E-instructor for Online Learning

Understanding students’ learning processes and education-related phenomena by extracting knowledge from educational data sets represents a continuous interest in the educational data mining domain. Due to an accelerated expansion of online learning and digitalisation in education, there is a growing interest in understanding the impact of online learning on the academic performance of students. In this study, we comparatively investigate traditional and synchronous online learning methods to assess students’ performance through the use of deep autoencoders. Experiments performed on real data sets collected in both online and traditional learning environments showed that autoencoders are able to detect hidden patterns in academic data sets unsupervised; these patterns are valuable for the prediction of students’ performance. The obtained results emphasized that, for the considered case studies, traditional evaluations are a little more accurate than online evaluations. Still, after applying a one-tailed paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test, no statistically significant difference between the traditional and online evaluations was observed.

Digitalization of education became a need of the hour when the COVID-19 pandemic affected the traditional modalities of learning, and it was widely implemented in various fields including dentistry. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of online learning against traditional learning systems among dental students in Chennai. A Google Form questionnaire comprising 29 dental learning-based questions was designed and distributed to dental students across colleges in Chennai using online distribution platforms. The study responses were closed after the stipulated period of 1 month. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17. The survey was answered by 834 participants comprising 76.9% females and 22.3% males. Of the total study population, 71.1% of them did not have previous online learning experiences. Approximately, 15.5% of the study population were not satisfied with the facilities provided by the online learning platforms. Also, one-third of the study population reported difficulty during the presentation. Three-fourths of the study participants did not prefer online learning over traditional learning and reported that the attention span and communication between the students and teachers were lower in online classes. Overall, 43% of the study participants rated the quality of online video-based learning to be good and 8.5% found it to be poor. Online-based learning systems are evolving and can provide a wide array of knowledge from global experts. However, structured planning and technique may be needed for the dental curriculum.

A Design Framework for Personal Learning Environments

E-learning fulfills the thirst of knowledge and offers online content that can be delivered for the learner at anywhere, anytime and any age through a wide range of e-learning solution while compared with traditional learning system. It also provides the rapid access to specific knowledge and information. With the rapid growth of voluminous information sources and the time constraint the learning methodology has changed. Learners obtain knowledge through e-Learning systems rather than manually teaching and learning. In this research paper proposes the e-learning management system with web services oriented frame work and SOA. This system supports the cross browser and fully integrated with different databases. This system focused around the several features namely Content Management, Content Protection, Learning Management, Delivery Management, Evaluation management, Access Control, etc., and mainly focused on integrated platform needed for e-learning and managements. E-learning has been introduced to empower learners to get basic schooling and enhance skills. Also, they can obtain a degree certificate, without actually attending school or university or any other institution. It is a great source of earning, wherein anyone can teach from anywhere in their preferred time. Applying e-learning to all levels of schooling helped to ensure students grasp the lessons adequately at a faster place. According to psychology, the audio-visual method of teaching leads to a disciplined learning environment. There are effective tutor and student engagements. One of the importance’s of e-learning in education is that tutors and participants both can develop advanced learning skills. For example, creating and selling EBooks is one such advancement. E-learning has worked towards bringing learners, tutors, experts, practitioners, and other interest groups to one place. Thus, there is a good practice of knowledge sharing followed through different online platforms. This is important in current times as competition is rising and the world is also growing. Hence, quick information helps in the better growth of an individual. The emergence of Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly resulted in devastating socio-economic challenges across the world. In attempt to manage the contagion, many countries have implemented restrictive measures to reduce social gatherings and to promote social distancing. This meant the closure of higher learning institutions and a major shift from traditional classroom-based teaching and learning to virtual approach. While higher education may have transformed and moved to online due to Covid-19, it is unknown whether this transformation produces positive teaching and learning outcomes. This literature review is conducted to elicit relevant evidence on E-learning and E-teaching outcomes, challenges and opportunities in the era of Covid-19 pandemic. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on 16 databases for relevant studies published in the year 2020. In addition, reference lists of studies identified from the initial search were used to retrieve additional relevant studies. The search terms used were Covid-19, corona virus, online learning, E-learning, E-teaching and higher education. An inclusion and exclusion criteria was developed to select the most relevant articles for final review. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they addressed higher education E-learning and E-teaching outcomes, challenges and opportunities in the era of Covid-19.

