Managing ICT for Sustainable Education: Research Analysis in the Context of Higher Education

Peer mentoring experience related to information and communication technologies. A qualitative study

INTRODUCTION

Quality and inclusive education must include Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which is a growing trend in educational environments since the COVID-19 pandemic. These technologies have transformed learning towards more collaborative and interactive models, but they also pose a barrier due to the lack of skills or knowledge about their use. This circumstance has been identified among some first-year nursing students.

OBJECTIVE

The present study focuses on exploring the perception of students who participated in the experience of peer mentoring to improve adaptation to the use of Information and Communication Technologies.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The study employed a descriptive qualitative approach, relying on in-depth interviews and a focus group conducted with 29 students who participated in the project between 2020 and 2023. Additionally, sociodemographic data and information about Information and Communication Technologies were collected through a self-administered questionnaire.

RESULTS

The findings indicate that mentors exhibited higher competencies than those being mentored, yet the experience was positive and satisfying for both, emerging as an effective strategy to facilitate learning. Another noteworthy result is the performance of younger students in the role of mentors, a fact that contradicts similar experiences.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, peer mentoring emerges as a valid strategy for acquiring digital competencies and Information and Communication Technologies among first-year nursing students, fostering more inclusive learning environments.

Using the DREAM Methodology for Course Assessment in the Field of ICT-Enabled Education for Sustainability

This study explores the application of the DREAM methodology for course assessment in three South East Asian universities aiming to embed sustainability and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in multiple academic disciplines enabled by information and communication technologies (ICTs). A mixing of content and thematic analysis was used, which aligns with the underpinning philosophy of the Diagnosing, Reviewing/Reflecting, Explaining, Assessing, Managing (DREAM) methodology. The DREAM methodology integrates five processes, starting from diagnosing, to reviewing/reflecting, explaining, assessing, and, finally, managing. Results show that merging semantic and latent themes has contributed to uncovering what messages students' narratives convey and provided a space for focusing both on the surface and explicit meanings of the data as well as on theory building and policy making. They also show the effectiveness of the DREAM methodology in constructing new knowledge and generating meaningful interpretations and suggestions to teacher educators and other academic teaching staff, as well as higher education institutions' policymakers and planners.

Education for Sustainable Development: Challenges for Postgraduate Programmes

As the world faces progressive and interconnected global crises and conflicts, the educational expectations set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are in jeopardy. With the COVID-19 pandemic in its third year, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the food, energy, humanitarian, and refugee crises, all against the backdrop of an unfolding climate emergency. The aim of this research is to analyse the challenges faced by postgraduate programmes in training human talent for sustainable development on the basis of Grounded Theory. To do so, we have used a dialogical intervention through the complementary experiences of authorities of higher-education institutions that live day by day for a fair, quality, and sustainable education. With a naturalistic qualitative method, where the hermeneutic analysis procedure is structured in five phases, and with data from key informants from 9 countries, 20 interviews are obtained with key informants in Latin American and Spanish universities during 2021, according to inclusion criteria such as: belonging to a higher-education institution, with a doctorate degree, with more than 10 years of experience in management, and training in postgraduate programmes. The data are processed through ATLAS.ti9, which allows for the analysis of the key informants' discourses. The findings show that the university institutions that currently offer postgraduate programmes are considering improving the quality of education; the first challenge is to redesign the curricula according to the demands of the current and future world, incorporating technological resources and knowledge of the environment; inter- and transdisciplinary curricula that form enterprising postgraduates with a solid ethical life project; critical, complex, and systemic thinking.

Digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education: state-of-the-art and future research insights

The technological revolution has contributed to environmental and social issues around the world. However, in the context of higher education institutions (HEIs) - key stakeholders for sustainable development - there is a theoretical gap regarding systematic reviews on the topic. In order to address this need, this study explores how digital transformation (DT) can contribute to sustainability in HEIs by identifying the general state of the art, the theoretical perspectives in the field, and future research insights. A multi-methods approach was adopted, which consisted of a quantitative bibliometric review and a qualitative content analysis. Consistent with this approach, the Scopus database was used for the bibliometric analysis of 672 publications, which was conducted with the support of VOSviewer software. Subsequently, a content analysis of 72 publications was carried out using the software ATLAS.ti and Zotero. The findings suggest three areas of current research: ensuring sustainability competencies through DT, smart and sustainable campus approaches, and theorisation of sustainability in higher education through DT. The theoretical perspectives of the field were divided and discussed into seven main clusters. Lastly, five research lines for further studies on DT towards sustainability were identified. This study has both theoretical and practical implications since it may be the first literature review on this subject, providing theoretical insights to the academic community, guiding sustainability and digital practices in HEIs - through the identification of tools, approaches, and strategies - and then supporting the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Understanding the Relational Dynamics of Chilean Rural Teachers: Contributions from a Narrative-Generative Perspective

The rural teaching profession demands a genuine commitment to the development of future generations, ensuring a legacy that transcends time. Thus, generativity would be a characteristic dimension of the teaching function manifested in various forms, roles and tasks aimed at caring for students and their communities of origin. Objective: To explore the relational dynamics that rural teachers have constructed throughout their life trajectories and how these have influenced the potentially generative development of their teaching identity. Method: an interpretative-qualitative approach was adopted, following a descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional design. The purposive sample consisted of twelve teachers with an average of 33 years of experience in rural schools in the Metropolitan Region, La Araucanía and Los Ríos (Chile). In-depth interviews from a narrative-generative perspective were used to collect the data. Subsequently, the stories were subjected to content analysis, following the logic of Grounded Theory. Results: The teachers show a potentially generative development, expressed in the construction of relational dynamics of trust, reciprocity and positive affection with their students. With their peers, they demonstrate collaborative practices, teamwork and orientation towards continuous improvement in their professional work. At the management level, they stand out for their leadership skills and commitment to the development of rural communities.

Impact of ICT in Modernizing the Global Education Industry to Yield Better Academic Outreach

The advancements made by information technology have redefined the concept, scope, and significance of communication. The barriers in the communication process have been wiped out by the recent advances in information and communication technology(ICT) backed by high-speed data connectivity. People are free to communicate without bothering about physical borders distancing them from one another. Information and communication technology has diversified its dynamism by creating an e-environment, where people exploit the power of technology and communication to deliver many services. This research used the conceptual framework for ICT-enabled learning management systems and described their dimensions and scope in ICT-enabled education. The ubiquity of ICT has revamped the education industry worldwide by introducing new approaches, tools, and techniques to modernize education. The widespread popularity of ICT has forced educational establishments to endorse this to update the academia to leverage its bounders and enhance productivity to yield productive outcomes at different levels of education. This paper describes different ICT approaches and investigates the importance, influence, and impact of ICT-enabled technologies on various educational practices to achieve productive educational outcomes. This research investigates the role of ICT in teaching and learning at different levels of education, explores various modulates and their influence on the overall development of educational activities, and identifies the research gaps that are bridged to achieve the primary aim of ICT and education. This research extended its ICT projections and scope to overcome the challenges emerging from pandemic circumstances and design and develop an online platform in proper consultation with market demand to make students more job-oriented or skill-oriented. This paper describes different ICT approaches adopted by various educational institutions across the globe to modernize student−teacher interaction. This paper further investigates the influence and impact of ICT-enabled technologies on various educational practices that are prerequisites for achieving productive educational outcomes.

