Online Teaching Environment Research Articles

Preservice Teacher Perceptions of the Online Teaching and Learning Environment during COVID-19 Lockdown in the UAE

(1) Background: In March 2020, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education (MoE) closed all schools and universities in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. All lessons had to be delivered online. This mixed methods case study explores responses to this change in learning environment from 35 BA Education and Early Childhood Studies preservice teachers at a British university in Dubai. The research sought to understand the impact of the sudden move to home learning and the ways in which it affected student communities alongside student perceptions of the online learning environment. (2) Methods: Quantitative data was collected via questionnaires allowing students to consider past experiences while reflecting on their approaches to the online environment. Weekly focus groups were held online to track the student experience and understand the influence of different pedagogical approaches. (3) Results: The research found most students maintained a ‘deep’ or ‘strategic’ approach to learning. (4) Conclusions: Despite students declaring the period of emergency online learning as successful, there was a strong preference for the traditional lecture format over alternative approaches, stating subjective feelings of belongingness and connectedness to the physical campus.

ICT literacy, resilience and online learning self-efficacy between Chinese rural and urban primary school students.

In the process of large-scale online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, students' online learning has caused widespread public concerns. This study investigated the relationships between Chinese rural and urban primary school students' information communications technology (ICT) literacy, student resilience, and online learning self-efficacy in a large-scale online education environment during the pandemic in China. We compared 5,037 primary school students in rural areas to 5,045 primary school students in urban areas with matching gender and grade in nine regions in China's Guangdong province, using a survey comprising an ICT literacy scale, a student resilience scale, an online learning self-efficacy scale, and an ICT devices scale. The ICT literacy, resilience and online learning self-efficacy of primary school students in rural areas were significantly lower than those in urban areas (p < 0.01). The primary school students' ICT literacy was significantly associated with student resilience and online learning self-efficacy. Student resilience played a mediating role between ICT literacy and online learning self-efficacy, while the rural/urban area factor moderated the relationship between ICT literacy and student resilience. These findings suggest that ICT literacy is more scarce and important for primary school students in rural areas of China than for those in urban areas. Improving ICT literacy among primary school students can enhance students' resilience and thus improve their online learning self-efficacy, especially in rural areas.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists’ productivity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and medicine fields

While studies suggested adverse impacts of COVID-19 on scientific outputs and work routines for scientists, more evidence is required to understand detailed obstacles challenging scientists’ work and productivity during the pandemic, including how different people are affected (e.g., by gender). This online survey-based thematic analysis investigated how the pandemic affected scientists’ perception of scientific and academic productivity in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and medicine fields. The analysis examined if inequitable changes in duties and responsibilities for caregiving for children, family, and/or households exist between scientists who are mothers compared to scientists who are fathers or non-parents. The survey collected data from 2548 survey responses in six languages across 132 countries. Results indicate that many scientists suffered from delays and restrictions on research activities and administrations due to the lockdown of institutions, as well as increased workloads from adapting to online teaching environment. Caregiving responsibility for children and family increased, which compromised time for academic efforts, especially due to the temporary shutdown of social supports. Higher percentages of female parent participants than male parent participants expressed such increased burdens indicating unequal divisions of caregiving between women and men. A range of physical and mental health issues was identified mainly due to overworking and isolation. Despite numerous obstacles, some participants reported advantages during the pandemic including the efficiency of online teaching, increased funding for COVID-related research, application of alternative research methodologies, and fluidity of the workday from not commuting. Findings imply the need for rapid institutional support to aid various academic activities and diminish gender inequity in career development among academicians, highlighting how crisis can exacerbate existing inequalities.

CO2 Concentrations and Thermal Comfort Analysis at Onsite and Online Educational Environments.

In building areas with high occupancy, such as classrooms, transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2 are increased when indoor air quality is deficient. Under this scenario, universities have adopted ventilation measures to mitigate contagious environments. However, the lack of adequate equipment or designs in old educational buildings is a barrier to reach minimum requirements. This study aims to quantify the indoor air quality and thermal comfort at universities and compare it to conditions in students' households. In this regard, several classrooms in buildings of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia were monitored for temperature, CO2 concentration and relative humidity. The people who used these classrooms were surveyed about their comfort perceptions. A sample of students was also monitored at their homes where they reported to studying during the exam period. By means of point-in-time surveys, students reported their daily comfort, for comparison with the monitored data. The results show that the recommendations for CO2 concentration, temperature, and relative humidity are not always met in any of the study spaces. These factors are more critical at universities due to the high occupancy. In addition, the surveys highlighted the perception that the environment is better at home than at university.

