bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Recovery Language Approach
Authors: De Florio Vincenzo
Published: May 2011

After having discussed the general approach of fault-tolerance languages and their main features, the focus is now set on one particular case: The ARIEL1 recovery language. It is also described as an approach towards resilient computing based on ARIEL and therefore dubbed the “recovery language approach” (ReL). In this chapter, first the main elements of ReL are introduced in general terms, coupling each concept to the technical foundations behind it. After this a quite extensive description of ARIEL and of a compliant architecture are provided. Target applications for such architecture are distributed codes, characterized by non-strict real-time requirements, written in a procedural language such as C, to be executed on distributed or parallel computers consisting of a predefined (fixed) set of processing nodes. The reason for giving special emphasis to ARIEL and its approach is not in their special qualities but more on the fact that, due to the first-hand experience of the author, who conceived, designed, and implemented ARIEL in the course of his studies, it was possible for him to provide the reader with what may be considered as a sort of practical exercise in system and fault modeling and in application-level fault-tolerance design, recalling and applying several of the concepts introduced.
Measuring and Assessing Tools
Authors: De Florio Vincenzo
Published: May 2011

As mentioned in Chapter I, a service’s dependability must be justified in a quantitative way and proved through extensive on-field testing and fault injection, verification and validation techniques, simulation, source-code instrumentation, monitoring, and debugging. An exhaustive treatment of all these techniques falls outside the scope of this book, nevertheless the author feels important to include in this text an analysis of the effect on dependability of some of the methods that have been introduced in previous chapters.
Data-Aware Distributed Batch Scheduling
Authors: Kosar Tevfik
Published: May 2011

As the data requirements of scientific distributed applications increase, the access to remote data becomes the main performance bottleneck for these applications. Traditional distributed computing systems closely couple data placement and computation, and consider data placement as a side effect of computation. Data placement is either embedded in the computation and causes the computation to delay, or performed as simple scripts which do not have the privileges of a job. The insufficiency of the traditional systems and existing CPU-oriented schedulers in dealing with the complex data handling problem has yielded a new emerging era: the data-aware schedulers. This chapter discusses the challenges in this area as well as future trends, with a focus on Stork case study.
Grid INFN Virtual Laboratory for Dissemination Activities (GILDA)
Authors: Barbera Roberto , Ardizzone Valeria , Ciuffo Leandro
Published: May 2011

The Grid INFN virtual Laboratory for Dissemination Activities (GILDA) is a fully working Grid test-bed devoted to training and dissemination activities. Open to anyone who wants to have its first hand experience with grid systems, GILDA has been adopted as the official training tool by several Grid projects around the world. All services, tools and materials produced in the past tutorials can be freely used by anyone who wants to learn and teach grid technology. Additionally, through a set of applications ported on its Grid Infrastructure, developers can identify components and learn by examples how to “gridify” their applications. This work presents the main features of such training-Infrastructure.
Dynamic Maintenance in ChinaGrid Support Platform
Authors: Jin Hai , Qi Li , Dai Jie , Luo Yaqin
Published: May 2011

A grid system is usually composed of thousands of nodes which are broadly distributed in different virtual organizations. Owing to geographical boundaries among these organizations, the system administrators suffer a great pressure to coordinate when grid system experiences a maintaining period. Furthermore, the runtime dynamicity of service state aggravates the complexity of tasks. Consequently, building an efficient and reliable maintaining model becomes an urgent challenge to ensure the correctness and consistency of grid nodes. In our experiment with ChinaGrid, a Dynamic Maintenance mechanism has been adopted in the fundamental grid middleware called ChinaGrid Support Platform. By resolving the above problems with system infrastructure, service dependency and service consistency, the availability of the system can be improved even the scope of maintenance extends to wider region.
Audio-Visual and Visual-Only Speech and Speaker Recognition
Authors: Shiell Derek J. , Terry Louis H. , Aleksic Petar S. , Katsaggelos Aggelos K.
Published: May 2011

