European Conference on e-Learning

Enhancing Higher Education Learning through Blackboard: Impact on Student Learning and Diversity

2025-10-30T13:15:31+00:00

The increasing reliance on digital learning platforms in higher education necessitates an exploration of how Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard influence student learning experiences and accommodate learning diversity. This study examines the effectiveness of Blackboard in promoting inclusive and engaging learning experiences at the University of Fort Hare. The purpose of this research was to investigate how students interact with Blackboard, the challenges they face, and the extent to which the platform supports diverse learning needs. This study is guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, which examines cognitive, social, and teaching presence in online learning. By applying this framework, the research evaluates how Blackboard fosters meaningful engagement, supports diverse learning needs, and enhances instructional effectiveness, contributing to a more inclusive and student-centered digital learning environment. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach. This methodology allows for a comprehensive analysis of students’ perceptions, engagement levels, and barriers to the optimal use of Blackboard. The findings indicate that while Blackboard enhances accessibility to learning materials and fosters asynchronous engagement, students encounter challenges related to digital literacy, navigation complexities, and limited interactive elements. Additionally, variations in students’ technological proficiency and learning preferences highlight the need for adaptive instructional strategies. The above findings indicate the importance of integrating student centered design principles into Blackboard’s usage, ensuring that learning experiences cater to diverse student backgrounds. Providing training for both students and lecturers is important in addressing technical challenges, improving digital literacy, and ensuring seamless navigation of Blackboard. The study’s relevance lies in informing institutional strategies for improving Blackboard’s pedagogical effectiveness, fostering student engagement, and promoting digital inclusivity. By addressing these concerns, the University of Fort hare can enhance student learning experiences and bridge digital disparities, ultimately contributing to a more equitable and responsive higher education environment.

Harnessing the Generative AI Wave Towards Fair and Diverse Higher Education Assessments: A Comprehensive Analysis through an Innovative Lens of Students

2025-10-08T12:16:44+00:00

While Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), particularly tools powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), offer benefits in teaching and learning, they also raise critical concerns about academic integrity, fairness in examinations due to their potential for generating educational content. This evolving landscape requires higher education institutions to rethink their assessment models, ensuring they remain robust, inclusive, and aligned with the realities of AI-enhanced learning environments. In this backdrop, this study investigates the practical, GAI-resistant assessment frameworks in higher education. It explores how alternative, skill-focused methods such as oral exams (vivas) and AI-integrated tasks can be included in future assessment models. Central to the study is the understanding of how students perceive current assessments and envision future methods that fairly and effectively measure both knowledge and skills. The empirical investigation is based on a case study at a Swedish University. Research methodologies include a survey questionnaire administered to 30 students enrolled in a semi-theoretical course on innovation and technology, and a future workshop (FW) with 22 of them in five groups. The two research instruments corresponded to answering the two research questions, respectively. The survey results revealed students’ clear concerns about the academic integrity challenges posed by essay and report-based take-home assessments, as well as online quizzes. They also expressed apprehension about the potential impact of relying solely on proctored and supervised exams, highlighting the risk of reducing diversity in assessment methods, and thereby raising red flags for the need for a new and innovative approach to assessment methods that is hardly affected by unauthorised assistance from GAI. Responses to open survey questions reflected their problem-solving mindset and deep thinking of how cheating can be minimised by increased peer collaboration and solving real problems, contextualised to specific and ongoing learning activities in class. The outcomes of the FW provided insights, such as active learning-based assessments, combined with real-world problem-solving or context-specific question-based assessments. These findings are intended to inform course design, policy-making, and broader discussions on educational reform in the digital age.

Leveraging Generative AI and Audio-Visual Cloning to Democratise Digital Learning

2025-10-23T08:42:54+00:00

This paper explores the transformative potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and audio-visual
cloning technologies in reshaping digital education, grounded in the ongoing project ACCLAIMED (Artificial Intelligence
Content Cloning of Language-Agnostic Media for Education Democratisation). As education systems increasingly rely on
digital platforms, the imperative to ensure accessibility, inclusion, and ethical integrity becomes more pronounced.
ACCLAIMED introduces a novel triadic framework, namely, Course Generator, Guardrail, and AI-Renderer, to address elearning
challenges. The Course Generator collaborates with educators to produce comprehensive, pedagogically sound
multilingual content. The Guardrail ensures human oversight, reinforcing societal norms, factual accuracy, and ethical
alignment. The AI-Renderer transforms materials into realistic, human-like audio-visual formats, delivering engaging,
culturally sensitive learning experiences. We discuss how ACCLAIMED advances the state-of-the-art by surpassing
conventional AI tutors and adaptive learning systems through deeper pedagogical integration and ethical AI moderation. A
key feature is its ability to deliver high-quality content across multiple languages, removing linguistic barriers and fostering
educational equity especially for underserved or non-English-speaking populations. The paper also critically addresses
broader issues: ethical concerns around AI-generated content, privacy and data protection (GDPR, EU AI Act), and digital
sovereignty. Consideration is given to how such innovations can bridge or deepen the digital divide depending on their
responsible and inclusive deployment. Ultimately, this paper calls for a reconceptualisation of digital learning, not merely as
content delivery but as an inclusive, ethical, and adaptive ecosystem. It positions ACCLAIMED as a forward-looking blueprint
for educational technologies prioritising innovation, equity, and societal impact.

Professional/Educational Characteristics of Children of Employed Parents During a Crisis Period

2025-10-11T12:03:59+00:00

The article examines the professional and educational characteristics, as well as the e-competence, of children of workers in the Ostrava coal region of the Czech Republic during the early 21st century. This work represents a component of the REFRESH project, which is dedicated to enhancing research excellence in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The overarching aim of this initiative is to foster the development of a smart region through the transfer of technology in fields such as sustainable energy, the digitalisation of industrial production, environmental technologies, and smart materials technologies. The researchers from the Faculty of Education at the University of Ostrava conducted a questionnaire survey targeting a research cohort comprising disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups. This focus stems from the anticipated significant adverse effects of regional transformation on these groups, who may possess attitudes that could hinder the effective transition of the coal industry in alignment with contemporary European developments. The primary objective of this research was to delineate the professional and educational characteristics of children of miners during a crisis phase of their parents' careers. As part of the investigation into the professional orientation of these employees' children, the study identified the working personality types of participating pupils. It assessed their self-efficacy beliefs regarding career preparedness, particularly in relation to their interest in digital technologies. This evaluation also encompassed the development of their digital literacy, reading, and technical competencies, alongside their preparedness for life in Society 4.0. Findings from the research indicated that children of workers in the mining sector who were enrolled in primary school utilised computers for academic purposes in an irregular manner. Notably, nearly 29% of respondents reported a lack of access to a fast Internet connection at home, and a mere 2% expressed interest in reading scientific and technical electronic texts. This contribution is part of a research initiative within the framework of the Just Transition Operational Programme, project REFRESH (Research Excellence for Region Sustainability and High-tech Industries), registration number CZ10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048.

Affective Artificial Intelligence in E-Learning: Towards Emotion-Aware Educational Technologies for Mental Wellbeing and Inclusion

2025-09-02T07:54:03+00:00

Emotion-aware technologies are increasingly shaping the future of digital education. This paper explores the emerging role of affective artificial intelligence (AAI) in e-learning, with a focus on its potential to support mental wellbeing and inclusive education. AAI systems are designed to detect, interpret, and respond to learners’ emotions through multimodal data, such as facial expressions, voice, and physiological signals. While these technologies offer opportunities for personalized learning, motivation, and empathy-driven feedback, they also raise complex ethical and psychosocial challenges. Issues of privacy, emotional manipulation, bias, and the commodification of student data require careful governance and transparent design. Drawing on a structured literature review and thematic analysis, the paper identifies three central dimensions of affective AI in education: (1) technological capacities and data modalities, (2) pedagogical and psychosocial implications, and (3) ethical, legal and inclusion-related challenges. The discussion highlights both the potential of AAI to foster supportive and equitable learning environments and the risks of reinforcing digital inequalities or undermining autonomy. The paper argues for a bioethical governance approach that balances innovation with safeguards, ensuring that affective AI contributes positively to learners’ wellbeing and to the broader goals of inclusive, human-centred education.

Digital Formative Assessment and Motivation in Initial Teacher Education: Findings from the REFRESH Project

2025-07-14T07:30:43+00:00

This study investigates the potential of digitally mediated formative assessment to influence the performance motivation of higher vocational school students preparing for the teaching profession in pre-school and after-school education. The research is carried out within the framework of doctoral studies at the Faculty of Education of the University of Ostrava and linked to the REFRESH - Centre for Research on Energy and Social Change project (CZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048). The research population consisted of 136 students from four classes. Three groups were taught using digital formative tools (Microsoft Forms, Mentimeter, self-assessment forms, peer feedback), while the control group was taught in a traditional way. Achievement motivation was assessed using the School Performance Motivation Questionnaire (Hrabal & Pavelková, 2011), which takes into account the tendency to succeed (NFA) and the avoidance of failure (NAF). The results show an increase in NfA and a decrease in NAF for students involved in formative assessment. There was also a shift in the typology of performance motivation towards a performance-oriented type. These findings confirm the findings of previous studies on the benefits of formative assessment in developing student motivation (Black & Wiliam, 2009; Brophy, 2004) and underscore the importance of feedback and active student engagement in the professional preparation of teachers. The findings offer actionable insights for educators, researchers, and educational policy makers seeking to develop technology-supported feedback environments in teacher preparation.

Iva: A Playful Humanoid Robot with Educational Flare for Little Patients

2025-08-14T13:28:29+00:00

Traditional child patient care needs human workers, who are limited due wage shortage and other factors. Using technologies such as robotics may be a viable alternative as a care assistant to improve child patients’ wellbeing, especially when the UK government is encouraging robotics and artificial intelligence innovation. Literature found positive implications for the use of robotics for child patients, such as social humanoid robots providing emotional support and helping child patients reduce pain, which allows for more possibilities of using social humanoid robots to explore serving child patients. This research aims to develop an effective solution to entertain and comfort child patients who have been negatively impacted by the threatened and declining social care sector. The researchers introduced a new design of the robot - Iva: a playful humanoid robot with educational flare for little patients. Iva is based on the NAO robot’s hardware and equipped with various sensors and abilities, such as tactile sensors, facial detection and speech and object recognition, enabling it to interact with children through interactive activities. Iva can perform conversation, games, shows, exercises and more activities, based on the thinking of the child patients’ needs and preferences, forms of expression and programming workflow. The whole process emphasised user friendliness and ethical considerations, including data privacy and informed consent. The design, development and testing have been conducted in the novel EUREKA Tokku Zone to ensure ethical integrity. Preliminary testing in a laboratory setting shows all the functions of Iva work correctly for providing multiple interesting activities to let child patients play and relax. In terms of Iva’s performance, she is a meaningful robot that contributes to a more positive and supportive environment for children during hospitalisation. Future work contains improvements of Iva’s program for a more accessible experience, and the test in the real hospital setting within the Tokku Zones in Wales.

