bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Raising Motivation to Achieve Collaboration in Online Courses
Authors: Skala Tibor , Ljubi Igor
Published: May 2011

This session will discuss issues raised during author’s involvement in building Croatian e-learning community. Proposed chapter will focus on how online tutor must act to make good collaboration with its students. What kind of barriers are going to be on the way, what is the connection between motivation and learning in e-learning. Conversation in which people do not see each other is rarely long-lasting conversation. Usually they loose interest to subject very quickly. The same principle is applied to on-line course. The teacher (tutor in e-learning) needs to take all the responsibility and all the time should try to motivate the students. The experience gave us the result. It is collective education.
Understanding the Underlying Constructs of WebQuests
Authors: Zheng Robert
Published: May 2011

One of the challenges in integrating the Internet into classroom instruction is to identify factors that are critical to online teaching and functionally relevant to student learning (Snelbecker, Miller, & Zheng, 2006; Zheng, Stucky, McAlack, Menchaca, & Stoddort, 2005). This study focused on learner and teacher perceptions of WebQuest learning and identified three constructs - constructivist problem solving, social interaction and scaffolded learning - that were perceived by students and teachers as critical to the design and development of WebQuests. The constructs provide a theoretical framework that is not only instrumental to the design and development of WebQuests but also important for the design of effective web-based instruction.
Higher Order Thinking in Online Courses
Authors: Leung Kit
Published: May 2011

This research studies higher order thinking (HOT) processes in asynchronous discussions situated in a campus-based course that involved 11 pairs of graduate students. In these discussions, students examined assessment strategies used for teaching purposes jointly in one week. Taking a grounded theory approach, messages derived from discussions were analyzed with qualitative and quantitative analyses. The unit of analysis was concept. Thinking acts were categorized into communication sequences of initiation, response and comment. These sequences were further categorized with a 5-dimension taxonomy derived from the patterns of these acts observed. Statistical analysis was used to observe the frequency of these categories, and to validate the categorization consistency among coders. The results strongly suggest that HOT emerges when existing ideas are expanded and changed, and when ideas are expanded, new concepts emerge as these ideas are pondered from a wider perspective. The implication is that online discussion is an effective learning activity when students participate.
Developing a Socially Responsible Approach to IT Research
Authors: Marquis Justin
Published: May 2011

There is an ever-widening gap between the social classes in American society reflected in wages, living conditions, health care and access to technology. This chapter argues that a hidden agenda underlies much current educational technology research which, intentionally or unintentionally, reinforces the societal power structures which support this inequitable access. In order to demonstrate this subtle discrimination some of the work of well-known educational technology researcher Larry Cuban is examined in order to highlight the ways in which his choices of research sites and methodology help to perpetuate the digital divide through generalization and a failure to acknowledge the existence of persons who lack technology access in their homes. After the critique a methodology for conducting “socially responsible” educational technology research that employs a postmodern critical perspective to mitigate the discriminatory factors present in much contemporary research will be proposed.
Ethical Conundrums in Distance Education Partnerships
Authors: Beaudoin Michael F.
Published: May 2011

Launching and sustaining innovative new academic programs is typically a complex enterprise, especially distance education projects, and more particularly, such initiatives attempted by individual institutions with little or no prior experience in this arena. Inherently parochial, colleges and universities usually experiment with online courses on their own, but increasingly, as institutions engage in more ambitious efforts to develop full programs of study offered at a distance, they are recognizing, enthusiastically or reluctantly, that collaborative arrangements may make the difference between success and failure, especially for those with little expertise and few start-up resources. Partnerships are being forged between two or more higher education entities, and even more remarkably, there is growing evidence of academic institutions partnering with for-profit corporate organizations. Unfortunately, these unions too often result in more collisions than collaborations, especially when there are differing values among the parties involved. Through the presentation of selected mini-case studies representing several actual higher education-corporate partnerships, this chapter identifies and analyzes a number of ethical dilemmas, some philosophical and others practical, which should be considered by those who enter into distance education partnerships.
Conversation Ethics for Online Learning Communities
Authors: Luppicini Rocci
Published: May 2011

There is growing recognition of the important role of conversation ethics in open and distance learning systems, particularly within online learning communities. Fostering ethical conversational practices in online learning poses a serious challenge within education. This chapter introduces key concepts and strategies to help guide online learning communities. The aim of the chapter is threefold: (1) to provide an overview of key concepts and strategies underlying conversation ethics, (2) to identify key elements of conversation ethics for online learning communities, and (3) to offer practical suggestions for leveraging online learning communities through increased attention to conversation ethics. This chapter is based on the assumption that an understanding of conversation ethics can offer instructors and learners a tool for advancing learning within online learning communities.
Ethics Review Concerns of Canada's Distance Researchers
Authors: Fahy Patrick J.
Published: May 2011

