E-learning Process Research Articles

Data mining of students’ behavior in E-learning system

The article deals with educational data mining techniques aimed at increasing effectiveness of E-learning process as well as the idea of adaptive feedback, individual assessment and more personalized attention to student’s profile due to dynamic monitoring and tracking of students’ behavior in the E-learning system. The following techniques are identified: cluster analysis to determine the most popular time threshold for the task per session; analysis and visualization of data to highlight the main options that contribute to the effective completion of courses, and the most popular educational resources; V-fold cross-checking with the use of statistical processing aimed at students by their main indicators of activity to determine the correlation between high percentage of activity and academic performance. The proposed educational data mining techniques allow to assess student’s behavior in the E-learning system for understanding student’s interest in studying the learning materials and assessing the quality of educational content.

The usage of digital technologies in the university training of future bachelors (having been based on the data of mathematical subjects)

This article demonstrates that mathematics in the system of higher education has outgrown the status of the general education subject and should become an integral part of the professional training of future bachelors, including economists, on the basis of intersubject connection with special subjects. Such aspects as the importance of improving the scientific and methodological support of mathematical training of students by means of digital technologies are revealed. It is specified that in order to implement the task of qualified training of students learning econometrics and economic and mathematical modeling, it is necessary to use digital technologies in two directions: for the organization of electronic educational space and in the process of solving applied problems at the junction of the branches of economics and mathematics. The advantages of using e-learning courses in the educational process are presented (such as providing individualization of the educational process in accordance with the needs, characteristics and capabilities of students; improving the quality and efficiency of the educational process; ensuring systematic monitoring of the educational quality). The unified structures of “Econometrics”, “Economic and mathematical modeling” based on the Moodle platform are the following ones. The article presents the results of the pedagogical experiment on the attitude of students to the use of e-learning course (ELC) in the educational process of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University and Alfred Nobel University (Dnipro city). We found that the following metrics need improvement: availability of time-appropriate mathematical materials; individual approach in training; students’ self-expression and the development of their creativity in the e-learning process. The following opportunities are brought to light the possibilities of digital technologies for the construction and research of econometric models (based on the problem of dependence of the level of the Ukrainian population employment). Various stages of building and testing of the econometric model are characterized: identification of variables, specification of the model, parameterization and verification of the statistical significance of the obtained results.

Digital Immigrants in a Blended Learning Environment: A Case Study in Malaysia

In this rapidly changing environment, an increasing number of people are turning towards open distance universities to earn their degrees, develop new skills and acquire current knowledge in order to upgrade themselves in their professions. A number of them who enrol in these blended learning or fully online courses are middle-aged, born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology. These digital immigrants, being used to traditional classrooms, are not very tech savvy and can be fearful about using technology as part of their learning. This study gives an insight into their learning styles, learning emotions, challenges and experience of using technology in the e-learning process during their first semester at an open distance university. The findings show that regardless of the difficulties and challenges that participants had gone through during the semester, all participants observed some changes in themselves such as the increase of confidence levels, better stress and time management skills, improvement in writing skills and becoming more independent learners with an increased ability to use technological tools for their learning. In addition, even though the learning environment is technology-based, digital immigrants maintain that they still prefer the blended learning mode rather than going completely online.

Smart Learning using Personalized Recommendations in Web Based Learning Systems Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm to improve Learning Performance

Many of e-learning systems in their web-based courses do not have personalisation based on individual needs and their capabilities. Main challenging aspect of personalised delivery of e-learning is concerned with an adaptive course delivery along with content delivery. Personalised e-learning environment provide recommendations to learning community for supporting and also helping them go through the process of e-learning, as it plays a crucial role in promotion of smart learning in smart cities. In this work, a novel framework namely, personalised bee recommender for e-learning (PBReL) based on artificial bee colony (ABC) optimisation is proposed to build a structure of recommendation by using K-means clustering. Many other recommender system are available that made use of ABC to identify its optimal learning path. Experiments are carried out by using web links and contents of Moodle-based learning management system (LMS). Results show that the proposed framework obtains higher precision and coverage.

