Distance Education Mode Research Articles

A organização do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem na EaD: o ponto de vista dos estudantes

Abstract The article aims to discuss the didactic organization of the virtual page, located in a certain VLE, from the students' point of view, and understand the singularities of the interaction processes in this context. The data were built from a questionnaire applied to students from different courses, from a distance education center. The results indicate that the didactic organization of the pages depends on careful planning, which articulates the contents, the methodological strategies, the didactic resources, the evaluation and the information, in order to answer the needs of the distance education modality. As for the phenomenon of interaction, active and constant participation stands out, in addition to feedback, as enhancers of relationships between the actors involved in DE, which contributes to the student's engagement.

Documentary Analysis on the Experience in the Distance Education Modality in Higher Education Students

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo el identificar, clasificar y analizar la modalidad educativa a distancia en tiempos de pandemia, esto con el fin de generar la evidencia científica que soporte un estudio a mayor profundidad de sus efectos. La investigación se realizó mediante un análisis documental, basado en un registro documental a través de un enfoque cualitativo. Que se basó en encontrar, organizar y analizar información contenida en documentos en bases de datos científicas y revistas indexadas sobre las características de las modalidades educativas en las instituciones de educación superior (IES). El procedimiento que se llevó consiste en 11 fases para un exitoso análisis documental. Entre estas fases se encuentra el determinar el fin del análisis documental, establecer categorías de análisis en las cuales se centrará la búsqueda de información, localizar documentos para extraer los datos, categorizarlos y registrarlos en el instrumento y su respectiva referencia, entre otros. Como resultado se describieron las características de las modalidades educativas en las IES; las características de la modalidad a distancia, los resultados sobre modelos exitosos de la EAD en las IES durante el confinamiento por COVID-19 y las experiencias de la educación a distancia en las IES durante el confinamiento por COVID-19

Distance Learning in Pandemic Age: Lessons from a (No Longer) Emergency.

For the first time in the history of the global school system, the adoption of distance education modalities became necessary in response to the measures and restrictions implemented to stem the global pandemic generated by COVID-19. Online learning is not a new topic in education; it refers to studying for a certificate using online platforms that offer online courses rather than visiting lectures. Distance learning is a type of training that involves online learning under the supervision of a classroom teacher, but it can still be a little-known modality for both teachers and students. Preparing students for interactions and emotion management is essential in any teaching mode to maximize the learning and participation of the entire class group. This issue becomes even more critical in distance learning because it lacks those aspects of immediacy and concreteness typical of face-to-face interaction. The present article attempts to review the impact of distance learning versus traditional education brought about by the forced experience of distance learning due to the pandemic. In summary, this research has provided some initial findings about distant learning research during the pandemic age. To have a successful learning experience, students must be aware of their responsibilities and master their areas of autonomy, emotions, and feelings. Teaching at a distance is a challenge. As a general rule, learning activities that are successful in a traditional classroom may be adapted to the distance learning setting, but this will take more than a few minor tweaks to the slides or handouts. In order to engage pupils and maintain their attention and motivation levels, these techniques will probably call for more imaginative and inventive ways.

A Case Study on How Distance Education May Inform Post-Pandemic University Teaching

Higher education recently found itself in the unprecedented situation of being forced to rapidly switch to online education as a demand of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this article is to compare and contrast the experiences of university tutors who teach in two distance education universities with those who teach in a traditional university concerning their online lessons during lockdown. Forty university tutors participated in a survey to capture their teaching experiences. The survey was based on the transactional distance theory. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from both groups. Analysis of the quantitative data indicates no significant differences between the two groups in scores regarding course structure flexibility and the degree of student autonomy; however, significant difference with a high effect size was found regarding instructional dialogue, in favor of the distance tutors’ group. Thematically analyzing the qualitative data allowed the researchers to group the data into three main themes focused on how the instructional dialogue was manifested in the classes of both groups: (a) the learning design approach adopted, (b) the tutor-led interaction for student support, and (b) learner-to-learner communication and the sense of an online community. Ensuing recommendations involve adopting social-constructivist approaches that can sustain high-quality instructional dialogue in online learning settings and creating distance education faculty development programs in traditional universities that will help tutors support dialogical forms of online pedagogy.