Quality Assurance in E-learning: A Proposal from Accessibility to Sustainability

Given the importance of developing and offering accessible education for all, indispensable aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) are needed. This study addresses that need by proposing a quality self-assessment for virtual education from an accessibility perspective. This proposal is based on previous literature about quality assurance in e-learning that considered accessibility and its application in the field of higher education. The bibliographic review was conducted by following Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) guidelines. The initial search returned 999 items from 5 academic databases and 32,200 professional sources from Google. After reviewing the sources, 37 of them were included. Then, the accessibility criteria were identified and integrated into an evaluation model. Such a model is divided into four dimensions: (1) organization, (2) student body, (3) teaching, and (4) infrastructure. The model also includes a set of standards (16), requirements (48), and evidence (63) that apply to each dimension. Moreover, self-assessment guidelines for accessible virtual education were proposed. They included a conceptual and theoretical framework, a self-assessment model, and a methodology for applying the model. The methodology included five phases: planning, model tuning or refinement of the model, evaluation, results, and continuous improvement. As future work, the implementation and validation of the guidelines will be carried out.

Transformative, interdisciplinary and intercultural learning for developing HEI students' sustainability-oriented competences: a case study

The literature has produced relevant theoretical insights into pedagogical frameworks, tools and competences that would be best suited to teach sustainability at higher education (HE). This article contributes to such a discussion using a course on sustainability developed by us as a case study. Two research questions are tackled in this article: (1) How to empower students to address urban sustainability challenges through the inclusion of transformative, interdisciplinary and intercultural learning into the current HE system? (2) Which pedagogical tools can be used to develop students' sustainability-oriented competences? To address the research questions, the case study consists of two parts. First, by reflecting on the course design, this article aims to shed light on the benefits and challenges of transformative pedagogy and of an interdisciplinary and intercultural framework. Second, by analyzing students' learning diaries (N = 36) using thematic analysis, this article offers insights into some of the students' learning process, allowing us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the course design as well as draw implications to improve and renew courses on sustainability in HE. The findings from the learning diaries indicate the students' thirst for formal knowledge on sustainability, which they connected to their professional development and yearning for action. The learning diaries also suggest students' increasing awareness of sustainability as a systemic and structural issue during the course, which aligns with the transformative learning framework used. Finally, this study emphasizes the need for structural support to meaningfully integrate sustainability in HE curricula and teaching practices.

Digitalization and digital transformation in higher education: A bibliometric analysis

The new paradigms that are emerging because of technological and social advances derived from the massive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are generating a transformative process that is modifying all economic sectors, and education is no exception. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are carrying out such transformation, reacting to the need of adaptation to this new reality, experiencing a complete cultural change that is challenging the attitudes, actions and values shared by the members and stakeholders of these organizations. In order to analyze the scientific literature about this topic, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out covering the period 1900-2021, considering a sample of 469 articles included in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The results show the multidisciplinary nature of the topic, including articles published in different areas, as well as its close link with aspects such as innovation, governance and agile methodologies. Finally, this study highlights the main lines of research that could attract more attention in the immediate future.

Examining the Research on Business Information-Entropy Correlation in the Accounting Process of Organizations

Open business organizations, where information flows, is shared, and exchanged, are more prepared to adapt and survive chaos, uncertainty, and entropy, so they will be more predisposed to change management. The aim of this study is to analyze research trends at the international level on business information-entropy correlation in the accounting process of organizations. Mathematical and statistical techniques were applied to 980 articles during the period 1974-2020, obtaining results on the scientific productivity of the driving agents of this topic: authors, research institutions, countries/territories, and journals. Five lines of research were identified during the period analyzed, which mainly study information theory, maximum entropy, information entropy, decision-making, and enthalpy. Future research should focus on analyzing the evolution of this topic, which forms new thematic axes related to bitcoin market efficiency, business hierarchy information, business model evaluation systems, catastrophic economic collapse, corporate diversification, CSR reports affecting accounting conservatism, economic income accounting, and information loss. Currently, the research presents an upward trend, which allows a growing interest in the subject to be deduced in the academic and scientific community worldwide.

