1. Introduction
As distance education evolves from a fringe activity to a mainstream coordinate of higher education delivery, the growing awareness of the need for emphasis on the quality of online education is becoming increasingly important. Research efforts during the past year have resulted in a clearer understanding of the learning environment appropriate for achieving quality online instruction (G. Moore, 2005). Beyond the building of support structures, the development of faculty, and the establishment of legitimacy, attention is turning to the most difficult issue — the redesign of existing courses to exploit effectively the new techniques. Instructional design is difficult, demanding the input of considerable resources and time. Still, as techniques and experience are gained, the lessons learned can be shared with others.
As such interactions are being learned, the manner in which the process is done reflects a high level of sophistication. Most online educators are very new to the topic, with no existing interaction framework. When they can be convinced that one is required, it is most often in its most rudimentary form. The interaction framework becomes one of a content repository, to which is added the most basic of participative options, bulletin board discussions. This is combined with an ‘open access’ attitude such that online course development and hosting is offered on a first-come-first-served basis (Paewai, 1997). Within this environment, relatively unprepared educators gather their materials, package them, and post them to the content repository. Some use word processing packages to produce styled courses with legislative but little pedagogical value. Other include outside resources or collections of research papers with no feedback. Although a few educators recognize the necessity for processes, they often lack the experience to acculturate others. In all cases, a good experience is difficult to share with others.
A more systematic effort, however, would develop an agreed general framework and ‘quality assurance’ process that can be followed. Educators would be persuaded to involve instructional design specialists in the process to graphics and audio visual aids. Facilitators will be trained in the use of this framework, assertively and aggressively ensuring its compliance. A central support structure would record the successful launches and operational procedures so that all could benefit from their experience. In time, as stories and experience with specific packages were shared, as a clear professional structure emerged, alternative support packages would be developed to augment and build on the original.
2. Literature Review
The development of computer and internet technologies has enabled the rise of online education. Online education refers to the teaching and learning that is implemented by using the computer and the internet as tools. The progress of online education shows three stages: computer-aided self-study, computer-aided education at a distance, and network education. Online education has been recognized as an effective mode of education by learners and practitioners for its advantages of cost, coverage, flexibility, and convenience. Online education is a teaching/learning mode by which the teaching tools and systems are developed, maintained, and managed mainly by the computer and internet system (K. Tallent-Runnels et al., 2006). The content of the education, the teaching tasks, and the two-way communication are implemented mainly through computer systems and networks.
Teaching and learning with Computer-based technologies: The teaching activities of content importation, task assignment, question asking, monitor and evaluation of learners’ activities are carried out by the applications of online tools and programs. And the students learn mainly through computer browsing of the web-based materials and programs, and the conducting of the online tasks. The main advantage of online folio education is that it has reduced the time and space restriction compared with face-to-face folio education. Understanding how well those advantages have been taken in education and how much there are still drawbacks in teaching and learning efficiency will provide strategies for online education practitioners to improve online education efficiency.
Among the dimensions characterizing online education efficiency, two dimensions of education time consume and time loss of online education and three dimensions including comprehension, performance, and task completion that reflect the efficiency of teaching and learning activities have been integrated to form a working model of teaching and learning efficiency for education implementation studies. The target of Online Education Efficiency research is two-fold: first, to analyze the differences of teaching and learning efficiency pre and post with Online Folio Education intervention; second, to identify how teaching and learning with Online Folio Education have affected the learning efficiency.
2.1. Historical Context of Online Education
In 1998, Dr. Asim S. Bhatti authored a paper examined domain of “Internet Education.” It was clearly observed that there is amicable convergence in the selected fields, which encouraged the author to revisit the field of “Online Education.” So many events have occurred in these areas in last two decades, especially the fast becoming “World Wide Web” and “E-learning” subjects. Number of queries was raised regarding the anticipated responses from practitioners and researchers towards “Online Education.” Internet is called as the “Super High Way.” Similarly, this could not be regarded as a core idea at that time (G. Moore, 2005). Still, the advent of Internet has resulted in the “universal” introduction of online education and distance education.
With the advent of information communication technology, online education is rapidly being introduced across the globe as “virtual education” in masses (T Northcote, 2019). Online education which came in sometime later than traditional and distance education drew mixed reaction. Several countries swore advantage of virtual education while others rejected outright, realizing its demerits. However, it remained irrelevant at that stage as education had undergone metamorphosis first into distance education, later traditional education, and finally simultaneously into all three forms by making best use of modern electronic media. The option after initial apprehensions opened up a wide variances of education mode to virtual education.
Wide varieties of virtual education programs are being offered from one month certificate course to full-fledged Ph.D. programs. Initially at global level, ready-made courses like MBA, MS, and MSW were introduced. Subsequently, phase wise other certificate and diploma courses for individual students and on custom made basis for organizations were offered. Still, for global citizens like us, many courses which were meant to be offered from one of the premier educational institutes in India could not enroll as most of the seats were reserved for local students through examination and interview. Moreover, local education had network of local colleges, universities, and institutions, which infested less regard and reputation but spread education broadly. At the same time, many of the aspirants here had experiences with online and virtual education to some extent.
