Online Higher Education Research Articles

Refugees’ experiences with online higher education: Impact and implications through the pandemic

Refugees’ experiences with online higher education: Impact and implications through the pandemic

Best practices in online education during COVID‐19: Instructors' perspectives on teaching and learning in higher education

AbstractBy the end of 2019, the World Health Organization was informed about the first unknown pneumonia cases, later labeled the COVID‐19 global pandemic. Based on Mezirow's transformative learning theory, COVID‐19 has been the trigger event that challenged adult learners' values, beliefs, and expectations in higher educational institutions. The study sought to identify best practices across American higher education institutions (HEIs) to adapt their teaching approach to the online environment. It answered the question, “What are the best practices for higher education instructors to adapt their teaching approach to online environments?” This study uses a systematic literature review and an online survey for data collection across HEIs in the United States. The web‐based questionnaire includes fixed‐choice, closed‐ended, and open‐ended questions in four sections: demographic information, attitudes about online education, online teaching and learning strategies, and challenges. The study follows ethical procedures, thematic analysis, and discussion of the findings in the context of existing literature to outline best practices in online higher education during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Students Satisfaction with Online Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The digital educational environment is not new in the modern world, but in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to online learning has become necessary and fast. This offered the possibility to study various characteristics of objects and subjects in the digital educational environment. During the pandemic, universities worldwide were forced to switch to online learning, creating a global educational experiment with results to be comprehended and theoretically reflected upon. The significance of this scientific reflection is important for understanding the characteristics and factors that influence student satisfaction with online learning, as well as for anticipating possible ways to improve its effectiveness. This research aimed to study the characteristics of satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in connection with the elements of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) online learning model. The study involved 808 students (M = 22.5, SD = 2.4 (53.3% men)) from 6 countries (Serbia—30.8%, Bosnia and Herzegovina—8.5%, Croatia—8.9%, Romania—21.8%, Russia—25.2%, Slovenija—4.7%). A total of 808 students responded to a questionnaire measuring the levels of cognitive, social, and teaching presence in distance learning. Satisfaction with online learning has been shown to positively correlate with cognitive, social and teaching presence, and overall CoI presence. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that satisfaction with online learning does not differ among students with different levels of academic performance; however, the subjective assessment of the element of social presence “Tools and platforms for online learning allow students to work with each other” is significantly higher among students with low academic performance. Satisfaction with online learning and the elements of the CoI model is different in study groups with varying degrees of online learning presence, as well as different in students whose training included different elements of online learning. The conclusions obtained in this study will make it possible to organize the digital educational environment more effectively by managing the elements of the CoI model.

Universal Design for Learning Infusion in Online Higher Education

This qualitative case study explored the development of online teaching capacity to incorporate the universal design for learning (UDL) framework in an online graduate program. The participants in the study were purposefully selected from multiple levels at a Canadian university: (1) the program level, (2) the faculty level, and (3) the institution level. Using a series of semi-structured interviews and document analysis, four themes were identified: (1) leadership, (2) community of practice, (3) educational development, and (4) challenges. In addition to highlighting the roles of academic leaders in fostering UDL adoption in online learning, the findings also revealed forms of support that need to be in place to increase online teaching capacity. The findings from the study provide valuable input toward setting the stage for UDL to be meaningfully adopted in an online learning setting.

Academic Stress in Online Higher Education

With the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, higher education institutions have faced a number of challenges, one of which is the transition to online education. University students have experienced varying levels of stress as the largest group affected by this transition. The perceived level of academic stress experienced by university students in this new system has become significant for the improvement in online learning at the tertiary level. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the level of academic stress among university students including the components of pressures to perform, perceptions of workload, academic self-perceptions, and time restraints during online learning. In order to measure the level of academic stress among university students, a quantitative research design was adopted through gathering statistical data from 147 undergraduate students studying online in different departments in Turkey utilizing “The Perception of Academic Stress Scale” including the components of pressures to perform, perceptions of workload, academic self-perceptions, and time restraints during online learning. The results of this quantitatively designed study revealed that the perceived level of academic stress among university students was found as neutral in general; regarding the components of "Pressures to Perform" as high, of “Perceptions of Workload”, "Academic Self-Perceptions" and "Time Restraints" as neutral. Some statistically significant differences were also detected in the perceived level of academic stress in relation to the variables of gender, age (Gen X vs Gen Y), year of study, satisfaction with the learning and home environments.

