E-learning Challenges for Lecturers in Indonesia Higher Education Institutions

Since the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, e-learning has become a necessity. There may have been some uncertainty on how to perform e-learning properly because many educational institutions may not have expected the rapid change in learning style. This is especially true when it comes to offering an e-learning management system (LMS). This study aims to examine the affordances of higher education institutions in Indonesia in conducting the e-learning during the pandemic. To understand more about the adoption of e-learning in their individual institutions, we conducted an online survey towards 100 university lecturers from several cities. The results revealed that 79% of the participants used a specially built LMS in their universities, while the rest still used commercially built LMS like Moodle. Then, 82% of the participants prefer blended learning model which combined face-To-face and e-learning models, and 46% of them wanted to have a fifty-fifty division between face to face and e-learning. As for the challenges, no interaction with students was deemed as the most disturbing challenge for the lecturers. The results imply that e-learning will continue to be implemented in Indonesia, regardless of the condition of the pandemic. Thus, universities should provide an e-LMS that can cater all the e-learning needs, while lecturers should also equip themselves with pedagogical as well as technological skills to face the e-learning challenges. © 2023 IEEE.

Augmented Reality in Medical Education: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: Augmented reality (AR) is a novel technology with many applications in medical education. Perhaps one of the most beneficial potential applications is to enable better clinical access for students; however, there is limited research into this use. The purpose of this mixed-methods feasibility study was to evaluate the applicability and acceptability of AR in undergraduate and early postgraduate medical education. METHODS: Single-group quasi-experimental study design was developed for critical care-themed simulation teaching delivered using Microsoft HoloLens (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, United States). Post-test questionnaires were completed including a validated adapted immersive experience questionnaire (AIEQ) and an abridged intrinsic motivation inventory (AIMI). The AIMI focused on the domains of 'interest and enjoyment', and 'value and usefulness'. Following the teaching, focus group interviews with thematic analysis were conducted to evaluate participants' experiences with AR. RESULTS: All 15 participants (100%) completed the AIEQ and AIMI. Co-located airway teaching (i.e., the demonstrator and participants were placed in the same AR environment) was reported as having a moderate level of user immersion (median 72) and a high level of user enjoyment and value (median 52). Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: visual conceptualization for learning, accessibility, varied immersion, and future application.  Conclusions: Remote simulation for the management of airways in critical care was found to be acceptable and afforded a high level of enjoyment and value. Similarly, this was reflected in the thematic analysis. However, immersion was rated variably in both AIEQ and thematic analysis. The challenges identified with the application of AR included technical infrastructure and patient consent. AR-enabled education benefits are relevant to a number of clinical teaching areas.

Teacher Digital Literacy and Its Influence on Learning Sessions at the Initial Level in Schools in the Context of Covid-19

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of teachers' digital literacy on the development of learning sessions at the early education level in a public school in northern Lima (Peru) in the context of Covid-19. Using a qualitative case study approach, a semi-structured interview was applied to teachers with experience in teaching early childhood education. The results show that digital literacy influences the development and methodology of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning sessions, since it is known that infants are in the digital era where many of them know how to use a variety of tools and applications. Finally, digital resources are crucial in the performance of teachers and in the cognitive process of children. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Online education

Online delivery of courses has a significant presence in the educational experiences of students at all grade levels and post-secondary learning. Worldwide, the growing utilization of online education for teaching and learning continues to intensify with governmental initiatives supporting its development and institutions transitioning student instruction to this format in response to the global health crisis brought by the COVID-19 virus. Despite online education's overall impact, this mode of instruction faces challenges on perceptions of becoming an impersonal, anonymous, and less effective learning experience. Issues connected to online education and effective high-impact online teaching strategies are described for increased awareness. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Educational Technologists during the COVID 19 pandemic: Recommendations for the post-pandemic Latin American University

During 2020, in the context of the health emergency caused by COVID19, Universidad de la República (Udelar) already had installed capacities (human and technological) that allowed it to continue teaching activities uninterruptedly. This was possible thanks to different factors that gave continuity to the educational processes of that year: the consolidation of the Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), as widely used spaces throughout the educational community, the deployment of highly trained human resources in charge of the VLE in each educational technology service and a basic technological infrastructure. This article tries to give an account of the state of the human resources associated with the educational technology services, its main characteristics. In addition, an approach to what has been the development of their tasks in the context of a health emergency is presented. A mixed methods study was carried out during the second semester of 2020 and first semester of 2021. The results obtained show a consolidation of the educational technologists role in the university. A greater visibility of the tasks they perform due to the increase in demand by the educational community caused by the Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) was highlighted. However, no significant increases have been made in the assigned workloads or in new hires to enable a greater response from the educational technology services around the digital education activities during COVID 19 ERT. Analysis and recommendations on educational, organizational and technological dimensions can be extended to other Latin American universities to face the challenge of post-pandemic digital education. © 2022 IEEE.