2.2. Technological Advancements in Education
Educational systems across the globe have witnessed efforts to change how education is perceived and delivered. Historically, education has been viewed as a privately-owned ‘option’ by stakeholders – educators, parents, and students/learners (Paewai, 1997). This view has changed through development, debate, and discussion to that of a commodity. Today, education is publicly avowed as an ‘asset’ (a thing of value which is owned or controlled). It is thus a ‘public domain’. Consequently, a new set of stakeholders take prominence – business and industrial organizations, socially-focused groups and entities, potential employers of graduates, and national and international educational authorities. Educational institutions are looking to newer, more effective and more efficient means to bolster how education is delivered (Agalo & Oluoch, 2014). Here, the form of change is a direct function of educational philosophies and issues. For some, thinking outside the square and assimilating tomorrow’s networked technologies to education is the answer. For others, trust in existing educational philosophies and methods coupled with government-controlled reform of higher education systems will suffice. Other uncertainties include how to devise appropriate forms of assessment, accreditation of imported education, retention of national educational and cultural identity, and recognition of graduates who have transitioned through systems. There is potential and ability to affect educational systems and thus a country’s workforce and attitudes. Education/instruction/learning is a process that involves presentation of material, assimilation of material, and action by the student/learner on the material. Lack of consensus exists between those involved in the three groups regarding the first two processes of the manner, or mode of presentation or use of material. Issues include the foci of the presentation of such material (through advocates of either technology- or educator-led modes of educational delivery) and resource access levels of the audience. Notably, despite continual expenditure on developing organizations and automating processes, little has changed in delivering education. Quality is again open to varied interpretation and where it is seen as compromised in distance education, such delivery is often criticized and reluctance to use it is encouraged.
2.3. Challenges in Online Learning Environments
The shift from face-to-face to online learning may not be conventional for all learners, resulting in implications on comfort, equity for access, and pedagogical enactment (Turnbull et al., 2021). Differences in access and inequities generally nuances by broader societal issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. A considerable number of students did not report distress from the shift in format, while most were comfortable with online learning and technology. Students at particular institutions varying in academic performance, past experience in online learning, or preferred learning modes, discussed and highlighted the significance of recast justifications. Participants’ perceptions of, and engagement in, online learning also shaped three subthematic views of the student online learning experience: shifting from a one-size-fits-all to broader definitional notion of online learning; shifting inherent pedagogical practice struggles; and shifting comfort and equity for access issues.
Considering the impact on accessibility and advantage for in-person and online options, learning mode and attendance integrity, as well as learning together and presenting ideas collectively emerged as considerations in using a range of core technologies. Provision of pastoral care, greater attention to instruction, deeper and richer content provision, and better workload awareness were perceptions of the shifting pedagogical enactment for the whole cohort to adjust to major changes in the learning situations. Recapped perceptions of the online student experience endorsed that institutional embodies may work within the limitations of a wider societal context. The view of fears, difficulties, or concerns tied to learning mode logistics, and confusion relating to learning delivery and assessment transparency, outlined student disengagement and effort in temporary course delivery mode changes.
A suite of recommendations can be articulated that may assist study of student online learning experiences into mainstream discussions. Key instances of recast justifications may reveal consideration for broader pedagogies and perceptions of online learning that are susceptible to context across age, industry experience, and learning/disability requirements. Limitations expressed by this research including effects and implications of the change being current still, course delivery and assessment being newly switched to “online mode”, and data collection methods being constrained to capture the entirety of diverse populations in institutions.
2.4. Theoretical Frameworks in Online Education
The present challenges of higher education are threefold: the rising cost of the education; the increase in international competition; and the flood of information, which effectively devaluates education (J. Johnson, 2016). All these changes force institutions to try something new. The dialogic paradigm – a new paradigm for education – is proposed specifically to deal with those challenges. The theoretical background of the dialogic paradigm is reviewed and considered as a framework for educational change in the 21st century. Survival of institutions of higher education in the 21st century will depend upon the adoption of technology as well as its infusion with new pedagogies. The online learning mode of teaching delivery can be easier to work with students who are more motivated and competent in the subject matter. The focus of the present course is on broadening the student’s understanding of information systems and we will provide learning opportunities for those who have little experience in some of these areas to maximise their learning. The concern regarding the success of this subject using the Internet was common among students and staff when it was first run. Students wanted to know how many lectures would be missed, how assessments would work, and that they were in a subject that actually did use technology as opposed to a lecture/reading based subject with no value added through the technology. As new Internet based technologies are developed and experimented with, the effects of changing the learning experience by adopting new pedagogies need to be monitored on an ongoing basis. The issues of technology compatibility, technical support and provision of learning resources such as textbooks and video materials also concern the success of this subject. It is expected there can be major advances for staff and students as the course is increasingly informed by educational research, but there are likely to be pitfalls as well.
3. Methodology
The methodology developed to enhance the online education efficiency of engineering technology subjects is discussed in this section. The focus is on the engineering technology subjects in the second semester of 2015, as this is the semester when most of the new online-based education strategies were implemented. The subjects discussed in the methodology implementation are: a) Introductory Digital Logic Design; b) Digital Logic Design; c) Circuit Theory. However, in the following years, more engineering technology subjects were planned for implementation. More subjects were included in the methodology during its second application cycle in semesters 51–2017 and 5–2018. The subjects included in this implementation phase were: a) Digital Systems Design; b) Signal Processing Devices; c) Computer Network Design. During the second cycle implementation, the structure of education methodology offered in the first phase was kept with minor changes and adjustments. The education format was switched to hybrid, which means that part of the ratios for face-to-face education and online education changed. Accordingly, this offered new challenges for modifying the existing methodologies as well as some new strategies were developed.
The developed education methodology includes developed procedure methodologies for both online lectures as well as labs. The online lectures methodology implements several online brainstorming and structured-in-discourse-type interaction tools that connected engineering technology education with replaceable real-life engineering challenges. The labs implementation methodology connects a broad range of engineering challenges with other technical areas sensitive to distance education methods. The education methodology and strategies were tested successfully in several engineering technology subjects at the master and bachelor levels, fully online as well as in hybrid or face-to-face modes. The acceptance and implementation of strategies and education format modifications are constantly monitored using qualitative and quantitative instruments. In conclusion, engineering technology educators as well as scholars in other teaching disciplines are welcomed to use, modify and improve the education methodology and teaching/learning techniques.
