Tag "online education"

Online learning promises flexibility. In asynchronous courses, students can decide when, how, and in what order to engage with learning materials. Yet this freedom comes with new challenges. Without a prescribed learning sequence, students must design their own pathways, and these choices can shape not only how much they learn, but how difficult learning feels.

In a world where education increasingly transcends borders, Ekaterina Minaeva, Ulyana Zakharova, and Svetlana Zhuchkova set off on a research journey to explore the untapped potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a tool for attracting international students. Their study, published in EMOOCs 2025, asks a timely question: Can online learning platforms like Coursera and edX become the next frontier in global student recruitment?

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about sweeping changes to daily life across the globe, none more so than for young people whose worlds were turned upside down by lockdowns, school closures, and social distancing measures. In the thick of these unprecedented disruptions, a critical question emerged: How did these abrupt changes affect the wellbeing of adolescents—those in the midst of pivotal developmental years? A study by an international research team, including Alexandra Bochaver of IOE, offers enthralling insights into the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on school students' psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing, shedding light on both the challenges they faced and their capacity to adapt. By examining the complexities of adolescent wellbeing during such a tumultuous time in a global context, it underpins the importance of understanding how external crises influence the mental and social health of young people and the need for continued support in the face of such challenges.