Ethics review of research involving humans is intended to protect human dignity by balancing harms and benefits. The foci and methods used in reviews vary nationally, but tend, as in Canada, to address core principles including free and informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, inclusiveness and fairness, and the rights of dependent subjects. Under examination in relation to the policy that governs research ethics in Canada, the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS, 2005), these principles admit numerous exceptions, a fact that, as shown by a study reported here, is better understood by those actually engaged in research than those who are not. The implications of these findings, and the specific priorities of non- Canadian researchers (especially those in developing nations), are described and discussed.
Preparing Faculty to Integrate Ethics into Online Facilitation
Authors: Parscal Tina J. , Bemski Peter
Published: May 2011

This qualitative case study was designed to determine the extent to which a framework for exploring ethical principles for online facilitation is integrated into an online training course for faculty preparing to teach online. Specifically, this study examined the extent to which the principles of ethical teaching are addressed in an asynchronous faculty training course where participants complete learning activities designed to promote comprehension, application, and synthesis of ethical principles for teaching. Content analysis was performed on archived discussion forum transcripts from 18 randomly selected faculty members over a 12-month period. This chapter summarizes the ethical themes that emerged through content analysis.
Computer Ethics
Authors: Akbulut Yavuz , Odabasi H. Ferhan , Kuzu Abdullah
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on academic work on computer ethics conducted at a computer education department in Turkey. The chapter starts with the conceptual framework of computer ethics followed by the colleagues at the department, and mentions some scale development and administration papers. Along with research conducted at the department, applications of these researches in departments’ courses are summarized. Then, implications of ethical practices for distance education are provided. Changes in the computing science along with those in distance education are considered to require distance education professionals to update their concepts and practices regarding integrity. Finally, future research directions, opportunities, and additional ideas regarding mentioned research and coursework are presented.
Benchmarking Steganalysis
Authors: Ker Andrew D.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses how to evaluate the effectiveness of steganalysis techniques. In the steganalysis literature, numerous different methods are used to measure detection accuracy, with different authors using incompatible benchmarks. Thus it is difficult to make a fair comparison of competing steganalysis methods. This chapter argues that some of the choices for steganalysis benchmarks are demonstrably poor, either in statistical foundation or by over-valuing irrelevant areas of the performance envelope. Good choices of benchmark are highlighted, and simple statistical techniques demonstrated for evaluating the significance of observed performance differences. It is hoped that this chapter will make practitioners and steganalysis researchers better able to evaluate the quality of steganography detection methods.
Efficient Transparent JPEG2000 Encryption
Authors: Engel Dominik , Stütz Thomas , Uhl Andreas
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we investigate two different techniques for transparent/perceptual encryption of JPEG2000 files or bitstreams in the context of digital rights management (DRM) schemes. These methods are efficient in the sense of minimizing the computational costs of encryption. A classical bitstream-based approach employing format-compliant encryption of packet body data is compared to a compression-integrated technique that uses the concept of secret transform domains, in our case a wavelet packet transform.
Problems Rendezvousing
Authors: Colbert Martin
Published: May 2011