3.1. Case Study Approach
This study investigates the use of online technologies that may enhance the quality and efficiency of computer courses with the focus on student learning. A case study on a Web-based distance computing course, which is a continuing development of an initial face-to-face course, was carried out. Content analysis of the six online discussions, perceptions of students regarding the quality of Web resources, and weekly log analysis were performed. Results indicate that by providing quality guidelines and resources on disciplines for addressing the expectations on the production of online courses, strategies could improve the design and development of Web-based distance computing courses. For the quality of Web resources, divisions of ease of use, effectiveness of use, and adoption of professional practices were identified and examined. Suggestions were also made on how students could manage the Web resources better. With regard to online discussions, topics and types of postings by both the instructor and students were analysed using content analysis. The format of online discussions may need to be adjusted to enhance students’ involvement in the discussions, which in turn, helps cultivate a learning community among students. Finally, possibilities of setting up smaller tutorial groups, which would include suggestions on the frequency and timing of online discussions, were also suggested to encourage students’ participation to a greater extent (Dickinson, 2009). This study was a case analysis approach performed in the discussions done by the students, their peers, and the instructor on a distance computer course. After a two-week trial of the course, the online discussion facility was made available to the students, and both sides were provided with lecture handouts and clear procedures for using the online discussion group. As the identified objectives of the course mainly referred to the students’ construction and co-construction of knowledge on the course topics and participation in the learning community, measures were adopted to ensure the comprehensiveness and relevance of the collected data. The online postings were printed out in a total of 230 pages with the exclusion of the irrelevant and repeated messages identified through various readings (Lai Hung, 2005). All the remained postings were then numbered and analysed according to the following categories and sub-categories. There were used a number of connotative and exemplary themes to illustrate the types of knowledge outcomes constructed in the online discussions that had already been reported in the completed work on other higher education course.
3.2. Data Collection Methods
Students’ surveys were constructed based on their responses to mathematics online classes. The first part dealt with traditional questions; gathering qualitative and quantitative data, seeking to determine what is satisfactory for the student. Open-ended questions were also included to allow students to voice their opinion more generally. The second part was a Faculty Attitude Questionnaire that focused on a more subjective view of what has been done right or wrong. The survey was anonymous, and every effort was made to edify the students’ concerns, dissatisfaction, and opinions about the grading process.
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Making educational choices reflected years of faithful academic performance and relative investment, although students can control the pace and other aspects in online education, they had to invest at least the same, if not more, time in mathematics MOOCs as in traditional mathematics classes. Traditional post-secondary institutions, though at times abused, still represent a veritable safe haven with regard to education, therefore, it is natural that academic dishonesty seems to be more rampant and difficult to detect in online schooling. Additive assessment tools can only help courses that use standard exams.
Co-founders of certain online education platforms, in announcing their companies, focused on the promise of eminence education in democratizing opportunity across the globe. However, as the essays of five different students painfully illustrate, this promise can be shattered in minutes as failure to comprehend course material leads to a cascade of events that are hard to reverse. The above five SWOT analyses and accompanying course-of-action recommendations are all predicated on the class of digital education with platforms that might not be willing to cooperate with providers and regulatory institutions. By virtue of the very rivalry that made possible many of the opportunities afforded by MOOCs, it is the question of quality control.
3.3. Data Analysis Techniques
The understanding of learning environments has come to maturity that it is possible to begin exploiting this understanding through the use of technology. Educators and academics have been applying broad, integrated learning environments, but they have encountered difficulties because of the complexity of the environments. Educational data mining (EDM) and learning analytics (Adam Whitley, 2018) are two approaches to analysing educational data to provide information to help inform decisions for the betterment of education. Both EDM and LA take different approaches to processing the same data in order to derive more effective learning environments. Mining techniques for education are first reviewed, which target assessment data in isolation with the aim of understanding how frequent, fine-grained factual assessments compare against the common understanding of a course topic within a cohort. With the application of these techniques, it is possible to achieve a better understanding of Python implementation amongst Computer Science 1 students and communications skills competency amongst Business and Management students. Secondly, different methods focused on cohort data and specific topics are examined so to better understand the data. To aid the understanding of cohort working habits, techniques are explored that will produce temporal heat-maps indicating which cohorts are seeing the most web traffic over the course of the semester. The understanding of how students work with computer-based assignments is translated from continuous timestamps to discrete patterns of behaviour. The core advanced pattern extraction method and its application to behaviour logs is reviewed. Behavior is ultimately classified into three states: preparation of input or output; the messing with the working artifacts that contains a time-consuming decision making process; and the executing, testing, and clarifying process which is itself very diverse. This behavior modelling framework still needs to be calibrated manually to tailor for specific environments.
4. Factors Influencing Online Education Efficiency
In recent years, technological advancements have transformed traditional education into online education. Teaching online has brought benefits such as convenience, flexibility, being up-to-date, readily available resources, an increase in services, time-saving, cost-effective, and a broader range of skills. However, online education does come with some drawbacks such as reduced social interaction and collaboration, less motivation and evaluation, inappropriate timing, difficulty in communication with faculty and peers, distance issues, technical difficulties, and more distractions. Some online education perceptions and expectations include conceptual and content quality concerns, language and communication shortcomings, interactivity concerns, instructor instructional design and teaching shortcomings, and access issues. All of the above perceptions and concerns potentially affect online education efficiency and effectiveness (G. Moore, 2005). For instructional designers and teachers, these factors can be grouped into three categories. External factors may include tools and update descriptions, availability of technology or equipment, and suitability of network software capability specifications. Internal factors are related to the nature of the courses; these factors may include course schedules or structures, assessment policies, and the weighting of courses. Teaching factors can be categorized into three major factors: online teacher experiences with the nature of professional development and background knowledge, and the content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge of teachers regarding their online courses. These three factors influence students’ perceptions of online education efficiency in terms of expectation/positive, perception/negative, overall perception/effectiveness, and overall efficiency levels. It is thus important to investigate this order to gain an understanding of online education efficiency from an individual learner view.