AI-Integrated Instructional Design to Enhance AI Literacy among Pre-Service Teachers

2025-06-09T11:54:20+00:00

The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into educational tools and practices has made AI literacy an increasingly critical competency in teacher education. Pre-service teachers must be equipped to use AI both comprehensively and effectively. This study aimed (1) to explore pre-service teachers’ experiences and needs related to AI in education and (2) to design and develop an AI-integrated instructional design (ID) model to enhance AI literacy. A quantitative survey was conducted using a questionnaire administered to 1,673 pre-service teachers in Thailand. A pilot test was first conducted with 30 students, and the reliability of the instrument was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The results indicated high reliability across all items, including perceptions of AI, perceived impacts of AI, motivation to use AI, and the current learning ecosystems. No significant differences were found between STEM and non-STEM groups across these dimensions, suggesting a common need for AI training. Key training needs included (1) learning activities such as information searching, brainstorming, and discussion; (2) resources such as selected websites/blogs and online MOOC platforms; and (3) preferred instructional media, including interactive quizzes, gamified platforms, and learning management systems. Based on these findings, an ID research approach was employed to develop the AI-integrated ID framework. The initial framework was validated through an expert review by five specialists in educational technology. Grounded in design-based learning principles, the resulting framework comprises seven components: (1) Acquiring Key Contents, (2) Requirements Focus, (3) Trial Initiatives, (4) Embedding Co-Creation, (5) Manufacturing the Artifact, (6) Inspecting Results, and (7) Synthesizing Reflection. The findings provide an adaptable framework for embedding AI literacy in the teacher education curriculum and redesigning courses accordingly. The framework also highlights co-creation and design thinking as effective strategies for AI-integrated pedagogy, offering valuable insights for educators and curriculum designers seeking to enhance AI-related teaching competencies.

GenAI-Enhanced Learning: A Framework to Align the Third Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

2025-08-12T00:47:10+00:00

Since the first release of ChatGPT, every aspect of today’s world has been impacted. Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to high-tech companies or large industrial R&D departments. Countless smartphone applications are being continuously launched and immediately adopted by end users. In view of this, ethical concerns have been raised in several studies, emphasizing the urgent need for the responsible use of generative AI. The education system is no exception. Students across academic levels now use generative AI for essay writing, coding, and project-based assignments. Pedagogical and EdTech researchers worldwide express increasing concern about the future of education. However, the detrimental effects of using these tools have become evident. Recent studies have observed a significant decline in students' competencies in fundamental subjects such as mathematics and languages. Furthermore, the role of teachers extends beyond presenting information to students. Teaching is a complex process that involves providing learner support, closely guiding students, and offering learning paces tailored to their needs. While AI cannot replace educators, action plans are needed to adapt to the undeniable presence of generative AI in education. Thus, this study asks how we can harness the power of AI to assist teachers to design classroom activities, rather than focusing on student use of these tools or imposing bans in schools and universities. We therefore explored the alignment of Bloom’s Taxonomy levels with AI-enhanced learning, specifically leveraging the third level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, “Applying”. This paper introduces a framework to assist teachers in designing workshops and learning activities. By applying acquired knowledge through AI-powered simulations, and grounding this approach in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, the framework aims to reinforce cognitive domain concepts from Bloom’s Taxonomy while placing experiential learning at its core and offering substantial added value to the learning experience.

AI Training in Higher Education: Students' Experiences and Expectations Across Disciplines

2025-08-11T10:54:08+00:00

As generative AI tools such as ChatGPT become increasingly embedded in higher education, students across disciplines are using them extensively—often without sufficient guidance. This study investigates how students from two contrasting faculties—economics and administration, and health and social sciences—experience current AI training and what they expect from future education in this area. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study analyses survey data from spring 2025, combining quantitative results with thematic analysis of open-ended responses. The study aims to offer practical insights to inform the development of effective, discipline-specific AI training in higher education.

Review of Influencer Impact on Youth: Media Literacy, Consumer Behavior, and Critical Thinking

2025-09-08T12:40:29+00:00

This literature review offers a comprehensive examination of current research on the influence of social media influencers on children and adolescents within the digital environment. It focuses on three core areas: the development of media literacy, the formation of consumer behaviour, and the capacity of young users to identify manipulative techniques and informational bias. Drawing on a wide range of scholarly sources, the review explores how influencers shape the values, attitudes, and decision-making processes of young social media users. Special attention is given to the subtle, emotional, and often elusive nature of this influence, which contributes to its effectiveness while simultaneously amplifying potential risks. The analysis highlights the role of influencers in the construction of digital identity and in shaping young people's perceptions of and engagement with commercial content.

The findings provide a theoretical foundation for future research in media education and inform the development of educational interventions designed to promote digital well-being and media resilience among younger generations.

influencers, social media, media literacy, consumer behavior, digital identity, critical thinking, review

Co-creating Gen-AI imaginaries

2025-08-04T16:04:29+00:00

Educational futures are often shaped by techno-utopian narratives. Moving beyond technology-pedagogy dichotomies, this paper adopts the concept of entangled pedagogy to explore how GenAI and large language models (LLMs) can reshape inclusive language education. Using a speculative and scenario-based participatory design approach, we engaged pre-service and in-service teachers in envisioning future classrooms. Through imaginative case studies and recursive scenario development, we examine how imaginaries inform practical design for postdigital learning environments. The study focuses on teachers meaning making when given concrete and pedagogical scenarios of GenAI use cases co-created by human-AI interaction. The results reveal tensions between imagination and the imaginable, hope and caution, underscoring the crucial role of the sociocultural context, as well as the importance of human mediation in GenAI-driven futures.

Students' Perspectives on Lecturers' use of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Perceptions and Impacts

2025-08-04T09:39:14+00:00

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education is rapidly increasing, both among students and lecturers. However, knowledge about how students perceive lecturers' use of AI remains limited. In Norway, there are significant differences in the use of such tools across various disciplines. Students in economics and business administration are among those who report the highest use of AI, while students in health and social studies report the lowest use. It is therefore interesting to examine how students perceive lecturers' AI use within the academic communities of economics and administration, as well as health and social studies. The aim is to explore students' views on lecturers' practices, and students' acceptance and engagement with such tools in their own learning. This study addresses two research questions: (1) How do students experience openness and perceived value related to the use of AI in teaching? (2) How do lecturers’ practices with AI relate to students’ attitudes toward and use of the technology?

Students' Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence Across Disciplines in Higher Education

2025-07-04T17:45:04+00:00

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into higher education, it is crucial to understand how this affects students' learning. This study examines variations in students' cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitudes towards AI across different academic disciplines, with a comparative focus between students (n=104) in economics and administration and in health and social sciences. The increase in the use of AI tools raises important questions related to academic integrity, plagiarism, and the potential weakening of critical thinking. This study seeks to map these differences and explore how students perceive AI's impact on their learning process, with the aim of developing suitable teaching approaches for different student groups.

Co-Designing Gamified Learning for Soft Skills: A Participatory Future Workshop

2025-08-01T10:48:34+00:00

Rapidly evolving academic and professional environments require essential skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, which are not typically learned and assessed explicitly in formal education. These skills encompass a significant part of the competencies and are increasingly valued in an AI-driven workforce because they cannot be easily replicated by machines. However, despite their growing relevance, students often lack awareness of the role and value of soft skills, and higher education institutions frequently address them only indirectly through content-focused, lecture-based instruction. This study responds to both the pedagogical gap and the challenges posed by the upskilling need within higher education by exploring how gamification can support the development of soft skills in academic settings. Using a participatory design approach, we conducted a Future Workshop with 52 master’s students in informatics at a university in southern Sweden. The workshop facilitated structured engagement in critique, ideation, and prototyping phases, during which seven student groups identified barriers to soft skills development and proposed gamified, digitally mediated solutions to enhance learning and engagement. A short questionnaire administered at the outset captured students’ baseline understanding of soft skills. The workshop produced several low-fidelity prototypes that illustrate how gamification can be integrated into curricula to develop soft skills through active, real-time application. The findings demonstrate how, in a participatory setting, students co-design meaningful learning environments and inform new directions for teaching practice. Furthermore, this study exemplifies the potential of the Future Workshop methodology to support students in developing interpersonal competencies and soft skills as part of their formal education, while also enhancing their ability to demonstrate knowledge and hard skills in a more GAI-resilient examination format

From the Implications of Open Education for Teachers to the Design of A Self-evaluation Tool for Open-Only Blended Instruction

2025-10-07T15:00:17+00:00

Integrating open educational resources into blended learning courses or online instruction poses considerable challenges for teachers, particularly when using open-only resources. These include navigating through a multitude of resources, incorporating them into the curriculum, addressing copyright concerns, or collaborating with librarians or IT professionals. This becomes especially important in cases of teachers’ collaboration across multiple organizations, whether for legal, technological, cultural, or pedagogical reasons. To address this challenge, we have developed an instrument to help teachers engage in designing open-only blended learning instruction. A five-phase process is proposed. It starts with a comprehensive inventory of scientific knowledge and ends with validation of an instrument. To begin, extensive reviews of the literature were conducted, specifically focusing on the impact of open educational resources (OER) on teachers in blended learning environments. This allowed us to precisely outline the roles and responsibilities of teachers who adopt OER. Subsequently, advanced artificial intelligence was used to facilitate the development of a self-evaluation tool. To ensure its theoretical soundness, all these findings are cross-referenced to create the instrument. A Delphi method and future ecological tests will be performed to validate the instrument before proper dissemination. The instrument—we called SATOB (Self-Assessment Tool for Teachers in Open-resource-only Blended Learning), consists of four parts: planning and preparation; blending instructional strategies; open education; reflection, improvement and sharing. It contains twenty self-evaluation questions and a scoring system with recommendations for professional development. The instrument was created to facilitate the process of teacher self-regulation to assess the extent to which a course is open resources only and well integrated into a blended instruction design. In the long term, once the tool becomes empirically validated, teachers and institutions committed to open science and open education can use it. However, further research is still necessary.