INNOVATION OF ALTERNATIVE SUPERVISION PRACTICES FOR COMPLETION OF ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC SITUATION – A STUDY BASED ON THE BACHELOR OF EDUCATION (HON.) IN SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION (BEDSNE) OFFERED BY THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA (O

Supervision plays a vital role in the completion of the research project in the bachelor’s degree programmes (Askew et al., 2016). Changes in the delivery of research programmes at the university level have, in recent years, resulting in significant changes to research supervision (McCallin & Nayar, 2012). Especially, the global pandemic COVID-19 has forced academics to be engaged to find out alternative strategies to supervise their students (Wisker, et al. 2021). On other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic had negative effects on the process of research of the programmes (Boufenchoucha & Chandra, 2021). The aim of this study is to innovate the Alternative Supervision Practices for Completion of the Action Research Projects of the BEDSNE programme offered by OUSL during the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation. A fully qualitative approach was followed to conduct this study and a multiple case study design was utilized to conduct the study. The target population was 86 students, and 4 students were supervised by a particular supervisor selected by using the convenience sampling method. Data was collected using reflective journals and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The thematic analysis technique was utilized to analyse the data. The findings: all four students lack knowledge and never skills in action research. Online supervision support to get regular support from the supervisor, time management, managing unnecessary cost, peers, and family members. ZOOM is good for meeting with the supervisor, email is good for sharing the documents with the supervisor and getting immediate feedback from the supervisor, and social media support for the communicating with supervisor and getting support from peers. Online supervision has more advantages than onside supervision. Conclusion: online supervision is more appropriate to supervise the action research of bachelor students in the Open and Distance Education (ODL) mode. Recommendation: supervisors can use online supervision strategies to supervise students in prevailing situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis of Sri Lanka.

DISTANCE EDUCATION EFFECTIVENESS AND BARRIERS IN DEVELOPING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: MEDIATION OF INNOVATIVENESS

The objectives of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of distance education in fostering a positive attitude towards sustainability, examine the effects of barriers to sustainability in distance education in terms of the attitude towards sustainability and investigate the mediating effect of innovativeness in the aforesaid relationship. Online survey questionnaires were used to collect data from 663 final-year students enrolled in courses offered through distance education mode at selected universities in Malaysia. The data analysis was based on the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. This study attests that distance education is effective in nurturing a positive attitude towards sustainability through the mediation of innovation. Although the barriers related to distance education seemed to pose an inverse effect on the attitude towards sustainability, it did not seem to have any significant effect on innovativeness. Future research may investigate the further applicability of this study’s model in various contexts related to the role of distance education in achieving the goals of the sustainable development agenda.

Analysis of the relation between academic performance and learning strategies of undergraduate students in Distance Education

This research aimed to identify the relations between the learning strategies adopted by distance education accounting students and their academic performances. In the context of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, several Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) needed to invest in technologies that facilitate the introduction and dissemination of the distance education. Despite the similarities in content between face-to-face and distance education, the learning process is different between the modalities, making it necessary to understand the strategies that help explain the performance of these students. To achieve the objective proposed by the research, a survey was carried out with 174 students of accounting undergraduate course in the distance education modality of a private HEI based in the city of São Paulo. The data used in this research was based in quantitative techniques, such as test of means, analysis of principal components and simple and multiple linear regressions. From the research results, it was possible to identify a positive correlation between the main strategies used by the students and the performance in the course, corroborating the literature consulted. Cognitive strategies, specially, proved to be more important for students in the research sample. The study results help to understand how accounting students use strategies that help their academic performance, which can be useful for course managers, students in the area, professors, and for the conduction of educational polices by the accounting association.