The information imbedded in the visual dynamics of speech has the potential to improve the performance of speech and speaker recognition systems. The information carried in the visual speech signal compliments the information in the acoustic speech signal, which is particularly beneficial in adverse acoustic environments. Non-invasive methods using low-cost sensors can be used to obtain acoustic and visual biometric signals, such as a person’s voice and lip movement, with little user cooperation. These types of unobtrusive biometric systems are warranted to promote widespread adoption of biometric technology in today’s society. In this chapter, the authors describe the main components and theory of audio-visual and visual-only speech and speaker recognition systems. Audio-visual corpora are described and a number of speech and speaker recognition systems are reviewed. Finally, various open issues about the system design and implementation, and present future research and development directions in this area are discussed.
Lip Contour Extraction from Video Sequences under Natural Lighting Conditions
Authors: Lievin Marc , Delmas Patrice , James Jason , Gimel’farb Georgy
Published: May 2011

An algorithm for lip contour extraction is presented in this chapter. A colour video sequence of a speaker’s face is acquired under natural lighting conditions without any particular set-up, make-up, or markers. The first step is to perform a logarithmic colour transform from RGB to HI colour space. Next, a segmentation algorithm extracts the lip area by combining motion with red hue information into a spatio-temporal neighbourhood. The lip’s region of interest, semantic information, and relevant boundaries points are then automatically extracted. A good estimate of mouth corners sets active contour initialisation close to the boundaries to extract. Finally, a set of adapted active contours use an open form with curvature discontinuities along the mouth corners for the outer lip contours, a line-type open active contour when the mouth is closed, and closed active contours with lip shape constrained pressure balloon forces when the mouth is open. They are initialised with the results of the pre-processing stage. An accurate lip shape with inner and outer borders is then obtained with reliable quality results for various speakers under different acquisition conditions.
Visual Speech Processing and Recognition
Authors: Kotropoulos Constantine , Pitas Ioannis
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses both low- and high-level problems in visual speech processing and recognition In particular, mouth region segmentation and lip contour extraction are addressed first. Next, visual speech recognition with parallel support vector machines and temporal Viterbi lattices is demonstrated on a small vocabulary task.
Recognizing Prosody from the Lips
Authors: Dohen Marion , Loevenbruck Hélène , Hill Harold
Published: May 2011

The aim of this chapter is to examine the possibility of extracting prosodic information from lip features. The authors used two lip feature measurement techniques in order to evaluate the “lip pattern” of prosodic focus in French. Two corpora with Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) sentences were designed. Four focus conditions (S, V, O or neutral) were elicited in a natural dialogue situation. In the first set of experiments, they recorded two speakers of French with front and profile video cameras. The speakers wore blue lipstick and facial markers. In the second set, the authors recorded five speakers with a 3D optical tracker. An analysis of the lip features showed that visible articulatory lip correlates of focus exist for all speakers. Two types of patterns were observed: absolute and differential. A potential outcome of this study is to provide criteria for automatic visual detection of prosodic focus from lip data.
Visual Speech Perception, Optical Phonetics, and Synthetic Speech
Authors: Bernstein Lynne E. , Jiang Jintao
Published: May 2011

The information in optical speech signals is phonetically impoverished compared to the information in acoustic speech signals that are presented under good listening conditions. But high lipreading scores among prelingually deaf adults inform us that optical speech signals are in fact rich in phonetic information. Hearing lipreaders are not as accurate as deaf lipreaders, but they too demonstrate perception of detailed optical phonetic information. This chapter briefly sketches the historical context of and impediments to knowledge about optical phonetics and visual speech perception (lipreading). The authors review findings on deaf and hearing lipreaders. Then we review recent results on relationships between optical speech signals and visual speech perception. We extend the discussion of these relationships to the development of visual speech synthesis. We advocate for a close relationship between visual speech perception research and development of synthetic visible speech.
Intuitive Image Database Navigation by Hue-Sphere Browsing
Authors: Schaefer Gerald , Ruszala Simon
Published: May 2011

