Online higher education student engagement: finding flow

This article reports on the findings of senior leadership interviews in a nationally funded project on distributed leadership in the quality management of online learning environments (OLEs) in higher education. Questions were framed around the development of an OLE quality management framework and the situation of the characteristics of distributed leadership at the core of the framework. The project’s premise is that distributed leadership is a descriptive reality of managing OLEs given the various leadership parties involved and the complexities of the contemporary technological landscape. Leaders’ understandings of distributed leadership were examined—its nature, value and potential for advancing the quality management of OLEs. There was confirmatory evidence of its reality, but its meaning and value were not uncritically accepted. It can be concluded that building distributed leadership must start through deliberative formal leadership commitment and action starting at the highest levels of the institution.

Many studies investigated the use of collaboration at conventional teaching environment in different educational levels. The present study examines students’ behavior during a collaborative assignment in an online learning environment in higher education. Data were collected by graduate students who were attending a course at a distance learning master degree program in Special Education. The developed group dynamics and students’ beliefs about their role during the activity were “revealed” by their reactions to the discussion forum, their private e-mails to the instructor, their activity at the platform and their contribution on the assignment, for which the wiki tool was used. Results indicated that although students were at the same time in-service or pre-service teachers at primary and secondary education and they were expected to implement group work at their teaching, they had low self-efficacy beliefs in using it as students in online learning environment. Their major difficulties were related with their fear about possible negative consequences concerning their marks due to other members’ behavior and the lack of experiences. Suggestions on how the group work and the collaborative assignment can be integrated more effectively in an online learning environment in higher education courses are discussed

This comprehensive guide addresses quality assurance challenges and opportunities in online and blended learning within higher education. It formulates evidence-based guidelines and policy recommendations aimed at enhancing digital teaching and learning practices at both institutional and national levels. The guide responds to the specific needs of diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, academic and teaching staff, students, administrative personnel, technical staff, content developers, and instructional designers. It serves as a foundational reference for establishing a culture of quality in online learning environments across European higher education institutions. Primarily targeting academic bodies seeking to strengthen their quality assurance frameworks—both at macro-policy and micro-implementation levels—the guide addresses two critical dimensions: the design and deployment of digital learning environments and tools, and the professional development of teaching staff for digital contexts. The content builds upon multiple evidence sources: educational experiences and innovations emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic period, empirical findings from online faculty training initiatives, and documented results revealing technological and pedagogical possibilities in digital education. These insights inform practical intervention strategies and improvement frameworks that enable institutions to design relevant, high-quality educational programmes aligned with contemporary learner needs and expectations. The guide emphasizes three core quality dimensions: teaching excellence in the digital era, emerging competencies required for effective digital instruction, and methodologies and instruments for assessing online teaching and learning environments in higher education. By promoting an open, iterative set of pedagogical principles that accommodates continuous feedback from practitioners and specialists, this resource supports the ongoing enhancement of online and blended learning quality across the higher education sector.

This paper explores the way to apply ChatGPT to mitigate the side effects of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) in higher education from the perspectives of teachers and teaching. An interview with six university professors and two Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts was conducted. The thematic analysis reveals two main categories of side effects, including educational philosophy and teaching skills. The data analysis also contends that ChatGPT offers a valuable tool to aid educators in overcoming these challenges by improving the personalization of PLEs, aligning PLEs with formal education requirements, and designing innovative assessments and enhancing learning engagement in PLEs. This study provides insights beneficial to practitioners, researchers, and policymakers by elucidating the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating ChatGPT with PLEs in higher education.

