Engaging university students in online learning: a regional comparative study from the perspective of social presence theory

This study investigates the factors influencing university students' online learning engagement from three distinct aspects, namely, behavioural, cognitive and emotional engagement. A comparison is drawn from university students in Asia who embraced online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted on 495 university students in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Malaysia during the surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, which was considered more infectious but less deadly than previous variants. A consistent positive relationship between Satisfaction and Academic Performance is found in all the regions. Malaysia presents a unique situation as compared to Mainland China and Hong Kong whereby no association was found between Social Context and Online communication towards Student Engagement. The novelty of this study is attributed to the integration of Social Presence Theory in Student Engagement through the nature of online learning as a coping strategy to halt the spread of COVID-19 during the Omicron variant surge. © 2023, Beijing Normal University.

Virtual Reality in Festivals: A Systematic Literature Review and Implications for Consumer Research

Technological advancements in virtual reality have influenced festivalgoers, performers, and festival organizers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers of cultural and tourism festivals have sought to deliver festivals online using virtual reality to provide an immersive experience from home. However, despite growing interest in virtual reality for festivals, there is no current systematic review to synthesize knowledge from academic papers within the festival context. This paper aims to provide a structured understanding of extant virtual reality research regarding festivals by using a systematic literature review. After a comprehensive review of extant literature from major databases, 19 relevant articles were extracted and synthesized according to the types, venues, roles, and objectives of the virtual reality applications. This study is the first systematic literature review to examine the current landscape of consumer research on virtual reality in festivals. Our results show that the limited numbers of extant literature concerning virtual reality in festivals indicates that this is an important yet significantly under-researched topic for future research. Current literature on virtual reality in festival contexts also lacks an in-depth understanding of consumer engagement and experiences. This paper recommends incorporating the application of theory and robust consumer research methods into future virtual festival research. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.

Person-to-person interactions in online classroom settings under the impact of COVID-19: a social presence theory perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled universities and higher education institutions to largely adopt online teaching to avoid face-to-face interactions. Instructors and students teach and learn through computers, laptops, and mobile phones with Internet connections. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 17 university students and 7 instructors. It found that student-to-instructor and student-to-student interactions cannot fully establish cognitive social presence and affective social presence. It then provided recommendations including encouragement, incentives, breakout rooms, and engagement techniques. © 2021, Education Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.