bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Software Quality Modeling with Limited Apriori Defect Data
Authors: Seliya Naeem , Khoshgoftaar Taghi M.
Published: May 2011

In machine learning the problem of limited data for supervised learning is a challenging problem with practical applications. We address a similar problem in the context of software quality modeling. Knowledge- based software engineering includes the use of quantitative software quality estimation models. Such models are trained using apriori software quality knowledge in the form of software metrics and defect data of previously developed software projects. However, various practical issues limit the availability of defect data for all modules in the training data. We present two solutions to the problem of software quality modeling when a limited number of training modules have known defect data. The proposed solutions are a semisupervised clustering with expert input scheme and a semisupervised classification approach with the expectation-maximization algorithm. Software measurement datasets obtained from multiple NASA software projects are used in our empirical investigation. The software quality knowledge learnt during the semisupervised learning processes provided good generalization performances for multiple test datasets. In addition, both solutions provided better predictions compared to a supervised learner trained on the initial labeled dataset.
The Business Impact of Predictive Analytics
Authors: Bruckhaus Tilmann
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the business impact of predictive analytics. It argues that in order to understand the potential business impact of a predictive model, an organization must first evalute the model with technical metrics, and then interpret these technical metrics in terms of their financial business impact. This chapter first reviews a set of technical metrics which can assist in analyzing model quality. The remaining portion of the chapter then shows how to combine these technical metrics with financial data to study the economic impact of the model. This know-how is used to illustrate how a business can choose the best predictive model from among two or more candidate models. The analysis techniques presented are illustrated by various sample models from the domains of insurance fraud prevention and predictive marketing.
Negotiation, Trust, and Experience Management in E-Supply Chains
Authors: Finnie G. , Sun Z.
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews fundamentals of e-supply chain management and examines the transformation from the traditional supply chains to the e-supply chains (e-SC). This chapter applies experience management (EM) and experience-based reasoning (EBR) to intellegent agents in the e-SC and explores how to use experience in extablishing trust in other agents. The role of trust and deception in supply chains for real-time enterprises is discussed, and a logical framework for fraud and deception is explained in this chapter. EBR is considered as a way to manage trust in the supply network. This chapter explores cooperation and negotiation, trust and deception in e-supply chains by providing methodologies and intelligent techniques for multiagent trust, negotiation, and deception in an e-SC. Finally, a unified model is developed for integrating cooperation and negotiation, trust and deception in e-supply chains. Although primarily theoretical, the chapter highlights new areas of research which will impact supply chain management.
Writing-Across-the-IT/MIS Curriculum
Authors: Etter Stephanie J. , Merhout Jeffrey W.
Published: May 2011

Popular literature not only claims that college graduates are entering the workforce lacking sufficient writing skills but that companies must spend billions of dollars annually to train employees how to communicate effectively through writing (Canavor & Meirowitz, 2005; College Board, 2004). While writing-across-the-curriculum is not a new concept, it seems that only certain areas of the curriculum have adopted it. The integration of writing into the MIS/IT curriculum is an important and achievable goal necessary for the overall development of students in Information Technology or Management Information Systems degree programs. While traditional IT/MIS programs rely heavily on technology-based courses, we argue that these technology courses must also promote effective writing habits needed for career growth in the IT/MIS fields. As business proposals, newsletters, and reports are frequently being written by those in the Information Systems Department of a corporation, rather than by those in the Communication Department, it is increasingly important that we prepare IT/MIS students with the appropriate writing skills needed for their careers. For example, in many cases we prepare students to create web pages, a highly public information source, without providing any instruction on writing within the IT/MIS curriculum. This paper illustrates how writing assignments can be used in many MIS/IT classes.
Knowledge Management as a Discipline
Authors: Jennex Murray E. , Croasdell David
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents arguments that show that knowledge management (KM) is a discipline. Kuhn’s (1996) criteria for being a discipline are used as a framework for providing information showing KM to be a discipline. It was found that KM has interesting research questions, journals specific to KM, a body of accepted knowledge, professional societies, its own jargon and ontology, and its own degree programs. It also is concluded that KM is a young and growing discipline.
A Multi-Level Performance Framework for Knowledge Management
Authors: Massey Anne , Ramesh V. , Montoya-Weiss Mitzi
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management (KM) has gained increasing attention since the mid-1990s. A KM strategy involves consciously helping people share and put knowledge into action. However, before an organization can realize the promise of KM, a fundamental question needs to be asked: What performance goal(s) is the organization trying to achieve? In this chapter, we develop and offer a multi-level framework that provides a view of the performance environment surrounding organizational knowledge work. We illustrate the KM framework using two organizational case studies. Then, based on the KM framework and further insights drawn from our case studies, we offer a series of steps that may guide and assist organizations and practitioners as they undertake KM initiatives. We further demonstrate the applicability of these steps by examining KM initiatives within a global software development company. We conclude with a discussion of implications for organizational practice and directions for future research.
Knowledge Management's Impact on Organizational Performance
Authors: Anantatmula Vittal
Published: May 2011