This chapter seeks opportunities to use mobile technology to improve human mobility. To this end, the chapter reports a diary study of university students’ use of mobile telephones for rendezvousing—arranging, and traveling to, informal meetings with friends and family. This diary study reveals, and suggests explanations for, a number of deficits in user performance: (1) rendezvousers occasionally become highly stressed and lose valuable opportunities; (2) outcomes are worse when rendezvousing at unfamiliar locations; (3) 31 to 45 year olds report more personal sacrifices than 18 to 30 year olds; and (4) when mobile phones are used on the move, the experience of communication is slightly worse than when phones are used prior to departure. Ways of using mobile technology to make good these deficits are suggested.
Interaction Design for Personal Photo Management on a Mobile Device
Authors: Lee Hyowon , Gurrin Cathal , Jones Gareth J.F. , Smeaton Alan F.
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores some of the technological elements that will greatly enhance user interaction with personal photos on mobile devices in the near future. It reviews major technological innovations that have taken place in recent years which are contributing to re-shaping people’s personal photo management behavior and thus their needs, and presents an overview of the major design issues in supporting these for mobile access. It then introduces the currently very active research area of content-based image analysis and context-awareness. These technologies are becoming an important factor in improving mobile interaction by assisting automatic annotation and organization of photos, thus reducing the chore of manual input on mobile devices. Considering the pace of the rapid increases in the number of digital photos stored on our digital cameras, camera phones and online photoware sites, the authors believe that the subsequent benefits from this line of research will become a crucial factor in helping to design efficient and satisfying mobile interfaces for personal photo management systems.
The Garment as Interface
Authors: Seymour Sabine
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on the surface of a smart garment as a dynamic interface. The use of the garment’s surface as an interactive display opens up an array of new applications. Novel developments in interactive and wearable textile surfaces for garments display data from input sources like sensors and cell phones. The integration of these surfaces into the garments is evaluated regarding wearability and the wearer’s interaction. This chapter provides a list of considerations for human interaction with smart garments and dynamic visual interfaces, which are an essential tool to design usable, smart garments.
Context as a Necessity in Mobile Applications
Authors: Christopoulou Eleni
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents how the use of context can support user interaction in mobile applications. It argues that context in mobile applications can be used not only for locating users and providing them with suitable information, but also for supporting the system’s selection of appropriate interaction techniques and providing users with a tool necessary for composing and creating their own mobile applications. Thus, the target of this chapter is to demonstrate that the use of context in mobile applications is a necessity. It will focus on the current trend of modeling devices, services and context in a formal way, like ontologies, and will present an ontology-based context model.
The Design Space of Ubiquitous Mobile Input
Authors: Ballagas Rafael , Rohs Michael , Sheridan Jennifer G. , Borchers Jan
Published: May 2011

The mobile phone is the first truly pervasive computer. In addition to its core communications functionality, it is increasingly used for interaction with the physical world. This chapter examines the design space of input techniques using established desktop taxonomies and design spaces to provide an indepth discussion of existing interaction techniques. A new five-part spatial classification is proposed for ubiquitous mobile phone interaction tasks discussed in our survey. It includes supported subtasks (position, orient, and selection), dimensionality, relative vs. absolute movement, interaction style (direct vs. indirect), and feedback from the environment (continuous vs. discrete). Key design considerations are identified for deploying these interaction techniques in real-world applications. Our analysis aims to inspire and inform the design of future smart phone interaction techniques.
EMG for Subtle, Intimate Interfaces
Authors: Costanza Enrico , Inverso Samuel A. , Allen Rebecca , Maes Pattie
Published: May 2011

Mobile interfaces should be designed to enable subtle, discreet, and unobtrusive interaction. Biosignals and, in particular, the electromyographic (EMG) signal, can provide a subtle input modality for mobile interfaces. The EMG signal is generated by a muscle contraction and can be used for volitional control; its greatest potential for mobile interfaces is its ability to sense muscle activity not related to movement. An EMG-based wearable input device, the Intimate Communication Armband, is presented in this chapter to demonstrate this subtle interaction concept. The device detects subtle, motionless gestures from the upper arm. Experimental results show that the gestures are reliably recognized without user or machine training, that the system can be used effectively to control a multimodal interface, and that it is very difficult for observers to guess when a trained user is performing subtle gestures, confirming the subtlety of the proposed interaction.
Navigation Support for Exploring Starfield Displays on Personal Digital Assistants
Authors: Büring Thorsten
Published: May 2011

Due to advances in hardware technologies, mobile devices are increasingly capable of handling largescale data sets. While this development broadens the application scope of smartphones and PDAs, it also means that high information loads must be displayed on very limited screen real estate. A solution to this problem may be provided by starfield displays. Starfield displays maximize the data-pixel ratio by presenting data inside a zoomable 2-D scatterplot. However, a drawback is that once users have zoomed into the information space, they tend to become lost, due to the clipping of orientation cues. The chapter summarizes the research results of recent projects that were conducted to improve the navigation and orientation features of starfield displays on small screens. Several approaches, such as smooth zooming, overview window, and fisheye view, have been implemented and user-tested. The results may support interface designers when targeting mobile devices.
A Navigational Aid for Blind Pedestrians Designed with User- and Activity-Centered Approaches
Authors: Gaunet Florence , Briffault Xavier
Published: May 2011

