GTEL Research

Proceeding

About GTEL 23

With technological advancements impacting every aspect of our lives, educational institutions need to ride the wave of innovation and technology to shape the future of education and satisfy the growing demands of the 21st century skills.  The general theme of the forum is “e-learning: transforming the lives of societies for a better future”.

Therefore, the GTEL Proceeding provides cutting-edge science and technology research articles that discuss the most recent developments, trends, technologies, and practices shaping the future of e-learning. The proceeding fosters the exchange of knowledge and helps educational personnel address critical issues through innovative solutions and optimal use of available EdTech. The aim is to create a platform to support the provision of high-quality, sustainable, and widely-accessible learning.

GTEL is calling for cutting-edge science and technology research papers. All full paper submissions will be peer-reviewed and evaluated based on originality, technical and/or research depth, and accuracy & relevance to the forum theme and topics. Submitted papers will be published as Elsevier SSRN Proceeding and some selected papers will be published in a special issue in an ISI and/or Scopus indexed Journal.

GTEL 2023 Main Themes:

New emerging trends driving the evolution of e-learning approaches present questions of sustainability in their design, development, execution, and delivery. Hence, e-learning has become the focus of attention for policymakers and educational personnel who are looking for and focusing on sustainability. This panel explores the best practices leading to a continually growing and healthy digital learning ecosystem in which knowledge is co-created and shared in a community.

The 21st-century skills such as creativity, leadership, and communication are crucial for learners to succeed in the Information Age. This panel discovers methods and technologies that help to integrate such skills into the design, delivery, and curriculum of e-learning systems. Many promising approaches will be discussed such as immersive learning and personalized learning.

In traditional educational systems, students participate in extracurricular activities and student clubs while engaging in many on-campus services such as counseling and mentorship. This panel aims to equip teachers with technologies and methods that provide students in e-learning environments with a truly well-rounded educational experience.

Education professionals are pursuing ventures for more technologically-advanced teaching and learning methodologies and tools in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This panel discusses the design, development, and delivery of STEM disciplines which require particular focus to identify the existing challenges and highlight the promising opportunities to offer optimal solutions.

Behind each screen of online education, there is a student with a unique background and abilities. This panel investigates problems and suggests solutions towards more inclusive and accessible e-learning systems that include and accommodate all students.

In the age of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), educational systems should prepare the future workforce for a rapidly-changing world. This panel discusses ways of enhancing the design and delivery of teaching and learning through 4IR technologies. Innovation-based education and personalized adaptive learning are among many novel approaches to be addressed.

Proceeding Articles

Author: Adam Marks

Abstract: 

This paper presents key findings from a study conducted with several universities in the GCC region regarding their approach and use of e-Assessment within their learning environments. The study identifies key factors that could impact the use and quality of e-Assessment, and describe how those factors could influence forming a consistent and effective approach to employ a long-term e-Assessment approach.   Data was collected from several higher education institutions in the GCC region, using an online surveys, in-depth interviews with academic administrators, and direct observation. The study identifies six critical factors that may have a direct or indirect impact on forming a consistent and effective approach to employ a long-term e-Assessment approach. Moreover, the study reveals a strong correlation between e-Assessment quality, and the centralization of e-Assessment strategy, e-Assessment administration, and e-Assessment Technology.

Authors: Nawaf N. Hamadneh, and Jamil J. Jaber

Abstract: 

Assessment of multifaceted E-Learning literature lends itself to understanding and identifying themes and future research directions impacting STEM learning and teaching. This paper reports on bibliometric literature analysis of STEM E-Learning. It considers conference and journal publication trends in E-learning to identify emerging research themes from the standpoint of trans/multi-disciplinary scholarship and technology. We used Elsevier’s SCOPUS database to find relevant publications from January 2013 to August 2022. Using publication citation ranking and other factors (e.g., publication venues), we selected 194 articles and then analyzed them using BibExcel and VOSviewer software tools. This study shows an increase in publications during the 2019-2020 period, followed by a decline beginning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A thematic analysis of the abstracts and selected full papers revealed a strong focus on utilizing mixtures of Augmented/Virtual Reality, simulations, and others for mixed-modality learning and teaching. Emerging technologies are essential for improving or creating new kinds of anywhere/anytime platforms needed for STEM virtual labs. We highlight these findings to understand better and meet the enduring challenge of scaling STEM E-Learning across diverse communities of students and educators at higher-education institutions.

