Rural–Urban, Gender, and Digital Divides during the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Multi-Layered Study

This study explores digital divide issues that influenced online learning activities during the COVID-19 lockdown in five developing countries in South Asia. A multi-layered and interpretive analytical lens guided by three interrelated perspectives—structure, cultural practices, and agency—revealed various nuanced aspects across location-based (i.e., rural vs. urban) and across gendered (i.e., male vs. female) student groups. A key message that emerged from our investigation was the subtle ways in which the digital divide is experienced, specifically by female students and by students from rural backgrounds. Female students face more structural and cultural impositions than male students, which restricts them from fully availing digital learning opportunities. Rich empirical evidence shows these impositions are further exacerbated at times of crisis, leading to a lack of learning (agency) for women. This research has provided a gendered and regional outlook on digital discriminations and other inequalities that came to the forefront during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study is especially relevant as online learning is being touted as the next step in digitization;therefore, it can inform educational policymaking and help build inclusive digital societies and bridge current gender and regional divisions. © 2023 by the authors.

The phenomenon of online study rooms in the days of COVID-19

Access to physical study rooms to libraries were restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. The mandatory confinement and growth experienced on streaming platforms such as Twitch and Discord generated the proliferation of online study rooms. This article presents an exploratory descriptive study as a contribution to the literature on study rooms on streaming platforms. The results reveal that (i) most users discovered online study rooms through their social networks and the increase in users has been progressive since the beginning of the pandemic;(ii) studying is the main activity participants perform during these live transmissions;(iii) survey participants indicated that their productivity, motivation, and concentration increases when using online study rooms. Education is constantly evolving;therefore, the characterization and analysis of this new phenomenon can contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning processes in the face of a pandemic and post-pandemic landscape. © 2023 IEEE.

Transformation of a traditional face-to-face engineering study program into a digital online program - A case study of Global Production Engineering

The need for Digital Education (DE) in higher education has been growing for the past years, as the landscape of education became more diverse and global. It has become apparent with the COVID-19 pandemic that, in terms of width, DE had been mostly neglected so far. In the past year, the master program Global Production Engineering (GPE) at Technische Universität Berlin has been enhanced by a complete digital track, called GPE-Digital. In order to design this online study program a student survey was conducted and lecturers have been interviewed. The results were analysed and requirements for both lecturers and students were identified. Chances and challenges have been identified and a "tool box” for teaching and learning was developed. It contains a multimedia studio, a learning platform, a cloud platform et cetera. Lecturers are supported to develop and adapt their lecture-concepts and to choose the tools needed, which led to a variance of teaching-concepts. In this paper, after presenting the findings of both the interviews and the survey, the "tool box” is presented and its various possibilities for implementation are shown by the example of four different courses offered at GPE-Digital. These examples contain both synchronous and asynchronous teaching and different approaches of preparing joint sessions and lectures. Finally, based on the courses the benefits and challenges are discussed and rough approaches for exploiting the benefits and tackling the challenges are given. © 2022 SEFI 2022 - 50th Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.

Satisfaction with Online Study Abroad Predicted by Motivation and Self-Efficacy: A Perspective Based on the Situated Expectancy–Value Theory during the COVID-19 Epidemic

Due to the globalization of the economy, studying abroad has been widely recognized as bringing many benefits to students. However, the closure of campuses and borders around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, has brought about significant changes in studying abroad as learning has moved online. In the context of emergency management, a new way of studying online has arisen. Despite this change, few studies have focused on the value perception of and satisfaction with online study abroad (OSA) in the context of the pandemic or have focused on students enrolled in overseas universities. To address this gap, this study proposed six research hypotheses and a hypothesis model based on the situated expectancy-value theory. The study used the snowballing technique to survey Chinese university faculty members who had studied online at overseas universities during the pandemic. A total of 481 valid data were collected, including 214 (44.5%) male and 267 (55.5%) female respondents. The data were then confirmed to have reliability and validity, and the research model was tested. Results indicated that all of the research hypotheses were supported. More specifically, the perceived value of OSA can be positively predicted by academic and career self-efficacy. Academic and career self-efficacy can be positively predicted by OSA motivation. The perceived value of OSA is positively related to satisfaction with OSA. This shows that promoting satisfaction with OSA for international students is a feasible international education program when international mobility is not possible in particular situations. © 2023 by the authors.