Evaluating a Skill Management Platform – Towards an Upskilling System for Large and Small Companies

2025-08-04T09:44:10+00:00

As industry navigates the transition towards Industry 5.0, the need for human-centric workforce development becomes more pressing than ever. This shift highlights not only technological implementations but also employee empowerment through lifelong learning. Digital platforms for learning and skill management rapidly emerge, to align individuals’ skills with changing organisational needs. However, how these platforms are perceived and integrated across different companies is greatly underexplored. This study describes a mixed-methods evaluation of a digital skill management platform implemented in two industrial contexts: large Swedish companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany. The platform offers individual skill gap assessments, recommending suitable training for users. In the study, two main dimensions were investigated, i.e. the platform’s perceived effectiveness for users and the organisational integration of the platform. Results show a range of challenges in said dimensions. Users report varying platform usability and relevance of recommended learning. Results also reveal challenges in organisational integration and in aligning the platform with existing company-internal skill, task, and job taxonomies, including learning management systems (LMS). Other identified issues were user engagement and the visibility of learning progress for managers. Our conclusions emphasise the importance of adapting solutions to organisational contexts when implementing skill management systems. Based on insights from the study, recommendations for supporting successful implementation of such platforms, including the need to accommodate different stakeholder needs, are outlined. Our recommendations include enabling conditions, organisational integration and platform design. The presented results contribute to ongoing discussions on how digital learning solutions can support efficient workforce transformation towards Industry 5.0. Our findings have clear value for the university and research institution context, where researchers, teachers, and leaders are exploring ways to deliver lifelong learning opportunities in industry. Skill management platforms have potential to serve as bridges between university courses and workplace learning demands, enabling universities to play important roles in their employees’ lifelong learning.

Providing Distance Education on Sustainability Management for Brazilian Research Professionals

2025-06-12T07:30:05+00:00

The adoption of distance education has become increasingly critical in addressing global education demands. Therefore, this paper explores the design, implementation, and outcomes of the "Sustainable Development Basics" online course developed in 2024 for the SENAI (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial which translates to "National Service for Industrial Training”) Innovation Institutes (ISIs) located in Brazil. Targeted at researchers, the course is part of the “Sustainability Management” training track, which is embedded in an applied research management training program based on the ISI core processes. Moreover, the course content was incorporated into the online platform of the Corporate University of the Industry System, which is organized and run by the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry. The course structure entails a range of didactic elements, including guided self-study modules, practical exercises and assessment quizzes. These modules are designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of sustainability principles, strategies, and frameworks, with a focus on real-world applications within industrial and research environments. The course covers key topics such as sustainability in the industry, sustainability management in Research & Technology Organizations (RTOs) and sustainability reporting standards. A notable aspect of the course and contribution to the field of distance education is the combination of learning resources such as videos and presentations with self-study exercises and quizzes to reinforce learning outcomes. Further, the distinct framing and application of learning objectives play a vital role in the facilitation of the course. This paper provides best practices for course design, discusses distinct challenges and feedback gathered by participants. Furthermore, it highlights implications for managers aiming to adopt similar distance education initiatives and underscores the importance of combining synchronous and asynchronous education methods. The paper outlines future research opportunities in distance education, namely the exploration of adaptive learning technologies and the cross-cultural applicability of course content. Our findings underscore the importance of aligning the course content with relevant industry and research challenges and leveraging digital platforms to create flexible, impactful learning experiences. Furthermore, these findings contribute to advancing the field of distance education and provide actionable guidance for practitioners aiming to address sustainability through innovative education solutions.

Review of Empirical Studies on Video Conferencing Platform and Hardware for Best Practices

2025-07-08T22:19:09+00:00

Video conferencing (VC) has become invaluable in education, catapulted during the COVID19 pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. It became a service connecting a far-flung remote teaching and learning across the globe. In the process, different tools and methods serve diverse ability to keep virtual classrooms engaging and efficient. The forceful shift to incorporation of online teaching and learning resulted in a new era in education which continued even after the end of the pandemic two years later. The implication of recommendation on adoption of VC systems and good practices is to collect best practice scenarios of educational VC carried out against a backdrop of a body of literature. The aim of study is to conduct an empirical exploratory literature review of VC technologies and methods to engage students online in various classroom environments by the recent drastic changes. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to include the articles to be reviewed. This paper is based on an analysis of 18 research articles with empirical studies specifically from two electronic databases, namely the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Science Direct which are open and accessible in the field of educational technology searched using the search strings relating to VC in Education. The analysis categorised the findings into three areas: 1) VC Software Platforms (2) Platforms integrated with VC Software Platforms and 3) VC Hardware. This review provides the information to enable ideating a portable VC toolkits and online applications for engaging learning experience design in higher education classrooms.

The Findings of Focus Group Study on Independent Learning in a Digital Age

2025-07-14T08:01:38+00:00

All students need to learn independently, yet the fast-changing world, especially with technology, creates many obstacles. In major cities like Hong Kong, where institutions vigorously promote contemporary educational patterns, the problem is more complicated and serious. Given the abundance of technologies, it is vital to understand how Hong Kong university students view independent learning and their expectations for its use in the digital age. The CUHK Independent Learning Centre (ILC) has been operating for over 30 years. Extending the language centre model makes this centre special. The ILC surveyed CUHK students in 2022 to learn about their opinions on autonomous studying and their expectations for help. A follow-up focus group study has been conducted to clarify the results and verify the first analysis by blending qualitative insights with the mostly quantitative findings. The principal objectives of the focus group study are to explore the viewpoints of students and aid ILC in improving its support for student needs. Students who completed the survey were invited to meet ILC hosts in 2023. Students discussed numerous issues with two ILC lecturers. All discussions were taped and transcribed into Word. Thematic analysis of student interview replies was done using QualCoder V3.5. Further content analysis showed that student perspectives fall into four main themes and different sub-themes, with a total of 480 instances recorded. The interpretation demonstrated that students comprehend independent learning, its concept, its practice at CUHK, self-efficacy, technology use, teacher assistance, and future support. Many students appear self-aware and secure in learning. They appear prepared to define independent learning in a digital age and traverse an information- and technology-rich environment. Although survey and focus group results varied on how significant in-person instruction by educators is in autonomous learning, focus group findings generally agree with survey results. In general, the assessment of both findings shows that most CUHK students enjoyed independent study.

Designing practical course from a gamification perspective: Students’ Insights from Informatics Education

2025-08-14T08:26:42+00:00

Gamification is a powerful instrument in the educational process if applied with care, considering the holistic learning experience. Literature has shown that using game-based mechanisms can motivate and engage students to participate actively in the learning process. This study investigates students’ motivation and engagement to participate in practical courses developed based on a holistic gamification approach. In this paper, we present the results of a case study in a Swedish university. In one of our practical courses, we designed and implemented gamification concepts (bonus points, real-life scenarios, and role-playing). The course Software Architecture was designed and developed from scratch with the explicit aim of integrating gamification into its structure and delivery. After each lecture, we planned a workshop (with voluntary participation) with gamification elements, applying the learning outcomes. To investigate students’ insights, we distributed a research survey, complementing the general course evaluation survey, at the end of the course,

during which 60% of the enrolled students were present (enrolled students

100). In total, we collected 50 responses.

The preliminary results show positive statistical significance on the students’ motivation to participate actively and engage in the course; moreover, it encourages positive collaboration among the students and helps students better understand the course content. However, students experience different gamification elements (e.g., bonus points and role-playing) differently, i.e., role-playing seems to make students struggle more to apply it to a real-case scenario. Moreover, there are indications that the implemented gamification approach added extra stress and pressure to the students. We also identify implications that awarding bonus points, which are collected during seminars and used on the final exam, at the group level instead of an individual level, cannot be a fair approach. Overall, the results indicated that the students are motivated and engaged to participate in courses developed with a holistic gamification approach. The study will be replicated with a different group of students and in a theoretical course to better understand how gamification designs can be applied in different types of courses.

Learning Trajectories in Hyper-Hybrid Spaces

2025-10-08T06:01:53+00:00

This paper investigates undergraduate students’ learning trajectories when working on an architectural design and building a property. The article is theoretically positioned within learning ecology and investigates the field of students' learning trajectories during the Digital Days to gain new knowledge on learning on hyper-hybrid collaboration in these learning spaces.

Previous research on students’ learning trajectories in hybrid spaces seems to be limited to the didactical planning of teaching activities in hybrid learning environments or to the digital solution during physical activities. The paper adds new knowledge to how students from technical education from a university, a university college in Denmark, and a university in Vietnam collaborated and navigated multiple hybrid spaces to meet the need to design a solution to the addressed challenges during the digital days.

The methods included participant observations of student trajectories and collaboration in a hyper-hybrid learning environment. Based on the purpose of the study, a thematic analysis was carried out.

The findings reveal that students' learning trajectories are supported by tools, resources and the students' interdisciplinary collaboration in hyper-hybrid spaces. Project management, interactions and trust among peers during the digital days seem to play a crucial role in student learning trajectories and in the progression of the assignment.

Evaluating the Impact of Online Mentoring Sessions on Student Engagement

2025-10-14T04:02:21+00:00

Asynchronous learning offers flexibility but often struggles to maintain high levels of student engagement, particularly among first-year undergraduates. This study examines the impact of online mentoring sessions on student engagement in an asynchronous course delivered to first-semester students enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) programme at the University of Moratuwa. The BIT programme, conducted in the open and distance mode, does not provide synchronous live lectures for any of the modules. However, the students have often shown interest in getting more assistance with live interactions. Taking the increasing student concerns into consideration, an online mentoring session was proposed. An instructor would conduct a 1.5 hour online synchronous session for each module starting from the first semester. Instructors were selected based on their specialization on the module content. From the logistics perspective, this introduced additional burden on the resource persons who are already loaded with work. The need for an evaluation of the effectiveness of the newly introduced programme was identified. In that regard, a mixed-methods approach was employed, combining LMS activity data with student surveys and feedback. The intends to provide insight on the effects on student engagement following the introduction of online mentoring, particularly in areas such as student view content in around the first three weeks. The delivery of mentoring sessions provides insights of student engagement: enhancing comprehension, confidence, and inclusivity. The study underscores the potential of culturally and linguistically responsive online mentoring to improve student engagement in asynchronous learning environments, particularly in diverse educational contexts. The preliminary results indicate that students with access to the online mentoring program exhibited higher engagement, with an increase in the number of content views and interactions. Specifically, the presence of a mentor led to an approximate 5% increase in student engagement, suggesting that personalized support positively influences students’ interaction with course materials. The findings highlight the importance of mentorship in enhancing student participation in online learning environments.

