Portable Video Conferencing Toolkits and Online Applications for Engaging Learning Experience Design in Higher Education Classroom

<< Background >>Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the higher educational institutions’ educators and students were meeting in hybrid modalities, where an educator was in a classroom with some students and the rest were attending from home. The software video conferencing systems (VCS) alone were not sufficient to communicate the teachers’ writing on a board, presentation slides, gesture and posture, and engage students in groups or individually with differentiated or engaging activities. Additional online applications and accessories were used along with VCS for sending the information interfaces a student gets in a face-to-face classroom.Research showed that the students engage and participate less in online sessions, get excluded by turning off video and microphone to avoid technical issues, and require higher levels of motivation to be active in the courses. The problems are endorsed by educators, students, and e-learning consultants at higher educational institutions. Understanding the classroom environment (i.e. lecture gallery, design studio, science lab, etc.) and the project addressed by making portable video-conferencing toolkits, a list of online applications to engage students, and training resources to uphold the quality of teaching.<< Objectives >>(1) to improve synchronous online/blended teaching, by (a) conducting a systematic literature review on the technological and pedagogical factors associated with user experiences in synchronous online classes, (b) by collecting scenarios of educational video conferencing (EdViCon) and identifying challenges, following the Design Thinking methodology, and (c) designing two toolkits/institution for EdViCon based on ideating and testing multiple prototypes in various contexts. (2), to facilitate capacity building among educators to become professional online and blended tutors or teachers’ trainers (a) by designing and evaluating teacher training materials on EdViCon, (b) by presenting the technological and pedagogical best practices in the form of educational materials and a competence matrix for engaging students using online applications, (c) by organizing two educator training workshops and form a reproducible model (3) to improve the quality of VCS-supported teaching by (a) producing training materials on EdViCon (b) developing competence matrices for educators and students, (c) developing self-assessment tools for self-reflection and evaluation of training (d) involving stakeholders, and (e) disseminating project results.<< Implementation >>The production of the project results was the central activity of the project. We applied ‘design thinking’ as a digital transformation process for improving the online synchronous teaching-learning experience by developing two portable video-conferencing toolkits/institution and online applications in a good pedagogical design. We involved educators, students, e-learning professionals along with IT support, and higher education policymakers throughout the process. Through review of literature, user interviews, survey, observation and workshops, purchase and trial use, training, the digital readiness and capacity among the students, educators, IT support and e-learning roles were improved. Other activities of the project included external communication and outreach activities across Europe and Asia throughout the lifetime of the project, including six multiplier events. The project also engaged in training activities by organizing two training events, one in Europe and one in Asia, creating a broader impact. The project included activities dedicated to the wide dissemination of the project results, including the publication of the results in academic venues, supplying guides and documentation, and using multiple platforms.<< Results >>The main five outputs (R1–R5) are:R1: Five literature reviews (one journal article, four manuscripts)R2:(a) Six empirical study papers/manuscripts on the scenarios and use of EdViCon and interactive online tools(b) Summary document on pain points and parameters of EdViCon good practicesR3:(a) EdViCon tools anthology compiling ideation and 13 toolkits(b) EdViCon toolkits infographics – 2 pages per partner university in the consortiumR4:(a) Handbook on developing educational materials using the uQualio platform and introduction to 10 training modules on two portable EdViCon toolkits and tools for engaging students(b) EdViCon Handbook on conducting workshops: Guidelines to learn technologies and tools for applying EdViCon modules(c) Report on the impact of VCS integration workshops on teaching competencies(d) Report on EdViCon needs analysis surveyR5:(a) Open-access white paper on scoping review of digital competence frameworks, matrices, and assessment tools for EdViCon(b) A matrix in French – Towards a self-assessment tool as a trigger for a reflective skills development process (conference paper, poster, flyer)(c) Report on proposed framework and self-assessment instrument for teachers and students