Digital Tools for Innovative Higher Education Teaching - A Scoping Review of Empirical Studies

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has outbursts, changes in the teaching process are observable. What was a temporary countermeasure against the pandemic is now considered a didactic tool. More and more teachers and entire higher education institutions decided to permanently implement digital tools or innovative teaching methods into the didactic process. The continuous development of technology fosters innovation in the teaching process. It allows teachers to use newer and newer teaching tools, better and better adapted to the real needs of students. The main goal of this article is to point out, by a scoping review of the papers published between 2020 and 2023, the digital tools used in the teaching process at the higher education level. The review focuses only on the original articles written in English, which present studies on implementing innovative digital teaching tools. The article is a form of a preliminary catalog of didactic tools used at the higher education level in the last three years, with their quantitative presentation. The tools have been categorized according to the technologies they use and then assigned to the scientific disciplines in accordance with the OECD classification in which they were used

Using a General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL). A Literature Review of Empirical Studies

This paper examines peer-reviewed empirical studies using the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-learning (GETAMEL). We have created a framework for examining the effects of the set of external variables on e-learning acceptance. The study reviews the independent variables (Experience, Subjective Norms, Enjoyment, Computer Anxiety, and Self-efficacy), and dependent variables (Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitudes Towards Using, Intention to Use, and Actual Use), path coefficients, theoretical backgrounds, and the type of studies performed on the e-learning systems in the literature review. The paper examines the state of current research on the topic and points out gaps in the existing literature. The objective of the paper is both to provide an overview of the literature and to investigate the reasons for e-learning acceptance. As a result of the study, we present the mean values of the relations between variables adequate for the GETAMEL model in all the reviewed works. The findings of the review provide insight for further studies and the use of the GETAMEL model

Human Mobility Restrictions and COVID-19 Infection Rates: Analysis of Mobility Data and Coronavirus Spread in Poland and Portugal

This study examines the possibility of correlation between the data on human mobility restrictions and the COVID-19 infection rates in two European countries: Poland and Portugal. The aim of this study is to verify the correlation and causation between mobility changes and the infection spread as well as to investigate the impact of the introduced restrictions on changes in human mobility. The data were obtained from Google Community Mobility Reports, Apple Mobility Trends Reports, and The Humanitarian Data Exchange along with other reports published online. All the data were organized in one dataset, and three groups of variables were distinguished: restrictions, mobility, and intensity of the disease. The causal-comparative research design method is used for this study. The results show that in both countries the state restrictions reduced human mobility, with the strongest impact in places related to retail and recreation, grocery, pharmacy, and transit stations. At the same time, the data show that the increase in restrictions had strong positive correlation with stays in residential places both in Poland and Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cultural events in communication of chosen Silesian universities

Organizacja wydarzeń kulturalnych może służyć zarówno promocji uczelni wyższej, jak i budowaniu świadomości jej obecności w przestrzeni lokalnej. Jest formą komunikacji, jaką organizacja podejmuje ze środowiskiem zewnętrznym, a która często bazuje na jej misji. Spójność podjętych działań z celami organizacji może stanowić jeden z elementów kreowania wizerunku uczelni, a co za tym idzie, budowania relacji z otoczeniem w przestrzeni publicznej. Wydarzenia kulturalne z kolei stanowią element wpisujący się w instrumentarium public relations, a także angażujący społeczność lokalną. Cel artykułu to przedstawienie i analiza działań komunikacyjnych wybranych śląskich uczelni wyższych, jakie te podjęły w roku akademickim 2017/2018 poprzez zaangażowanie w działalność kulturalną.The organization of cultural events can be used to promote the university, as well as to build awareness of its presence in the local space. It is a form of communication that the organization takes with the external environment, and which is often based on its mission. Consistency of actions taken with the goals of the organization may be one of the elements of creating the image of the university, and thus building relationships with the environment in the public space. Cultural events, in turn, are an element of both the public relations and the involvement of the local community. The aim of the article is to present and analyze communication activities of selected Silesian universities, which they undertook in the academic year 2017/2018, through involvement in cultural activities

COVID-19 and Higher Education: First-Year Students’ Expectations toward Distance Learning

The article deals with distance education, which as a teaching method had to be suddenly introduced in schools and higher education institutions as a result of the global pandemic situation. The paper captures the second wave of Poland’s pandemic situation in relation to global circumstances and the methods of conducting distance learning used across the globe. The purpose of this study was to investigate first-year students’ expectations about the education shift to distance learning. GETAMEL, which is the adapted General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning, was used in the study. The study analyzed the influence of Experience, Subjective Norms, Enjoyment, Computer Anxiety, and Self-Efficacy on students’ expectations in the context of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. To test the research model presented during the research, The Partial Least Squares method of Structural Equation Modeling was used. An online survey was created to conduct the research, which collected data from 670 Polish first-year undergraduate students. The acquired data were analyzed using the SmartPLS 3 software. The results of the research indicated that the most important factors that influence the feelings of students and can convince them to change from teaching in the classroom to teaching in the distance learning model are the feeling of pleasure in this form of education and a sense of self-efficacy. The results of this study may be of particular interest to education practitioners, including teachers, and a starting point for further research on e-learning models, including, in particular, the understanding of students’ expectations regarding distance learning

Digital and Media Literacies in the Polish Education System—Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Perspective

Digital and media literacies refer to a specific set of skills and abilities. The range of these skills as they concern the educational process has been broadly discussed. In this paper, we analyzed the Polish educational system to determine the scope of the sorts of digital skills young people and students should achieve in order to be considered digitally and media literate. We compared sets of recommendations from the last ten years issued by different national governmental and nonprofit organizations for the Polish education system. We identified a set of skills that should be expected to be possessed by young people and students during their education. Additionally, we discussed results regarding the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift from regular education to distance learning