Chinese EFL Teachers' Reflections of Online English Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

To better understand English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' voices in online English teaching in China, a qualitative case study was carried out by analyzing semi-interviews, and in-depth data of six EFL teachers from a central Chinese university. With thematic analysis, seven themes emerged, including the choices of teaching platforms or Apps, the negative attitude, the preparation for online teaching, teaching design, teaching assessment, advantages, and challenges. Overall, the study contributed to the existing knowledge of online language teaching theoretically and practically by providing a Chinese contextual phenomenon of EFL teaching. © ICCE 2022.All rights reserved.

SAWBRID: SmArt WhiteBoard Replacement Interactive Device

The idea of attending a professor's office hours seems very basic to the average college student. The beginning of each semester brings about a wave of invitations to visit each professor in their office, at the allotted time for the section of their class. Recent developments such as the growing prevalence of texting and email, as well as specific events such as the Covid-19 pandemic have brought the norm away from these in person meetings between students and professors, to the detriment of the students' education. The SmArt WhiteBoard Replacement Interactive Device (SAWBRID) is an innovative solution composed of an interactive device with a Low-power screen that, through a user friendly mobile application, makes the facilitation of office hours and the student/professor interactions outside of the classroom far more flexible and simple. In whole, the project is centered around the individual professor, their schedule, and how that schedule is communicated. The SAWBRID sits in an accessible casing outside of the professor's office, relaying information about their schedule, available time slots to be scheduled through the mobile application, and personalized messages. The device is self-updating whenever a change is detected in the professor's schedule, or when they decide to update their personalized message. The student can access a professor's schedule through the mobile application and schedule an appointment, which will place their initials in the selected time slot on both the mobile application and the SAWBRID. The professor has a different interface to interact with their SAWBRID from the mobile application giving them more control over their schedule, the personalized messages they want to display and other features. We use security services such as confidentiality and authentication throughout the system to protect user credentials, user data, and to ensure the privacy of the users. Our solution effectiveness and performance are evaluated through power measurements to determine the device's ability to self-sustain for long periods of time and the ease of use.

Shifting to Delivering Simulation Virtually Within a Healthcare Education Setting.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed how healthcare education is being delivered, creating a global shift towards virtual modalities. Various approaches, each with their own benefits and limitations, have been developed to bridge this gap and continue to provide comprehensive education to healthcare students. To understand which approach to implement, we must consider what each can offer and what is best suited for the situation. Much of this will focus on the learning goals and outcomes with research strongly favouring modalities focused on the areas of cognitive, affective, and behavioural skill acquisition as opposed to technical skills.  The use of simulated persons offers the most diverse application for these areas of focus. This approach can provide opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous learning. While novel in its approach, virtual simulations can leverage existing success and performance indicators used for in-person approaches to best understand the experiences of the learners and the facilitators. Evidence can be compared with outcomes of previous in-person groups to understand how this approach can be best implemented into curricula/programs. Future applications are numerous for this modality and the development of pilot studies focused on smaller groups of learners will provide opportunities for educators and program developers to review and understand the challenges that may arise. Simulation is a widely drawn upon teaching-learning approach deeply rooted in experiential learning. With the purpose of replicating real-world scenarios to increase knowledge transfer and reduce the shock of encountering challenging real-world situations, simulated environments are proven to be an effective tool in building learners' self-confidence and bridging the gap between theory and practice within the healthcare realm. Simulation can be, and is, applied within healthcare-education contexts from undergraduate to graduate levels and into ongoing professional development.

Copyright: Infringement, Remedies, and Defenses in a Pandemic Environment

The abrupt shift of universities to an online environment has heightened the awareness and impact of the copyright law. The issue that the academe and faculty face is whether synchronouspresentation of instructional material is in violation of the copyright laws and if a viable remedy or defense is available. Pre-Pandemic, educators teaching in the traditional in-class format used the Fair Use doctrine in deciding on using the copyrighted work to be presented in class whereasthose in the online remote paradigm faced a different set of barriers. Congress enacted the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2002 (TEACH Act) to overcome the barriers for those educators delivering courses in asynchronous mode using copyrighted instructional materials. The intent of the article is to discuss the premise and fundamentals of the Copyright Law, remedies, and defenses and whether the public policy exemptions afforded to faculty can be extended to the remote teaching synchronous environment created by the COVID-19 Pandemic. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021