4.1. Technological Tools and Platforms
Classroom environments in: (a) public educational system, and (b) in techno-pedagogical modes of instruction programs, represent the two most important social sub-systems of both formal and informal educational organizations. Although tasks in both environments are equally relevant, responsibility assigned to them in the respective educational systems is significantly different (Marcelo Mendez et al., 2014). In classroom environments of public educational system focus is on: (a) paper-and-pencil work assigned to students, (b) question-and-answer exchanges, (c) return of designated tasks, (d) attention paid to individual students, (e) movement of students and teachers within classrooms, and (f) minor off-task behavior, as well as professional envy among senior versus junior teacher or some irrelevant question posed by either of them. Techno-pedagogical environments in instruction programs directed to learners groups in Look-e-Learn computer laboratory focus on: (a) computer ownership and quality characteristics, (b) introduction of new instructional media, (c) difficulties posed by work outs, and attitude towards techno-pedagogical modes of instruction applied in education designers.
Educational systems aim to bring about: (a) cognitive development, (b) socialization of individual members, (c) qualification for occupational choices, (d) psychological healthiness of individual members, and (e) dissemination of national culture. The output of the system in the expected time represents educational quality. However, targets in educational view (individuals) are transformed into information process system to be interpreted and operated on within the systems for each subsystem. Due to the complexity of educational quality as defined above, the attempt to find robust inputs affecting equal outputs (educational quality measures) has been rather complex. Almost all ‘high-tech’, ‘turn on’, ‘visit’ computer laboratory to experiment ‘multimedia’ classroom experiences failed to create ever-lasting quality differences or discrepancies. Data collection on generic features of educational information systems, i.e., human and material recourses, and outputs, i.e., information products, requires multiple theoretical assumptions (Dianati & Schubert, 2018). Educational systems could serve as the field to test various assumptions made by systems research.
4.2. Instructor Engagement and Training
Quality online instruction requires the intentional formation of a productive online learning community in which students are engaged and active participants. The establishment of an online community begins with instructor engagement in the virtual classroom. Currently, there is a deficit in training faculty in online learning. Many institutions still have not created good training programs for faculty moving from face-to-face classrooms to online classrooms. Responsibilities and expectations of faculty have changed, but academic institutions often give little or no direction to faculty about how to succeed in teaching online. Faculty must overcome this deficit by seeking help on their own initiative or commonly just struggle along hoping for the best. Online teaching requires faculty to adopt a whole new mindset. Teaching is now predominantly about creating a learning environment in which students discover and construct knowledge through interaction. Faculty act as facilitators of learning instead of directors of learning.
Intentionality is key in engaging students (Foster et al., 2018). Instructors should use student-friendly language. Inviting and warm language works more effectively than giving orders, especially in antagonistic situations. Instead of saying “Post your introduction to the discussion board,” say “I can’t wait to meet each of you! I hope you’ll post an introduction to the discussion board where you share information about yourself and your experiences.” An overwhelming number of positive comments do not help any more than a handful of negatives is demotivating. Therefore, instructors should note 2 positive things for each negative. Instructors should show students exactly what they mean. They should provide examples and be specific. Phone calls help students feel like they matter and are connected to their instructors. Encouragement and motivation should be sent to students. Intentionality makes a difference: a scheduled “thank you” email takes less than 5 minutes but can have a lasting impact. Relationship, relationship, relationship is a maxim that covers a multitude of courses (Atwell, 2016). A few emails can get a student tuned in to class.
4.3. Student Motivation and Self-Regulation
Motivation is defined as the level of effort given towards the achievement of personal goals, which can involve intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Motivation is affected by a range of internal and external influences, and it is decided within the academic context – by the prerequisite assessment, attitudes towards assessment, class workload, course design, perceived difficulty, course content, delivery method, and familiarity with technology. Following the theories of self-determination and expectancy-value (Swafford, 2018), Motivation can be categorized into task value (the expectation of understanding the subject matter and achieving an assignable rating of performance), satisfaction (the sense of adequate challenge and accomplishment concerning the workload), internal attribution (the feeling of foundational knowledge and self-efficacy as a student), and the routine. Moreover, student motivation may be also the proportion of internally to externally motivated behaviour and can be related in part to self-regulation. Besides, effort can be directed and inhibited by judgments about difficulty and success, salience, and rates of success.
Self-regulation is the ability to undertake, construct, and control an enduring process of learning. Self-regulated students are aware of their own goals, means, and limits; they adopt appropriate procedures, and they try to follow regulation, elaboration, and monitoring strategies. Therefore, self-regulation can be divided into three components: self-monitoring, self-control, and self-evaluation. In other words, self-regulated learning is characterized by awareness, commitment, adaptability, feedback, metacognition, and process management.
4.4. Curriculum Design and Delivery
The effective integration of technology, curriculum, and pedagogy is essential for the efficient operation of online learning environments at universities. This complex amalgam of components is called the technological-pedagogical-content knowledge (TPCK) framework. TPCK can also refer to the specialized knowledge of how a specific subject domain can be taught with a certain set of technologies. TPCK is a knowledge framework that integrates content, pedagogy, and context into a comprehensive knowledge structure for effective teaching (L. Moore & Fodrey, 2018).
