Bridging Educational Frontiers: AI-Adaptive Learning, Subscription Strategies, and the Quest for Global Online MBA Accessibility

This research dives deep into the rapidly evolving realm of postgraduate online education, mainly focusing on online MBA programs. The study unveils significant patterns and fresh perspectives through comprehensive content analysis and participant interviews. The transformative potential of AI in personalizing learning experiences has been recognized, with AI-AL tools highlighted as not just tools for automation but as dynamic partners in curating individualized learning experiences. Another significant discovery is the “resignated acceptance” phenomenon, revealing society's shift towards accepting technology’s omnipresence in education. Moreover, the rise of subscription-based models indicates a shift towards democratizing elite education, though questions arise regarding its long-term implications on educational quality. Practical implications suggest educational institutions could leverage AI to optimize student learning experiences and explore subscription-based pricing strategies to increase access. However, a balanced approach, ensuring the human touch in education remains, is crucial. Furthermore, emphasizing local collaborations when expanding into new regions is essential. This study underscores the importance of adapting to technological advancements while ensuring holistic, high-quality, and globally inclusive educational experiences.Tässä tutkimuksessa syvennytään nopeasti kehittyvään jatko-opintojen verkkokoulutuksen maailmaan, keskittyen erityisesti verkkoon perustuviin MBA-ohjelmiin. Tutkimus paljastaa merkittäviä malleja ja tuoreita näkökulmia kattavan sisällönanalyysin ja osallistujahaastattelujen kautta. Tekoälyn muutosvoima oppimiskokemusten personoinnissa on tunnustettu, ja "AI-AL" työkalut korostuvat ei vain automaation välineinä, vaan dynaamisina kumppaneina yksilöllisten oppimiskokemusten kuratoinnissa. Toinen merkittävä löydös on "resignated acceptance" ilmiö, joka paljastaa yhteiskunnan siirtymisen kohti teknologian kaikkialla läsnä olevan hyväksymistä koulutuksessa. Lisäksi tilauspohjaisten mallien nousu viittaa siirtymään kohti eliittikoulutuksen demokratisointia, vaikka herääkin kysymyksiä sen pitkän aikavälin vaikutuksista koulutuksen laatuun. Käytännön seurauksena koulutuslaitokset voisivat hyödyntää tekoälyä optimoidakseen opiskelijoiden oppimiskokemuksia ja tutkia tilauspohjaisia hinnoittelustrategioita lisätäkseen saatavuutta. Kuitenkin tasapainoinen lähestymistapa, joka varmistaa inhimillisen kosketuksen säilymisen koulutuksessa, on ratkaisevan tärkeää. Lisäksi on olennaista korostaa paikallisia yhteistyökumppanuuksia laajentuessa uusille alueille. Tämä tutkimus korostaa teknologisiin edistysaskeliin sopeutumisen tärkeyttä samalla varmistaen kokonaisvaltaiset, korkealaatuiset ja maailmanlaajuisesti inklusiiviset koulutuskokemukset

A New Competence-based Approach for Personalizing MOOCs in a Mobile Collaborative and Networked Environment

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new disruptive development in higher education that combines openness and scalability in a most powerful way. They have the potential to widen participation in higher education. Thus, they contribute to social inclusion, the dissemination of knowledge and pedagogical innovation and also the internationalization of higher education institutions. However, one of the critical elements for a massive open language learning experience to be successful is to empower learners and to facilitate networked learning experiences. In fact, MOOCs are designed for an undefined number of participants, thus serving a high heterogeneity of profiles, with diverse learning styles and prior knowledge, and also contexts of participation and diversity of online platforms. Personalization can play a key role in this process. The iMOOC pedagogical model introduced the notion of diversity to MOOC design, allowing for a clear differentiation of learning paths and also virtual environments. In this article, the authors present a proposal based on the iMOOC approach for a new framework for personalizing and adapting MOOCs designed in a collaborative, networked pedagogical approach by identifying each participant's competence profile and prior knowledge, as well as the respective mobile communication device used to generate matching personalized learning. This article also shows the results obtained in a laboratory environment after an experiment has been performed with a prototype of the framework. It can be observed that creating personalized learning paths is possible and the next step is to test this framework with real experimental groups.Los cursos en línea masivos y abiertos (MOOC) son una nueva tendencia rompedora en la educación superior. Estos cursos combinan la propiedad de ser abiertos con la posibilidad de ser escalables de una forma muy potente. Tienen el potencial de permitir la participación en la educación superior para todas las personas, a todos los niveles. Por lo tanto, contribuyen a la inclusión social, la difusión del conocimiento y la innovación pedagógica, así como la internalización de las instituciones de educación superior. Sin embargo, uno de los elementos críticos para que tenga éxito una experiencia de aprendizaje de forma abierta y masiva es potenciar y facilitar una red de aprendizaje. De hecho, los MOOC no están diseñados para un número predefinido de participantes por lo que sirven para un alto número de perfiles heterogéneos, con diversidad de estilos de aprendizaje y conocimientos previos, pero también contextos de participación y diversidad de plataformas online. La personalización puede desempeñar un papel clave en este proceso. El modelo pedagógico iMOOC introdujo el principio de diversidad en el diseño de MOOC, permitiendo una clara diferenciación de caminos de aprendizaje y también entornos virtuales. En este artículo los autores presentan una propuesta basada en el enfoque de iMOOC, sobre un nuevo sistema para la personalización y adaptación de MOOC diseñados en un enfoque colaborativo y en una red pedagógica. El mecanismo es identificar cada competencia del perfil de los participantes, el conocimiento previo que estos tienen así como detectar sus respectivos dispositivos móviles, y se genera un camino de aprendizaje personalizado en base a estos parámetros. Este artículo también muestra los resultados obtenidos en un entorno de laboratorio después de un experimento llevado a cabo con un prototipo del sistema. Se puede observar que es posible crear caminos de aprendizaje personalizados y que el siguiente paso es probar este sistema con grupos experimentales reales