Using Survival Analysis to Identify Populations of Learners at Risk of Withdrawal: Conceptualization and Impact of Demographics

High dropout rates constitute a major concern for higher education institutions, due to their economic and academic impact. The problem is particularly relevant for institutions offering online courses, where withdrawal ratios are reported to be higher. Both the impact and these high rates motivate the implementation of interventions oriented to reduce course withdrawal and overall institutional dropout. In this paper, we address the identification of populations of learners at risk of withdrawing from higher education online courses. This identification is oriented to design interventions and is carried out using survival analysis. We demonstrate that the method’s longitudinal approach is particularly suited for this purpose and provides a clear view of risk differences among learner populations. Additionally, the method quantifies the impact of underlying factors, either alone or in combination. Our practical implementation used an open dataset provided by The Open University. It includes data from more than 30,000 students enrolled in different courses. We conclude that low-income students and those who report a disability comprise risk groups and are thus feasible intervention targets. The survival curves also reveal differences among courses and show the detrimental effect of early dropout on low-income students, worsened throughout the course for disabled students. Intervention strategies are proposed as a result of these findings. Extending the entire refund period and giving greater academic support to students who report disability are two proposed strategies for reducing course withdrawal.

예체능 융합전공 학부생의 자기효능감 제고: 플립러닝 기반의 복합적 PBL교육을 중심으로

핵심 역량을 기르는 교육은 지식전달을 넘어 사회의 난제를 풀어내기 위한, 융합하고 재창조하는 과정들을 학습자들이 내면화하도록 한다. 지식을 이해하는 수준을 넘어서 지식을 활용하고 재구성하여 창조해내는, "지식 창조적 재구성"을 요구하는 것이다. 연구는 학습자들이 가진 지식과 기술을 결합하고 능동적으로 전략을 세우며 학습의 주체자로서 성찰할 수 있는 학습경험을 온라인 고등교육기관에서 제공했을 때 학습자들에게 있어 어떤 효과가 있었는지를 분석한다. 서로 다른 환경 속에서 학습과정을 거친 온라인/오프라인 학생들의 협업 사례를 주목하면서 플립러닝 기반 PBL교육의 효과를 알아보는 것이 연구의 목적이다. 이 논문은 다음과 같은 흐름으로 기술된다. 첫째, 플립러닝과 PBL의 교육방법과 효과를 문헌조사와 사례를 중심으로 조사하였다. 둘째, 예체능계 전공 교육과정에서 온라인/오프라인 2track의 플립러닝 교육의 운영방식을 기술하였다. 셋째, PBL 방식의 전공교과목 운영 사례를 통해 교육설계, 운영방식, 플립러닝 교육의 차이가 있는 온라인/오프라인 학생들의 토론결과를 서술하였다. 사례 결과를 정리하여 플립러닝 기반의 PBL수업의 운영방식을 기술하고 교육적 효과에 대하여 시사점을 도출하였다. 주요한 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 온라인수강만 하는 학습자들에게 있어 PBL수업의 교육적 효과가 높았다. 오프라인 플립러닝을 하는 학습자들은 온라인 기반 협업을 할 때 소통의 어려움이 크게 인식하였다. 학습환경이 다른 두 그룹의 학습자들 모두 PBL을 또 하나의 사회생활이라고 느꼈다. 향후 다양한 방식의 조사를 통해 플립러닝을 기반으로 하는 PBL수업의 교육 효과를 심층적으로 탐색할 필요가 있다. Education for raising core capacities leads learners to internalize the processes of integration and regeneration(for solving social and especially wicked problems) beyond delivery of knowledge. As such, knowledge-creative reconstruction is required beyond knowledge understanding. This study aims to analyze the effect of learning experiences through which learners integrate their knowledge with skills, actively build strategies, and reflect themselves as a subject of learning in online higher education. In detail, the study focuses on the effect of flipped learning-enabled PBL(Problem based Learning) on offline and online learners, who have experienced different learning processes but occasional collaboration between each other. The literature review section discusses the methods and effects of flipped learning and PBL. Then online-offline two-track flipped learning in the education of arts and sports is reviewed. This paper describes discussion between online students and offline students, who differ in class design and flipped learning style. Based on the contents of the discussion, the educational effect of flipped learning based PBL is summarized. The main findings are as follows. The educational effect of PBL was the highest on online-only students. Participants of offline flipped learning felt difficult in mutual communication at online-based collaboration. Both online-based students and offline-based students commonly considered PBL as part of social life. Beyond a case study like this paper, empirical studies in various ways will need to deeply explore the effect of flipped learning-enabled PBL.

