Use of digital tools in virtual education in Ecuador

Education changes with the passing of time, in the modern age schools and universities emerged, including the teaching given by church professors, until the diversification of classes that could exercise the right to education given by governmental models such as democracy. All these changes transformed several human paradigms, among the recent changes of the contemporary age, we found: secular education, and virtual education, the latter became potentialized thanks to a global event. In the year 2020, humanity faced a critical situation that had not been experienced for more than six centuries, since the emergence of the Black Death in Eurasia in 1347-1353. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted "normality”, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), leading countries to take restrictive protective measures, including the suspension of face-to-face classes in all educational institutions. Thanks to this event, digital tools were essential for the intellectual and economic development of the world, among those used was the e-learning platform that allowed teachers and students to interact with each other. However, there coexisted countless homes in which buying a technological device or hiring internet service was not possible, either because of the economic situation or geographical location, they could not access virtual classes, which led them to make monetary sacrifices such as: loans or mobilizing to places where the signal could reach. © 2022, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.

Increasing the effectiveness of online learning platforms: Some factors that influence employee work engagement

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsEffectiveness of online learning requires employees to engage with the digital platforms used. Companies can increase work engagement (WE) among learners by developing a platform that is regarded as easy to use and offers online content that employees believe will enhance their future job performance. Task-based learning that includes game elements and other challenging activities also help create an online environment conducive to interaction, knowledge sharing and quality feedback. Personality traits can also influence learner WE, while careful use of financial incentives has scope to do likewise.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Platform Solutions for the Digital Justice: Models of Regulation

This chapter examines the concept and legal regulation of digital platforms in justice systems in Germany, the European Union (EU), and Kyrgyzstan, as well as their impact on access to justice during the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital platforms for justice systems are becoming increasingly important. This study aims to examine in which cases legal regulation is required for the establishment and operation of the platforms and what significance regulation has using examples of digital platforms for justice in Germany, the EU, and Kyrgyzstan. The study provides recommendations on how to improve legal framework for digital platforms in justice system and lay foundation for supranational legal framework for digital justice platform in Eurasian Economic Union based on the European Unions' experience. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

Factors of Development and Success of Digital Platforms

Digitalization of the economy is one of the factors and manifestations of globalization processes. However, the possibilities which give use of digital platforms in the long term enable the formation of a national information space that is safe from external threats. This study summarizes the current approaches to the classification of digital platforms, their description and functionality, and their importance for the economy. The study focused on modern approaches to the typology of digital platforms and the specifics of their integration into public administration and business structures. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

University centres for the study of data. Responsibility and institutional justice in a platform society

The use of digital platforms by the university communities to produce knowledge, research, teaching, and management has not only intensified but it has also diversified since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a context where higher education and the use of digital technologies are increasingly intertwined, universities can take advantage of this unplanned hiper-digitalization event to explore fundamental questions about learning and researching in a post-digital landscape. This article is the result of an exploratory study based on a co-design and virtual ethnography, analyzing the attributes and foci of 31 "data research center" in universities from 16 countries. Although the centers analyzed have different profiles and approaches, they all investigate the intensive use of data and its political-social implications, with a special interest in the fair and ethical use of data for administrative, research, and pedagogical activities. As result, this work provides 20 proposals, grouped into 4 dimensions of possible institutional areas of development for universities. These proposals aim to contribute to the critical analysis of how higher education institutions can play a central role to face the growing relevance of advanced data systems in our societies. © 2023 Grupo de Investigacion FORCE. All rights reserved.