How Early can we Identify At-Risk Students? An Analysis of LMS Interactions

2025-08-06T05:41:14+00:00

The switch to online learning in higher education brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has had lingering effects – most notably, continued higher levels of usage of learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle for assessment and sharing of course materials. This has enhanced the potential for learning analytics even for courses that are delivered in a face-to-face mode. This is because the design of the course page on the LMS and how it is utilized for assessments over the semester necessarily affect the nature of student interactions with the LMS. There is already a sizeable literature that links student interactions with the LMS, selected student characteristics, and learning outcomes, highlighting that it is indeed possible to detect at-risk students using data sources such as course logs and click streams. However, there is less research on how early a student who is at risk of not completing or failing the course can be detected. This paper uses LMS logs, student characteristics, and learning outcomes of six cohorts of undergraduate students (over 500 students in total) taking a compulsory second-year module in a Sri Lankan university to detect the earliest point in the semester at which at-risk students can be identified. Due to the weekly modeling structure, the dataset expands to over 8,000 records, with each entry corresponding to a unique combination of student index number and week number. This paper employed a cumulative modeling approach, where several machine learning models including Random Forest, Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) are assessed for performance. Random Forest consistently outperformed other models, achieving an accuracy of 78.51% in Week 16. Notably, performance metrics stabilized above 70% by Week 8, suggesting it as the optimal point for early prediction. The analysis revealed that prior academic performance and consistency of LMS engagement were stronger predictors than total LMS clicks. These findings support the development of data-driven early warning systems tailored to the Sri Lankan higher education context, emphasizing the value of consistent behavioral monitoring and historical academic data for effective intervention strategies and it provides insights on how effectively utilizing an LMS can improve learning outcomes even for courses that are offered in face-to-face mode.

From Lecture Notes to Videos: The Impact on Learning in a Distance-Learning Program

2025-09-16T05:22:35+00:00

The key challenges in the delivery of distance learning programs include maintaining student engagement and ensuring that students achieve intended learning outcomes. While video content has the advantage over lecture notes in being able to hold a student’s attention more effectively and improve comprehension, the preparation of high-quality pre-recorded content can involve a large initial time investment, while infrastructure constraints such as availability of devices and network connectivity may also hold, especially in developing countries. This research studies the transition of two course modules offered in the first year of a distance learning program in Sri Lanka from a 100% notes-based delivery style to the incorporation of pre-recorded videos for each of the topics in the modules. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of the inclusion of video content into the course content on learning behavior measured by interactions with the LMS and learning outcomes measured by continuous assessment and written examination marks. The study uses data from 12 cohorts of students and two modules, where the first five cohorts did not have access to any videos, while the remaining cohorts did. The impact of the availability of video content is assessed using a repeated-cohort multiple regression model where changes to the examiner of the module can be controlled for. Results of this study show that marks for non-formative quizzes and summative continuous assessments are positively and significantly associated with the minutes of video content in both modules. However, the impact on end-semester examinations and submission of formative assignments varies across modules and is even negative for one subject. These findings suggest that the incorporation of video content perhaps has a more substantial short-term effect on learning outcomes, helping with immediate retention of content, though the evidence about longer-term effects, as observed in final examinations, is mixed. While further work is needed to incorporate additional course modules and perhaps use detailed topic-wise marks from final examinations, the findings of this research provide a case study for the use of data-driven strategies for content design and development.

Student Performance Prediction Using Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Interactions

2025-08-11T18:13:07+00:00

Technological advancements have reshaped the education landscape through the introduction of digital learning platforms. Although higher education institutions are striving to increase the learning outcome and reduce the dropout rates, they still face challenges. Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have become essential platforms for delivering instructional content and assessing student engagement. This study aims to predict the students’ learning outcomes for the database management subject using VLE log data. This study utilised 78,175 VLE click events generated by two hundred and forty-seven (247) students in a distance learning environment from a state university in Sri Lanka. The study utilised seven behavioural features, number of unique components, average hour, standard deviation of the hour, average number of days, number of weekend interactions, number of session count, peak study hour and thirty-four learning activity features to predict the learning outcome. From the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) session count, the number of weekend interactions, and the unique components are selected as the most influential behavioural features, grade user report viewed, discussion created, discussion viewed, course viewed, a file has been uploaded, feedback viewed and course module viewed have been selected as the most influential learning activity features. The study utilises traditional Machine Learning approaches such as Random Forest Regressor, Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Deep Learning approaches, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to perform the prediction. Among this approaches the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model, a type of RNN outperform other approaches in terms of accuracy, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and F1 score. The LSTM model achieved 97% accuracy.

Understanding and Supporting Student Problem Solving in Mathematics Exams with Artificial Intelligence

2025-07-29T10:55:21+00:00

This paper presents the findings of a pilot study aimed at gaining deeper insights into student errors in solving mathematics tasks from the Czech national school-leaving examination (maturita), while also exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support error analysis and provide targeted feedback. The study began with an analysis of publicly available CERMAT data, focusing on tasks that have consistently shown low success rates over the years. Based on this analysis, a subset of tasks was selected and further tested on students preparing for the exam. The results were compared with national statistics to validate the relevance of the identified difficulties. A revised version of the test was then developed and administered to a new cohort of students, enabling the collection of a dataset of real student solutions for qualitative error analysis. The study adopted a nuanced framework for error classification, distinguishing between “slips” (minor, often procedural errors) and “true errors” stemming from a lack of conceptual understanding. Emphasis was placed on understanding the nature and origin of these errors, their recurrence, and implications for learning. Student work was analysed in all phases of the error-handling process, including detection, diagnosis, explanation, and correction. At the same time, the study evaluated selected AI tools, primarily ChatGPT 4.0—for their potential to solve exam-level mathematics tasks at the university level and identify errors in student solutions. Multiple test items were processed through the AI system, and its responses were compared with those of students. Particular attention was given to the AI's behaviour when confronted with incorrect or incomplete answers. The results revealed both the promise and limitations of current AI models in supporting formative assessment, particularly with respect to misinterpretation of task wording, difficulty in recognising alternative valid strategies, and occasional inconsistency in the quality of feedback.

The findings contribute to the broader discussion on how AI can be effectively integrated into educational practice—not as a replacement for teacher judgment, but as a supplementary tool to enhance student understanding, develop metacognitive skills, and improve preparation for high-stakes assessments such as the maturita exam.

Education 4.0 as Driver for Institutional Change in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study of Educational Transformation in a Danish HEI

2025-07-07T06:57:12+00:00

In recent years, the concept of "Education 4.0" has emerged as a response to the technological, social, and economic transformations that have accompanied the rise of Industry 4.0 (Rienties, 2023; Miranda et al., 2021; Salmon, 2019). As industries increasingly integrate advanced technologies such as AI, big data, and the Internet of Things, institutions of higher education (HE) are similarly compelled to rethink their structures, methods, and objectives. Education 4.0 aims to equip learners with the skills needed in an evolving digital economy, promoting critical thinking, adaptability, and digital literacy (Oliveira & Souza, 2022; Alenezi, 2021). This paper presents a study of a program aimed at building capacity for Education 4.0 through a targeted and strategic organizational program in a higher education institution in Denmark. For two years, researchers applied a formative dialogue research-approach, where the activities were studied in real time without direct involvement of the researchers in the activities. Through interviews with stakeholders across three organisational tiers (the strategic, the tactical, and the operational level), our study explores to which extent, and by which means, the targeted program enhanced institutional capacity, contributing to the broader goal of integrating Education 4.0. The main research question was: “How can a targeted organizational change program enhance capacity building at strategic, tactical, and operational levels to support the implementation of Education 4.0 in higher education?” Through analysis of a series of in-depth interviews, we find that the program takes a technology-driven approach despite intentions of the opposite; that management of the institution sees great potential for change in the program; and that participants in the program’s experimental activities can get caught between innovation, everyday practices, and educational culture.

Learning and Education in Organizational Theories: From Rationality to Metaphors

2025-08-13T10:50:50+00:00

The current world of work is changing and its current form also requires a change in the competence framework that an adult individual needs for their work performance. We are moving away from clearly defined qualification education as the only possible indicator of the ability to succeed in the labor market. For some time now, a clear indicator of this has been the shift of educational goals to abilities and competences, such as the ability to work in a team, flexibility or willingness to communicate. In the post-industrial organizational environment, individuality, which until recently was the addressee and actor of education and training, is being suspended. However, the expansion of the number of necessary competencies also requires that part of the competence framework be completely unique in something, so that we can succeed in a work environment overwhelmed by a large number of competent people. The space for andragogic action in the area of formal organizations is so enormous. This chapter is devoted to the still current theories of organizations, their principles of learning and education, with an emphasis on the reference to the current social context of the world of work. Organization is understood here not as a static application of organizational principles, but as a process. Theorists such as Niklas Luhmann , Bruno Latour , Karl Weick and James March have made significant contributions to the process view of organization. The chapter provides a basic analysis of these theoretical approaches in the context of learning and education in companies. The interpretation is based on three basic dimensions of organization theory. (1) The basic dimension is the principle of the organization of the world and its organization. (2) A general explanation of social relations and mutual relations between individuals, groups and entities. (3) What are the possibilities of predicting future developments and possible expectations of people, groups and organizations. These conclusions are related in the chapter to the main principles of andragogic work, learning and education in organizational environments.

Exploring E-Learning and Inclusion: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends

2025-10-17T11:31:11+00:00

In the context of the recent global transition to digital education, inclusion in e-learning has emerged as a topic of
growing significance. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 731 publications retrieved from the Web of Science
database, aiming to uncover prevailing research trends, thematic frameworks, and collaborative networks that have
emerged around the intersection of e-learning and inclusion. The keyword analysis, conducted using VOSviewer software,
revealed that 'e-learning' occupies a central position in the literature, exhibiting strong associations with related themes such
as online learning, blended learning, higher education, and gamification. Notably, the concept of 'inclusion' demonstrated
significant connections with terms such as accessibility, digital divide, diversity, and artificial intelligence, indicating a
multidimensional approach to inclusion within technology-enhanced learning environments. These findings underscore that
inclusion in such contexts is not a singular notion but a complex, multifaceted construct. Its strong associations with the
aforementioned themes suggest that truly inclusive e-learning environments must address a broad spectrum of social,
technological, and pedagogical dimensions. Moreover, temporal visualization illustrated a marked increase in scholarly
attention to topics like COVID-19, mental health, and social inclusion in the post-2020 period, highlighting the pandemic’s
influence on educational research trends. Publication and citation analyses revealed a significant rise in scientific output and
impact beginning in 2018, with a peak observed in 2022. Country-level collaboration maps identified the United States, Spain,
Germany, and China as central contributors, while institutional analyses highlighted universities such as the University of
British Columbia and the University of Melbourne as leading entities in the field. These findings underscore the necessity of
designing e-learning environments that are not only technologically sophisticated but also socially inclusive. In the current
landscape of digital education, increasing attention is being directed toward themes such as e-inclusion, web accessibility,
and equity in education. This study contributes to the understanding of inclusive practices in e-learning and provides valuable
insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers.