Online teaching for ethnic minority students in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic - A qualitative study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a comprehensive and profound impact on Vietnamese education. In response to the pandemic, many localities have organized continuous online teaching for a long time. Teaching activities must change from planning, teaching organization, and assessment to adapting to the online teaching environment. The study aims to assess the current status of online teaching of ethnic minority students in Vietnam in aspects from teaching conditions and implementation practices to evaluate the effectiveness of online teaching.

RETURNING TO OFFLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING: WHAT IT MEANS FOR INDONESIAN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

During the early pandemic, teachers and students were abruptly forced to conduct teaching and learning remotely. Both were struggling to cope with the challenges in the emergency remote teaching (ERT) situation. It was quite common to hear students and teachers wishing to go back to school immediately for various reasons. After two years of remote teaching, some schools begin to open for face-to-face or offline learning. It is then interesting to know how the students and teachers responded to the school/ campus opening. This paper reports a small-scale survey involving 110 respondents, both teachers, and students at the secondary and tertiary levels. Thematic coding analysis was carried out to analyze the participants’ responses. This study revealed that 80% of the respondents opted for online distance learning over offline learning during the pandemic although they reported challenges of teaching and learning within the online mode. The percentage shifted after two years of distance learning. In terms of mode preference, 56% of respondents prefer to go back to offline mode but the remaining 44% want to stay in the online remote mode of teaching and learning. While the majority chose offline learning, several themes of concern emerged from the responses, and reverse eco-shock is the most prominent. As the students and teachers acknowledged the benefits and build comfort in the online teaching and learning environment, they indicate the reimaging of offline teaching and learning. It implies that the practice of offline learning will not be similar to that before the pandemic

The Mechanism of Teacher Influence on the Learning Engagement of Students

&#x0D; As a non-teaching factor, the influence of teachers can often trigger positive teaching effects, and exert impacts on students’ learning engagement. However, few of the existing studies on the online learning engagement of college students have viewed this topic from a quantitative perspective, and few have concerned about the influence mechanism of Teacher Influence (TI). To fill in this research blank, this paper studied the influence mechanism of TI on the learning engagement of students. At first, this paper analyzed the theories related to the said influence mechanism and proposed a TI model for the online teaching environment. Then, after investigating students’ understandings, participation, and questions with the online teaching activities created by teachers, the TI model was built in the paper. In view of the complexity of this TI model, this paper fully considered the meaning of the interactions of teacher and student nodes during the actual online teaching activities, proposed a two-stage TI maximization algorithm based on the learning input responses of the nodes, and realized comprehensive quantification of TI. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was verified by experimental results.

Impact of lecturers’ emotional intelligence on students’ learning and engagement in remote learning spaces: A cross-cultural study

Higher education institutions have recently transitioned from face-to-face to online teaching and learning environments. However, academic staff lack sufficient training in applying emotional intelligence (EI) skills and strategies in online learning environments. Although literature addressing academics’ EI is sparse, some studies have suggested that lecturers’ EI greatly influences teaching and learning. This study used the concept of EI to understand students’ perceptions of how lecturers’ EI impacted their learning and engagement in an online learning environment. We conducted four online focus group interviews of 14 students pursuing a bachelor’s degree at two campuses of an Australian university, one in Melbourne and the other in Malaysia. Four main themes were identified using thematic analysis. Students discussed their perceptions and experiences on (a) vulnerabilities, coping and empathy; (b) relationships with lecturers, trust and safety; (c) communication, tone and voice; and (d) managing emotions of lecturers. Our findings suggest that lecturers’ EI impacted students’ learning and engagement in online learning spaces. However, the impact differs between Australia and Malaysia due to cultural differences. Drawing on the findings, we present online education good practices grounded in the theory of EI. Lecturers delivering online courses should consider employing these practices for effective teaching. Implications for practice or policy: Higher educational institutions need to support lecturers in developing the necessary EI skills to engage students in online learning. Lecturers need to make meaningful attempts to develop positive relationships with students in online forums to support students’ engagement. Lecturers working in online learning environments need to support students to develop friendships and connections with their peers. Lecturers need to include regular discussion breaks during online lectures to allow students to share their opinions and experiences.