A Validation of AI-Enabled Discussion Platform Metrics and Relationships to Student Efforts.

Asynchronous discussions are a popular feature in online higher education as they enable instructor-student and student-student interactions at the users' own time and pace. AI-driven discussion platforms are designed to relieve instructors of automatable tasks, e.g., low-stakes grading and post moderation. Our study investigated the validity of an AI-generated score compared to human-driven methods of evaluating student effort and the impact of instructor interaction on students' discussion post quality. A series of within-subjects MANOVAs was conducted on 14,599 discussion posts among over 800 students across four classes to measure post 'curiosity score' (i.e., an AI-generated metric of post quality) and word count. After checking assumptions, one MANOVA was run for each type of instructor interaction: private coaching, public praising, and public featuring. Instructor coaching appears to impact curiosity scores and word count, with later posts being an average of 40 words longer and scoring an average of 15 points higher than the original post that received instructor coaching. AI-driven tools appear to free up time for more creative human interventions, particularly among instructors teaching high-enrollment classes, where a traditional discussion forum is less scalable.

Supporting engagement and retention of online and blended-learning students: A qualitative study from an Australian University.

Enrolment numbers in online higher education courses have continued to increase over the last decade. The challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have further accelerated the growth in online and blended course offerings. The development of institutional support services, however, does not reflect this growth. Many students are not equipped with the skills or given adequate support to engage and succeed in their courses, leading to student disengagement and attrition. This study investigated the perceptions of students in online and blended subjects, regarding both the academic and institutional support they were provided. The research team collected interview data from 41 online and blended-learning students and then analysed these data using an iterative thematic analysis approach. This article introduces the key findings with two models: one presenting support strategies at multiple levels within this university; the other presenting three key elements of subject-level teacher support, which were identified by the interviewees as the most significant, effective, and relevant support mechanism in this context. The findings will inform higher education institutions who aim to engage and support online and blended students better, through an improved understanding of how support is perceived by this student cohort. This study was conducted at one Australian university; however, the findings are relevant to higher education institutions in other countries that strive to bring about positive experiences and enhance retention rates for online and blended students.

The Effect of Technostress on the Motivation to Teach Online in Higher Education Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of Business Faculty

This study investigated the relationships among technostress creators (techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, techno-invasion, techno-overload, and techno-uncertainty) on the motivation to teach online using the Motivation to Teach Online – Faculty Version scale. Data were collected from faculty members of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS), a member of the AACSB Business Education Alliance, and the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), an interdisciplinary professional organization comprised of faculty teaching in accounting, finance, management, marketing, organizational behavior, and computer information systems early 2020 (N = 307). The findings indicated that techno-stressed faculty are less motivated to teach online. Techno-insecurity and techno-overload subconstructs were statistically significant pre-pandemic. Techno-insecurity was statistically significant during the pandemic. Gender and years of teaching online were not observed among faculty to modify online teaching motivations. Results are presented to supply institutions of higher learning with evidence to support faculty with online learning undertakings while leveraging opportunities to manage enrollment.