Lessons Learned from Creating Course Content using Generative AI

2025-08-01T08:52:43+00:00

The release of generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has sparked interest in their implications for education. While early discourse emphasized concerns about plagiarism and academic integrity, recent studies have begun to explore the potential of these tools to support teaching and learning. This paper presents a case study on the use of ChatGPT in the redesign of a first-year systems development project course for informatics students. The course required the integration of various course materials, making it a suitable context for evaluating generative AI’s role in course material development. The aim of the study is to present lessons learned from using ChatGPT in the development of course content. Drawing on our practical experience as course designers and instructors, we outline lessons learned from using ChatGPT in the creation of key course elements, including case descriptions, SQL scripts, and requirements specifications. We found that ChatGPT was effective for generating coherent initial drafts of content, but its outputs often required refinement to ensure pedagogical alignment. Challenges included the generation of misleading or irrelevant non-functional requirements and logically flawed code, despite syntactic correctness. Our findings highlight the importance of prompt engineering, critical review, and maintaining a human-in-the-loop approach. We conclude that while ChatGPT can significantly reduce development time for some tasks, it should be used as a complementary tool. This study contributes practical insights to the growing field of AI-assisted education.

Investigating Robot-Assisted Second Language Teaching Under Social Interactive Education: A Systematic Review

2025-08-19T03:01:01+00:00

Artificial Intelligence (AI) supported educational robots hold great promise for second language teaching. Robots using advanced AI capabilities such as emotion recognition and real-time feedback can create dynamic and interactive environments that improve engagement and educational outcomes. Additionally, they have the ground-breaking potential to enable personalised teaching adapted to the unique needs of different learners. This paper aims to systematically explore the recent developments of educational robots in second language learning and teaching through conducting a systematic literature review to investigate the research gaps and propose a novel framework for AI-supported personalised teaching with educational robots. This study utilised Scopus to search for recent publications (2017-2024), applying specific criteria such as keywords, publication dates, and subject areas to ensure the relevance of the results. These criteria have been carefully designed to identify high-quality research that is consistent with the scope of the study. Based on these search criteria, 25 studies were identified using the PRISMA method, which systematically screened and selected studies for inclusion criteria. The results highlight that the novelty and social interaction capabilities of educational robot design, coupled with the support of AI technology, provide language learners with engaging new learning opportunities. These robots, by incorporating advanced AI features, can simulate real-life social interactions, making language practice more immersive and motivating for learners. These opportunities enhance the interactivity of teaching sessions by instantly recognising students' questions and providing pertinent feedback. Therefore, this study suggests the benefits that AI and robotics offer for second language teaching, particularly in offering greater potential for personalised learning and interactive teaching. However, despite these advantages, this remains a key implementation challenge in integrating educational robotics with traditional teaching. The willingness of teachers to embrace educational robotics, the need to coordinate with current lessons, and the high cost of robotics are all still barriers that must be addressed. These limitations highlight the importance of further research and development to adapt different teaching environments, grounded on the initial design of the work. Future work includes a planned validation study in a second language school in Wales, scheduled for autumn 2025.

Evaluating WEBPOSE, a Posture Feedback System for Oral Presentations

2025-10-16T21:07:57+00:00

Effective oral communication is a crucial skill in academic and professional contexts. However, practising and refining these skills is challenging without structured guidance and feedback. This paper presents a user evaluation of WEBPOSE, a web-based Oral Presentation Automated Feedback (OPAF) system that provides immediate feedback on posture to improve non-verbal communication skills. In this study, WEBPOSE was tested with sixteen researchers specialising in educational technology. Using a mixed-methods approach, which included a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaire, open-ended questions, and observational data, we investigated the perceived user experience, usability, and usefulness of the system. The results indicate that WEBPOSE was generally perceived as user-friendly and beneficial for fostering self-awareness around body language and presentation timing. Moreover, user feedback also highlighted non-functional and functional points of improvement for WEBPOSE, such as improving the visualisations of the system status, and the display of the immediate feedback. This paper concludes with design implications for improving user guidance, feedback mechanisms, and the integration of structured rehearsal stages. These insights aim to inform the future development of scalable, user-centred OPAF systems that can effectively support the development of presentation skills.

A Case Study on Transition from Teacher-Centered Learning to Online, Asynchronous Learning

2025-10-11T15:31:11+00:00

The transition from teacher-centered to online, asynchronous learning represents a significant shift in educational paradigms. Traditional teacher-centered approaches, characterized by direct instruction and passive student roles are being increasingly replaced by asynchronous online models that prioritize learner flexibility and engagement. This shift allows students to access content at their own pace and encourages self-directed learning. While the flexibility of asynchronous formats can empower students and accommodate diverse learning styles, the lack of real-time interaction may lead to challenges in motivation, time management, and reduced opportunities for immediate feedback. Adapting to online, asynchronous learning can be challenging and can have varying levels of ease and difficulty. There is a lack of information in this regard when it comes to the learners’ perspective. This study attempts to provide insights on the shift from traditional learning to modern online, asynchronous learning by analysing the results of a group of students which followed an elementary mathematics module as per the requirements of a degree programme in information technology offered by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. The cohort of students came from varying backgrounds and streams of study. However, all students in the group had obtained at least a credit pass for mathematics at the GCE Ordinary Level examination (secondary school) and passed the GCE Advanced Level (high school) examination. The preliminary results indicated a significant positive correlation (r=0.287, p<0.001) between the marks obtained for mathematics at secondary school and marks obtained at the university. The findings of this study provide insights on the learners' experience on transition from teacher-centered learning to online asynchronous learning. Furthermore, the study proposes best practices to be adopted to ensure a smooth transition.

Cross-disciplinary Educator Training approaches for Education for Sustainable Development in a Post-digital Perspective

2025-07-04T10:28:11+00:00

The call for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) connects with the agenda for addressing the anthropogenic challenges, aiming at a transition towards a sustainable future for planet Earth, humanity, and all living beings. As part of this agenda, educators play a vital role in developing and implementing ESD in their teaching. In recent years, there has been a focus on developing digital teaching and learning resources to support educators in their work on developing and delivering ESD. In a post-digital era with digital technology intricately woven into education and teaching, educators must excel in both designing and orchestrating teaching to effectively support ESD learning experiences. This implies that educators must acquire both pedagogical, technological, and sustainability knowledge to make informed pedagogical decisions on designing for ESD. Thus, pointing to a need for focused educator training and adequate learning materials to empower educators. This study investigates an international cross-disciplinary project, focusing on developing, integrating, and scaling ESD in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) educations, by developing and delivering educator training, supported by a digital ESD Academy (i.e., an online learning platform (OLP)). An ethnographic study of a series of educator training was carried out, focusing on; (1) “What are the educators taught about the key sustainability competencies and ESD. (2) “How are the educators taught to teach for such competencies”. Field notes, pictures, and documents, such as programs, slides, and hand-outs, were collected to address the research questions. This paper discusses how educator training handles the interplay of the components; knowledge, skills, affective dispositions, and actions toward sustainable development when designing for ESD. Findings from this study show a disposition for the knowledge dimension when teaching the key sustainability competencies in educator training and further reveal challenges in addressing the pedagogical choices for teaching these and delivering action-oriented teaching. When designing an OLP to support educators in developing and delivering ESD, this study points to a need for an awareness of the complexity of teaching key sustainability competencies and calls for reflections on both knowledge of pedagogy, technology, and the key sustainability competencies.

From Scratch to Screen: Creating an Online Learning Centre

2025-08-21T17:36:58+00:00

This paper describes the foundation and implementation of a free, online virtual learning centre, the Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre (https://elvlc.educ.ubc.ca) in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada from June 2021 until the present. As we are by now quite familiar with, the COVID-19 global pandemic ushered in rapid changes to the way education was being delivered, while laying bare deep inequities. Within this altered educational landscape are opportunities for teacher professional development that were neither possible nor prevalent prior to the pandemic. For example, use of video conferencing technologies like Zoom or Microsoft teams might have been a reality for many, but they certainly were not in ubiquitous use, nor was zoom a household name before the pandemic took hold, but during and after, for business and pleasure, we continue to use those video conferencing technologies. This paper will begin with a review of professional learning for K-12 teachers that has been primarily delivered in online settings. While that landscape has changed post-pandemic, documenting what has changed is relevant to showing how the Virtual Learning Centre has been able to thrive. And while quite a lot of that literature focuses on online pedagogies (and better online praxis), the focus of the centre is not online teaching. Instead, it delivers just-in-time high quality professional learning for teachers and other educators in an online setting. The review of related literature is followed by a description of the centre, its goals and priorities, and the work that it has been doing. Following that is an analysis of the impacts the centre is having in its local and extra-local communities, and a discussion of how this model might be adopted in other contexts, both small and large, with a view to sustainability.

Where Technological Literacy and Literacy Meet: New Terms for Old Competencies

2025-08-18T20:31:33+00:00

Abstract This paper presents a study of how, where, and what a group of young people (12-25 years of age) read and write and how their literacies and the affordances of their technologies affect the communicative networks that emerge, and the nomenclature utilized to describe reading and writing. The participants have very few arenas that demand long-form writing and reading. Just a few decades ago, reading and writing were the only sources for long-form input (books, newspapers, journals etc.). Traditional literacy (read books/letters, write on paper) has been a panacea for generally improving living conditions; however, it seems that the concept of literacy is changing and the technologies for reading and writing may have altered the general state of literacy. This study asks the questions; which arenas demand the ability to read longform, linear texts and which real-life context require long-form writing skills? Where is the relevant arena that demands traditional reading and writing skills? What is reading and writing to the youth of today, where do the youth utilise reading and writing skills? Which technological affordances are exploited to communicate in ways that foster learning, community and friendship? We map out and study the arenas, practices and technologies for reading and writing to understand possible changes in the pupils’ and students’ needs and purposes for literacy. The findings are presented in three cases that collectively show the arenas that emerged in the data. We raise the question, whether there is a discrepancy between the notion of what reading and writing is in school and maybe in education in general and the pupils’ and students’ actual need and purpose for literacy in technology-rich everyday lives? We suggest the concepts of the ‘rhizome’ and ‘arborescence’ to describe new and traditional literacies.

