Open education has revolutionized the educational environment. Massive open online courses have become the main showcase for open educational resources, but the competition to establish a position in this movement has led to the rapid publication of many courses of arguable quality. This paper presents and analyzes the process of creating a small private online course that meets the requirements to be offered as a massive course. The starting point was an online higher education course that had previously been published as OpenCourseWare. In this paper, data were examined from 112 students enrolled in four different academic years, during which changes were progressively incorporated to transform the traditional course to an open course. The results show an improvement in students' perceptions of resources and assessments and in their overall satisfaction. New assessment tools were developed and validated, without affecting the academic results. The process had positive effects on the instructional design of the final course, but some risks were identified when the course was adapted as a massive course. The final course provides useful input for future developments and a more effective student-focused methodology.

The flipped learning methodology could play a key role in teacher training, as it exposes future teachers to experience this active methodology as students. With the purpose of shedding light on how students' perceptions may vary over time and how they can be related to the improvement of the flipped learning methodology, our study explores different factors in an eight-year period. Specifically, we analyse teaching performance considering data on students' perceptions from the 2015–2016 academic year to 2022–2023 of a course embedded within a master s degree in teacher training in Spain. Once future teachers had experienced flipped learning as students, a sample of 338 completed a survey regarding their perceptions of the flipped classroom approach and the instructor role. In our study, the more experienced the instructor, the better perception the students showed on both the flipped learning methodology and the performance of their teacher. In particular, we found that future teachers had (i) a good or very good opinion about flipped learning, regardless of their gender (ii) a more positive perception about flipped learning, teaching performance and course development in the last five academic years, (iii) no remarkable differences between study specialisations in those last academic years, and (iv) a better opinion about the flipped learning model when they have best grades. We discuss our findings according to six factors that affect the flipped learning experience and, thus, students' perception of flipped learning over time: “student characteristics”, “teacher characteristics”, “implementation”, “task characteristics”, “out-of-class activities” and “in-class activities”—factors already unveiled by a recent state-of-the-art review to enhance the effectiveness of flipped classroom. We can conclude that the instructor's teaching experience is a key factor that affects the implementation of flipped learning, influencing students' perception and, consequently, the success of this active methodology.

The exceptional situation experienced on the planet during the last two academic years has forced teachers to adapt their teaching. They had to pass their face-to-face teaching methodologies to online teaching. This study analyzed the perceptions of students in a master’s degree in secondary school teacher training, who have experienced the transition to bimodal teaching during the 2020–21 and 2021–22 academic years carried out by professors with high digital teaching competence. Data from two academic years are available, with a total of 207 students. The results indicate that the experience has been positive, and no significant differences were found in the follow-up of the contents when the class was followed online. However, the feeling of belonging to the group is lower in online classes than in face-to-face classes, and the perception of online teaching is more favorable in the academic year immediately developed after the COVID crisis. The bimodal modality has become a useful solution as long as the conditions of the equipment and networks are guaranteed as well as the training of teachers in digital teaching competence. In addition, the students’ perception of this modality is that it can continue once the exceptionality of the pandemic has been overcome.

In the current educational context, the equal participation of women and men in STEM fields remains a challenge. Despite the progress, there are still significant disparities between the number of men and women who study and dedicate their professional lives to scientific careers. The main objective of this study is to determine whether there is a gender difference in self-efficacy in Physics and Chemistry among pre-university students with the same academic performance. The participants of this study are a total of 525 Secondary Education students in Madrid (Spain). By relating the results of a self-efficacy survey to the students’ academic grades and their gender, it was possible to analyze the impact of gender on the participants’ self-efficacy. ANOVA analyses results show that there is a gender gap for the entire sample and that this is particularly notable in the crucial years when students are deciding on their academic careers. These findings emphasize the importance of early intervention to enhance the self-efficacy of female students in scientific disciplines. In response to this issue, three potential methodological approaches have been suggested: fostering cooperative learning, incorporating self-assessment and metacognitive activities, and introducing female role models. These approaches should be carefully implemented to prevent unintended negative effects. This strategy will not only foster equal opportunities but also enhance the innovative capacity and socio-economic growth of our society.

Research background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming higher education, presenting both opportunities and challenges for institutions. AI improves education through personalized learning, adaptive assessments, virtual tutoring, and generative support. However, these advancements also bring challenges that require vigilant governance to uphold academic integrity and ethical standards. Purpose of the article: Given the complexities and potential impacts of AI in higher education, this study aims to provide a thematic review by synthesizing the available literature to shed light on research trends, initiatives, and knowledge gaps in AI governance. The literature also explores the background of AI integration into higher education, focusing on its applications, benefits, challenges, and implications for students, educators, and institutions. Methods: This study followed PRISMA guidelines and used the Scopus database for data collection. After rigorous screening, 142 papers were selected for the final review. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using the R Studio Bibliometrix package, which generates various indicators like publication trends, author collaborations, keyword co-occurrences, and citation patterns. This approach offers a different perspective on data representation and analysis compared to VOSviewer. Findings & value added: The study highlights that AI governance in higher education involves establishing guidelines, data protection, and privacy policies. Institutions like Swansea University and government agencies like the European Commission and the US Department of Commerce are adopting ethical frameworks to guide AI development and reserving funds for AI governance research. The research concluded that governments worldwide had recognized the need for AI integration in academic research and higher education for sustainable growth and had implemented comprehensive regulations.