Attitudes and Perceptions of Teaching Staff About the Online Learning During the COVID19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Engineering Education

The general objective of the present research is to know the perceptions and evaluations that academic teaching staff from a engineering faculty have about the emergency online teaching-learning process that occurred in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. Based on several previous works related to online learning (OL) and recently in the literature on emergency online learning (EOL), an instrument (questionnaire) was developed and implemented with the participation of 126 teachers from a Chilean university. The research is quantitative-descriptive and had the following specific objectives: (1) To know about the disposition (readiness) of the teaching staff towards the EOL, (2) To know about the their interactions with others during EOL, (3) To characterize the use of different Self-management skills during EOL, (4) To characterize the interaction with LMS and ICTs., and (5) To know about the available resources for EOL. In general, the results show that teaching staff show mastery in aspects related to self-management of learning, but a low level of motivation and readiness for EOL and a "loss" in aspects related to interaction with others (students and peers). These results provide a first approximation to university teachers' perceptions of EOL and allow us to identify several aspects that should be improved. This research was financially supported by DAAD as part of the project Praxispartnerschaften zwischen Hochschulen und Unternehmen in Deutschland und in Entwicklungslandern ab 2017 (Project Nr. 57334905).

Development and Evaluation of Interactive Flipped e-Learning (iFEEL) for Pharmacy Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Distance learning has come to the forefront of educational delivery throughout the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, there is a paucity of studies that have utilized interactive e-lectures as a model for remote flipped learning. OBJECTIVES: To compare educational outcomes for the remote interactive flipped e-learning (iFEEL) activity versus paper-based in-class group learning (PICkLE). METHODS: During the spring 2021 semester, tutorials in pharmaceutical quality control and good manufacturing practice were remotely delivered to students by two different approaches: PICkLE and iFEEL. In the latter activity, interactive e-lectures were software-designed and included several audiovisual enhanced illustrations to encourage students to interact with the lecture material prior to attending the virtual class. The class time was reserved for in-class quizzes and discussion. Mean exam scores were compared and voluntary questionnaires were distributed among the participating students as well as healthcare faculty members in 29 Saudi universities. Data from the remotely-delivered course was compared with data from previous course offerings (2018-2020) that used the live PICkLE method. RESULTS: The mean score of post-lecture tests significantly (p < 0.05) increased compared to pre-lecture tests in remote PICkLE and iFEEL, respectively. iFEEL activity showed higher mean post-tests score (95.2%) compared to live PICkLE (90.2%, p = 0.08) and remote PICkLE (93.5%, p = 0.658). Mean comprehensive exam scores increased from 83.8% for remote PICkLE to 89.2% for iFEEL (p = 0.449). On average, 92% of students and 85% of faculty members reported positive feedback on the five quality attributes of the e-lecture. Over 75% of students preferred the iFEEL over PICkLE activity for future course offerings and 84% of faculty members recommend the integration of interactive e-lectures in their future courses. CONCLUSION: iFEEL represents a novel model of remote flipped learning and shows promising potential to be incorporated into live blended-learning classroom activities.

Teaching Entrepreneurship Education (EE) Online During Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons learned from a Participatory Action Research (PAR) in a Malaysian Public University

This article focuses on a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project that was carried out in a Malaysian Public University during three series of lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time, all higher education institutes in Malaysia were barred from conducting face-to-face lectures that resorted to fully online learning throughout two semesters during the academic session of 2020 to 2021. As an educator, I was primary concerned about their achievement in learning outcomes and knowledge transfer through online learning of the Entrepreneurship Education (EE) Course. Therefore, this PAR described my critical reflections on my students' feedbacks from the analysis of my online video lessons, online student forums, and open-ended online surveys regarding their sentiments and perceptions on their learning experience. Ultimately, this PAR is to help me improve my teaching skills, to highlight gaps in the course content and suggest strategies of delivery in the future. As such, this article concludes by highlighting the mismatch between learning gaps, the extent the EE course learning outcomes address the students' personal obstacles in entrepreneurship and my future strategies to mitigate the challenges of entrepreneurship education.