Academic expectations among international students from North-Western China: A case of technology use during and post COVID-19.

This study examines the influence of the COVID-19 crisis on academic expectations among international students from north-western China. According to past studies, academic expectations are multifaceted, making it critical to test the methods employed to assess this fundamental trait. The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in various significant changes in education, which have shifted from traditional to online or mixed formats. As a result, examining international students' academic expectations along with their interactions with adopted technologies is a topic that addresses the current situation and issues. A mixed approach, comprising two different instruments (questionnaire and interview), was followed to achieve this primary objective. While a survey with a questionnaire was undertaken with 551 international students, divided into two groups, ten students were interviewed during and after the lockdowns. The findings revealed that COVID-19 had a significant impact on the academic expectations of students as well as many elements such as training for employment, personal and social development, international student mobility, motivation, social pressure, and social interaction with the help of supporting technologies. In terms of gender, men outperformed women in motivation, social interaction, training for employment, and personal and social development factors. Similarly, as per the grade variable (undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral), the same higher trend was seen in postgraduates. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations was put forward. In the future, technology will be helpful in China's educational sector, such as online group collaboration, open education, managing student retention, and supervising teachers' recruitment.

Teachers' Perspectives towards Online Professional Development Programs during the Period of COVID-19 Pandemic in the Saudi EFL Context

This study aimed to explore a group of teachers' perspectives on the effectiveness of online professional development programs in the Saudi English context. To achieve this main research objective, a five-point Likert scale with 21 items belonging to four essential dimensions was carried out on 537 English teachers using the snowball sampling method. The data was collected online through a Google Form-generated link. The study's findings revealed that English teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of online professional development programs presented to them during the pandemic of Covid-19 were relatively high. No statistically significant differences were found due to gender, age, experience, or qualifications regarding teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of online professional development programs. However, there were statistically significant differences in the efficiency of these programs between teachers who have attended these programs and those who have not in favour of the former. On the basis of these findings, limitations and recommendations were put forward.