Search

The existing steady and continual rise of online learning in higher education has been accelerated by COVID-19 and resulted in a move away from solely on-campus teaching. Prior to the pandemic, online education was providing higher education to students who were returning to study to up-skill, are employed full-time, caring for family members, living rurally or remotely and/or for whom otherwise face-to-face campus learning was not a preference or option. To understand how we can better support online students in their unique circumstances and create an optimal learning environment, we must understand the factors associated with academic achievement within an online setting. This systematic review involved a search of relevant databases published between January 2009 and May 2021 examining factors and constructs related to academic performance in online higher education settings. Across 34 papers, 23 (67.6%) explored factors and constructs related to student characteristics including cognitive and psychological, demographic, university enrolment, and prior academic performance. Twenty-one (61.8%) papers explored learning environment factors including engagement, student experience, course design, and instructor. Our overall synthesis of findings indicates that academic performance in online learning is most strongly associated with motivation (including self-efficacy), and self-regulation. We propose three main implications of our review for online learning stakeholders such as educators and designers. Firstly, we argue that the wellbeing of online learners is important to understand, and future research should explore its impact on students’ experience and success in online higher education. Secondly, we emphasise the importance of developing and designing online courses utilising relevant frameworks and evidence-based principles. Finally, we propose an approach to promoting improved student cognitive and psychosocial experiences (such as self-efficacy, self-regula

The efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions in randomised-controlled trials and large experimental studies has been demonstrated in university student populations. Whilst these investigations have provided insight into the nature of the delivery of mindfulness-based practices, there has been little research in the implementation of self-managed online student wellbeing and mindfulness programs at university. This ecological validation study conducted in 2020 evaluated a real-world implementation of a large, university-wide, online mindfulness-based program that was accessible fully online via the tertiary institutions' Learning Management System (LMS) student orientation site. The total sample included 833 participants from a range of disciplines and faculties at Monash University, Australia. At the end of the study, 236 (28.3%) participants were retained and completed the follow-up survey. Participants had the option to engage with the fully self-managed online mindfulness program for a 12-week semester. The mindfulness practices were pre-recorded, audio-guided sessions, and 10-15 min in length. Baseline and end of semester questionnaires included the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, 10-item Perceived Stress Scale and the 18-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. Participants who engaged with the mindfulness program over 3 or more weeks showed significant improvements in all three outcome measures, and all participants showed significant improvements in wellbeing at the end of semester. Learning analytics obtained via the LMS revealed that 58.6% (n = 489) had not logged into the mindfulness program at all, almost a third (31.0%, n = 259) logged into the program materials once or twice, and 10.2% (n = 85) of the whole sample engaged with the program actively, having logged in three or more times. The total number of student logins peaked in week 2, reduced between week 2 and week 7 and thereafter activity remained stable until the end of the

The global online education sector has been rising rapidly, particularly during and after the events of 2020, and is becoming mainstream much sooner than expected. Despite this, research studies report higher levels of perceived isolation, difficulties with engagement, and higher attrition rates in online compared to equivalent on-campus programs. Reasons include restrictions to the type of institutional support accessible by online students, and the lack of comprehensiveness of orientation resources. This paper describes the collaborative efforts by a cross-faculty academic team, supported by a community of practice, to create a university-wide online orientation resource-the Monash Online Learning Hub (MOLH). The development of the MOLH involved multiple phases, including an analysis of current practice, resource design and content creation, formative evaluation by staff and students, and successful integration into the university's mainstream student orientation platform for widescale implementation. The methods adopted were varied, and involved generating both qualitative and quantitative data across multiple phases of development from online education experts at the University, that culminated in the gradual building and refinement of the MOLH. Final outcomes, implications and lessons learned are also discussed in this paper.

Music listening exerts a powerful effect on human emotion. However, self-compassion, a strong predictor of mental health, has received little attention in existing music listening literature. Therefore, this study aims to advance the existing literature by investigating music listening and its role in cultivating self-compassion. The benefits of self-compassion include improved mental health and a reduction in psychological parameters such as anxiety, stress, and depression. In the wake of the COVID- 19 pandemic, many people have experienced increased mental health concerns, feelings of isolation, and depression, with research indicating that young people are using music as a coping mechanism during this time. While accounting for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores individual music listening practices to foster self-compassion. We asked 155 university students residing in Australia aged between 18 - 33 years (M = 19.84, SD = 3.01) to complete an online questionnaire measuring self-compassion and music listening. The quantitative analysis is currently underway. The findings will broaden our understanding of how music listening can cultivate self- compassion and advance the existing literature on music listening's ability to change moods and regulate emotions.

