Publications

In the aftermath of COVID-19, blended learning (BL) has emerged as the dominant mode of learning. With our university transitioning to a new campus where BL is expected to seamlessly integrate into its physical design, it is anticipated to become an indispensable component of the student experience. However, there appears to be a paucity of research into students’ perceptions of digital support and satisfaction with interactions within BLEs at higher education, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. In this paper, we utilize the learning analytics (LA) cycle as an overarching framework to shape our study’s methodology. Our aim was to examine students’ perceptions of digital relatedness support (DRS) and satisfaction with learner-technology interaction (SLTI) across three modules (n = 305) at our university. To achieve this objective, we conducted a cross-sectional survey complemented by focus group discussions (FGDs). Over 50% of respondents had positive perceptions of DRS and SLTI. In addition, statistically significant differences were observed between two pairs and one pair of modules for DRS and SLTI, respectively. The FGD data provided some possible reasons for the differences in DRS and SLTI scores across modules. This paper concludes with some recommendations to enhance DRS and SLTI.

Both important components of tertiary education. Prior gamification research in tertiary education has mostly evaluated gamification as a system and largely in structured curriculum-based learning environments. There is insufficient understanding as to how different gamification mechanics affect learning experiences in self-driven personal development areas outside of the structured curriculum. We present a study with 20 tertiary students over seven days with AdventureLEARN, a gamified online platform to engage students in a self-driven journey of continuous personal development alongside their curriculum work. Through an analysis of data collected from experience sampling and focus group discussions, we found that, amongst other findings, gamification mechanics that were meticulously contextualized to specific platform features afforded the most positive experiences across various dimensions, leading to our main insight highlighting the importance of maintaining a co-development process between individual gamification mechanics and platform features.

This study investigates the reciprocal relationship between students’ approaches to learning (SAL) and burnout among year-one university students. Prior research has linked SAL (i.e., deep, unreflective, organised studying) to burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, inadequacy), but few studies have explored the bidirectional relationship between SAL and burnout. To bridge this research gap, data from two cohorts of freshmen (Cohort 1, n = 261; Cohort 2, n = 216) were collected via the SAL scale (SALS) and school burnout inventory (SBI) at the beginning
and end of their first year. Both cohorts exhibited bidirectionality between unreflective approach (UA) and cynicism, indicating that increased UA could lead to higher cynicism, and vice-versa. These findings underscore the importance of recognizing the interplay between UA and cynicism for interventions targeting UA reduction and emphasizes the need to consider the potential unintended consequences of heightening freshmen’s cynical attiudes towards studying when attempting to reduce UA. 

User engagement (UE) is the quality of user experience marked by an individual’s affective, behavioural, cognitive, and temporal devotion when interacting with a digital system. UE appears to be highly dependent on the type of digital environment and thus it is important to measure whether students are engaged effectively when using the digital tools. The UES-SF is one instrument that has been used in recent years to measure user engagement. However, there is a paucity of research on its use in the Asian higher education context as prior studies have documented its use with mostly Western adult populations (O’Brien et al., 2018).
The initiative/practice. Our study has two objectives. First, we adapted the UES-SF to measure higher education students’ engagement with a series of online self-paced videos that we designed to engage students in learning Engineering mathematics and physics concepts. Second, we assessed the factor structure and reliability of the adapted UES-SF.
Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis. A sample of 155 participants from various Engineering degree programmes at a Singapore-based university completed the UES-SF at one time point within an academic term. The psychometric properties of the UESSF were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness. Results suggest that a four-factor solution was a mediocre fit to the data. Cronbach’s alpha for Focused Attention (FA), Perceived Usability (PU), Aesthetic Appeal (AE), and Reward (RW) were .54, .74, .84, and .88, respectively. These results suggest that the UES-SF could be a valid and reliable measure for user engagement with online self-paced videos. However, more research is needed with larger samples of university students across academic disciplines and institutions in the Asian context to verify the above findings. 

Many first-year university students often lack the skills to identify appropriate learning strategies, and this may lead to increased burnout (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009). Although grit has been found to act as a protective factor against burnout, however, the effect of students’ approaches to learning (SAL) in explaining or mediating the relation between grit and burnout, is still unexamined among higher education students. Grit (broadly defined as the passion and perseverance in striving for long term goals; Duckworth, 2016), burnout, and SAL are important factors for succeeding in university education.
The initiative/practice. This study examined if SAL acts as an intervening factor (mediator) between grit and burnout in a sample of 261 first-year students across various disciplines (e.g., Engineering, Health and Social Sciences, Infocomm Technology) at a Singapore-based university.
Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis. Data was collected via self-report questionnaires at two-time points, beginning (grit and SAL) and end (burnout) of the first year. A mediation model employing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was performed, with SAL as a mediator between grit and burnout.
Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness. The results revealed that unreflective approach mediated the relation between passion (i.e., grit) and cynicism (i.e., burnout), implying that adopting lower unreflective approaches explained why more passionate first-year students experienced lower cynicism. To reduce burnout, it is therefore important for educators to find practical ways to instil the passion in learning (e.g., cultivating gritty classroom culture, cultivating traits related to grit), in addition to reducing the focus on unreflective approaches to learning (e.g., fostering ability to monitor learning, relating learning to prior knowledge). Our study advances the understanding of how grit, SAL, and burnout are related, and potentially aids professionals at higher education intervene in the learning processes of first-year students. 

Low student engagement and motivation in online classes are well-known issues many universities face, especially with distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online environment makes it even harder for teachers to connect with their students through traditional verbal and nonverbal behaviours, further decreasing engagement. Yet, addressing such problems with 24/7 synchronous communication is overly demanding for faculty. This paper details an automated Question-Answering chatbot system trained in synchronous communication and instructor immediacy techniques to determine its suitability and effectiveness in attending to students undergoing an online Chemistry course. The chatbot is part of a new wave of affective focused chatbots that can benefit students’ learning process by connecting with them on a relatively more humanlike level. As part of the pilot study in the development of this chatbot, qualitative interviews and self-report data capturing student-chatbot interactions, experiences and opinions have been collected from 12 students in a Singaporean university. Thematic analysis was then employed to consolidate these findings. The results support the chatbot’s ability to display several communication immediacy techniques well, on top of responding to students at any time of the day. Having a private conversation with the chatbot also meant that the students could fully focus their attention and ask more questions to aid their learning. Improvements were suggested, in relation to the chatbot’s word detection and accuracy, accompanied by a framework to develop communication immediacy mechanics in future chatbots. Our findings support the potential of this chatbot, once modified, to be used in a similar online setting.