Search

Due to the recent developments in the delivery of teaching-learning processes when COVID-19 hit the world with a health crisis and pandemic, it is crucial to look into the quality of courses delivered via online means or through distance education modality. This paper examines implementation and application of quality assurance (QA) landscape in Distance Education (DE). A documentary review using bibliographic inquiry is used as a methodology approach to gather relevant information to address the study questions. Previous studies on QA in DE are examined and arranged into themes using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that most of the literature on QA in DE in Africa and Asia based on the reviewed Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are basically dealing with frameworks, outcomes and performance, instructional design, student services and challenges as well as parity in terms of quality with the traditional institutions. Therefore, this paper concludes that more studies are needed for QA in DE to match the post-COVID-19 trends on improving QA. This implies that there is a need to expand research on QA in DE to include areas of artificial intelligence.

This paper illustrates the mutually constitutive processes of race and neoliberalism in the labour market navigation and integration for Black Caribbean and South/Southeast Asian international student graduates in Canada. The data was gathered from recent international students and key informants in Canada's immigration policy circle using semi-structured interviews. The paper reveals that international student graduates (ISGs) are constrained to seek out precarious and low-skilled forms of employment and participate in a labour market that profits from cheap, exploitable flexible labour. Participants in areas outside the populous Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are perceived as contingent workers. The paper concludes with an argument for centering both race and neoliberalism in future empirical studies of ISG labour market integration.

This paper reports the findings of a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer on 392 Scopus database documents published from 2003 to 2022, aiming to understand the global landscape of the e-learning field and to identify the most prominent authors, institutions, countries and reference publications, as well as the research topics that have recently received the most attention in students' readiness for e-learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The findings indicate that there has been an upward trend in e-learning readiness among students in HEIs over time. Among the countries studied, the United States, Taiwan, Australia, and Malaysia were found to have the most effective approaches to addressing students' readiness for e-learning. The most highly cited author in this field is M-L. Hung. Based on the citations, the most recognised journal in this field was "Computers and Education" and the universities that were most persuasive were two Taiwan universities in the first position. The data also revealed relatively low levels of collaboration among authors, institutions and nations regarding students' readiness for e-learning.

Drawing on communities of practice and social cognitive learning theories, this paper explores language teachers' beliefs, knowledge and practices concerning the provision of high-quality education to learners with specific learning difficulties in various educational settings around the world. The data sample for this paper comprises qualitative data (videorecorded interviews and teaching resources) collected from six teachers working across various educational settings (primary, secondary, college and university) across several geographical areas (Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia). Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. The findings suggest that teachers continue to experience challenges in educating learners with specific learning difficulties regardless of the educational setting. Limited opportunities for receiving specialised training in this area have been identified by several teachers as one of the key factors affecting the quality of their practice. The change in the mode of instruction from face-to-face to online was not always reported as negatively affecting the quality of educational provision to learners with specific learning difficulties. Technology-assisted online lesson delivery was seen as being advantageous to learners with some types of learning difficulties. Findings from this paper can be useful to teacher-practitioners and teacher-educators who are interested in improving the quality of language education for learners with specific learning difficulties.

The question of SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) diasporic identity formation has been widely debated in area studies, ethnic studies, and the burgeoning field of Arab American Studies with scholars such as Sarah Gualtieri (2009), Nadine Naber (2012), and Neda Maghbouleh (2017) arguing that people of SWANA descent are racial minorities even though the U.S. government classifies them as white. However, these works have not adequately addressed SWANA racialization in the context of higher education following 9/11. This co-authored paper closely examines institutionalized SWANA erasure from the shared intersectional perspective of one faculty member, one graduate student, and two undergraduate students at a California State University campus in Southern California. Specifically, in this co-authored paper, we draw on our individual and collective co-organizing experiences to illustrate (a) the persistence of specific structural inequities that SWANA heritage people face in the academy, (b) the multilayered impact of these educational barriers, and (c) our wide range of ongoing activist responses to them. We say "khalas!" (enough!) to systemic oppression and argue that the ultimate antidote to institutionalized SWANA erasure is solidarity within and between marginalized subjects at every level of academia in the service of anti-racist and anti-colonial education. This co-authored paper uplifts SWANA resilience and resistance in California's most diverse public university system to shed new light on the understudied issue of how higher education perpetuates SWANA racialization.

