Cross-Country Analyses of the Challenges in Online Higher Education and the Need to Implement the ARCS Model

This paper discusses the importance of implementing the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model in Georgia’s online higher education (Keller (1979, 1987)). After reviewing the existing research published on the subject, several hypotheses were tested using parametric statistical tests based on the data published by the World Economic Forum. The above-mentioned cross-country analyses illustrated several important findings. Namely, students put the same amount of work in online education as they do in live lectures, given the right approach by the instructors. Namely, there is a 74% correlation between digital skills and general skillset of university graduates around the world, and having digital skills represent 54.4% precondition to having competitive graduates. Another important hypothesis that was tested was the fact that online education and digital skills are often perceived as the hinderance to the development of critical thinking. There was an 80% correlation between the digital skills and critical thinking skills of students. In addition, when the digital skills were tested as an independent variable and the critical thinking skills as a dependent variable, it resulted in a 64.8% regression test result. This means that students’ digital skills promote the development of critical thinking. Mental health and life expectancy were also examined in the context of online education, but the results were not as strong in this area, and more research is needed to ascertain the impact of online education as an independent variable in this context. Finally, the modified ARCS model was developed specifically for the Georgian lecturers to help them improve the online educational experience.