Establishing criteria for knowledge management (KM) is important, because criteria help to establish a basis for assessing the value and evaluating its results. More importantly, the criteria will tell us what the KM outcomes are and their relevance to organizational performance. The literature review has revealed that widely accepted criteria and performance measures have not been developed for KM. Delphi Technique and survey-based research using a questionnaire targeting KM professionals as respondents were aimed at establishing criteria for assessing KM success for different types of organizations. The results show what organizations consider important outcomes of a KM initiative. Contributions from this research effort should support government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations in making decisions about KM initiatives and measuring KM efforts in terms of its relevance to the performance of organizations. Future research efforts can focus on developing these KM outcomes into detailed measures.
Factors that Contribute to the Success of Knowledge Management Communities of Practice
Authors: Stein Eric W.
Published: May 2011

A community of practice (CoP) is an organizational form that promotes sense making, knowledge management, and learning. It is important to understand how and why these communities form and grow over time. These questions are explored in a qualitative analysis of a knowledge management (KM) community of practice. This case study includes a description of how the organization formed, survived, grew, and matured over a five-year period (1999-2004). Several practices and structures related to CoP development are identified: operations, roles and responsibilities, communications, subgroup structures, use of information technologies, and other aspects of organizing. Using data from several sources (e.g., membership surveys, interviews with key informants, document analysis), four sets of critical success factors are identified: Individual factors, content factors, meeting factors, and organizational factors. These factors are arranged into a descriptive model of the function and structure of CoPs over the life cycle. This work also sheds light on how to set up and successfully grow a community of practice.
The Lifecycle of a Knowledge Management System for Organizational Learning
Authors: Cooper Lynne P. , Bailey Teresa , Nash Rebecca , Phan Tu-Anh
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the development and operation of a knowledge system to support learning of organizational knowledge at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a US national research laboratory whose mission is planetary exploration and to do what no one has done before. JPL 101 is a Web-accessible database of general organizational knowledge captured in a series of quizzes. The heart of JPL 101 is the content that is encoded as questions and annotated answers with connections to related information and resources. This chapter describes the requirements generation process, implementation, and rollout of the JPL 101 system. Data collected over 19 weeks of operation were used to assess system performance with respect to design considerations, participation, effectiveness of communication mechanisms, and individual-based learning. Analysis of content three years after primary operations assessed the degree of knowledge obsolescence in the system. These results are discussed in the context of organizational learning research and implications for practice.
Combating Malaria
Authors: Bellamine-BenSaoud Narjès , Rateb Fatima
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we investigate how complexity theory and more particularly how agent-based modeling and simulation can benefit the explanation of the impact of education on malaria health care in Haiti. Our model includes: (1) the environment, encompassing mainly cities, roads, hospitals and schools; (2) the agents, modeling the human actors, who can be safe or infected by malaria disease according to their location in the environment; and (3) a modelled agent can also be mobile or not, can reproduce, and can die. We run four kinds of experiments over a 50-year period each. Our main emerging results are growing total agent, susceptible, and immune populations in a “cyclic” fluctuation form. Furthermore, we confirm the positive impact of both education and hospitals in combating malaria disease.
Challenges of the "Global Understanding Environment" Based on Agent Mobility
Authors: Terziyan Vagan
Published: May 2011

Among traditional users of Web resources, industry also has a growing set of smart industrial devices with embedded intelligence. Just as humans do, smart industrial devices need online services—for example, for condition monitoring, remote diagnostics, maintenance, and so on. In this chapter, we present one possible implementation framework for such Web services. Assume that such services should be Semantic-Web-enabled and form a service network based on internal and external agents’ platforms, which can host heterogeneous mobile agents and coordinate them to perform needed tasks. The concept of a “mobile-service component” assumes not only the exchange of queries and service responses but also the delivery and composition of a service provider itself. A mobile-service component carrier (agent) can move to a field device’s local environment (embedded agent platform) and perform its activities locally. Service components improve their performance through online learning and communication with other components. Heterogeneous service components’ discovery is based on semantic P2P search. In this chapter, we discuss the Global Understanding Environment as an enabling agent-driven semantic platform for implementation of the heterogeneous industrial resources, condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance. The main challenges of such an environment are presented, which are “semantic adapters” for industrial objects, diagnostic models, exchange and integration, distributed trust management, and the concept of a human as a Web service.
ADAM
Authors: Ramanujam Sunitha , Capretz Miriam
Published: May 2011