Language education injustices in Mexican indigenous communities during COVID-19 pandemic

In Mexico, due to the pandemic caused by COVID 2019, most students have received remote education through public television channels and video calls via payment internet services. Although these practices can provide helpful strategies for students to continue with their school training process, the distance education modality began to demonstrate the social inequalities most students find themselves in. This situation has increased students' social and educational disparities in the South of Mexico. In that case, many indigenous communities are good examples of language education injustices before the pandemic, which has become a more critical situation during and after the pandemic. For instance, classes are only in Spanish; some indigenous teachers do not speak the language or community language variety. There has also been a lack of teachers for more than a year in different schools. Based on endangered indigenous languages experiences, in this paper, we aim to reflect on the notion of the school as a space for the democratisation of knowledge. However, in indigenous contexts, one can see critical social injustice conditions for students instead of democratisation of knowledge, as we said before. For that reason, we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic is only an issue and a minuscule particle to show the historical and structural language education injustices for indigenous people. Hitherto, it is necessary to recognise this situation all the time.

Investigating the interconnectedness among elements of face-to-face tutorials in distance education

PurposeFace-to-face tutorial sessions remain an integral part of the delivery mode of distance education in Ghana. It is sometimes used as the sole mode of delivery of educational content in some distance education institutions. This study, therefore, investigated the interconnectedness of elements of face-to-face tutorials among distance education students.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted the positivist approach and used descriptive research as a design. Simple random and stratified sampling techniques were used, and a sample of 1,491 students was drawn from a population of 44,001 across all regions of Ghana. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics.FindingsThe study found that collaborative learning, counselling, self-directed learning, motivation and critical thinking had strong interrelationships as elements of face-to-face tutorials.Research limitations/implicationsThis quantitative study was limited to the views of students on the elements of face-to-face tutorials. It was envisaged, however, that the views of the tutors and administrators who conducted the face-to-face tutorials could have enriched the findings of the study. In addition, adopting a mixed design approach where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the participants could have given an in-depth and enriched perspective of the current study.Practical implicationsManagement of distance education institutions need to focus on these important elements and their inter-relationships as they might lead to improved academic and social progress among students. In addition, institutions must also organise orientations and seminars for course facilitators and new students on the need to develop commitments towards the elements of face-to-face tutorials as requirement so as to succeed on their course of study.Originality/valueThis is a novel approach that will help improve the understanding of students on the importance of the activities they engage in during face-to-face tutorials. It would also help managers of institutions using face-to-face tutorials to focus on these important elements that might lead to improved academic work among students.

Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Perceptions among Lithuanian Adolescents.

Background: Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, humanity has had to face unprecedented change in daily routines. Therefore, the pandemic has also had an impact on mental health. Most of the literature analyzes adult experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the youth is less investigated. The purpose of this study was to reveal adolescent experiences during COVID-19. Methods: This qualitative study consisted of 19 adolescents from 11–17 years old. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was applied. Results: Five themes were identified: ambivalent feelings; daily routine changes; disappointment with distance education; coping strategies; and discoveries. Conclusion: The study revealed adolescents’ mostly negative feelings such as sadness, anger, loneliness, or boredom. They shared about frustrating daily routine changes and shifting to a distance education mode that was quite limited in effectiveness and convenience. Nonetheless, communication with family, peers, pets, active leisure, and favorite activities helped them to cope with the difficulties during COVID-19. During this period, adolescents had more free time for themselves and personal growth, found new activities, or improved some relationships. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had mostly negative side effects, and regardless of positive experiences, it was mainly considered by adolescents as an adversity for their mental health.

Technology-mediated Secondary Education in Paraguay: An Exploratory Study

Researchers around the world have amassed vast amounts of information about ICT use in education. This study focuses on ICT use in high school in Paraguay and the changes that took place with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has forced governments to take quarantine decisions, confine people to their homes and delay daily activities in all social and productive spheres. In Paraguay, in terms of education, classes were suspended at all educational levels, forcing the authorities to establish contingency plans. The National Government, through the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) established an Education Plan in times of Pandemic with the Project "Your school at home" which established training mechanisms for teachers in the country for the development of classes in the virtual modality of Distance Education, in addition to creating written didactic materials, audios and videos, plans and evaluation guides for the different subjects of the Secondary Education courses, available in an online portal as digital resources and freely accessible to the actors of the educational community. Through focus group interviews with secondary teachers from several regions in the country, issues related to the effects of the pandemic and government goals were discussed. Results evidence an urgent need for greater coverage and access to the internet, technological tools, and teacher training in such tools and in the didactics of Distance Education.

