Profiling Users’ State of Mind towards Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

The Covid-19 pandemic turned both private and public life upside down. Teaching and learning at higher education institutions worldwide had to move online on very short notice. This means that all the educational process must be converted into a digital format for the transmission of a large array of information through electronic exchange. Online learning has been an important research topic over the past three decades, but online study programs at the universities are still limited. This article tells about the experience of foreign countries in the successful implementation of information and digital technologies in the educational process of universities. Information technologies in training are used in South Korea (Smart education), Switzerland (Wikis), Norway (Mixed learning model and co-education), Serbia (Video on demand), China (Stem - education, Moodle, Block chain). We continue with some initial thoughts on online teaching and learning in higher education in general, and emergency online teaching and learning more specifically. All of these technologies have advantages within a single state. After an overview of the international research compiled in this Special Issue, we derive a number of general insights on online teaching and learning in higher education, emphasizing, for instance, scaffolding of regulation processes or communication platforms as potential artifacts of an online teaching and learning.KeywordsInternet technologiesE-learningDigitalizationInformation technologiesHigher education

Virtual environments allow teachers to approach the teaching process inclusively and creatively, to facilitate the effective transfer of learning and to support student learning with new technologies regardless of various barriers. The hereby study evaluates the students’ views concerning the virtual delivery of courses during their learning process taking into consideration their former face-to-face teaching-learning experience. It was based on the theoretical part which included typical aspects of online teaching and learning are presented and the most recent studies in this area are reviewed. Following previous research, we aim to develop an innovative model of successful online teaching and learning in higher education. A questionnaire-based research methodology was designed for 355 students at a university in the North-Eastern region of Romania. The questionnaire with closed-ended items was used for assessing students’ attitudes on the online teaching activity. The results indicate students’ preference for online courses, as well as a number of significant differences, depending on the study specialisation or form of education. Any future changes to online teaching and learning in universities should also take into account students’ and teachers’ views on this particular issue. Such an approach should allow us to see whether and how effective the use of virtual teaching environments can be for both students and teachers in higher education (HE).

The COVID‐19 pandemic has forced higher education institutions to implement online learning activities based on virtual platforms, allowing little time to prepare and train faculty members to familiarize students with digital technologies. While previous studies have looked at how students engaged with digital technologies in their learning activities, the characteristics of the student engagement in online learning remain underexplored. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature on student engagement in online learning in higher education is much needed. This article synthesizes the findings on student engagement in Latin American higher education institutions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. After reviewing the studies on online learning activities, this review examines student engagement from behavioural, cognitive and affective dimensions and identifies the main characteristics of student engagement from these tripartite dimensions. The implications of the findings for online learning in Latin American higher education are as follows: (a) to transform higher education, (b) to provide adequate professional training, (c) to improve Internet connectivity, (d) to ensure quality online learning in higher education and (e) to provide emotional support. These findings will provide valuable guidance for teachers, educational authorities and policy makers and help them make informed decisions to use effective strategies to support online learning in higher education institutions. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted the normal operation of higher education institutions across Latin America, impelling a shift from face‐to‐face instruction to online teaching and learning.Research on online learning in Latin American higher education has been conducted, but the findings and their implications are yet to be widely disseminated among researchers, practitioners and decision‐makers. What this paper adds Providing a systematic review of research on student engagement in online learning in Latin American higher education institutions.Analyzing the construct of student engagement in online learning from tripartite dimensions—behavioral, cognitive and affective—in the Latin American higher education context.Identifying the characteristics associated to each dimension of student engagement in online learning. Implications for practice and/or policy The need to transform the higher education system in Latin America and beyond, at two levels: to improve Internet connectivity at the technological level and to ensure the quality of online education at the pedagogical level.The urgency to offer an adequate professional training regarding the use of new technologies in online learning environments.The significance for higher education institutions to provide emotional support for students during the COVID‐10 pandemic.

Advanced technologies have made significant changes in our daily life, and these changes also affect the use of technologies in the delivery of Higher Education. Currently, most Australian universities engage some degree of technology in the delivery of their face-to-face curricula, while the implementation of online learning in Higher Education is still new. The literature indicates that online learning provides flexible/convenient learning opportunities for students who cannot attend on-campus courses, to expand or change their career paths, and this is one of the benefits of using online learning in Higher Education. Nevertheless, the implementation rate of online learning in design education is low, and this is likely to be linked to the design academics' fear of using online learning in delivering practice-based curriculum. This paper investigates the perceptions toward online learning, specifically Australian academics, in the fields of communication/graphic design.