In recent years, the emergence of the Internet has resulted in a proliferation of data. This in turn has given rise to increasing demands of organizations to access accurate information swiftly and efficiently. Thus, the scope of functions for databases has expanded more than ever and the complexity of database systems has grown accordingly. Consequently, the burden on database administrators (DBAs) has increased significantly. The objective of this research is to address and propose a solution to overcome this problem of overburdened and expensive DBAs. This chapter focuses on relational database management systems in particular and proposes a novel and innovative multiagent system (MAS) that would autonomously and rationally administer and maintain databases. The proposed multi-agent system tool, ADAM (a MAS for autonomous database administration and maintenance), is in the form of a self-administering wrapper around database systems and it addresses, and offers a solution to, the problem of overburdened and expensive DBAs with the objective of making databases a cost-effective option for small/medium-sized organizations. An implementation of the agent-based system to proactively or reactively identify and resolve a small subset of DBA tasks is discussed and the GAIA methodology is used to outline the detailed analysis and design of the same. Role models describing the responsibilities, permissions, activities, and protocols of the candidate agents, and interaction models representing the links between the roles are explained. The coordinated intelligent rational agent model is used to describe the agent architecture and a brief description of the functionalities, responsibilities, and components of each agent type in the ADAM multiagent system is presented. Finally, a prototype system implementation using JADE 2.5 and Oracle 8.1.7 is presented as evidence of the feasibility of the proposed agent-based solution for the autonomous administration and maintenance of relational databases.
Monitoring and Enforcing Online Auction Ethics
Authors: Kao Diana , Wang Shouhong
Published: May 2011

The online auction has become an important form of e-commerce. Although using a different mode for conducting auction activities, online auctions should abide by the same code of ethics outlined in the face-to-face auction environment. Yet, ethics-related issues for online auctions have not been fully discussed in the current literature. The unique features of online auctions present an opportunity to address how ethical conduct could be supported, monitored, and enforced in an online auction environment. With technology being the backbone of online auction, information systems appear to be a useful tool in facilitating ethics enforcement. This article summarizes ethics-related issues that are particularly relevant in online auctions, and recommends a code of ethics that could be applied to online auctions. Based on this set of ethics, this article proposes a model for an information system that will support and enhance ethical conduct in an online auction environment.
A Frameowrk for Monitoring User Involvement and Participation in ERP Implementation Projects
Authors: Esteves Jose , Pastor Joan , Casanovas Josep
Published: May 2011

In this chapter a framework for monitoring user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects is proposed, by using the Goals/Questions/Metrics method. The results of this work are threefold. First, a literature review is presented on the topic of user involvement and participation as related with ERP implementation projects. Second, a framework for monitoring user involvement and participation in ERP implementation projects is proposed. And third, a Goals/Questions/Metrics preliminary plan is proposed to monitor and control user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects.
Computing Dense Cubes Embedded in Sparse Data
Authors: Fu Lixin
Published: May 2011

In high-dimensional data sets, both the number of dimensions and the cardinalities of the dimensions are large and data is often very sparse, that is, most cubes are empty. For such large data sets, it is a well-known challenging problem to compute the aggregation of a measure over arbitrary combinations of dimensions efficiently. However, in real-world applications, users are usually not interested in all the sparse cubes, most of which are empty or contain only one or few tuples. Instead, they focus more on the “big picture” information the highly aggregated data, where the “where clauses” of the SQL queries involve only few dimensions. Although the input data set is sparse, this aggregate data is dense. The existing multi-pass, full-cube computation algorithms are prohibitively slow for this type of application involving very large input data sets. We propose a new dynamic data structure called Restricted Sparse Statistics Tree (RSST) and a novel cube evaluation algorithm, which are especially well suited for efficiently computing dense sub-cubes imbedded in high-dimensional sparse data sets. RSST only computes the aggregations of non-empty cube cells where the number of non-star coordinates (i.e., the number of group by attributes) is restricted to be no more than a user-specified threshold. Our innovative algorithms are scalable and I/O efficient. RSST is incrementally maintainable, which makes it suitable for data warehousing and the analysis of streaming data. We have compared our algorithms with top, state-of-the-art cube computation algorithms such as Dwarf and QCT in construction times, query response times, and data compression. Experiments demonstrate the excellent performance and good scalability of our approach.
Fighting the Problem of Unsolicited E-Mail Using a Hashcash Proof-of-Work Approach
Authors: Curran Kevin , Honan John
Published: May 2011