In higher education, the question of what is knowledge seems to have taken the back seat due to an increasing abundance of information. The question of how knowledge is transmitted is more in focus than what knowledge is worth transmitting. In online learning environments, in particular, what makes online learning an appropriate provisioning of knowledge, and what makes knowledge an appropriate treatment and commodity for web-based learning environments continue to overwhelm educational systems and environments. Nevertheless, the pedagogical presence comprising of instructional policies, characteristics and methods mostly employed to promote intellectually stimulating learning environments remains agitated by the gradual increase of disenfranchised students who amassed considerable damage to their intellectual imperative and authority under online delivery of education (Oyeleke et al., 2015).
Similar to the cognitive presence, the teaching presence is yet another landscape with a plethora of unexplored territories and frontiers. However, the presence of online students is one area of online learning environments, which seems to have received some measure of attention, in terms of empirical research. But hardly is the disposition with technology, curriculum delivery competency, familiarity of teaching aids, presentation skills, and feedback modalities existing in tradition classroom often employed to extenuate learning discrepancies in Brazillian online learning environment settings in higher education institutions probed.
4.5. Assessment and Feedback Mechanisms
A proper assessment and valuable feedback mechanisms are necessary for the sustainability of a quality education program. Development of various methods for assessments is being done widely by research communities. However, in many cases, the gathered feedback is not analyzed properly or is neglected at all, which leads to the same mistakes repeating in each course/cycle. Too many courses have the same pattern of assessment, that is mid-term exam worth 30%, end-term exam with 50% frequency, and weekly presentation with a score of 20%. Despite its static nature, students are facing such patterns for more than a decade with almost no revision or adjustment. Development of such patterns tends to be more effective in education or pedagogical quality improvement rather than time, effort, or resources (Jara & Mellar, 2010). Not just mid-exams, but also the type of the exam is the same for years. It has been shown that most of the exam papers are asking low-level questions which are unable to evaluate students’ in-depth knowledge or trends toward understanding the concepts. Moreover, in line with assessment mechanisms, the feedback on courses also needs improvement. Not just the end-of-semester feedback forms, but something more timely and frequent is required. Over the years, a lot has been done to evaluate the performance and efficiency of teaching by researching different methodologies or models (Aryal, 2021). Most of them, however, seem to neglect qualitative features about the courses or relying on a lot of parameters that leads to complexity, and it has even been argued that there is no credible model to evaluate irrational behaviors by hard heuristics.
5. Case Studies
For any educational institution, evaluation of the total effect of any course is fundamental. A classic evaluation approach would be to design a questionnaire to solicit students’ impressions of satisfaction, whether the perceived quality met their expectations (Lai Hung, 2005). In distance study, an additional critical topic is the realization and fulfillment of students’ needs. Many students are new to this course delivery method. Their comments and feedback are particularly important in improving the design of methodology and presentation in future online courses.
This course is part of the Computing and Information Systems major program at the University and was converted from a fully face-to-face course to a fully online course. The most frequently used item was on whether e-learning met their need and preference. Overall, seeing enormous improvement from ae1 to ae2 is a positive surprise. It suggests that the instructor is on the right track in making adjustments as students make gradual progress in the course and become more experienced online learners (Lucas-Smith, 2001). Alternatively, it may imply the students adopted the strategy of ‘learning by doing’ since more online items are perceived more positively after three months’ online learning. One possible reason is that students were more likely to study the whole module content before attempting the self-assessment. This is a good sign, since it indicates that delivery of this course online encourages these students to learn actively and in a more self-directed way. Most importantly, the instructor should encourage them not only to read the online notes but also to interact more online. It is valid to argue that increasing number of questions and comments online is a positive sign. This suggests that the use of the World Wide Web as the sole and authoritative source of information about the course encourages students to explore and seek for clarifications. Hence, it is still hoped that students can be encouraged to post more frequently as their curiosity increases.
5.1. Case Study 1: University A
The course, 43.220 Information and Communications, is a paper in the B.Com (Information Systems) and B.B.A. (Business and Information Systems) degrees at the Palmerston North campus. It contains knowledgeable content, such as telecommunications topics, mail processing techniques, and local area networks. These topics rapidly become out of date. Computer-generated text, sound, and animation can be used to provide a consistent, accurate, and updatable delivery vehicle for this type of content. The objectives of this paper are to develop computer-generated material for the course, present considerations for effective design and delivery, and evaluate its reception by the students. Ideally, lecture delivery should be consistently accurate, relevant, and interesting. Computer-generated material achieves this because it is an accurate record of the lecturer’s work with the textbook. Much of the copy and figures are automatically derived from the text, and since the program does not change, the material is updatable. The instructor can fine-tune the delivery and embellish it as desired and time permits. Once the instructor becomes familiar with the way the program works, the delivery becomes easy. Interacting with students during a lecture was a significant factor from the lecturer’s perspective. As a seasoned lecturer, the individual is aware of which students require encouragement. There is an interesting mix of students, some of whom require encouragement or guidance to make sure they are in sync with the topic. The lecturer needs to be on hand to assist these students. It was considered preferable to have a dedicated technician present. Material could be augmented on the screen if it was not covered well or during evaluation discussions. The course’s earlier years were delivered using overhead projector transparency sheets. This presented a major technical problem: a technician devoted much time preparing the material while the lecturer indicated little input. The quality of delivery was highly dependent on the technicians. The ease of material delivery was a significant factor identified during the study. Prior to the system’s installation, intricacies limited what the instructor could do, and changing anything post-delivery was a time-consuming task. Providing course notes and recording them became two separate processes. The current system stores a banking of material that can be individually retrieved, sequenced, and projected with ease. During the presentation, the lecturer’s time was of utmost importance. It had been necessary to re-explain certain graphics, but with the new system, there were no concerns regarding the delivery speed. The system facilitated two-way interaction between the program and the lecturer. An example of this benefited the understanding of a very complicated multinational, multi-industry company: as it was being built, students focused on the screen instead of the lecturer. During the interactive part, students were fully attentive to the instructor.