The two-fold aim of this chapter is to present the design process of an interface for a mobile navigational aid for blind pedestrians and a set of rules for producing route descriptions for these users, as well as the methodology used to develop them, rooted in a user- and activity-centered approach. We first present the state of the art of wearable verbal navigational aids and what might still be lacking in their conception, and propose a reusable user- and activity-centered approach designed to complement already existing and future systems. Case studies fitting into this approach are next presented: route descriptions produced by blind pedestrians were analyzed; the production rules were extracted and tested in urban areas. Results reveal these rules, the specific database features, the required user profiles, and the precision of localization necessary for assisting blind pedestrians’ wayfinding in urban areas. Finally, future trends in mobile guiding tools for the visually impaired are examined.
Framework and Model of Usability Factors of Mobile Phones
Authors: Ham Dong-Han , Heo Jeongyun , Fossick Peter , Wong William , Park Sanghyun , Song Chiwon , Bradley Mike
Published: May 2011

This chapter aims at developing a framework and model for identifying and organizing usability factors of mobile phones. Although some studies have been made on evaluating the factors, there is no systematic framework for identifying and categorizing them. This chapter proposes a conceptual framework which has multiple views to explain different aspects of the interaction between users and mobile phones, and which describes the world of usability factors based on these views. The multiple views include user view, product view, interaction view, dynamic view, and execution view. Furthermore, based on the conceptual framework, a multi-level hierarchical model which classified usability factors in terms of goal-means relationships was developed. Next, two case studies are described, where the usefulness of the framework and model could be confirmed. Lastly, a set of checklists which make the framework and model more practical were developed.
Did You See That?
Authors: Crease Murray , Lumsden Joanna
Published: May 2011

The development of appropriate lab-based evaluation techniques for mobile technologies requires continued research attention. In particular, experimental design needs to account for the environmental context in which such technologies will ultimately be used. This requires, in part, that relevant environmental distractions be incorporated into evaluations. This chapter reflects on different techniques that were used in three separate lab-based mobile evaluation experiments to present visual distractions to participants and to measure the participants’ cognizance of the distractions during the course of mobile evaluations of technology. The different techniques met the different needs of the three studies with respect to the fidelity of the data captured, the impact of acknowledging distractions on the evaluation task, and the typical context of use for the technology being evaluated. The results of the studies showed that the introduction of visual distractions did have an impact on the experimental task and indicate that future work is required in this area.
The Dynamics and Rationality of Collective Behavior within a Global Information System
Authors: Unold Jacek
Published: May 2011

The scope of interests in the area of information systems (IS) has focused mainly on technological aspects so far. If the human component were taken into account, it has been analyzed from the level of an individual. So have all new concepts of rationality. This chapter argues that collective behavior, which is a basic determinant of the global IS dynamics, does not proceed in a planned manner, but is adaptive and follows certain patterns found in nature. It follows that this behavior can be expressed in a model form, which enables to structure it. A model exemplification of a global information system is a modern, electronic, stock exchange. The identification of quantitative attributes of a social subsystem can provide substantial theoretical and methodological premises for the extension of the optimizing and individualistic notion of rationality by the social and adaptive aspects.
Global IT Outsourcing
Authors: Dhar Subhankar
Published: May 2011

Enterprises inside and outside the IT industry have long used offshore developments and outsourcing methods to reduce information system development and maintenance costs and as a source of specialized, low-wage workers. In the last decade, there has been a spur of activities in offshore outsourcing, which is driven by the e-business revolution and a worldwide demand for IT skills. This contributed to the growth of IT-related industries in countries such as Ireland and India. Meanwhile, vendors from the Philippines, Russia, Hungary, China, Taiwan, Mexico, and other countries entered the market; and in some cases, adapted business models established by Indian firms that have dominated the services sector in the past decade. The emergence of new offshore centers has been marked by new approaches and skill sets, adding to the services and value propositions that define the offshore sector today. In this paper, we will identify the main risk factors and best practices in global IT outsourcing. In addition, we will delve into some important issues on IT outsourcing, particularly the challenges as well as the benefits. Finally, we will present case studies of two Global 200 organizations and validate some of the claims made by previous researchers on IT outsourcing. This study will help management to identify risk factors and take the necessary remedial steps.
Information Technology Consulting in Global Information Technology
Authors: Wieandt Michaela
Published: May 2011

In general terms, IT consulting is the service provided by an IT consulting agency when a company implements a new IT system, that is, a system with which companies store, retrieve, disseminate, and use information (FEACO, 2006). Parallel to the internationalization of the IT sector in globalizing economies, the field of IT consulting has grown and diversified significantly during the last ten years, comprising at present a wide range of business areas, technologies, and services. Due to the fact that information technology is increasingly seen as linked to business strategy, the borders of management consulting are becoming more difficult to discern. This chapter covers the various aspects of IT consultants’ work to enable a more detailed exploration of their practices and their influence in organizations around the globe in the future. It gives an overview of the latest developments in IT consulting, identifying the main characteristics and discussing current research on the roles of IT consultants in broad economic and specific organizational contexts, providing a conceptual framework for further analysis.
Communication Systems for Semantic Work Environments
Authors: Franz Thomas , Sizov Sergej
Published: May 2011