From Comic-Con to Amazon: Fan conventions and digital platforms

San Diego Comic-Con is North America's premiere fan convention and a key site for mediating between media industries and fandom. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Comic-Con to abruptly move its programming onto an array of digital platforms in an apparent "platformization” of the con. Informed by research on fan conventions, media industries, and the platformization of cultural production, this analysis of the online convention argues that Comic-Con was primed for platformization because it is already platform-like. Conventions organize markets, infrastructures, and governance to bring together attendees, media industries, and other "complementors.” Moreover, platform logics were already shaping the convention pre-pandemic in the form of experiential marketing and brand activations designed to capture attendee data. Rather than a radical break, the Comic-Con@Home online convention and in particular Amazon's Virtual-Con activation are part of a longer process of reconfiguring the relationships between fan conventions, cultural producers, and platforms. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Media & Society is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The Public Library "Bora Stankovic" in Vranje and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The previous year was marked by the challenges imposed by the covid-19 pandemic and epidemiological measures that significantly hindered the regular functioning of all segments of our life and work. Libraries around the world have closed their doors to limit virus transmission and preserve human health. What hasn't stopped and shut down is finding ways to preserve users and provide key services. Librarians have strengthened and focused on their essential role of serving the public, acting responsibly and reinforcing their unwavering commitment to, more than ever, providing users with the infrastructure to openly access information, collections, and meet the new demands of their community. The aim of this paper is to look at the position and functioning of public libraries during the coronavirus pandemic, with special emphasis on the activities of the "Bora Stankovic" Library in Vranje. Vranje librarians overcame the new challenges and, despite the unenviable situation, adjusted their programs to the "new normality", continued to provide their services, and successfully implemented content, among which the most important is certainly the implementation of the Biblionet 2020 in our city.

The Position and Regulation of Gatekeepers in the Context of the New European Legislation

Over the last two decades, a better digital transformation has fundamentally changed the global economy and society. Digital services have become new tools and their importance for our social and economic life will continue to grow. When we adopted the e-commerce directive 20 years ago, many digital services and platforms such as Google, Amazon or Booking were in their initial stage or did not yet exist. The blockades as the consequence of the COVID pandemic have now strengthened the role of online platforms. People have changed their habits towards the online world so that they can do business, shop, work, learn and socialize. COVID-19 has led to an increase in online e-commerce and an increase in fraud, unfair practices, and other illegalities of various formats. The crisis has exposed the system's existing gaps and weaknesses, which has allowed dishonest services and traders to exploit people's current insecurity. The Commission has proposed an ambitious reform of the digital space, a comprehensive set of new rules for all digital services, including social media, online marketplaces and other online platforms operating in the European Union: The Digital Services Act and The Digital Markets Act. In this article, we will look at the Commission's proposal for The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which was published on December 15, 2020. In the last few years, it has been concluded that a small number of large digital platforms act as "gatekeepers" because they are essential gateways between business users and their potential customers. This allows these platforms to take advantage of the enterprise users' dependence on their services by imposing unfair business conditions. As this issue may not be adequately addressed in competition law, it has led the European Commission to propose a Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA should introduce more flexibility and adaptability in terms of imposing the "gatekeeper" obligations. In this article, we will focus on the question of which digital platforms should be subject to ex ante regulation, and thus also the obligations contained in the DMA proposal. The methodology used to identify the "gatekeepers" cannot be separated from the problems that ex ante regulation seeks to address, as otherwise the DMA could end up regulating the wrong set of companies. The DMA proposal describes "gatekeepers" as providers of the core platform service (CPS) that meet three cumulative quality criteria. These criteria are presumed to be met if the relevant CPS provider meets the quantitative size thresholds. DMA includes a mechanism that allows CPS providers who meet these quantitative thresholds to escape labelling. This article reveals the various provisions of the DMA and explains why the Commission has decided to regulate "gatekeepers" and how it can prevent the damage caused by large digital platforms.

How commitment and platform adoption drive the e-commerce performance of SMEs: A mixed-method inquiry into e-commerce affordances

To cope with the digital transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, managers of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to adopt innovative practices to face uncertain scenarios and create long-term value, identified as transformational entrepreneurship practices. Among emerging digital technologies, digital platforms are shaping and outgrowing the e-commerce channel representing a potential opportunity for manufacturing SMEs to embrace digital transformation. Drawing on affordance theory, this research uses a mixed method approach to investigate how manufacturing SMEs' e-commerce commitment and digital platform adoption stimulate the actualization of three e-commerce affordances: consumer knowledge generation, internationalization, and customer diversification. Based on survey responses from 165 manufacturing SME managers, we find that direct selling through owned websites actualizes consumer knowledge generation and internationalization, indirect selling actualizes customer diversification and internationalization, and agency selling through third-party platforms actualizes all three affordances. The relationship between e-commerce commitment and ecommerce performance is mediated by consumer knowledge generation and internationalization but not by customer diversification. A fsQCA analysis outlines seven configurations actualizing these e-commerce affordances by pairing different ecommerce approaches with degrees of e-commerce commitment. Finally, an analysis of open-ended questions from 24 respondents complements the study and deeply interprets the seven unique configurations outlined. © 2023 The Authors