Teaching College Athletes Social Media Appropriateness

It may come as no surprise that Twitter is the most popular social media platform where student athletes, particularly men, post inappropriate content. Male student athletes’ inappropriate tweets have become such a problem for universities, athletic departments, and the NCAA that coaches are forced to place a ban on their players’ social media usage or hire third party monitoring systems. Unfortunately, these reactive responses have not alleviated the problem of athletes differentiating what content is appropriate or inappropriate to tweet on their Twitter accounts. Analysis of the data collected from scholarly journal articles, textbooks, and popular press articles revealed that social media education would be the most effective prevention method to lessen student athletes’ inappropriate tweets. This project uses Dr. Mark Robinson’s approach to Personal Player Development in constructing its two resources—multimedia workshops and an interactive Canvas site. The purpose of this project is for student athletes to be more aware of their social media content by knowing how to post appropriate tweet messages on their personal Twitter accounts in order to enable athletes, especially men, to comprehend why certain tweet messages are classified as inappropriate and, therefore, should never be made public. This project is significant because it proposes a preventative method based on increased social media awareness, as opposed to typical reactionary measures

2021 Conference Program

Final Conference Progra

Intelligent e-Learning Systems: An Educational Paradigm Shift

Learning is the long process of transforming information as well as experience into knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviors. To make up the wide gap between the demand of increasing higher education and comparatively limited resources, more and more educational institutes are looking into instructional technology. Use of online resources not only reduces the cost of education but also meet the needs of society. Intelligent e-learning has become one of the important channels to reach out to students exceeding geographic boundaries. Besides this, the characteristics of e-learning have complicated the process of education, and have brought challenges to both instructors and students. This paper will focus on the discussion of different discipline of intelligent e-learning like scaffolding based e-learning, personalized e-learning, confidence based e-learning, intelligent tutoring system, etc. to illuminate the educational paradigm shift in intelligent e-learning system

Online Teaching of Languages: A case study of Moi University, Kenya.

Online learning is the fastest growing trend in education. It has fundamentally changed the way people learn, communicate and do business. Its adoption at various levels of education can greatly transform the nature of education including “where” and “how” education takes place and the roles of students and the teachers in the learning process. Therefore information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a powerful tool for extending education opportunities, to previously disadvantaged areas which include: scattered rural populations traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities and gender. The use of computers (or even mobile phones) as tutors for drill and practice and instructional delivery combined with traditional instruction can result in increased  learning which will be evidenced in students learning more quickly, demonstrating greater retention and being better motivated to learn. The objective of this study is twofold: To find out the benefits of ICT in teaching of languages and also whether the teaching of languages online faces particular challenges as compared to other subjects, the study case being Moi University.   Key words    e-learning, language, m-learnin

Social and Cultural Diversity in Distance Education

With the expansion of global telecommunication networks and the worldwide demand for higher education, distance education has the potential to reach out internationally to enhance learning for diverse learners and increase intercultural awareness and communication. By definition, distance education is borderless (Latchem, 2005), although differences in sociocultural contexts, values and expectations of diverse educational systems and learners may prove to be its greatest challenge (Hanna, 2000). While distance education programs proclaim an international focus with international content and learners, instructional design and methods frequently carry Eurocentric Western bias. Distance educators need to be sensitive to social, cultural and educational differences, cultural assumptions embedded in courses, and “the imposition of cultural values and practices” (Latchem, 2005, p. 189)

I Can’t Get No (Need) Satisfaction: Applying Basic Psychological Needs Theory to Foster Human Connection and Improve Applicant Reactions in Asynchronous Video Interviews.

This research addresses the importance of making job applicants feel valued and respected, and tries to find ways to humanize high-stakes interactions in the digital age. In particular, this research experiments with designing one-way video interviews to increase applicants’ sense of connection to the hiring organization. The results underscore the need for organizations to develop these assessments with humane technology principles in mind, in order to foster positive reactions from applicants and secure top talent

Collaborative web-based teacher professional development system: a new direction for teacher professional development in Malaysia

A collaborative web based system enables people from distributed places to work collaboratively and share information with the help of computers and network technologies. With the advance in computer technology, the use of web based instructional systems to enhance and enliven the process of teaching and learning has gained momentum in educational community. A teacher professional development system is an online learning system which provides a platform for the in-service teachers to join training, share resources and build a collaborative learning community. This paper proposes a Collaborative Web-based Teacher Professional Development System to enhance the professional development of teachers in Malaysia. It also evaluates the current situation of teacher professional development in Malaysia; describe the need for such a system in Malaysia and overview existing professional development systems