Connecting Disciplines through COIL and PBL: Industrial Safety and Mathematics Education Synergies

2025-08-07T15:25:07+00:00

In an era of digitalization, globalization, and complex societal challenges, universities are called to prepare students not only with disciplinary expertise but also with transversal competences such as critical thinking, teamwork, communication, intercultural understanding, and digital collaboration. Project-Based Learning (PBL) offers a well-established pedagogical approach for developing these competences through engagement with authentic, real-world problems. This paper explores how PBL can be enriched through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration between students of industrial safety (HSE) and mathematics education. The proposed COIL initiative connects students from different disciplinary and national backgrounds, offering them opportunities to collaborate in international teams on shared project topics that integrate both pedagogical and technical perspectives. Future mathematics teachers contribute structured, abstract thinking, didactic skills, and inclusive communication strategies. While HSE students bring applied knowledge in areas such as risk management, machinery and system safety, occupational hygiene and ergonomics, and incident prevention. This collaboration fosters reciprocal learning, where mathematics becomes more tangible and relevant, and safety expertise is adapted for educational settings. Rather than prescribing fixed themes, the initiative encourages exploration of thematic intersections – such as risk modelling, safety data analysis, communication, or the co-design of teaching materials for technical content. Assignments are intentionally designed to promote active engagement, mutual respect, and the co-creation of meaningful outcomes, while supporting transversal competence development. The paper outlines the pedagogical rationale, competence mapping, and project ideas, emphasizing the potential of combining PBL and COIL. This integrative approach mirrors real-world collaboration across disciplines and borders and offers a flexible, inclusive model of internationalization at home. It enhances students’ readiness for professional environments where interdisciplinary teamwork, digital literacy, and cross-cultural cooperation are essential. The initiative is part of the Erasmus+ project COLOSH, which promotes innovative, digital, and international learning in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and related fields.

3D Technologies in Teacher Education: Reflections and Didactic Potential

2025-09-16T11:52:08+00:00

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted within a university-level course on technical education for pre-service teachers. The course was innovatively enhanced by integrating the topic of 3D modelling and printing (3DMP), with a focus on exploring its educational applications in the context of school teaching. The aim of the study was to analyze how future teachers perceive and reflect on the use of 3D technologies in education. Students participated in hands-on training using Tinkercad and learned the basic operation of 3D printers. They were also introduced to examples of how 3DMP can be applied across different school subjects, such as mathematics, science, and technology education. As a final project, students worked in small groups to design a 3D model, print it, and develop a detailed methodological plan for its use in the classroom. The collected data included project documentation, lesson proposals, and students’ written reflections, which were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The results indicate a generally positive perception of 3D technologies among pre-service teachers. Students appreciated the creative and interdisciplinary possibilities of 3D modelling, while also critically reflecting on technical and didactic challenges. Many participants highlighted the motivational potential of 3D printing for young learners and its usefulness for visualizing abstract or complex content in an accessible way. This study contributes to the growing body of research on educational technology in teacher preparation by emphasizing the need for meaningful, practice-oriented integration of digital tools. It also points to the importance of developing technological-pedagogical thinking in future educators, fostering both innovation and critical awareness in their professional development.

AI in the Classroom: Didactical Misalignments in Geometry Between Czech and Anglo-Saxon Contexts

2025-08-18T15:51:41+00:00

As artificial intelligence (AI) tools—such as chatbots and large language models—become increasingly accessible in educational settings, both teachers and students are relying on them more during the learning process. These tools provide various pedagogical benefits. However, their integration also introduces didactical risks, particularly when their outputs reflect implicit assumptions and educational paradigms that diverge from those in specific national curricula. This paper explores such risks in the context of lower secondary mathematics education (ages 11–15), focusing on geometry instruction in Czechia. The study builds on the differing conceptualizations of square and rectangle in Czech and Anglo-Saxon didactics. In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, a square is typically regarded as a special type of rectangle, emphasizing hierarchical classification. In contrast, Czech didactics treats these shapes as categorically distinct. This difference reflects broader didactical orientations: Czech mathematics education often emphasizes analytical decomposition and local precision, while Anglo-Saxon approaches favor structural generalization and class inclusion. These contrasting tendencies are mirrored in curricular goals, instructional strategies, and classroom expectations. This divergence becomes especially problematic when AI models—trained largely on English-language data—produce responses that implicitly reflect Anglo-Saxon conventions, which may conflict with the Czech didactical contract. The study uses a comparative, non-experimental methodology to analyze responses from multiple AI systems, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and Mistral. Prompts were administered in both Czech and English to assess the consistency and contextual adaptability of the models. Findings suggest that AI tools may inadvertently reinforce foreign conceptual frameworks, creating tension in cross-cultural educational contexts. The paper highlights the importance of contextual sensitivity, critical digital literacy, and pedagogical oversight in the integration of AI into mathematics instruction. By revealing how culturally embedded definitions in geometry—shaped by language and curriculum—can clash with AI-generated content, this paper offers a relevant perspective for educators facing misalignment between linguistic training data and local didactical norms.

Case Study Investigating Feasibility of VR Implementation for Training in the Pharmaceutical Industry

2025-08-13T13:13:42+00:00

This case study explored the feasibility of implementing Virtual Reality (VR) technology as a training solution in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically focusing on Quality Control using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) equipment. Utilizing the TELOS framework, we evaluated technical, economic, legal, operational, and scheduling aspects, revealing that VR training significantly enhances task performance, user confidence, and overall satisfaction compared to traditional methods. The economic feasibility analysis indicated a total one-time cost of 51,425.00 DKK for implementing the VR solution, with projected annual costs of 269,000.00 DKK/year for maintenance, alongside 1,249.00 FTE hours for setup and 221.05 FTE hours needed annually for support. While these findings underscore the investment required for effective VR integration and identify areas for cost optimization, challenges such as organizational changes, user adaptation, and a small sample size in the usability study may affect generalizability. The limited research on VR training in industrial contexts highlights the need for ongoing exploration. Overall, this study contributes valuable insights into the effectiveness of VR training and supports further investment in innovative training solutions to improve operational efficiency and employee development in the pharmaceutical sector.

Teaching and Learning via Video Conferencing Platforms: Issues Across Three Asian Countries

2025-06-10T08:09:03+00:00

Video conferencing platforms have become essential tools for facilitating remote teaching and learning, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This global health crisis accelerated the transition from traditional face-to-face instruction to online education, making virtual classrooms widespread and enduring practices in higher education. This study investigates the key issues associated with video conferencing technologies in teaching and learning across three Asian countries: Malaysia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Utilizing a design thinking approach, qualitative data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions with educators, students, and technical staff. A total of 106 participants were involved in the study. The empathize stage of the design thinking process allowed for a deeper understanding of user experiences, frustrations, and needs in the context of online teaching and learning. The define stage was then employed to categorize the recurring issues into common themes. The analysis revealed seven major themes encompassing a total of seventeen subthemes. These themes include: Infrastructure, with challenges related to internet connectivity and power reliability; Environment, which concerns the suitability of physical spaces for both teaching and learning; Competency, which covers ICT skills, pedagogical adaptability, assessment methods, and course design; Support, including the roles of institutional management, parental or family involvement, and community resources; Tools, which refer to problems encountered with software and hardware devices; Health, addressing the impact on mental and physical well-being; and Self-efficacy, related to users’ confidence and the learning curve in adopting new technologies. The findings shed light on the multifaceted and interconnected nature of the issues and emphasize the need for solutions. The outcomes of this study are valuable not only for video conferencing platform developers aiming to improve functionality and usability but also for higher education administrators seeking to create more inclusive, supportive, and effective digital learning ecosystems.

Virtual Reality Experience for Digital Literacy: Identifying Extremist Symbolism in Social Media

2025-09-17T20:39:22+00:00

This paper explores the development and usability of a hand-tracking-based Virtual Reality (VR) application designed to enhance digital literacy by teaching users to recognize extremist symbolism on social media. Given the increasing prevalence of covert extremist content online, immersive educational tools are essential to equip users with critical analytical skills. A mixed-methods usability study was conducted with 15 participants (average age 30; mostly male) evaluating general usability, immersion, engagement, interaction quality (especially related to hand-tracking) and acceptance of AI-generated voices. The VR application achieved a high usability rating (System Usability Scale score: 80.17). The perceived engagement and fun using the hand-tracking was shown to have a strong correlation with the perceived control of using the hand-tracking (r = 0.898, p < 0.001, regression analysis: β = 0.424, R² = 0.806), showcasing the need for intuitive and robust controls, as well as the importance of usability considerations. A notable finding was the unexpected negative correlation (r = −0.76, p= 0.00095, regression analysis: p = 0.001, β = −0.68 and −0.85, R² = 0.58) between the perceived quality of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated voices and motion sickness, suggesting that voice naturalness might either mitigate discomfort or that motion sickness could negatively affect voice perception. Qualitative feedback emphasized the importance of intuitive interactions, clear guidance, gesture precision and richer educational content. Additionally, users identified interaction consistency and detailed tutorial elements as important factors for a positive user experience.

The study concludes that well-designed VR applications using precise hand-tracking and clear instructions contribute effectively to an engaging and otherwise well received learning experience in the educational environment. Key areas for further research include the relationship between voice quality and motion sickness or general user comfort, long-term retention of digital literacy skills, as well as comparing the learning effects of a more expansive, rich environment with traditional teaching methods.

Keywords: Virtual Reality; Digital Literacy; Hand-Tracking; User Engagement; Usability; Social Media

A Synthesis of e-Learning Research Topics: A Qualitative Content Analysis

2025-07-29T07:36:36+00:00

Because of the prevalence and improvements in digital technology, e-learning is now commonly delivered in various delivery modes, including online, blended, and mobile learning. Over the years, extensive research on e-learning has explored diverse topics, ranging from instructional design to digital skills, student-centred learning, and so on. Given the ever-expanding body of literature, there is an essential need to systematically synthesise the vast research topics on e-learning. This study addresses this need by conducting a qualitative content analysis of primary empirical articles on e-learning that were published in the Electronic Journal of e-Learning (EJEL) from its first issue in 2003 to 2024. The primary objective of this study is to examine the research foci of these articles to identify key research topics, thereby providing a thorough review of e-learning research over the last two decades. The study findings suggested six main categories of research topics: (1) user experience, (2) learner attributes, (3) learning outcomes, (4) teaching and learning, (5) adoption barriers, and (6) educator preparedness. The findings also showed that the six main categories could be further divided into 21 subcategories. These topics reflect a broad range of e-learning research across pedagogical, technological, and sociocultural dimensions. By synthesising e-learning research over the past two decades in EJEL, this study adds to the cumulative body of knowledge on research topics that have shaped the research landscape in e-learning, as well as reveals potentially underexplored areas.