Student’s Satisfaction of the Quality of Online Learning in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been facing a digital transformation in online learning as a result of the restrictions generated by COVID-19. Therefore, identifying which are the elements that influence student satisfaction will allow HEIs to establish strategies to ensure the quality of the digital transformation. This study proposes a model that measures student satisfaction considering three dimensions: teacher quality, technical service quality and service quality. Then, the impact of each dimension on student satisfaction is estimated using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), and finally an Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) was performed to identify the improvements that should be made to increase student satisfaction. When analyzing the responses of 1430 students at the School of Medicine, it was found that the quality of technical service should be improved, specifically training, and encouraging teachers to use strategies that allow student participation.

Emotional Creativity in Art Education: An Exploratory Analysis and Research Trends

The emotions that human beings experience have a key role in the environments in which they operate. In art education, creative processes are influenced by the emotions and experiences lived by the individual, enabling a more emotional and creative design to make life more pleasant. The aim was to examine the research during the period 1917–2020 on the development of emotional creativity in art education. Mathematical and statistical techniques were applied to 984 articles carried from Elsevier’s Scopus database. The findings yielded data on the scientific productivity of the journal, authors, research institutions, and countries/territories that promoted this field. The data showed an exponential trend, mostly in the last decade. Five lines of research stand out: emotion, higher education, education, art, and leadership. Moreover, five future research directions related to visual art education, affective paradigm, metacompetency, expressive arts therapy group, and cognitive empathy were detected. This study establishes the link between psychology, neuroscience, and artistic education to constitute the decision-making of the promoters of this topic of research. The analysis of international research allowed us to focus the future publications of academics and researchers, in addition to guaranteeing an adequate approach to the objectives of the institutions and funding centers.

The Higher Education Sustainability before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Spanish and Ecuadorian Case

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are key to create sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs). Most researchers focused on the students’ perspective, especially during the online teaching caused by COVID-19; however, university teachers are often forgotten, having their opinion missing. This study’s objective was to determine the factors that contribute to the inclusion of ICTs. The research based on a comparative study through an online qualitative survey focused on the inclusion and use of ICTs in two HEIs and two different moments (pre-and post-lockdowns). There were differences regarding country and working experience (p < 0.001), being linked to the ICTs use, evaluation of obstacles, and the role given to ICTs (p < 0.05). The COVID-19 caused modifications of the teachers’ perspectives, including an improvement of the opinion of older teachers regarding the essentialness of ICTs in the teaching process (p < 0.001) and worsening their perception about their ICTs skill (p < 0.05). Additionally, an initial model focused only on the university teachers and their use of ICTs has been proposed. In conclusion, the less experienced university teachers used more ICTs, identified more greatly the problematic factors, and considered more important the ICTs, with the perception of all teachers modified by COVID-19.

Students’ Attitude towards the Sustainable Use of Mobile Technologies in Higher Education

Our study aims to identify students’ attitudes towards the use of mobile technologies (MT) during learning activities in higher education. Data were collected using the Mobile Technologies Questionnaire/MTQ, a ten-item brief questionnaire that was designed to determine attitudes towards the use of mobile technologies in the learning process among university students and academic staff. The MTQ was completed by 575 students from a state university in the northeastern region of Romania. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two latent factors: MT facilities for study resources and communication and MT facilities for learning. Along with general analysis of the statistical indicators regarding the attitude towards the use of MT, the relationships between the use of MT and five socio-demographic variables (gender, age, place of residence, year of study, academic status and study program) were analyzed. Comparative data showed some statistically significant differences but with small or modest effect sizes, depending on age, year of study, place of residence, academic status and the study program in which the students were enrolled. This study provides additional support for the construct validity of a brief tool that was designed to measure students’ attitudes towards the use of MT during learning activities carried out in higher education.