5.2. Case Study 2: University B
As University B was previously a full-time face-to-face RHD campus university, when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in March 2020, there was no online teaching activity planned. Following the government announcement to suspend classes, academics were alerted to move all teaching and assessments online within 24 hours in an emergency. The initial 100% online teaching response to COVID-19 was generally with few processes, procedures, or policies in place for developing and delivering online courses. Subsequently, over 63% of UG and PG courses were provided 100% online. However, an overwhelming challenge was posed to negotiate and sort these rudimentary processes, procedures, or policies, and conduct further professional development and practice change. Before the pandemic, 11% of UG and PG courses were taught online. At the commencement of the pandemic, academics were provided with illustrated microwebinars and lists of suggested online tools to rapidly transition to online delivery. Moreover, “priority courses” were identified for intensive support and noticed that early 2021 they would be expected “to transition to hybrid (dual) delivery.” All course outlines specified that courses would not be transferred to hybrid delivery until that time. Nonetheless, some academics proceeded to trial activities in hybrid delivery, while many focused on refining their online delivery. This indicated a sophisticated early understanding of what hybrid delivery involved. Usage statistics aggregated through UniWide indicated a strategic and effective professional development response. Academic staff on the ALD team worked on course design and development initiatives with many academics in Curriculum Development Grants. Over 60 courses were reviewed and/or redesigned. The implementation of UniWide in this period has come close to the ideal of 100% online learning environments, a desired and almost anticipated outcome of the aim to de-couple the learning environment from the physical learning spaces. Discussions on the Design and Learning Senior Executives team in late 2021 foreshadowed the intention to move to 90% online courses.
5.3. Case Study 3: Online Learning Platform C
The third case study is a comparative study of the learning outcomes for two popular online learning platforms (OLPs), Coursera, and EdX using an introductory data science course. Both platforms operate similarly. They deliver content over a series of lecture videos and multiple-choice quizzes in an informal manner. Students can attend the lectures at their convenience. To get a course credit, students are required to complete the assignments for a certain percentage, such as 80%. Papers are graded automatically, mostly using multiple-choice questions. Students must also ensure that the questions do not fall behind to get a completing certificate. Students must first choose a question, which is displayed in the center of the page. In each step, the student must have to fill in the required parameters with only the valid inputs. They need to balance the proportion of each type of data, create a domain specification, and run the code. Once the code is submitted, the platform displays whether the output is correct and it can also show the output parameters. If the output does not match, the platform marks it incorrect and asks the student to debug the code by printing the output with some parameters. The tool tips give useful comments on handling arguments. Each quiz is displayed in an interactive step-by-step manner to tackle the problem step by step.
Unlike Coursera, EdX creates a personalized learning environment where individual traditional questions can be provided. Based on the performance of the questions, the platform recommends the subsequent questions. A comparative study is conducted measuring the learning outcomes on the two platforms, which assists in getting an understanding of whether the personalized learning platform brings in an effective online learning environment, as technologies have been an inevitable necessity in education. Pre- and post-assessment quizzes testing the fundamentals of the data science topic were also created. Questions in the quiz were selected from a public source, and open-source reconstructive codes for the same question were created for EdXs (Shi, 2016). Both quizzes and codes were reviewed by graduate data science students and instructors prior to launching the experiment. The quiz can retrieve the duration for finishing the quiz, hence to capture the enthusiasm of participating students. Usefulness and ease of use measures were included in the questionnaire to evaluate online actions.
6. Analysis of Findings
This research study examined the viewpoint of students in higher education on online learning platforms. The findings specify that when considering a range of topics related to satisfaction with online learning, issues with online learning platforms, and the strengths and weaknesses of online education relative to the traditional classroom, students allocated lower ratings to items under the first factor. The majority of students indicated that they had done assignments and exam-related work using a computer, that an internet connection had been available at the place where assignments were completed, and that sufficient time had been allocated for completion of assignments and exam-related tasks. In terms of weaknesses, students reported receiving instruction and assignments remotely through webcams. Observation of students while they were completing exam-related tasks which the instructor could not do traditionally was another concern about online courses. With respect to strengths, automatically records session attendance and different techniques are used to engage students in the lesson. (E. Kentnor, 2015)
While the responses of students to positive or negative items covered a range of responses, no items were rated as highly satisfactory or highly dissatisfactory. In general, students feel that online education is a viable alternative to face-to-face classes, but there are not a lot of items rated as highly satisfactory. In higher education, there is still a long way to go to reach 5-star online education, but the situation should not be dissuading; as the findings showed, there are a lot of items rated lower first strongly disagree and strongly agree. Because in online education, flexibility is not sufficient to produce desirable qualities, regardless of instructor perspectives on ease of implementation (Segbenya et al., 2022).
6.1. Comparative Analysis of Case Studies
Despite variations in technology infrastructure, course access, and other contextual factors, common governance principles are evident in the case studies. In analyzing the cases, achieve six governance principles that actively facilitate technology integration. These principles, which are expanded upon in the rest of this section, should ideally be manifest in every educational institution’s approach to e-learning. E-learning should be included in the (a) institutional mission and planning, (b) institutional assessment for prioritization, (c) faculty assessment for prioritization, (d) technology assessments tied to pedagogy, (e) faculty computing literacy programs, and (f) administrative restructuring to encourage cooperation among disciplines (Lai Hung, 2005).
Every institution must establish the importance of e-learning to its mission and operation. The vision must be articulated by those at the top echelon, both to articulate organizational goals and to demonstrate individual and collective commitment to achieve those goals. The institution’s goals regarding e-learning must be formulated in a manner that makes them understandable to, and actionable by, administrators, technocrats, and faculty. When imposing technological innovations, the institution should evaluate whether the strategy adopted considers the long-run importance of the innovations sought and the resources available for enhancement.
