Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l'Education et de la Communication

In recent years, changes in business, new technology, and greater competitiveness and dynamism have all resulted in a need for new skills. This study focuses on soft skills in accounting education, exploring the viewpoints of both graduates and employers. Our main question is to better understand if there is a right match between graduates’ perceptions and companies’ expectations of the skills that are needed. 251 Italian graduates (Department of Management) and 74 Italian joint-stock companies completed a self-report questionnaire. Graduates attributed a higher level of importance to the following macro-areas of skills: task orientation, motivation, self-awareness, valorisation, and interpersonal relationships. Graduates, compared to companies, underestimated the importance of other soft skills and one specific technical skill, and overestimated other technical skills. Graduates’ views are partially in accordance with employers’ views; accounting education still needs to progress and the engagement of academics is fundamental to enhance the skills required by employers.

Flipped classes are well-known for reversing the typical in-class lecture and out-of-class homework structure by instructing students to learn by themselves from on-line learning materials and inviting them to ask questions based on their individual difficulties in class. Many attempts at integrating this teaching method into English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms have proven to be beneficial to students’ learning achievement and motivation. However, there is little research on how to organize interactive, engaging and effective in-class activities for an EFL flipped classroom. In this study, a student response system (SRS) is proposed to support teachers in organizing in-class activities in a flipped class. To investigate the effectiveness of this approach, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an EFL classroom in an engineering school. The experimental group used the SRS to do in-class activities while the control group followed the conventional method. The results showed that the use of the SRS increased students’ learning motivation and self-efficacy in learning English grammar and improved their participation and engagement in the in-class activities of the flipped learning process. Furthermore, the questionnaire results showed that students accepted the SRS as an instructional method in an EFL flipped class. However, the use of the SRS was not effective in improving students’ grammar learning achievement.

Objective: To assess whether lack of trust in the government and scientists reinforces social and racial inequalities in vaccination practices. Design: A follow-up of the EpiCov random population-based cohort survey. Setting: In July 2021, in France. Participants: Eighty-thousand nine hundred and seventy-one participants aged 18 years and more. Main Outcome Measures: Adjusted odds ratios of COVID-19 vaccination status (received at least one dose/ intends to get vaccinated/ does not know whether to get vaccinated/refuses vaccination) were assessed using multinomial regressions to test associations with social and trust factors and to study how these two factors interacted with each other. Results: In all, 72.2% were vaccinated at the time of the survey. The population of unvaccinated people was younger, less educated, had lower incomes, and more often belonged to racially minoritized groups, as compared to vaccinated people. Lack of trust in the government and scientists to curb the spread of the epidemic were the factors most associated with refusing to be vaccinated: OR = 8.86 (7.13 to 11.00) for the government and OR = 9.07 (7.71 to 10.07) for scientists, compared to vaccinated people. Lack of trust was more prevalent among the poorest which consequently reinforced social inequalities in vaccination. The poorest 10% who did not trust the government reached an OR of 16.2 (11.9 to 22.0) for refusing to be vaccinated compared to the richest 10% who did. Conclusion: There is a need to develop depoliticised outreach programmes targeted at the most socially disadvantaged groups, and to design vaccination strategies conceived with people from different social and racial backgrounds to enable them to make fully informed choices.

Grounded in SDT, several studies have highlighted the role of teachers' motivating and demotivating styles for students' motivation, learning, and physical activity in physical education (PE). However, most of these studies focused on a restricted number of motivating strategies (e.g., offering choice) or dimensions (e.g., autonomy support). Recently, researchers have developed the Situations-in-School (i.e., SIS-Education) questionnaire, which allows one to gain a more integrative and fine-grained insight into teachers' engagement in autonomy-support, structure, control, and chaos through a circular structure (i.e., a circumplex). Although teaching in PE resembles teaching in academic courses in many ways, some of the items of the original situation-based questionnaire (e.g., regarding homework) are irrelevant to the PE context. In the present study, we therefore sought to develop a modified, PE-friendly version of this earlier validated SIS-questionnaire-the SIS-PE. Findings in a sample of Belgian (N = 136) and French (N = 259) PE teachers, examined together and as independent samples, showed that the variation in PE teachers' motivating styles in this adapted version is also best captured by a circumplex structure, with four overarching styles and eight subareas differing in their level of need support and directiveness. The SIS-PE possesses excellent convergent and concurrent validity. With the adaptations being successful, great opportunities for future research on PE teachers (de-)motivating styles are created.