The paradigm of a flexible environment that supports the user in producing, organizing, and browsing the knowledge originates in the early 1940s, a long time before the first personal computers and new communication tools like the Internet became available. The conceptual design of Vannevar Bush’s memex (Bush, 1945) (an acronym for Memory Extender) is probably the most cited (e.g., Gemmell, Bell, Leuder, Drucker, & Wong, 2002) and criticized (e.g., Buckland, 1992) representative of such early conceptual work. In his article, Bush described the integrated work environment that was electronically linked to a repository of microfilms and able to display stored contents and automatically follow references from one document to another. A number of visionary ideas from this early conceptual work can be recognized in state-of-the-art information systems (cross-references between documents, browsing, keyword-based annotation of documents using the personal “codebook,” automatic generation of associative trails for content summarization, etc.).
Improved Experience Transfer by Semantic Work Support
Authors: Fjellheim Roar , Norheim David
Published: May 2011

Active Knowledge Support for Integrated Operations (AKSIO) is a work process-enabled knowledge management system that supports experience transfer in operations of offshore oilfields. The system provides timely and contextual knowledge for work processes. Experience reports are processed and annotated by experts and linked to various resources and specialist knowledge networks. The system allows retrieval of experience reports through the support of a domain ontology. Core functionality of the system is provided by careful application of Semantic Web technology, including ontology-based annotation and contextual ontology-driven retrieval of content. The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how Semantic Web technology is an effective enabler of improved knowledge management processes in corporate environments.
DeepaMehta
Authors: Richter Jörg , Poelchau Jurij
Published: May 2011

A crucial experience during my time at university— computer science (with focus on AI) and linguistics—was the documentary “Maschinenträume” (1988) by Peter Krieg. It features the long-term AI project “Cyc,” in which Doug Lenat and his team try to represent common sense knowledge in a computer. When Cyc started, in 1984, it was already known that many AI projects failed due to the machine’s lack of common sense knowledge. Common sense knowledge includes, for example, that two things cannot be in the same place at the same time, or that people die, or what happens at a children’s birthday party. During the night, while the researchers are sleeping, Cyc tries to create new knowledge from its programmed facts and rules. One morning the researchers were surprised by one of Cyc’s new findings: “Most people are famous.” Well, this was simply a result of the researchers having entered, besides themselves, only celebrities like, for example, Einstein, Gandhi, and the U.S. presidents. The machine-dreaming researchers, however, were in no way despondent about this obviously wrong finding, because they figured they would only have to enter the rest of the population, too. The underlying principle behind this thought is that it is possible to model the whole world in the form of ontologies. The meaning of the world can be captured in its entirety in the computer. From that moment the computer can know everything that humans know and can produce unlimited new insights. At the end of the film Peter Krieg nevertheless asks: “If one day the knowledge of the whole world is represented in a machine, what can humans do with it, the machine having never seen the world.”
A Classification Scheme for Innovative Types in Scholarly Communication
Authors: Hagenhoff Svenja , Ortelbach Björn , Seidenfaden Lutz
Published: May 2011