Eye Strain Detection During Online Learning

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) has been causing many disruptions among the education systems worldwide, most of them due to the abrupt transition to online learning. The sudden upsurge in digital electronic devices usage, namely personal computers, laptops, tablets and smart-phones is unprecedented, which leads to a new wave of both mental and physical health problems among students, for example eye-related illnesses. The overexpo-sure to electronic devices, extended screen time usage and lack of outdoor sun-light have put a consequential strain on the student's ophthalmic health because of their young age and a relative lack of responsibility on their own health. Failure to take appropriate external measures to mitigate the negative effects of this process could lead to common ophthalmic illnesses such as myopia or more serious conditions. To remedy this situation, we propose a software solution that is able to track and capture images of its users' eyes to detect symptoms of eye illnesses while simultaneously giving them warnings and even offering treatments. To meet the requirements of a small and light model that is operable on low-end devices without information loss, we optimized the original MobileNetV2 model with depth-wise separable convolutions by altering the parameters in the last layers with an aim to minimize the resizing of the input image and obtained a new model which we call EyeNet. Combined with applying the knowledge distillation technique and ResNet-18 as a teacher model to train the student model, we have suc-cessfully increased the accuracy of the EyeNet model up to 87.16% and support the development of a model compatible with embedded systems with limited computing power, accessible to all students. © The Authors.

Concurrent Rising of Dry Eye and Eye Strain Symptoms Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic Era: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: Students spend extended hours using electronic devices due to online teaching. Digital eye strain (DES) and dry eye disease (DED) symptoms are both associated with prolonged screen exposure time and may co-occur. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between DES and DED symptoms and determine the prevalence of DED according to the severity of DES. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among international students in Chinese universities. The survey was built using Wenjuan Mini Program and distributed using the WeChat platform. The questionnaire assessed participants' screen exposure, the 20-20-20 rule, ED practices, and DED awareness. Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q) and Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ-5) were used to diagnose DES and DED symptoms, respectively. Results: 498 students completed the survey, but 452 were considered for the study. Predictors of DES and DED symptoms were conjunctivitis, eye allergy, glares, tired eye, neck pain, back pain, PhD students, and daily spending > 9h on screen (P < 0.05 for all). We observed that an increase in DES scores also exponentially increases DED scores. Among students diagnosed with DES symptoms, 26.5% had mild to moderate DED symptoms, and 8.2% had severe DED symptoms. In contrast, only 8.4% and 0.9% of those with asymptomatic DES had mild to moderate and severe DED symptoms, respectively (P < 0.000). A strong and significant positive correlation (r = 0.695, P < 0.000) between DES and DED scores was found. Conclusion: We found an extremely high prevalence of DES and DED symptoms compared to the previous studies with a similar population group. We believe that the prevalence of DED may be underestimated in the young population. Training about proper ED practices is mandatory to prevent these deleterious ocular surface conditions.

Using Photovoice as a Method for Capturing the Lived Experiences of Caregivers During COVID-19: A Methodological Insight.

Although the extant literature identifies photovoice as one of the most innovative and creative research methods that encourage reflection and introspection, few studies have described the use of photovoice with family/informal caregivers. This paper discusses the implementation of photovoice as a novel approach in exploring the experiences of informal caregivers (n = 10) of older adults in long-term care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describes the four stages of the photovoice process undertaken: (1) preparation; (2) pre-focus group meeting; (3) taking photographs; and (4) reflection and implementation insights, to researchers. The different stages in the research process inspired several key learnings, including the use of co-learning tools, the valuable combination of photographic images and words to provide rich description of participants' perspectives, and creative ways to engage and support caregivers in sharing their stories. This paper also addresses some practical challenges of using this methodology with informal caregivers and explore issues surrounding research ethics and photographs. Knowledge gained from this case example provides strong support for the use of photovoice as a creative approach to better illuminate and understand the experiences of caregivers and can inform the design of future virtual studies.

Disentangling the cognitive, physical, and mental health sequelae of COVID-19.