Thanks to the combination of face‑to‑face and online learning which involve the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), blended learning has become a popular approach to support learning in higher education. The main purpose of this study is to identify the teaching and instructional design approaches adopted by lecturers within blended learning environments, and to analyse their effects on students’ self‑directed learning. The sample involves 18 lecturers and their undergraduate students (n= 294) undertaking a blended course in one French university. This research utilised a mixed method approach for data collection, including questionnaires and observations. Firstly, lecturers were invited to declare their teaching approaches and the configuration of their blended learning environments by completing two online questionnaires. Secondly, both face‑to‑face and online observations were conducted with the lecturers to identify the specificity of their instructional design activities. A pre‑post questionnaire was also used to measure students’ self‑directed learning level. Data collection took place over a period of 6 months during the academic year 2017‑2018. The results show that lecturers who adopt student‑centred teaching approaches are not necessarily designing their blended learning courses as a student‑centred learning environment. Also, the results reveal that students' self‑directed learning is significantly developed only in three out of seven student‑centred blended learning courses. Additionally, the results show that lecturers of the students who improved their self‑directed level provided online peer review and online forum discussion activities. The findings indicate that further research is needed both to validate the direct relationship between these kinds of pedagogical activities and the self‑directed learning, and to determine how blended learning environments can better support collaboration and interaction.

Doctoral supervision is one of the primary factors affecting doctoral degree completion and attrition rates. Basing their work on the concept of cognitive apprenticeship, the authors investigated the role that doctoral supervisors should adopt in supporting their students, in light of feedback from the latter. A total of 533 doctoral students completed an online survey, in which they were asked to describe their experience using a metaphor. Although the issue of support is rarely referred to directly in the resulting metaphors, the latter do seem to suggest that supervisors should adopt a coaching role.

International audience

La professionnalisation des métiers de l’enseignement, initiée dans les années 1990 avec la naissance des Instituts universitaires de formation des maîtres (IUFM), s’est pensée dans l’oubli des questions morales. On a longtemps épilogué pour savoir s’il fallait distinguer le didactique du pédagogique, débattu sans fin des modalités à mettre en œuvre pour rendre l’évaluation toujours plus objective, disserté sans relâche sur les profils cognitifs et pédagogiques des élèves... Mais on n’a guère parlé de morale. Cet ouvrage entend réparer cet oubli. Trois grandes conceptions normatives sont aujourd’hui en débat : le déontologisme (option qui qualifie a priori certains actes comme moraux ou immoraux), le conséquentialisme (point de vue qui apprécie la moralité d’un acte à l’aune de ses conséquences) et le vertuisme (qui, au-delà des actes, s’intéresse à l’étoffe morale de l’agent). Alors, faut-il être déontologiste, conséquentialiste ou vertuiste ? Ni conséquentialiste, ni vertuiste, la morale professorale est un déontologisme tempéré, une morale du devoir tempérée par le souci occasionnel des conséquences.

The purpose of this research is, on the one hand, to analyze the self-perception of future teachers of childhood education and primary education, and those studying for a master’s degree in secondary education teacher training on their Teacher Digital Competence (TDC), as well as the potential influence of gender, country and university institution of origin in their representations. On the other hand, it seeks to analyze the perception of future teachers on the TDC of their university trainers (formative perception). In accordance with these aims, a quantitative methodology of a non-experimental nature and of a prospective cross-sectional ex post facto approach has been used. A total of 428 students from two Spanish universities and from a French university agreed to participate in the research. The results report a positive and differential self-perception by gender of the TDC acquired and unfavorable perceptions of the digital competences of their teachers. These results confirm the need to improve the technological-manipulative and didactic training of university teachers, and to adapt the teaching competences to the demands of the Information and Communication Society (ICS) and to the guidelines of the Common Digital Competence Framework.