This chapter investigates the problem of e-mail spam, and identifies methods to minimize the volumes. The analysis focuses on the hashcash proof-of-work approach, and investigates the feasibility of a hashcash-based solution. A potential problem with proof-of-work is that disparity across different powered computers may result in some unfortunate users spending a disproportionately long time calculating a stamp. An experiment is carried out to time how long it takes to calculate stamps across a variety of processor speeds. It is concluded from the analysis of the results that due to this problem of egalitarianism, hashcash (or CPU-bound proof-of-work in general) is not a suitable approach as a stand-alone anti-spam solution. It appears that a hybrid anti-spam system in conjunction with a legal and policy framework is the best approach.
Consumer Factors Affecting Adoption of Internet Banking Services
Authors: Jih Wen-Jang , Wong Shu-Yeng , Chang Tsung-Bin
Published: May 2011

Banking is often regarded as an information-intensive industry. From the information process point of view, banking services primarily involve creation, processing, storage, and distribution of financial information. Although most of these services can be conveniently handled via Internet-based information technologies, adoption of Internet banking has been less than optimal. Existing research has revealed that this convenience may be offset, to varying degrees, by customer-perceived risk associated with transacting in the wide-open cyberworld. A key challenge for online bankers is to maintain a secure information infrastructure that effectively manages the perceived risk factors. This research examines usages of Internet banking services, investigates the nature and sources of customers’ perceived risks, and tests hypotheses with regard to impacts of perceived risks on Internet banking adoption. Using primary data collected in Taiwan, the study finds significant relationships among involvement, familiarity, perceived risks, perception of measures for reducing perceived risks, and customer willingness to adopt Internet banking services. The findings have significant implications for practice and research in Internet banking.
Computer Self-Efficacy and the Acceptance of Instant Messenger Technology
Authors: Stafford Thomas
Published: May 2011

AOL instant messenger (IM) is a widely used Internet chat technology. There are indications that users do not find it easy to use initially, and this concerns AOL management; they think that if popular applications are not easy to use, the ability of AOL to attract and hold loyal customers will be impeded. In this chapter, the acceptance of IM technology is investigated within the familiar framework of the technology acceptance model (TAM), in which ease of use plays a pivotal role in promoting acceptance and subsequent use of a given technology. Computer self efficacy (CSE) is examined for possible antecedent roles in structural models of acceptance processes. It is determined that CSE does operate in a mediating relationship between some of the critical subcomponents of the TAM model but that it does not operate within the strictly defined theoretical boundaries established for general antecedents to the overall TAM process.
Advanced Data Compression Techniques for SOAP Web Services
Authors: Werner Christian , Buschmann Carsten , Fischer Stefan
Published: May 2011

A major drawback of using SOAP for application integration is its enormous demand for network bandwidth. Compared to classical approaches, like Java-RMI and Corba, SOAP messages typically cause more than three times the network traffic. In this chapter we will explore compression strategies and give a detailed survey and evaluation of state of the art binary encoding techniques for SOAP. We also introduce a new experimental concept for SOAP compression based on differential encoding, which makes use of the commonly available WSDL description of a SOAP Web service. We not only conduct a detailed evaluation of compression effectiveness, but also provide the results of execution time measurements.
Assessing Digital Government at the Local Level Worldwide
Authors: Melitski James , Holzer Marc
Published: May 2011

Throughout the world, government agencies are looking to use information technology as a tool for strategically enhancing their performance and creating public value. Our research examines 84 cities worldwide and evaluates their performance using a five-stage framework. The framework builds on existing e-government literature utilizing 92 different measures. The research was conducted between June and October of 2003. Our instrument was translated into the native language of each city and the assessment of each municipal Web site was conducted by a native speaker of the municipality’s language. We review relevant e-government literature for evaluating Web sites in the U.S. and internationally, discuss our sample selection, methodology, theoretical framework, findings, and recommendations. Our results indicate that Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai are the top five large cities providing digital government opportunities to citizens online. In addition, our research suggests a difference in the digital government capabilities between the 30 developed nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and lesser-developed (non-OECD) nations.
Motives, Strategic Approach, Objectives and Focal Areas in E-Gov-Induced Change
Authors: Scholl Hans J. (Jochen)
Published: May 2011