As COVID-19 cases exceed hundreds of millions globally, many survivors face cognitive challenges and prolonged symptoms. However, important questions about the cognitive effects of COVID-19 remain unresolved. In this cross-sectional online study, 478 adult volunteers who self-reported a positive test for COVID-19 (mean = 30 days since most recent test) perform significantly worse than pre-pandemic norms on cognitive measures of processing speed, reasoning, verbal, and overall performance, but not short-term memory, suggesting domain-specific deficits. Cognitive differences are even observed in participants who did not require hospitalization. Factor analysis of health- and COVID-related questionnaires reveals two clusters of symptoms-one that varies mostly with physical symptoms and illness severity, and one with mental health. Cognitive performance is positively correlated with the global measure encompassing physical symptoms, but not the one that broadly describes mental health, suggesting that the subjective experience of "long COVID" relates to physical symptoms and cognitive deficits, especially executive dysfunction.

The Online Study Practices of Secondary Ashramic Students of WestBengal in Covid Scenario

Objective: The prime focus of the paper is to search out the impact of on-line study practices on students from the secondary ashrams of province throughout the Pandemic. The paper studied the impact in two completely different localities i.e., north and south twenty-four Parganas. Study habits perpetually have a motivating influence on the student's engagement and learning experiences. Therefore, this study can confirm the impact of on-line study practices on students from the secondary ashrams of province in the Covid period. Methodology: The study is Descriptive survey nature wherever stratified sampling techniques adopted for choosing the respondents from the study area of West Bengal. Theentire number of respondents was 201. As a search, instrument investigator used three verydifferent tools- three successful form tools used for assembling responses from the respondents. First form deals with the size of on-line engagement, the second deals with the online learning experience, and finally with the dimension of on-line study practices. The information analyzed with the assistance of descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS software system. Result: The findings of the study reveals that there is significant relationship between variables. It is found that both the localities of students does vary significantly in online engagement, online learning experience and online study habit. High positive correlation prevail between online engagement and online learning experience with r = .873. © 2022 University of Stockholm. All rights reserved.

Surgical face masks do not impair the decoding of facial expressions of negative affect more severely in older than in younger adults.

Surgical face masks reduce the spread of airborne pathogens but also disturb the flow of information between individuals. The risk of getting seriously ill after infection with SARS-COV-2 during the present COVID-19 pandemic amplifies with age, suggesting that face masks should be worn especially during face-to-face contact with and between older people. However, the ability to accurately perceive and understand communication signals decreases with age, and it is currently unknown whether face masks impair facial communication more severely in older people. We compared the impact of surgical face masks on dynamic facial emotion recognition in younger (18-30 years) and older (65-85 years) adults (N = 96) in an online study. Participants watched short video clips of young women who facially expressed anger, fear, contempt or sadness. Faces of half of the women were covered by a digitally added surgical face mask. As expected, emotion recognition accuracy declined with age, and face masks reduced emotion recognition accuracy in both younger and older participants. Unexpectedly, the effect of face masks did not differ between age groups. Further analyses showed that masks also reduced the participants' overall confidence in their emotion judgements, but not their performance awareness (the difference between their confidence ratings for correct and incorrect responses). Again, there were no mask-by-age interactions. Finally, data obtained with a newly developed questionnaire (attitudes towards face masks, atom) suggest that younger and older people do not differ in how much they feel impaired in their understanding of other people's emotions by face masks or how useful they find face masks in confining the COVID-19 pandemic. In sum, these findings do not provide evidence that the impact of face masks on the decoding of facial signals is disproportionally larger in older people.

Eye Strain Detection During Online Learning

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) has been causing many disruptions among the education systems worldwide, most of them due to the abrupt transition to online learning. The sudden upsurge in digital electronic devices usage, namely personal computers, laptops, tablets and smart-phones is unprecedented, which leads to a new wave of both mental and physical health problems among students, for example eye-related illnesses. The overexpo-sure to electronic devices, extended screen time usage and lack of outdoor sun-light have put a consequential strain on the student’s ophthalmic health because of their young age and a relative lack of responsibility on their own health. Failure to take appropriate external measures to mitigate the negative effects of this process could lead to common ophthalmic illnesses such as myopia or more serious conditions. To remedy this situation, we propose a software solution that is able to track and capture images of its users’ eyes to detect symptoms of eye illnesses while simultaneously giving them warnings and even offering treatments. To meet the requirements of a small and light model that is operable on low-end devices without information loss, we optimized the original MobileNetV2 model with depth-wise separable convolutions by altering the parameters in the last layers with an aim to minimize the resizing of the input image and obtained a new model which we call EyeNet. Combined with applying the knowledge distillation technique and ResNet-18 as a teacher model to train the student model, we have suc-cessfully increased the accuracy of the EyeNet model up to 87.16% and support the development of a model compatible with embedded systems with limited computing power, accessible to all students. © The Authors.