Smart learning using personalised recommendations in web-based learning systems using artificial bee colony algorithm to improve learning performance

Many of e-learning systems in their web-based courses do not have personalisation based on individual needs and their capabilities. Main challenging aspect of personalised delivery of e-learning is concerned with an adaptive course delivery along with content delivery. Personalised e-learning environment provide recommendations to learning community for supporting and also helping them go through the process of e-learning, as it plays a crucial role in promotion of smart learning in smart cities. In this work, a novel framework namely, personalised bee recommender for e-learning (PBReL) based on artificial bee colony (ABC) optimisation is proposed to build a structure of recommendation by using K-means clustering. Many other recommender system are available that made use of ABC to identify its optimal learning path. Experiments are carried out by using web links and contents of Moodle-based learning management system (LMS). Results show that the proposed framework obtains higher precision and coverage.

ЗВ'ЯЗОК FACEBOOK З WORDPRESS ДЛЯ НАВЧАЛЬНОГО ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯ: ПРОПОНОВАНА АРХІТЕКТУРА ПІДТРИМУЄ СОЦІАЛЬНЕ НАВЧАННЯ

Ensuring social educational processes does not only represent a trend in terms of the evolution of e-Learning systems, but also one of the main points of interest targeted by the developers of certain social platforms. In fact, raising awareness with respect to the importance of using Social Media tools in education leads to a two-way approach: both by integrating social tools into e-Learning systems and by integrating learning facilities into Social Media platforms. Over time, the social network Facebook has benefited from intense use at global level, including in e-Learning processes. In order to meet the current needs in terms of teaching and learning, Facebook has provided users with built-in opportunities to facilitate social learning processes. However, expanding the Social Learning features integrated in Facebook can be a challenge at present, because of the policies imposed for the social network. The present article outlines a proposed architecture for extending the Social Learning functionalities offered within Facebook Groups by ensuring the correlation with WordPress open-source CMS. Aspects related to how the correlation between the two platforms can be ensured, the necessary tools and the steps involved will be discussed. Also, the main implications and advantages offered by such an architecture and the identified limitations will be highlighted.

Evaluation of a Distance Education Course Using the 4C-ID Model for Continuing Endodontics Education.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is needed in endodontics, and distance learning environments and courses may be preferable for CPD. Instructional designs (IDs) have been reported to strongly influence the educational effectiveness of these courses. Four Component Instructional Design (4C-ID) is an ID found to be effective for distance learning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a distance learning CPD course on regenerative endodontic procedures (REPs) designed with a 4C-ID model. The study was conducted between April 2017 and March 2018 with volunteers from the 2015-16 graduates of Selçuk University's Faculty of Dentistry in Turkey. Pre- and posttests and skill assessment guide were used for assessment. To determine the participants' satisfaction levels, the Satisfaction Scale for e-Learning Process and an open-ended question were used. Of the 86 graduates invited to participate, 79.1% (n=68) responded they would; but the investigators limited the participants to 30, and the first 30 volunteers who had identified a need for REPs CPD were accepted to the course. Four (0.13%) had to drop out during the course, so data from the 26 who completed it were evaluated. The findings showed the difference between pre- and posttest results was significant (p<0.001). The mean score for psychomotor skills at the end of the course was 99.62±1.96 out of 100. On the satisfaction scale, the mean score for all participants was 138.5 on a scale from 29=lower satisfaction to 145=greater satisfaction with the e-learning process. At the end of the REPs course, the participants' knowledge levels had increased, and they were able to apply REP steps on a model. These results suggest the 4C-ID was effective in this distance education course in REPs.

