Enhancing Students' Online Engagement: A Study on Online Distance Learning Institutions' Students in Malaysia

Author(s):  
Zahir Osman (Dr) ◽  
Ratna Khuzaimah Mohamad ◽  
Liana Mohamad

Online Distance Learning (ODL) settings in higher education institutions assist in allocating resources of education, facilitating instructor-to-student interaction, supporting student learning groups, maintaining the progression of student learning, and allowing students to enroll ODL learning (Islam, 2013). Students' online learning exposures in universities and colleges tend to be combined with academic exposures for the continuous learning progress not because only related to academic accomplishment, but also due to individual success of lifelong learning. The online learning setting tertiary education institutions is a learning environment that puts together the latest digital technology with the practices of teaching and learning as important creativity and innovation through the latest performed-technology platform (Eze, Chinedu-Eze, & Bello, 2018). The advantages of online learning settings for both the students and higher education institutions are significant cost saving of having physical infrastructure of teaching and learning, cause the course materials digitization where it can be shared and retrieved at any time and wherever the students are and embedding into the global educational setting (Pham, Limbu, Bui, Nguyen, & Pham, 2019). Malaysia is aiming to become a developed country and has set a long term vision for that to be realized. This aim can only be achieved by producing high technological skills and a critical thinking workforce. Information communication technology (ICT) will be the main catalyst in leading this transformation. In an online learning environment, engagement has become one of the critical issues for the students. Since the trend today of migrating from the face-to-face classroom to web-based systems, some challenges need to be resolved. In fully online learning, there is 78% of students fail in completing their online courses (Simpson, 2010). Students' failures in online courses were mainly due to their inactive engagement (Kuzilek, Hlosta, Herrmannova, Zdrahal, & Wolff, 2015). Halverson, Graham, Spring, Drysdale, and Henrie (2014) in their thematic analysis have found the term engagement been mentioned in more than fifty per cent of the reviewed publications. Thus, this study aims to assess the direct influence of online learning attitude, online peer collaboration, and psychological motivation on digital readiness and digital readiness influence on online engagement. Keywords: Online Learning Attitude, Online Peer Collaboration, Psychological Motivation, Digital Readiness and Online Engagement.

Author(s):  
Zahir Osman ◽  
Ratna Khuzaimah Mohamad ◽  
Liana Mohamad

Objective - This study evaluates the direct relationships among online learning attitude, online peer collaboration, psychological motivation, digital readiness, and online engagement among students in Malaysia's online distance learning (ODL) higher education institutions. Methodology/Technique - The structural Equation Model (SEM) method was employed to evaluate the direct influence of online learning attitude, online peer collaboration, and psychological motivation on digital readiness and the direct influence of digital readiness on online engagement. The model was developed based on the conceptual development and subsequently analysed using the Partial Least Square (PLS) technique on 391 data acquired during the survey. Finding - The outcomes from the statistical data analysis have clearly shown that the online learning attitude, online peer collaboration, and psychological motivation have positively and significantly influence digital readiness. Novelty - The model of this study is the first model been used by utilising Smart-Pls version3 for data analysis to study students' engagement in ODL higher institutions in Malaysia. Type of Paper - Empirical Keywords: Online Learning Attitude; Online Peer Collaboration; Psychological Motivation; Digital Readiness and Online Engagement. JEL Classification: 120


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheuk Fan Ng

Online distance learning is offered not only in post-secondary distance education institutions but in traditional universities as well. With advances in mobile and wireless technologies, completing academic studies anywhere anytime should become feasible. Research in distance education and online learning has focused on computer-mediated communication, instructional design, learner characteristics, educational technology, and learning outcomes. However, little attention has been given to where exactly learners do their learning and studying and how the physical and social aspects of the physical environment within which the online learner is physically embedded (e.g., the home) supports and constrains learning activities. In this paper, the author proposes a conceptual model for understanding the role that the physical environment plays in online distance learning in higher education, drawing on theories and research in environmental psychology, online learning, telework and mobile work, and higher education. Several gaps in research are identified, and suggestions for future research are proposed.