This paper addresses how the Writing Center, a common writing support service originated in the USA, takes shape and evolves as it finds new homes in universities in the Asia-Pacific Region. Using the available literature on existing writing centers in scholarly databases, the paper explores the motivations behind the establishment of these institutional writing centers, their roles in supporting the programs of their host university, their organizational operation, types of services provided, as well as innovative programs (i.e., bilingual support during consultation and the addition of tutors who are content experts). Taken together, the findings offer a sketch of how these Writing Centers takes on different shapes to match the local realities and make them more relevant to the community they serve. Consequently, it may offer guidance to other universities outside North America (e.g., other regions of Asia and Latin American regions) planning to conceptualize or initiate a Writing Center.

By reviewing regulative documents and extant literature, this paper explores the realities and trends of international students in East and Southeast Asia (ESA). It also shows motivation and strategies of four new players in the international higher education sector in East and Southeast Asia i.e., China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. Apart from showing that intraregional students have not predominated the overall international student population in the region anymore, the paper highlights that ESA region has become an established hub of international students rather than a new emerging destination as it was in previous years. The overall net flow of international students in this region was still deficit prior to 2010s, but the deficit in 2017 is still less than that of 2010?s. This is probably the first study of its kind to examine the trends of international students as well as of higher education policies of countries in the ESA region. The findings of this study shall provide an insight into international higher education trends among the ESA countries for stakeholders, including policymakers, university managers, faculty, students, and parents.

Purpose: The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has had a profound impact on education institutions at all levels. Open universities, with their privileged delivery method, have been in an advantageous position. In the earlier stages of the pandemic, they made remarkable contributions to assuring learning continuity. However, with more and more conventional universities migrating online, great changes have taken place in the field of higher education, and it is imperative for open universities to adjust their strategies in order to maintain their leading role in a technology-enabled education context. This paper aims to examine what challenges have been faced by open universities during the pandemic and how they will transform in the future. Design/methodology/approach: Six open universities in Asia, Africa and Europe were selected as cases in this research to make a comparative study based on the papers in the volume beyond distance education. Similarities and differences among the cases were analyzed in order to identify the developing trend for open universities in the international context. Findings: The results showed that (1) open universities in these regions demonstrated their resilience in the pandemic; examples were that new technologies have been leveraged to implement totally online delivery with short notice and huge amount of learning resources were offered to the society. (2) However, they encountered challenges of delivering fully online examination due to the lockdown and quarantine policies, and open universities in African and the sole private institution suffered financial pressure due to improving information and communication technology infrastructure and staff training. Another challenge was the fierce competition from conventional universities that open universities in Asia and Europe came across. (3) Four main areas were identified for future development in order to respond to the challenges: No.1 is that programs such as health care, psychology, epidemiology, virology, immunology, data analytics, biology and bio-informatics have stimulated interest for African open universities to develop in the future; No. 2 is that open universities were seeking to innovate their teaching formats; short courses, such as micro credentials, might be developed as agile and flexible offerings which are expected to be suitable to learners in the pandemic context; No 3 is that programs and courses for upskilling in the context of digitalization will be implemented; and No. 4 is that lifelong learning is given a higher priority in order for open universities to stand securely in the higher education sector. Originality/value: The study may give open university leaders a quick insight into their future development.

Qualitative content analysis is used in this study to review related online education since the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to summarize the impact of online teaching on the education industry during the pandemic, sum up the viewpoints of all kinds of people to draw conclusions, and conclude the practical countermeasures. Based on the result of the analysis, firstly, we think that students and teachers are satisfied with online education, but parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this kind of education. Secondly, this paper lists the advantages and common problems of online teaching during study at home from different aspects. According to deficits, we summarize the solutions from three aspects: network equipment, teaching, and self-adjustment. This research is of great significance. It is not only beneficial to the development of educational platforms and personalized teaching but also helps formulate education policy to reduce the burden of education.

This study aims to examine the effects of flipped learning on L2 students' overall academic achievements through meta-analysis. Forty studies (e.g., journal articles, M.A/Ph.D. theses and conference papers) on 'flipped classroom', 'flipped learning' and 'academic achievement' were included in this meta-analysis study. The data was analyzed by using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software. The random effects model was used in analyzing the overall effect size and the heterogeneity of the studies included in this meta-analysis. The results revealed that flipped learning has statistically significant effect on L2 learners' academic achievements (g=1.303) compared to traditional learning approaches. This result does not differ according to publication type, educational level and four basic language skills and sub-skills, but it differs according to sample size of the selected studies.

