Journal of New Horizon in Higher Education

Language MOOCs in China: The Perspectives of Teachers and Learners

Jian-E Peng — 2023-06-15

Language Massive Online Open Courses (LMOOCs) have developed fast and attracted increasing research attention worldwide. However, little is known about the reasons that motivated instructors and learners to engage in LMOOCs and their perceptions of the features of good-quality LMOOCs in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. To address these gaps, this study used a questionnaire to elicit data from 51 instructors and 723 learners of LMOOCs in China. The results showed that many instructors and learners reported that their involvement in LMOOCs was largely related to departmental or university requirements. Many instructors endorsed intrinsic reasons such as keeping pace with the time and the new trend of teaching and providing learning resources to more people, while many learners admitted intrinsic reasons such as improving their English proficiency and acquiring more knowledge. This study identified three conspicuous aspects regarding the features of good-quality LMOOCs: instructors and course design, language assistance, and reinforcement and interaction activities. Implications for university administrators, designers, and instructors of LMOOCs are finally presented.

AI and the Future of Higher Education

Wirote Aroonmanakun — 2023-06-15

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education has the potential to bring many benefits, such as personalization, automation of certain tasks, and improvement of student outcomes. However, the implementation of AI in higher education also poses a number of limitations and challenges, such as lack of transparency, bias, job displacement, lack of creativity, privacy and security, and lack of human interaction. Additionally, it is important to consider the ethical considerations and implications of AI integration in higher education. This paper explores the current state of AI integration in higher education, the potential benefits, limitations and challenges of AI integration in higher education, and the ethical considerations that must be taken into account when implementing AI systems in higher education. The paper also highlights the importance of responsible and ethical implementation of AI in higher education, ongoing evaluation and monitoring of the impact of AI on student outcomes and experiences, and the potential long-term implications of AI integration in higher education.

Analyzing Student Learning Behavior in a Blended-Learning Environment in Thai Higher Education

Thanita Lerdpornkulrat — 2023-06-15

The purpose of this study was to design a blended learning course. This course was implemented at a higher education institution in Thailand. The face-to-face part was designed to teach the knowledge and information literacy skills necessary for living in a digital world. The activities in the classroom comprised both individual and group works. The course content and materials were available in the online part. Activities in the online part emphasized students’ self-regulated strategies. Online log data were analyzed to understand student learning behaviors towards blended-learning mode. This study supports the notion that effective blended learning approach can help students to improve their self-regulated strategies.

Translanguaging in English for Specific Purposes Classrooms in the Chinese Context: Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions

Yiqian Cao — 2023-06-15

This article reports on a study examining teachers’ and students’ perceptions of pedagogical translanguaging in an EAP programme at an English-medium Chinese university. Twelve teachers and thirty-three students participated in this study and four types of data were collected; videotaping of class interactions, teacher interviews, stimulated-recall interviews with student and researcher’s field notes. Results reveal that teachers had mixed views about pedagogical translanguaging. A number of teachers could put positive beliefs about translanguaging into practice and their translanguaging strategies included scaffolding from students’ first language for construction and transmission of knowledge. Results also show that some students engaged in translanguaging both in class and out of class freely, but their perceptions of translanguaging appeared to be negative. This article concludes with a discussion of the challenge of pedagogical translanguaging in bilingual classrooms, pedagogical implications and directions for future research.

Foresight in Higher Education: The US Perspective

Andy Hines — 2023-06-15

The state of foresight in higher education in the US remains precarious. Only a few programs have been able to maintain a long-term presence in academia. The landscape is littered with programs that have been started and unable to survive very long. Indeed, a new graduate program is launching in the Fall. There are single courses scattered across the country, but overall the climate for small niche programs has been historically and currently very challenging in US higher education. A mini-case study of the University of Houston program is offered, as it is the longest-running and currently only dedicated graduate program in the US. Its ups-and-downs may be instructive for others considering the establishment of a foresight graduate program.