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This cross-sectional study investigates the online education intention of undergraduate students in the largest and oldest public university in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under convenient sampling, 843 undergraduate students with rural and urban backgrounds participated in an online self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships. We found that students' online class intention is significantly influenced by their attitude towards online classes (AOC), perceived usefulness (PU), and facilitating conditions (FC). We further identified that external antecedents have significant indirect effects on the outcome variables. Our findings provide new insights and contribute to a learners' community on online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to depict the factors influencing undergraduate students' intention to attend online classes (IOC) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In today's rapidly changing job market, digital competence is quickly becoming a requirement for employability. This has put pressure on the next generation, particularly digital natives, to be well-equipped to deal with the turbulence of technology. This paper aims to compare youth's pre-course and post-course digital competency levels and examine students' perceptions of their employability after taking digital-skills-related courses. The Penang government initiative of an online learning program named "Penang Young Digital Talent Program" is designed to foster digital competencies. The program comprises online courses such as web design, digital marketing, etc. Therefore, the current study has examined the current level of Penang youth's digital readiness and digital competency (survey 1, N = 662) and the evaluate program's effectiveness while determining the impact of course quality on perceived employability (survey 2, N = 385) students undergo. The participants of this program range from 18-30 years old (post-secondary school and graduates), who are either born in Penang or have resided in Penang for a minimum of 3 years. The participants reported that their digital competency improved after participating in the talent program. The results of Smart PLS reported that course quality has a significant and positive relationship with perceived employability. Moreover, there is an indirect impact of student satisfaction and course effectiveness on the perceived employability of Malaysian youth. These findings have implications for educational policymakers who should prioritize young people acquiring digital skills to compete in the modern labor market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of students to stay indoors and adapt to the new normal, namely distance learning at home, placing online learning in the spotlight. However, students' motivation for online learning and its effectiveness in skill development during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been widely studied. This study examined the relationship between students' fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning while investigating the parallel mediating role of student psychological motivation and cognitive problem-solving skills related to online learning. The participants were 472 university students in Malaysia and Pakistan. An online data collection technique using Google Forms was employed. Faculty members of the universities were asked to share the survey with their students. Moreover, using a snowball sampling technique, students were requested to share the survey with their friends. SPSS Statistics (Version 21) was employed to do preliminary data analysis, AMOS (Version 21) software was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis using a maximum likelihood estimation, and Hayes' PROCESS model was used to examine proposed hypotheses. The results show that only cognitive problem solving mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning in Malaysian samples. In Pakistan, cognitive problem solving and psychological motivation mediate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning. The study found that developing cognitive problem-solving skills and providing psychological motivation could enhance their engagement with online learning.

In the wake of a turbulent era over the past 3 years, characterized by the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID‐19 pandemic, individuals have found themselves contending with the intersection of professional and personal responsibilities. The pursuit of luxury has given way to a collective nightmare, as work and family demands converged, each equally relentless and significant. Our paper focuses on the experiences of individuals who confronted and triumphed over these challenges. A sample of 368 professionals, predominantly working from home, was examined to explore the impact of high performance work systems and boundary management in a post‐pandemic landscape marked by blurred boundaries. Our findings support the notion that effective boundary management, encompassing the management of non‐work intruding on work and work encroaching on non‐work, significantly influences withdrawal behaviors. Our study reveals the importance of organizations fostering work practices that empower employees with the IT skills to navigate virtual technologies seamlessly. By doing so, organizations can enhance work‐life balance and mitigate withdrawal behaviors among their workforces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]