradually eases, it is questionable whether or not students will still willingly participate in these courses. The method of teaching is a critical issue for schools to decide. Compared with other related educational research, the research on the vocational education system is still limited. To expand the understanding of this topic, this study adopted snowball sampling and invited students from Chinese vocational colleges to fill in a questionnaire to help understand the perceptions that affect students’ expectations, attitudes, perceived effects, and satisfaction and the persistence of online learning. A total of 819 valid questionnaires were retrieved, with an effective questionnaire response rate of 81.9%. Meanwhile, under the framework of Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study extended the theoretical model and proposed a sustainable model. The results of this study showed the following: 1. Expectancy belief and online learning attitudes had a positive impact on perceived ease of use and usefulness; 2. Perceived ease of use had a negative impact on practical class satisfaction but a positive impact on theoretical class satisfaction and perceived usefulness; 3. Perceived usefulness had a negative impact on practical course satisfaction but a positive impact on theoretical course satisfaction; and 4. Both types of course satisfaction had a positive impact on continuous use intentions for learning.

Entrepreneurship education in Chinese colleges and universities began in the early 21st century. After more than 20 years of development, it has reached an unprecedented scale. At present, there are many studies on entrepreneurship education for undergraduates in Chinese colleges and universities, but only a few general studies on entrepreneurship education in higher vocational education. Particularly, the analysis of the status quo of students' entrepreneurship education and the research on the improvement of entrepreneurship education has not yet been widely discussed. This research adopted the semi-structured interview method and used purposive sampling to select 8 students with entrepreneurial willingness in lower grades and 8 in upper grades of higher vocational art and design in the Guangzhou area, as well as 8 students who have succeeded in entrepreneurship after graduation, giving a total of 24 students. The interview was designed based on the concept of Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (ET&A) entrepreneurship education. The interview outline was derived from the three aspects of learning, action, and creation. After the interviews were conducted, coding and qualitative analysis were performed to identify the knowledge and skills required by art students in higher vocational colleges to establish a business, and the problems encountered by successful students in entrepreneurship that might be encountered in the future. Based on the conclusions, the method and content of entrepreneurship education in schools could be improved. In addition, the research results showed that to fulfill the aim of entrepreneurship, art and design students in higher vocational colleges need to learn knowledge and skills such as entrepreneurial courses, professional knowledge, and entrepreneurial skills (competition, training, simulation, practice, etc.). Meanwhile, students who had succeeded in entrepreneurship believed that it was necessary to improve the entrepreneurship education curriculum system, pay attention to entrepreneurship practice teaching, and strengthen the linkage between home, school, and enterprise to promote entrepreneurship learning, thereby enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship ability.

The world has gradually entered the post-pandemic era. Although the pandemic has been slowing down, it still has a strong impact on the education scene. Thus, how to provide students with an effective and flexible learning style is currently an important educational issue. This study focused on the implementation of effective teaching to improve the learning effects based on these special circumstances. To ensure a realistic teaching situation, an experiment of blended learning was conducted in a university in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China for a short-term study, based on the consideration of pandemic supervision and control. In this experiment, a single-group quasi-experimental design method, using the extended O-PIRTATD/S model, was adopted in a research-method course designed for students majoring in preschool education. This research-method course was an 8-week flipped course, where the first 4 weeks were online teaching and the last 4 weeks were taught offline, thus combining as a blended learning course. A total of 115 active participants were recruited for this study. Based on the theoretical framework of the belief-action-outcome (BAO) model, five research hypotheses were proposed with the aim of constructing a learning behavior pattern based on cognitive beliefs which could be verified by structural equation modeling. The results of the study were concluded as follows: 1. Academic self-efficacy had a positive impact on learning engagement, but had a negative impact on cognitive load; 2. Cognitive load did not have a significant impact on learning engagement; 3. Learning engagement had a positive impact on the enhancement of academic self-confidence; and 4. Cognitive load had a negative impact on the enhancement of academic self-confidence.