Humanising Web-Based Learning for Academically Transitioning Students through Their Voices
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| Title: | Humanising Web-Based Learning for Academically Transitioning Students through Their Voices |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Xiaodong Zhang (ORCID |
| Source: | European Journal of Education. 2026 61(3). |
| Availability: | Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 20 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research Tests/Questionnaires |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Web Based Instruction, Humanization, Females, College Students, Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Student Empowerment, School Transition |
| Geographic Terms: | China |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ejed.70804 |
| ISSN: | 0141-8211 1465-3435 |
| Abstract: | Web-based learning (WBL) has been widely used to support students' learning and has demonstrated its role in boosting students' academic success. Little research has focused on strategies that students can use to humanise this mode of learning, especially academically transitioning students. To fill this gap, this study explores the pedagogical use of student voice to humanise WBL during students' academic transition. Informed by a qualitative case study approach, the study involved a group of female students (N = 12) from a university in China who were academically transitioning to content-based English reading learning while participating in WBL for out-of-class learning. During their semester-long learning, data were collected naturalistically, including student-instructor dialogues as well as the students' written reflections and interviews with the students as ways of eliciting their voices. No additional interventions were made. By mainly employing inductive thematic analysis of data sources, the study shows that over time, voice-making seemed to empower students to agentively participate in learning, reflect upon their learning, and offer critical insights into their interaction between WBL and the constraints on their academic transition. Their voice-making, coupled with their and their instructor's action-taking (which is a further crucial component of the pedagogical use of student voice), gradually formed a relatively stable loop through which WBL was being humanised. That is, the WBL was flexibly tailored to meet the students' diverse needs during their academic transition. The study concludes that the pedagogical use of academically transitioning students' voices could be gradually helpful in humanising WBL, creating a learning environment that was caring and effective enough to bridge their previous and ongoing learning. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 20260101 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1515982 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Web-based learning (WBL) has been widely used to support students' learning and has demonstrated its role in boosting students' academic success. Little research has focused on strategies that students can use to humanise this mode of learning, especially academically transitioning students. To fill this gap, this study explores the pedagogical use of student voice to humanise WBL during students' academic transition. Informed by a qualitative case study approach, the study involved a group of female students (N = 12) from a university in China who were academically transitioning to content-based English reading learning while participating in WBL for out-of-class learning. During their semester-long learning, data were collected naturalistically, including student-instructor dialogues as well as the students' written reflections and interviews with the students as ways of eliciting their voices. No additional interventions were made. By mainly employing inductive thematic analysis of data sources, the study shows that over time, voice-making seemed to empower students to agentively participate in learning, reflect upon their learning, and offer critical insights into their interaction between WBL and the constraints on their academic transition. Their voice-making, coupled with their and their instructor's action-taking (which is a further crucial component of the pedagogical use of student voice), gradually formed a relatively stable loop through which WBL was being humanised. That is, the WBL was flexibly tailored to meet the students' diverse needs during their academic transition. The study concludes that the pedagogical use of academically transitioning students' voices could be gradually helpful in humanising WBL, creating a learning environment that was caring and effective enough to bridge their previous and ongoing learning. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0141-8211 1465-3435 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ejed.70804 |