Within an ever-increasing time of globalisation, globalised learning and international mobility, international professional experience can provide a range of opportunities for personal and academic growth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pre-service teachers commonly attest to the positive impact of international placements. What is less well understood is the impact on the learning and teaching that occurs at the university curriculum level prior to and after an international placement. An emergent aspect of this research and the focus of this paper is the impact of these experiences in terms of what they offer the university teaching and learning context. To gain a further understanding of the extent of these impacts, a set of reflective narratives from 10 pre-service teachers and seven teacher educators were gathered and analysed using inductive, thematic analysis. The findings showed that for pre-service teachers and teacher educators that context both culturally and educationally were paramount. The reflections highlighted the impact on the development of a range of general capabilities for both sets of participants. Additionally, international placement experiences increased levels of reflection for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators, which led to further understanding and refining their teacherly identity.

Emergence and development of the blockchain technology, which is able to transform into "a most powerful disruptive innovation", shall definitely concern universities. Moreover, nowadays the blockchain technology meets the challenges that both the system of higher education and the entire society are currently facing. Advantages of the blockchain technology are decentralized open data, absence of forgeries, safe storage of information, and reduction of transaction expenses related to data checkup, control, and verification. This paper provides a critical analysis of application of the blockchain technology considering with its applicability opportunities and restrictions in education; it also aims to identify the consequences of its influence upon the development of education. The article analyzes real cases when this technology was applied, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an example. The MIT applied it to protect and validate the certificates that it issued. Another example is the Sony Global Education that forms individual data on its trainees' competencies and productivity; a third one relates to the University of Nicosia, which was the first to use smart contracts and accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The paper also considers the elements of the blockchain technology at universities (both in Russia and outside it), which participate in massive open online courses. It determines the scope of application of this technology in the Russian educational system. In addition, this article provides a literature review related to application of the blockchain technology; the review includes works by such renowned researchers as D. Tapscott, B. Bleir, A. Watters, A. Grech, A. Camilleri, M. Swan, A. Zaslavsky, etc. The paper analyzes the obtained findings of the survey that its authors have conducted among experts, professors, and specialists involved in accreditation. Thus, the paper provides an analysis of opportunities and restrictions related to application of the blockchain technology in higher education.

Students' action competence must be taught and developed, particularly for prospective science teachers, to have a pedagogical perspective as environmental educators. As indicated by publications in respected journals, researchers' focus and alignment on the issue of action competence are highly expected. This systematic literature review aims to compare the findings of research articles published by Web of Science-indexed journals. The keyword used to find the articles on the Web of Science's database was "action competence," which discovered 193 publications. Furthermore, 25 articles met the criteria to be analyzed. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis was the inclusion and exclusion model used. In the last three years, research focused on action competence has increased. The research employed several methods, i.e., qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and development research. Jelle Boevede Pauw and Wanda Sass were the authors who frequently published research that focused on action competence. The keyword action competence was directly associated with environmental education, sustainable development, education-based learning for sustainable development, and evaluation. The authors who published their research with this focus were from 16 countries, mainly from Europe, i.e., Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark. The continent diversity of authors who contributed articles indicated that the action competence issue had become a global concern. Furthermore, it was found that the number of non-collaborating publications (universities or countries) was higher than those collaborating, even though single authors rarely wrote the articles. The recent trend shows that publications are authored by scientists with various backgrounds such as fields, universities, and even countries. The authors of this paper developed and proposed eight ideas to be reflected by prospective science teachers or science teacher education providers in educating future science teachers concerned about action competence about sustainable development.

Speaking skills had always been the most challenging skill among the pupils in language learning. The flipped learning approach is an innovative teaching and learning pedagogy that creates better learning experiences in order to improve pupils' speaking skills. Therefore, this systematic literature review focuses on flipped learning approach in improving pupils' speaking skills. This analysis is done based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) review methodology. A total of 39 articles related to flipped learning in improving speaking skills published between 2017 to 2020 were identified from Scopus, Google Scholar and ERIC databases. Based on the results, self-regulated learning, interaction, motivation and achievement were the key themes that promotes the benefit of flipped learning to improve pupils' speaking skills. Hence, this paper is beneficial to policy makers, educators and students in utilizing flipped learning approach to improve pupils' speaking skills from various levels of education.

