This study examines the major factors that may hinder or enable the adoption of e-leaming systems by university students in developing (Qatar) as well as developed (USA) countries. To this end, we ...used extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) with Trust as an external variable. By means of an online survey, data were collected from 833 university students from a university in Qatar and another from USA. Structural equation modelling was employed as the main method of analysis in this study. The results show that performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit and trust are significant predictors of behavioural intention (BI) in both samples. However, contrary to our expectation, the relationship between price value and BI is insignificant. Our results also show that effort expectancy and social influence lead to an increase in students' adoption of e-leaming systems in developing countries but not in developed countries. Moreover, facilitating conditions increase e-leaming adoption in developed countries which is not the case in developing countries. Overall, the proposed model achieves an acceptable fit and explains its variance for 68% of the Qatari sample and 63% of the USA sample. These results and their implications to both theory and practice are described.
Summary
This paper presents a personal account of developments in research on online learning over the past 30 years. Research on how to design online instruction represents an example of applying ...the science of learning to education. It contributes to the science of learning (as exemplified by developments in cognitive load theory, the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, and incorporating metacognitive, motivational, and affective aspects of learning), the science of instruction (as exemplified by the continuing development of research‐based principles of instructional design), and the science of assessment (as exemplified by supplementing self‐report surveys and retention tests with multilevel transfer tests, log file data during learning, and cognitive neuroscience measures of cognitive processing during learning). Some recurring themes are that learning is caused by instructional methods rather than instructional media, so research should focus on features that are uniquely afforded by digital learning environments; instructional practice should be grounded in rigorous and systematic research, including value‐added experiments aimed at pinpointing the active ingredients in online instruction; research in online learning should identify boundary conditions under which instructional techniques are most effective; and research in online learning should test and contribute to learning theory.
This study aims to determine the key factors affecting students' and instructors' continuance satisfaction with e-learning in the higher education context. In order to identify the factors that ...impact e-learning continuation in higher education institutions, a systematic review of the literature was conducted, revealing that the majority of studies have reported the essential role of satisfaction in mediating the relationship between 11 factors and users' decisions to continue using e-learning systems. This study then proposed that users, both students and instructors, must continually be satisfied with the e-learning systems offered by higher education institutions if they are to continue using them. We term this 'e-learning continuance satisfaction.' The formation of a unified perspective of instructors and students on the core factors that impact e-learning continuance was then investigated, in addition to the causal relationships between these factors and e-learning continuance satisfaction. The Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to analyze data collected from 9 instructors and 38 students via an interview survey and the results yielded five core factors - information quality, task-technology fit, system quality, utility value, and usefulness - that influence users' e-learning continuance satisfaction. Several different causal relationships between the factors identified from both students' and instructors' perspectives were also identified and used to form a single viewpoint. Our findings provide new insights into how higher education institutions can promote continuance satisfaction in order to ensure continuation of e-learning.
Two previous literature review-based studies have provided important insights into mobile learning, but the issue still needs to be examined from other directions such as the distribution of research ...purposes. This study takes a meta-analysis approach to systematically reviewing the literature, thus providing a more comprehensive analysis and synthesis of 164 studies from 2003 to 2010. Major findings include that most studies of mobile learning focus on effectiveness, followed by mobile learning system design, and surveys and experiments were used as the primary research methods. Also, mobile phones and PDAs are currently the most widely used devices for mobile learning but these may be displaced by emerging technologies. In addition, the most highly-cited articles are found to focus on mobile learning system design, followed by system effectiveness. These findings may provide insights for researchers and educators into research trends in mobile learning.
► Most studies of M-learning focus on effectiveness and mobile learning system design. ► Most M-learning studies adopted surveys and experiments as the main research methods. ► Mobile phones and PDAs currently are the most used devices for mobile learning. ► Use of M-devices for learning is common in higher education and elementary schools. ► Most highly cited articles categorize to M-learning system design and effectiveness.
