Online chemical engineering education during COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Pakistan

Mapping the research landscape: A bibliometric analysis of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably affected e-learning, leading to a surge in research output from 2020 to 2022. This increase is attributed to the rapid transition to online education, presenting challenges and opportunities for teachers. The shift to online education has also prompted the exploration of innovative approaches and educators' as well as learners' perceptions and experiences in e-learning. In this study, the research output on e-learning from 2020 to 2022 has been analyzed to reveal the major research trends. The study employs bibliometric techniques to explore the data retrieved from Scopus. Particularly, an analysis of metadata such as the geographical distribution of publications, authorship, keywords, and the impact of works has been conducted. The results reveal the most influential authors and works, as well as the emerging topics in the field. The data has been processed by utilizing bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer, Citespace, and Harzing's Publish or Perish.

The implications of internet-based Chinese language courses on online classes

Interactionist and social-cultural perspectives on second language acquisition suggest that interactions between teachers and students offer promising avenues for acquiring Chinese as a second language, which the vast majority of international students consider difficult. Computer-mediated communication is far safer than face-to-face encounters during the present pandemic. Three aims are being investigated here. It is important to first analyze the differences between traditional classroom and online learning by different modes, then analyze the various ways teachers use computer-mediated communication, and finally analyze the challenges and opportunities presented by online Chinese as a second language courses using qualitative research methods. Three teachers and 84 students are analyzed statistically in terms of their multimodal interactions, and the quality of their weekly classroom exchanges is assessed through an interpretive analysis of questionnaire data, all in the name of a mixed-methods approach. Particular attention was paid to the challenges of online tutoring for students, the discrepancy between instructor and student understandings, and the use of several teaching strategies with international students. The online classroom environment places unique demands on the quality of student-teacher communication. Different strategies must be used when teaching non-native speakers of Chinese as a second language compared to teaching in a traditional classroom setting.

Active methods in electricity and magnetism courses: Influence of degree, academic level and gender on student performance

The performance of first-year students in electromagnetism (E&M) courses of different engineering degrees at a Spanish public university was measured using the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA), a standard research-based instrument to assess students' understanding after attending introductory courses in electricity and magnetism. In all cases, Flipped classroom (FC) built on information and communications technology was used. The objective of this paper is to analyse if the gain in the BEMA pre and post-test results is influenced by several factors such as the degree, the students' academic grade, and gender. Moreover, as some studies have shown that the students' retention of the concepts was significantly stronger in active learning than in traditional approaches, a third BEMA test was performed by the students to analyse the long-term retention gain dependence on the same factors. Students from different engineering degree programs were asked to complete two BEMA tests during the course and a third one after a few months. ANOVA tests were used to analyse the existence of significant differences in gain between student degree programs, student academic level and student gender. Results have shown no differences in the BEMA performance by degree program, but significant differences were found by academic level and gender. Retention did not depend on the degree course but on the academic level. Mean gain value by academic level, and gender was obtained and concluded that the best students presented the best gain results and that gain depends on the students' gender: males outperformed females in the BEMA tests, although there were no significant differences in the course grades. It is thus necessary to understand these differences and to implement measures in daily teaching work to improve women's performance.

Nudge or not, university teachers have mixed feelings about online teaching

We designed and administered an online survey experiment to 444 educators in a large social sciences university in the United Kingdom to evaluate their perceptions on the effectiveness of online teaching methods. We find that a nudge, designed to inform educators about the benefits of online teaching, does not improve the personal evaluations of educators in our sample (ntreat = 142, ncontrol = 142) about this new mode of teaching. Overall, most respondents in our sample report being comfortable with online teaching methods and think this form of teaching can continue to have some positive impact. Nonetheless, they do not favour any further online transition away from traditional modes of teaching. Online teaching is largely perceived by a majority of these educators to negatively affect student well-being and their overall university experience. We call for more experimental research in higher educational settings to evaluate the role of edunudges in improving the uptake of online teaching tools.

Personality Traits and Academic Motivation as Predictors of Attitudes towards Digital Educational Technologies among Russian University Students

In the modern era of digitalization, the development and implementation of digital educational technologies (DETs) have constantly been at the center of numerous discussions among teachers, psychologists, sociologists, physicians, etc. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously made DETs an integral part of contemporary social life around the world. However, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention was paid to the study of the motivational and personality characteristics of university students, which would make it possible to predict their attitudes towards DETs and the effectiveness of their use in learning. The present study involved 173 Russian university students (61% - females) of various specialties (natural sciences, medicine and psychology), aged 17 to 26 years. Their attitudes towards DETs were measured according to The University Students’ Attitudes towards DET Questionnaire developed by the authors. To reveal their educational motivation, The Academic Motivation Scales by Gordeeva et al. were used. Their personality traits were identified using The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (adapted in Russian by Biryukov and Bodunov). For statistical analysis, the descriptive statistics methods, Mann - Whitney U test, and multiple regression analysis were used. The results of the study have shown that the scales of academic motivation have a greater impact on attitudes towards DETs among the university students as compared to personality traits. However, there is a specificity of these impacts in the students of different specialties, particularly in psychological students. The findings of this study indicate that taking into account such psychological factors as students’ academic motivation and personality traits can contribute to the optimal implementation of DETs in the educational process in blended and online formats.

Attitudes towards Digital Educational Technologies among Russian University Students before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the digitalization of education around the world. There has been a lot of recent research on university students’ attitudes towards digital educational technologies (DET) in different countries, but much fewer studies examine how these attitudes change during the pandemic. The purpose of the present exploratory study is to compare the attitudes towards DET among Russian university students majoring in psychology before the start of the pandemic and at its different stages. A mixed method research design was used. The quantitative part of the study included The University Students’ Attitudes toward DET Questionnaire developed by the authors, and the qualitative part of this study included percentage and thematic analyses of answers to additional multiple choice and open-ended questions. The main findings of the study confirm significant changes in attitudes towards DET at the very beginning of the pandemic, and their relative stabilization later. Additional analysis based on the literature review revealed that the advantages and disadvantages of DET listed by Russian university students and students from other countries, generally coincide. The data obtained will be useful in the development of digital competence among university students.