Research suggests numerous cognitive benefits of authentic learning experiences. Beyond cognition, there are additional dimensions for learners who engage in authentic learning experiences. In education, the affective experiences of authentic learning and the role of students' social interactions remain largely unexplored. This paper examines students' affective and social experiences derived from blog posts published on the YouthMappers website. YouthMappers is an international network of university students who create open map data for humanitarian and development programming. In an analysis of two years (2016-2017) of 82 blogs from the YouthMappers network, students from the U.S. and abroad report motivating experiences fueled by social events and gatherings. The participants also find value in communicating with, encouraging, educating, and supporting their peers. Geographic region and gender also play a part in their accounts. This paper seeks to advance research in student affect and social interactions during authentic learning experiences. Positive affective and social experiences may be employed to create authentic learning experiences, building impactful social and emotional experiences for globally-diverse students.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are frequently advocated as an educational panacea, an educational technology that can be transported and transferred, reused and revised, to address the global shortage of high-quality online material. This paper explores that scenario by looking at the factors that might promote or inhibit the transfer and re-use of OER into Asian higher education and particularly focuses on the issue of language and culture. The paper identifies culture, as the underpinning of pedagogy, as a significant and unacknowledged determinant of success and proposes culture, as calibrated by the work of Hofstede and comparable thinkers, as a possible addition to OER metadata.

This report shares the findings and lessons learned from an investigation into the economics of disaggregated models for assessing and accrediting informal learners undertaking post secondary education. It presents some key economic and governance challenges for universities to consider in implementing OER assessment and accreditation policies. It also includes discussion of findings from a small-scale survey conducted by two of the authors on perceptions, practices and policies relating to openness in assessment and accreditation in post secondary institutions, with a particular focus on the "OER universitas" (OERu) concept. [This paper was presented at the OpenCourseWare Consortium Global Conference (Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 23-25, 2014).]

This paper claims that 'Mahachula-academics always support the propagation of Buddhism'. Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Khon Kaen Campus has its vision to be 'the International Buddhist University for Mental and Social Development'. Besides the academic development, the essential means used in the mental and social development is the effective dissemination of Buddhist teaching. To reach the set goal of the campus, the model of the network building for the Buddhist proactive propagation is created and operated in collaboration with other organizations and educational institutes. This paper discusses the model of network building for the Buddhist proactive propagation of Khon Kaen Campus based on the research of the Deputy Rector of the campus, Phra Sophonphatthanapundit (Assoc. Dr.), conducted in 2016. In so doing, it will first provide some of background of the topic: the dissemination of Buddhism in Thailand, network building of the main campus, proactive propagation of Buddhism in the northeast; and then it will provide some perspectives on the propagation of Buddhism based on the model.

This paper elaborates on recent trends in Japanese higher education partnerships through three cases of collaboration between Japanese universities and higher education institutions in China, Mongolia, and the Southeast Asia (hereinafter referred to as ASEAN). Our analysis shows that partnerships were shaped by both top-down government policies and bottom-up activities based on institutional visions and past relations. Japan's educational quality and reputation, particularly in science and technology, is highly regarded by higher education institutions (HEIs) interested in developing competitive international programs. On one hand, Japan is striving to deepen and expand its partnerships with HEIs, particularly within Asia. A number of domestic and international factors - such as Japan's population decline; increasing competition among HEIs both on the domestic and international front; an ambition to remain competitive in a twenty-first century, knowledge-based economy; and Japan's strategy to strengthen its influence in Asia - drive the partnerships. On the other hand, while earlier partnerships were limited to student and faculty exchange or joint research projects, institutions increasingly prioritize more comprehensive strategic partnerships. Such strategic partnerships are important to overcome barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic that limit physical movement and interaction, and they may drive even greater collaboration and integration among Asian higher education institutions.