Although past research has sought to identify the factors of student engagement in traditional online courses, two questions remained largely unanswered with regard to Massive Open Online Courses ...(MOOCs): do the factors that could influence student engagement in traditional online courses also apply to online courses that are massive and open? What factors do students consider important in terms of their perceived ability to promote a satisfying or engaging online learning experience? This paper reports a case study of three top‐rated MOOCs in the disciplines of programming languages, literature, and arts & design in order to address these very questions. Using a mixed methods approach that combines participant observation with analysis of reflection data from 965 course participants, this paper seeks to understand the factors behind the popularity of these MOOCs. Five factors were found. These include the following, ranked in terms of importance: (1) problem‐centric learning with clear expositions, (2) instructor accessibility and passion, (3) active learning, (4) peer interaction, and (5) using helpful course resources. The specific design strategies pertaining to each factor are further discussed in this paper. These strategies can provide useful guidance for instructors and are a worthwhile subject for further experimental validation.
Automatic recommendation has become an increasingly relevant problem to industries, which allows users to discover new items that match their tastes and enables the system to target items to the ...right users. In this paper, we propose a deep learning (DL) based collaborative filtering framework, namely, deep matrix factorization (DMF), which can integrate any kind of side information effectively and handily. In DMF, two feature transforming functions are built to directly generate latent factors of users and items from various input information. As for the implicit feedback that is commonly used as input of recommendation algorithms, implicit feedback embedding (IFE) is proposed. IFE converts the high-dimensional and sparse implicit feedback information into a low-dimensional real-valued vector retaining primary features. Using IFE could reduce the scale of model parameters conspicuously and increase model training efficiency. Experimental results on five public databases indicate that the proposed method performs better than the state-of-the-art DL-based recommendation algorithms on both accuracy and training efficiency in terms of quantitative assessments.
This report describes the adaptations made to one initial teacher education course at a Hong Kong university designed for face-to-face instruction that was required to be delivered exclusively online ...due to the suspension of face-to-face classes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes the adaptations the tutor made, and the challenges faced adapting to the new mode of delivery. It is hoped that others can learn from the author's experience and be prepared for the suspension of face-to-face classes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or other health emergencies.
Online learning can be a lonely experience. Social presence and interaction are a few proposed ways to combat students' feelings of loneliness from peers and their instructor. Given that online ...course popularity and opportunities continue to grow, it is necessary to examine possible ways to alleviate perceptions of loneliness, especially given its negative outcomes on students' learning experiences. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore how connections with those in the course (i.e. rapport and climate) may alleviate perceptions of loneliness in an online classroom, if at all, using rhetorical and relational goals as a theoretical perspective. The results from this study exemplify the importance of the instructor's role in building and maintaining rapport and climate. Practical implications for online instructors are presented in the discussion.
In higher educational institutes, developing classrooms for active learning is becoming a part of comprehensive educational drive for students involving and engaging in learning. For this purpose, ...influence of social factors on collaborative learning and engagement has been investigated which will influence learning performance of students. The study looked at following areas: (a) the ability of social factors for developing collaborative learning and engagement and (b) whether collaborative learning and engagement mediate a link between social factors and student's learning performance. Constructivism theory has been utilized to observe the student's learning behavior. Data have been collected through questionnaires from university students. Findings evaluated through structural equation modeling (SEM), shows that social factors, i.e. interaction with peers and teachers, social presence, and usage of social media positively impact active collaborative learning and student involvement, thus affecting their learning performance. The findings also provide evidence for double mediation used in this study. As online learning is becoming more prevalent in education, it has been concluded that overall collaborative learning and engagement with influence of social factors improve activities of students learning; therefore, their usage should be stimulated in teaching and learning in higher educational institutions as it influences students' academic development.
The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in New Zealand schools closing and teaching occurring through digital media. This article reports research which applied Kearney et al.'s framework as a lens to examine ...student experience of digital learning at home during Covid-19. This framework provides three characteristics that influence learners' experience when using digital devices for learning: personalisation, authenticity and collaboration. High school students in their final two years of schooling (n = 1975) responded to a questionnaire consisting of quantitative and qualitative questions, with qualitative data analysed thematically and quantitative data with descriptive statistics. Aspects of Kearney et al.'s framework were reflected in participants' experience, but further characteristics were identified. Authenticity and collaboration facilitated learning, but participants valued supportive pedagogies and motivational strategies which enabled academic progress and enhanced wellbeing. Effective use of technology mediated supportive pedagogies, and an alternative framework was developed to incorporate these additional findings.
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