10.28945/2661 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn McLellan ◽  
Mark Stansfield

Within many educational institutions across the world, the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate courses is being facilitated by online learning technologies. The development and transformation of academic courses for online learning delivery provides a number of opportunities for both the academic institution and prospective students. However, there are a number of important issues that need to be addressed if online learning is to contribute to the educational experience of the student in a positive way and actually enhance teaching and learning as compared with more traditional face-to-face delivery. This paper describes the process of transforming a Masters course in the Management of eBusiness offered by the University of Paisley from a distance learning to an online distance learning course. The paper will identify the main educational theories that informed and influenced the development of the online course as well as identify the main lessons learnt from evaluating the course which has now been running for a number of years. The lessons learnt will be of interest to many people involved in the development and running of online learning courses.


Author(s):  
Lydia Mbati ◽  
Ansie Minnaar

The creation of online platforms that establish new learning environments has led to the proliferation of institutions offering online learning programmes. However, the use of technologies for teaching and learning requires sound content specialization, as well as grounding in pedagogy. While gains made by constructivism and observational learning are well documented, research addressing online practices that best encourage constructivist and observational learning in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) contexts is limited. <br /><br />Using a phenomenological methodological approach, this research explored the lived experiences of online learning programme facilitators at an Open and Distance Learning higher education institution. The findings of this research study revealed that facilitators did not use constructivist and observational learning pedagogies to a large extent in their interaction with students. It is concluded that during the curriculum planning phase, facilitators should decide on methods and media to arouse the students’ attention and stimulating constructivist and observational learning amongst students during online courses. This also implies a more reasonable facilitator-student ratio because large numbers of students per facilitator proves not feasible in online learning. The paper concludes by providing guidelines for the facilitation of interactive online learning programmes.


Author(s):  
Michael Smith ◽  
Donald Macdonald

Online education has developed over the past two decades, initially in response to a desire to provide distance learning opportunities at degree level for remote communities. The University of the Highlands and Islands [UHI] in Scotland has been at the forefront of this. It has been possible to gain degrees using wholly online learning and teaching processes since 1995. In recent years, institutions across the globe have developed learning materials for online learning in order to both supplement the teaching and learning in face-to-face classes and to enable students to undertake entire programmes using online communications. The most recent developments have been in the advent of MOOCS and SPOCS. This paper seeks to (1) give an overview of the past 20 years of developments in online education, (2) provide a detailed review of recent research relating to standards, satisfaction and effectiveness of online education, (3) consider the costs and benefits across a range of definitions of online education and (4) examine the primary challenges, conflicts and opportunities for online distance learning and teaching in relation to the issues faced by students, educators and institutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Murti Wijayanti ◽  
Tyna Yunita ◽  
Agus Dharmanto

The education world now is entering an adjustment phase in teaching and learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic. Activities that are usually carried out offline (outside the network) face-to-face in the classroom, turn into online distance learning (in the network). In order to reduce the spread of the virus, the government issued a policy stating that all activities are carried out from home and utilize the technology as a supporting tool, including learning practices carried out by the universities. The limited online learning conditions between lecturers and students, overcome by the campus by preparing themselves to formulate policies and strategic steps, so that, the activity process on sharing topics lecture continue to run using e-learning application facilities. Likewise, Tri Dharma activities of higher education regarding research and community service. The use of technology with various platform applications during this pandemic is one of the researches breakthroughs used. Like it or not, online learning forces both lecturer and students to adapt. Implementation of community service activities that are generally carried out directly in the field, continues to run using the internet network through the provision of webinars (seminars on the web) or virtual work lecture (KKN) activities virtually. Keywords: Outside the Network, Distance Learning, In the Network, University   Abstrak Dunia pendidikan saat ini memasuki fase penyesuaian dalam proses belajar mengajar di masa pandemi Covid-19. Kegiatan yang biasanya dilakukan secara luring (luar jaringan) tatap muka di ruang kelas, beralih menjadi pembelajaran jarak jauh dengan daring (dalam jaringan). Dalam rangka menekan laju penyebaran virus, pemerintah mengeluarkan kebijakan yang menyatakan bahwa semua aktivitas kegiatan dilakukan dari rumah dan memanfaatkan teknologi sebagai sarana penunjangnya, termasuk praktik pembelajaran yang dijalankan oleh perguruan tinggi.  Kondisi pembelajaran yang terbatas secara daring antara dosen dan mahasiswa, diatasi pihak kampus dengan mempersiapkan diri menyusun kebijakan dan langkah strategis agar proses aktivitas kegiatan berbagi materi topik kuliah tetap berjalan menggunakan fasilitas aplikasi e-learning. Begitu pula dengan kegiatan Tri Dharma perguruan tinggi dalam hal riset dan pengabdian masyarakat. Penggunaan teknologi dengan bermacam platform aplikasi di masa pandemi ini merupakan salah satu terobosan riset yang digunakan. Mau tidak mau, suka tidak suka, pembelajaran secara daring “memaksa” para tenaga didik dan juga mahasiswa untuk beradaptasi. Pelaksanaan kegiatan pengabdian masyarakat yang umumnya dilakukan secara langsung di lapangan, tetap berjalan menggunakan jaringan internet melalui pengadaan webinar (seminar dalam web) atau kegiatan kuliah kerja nyata (KKN) secara virtual. Kata kunci: Luar Jaringan, Pembelajaran Jarak Jauh, Dalam Jaringan, Perguruan Tinggi