In its early catalogue and transaction phases, E-Government (e-gov) has been quite successful, although some critics say that it mainly reaped the harvest of relatively low hanging fruits by making paper-based information accessible over the Web, and also by Web-enabling some existing transaction processes. The subsequent horizontal and vertical integration phases of e-gov, those critics hold, present a greater challenge and require more technological sophistication and organizational effort. Business processes may need streamlining, change, and even replacement in order to become more citizen-centric and also increase government internal effectiveness and efficiency (IEE). This exploratory study finds that strategies and objectives for reaching the integration phase vary with focal areas and motives. However, e-gov, it is found, is a main driver of business process change in the public sector. Many practices and lessons learned from private sector reengineering apply in the government context.
E-Government-Induced Business Process Change (BPC)
Authors: Scholl Hans J. (Jochen)
Published: May 2011

E-government (e-gov) projects have an increasing influence on how government business processes evolve and change. While early e-gov projects focused on government- to-public information and interaction, the second and third wave of e-gov projects also emphasize internal effectiveness and efficiency, along with intra- and interdepartmental as well as intra- and interbranch integration. With these increases in scope and scale of e-gov projects, existing business processes, including core processes, become candidates for improvement and change. While the private-sector-oriented literature on business process change abounds with descriptive and prescriptive accounts, no equivalent has been found in the public-sector-related literature. Although many insights drawn from the private sector may apply, the public sector seems to develop distinct practices. This chapter contributes to the understanding of current practices in e-gov-induced business process change, comparing those practices to prescriptions derived from private-sector experience. Among other factors, the more inclusive approach observed in e-gov business process change may explain the higher success rate of public-sector projects compared to those reported from the private sector.
E-Business Integration by SMEs in the Manufacturing Sector
Authors: Beck Roman , Wigand Rolf T. , Koenig Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

SMEs in the manufacturing industry are impacted by enormous changes in their business processes. E-business-related developments have reduced the importance of physical branches and moved towards more sophisticated, e-business-enabled supply chains for products and services. This contribution analyzes the differences in adoption behavior and actual use of e-business applications among 152 investigated SMEs in the manufacturing sector from four countries. Best practice cases of efficient e-business performance, such as in Denmark or the U.S., are identified by deploying a data envelopment analysis (DEA). Leading SMEs in the sample are characterized by a wide range of thoroughly implemented and integrated e-business applications, resulting in higher satisfaction rates.
Intentions to Use Information Technologies
Authors: Thompson Ron , Compeau Deborah , Higgins Chris , Lupton Nathan
Published: May 2011

An integrative model explaining intentions to use an information technology is proposed. The primary objective is to obtain a clearer picture of how intentions are formed, and draws on previous research such as the technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989) and the decomposed theory of planned behavior (Taylor & Todd, 1995a). The conceptual model was tested using questionnaire responses from 189 subjects, measured at two time periods approximately two months apart. The results generally supported the hypothesized relationships, and revealed strong influences of both personal innovativeness and computer self-efficacy.
The Importance of Ease of Use, Usefulness, and Trust to Online Consumers
Authors: Weaver McCloskey Donna
Published: May 2011

This research examines electronic commerce participation and attitudes by older Americans. Questionnaires were distributed at a large retirement community and several senior centers located in Pennsylvania. The sample of 110 respondents ranged in age from 52 to 87. Fifty-nine percent reported purchasing an item online in the last 6 months. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used and modified to examine the impact attitudes concerning ease of use, usefulness and trust had on electronic commerce usage. Usefulness and trust were found to have a positive, direct affect on usage. Ease of use had significant impacts on usefulness and trust had a significant impact on both ease of use and usefulness. The chapter concludes with a discussion of these results, study limitations, and directions for future research.
Representations of Tribal Boundaries of Australian Indigenous Peoples and the Implications for Geographic Information Systems
Authors: Turk Andrew
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the concepts of boundary (“limit of country”) held by indigenous Australians and how they might be represented in computer-based information systems, especially geographic information systems (GIS) and digital cadastre databases. The impact of these representational issues on native title processes and determinations will also be discussed. The analysis provides a partial understanding of the nature of tribal boundaries, especially variations which occur in the physical definition of boundaries and their (intentional and unintentional) indeterminacy. The chapter goes on to draw some conclusions regarding the representation of indigenous boundaries in the property cadastres of Australian States and Territories. If such “official” boundaries are to do justice to indigenous law and culture, they must reasonably reflect the ontology and epistemology of the concepts of boundary held by indigenous Australians. Hence, there is a significant interaction between constraints imposed by particular information technology (IT) practices and indigenous concepts of place.
Alliance Project
Authors: Sugito Shigenobu , Kubota Sachiko
Published: May 2011

