Beyond digital interfaces: The human element in online teaching and its influence on student experiences

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Author: Chai S.S.; Ting S.-H.; Goh K.L.; Chang Y.H.R.; Wee B.L.; Novita D.; Karthikeyan J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85200163337&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0307262&partnerID=40&md5=5abc0027e9b4c2b80addbfce23021ad0

Amidst the digital transformation of education, the essence of the human touch in online teaching remains pivotal. Despite growing literature, there remains a significant gap in understanding how the human element in online teaching directly influences student engagement and learning outcomes, especially in diverse educational contexts. This study develops a quantifiable index capturing the essence of humanized online teaching and investigates the determinants influencing this humanization. Additionally, an index encapsulating students’ online learning experiences, as perceived by their instructors, has been constructed. Bridging these indices, the research unravels the intricate relationship between the humanization of online teaching and the resulting student experiences in the virtual realm. Sourced from a self-constructed questionnaire and encompassing responses from 152 instructors across 22 Malaysian institutions, the data revealed an average incorporation of 81.38% humanized online teaching elements. Key determinants, such as subject matter, teaching experience, Internet quality, and platform choices, emerged as significant influences. A regression model showed approximately 31.7% (R-squared = 0.317, p<0.001) of the variation in the dependent variable. A significant moderate positive correlation (r = 0.423, p<0.001) between the Humanized Online Teaching Index and the Students’ Online Learning Experiences Index highlights the intertwined nature of humanized instructional methodologies and enhanced student engagement in online settings. Though contextualised during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, the study’s implications transcend the immediate circumstances, offering transformative insights for future online teaching methodologies and enhancing student experiences in the evolving digital age. © 2024 Chai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.