Authors: Muhammad Babar Shahzad

Abstract: 

The global education system got derailed by the worldwide lockdown imposed during covid-19, and colleges and universities were closed during covid-19 pandemic across the globe. This pedological shift in the medium of instruction to online education from conventional classroom education has forced research scientists and education institutes to think about how they can effectively teach their students. Almost two decades of research are available that compare the effectiveness of online and classroom-based education. However, the results are still nonconclusive, and past studies primarily focus on academic results instead of performance on the job. Research scholars have argued about the dearth of research examining the relationship between educational level and job performance. Moreover, during covid-19, one way of work adopted extensively across the world was working from home and giving more autonomy to the workers in scheduling, doing, and making decisions regarding their work. This study examined the effect of greater job autonomy on job performance in e-learning and conventional education graduates using the time-lagged method. This study also examined the direct and moderating effect of e-learning and conventional education on the performance of employees working in remote environments and offices. The results revealed that e-learning education graduates could perform better only in virtual working environments compared to conventional education graduates. Moreover, no difference could be observed in the performance of both modes of education graduates in work-from-office settings. Job autonomy had a positive effect on job performance in both samples. The limitation of the study and practical implications and future direction for research is included in the paper.

Authors: Eman Attallah Aljabarti, Mohd Shahizan Othman

Abstract: 

Remarkable progress is being made in straddling the boundaries between the actual and the virtual worlds. Computers have become an essential aspect of everyday life as more and more people use them to complete a wide range of jobs, from online learning to shopping. When a user’s level of involvement with the system (s)he is dealing with is recognized, the system’s response to the user may be altered. As a result, e-learning benefits from cheaper costs and greater value. Machine learning is one of the goals of educational research that focuses on learning behavior analysis. It’s a goal of e-learning to help students overcome the downsides of e-learning environments, such as prone inattention during the class, which can degrade student productivity and outcomes. Teachers can get quick feedback and make adaptive adaptations to meet the requirements of their students when they can accurately forecast their engagement. Researchers have made great strides in the field, yet many of their methods rely on the inefficient feature extraction methods or learn global features. Using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model, we provide a new method for detecting student involvement in this work, called Local-SVM. The local feature extraction is done using the MoveNet model, which selects 17 unique key-points and extracts their values. The proposed model is assessed on the DAiSEE dataset and compared to K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and existing state-of-the-art techniques. This strategy outperforms the competitors by a wide margin, according to evaluation matrices and expert feedback.

Authors: Ehsan Ahmad, and Hessam S. Sarjoughian

Abstract: 

Assessment of multifaceted E-Learning literature lends itself to understanding and identifying themes and future research directions impacting STEM learning and teaching. This paper reports on bibliometric literature analysis of STEM E-Learning. It considers conference and journal publication trends in E-learning to identify emerging research themes from the standpoint of trans/multi-disciplinary scholarship and technology. We used Elsevier’s SCOPUS database to find relevant publications from January 2013 to August 2022. Using publication citation ranking and other factors (e.g., publication venues), we selected 194 articles and then analyzed them using BibExcel and VOSviewer software tools. This study shows an increase in publications during the 2019-2020 period, followed by a decline beginning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A thematic analysis of the abstracts and selected full papers revealed a strong focus on utilizing mixtures of Augmented/Virtual Reality, simulations, and others for mixed-modality learning and teaching. Emerging technologies are essential for improving or creating new kinds of anywhere/anytime platforms needed for STEM virtual labs. We highlight these findings to understand better and meet the enduring challenge of scaling STEM E-Learning across diverse communities of students and educators at higher-education institutions.