A learning organization’s institutional assessment entails a reactive review of current modes of operation and an anticipatory analysis of the likely long-term effects of institutional practices in the construct of anticipated futures. Inaugurated on the international stage, intending to leap from relative naivete about technology to a local learning leader, the Young institution must, above all else, develop appropriate assessments to guide resource allocation in support of innovations aimed at improving existing educational practices.
6.2. Key Themes and Patterns
The advent of the internet and web-based technologies has opened new avenues for education. The internet offers a wide range of materials and resources that make online education very flexible preferably it is asynchronous in nature the pedagogy within online education is very different compared to traditional classroom education as discussions are apparent there should be an attempt to keep this alive using appropriate methods (Mouasher & M. Lodge, 2016). On the other hand, there is a need to look for measures to keep these discussions active in an online education environment. Research literature suggests that there are pedagogical principles/pedagogical patterns/design patterns that can be applied to keep this pedagogical dynamism. In the traditional classroom environment, these patterns like incentive structure, pause procedures, and probing questions can be easily used but online it is difficult. This study attempts to gather possible pedagogical patterns used by experienced online instructors using qualitative data and synthesize these patterns to a few broader ones. The first theme, learner-on-learner dialogues, concerns discussions among participants. There should be clear procedures for grading and assessment from the start and the criteria on which the assessment is based should be made clear. Students are often unclear on the criteria for grading discussion posts and this is where instructors have to intervene. The second theme, teacher-on-learner dialogues are dialogues that instructors have to take the initiative to set off. The third theme, managing collaborative learning settings focuses on broader management of collaborative learning settings. It is important to ensure that before collaborative work begins groups should be formed.
6.3. Implications for Online Education
Although 80% of faculty members reportedly believe that online learning can be used to increase educational choice and improve access to education, the reality has changed only slightly since 1997. Today, only approximately 50% of faculty stated that they would be willing to teach online. The remaining 50% stated that they would not consider teaching online, as online education is thought to lower quality. Even students have reportedly admitted to lower academic standards for online education (G. Moore, 2005). Additional studies have shown that community colleges continue to have a large presence in online education, particularly in the 2-year degree space. Conversely, for-profit institutions are expecting online programs to grow faster than any other type of higher education institutions for the following reasons: they have more degrees that can be offered online; they are trying to attract students who are looking for alternatives to traditional education; and their business models enable nimble reactions to market trends as compared to state schools. With online education becoming a competitive necessity instead of a competitive advantage, state schools are remaking their approaches to e-learning. Ultimately, in order to enhance the credibility of online education, it needs to be improved, both with objectives as well as technologically. In terms of learning design, an initial understanding of course objectives enhances instructional design. By learning and remembering what the course is about, faculty members can design their lectures, presentations, and assignments accordingly. It is easier to worry about how to deliver the lecture if one knows what the lecture will be about. For online education, it is advisable to consider the way of obtaining course objectives, i.e., what will be taught in lectures and what will not be taught. If not everything needs to be taught, all those concepts or models need to be aligned with the objectives. This can be accomplished by clarifying the course objectives compared to the content.
7. Recommendations
In the rapidly evolving landscape of education, where technology continuously shapes learning methodologies, it becomes imperative to assess integration strategies to promote efficient online education. This text provides a conceptual framework and strategic recommendations for choosing and implementing technological tools and applications for the online education of engineering and technology students. Based on interviews of instructors and a focus group of students, the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the online delivery of the course, along with an analysis of strategies and applications/tools for enhancing these perceived strengths and counteracting the weaknesses, are presented. Overall, a broad range of tools/applications and strategies exist, with the choice of which to use dependent on context: course content, students’ technical skills, and access to devices and/or applications/software. Future work would be aimed at evaluating whether a set of proposed strategies/tools/applications do enhance student outcomes in terms of engagement, motivation, workload, task-based achievement, and overall satisfaction. Online delivery of education is a growing and inevitable trend in academia. An education delivery format that once appeared to be a niche presented limited choice academic pathways is quickly becoming the means of education delivery for the majority. Such a rapid adjustment can be an overwhelming experience for many instructors, as evidenced by the volume of inquiries by academic staff regarding the available platforms/tools/applications and effects on workload associated with each.
There exists little literature on blueprints or frameworks to successfully integrate applications/tools on a high level, despite all the aforementioned considerations of short timeframes, rushed moves, and a host of less-than-ideal outcomes. This text is a step towards ensuring positive outcomes from this recent transition to online education. Given the breadth of the field in which recommendations are made, the content is aimed at a broad audience. For the technical and computing fields, these insights are likely to resonate with multiple units, programs, or curricular structures across universities. While instructors continually change their preferred applications/tools as well as the application of each tool, the overall strategies tend to remain in place once established and integrated into course design, which tends to span terms or years. Other programs or curricula may have many of the same tools or applications, even if used for a different purpose or with a different strategy. Hence, the recommendations may also aid departments in sharing existing applications/tools/strategies and facilitate mutual training rather than placing the onus solely on individual instructors.
As specific technologies intended for delivery were beyond the scope of this work, future studies could examine specific applications/tools as they relate to the suggested strategies. For example, the use of polls, quizzing software, and annotations on lecture slides in live sessions could be undertaken with a focus on their effectiveness across instructors/courses. Students may move with ease between delivery modes and feel hit hard again once they begin their first real job, so future studies may consider how industry practice can inform classroom practice with respect to hybrid or entirely online delivery. Initial inquiries to stakeholders in companies who are primary destinations for graduates could help identify and define current or desired modes of work. Further avenues of inquiry could examine which would be workable forms of hybrid education. Educators broadly, including K–12 teachers, instructors in higher education, and support staff, may find use in the broader considerations such as engaging students, maintaining accommodation, support, and social aspects of education as well as assessing and debriefing.
