Collective intelligence refers to the abilities of a group of individuals to share and gather their knowledge and skills to perform tasks or deal with problems. This collective intelligence can be constructed by accumulating, arranging, and refining individual learning content followed by communication and collaboration between the learners
[19].
-
2.2. Smart Pedagogies
Pedagogy is defined as a science that is constantly evolving and looking for a better way to teach and engage learners in the process of knowledge building. SMART stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. In the contemporary society, wherein technology is integrated into education, smart refers to smart devices
[20]. Zhu et al.
[7] argue that, if the goal of the educational process is learners, then, for smart pedagogies, which focus on smart learners, technology is a supporting factor influencing the learning environment. A dynamic and intelligent society requires the future workforce to possess holistic competencies, such as strong logical thinking and decision-making, judgment and negotiation skills, organisational leadership and management qualities, and interpersonal and high-level communication skills, which are fostered by practice and problem-based learning approaches. Learners should be experienced in applying effective learning strategies, namely, having the ability to actively use theoretical knowledge in practice, engage in open discussion, understand problems from different perspectives, and learn from more experienced people; moreover, within interdisciplinary groups, with teamwork and practice, develop the soft skills needed for cooperation and communication in solving common tasks. Furthermore, each individual learner with a different background, education level, and interest deserves suitable and flexible curriculums which ignite their passion and promote their understanding
[21]. Hence, learning collaboratively and mentoring are the two most important learning strategies that provide opportunities for learners to broaden their views and gain comprehensive knowledge.
2.2.1. Collaborative Learning
In a smart learning environment, facilitators are required to design their teaching strategies flexibly, enhance the quality of the teaching content, and evaluate the impact of the learning process on students’ outcomes
[22] to motivate learners to study actively. Therefore, collaborative learning has become one of the most effective pedagogical approaches in the design of a smart learning environment. Knowledge acquired from lectures is a key fundamental of core knowledge and the basic skills required for learners in their learning pathway. However, in higher education, to develop core knowledge, enhance advanced comprehension abilities, and, especially, engage in flexible problem-solving, learners need to step out of their comfort zones by actively exchanging knowledge and skills and studying with their peers.
As shown in
Figure 2, collaborative learning is an educational strategy where learners are encouraged to study and work in a group to perform tasks together and achieve common goals. Karin et al.
[9] stated that this kind of study provides an opportunity for learners to develop both cognitive skills, such as analytical skills, research skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making, and pro-social behaviour, like understanding, communicating, negotiating, helping, sharing, and cooperating. Moreover, learners who study in a group achieve a significantly better understanding in comparison with those who study individually. In the group learning context, learners engage in high-quality social interaction, such as discussing contradictory information, explaining and questioning one another critically, recognizing misconceptions, and strengthening the connections between new information and previously learned knowledge. Additionally, it is an advisable strategy that helps facilitators recognize a poor-performing student and help them find a solution to improve their learning performance and engagement.
Figure 2.
Collaborative learning enhances knowledge and skills.
2.2.2. E-Mentoring
Mentoring is mostly conceptualised as a learning process where the experienced mentor provides guidance, instruction, encouragement, role modelling, and emotional support to a younger person
[23]. Mentoring is also defined as a collaborative learning and mutually beneficial relationship where both mentors and mentees foster their personal and professional development by engaging in professional activities
[12]. In higher education, the role of mentors is critical because they direct mentees on the path to success, enhance their academic achievements, reduce their stress, and inspire them to engage in a cycle of learning
[3]. There are many types of mentoring relationships, such as traditional mentoring, peer mentoring, group mentoring, reserve mentoring, and situation mentoring, which depend on many factors, such as the purpose and goal of learning, the organisation’s circumstances, willingness, availability, and appropriateness according to the individual’s situations, as well as the length of the learning time
[24]. The key factor to success in an e-mentoring program is the establishment of a strong personal relationship based on trust, self-motivation, flexibility, communication skills, and technological skills. Two important elements need to be considered: (1) matching appropriate mentors and mentees
[25] and (2) building a strong relationship between mentors and mentees
[26].
E-mentoring is a process where a virtual platform is used to facilitate mentoring relationships. Participants not only engage in synchronous and asynchronous online dialogue through various aspects of the course but can also be introduced to social and professional networks, providing a valuable opportunity to connect to a pool of mentors and mentees
[26]. However, Colky and Young
[27] suggested that understanding the mentoring process established in a traditional learning environment is necessary for effective mentoring in a virtual environment. There are four phases to a mentoring relationship: (1) initiation, which involves identifying and matching mentors-mentees; (2) training, where the success of a mentoring program is dependent on the training given to both the mentors and mentees and aims to familiarise all the partners with the techniques and the overall goals of the mentoring program; (3) monitoring, to assess if the mentoring process is working well or if there is a need for retraining; (4) evaluation, which involves evaluating the mentoring results and obtaining recommendations to improve the first three steps
[28].
2.3. Smart Learning Environment
Huang et al.
[29] pointed out that the objective of a smart learning environment is to promote easy learning, engaged learning, and effective learning. Consequently, it is necessary to design a smart learning environment technically and pedagogically. It should be expanded in space, time, technology, interaction, and control
[8] to facilitate and engage learners to experience a seamless learning process and perform tasks in an easy and natural way. Technology covers both hardware and software. Hardware includes tangible technological devices such as IQ boards, projection screens, interactive LCD/LED touchscreens using cloud computing, ubiquitous computing, IoT technology, and smart audio–visual systems. Software includes learning tools, online resources, new supporting applications using virtual reality technology, and learning analytics. From a pedagogical perspective, a learning environment is implemented to assist facilitators in designing and conducting lessons and learning activities effectively and supports learners to enhance their knowledge and skills with the additional flexibility and diversity of the learning practice
[6].
Many researchers have found that a smart learning environment has considerably changed the way learners and facilitators interact with each other, enabling collaboration in a flexible environment
[10,30,31,32][10][30][31][32]. Learning processes are maintained from building groups to monitoring students’ progress and adjusting curriculums accordingly to suit the student’s needs. A smart learning environment supports learners to form the right group by finding suitable partners in a wide range of learning communities. Learners receive opportunities to experience virtual learning environments where they can study both asynchronously and synchronously, have access to shared repositories with diverse valuable resources, and join in common learning workspaces. The learning progress is monitored and evaluated to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the learners and the curriculum for improvement (as shown in
Figure 3).
Figure 3.
Collaborative learning and e-mentoring in a smart learning environment.
Smart education is becoming a promising trend to ensure the development of a new generation of the smart workforce who need to be equipped with valuable competencies, involving sustainable knowledge and flexible skills. Smart pedagogies are designed to focus more on learners, influencing a learning environment that is supported by technology and intelligent devices to be flexible, diverse, and smart
[7]. As a result, two learning approaches, collaborative learning and e-mentoring, are considered as effective learning strategies for learners to adapt to future requirements. To further explain the theory, the next section proposed a model to show how collaborative learning and e-mentoring help learners reach their goals effectively in a smart education environment.