The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) is the journal of ASCILITE, the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. It aims to promote research and scholarship on the integration of technology in tertiary education, promote effective practice, and inform policy.
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The Globethics library has vol. 31, no. 6, 2015 to current

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  • An education in educational technology

    Goodyear, Peter (ASCILITE, 2023-10-19)
    “Educational technology” is a perfectly serviceable name for a field of research and development that is of practical importance and in which interesting intellectual challenges can be found. Stick with it.
  • A systematic review of digital innovations in technology-enhanced learning designs in higher education

    Choi-Lundberg, Derek L.; Butler-Henderson, Kerryn; Harman, Kristyn; Crawford, Joseph (ASCILITE, 2023-10-15)
    In the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was considerable innovation in designing and implementing teaching and learning with technology in fully online, face-to-face and blended modes. To provide an overview of technology-enhanced learning in higher education, we conducted a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines of digital innovations in learning designs between 2014 and 2019, prior to emergency remote teaching responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 130 publications, we identified eight overlapping categories of digital technologies being deployed across higher education fields: simulation and augmented or virtual reality; Web 2.0; learning management systems; mobile learning; gamification and serious games; various technologies in classrooms; massive open online courses; and other software, websites, applications and cloud computing. We use these publications, supplemented with findings from selected meta-analyses and systematic reviews of specific technologies, as examples to guide educators designing technology-enhanced learning activities in changing circumstances that may require blended or fully online delivery. As the 130 publications had mixed perceived quality, levels of evidence and details of learning designs and evaluation presented, we suggest educators share their innovations following reporting guidelines relevant to their research methodologies, enabling others to consider transferability to other contexts and to build on their work. Implications for practice or policy: Leaders and administrators should support staff development of technological pedagogical content knowledge and teaching as design for student learning. Educators and instructional designers, in designing learning experiences, should consider adult learning theories, inclusive practices and digital equity and leverage multiple technologies to facilitate students learning their curricula. In educational research or scholarship of teaching and learning, researchers should provide sufficient detail to enable readers to assess transferability to their own contexts.
  • An automated analysis of topic distributions and features approach to promoting group performance, collaborative knowledge building and socially shared regulation in online collaborative learning

    Zheng, Lanqin; Zhong, Lu; Fan, Yunchao (ASCILITE, 2023-10-04)
    Online collaborative learning has been widely used in the field of education. However, unrelated or off-topic information is often included in online collaborative learning. Furthermore, the content of online discussion is often too shallow or narrow. To achieve productive collaborative learning, this study proposed and validated an automated analysis of topic distributions and features (AATDF) approach. In total, 189 college students in China participated in this study and were assigned to one of two experimental groups or a control group. Experimental Group 1 participated in online collaborative learning with the AATDF approach. Experimental Group 2 participated in online collaborative learning with the automated analysis of topic distributions (AATD) approach. The control group participated in traditional online collaborative learning without any specified approach. The results indicate that the AATDF approach can significantly promote group performance, collaborative knowledge building and socially shared regulation compared with the AATD and traditional online collaborative learning approaches. The results and implications are also discussed in depth. The main contribution of this study is that the AATDF approach can improve learning performance and bring online collaborative learning onto new ground. Implications for practice: The AATDF approach is very useful and effective for promoting group performance, collaborative knowledge building and socially shared regulation. Teachers and practitioners can provide personalised interventions and optimise collaborative learning design based on the analysis results of topic distributions and features. Developers can adopt deep neural network models to develop intelligent online
  • Look who’s talking: Professional conversations of learning designers on Twitter during COVID-19

    Ng, Lye Ee (Rebecca); Altena, Sharon; Hinze, Meredith (ASCILITE, 2023-10-04)
    The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every aspect of life, forcing educational institutions to pivot rapidly to emergency remote learning. Within higher education, learning designers stepped forward and shouldered much of the responsibility of supporting institutional change on an unprecedented scale to ensure continuity of student learning. Although there is a large corpus of literature about the experiences of teachers and students during the pandemic, little is known about the experience of learning designers during this time and how their professional learning was supported. This mixed-methods study provides insights into how Twitter was used by learning designers as part of their professional learning network (PLN) during the pandemic. Using social network analysis and thematic analysis, Twitter provided a level playing field for learning designers within the @TELedvisors community who were highly engaged in global professional and social conversations, with access to continuous learning and social support. We argue that Twitter has undertilised potential for amplifying the voices of underrepresented third space workers within higher education contexts and is an important component to a learning designer’s PLN in the post-pandemic era. This paper will be of interest to learning designers, the @TELedvisors community, professional organisations that support learning designers and other third space professionals. Implications for policy or practice: Twitter can be an effective tool for learning designers and other third space workers as a way to access continuous professional development and to build global, non-hierarchical connections with like-minded professionals outside their institution. Learning designers and other third space workers should include Twitter as an effective and important component of their PLN. Twitter can be used as a tool for amplifying the voices of learning designers and raise the profile of their contributions to higher education by showcasing their skills and expertise to broader audiences.
  • The effect of conceptions of learning and prior online course experiences on students’ choice of learning spaces for synchronous online learning during COVID-19