This paper examines the social, cultural and political factors that favor or disrupt deep geothermal energy projects in Alsace. The research was conducted in the Risk Governance package of the H2020 DESTRESS program, aimed at comparing public perceptions of deep geothermal energy in different contexts. The French case studies focus on two different contexts: one in Northern Alsace, where geothermal energy is fairly well accepted, and another in the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, where some projects have raised substantial controversy. Several conceptual tools are used to understand variations in the public perceptions of geothermal projects. First, the distinction between “locally anchored” projects and “unbound” or exogenous projects account for the way these projects take shape, based on dialog or facilitated by a favorable economic and national political context, ignoring local specificities. Second, the concepts of social identity and social worlds allow us to yield insights into the acceptability of a project on a more sociological and cultural level, instead of adopting a limited risk perception focus. By considering the social and cultural contexts, we can better explain the weight that opponents place in their discourses on induced risks, local politics, or environmental issues during a technoscientific controversy. This ultimately leads us to underline the limitations of the communication models for project governance that are chiefly aimed at reassuring the local population.

In 2020, for the first time in history, COVID-19 measures necessitated emergency online teaching to ensure continuity of education. Although institutional support was offered to lecturers, the situation posed an extraordinary challenge for university teaching. Using a comparative approach, this study surveys lecturers from different countries and their use of educational technology for emergency online teaching. Its focus lies on the relationships between use of educational technology, online teaching self-efficacy and attitudes towards educational technology. Overall and according to reports, the use of educational technology increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic conditions. The universities studied had different levels of digitalization, which influenced lecturers’ use of educational technology. Furthermore, lecturers differed in terms of self-efficacy, attitude, and perception. Regarding factors affecting educational technology use, results showed that especially pre-pandemic experiences with educational technology, as well as self-efficacy and perceptual variables influenced the use of educational technology during the pandemic. Based on these results, it is advisable for universities to embrace this ad hoc switch to online teaching as an opportunity for purposeful digitalization of university teaching.

Sterols are vital for cellular functions and eukaryotic development because of their essential role as membrane constituents. Sterol biosynthetic intermediates (SBIs) represent a potential reservoir of signaling molecules in mammals and fungi, but little is known about their functions in plants. SBIs are derived from the sterol C4-demethylation enzyme complex that is tethered to the membrane by Ergosterol biosynthetic protein28 (ERG28). Here, using nonlethal loss-of-function strategies focused on Arabidopsis thaliana ERG28, we found that the previously undetected SBI 4-carboxy-4-methyl-24-methylenecycloartanol (CMMC) inhibits polar auxin transport (PAT), a key mechanism by which the phytohormone auxin regulates several aspects of plant growth, including development and responses to environmental factors. The induced accumulation of CMMC in Arabidopsis erg28 plants was associated with diagnostic hallmarks of altered PAT, including the differentiation of pin-like inflorescence, loss of apical dominance, leaf fusion, and reduced root growth. PAT inhibition by CMMC occurs in a brassinosteroid-independent manner. The data presented show that ERG28 is required for PAT in plants. Furthermore, it is accumulation of an atypical SBI that may act to negatively regulate PAT in plants. Hence, the sterol pathway offers further prospects for mining new target molecules that could regulate plant development.

