Opportunities for Improving the Learning/Teaching Experience in a Virtual Online Environment

Abstract

investigate the practice of online teaching/learning during pandemic 'lockdown' and the associated benefits and challenges. More specifically, we set out to answer the following questions:• What educational technologies are instructors using to conduct classes and in which format?Abstract-The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented adoption of online education in universities and digital technologies are increasingly becoming an essential part of the learning and teaching experience. From within an ongoing pandemic 'lockdown', this study investigates the current landscape of online education with a focus on the learning and teaching experience in virtual classrooms compared to physical classrooms. We found that instructors typically combine multiple technologies to create a holistic learning experience for students. The benefits of virtual classrooms included self-paced learning, increased opportunities to gain procedural knowledge, diversified communication channels, and greater opportunities for learning analytics. Compared to physical classrooms, the drawbacks of virtual classrooms included the lack of both timely access to all information through a single interface and natural interpersonal interaction. Based on our findings we recommend instructors to remain flexible when selecting technologies and to adapt the level of offline learning to fit their students' learning styles and abilities. We also identified opportunities for virtual reality technology to mitigate the drawbacks of online education by helping to translate in-class experience to virtual spaces.

Response of learning analytics to the online education challenges during pandemic: Opportunities and key examples in higher education

“…According to results from the reviewed papers, two of the most remarkable opportunities of LA tools were that the tools supported learners and instructors in the planning the online learning process and monitoring. In the process of planning, learners and instructors can determine learning goals ( Tabuenca et al, 2021 ) and set up completion times and conditions ( Liang et al, 2020 ) by utilizing LA tools. This helps the learners with self-regulating their learning and the instructors with pedagogical planning (e.g., Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

The Effects of COVID-19 on Tertiary Institutions in Ghana: The Case of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA)

“…The discussion here focuses on how the COVID-19 epidemic has affected Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) globally. Specifically the extant literature centers on the effects of the epidemic on teaching, learning and assessment [28,22,2,42,40,58]. The encouragement of physical distancing and lockdowns to tone down the spread of the corona virus epidemic brought in its wake a major disruption in the educational sector.…”

“…This is because COVID-19 opened avenues for teachers to teach and students to study without restrictions to time and location. This was made possible through digital technology which became a very important aspect of the teaching and learning experience [27,53,40]. As a matter of fact, the unexpected migration of teaching and learning to these digital learning platforms have contributed to building the capacity of both instructors and learners.…”

“…In addition, students from low-income countries experienced social inequalities such as inadequate access to resources, books, and other materials. These challenges heightened the fear and anxiety that accompanied the pandemic, thereby jeopardizing the mental health of many students [36,40,57,7,45]. On a whole, whether the focus is on students or teachers, the sudden switch from in-person to emergency online teaching and learning has brought in its wake challenges facing HEIs, particularly in low-earning settings where there is little to no information technology infrastructure.…”

Exploring iSpring Suite for Android-Based Interactive Instructional Media in Electrical Lighting Installation Subject

“…Learning media is a device that is interrelated with each other to create a fun learning atmosphere [38]. Learning media can facilitate and help the learning process by being more interactive and flexible because it combines verbal communication with media and allows students to do many activities such as observing, questioning, presenting, and demonstrating [39]. Many learning media use technology in today's technological developments [40].…”