Assessment of Learning Ability by Online Survey in Students during the Pandemic of COVID-19 and Its Influence on Students with Respect to Jordanian Students

Education sector is one of the huge sectors which are severely affected during Novel corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, there are indeed some positive signs across the globe, in the form of distance learning, were remarked in this area of education but many difficulties have arisen in online learning simultaneously. This paper aims to address hitherto unreported difficulties during online e-learning process. In the present study, total 880 student samples surveys were considered across all the parts of Jordan. The samples were collected through online Google forms by circulating the same through social media platforms and online learning portals. The received responses showed the mixed statements for the e-learning. On the one hand the group of students those having technological support like laptop and computer with good internet speed has shown positive interest towards the online learning but on other hand the other group has shown less interest. Nevertheless, both the groups were fully agreed that the outcome of the learning was not properly addressed as in case of physical class room program. Students felt the need of physical interaction between learners and instructor. During the pandemic of COVID-9 in Jordan, there is opportunity felt by education sector to leap from the conventional method of learning to technology based online learning programme. After carefully observations of 26,400 questionnaires, the responses from the students of Jordan mirrored that there was a wide scope of the improvements in the technology-based education.

Teacher Education in Higher Education Systems during Pandemic and the Synergy of Digital Technology

In the modern world of education, the level of digital technology development plays a decisive role in the competitiveness of educational institutions. The transition to digital education is considered a key driving force for the development of any university. In recent years, pedagogical universities have made tangible progress in many areas of digital development. However, the introduction of digital technologies (DT) in the educational process reached its peak during the pandemic. This study aims to identify the distinctive features in the work of a teacher at a pedagogical university during the pandemic. The study revealed the following: the doubts of the teachers with no e-learning experience; didactically effective digital technologies in the educational process, the combined use of which ensures the synergistic effectiveness of e-learning; students’ attitude towards the quality of the e-learning process during the pandemic. Given the identified problems and positive aspects, the results of the study can be used to further develop a strategy for the digitalization of teacher education. The study proved that effective digitalization of the educational process is possible under the condition of cooperative and systematic work of all participants.

Learners on Focus: Visualizing Analytics Through an Integrated Model for Learning Analytics in Adaptive Gamified E-Learning

During the Coronavirus pandemic, e-learning systems have proven to be an essential pillar for education. This raises to surface what many studies have addressed earlier; creating a platform that completes the traditional classroom work and maximizes the effectiveness of learning outcomes. Striving to achieve such platform, studies have considered gamifying and personalizing the educational resources for the adaptation of educational systems as per the intended learners through intensive learning analytics. But was the learner really a part of the adaptation process taking place? Learning analytics are usually designed to the course's adaptation and solely for the teachers. Thus, learning analytics in gamified adaptive educational systems involving the course, teachers and learners together are still under investigation. In this study, the Personalized Adaptive Gamified E-learning (PAGE) model is introduced to extend MOOCs by providing new satisfactory levels of learning analytics and visualization in the rich e-learning process that supports the learner's intervention in the resultant learning analytics. The proposed Learning analytics have been developed to make the necessary adaptation to the course and learner's learning flow, as well as visualizing the process and adaptation decisions to the learners. Results show a positive potential towards learning adaptation and visualization, and a necessity to provide an additional focus for the gamification concept.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use of Digital Technologies in Ensuring the Efficient e-Learning Process at the Technical University of Moldova

The Technical University of Moldova (TUM) is the only state-accredited technical higher education institution in the Republic of Moldova. In the face of the magnitude of the health crisis, TUM had to quickly adapt its mode of operation to ensure the continuity of its activities and to accompany its students in the study process in an efficient way. In this paper, we analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on eLearning and on the use of Moodle and Microsoft 365 educational platforms, implemented at the Technical University of Moldova. The data were exported from M365 Usage Report in excel format for a period of 180 days (from 15.02.2020 to 15.08.2020) and from the Moodle database for a period of about 210 days (period 31.12.2019 - 31.07.2020). Those intervals include the pre-pandemic period, the lockdown period and the student holiday period. The aim of the research was to analyze the potential of the university to continue and ensure the online education process internally, to share the lived experience, the measures taken to anticipate the widening of the digital divide, but also for the identification of vulnerabilities and reasoned planning of exit strategies, in an appropriate frame of reference, depending on subsequent developments related to the COVID- 19 pandemic. The Technical University of Moldova anticipated and undertook multiple measures that demonstrated the potential to ensure the continuity and good development of the teaching process during the pandemic by: reducing the digital divide; reducing the risks of inequalities in education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds; ensuring the social binder (imperative during this period). At the same time, it would be incorrect not to mention that eLearning, although it is an indisputable support in the teaching process, requires additional investments (financial, time etc.) from the university and from the teachers, but also from the students!