<p>Despite the increase in massive open online courses (MOOCs), evidence about the pedagogy of learning in MOOCs remains limited. This paper reports on an investigation into the pedagogy in one MOOC - Oxford Brookes University’s ‘First Steps in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education’ MOOC (FSLT12).</p><p>FSLT12 was an open and free professional development opportunity for people moving into HE teaching. It was a small course (200 participants registered from 24 countries) which was focused on introducing HE teaching skills, and, uniquely, to deliberately integrate open academic practice as a vital part of professional development for HE teachers. A qualitative, case-study approach was used in the research, based on surveys, interviews, and social media, to provide evidence about how people learned in this course and consider wider implications for teaching and learning in higher education.</p><p>The evidence shows that participants who completed the course were able to learn autonomously and navigate the distributed platforms and environments. The most challenging issues were acceptance of open academic practice and difficulty in establishing an academic identity in an unpredictable virtual environment. An interesting and significant feature of the course was the support for learners from a number of MOOC ‘veterans’ who served as role models and guides for less experienced MOOC learners.</p><p>The research shows that small task-oriented MOOCs can effectively support professional development of open academic practice.</p>

Online teaching and learning have become integral components of modern education, which is a reality strongly underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines online teaching and learning in higher education before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic based on a review of relevant literature. With a specific focus on the difficulties encountered in online teaching and learning in higher education in China, this research adopts a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore these challenges from the perspective of teachers. The findings reveal that the main difficulties reported by participants include uneven access to technology, concerns over instructional quality, issues of cheating and academic integrity, lack of motivation and engagement, and feelings of social isolation among students. Thus, addressing disparities in technology access, ensuring high-quality instruction and academic honesty, enhancing student motivation and participation, and mitigating social isolation are crucial for improving online education in Chinese higher education institutions. By focusing on these areas, universities and policymakers can develop targeted strategies and practical supports for teachers, thereby helping to improve educational outcomes.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic created chaos in public and private life. Education institutions worldwide had to migrate online on very short notice. Online teaching and learning has been a prominent research topic in recent years, but with the rapid change in recent months, progress and interest has been greater. A bibliographic review is carried out, with the aim of showing the experiences of some universities, professors and students about emergency online teaching and learning more specifically, and the implication that technology has in higher education. We continue with some initial reflections on online teaching and learning in higher education in general. Where it can be seen that the challenge most mentioned and highlighted by many authors is accessibility, affordability, online learning pedagogy and basic requirements such as regulatory processes and communication platforms as potential teams to provide teaching and learning. online learning.

Online learning in higher education is a necessity. This is in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. Nahdlatul Ulama University Surabaya is one of the private universities in Surabaya. Since a few years ago, online learning has been implemented by UNUSA. The type of learning applied is blended / hybrid learning. However, Pandemic Covid-19 forced UNUSA to implement online learning fully. The application of online learning in educational institutions often presents challenges. Successful change requires an understanding of the current conditions. This study aims to identifying the current condition of online learning implementation in UNUSA based on Prosci ADKAR Model. This study is conducted into three steps, namely mapping the stakeholder, identifying the list of change , and identyfing the current state of the university. The current conditions are mapped to activities that must be carried out for each ADKAR element.

Online and contact teaching and learning in higher education are two separate methods with one goal of transferring ideas and knowledge and contributing to students' success. The chapter aims to provide and compare the good and bad of the two methods to find how institutions of higher learning can use them effectively and efficiently worldwide. The focus of the chapter builds from comparing a theory of (intrinsic and extrinsic) factors, student accommodation, application, selection and registration, teaching and learning platforms, discipline and quality, assessments and examination, connectivity, hitting two birds with one stone, role players, larger classes and resources, protests, cost vs. affordability, and human resources planning. The chapter's recommendation for higher education adopts both methods (hybrid/blended) learning for the benefit of all students, undergraduate and postgraduate. Further, recommend a strategy of 30 percent online and 70 percent in person.

