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As publishers and academia swiftly head towards e-textbooks, it is important to understand how students feel about using e-textbooks as a primary learning tool. This paper discusses results of a small-scale study looking into how a group of language learners view and use e-textbooks as learning tools in ESL classrooms. The paper concludes by offering teaching implications that could ease integrating e-textbooks in language classrooms in a more effective and efficient manner.

Today’s digital and mobile learning environment has contributed to the increased availability of and interest in e-textbooks, and many school systems are conducting trials to evaluate their effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze instructors’ levels of use (LoU) of e-textbook features and innovations at a southeastern US community college. This study also evaluated the effectiveness of e-textbooks compared to paper textbooks on student achievement during a pilot period of e-textbook implementation.

Using a survey research design, the LoU of the Innovation framework was applied to identify and analyze instructors’ LoU rankings for eight e-textbook features. The study also used historical data on student demographics and final course grades to evaluate student achievement between text formats. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to answer the research questions.

Results showed that e-textbook features were used at a low to non-existent level by instructors and that there was no significant difference in grade average between text formats among students. However, interactions between text format, age and gender were found.

This study added to the body of knowledge regarding e-textbook efficacy. While many studies stop with the conclusion that there is no difference in student outcomes between text formats, this study addressed a gap in literature on how to improve student performance with e-textbook technology by using the LoU of an innovation framework.

With the development of social network services (SNS) on the Internet, the world has gained access to vast amounts of information resources, allowing people to carefully research and select what they need and want to share with others. The main idea behind open educational resources (OER) is providing freely accessible and openly licensed documents, which fits well with the online learning system using SNS. However, the gap between higher education and social network media in relation to shared activities and OER use remains a challenge. The main reason for this is that teachers lack knowledge of mutual assistance and the skills to use OER. Teachers are dissatisfied with having to use others' resources, which indicates that the problem lies in teachers' psychological conflicts and technical capabilities. Our learning platform, Creative Higher Education with Learning Objects (CHiLO), is based on e-textbooks and aims to develop a flexible learning environment. The CHiLO e-textbooks were developed with a completely new design that considered large-scale online courses, such as open online courses. The core component of CHiLO is the CHiLO Book, which is created in EPUB3 format and has media-rich contents, including graphics, animations, audios and embedded videos. Our set of experimental outcomes shows that CHiLO, which includes not only Web services but also e-textbooks, is easy for teachers to handle.

This paper describes a small research project undertaken in a technical college in Qatar on the use of iPads in the classroom. iPads were trialed for a semester each in mathematics and physics classes; students completed pre- and post-surveys. Classroom observations were carried out and interviews were conducted with both faculty (N=3) and students (N=19). Over 80% of students reported positively on the iPad as being “helpful” to “very helpful” for learning new things and course materials, for increasing their interaction with online course materials and getting course information and for exploring additional material related to course topics. Faculty perceptions of iPad use in class were also positive.

The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the spread of accessible e-books, especially ones of STEM much more in developing countries, an efficient/systematic scheme to localize tools for producing/reading them should be established. Furthermore, even in many advanced countries, Print-disabled people still do not have a good tool to write a content including technical notations such as mathematical formulas in their own local language. This work is aimed at giving a practical solution for those problems.

Here, multilingual support in a tool to produce accessible STEM contents and its new localization scheme are discussed.

It is shown that the accessible STEM-document editor can be customized easily for print-disabled people so that they can read and author a material including complicated technical notations in their own local language. The localization for Vietnamese and other various languages actually has been worked on.

The Vietnamese version was completed, and some prototype versions for the other languages were also given. It is expected that the software can contribute to improve STEM accessibility much more in many countries.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of mobile learning in a nursing course at The Open University of Hong Kong, and identify the potentials of, and constraints on, introducing mobile technologies in the instructional design of nursing education. The paper also considers the pedagogical implications of the expansion of mobile learning in the field of nursing.

The research adopts a qualitative approach to obtain the students’ and teacher’s experiences, opinions, and expectations on mobile learning. Two focus groups with 20 student participants were conducted and an in-depth interview with the course teacher was arranged. The Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) model was used as the research framework to support data collection and analysis.

The aspects of device usability, interaction learning, and social technology as suggested in the FRAME model were partly fulfilled in the study. Mobile technology enhanced the portability and accessibility of learning information, and networking tools facilitated interaction among students and between students and the teacher. However, the readability of text was limited due to constraints on the user interface and screen size, and concerns over the reliability of learning content were also raised, given the abundance of unfiltered online information. The difficulty in updating the content of multimedia materials and sourcing videos of an appropriate level, together with the problem of device networking, also limited the usefulness of mobile learning. Attention should also be paid to the perceptual differences between students and the teacher on the nature and functions of mobile learning.