The Current Challenges of Further Education in ICT with the Example of the Czech Republic

Schools have an irreplaceable role in preparing the young generation for educational, professional, and social challenges, however, this effort fails if teachers themselves are not equipped with sufficient ICT competencies and do not work on their constant development. The presented quantitative study analyzed how secondary school teachers understand and actively use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in their teaching practice and what barriers they encounter in terms of the further education in ICT provided by accredited institutions. In a sample of 1846 Czech teachers who completed an online survey, results showed they lacked both understanding and active use of new technologies, rarely participated in further education, and were unsatisfied with the courses provided to them. Their main barriers to further education were the lack of sufficient technology available in school, insufficient knowledge and skills in ICT, and the lack of support from school management. Unlike in other studies, time was not identified as an important barrier. Possible legislative, educational, and school management consequences regarding the further education in ICT based on the barriers in attending the courses and identified age and gender differences are discussed.

A Conceptual Model for Developing Climate Education in Sustainability Management Education System

Climate change issues are multi-faceted and transcend different parts of society and the economy; they expose future generations to life-long health risks. We have a responsibility to future generations. One way to shape the future is the appropriate design of education systems. In this article we argue that climate education requires a holistic approach which goes beyond classroom pedagogies. We argue that climate education should not be limited to interventions within the field of school curricula alone. We review the main elements of the system of education qualitatively, both at macro- and micro-levels, and attempt to form a point of view. Our main argument is that climate education efforts should be coordinated and institutionalised. Based on our qualitative research in Poland, we developed a conceptual model and linked it to an assessment tool. Our model includes the elements necessary for a climate-oriented education program. We propose certain indicators which can be applied at school and higher levels of education system management. Our suggestions should not be limited to children’s education but should be incorporated into continuing education for professionals such as lawyers and accountants as well as other adult education programs. The science and research results are now rich and reliable enough that they can be applied to systemic social change (not only at the individual level). For this reason our model presents a conceptual framework for implementing systemic change in education systems that supports the efforts of local and national authorities to address climate change. The model is general and independent of national cultures. Our research offers both policymakers and scientists the opportunity to modify our concept and adapt it to local contexts and the national legal system. Our model should provoke decision-makers to introduce necessary changes in the legal system. The development of climate awareness should take a formalised role within a national education system. In this paper we demonstrate a logical process of reasoning ensuing from the literature review through empirical research down to the implementation stage.

HEI Efficiency and Quality of Life: Seeding the Pro-Sustainability Efficiency

This study assesses the efficiency of higher education institutions (HEIs), considering the social, environmental and cultural factors (pro-sustainability), and at the same time examines how this efficiency can influence regional quality of life (QoL). The study adopts a two-step methodology. In the first step, the standard Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to estimate the efficiency scores of 23 Portuguese public HEIs; and in the second step, a multivariate logit regression is performed to assess the role played by the HEIs’ pro-sustainability efficiency in regional QoL. The main findings reveal that the HEIs located in the Greater Lisbon area have a higher pro-sustainability efficiency, but that efficiency is more significant regarding social factors. Concerning the contribution of pro-sustainability efficiency to the region’s QoL, this is significant for all the components, with the environmental and cultural aspects contributing positively to this significance.

Management Accounting for Healthy Nutrition Education: Meta-Analysis

Unequal economic growth shapes food systems. Nutrition problems incorporate inappropriate practices, so nutrition education is key to empowering consumers to choose healthy foods. However, increasing the accessibility of healthy diets is related to reducing the cost of nutritious foods. The accounting management of healthy nutrition should allow for optimal global decision-making. The evolution of scientific production and global research trends on this topic between 1968 and 2019 have been studied. Statistical and mathematical methods have been applied to 1738 documents from the Scopus database. The results provided data on the agents that participate in the development of the theme. Data reveal an exponential trend, especially in the previous decade, with more than 50% of scientific production. Future lines of research have been identified: investment in health systems; green label education; early impact of food insecurity; WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) nutrition education; food waste audit; and ecological footprint of food. The central contribution of the study has been to detect the main future directions of research, providing critical points that will allow us to identify the themes of future publications, in addition to providing an instrument for decision-making carried out by the research funding sponsors.