Using Digital Learning Platforms to Enhance the Instructional Design Competencies and Learning Engagement of Preservice Teachers

Given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated radical changes to the teaching landscape, employing digital learning platforms in the professional training of teachers has become imperative. The instructional design competencies are among the most important competencies for today's teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to test the effectiveness of digital learning platforms to provide teachers with the required competencies, both cognitive and practical, and to help them improve these competencies. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to measure the effects of using the Google Classroom platform to develop instructional design competences and learning engagement among preservice teachers in Saudi Arabia. We used a quasi-experimental approach, with a one-group design (pre- and posttest) in this study, which included 61 female student teachers. Three measurement instruments were utilised, namely, the achievement test, the product evaluation card, and the learning engagement scale. The results of our study showed that using Google Classroom as a digital learning platform was effective in helping the preservice teachers acquire and develop their cognitive and practical competencies in instructional design. Our results further revealed high levels of learning engagement at cognitive, behavioural, and social levels among the preservice teachers who participated in learning instructional design through the Google Classroom platform. Our findings emphasise the need for greater investment in digital learning platforms to support preservice teachers' professional training, as these students can benefit from the potential these platforms offer in developing their instructional design competencies.

Disaster Management Through Digital Platforms: Online Crowdfunding Communities Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic

We study how digital crowdfunding platforms can help replenish the sudden economic deficiencies that accompany a global crisis. Specifically, we examine whether public schools, which suffered severe setbacks during the COVID-19 crisis, were able to generate support from online fundraising communities. We study how the shutdown of schools and the shift to online learning in the United States affected private fundraising on the DonorsChoose.org platform. We find evidence that, after the exogenous shock caused by stay-at-home orders, donations to schools increased and the increased level of concern moves toward high-need schools. Moreover, we find a shift in donation patterns, wherein donors swiftly adapted to renewed priorities and redistributed their resources to immediate needs around digital learning infrastructure. Our findings reveal the pivotal role digital platforms can play in facilitating community resilience during times of crisis. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Reinventing luxury travel imaginaries: Early responses of travel influencers to the COVID-19 pandemic

This chapter assesses how luxury travel imaginaries were modified in the aftermath of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Drawing on long-term fieldwork among travel influencers, the chapter presents their response strategies to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on an analysis of evidence from participant observation in tourist sites, network visualisations, in-depth interviews and platform profiles, I trace the transformations luxury travel imaginaries have undergone since the beginning of 2020. Before this global crisis, travel influencers became new puissant players in the highly globalised tourism industry as they regularly received assignments from tourism boards and hotels. Although brand sponsorship was considered a substantial source of revenue for travel influencers, their collaborations in travel destinations and the monetisation of travel content on YouTube were further assets to secure a livelihood. The coronavirus outbreak, however, turned their life-worlds upside down. This ethnographic investigation identified three main responses of travel influencers to the current long-term crisis of tourism: (1) diversification of content creation and orientation towards other influencer genres, (2) support for local tourism organisations and online promotion of staycations and (3), finally, travel to tourist sites for circulating online content on safe travel standards. Digital platforms became a major arena where the future of tourism has been re-negotiated in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The in-depth investigation suggests that travel influencers were in a position to create new powerful representations of luxury as safe travel since they acquired the skills to establish stable storyworlds for their travel experiences, which attracted the attention of large platform audiences. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.