Accounting and Finance Students' Perceptions of Online Learning in a Mature Online Teaching Environment

The purpose of this study is to investigate accounting and finance students' perceptions of online education in an environment where online course delivery is mature and has been well supported. Undergraduate students majoring in accounting and finance were surveyed to identify what those preferences are. Consistent with literature, there is a preference for face-to-face learning in terms of perceived learning and satisfaction. However, convenience and scheduling issues act as strong countervailing factors propelling students toward online courses, although the impressions of online education are overwhelmingly good. Additionally, three quarters of the students found taking upper division courses online to be suitable to them. Exploratory factor analysis was then used to identify the key factors regarding online education quality and satisfaction, and six separate components were found to be both significant and reliable. The study expands literature by specifically focusing on accounting and finance education in a mature online education environment.

A cross sectional study on the online teaching strategies of gross anatomy and histology during the COVID-19 pandemic periods

The subsequent implementation of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities to keep the students away from the institutions. The aim of the study was to conduct a survey through medical colleges among anatomy teachers along with an exploration of optimization of the transitions which can assist to improve the quality of online teaching. The objectives were to identify the virtual learning interventions implemented by different medical colleges in India during Covid-19 pandemic periods, and to identify suitable technological intervention for teaching anatomy from the educator’s point of view. A cross sectional study was conducted by convenience sampling method. A differential rating scale questionnaire study was conducted. A hundred participants from the department of anatomy of 100 medical colleges with a minimum of 3 years of experience in teaching in the field were the samples. Faculty other than anatomy department of medical colleges was excluded. Consents were taken from each participant and participant information was shared by email. The teachers were from both from Government and from Private Institutions. For most teachers, the biggest difficulty in implementing online teaching during the initial year of online teaching at 2020 was the unstable online teaching environments, platforms and tools (47%), followed by their unfamiliarity with online teaching techniques, platforms and tools (26%). Further, 17% had problems due to insufficient training and management of online teaching from college. This study assists to improve the design and quality of online teaching by suggesting for the change in infrastructure by arranging online portal handson coaching for rendering online education.

New Recommendation System Based on Students' Engagement Prediction Using CNN to Optimize E-Learning

The advantage of face-to-face teaching is the teacher's ability to naturally assess the engagement of his students, while adapting his course to their training needs. Whereas, in an online teaching environment, the identification of the learners' engagement becomes an arduous task involving considerable effort on behalf of the teacher negatively impacting the quality of his rendering. Therefore, the authors of this paper focus on the development of a new intelligent recommendation system for the optimization of the quality of online learning and teaching. This system provides suggestions to teachers or students based on their state of engagement. Moreover, the system developed is based on a deep learning model, the convolutional neural network, which has confirmed its reliability with an accuracy of 88%. Finally, the future scalability of the recommendation system is ensured through the introduction of a new learning indicator that can be used for further predictions.

Editorial: Covid19 EFL/ESL/English Teaching Environment and Digital EFL/ESL/English Learning Methods

As a corollary to this, new trends in the field of English language teaching/learning are likely to surface, develop, and find application in the academic settings. The current global pandemic of Covid19 has caused a massive shift in teaching paradigms with previous methodologies being turned upside down due to the mass migration of education to online medium. One area that has been greatly affected is the entire ESL industry, from schools in Asia to universities in Australia, the UK and the US. No form of English teaching school has been unaffected by this global catastrophe. As a result, new methodologies especially useful for the online teaching environment must be effectively made use of. Whereas online education was formerly looked down upon in some countries, it has now become the norm. Nevertheless there are many educators who are ill-equipped to deal with this change, some students are also demotivated due to the online system of education. This special issue will focus on the Covid19 and post-Covid19 EFL/ESL/English teaching environment and digital EFL/ESL/English learning methods with the aim of creating a ready-for-reference corpus, especially for teachers with little or no formal training in online EFL/ESL/English teaching.

