This study investigates the perceptions and experiences of students regarding the various aspects of online education while studying at the Pakistani Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and universities that shifted to online modes of instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of this study was to identify the level of satisfaction of students with the support being provided to them by their institutes and instructors; the use of different modes of communication and assessment methods; and their home study environment. It also explored the positively and negatively influencing factors affecting online education, as perceived by them. An online questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey research design was chosen for conducting this study. Data were collected from 707 respondents belonging to various Pakistani HEIs and universities and analyzed using the SPSS software. The results revealed a considerable dissatisfaction among the study population regarding online education being provided to them during the COVID pandemic. The participants raised concerns over the lack of institutional support and the quality of online instruction. Other issues raised included unsuitable study environments, unavailability of electricity, and connectivity issues. Overall, the majority of the students indicated that they would not like to opt for online classes in the future once the pandemic was over.

This bibliometric study examines the overall research trends and productivity in the field of virtual reality (VR) in higher education. Bibliometric data were retrieved from Scopus databases. The findings suggest a rising trend in terms of citations and publications showing increased interest in the VR domain have been seen during the last few decades. The year in which the most citations of this type occurred was 2009, in which 1913 citations were recorded, whereas 2019 was the most productive year, as 127 documents on this subject were published in that year. The data analysis revealed that all the top ten researchers belong to Australia. Further, the top three researchers (Gregory S., Lee, M.J.W., and Wood, D.), countries (United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia), organizations (Charles Sturt University, Queensland University of Technology, and University of New England, Australia), journals (Computers and Education, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, and Journal of Surgical Education) and collaborations (Australia and New Zealand, United States and the United Kingdom, and Australia and the United Kingdom) belong to developed countries. Virtual reality, virtual worlds, augmented reality, e-learning, and simulations are the top keywords used in the VR domain. The thematic evolution of the keyword shows the importance of “Virtual Reality” as a keyword throughout the 27 years of its existence (1994–2020). Furthermore, the main finding of the study is the interdisciplinary nature of the VR domain, which extends from the field of computer sciences to other disciplines.

This scientometric study examines the overall research trends, publication and citation structures, authorship and collaboration patterns, bibliographic coupling, and productivity patterns in the field of social support in education. Bibliometric data consisting of 545 documents was retrieved from the Scopus database during a period of 43 years (1977–2020) on 1 January 2021. Data analysis was performed using various scientometric software including MS Excel, VOS Viewer, Biblioshiny, CiteSpace and ScientoPy. The results of the study revealed that the first publication on this topic appeared in 1977, however, the major increase was observed during 2017–2020, whereas the maximum number of publications (N = 57) in a single year was published in the year 2020. Similarly, the highest number of citations (n = 1002) were observed in the year 1995 with an average of 334 citations per document. The most productive countries were the United States (N = 194), the United Kingdom (N = 56), and Australia (N = 50 publications). Results further indicated that more than 50.7% of the research in the social support area was done in medicine. Overall, the findings of the study reveal that most of the research in the aforementioned field originated from the developed countries which can be related to the developments in the medical field. The study indicates the importance of social support in the educational context due to an increased trend of inclusion and diversity in the education field. This research is the first bibliometric study in the field of social support in education.

With the rapid penetration of technology in the lives of students, it has become important for educators to look for opportunities to enhance students’ engagement and achievement by integrating technology in education. However, deciding which technologies should be included is a big challenge for higher education institutes, particularly in developing countries with limited financial resources, such as Pakistan. As students’ non-educational use of technologies shapes their academic use of technology and learning process (Swanson & Walker, 2015), integrating students’ preferred technologies can help fulfil their educational needs and expectations. This paper investigates the digital practices of undergraduate students in a public university in Pakistan and examines the impact of gender, study major and medium of education on the use of digital devices by students. The data is drawn from 316 responses to an online survey, administered online. The results of the study reveal that although a substantial proportion of the students had access to digital tools such as smartphones and computers, there was limited use of them for educational purposes. The technology most extensively accessed by undergraduate students for this purpose was mobile phones. Use of university-provided computers and bringing their own computers/laptops to campus were much less popular choices. Further, most students were not sufficiently comfortable with their digital skills to use their devices for educational purposes, although many were interested in getting training in how they could do this.

With the emergence of AI technology, its adoption in higher education has become an interesting field for researchers. The present study explores the acceptance of AI for learning the English language by Pakistani EFL students using the UTAUT-2 and Metacognition theory. The UTAUT-2 questionnaire was adapted with minor changes to make it suitable for the EFL context. Data were collected from the English departments of the top ten general universities in Pakistan to make the findings generalizable. Another step taken to ensure generalizability was the sampling of 611 students randomly from both undergraduate (BS and ADP) and postgraduate (MPhil and PhD) programs studying in different semesters. PLS-SEM was employed for data analysis. In the first step, the PLS algorithm was run for the measurement model, which confirmed the reliability, validity, and fitness of the model. Second, the bootstrapping method was used for hypothesis testing. The findings reveal that six of the ten hypotheses for direct relationships are supported. Habit (0.489) was found to be the strongest contributor to BI, followed by PE (0.141), SI (0.100), and FC (0.093). Moreover, actual use behaviour was predicted by habit (0.325) instead of BI and FC. These findings are supported by metacognition theory, as the habit of AI seems to shape the metacognitive knowledge of EFL learners in place of traditional learning methods, and other factors seem to reinforce the metacognitive experience of using AI language. The study suggests implications for EFL experts, academia, and policymakers to strategically integrate AI into language learning by informing them of its potential benefits and risks.

Student psychopathology has been a topic of increasing concern globally in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ lives were heavily disrupted due to the change to remote learning. Now that learning is returning to normal, the turbulent changes students have experienced over the past few years may have impacted their mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate COVID-19-related anxiety and stress levels in students shortly after the resumption of on-campus classes at a private university in Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey design was used. Three hundred twenty-six participants were a part of the study. Results indicated that a significant number of students reported being occupied with worry and stress related to COVID-19 and that it negatively affected their comfort while on-campus, in their classroom participation, in their social interactions and in their overall university experience. The findings from this study may be valuable to higher education institutions, academic administrators, lecturers and students themselves in helping to minimize friction during the process of students’ return to campus.