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COVID-19’s Effects on the Scope, Effectiveness, and Roles of Teachers in Online Learning Based on Social Network Analysis: A Case Study

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Blended Learning: Re-thinking and Re-defining the Learning Process. (ICBL 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 12830))

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Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 brought online learning to the forefront of education. Scholars in China and abroad have conducted many studies on online learning during the pandemic, but only a few have performed quantitative comparative analysis on this topic during and before the outbreak. The current paper presents social network analysis of a course hosted on China’s MOOC platform “icourse163”. Specifically, this study aimed to uncover (1) variations in the scale of online learning amid COVID-19; (2) the characteristics of online learning interaction during COVID-19; and (3) teachers’/teaching assistants’ authority over online learning before, during, and after COVID-19. Results revealed that the scale of online learning interaction increased greatly during the pandemic but was not effectively maintained once the outbreak was under control. Online learning interaction became more frequent during the pandemic and more effective thereafter. The roles of teachers/teaching assistants in online learning during the pandemic were not as noteworthy as expected.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Educational Information Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China

    Yigang Ding, Xinru Yang & Yunxiang Zheng

Authors
  1. Yigang Ding
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  2. Xinru Yang
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  3. Yunxiang Zheng
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Richard Li

  2. Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Simon K. S. Cheung

  3. Kansai University, Osaka, Japan

    Chiaki Iwasaki

  4. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Lam-For Kwok

  5. Nihon Fukushi University, Nagoya, Japan

    Makoto Kageto

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Ding, Y., Yang, X., Zheng, Y. (2021). COVID-19’s Effects on the Scope, Effectiveness, and Roles of Teachers in Online Learning Based on Social Network Analysis: A Case Study. In: Li, R., Cheung, S.K.S., Iwasaki, C., Kwok, LF., Kageto, M. (eds) Blended Learning: Re-thinking and Re-defining the Learning Process.. ICBL 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12830. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80504-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80504-3_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80503-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80504-3

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