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Background: The use of e‐exams in higher education is increasing. However, the role of student diversity in the acceptance of e‐exams is an under‐researched topic. In the current study, we considered student diversity in terms of three sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, and second language) and three dispositional student characteristics (computer anxiety, test anxiety, and technology openness). Objectives: The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between student diversity and acceptance of e‐exams. Methods: Our research combined cross‐sectional analyses (N = 1639) with data from a natural experiment on the introduction of e‐exams versus the established paper‐pencil exams (N = 626) and used both self‐report and institutional data. Sociodemographic and dispositional characteristics were indirectly related to pre‐exam acceptance via expectancy variables from the Technology Acceptance Model framework. Results and Conclusions: Comparisons of post‐exam acceptance showed that practical experience with the e‐exam led to a significant increase in e‐exam acceptance, and that students with low openness toward technology particularly benefited from this effect. Students' exam performance (i.e., grades) was unrelated to the exam format or their pre‐exam acceptance of the e‐exam format, and this was true across students' sociodemographic and dispositional characteristics. Takeaway: Student diversity plays a role in e‐exam acceptance, but its influence is mitigated by first‐hand experience with e‐exams. The practical implications for higher education institutions aiming to implement e‐exams are discussed. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: The use of e‐exams in higher education is increasingThe role of student diversity for e‐exam acceptance is unclearTechnology acceptance is predicted by expectancies towards new system What this paper adds: We investigated students' sociodemographic and dispositional diversityDiversity predicted e‐exam acceptance via the expectanciesIn a natural experiment, first‐hand experience increased e‐exam acceptanceNo difference between performance in e‐exams and paper‐pencil‐exams found Implications of the study findings for practitioners: Higher education institutions implementing e‐exams should consider diversitySupport for older students and students with low technology openness neededNo student groups systematically disadvantaged by e‐exam implementationPractice rooms can increase experience with new system before exam [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delivering effective feedback to large groups of students represents a challenge for the academic staff at universities. Research suggests that undergraduate students often ignore the Elaborated Feedback (EF) received via digital learning environments. This may be because instructors provide feedback in written format instead of using more engaging channels (e.g., audiovisual). Objectives: This quasi‐experimental study examines the extent to which feedback format (video vs. written) influences students' perceptions of feedback, their decision to access EF messages related to high‐stakes assignments in digital environments, and its impact on academic performance, while considering the effect of their academic engagement. Methods: A total of 171 undergraduate students received generic EF messages through a learning platform the day after submitting each course assignment. 78 students received EF in written format and 93 in video format. Results and Conclusions: Our results showed that feedback format influenced students' decision to access EF and their academic performance, but not their feedback perceptions. Students in the written‐feedback group accessed EF messages more often, but students who received video‐feedback performed better than their counterparts in the written‐feedback group. Moderation analysis showed that the relationship between the feedback format and students' academic performance was moderated by their academic engagement, suggesting that students with lower levels of academic engagement may benefit from video‐feedback. Takeaways: The results reveal that using video feedback in digital environments may influence students' decisions to process EF and their academic achievement, especially when it comes to students with lower levels of academic engagement. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Delivering Elaborated Feedback (EF) to large groups of students represents a challenge for instructors.Undergraduate students often ignore the EF received via digital learning environments.Students usually prefer audiovisual formats to receive feedback compared to the written format.Results in regard to whether video‐feedback is best for learning are inconclusive. What this paper adds: A quasi‐experimental study to compare two feedback formats (video and written) in an ecologically valid setup.Data of students' voluntary decisions to process EF related to high‐stakes assignments.The moderating effect of students' academic engagement on the relationship between feedback format and academic performance. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Students positively value the EF received in both video and written formats.Students may not engage with EF as expected even when provided in audiovisual formats.Students may access written‐EF more frequently than video‐EF.Video‐EF may positively influence academic performance when students have low levels of academic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in UK universities. Sixty-seven students with chronic illnesses completed an online survey with open-ended questions about their experiences in higher education. Questions covered four main topics: academic work; university staff; social and extracurricular activities; and participants' miscellaneous opinions. Using thematic analysis, the data were analysed with references to the social model of disability and social representations of chronic illness. Participants wrote of misconceptions surrounding chronic illnesses, a sense of inequality, and feeling undervalued. Many staff members seemed to lack understanding and so 'policed' academic regulations rather than accommodating for their chronic illnesses. However, some participants wrote of social and academic 'allies' who offered understanding and proactive support. The findings add substance to the chronic illness literature with the focus on students at university, and we offer recommendations to universities for improving inclusivity for students with chronic illnesses. Disabled students with energy-limiting chronic illnesses are frustrated by a lack of support and feel that they have fewer