Authors: Ahmad R. Pratama, Moneer Alshaikh, Talal Alharbi

Abstract:

As authentication mechanisms, passwords are the most prevalent cybersecurity measure employed. Despite its limitations and a few attempts by security researchers and experts to replace passwords with a more secure and convenient alternative, passwords continue to serve as the sole authentication method for a variety of platforms, systems, and applications. Increasing user awareness of what makes a password strong must remain a major goal. Although numerous attempts have been made to educate users on this topic, such interventions may not be equally effective. In this work, we ran a survey experiment with 168 IT students from Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to see whether two different approaches in the form of educational infographics yielded different results in terms of user knowledge of password strength. Even though one method generated a somewhat higher score in terms of knowledge, the results suggested that there was no meaningful difference between the two methods. We believe that implementing situated learning in the form of a dynamic password meter that changes in real time as the user puts in each character while establishing their passwords would result in improved knowledge and, consequently, awareness. Additional research is required to confirm this hypothesis.

Authors: Mirko Widenhorn, Darcy W. Hardy, Joel Armando, Adriana Botha, Rob Robinson

Abstract:

The higher education ecosystem has prioritized digital transformation for years, but the pandemic catalyzed and accelerated transformation efforts. In parallel, student expectations have also shifted dramatically, deepening a gap between how universities approach digital learning and what students seek in their individual learner experience. As universities plan ahead to meet the needs of tomorrow’s students, this research analyzes key themes identified by students and university leaders across ten different countries about technology, student support, and other critical topics to help inform the direction of global higher education.

Authors: Thomas F. Jepsen, Theo Cooke

Abstract:

The distinction between in-person and distance learning creates unique challenges for learning institutions. It has been well-noted how the impact of offering multi-modal pathways for students deepens our education systems, fostering equitable and inclusive learning communities. In turn, this democratises the route to employment for students, creating deeper and more diverse economies and fairer societies. Events over the last three years have put front and centre the advantages of e-learning, as well as many of its current deficits. Our leaders, particularly those who oversee the direction of the education sector are now sensitised to a more flexible way of working. Before the global pandemic, online learning was a conventional way of engaging in education for certain cohorts of students. This paper will focus on those groups, to examine how we build more inclusive and accessible e-learning approaches that cater for the needs of disadvantaged students – specifically in Higher Education – while harnessing the power of digital technologies in such a way to enhance the student experience for all.

Authors: Shahnawaz Khana, Ayman AlDamoor, Sultan AlAmri

Abstract:

Industry 4.0 refers to rapidly evolving technology in a variety of disciplines that aims to improve process efficiency across all the industrial sectors, services, and products, including education. Education 4.0 modifies traditional educational systems to incorporate these new innovations. Education 4.0 is a learning technique associated with the fourth industrial revolution that focuses on transforming education’s future through advanced technology and automation. Furthermore, the complexities of Education 4.0 necessitate that all students be equipped with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills in order to solve most interdisciplinary problems. This paper investigates the significance of STEM skills in transforming education systems into Education 4.0 and explores some approaches for aligning teaching and learning methods with these skills to ensure that students are successfully prepared for the fourth industrial revolution.

GTEL Objectives:

  • Establish a scientific platform that contributes to providing high-quality, sustainable, and advanced education which can be accessed on a large scale to meet the ambitious goals of Saudi Vision 2030

  • Promote knowledge-sharing and discover the next significant developments in e-learning.

  • Advance the skills and knowledge of educational personnel so that they are prepared to enhance and accelerate the digital transformation of education.

  • Fast and Lightweight

  • Bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to present their work and discuss challenges and opportunities in the field of e-learning.

  • Present and promote the latest research on e-learning theories, methodologies, and tools

General Chair:

Dr. Raniyah Wazirali

Saudi Electronic University

Dr. Maha Helal

Saudi Electronic University

Dr. Mousa Alakhras

Jordan University

Dr. Rania Almujalad

Saudi Electronic University

Dr. Ali Alammary

Saudi Electronic University

Dr. Sultan Alamri

Saudi Electronic University