Motivators and concerns for real-time online classes: focused on the security and privacy issues

Abstract

As education is increasingly going online, propelled by the COVID-19 outbreak, how to build student engagement has become critically important, and it is, therefore, necessary to explore the motivators and barriers to student engagement comprehensively. Given the nature of an online learning environment, this study specifically focused on security and privacy concerns as the major issues that may be restricting student engagement. Based on the data collected from 296 students studying at Y University, South Korea, this study reported the results of the structural model test supporting that perceived usefulness and peer behavior directly influence real-time online class participation intention. This study further showed the negative impact of privacy concern and security concern on the perceived ease of participation, which consequently influences RTOC participation intention through perceived usefulness and peer behavior. As technology-enabled contactless activities, including online education, have become new normal, this study's approach will provide insightful implications that help encourage student participation and active learning.

“Seeing and Being Seen” or Just “Seeing” in a Smart Classroom Context When Videoconferencing: A User Experience-Based Qualitative Research on the Use of Cameras

“…Therefore, they did not consider technology itself a problem. Privacy concerns derived from the use of cameras were mentioned by a significant number of those surveyed, in line with other research works, such as [ 25 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], and were consistent with the concerns derived from the use of videoconferencing [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]. More specifically, when talking about their privacy concerns, the students pointed out diverse comments as follows: “Many students do not want to show their personal space”; “The camera show your house to unknown people”; “it is invasive”; “violates your privacy”; “you cannot totally control what happens in your place of study” or “you lose privacy since the whole world can see your room and what you do”.…”

“…Strong student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction top the ranking of the list of positive elements highlighted by the undergraduates surveyed in terms of mention index while appearing as a negative element for a group of students in line with [ 9 , 36 ]. This dichotomy in terms of perception could be explained depending on what were the students’ references when comparing SC: ERT or F2F, as shown in [ 15 ].…”

“…Recently, diverse issues have been raised in the research arena about the use of cameras when videoconferencing, such as: (1) why students turn their cameras on or off [ 25 , 26 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]; (2) the fatigue associated with videoconferencing [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ] and how to cope with this issue [ 41 , 45 , 46 , 47 ] or the development of a conceptual model about this topic [ 48 ]; (3) engagement or disengagement [ 49 , 50 , 51 ], a key element when analyzing learning [ 52 , 53 ]; (4) difficulties in maintaining attention [ 41 , 54 ]; (5) the emotions that result from using cameras in synchronous learning [ 55 ], including the stress [ 38 ] and anxiety caused by videoconferencing [ 56 , 57 , 58 ]; (6) privacy concerns [ 36 , 59 , 60 , 61 ]; (7) users’ preferences and comparisons when using F2F versus online formats [ 15 , 62 , 63 ]; or (8) guidelines and recommendations for users when videoconferencing [ 20 , 21 , 49 , 64 ], and even in a broader scope, analyzing on line learning through literature review approaches [ 65 , 66 ], or examining remote teaching in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges [ 67 ].…”

EFL Learners’ Perceptions Regarding Peer-Collaboration and Communication in Face-to-Face and Online Classes

“…Some participants stated that they felt more secure and confident in group activities in online classes as they were not being listened to or observed by others. This finding is in parallel with some other studies like Kim (2021). In these studies, it was emphasised that crating small groups in online classes might foster students' motivation and autonomy, particularly for communication activities.…”

On Students’ Willingness to Use Online Learning: A Privacy Calculus Theory Approach

“…The results showed that two types of privacy concerns (abuse and unauthorized access to private data) affected students’ perceptions of knowledge hiding and negatively influenced their participation in collaborative learning online. Kim (2021) has conducted an insightful study examining the factors that motivate and hinder Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students from participating in online courses. Their results indicated that perceived usefulness and peer behavior directly affect participation intentions.…”