This empirical study provides a detailed evaluation of the delivery of mobile learning in a nursing course. The findings reveal the strengths and limitations of using mobile technologies to support the nursing education.

The purpose of this commentary is to describe how Omni Nano has designed and implemented a model for teaching Nanotechnology to high school students.

This commentary describes the Omni Nano program and the approach taken to support high school science teachers to include Nanotechnology education in their STEM programs.

The program findings are determined from qualitative teacher and student program surveys and informal interviews. The strong positive comments indicate that Omni Nano is successful at sparking students’ interest in nanotechnology and teaching nanotechnology concepts effectively.

The Omni Nano model demonstrates how complex STEM topics such as Nanotechnology can be designed and implemented effectively to promote student learning.

As the field of nanotechnology continues to evolve, high schools will need to provide additional coursework to scaffold student development and meet the demand for nanotech careers. Omni Nano has developed the first nanotechnology curriculum for high school students.

This study explored Croatian nursing students' knowledge and attitudes regarding brominated flame retardants (BFRs) as indicators of their predisposition to educate future patients. The purpose of the study was to identify knowledge gaps and barriers and to propose possible remedies.

The cross-sectional survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 114 nursing students at undergraduate and graduate levels from three Croatian universities during the winter semester in the academic year 2018–2019. Descriptive and inferential statistical  analyses were performed using STATISTICA 13 software.

Slightly over half of the students (58.49%) were knowledgeable of BFR health effects and 45.28% showed knowledge about its presence in the environment. Only 33.02% of students identified prenatal exposure effects and 24.53% answered correctly about legislative actions. Participants expressed modest interest in the topic (M = 3.15, SD = 1.35). Although informing the public on the health consequences of BFRs was important to them (M = 4.18, SD = 1.03), they did not perceive health-care providers as primarily responsible for communicating that information.

There is a need to enhance related content in the curriculum to improve students' knowledge. Raising students' awareness regarding the role of nurses in clinical and policy arenas is proposed to facilitate active participation in improving environmental health.

During any crisis situation like a pandemic, war or natural disaster, online/blended learning could meet the academic needs of the learners in a bigger way. The use of information and communication technology (ICT)-based technologies has converted the entire teaching pedagogy to a learner centred pedagogy, following which the skills of using technology are to be seen as the most essential qualifications on the part of both the teachers/educators and learners. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the perceptions of the teachers and learners regarding the use of online/blended learning modes in teaching learning transactions. Another purpose of the paper being to find out the prospects and challenges of providing online/blended learning in a country like India, particularly during and in post-Covid-19 situations.

The academic analytics approach was used for the study. A structured questionnaire was designed in Google Forms covering the perceptions of the teachers and learners in different Indian universities and colleges regarding online/blended services and analysis was done using Google Analytics. Further, analysis of the data received had been done by using simple statistical tool like percentage.

Blended learning could be the solution for providing education in the context of the 21st century India. However, unlike in case of the conventional education, open education has widened the scope of learning adhering to the motto – “Bring your own device” to learn. The extensive use of open educational resources, massive open online courses, social media and meeting apps during the Covid-19 lockdown, has opened up the minds of the knowledge-hungry people, further enabling them to receive the necessary educational inputs, training and skills even during the current pandemic situation. This is going to have a big impact in the ways of educational transactions in the days to come.

The discussions in the paper are limited to a study of representative states of India, and it is a general study only. The sample size was limited to only 120 as the response rate was significantly low compared to the number of addressees to whom the questionnaire was sent.

This study will help in understanding the present state of online/blended learning in a country like India. The use of online learning was no doubt intensified by the sudden outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic. However, the study will also help in preparing a roadmap, at the policy level, regarding the beneficial use of online/blended teaching learning models both by the teachers and learners during any future crisis-like situations in a country like India.

Through this paper, a new social constructivism has been visualised to know the acceptability of online/blended learning opportunities on the part of the teachers and learners across India. If that social constructivism can actually be realised through the benefits of online learning, India might emerge as one of the important leaders of education in the coming days. To that extent, the Covid-19 pandemic can be seen as a blessing in disguise.

It is important to examine the perceptions of both teachers and learners on the use of online learning in their regular curriculum transactions most particularly when the whole world is facing the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has adversely affected millions of learners across the world. The paper is original because it explores the current state of online/blended learning in a developing country like India to provide a practical and realistic vision of a new way of learning in the post-Covid-19 situations.