Easily applicable social virtual reality and social presence in online higher education during the covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

Social virtual reality (social VR) platforms gained popularity among users over the last few years. They provide users with a sense of social presence, potentially stimulating social interaction in distance education. Insights on how VR enhances the social aspects of learning are scarce, however, and past examinations often focused on the effects of short usage times of self-developed VR learning applications. To analyze the potential of a simple-to-apply off-the-shelf social VR environment in distance education, in this qualitative study, a sample of 35 master's students employed the AltspaceVR platform for university seminars and group work over a six-week while campus access was restricted due to the covid-19 pandemic, and 23 of them were interviewed to examine their perception of the technology. The results show that social VR facilitated feelings of social presence, a more natural and spontaneous way of communicating with peers and teachers, and an increased sense of community in the classroom, compared to the alternative of videoconferencing. Participants reported high acceptance of the technology for teaching and learning tasks, particularly for interactive activities (e.g., workgroups) in small groups, but also identified limitations related to aspects such as image resolution, lack of note-taking tools, or the feeling of dizziness and fatigue after prolonged use. These results highlight the potential advantages of social VR for stimulating the social dimensions of online education, as well as the remaining challenges that need to be addressed to enable its use in higher education.

The Instructors’ Competencies and Experiences in Online Teaching

This study aims to examine the online teaching processes of instructors in higher education in detail and reveal their online teaching competencies. The study employed a convergent parallel mixed method design, where the comparative method was used in the quantitative part of the research and the qualitative part was designed as a descriptive case study. The data were collected from 490 online instructors in various departments of a state university in Turkey. A questionnaire was used to reveal the instructors' practices, experiences, opinions, and online teaching competencies in the emergency remote teaching process. The results indicated that instructors mostly preferred Zoom for synchronous and Canvas for asynchronous applications in online education. The online teaching competencies of instructors in pedagogy, technology, and facilitation dimensions were found to be quite high, while course administration competencies were intermediate. According to the qualitative dimension of the research, most of the instructors reported a significant increase in workload due to online education. They also cited the advantages of online education as well as the pedagogical and technical difficulties encountered. Keywords: teaching competencies, online instructors, online higher education, covid-19 pandemic, online teaching

A Qualitative Study on the Model of Factors Influencing Online Interactivity and Student Learning Engagement in the Post-Pandemic Era

In the post-pandemic era, online education model has become the new standard in the field of higher education, the interactivity and student learning engagement in online classrooms in higher education has become a major concern for scholars. Using thematic analysis in qualitative research, this study conducted in-depth interviews with respondents to understand the status of interactive strategies used by instructors and students’ learning engagement during online learning in higher education institutions in Macao, and to explore other factors that influence interactivity and students’ online classroom engagement. Through coding and analysis of interview data, this study found that information technology factors in online classroom instruction in the post-pandemic era affect students’ online learning motivation, self-control ability, and formative assessment in the online classroom. Also, online formative assessment, students’ online learning motivation, and their self-control ability could influence students’ online learning engagement. Based on the findings of the study, this paper proposes recommendations for improving classroom interactivity and student learning engagement in online higher education in the post-pandemic era.

The Role of Autonomy, Competence and Relatednes in Efforts to Increase Student Involvement in Face-to-Face Learning Post-COVID 19; Perspective of Self Determination Theory