A method to induce stress in human subjects in online research environments.

This paper presents a method to induce stress in human subjects during online participation in research studies without the presence of researchers. In this study, participants in the stress-inducing condition (N = 52, 44%) were asked to answer general knowledge and mathematical questions which people often get wrong, and did so under time pressure as well as receiving feedback. In contrast, participants in the control condition (N = 66, 56%) did not have time pressure or receive feedback. The stress manipulation was found to be effective, as the reported state anxiety and visual analog scale on stress scores were higher for the stress group than for the non-stress group (both findings, p < 0.001). Consistent findings were found when accounting for trait anxiety as a moderator, with the exception of the state anxiety levels in high trait anxiety group. This stressing method combines the established stress conditions of uncontrollability (such as time pressures) and social evaluative threats (such as negative feedback). In addition, the method contains specific measures (such as a commitment statement and attention check questions) to enhance the internal validity by preventing and detecting cheating or random responses. This method can be deployed through any commonly available online software. It offers a simple and cost-effective way to collect data online - which fits the increasing need to carry out research in virtual and online environments.

Perceived Satisfaction with Online Study during COVID-19 Lockdown Correlates Positively with Resilience and Negatively with Anxiety, Depression, and Stress among Slovenian Postsecondary Students.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to fill the research gap regarding the influence of satisfaction with distance learning on the correlates of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online cross-sectional study was conducted in February and March 2021, involving 4661 postsecondary students. Five validated instruments-PHQ-9 (depression), GAD-7 (anxiety), PSS-4 (stress), CD-RISC-10 (resilience) and SAT-5 (satisfaction with online study)-were used in the present study. FINDINGS: The correlations between anxiety, depression, and stress were so high that they were almost inextricably linked. Both satisfaction with online learning and psychological resilience were negatively correlated with anxiety, depression, and stress. Satisfaction with online learning was also negatively correlated with psychological resilience. Females showed higher levels of vulnerability to anxiety, depression, and stress, and exhibited lower levels of psychological resilience than males. CONCLUSION: Home-based distance-learning during the COVID-19-induced lockdown had a significant impact on students' mental health. Low satisfaction with distance learning can lead to the development of anxiety and depression symptoms, increase stress, and decrease the psychological resilience of postsecondary students; therefore, it is critical that educational institutions focus on implementing interventions that promote students' satisfaction with distance learning, and their psychological resilience, to protect their mental health.

A Self-Managed Online Mindfulness Program in a University-Wide Learning Management System Orientation Site: A Real-World Ecological Validation Study.

The efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions in randomised-controlled trials and large experimental studies has been demonstrated in university student populations. Whilst these investigations have provided insight into the nature of the delivery of mindfulness-based practices, there has been little research in the implementation of self-managed online student wellbeing and mindfulness programs at university. This ecological validation study conducted in 2020 evaluated a real-world implementation of a large, university-wide, online mindfulness-based program that was accessible fully online via the tertiary institutions' Learning Management System (LMS) student orientation site. The total sample included 833 participants from a range of disciplines and faculties at Monash University, Australia. At the end of the study, 236 (28.3%) participants were retained and completed the follow-up survey. Participants had the option to engage with the fully self-managed online mindfulness program for a 12-week semester. The mindfulness practices were pre-recorded, audio-guided sessions, and 10-15 min in length. Baseline and end of semester questionnaires included the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, 10-item Perceived Stress Scale and the 18-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. Participants who engaged with the mindfulness program over 3 or more weeks showed significant improvements in all three outcome measures, and all participants showed significant improvements in wellbeing at the end of semester. Learning analytics obtained via the LMS revealed that 58.6% (n = 489) had not logged into the mindfulness program at all, almost a third (31.0%, n = 259) logged into the program materials once or twice, and 10.2% (n = 85) of the whole sample engaged with the program actively, having logged in three or more times. The total number of student logins peaked in week 2, reduced between week 2 and week 7 and thereafter activity remained stable until the end of the semester. We hypothesise that the changes in wellbeing, stress and mindfulness at the end of the semester seen in the low engagement participants may partly be explained by the circumstances of COVID-19 restrictions improving. This study has revealed and discusses the complexities of student behaviour and implications for implementing an online mindfulness program in the real- world setting of a university.