collaborative learning -based aqidah akhlak learning system in improving students' social skills. In the era of globalization, social skills are one of the important aspects in the formation of students. Collaborative learning not only focuses on academic achievement but also on the development of communication skills, cooperation, and empathy. The method used in this study is library research from various sources related to the research topic. Data collection is carried out through studies, research, analysis of scientific articles, books, journals or magazines and electronic sources related to collaborative learning-based aqidah akhlak learning . The data is then analyzed descriptively. Results from review library research shows that collaborative learning is an approach that emphasizes cooperation between students in groups to achieve common learning goals. Collaborative learning strategies in Islamic religious education are approaches that prioritize interaction and cooperation between students to achieve a deeper and more holistic understanding of the teaching material. Well-designed learning will make it easy to overcome behavior in students. The application of collaborative learning not only improves students' understanding of the concept of aqidah and akhlak, but also strengthens their social skills. The importance of social interaction, student involvement actively in the learning process, discussing, and working together in solving case studies of the concept of aqidah and akhlak. By implementing the method, it can be an effective strategy in improving student cooperation and students are better able to understand the material of aqidah and akhlak in depth and apply Islamic values in everyday life and can be applied more widely in Educational context religion Islam.

Cloud Computing is evolving as a key technology for sharing resources. Grid Computing, distributed computing, parallel computing and virtualization technologies define the shape of a new era. Traditional distance learning systems lack reusability, portability and interoperability. This paper sees cloud computing ecosystem as a new opportunity in designing cloud computing educational platforms where learning actors can reuse learning resources handled by cloud educational operating systems. To enhance learning objects portability and interoperability not only cloud computing API standards should be advocated by the key cloud providers but also learning resources standards should be defined by the Open Cloud Computing Education Federation as proposed by this paper.

Kernel-based online learning often exhibits promising empirical performance for various applications according to previous studies. However, it often suffers a main shortcoming, that is, the unbounded number of support vectors, making it unsuitable for handling large-scale datasets. In this paper, we investigate the problem of budget kernel-based online learning that aims to constrain the number of support vectors by a predefined budget when learning the kernel-based prediction function in the online learning process. Unlike the existing studies, we present a new framework of budget kernel-based online learning based on a recently proposed online learning method called Updating Online (DUOL), which has shown state-of-the-art performance as compared with the other traditional kernel-based online learning algorithms. We analyze the theoretical underpinning of the proposed Budget Double Updating Online Learning (BDUOL) framework, and then propose several BDUOL algorithms by designing different budget maintenance strategies. We evaluate the empirical performance of the proposed BDUOL algorithms by comparing them with several well-known budget kernel-based online learning algorithms, in which encouraging results validate the efficacy of the proposed technique.

Traditional online learning systems are based on different filtering techniques which usually rely on user behaviour towards different resources. The recommendation of resources is extracted from other users with similar behaviour. These systems usually recommend unsatisfactory resources to users and lead to the overall inefficiency. This paper proposes a heterogeneous educational resource recommender system which is based on user preferences. It not only leads to a more efficient system that is targeted to user requirements but also tackles few of the major issues in most of the recommender systems such as the cold start problem. To tackle such issues, the system recommends latest trends to the user and learns from his behaviour towards these while the preferences are not set. One of the fundamentals of this evolving system relies on assigning a weightage to each recommended resource, calculated on user+s responses towards it. This is a vital ingredient in filtering out the non-relevant, non-informative and un-liked resources from being frequently recommended. The heterogeneous resource recommendation would leverage users in finding different types of relevant resources quickly to increase user productivity.

Learning process of students is very important, it motivates the students for acquiring skills of critical thinking and gives a learning experience. Hence, a systematic feedback is required by the students for measuring their learning processes. This measurement is performed through different educational techniques namely learning analytics (LA), Education Data Mining (EDM) and Learning Dashboard (LD). Students’ learning measurement can be performed by measuring their log activity, content they read, by tracking assignment solving method etc., however in a traditional learning system, students’ learning is measured through the marks they score in the different evaluations. Therefore, these evaluations must be well structured and carefully planned in advanced. Hence the systematic management tool is required which assists the teacher as well as students for their learning progress at any time. In this paper we propose and demonstrate the Learning Dashboard in traditional learning environment which measures the different skills of students through a systematic assessment plan and the results of these assessments are displayed through an analytical report which will be helpful for all stakeholders.

