Accessibility, inclusiveness, diversity play a great role to promote smart society in terms of equality for every citizen. Todays’ crises, is defined as pandemic times and therefore adaptions of education systems to make diversity and connectivity is essential. In this respect, challenges of adaptation to the relevant society tools and barriers of involving online learning were considered in this research study. This research study aims to evaluate the readiness to online learning and barriers of adaptation process in reaching out being smart society.  Qualitative research was employed in this research and online interview forms were conducted to get data from 10 academicians and 5 head of departments as research participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Research results revealed that academicians are aware of accessible services and applications to being smart university through online education tools for the quality but still there is much to do in applications. In addition, establishing strategies and policies for the smart university and services are intensified need for the learners in terms of managerial and instructional skills. Barriers in online learning and roles of instructors, managers were revealed.

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Readiness to Online Learning: To Be A Smart University

This research study aims to evaluate the capacity and sustainability of an accessible society as a smart society and services with the help of MOOCs and assistive technologies within the learning analytics framework.,Qualitative research was employed in this research that interview forms were conducted to get data from 60 participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.,Research results revealed that MOOCs and assertive technologies are crucial for smart society and opens a map for open pedagogy. Accessible media, services and applications in smart societies are key elements for disabled people lives.,Research is limited to numbers of research participants in northern part of Cyprus.,Establishing strategies and policies for the smart and accessible society and services are intensified need for the disabled people within the framework of learning analytics.,Assistive technologies become medium of facilitating accessible and smart society and services for everyone.,Education plays a great role to enrich services of societies in order to create inclusive efforts to the life of disabled people. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) underline the main theme of making inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. In this respect, accessibility, inclusiveness, equity, equality, quality for lifelong learning are main components to foster accessible and smart society for everyone. Integrating the importance of learning analytics creates a value for understanding of being smart society.

Accessible services for smart societies in learning

There is evidence that Iranian preschool children are increasingly spending their time in front of screens (screen time: ST; time spent with any screen such as TVs, computers, tablets, smartphones, game consoles, or video games), but few studies have explored the possible causes of such an increase. Given this, the present study aimed to qualitatively explore determinants of excessive ST in Iranian children. To this end, parents of preschool children were interviewed, and their answers were qualitatively clustered to identify additional important factors. Key informant interviews were conducted with parents of preschool children in Tehran (Iran). A semi-structured interview was developed to assess child and family life, daily routine, family rules, family interactions, and home climate as possible contributing factors to ST. Parents’ audiotaped statements were transcripted verbatim, coded, and clustered into main themes using thematic analysis with the MaxQda® software. A total of 20 parents of children aged 2 to 7 were interviewed, and a total of 6 key themes and 28 subthemes were extracted from their interviews. The results of the analysis identified a broad range of both independent and interrelated factors leading to the development and maintenance of ST behaviors among preschool children. Our findings indicate that the central concept is the family. Considering screen-related behaviors, family life encompasses parental health literacy (e.g., parenting pattern, monitoring standards, thoughtful parenting), family psychological atmosphere (e.g., presence of parents, family norms, parent–parent and parent–child interaction, congruency/incongruency of parents with each other) and the digital structure of the home. The child’s and parents’ actions and characteristics can influence family interactions. A child’s and parent’s behavior is also influenced by social/cultural factors. Parents’ behaviors and attitudes, family communications, and interactions contribute to healthy ST habits in children. It is not possible to examine the child’s behavior without considering the family and the dominant environment, since the behavior of family members as a whole affects each family member. Given this, interventions should make parents aware of their role and responsibilities in reducing children’s ST and consider the family system as a whole, and interventions also can benefit from considering the parental perceptions of children’s behaviors.

Why Do Iranian Preschool-Aged Children Spend too Much Time in Front of Screens? A Preliminary Qualitative Study

Mobile learning is part of a new learning landscape created by the availability of technologies and increasing digitization. As the use of mobile technology has increased worldwide, interest has grown in its potential for supporting flexible, accessible, and personalized education. As a result, higher education is facing a variety of challenges both now and in the coming decade (2020–2030) because of the continuing advances in technological development and digitization. Daily life, school, and work have become mobile. Moreover, the digitalized society fosters digital citizenship. Students entering higher education today have grown up using the internet and mobile devices. Universities need to offer a mix of face-to-face and online learning possibilities, such as open educational resources (OER) and massive open online courses (MOOC), which allow individuals to access education anywhere, anytime, and through any device. This article focuses on mobile learning (m-learning) in open learning educational contexts and quality enhancement in mobile learning in higher education. The article starts by defining mobile learning and the usefulness of m-learning in education, followed by some examples of mobile devices and a discussion of the principles of mobile learning. Examples of mobile learning design are then presented. Next, the advantages and uses of mobile learning in education are discussed. Because the issue of quality in e-learning and mobile learning is complex, this article focuses on course design, learning design, media design, and content. Additional dimensions of quality are security, accessibility, interactivity, flexibility, personalization, mobile devices, and their interfaces. Moreover, concepts such as personal learning and social innovation in relation to mobile learning are discussed. In the concluding section, future challenges are discussed.

Ebba Ossiannilsson

Papers

Increasing Access, Social Inclusion, and Quality Through Mobile Learning