Efficient and effective techniques for managing and browsing large image databases are increasingly sought after. This chapter presents a simple yet efficient and effective approach to navigating image datasets. Based on the concept of a globe as visualisation and navigation medium, thumbnails are projected onto the surface of a sphere based on their colour. Navigation is performed by rotating and tilting the globe as well as zooming into an area of interest. Experiments based on a medium size image database demonstrate the usefulness of the presented approach.
Formal Models and Hybrid Approaches for Efficient Manual Image Annotation and Retrieval
Authors: Yan Rong , Natsev Apostol , Campbell Murray
Published: May 2011

Although important in practice, manual image annotation and retrieval has rarely been studied by means of formal modeling methods. In this chapter, the authors propose a set of formal models to characterize the annotation times for two commonly-used manual annotation approaches, that is, tagging and browsing. Based on the complementary properties of these models, the authors design new hybrid approaches, called frequency-based annotation and learning-based annotation, to improve the efficiency of manual image annotation as well as retrieval. Both our simulation and experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can achieve up to a 50% reduction in annotation time over baseline methods for manual image annotation, and produce significantly better annotation and retrieval results in the same amount of time.
Annotating Images by Mining Image Search
Authors: Wang Xin-Jing , Zhang Lei , Li Xirong , Ma Wei-Ying
Published: May 2011

Although it has been studied for years by computer vision and machine learning communities, image annotation is still far from practical. In this chapter, the authors propose a novel attempt of modeless image annotation, which investigates how effective a data-driven approach can be, and suggest annotating an uncaptioned image by mining its search results. The authors collected 2.4 million images with their surrounding texts from a few photo forum Web sites as our database to support this data-driven approach. The entire process contains three steps: (1) the search process to discover visually and semantically similar search results; (2) the mining process to discover salient terms from textual descriptions of the search results; and (3) the annotation rejection process to filter noisy terms yielded by step 2. To ensure real time annotation, two key techniques are leveraged – one is to map the high dimensional image visual features into hash codes, the other is to implement it as a distributed system, of which the search and mining processes are provided as Web services. As a typical result, the entire process finishes in less than 1 second. Since no training dataset is required, our proposed approach enables annotating with unlimited vocabulary, and is highly scalable and robust to outliers. Experimental results on real Web images show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Output-Oriented Language Learning With Digital Media
Authors: Rüschoff Bernd
Published: May 2011

Current thinking in SLA methodology favours knowledge construction rather than simple instructivist learning as an appropriate paradigm for language learning. Within this context, project-based and taskoriented scenarios have often been regarded as the real forte of digital media and technology-enhanced tools. Such approaches to learning are also rooted in the output hypothesis, which argue that learners should actively engage themselves in the creation of “comprehensible output” in order to develop linguistically and cognitively. Following the apparent upgrade of the Internet to Web 2.0, expectations are running high as to the innovative potential of this (supposedly) new platform for Technology Enhanced Language Learning. This chapter will discuss the principle of output orientation in language learning and consider some of the tools the “new” Internet has to offer in such an approach. It will also present a few ideas for learning projects and samples of best practice in order to show how the use of digital media can contribute both to the quality and quantity of product.
Digital Natives, Learner Perceptions and the Use of ICT
Authors: MacLean George R. , Elwood James A.
Published: May 2011

Prensky (2001) posited the emergence of a new generation of “digital natives” fluent in the language of cyberspace and familiar with the tools of user-generated content. If correct, the existence of this group would necessitate a thorough reconsideration of pedagogy to meet their radically different learning needs, which dovetail with the nascent Web 2.0 and its communities of users. The study examined in this chapter addressed a series of questions about the implications of digital natives in Japan, and found contemporary users of technology to be in firm control of only a limited number of skills. Learner use and perception of technology appeared to be mediated by several variables: technological proficiency or the lack thereof, tradition, willingness to use technology (WUT), and gender. The research instruments utilized in this chapter were analyzed and found to be psychometrically adequate. It is argued that these categories and scales will provide a useful resource for further attempts to understand the potential of Web 2.0 and the concept of the digital native in other educational traditions and contexts.
Podcasting as a Next Generation Teaching Resource
Authors: Lu Jenny Ang
Published: May 2011