The main purpose of this paper is to discover gender spaces in virtual learning environments at the tertiary level. A considerable study has been done in the global north and global south on gender spaces in virtual learning environments. This study has been conducted using qualitative and review-based studies. It portrays a widespread analysis of published research documents from various speculative contexts. This study blends findings from the past few decades to examine gender spaces and virtual learning environments in higher education. The review emphasizes that such activities serve as vital platforms for virtual learning in higher education. The analysis is based on 116 peer-reviewed research published documents retrieved from reputable digital databases such as Web of Science, Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis, SAGE, Emerald Insight, and Springer Nature. Data collection has been continued until thematic permeation has been reached. A thematic analysis approach has been employed to present and interpret the qualitative nature of data. The study findings indicated that gender spaces shape participation in virtual learning environments in higher education. The study findings have been based on the empirical review of the published research documents on gender spaces and virtual learning environments in higher education. The study reveals that gender plays a noteworthy role in determining students' experiences, participation, and outcomes within virtual learning environments in higher education.

Prior to the COVID-19 emergency, some faculty resisted the move to digital learning formats due to concerns for student equity or that engagement would suffer. The purpose of this study was to understand how faculty adapted their courses during the rapid shift to remote and online learning in the spring of 2020, and to understand the role of equity in their experiences. Faculty narratives revealed that elements such as flexibility, reducing coursework to essential content, and personalization – all stemming from an ethos of care – were effective in mitigating the equity issues that surfaced during the emergency transition to universal remote learning. Our findings support the critical importance of extending culturally sustainable practices to all online learning environments in higher education as a way to mitigate equity issues related to the digital divide. These findings are in line with, and contribute to, the growing body of research on culturally sustaining pedagogy within the context of online learning.

The study has been designed to evaluate gender spaces in virtual learning environments in higher education in Pakistan. It has been observed that social constructionists, feminists, and gender-related researchers around the world all agree that gender is a social construct. There are only two characteristics: femininity and masculinity. Gender spaces generally describe the situations or places that are viewed or determined by gendered expectations and standards. These places may involve social, psychological, or physical aspects, and they often represent or maintain gender norms in society. A quantitative study has been conducted, and a sample of 316 students enrolled in the BS (4 Years) social sciences program in a public sector university has been selected. A cross-sectional study has been conducted, and a structured questionnaire has been used, consisting of different sections including socio-demographic, gender spaces, and virtual learning environment. Pilot testing has been done on 30 random students, and an attitudinal scale of (dis)agreement has been used. Statistical analysis, including univariate, normality, Kendall's tau_b, and Chi-Square, has been done to conclude. The study findings outlined that the data were non-parametric and all the variables, including gender, spaces, and virtual learning environment, had a positive and significant correlation and also had an association based on the Chi-Square test.

Pedagogical values directly affect student performance and, therefore, are essential to successful teaching practice. It is absolutely critical that post-secondary educators examine and reflect on their pedagogical values because these principles pave the path for student success. This chapter describes four pedagogical values that are critical to student success within the context of online and blended learning environments in higher education: 1) value of care; 2) value of diversity; 3) value of community; and 4) value of justice.

Pedagogical values directly affect student performance and, therefore, are essential to successful teaching practice. It is absolutely critical that post-secondary educators examine and reflect on their pedagogical values because these principles pave the path for student success. This chapter describes four pedagogical values that are critical to student success within the context of online and blended learning environments in higher education: 1) value of care; 2) value of diversity; 3) value of community; and 4) value of justice.

Epistemic cooperation scripts in online learning environments: fostering learning by reducing uncertainty in discourse?

This study aims to examine the influence of gender on the adoption of a virtual learning environment (VLE) in higher education in Ghana during COVID-19 restrictions. A survey approach was used, with a total sample of 488 responses from the University of Professional Studies, Accra. To reveal gender differences, both male and female respondents were subjected to a multi-group analysis. The factors impacting students’ intention to use VLE were determined using the structural equation modeling approach employing SmartPLS 3.3.3 software. Accordingly, both gender groups show that subjective norm elements significantly influence intention to adopt VLE; however, the male group (β = 0.873, p = 0.000) reports more significant influences than the female group (β = 0.571, p = 0.000). The study establishes that the newly incorporated construct in the theory of planned behavior, attitudes towards social distancing, significantly affects males’ behavioral intention to use VLE more than their female peers. This result demonstrates the robustness of the theory of planned behavior for evaluating technology acceptance research.