This study has three main aims: 1. to develop software for an indigenous kinship database and genealogy using a cross-platform Java engine; 2. to contribute to a kinship study, which will serve as a fieldwork support tool for anthropologists; and 3. to assess the importance and potential of the kinship database and genealogy in IT-based indigenous knowledge management.
Cape York Digital Network
Authors: Latukefu Alopi
Published: May 2011

Power comes in all manner of media — economic, legislative, industrial, cultural and social — with each level of power intertwined into a massive network of inter-relationships. The cliché, “knowledge is power,” has been the catch cry of organisations and people from the disenfranchised to the elite, from community and civil rights activists to business and government over many years.
Community Computing and Literacy in Pascua Yaqui Pueblo
Authors: Betts J. David
Published: May 2011

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Commerce Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program funded the Pascua Yaqui Connection project. This grant initiative was created to address the Digital Divide. Programs were established to bridge this gap for communities traditionally behind in information and communications technology (ICT) and underserved by connectivity and access to the Internet and advanced computer systems. The Pascua Yaqui Community Resource Lab was established by the joint effort of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, Pima Community College and the University of Arizona (Betts, 2002).
Designing Quality Online Education to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding
Authors: Liu Youmei
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on four main areas: (1) the relationship between cultural value systems and education, (2) the influence of cultural values on assessment systems, (3) the use of technology to facilitate cross-cultural communication, and (4) online education promoting the development of social capital. It argues that in order to design an effective curriculum that can be applied in a cross-cultural learning environment, both instructors and students need to be aware of diverse cultural value systems and their characteristics. This cross-cultural understanding and the creation of social capital can be developed through effective communication with the assistance of technology.
Africa Education Perspectives on Culture and E-Learning Convergence
Authors: Kinuthia Wanjira
Published: May 2011

Culture affects individuals’ responses to learning and instruction. It also influences the acceptance, use, and impact of e-learning environments because instructional approaches are entrenched in a context of beliefs, expectations, and values within the context of its application. Advances in e-learning are prompting a debate as to whether or not the tools and technologies are culturally neutral, inclusive, and representative. The aim of this chapter is to provide a background for understanding the links between cultural content and context and e-learning. The discussion relates instruction to technology in the face of dynamic socio-cultural issues and changing instructional systems. In doing so, challenges and exemplars from the African perspective are presented.
What Can Cave Walls Teach Us?
Authors: Cook Ruth Gannon , Crawford Caroline M.
Published: May 2011

The question raised in this chapter, “What can cave walls teach us?” is essential because education is increasingly taught within a ubiquitous global electronic venue. Since much of the current electronic learning (e-learning) education environment has been produced in the United States of America, Canada, and Western Europe, many other countries, such as China, Japan, India, and Africa are currently left out of e-learning designs. So the question of how to provide e-learning that accommodates the diverse learning needs of multicultural and multinational learners is becoming critical. This chapter discusses some of the ways instructional designers and educators can utilize lessons learned from the past to facilitate a renaissance of learning across cultures and nations and incorporate prior learning legacies into facilitative, 21st century e-learning. Positive by-products will include more equitable learning opportunities for targeted learners through e-learning and, optimally, more well-rounded learners.
Universal Design for Culturally-Diverse Online Learning
Authors: Eberle Jane H. , Childress Marcus D.
Published: May 2011

This chapter outlines a framework for designing online learning using the principles of universal design. The authors define and give practical examples of instructional design models and universal design for learning as adapted for culturally-diverse populations and global learning. Online learning in a global society presents a variety of teaching issues that must be addressed if learning is to be universal, consistent, and culturally-sensitive. Adapting principles that the Center for Assistive Special Technology has developed for learners with special needs and combining those with practical instructional design techniques and instructional strategies can ensure that diverse learners will have equal access to the learning that will take place in their online courses.
Beyond Localization
Authors: Dunn Patrick , Marinetti Alessandra
Published: May 2011