The COVID-19 pandemic has forcibly changed the mode of teaching and learning from face-to-face only to online in higher education in Indonesia, which is a new experience and practice for many teachers and students. At the end of 2021, four ministries namely the Minister of Education and Culture, Minister of Religion, Minister of Health, and Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia stated that learning in tertiary institutions starting from the odd semester of the 2021/2022 academic year will be held with limited face-to-face learning while still implementing the health protocol. Online learning that has been running from 2019 to 2021 has certainly changed students' habits in dealing with the learning process. The transition from online to face-to-face learning has the potential to cause problems, especially in the context of students in areas that are still constrained by signals. Online learning within a period of two years with inadequate internet conditions of course greatly affected the minimal involvement of students in learning activities which then triggered the next problem, namely decreased student motivation due to learning conditions that were not conducive during the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint decision of the four ministers to carry out limited face-to-face learning is a breath of fresh air in the world of education to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the university environment, especially on campuses in the regions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of student motivation and involvement in increasing student involvement so that they are active in face-to-face teaching and learning activities in Post-COVID 19, especially on regional campuses. The research method used is a survey method with a quantitative research approach. The survey method is considered appropriate because of the large number of research samples. The data used is primary data sourced from respondents' answers to the given questionnaire. The data analysis technique in this study used Partial Least Square (PLS). This technique was used because this study used a large sample size and the relationship between several variables. The results of this study are expected to be able to provide input to campuses in the regions in order to increase student involvement and activeness in learning and teaching activities after COVID 19.

Teaching English online in higher education: Understanding the social climate of online academic English courses

This study examined the social climate of fully synchronous online English classrooms and its effects on students’ learning outcomes in a mixed-methods design, engaging 196 first-year non-English major students experiencing their first fully synchronous online English classes on Zoom in one academic term (12 weeks), taught by foreign lecturers. The results reveal a very positive learning experience with seven factors contributing to the social climate of the online English classrooms. Gender did not affect students’ perceptions and learning experiences, but English proficiency levels did, with a medium effect size. The social climate was a predictor of online English learning outcomes with a substantial effect size. Individual insights were extracted from the qualitative data. Implications for practice or policy: Online English courses should provide the same learning quality as in a face-to-face environment by enhancing the seven factors constructing a positive online English classroom climate. Educational policymakers should emphasise building positive social climates in online classrooms as it will lead to both better learning outcomes and experiences. Teachers may be encouraged to develop the skills students need to recognise and manage emotions, establish and maintain relationships and achieve positive goals in online English learning.

Improving social presence in online higher education: Using live virtual classroom to confront learning challenges during COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled practically all higher education institutions to adopt online education tools over the previous 2 years. Online education has a huge potential to supplement or take the place of in-person instruction. However, there are certain drawbacks of online learning, such as the absence of classroom environment interaction and the difficulty in keeping track of students' engagement and participation. In this study, a live virtual classroom was developed to aid students in their learning activities. The effectiveness of these live video classes was reported from both students and instructors, as well as the variables promoting their implementation within higher education institutions. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that the instructors found it convenient, as they could readily check course participants understanding by studying their live video lectures. The second major finding was that students felt satisfaction with online learning while asking questions without interfering with the instructor's presentation. Moreover, peers could also provide them with more expertise. However, the teaching process became dynamic, requiring the educator to pay close attention. The course participants also experienced anxiety when they were in front of other people. Additionally, both the instructor and the students need to be highly self-sufficient in technology.

Advising college students with dis/abilities in online learning

Most distance universities have adopted advising practices traditionally employed in on-campus institutions. Nonetheless, little is known about the role of academic advisers while guiding students with dis/abilities to engage and achieve success in online higher education. This study aimed to explore and analyze advisers’ perspectives related to supporting the diversity of these students in a fully online university. We followed the methodology of a case study based on semi-structured interviews in which 14 advisers participated. Our findings show that even though advisers face challenges when advising online students with dis/abilities, they attempt to support them proactively by offering personalized tracking. A paradigm shift from a reactive to a proactive approach by adopting inclusive practices would greatly improve the inclusion of all learners. Online institutions could better support learners with dis/abilities by framing all processes in the universal design principles and promoting collaborative and coordinated work among advisers, faculty, and staff.