7.1. Best Practices for Educators
It is imperative that the instructor must have all the materials ready before starting delivery of lectures. Like online learning, students need to prepare for both in-class and homework problem-solving before lectures. For example, after making a course outline, instructors should design all instructional materials. In any case, the presentation must not be handwritten down on a piece of sheet. Using technologies such as Power-point, an instructor must incorporate the materials before the class. Moreover, the video of the solution should be provided before the delivery class so students can at least look at it before the class. Videos should have the use of the annotation tool. The audio quality should also be taken care of as poor sound quality will make students disinterested in the course. A text box should always accompany each figure while drawing it so students can always know which figure is currently being viewed and animated viewing from one slide to another will help them grasp it better. In the case of the in-class question-answer period, the instructor can demonstrate to students the technologies shown in the previous section. An online chatting system or a polling system is better in the case of a huge audience.
Student engagement is a key challenge in online teaching. Many students participate in online discussions, but few responses and follow-ups are posted. Suggested methods of engagement include class discussions, reflection papers, group projects, and fads, frequent communication, and very significant feedback. Synchronous engagement techniques, methods to be used during class time, include class discussions and angel question, reflection papers, and fads. Another method of engagement is students participating in hands-on work. Hands-on work can take place outside of class. Some suggestions to help the seamless transition from face-to-face to online teaching include pre-recorded lectures and online discussions (A El-Najjar, 2018).
7.2. Policy Recommendations for Institutions
The findings of this study indicate that online education still has a lot of architectural, infrastructural, and isolation drawbacks which resulted in dissatisfaction among the online students attending the higher education institutions. In order to prioritize and increase the quality and efficiency of online education, this segment aims to provide some specific recommendations for the institutions. The urgent and essential costs of online education infrastructure, policies, software, and hardware are very similar to the traditional education institution’s post, and these are necessarily required to be determined by and referenced to global education institutions as an enormous shift in the architecture approach.
To meet the inevitable result of increasing numbers of online students, very flexible and expandable technologies are persistently recommended by a number of well-known researchers so that one can conduct more than the existing lecture rooms. Until now, the institution’s staff and the f/p/d students are confusing in the online education platforms and software. While influencing factors such as these technical issues should be always carefully monitored and controlled on monthly and yearly-based by the administrators. Each software that is used for the online education is also examined in terms of the design of webpage appearance, the comfort of interoperability, and the support of various types of installed devices by a small team of software evaluators on campus.
As a whole, in order to increase the efficiency of online education, institutions must not restrict their own boundaries and responsibilities in ethics, pedagogy, policy, etc., but they have to cooperate and collaborate with the respective national and international organizations, institutes, and agencies to repair and enhance the astonished rapid shift of education (Quinton, 2008).
7.3. Future Research Directions
As the emergence of web-related technologies affords the desirable access to and management of more information, and the delivery of learning environments at anytime and anywhere, education becomes ever more contentious and complex (Quinton, 2006). It is insufficient to have ready access to information from anywhere and anyone for being educated. The flurry of asynchronous and computer-mediated communication (CMC), especially the Internet, provides greater convenience for students to engage in intensive participation in the pursuit of knowledge. However, there are greater challenges for educators in this ‘elusion’ of control over ensuring high quality education. The concern is to design effective learning environments that foster meaningful learning experiences for generations of online students.
The concern is expanded to issues and strategies for designing effective learning environments that enhance education in this newly emerging context (Quinton, 2008). Several research studies will be proposed to explore the issues to conduct related research designed to inform educational practitioners on how web-related technologies can help students benefit from their learning. A perennial question for the traditional education communities is whether technology enhances education. In recent years, the awareness of this dilemma has intensified with the longer life-cycle of technologies and more integrated technologies developed and applied in education. There seems to be an emerging agreement that technology does play an important role in enhancing education.
8. Conclusion
There is no doubt that technology has altered the way students and teachers interact. The classroom itself has changed for many institutions, including the classroom facilities and the types of resources used. It is also making a change in how and where some students learn. The benefit of greater accessibility and flexibility in education, learning at home and on the road, and the possible rise in motivation and confidence in students have opened a new realm of possibilities for educational institutions. However, the effectiveness and accuracy of assessment of student learning remain in question. Concern exists as to whether information learned online is more or less likely to be recalled or be useful to a student than information learned in a conventional classroom (G. Moore, 2005). There are many changes that online learning brings about for both instructors and students regarding activities and philosophy of education. How these changes affect student learning is of great interest. Educational institutions, groups, and organizations are conducting large-scale studies on the need to develop guidelines and standards for the efficiency, acceptance, and rapid rise of this new mode for instruction. Most research currently being done on online learning concerns quality standards for online undergraduate and graduate instruction. There seems to be more of a concern in these “less than traditional” institutions that are set on a for-profit basis.
Colleges and universities seem to be full of excitement as this new on-line learning model appears to be widely adopted. It certainly looks like the genie’s out of the bottle, and that it’s time to salute Plans A, B, and C. However, there also seem to be a great many unknowns about this new educational frontier. It is presumed that there will be a half-baked outcome without the faculty and administrators carefully planning and constructing Goals A, B, and C. To be carried out well, there need to be committed people in charge, and the promotion, funding, and organization of rewards supported by data collected to carefully plan the curriculum and the stated goals. In the rapidly changing educational environment, traditional as well as new directions will require increased focus on sound, timely, innovative and inclusive planning driven by institutional research. With educational technology will take more planning than before, but those who take it on have a chance at unknown rewards.
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