scholarly journals Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning during COVID-19—A Comparative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
Desireé Cranfield ◽  
Andrea Tick ◽  
Isabella M. Venter ◽  
Renette J. Blignaut ◽  
Karen Renaud

The pandemic and subsequent ‘lockdowns’ dramatically changed the educational landscape of higher education institutions. Before-COVID-19, traditional universities had choices in pedagogical practice, which included a variety of teaching delivery modes. Overnight, a single mode of delivery became the only option for traditional higher education institutions. All services migrated to digital platforms, leading to a period of “emergency eLearning”. The full impact of this sudden shift to digital platforms on all cohorts of students is still unclear. A measure of disruption to the normal student learning experience, especially for those attending traditional universities, was inevitable. Moreover, this disruption was varied depending on the University’s country and the country’s lockdown logistics. This international, comparative, quantitative research project investigated and explored higher education students’ perceptions of emergency eLearning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experiences of students at universities in three countries were evaluated in terms of four dimensions: (1) home learning environment, (2) engagement, (3) participation preference, and (4) impact on learning skills. The research revealed significant differences between the participating universities students’ experiences. The most important differences were in the ‘home learning environment’, followed by ‘engagement’ and the perception of ‘impact on learning skills’. The differences in the ‘home learning environment’ can be attributed to the differing economic and digital development of the surveyed countries: South Africa, Wales, and Hungary. Finally, different cultural backgrounds suggest a noticeable difference in student engagement, participation, and learning skills.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Taylor ◽  
Paula Gleeson ◽  
Tania Teague ◽  
Michelle DiGiacomo

The role of unpaid and informal care is a crucial part of the health and social care system in Australia and internationally. As carers in Australia have received statutory recognition, concerted efforts to foster engagement in carer participation in work and education has followed. However, little is known about the strategies and policies that higher education institutions have implemented to support the inclusion of carers. This study has three components: first, it employs a review of evidence for interventions to support to support carers; second, it reviews existing higher education institutions’ policies to gauge the extent of inclusive support made available to student carers, and; third it conducts interviews with staff from five higher education institutions with concerted carer policies in Australia were held to discuss their institutions’ policies, and experiences as practitioners of carer inclusion and support. Results indicate difficulty in identifying carers to offer support services, the relatively recent measures taken to accommodate carers in higher education, extending similar measures which are in place for students with a disability, and difficulties accommodating flexibility in rigid institutional settings. A synthesis of these findings were used to produce a framework of strategies, policies and procedures of inclusion to support carers in higher education.


Author(s):  
Anna Stareva

The author reveals the necessity of introducing into the educational and professional programs of preparation of masters of non-pedagogical specialties of the discipline "Didactics of higher education". Formation of pedagogical competences of the teacher of the higher school will allow the future specialists professional activity in the institutions of higher education. The article reveals the essence of didactic competence and peculiarities of its formation in higher education students in the current conditions of organizing the initial process. The competency approach should permeate all aspects of student training. Therefore, a special (didactic) competence should be included in the list of the graduates' learning outcomes. The didactic competence is the ability to apply knowledge of psychology and pedagogy (didactics) in the educational process of higher education institutions. In the orientation of the educational and professional program of the master of non-pedagogical specialties it is necessary to enter competencies that allow him to engage in teaching activities. General competences add to the ability to carry out pedagogical activities using innovative educational technologies, and special competences add to the ability to organize the educational process and carry out scientific research in order to solve topical problems of the theory, methodology, organization and practice of higher education students. One of the most important compulsory (normative) disciplines that enable the future specialist to teach special and professional disciplines in higher education institutions should be "Didactic of Higher Education". This is the main feature of forming didactic competence in higher education institutions. But the competent approach in higher education does not come down to a separate discipline, but because the phenomenon of integral and dynamic develops in the process of formal, non-formal and informal education and is in constant development and self-development. All stages of preparation of the master of non-pedagogical specialties for teaching activity should be directed on achievement of the main purpose of the educational process — formation of pedagogical competences of applicants of higher education.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Kluczniok ◽  
Simone Lehrl ◽  
Susanne Kuger ◽  
Hans-Guenther Rossbach