This chapter aims to investigate how podcasts can be made to fit into the repertoire of resources utilized by teachers, especially in language education. It focuses on arming the language teacher with a fundamental knowledge of podcasting, centering on its potential applications in the classroom. Podcasts are ideal resources for language teachers, especially English language teachers, because almost all topics imaginable are now being treated in podcasts and the bulk of podcasts are recorded in English. Aside from making use of language-teaching podcasts, language teachers can also incorporate English language podcasts dealing with a wide range of issues to cater to the varying preferences of students. In addition to discussing these points, this chapter also provides suggestions for the practical incorporation of podcasts in language learning and teaching, both inside and outside the classroom. Two case studies demonstrating possible ways to use podcasts in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context are presented.
Web 2.0 and CMS for Second Language Learning
Authors: Holtzman Samuel
Published: May 2011

The process of technological inclusion begins with an analysis of the features and functions of the specific tool in consideration. Pedagogy should then be evaluated and evolved in the light of possibilities inherent in the new technology. The process is essential because tools are not neutral entities, and they must be integrated in a thoughtful manner consistent with “best practice” standards. This chapter contains an examination of E-Folio, a Web 2.0 application, and a case study focusing on the process of technological inclusion to determine how to promote portfolio creation in the acquisition of second language writing.
In Conclusion
Authors: Taxén Lars
Published: May 2011

Armed with the ADT, it was time to return to the surface and take a look at practice again; this time with the ADT as new glasses. The findings from this work are reported in Section 4 of the book. If these findings are convincing, which I hope they are, ADT might illuminate some issues and point to new ways of managing complex projects and systems. This, however, remains to be seen. So, what has been achieved? Which are the main findings from the endeavor related in this book? I believe that these can be summarized as follows.
How to Plan for an Upgrading Investment in a Data Network?
Authors: Morlot Frédéric , Elayoubi Salah Eddine
Published: May 2011

We illustrate how a mobile data network operator can plan an upgrading investment to anticipate explosions of the demand, taking into account the expected profit and the customer satisfaction. The former parameter grows with the demand, whereas the latter sinks if the demand is too high, as throughput may collapse. As the equipment price decreases with time, it may be interesting to wait rather than to invest immediately. We then propose and discuss two methods that help in making the decision. The first one is an actualization algorithm, where the upgrade should be performed when the loss of profit, derived analytically, exceeds the expected discount. The second is a real option-like strategy to hedge against the risk that the investment has to be anticipated. The evaluation of the investment date is then performed, in the latter, by a backward dynamic programming approach, using recent improvements based on least-squares estimations, whereas, in the former, a forward actualizing algorithm is investigated through simulations.
Can M-Commerce Benefit from Pervasive Computing?
Authors: Kurkovsky Stan
Published: May 2011

Mobile commerce is a special area of electronic commerce that utilizes mobile wireless devices to conduct commercial transactions. Unique features of these devices include their mobility, personalization, and location-awareness. These features play a very significant role in enabling a novel class of emerging applications that take advantage of recent advances in pervasive computing. The paradigm of pervasive computing environment was first introduced by Mark Weiser in the early 1990s who postulated the anytime anyplace availability of computing and information services that are enabled by miniature devices and sensors seamlessly and unobtrusively embedded in the surrounding environment. Although this vision has not been realized in its literal sense, today mobile and smart phones are commonly viewed as an enabler of a human interface to the surrounding computing and information environment. As an application area where many principles of pervasive computing have been successfully implemented, mobile commerce has reaped significant benefits from the recent scientific and technological advances. This chapter discusses a number of pervasive computing principles and illustrates how they have been implemented in mobile commerce applications. The chapter also presents some new trends in developing context aware m-commerce services that tap into the power of Web 2.0 services and digital communities.
VoIP Quality and Security Issues for Consumers and Small Businesses
Authors: Bell David , Hazari Sunil
Published: May 2011

