Abstract:

Teaching and learning online can be challenging when it comes to engagement and motivation of the students. Current research in this field shows that students often access an online environment with stress and lack of motivation because of the practicalities of online interaction and collaboration and because they experience it as a “boring” process. Specifically, they find themselves feeling like outsiders or even cut off while, at the same time, they juggle their time between resolving the logistics of their studies and digesting content. Especially over the last two years, we globally experienced the implementation of online learning and emergency remote teaching to address closures in schools and universities, postponements or even cancellations of conferences and other organized events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The promotion of flexible ways of studying aimed at hindering the rapid spread of the virus and, despite the reported challenges by teachers and students, it has revealed several opportunities for the “higher education of tomorrow”, through the combination of physical and online presence for collaboration, communication and development of the sense of belonging among the student population. With discussions now occurring about how campuses are going to reopen, academic libraries face a paradigm shift. Instead of returning to the “old normal”, library staff aim for a different online student experience, where students can join forces with other students and use peer-to-peer guidance during their study sessions.

The project “Online Study Space” aims to address the above-mentioned challenges of university students, through the use of gamification, social media and virtual reality, as new and flexible methods for involving students in actively collaborating and interacting online when using the library services. In particular, we propose two activities with Gathertown, Mozilla Hubs and Instagram Filters as a means to improve student engagement. Finally, we propose a survey for measuring the impact of the implementation of such activities.

The project, which is funded by Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) and the University of Amsterdam (UoA), is executed in the context of the traineeship program of the Digital Society School (AUAS) and the Track “EdTech for Social Change”. The trainees at the Digital Society School work in multidisciplinary teams guided by experts from the two university libraries, and they are involved in practice-based work, using Design Thinking and SCRUM methodologies and conducting applied research.

The activities proposed in this paper, as well as the evaluation survey offered at the end of our work, can be a powerful resource for more institutions that are designing their “new normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic and can enact positive change on the students’ well-being, satisfaction, and, thus, their retention.

Keywords:

Online study space, virtual reality, social media, gamification, library services, student engagement, flexible ways of studying.