Change management: a framework for adaptation of the change management model

Digital health change management projects have a high rate of failure which limits the realization of their potential benefits. While there are many change management models, there is limited evidence of one model being effective in all circumstances. We propose a framework for building on an organizations preferred change management model and adapting it based on the change desired and the organization. We use three change management scenarios (small, large, and rapid) from radiology to explore the application of the framework. Radiology was chosen to illustrate the framework because it has been digital longer than many medical specialties. Given the high number of upgrades and new digital platforms in Radiology, it could also serve as a testing ground for such a framework. © 2023 "IISE”.

Technological corporations, digital platforms and privacy: comparing the discourses about the entry of BigTech in public education

In the context of accelerated digitization of education, most public schools are using commercial digital platforms such as Google or Microsoft. This phenomenon, intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, needs to be understood and analyzed by different perspectives and actors to find answers that allow for more sensible and secure use of these tools in educational contexts. In this scenario, this article explores the narratives on the protection of the privacy of users of digital platforms in schools and the protection of children's rights by the main actors in the educational field. The qualitative study is based on 14 interviews with key informants and analyzes their positions and statements concerning the use of commercial digital platforms in schools, the management of data, children's rights and the right to privacy. The results of this research shed light on the discursive tensions between the different educational actors around the entry of digital platforms of technological corporations in public schools. © Univ Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED). All Rights Reserved.

Digital Platforms and Craft Workers in India in the Time of COVID

The COVID-19 lockdown situation has raised important socio-economic issues within the craft industry in India. This paper specifically proposes to discuss to what extent the pandemic has strengthened the use of digital platforms and accelerated certain reconfiguration processes within the craft industry. E-commerce platforms have been recently investing in this sector, from local entrepreneurs' initiatives and governmental interventions to large e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Flipkart etc.). The idea is to examine the adaptation of work dynamics in a largely informal and precarious sector, the changes in terms of platform strategies, and the way in which the pandemic may have reinforced processes of dependency on certain digital players. Based on the case of the craft industry in India's North-East region, this paper will rely on qualitative methodology associating document analysis and fieldwork conducted before the lockdown in February 2020 in Assam, and followed by online interviews conducted after several months of lockdown. © OpenEditions Journals. All Rights Reserved.

The Digital Literacy in Teachers of the Schools of Rajouri (J&K)-India: Teachers Perspective

The present age is the age of information. The globalization has affected every sphere of the life including education. In spite of availability of ICT infrastructure in schools, their potential is underutilized because of digital incompetence of the teachers. New digital technologies are acting as a catalyst towards improvement of learning outcome and enhancing quality of education, but only introduction of such technologies in schools for producing change and innovation is not enough, it requires digitally competent teachers to facilitate the use of ICT in education. These teachers will act as facilitators and mentors to students to lead them towards problem solving and innovation to meet the new challenges of globalization. Teachers must be able to create learning environments which are student centric and foster creativity, Meta cognition, meta-literacy, collaboration and communication in learners. Mere superficial use of ICT in teaching will not yield the required learning outcome, but the integration of ICT in pedagogy is important to enhance teaching, learning process. This can be done only when teachers are competent enough to use ICT tools and facilitate ICT integrated education. In this paper, we tried to assess the teacher's perspective about the ICT and investigate the factors responsible for resistance of teachers in using ICT in schools and suggestive measures for successful integration of ICT in the teaching process by the teachers of Rajouri district (J&K, India). The ICT skills are very important for teachers to support alternative modes of teaching, learning, i.e. e-learning, mobile learning in the present outbreak of pandemic disease caused by Coronavirus-COVID19.