Learners’ Activity Indicators Prediction in e-Learning using Fuzzy Logic

With the idea of introducing computer supports in education, Online Learning (named also e-learning) associated on one hand, the concept of network, therefore that of distance and concepts of communicating interaction, whether between the learner and the teacher (or tutor), or between the learners themselves and on the other hand exchanges and collaboration. Any activity in e-learning leaves recorded traces stored in a database system. Until now, data on student activity is stored as low-level information; however, the volume of this information is too large to be processed and interpreted by tutors, requiring data collection and preparation to give it meaning. In addition, according to the studies carried out in this direction, the tracking of learners must be guaranteed in all stages of e-learning process, to assist and help them when they encounter problems that they cannot solve. The lack of direct contact between the tutor and the learners can cause a lack of feedback of the learning activity; all these problems can lead to a high rate of abundance in e-learning. Our work aims to develop a model for predicting learner activity indicators using fuzzy logic without going through rigid calculations but based on consultation traces and skill assessment scores. Based on the traces collected from the Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle, it could give the tutor high level processing of the learning activity.

Модель процесса адаптивного обучения и его программная реализация

The presented project is aimed at automating the e-learning process regarding the acquisition of practical skills for solving non-formalized tasks, determining the level of knowledge and reducing the duration of training by reducing the number of tasks depending on the level of training. To meet these requirements, an adaptive testing approach was implemented and “Adaptive trainer” web-service was implemented to demonstrate how it works.

Assessment of a method for usability testing by determining usability of the online learning platform

Today many products are designed to be reasonably easy to use so, in addition to usefulness, product usability is of great importance. Usability means simply using or simply learning to use a tool or device. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which certain users can effectively use software to achieve their goals in the context of use. Usability assessment involves measurement methods, such as analyzing consumer needs and examining perceptions of product efficiency and product attractiveness. In human-computer interaction, studying usability means the analysis of attractiveness and clarity of an application which is designed to interact with a computer program or web site. Usability takes into account both user satisfaction as well as the usability and quality of the component under study, while striving to improve the user experience through iterative product design. The basic problem of the research project was the pilot assessment of the suitability of our own method of testing the usability of the Sakai online learning platform in integration with the BigBlueButton conference call program. The article presents the most important results of assessing our own method of testing the usability of the learning platform on groups of students and lecturers participating in the e-learning process and project (CPK) testers. The testing was performed on the basis of the evaluation of the test subjects' introspective insight into their own expression of emotional reactions by means of a questionnaire and analysis of mimics, gestures and proxemics from the videos of the test subjects by the testers. The statistical significance of the differences between the groups was performed by Kullback 2Ȋ test of the independence hypothesis.

Generation of agent simulation models by using process mining methods on the example of E-learning process

The main objective of this work is to develop a method for the formation of agent simulation models based on the actual business processes implementation data. To solve this problem, we used the educational process management system Moodle, ProM process mining system, and AnyLogic simulation system. The initial data of the educational process obtained from the Moodle system were processed using Process Mining methods, and a heuristic miner based on the Weijters algorithm was used. Business process models were described in the eEPC notation. The prognostic ability of simulation models constructed as a result of the application of the proposed method turned out to be quite high. The error in predicting the total execution time of the process and the total complexity of the process did not exceed 7%.