Information and communication technologies seem to bring new dynamics to the established, but partly deadlocked, system of scholarly communication. Technologies are the basis for new publication forms and services which seem to enable a faster and more cost-efficient distribution of research results. Up to now new forms of scholarly communication have been described in the literature only in the form of single and often anecdotic reports. Despite the large number of papers in that area, no classification scheme for new forms of scholarly communication can be found. Therefore, this chapter aims at presenting such a classification scheme. It allows the description of new forms of scholarly communication in a standardized way. A structured comparison of new activities is possible. For this purpose, original publication media on the one hand and complementary services on the other are differentiated. With the help of morphological boxes, characteristics of both kinds of new means of scholarly communication are presented.
Improving Multimedia Digital Libraries Usability Applying NLP Sentence Similarity to Multimodal Sentences
Authors: Paolozzi Stefano , Ferri Fernando , Grifoni Patrizia
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes multimodality as a means of augmenting information retrieval activities in multimedia digital libraries. Multimodal interaction systems combine visual information with voice, gestures, and other modalities to provide flexible and powerful dialogue approaches. The use of integrated multiple input modes enables users to benefit from the natural approach used in human communication, improving usability of the systems. However, natural interaction approaches may introduce interpretation problems as the systems’ usability is directly proportional to users’ satisfaction. To improve multimedia digital library usability users can express their queries by means of a multimodal sentence. The authors proposes a new approach to match a multimodal sentence with a template stored in a knowledge base to interpret the multimodal sentence and define the multimodal templates similarity.
Metadata and Metaphors in Visual Interfaces to Digital Libraries
Authors: Shiri Ali
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces a new category of digital library user interfaces called metadata-enhanced visual interfaces. Drawing on the earlier information retrieval visual interfaces that have made use of thesauri, this chapter will review and analyze metadata-enhanced visual interfaces to digital libraries based on two key variables, namely metadata elements used for visualization purposes and visual metaphors incorporated into the user interfaces. The aim of this study is to inform the design of visual interfaces for digital libraries through bringing together issues that have roots in such communities as information retrieval, digital libraries, human-computer interaction, and metadata. The findings of this study provide design ideas and implications for digital library interface design in terms of the various metadata-based information search and retrieval features for visualization purposes.
Patent and Trade Secret in Digital Libraries
Authors: Sasaki Hideyasu
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we discuss the issues on patent and trade secret issues on digital libraries, especially patentable parameter-setting components which are implemented as computer-related inventions in digital libraries. In addition, we discuss the directions for embedding and protecting numerical parametric information as a trade secret in the patentable parameter-setting components performing retrieval operations of digital libraries with the future of intellectual property protection in the multimedia digital libraries. The scope of this chapter is restricted within the current standard of the U.S. laws and cases in transnational transaction and licensing of intellectual properties regarding the digital library.
Digital Libraries Beyond Cultural Heritage Information
Authors: Garrido Picazo Piedad , Tramullas Saz Jesús , Coll Villalta Manuel
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces digital libraries as a means of cultural heritage access and diffusion. It argues that digital libraries, combined with superimposed information techniques, offers a potentially more substantive approach to understanding the historical documentation analysis problem. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the documental and technological assumptions constructs through the use of programming and automatic interpreter will not only inform researches of a better scheme for labelling cultural heritage information but also assist in the need of involved other areas such as multiagent systems, pattern matching, information management and information visualization based on content association, to solve the vast majority of problems set out in the work context, and the result is a versatile digital library prototype which covers the cultural heritage information that the users need.
Active Learning Online
Authors: Wang Viktor
Published: May 2011

Learning does not take place in a vacuum. Learning takes place in any type of environment, including online. The purpose of this article is neither to solely study active learning for its own sake nor to present an analysis of active online learning. It is rather an attempt to examine the relationship between active learning online and learners’ intellectual growth and development. Towards this end, this article’s background covers active learning and learners’ intellectual growth and development. The next section is devoted to how various learning theories can make active learning occur online; hence, learners’ intellectual growth and development. The last section of the article seeks to make a summary of this article and point out some future directions for active learning online. As modern institutions launch more and more online learning programs, what concerns educators and parents is whether active learning will occur online. Unless active learning occurs online (or growth and development occur online), online learning will lose its true meaning in this knowledge society and information age we currently live in.
Andragogy and Technology
Authors: Zuckerman-Parker Michelle
Published: May 2011

More than 30 years ago, Malcolm Knowles defined andragogy as the art and science of helping adults learn. The essence of this principle is based on the premise that adults learn differently than children. Knowles’ andragogical studies were significant. One reason for this was that pedagogy, the art and science of educating children, had been well researched, but educating adults had not been as thoroughly studied.
Communities of Practice
Authors: Gebhard Susan
Published: May 2011

Basic social-learning theory presupposes that students and instructors function within community; they share common context, goals, and expectations and, thus, actively work to help one another learn. Instructional environments that reflect this understanding that all participants contribute to the learning process exemplify what is generally called a “community of practice” or a “community of learners” (Ormrod, 2004). Communities of practice involve situations in which teachers structure realistic problems or tasks and then facilitate learners to activate previous understandings, to interact collegially with others, and to apply combined knowledge to work towards a process-based solution. It is important to recognize that communities of practice can extend beyond traditional educational settings (such as school) into family dynamics, corporations, or any other social context.
Distance Learning Specialists
Authors: Wang Viktor
Published: May 2011