From Nervous to Noteworthy: Evaluating SPEAKS, an Educational Software for Speech Content

2025-08-28T08:28:44+00:00

Public speaking is a critical competency for professionals, yet many higher education graduates lack sufficient training in this area. While educational institutions offer public speaking courses, these often cannot provide the level of individualized support students need as this would be too resource-intensive. Although various software tools exist to bridge this gap by supporting students with aspects such as non-verbal communication and slide design, there is a notable lack of tools that assist with the preparation of speech content—a key component of effective public speaking. To address this gap, we developed SPEAKS (Speech content Preparation for Effective and Authentic Knowledge Sharing), an educational application that guides students through preparing speech content while teaching them how to do so effectively. SPEAKS uses a scripted, chat-based interaction with a humorous and empathetic cockatoo character, who leads users step by step through seven stages of speech preparation. These include defining audience knowledge, setting learning goals for the audience, crafting engaging introductions, and ensuring coherence between the introduction and conclusion. The tool is grounded in public speaking pedagogy and expert interviews with 13 public speaking instructors, which informed both the instructional content and the design principles. We conducted a user study with 17 participants to evaluate SPEAKS in terms of perceived usability, perceived usefulness, perceived learning, and its impact on public speaking-related confidence. The results show that SPEAKS is easy to learn and use, and participants found its guidance-based support helpful for preparing speech content. Importantly, users reported a significant increase in their confidence to deliver a good speech after using the tool. Qualitative feedback further confirmed the tool’s usability and highlighted its strengths in supporting structured content development. Participants also identified areas for improvement, which can inform future iterations of the application. Overall, the findings suggest that guidance-based software like SPEAKS can effectively supplement traditional public speaking training by addressing the often-overlooked aspect of content preparation, especially in contexts where in-person resources are limited.

Artificial Intelligence in Education as Lifelong Learning: What Should be Learnt?

2025-07-21T09:23:16+00:00

The rapid development of tools and techniques in the field of Generative AI (GenAI) has affected many sectors. One of these sectors is definitely education, where teaching, learning, assessment, curricula and policy document need to be revised and updated. Many research studies also highlight the necessity for teacher professional development regarding Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED), as AIED is also a field under constant development and will need continuous upskilling during the coming years. There are now teacher training courses in fundamental AIED available, and more are under development. There seems to be a consensus regarding what an introduction course in AIED should comprise, but not regarding which topics continuation courses should follow-up related to continuous lifelong learning. With the heutagogical idea of asking the learners about what to learn, this question was posted to participants in a course on fundamental AIED. In a discussion forum, course participants gave their suggestions and commented on other course participants' postings. Moreover, the forum postings were supplemented with suggestions and comments from email conversations between the authors and course participants. According to the concept of Open Coding, forum postings and email conversations were analysed and divided into the categories of: AI didactics, GenAI tools for teaching, Prompt engineering, Audio generation and Voice cloning, Customisation of AI models, AI and disinformation, Applicable takeaways and AI sustainability and ethics. All of the categories were found to be relevant in a second Axial coding reanalysis. The category Applicable takeaways was found to be the axial category that ties all of the categories together for a meaningful course design. The conclusion is that a continuation course, as in introductory courses on AIED, must contain both theoretical parts with themes such as AI sustainability and ethics, but also concrete applications such as AI didactics to fulfil the aim of Applicable takeaways. Finally, it could be difficult to involve all the categories in just one or two continuation courses. However, as mentioned earlier, AIED should to be seen as continuous lifelong learning.

Enhancing Social Work Education Through E-Portfolios: Pedagogical Practices and Praxis at the University of Fort Hare

2025-09-26T07:07:51+00:00

The integration of digital tools in higher education has transformed pedagogical practices, particularly in professional disciplines such as social work. This study explores the use of e-portfolios in social work education at the University of Fort Hare, emphasizing their role in enhancing student learning, reflection, and professional identity formation. By adopting a praxis-oriented approach, the study examines how e-portfolios facilitate experiential learning, critical engagement, and competency development. The findings highlight best practices in implementing e-portfolios, including student support, and assessment strategies. Furthermore, the study discusses challenges such as digital accessibility and the need for faculty capacity-building. Ultimately, the research examines the potential of e-portfolios to bridge theoretical knowledge and practical application, equipping students with essential skills for professional social work practice.

AI Intelligent Tutoring System Tailored to the Students’ Personality and Neurodiversity

2025-06-27T16:44:14+00:00

Over the past few years, several Universities and Educational Institutes have introduced e-learning platforms to support robust alternatives to face-to-face teaching, where students can benefit from them by revisiting topics covered in class without the constraints of time and space. However, despite this considerable flexibility, the role of the instructor as a facilitator is crucial to support learners when they have doubts on their learning or get stuck, by encouraging them to consider suitable strategies to approach the problem, or by providing clarification on some organisational aspects of the module. Providing quality feedback that is tailored to the individual needs of each learner, including personality and neurodiversity, is a challenging task for educators. Developing different methods of learner-specific feedback increases the workload and often fails to fully address learning gaps. The lecturer's empathy, which consists of a deep understanding of students' personal and social situations, care and concern for students' emotions, and compassionate responses, also poses a critical role in student success. Several intelligent tutoring systems have been implemented in e-learning platforms to try to provide immediate feedback to support students, but they focus more on providing feedback on content and often don't tailor feedback with adaptive empathy based on different students' personalities or neurodiversity. In this paper, an AI intelligent tutoring system based on LLM has been implemented within an e-learning platform, fine-tuned to the content and organisational aspects of the final year project module in the IT programme, with the aim of providing immediate feedback based on students’ requests. The software can tailor comments to each student's personality and, where appropriate, neurodiversity, for example, showing genuine interest in responses from introverts or paraphrasing content to improve written comprehension for dyslexics. The neurodiversity information was taken from the user's profile, while personality was extracted using the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). Finally, the software was tested using a bespoke algorithm consisting in a matchmaking process able to detect the level of communication strategies (empathy, creativity, sensitivity) by cross matching the responses received with open online dictionaries to evaluate the effectiveness of the tailored responses.

Enhancing Student Learning and Creativity Through LLM-based PBL Semester Projects

2025-09-05T08:10:58+00:00

With the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs), there are becoming a larger part of people’s everyday lives – in their work, personal life or learning. Especially for programmers and software developers, learning how to best utilize LLMs as part of their work is becoming a crucial skill. This is especially important to students and educators have duty to prepare them to best tackle all obstacles and best utilize AI as a tool in their programming arsenal. Research into this normally focuses on the use of LLMs as tools for teaching and evaluation. This research takes another approach presenting the results from integrating LLMs as a central concept of project-based learning (PBL) semester projects for students from multiple grades from 5^th semester bachelor’s to 10^th semester masters. All projects develop interactive systems both traditional and virtual reality and encompass a wide variety of contexts that utilize AI as a central mechanic. We show the attitude of the participating students towards utilizing LLMs, their understanding before and after the projects of AI systems and their overall satisfaction with utilizing relatively new and open technology like LLMs. To our knowledge, this is one of the first such meta-analyses of long-term effects of utilizing LLMs in students’ work. We demonstrate the positive impact of utilizing LLMs on students’ motivation and learning and propose several best practices to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with using these tools.

A Digital Tool to Support Self-Regulated Learning in Academic Writing

2025-10-15T13:54:19+00:00

The capacity to plan, manage, monitor and reflect on one’s learning—i.e. to engage in self-regulated learning (SRL)—is vital to academic success; seminal research identified fourteen SRL strategies and showed that learners’ achievement was strongly predicted by their use of SRL strategies (Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons, 1986); this difference in achievement can be accounted for by strategy presence, frequency and consistency (Nandagopal and Ericsson, 2012). Empirical evaluations indicate that most SRL tools do not demonstrably improve actual SRL behaviour—most studies did not directly measure changes in students’ SRL strategies (Edisherashvili et al., 2022), highlighting a gap in understanding of whether these tools are truly helping students internalise better self-regulatory practices or just providing short-term performance boosts. This paper describes STARS, a co-designed digital tool to help bridge this gap, in particular by helping learners to (i) identify specific learning goals (ii) select and use appropriate SRL strategies (iii) monitor their progress over time. Needfinding has been conducted using surveys, focus groups, and interviews with first-year bachelor students (N=63). We present the results to date. Firstly, the highest priority needs that emerged - goal setting, emotional overwhelm, and time management - are in line with wider evidence showing that most digital-SRL interventions still lack robust goal-setting scaffolds (e.g. van Jaarsveld et al., 2024), that writing-specific anxiety drives avoidance and procrastination in undergraduate writers (e.g. Fritzsche et al., 2003), and that time-management planning is a key behavioural mediator between SRL processes and achievement (e.g. Claessens et al., 2007). Secondly, the first version of STARS has been developed to address these priority needs, and this has been piloted with a small group of learners and tutors (N=10). We report on the promising pilot results, and finally, we describe how STARS will be deployed in September 2025 in 10+ modules in three EU countries (Ireland, Estonia, and Finland).

Beyond AI: How Business Simulations Preserve Human-Centric Learning

2025-07-04T17:42:03+00:00

As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into higher education, it is increasingly capable of supporting decision-making, modelling complex systems, and accelerating technical learning. While these capabilities are welcomed and offer learning opportunities for students, AI does not account for dimensions of human learning, or the development of human-centric skills. This human-centric learning is essential for cultivating collaborative, responsible, and reflective graduates. Therefore, value must be placed on the intentional development of both technical and human-centric learning to complement each other in the age of AI. This study employs a qualitative methodology through the thematic analysis of 45 student reflections from a postgraduate business simulation module to investigate how business simulation promotes technical learning while preserving human-centric learning. Using a thematic coding framework, the study categorises learning into human-centric themes and assesses each for its replicability by AI. The findings highlight that while simulation integrated AI-enhanced tools (i.e. forecasting dashboards and scenario rewinds) aided student learning, the most meaningful learning described by students focuses on human-centric dimensions - resilience, collaboration, ethical reasoning, and reflective insight, and not on algorithmic optimisation through AI. The findings reveal that while AI enhances learning, it cannot replicate the emotional, ethical, and relational growth students undergo when confronting uncertainty, navigating team dynamics, and learning from failure. The paper argues for a pedagogical approach that defends and designs for human-centric learning - particularly in fields where leadership and judgment development are core. As education evolves alongside AI, it becomes essential to clarify not only what AI can do, but what it must not replace.