Blended Learning Syarah: Bagaimana Penerapan dan Persepsi Mahasiswa

This study aims to see how the implementation and students’ perceptions of e-learning type blended learning in Mathematics Capita Selecta course. The e-learning in this study utilized the Syarah portal, an online learning application developed by Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji (UMRAH) responding to the 4.0 era. This online learning using Syarah was the first time applied to research subjects, namely 35 students of Mathematics Capita Selecta Course year 2019. The data was collected from the results of the researchers' observations during the learning process and students’ responses to the questionnaire. The data were analyzed qualitatively to describe how the implementation of e-learning and how students’ perceptions about e-learning Syarah in supporting them to learn. The results of the analysis show that the Syarah system and students are ready for the implementation of online learning. Students’ confusion only occurs at the initial meeting of each type of e-learning activities designed by the researcher. Hereinafter, students could carry out learning well, even independently, but with clearly stated instructions. In addition, students were actively involved during the e-learning process. It also reveals that students felt more open to engaging in e-learning activities than when they were in class. In general, students gave positive responses to the use of Syarah in supporting blended learning.

A new model for evaluating the effect of cloud computing on the e-learning development

PurposeDespite the importance of investigating the impact of cloud computing on the e-learning process, the relationship development between the two is not examined well. Thus, the main goal of this research is to assess how to improve the e-learning process by using cloud services. This paper aims to attempt to investigate the impact of cloud computing on e-learning development.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. For review-related work and statistical analysis of questionnaires, the SPSS 22 and SMART-PLS 3.2 software package are used.FindingsThe results from the study show that e-learning development is significantly influenced by the quality of services, cloud features, university readiness and users’ readiness.Originality/valueThe adoption of cloud technology within an instructional environment has the capacity of offering new opportunities for improvement and innovation for gaining knowledge of the process.

Framework design of university communication model (UCOM) to enhance continuous intentions in teaching and e-learning process

The technology enhancement learning (TEL) needs continuous use and high perception from learners with collaborative of technologies and multi-media applications. The problem of continuous intention in e-learning applications relies on the type of technology used that changes from one university to another. This study aims to design a framework developed from University Communication Model (UCOM) model to enhance the teaching and learning process of universities. This framework gives a high rate of significance and accurate results by examining the relationship between the factors of e-learning application and technology acceptance model (TAM). In additions, an extra factor used for continuous intention to use e-learning applications. The method used shows a survey distributed between 297 participants to validate the hypothesis proposed. The results evaluated by partial-least-structure (PLS) program, suggest and prove the significant use of (UCOM) as a continuous intention in e-learning based on 16 tested hypotheses of model item constructs.

Identification of Instructional Design Strategies for an Effective E-learning Experience

The objective of the study is to identify various instructional design strategies used by the instructional designers for effective the E-learning experience. Thematic analysis is used to generate the factors accountable for the successful implementation of E-learning process. To fulfill the purpose of the study, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the instructional designers, students, and corporate employees, who are associated with E-learning apps. Interviews conducted are broadly classified into three sections. The first section dealt with the personal profiles of the respondents; second part dealt with the discussion on successful instructional strategies adopted by the designers, and the third part dealt with the ease and comfort experienced by the learners while undergoing the E-learning course. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts generated six themes, namely Technical assistance; Problem based learning, Aesthetics, Gaming, Storytelling, and Social support. This study will help the instructional designers to understand, what kind of expectations the learners have while taking up an E-learning course and how best these expectations can be addressed through design strategies by the instructional designers.

A Systematic Review of Personalized Learning: Comparison between E-Learning and Learning by Coursework Program in Oman

There is a need for several applications and technologies in higher education institutions in Oman to enhance the educational process. This systematical study investigates the simultaneous influence of technology implementation with e-learning and traditional coursework program instruction on the enhancement and development of an assessment method for undergraduates in different programs. This paper aims to analyze the current articles that handle with the learning process and compare between the understanding and acceptance of E-Learning mechanism and traditional coursework method of teaching for improving assessment method and evaluation of academic performance. The method works on the benefits of increasing E-Learning process for educational skills as an assistance tool with faculty material and class discussion. In this study, surveys were distributed to two different universities and college in Oman to assess their satisfaction in the learning model. The findings of this paper assisted the model that may help to improve both the teaching method and academic performance of student learning outcomes.