Risk communication in the official digital media of the pandemic in Brazil

Considering the first wave of the pandemic scenario and the necessary operation of policies and strategies that promote the population's self-care to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we see here the actions taken in the official digital media of the federal public administration in the period from March to October 2020. To this end, we used the method of content analysis on all material advertised by the Ministry of Health on the platforms Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Soundcloud, and official websites;ministry of health, pandemic hotsite, and health blog. With the analysis, we verified the prevalence of contents that privilege the illustration of the ministry's achievements, the 1. Self-promotion of the management itself, with 27.57% of the total publications, 2. Self-care promotion 18.87%, 3. Official data with 18.55%, 4. Daily news with 18.03%, 5. Technical communication for specialized audiences with 9.25%, and 6. Structural technical operation with 7.73%. With 3428 posts and 428,073,246 interactions evaluated, we saw self-care promotion content (18.87%) being suppressed by 81.13% of other aspects addressed by official government communication. In this way, we found that the absence of proper official communicative support at a level equivalent to the health demands presented in the pandemic that was established, leaves gaps in essential guidelines for the population, and even misinformation, which may have compromised the rigorous confrontation of the dissemination of the virus. © 2023, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Enterpreneurial Strategies for the Female Sector: Leveraging Instagram Sales During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly influenced the purchasing behavior of consumers, who began to see in the tools available in the virtual environment the necessary allies to satisfy their consumption desires. Given the relevance achieved by the virtual environment, organizations began to explore more intensively the various digital platforms to enhance their reach to their customers. The traditional electronic commerce then evolved into what we call Social Commerce (S-commerce), which allowed a substantial increase in the way of interacting and promoting sales. Despite the limitations and incipient studies on how organizations use their strategies and explore digital media tools to leverage sales, it is perceived as relevant to understand how the process of joining these organizations to digital media and the influence they have passed to exercise in the reformulation of its strategies and business models. Focusing on the Instagram environment, the objective of this research is to characterize the sales strategies used by three female-owned enterprises, through Instagram, during the pandemic by COVID-19. As a methodological research strategy, the study of multiple cases was used. Three Brazilian female-owned enterprise were analyzed, being: a jewelry company, a women's adult footwear company and a beauty salon. The entrepreneurs responsible for the companies were submitted to a semi-structured questionnaire, which was conducted in loco. As a result, it was observed that the most used Instagram tools are feed resources, stories and metrics. On the other hand, the sales strategies most used by entrepreneurs were e-WOM, recommendations and feedbacks and, finally, encouraging user participation. In conclusion, it was noticed that both the entrepreneur and the company that wants to implement sales strategies in digital media, need to understand the functions and objectives of the set of tools made available by Instagram. Once the functionalities present in these resources are understood, entrepreneurs and managers can formulate their strategies in an assertive way, being more efficient in their commercial transactions, since the actions aim to promote involvement with the public that follows the business. Instagram proved to be a tool with great potential for business in the female sector. © 2022, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All right reserved.

Assessment of changes in the online labour market in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: comparison of the dynamics of rural and urban participation

The digital platforms provide rural and small-town residents with access to quality education and a variety of other services, as well as open opportunities for remote job search and the implementation of professional skills. These processes should increase the role of small towns and villages in the formation of the country's online economy, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the article is to compare the participation of residents of large cities and the rest of the Russian population in the field of online work, as well as to compare their skill level. The authors found that residents of small towns and rural areas of Russia are less active in the online labour market. The level of their qualifications is also relatively low. The conclusions were obtained based on the analysis of search queries on the subject of freelancing originating from these localities. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Crowd work in STEM‐related fields: A window of opportunity from a gender perspective?

After the Global Financial Crisis (2008) many people found new job opportunities on crowd platforms. The COVID‐19 crisis reinforced this trend and virtual work is expected to increase. Although the working conditions of individuals engaged on these platforms is an emerging topic, of research, the existing literature tends to overlook the gendered dimension of the gig economy. Following a quantitative approach, based on the statistical analysis of 444 profiles (platform Freelancer.com in Spain and Argentina), we examine the extent to which the gig economy reproduces gender inequalities such as the underrepresentation of women in STEM‐related tasks and the gender pay gap. While the findings reveal lower participation of women than men, this gap is not higher in Argentina than in Spain. Moreover, gender variations in hourly wages are not as marked as expected, and such differences disappear once STEM skill levels are controlled for. Asymmetry in individuals' STEM skill level provides a better explanation than gender of the hourly wage differences. This finding opens a window of opportunity to mitigate the classical gender discrimination that women face in technological fields in traditional labor markets. Finally, the paper identifies some issues concerning the methodological bias entailed by the use of an application programming interface in cyber‐research, when analyzing gender inequalities.