Editorial Overview

Abstract

Online education is here to stay. Even when we do go back to the classroom, online modules will be needed for students who are sick or otherwise unable to attend class. Fortunately, important lessons regarding how to do this successfully have been learned during the pandemic. Educators around the world have devised strategies, and even some new educational technologies, to help improve student learning in situations where they must be socially distant. This issue of JETS is devoted to a sampling of these strategies and technologies. In sharing these, we hope that you, our readers, will be inspired to adapt them to the benefit of your own students. We begin the issue with a paper that addresses the important issue of how to evaluate the quality of online learning modules. 21CELMAT, an instrument developed by the authors, uses a 5-point scale to measure compliance to nine components of blended, flipped, and personalized teaching styles. The authors tested the instrument with seven different learning modules, showing how the measures are applied. A major advantage of 21CELMAT is that it can be used to evaluate learning modules even before they are delivered to students. The next two papers look at how existing technologies can bolster specific academic programs. First is a paper that addresses the problem of continuing medical education during the pandemic. Medical education is especially problematic because of the importance it places on hands-on training and a physical presence. The authors review a variety of technologies and strategies for collaboration and learning interventions and draw important conclusions regarding how digital education can work in this context. The next paper also examines tools for delivering education during a pandemic, but this time focusing on management education. This paper reviews the history of management education in India and takes the point that online education is a logical conclusion. The remaining papers describe novel technologies for teaching and learning online. The first describes a customized web-based dashboard for accessing class materials. The authors found that using this dashboard helped to advance student success. The next paper describes a novel approach to teaching younger students about homelessness with picture books and virtual reality. The final paper examines ways that online computer activities can improve geometric habits of mind (GHoM). Habits of mind are ways of thinking about problems, which is particularly important in mathematics. Editorial