The influence of COVID-19 related psychological and demographic variables on the effectiveness of e-learning among health care students in the southern region of Saudi Arabia

The mediating effect of nomophobia in the relationship between problematic social media use/problematic smartphone use and psychological distress among university students

As smartphones and social media become more common, the psychological impact on university students has garnered increasing research attention. The present study examined nomophobia as the mediator in the relatioship between problematic social media use (PSMU)/ problematic smartphone use (PSU), and psychological distress among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 622 Malaysian university students recruited through online survey, socio-demographic information, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMPQ) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) were completed. To analyze mediation effects, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used. PSMU, PSU and psychological distress were found to be positively related to nomophobia. Nomophobia was a significant mediator between PSMU/PSU and psychological distress. Findings appear to highlight the importance of nomophobia in increasing psychological distress among young adults. Future research could examine these relationships longitudinally to better understand the relationship for effective interventions for the improvement of psychological well-being of young adults navigating the challenges of modern technology.

Evaluating and Prioritizing Barriers for Sustainable E-Learning Using Analytic Hierarchy Process-Group Decision Making

E-Learning is a popular computer-based teaching–learning system that has been rapidly gaining global attention during and post COVID-19. The leaping changes in digital technology have enabled E-Learning to become more effective in recent years. It offers freedom from restrictions caused by geographical boundaries and provides time flexibility in the teaching–learning process. Apart from its numerous advantages, the success of E-Learning depends upon many critical success factors (CSFs) and barriers. If the barriers that lie in the way of successful E-Learning implementation are not addressed diligently, it will limit E-Learning success. It has been revealed through past research that these barriers are serious threats that need immediate attention in their redressal. This paper attempts to reveal sixteen barriers under four different dimensions by going through a comprehensive review of the literature and engaging decision makers. Furthermore, it uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process-Group Decision Making (AHP-GDM) methodology to evaluate and prioritize them. The results obtained show that barriers related to the Institutional Management Dimension (BIMD), Infrastructure and Technological Dimension (BITD), Student Dimension (BSD), and Instructor Dimension (BID) pose the greatest challenges in the successful implementation of E-Learning. The AHP-GDM methodologies reveal the comparative relationship among these barriers as BIMD > BITD > BSD > BID and further quantify their negative effects as 46.35%, 29.88%, 12.30%, and 11.4%, respectively, on successful E-Learning systems (‘>’ indicates comparative challenges).

The Socio-Emotional Competencies of High School and College Students in the National Polytechnic Institute (Mexico)

The socio-emotional competencies of students are essential for supporting their school and personal performance. This article presents the results and analysis of an experiment with students from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN, Mexico) and the subsequent application of an instrument to assess their socio-emotional competencies. The questions that guided the research were the following: (1) What is the level of development of the socio-emotional competencies of IPN students? (2) How do variables such as sex, age, and educational level affect the degree of development of socio-emotional competencies? (3) Are the socio-emotional competencies of the study group similar to those of the control group? These questions were examined through a quantitative analysis of the results of an instrument organized into nine theoretical dimensions with 72 questions that integrate the content of socio-emotional competencies. The instrument was applied to 405 students. The results show, first, a high level of development, on average, of the students’ socio-emotional competencies. Second, significant differences were found between the study group and the control group in two dimensions exclusively: empathy and autonomy. Similarly, the results show significant differences in the responses of men and women in two dimensions, regulation and pro-sociality, which, according to the analysis carried out, are related to prevailing gender stereotypes. A relevant conclusion is that the strengthening of socio-affective skills from school is essential for the comprehensive development of students. Failure to attend to them reproduces pre-existing conditions in families where poverty and violence do not allow for enriched socio-emotional environments.

