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Journals
Societies
Special Issues
The Social Utility and Desirability of E-learning
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The Social Utility and Desirability of E-learning

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2021) | Viewed by 5992

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Crisanta-Alina Mazilescu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Teacher Training Department, Politehnica University Timisoara, 300006 Timișoara, Romania
Interests: values; desirability and social utility; normativity; teaching and learning science and technology
Dr. Irina Elena Macsinga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara, 300223 Timișoara, Romania
Interests: personality; decision; explicit and implicit attitudes; subjective well-being; educational relationship
Dr. Diana Andone

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
eLearning Center, Politehnica University Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: online learning; open education; educational technologies; open educational resources; massive, open online courses; digital skills

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, online teaching and learning are becoming necessary for education, and the use of the Internet to teach and learn is inevitable for both teachers and students. As a result of the restrictions that have been enforced to protect nations against COVID-19, professors and students have adapted to new forms of educational communication, by starting to teach and learn in a virtual environment. Some of the students have taken the use of new communication techniques, new pedagogical tools and new teaching styles as a learning challenge. The same goes for many teachers, especially those who were not familiar with information technology before.

At a time like this, when the need to use e-learning is greater than ever, and in order to contribute to the success of using such systems in various locations and educational situations, we hereby propose that the research included in this Special Issue of the journal focuses on e-learning and the implications of the personal and social factors, as well as the pedagogical needs of the actors involved in the online teaching and learning process.

This Special Issue of the journal Societies aims to address the main issues of concern within e-learning, considering both technical and non-technical aspects: e-skills and information literacy for learning, e-learning methods, e-learning curriculum development issues, instructional design issues, and last but not least, technological issues.

The point of interest and novelty of this Special Issue will be the focus on research which covers the social utility of e-learning systems being used during this period of time, and their level of attractiveness and desirability within educational and social groups.

Interdisciplinary approaches will be of particular interest.

Contributions have to follow one of the three main categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal, and address the topic of the Special Issue.

Dr. Crisanta-Alina Mazilescu
Dr. Irina Elena Macsinga
Dr. Diana Andone
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • e-learning
  • e-skills
  • learner satisfaction
  • social values
  • e-learning methods
  • e-learning curriculum development
  • instructional design
  • open education
  • open educational resources
  • educational technologies

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 2825 KiB  
Article
Social Innovation in the Undergraduate Architecture Studio
by Aleksandra Krstikj
Societies 2021, 11(1), 26; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/soc11010026 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2552
Abstract
Social innovation has been gaining attention as an alternative method for defining socially constructed problems and their solutions in times of failure of more conventional methods. This study focused on the potential of undergraduate architecture students for social innovation in public space production. [...] Read more.
Social innovation has been gaining attention as an alternative method for defining socially constructed problems and their solutions in times of failure of more conventional methods. This study focused on the potential of undergraduate architecture students for social innovation in public space production. A novel collaborative educational method was proposed based on a conceptual framework of social extrapreneurs’ platforms of exploration, experimentation and execution, and problem-based learning. The method was designed for 90 h synchronous and 90 h asynchronous work, in a remote teaching mode. The benefit of the method was foreseen in improving the social processes of public space production, especially in areas with pronounced discrimination. Social innovation in planning is crucial for the capacity of imagining better futures in the context of a system’s evolutionary resilience and has the potential for democratization of public place design. Preliminary results show that the proposed method enables critical thinking, sets the base of action on social justice, and turns students into active agents of social change; thus, it provides an important contribution to the necessary, but still uncharted, paradigm shift in architectural education from an object- to people-driven design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Social Utility and Desirability of E-learning)
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11 pages, 379 KiB  
Concept Paper
A Reflexive GOAL Framework for Achieving Student-Centered Learning in European Higher Education: From Class Learning to Community Engagement
by Costas S. Constantinou
Societies 2020, 10(4), 75; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/soc10040075 - 26 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2711
Abstract
Student-centered learning (SCL) has been acknowledged and supported by research as very important for helping students develop life-long independent learning and transferable skills. Yet the implementation of SCL in European higher education has been patchy where experts in the field call for the [...] Read more.
Student-centered learning (SCL) has been acknowledged and supported by research as very important for helping students develop life-long independent learning and transferable skills. Yet the implementation of SCL in European higher education has been patchy where experts in the field call for the need for a framework that could guide higher education institutions (HEIs) in designing and implementing SCL. This paper aims to fill in this identified gap by reflecting on the basic literature and social theory to propose the reflexive GOAL (Goals (vision and objectives), Organization (structures), Actions (immersion into structures and actions), and Learning a culture (instilled through reflexivity)) framework for the implementation of SCL in higher education in its broader sense to encompass elements from in-class learning to extra-curricular and community engagement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Social Utility and Desirability of E-learning)
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