VoIP is the use of Internet protocols to provide telephone services that have previously been delivered over traditional telephone networks. Advantages of VoIP include cost, portability, and functionality which are the main reasons that many consumers and small businesses are considering this technology as a replacement to traditional telephone services. There are however risks associated with VoIP services which impact quality and security of the phone system for voice communications. This chapter reviews issues related to quality and security as faced by consumers and small businesses. Recommendations are provided to improve call quality and mitigate threats faced in the VoIP environment.
Telecommunications Network Planning and Operations Management in an Academic Environment
Authors: Goudos Sotirios K. , Agorogianni Angeliki Z. , Zaharis Zaharias D.
Published: May 2011

Network planning and management in a large organization such as a university, is a complex task. A large university is an inherently demanding environment in terms of telecommunications services offered and technologies used. This chapter presents and discusses network management and planning issues in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Examples of network management procedures are given. We present the data model for service provision. The network expansion and cost reduction case studies are discussed. A SWOT analysis about University’s Telecommunications Center is given. Finally, we discuss the migration analysis for future upgrades that will fully enable the use of emerging technologies such as Voice over IP (VoIP).
Adult Illiteracy
Authors: Trammell Ann-Marie
Published: May 2011

The issue of illiteracy is a serious one, especially for adults. Worldwide, 880 million adults have been labeled as illiterate, and in the United States it is estimated that almost 90 million adults are functionally illiterate—that is to say that they do not have the minimal skills needed to function in society. Children of school age have ready access to programs and remediation to help them acquire literacy skills, and with the advent of federal policies such as No Child Left Behind, more students are being caught before they fall through the cracks and become illiterate for life. Adults, however, do not have this type of access to remediation programs meant to target illiteracy, and in most countries (especially underdeveloped countries), there are no such programs even in the planning stages. These illiterate adults are often forced to hide their inabilities and are cheated out of better jobs, proper health care and benefits, and helping their own children with schooling. Because of these issues and the stigma that illiteracy carries, most adults do not ever admit that they have poor to nonexistent literacy skills. This stigma forms a cycle of poor literacy skills, which becomes hard if not impossible to break. Only through effective literacy programs, which use strategies that work for adult learners, can this problem be solved.
Assessment, Academic Integrity, and Community Online
Authors: Palloff Rena M. , Pratt Keith
Published: May 2011

One of the most difficult tasks the online instructor has is to assess student performance. Magennis and Farrell (2005) define teaching as a set of activities that makes learning possible. Assessment strategies should not only measure the degree to which learning has occurred, but should be learning activities in and of themselves (Gaytan, 2002). Tests and quizzes are most often used to assess learning, but are not necessarily the best way to assess discussion-based courses or even skill-based courses as they generally measure the amount of information retained rather than the degree to which learning has occurred. Angelo and Cross (1993) note that the outcomes of assessments are often a disappointment to the instructor as they do not provide feedback on how well teaching activities promoted learning. This may be especially true in the online environment, where instructors are separated from students by time and space, increasing concern about academic integrity along with concern about assessment outcomes. How, then, does the instructor who wants to move away from the use of tests and quizzes develop assessment techniques that measure student learning? How can the use of varied assessment techniques and the development of a supportive online learning community increase the academic integrity of online courses? The following is a discussion of assessment techniques that work well online, and concerns about academic integrity that are often expressed by instructors regarding online learning. Finally, the development of an online learning community is explored as a means by which to reduce these concerns and increase the level of academic integrity online.
A Case Study Exploring Quality Standards for Quality E-Learning
Authors: MacDonald Colla J. , Thompson Terrie Lynn
Published: May 2011