This article examines the impact of emergency remote learning and draws on both current and prior research to suggest ways forward in teaching and learning in higher education. Synchronous online learning was the primary delivery method during the Covid‐19 pandemic, but research has identified many limitations in this form of delivery, as well as some benefits. Many lessons and best practices in online learning had been developed before the pandemic, but these have been largely ignored both during and following the pandemic. The author suggests that hybrid learning (a mix of in‐person and online) is in general the future of teaching and learning in higher education, although there will be important but specific markets for both wholly in‐person and fully online learning. Research has indicated that effective online and hybrid learning requires a major shift in teaching, and particularly in assessment methods, from those used in classroom teaching. This presents a major challenge for faculty development, and some strategies to meet this challenge are suggested.

Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in pedagogy and learning in higher education supports the concept of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). Mobile devices and applications with educational purposes are part of using online ICT and facilitate autonomous learning in education. Using mobile applications for education has significantly improved in the last few years. However, there is still a gap, in which this concept is still not widely known and frequently experienced by learners. As a part of supporting TEL in higher education and filling this gap, the department of Computer and System Sciences at Stockholm University in Sweden is planning to develop a mobile application for the SciPro system. SciPro is the computer-mediated communication platform to support enhancement of thesis quality and facilitate autonomous learning in higher education, at both Bachelor and Master levels. This study aims to investigate and evaluate learners’ perspectives about utility of mobile applications in higher education and specifically to support SciPro functionalities. Almost 95% of the respondents use mobile applications for higher education and believe in the utility of mobile applications for supporting learning in higher education. This is while there are a few respondents (less than 5%), who do not fully share this opinion. More than 70% of the respondents think that a SciPro mobile application will add value to their thesis process. Even though it may not directly affect the speed and quality of the thesis, it will increase mobility, availability, and flexibility of accessing information and resources in SciPro.KeywordsTechnology Enhanced Learning (TEL)Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)Mobile ApplicationApplicationsLearningHigher EducationThesis Process

This paper aims to identify challenges to students’ engagement in online learning at the Qatar branch campus of America’s Georgetown University, and to propose solutions. Specifically, it: 1) identifies challenges and solutions from students’ perspectives; 2) provides recommendations for developing instructional policies to maximise student engagement in synchronous learning contexts; and 3) aims to contribute to the literature on the engagement of Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) learners and Arabic Heritage Learners (AHLs) in online learning in higher education (HE) in the Middle East. It did so by collecting qualitative data, using an open-ended questionnaire from 13 Arabic as a Foreign Language and Arab Heritage learners. We investigate these learners’ perceptions and experiences of student engagement in online learning within the social presence dimension of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. In addition to presenting a set of challenges that our students experienced in their online learning, especially under the unprecedented health, social and mental constraints created by Covid-19, we highlight their solutions to these challenges. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations that we hope AFL and Arabic Heritage (AH) programmes and institutions will find useful.Keywords: student engagement; online learning; community of inquiry; social presence; Arabic as a foreign language; Arabic heritage learnersPart of the Special Issue Technology enhanced learning in the MENA region <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.1fd869f8>

The sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged universities to provide students with online teaching and learning settings that were both immediately applicable and supportive of quality learning. This resulted in a broad variety of synchronous and asynchronous online settings of teaching and learning. While some courses balanced both kinds, others offered either predominantly synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning. In a survey study with students (N=3,056) and teachers (N=396) from a large German university, we explored whether a predominance of synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning settings in higher education was associated with certain student experiences and outcomes. Additionally, we examined how well these two types of teaching and learning settings support students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness proposed by self-determination theory (SDT). Data were collected after the first online semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that from the students’ perspective, the teaching methods involved in the two settings of teaching and learning differ with regard to their potential to support social interaction and to support basic psychological needs as proposed by SDT. Students who studied mostly in synchronous settings reported more peer-centered activities such as feedback in comparison to students in mostly asynchronous settings. In contrast, teachers perceived fewer differences between teaching methods in synchronous and asynchronous settings, especially regarding feedback activities. Further, students in mostly synchronous settings reported greater support of their basic psychological needs for competence support and relatedness as well as a greater overall satisfaction with the online term compared to students in mostly asynchronous settings. Across all students, greater fulfillment of psychological needs and higher technology acceptance coincided with outcomes that are more favorable. Implications for the post-pandemic classroom are drawn.