opportunities than non-disabled students. Some university staff may hold negative views of disabled individuals, and so provide inadequate support. This can lead to students' reluctance to disclose chronic illnesses. Students with chronic illnesses felt that some staff and peers did not class chronic illnesses as 'real' disabilities and felt that they were perceived lesser than those with visible disabilities. Some students proudly owned the label of 'disabled' to educate others, including staff, who sometimes used university regulations inappropriately to excuse not adjusting support for disabled students. Some staff and students were perceived as supportive allies. Universities must listen to disabled students and those with chronic illnesses to ensure they fulfil their legal and moral obligations of providing equality of opportunity, enabling all students to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global COVID‐19 pandemic turned the adoption of on‐line assessment in the institutions for higher education from possibility to necessity. Thus, in the end of Fall 20/21 semester Tel Aviv University (TAU)—the largest university in Israel—designed and implemented a scalable procedure for administering proctored remote examinations. This procedure is applicable to different kinds of examinations in diverse disciplines and to disparate degree levels. Objectives: This study aims to deepen the knowledge with respect to the design and adoption of remote proctoring at an institutional level Methods: First, based on lessons learned from the first semester of COVID‐19, we describe the development and implementation of an institution‐wide protocol for conducting on‐line proctored assessment. We show the large‐scale applicability of the protocol for administering examinations via Moodle with remote proctoring via Zoom. The accurately designed procedures that included careful consideration of all parties involved—academic staff members, students, administrative staff and proctors—enabled TAU to successfully assess the learning outcomes of its 25,000 students, while maintaining validity, compatibility and reliability of the assessment. Second, we report combined data from surveys of 4380 students and 188 faculty‐members (18% and 12% response rate respectively), conducted at TAU following these examinations. Results and Conclusions: With over 90% of the students experiencing at least one, and 80% of faculty‐members administering at least one proctored remote examination, these heterogeneous sources of data allow us to investigate a unique and complementary perspective of the process. Some of the significant findings consist of the over‐all perception of the students' integrity by both groups surveyed; the discrepancy in the groups' perspectives of the adequate form of learning‐assessment—with the instructors preferring proctored examinations and the students—formative‐assessment; and the influence of the pedagogical challenges on the perception of validity that outweighed other factors, for example, the pandemic‐related stress, the on‐line assessment challenges and other. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Proctoring exams remotely is challenging, due to technical, ethical and other concerns.Proctoring can be conducted remotely by a human, record and review later technology, automated algorithms to detect atypical behaviour.Different methods for remote proctoring in higher education have been implemented on small scale. What this paper adds: Review of studies examining various facets of remote proctoring before and during COVID‐19.A protocol for remote proctoring in a large‐scale university, based on the first post COVID‐19 semester.The perspectives of students and faculty members regarding testing with remote proctoring. Implications for future practice and/or policy: The protocol can assist higher education institutions in developing their own guidelines.The implementation should take into consideration ethical norms and constitutional limitations.Unlike automated process using algorithms, remote human proctoring is not widely opposed by students.Further research comparing remotely proctored exam performance with the f2f proctoring is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID‐19 crisis, digital informal learning is important for students' academic engagement. Although scholars have highlighted the importance of students' digital competence in improving digital informal learning (DIL), the mediating role of DIL between digital competence and academic engagement has remained ambiguous. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between students' digital competence and their academic engagement with the mediating role of DIL in the higher education context. This study used a descriptive correlational design, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The study sample included 308 students from Shiraz University, Iran. The results showed that digital competence positively and significantly correlated with students' DIL and their academic engagement. Furthermore, DIL, as the mediator variable, was found to mediate the relationship between students' digital competence and their academic engagement. Since higher education institutions have a key role in improving students' academic engagement, particularly in the COVID‐19 pandemic, academic administrators should pay more attention to students' digital competencies and provide them with efficient and user‐friendly DIL platforms that can increase their academic engagement. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: One of the challenges of online learning environments is students' engagement especially in the COVID‐19 crisis.The role of digital informal learning (DIL) in the students' engagement is ambiguous.Little work has been done to support the relationship between digital competence, DIL and academic engagement. What this paper adds: The structural equation model of academic engagement, digital competence, and DIL was examined.There is a significant relationship between digital competence and DIL of students.The engagement of students will increase both with the use of digital competencies and DIL. Implications for practice and/or policy: Administrators should provide efficient DIL platforms to increase students' academic engagement.Educators should consider students' digital competencies to increase their academic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Findings highlight the importance of peer support and the possibility of participatory research approaches in catalyzing peer connectivity and agency among foster scholars in higher education. • Actions and advocacy associated with Participatory Action Research have benefits for students with foster care