    Zeng, Lily Min; Bridges, Susan Margaret (ASCILITE, 2023-09-26)
    During COVID-19, universities are reconfiguring learning environments and increasing flexibility in course offerings. Teachers have found synchronous hybrid teaching challenging with many students preferring online to in-person classroom attendance. Understanding students’ decision-making as to where, when and how they choose to learn will be critical in informing the design of learning spaces and courses. This survey-based study of 369 undergraduates across disciplines explored the relationships between students’ backgrounds and psychological factors (self-efficacy for online learning, conceptions of learning, perceptions of previous online course experiences) and student choices of learning spaces for synchronous online learning. While pre-pandemic studies in Western contexts identified non-traditional student characteristics as major factors associated with students’ choices of learning spaces (i.e., learning online at home), this Hong Kong study found significant associations between undergraduates’ choices, their origin and the disciplines. Logistic regression indicated those who preferred stimulating education and cooperative learning or perceived their previous online course experiences as having clearer goals had greater odds of attending classes synchronously online on campus from locations different from the scheduled teaching spaces. Qualitative analysis suggests personality, self-regulation and the university’s social and organisational structures as factors to consider in future studies of student choices of learning spaces. Implications for practice or policy: Higher education providers may need to diversify course designs to cater to undergraduates’ different hybrid learning preferences and expectations in the post-pandemic return to campus. The first step for online course teachers is to help their students to build a higher level of self-efficacy for online learning. Course teachers can motivate students to take courses online by clarifying their course goals and standards.
  • Virtual and augmented reality and pre-service teachers: Makers from muggles?

    Taggart, Samuel; Roulston, Stephen; Brown, Martin; Donlon, Enda; Cowan, Pamela; Farrell, Rachel; Campbell, Allison (ASCILITE, 2023-09-04)
    This study examined the impact of a brief immersive experience with virtual reality (VR) on pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes towards technology in education. The study found that although pre-service teachers were aware of VR and augmented reality (AR) technologies, they lacked experience using them. The intervention had a positive impact on their beliefs and confidence in using innovative information and communications technology in the classroom. The findings suggest that brief interventions can serve as a means for pre-service teachers to evaluate their digital skills and develop an action plan to enhance them. Additionally, the study highlights the potential barriers to implementation faced by teachers, including the pace of technological change, lack of embedding time and funding constraints. This research contributes to the limited literature on the use of VR in teacher education and suggests that immersive experiences with technology can foster positive attitudes towards innovation, curiosity and skill development. The study provides implications for teacher education programs and policymakers regarding the potential of VR and AR technologies in education and the importance of supporting teachers in developing their digital skills. Implications for practice or policy: Teacher education providers should consider including immersive experiences with VR and AR to increase pre-service teachers’ awareness and evaluation of their potential to support learning. Pre-service teachers and those responsible for supporting them can use VR experiences as a means to evaluate their level of digital skill and identify an action plan to develop and/or update such skills as appropriate.
  • Bridging the intention-behaviour gap: Empirical evidence from the study of wiki use behaviour