Aim/Purpose: Social media platforms have been increasingly incorporated into teaching and learning. However, studies using mixed methods to explore WhatsApp’s potential to broaden online teaching and learning remain limited. Background: This study reports the experiences and perspectives of undergraduate students in terms of their WhatsApp usage patterns and preferences during COVID-19 using a sequential mixed method. Methodology: Through a quantitative survey of undergraduate students from the Education Faculty in one South African university, quantitative data were collected from 92 participants. Qualitative interviews were followed with ten willing participants to further explore their perceptions and preference. Contribution: This study addresses the literature gap identified by Klein et al. (2018, p. 2) that “few studies that explore WhatsApp use in the natural environment of higher education” and the methodology gap Hashim identifies (2018) that the majority of the literature adopts a quantitative research methodology while only 10% use the mixed method. Our intention is set specifically on WhatsApp’s potential to broaden online teaching as the new norm beyond merely as a supplement teaching platform before COVID-19 or emergency remote teaching mode that WhatsApp serves since the onset of COVID-19. We triangulated the behaviors and perceptions of first-time WhatsApp users (scarcely separately discussed in the literature) and gender to ascertain lessons for more targeted strategies for more effective WhatsApp use. Another unique feature and novelty of this study is our separate analysis of active (e.g., initiating query or discussion) and passive use (e.g., receiving information). Findings: Our findings confirm that COVID-19 has accelerated universities’ digital transition as WhatsApp’s usage has undergone a great expansion from informal to formal spaces. However, informal use among students remains strong, particularly among first-time WhatsApp users. Communication remains one of the primary functions of WhatsApp in teaching and learning, but content-related functions and student discussion activities are clearly feasible and prevalent. However, passive use remains slightly more prevalent than active use even amongst frequent WhatsApp users. WhatsApp’s assignment-related usage is high but mainly limited to queries rather than assessment submissions or marking. Both WhatsApp’s usage and perceived usefulness has surpassed that of e-mail and of the university’s learning management system (LMS) where WhatsApp group functions seem to have contributed greatly to the perceived usefulness. Articulated advantages and challenges of WhatsApp largely corroborate with those identified in the literature, although our participants show some ambiguity concerning WhatsApp’s low cost as its main benefit. Recommendations for Practitioners: WhatsApp’s usages are versatile. So are its perceived benefits. However, practitioners need to consciously encourage its usage beyond passive use and also consider how WhatsApp can be incorporated into marking. Recommendation for Researchers: We found inconsistency regarding perceived benefits related to WhatsApp’s cost. Cost is important in low resource context and this inconsistency merits further examination. Our finding regarding WhatsApp’s limitation in terms of marking is not consistent with some literature. As marking functionality impacts broadening WhatsApp’s usage in teaching and learning, how WhatsApp has and potentially can be incorporated into LMS should be further explored. Impact on Society: WhatsApp has great potential to broaden online learning in higher education. However, it also has its limitation. This study demonstrates that WhatsApp can serve most teaching and learning functions in higher education. However, how these benefits and limitations impact different groups of users (e.g., 1st-time users, frequent users, gender, etc.) should be more consciously thought of, so is how more active use can be encouraged. Future Research: Further studies should examine whether the low cost is an important consideration in students’ preference for WhatsApp. Further studies should also explore how WhatsApp can be better used for marking.

In this chapter, the authors propose examining online learning in higher education as a mechanism for promoting lifelong learning skills, and thus, as a way to provide capital to students. With that in mind, they provide a theoretical foundation to demonstrate the need for workforce development as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on the skills and requisites necessary for successful lifelong learning, and how both are important to the central mission of higher education. This chapter explores the literature and major issues surrounding the importance and use of capital and lifelong learning skills, and how both can be gained through online learning. The authors argue that lifelong learning skills can be generated through transformative leaning experiences and that facilitating these experiences should be a goal of online learning in higher education in order to ensure that students have the skills necessary to gain social, cultural, and economic capital in order to remain relevant through their lives in a 21st century, learning society. In this chapter, the authors discuss several relevant examples of “Tools for Lifelong Learning” including specific examples to demonstrate how online classes can serve as a mechanism to generate capital for students in higher education settings. They provide a model and build upon theory across higher education, sociology, adult learning, and educational psychology to provide a new perspective of the importance of lifelong learning as well as best practices for achieving these goals.