In the dynamic world of higher education, technological advancements are continually reshaping teaching and learning approaches, with learning analytics (LA) playing a crucial role in this transformation. This systematic literature review (SLR) explores the significant impact of LA in higher education, specifically its transformative role in personalizing and enhancing educational feedback mechanisms. Utilizing a wide range of educational data, LA facilitates a shift from generic to individualized feedback, leading to improved learning outcomes and equity. However, incorporating LA into higher education is not without challenges, ranging from data privacy concerns to the possibility of algorithmic errors. Addressing these challenges is vital for unlocking the full potential of LA. This paper also examines emerging LA trends, such as augmented reality, emotion-sensing technology, and predictive analytics, which promise to further personalize learning experiences in higher education settings. By anchoring these advancements within core educational principles, we foresee a future of education marked by innovation and diversity. This SLR provides an overview of LA’s evolution in higher education, highlighting its transformative power, acknowledging its challenges, and anticipating its future role in shaping a dynamic, responsive educational environment.

Learning design (LD) has increasingly been recognized as a significant contextual element for the interpretation and adoption of learning analytics (LA). Yet, few studies have explored how instructors integrate LA feedback into their learning designs, especially within open automated feedback (AF) systems. This research presents a multiple-case study at one higher education institution to unveil instructors’ pilot efforts in using an open AF system to align LA and LD within their unique contexts, with the goal of delivering personalized feedback and tailored support. A notable finding from these cases is that instructors successfully aligned LA with LD for personalized feedback through checkpoint analytics in highly structured courses. Moreover, they relied on checkpoint analytics as an evaluation mechanism for evaluating impact. Importantly, students perceived a stronger sense of instructors’ support, reinforcing previous findings on the effectiveness of personalized feedback. This study contributes essential empirical insights to the intersection of learning analytics and learning design, shedding light on practical ways educators align LA and LD for personalized feedback and support.

Deepfake-style AI tutors are emerging in online education, offering personalized and multilingual instruction while introducing risks to integrity, privacy, and trust. This study aims to understand their pedagogical potential and governance needs for responsible integration. A PRISMA-guided, systematic review of 42 peer-reviewed studies (2015–early 2025) was conducted from 362 screened records, complemented by semi-structured questionnaires with 12 assistant professors (mean experience = 7 years). Thematic analysis using deductive codes achieved strong inter-coder reliability (κ = 0.81). Four major themes were identified: personalization and engagement, detection challenges and integrity risks, governance and policy gaps, and ethical and societal implications. The results indicate that while deepfake AI tutors enhance engagement, adaptability, and scalability, they also pose risks of impersonation, assessment fraud, and algorithmic bias. Current detection approaches based on pixel-level artifacts, frequency features, and physiological signals remain imperfect. To mitigate these challenges, a four-pillar governance framework is proposed, encompassing Transparency and Disclosure, Data Governance and Privacy, Integrity and Detection, and Ethical Oversight and Accountability, supported by a policy checklist, responsibility matrix, and risk-tier model. Deepfake AI tutors hold promise for expanding access to education, but fairness-aware detection, robust safeguards, and AI literacy initiatives are essential to sustain trust and ensure equitable adoption. These findings not only strengthen the ethical and governance foundations for generative AI in higher education but also contribute to the broader agenda of sustainable digital education. By promoting transparency, fairness, and equitable access, the proposed framework advances the long-term sustainability of learning ecosystems and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) through responsible innovation and institutional resilience.

Spanning 1925–2024, we map Land Economics (LE) using Web of Science and Scopus with VOSviewer, bibliometrix, and SciVal. Analyses of documents, authors, and themes show LE as a central node linking environmental, agricultural, and urban economics. Seminal strands—property rights, contingent valuation, discrete choice, and hedonic pricing—anchor long-run influence. Keyword co-occurrence and thematic mapping confirm persistent emphases on valuation models, impact assessment, and policy applications, alongside emerging work on ecosystem services, climate change, and the water–energy nexus. Trend-topic and SciVal clusters reveal growing attention to disaster management, green innovation, and behavioral economics with uneven recent citation performance across topics and time.

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL) published its first issue in 2000. This paper provides an overview of the journal’s development over its 25-year history using bibliometric indicators. We analyzed IRRODL’s performance relative to other journals in the field and have highlighted key contributing countries, institutions, and authors based on the Scopus database. Our approach used various bibliometric techniques, including the number of articles and citations, cites per paper, and the h-index. The findings reveal that IRRODL is a leading journal in open and distributed learning, attracting a diverse group of authors from institutions and countries worldwide. Currently, Athabasca University is by far the most productive university, and the United States and Canada are the most productive countries appearing in the journal. However, the journal is very diverse with publications from all over the world.