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This study investigated the attitudes and concerns of Saudi higher educational institution (HEI) academics about privacy and security in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online Questionnaire questionnaire was designed to explore Saudi HEI academic’s attitudes and concerns about privacy and security issues in online teaching. The questionnaire asked about attitudes and concerns held before the pandemic and since the pandemic. The questionnaire included four sections. At the beginning of the questionnaire, participants were asked what the phrase “online privacy and security” meant to them, to gain an initial understanding of what it meant to academics. A definition for what we intended for the survey was then provided: “that a person’s data, including their identity, is not accessible to anyone other than themselves and others whom they have authorised and that their computing devices work properly and are free from unauthorised interference” (based on my reading of a range of sources, e.g. Schatz et al., 2017; Steinberg, 2019; NCS; Windley, 2005). This was to ensure that participants did understand what I was asking about in subsequent sections.

This study investigated the attitudes and concerns of Saudi HEI academics about privacy and security in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provide several key insights: Key aspects of online privacy and security for Saudi HEI academics: Saudi HEI academic’s notion of online privacy and security is about the protection of personal data, preventing unauthorized access to data and ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of data. This underscores the significance of robust measures to safeguard sensitive information in online teaching, but also the need to make academics aware of the other aspects of online privacy and security. Potential to improve policies and training about online privacy and security in Saudi HEIs: Although many participants were aware of the online privacy and security policies of their HEI, only a small percentage had received training in this area. Thus, there is a need to improve the development and dissemination of policies and to provide academics with appropriate training in this area and encourage them to take available training. Use of videoconferencing and chat technologies and cultural sensitivities: The study highlighted moderate levels of concern among Saudi HEI academics regarding the use of videoconferencing and online chat technologies, and their concerns about cultural factors around the use of these technologies. This emphasizes the need for online teaching and the growing use of technologies in such teaching to respect cultural norms and preferences, highlighting the importance of fostering a culturally sensitive approach to technology deployment and use. Surprising low webcam use: An unexpected finding is the low use of webcams by both academics and students during online teaching sessions, prompting a need for a deeper understanding of the dynamics surrounding webcam engagement in such sessions. This calls for a reevaluation of the effectiveness of webcam use in the teaching process and underscores the importance of exploring methods for enhancing engagement and interaction in online teaching. In summary, this paper investigated the attitudes and concerns about privacy and security in the online teaching of Saudi HEI academics during the coronavirus pandemic. The study reveals areas where further research and policy development can enhance the online teaching experience. As the education landscape continues to evolve, institutions must remain proactive in addressing the concerns of their academics while fostering a culturally sensitive approach to technology deployment.

One limitation of this study is the relatively small qualitative data sample, despite the adequate size of the sample including 36 academics from various Saudi Arabian HEIs for quantitative analysis. It was necessary to make the most of the open-ended questions optional – participants did not have to answer about concerns if they did not want to, as we did not want to make the questionnaire too long and onerous to complete. Consequently, the number of academics responding to the open-ended questions was limited, emphasizing the need for additional data and alternative research methods to further these issues. The study was focused on investigating the concerns of HEI Saudi academics, recognizing that the attitudes and concerns of academics in other countries may differ. Furthermore, the research also includes an exploration of the changes in academic attitudes and concerns before and since the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be the subject of further data analysis.

This research delves into Saudi HEI academics' perceptions and concerns regarding privacy and security in online education during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Notably, it highlights the moderate priority placed on online privacy and security, the unexpectedly low usage of webcams and the potential for enhancing policies and training. The study emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive measures to protect sensitive data and the importance of tailored policies for educators. It also underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of webcam usage dynamics, offering valuable insights for institutions aiming to improve online education and address educators' concerns amidst evolving educational landscapes.

This Chapter is all about communication and the ways we are now able to reach out to others around the world from our personal computers or mobile devices, which were never available before. One might initially consider this section more in line with productivity tools instead of those impacting the digital humanities. I will, however, demonstrate that it is through these tools that the field is expanding, offering interesting ways in which scholars can communicate ideas with one another, share thoughts, research, and collaborate. Additionally, it is through the use of these tools that our ideas are being shared with students and interestingly how students are, in turn, reciprocating our efforts. The chapter focuses on video broadcasting tools, audio conferencing, audiocasting, and collaboration applications, offering examples of how they can be used in a classroom setting.

Our need to understand the impact of communication media on negotiation is growing as technological advances offer negotiators more communication options. As access to technologies such as computer chat and videoconferencing increases, negotiators are choosing to use or to avoid these media without knowing the impact of their choices on negotiations. This research assesses objective and subjective negotiation outcomes, such as profit and outcome satisfaction, across four communication media with varying levels of media richness (face‐to‐face, videoconference, telephone, and computer‐mediated communication). A conceptual framework is offered to illustrate how media richness impacts objective and subjective outcomes. Results suggest that media richness affects required bargaining time, outcome satisfaction and the desire for future negotiation interaction. Thus, the communication media for negotiations should be chosen with care.

This chapter focuses on techniques and technologies to aid groups in making decisions, with an emphasis on computer-based support. Many office workers regularly meet colleagues and clients in virtual meetings using videoconferencing platforms, which enable participants to carry out tasks in a manner similar to a face-to-face meeting. The development of computer-based platforms to facilitate group tasks can be traced back to the 1960s, and while they support group communication, they do not directly support group decision making. In this chapter we distinguish four technologies developed to provide support to group decisions, clustered into two main traditions. Technologies in the task-oriented tradition are mainly concerned with enabling participants to complete tasks to solve the group's decision problem via computer-supported communications. Group Decision Support Systems and social software technologies comprise the task-oriented tradition. Alternately, in the model-driven tradition, participants use computers to build and use a model that acts as a referent to communicate, mostly verbally, about the group's decision problem. System modeling and decision-modeling technologies constitute the model-driven tradition. This chapter sketches the history and guiding ideas of both traditions, and describes their associated technologies. The chapter concludes with questioning if increased availability of online tools will lead to increased use of group decision support technologies, and the differential impact of communication support versus decision support.

