The Rapid Shift from Onsite to Online Teaching – Students’ Perceptions

Recent developments in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have had a substantial impact on students, teachers and content delivery modes around the globe. This paper reports the efforts of the University of Tetovo (UT) in North Macedonia (NM) and Banat’s USAMVB University “King Michael I of Romania” to find rapid and efficient means of switching from direct to remote course delivery while maintaining effective communication. Acknowledging that little space was available for training teachers and learners to prepare for such rapid changes, this study examines how students responded. Applying exploratory research methods, the paper offers a preliminary analysis of the difficulties that learners faced in shifting to online presentation. Qualitative data was collected using student interviews and content analysis (Silverman, 2005) was applied to identify themes, biases and meaning. Convenience sampling among enrolled students in the academic year 2020/2021 at both universities identified a non-random sample of 16 students. The findings of the study revealed that participants faced many difficulties in their venture; however, using various strategies, effective planning and organization, they managed to a certain extent to overcome this situation.

Hotel experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: high-touch versus high-tech

Purpose This study aims to gain an understanding of hotel experiences during the pandemic by examining sentiments of guests posted online. Design/methodology/approach This paper incorporates the balance theory, in a dyadic system to analyze the ways in which guests were motivated to restore a position of balance during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. Qualitative content analysis was used to detect thematic patterns of hotel experiences based on examining online reviews shared by actual guests of two major hotel brands – one more closely associated with convenience-driven automation (high-tech) and the other known for providing more guest–employee interaction (high-touch). Findings The analysis of the reviews yielded six main themes: “purpose of visit,” “COVID safety concerns,” “technology adoption,” “COVID limitations,” “exceeded expectation” and “hospitality of staff.” Staff displaying a welcoming attitude was the main factor in creating a convivial experience for guests at both hotel brands, but the technology was not highlighted as much in guests’ reviews. Despite the pandemic, guests of both hotel brands had similar levels of enjoyment regarding their hotel experiences regardless of the high-touch or high-tech nature of the operations. Research limitations/implications User-generated content often reflects the opinions of those who are very satisfied or not satisfied at all. Different data collection techniques could be used to get a “big picture” view of the balance between high-touch and high-tech experiences. Practical implications The findings offer support to researchers and practitioners who advocate that high-touch and high-tech can indeed co-exist, and that these distinct service delivery modes do not have to be mutually exclusive. Originality/value This paper provides new trajectories that can broaden the approaches undertaken by hospitality/tourism scholars and practitioners based on user-generated content. This study is one of the first to adopt the lens of the balance theory, in a dyadic system, to investigate how guests may be psychologically motivated to balance their perceptions and expectations during a time of crisis.

How COVID-19 Has Stimulated Innovation in the Chinese Education Sector

This chapter aims to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 in China's education sector. It will capture the dynamics of the interlinked changing relationships between the availability and use of education technology (EdTech) and the demand for online learning among various stakeholders in the Chinese education market. In addition, this chapter examines whether and how these relationships enhance operational efficiency via transforming the current business models in the sector, in particular due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the current practices of the sector, this chapter will critically discuss the challenges and opportunities for technology in education and how these changes in turn drive stakeholders (including students, educators, and regulators) to respond and engage with each other, and how these stakeholder engagements impact the sustainable development of delivery modes, such as digital education and remote learning by using EdTech strategies in the sector.

Mode Selection of Content Delivery At Edge Nodes Based On Learning

Pre-caching at edge nodes may improve resource efficiency for future content-centric cellular networks by bringing contents closer to users. However, which mode (muticast or unicast) should be selected for the efficient delivery of those cached contents is still not well addressed, especially at the situation that some key parameters such as content popularity and transmission environments are unknown. To solve this problem, the criterion of delivery mode selection is studied based on the learning policy of multi-armed bandit(MAB). According to the criterion, a mode selection algorithm is proposed. In this algorithm, edge nodes can choose the better delivery modes in the current slot only dependent on existing observations in the previous slot. Performance evaluation results validate our analyses and proposals on the mode selection.

Preparing teachers for emergency remote teaching: A professional development framework for teachers in higher education

COVID-19 has significantly impacted teaching and learning in higher education, leading institutions to embrace Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in response to school and university closure. A systematic review research methodology was used to identify, analyse and synthesise literature on professional development in higher education published between 2010 and 2020. Following an inductive thematic analysis, the authors identified four themes that represent the literature: learning approaches, delivery modes, design features and institutional support. Based on the emerging themes and the analysis of the selection of studies, a framework for professional development is proposed to prepare teachers in higher education for ERT. The use of the framework is recommended to guide higher education institutions in best assisting their academic staff during an ERT context.