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University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 19591

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Santiago Tejedor Calvo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Interests: journalism; the application of AI to journalism; fake news; big data
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Laura Cervi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Interests: populism; political discourse; political communication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The education system, at all levels, has been impacted by the global crisis of the coronavirus. In this context, teachers have had to redefine, reformulate, and reinvent their educational proposals. From materials to classroom dynamics, COVID-19 has been an invitation to exercise innovation and creativity in the educational scenario.

The pandemic has boosted the presence of screens and other types of platforms in academic training. Moreover, it has reopened a perennial debate in the educational scenario: the urgency to renew and innovate in educational processes (see, for example, Tejedor, Cervi, Tusa, Parola, 2020; González-Calvo et al., 2020). On this basis, this Special Issue invites colleagues to reflect on the concept of innovation and creativity in the educational setting, from schools to universities.

Both single and comparative case studies are welcomed, focusing on proposals, good practices, research, and experiences that, in the pandemic context, have opted for creativity, innovation, and a reinvention of teaching and learning methodologies.

References:

González-Calvo, G., Barba-Martín, R.A., Bores-García, D. and Gallego-Lema, V. (2020). The COVID-19 as a Threat to the Professional Development of Future Teachers. International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 2(9), 152- 177. http://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2020.5783

Tejedor S, Cervi L, Pérez-Escoda A, Tusa F, Parola A. Higher Education Response in the Time of Coronavirus: Perceptions of Teachers and Students, and Open Innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity. 2021; 7(1):43. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc7010043

Tejedor, S., Cervi, L., Tusa, F. and Parola, A. (2020). Education in times of pandemic: reflections of students and teachers on virtual university teaching in Spain, Italy and Ecuador. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 78, 1-21. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS2020-1466