2012 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 20-25
Author(s):  
Anantha Raj A. Arokiasamy

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in higher education for imparting easily accessible, affordable and quality higher education leading to the uplift of Malaysia. The focus of the paper is on the benefits that ICT integration in education can provide, right from breaking time and distance barriers to facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among geographically distributed students. ICT increases the flexibility of delivery of education so that learners can access knowledge anytime and anywhere. It can influence the way students are taught and how they learn as now the processes are learner driven and not by teachers. This in turn would better prepare the learners for lifelong learning as well as to contribute to the industry. We will also analyze if ICT does indeed improve or hinder the quality of learning among higher education students. This paper reports on the changing trends in use of ICTs for instruction in higher education institutions (HEIs) and discusses a mini-case study of how ICTs are being used by lecturers in one university in Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Fathimath Mumthaz

Objective - Mobile learning had widely impacted higher education, providing technology enabled educational opportunities to the mobile-first learners of the millennium, anytime, anywhere. The adoption of mobile technology rapidly increased among higher education institutions of Maldives, changing the psychological perception of distance learners who were located in different atolls of the country. Methodology/Technique - This paper was developed to explore psychological readiness of institutional distance learning students to adopt mobile learning in Maldives. Using quantitative approach, the research was conducted among the distance learners from three key higher education institutions of Maldives. Contributing to the e- questionnaire, three hundred and forty-three (n=340) students expressed their psychological readiness to adopt mobile learning in Maldives. Data collected using mobile technology was analysed using the analysis summary retrieved from Google forms and SPSS. Finding - The analysis revealed that majority of the students of Maldives higher education institutions were acquainted and psychologically ready to adopt mobile learning as a convenient mode of delivery. Novelty - Thereby, it can be said that students were willing to welcome mobile learning enhanced by mobile technology and were psychologically ready to adopt the emerging shift in the paradigm. Type of Paper - Empirical. Keywords: Mobile learning, psychological readiness, paradigm shift, higher education institutions, Maldives JEL Classification: I21, I23


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Tilagavati Subramaniam ◽  
Muthu Alagan Thangavelu

Purposes: This paper presents a conceptual framework for teaching sustainable development courses in an online learning environment in institutions of higher education.  Sustainability development courses are becoming essential in higher education institutions mainly to educate the younger generations who will be part of the community to make it happen. Higher education institutions are experiencing dramatic shift to cater a young generation of prospective students, to integrate technical innovations in teaching practices and to concentrate on increasing concerns about global sustainability issues. There has been little research to promote an innovative learning in the teaching of sustainable development. The goal of this paper was to create a framework for teaching sustainable development in a virtual learning environment (blended learning) due to the lack of a conceptual framework that could direct this implementation. Findings: Hence, the blended learning method is eco-friendly, whereby protects global environmental resources. For hands-on experiences, students will develop projects to make their campus and community more sustainable. In the process, students learn how to analyse sustainability and able to apply online learning knowledge into practice. Implication: The conceptual framework proposed will support all educators in higher education institutions engaged in the promotion of quality online education in this pandemic circumstance to develop an effective online practise that are aligned with the corresponding learning needs, skills and facilities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (26) ◽  
pp. 339-350
Author(s):  
Josiane das Graças Carvalho ◽  
Lourdes Helena Da Silva

The Education in the Countryside is part of a national movement that, starred by collective individuals of the countryside, has conquered several social, political and academic accomplishments. Among them, the Program of Support to Higher Education in Countryside Teaching – PROCAMPO, which has its origins in the fights and claims of social movements, allowed the creation of 42 new courses of Education in Rural Teaching in different Brazilian Higher Education Institutions. These courses work under Alternance training, between Time-School and Time-Community, contributing to the expansion, in our society, of the Formation by Alternance in the Higher Education, particularly in the Rural Education Graduation Courses, constituting a very recent phenomenon in the Brazilian Universities. Aiming to find a better comprehension about this educative phenomenon, the present paper has the purpose of presenting an overview of the national academic production about the alternance in the courses of formation of countryside educators, analyzing the social representations of alternance built by Rural Education students of the Federal University of Viçosa, looking for advance makers, challenges and perspectives in this pedagogical dynamic in the Higher Educaction.       


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