experience and can contribute to critical consciousness raising among those within and outside of child welfare and university systems. • Integrating youth voice and perspective to our existing body of knowledge about youth with foster care experience in higher education adds a critical, often missing perspective. • Universities, child welfare system professionals, policymakers, child welfare scholars desiring to create policy and practice more affirming of young people with foster care experience should center the voices and recommendations of youth with foster care experience in their decision making. This paper presents findings from a focus group conducted as part of a larger Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study with a cohort of university students with experience in foster care. Six foster scholars (ages 18–21) participated in a research collective offered as a collaboration between the School of Social Welfare and the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) at a large Northeastern public research university. Over the course of several semesters, students received an overview of research methods, evaluated existing research regarding the educational outcomes of youth with foster care experience, then designed an interview guide for a focus group that they later participated in. Focus group data was transcribed and then analyzed in two ways, first through thematic content analysis using ATLAS TI qualitative software, and simultaneously through participatory narrative analysis using an adapted version of Carol Gilligan's Listening Guide. The cluster of findings presented in this paper highlights co-researchers' experiences of a YPAR approach to research. Three themes emerged: validation of experience and peer support , connection to available resources, and YPAR as a tool of collective action and empowerment. An overview of the significant actions and change efforts associated with the YPAR process is also provided. Findings highlight the importance of peer support and the possibility of participatory research approaches in catalyzing peer connectivity and agency among foster scholars in higher education. Integrating youth voice and perspective to the existing body of knowledge about youth with foster care experience in higher education adds an important perspective needed to more holistically understand what resources and supports are most critical in ensuring their success. Recommendations are made for both universities and child welfare scholars desiring to center the voices and experiences of youth with foster care experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with experience in foster care (SEFC) are an often overlooked student subgroup within the first-generation student population in higher education. The lack of attention on SEFC as a marginalized group in need of specialized support and guidance in higher education is the impetus for this study. In order to address this gap, the Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 51.9356 mandated all 2-year and 4-year state institutions in Texas accepting the tuition and fee waiver to have at least one university representative act as a foster care liaison. However, no guidelines were provided for what this role should include. Based on a pragmatic, problem-driven content analysis of documents from other states with similar roles, this study provides a theoretical rational and conceptual framework for foster care liaisons in higher education, including liaison expectations, training, and evaluation. The study concludes by examining future directions for practice, policy, and scholarship related to training and evaluating foster care liaisons in order to better support SEFC in higher education, and examines the role that social work can play in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The present study investigated the utility and validity of the Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE) among Turkish students (N = 345) in higher education. Confirmatory factor analysis found acceptable data-model fit statistics for a priori SEHS-HE latent measurement models and its second-order covitality latent construct. The covitality latent construct was associated with higher levels of mental wellbeing, higher academic achievement, and lower levels of psychological symptoms. Findings provided preliminary evidence supporting the use of the SEHS-HE to measure Turkish university students' social-emotional strengths. Research is needed to further evaluate how the SEHS-HE can be used to inform prevention and intervention services on university campuses that aim to improve students' social, emotional, and mental health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Financial aid lowers the cost of higher education and improves educational attainment. Based on the correlation between education and health, one might expect aid to improve health, but little evidence exists. I use a shock in Social Security benefits that occurred in 1981 to test the relationship between aid, education, and health. Minor children of retired, disabled, or deceased parents are eligible for their own Social Security benefits, and until 1981 college-aged recipients could continue to receive these benefits conditional on college enrollment. Using difference-in-differences, I show that aid reduced women's long-run body mass index and general health, but had no effect on men. I find that financial aid improved educational attainment for beneficiaries, which is the plausible mechanism between aid and health. Consistent with the effects on health, the educational effects are concentrated in women. Finally, I use Social Security benefits as an instrument for attending college to estimate the effect of education on long-run weight and general health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently an unmet need in higher education for a structured, pre-emptive programme of support to help students enhance their resilience to stress. This article presents a mixed-methods evaluation of a transferable biopsychosocial resilience intervention for students – the Resilience Enhancement Programme for Students (REP-S). In Study 1, a randomised control trial showed that participating in the intervention was associated with significantly decreased perceived stress, decreased trait neuroticism and enhanced self-esteem over a period of one month. In Study 2, written and focus-group qualitative data from students provided evidence that the intervention led to perceived positive changes, including sleeping better, dealing more effectively with assessments and managing interpersonal challenges. Future steps in the evaluation of the REP-S are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]