International audience

Impairments in sustained attention, that is, the ability to achieve and maintain the focus of cognitive activity on a given stimulation source or task, have been described as central to schizophrenia. Today, sustained attention deficit is still considered as a hallmark of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, current findings on this topic are not consistent. To clarify these findings, we attempt to put these results into perspective according to the type of assessment (i.e., overall and over time assessment), the participants' characteristics (i.e., clinical and demographic characteristics), and the paradigms (i.e., traditionally formatted tasks, go/no-go tasks, and the sustained attention task) and measures used. Two types of assessment lead to opposite findings; they do not evaluate sustained attention the same way. Studies using overall assessments of sustained attention ability tend to reveal a deficit, whereas studies using over time assessments do not. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate the underlying cognitive control mechanisms of changes in sustained attention in schizophrenia.

International audience

Teachers are caught between the injunction of an inclusive school for all students and the logistic difficulties of such prescriptions. As a consequence, they might be tolerant toward a discriminating peer when they justify the exclusion of students with disability with benevolent arguments. Indeed, people are more likely to accept discriminatory behaviors covered by benevolent justifications rather than by hostile ones. The aim of this experimental study (<em>N</em> = 134) was to test if teachers’ willingness to distance themselves from a colleague discriminating against students with disability depends on the justification he/she provided and if attribution to prejudice mediates this relationship. Active teachers read vignettes depicting situations of elementary school student inclusion at school. Through three versions, we manipulated the inclusion of a student with disability by a colleague in his/her classroom (inclusion, exclusion with benevolent justification, or exclusion with hostile justification). Results showed that teachers expressed less backlash and willingness to distance themselves from the colleague when he/she included, rather than excluded, the student and when the reasons for exclusion were benevolent rather than hostile. Finally, attribution to prejudice to the perpetrator mediated the effects of the justification on the distancing measures. These results replicated previous findings regarding the impact of the type of justification on the attribution to prejudice to the case of ableism and show its side effect of willingness to distance from an ingroup perpetrator.

International audience

Notre préoccupation, dans ce texte, est d’ordre philosophique. Elle consiste à penser la notion de sanction éducative. Peut-on donner corps à cette idée ? Nous précisons notamment les visées qu’elle doit poursuivre et les principes qui doivent l’organiser pour qu’elle soit un véritable moment d’éducation. Nous montrons aussi que la notion de sanction éducative est travaillée par des contradictions qui sont les contradictions inhérentes à tout travail éducatif. Ironie de l’histoire, la sanction, loin d’être l’Autre de l’acte éducatif, en est peut-être l’ analogon tant elle semble en résumer les enjeux et les tensions.

Résumé En tant qu’innovation majeure, le travail collaboratif, forme solidaire de travail, rencontre différents types de freins qui en rendent l’usage plus aléatoire et en ralentissent la diffusion. L’auteur en dresse une liste non exhaustive mais déjà bien documentée, distinguant les freins de type individuel (cognitifs ou volitionnels) et ceux de type collectifs (pesanteurs, entrepreneuriales ou difficultés de l’individu au sein du groupe).

The switch to emergency remote teaching (ERT) due to the first COVID-19 lockdown demanded a lot from university lecturers yet did not pose the same challenge to all of them. This study sought to explain differences among lecturers (n = 796) from universities in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK in their use of educational technology for teaching, institutional support, and personal factors. Guided by the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), lecturers’ behavior (educational technology use), environment (institutional support), and personal factors (ERT self-efficacy, continuance intentions, and demographics) were examined. Latent class analysis was employed to identify different types of lecturers in view of educational technology use, while multinomial regression and Wald chi-square test were used to distinguish classes. The largest latent class were Presenters (45.6%), who focused on content delivery, followed by Strivers (22.1%), who strived for social interaction, Routineers (19.6%), who were ready for online teaching, and Evaders (12.7%), who evaded using technology for educational purposes. Both personal factors and perceived institutional support explained class membership significantly. Accordingly, Evaders were older, less experienced, and rarely perceived institutional support as useful. Routineers, the Evaders’ counterparts, felt most self-efficient in ERT and held the highest continuance intentions for educational technology use. This research suggests that universities engage lecturers in evidence-based professional development that seeks shared visions of digital transformation, networks and communities, and design-based research.