This study attempted to test whether the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and innovative collaborative learning could be more effective than the use of traditional collaborative learning in improving students’ English proficiencies. A true experimental design was used in the study. Four randomly-assigned groups participated in the study: a traditional collaborative learning group (TCLG, 34 students), an innovative collaborative learning group (ICLG, 31 students), a CALL traditional collaborative learning group (CALLTCLG, 32 students), and a CALL innovative collaborative learning group (CALLICLG, 31 students). TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) listening, reading, speaking, and writing pre-test and post-test assessments were given to all students at an interval of sixteen weeks. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that students who used CALL had significantly better learning performance than those who did not. Students in innovative collaborative learning had significantly better learning performances than those in traditional collaborative learning. Additionally, students using CALL innovative collaborative learning had better learning performances than those in CALL collaborative learning, those in innovative collaborative learning, and those in traditional collaborative learning.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic forced many academic institutions to shift from face-to-face classroom to online classes. This study investigates the adoption and perception of online learning under the COVID-19 outbreak among undergraduates of library and information science (LIS). Using descriptive survey approach, total enumeration technique was used to enlist all undergraduates (457 students) of LIS as participants. A structured questionnaire tagged “perception of adoption of online learning among LIS students” was administered to participants using online Telegram polls within a period of two weeks in February 2021. The findings revealed that 98.5% of respondents used their mobile phones for online classes, the most used learning platforms being telegram (79.05%) and zoom (33.0%). Those that rated their learning achievement ‘good’ comprised 75.5%, and 72.9% were satisfied to varying degrees with online classes, but just 19.0% of respondents expressed preference for only online lectures, while majority (44.4%) preferred hybrid mix of traditional classroom and online learning. The students considered learning from any location any time and time management as the major advantages of online learning, while inadequate infrastructure/lack of suitable devices, unstable internet connection and extra financial burden for internet data were the major identified disadvantages. The paper concludes by recommending key steps to be taken by university authorities, governments and other relevant stakeholders to make online teaching more familiar and acceptable to the students.

Engagement in learning activities is an important factor that affects student performance in education. According to research, student engagement involves the degree of passion, interest and attention that they exhibit in their educational environment. In the traditional learning system, educators encourage students to engage in their learning activities through various teaching strategies such as making them pay attention, take notes, ask questions and participate actively in the learning processes. Sometimes, educators call on a specific student to answer a question as a means of encouraging the student to participate in learning processes. Nowadays, engagement strategies for learning are changing, especially with the use of technology-enhanced learning systems (TELS) in education. As a result, improving the engagement level of students in online learning environments remains an open research question that needs to be explored. This research is part of a preliminary study on discovering ways of increasing student engagement in an online learning system through data-driven interventions. Student engagement in this research is determined using objective data (activity logs of a specific undergraduate course in a TELS). Activity log is unbiased data and a reflection of students' actual learning behaviours (uncontrolled). In this study, we mined the log of students' learning activities from a TELS used for an undergraduate course to explore differences between students' learning behaviours as they relate to their engagement level and academic performance (measured in terms of final grade points in a course). We employed supervised (Random Forest) and unsupervised (Clustering) machine learning approaches in exploring the relations. The approaches identified an interesting pattern on student engagement and show that engagement and assessment scores are good predictors of student academic performance. Assessment scores are measured with results of quizzes and assignments performed by the students in the TELS, while academic performance is measured with the final grade of the student in the course. The implications of our findings are discussed.

This chapter introduces the use of diagrammatic representations of learning flow patterns as a means of visualizing refinable IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) templates. It argues that the incorporation of pattern-based IMS LD templates in authoring tools, which graphically guide users to create their own learning designs, offers a solution to the problem of IMS LD constructs not being familiar to educators because of its technical nature and text-based notation. Furthermore, this solution facilitates the reuse of good practices formulated as patterns, permitting a design process that promotes potentially effective results. This issue is especially important in collaborative learning designs, in which elicitations of desired social interactions are planned beforehand. Based on these ideas, the chapter also presents Collage, an IMS LD editor which provides templates based on Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns (CLFPs), and includes an example drawn from a real scenario that show the feasibility and usefulness of the approach.

