Amin Mousavi

We examined trends in early reading performance following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic among Grades 1–3 students in Saskatchewan using population-level administrative data from 2015 to 2024 ( N = 94 583–112 160 across grades). Student performance was categorized as at/above or below grade-level reading benchmarks. Interrupted time-series analyses were used to examine changes in reading performance following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Cochran–Armitage trend tests and chi-square analyses conducted as complementary sensitivity analyses. Reading performance was stable or improving before 2020, followed by a significant immediate increase in the proportion of students performing below benchmark beginning in 2021. Post-pandemic trends showed little evidence of continued deterioration, although elevated rates of underperformance persisted through 2024. Boys consistently had higher odds of underperformance than girls; however, post-pandemic changes did not differ significantly by gender. Rural students experienced larger immediate increases in underperformance than urban students, although post-pandemic recovery trajectories were similar across locations. Assessment participation declined immediately following the pandemic, particularly among Grade 3 students, and improved gradually without returning to pre-pandemic levels. The findings indicate substantial changes in reading performance following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the importance of continued monitoring and targeted early literacy interventions.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how digital literacy influences knowledge sharing and academic performance among graduate students in online learning environments.Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling via AMOS was utilized to test the research hypotheses in this cross-sectional study. Students’ digital literacy, their knowledge sharing, and their academic performance in online learning environments were surveyed by questionnaires. The sample of 330 graduate students was selected from a leading public university in Iran. Based on a stratified sampling approach, the recruited students answered questionnaires based on their degree level and field of study.Findings: The results demonstrated that digital literacy was a positive and significant predictor of knowledge sharing and students' academic performance. Furthermore, the study revealed that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between digital literacy and academic performance.Research limitations/implications: Our findings revealed that digital literacy positively and significantly predicts knowledge sharing and academic performance. This may be attributed to the fact that digital literacy is essential for developing digital learning in higher education. Conducting research on the antecedents and consequences of digital literacy in academic environments may prove attractive to future researchers.Originality/value: Research on the influence of digital literacy on students’ knowledge sharing and academic performance in online learning environments is scarce. This study suggests that improving students’ digital literacy and knowledge sharing can enhance their performance in online learning environments, and it is a recommendation for university educators and educational technologists. Gaining insight into the influence of digital literacy on how students share knowledge and their academic achievements in virtual learning environments can have numerous managerial ramifications for administrators and instructors in higher education.

Recent studies indicate that academic performance is a complex phenomenon that can be influenced by various factors. Previous studies have also demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between academic performance, academic self-efficacy, and readiness to take advantage of mobile learning tools. The mediating role of mobile learning readiness in the relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic performance has received scant attention from researchers. The current study has investigated the potential relationship between academic self-efficacy, mobile learning readiness, and academic performance. The study sample comprises 326 students from … University. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling employing AMOS software. Results demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between mobile learning readiness and students’ academic performance. Furthermore, the findings revealed that increased academic self-efficacy was not significantly associated with improved academic performance. Eventually, mobile learning readiness positively mediated the relationship between academic self-efficacy and the students’ academic performance. Considering the key findings of the present study, we suggest implications for developing students’ mobile learning readiness in the mobile learning context.

Technologies and teaching practices can provide a rich log data, which enables learning analytics (LA) to bring new insights into the learning process for ultimately enhancing student success. This type of data has been used to discover student online learning patterns, relationships between online learning behaviors and assessment performance. Previous studies have provided empirical evidence that not all log variables were significantly associated with student academic achievement and the relationships varied across courses. Therefore, this study employs a systematic review with meta‐analysis method to provide a comprehensive review of the log variables that have an impact on student academic achievement. We searched six databases and reviewed 88 relevant empirical studies published from 2010 to 2021 for an in‐depth analysis. The results show different types of log variables and the learning contexts investigated in the reviewed studies. We also included four moderating factors to do moderator analyses. A further significance test was performed to test the difference of effect size among different types of log variables. Limitations and future research expectations are provided subsequently. Practitioner notes: What is already known about this topic Significant relationship between active engagement in online courses and academic achievement was identified in a number of previous studies. Researchers have reviewed the literature to examine different aspects of applying LA to gain insights for monitoring student learning in digital environments (eg, data sources, data analysis techniques). What this paper adds Presents a new perspective of the log variables, which provides a reliable quantitative conclusion of log variables in predicting student academic achievement. Conducted subgroup analysis, examined four potential moderating variables and identified their moderating effect on several log variables such as regularity of study interval, number of online sessions, time‐on‐task, starting late and late submission. Compared the effect of generic and course‐specific, basic and elaborated log variables, and found significant difference between the basic and elaborated. Implications for practice and/or policy A depth of understanding of these log variables may enable researchers to build robust prediction models. It can guide the instructors to timely adjust teaching strategies according to their online learning behaviors.

The field of learning analytics (LA) is developing rapidly. However, previous empirical studies on LA were largely data-driven. Little attention has been paid to theory-driven LA studies. The present scoping review identified and summarized empirical theory-driven LA studies, aiming to reveal how theories were integrated into LA. The review examined 37 peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2016 to 2020 from six databases. Results show that most studies were guided by the theories of self-regulated learning and social constructivism; most integrated theories into LA for better interpreting the data analysis results; and most linked theoretical constructs and log variables directly. Several studies employed well-developed survey instruments to measure theoretical constructs. The review results indicate that LA studies still need to strive for new theory advances in learning. Recommendations for future study are discussed.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/30899.].