Comparative analysis of students and faculty level of awareness and knowledge of digital citizenship practices in a distance learning environment: case study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic increase the use of distance learning while studies have shown that there is insufficient digital knowledge among students in distance leaning as they do not adequately use technology as a digital citizenship indicator, while the awareness and knowledge of digital citizenship among teachers and students remains a key criterion for improving distance learning that mainly depends on information technology. Therefore, this study comes up to examine the awareness and knowledge of students and faculty of digital citizenship in distance environment by focusing on two different higher academic institutions, namely the Al-Quds Open University (QOU) in the Palestinian territories and the University of Kyrenia (KU) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2020, using interview, descriptive analysis, and Z-test Technique. The results revealed that students and faculty in both institutions were aware of the digital citizenship concepts, but lacked the in-depth knowledge and understanding of concepts such as digital rights, digital security, and digital ethics. Furthermore, the awareness and knowledge of digital citizenship among KU students are higher than QOU students. Faculty in both institutions agreed with the importance of integrating digital citizenship practices such as digital rights, digital security, and digital ethics into elearning curriculum.

Nexus of knowledge oriented leadership and knowledge worker performance in Chinese higher education institutions: a post-pandemic behavioral analysis

“…Scholars have underscored the importance of examining the mediating mechanisms associated with knowledge-oriented leadership (Malik et al, 2023;Sahibzada et al, 2023a;Sahibzada et al, 2021b). This study highlights the importance of digital orientation and digital citizenship practices (Aboobaker and Ka, 2021;Hawamdeh et al, 2022) to enhance knowledge worker productivity in HEIs (Sahibzada et al, 2022a, b), which thus increases knowledge worker performance (i.e. task performance and contextual performance) (Malik et al, 2023).…”

“…Regrettably, upper-level management and leadership fail to provide sufficient motivation to foster the performance of knowledge workers (Malik et al ., 2023; Sahibzada et al ., 2023a; Sahibzada et al ., 2021b). Hence, modern studies on education have placed significant emphasis on recognizing factors that could potentially help implementers in the execution of digital orientation and digital citizenship practices, which could enhance knowledge worker performance (Aboobaker and Ka, 2021; Hawamdeh et al ., 2022) specifically in Chinese higher education institutions (Sahibzada et al ., 2023a, b; Shafait and Sahibzada, 2024). In addition, the current investigation did not determine the role of leadership in influencing digital orientation (Aboobaker and Ka, 2021; Kindermann et al ., 2021), and digital citizenship practices (Hawamdeh et al ., 2022; Martin et al ., 2019).…”

“…task performance and contextual performance) (Malik et al ., 2023). Despite a growing body of research on digital orientation and digital citizenship practices, their critical role in augmenting knowledge worker performance has seldom been explored within higher education institutions (Aboobaker and Ka, 2021; Hawamdeh et al ., 2022; Malik et al ., 2023; Sahibzada et al ., 2022b). Prior studies stated that worker performance in HEIs can be measured using a range of indicators, including worker productivity, performance, knowledge sharing quality, knowledge management, service innovation, the extent of financial stability and enhancement of organizational performance (Sahibzada et al ., 2022a; Sahibzada and Mumtaz, 2023).…”

“…Through these activities, they generate novel ideas and knowledge-based leadership, which contribute to economic development and societal growth (Sahibzada et al, 2022a(Sahibzada et al, , 2023a. Certainly, knowledgeoriented leadership within HEIs plays a pivotal role in boosting the performance of knowledge workers (Sahibzada et al, 2021a;Sahibzada et al, 2023a) through digital orientation (Kindermann et al, 2021), and digital citizenship practices (Hawamdeh et al, 2022;Naqshbandi and Jasimuddin, 2018). Consequently, in light of prior studies on KOL within higher education institutions, both scholars and experts alike have developed an inclination towards research in knowledge-based industries (Sahibzada et al, 2022a(Sahibzada et al, , 2023aSahibzada et al, 2021b).…”

Online Examination System of Distance Open Education Based on BP Neural Network

“…The design and implementation of the remote network teaching system is to analyze and design the system after the requirements of the system are clarified. In the whole system development process, the application and logic in the system network teaching and the design of related information services are mainly considered [7][8].…”