Engineering Students' Perception of Online Learning During the Emergency Nationwide Lockdown in Nigeria

The global pandemic forced the closure of learning institutions and an abrupt switch from physical (face-to-face) learning to e-learning. The Academic Staff Union of University postulates that e-learning will not work during the period. This paper evaluates the attitude of engineering students in a Nigerian private university to e-learning during the period of national lockdown in Nigeria. A questionnaire was designed to collect students' attitudes about learning efficiency, quality, and associated cost. Ease or difficulty of the transition to e-learning, digital skills requirement, commitment to e-learning, digital skills improvement, and preferred test mode were studied. In addition, the relationship between gender and preferred test mode was examined. 73 students responded to the questionnaire. A significantly lower percentage (4%) of the engineering students prefer the e-learning method, while a more significant percentage (62%) of the respondents prefer blended learning. Gender has no significant relationship with the preferred learning mode of the students. Moreover, the students found the e-learning approach to be expensive. Finally, there is still much to be done by Nigerian educational stakeholders to improve the experience of e-learning in Nigeria.

Effectiveness of using E-learning systems during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Experiences and perceptions analysis of engineering students

The COVID-19 epidemic has affected most countries across the globe since it was declared in December 2019 and forced most educational institutions to shift from face-to-face learning style to E-learning or distance education. This study aims to analyze and investigate the experiences and perceptions of using Blackboard as a distance learning (online) platform. The study was conducted in one of the top universities in Saudi Arabia and the Middle east. A survey-based study is constructed and distributed among undergraduate students including males, and females in an engineering college. Two hundred thirty-five students participated in this study; males represent (74%) and (26%) for females. Ten phases containing 38 items of advantages and disadvantages are considered in the survey study to understand the advantages, constraints, and difficulties of the Blackboard. Two nonparametric statistical tools of Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis are used for analyzing the survey. The study shows significant results regarding difference perceptions on Blackboard between gender and engineering disciplines. The results of this study can help the educational decision-makers in the ministry of education and universities improve the quality and increase the sustainability of the EL resources. Moreover, the findings reveal that males, females, and engineering disciplines have different perceptions towards the use of virtual learning.

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Technological and Polytechnic University Teachers

University teachers have adapted to different situations during the development of distance learning due to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. This study was conducted by assigning a data collection instrument to 993 teachers who are part of 15 technological universities (TUs) and 7 polytechnic universities (PUs) to determine how they were affected by COVID-19. The questions asked were related to the social, economic, academic, emotional, and health effects experienced. The results show that 63% of the teachers working online complained that online teaching invaded their family privacy; 56% pointed out that working from home and the virtual classes affected their performance as teachers; 90% of the teachers thought that they dedicated too much extra to preparing for their classes; 15% were stressed; 4% felt negative under the new teaching scheme of virtual classes; finally, 38% of the teachers stated that repeated interaction with electronic devices had a lot of negative impacts on their emotional wellbeing. By means of a G-test, it was determined that gender was independent from the studied effects. Through a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), it was determined that, of the total number of teachers who responded to the questionnaire, half were comfortable with the online teaching model and the other half were not. The most impacted effects were the economic, training and connectivity independently from the gender.

Perceptions of Pharmacy Students on the E-Learning Strategies Adopted during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

E-learning strategies were globally adopted by academies because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The characterization of students' perception of online learning is fundamental to design appropriate models for pharmacy curricula. The study aim was to carry out a systematic review about the perception of pharmacy students on the e-learning strategies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist was followed. PICOS criteria were applied. Five databases were screened: PubMed, Cochrane Library, DOAJ-Directory of Open Access Journals, SciELO-Scientific Electronic Library Online and b-on-Online Library of knowledge (Biblioteca do conhecimento online).

KEYWORDS

"pharmacy and (distant or remote or e-learning or online or zoom or education or training or digital) and (COVID or SARS and (student or undergraduate) and (opinion or satisfaction or perception or attitude)".

RESULTS

23 out of 176 papers were selected (28 duplicated and 125 excluded). Selected papers were classified, as follows: studies exclusively involving pharmacy students (n = 8); studies simultaneously involving pharmacy students and other healthcare students (n = 6); and studies related to the involvement of pharmacy students in specific courses (n = 9).

CONCLUSIONS

In general, the perception of pharmacy students on e-learning strategies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic was positive. However, an expressive proportion of undergraduates reported negative issues about online education, which seems to support the necessity of optimizing e-learning strategies in the future.