Digital Media Technology in Higher Education for SDG 4: Advancing Sustainable Learning Environments
Abstract
<p class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span lang="RU" style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Digital media technologies have become central to higher-education delivery, raising important questions about how online learning environments can support inclusion, equity, and sustainability under Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). This study examines associations between recorded digital engagement and academic outcomes using the Open University Learning Analytics Dataset, which contains 32,593 enrolments from 28,785 learners across 22 course-presentations and 10,655,280 timestamped learner–VLE records. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine engagement–outcome associations and demographic inequities. Total VLE interactions were aggregated by learner-enrolment, transformed as</span><span lang="RU" style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> </span><!-- [if gte msEquation 12]><m:oMath><span lang=RU style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Cambria Math",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:宋体;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: RU;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'><m:r><m:rPr><m:scr m:val="roman"/><m:sty m:val="p"/></m:rPr>log</m:r><m:r><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>(</i></m:r><m:r><i style='mso-bidi-font-style: normal'>x</i></m:r><m:r><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>+1)</i></m:r></span></m:oMath><![endif]--><!-- [if !msEquation]--><span lang="RU" style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; position: relative; top: 4.0pt; mso-text-raise: -4.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><!-- [if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:44.25pt; height:13.5pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/DENF/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" o:title="" chromakey="white"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!-- [if !vml]--><img src="/public/img/20260807/5435b0806d63db44e6b93d6b008817ba.png" width="59" height="18"><!--[endif]--></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="RU" style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">, and standardised before modelling. Median interactions increased from 89 among withdrawn learners to 1896 among distinction learners, and log-engagement was positively correlated with success (<em>r</em> = 0.477). In the complete-case model (<em>n</em> = 31,482), a one-standard-deviation increase in log-engagement was associated with higher odds of success (OR = 27.074, 95 % CI [24.918, 29.415], <em>p</em> < 0.001) after adjustment for socioeconomic deprivation, gender, disability, age, prior education, previous attempts, and studied credits. Model discrimination was high (ROC-AUC = 0.891; accuracy = 81.0 %), although a sensitivity analysis excluding withdrawn enrolments produced a smaller association (OR = 7.036), indicating that withdrawal-related truncation explains part of the estimate. Success rates also varied from 35.2 % in the most deprived group to 57.5 % in the least deprived group and from 38.1 % among disabled learners to 48.2 % among non-disabled learners. Because the data are observational, institution-specific, and from 2013–2014, the results should be interpreted as historical associations rather than causal or universally contemporary effects. The findings support further prospective evaluation of learning-analytics systems, accessible course design, and equity-focused student support.</span></p>