The COVID‐19 pandemic has forced higher education institutions to implement online learning activities based on virtual platforms, allowing little time to prepare and train faculty members to familiarize students with digital technologies. While previous studies have looked at how students engaged with digital technologies in their learning activities, the characteristics of the student engagement in online learning remain underexplored. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature on student engagement in online learning in higher education is much needed. This article synthesizes the findings on student engagement in Latin American higher education institutions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. After reviewing the studies on online learning activities, this review examines student engagement from behavioural, cognitive and affective dimensions and identifies the main characteristics of student engagement from these tripartite dimensions. The implications of the findings for online learning in Latin American higher education are as follows: (a) to transform higher education, (b) to provide adequate professional training, (c) to improve Internet connectivity, (d) to ensure quality online learning in higher education and (e) to provide emotional support. These findings will provide valuable guidance for teachers, educational authorities and policy makers and help them make informed decisions to use effective strategies to support online learning in higher education institutions. Practitioner notes: What is already known about this topic The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted the normal operation of higher education institutions across Latin America, impelling a shift from face‐to‐face instruction to online teaching and learning. Research on online learning in Latin American higher education has been conducted, but the findings and their implications are yet to be widely disseminated among researchers, practitioners and decision‐makers. What this paper adds Providing a systematic review of research on student engagement in online learning in Latin American higher education institutions. Analyzing the construct of student engagement in online learning from tripartite dimensions—behavioral, cognitive and affective—in the Latin American higher education context. Identifying the characteristics associated to each dimension of student engagement in online learning. Implications for practice and/or policy The need to transform the higher education system in Latin America and beyond, at two levels: to improve Internet connectivity at the technological level and to ensure the quality of online education at the pedagogical level. The urgency to offer an adequate professional training regarding the use of new technologies in online learning environments. The significance for higher education institutions to provide emotional support for students during the COVID‐10 pandemic.

Over the last decade, there has been great research interest in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in various fields, such as medicine, finance, and law. Recently, there has been a research focus on the application of AI in education, where it has great potential. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature on AI in education is therefore necessary. This article considers its usage and applications in Latin American higher education institutions. After identifying the studies dedicated to educational innovations brought about by the application of AI techniques, this review examines AI applications in three educational processes: learning, teaching, and administration. Each study is analyzed for the AI techniques used, such as machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, the AI tools and algorithms that are applied, and the main education topic. The results reveal that the main AI applications in education are: predictive modelling, intelligent analytics, assistive technology, automatic content analysis, and image analytics. It is further demonstrated that AI applications help to address important education issues (e.g., detecting students at risk of dropping out) and thereby contribute to ensuring quality education. Finally, the article presents the lessons learned from the review concerning the application of AI technologies in higher education in the Latin American context.

Due to the challenges of all-round development, higher-education students are increasingly demanding more flexible learning that goes beyond the on-campus/online dichotomy. However, university students miss learning opportunities because of the conflict of time and space. Blended learning is an effective way to create more learning opportunities and support university students’ flexible learning, but its implementation varies across contexts. This study proposed an alternative blended teaching and learning approach to solve practical problems defined in the context of a traditional classroom in a university in Hong Kong when students pursue flexible learning and global learning. A three-round action research approach was used to improve the effects of blended synchronous teaching and learning. Data collection and analysis in each round showed that the students positively rated the implementation of blended learning according to their needs, the quality of the technologies adopted, and the benefits gained. This blended synchronous teaching and learning mode was structured based on the implementation of different actions in three rounds, bridging the gap between research and practice in blended synchronous learning.

E-learning has been an important learning approach in the information era by providing flexible environments and rich resources for learners. However, it also faces several challenges, the biggest one being that students need to have strong self-regulation competence to control and manage their e-learning. As gamification has been widely used in primary education to facilitate children’s learning motivation and engagement, it is valuable to explore the impacts of gamification on children’s self-regulated learning. In this study, the role of gamification in children’s English learning in Hong Kong was investigated through a gamified e-learning system. A quasi-experiment with pre-test/post-test design was conducted among primary level 3 students over a semester. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through academic tests, questionnaires, and interviews to provide comprehensive insights into the research questions. The key findings enable the identification of: (1) students’ gaining of self-regulated learning interest and academic performance from the gamified learning system; (2) students’ developed self-regulated learning strategies; and (3) the connection between gamification and students’ self-regulated learning. These findings have implications for e-learning designers and educators with regards to the practice of gamified learning to enhance students’ self-regulated learning and second language learning.

This study investigated whether and how students with low prior achievement can carry out and benefit from reflective assessment supported by the Knowledge Connections Analyzer (KCA) to collaboratively improve their knowledge-building discourse. Participants were a class of 20 Grade 11 students with low achievement taking visual art from an experienced teacher. We used multiple methods to analyze the students’ online discourse at several levels of granularity. Results indicated that students with low achievement were able to take responsibility for advancing collective knowledge, as they generated theories and questions, built on each others’ ideas, and synthesized and rose above their community’s ideas. Analysis of qualitative data such as the KCA prompt sheets, student interviews and classroom observations indicated that students were capable of carrying out reflective assessment using the KCA in a knowledge building environment, and that the use of reflective assessment may have helped students to focus on goals of knowledge building. Implications for how students with low achievement collaboratively improve their knowledge-building discourse facilitated by reflective assessment are discussed.