2022 ◽  
pp. 251-272
Author(s):  
David Starr-Glass

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted the ability of educational institutions to deliver in-person instruction. A pragmatic solution was remote teaching, which in most cases was essentially in-person courses delivered synchronously via computer-mediated technology and videoconferencing. Student reaction to, and faculty experience of, remote teaching and learning was varied but generally less than enthusiastic. There was a growing realization that, pedagogically, emergency remote teaching could not satisfactorily replicate either well-delivered in-person instruction or well-designed distance online courses. With the anticipation that higher education will increasingly focus on online delivery, there has been renewed interest, at both the institutional and faculty level, in how effective distance learning online courses are conceptualized, designed, and facilitated. This chapter attempts, briefly but comprehensively, to explore the theoretical and practical issues involved in purposefully designing and mindfully facilitating online distance learning courses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8053
Author(s):  
Maram Meccawy ◽  
Zilal Meccawy ◽  
Aisha Alsobhi

(1) This study demonstrates how a Saudi university has responded to the COVID-19 lockdown in order to examine the success factors and highlight any challenges. The main purpose was to determine the perceptions of students and faculty towards emergency online distance learning from a teaching and learning perspective; (2) A cross-faculty study was conducted: two different self-administered questionnaires were developed for students and faculty, respectively. In addition, data was collected from official reports; (3) The results show that students had a more positive perception of e-Learning despite the difficulties that they may have faced, while faculty results leaned slightly towards a negative perception. However, there was not a definite positive or negative perception, depending on the aspect of teaching that was being evaluated. The study also indicated that faculty and students’ gender had no significant effect on their perceptions. Overall results showed that the university performed well in accordance with three of the five pillars of online learning quality framework in terms of student satisfaction, access and scalability. On the other, improvements are needed to achieve better results for faculty satisfaction and learning effectiveness; (4) The findings present a number of suggestions for increasing satisfaction to improve the online learning experience post COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (Extra-B) ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
Elizaveta Afanasyevna Barakhsanova ◽  
Mikhail Petrovich Sivtsev ◽  
Nyurgun Mikhailovich Pavlov ◽  
Afanasy Radnaevich Batorov ◽  
Maria Egorovna Alekseeva

The authors justified the idea of developing online courses based on the use of Moodle tools, allowing the formation of knowledge in the field of technological and methodological skills and abilities to use educational applications, services, and their application in professional activities in the implementation of online learning in the digital environment of the university.  Assessment of the effectiveness of the online course is confirmed by the solution of professional tasks from the knowledge of the digital educational environment with interdisciplinary content and tasks requiring the use of e-learning tools. Analysis of the results using two-way analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of factors on the effective feature using the F-test. The significance of the study lies in the development of online advanced training courses aimed at improving the technological level of teachers and educators of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the implementation of the remote format of training using online distance learning tools and technologies. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13055
Author(s):  
Halima Ahmed Omar ◽  
Eqlima Mohamad Ali ◽  
Shashidhar Belbase

Higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) adopted a distance/online learning approach during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ensure that students were safe while they received an uninterrupted, high-quality education off-campus. This was the first time that all of the higher education institutions adopted this approach. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct this study to gain insight into graduate students’ experiences in distance learning and to verify whether these experiences are linked to their achievements. The purpose of this study was to examine graduate students’ experiences toward online and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in the academic year 2020–2021 and their academic achievement. A questionnaire was developed for this study and sent online to graduate students’ emails with the coordination of the College of Graduate Studies at a higher education institution in the UAE. The study received 138 responses. The data was analyzed using IBMSPSS-26. The findings of the study showed that graduate students’ level of Engagement, ease of Communication, and quality of learning Experience with online/distance learning were related significantly to their overall academic achievement.


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