    Cheng, Eddie W.L.; Cheng, Kevin P.C. (ASCILITE, 2023-09-04)
    Among other technologies, wikis, as a Web 2.0 technology, have been found to support online collaborative behaviour of students in group work. Despite the intention-behaviour relationship expected in many relevant theories, studies have found that the relationship between students’ intention to use wikis and their behaviour in using wikis was not strong. This discrepancy between expectation and actuality is referred to as the intention-behaviour gap. Researchers have explored mediators that can bridge the intention-behaviour gap. Given the study of behaviour across various disciplines, the variables that can bridge the intention-behaviour gap may be situational in nature. The present study therefore explored the effect of two mediators in a hypothesised model of the behaviour in using a wiki for students’ group assignments. In a longitudinal study with a sample of university students in Hong Kong, factor-based partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the measurement and structural models. The results indicate that goal commitment and wiki-based communication, while substantially increasing the combined explanatory power of the variance in wiki use behaviour, significantly mediated the path from intention to behaviour. Both practical and research implications have been provided in this paper. Implications for practice or policy: Teachers should increase their influence by providing students with more guidance on how to work with the wiki. Teachers should motivate students to have deeper online discussion by incorporating wiki-based communication as an assessment item. To remove the barriers to early implementation of a wiki system, teachers should remind students of the importance of group dynamic strategies and their role in supporting collective scaffolding for peers.
  • Examining students’ perceived reasoning skills in wiki-based PBL internship courses

    Lin, Ying-Lien; Wang, Wei-Tsong (ASCILITE, 2023-09-04)
    This study aimed to investigate whether web-based problem-based learning (PBL) implemented using wiki applications (wikis) would result in differences in undergraduate students’ relationship commitment, interpersonal trust, knowledge-sharing behaviour (KSB) and reasoning skills in healthcare courses. Wikis have some features (e.g., extensive editing, version preservation and multi-user content editors) that are useful for enhancing collaborative learning, knowledge co-creation and authentic problem-solving in the PBL context. A quasi-experimental design was adopted to execute this survey. A total of 185 students were separated into either an experimental group (EG) with wikis or a control group (CG) without wikis, according to their PBL activities. Independent t tests showed a significant difference in four variables between the EG and the CG. The EG students exhibited a statistically significantly higher degree of relationship commitment, interpersonal trust, KSB and reasoning skills than the CG students. The conclusion of the results can provide beneficial information on students’ PBL experiences for instructors who aim to redesign their course materials and improve their higher education teaching methods. The research findings thus enrich the literature on healthcare education by addressing the influence of wikis on students’ PBL effectiveness, which is an under-researched area. Implications for practice or policy: Wikis’ collaborative authoring function can encourage collaboration. Using a wiki-based PBL approach can enhance students’ trust and commitment. Using a wiki-based PBL approach can facilitate students’ KSB. Using a wiki-based PBL approach can enhance students’ reasoning skills. Using a collaborative learning method can complement wiki-based PBL approach.
  • Transferring effective learning strategies across learning contexts matters: A study in problem-based learning

    Saqr, Mohammed; Matcha, Wannisa; Ahmad Uzir, Nora'ayu; Jovanovic, Jelena; Gašević, Dragan; López-Pernas, Sonsoles (ASCILITE, 2023-09-02)
    Learning strategies are important catalysts of students’ learning. Research has shown that students with effective learning strategies are more likely to have better academic achievement. This study aimed to investigate students’ adoption of learning strategies in different course implementations, the transfer of learning strategies between courses and relationship to performance. We took advantage of recent advances in learning analytics methods, namely sequence and process mining as well as statistical methods and visualisations to study how students regulate their online learning through learning strategies. The study included 81,739 log traces of students’ learning related activities from two different problem-based learning medical courses. The results revealed that students who applied deep learning strategies were more likely to score high grades, and students who applied surface learning strategies were more likely to score lower grades in either course. More importantly, students who were able to transfer deep learning strategies or continue to use effective strategies between courses obtained higher scores, and were less likely to adopt surface strategies in the subsequent course. These results highlight the need for supporting the development of effective learning strategies in problem-based learning curricula so that students adopt and transfer effective strategies as they advance through the programme. Implications for practice or policy: Teachers need to help students develop and transfer deep learning as they are directly related to success. Students who continue to use light strategies are more at risk of low achievement and need to be supported. Technology-supported problem-based learning requires more active scaffolding and teachers’ support beyond “guide on the side” as in face-to-face.
  • The importance of a good review(er) for educational technology research

    Corrin, Linda; Lodge, Jason M.; Thompson, Kate (ASCILITE, 2023-08-02)
    The process of peer review has been central to academic publishing in educational technology for at least 50 years. In this editorial we discuss what makes a good review as well as a good reviewer for AJET. This includes an overview of the peer review process and the identification of key features of a good review. We discuss the selection and appointment of reviewers with reference specifically to AJET, and how decisions are made when assigning reviewers to articles. Current challenges facing peer review both broadly in academia and specifically in our field involve the intersection of increasing demand for reviews (due to an expansion of the number of journals), limited opportunities for professional development, and decreasing time available for service to the academy and community for researchers. We conclude with a discussion of the future of peer review practices and how these relate to future directions for AJET.
  • Online collaborative note-taking and discussion forums in flipped learning environments