In order to satisfy the needs of growing numbers of adult learners, the availability of well-designed, effectively implemented, and efficiently delivered online courses is essential (MacDonald, Stodel & Casimiro, 2006; Palloff & Pratt, 2001). Despite the demand and prevalence of e-learning, there are still concerns regarding the quality and effectiveness of education offered online (Carstens & Worsfold, 2000; Noble, 2002). Too often, in an “effort to simply get something up and running” (Dick, 1996, p. 59), educators have been forced to compromise quality and design. Intensive competition among educational institutions has resulted in quality assurance becoming a critical issue for promoting learning and learning programs. Within this economically motivated environment, online learning has not escaped the scrutiny of quality standards. Quality in online programs is generally defined in terms of the design of the learning experience, the contextualized experience of learners, and evidence of learning outcomes (Jung, 2000; Salmon, 2000). However, the plethora of online learning courses and programs with few standards to ensure the quality of content, delivery, and/or service creates a challenge. The resulting variance in quality makes it difficult for an organization or learner to choose a program that meets their needs and is also of high quality.
Challenges and Issues of Teaching Online
Authors: Baylen Danilo M. , Zhu Erping
Published: May 2011

Teaching and learning in the 21st century not only utilizes various technologies, but also takes place any time and any place. During the last decade, higher education institutions equipped many of their classrooms with the latest computer hardware and software applications and trained their faculty and staff to use the technology. With the technological advancements and the changing needs of institutions and students, more faculty members are teaching online.
Collaboration in Online Communications
Authors: Ingram Albert L. , Hathorn Lesley G.
Published: May 2011

Collaboration and cooperation have become firmly established as teaching methods in face-to-face classes (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). They are also rapidly becoming widespread in online teaching and learning in both hybrid (mixed traditional and online) course and distance courses. The methods are likely to be most effective if they are firmly grounded in how people actually work together. Some groups collaborate more successfully than others. Frequently, instructors may place students into groups in the expectation that they will collaborate without a clear idea of what collaboration is or how to recognize and encourage it. We must define what we mean by the terms, both so that we can use the techniques successfully and so that we can research them accurately. In addition, we must distinguish between groups in which people act independently from those who act collaboratively. As Surowiecki (2004) has pointed out, when all the results are aggregated, a large number of people acting independently may give a more accurate solution to a problem than an expert. Interdependent groups may often produce results inferior to the results obtained by their best-performing members or may be affected by a “groupthink” mentality.
Collaborative Learning Technologies
Authors: Alavi Maryam , Dufner Donna , Howard Caroline
Published: May 2011

Three basic categories of technologies are effective for extending collaborative learning beyond traditional face-to-face interactions to online learning and distance education: 1. Group support systems (GSS) 2. Collaboratories 3. Integrated learning environments. Although some of the collaborative learning technologies can be used without the Web, the Internet and World Wide Web provide the scalable global connectivity to support these technologies, with the browser serving as a ubiquitous user interface for collaborative learning applications.
Delphi and NGT for Consensus Building E-Research
Authors: Janes Diane P.
Published: May 2011

Research is a quest, driven by a specific question, that needs an answer. Leedy (1993), in his book, Practical Research: Planning and Design, lists eight characteristics to define research. Research: 1. Originates with a question or a problem 2. Requires a clear articulation of a goal 3. Follows a specific plan of procedure 4. Usually divides the principal problem into more manageable subproblems 5. Is a specific research problem, question, or hypothesis that will guide research 6. Accepts certain critical assumptions. These assumptions are underlying theories or ideas about how the world works 7. Requires the collection and interpretation of data in attempting to resolve the problem that initiated the research 8. Is, by its nature, cyclical; or more exactly, spiral or helical Anderson and Kanuka (2003) loosely define e-research as research that takes advantage of “the excitement, breadth, and diversity offered by an ever-increasing and sometimes bewildering set of new Net-based tools and techniques” (Anderson & Kanuka, 2003, p. 4).
A Discussion of Online Learning and Pedagogical Frameworks
Authors: Kilburn Michelle , Henckell Martha , Starrett David
Published: May 2011