Self-Reported Computer Vision Syndrome among Thai University Students in Virtual Classrooms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevalence and Associated Factors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, computer vision syndrome (CVS) related to online classrooms were unavoidable. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the prevalence, characteristics and associated factors of CVS. A total of 527 students who were currently studying in a virtual classroom (70.40% female, mean (standard deviation; SD) age of 20.04 (2.17) years) were included. The prevalence of CVS assessed by an online CVS-Questionnaire was 81.0% (427/527). Comparing with those in the period before the online study, an increase in screen time (interquartile range) in students with and without CVS was 3 (0-3) and 2 (1-5) h, respectively. Overall, 516 students (97.9%) experienced at least one symptom. The most frequent symptom in CVS subjects was eye pain (96.5%). The most intense symptoms were the feeling of worsening eyesight (15.9%). The factors associated with CVS were female (p < 0.001), age (p = 0.010), atopic diseases (p = 0.020), prior ocular symptoms (p < 0.001), astigmatism (p = 0.033), distance from display <20 cm (p = 0.023), presence of glare or reflection on screen (p < 0.001), low screen brightness (p = 0.045), sleep duration (p = 0.030), inadequate break time between classes (p < 0.001) and increased screen time usage during online study (p < 0.001). Recommendations to prevent CVS based on the adjustable factors might reduce the burden of online study.

Virtual Photovoice With Older Adults: Methodological Reflections during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Photovoice is a participatory action research method in which participants take and narrate photographs to share their experiences and perspectives. This method is gaining in popularity among health researchers. Few studies, however, have described virtual photovoice data collection despite the growing interest among qualitative health researchers for online data collection. As such, the aim of this article is to discuss the implementation of a virtual photovoice study and presents some of the challenges of this design and potential solutions. The study examined issues of social isolation and mental health among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canadian province of Québec. Twenty-six older adults took photographs depicting their experience of the pandemic that were then shared in virtual discussion groups. In this article, we discuss three key challenges arising from our study and how we navigated them. First, we offer insights into managing some of the technical difficulties related to using online meeting technologies. Second, we describe the adjustments we made during our study to foster and maintain positive group dynamics. Third, we share our insights into the process of building and maintaining trust between both researchers and participants, and amongst participants. Through a discussion of these challenges, we offer suggestions to guide the work of health promotion researchers wishing to conduct virtual photovoice studies, including with older adults.

Bringing Home Baby Euclid: Testing Infants' Basic Shape Discrimination Online.

Online developmental psychology studies are still in their infancy, but their role is newly urgent in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of in-person research. Are online studies with infants a suitable stand-in for laboratory-based studies? Across two unmonitored online experiments using a change-detection looking-time paradigm with 96 7-month-old infants, we found that infants did not exhibit measurable sensitivities to the basic shape information that distinguishes between 2D geometric forms, as had been observed in previous laboratory experiments. Moreover, while infants were distracted in our online experiments, such distraction was nevertheless not a reliable predictor of their ability to discriminate shape information. Our findings suggest that the change-detection paradigm may not elicit infants' shape discrimination abilities when stimuli are presented on small, personal computer screens because infants may not perceive two discrete events with only one event displaying uniquely changing information that draws their attention. Some developmental paradigms used with infants, even those that seem well-suited to the constraints and goals of online data collection, may thus not yield results consistent with the laboratory results that rely on highly controlled settings and specialized equipment, such as large screens. As developmental researchers continue to adapt laboratory-based methods to online contexts, testing those methods online is a necessary first step in creating robust tools and expanding the space of inquiry for developmental science conducted online.