    Fanguy, Mik; Costley, Jamie; Almusharraf, Norah; Almusharraf, Asma (ASCILITE, 2023-07-25)
    As the number of students learning in online and flipped contexts grows, an important question arises: to what extent is it necessary to have places or activities where students interact regarding course content? The present paper looked at three flipped learning environments: one with no online collaboration, one featuring an online discussion forum and one involving online collaborative note-taking. The subjects (N = 178) were all graduate students taking a flipped version of an English scientific writing class at a university in South Korea. The results show that students in the experimental conditions with online collaboration (collaborative note-taking and discussion forums) outperformed peers in the control condition (no online collaboration) on individual writing assignments. Furthermore, there was a benefit in the experimental condition with discussion forums regarding students’ group writing scores compared to the control group. These results show the value of implementing online student-to-student collaboration in flipped learning contexts and that both modes of collaboration tested herein add value to students’ learning. Implications for practice or policy: Incorporating online collaborative learning activities improves performance in flipped courses. Using collaborative forums and collaborative note-taking provide similar benefits. and their implementation will improve the online portion of a flipped class. Flipped classes generally include an online lecture component but should also feature online collaboration as well.
  • Investigating university students’ online proctoring acceptance during COVID-19: An extension of the technology acceptance model

    Jiang, Xinyu; Goh, Tiong-Thye; Chen, Xinran; Liu, Mengjun; Yang, Bing (ASCILITE, 2023-07-23)
    To ensure the normal operation of teaching and meet the needs of teaching quality assessment in the COVID-19 situation, universities in various countries have adopted online proctoring for assessment. The epidemic has accelerated the development of online education. Online proctoring, as an integral part of future online teaching, has not yet drawn sufficient attention. To understand students’ experiences and attitudes towards initial online proctoring, an extended technology acceptance model was utilised to examine the motivations and barriers that influence students’ online proctoring acceptance in terms of technology perception, presence and social influence. Structural equation models were used to analyse data from a questionnaire survey of 760 university students. Results revealed that social influence, social presence and perceived usefulness are the significant predictors of online proctoring acceptance. Social influence and social presence have significant positive effects on online proctoring acceptance through perceived usefulness, and social presence has a positive effect on perceived ease of use. However, perceived ease of use has a significant negative effect, while place presence has no significant effect. Implications, limitations and future work are discussed at the end. Implications for practice or policy: Online proctoring organisers can bring a better exam experience to students by ensuring the flexibility and integrity of online proctoring. Online proctoring workers can improve students' exam experience by building a positive group atmosphere in the early stages of online proctoring applications. Social recognition and support for online proctoring can enhance students' choice and willingness to use online proctoring and increase opportunities for online proctoring development.
  • Examining self-regulated learning as a significant mediator among social presence, cognitive presence, and learning satisfaction in an asynchronous online course: A partial least squares structural equation modeling approach

    Hu, Yan; Huang, Jinyan; Kong, Fanzhe; Hussain, Shahbaz (ASCILITE, 2023-07-23)
    Using a 33-item 5-point Likert scale and partial least squares structural equation modeling approach, this study examined the role of 347 Chinese college first-year students’ self-regulated learning as a mediator among social and cognitive presences and their learning satisfaction in an asynchronous online course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it examined the extent to which their self-regulated learning and cognitive presence mediated the influence of social presence on their learning satisfaction. The results indicated that participants’ self-regulated learning had a significant positive effect on their learning satisfaction. It also had a significant mediation effect between social presence and their learning satisfaction, as well as between social and cognitive presences. Furthermore, social presence played a significant role in participants’ self-regulated learning and their learning satisfaction through the mediation of their self-regulated learning and cognitive presence. Implications for designing asynchronous online courses are discussed. Implications for practice or policy Course designers should consider how to leverage and increase students’ social presence in the asynchronous online learning environment. Course designers should make it a priority to clarify learning goals, inform learning activity time, provide prompt feedback, design appropriate autonomous tasks, arrange appropriate social learning activities, and specify optional online learning paths. Course designers should foster learners’ self-regulated learning, help them build online confidence, manage their time well, and overcome difficulty in completing the online learning tasks.
  • A meta-analysis of the moderating role of prior learning experience and mandatory participation on factors influencing MOOC learners’ continuance intention