Online learning has quickly emerged and consumed much of the research and discussion regarding distance education. But what is it about online learning that makes it different from other forms of distance education (i.e., print-, audio/radio-, or video/televisionbased)? Will it still be the “star of the show” in the next ten years? In the course of a discussion relating to the evolution of online learning through the lens of prominent learning theories, we will assert that online education has challenged pedagogical norms. By emphasizing the strong points of online learning as they relate to particular learning theories, we will illustrate how online education has solidified its place as a major force in enhancing the learning experience.
Distance Education in Small Island Nations
Authors: Shareef Ali Fawaz , Kinshuk
Published: May 2011

Small island nations, especially Maldives, encounter a number of limitations in providing services to their people due to their size. These services include education, health, communications, and many other public services. These island nations consist of very small islands with a very low population density on most islands. The low population density on the islands limits the infrastructure developments mainly due to the lack of the economies of scale. For example, building a secondary school on an island with a population of less than 500 people does not provide economies of scale, but rather makes it economically a wastage of resources. An island this size would not have an adequate number of students per teacher, and particularly in developing countries, the public expenditure budget is so much deflated that this cannot be considered an alternative. Distance education is seen as an appealing alternative to traditional face-to-face education in these countries as it can provide education from a central location without having to spend a lot in developing infrastructure on several islands. Although it is easier to achieve economies of scale through distance-mode delivery of education, this alternative poses additional barriers that need to be addressed prior to establishing a distance-mode education system. This chapter looks at these barriers and describes a distance education model that addresses most of these barriers.
Ensuring Quality in Technology-Focused Professional Development
Authors: Bober Marcie J.
Published: May 2011

Few would argue that teachers exposed to technologyfocused professional development are better prepared to effectively and systematically integrate computers, peripherals and software into their classrooms than those without any formal training. However, one must necessarily assume that quality matters … that teachers participating in high-quality professional development are more likely than those engaged in token or perfunctory training to use technology well (for instructional preparation, delivery and assessment); to be cognizant of technology’s advantages and limitations; and to situationally model both hardware and software (Hirsh & Sparks, 2000).
An E-Portfolio Scheme of Flexible Online Learning
Authors: Vat Kam Hou
Published: May 2011

The potentialities of the information (or Internet) age have somehow exceeded many of our current calculations in education (Brown, 2000; Cornford & Pollock, 2003; Duke, 2002). Imagine a student attending a class waiting to be taught mostly in lectures or direct training from the instructor. The same student as a learner has at hand many an on-demand (or just-in-time) ubiquitous high-quality learning environments with learner-friendly support, such as the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia. org). Today’s numerous virtual communities, including the WELL project (http://www.well.com) or the Blacksburg community networks (http://www.bev.net), have demonstrated to our inquiring students the possibility of fostering their own learning initiatives, with the comfort of an electronic personalized space in the form of customizable information system (IS) support (Vat, 2005) guarded by privately assigned identifier and password, to experience and make sense of their worlds of learning. The message to the education community is clear: we need to inject more flexibility (Khan, 2007a) in support of learning; namely, learners now must be empowered with more say in what they learn, when they learn, and where and how they learn.
Evaluating Online Programs
Authors: Kelsey Kathleen D. , Lindner James R. , Dooley Kim E
Published: May 2011

Systematic evaluation of distance-education programs is necessary for program improvement (formative) and accountability (summative). When evaluating distanceeducation programs, it is advisable to consult the best practices literature for determining the criteria and standards for quality programming in order to judge the merit and worth of the program under consideration. The most frequently cited reference for best practices comes from the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (1997) (http://www.wiche.edu/ telecom/), otherwise known as WICHE. Pennsylvania State University (PSU) (1998) published a document for designing distance-education programs that incorporate the literature base of best practices. WICHE and PSU offer principles for best practices in distance education in regard to curriculum and instruction, institutional context and commitment, and evaluation and assessment. General concerns with each category should be considered in developing an instrument for measuring quality in distance-education programs (Law, Hawkes, & Murphy, 2002).
A Holistic Model of Thinking Skills in the Digital Era
Authors: Eshet-Alkalai Yoram
Published: May 2011