The current paper investigates how ESP teachers and learners may benefit from feedback exchange during the learning process. The article is a qualitative analysis of student feedback provided for ESP classes by learners from a Romanian economic university -- i.e. the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. Responses refer to: the development of (general and business) English skills, enhancing self- and peer awareness, benefits of peer cooperation. The analysis is undertaken by an interdisciplinary team comprising an English teacher and a psychologist and discusses the relevance of such assignments for the development of students' and teachers' competences. We place our analysis against the background of research on (language) teacher competences and (language) learner competences in professional frameworks developed in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, highlighting the complex teacher and learner/ graduate profiles required across the world, as well as the contribution of feedback exchange skills to this profile.

Surprisingly, distance education is quite an old concept. Its origins date back to the first correspondence-based course, which took place via the postal service in Boston, USA, in the 18th century. Rapid technological developments, especially in video and audio streaming, have increased the availability of such courses and moved learning into the virtual world. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an accelerated revolution in the learning process, as nearly all forms of education have been shifted online. Will this have a destructive effect on the human psyche? Is humanity sufficiently aware and ready for such a dramatic change? Will we return to physical in-classroom studies, or is remote distance education set to become the new norm? In particular, in medicine, computer science, fine arts, or architectural design, such a rapid change in the way students learn can be quite challenging. In this paper, we provide an overview of the history of distance learning, taking into account teachers' and students' points of view in both secondary and higher education.

For the past few decades, stylistics has emerged as a discipline that encompasses both literary criticism and linguistics. The integration of both disciplines opened many opportunities for English literature and language teachers to get creative in their teaching--by introducing the stylistic approach in their classrooms. However, in a typical Southeast Asian classroom (Sadiman, 2004), several problems such as the lack of resources, scarcity of quality teaching strategies, time defciency, as well as the unfamiliarity of authentic assessment seem to impede the utilization of the mentioned approach or other learner-centered approaches. Moreover, only limited literature on the analysis, let alone the teaching, of the ballad adopting the stylistic method are evident. This paper could be described as an attempt to address these problems. It provides a fresh perspective in analyzing a well-known 18th century British ballad, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," in the syntactical/structural, lexical, and phonological aspects of stylistics. It also attempts to explain the evident theme of warfare based on textual evidences in the aforementioned aspects. In addition, it contributes to the existing literature advocating the stylistic approach in both the teaching of language and literature. Furthermore, it provides several potential comprehensive activities that take into account the challenging setting and situation of Southeast Asian English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms, especially at the tertiary level. This paper also has implications on classrooms that experience the same aforementioned challenges, and is not only limited to the Southeast Asian context.

For the past few decades, stylistics has emerged as a discipline that encompasses both literary criticism and linguistics. The integration of both disciplines opened many opportunities for English literature and language teachers to get creative in their teaching--by introducing the stylistic approach in their classrooms. However, in a typical Southeast Asian classroom (Sadiman, 2004), several problems such as the lack of resources, scarcity of quality teaching strategies, time deficiency, as well as the unfamiliarity of authentic assessment seem to impede the utilization of the mentioned approach or other learner-centered approaches. Moreover, only limited literature on the analysis, let alone the teaching, of the ballad adopting the stylistic method are evident. This paper could be described as an attempt to address these problems. It provides a fresh perspective in analyzing a well-known 18th century British ballad, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," in the syntactical/structural, lexical, and phonological aspects of stylistics. It also attempts to explain the evident theme of warfare based on textual evidences in the aforementioned aspects. In addition, it contributes to the existing literature advocating the stylistic approach in both the teaching of language and literature. Furthermore, it provides several potential comprehensive activities that take into account the challenging setting and situation of Southeast Asian English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms, especially at the tertiary level. This paper also has implications on classrooms that experience the same aforementioned challenges, and is not only limited to the Southeast Asian context.

Student learning outcomes assessment examines whether programs cover the material stated in their learning goals, whether students are learning the material, and the impact on student retention, graduation, post-graduation outcomes, and institutional accreditation, with the aim of providing faculty with data that can be used to help programs evolve or improve. While there is a plethora of research regarding effective methods of assessment used in the United States, little has been written regarding cross-national comparisons of assessment methodologies. This paper examines the current state of assessment in several nations and regions, and draws parallels in practices across countries. A literature search using the term "outcomes assessment" yielded 228 articles, of which, only 35 described practices outside the United States. Generally, searches on the terms "outcomes assessment" and "global" tend to return studies of outcomes assessment of teaching about global issues as it is practiced in the United States, rather than results about outcomes assessment practices used in other countries.