    Zhang, Min; Li, Sihong; Zhang, Yan (ASCILITE, 2023-07-24)
    Retaining learners has been an important issue for massive open online course (MOOC) platforms. Given the different, and even contradictory, conclusions in studies on the continuance intention of MOOC learners, this study selected 53 highly correlated empirical studies published from 2008 to 2022 and constructed a research model based on visual knowledge map analysis. Meta-analysis was applied to identify the key factors, and subgroup analysis was conducted to explore the moderating effect of mandatory participation and prior learning experience. The results show that attitude and satisfaction play the most significant role. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, confirmation, social influence, perceived enjoyment, outcome expectation, self-efficacy and task-technology fit all play essential functions, while the direct impact of social presence requires further research. Prior learning experience and mandatory participation have moderating effects on perceived usefulness. MOOC developers should make more efforts and improvements in content quality, social quality and service quality. Implications for practice or policy: Learners’ continuance intention can be enhanced by improving individual perceived positive feelings related to MOOCs and individual satisfaction with MOOC platforms. Directors of mandatory courses in MOOCs should place greater emphasis on improving learners’ perceived ease of use of MOOC platforms. Superintendents of MOOC platforms need to be aware of the role of perceived usefulness of learners with less prior learning experience in their continuance intention.
  • Effects of flipped language classrooms on learning outcomes in higher education: A Bayesian meta-analysis

    Chen, Xieling; Zou, Di; CHENG, Gary; Xie, Haoran; Su, Fan (ASCILITE, 2023-07-23)
    Despite accumulated evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of flipped language classrooms in higher education, there is no quantitative examination of the extant empirical studies to draw a general conclusion. Based on Bayesian methodologies and 26 effect sizes, this study quantitatively examines empirical studies that investigated flipped language classrooms’ effects on learning outcomes in higher education. Our results indicate a large overall effect in favour of the effectiveness of flipped language classrooms. Subgroup analyses indicated that intervention duration, target languages, outcome types, allocation, and school locations were significantly related to the variability in language learning outcomes. A low risk of publication bias was identified. This study concluded that the flipped language classroom was a promising pedagogical approach to promoting language learning. Findings provided insights into an evidence-informed application of flipped language classrooms, for example: (1) sufficient face-to-face time to maximise the effectiveness of flipped language classrooms; (2) making flipped design adjustments based on student responses during long-term intervention; (3) giving students pre-training of flipped language classrooms and showing them the underlying benefits; (4) flipping basic contents of language learning and teaching complex contents face-to-face; and (5) adopting scaffolding strategies like code-switching to scaffold lower achievers. Implications for practice or policy: Instructors should flip writing and speaking courses with enough face-to-face time and technical support being provided to students. Instructors should consider time variance’s effects on learning performance and seek ways to maintain learners’ interest. Instructors should pre-train learners of flipped learning before implementation. Instructors should include practices, quizzes, and asynchronous online interaction tools in pre-class activities to check learners’ understandings and promote interaction and feedback provision.
  • Defining an effective approach to blended learning in higher education: A systematic review

    McCarthy, Shaun; Palmer, Edward (ASCILITE, 2023-07-25)
    Blended learning has enjoyed wide acceptance as a teaching and learning approach in higher education, but its use and understanding commonly fail to extend across all levels of blending. At the institutional level, challenges still exist in aligning a blended learning approach with core university priorities. Often, there is a focus on the provisions of technology tools and associated training; however, there is less emphasis on the development of frameworks that support an institutional-level approach to blended teaching and learning and ways that these can be effectively measured. This paper analyses previous work undertaken in the field of blended learning and looks to build on the literature by defining an effective approach to adoption using conceptual clarity, blended frameworks and institutional-level implementation of blended learning as a framework to describe effective use within higher education. Implications for practice or policy: University decision makers should define an institutional approach to blended learning and foster a common understanding of what success will look like. Institutional strategy must carefully consider the multifaceted roles of students, academics and administrators within blended learning. Blended learning adoption should be measured using criteria and descriptive standards to evaluate framework implementation.
  • “It’s a pain, but it’s not like the end of the world”: Students’ experiences of emergency remote teaching