Dr. Santiago Tejedor Calvo
Dr. Laura Cervi
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 short communications 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 single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 3462 KiB  
Article
Improving Design Project Management in Remote Learning
by María Belén Calavia, Teresa Blanco, Roberto Casas and Belén Dieste
Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 11025; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141711025 - 3 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2881
Abstract
Design Thinking has the potential to train the soft skills of preservice teachers who will need to continuously design their future towards sustainable education. However, Design Thinking is intrinsically complex, and managing its learning and projects with large groups is not straightforward, especially [...] Read more.
Design Thinking has the potential to train the soft skills of preservice teachers who will need to continuously design their future towards sustainable education. However, Design Thinking is intrinsically complex, and managing its learning and projects with large groups is not straightforward, especially in remote situations such as COVID-19. From collaborative work among disciplines, this study introduces a Design Thinking-based board to improve the implementation and management of remote design projects. This board was applied with university-level preservice teachers who worked in teams to design instructional materials for preschool. We assessed the perception of the usefulness of the board by the preservice teachers and the teachers responsible for their training, using mixed methods in two consecutive courses. The board was perceived as helpful in developing design projects and improving collaborative learning. It was beneficial for the management, monitoring, and communication, enriching the project process and outcomes. From the achieved learning, we provide guidelines for designing and using these boards to aid educators and researchers in integrating Design Thinking and developing practical and sustainable solutions. This study contributes to the natural integration of Design Thinking and technology in preservice teachers’ education with a replicable and flexible process, improving the quality of education for future generations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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22 pages, 22599 KiB  
Article
Educational Systematized Design Thinking Platform—Case of Study: Bus Stop
by Luis F. Luque-Vega, Miriam A. Carlos-Mancilla, Emmanuel Lopez-Neri, Juan C. Orozco-Sierra and Rocío Carrasco-Navarro
Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 8958; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14158958 - 22 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2593
Abstract
Due to the pandemic caused by the SARSCoV-2 virus, higher education institutions need to develop innovations to accelerate change adaptation and give way to new teaching–learning processes. Since design thinking is currently used in an inspirational way to find solutions to problems, this [...] Read more.
Due to the pandemic caused by the SARSCoV-2 virus, higher education institutions need to develop innovations to accelerate change adaptation and give way to new teaching–learning processes. Since design thinking is currently used in an inspirational way to find solutions to problems, this work presents the design of an Educational Systematized Design Thinking (ESDT) methodology based on a hybrid approach of Kano’s model and the minimum value product creation. Moreover, its implementation is carried out to generate the so-called ESDT platform, which is a tool that students, teachers, and educational researchers can use to work remotely. A case study to respond to a fundamental design problem in the community of a group of architecture students is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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19 pages, 702 KiB  
Article
Impact of Personality Traits and Information Privacy Concern on E-Learning Environment Adoption during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Investigation
by Mei-Hui Peng and Bireswar Dutta
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 8031; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138031 - 30 Jun 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3098
Abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching and learning processes have experienced significant changes. Higher education institutions in Taiwan employed crisis intervention measures to instantly implement unified learning methods such as online teaching and learning. However, students had no time to prepare. Thus, [...] Read more.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching and learning processes have experienced significant changes. Higher education institutions in Taiwan employed crisis intervention measures to instantly implement unified learning methods such as online teaching and learning. However, students had no time to prepare. Thus, the study explored the relationship between personality traits and the belief in conspiracy theory as antecedents of students’ concern for information privacy (CFIP) and the subsequent relationship between students’ CFIP and behavioral intention to report their personal information to e-learning service providers concerning the adoption of the e-learning environment. This cross-sectional study employed a questionnaire to accumulate data from university students in Taiwan. A total of 285 valid responses were used for the final analysis. The research framework was evaluated by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results suggest the proposed model explains about 66.4% of the variance of behavioral intention (R2 = 0.664). The findings support that four personality traits—agreeableness, openness to experiences, conscientiousness, and neuroticism—and belief in conspiracy theory significantly influenced students’ CFIP. However, concerning extraversion, an insignificant path coefficient was reported. CFIP mediates the relationship between belief in conspiracy theory and behavioral intention. E-learning service providers should consider these determinants in improving and endorsing principles concerning e-learning environment adoption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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14 pages, 2036 KiB  
Article
A Proposed Strategy Based on Instructional Design Models through an LMS to Develop Online Learning in Higher Education Considering the Lockdown Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Aljawharah M. Aldosari, Hala F. Eid and Yi-Ping Phoebe Chen
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7843; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137843 - 27 Jun 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3569
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 1.6 billion children and young people in 161 countries, nearly 80% of students enrolled in education systems globally, out of school. Many countries have resorted to online learning to reduce the repercussions of this shutdown. Many [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 1.6 billion children and young people in 161 countries, nearly 80% of students enrolled in education systems globally, out of school. Many countries have resorted to online learning to reduce the repercussions of this shutdown. Many challenges have emerged, the most important of which are infrastructure and communication, and the knowledge of teachers and administrators of the necessary tools and processes are also key factors in providing online learning. In fact, nationwide lockdowns could have been an opportunity to test technological interventions for distance learning. Unfortunately, few systems have reached this point and are ready for implementation. The current study aimed to propose a strategy for distance education using the focus group method to gather the opinions of experts in the field of learning technologies and analyze their responses using text analysis software considering the McKinsey 7S Framework. The study found that the proposed strategy based on instructional design models that use OERs, i.e., blogs, audio recordings, and other resources, can improve the quality and efficiency of learning, provide students with skills, and achieve sustainable development goals in education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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13 pages, 1805 KiB  
Article
Rethinking the Campus Experience in a Post-COVID World: A Multi-Stakeholder Design Thinking Experiment
by Guilherme Victorino, Rita Bandeira, Marco Painho, Roberto Henriques and Pedro S. Coelho
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7655; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137655 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3374
Abstract
In a post-COVID world, rethinking the campus experience is critical for defining new pedagogical strategies. As higher education moves toward more student-centred action learning models, university leaders should engage in democratic design methods that empower students and professors. Design thinking (DT) is a [...] Read more.
In a post-COVID world, rethinking the campus experience is critical for defining new pedagogical strategies. As higher education moves toward more student-centred action learning models, university leaders should engage in democratic design methods that empower students and professors. Design thinking (DT) is a user-centred design approach that can aid in the creation of future learning environments. While DT has been used in innovative space design, we know little about how students, professors, and other community members can act as codesign partners. To understand their role in codesign and how their experiences are incorporated into new building design decisions, we need a conceptual model. To develop this model, we examined a case study of the evolutionary co-design process of a new building for a leading information management school in Europe. Using the concept of three phases of design thinking defined by Brown (2009): Inspire, Ideate, and Implement, we collaborated with a group of 50 design thinking students and more than 500 members of the community representing different stakeholders, to create new spaces and rethink the learning experience. Our discussion will centre on the creation of a participatory design thinking model that positions students as design partners alongside university decision makers. The findings conclude that, by applying design thinking methods, it was possible to unveil new dimensions of the success of future campuses that go beyond the building design. Creating meaningful learning spaces that inspire creativity and critical thinking requires an alignment between human centred design, organizational change management and new pedagogical strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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22 pages, 2927 KiB  
Article
Being Innovative in Running an Online Food Research Project in Consumer Sciences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Annchen Mielmann
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13517; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413517 - 7 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2869
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged many higher education institutions to accelerate the implementation of teaching and learning through an online mode of delivery. The unpredicted shift to online learning created unprecedented challenges for Consumer Sciences students which usually perform laboratory-oriented research projects; however, any [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged many higher education institutions to accelerate the implementation of teaching and learning through an online mode of delivery. The unpredicted shift to online learning created unprecedented challenges for Consumer Sciences students which usually perform laboratory-oriented research projects; however, any employable skills acquired during undergraduate studies should be transferable to new circumstances within different working contexts. The aim of this article is to provide educators with a basic 10-step approach to complete an online food research project and to consider students’ engagement, reflections and experiences. The article consists of three parts. The first part provides ten research steps to complete an online food research project, followed by students’ reflections of the research project. The second part presents the results on students’ online engagement with an e-learning platform. The third part presents the results of students’ experiences from the university’s student survey of the lectured module. Recommendations made from students’ reflections stimulated their higher-order thinking as they comprehended the value and importance of research, project based-learning and critical evaluation for future improvement. Educators are responsible for helping students discover their own support networks, to provide opportunities and events to share their values and work, and to motivate and encourage student engagement and reflective discussions in the online environment to stimulate higher-order thinking and enhance students’ professional and sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue University Education in the Age of COVID-19: Creativity, Innovation and New Methodologies)
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