Individual approach variability of HEIs teachers on working process to students

The purpose of the academic paper lies in establishing the components of the successful implementation of an individual approach in teaching choreography within the conditions of the pandemic; highlighting problems and ways to solve them while teaching choreography in modern university education; identifying changes in the attitude of students and teachers to the quality of training of choreographers. The research methods are based on an integrated approach, namely: descriptive methods, analysis, and synthesis, generalization has been used to analyze the theoretical fundamentals. The major method is the experiment, as well as the method of questionnaires, tabular and graphical representation; the processing of results has required the involvement of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The hypothesis lies in the fact that the forms of a practice-oriented, variable individual approach to teaching choreography, the attraction of the possibilities of digital technologies, the mode of distance education within the conditions of the pandemic leads to improving the quality of such education, implementing the factor of transparency of the teaching process, eliminating the anxiety of participants of the educational process. The result is the discovery and expansion of opportunities to improve the practice of teaching choreographic disciplines within the conditions of the pandemic.

Knowledge management in the classroom using Mendeley technology

Research in higher education institutions is present in all courses, and academic instruction in research methodology is vital, with educational technologies being an essential component of this process. With the Covid-19 pandemic, there were changes in teaching, learning, and in performing scientific research in undergraduate courses. Among the technologies, the Mendeley reference management tool has become increasingly helpful in these contexts. Therefore, this manuscript is an account of workshop experiences for the use of the Mendeley tool in the teaching of Research Methodology and Scientific Methodology offered in the distance education modality in undergraduate courses at the Universidade do Contestado, Brazil. After basic instruction on Mendeley, students participating in the workshops were guided to apply the tool using Bardin's content analysis technique. This technique is usually laborious and seldom involved in literature reviews by undergraduate students; Mendeley technology makes it more accessible. From experiences with the 2020 and 2021 workshops, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is suggested that the content analysis method combined with the Mendeley technology can help students present better literature reviews, especially for final graduation projects such as course completion monographs.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical education

Background: Medicine is one of the few academic disciplines that cannot be taught in the distance education mode. Hands-on practice for clinical skills and competency is critical in medical education. Although this pandemic has offered new learning modes such as teleconsultation, videoconferencing, virtual simulations, and digital podcasts, how much actual knowledge transfer and skill gain will be achieved, is unanswered. Aims and Objectives: The present study has been planned to understand the impact of COVID on medical education and to identify the factors which promoted or hindered learning during COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 261 willing MBBS students from various colleges of Tamil Nadu after obtaining Institutional Ethical committee clearance using a pre-validated structured online questionnaire through Google form link in online social platforms through “Voluntary opt in” method of sampling. Results: About 22.6% of the study participants were affected by COVID-19. About 46% of the participants family members suffered from COVID and all of them accepted that it significantly affected their academics. About 71.6% experienced anxiety/depression. About 93.5% were addicted to social media during class hours. About 88.1% welcomed “flipped/blended learning”. More than 90.8% reported that they missed skill-based learning/Primary health care training. About 80.8% positively felt that they got more duration for preparing exams. About 89.3% found that practical exams were challenging. Conclusion: Not only have we witnessed the importance of having a robust health-care system, but the pandemic has created a critical need to transform various aspects of medical education especially to a model of blended learning of online and offline methods to enable a better academic environment so as to reflect the changing medical landscape.

Distance education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic Case of the Faculty of Sciences Ben M’Sick

In order to escape the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), qualified as a pandemic by the OMS, the suspension until further notice of courses in all schools and universities from Monday March 16, 2020. In this context and in order to ensure educational continuity and to diversify the possible alternatives, the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research to decide to switch from face-to-face teaching to distance by allowing teachers to communicate directly with their students and to organize distance learning courses (Platforms, Video clips, Live, Classroom, etc.). This article describes the experience of the faculty of sciences Ben M’Sick, in education remotely in the age of pandemic Covid-19. Our interest is to assess the quality of distance education within the Faculty of Sciences Ben M’sick to ensure the continuity of educational activities and the necessary teaching and to complete the academic year. In this context, our contribution aims to show the different approaches adopted by the Faculty of Science Ben M’Sick and know the impressions and the opinions of teacher-researchers on this distance education mode in this pandemic period.

