Purpose This paper is based on the emergency changes we have had to make in the European DEIMP Project (2017-2020), “Designing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies” (DEIMP). DEIMP is undertaken by a transnational consortium comprising partner institutions and schools from the UK (coordinating), Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and The Netherlands. As well as the enforced changes to the project, there have been major adjustments in how education is being provided in each of our countries, across all sectors: primary, secondary and tertiary. The purpose of this paper is to provide pragmatic guidelines that will help us respond effectively in the uncertain present, and plan systematically for an unpredictable, post-pandemic future. Design/methodology/approach The authors outline 21 design principles underpinning innovative mobile learning, which will be of pragmatic use to all using mobile learning in the COVID-19 pandemic. These principles have emerged in the context of the three-year European DEIMP Project (2017-2020). The authors also examine major educational changes that have recently been imposed upon teachers and educational researchers, and key aspects of the current emergency response in education internationally, and resultant implications for educational technology and mobile learning. Findings A living record highlighting what is currently happening in the educational systems of the DEIMP project’s respective partner countries. The paper outlines design concerns and issues, which will need to be addressed as the authors endeavour to bridge both the digital divide and digital use divide in remote education. Furthermore, the paper illustrates 21 pragmatic design principles underpinning innovative mobile pedagogies. Originality/value A comparative study of the effects of the pandemic across six countries, including The UK, Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and The Netherlands. The authors outline 21 design principles for mobile learning, which is hoped will help us respond effectively in the uncertain present, and plan systematically for an unpredictable, post-pandemic future.

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Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is generally accepted as positively impacting teaching quality and student learning. Therefore, research on PCK development in (prospective) teachers is highly relevant. Based on a search in three databases (ERIC, PsycInfo, and Web of Science), a systematic review is conducted on intervention studies aiming at PCK development. The research questions are threefold: (1) How are the studies designed? (2) How are the interventions designed? and (3) What elements of interventions contribute to PCK development? The results show that most intervention studies are conducted in math and science education and use a qualitative methodology. Reflection, PCK courses, contact with other teachers, and experiences in educational practice are typically part of effective interventions. The review enables the identification of clear guidelines that may strengthen future research on stimulating PCK.

Critical thinking helps students to confront a multitude of challenges they will face in their carreers and personal lives. It is therefore an important task of higher education to promote students' critical thinking. However, students do not enter higher education as a blank slate. Background characteristics of students are important in developing instruction. The present study investigates the influence of an important background characteristic, namely students' secondary education, and their current higher education programme on critical thinking in the first year of higher education. The critical thinking of college freshmen was measured by the Scipio, a test consisting of both constructed response items and forced choice items. The results indicate that (1) the growth in critical thinking during the first year of higher education is on average small, (2) students with a background in general secondary education have higher entrance performances and show more growth during the first year than students with other educational backgrounds, (3) critical thinking plays a role in the educational choice that students make when they enter higher education, and (4) students in a professional bachelor programme grow more in CT during the first year of higher education than students in an academic bachelor programme.

Abstract. An important goal of teacher education (TE) is to improve pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). It is not always clear what kind of opportunities to learn (OTL) in TE contribute to pre-service teachers' knowledge development. We compared different cohorts (N = 360) in TE, and studied the effects of OTL (PCK, PK, CK, and practical experiences) on pre-service teachers' PCK, PK and CK (in the domain of French as a foreign language). Second and third year students outperformed first year students on PCK, PK and CK (measured through quantitative test instruments). Positive effects of PCK OTL on PCK and PK are found, as well as positive effects of CK OTL on CK.Keywords: Teacher cognition; teacher professional knowledge; pedagogical content knowledge; teacher education; foreign language education. IntroductionTeachers' professional knowledge is believed to be central to student learning (Connelly, Clandinin, & He, 1997). Teachers' thinking is claimed to be related to their instructional approaches, and as a consequence, studying teacher knowledge is essential (Verloop, van Driel, & Meijer, 2001). Research on teachers' professional knowledge mainly follows the influential work of Shulman (1986;1987), who introduced pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as the unifying element between general pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). Most empirical research on teachers' professional knowledge focuses on the domain of mathematics . In this domain research has shown the importance of PCK and CK for instructional quality and student achievement (Baumert et al., 2010; Kunter et al., 2012). Also PK, which is not related to a specific disciplinary domain, has been shown to positively impact instructional quality (König & Pflanzl, 2016). It is therefore an important task of teacher education (TE) programs to foster pre-service teachers' PCK, PK and CK. Several studies show the impact of theoretical courses in TE on teachers' professional knowledge development, mainly in the domain of mathematics (e.g., Blömeke, Buchholtz, Suhl & Kaiser, 2014). According to Schmidt et al. (2011), the following opportunities to learn (OTL) during TE might impact teachers' professional knowledge: courses on CK, courses on PCK, courses on PK, and practical experiences. However, to date, the specific contribution of each of these four sources of OTL to the development of PCK, PK, and CK remains unclear.The present study focuses on the domain of French as a foreign language in primary TE in Flanders, Belgium. Test instruments are developed to assess PCK, PK and CK in this context. Relying on a crosssectional design, the study aims to investigate (1) whether pre-service teachers in different stages of TE differ in PCK, PK, and CK, and (2) whether specific OTL on PCK, PK, CK and practical experiences have an impact on teachers' professional knowledge. Shulman (1986;1987) defined PCK as "that special amalgam of content and pedagogy that is uniquely the prov...