As Rhoda (2005) notes, “advances in technology have transformed the way in which the academy offers its curricula” (p. 149). Further, the proliferation of advanced technologies for teaching and learning has been said to help provide better access, convenience, and flexibility as a way to support learners’ educational opportunities (Conceicao, 2006). Nowadays, simple physical separation between the teacher and learner is no longer an effective way of describing distance education. Scholars try to define distance education from every imaginable angle they can think of due to the nature of innovative technology.
Facilitating Technology Integration
Authors: Ensminger David C.
Published: May 2011

The use of instructional technology is not new. During WWII, films were used as instructional media to train new recruits. The use of film as an instructional technology for training military personnel in WWII prompted the investigation of technology applications in formal educational settings. In the years following WWII, researchers began to study the applications of instructional technology in the classroom, as well as conduct studies on its effectiveness (Reiser 2002). Although technology has changed in the ensuing years and educators have access to many technologies, the integration of technology into the classroom has been slow (Cuban, Kirkpatrick, & Peck; 2001; Culp, Honey, & Mandinach; 2005; Hernández-Ramos, 2005) and its reported effectiveness on student learning and achievement has been mixed (Honey, Macmillan, & Carrigg, 1999; Keller & Bichelmeyer, 2004). The slow rate of integration is often explained from a technology evolutionary perspective, (Cuban et. al., 2001) that purports that with increased availability and access to technology, integration will occur naturally with time, or from technology determinist perspective (Surry & Land, 2000) that proposes that technology integration occurs when a technology is developed to meet a specific need, (i.e., if you build a better mousetrap it will be used). Although these two perspectives might explain some technology integration in society, they fail to provide a reasonable explanation for the lack of technology integration in classrooms. In order to understand why integration has been slow and often times fails to meet intended outcomes, we must adopt an instrumentalist’s perspective to technology integration. This perspective considers the human factors related to technology integration, and proposes that integration is more a human endeavor than a natural process. (Surry & Land, 2000). I extend this perspective to include organizational and environmental factors that impact technology integration. This paper will examine the variables that impact technology implementation, and present two approaches that school systems could employ to facilitate the integration of technology.
Immersive Learning Theory
Authors: Blashki Kathy , Nichol Sophie
Published: May 2011

This article explores an application of immersive learning theory in an Australian secondary school. The emphasis in this study is on the development and implementation of a learning environment that encompasses four essential learning elements: immersion, engagement, agency, and risk (Blashki, Nichol, Jia, & Prompramotes, 2007; Nichol & Blashki, in press). The following documents the impact of a “purpose-specific environment” (Blashki, 2000) created at Karingal Park Secondary College (KPSC) and referred to as the max learning space. The max learning space (“The Max”) was constructed, both physically and pedagogically, upon the precepts of immersive learning for year 7 students to enhance and support their initiation into secondary school learning.
Intellectual Property
Authors: King Kathleen P.
Published: May 2011

The study and generation of knowledge is a fundamental focus of education. With changing technologies, digital publication, and information access, the issue of intellectual property has become increasingly important. Some of the issues that have to be dealt with are the transition from a paper-based “economy” of knowledge and publication to a digital economy and understanding. Indeed rather than a transition, this change needs to be more fully understood as a transformation.
Interactive Multimedia
Authors: Sidhu S. Manjit
Published: May 2011

Media is a Latin word used to describe ways to convey information. Media can be related to newspapers, magazines, radio, television, audio-video programmes, computers, and others. Many prefixes are used with the word media such as multimedia, electronic media, and interactive media. The most common reference used in education is multimedia, which is the integration of text, audio, video, graphics, and animation into a single medium. Instructional multimedia is the integration of various forms of media in the instructional process. It is the technology that combines print, radio, television, animation, photographs, and other forms of illustration (Usha, 2003). Interactive refers to the way the user engages in the integration of different media (text, audio, video, graphics, and animation) to enhance the user’s learning process. The use of multimedia as an educational medium is becoming increasingly popular in various fields of study including medicine, science, engineering, and arts. Interactive multimedia courseware (software used by students in their learning) in particular, developed on a CD-ROM, is adding a new and interesting dimension to both teaching and learning. This new approach can effectively complement the conventional methods of teaching and learning. The multisensory input of this media provides possibilities for higher performance ratings and higher retention (Usha, 2003). With effective feedback, this method makes learning and teaching more meaningful. Students with different learning abilities can work at their own place, time and pace; and with interactively and selfassessment it can make learning a highly personalized, independent, and a rewarding experience. Today, new media and technologies for learning technical courses have influenced education in higher learning institutions. This trend has posed an immense challenge to academicians who wish to employ multimedia in their teaching activities.
Mental Models
Authors: Churchill Daniel
Published: May 2011