How EdTech Companies Are Considering Digital Well-Being in Product Development

2025-08-13T12:26:13+00:00

Digital well-being has become an essential factor in daily life, also in education. Over the years, digital tools have supported learning processes, but as these tools gain prominence, the focus has expanded beyond innovation to include their impact on well-being. Research emphasizes that digital well-being should be integral to the design of digital learning environments. With the potential benefits and drawbacks of digital tools in mind, it is vital to understand how these tools can be designed to foster a positive learning experience without compromising one's well-being. Digital well-being means a balanced interaction with technology, optimizing benefits while minimizing harm. It is too simplistic to equate digital well-being with screen time or addictive behaviour. Discussion should include understanding on how EdTech products can enhance social connections, enable flexible learning, and support well-being. In line with this, recent research underscores the need to define digital well-being clearly, to avoid confusion between positive and negative impacts of digital learning tools. In recent years, research on digital learning has emphasized the need to prioritize not only cognitive outcomes but also the holistic well-being of learners. The design of digital learning environments must carefully consider the cognitive load imposed on learners. As EdTech products shape how teachers and learners engage with digital education, the design choices made by companies can significantly influence learning experiences and well-being. This case study aims to explore how Finnish EdTech companies are incorporating digital well-being into their product development. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with companies, we seek to understand how these companies integrate features that support learners' digital well-being, such as self-monitoring tools, gamified elements, and systems that encourage breaks or provide feedback. Moreover, we will examine how companies involve their end-users and educational institutions in the design process, and whether they utilize pedagogical and learning research expertise alongside technical development. The findings of this case study indicate that EdTech companies consider digital well-being primarily through pedagogically meaningful content, ease of use, and features that support personalised learning and self-regulation. Collaboration with educators, ethical data use, and efforts to align product design with learner’s cognitive and emotional needs were also seen as essential to promoting digital well-being. Through a deeper understanding of these design processes, we aim to support the EdTech ecosystem to develop EdTech products that prioritize both educational effectiveness and well-being.

School Leaders’ Perceptions on the Potential of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Leadership Practices

2025-06-30T09:55:35+00:00

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force across various sectors, reshaping societal dynamics and fundamentally altering how individuals interplay with technology. In the realm of K–12 education, AI offers many opportunities and challenges that extend to school leaders’ practices. AI has the potential to enhance and support leadership practices. A significant aspect of school leadership is decision-making. School leaders are tasked with navigating a complex landscape of choices, both formal and informal, that wield profound influence over their schools. The decisions made by school leaders are crucial components of school governance and management and are worth exploring as these decisions directly impact student education. In Sweden, the Education Act states that school leaders are responsible for making decisions about the organisation of the school. To deepen the understanding of AI as a decision-making tool among school leaders, a survey was undertaken, targeting approximately 165 school leaders within three municipalities in Sweden. The survey assessed school leaders’ familiarity and proficiency with AI while exploring their perceptions of its potential applications in educational leadership. School leaders perceive AI in K–12 education as a valuable tool for enhancing efficiency in teaching and administrative tasks. However, school leaders face challenges related to academic integrity and the potential for cheating, along with ethical issues like biases in AI outputs. While school leaders recognise opportunities for AI to improve processes and support decision-making, they stress the need for professional training and support to ensure responsible integration, influencing strategic decisions in schools.

Art and Education: Cultivating Active Citizenship through Game-based Storytelling

2025-07-30T08:24:14+00:00

This paper presents “The Other Half”, a collective game aiming on the one hand to encourage creative expression through the writing of dialogues, and on the other to foster students’ understanding of and critical reflection on aspects of the democratic citizenship education. The game was played within two teaching sessions of the course “Art Didactics and Creative Technologies”, which is taught by the authors as part of the "Special Program of Studies for the Pedagogical and Didactical Sufficiency Certification" (PDSP) at the Department of Audio and Visual Arts of the Ionian University. The authors employed mechanics that require players to first complete individual and collaborative creative assignments and then negotiate in the context of secret and open voting sessions to weave them into a common work, while given the ability to modify the game’s own rules and scope. E-learning affordances facilitated the coexistence of both physically present and remote players. Emphasis was placed on the role of the majority and the importance of participation in decision-making, as well as on flexibility and agreement in the process of dynamically exploring a common goal. The game was evaluated through a focus group discussion, whose thematic analysis suggests that the game was found interesting and creative, especially in terms of voting for dialogues and changing rules, and suitable for use in the classroom. However, the total freedom to shape the game’s end-goal, the complexity of rules, and the time constraints resulted in some cases in confusion and anxiety, whereas the game’s hybrid form was found to weaken participation.

Scoping Review of Frameworks in Video Conferencing-Mediated Teaching: Enhancing Digital Competence for Educational Engagement

2025-07-26T14:40:24+00:00

This scoping literature review synthesises existing digital competence frameworks relevant to teachers and students with a specific focus on their applicability within higher education and the effective, efficient, and pedagogically sound use of video conferencing (VC) systems. While numerous frameworks address digital literacy at the general or pre-tertiary level, few adequately capture the distinct demands of synchronous online teaching and learning in higher education contexts. The review highlights critical gaps between current frameworks and the specific digital competencies required for meaningful video conferencing use, including technical, pedagogical, and collaborative dimensions. Framed within the Erasmus+ KA2 project “Portable Video Conferencing Toolkits and Online Applications for Engaging Learning Experience Design in Higher Education Classroom (EdViCon)”, this study identifies core competencies, maps overlaps and distinctions across 10 frameworks, and argues for the development of a targeted competence matrix to guide training design and curriculum development for higher education. The findings offer a foundation for aligning digital skills training with the real-world needs of educators and learners engaged in video-mediated instruction.

AI Literacy in Preservice Teachers Preparation Programs: Global Meta-Analysis

2025-09-11T21:48:51+00:00

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into education is reshaping how teaching and learning occur, prompting the need for pre-service teachers' programmes to equip future educators with AI literacy. This systematic review, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol, explores the role of AI literacy in pre-service teacher programmes globally. The study examines how AI literacy is integrated into teacher preparation curricula to develop essential technological, pedagogical, and ethical competencies. The review focused on 79 studies published between 2020 and 2025, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters in English. The results reveal the growing importance of AI literacy by emphasising the integration of technological skills, ethical considerations, and pedagogical strategies. The study identifies key regional trends, with Western and Asian regions leading in AI literacy integration, while other areas remain at the entry of AI integration. The findings underscore the urgent need for teacher education institutions to prioritise AI literacy to foster innovation and successful AI integration. The review proposes a framework for enhancing AI literacy in pre-service teachers' programs and includes recommendations for curriculum development.

Enhancing Postgraduate Research Success via Co-Created eLearning in Open University MBA Programs

2025-06-07T05:01:51+00:00

Distance learning postgraduate programs continue to struggle with supporting research activities of their students. Geographical dispersion, limited contact, and diversified learners' needs tend to hamper research progress, increase completion time, and intensify student isolation. In response to these concerns, this research created, introduced, and assessed an innovative, collaboratively designed eLearning support program for an MBA program of a Thai open university. Guided by a user-centered design thinking methodology, the project facilitated active co-creation by students and faculty from the outset, including needs identification and iterative development. The resulting integrative system bridged formal academic support and informal peer education. The system integrates several key components: self-paced Moodle eLearning modules for core research topics, synchronous Microsoft Teams sessions for individual advisor guidance, and Line application-based peer mentoring. These elements collectively aim to foster collaboration and reduce student isolation. Pilot testing yielded strong initial results with substantially greater on-time graduation rates than prior cohorts and high student satisfaction levels. Qualitative results also showed more collaboration and less academic isolation; peer-to-peer communication through Line was particularly useful for building community. These results validate the utility of this student-centered, co-creative design thinking process for meeting student needs and creating a positive learning environment. This study provides a replicable and empirically validated model using linked, technology-facilitated methods to build research training and stimulate student success across a variety of distance learning environments.

Hybrid Learning Through the Eyes of Current Lower Secondary School Teachers: A Pilot Study

2025-07-15T11:21:23+00:00

Hybrid learning is a revolution in education that combines the best of face-to-face and online learning, offering students greater flexibility and personalisation. This dynamic approach not only enhances the quality of education but also reflects the changing needs of society. Therefore, the hybrid form of learning deserves intensive research to reveal its full potential and help to further improve it. The aim of this pilot research was to test the suitability of the main research methodology focusing on the views, attitudes and experiences of current lower secondary school teachers with hybrid learning. The pilot phase focused on testing a semi-structured interview with an emphasis on the clarity of the questions, the relevance of themes and the overall effectiveness of the data collection. Five teachers with varying levels of experience working with digital technologies, online teaching, and varying lengths of experience participated in the research. The purpose of this pilot research was also to obtain current lower secondary school teachers' perspectives on hybrid learning in the form of preliminary findings. A qualitative research design was chosen for this pilot research. A semi-structured interview was used as the research instrument. The research investigation was carried out in a face-to-face meeting with five teachers of a lower secondary school in the Czech Republic. The results of the pilot research helped to verify the functionality of the proposed research tool and to choose an appropriate direction for further research. The pilot research confirmed the suitability of the proposed questions for the semi-structured interview. The data obtained showed the lack of experience of the selected lower secondary school teachers with hybrid teaching, but at the same time these teachers had a lot of experience in using digital learning resources in face-to-face teaching. The results of the pilot research showed that the methodology was workable and no major modifications to the research design were necessary. These preliminary findings suggest key themes for the main research in which the sample will be expanded to include additional respondents. The data obtained outlined the views of lower secondary school teachers and how hybrid teaching could be organised.

Artificial Intelligence in E-Assessment: Tools and Action Research in Mathematics

2025-09-18T20:02:55+00:00

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to significant transformations in educational assessment practices. AI-supported electronic testing (e-assessment) is gaining attention for its potential to enhance automation, adaptivity, and efficiency in both formative and summative evaluation processes. This study combines a comparative analysis of selected online platforms that utilize AI for e-assessment with the outcomes of action research implemented in real-life school settings. In the first phase, we conducted a functional and pedagogical analysis of various AI-based e-testing tools, focusing on their capabilities for automatic question generation, adaptive item sequencing, and real-time feedback. Special attention was given to the field of mathematics education at the primary level, where accurate knowledge verification and differentiation are essential. In the second phase, we carried out action research at the lower secondary level (ISCED 2) of a primary school, investigating the implementation of AI-generated e-tests in regular mathematics instruction. The study examined not only the cognitive and motivational responses of students to AI-driven assessment but also teachers’ reflections on the practical integration of such tools in their instructional routines. The results indicate that AI-enhanced e-testing offers multiple pedagogical benefits, including increased student engagement, personalization of learning, and more efficient data-driven feedback. However, several limitations were identified, such as technological constraints, challenges in interpreting open-ended responses, and the need for teacher mediation in adapting AI outputs to classroom realities. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on educational technology by providing empirical evidence and critical reflection on the meaningful integration of AI in assessment. It underscores the importance of equipping educators with both digital and pedagogical competencies to ensure responsible and effective use of AI tools in primary and lower secondary education.