ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is recognized as an infectious disease generated by serious acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. COVID-19 has rapidly spread all over the world within a short time period. Due to the coronavirus pandemic transmitting quickly worldwide, the impact on global healthcare systems and healthcare supply chain management has been profound. The COVID-19 outbreak has seriously influenced the routine and daily operations of healthcare facilities and the entire healthcare supply chain management and has brough about a public health crisis. As making sure the availability of healthcare facilities during COVID-19 is crucial, the debate on how to take resilience actions for sustaining healthcare supply chain management has gained new momentum. Apart from the logistics of handling human remains in some countries, supplies within the communities are urgently needed for emergency response. This study focuses on a comprehensive evaluation of the current practices of healthcare supply chain management in Hong Kong and the United States under COVID-19 settings. A wide range of different aspects associated with healthcare supply chain operations are considered, including the best practices for using respirators, transport of life-saving medical supplies, contingency healthcare strategies, blood distribution, and best practices for using disinfectants, as well as human remains handling and logistics. The outcomes of the conducted research identify the existing healthcare supply chain trends in two major Eastern and Western regions of the world, Hong Kong and the United States, and determine the key challenges and propose some strategies that can improve the effectiveness of healthcare supply chain management under COVID-19 settings. The study highlights how to build resilient healthcare supply chain management preparedness for future emergencies.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted learning from the traditional classroom approach to online learning. As such, this study used a revision centre as a case study to develop the factors that contribute to the theoretical framework of online peer learning in the higher education sector due to COVID-19. This study also explores the integrated effects of online peer learning on students and investigates whether advanced information technology creates new opportunities or additional burdens for students in adopting online peer learning environments. Descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, and correlation analysis were conducted on survey data gathered from 204 sub-degree students in Hong Kong. The results addressed four main factors developed from 39 variables: enhancement of learning ability, the attitude toward learning, motivation for learning, and interpersonal relationship which were closely associated. The study findings provide strategies and constructive recommendations for educators to develop a new online learning pedagogy, construct sustainable online peer learning, and effectively manage students' online learning to meet the needs for post-COVID online education.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a tremendous impact on the pedagogy and learning experience of students in sub-degree education sector of Hong Kong. Online learning has become the "sole" solution to deal with student learning challenges during this chaotic period. In this study, we explore online learning for sub-degree students by using a community of inquiry (CoI). As such, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on survey data gathered from 287 sub-degree students from the business and engineering disciplines. Results indicated that the network speed for online education determines the perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students, whereas gender and academic disciplines of students are not moderating factors that create a significant difference in perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students. Our study findings for creating and sustaining a purposeful online learning community are highlighted.
ABSTRACT
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, many countries are facing a dramatic situation in terms of the global economy and human social activities, including education. The shutdown of schools is affecting many students around the world, with face-to-face classes suspended. Many countries facing the disastrous situation imposed class suspension at an early stage of the coronavirus outbreak, and Asia was one of the earliest regions to implement live online learning. Despite previous research on online teaching and learning, students' readiness to participate in the real-time online learning implemented during the coronavirus outbreak is not yet well understood. This study explored several key factors in the research framework related to learning motivation, learning readiness and student's self-efficacy in participating in live online learning during the coronavirus outbreak, taking into account gender differences and differences among sub-degree (SD), undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students. Technology readiness was used instead of conventional online/internet self-efficacy to determine students' live online learning readiness. The hypothetical model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results revealed no statistically significant differences between males and females. On the other hand, the mean scores for PG students were higher than for UG and SD students based on the post hoc test. We argue that during the coronavirus outbreak, gender differences were reduced because students are forced to learn more initiatively. We also suggest that students studying at a higher education degree level may have higher expectations of their academic achievement and were significantly different in their online learning readiness. This study has important implications for educators in implementing live online learning, particularly for the design of teaching contexts for students from different educational levels. More virtual activities should be considered to enhance the motivation for students undertaking lower-level degrees, and encouragement of student-to-student interactions can be considered.
ABSTRACT
This data article describes the dataset of the International COVID-19 Impact on Parental Engagement Study (ICIPES). ICIPES is a collaborative effort of more than 20 institutions to investigate the ways in which, parents and caregivers built capacity engaged with children's learning during the period of social distancing arising from global COVID-19 pandemic. A series of data were collected using an online survey conducted in 23 countries and had a total sample of 4,658 parents/caregivers. The description of the data contained in this article is divided into two main parts. The first part is a descriptive analysis of all the items included in the survey and was performed using tables and figures. The second part refers to the construction of scales. Three scales were constructed and included in the dataset: 'parental acceptance and confidence in the use of technology', 'parental engagement in children's learning' and 'socioeconomic status'. The scales were created using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Multi-Group Confirmatory Analysis (MG-CFA) and were adopted to evaluate their cross-cultural comparability (i.e., measurement invariance) across countries and within sub-groups. This dataset will be relevant for researchers in different fields, particularly for those interested in international comparative education.