Features of and representational strategies in instructional videos for primary science classes

ABSTRACT Utilisation of instructional videos for science teaching has become more widespread due to the expansion of online teaching and learning environments and growing awareness of benefits of videos, such as enabling use of effective multiple representations. With this in mind, this study aimed to examine features of instructional videos for teaching scientific inquiry, a key element of science education, and learners’ engagement, a crucial issue in instruction in terms of representational strategies used. We analysed 16 instructional videos for science teaching generated by pre-service teachers. We found that the instructional videos tended to focus on posing a question related to a phenomenon and constructing its explanation conceptually rather than conducting investigations and interpreting the data. It was also found that there were alternations between providing relevant and conceptual resources and affording learners opportunities to answer questions verbally and visually to prompt their engagement. Various representational strategies, such as summarising, comparing, highlighting, sequencing, and presenting vivid phenomena, were also employed for better teaching scientific inquiry as a part of learners’ ongoing cognitive activities. Based on the findings, we argue that there is potential for using instructional videos for teaching science, considering representational strategies in terms of scientific inquiry and learners’ engagement.

Emotional-based pedagogy and facilitating EFL learners' perceived flow in online education.

Given the fundamental role of emotional intelligence (EI) in learning, especially in virtual learning contexts where individuals experience more stress and anxiety, the need to understand and recognize one's own feelings and the mutual feelings of peers has gained more importance. Flow as the ultimate state in harnessing emotions in the service of performance and learning has been introduced as the main reason for one's willingness to perform activities which are connected to no external motivation. In this regard, the present study was conducted to first introduce a new educational program to enhance the EI level in the English as a foreign language (EFL) online education environment and next to investigate the possibility of raising EFL learners' perceived flow. To achieve these goals, the study recruited a sample of 67 EFL learners who were next divided into experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 35) groups. The experimental group received the EI intervention over 10 weeks and the control group received the ordinary online EFL instruction. Data were collected through EI and flow questionnaires and semi-structured interviews which focused on learners' perception of the EI intervention and signs of enhanced flow. Statistical analysis of the data showed a positive effect of the program on the learners' EI and their perceived flow. The study emphasizes the role of applying positive emotions in making language learners more engaged in online classroom tasks.

Investigating Learners' Teaching Format Preferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Investigation on an Emerging Market.

This paper aims to measure learners’ preferences for a specific teaching format (online, hybrid, or face-to-face) based on their experience, usage, and interaction with e-learning platforms (Moodle/MS Teams), on their participation in e-learning courses delivered via online streaming platforms (Zoom), on teaching staff skills and teaching–learning abilities, as well as on the advantages and disadvantages of those forms of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In implementing the research question, a conceptual model was developed, which was further analyzed by means of structural equations modelling via SmartPLS 3.3.9 (SmartPLS GmbH, Boenningstedt, Germany). The data were collected via quantitative research implemented through an online questionnaire addressed to learners (students) from an emerging market during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research contributes to extending social learning theory and the social cognitive learning theory by pinpointing the learners’ preference for the online educational format and by showing how a blended learning environment in universities can be developed by fructifying the gains in terms of digital skills acquisition during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper highlights the contribution of the online educational environment in extending the use of interactive digital tools and resources, engaging the learners, and creating the opportunity for them to become accountable for their learning experiences.

Prerequisites for Building an Innovative Online Platform Supporting BIM Implementation in Higher Education

Abstract The aim of the paper is to present outcomes of the first phase of the ongoing EU-funded Project BIMaHEAD focused on building digital readiness in higher education institutions as well as supporting students in AEC related degrees to adjust to the new online education environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through integrating digital technologies with teaching and learning practices. An in-depth comparative analysis of 132 case studies focused on Building Information Modelling education in a Higher Education sector in Europe was completed and conclusions were drawn. A great amount of data was collected, studied, and analysed. The benchmarking analyses were fundamental for understanding the state of the art in the area, defining gaps and deficiencies, and rethinking teaching and learning methodologies. The findings also revealed evident differences in curricula as well as in the roles and responsibilities of main actors in the AEC sector in European countries. Therefore, they allowed to specify prerequisites and outline a vision of an open-access online platform to be developed within the second and third stages of the BIMaHEAD Project.