It is widely assumed that mental models are internal representations. Humans are capable of constructing these models when required by demands of an external task or by a self-generated stimulus. “Mind’s eye” can see, run, and interact with these mental models. Rather than stored in strictly fixed form in the mind, mental models are constructed on the spot when needed. Repeated application leads to refinement of a mental model and possible automation of its construction and use processes in one’s cognitive practice.
Promoting Cooperative Learning for Preservice Teachers Through Information Technology
Authors: NG Eugenia M.W.
Published: May 2011

Cooperative learning means students working together to accomplish shared learning goals and to maximize their own and their group members’ achievements (Johnson & Johnson, 1999), and stresses the importance of shared dialogue and inquiry (Littleton & Hakkinen, 1999). The concept of cooperative learning has been around for a long time. Sometimes cooperative and collaborative learning are used interchangeably, but Lehtinen, Hakkarainen, Lipponen, Rahikainen, and Muukkonen (2007) have suggested that cooperative work involves dividing work among the team members, whilst collaborative work means all the team members tackle the problems together in a coordinated effort. In a traditional setting, cooperative learning occurs when there is human interaction, but cooperative learning can transcend cooperation from someone that you know to virtually everyone in the world if they have a Web-connected computer. Does information technology foster or stifle cooperative learning?
Software Evaluation
Authors: Studnicki Elaine
Published: May 2011

Evaluating software is an important component in the process of choosing technology for learning and instruction. The saying goes that you can not read a book by its cover but that is not necessarily true for software. In fact the first thing to understand about a possible software solution has nothing to do with the software. Whether it is for student learning or district management, the key to finding the right software is to know exactly why it is needed and how it is going to be used. For example, selecting software for kindergarten students to learn their numbers requires an understanding of how 5-year old children process information, physically manipulate computer keyboards and a mouse, and understanding how they will use it in class. A teacher should know if students will work independently or in groups and how long will they have to work during any one session. Will their work be saved? If students will work cooperatively, software should be chosen that is designed to engage all the students sitting around the computer. These are a few considerations that teachers should use when they initially review software. There are several others listed later in this article and guidelines listed in the references.
System Dynamics Based Learning Environments
Authors: Qudrat-Ullah Hassan
Published: May 2011

Managing a public sector organization is a highly complex task involving multiple stakeholders coupled with informational and resource material flows. Decision making in such complex tasks, for example heath-care system, presents challenges. On one hand, the complexity of public sector organizations does not lend itself well to real-world trial and error approach. Practical, political, and/or ethical constraints often restrict any experimentation with many real-world phenomena such as medical decision-making, hazardwaste management, climate change, and so forth. On the other hand, most of the real-world “decisions and their consequences” are hardly related in both time and space, which makes learning even harder to occur (Hogarth, 1981; Sterman, 1989). Recent advancements in computer technology, together with developments in system dynamics simulation methods, provide a potential solution that involves design and development of the decision support systems to aid decision making in complex public sector systems (Qudrat-Ullah, 2005). In this paper we argue that system- dynamics-based interactive learning environments (SDILEs) could serve as an effective decision support system for public sector management.
Web Logs
Authors: Walker David W.
Published: May 2011

A Web log, more commonly known as a blog, is a publication on the Internet. Blogs have been credited with allowing people to develop online communities with a group of friends, classmates and professors, or the wider world because of how easy they are to create and of how accessible they are to anyone on the Internet. They are easy to create because they do not require the blogger, the person creating the blog, to know hypertext markup language (HTML). In addition, content in a blog may be text, graphics, hyperlinks, photos, audio, and/or video. Many blogs look like personal journal entries because they are updated on a daily or weekly basis.
An Activity Theory View of E-HR and Open Source
Authors: Guilloux Veronique , Kalika Michel
Published: May 2011

The free licenses specify the principles of use and diffusion of the free software while supporting the open and collective innovation (Chesbrough, 2003). Often, the successes of the open-source community seem like an implausible form of magic (see the magic cauldron from Raymond [1999]). As Demazière, Horn, and Zune (2006) recall it, if open source projects can be regarded as virtual teams (Lipnack & Stamps, 2000), it should also be stressed that they seem like a true “enigma” in sociologists eyes. Open source rests on voluntary developers (Muffato) and does not function on modes of production framed by wage. Moreover these communities are not subjected to a strong planning of work but rather to a flexible calendar. What is the human resources (HR) secret management of open source project? In this article two main elements will be discussed: firstly the activity theory and HR and secondly the open source project and the organizational learning development.