Project-based learning (PBL) has been widely applied to stimulate learning motivation, cultivate implementation capability, and improve learning effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to establish an assessment tool for the learning effectiveness of PBL in scientific and technological education. The methods include literature review, focus groups, and survey research. After the literature review, a draft of the scale was established, and the content validity of the scale was verified by 8 experts before being pre-tested. A total of 232 copies of valid official scales were issued and recovered. The research obtained produced subscales for “Flow experience perception”, “Self-efficacy”, “Product evaluation” and “Learning motivation”, which can be used to evaluate the learning effectiveness of the PBL in curricula of science and technology.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic capabilities required of information technology (IT) entrepreneurs for facing globalized challenges.Design/methodology/approach: Using a methodological approach that combines Q‐technique and questionnaire survey, the author collected 98 statements obtained from interviewing ten IT entrepreneurs. A total of 44 out of 98 critical statements were extracted as Q‐samples based on purposive sampling. Subsequently, 20 experts used Q‐technique in terms of the sample the 44 statements to generate a revised questionnaire to investigate 500 Taiwan IT‐based companies.Findings: According to the responses of the 281 valid copies of questionnaire received, market‐oriented sensitivity, the ability to absorb knowledge, social‐networking capability, and the integrative ability to communicate and negotiate are the dynamic capabilities required of IT entrepreneurs.Research limitations/implications: As for the restrictions, the expansive nature of the IT industry prevented the author from addressing any specific sector of the industry, and no minimum capitalisation of IT companies was set for the sample‐collecting process.Practical implications: The results can be used by IT entrepreneurs of SMEs in the self‐assessment of capabilities and the development of dynamic capabilities during their start‐up and growth phases. They can also be applied to nurturing successors and cultivating new entrepreneurs.Originality/value: This study clarifies the intrinsic dynamic capabilities of IT entrepreneurs, and identifies the required components of such capabilities and their priorities. The results can be used in managerial decision‐making and personnel training, both of which help entrepreneurs in building competitive advantages.

This study, based in Taiwan, aims to explore what psychological factors influence imagination stimulation of education major students, and what the relationship is between these factors and imagination. Both principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to determine the most appropriate structure of the developed scales. The results of our study confirmed that imagination consists of nine characteristics: productivity, sensibility, intuition, transformation, novelty, exploration, crystallisation, effectiveness and elaboration. The psychological factors of imagination stimulation are composed of six factors: intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, stress, inspiration through action, emotion and generative cognition. Our results also indicated that there was a significant relationship between imagination and the above psychological factors. The structural model of the present study shows that intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and emotion factors have significant and indirect effects on imagination stimulation; and that the generative cognition factor plays a mediating role between psychological factors and imagination.

How to diagnose the effectiveness of creativity-related curricula is a crucial concern in the pursuit of educational excellence. This paper introduces an importance-performance analysis (IPA)-embedded model for curriculum evaluation, using the example of an IT project implementation course to assess the creativity performance deduced from student learning outcomes. The results would serve as a basis for curriculum improvements. The evaluation model consists of such steps as determining the target curriculum, establishing indicators for the assessment of competence, developing an IPA questionnaire, conducting an IPA and improving feedback-based curriculum. The research methods adopted in this paper include literature review, expert advice and survey research. To verify the particular evaluation model, data was collected from project review conferences held by a Taiwan-based polytechnic institute. This paper demonstrates the merits of introducing a model that efficiently solves the vagueness problem when it comes to curriculum benefits and consequently improves the project implementation courses.

Purpose: – The capability of innovation is a major component of high-education students’ employability. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an instructional cycle specific to information technology-related disciplines that helps improve the students’ innovation capability and their employability. Design/methodology/approach: – Literature review, expert adviceand quasi-experiments are used. Instructional activities were developed out of the innovative instructional cycle proposed in this study, which was adjusted in line with the opinions of 30 experts. Teaching experiments were then conducted on 120 college students to understand how well that instructional cycle leads to improvements regarding each creativity indicator, and how feasible the cycle's employability enhancement approach is. Findings: – This study concluded eight indicators of employable creativity: the sensitivity to problems, organizing/integration ability, complexity, originality, flexibility, novelty, fluency and the desire to create. Research limitations/implications: – This study does not focus on how creative thoughts are used to form a mental model that makes students more flexible and adaptable in workplaces. Originality/value: – The contribution of this study lies in successfully verifying this “cycle” proposed has positive, beneficial effects on shaping a student's employability.