Instructional systems are products of the cultures in which they are developed. Culture, which we define here as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2001), has a pervasive influence on instructional systems, regardless of whether these systems involve self-paced e-learning, synchronous or asynchronous computer-based learning activities, or online communities of learners. The issue of culture’s impact on instructional systems becomes most relevant and challenging where such systems are transferred across cultural boundaries or developed for multiple cultures. This is currently happening in many large, globally-dispersed organizations that use e-learning technologies to support the learning of their staff around the world. Theories of learning and of cultural dimensions suggest that the effectiveness of certain types of learning systems will be affected where they are used in culturally-diverse environments. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the issues that designers of a wide range of e-learning experiences face when designing e-learning for culturally-diverse learner groups. We provide some models to support learning practitioners, focusing in particular on the importance of a conscious, culturally-informed selection of instructional strategies as the most critical part of the design and development process.
Developing an Online Classroom Simulation to Support a Pre-Service Teacher Education Program
Authors: Ferry Brian , Kervin Lisa
Published: May 2011

Evaluations of our pre-service teacher education program identified a need to provide more classroom based experience for our students. This motivated us to embark on the journey of developing an on-line classroom simulation. The establishment of a team and the different areas of expertise we brought to the project resulted in a theoretically sound response to this challenge. In this chapter we share some of our insights from our experiences over the past three years working on this project. In particular we focus on the key stages in the development of the software, the roles we assumed and the lessons we learned.
Lessons Learned Modeling "Connecting Teaching and Learning"
Authors: Girod Gerald , Girod Mark , Denton Jeff
Published: May 2011

While designing a web-based simulation to provide practice for teacher education students as they sought to master the complex skills expected of them as they develop work samples, the authors learned eight important lessons during the development of Cook School District. Work samples are a methodology for helping students learn to analyze their teaching by seeking connections between their work and student achievement. Cook School District serves as a site where teacher candidates begin the arduous process of learning to determine which strategies of instruction and assessment will result in greater student growth. The four years required to develop the simulation brought home eight lessons, often painfully acquired, that are shared with readers. Learning and teaching are not inherently linked. Much learning takes place without teaching, and indeed much teaching takes place without learning (Wenger, 1998).
Educational Theory Into Practice Software
Authors: Dexter Sara
Published: May 2011

The ETIPS software is a web-based learning environment that delivers cases that allow educators to practice instructional decision making. Here I recount its development but mainly emphasize the two key concepts that were central to our design process. The first was the Conceptual Assessment Framework, an evidentiary reasoning and design perspective that helped us to focus on which key attributes to build into the software and cases. The second concept is described as extreme programming, which is an iterative approach to software programming based upon user stories and rapid prototyping. The story of developing the ETIPS cases illustrates the need to know very clearly what the point is of the educational experience you are creating and to design software where form follows function.
Machine Learning Assessment System for Modeling Patterns of Student Learning
Authors: Stevens Ron
Published: May 2011

We have developed and validated layered analytic models of how high school and university students construct, modify and retain problem solving strategies as they learn to solve science problems online. First, item response theory modeling is used to provide continually refined estimates of problem solving ability as students solve a series of simulations. In parallel, student’s strategies are modeled by self-organizing artificial neural network analysis, using the actions that students take during problem solving as the classifying inputs. This results in strategy maps detailing the qualitative and quantitative differences among problem solving approaches. Hidden Markov Modeling then develops learning trajectories across sequences of performances and results in stochastic models of problem solving progress across sequential strategic stages in the learning process. Using this layered analytical approach we have found that students quickly adopt preferential problem solving strategies, and continue to use them up to four months later. Furthermore, the approach has shown that students working in groups solve a higher percentage of the problems, stabilize their strategic approaches quicker, and use a more limited repertoire of strategies than do students working alone.
Crossing the Digital Divide
Authors: Stoicovy Catherine E. , Sanchez John
Published: May 2011