This paper aims first to describe the most prevalent teachers’ and students’ behaviors in synchronous online classes in emergency remote teaching; second, to discern behavior profiles and third, to investigate what features explain the observed behaviors.

An adapted COPUS observation protocol was employed to observe 292 online classes from 146 higher education teachers.

The most prevalent behaviors were: Presenting for teachers and Receiving for students, followed by Teachers Guiding and Students Talking to Class. Furthermore, cluster analysis showed two groups: Traditional and Interactive. The variables that better explained belonging to the Interactive lecture group were disciplinary area – social sciences and humanities –and teaching in technical institutions.

In a context where higher education institutions intend to project the lessons learned into post-pandemic learning experiences, this study provides observational evidence to realize the full potential expected from online and blended teaching and learning.

Despite the prevalence of synchronous online lectures during COVID-19, there is a paucity of observational studies on the actual behaviors that occurred in this context. Most research has been based on surveys and interviews. This study addresses this gap.

This paper describes a blended learning course for Emirati women combining face-to-face instruction with heavy use of distance learning technologies such as videoconferencing, email and a “virtual classroom”. Instructors conducted action research in order to 1) improve course design and teaching methods, 2) share distance teaching insights with colleagues, and 3) advise institutional authorities on IT resource management. Results of the study are presented, and conclusions about the suitability and efficacy of distance learning for Emirati women are offered.

This chapter explores the ways in which border imperialism, a concept widely attributed to Harsha Walia (2013), interacts with international postsecondary remote learning contexts to open opportunities to both extend and resist border imperialism. Historical and present contexts of border imperialism centered on Canada are consulted, uncovering a connection between technologies of labor and colonial power dynamics. Both temporal contexts serve to highlight the ways in which technologies of labor create a colonial power dynamic enacted through the usage of borders as imperialist tools. The body of literature concerning border imperialism is then reviewed to discern how remote learning contexts facilitate both resistance to and expansion of border imperialism. It is found that these contexts do support narratives of resistance to bodily racism and temporo-economic imperialism, however, in so doing also support neo-racism and unjust soft power dynamics within internationalization. The opportunities for resistance and expansion of border imperialism are then consolidated in pursuit of an ethical path forward with respect to the usage of new remote learning technologies in the context of internationalization.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of videoconferencing technologies for mediating and transforming emotional experiences in virtual context.

Drawing on empirical data of video conferencing experiences, this study identifies different constitutive relations with technology through which actors cope with actual or potential anxieties in virtual meetings. It draws on the phenomenological-existential tradition (Sartre and Merleau-Ponty) and on an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to conceptualize and illustrate the role of affective affordances in virtual settings.

The study identifies four different body–technology–other relations that provide different action possibilities, both disclosing and concealing, for navigating emotional experiences in virtual encounters of mutual gazing. These findings offer insights into the anatomy of virtual emotions and provide explanations on the nature of Zoom fatigue (interactive exhaustion) and heightened feelings of self-consciousness resulting from video conferencing interactions.

This paper builds on and extends current scholarship on technological affordances, as well as emotions, to suggest that technologies also afford different tactics for navigating emotional experiences. Thus, this paper proposes the notion of affective affordance that can expand current information system (IS) and organization studies (OS) scholarship in important ways. The focus is on videoconference technologies and meetings that have received little research attention and even less so from a perspective on emotions. Importantly, the paper offers nuanced insights that can advance current research discourse on the relationships between technology, human body and emotions.

The development of personal relationships between team members is recognised as an important factor in enhancing effective working relationships among members of both co‐located and virtual teams. However, little has been written on how to build these online relationships among virtual team members. This paper reports part of a qualitative research study on how facilitators of virtual teams build and maintain online relationships. In particular, the paper examines how virtual team facilitators use Internet‐based and conventional electronic communication channels to build relationships with their virtual team members. The findings suggest that some electronic communication channels are more effective than others in building online relationships. The paper concludes by suggesting that facilitators need to strategically use the channels available to them to effectively build online relationships.

This study aims to explore if and to what extent an online avatar-assisted virtual classroom can work to alleviate groups of Japanese university students’ anxiety around giving spoken presentations. It also explores how to create a more inclusive language learning environment and encourage interaction between the students in the virtual classroom.

A self-reported survey compares the same group of students’ responses to three learning contexts: an everyday in-person or conventional English learning classroom; an online videoconferencing-based classroom, via Zoom; and an online “virtual” or avatar-based classroom simulation, via the software “Gather”.

The findings suggest that the avatar-assisted virtual classroom helps students experience the least amount of fear and apprehension when speaking out loud in English and improves their speaking confidence. Similar to the findings in terms of everyday in-person lessons, the overwhelming majority of students attending Zoom lessons showed high levels of anxiety toward speaking out loud.

Challenges making use of the target language remain a persistent source of stress for Japanese students. The global shift toward online learning and the associated technologies have created opportunities to experiment with novel approaches to teaching. The discussion considers the data in the context of online classroom environments and existing speaking anxiety research. While the sample size is small, this study seeks to provide a safe and non-threatening learning environment for disadvantaged and diverse students, as well as suggestions for further research.