Music listening exerts a powerful effect on human emotion. However, self-compassion, a strong predictor of mental health, has received little attention in existing music listening literature. As such, this study seeks to advance the current literature by investigating music listening and its role in cultivating self-compassion with a primary focus on its three key aspects: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, as well as its opposite elements: self-judgement, isolation, and overidentification. As a result of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, many people have experienced increased mental health concerns, feelings of isolation, and depression, with research indicating that young adults are using music as a coping mechanism during the pandemic. A total of 153 university students residing in Australia aged 18-33 years (M = 19.84, SD = 3.01) completed a mixed-methods questionnaire measuring self-compassion, music listening preferences, and well-being. Preliminary results indicate that 81% of the sample experienced self-compassion while listening to music during the Covid-19 pandemic, while 32% experienced it's opposite. A thematic analysis of the open-ended responses regarding individual experiences of self-compassion as a result of listening to music is currently underway. The findings aim to enrich existing literature on music and emotions, build on previous studies demonstrating self-compassion's ability to improve mental health and broaden understanding of the pandemic's impact.

The Future of Online Education provides a vision of a fully successful online education future and practical ways to best turn this vision into a reality, and benefit from it, for online education decision makers, designers, educators and students. The book provides emerging online education knowledge, perspectives, issues and opportunities, and integrates these with practical ways for online education providers and recipients to fully benefit from their great new opportunities. The book is a valuable guide to achieving the best possible online education future and will comprehensively support online education development and implementation across courses and institutions. The Future of Online Education also provides a unique coming together of online education expert perspectives, ideas, examples and resources that will inform, inspire and support a whole-hearted entering into and advancing of our emerging online education world.

Educational institutions, especially the higher education institutions in Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand, have had to stop face-to-face educational activities during the period of COVID-19 pandemic. Online classes have been the only alternative to carry on academic activities. Teachers were suddenly compelled to transition their teaching and learning methodology from a face-to-face to an online model. Employing a quantitative research method, this study identifies factors in teacher’s effective transition for successful online teaching. A total of 68 teachers experienced in higher education in Bangladesh, Thailand, India and Indonesia were interviewed by a structured questionnaire. The instrument was scrutinized and approved by a panel of 5 expert educators in higher educational institutes in both Bangladesh and Thailand. The statistical analysis indicated that professional training, students’ performance evaluation, cheating concerns in exam perceived by teachers, infrastructure difficulties, lack of students’ technological knowhow and difficult online classroom management influenced success in online teaching. A set of inspectional recommendations has been made that might be utilized in policy making by the educational policy makers, institutional authorities and by the practising teachers for designing effective procedures of online teaching and learning.

Mental ill health among higher education students is a well-established problem; therefore, it is imperative to implement preventative approaches to support wellbeing. Blended and fully online education programmes widens access for mature or returning students; however, the psychological wellbeing of this sub-group of students is under-researched. Finally, evaluating wellbeing interventions that meet the needs of university students as well as accessible for online students is required. The aim of this study was to evaluate a brief, online and mindfulness-based intervention to assist the self-management of wellbeing and stress for both online and on-campus higher education students. The total sample included 427 participants (96% psychology students) at Monash University, Australia (n=283) and King's College London (n=144), with 152 participants completing the whole study. Participants were allocated to a brief, self-guided, online and mindfulness-based intervention (over the course of one study period; n=297), or to a wait-list control group (n=148). Baseline and end of semester questionnaires included the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, 10-item Perceived Stress Scale and the 15-item Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Regression modelling revealed the intervention condition accounted for up to 12% of the variability in change in student wellbeing, stress and mindfulness between the start and end of semester (when controlling for baseline). These findings support the implementation of a brief, online and asynchronous mindfulness-based intervention for supporting student mental health and psychological wellbeing. An on-going challenge in practice includes engaging and maintaining student engagement in wellbeing initiatives.