    Ruegg, Rachael (ASCILITE, 2023-05-16)
    A chasm exists between pre-COVID online learning literature, focusing on teachers and students who have chosen online teaching and learning, and post-COVID literature, in which teaching and learning are forced online. This research focuses on students’ experiences of the move to online learning, the strategies they employed and their overall perceptions of differences between face-to-face and online learning. A single semi-structured interview was conducted with 16 students at the end of the semester in which learning was migrated online. When the learning was moved online, the students were all 3 weeks into their second year of a bachelor’s degree in the humanities and social sciences. The interview data was collected soon after the students completed these courses and analysed using thematic analysis. Generally, the findings of this study support other post-COVID studies, finding that students who were required to study online had more negative experiences than positive ones. Students who are enrolled in full-time face-to-face qualifications also appear to have different needs from those who choose to study online. Students felt that they would have benefited from more structure during emergency remote teaching, such as synchronous learning experiences scheduled at a fixed time. Implications for practice or policy: Lecturers should conduct lectures synchronously in emergency online learning for on-campus students. Teaching staff should include their faces in recorded instruction in asynchronous online modes. Teaching staff should offer tests in alternative formats rather than avoiding them in online learning. Universities should prioritise tutorials, workshops and laboratories in face-to-face mode over lectures in hybrid education.
  • Engaging with open educational practices: Mapping the landscape in Australian higher education

    Stagg, Adrian; Partridge , Helen; Bossu , Carina; Funk , Johanna; Nguyen, Linh (ASCILITE, 2023-05-16)
    For more than a decade, Australian higher education has engaged with open educational practice (OEP). This paper presents findings from a study investigating the institutional approaches to OEP in Australian universities. Interviews were conducted with representatives from 10 Australian universities. The findings of a thematic analysis reveal organisational context, business processes and educational design as key themes through which OEP is enacted within Australian universities. Together, these themes document Australian universities experiences of and with OEP and contribute to addressing the need for translational research in Australian higher education. This research contributes to a growing evidence basis to construct an understanding of the dimensions of OEP for practical action. Implications for practice or policy: University policymakers should enact institutional open education policy to signal support and provide clarity. Learning designers and academic staff can leverage OEP to catalyse student-centred, authentic pedagogical transformation. OEP advocates need to address the root problem of sector-wide lack of awareness. Australian institutions should recognise existing pockets of good OEP engagement and more strategically codify or connect these practices to realise the benefits of OEP.
  • Mapping out a research agenda for generative artificial intelligence in tertiary education

    Lodge, Jason M.; Thompson, Kate; Corrin, Linda (ASCILITE, 2023-05-04)
    Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. In this editorial, we outline some of the key areas of tertiary education impacted by large language models and associated applications that will require re-thinking and research to address in the short to medium term. Given how rapidly generative AI developments are currently occurring, this editorial is speculative. Although there is a long history of research on AI in education, the current situation is both unprecedented and seemingly not something that the AI in education community fully predicted. We also outline the editorial position of AJET in regards to generative AI to assist authors using tools such as ChatGPT as any part of the research or writing process. This is a rapidly evolving space. We have attempted to provide some clarity in this editorial while acknowledging that we may need to revisit some or all of what we offer here in the weeks and months ahead.
  • Home-campus nexus: The shift to homebased smart e-learning

    Na, Jiang; Perera, Corinne Jacqueline; Zainuddin, Zamzami (ASCILITE, 2023-05-04)
    This article outlines the trajectory of China’s higher education and its strategy of pioneering a brand-new smart e-learning environment that has functionally molded China into a hybrid educational hub. This paper chronicles the almanac of China’s offline campus education, depicting how it technologically evolved into an e-learning home-campus nexus. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed to shed light on students’ readiness levels toward China’s newly implemented smart e-learning platform for tertiary education. The psychometric analyses of the Smart e-Learning Questionnaire and other parametric statistical tests were performed using the Rasch measurement model. Overall, there is strong evidence to suggest that the in-depth qualitative interviews captured more nuanced accounts of the participants’ perceived reasons for their moderate level of readiness towards their novel home-campus e-learning course delivery. Evacuated campuses and virtual lessons have become the cliched representation of this pandemic. It is critical that e-learning offerings be contextualised in practical ways to invigorate equitable teaching strategies that can improve e-learning and support the success of China’s higher education learning model for the post-pandemic agendum. Implications for practice or policy: This research investigated home-campus e-learning as a higher education learning model for the post-pandemic agendum. The homebased smart e-learning prototype proposed in this study is framed as a learning delivery modality for advancing the latitude of digital literacy among higher education students. The deployment of the next-generation 5G internet connectivity and the implementation of hybrid smart e-learning platforms, draw clear implications for policymakers and practitioners to model after these insightful strategies.

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