Extending The Community of Inquiry Framework: Development and Validation of Technology Sub-Dimensions

Since the mandatory switch to online education due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, technology has gained more importance for online teaching and learning environments. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) is one of the validated frameworks widely used to examine online learning. In this paper, we offer an extension to the CoI framework and survey, arguing that meaningful and appropriate use of technologies has become a requirement in today’s pandemic and post-pandemic educational contexts. With this goal, we propose adding three technology-related sub-dimensions that would fall under each main presence of the CoI framework: (a) technology for teaching, (b) technology for interaction, and (c) technology for learning. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we added 5 items for technology for teaching sub-dimension, 4 items for technology for interaction sub-dimension, and 5 items for technology for learning sub-dimension in the original CoI survey. Further research and practice implications are also discussed in this paper.

A Comparative Study of the ADDIE Instructional Design Model in Distance Education

Distance education is now a reality introducing a “specific methodology of flexible and interactive multiform learning”. Due to its characteristics, different instructional design models apply to distance education as guidelines of the design thinking process pursuing specific learning outcomes. This study refers to the investigation of good teaching practices and approaches in relation to the ADDIE model in distance online environments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate both the effectiveness of the ADDIE model in distance education and its contribution to the online teaching process. Meta-analysis is chosen as the research methodology. Specifically, we export a total of 58 articles referring to the ADDIE model. From these, we find that only 23 articles are appropriate for the meta-analysis. According to the results of this study, we observe that the ADDIE model applies to meet different teaching requirements in all online educational environments. In this study, we observe that good practices of teaching are the multimedia presentation, feedback, variety of interactive exercises or activities, combined learning strategy (individualized and collaborative), and role of educators. Then, an asynchronous approach was preferred in distance education. Finally, the ADDIE model is considered as a valuable source of additional information by providing good teaching practices.

Rethinking Higher Education Unit Design: Embedding Universal Design for Learning in Online Studies

Inclusive education in Australia has resulted in a concerted push for the differentiation of pedagogical teaching approaches by educators across Kindergarten to Year 12 (K-12) learning environments. Such approaches have been shown to meet a diverse range of learner needs found in today's classrooms. While progress is evident at the primary and secondary levels of education, implementing effective inclusive practices in higher education appears stagnant. Utilising the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in a fully online pre-service teacher training unit, multiple means of representation of the learning content and multiple means of engagement were explicitly incorporated into the online unit design. This approach aimed to proactively support the engagement of all students in an online teaching and learning environment. This study provides preliminary evidence that the application of UDL principles resulted in higher levels of student engagement and lower rates of student attrition.

Does gender stereotype threat affects the levels of aggressiveness, learning and flow in gamified learning environments?: An experimental study.

Studies in the literature reported several positive benefits provided by the use of technology in online education, especially in the gamified tutoring system. However, despite the benefits of intelligent tutoring systems, recent studies indicate the presence of a gender gap not considered in the construction of the attributes present in the gamified tutoring system. To investigate this impact by observing users’ behavioral changes in gamified online educational environments, the present study aims to investigate the effects of the stereotype threats using a quantitative experiment with a Factorial Design in three gamified environments (stereotypical male version, stereotypical female version and control environment). Was conducted an experiment with 150 individuals (high school and undergraduate students) without considering age, ethnicity, or social class. The results show that the participants allocated to the male learning environment present an increase in aggressiveness level. Furthermore, the results also show the stereotypical male and female learning environments increased the participants’ performance level. Another finding was that the threatening condition provided a significant increase in the participants’ flow level among males subjected to a threatening condition, which did not manifest in the case of females. In addition, this study also observed the effect of the stereotype threat on men and women in the threatening condition by division in the 34-year age group, resulting in a significant increase in the level of flow among men. This study showed previous results show that the gamified environment influences psychological variables as aggressiveness, intellectual performance, and flow level, they raise questions about the direction of these changes and the impact they may have on users’ usability and performance in these systems.