PurposeThis study concentrates on South Korean university students' attitude towards cooperative learning by utilizing the “Student Attitudes toward Group Environments” survey (n = 427–181 female and 246 male) originally developed by Kouros and Abrami (2006).Design/methodology/approachThe purpose of this study is to unfold what factors affect the cooperative learning environment in the Higher Education context of South Korea, which is known as a collectivist society, and conduct comparative analysis on gender, department type, GPA level and school year as variables in the perception of cooperative learning. The factor analysis findings demonstrated that there are four factors influencing students' attitude about cooperative learning environments in South Korean higher education; “frustrations with group members”, “peer support”, “fairness” and “quality of product and process”. Moreover, the gender, type of department, school year and GPA variables were yielded statistically differentiating results.FindingsThe overall results showed that effective cooperative learning strategies depend on the type of culture and other demographic variables including learner's gender, department type and school year. In South Korea, known to have a collectivist culture, fairness has appeared as a new criteria needing to be considered when designing a cooperative learning environment, which is a different case than in individualistic cultures. Thus, when employing cooperative learning strategies in South Korea, educators should take learners' culture into consideration. For this, educators might utilize the final instrument of this study as a guideline or criteria to establish an effective cooperative learning environment.Originality/valueThis article provides an example from South Korea which is known as both a collectivist and high-tech country.

Under the influence of education for sustainable development, active learning classrooms, as the new learning environment in higher education, have become increasingly diversified and flexible, with a greater emphasis on student experience and engagement. Most research on these learning environments is centered on formal learning analysis and discussion, whereas empirical research on the perception of informal learning in active learning classrooms outside of class time is lacking. Based on informal learning perceptions, this study explored the strengths and weaknesses of active learning classroom spatial environments using a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach. Through a questionnaire survey of 154 students and one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 15 students, this study found that most students were satisfied with the informal learning experience in active learning classrooms, comfortable and flexible space perception and humanized learning support facilities in active learning classrooms were critical spatial factors influencing students’ informal learning, the private environment and positive learning atmosphere in active learning classrooms could promote students’ informal learning behaviors, and for active learning classrooms, better resource management could help them develop a better quality full-time learning environment. Based on these findings, this study makes recommendations for optimizing the environment design and management of active learning classrooms.

<p>The contemporary need for older workers to participate in education and training programs to increase their employability has exposed many of them to learning opportunities involving online learning in higher education. This paper reports research into the issues and experiences of an adult learner with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) engaging in undergraduate online learning. The issues and experiences were identified through the use of inductive, in-depth interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), as part of a larger study. The profile of the target student was very different from the other nine participants in the study, and was interpreted as principally related to disorientation within his online learning environment. Three types of disorientation were identified – navigational, contextual, and procedural – each of which presented strategies for its mitigation. The research revealed a significant disjunction between the characteristics of the learner’s online learning environment and his learning needs and preferences, which has implications for the design and development of inclusive online learning environments in higher education.</p>

The significance of scaffolding in education has received considerable attention. Many studies have examined the effects of scaffolding with diverse groups of participants, purposes, learning outcomes, and learning environments. The purpose of this research was to conduct a meta-analysis of the effects of scaffolding on learning outcomes in an online learning environment in higher education. This meta-analysis included studies with 64 effect sizes from 18 journal articles published in English, in eight countries, from 2010 to 2019. The meta-analysis revealed that scaffolding in an online learning environment has a large and statistically significant effect on learning outcomes. The meta-cognitive domain yielded a larger effect size than did the affective and cognitive domains. In terms of types of scaffolding activities, meta-cognitive scaffolding outnumbered other types of scaffolding. Computers as a scaffolding source in an online learning environment were also more prevalent than were human instructors. In addition, scholars in the United States have produced a large portion of the scaffolding research. Finally, the academic area of language and literature has adopted scaffolding most widely. Given that effective scaffolding can improve the quality of learning in an online environment, the current research is expected to contribute to online learning outcomes and learning experiences.