Analysis Of Mixed Learning Mode Of Distance Education Based On Mooc

Analysis Of Mixed Learning Mode Of Distance Education Based On Mooc

Distance Teacher Training and Assessment in the Era of Covid 19 Pandemic

The situation induced by the Covid-19 health crisis has urged the pedagogical actors in education and training into an emergency mode of distance education. Previous research conducted during this period of health crisis, showed a major focus on the experience of distance teaching and assessment in both school and university contexts. Nevertheless, research in the context of pre-service as well as in-service teacher training is very scarce. In this regard, it seems appropriate to focus more on distance teacher training and distance assessment within the Regional Centers for Education and Training Professions, in French “Centres Régionaux des Métiers de l’Education et de la Formation (CRMEF)”. To achieve this purpose, a survey was conducted at the end of the pandemic containment period. The survey consisted of two questionnaires. The first one was administered to 20 teacher trainers of different specialties. The second one was addressed to 46 teacher trainees of the 2020 cohort. Analysis of results revealed that all the participant teacher trainers interviewed offered teacher training and conducted assessment from distance, using different instruments and modalities. However, the evaluations carried out at a distance were, in the majority of cases, formative evaluations with a rate of 93%. The respondents also reported that the main objective of these evaluations was to support and regulate the learning of future teachers. The study also recommends the promotion of distance teacher training and distance assessment procedures, as well as, the construction of valid and reliable digital equipments and adaptive e-learning platforms.

Analysis of mixed learning mode of distance education based on MOOC

In order to improve the evaluation ability of mixed learning in distance education, a mixed learning mode of distance education based on massive open online course (MOOC) is proposed. By building the distance education based on MOOC mixed study effect evaluation of heterogeneous storage structure of data model, remote education characteristics of distribution of blended learning model, remote education multi-parameter fusion model of blended learning and remote education blended learning process and effect evaluation of multi-parameter fusion model, multidimensional characteristics evaluation method is applied to the remote education blended learning model optimisation. The simulation results show that this method has better process control ability and higher reliability in learning effect evaluation, which effectively improves the mixed learning effect of MOOC-based distance education.

Blended learning and the development of English receptive skills a in foreign language students

Since the beginnings of 2020, the new information and communication technologies have caused important methodological changes in the different disciplines of the Foreign Language Teacher Education Program at Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas. Its use has contributed to a meaningful learning-centered on the students, boosted by the epidemiological crisis caused by SARS- Cov- 2 virus which has provoked the close of face-to-face activities in the different educational levels. The third year students from this program have had difficulties in the development of receptive skills in the English language because of distance education modality. The qualitative research was followed, specifically its action research method. The historical - logical, analysis - synthesis and induction - deduction, document analysis, analysis of students’ outcomes, interview, teacher's diary, and triangulation methods were used during the development of this study. The objective was to design an alternative to assist these students in the development of receptive skills in the elective course Laboratory Practice V through blended learning. As a result, the students are taking the risk of studying individually and managing to develop their receptive skills in English to acceptable levels.

Producción de recursos educativos para la enseñanza del portugués en la educación superior

The purpose of this article is to analyze three didactic materials produced for the online discipline Portuguese Language Workshop: Text Reading and Production, offered by the Faculdade de Letras of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Brazil. In this analysis, we seek to qualitatively analyze the elaboration of the materials considering the specificities of the Distance Education modality and the teaching of grammatical topics in the academic literacy context. For this, categories were defined as axes of analysis: multimodal resources; linguistic, discursive and pedagogical strategies; technological resources, and grammar conceptions. As a result, aspects to be improved were identified, such as the predominance of the traditional approach to grammar, and others that constitute good achievements, such as the diversity in the use of languages and in the expected way of reading and responding. Based on the results, we propose some characteristics that can contribute to the revision of the materials and also to the reflection about the production of educational resources in the context of distance Portuguese teaching.