This thesis deals with the broad question of how Australian universities and their teachers are meeting the changing market conditions of the 21st century. This examination occurs in the context of changing legislative and regulatory circumstances and strategic efforts to meet the broader goals of 'graduate attributes' and increased accessibility of tertiary learning. The underlying query of this thesis is how technology can assist in transcending traditional models of higher education teaching delivery. Related to this is a focus on collaborative learning, with the question of its desirability and what it might offer in terms of improved outcomes relevant to teaching and learning in higher education. These questions are primarily discussed in the context of how online environments can aid collaboration and result in both discipline specific and generic outcomes. Through a case study of Australian International Relations (IR) and Politics teachers at the undergraduate level, this thesis finds that there has been limited innovation in the online delivery of these subjects and that there is little consistency in any e-learning approaches that have been adopted. In particular, collaborative online learning is infrequently pursued. This is surprising because in a climate of increasingly market-driven higher education, collaborative online tools may offer a solution to many of the pressures teaching academics face. These findings point to a significant gap between the strategic goals expressed by universities and what is actually being delivered to undergraduates. This includes meeting ambitions in 'graduate attributes', satisfying regulatory oversight, contending with financial pressures and the societal drive to make learning more accessible to a wider audience. The thesis also examines some of the barriers teaching staff feel prevent them from utilising online collaborative methods, including perceptions of time poverty, support, skills, institutional factors and peer experience. The findings indicate that teachers of IR/Politics feel little incentive to implement online collaborations, chiefly because of time constraints,but also a prevailing sense that such innovations are not worth their investment in terms of career advancement and institutional support. Unfamiliarity with the technology involved serves to exacerbate these perceptions to the point where investing any effort in the pursuit of online approaches is seen as wasteful. A theoretical Technology-Assisted Teaching Adoption Model is proposed as a means of demonstrating the barriers to innovation uncovered by this research. Finally, this thesis explores online role play as a possible solution to some of these barriers perceived by IR and Politics teachers, as well as how such an approach could address the market factors currently shaping Australian higher education. There is strong and consistent support within the literature for role play as a collaborative learning strategy with identified pedagogical benefits. In the disciplines of IR and Politics, where much of the subject matter being studied concerns the concept of people and entities communicating and co-operating, role plays can help generate deeper and broader understanding. The thesis concludes by making recommendations as to how Australian universities can move towards fostering online innovation amongst teaching staff, both to better meet institutional goals, as well as serve their students better by producing qualities conducive to their future careers.

Technological developments have greatly shaped the direction of education and resulted in a move from conventional offline classrooms to online learning. By assessing important elements including accessibility, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, student involvement, and general efficacy, this paper compares both learning environments. To evaluate their preferences and experiences with both instructional approaches, 100 school staff members, 300 students (from grades 6 through 12), and 100 parents/general public members answered a structured survey. Based on their controlled setting, direct instructor interaction, and greater discipline, the results show that 71% of school staff, 132 kids, and 34 parents choose conventional offline learning. 52 students and 7 parents, on the other hand, prefer online learning and point mostly to accessibility and flexibility. Of the parents (40 out of 100), a sizable fraction support a hybrid learning paradigm combining the advantages of online and offline schooling.  The major issues raised by students and teachers are technical problems, a lack of student motivation, and less physical interaction, despite the advantages that online education presents. Only 20% of students in online learning feel their education to be completely engaging, so engagement rates in this form remain rather low. In parallel, 45% of students said online learning was "good," and 25% said it was "poor." Although teachers agreed that internet tools have increased their effectiveness in the classroom, some voiced worries about student discipline and classroom control. Parents noted that even while online learning saves time and money, it also causes more screen time and less social connection. The study comes to the conclusion that, in terms of engagement, discipline, and student-teacher connection, traditional offline education remains more effective even if online learning presents cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and greater accessibility. According to the study, the most efficient way to modernise education could be a hybrid learning model that combines the flexibility of digital platforms with organised offline instruction. Enhanced efficiency and general impact of online learning depend on further developments in its tactics, including better engagement techniques and interactive learning environments.