Influence of Forced Online Distance Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perceived Stress of Postsecondary Students: Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: One of the most significant changes in the majority of postsecondary educational institutions was the closure of those institutions and the shift of educational activities to online distance learning formats as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Closure combined with forced online distance education (FODE) was a cure with many side effects, 1 of them being the effect on students' mental health and, more specifically, levels of stress. Due to the novelty of the situation, there have been no studies so far designed to link satisfaction with online study, feelings toward the study obligations, and stress among students. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to assess the perceived stress of Slovenian postsecondary students in order to identify the online study-related factors affecting or acting as a covariate during the COVID-19 lockdown. METHODS: Data collection was conducted through a self-reported survey as part of a large cross-sectional study based on data collected from postsecondary students from a number of higher educational institutions. The random sample consisted of 4455 individuals. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), Satisfaction with Online Study Scale (SAT-5), and Feelings Towards Study Obligations Scale (FETSOS) were used to assess the constructs and the relations observed within the study. RESULTS: The results indicate that more than half of all respondents reported high levels of stress. The difference in the reported levels of perceived stress between genders were statistically significant (N=4454, F2=56.719, P<.001, Cohen d=0.35). Overall, the results suggest that a decline in the motivation to study, the quality of internet and mobile connections, and the presence of distracting factors in the study space were the 3 main factors related to the students' negative emotions as associated with the timeliness, performance, and quality of the study obligations. Furthermore, the results show that the level of satisfaction with online study affected stress such that the higher the satisfaction, the lower the stress. Moreover, the more positive feelings connected with the timeliness, performance, and quality of the study obligations that the students felt, the more satisfaction they reported with online study and, thus indirectly, lower stress and less negative feelings. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study call for implementing structures and measures targeted at stress reduction, working conditions, and pedagogy with regard to FODE.

How can the utilisation of help for mental disorders be improved? A quasi-experimental online study on the changeability of stigmatising attitudes and intermediate variables in the process of utilisation.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies show that even in highly developed countries many people with depression do not seek help for their mental health issues, despite promising prevention approaches encouraging people to seek help and reduce self-stigma. Therefore, an anti-stigma intervention study to support help-seeking behaviour will be developed on the basis of the newly explicated "Seeking Mental Health Care Model". METHODS: A quasi-experimental online study will be carried out to assess the effect of different intervention variables relevant for the help-seeking process. The study is conceived as a fractional factorial design. Participants will be screened for depressive complaints (PHQ-9 sum score ≥ 8) and current psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment. After baseline assessment the participants will be randomly allocated into one of the 24 study groups receiving different combinations of the vignette-based intervention aiming to reduce stigma and support help-seeking. Next, relevant outcome measures will be administered a second time. In a 3- and 6-month follow-up help-seeking behaviour will be measured. Gamified elements and avatar-choice techniques will be used to heighten study immersion and adherence. DISCUSSION: On the basis of the project results, promising research and intervention perspectives can be developed. Results, firstly, allow for a more detailed empirical investigation and conceptualisation of the stages of mental health care utilisation, as well as an examination of theoretical approaches to stigmatisation. Secondly, our online study could provide insights for an evidence-based design and evaluation of online interventions for people with a mental illness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00023557 . Registered 11 December 2020. World Health Organization, Universal Trial Number: U1111-1264-9954. Registered 16 February 2021.

Baby's Online Live Database: An Open Platform for Developmental Science.

Efficient data collection in developmental studies is facing challenges due to the decreased birth rates in many regions, reproducibility problems in psychology research, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we propose a novel platform for online developmental science research, the Baby's Online Live Database (BOLD), which extends the scope of the accessible participant pool, simplifies its management, and enables participant recruitment for longitudinal studies. Through BOLD, researchers can conduct online recruitment of participants preregistered to BOLD simply by specifying their attributes, such as gender and age, and direct the participants to dedicated webpages for each study. Moreover, BOLD handles participant recruitment and reward payment, thereby freeing researchers from the labor of participant management. BOLD also allows researchers the opportunity to access data that were collected from participants in previous research studies. This enables researchers to carry out longitudinal analyses at a relatively low cost. To make BOLD widely accessible, a consortium was formed within the Japan Society of Baby Science, where members from diverse research groups discussed the blueprint of this system. Once in full-scaled operation, BOLD is expected to serve as a platform for various types of online studies and facilitate international collaboration among developmental scientists in the near future.