Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have widely been acknowledged as a unified platform to reduce the digital divide and make education accessible to all. It also enables students’ access to professors and educational contents sans spatial and institutional barriers. Despite several benefits, MOOCs’ adoption and completion rate remain unimpressive, especially among developing countries. Using Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2), we examine the key factors that influence the behavioral intention to use MOOCs among students in an Indian private university. The data from 412 postgraduate students were analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structured Equation Modelling. The study identifies barriers to use MOOCs, in a university that has offered free MOOCs courses and certifications to the students. The study makes several theoretical contributions and offer adequate insights for higher education institutions to administer and integrate MOOCs in their curriculum.
Entrepreneurship education enhances the entrepreneurial potential of students, leading them to take up an entrepreneurial career. But, in India, a vast majority of youths with latent entrepreneurial potential are passing out of colleges without the needed basic entrepreneurial skills. The inconsistency towards entrepreneurship development policy is hurting the economy as a whole. The study analyses entrepreneurial potential of students and entrepreneurship education in the higher education system. It also examines whether there exists an alignment among them using the data triangulation method. The findings signify that entrepreneurial potential of students is on the upper side, and entrepreneurship education in higher education system is below average. The outcome of this study highlights the increasing need to focus on entrepreneurship education in higher education.
This study examines the influence of higher education institutions’ (HEIs’) ecosystem on entrepreneurship education (EE) and attempts to map the complex relationship between both. It also captures the actual practice of EE in HEIs. A two-stage empirical approach was used in the research design. Drawing upon literature, a conceptual framework was developed to relate HEIs’ ecosystem and EE in the first stage. This framework was tested with the data obtained from 264 academicians. The findings yielded eight factors of HEIs’ ecosystem and six factors of EE. In the second stage, opinion of 15 experts in the area of EE was sought to develop cause–effect relationships between the two constructs. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach was used to examine the cause–effect relationship. Findings indicate that entrepreneurship promotion activity and institutions’ attitude towards entrepreneurship is important causal factors leading to effective EE. The research contributes to literature by fusing two theoretical paradigms. The outcomes of the study have a strong implication for HEIs to build a conducive educational ecosystem for entrepreneurship development.
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to analyse the perception of students toward a computer-based exam on a custom-made digital device and their willingness to adopt the same for high-stake summative assessment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study followed an analytical methodology using survey design. A modified version of students’ perception of e-assessment questionnaire (SPEAQ) was used to elicit information from the subjects, who were drawn from a first-year post-graduate course in management and commerce, soliciting voluntary participation in the survey. SmartPLS 2.0 was the major analytical tool used to understand the theoretical robustness of observed and latent variables through structural equation modelling. The final model was retained based on the structural significance of the path coefficients.
Findings
The results of the study offer ample evidence to establish the proposed theoretical relationship. It was found that the subjects of the study maintained a positive attitude toward e-assessment. Hence, the introduction of e-exams for high-stake assessment is suitable to current generation students.
Research limitations/implications
Findings of the study may be irrelevant to students who are not subject to e-learning processes, as an e-assessment can only be effective when students have ample exposure to working on computers.
Practical/implications
A major practical implication of the study is that e-exams will positively influence the outcome of education and effectiveness of the teaching–learning process. Technology, as an eclectic paradigm, can amplify the educational outcome by boosting the competency of students to meet challenges of any emerging situations.
Originality/value
The idea of an e-exam, using a custom-made device, is unprecedented. This paper offers a convincing empirical evidence to academic administrators to integrate e-assessment with e-learning programs.
The current study examines students’ coping process of a forced technological intervention in academic outcome assessment in a higher education setting. A mixed-method approach was used to study 246 post-graduate students’ post-usage behaviour of electronic tablet-PC exams and examined their end-user satisfaction. This is an empirical study grounded in the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA). Respondents of the study comprise of post-graduate students, who were exposed to an innovative digital device for writing descriptive exams as a substitute to the conventional paper-mode exam. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Nvivo. Findings indicate that problem-focused coping has a significant influence on end-user satisfaction, and on the contrary emotion-focused coping is insignificant among the students. The study offers insights into those institutions, which are aspiring to advance with similar interventions in academic outcome assessment. The study contributes to the literature on technostress, coping strategy, and end-user satisfaction of ICT.
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