Traditional portfolios, typically in the form of three-ring binders, are now being replaced with electronic versions on CD-ROM, DVD and the Internet. Two directions for electronic portfolios are those created with software tools found on computers, or Web-based storage systems generally accompanied by data management systems that allow assessment of portfolio data. The use of electronic portfolios, either Web-based or software generated, offers great promise but also poses significant challenges. This chapter describes the challenges and successes involved in crossing the digital divide from traditional to Web-based portfolios in a diverse student environment in higher education.
Self-Regulation and Online Learning
Authors: Matuga Julia M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter illustrates theoretical issues and practical challenges to support lifelong learning, namely the development and use of self-regulation within online learning environments. Self-regulation, or the ability of students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning is a critical skill for lifelong learning (Longworth & Davies, 1996; Zimmerman, 2002) and online learning (Niemi, Launonen, & Raehalme, 2002). While self-regulation may be and has traditionally been viewed and investigated from a social cognitive theoretical perspective, this chapter proposes that a Vygotskian view of self-regulation may be more applicable to investigating self-regulation within the social and cultural context of online teaching and learning. Case studies, personal essays, and contemporary research focusing on self-regulation in face-to-face and online environments are utilized to examine, discuss, and illustrate key challenges and strategies to support lifelong learning within online environments.
Online Faculty Proficiency and Peer Coaching
Authors: Baker Jason D. , Tonkin Shauna
Published: May 2011

By the time someone becomes a teacher, regardless of whether he or she enters the K-12 school system, higher education arena, or corporate training environment, he or she has literally had decades of experience with face-to-face instruction. While new teachers vary in their pedagogical training and student teaching experience, they still benefit from a lifetime of experience as students themselves. Accordingly, most of today’s teachers have a fairly common set of experiences and expectations to draw from when planning and evaluating traditional instruction. This is not so when the educational environment is shifted from the four-walled classroom to the online Internet environment. According to Bork (2002), the results of a survey of university instructors revealed that experienced online instructors had taught between four and seven online courses either partially or fully online. While not an insignificant number, it pales in comparison to the teaching experience of the same respondents (e.g., 36% having more than 20 years of experience and 34% with 10-20 years of experience), as well as the nonteaching history that such instructors invariably had.
Management of the Learning Space
Authors: Powers Susan M. , Salmon Christine
Published: May 2011

Dr. Villez looks up from her papers and sighs as her e-mail beeps again for what seems the 100th time this morning with yet another incoming mail message. She checks the subject line and sender—yes, it is from another student in one of her online courses. She sighs again. She has barely started reading the last assignment that came in 20 minutes ago, and here is yet another assignment being turned in that needs to be graded and feedback given to the student as soon as possible. Dr. Villez looks at her watch and then back at her pile of e-mail. She might need to rethink her agreement to participate in her institution’s online programs. The online courses were taking so much of her time; it was beginning to cut into her time for scholarship.
Design-Personae
Authors: Martin J.
Published: May 2011

Ever since the enthralling book Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology (Laurillard, 1993) the literature has burst forth with a plethora of new and exciting ways for teacher and student use of information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance learning. Our chapter mirrors the enormous spread of professional practice involved in bringing about effective human-computer interaction (HCI) for Web-based education.
An Integrative Approach to Teaching 3D Modelling in Architecture
Authors: Sánchez-del-Valle C.
Published: May 2011

The argument presented here is that computer courses must reach beyond the comfortable cushion of conventional teaching practices, and provide students with a way to come to grips with complexity. It provides as evidence a digital graphics literacy course for architecture students using transformer robot toys as a metaphor for introducing the concept of adaptive kinetic architecture. The transformer toy provides a manipulative device with which to develop students’ 3D modelling and rendering skills. The course approach is described, and observations about the students’ work are offered. It concludes further investigation is needed to ascertain the most appropriate delivery for reciprocal and complementary knowledge. Years ago during a summer vacation, I watched my four-year old nephew play with his favorite toy—a transforming robot composed of smaller robots. A transformer robot is a highly articulated figure with specialized joints that allows form to change without disassembly. The joints are simple mechanisms, and transformation depends on a highly orchestrated sequence of moves. My nephew, who was bilingual and illiterate then, focused all of his attention on the five figures in front of him, and one-by-one reshaped them to build the larger robot. His eyebrows were tense; his eyes followed the actions of his hands, and his fingers moved gingerly and precisely over the moving parts. He would not speak until the five would be reconfigured into one large robot. He had simpler transformers that could change from vehicle or animal to robot, and he had mastered them all. Instructions for manipulating the toy are primarily graphical; they use line, color, shades, and arrows to indicate how a part is to be rotated, sledded, pushed, or pulled. I noticed, however, that my nephew never used them to pursue his hands-on studies. I realized then that the transformer robot toy was the vehicle I had searched for that would introduce my students to the modelling of complex geometries and articulations in a way that would cross over to other courses in the curriculum, in particular the design studio.