Boundaries and boundary crossing in a multidisciplinary online higher education course on forest bioeconomy

ABSTRACT The field of higher education (HE) is characterized by diversity stemming from multiple sources. Diversity results in boundaries that carry the potential to promote personal and professional development for HE students. Boundaries also offer the possibility of learning generic skills and planning and carrying out challenging tasks that require collaborative problem solving in multidisciplinary teams. Drawing upon the theory of boundary crossing, this study aims to identify the kinds of boundaries that HE students experience during a multidisciplinary online course on forest bioeconomy and how they manage these boundaries in terms of boundary crossing while collaboratively solving an ill-defined development challenge set by a working life organization. The data consist of in-depth interviews with student teams (N = 20). The results provide insights into the pedagogical principles through which students’ boundary-crossing processes can be facilitated in HE online learning settings.

Finding Balance through Connected Learning Designs: Disentangling Self-Regulated and Co-Regulated Learning in Online Postgraduate Education

The paradigm of lifelong learning has changed our understanding of the possibilities of online postgraduate education for fostering self-regulated learning. Recent research attention has been placed on the role of self-regulated learning in higher education in hybrid, blended or fully online environments. Although the fields of EdTech and online higher education have a significant research agenda in both scale and scope, rigorous research and substantive findings about how students experience the balance across a continuum from self-regulated learning to guided instruction have been limited. The purpose of the current study is to examine and expose learning strategies and practices that support and shape connected forms of lifelong learning in online postgraduate education across contexts. Results are presented from the qualitative component of a broader mixed methods study aiming to explore the phenomenon of interest from the participants’ perspective. The findings present three key areas of interest to further the conversation on how to best support lifelong learning in online HE and promote changes in our understanding of self-regulated learning. The article concludes with a discussion of the identified learning strategies and practices used to support learning across contexts to provide more nuanced insights into the factors that support or hinder efforts to foster lifelong, self-regulated and co-regulated learning.

Raising student engagement using digital nudges tailored to students' motivation and perceived ability levels

AbstractParticipation in educational activities is an important prerequisite for academic success, yet often proves to be particularly challenging in digital settings. Therefore, this study set out to increase participation in an online proctored formative statistics exam by digital nudging. We exploited targeted nudges based on the Fogg Behaviour Model, highlighting the relevance of acknowledging differences in motivation and ability in allocating nudges to elicit target behaviour. First, we assessed whether pre‐existing levels of motivation and perceived ability to participate are effective in identifying different propensities of responsiveness to plain untailored nudges. Next, we evaluated whether tailoring nudges to students' motivation and perceived ability levels increases target behaviour by means of a randomized field experiment in which 579 first‐year university students received 6 consecutive emails over the course of three weeks to nudge behaviour regarding successful participation in the online exam. First, the results point out that motivation explains differences in engagement as indicated by student responsiveness and participation, whereas the perceived ability to participate does not. Second, the results from the randomized field experiment indicate that tailored nudging did not improve observed engagement. Implications for the potential of providing motivational information to improve participation in online educational activities are discussed, as are alternatives for capturing perceived ability more effectively.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Participation in educational activities is an important prerequisite for academic success, yet often proves to be particularly challenging in digital settings. Students' internal barriers to online participation and persistence in higher education are lack of motivation and perceived ability. Nudging interventions tackle students' behavioural barriers, and are particularly effective when guided by a theory of behaviour change, and when targeting students who suffer most from those barriers. What this paper adds This study examines whether the Fogg Behaviour Model is suited to guide a nudging intervention with the aim to increase student engagement in online higher education. This study examines whether students with different levels of motivation and perceived ability vary in their online behaviour in response to nudges. This study experimentally evaluates whether targeted nudges—targeted at students' motivation and perceived ability—are more effective than plain (not‐targeted) nudges. Implications for practice and/or policy The results indicate the importance of motivation for performing nudged behaviours regarding successful participation in an online educational activity. The results do not provide evidence for the role of perceived digital ability, yet do show prior performance on a similar educational activity can effectively distinguish between students' responsiveness. Targeted nudges were not more effective than plain nudges, but the potential of other motivational nudges and how to increase perceived performance are discussed.