Lecturing from home: Exploring academics' experiences of remote teaching during a pandemic

A social network analysis of college students' online learning during the epidemic era: A triadic reciprocal determinism perspective

The way in which college students learn online has dramatically altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the triadic reciprocal determinism (TRD) theory, this study aimed to identify the key factors influencing college students' online learning experience through sentiment analysis, text mining, and social network analysis (SNA). Macro- and micro-level parsing was conducted on the SNA model, which was divided into core, mantle, and shell layers to determine the most influential factors in the core layer. This study found that learners' personal factors, learning behaviors, and related elements in the online learning environment significantly influenced the learning outcomes of college students enrolled in online courses. Additionally, this study explored the distribution of SNA model elements in the mantle and peripheral shell layers, which also impact the online learning experience of college students. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the various factors affecting college students' online learning experience, and highlights the importance of considering these factors when designing online learning environments for college students.

Clinical experiences of staff and students in transitioning from in-person to blended teaching

This paper describes some of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic from a study conducted with a group of clinical teachers and undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences (FoDOCS) at King's College London about the use of a combination of remote, online and in-person teaching methods that resumed from June 2020. In the narrative research, participants shared their experiences delivering online clinical workshops and their previous experiences delivering face-to-face sessions online, both during and before the pandemic. We conducted remote interviews with the participants via video conferencing, which were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis. Narrative accounts revealed commonalities organised into seven themes, highlighting some of the challenges encountered during the pandemic and providing insights into addressing different curricular constraints and concerns when utilising various delivery modes during emergency situations, such as pandemics. In our study, we concluded that students and teachers benefit from dissociating clinical learning from clinical treatment sessions to focus on the educational intent and content before applying them chairside with patients. Throughout the course, students and teachers were challenged by a lack of engagement. In addition, it is important to examine the online fatigue highlighted by both students and teachers and identify ways to improve time, literacy, and facilitation to create a more conducive learning environment.

"Being in the digital box". Academic staff experiences in online practical teaching: A qualitative study from six universities and countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused radical changes in education, as in everything else, bringing many challenges. Despite all the difficulties, the COVID-19 pandemic has enormous opportunities for online teaching and the use of digital technologies. A comprehensive understanding of this period is needed to investigate these opportunities. Thus, this study aims to explore the academic staff's experiences of online teaching and the use of digital technologies in practical skills-based courses in health care education. This study was conducted at six universities from six countries (Türkiye, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania). Data were collected between June 17, 2021 and November 30, 2021 via a focus group with an in-depth interview technique. 22 focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 117 participants. Colaizzi's method was used to evaluate the data to discover, comprehend, and define the experiences of academic staff. The analysis of the interview data resulted in 6 themes, 25 subthemes and 56 categories that captured participants' experiences regarding online teaching of practical skills and using digital technologies in health care education. The findings of the study provide crucial information that will help online teaching and digital technology for practical skills be successfully integrated.

Student's perspectives, satisfaction and experiences with online and classroom learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings and implications on blended learning

Objectives

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted classroom-based learning, necessitating the adoption of online learning in most universities. However, there has been a lack of information on university students' perspectives regarding online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the perspectives, satisfaction and experiences with online and classroom learning among human health students at the University of Zambia.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 737 students at the University of Zambia from October 2022 to April 2023. Data were analysed using Stata version 16.1.

Results

Of the 737 participants, 51.6% were female and 56.5% agreed that blended learning should continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 78.4% of the students believed that group discussions were more suitable in the classroom than online learning. Most students (67.1%) disagreed that they preferred online learning to classroom learning. Furthermore, 77.6% of the students disagreed that online learning gave more satisfaction than classroom learning.

Conclusions

This study found that most students recommended the continuation of blended learning after the pandemic. However, they believed that follow-up tutorials and assessments were better undertaken in physical classrooms than online learning. These findings are important in sensitising stakeholders in the education sector and governments to consider blended learning as a teaching strategy in the future. There is a need to develop and implement curricula that offer blended learning to students as well as ensure the students have the necessary facilities and equipment to support such learning.

Open Book Exams and Flexible Grading Systems: Post-COVID University Policies from a Student Perspective

Due to COVID-19, many universities have started offering real time video or recorded courses. This situation raises concerns about a decline in students' learning outcomes and issues of unfairness regarding students' exams and grade evaluations. Korean universities have introduced online open book testing in courses and a flexible pass grading system that allows students to select their final grades to improve fairness. This research investigates students' thoughts and reasons for the test and the system through a questionnaire with 109 respondents and statistical methods such as nonparametric tests, multinomial regression and text-mining. Many students supported both the testing and the grading system, presenting balanced viewpoints by comparing their cons and pros. This finding suggests that these policies could be helpful in enhancing fairness in grade evaluation, relieving students of the learning burden and increasing their satisfaction. This study offers the implications that universities must develop standardized exam formats as well as various learning options in a rapidly changing situation with educational innovation (e.g., hyperscale and generative artificial intelligence).

Lessons learnt during COVID-19: making sense of Australian and Swedish university lecturers' experience

This article reports on a study analysing changes in the use of digital technologies and working from home during the COVID-19 crisis and the impact of these changes on the wellbeing of five female university lecturers from Australia and Sweden. Applying collaborative autoethnographical methods, this study employed Weick's sensemaking framework to explore how the academics made sense of these sudden changes. The Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA) wellbeing framework was also employed to explore the effect of these changes on the academics' wellbeing. Findings from the reflective narratives show that after the initial experiences of stress, each university lecturer was able to adapt and navigate the online teaching environment during the pandemic. However, the time constraints in preparing and adapting to online teaching, and working from home, were experienced by some of the university lecturers as highly stressful and isolating which impacted their sense of wellbeing. Even so, working from home was recognized as a positive experience, providing time for research, hobbies, and time with family. This study addresses a gap in current knowledge by examining the impact of the sudden transition to online teaching and learning had on academic wellbeing as conceptualised through the PERMA framework. In addition, by applying Weick's sensemaking framework, this study provides a unique perspective around how academics made sense of the sudden switch to online teaching and learning during COVID-19.

Psychosocial Context of OSH-Remote Work of Academic Teachers in the Perspective of Sustainable Development

The purpose of the research paper is to analyse the factors affecting remote work in terms of the selected socio-economic criteria and to determine which elements contribute the most to the development of sustainable work. In addition, the study describes the issues of remote education at the academic level and the challenges faced by academic teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The whole is embedded in the issues of occupational health and safety, with particular emphasis on the psychosocial aspects of the occupational safety of academic teachers in Poland. In the research process, the TOPSIS multi-criteria analysis tool (technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution) was used, as well as AHP (analytical hierarchy process), as an auxiliary method. The use of these methods made it possible to select the most important variable and to determine the ranking of factors affecting the analysed problem. Findings: According to the conducted research, the most important factor affecting the safety of remote work-in relation to the selected sustainability criteria-is overwork/workload. An equally important element was stress during remote work, as well as the organization of time, with consideration to the balance between work and home duties. The research has shown that the selected aspects of remote work can have a significant impact on the achievement of sustainable development goals by a given organization, and in relation to individuals, on the quality of life and the sense of safety and health at work.