The present paper presents an updated version of the holistic model of Eshet-Alkalai (2004), adding to it the real-time thinking skill. The paper discusses the value of these skills in refining our understanding of how people interact with digital environments, and examines their application in improving communication among users, scholars and designers of digital environments. The digital thinking skills that are discussed in the paper are the, photo-visual, reproduction, branching, information, socio-emotional and real-time thinking skills . It is suggested that these six digital thinking skills exist in every learner, but their “volume” or “magnitude” differ from person to person.
How Blended Teacher Education Courses Impact Learning in K-12 Settings
Authors: Hickman Clarke J. , Bielema Cheryl L. , Viola Stephen G.
Published: May 2011

This article examines the impact of blended course design for early career teachers enrolled in a teacher certification program, and the resulting effect of this method on K-12 learners, as perceived by their teachers. The courses in question were designed as part of an alternative teacher certification program within the College of Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis titled the Transition to Teaching Program (TTP). This program is designed as an accelerated program for those already holding a bachelor’s degree, but now working toward teacher certification while holding a temporary authorization certificate. The participants in this program are active teachers, primarily in their first through third year, and being in their early thirties, are older than the typical beginning teacher.
Implementing Learning Support Systems
Authors: Bernardes J. , O’Donoghue J.
Published: May 2011

Kearsley (1998) writes that “technology is often seen as a quick fix, a siren song,” and warns that “educational technology is a distraction … from what matters most— effective learning and good teaching.” The approach taken often seems more in the vein of entertainment than education, with television-type material creating an expectation of how information will be presented; the linkup of the Internet and television through streamed video may just exacerbate this. It is our view that information technology (IT) is unlikely to create empty institutions delivering distance learning, but is more likely to create distanceless learning, which is actually more accessible to all potential students. What this implies, and few in the academic professions yet understand properly, is that the whole business of delivering teaching is likely to be transformed in a way that has not happened for generations. While it is possible to develop IT-based approaches that, to some extent, mirror traditional methods of remote learning by isolated individuals and which has little or nothing to do with lifelong experiences or expertise, most academics will find themselves forced to confront very basic questions about what it is that they are trying to achieve and how they might best go about achieving those desired outcomes.
Informal Learning Projects and World Wide Voluntary Co-Mentoring
Authors: Bowskill Nicholas
Published: May 2011

This article seeks to explore the potential of online communities to support and develop new professionaldevelopment practices around collaborative mentoring and informal learning projects. This study seeks to address the following research hypotheses. 1. Informal learning can be utilised as a developmental approach in an online open environment. 2. Online communities can learn from involvement with informal learning projects and they can support the development of a community history and identity. 3. Online communities can be effective in supporting informal learning projects. 4. Informal learning can be a vehicle for crossing borders related to lifelong learning (namely those of time, culture, religion, geographical distance, different jobs, and careers).
Interaction in Distance Learning
Authors: Bold Mary
Published: May 2011

Interaction refers to the exchange of information between and among individuals in a distance learning (DL) environment, encompassing exchanges for students, instructors, and technology staff. Research has begun to distinguish between interactivity (provided by technology) and interaction (the behaviors among the humans), with the former making the latter possible (Roblyer & Ekhaml, 2000). One assumption about interactivity is that it is beneficial to learning (Sims, 2003) although its impact is complex due to variable factors such as maturity of the technology, learning curve for the technology, response time to messages or exchanges, group composition, and so forth. In fact, it is suggested that high levels of interactivity may create cognitive stress for some students (van Merrienboer & Ayres, 2005).
Just-in-Time Training (JITT) and its Implications for Teaching and Learning
Authors: Iannarelli Barbara
Published: May 2011

You are in a heated discussion with friends about the meaning and origin of a particular phrase. Someone uses his wireless computer to access the Internet and “googles” the debated phrase. The dispute is resolved in seconds. You attend a conference in a new city and get lost on the way to the convention center. Turning on your GPS system in your rental car, you are then guided by a soft, calming voice with explicit instructions to your destination, including warnings of upcoming turns as well as detours around any recent road construction. This “just-in-time” information is available to us through the advancements in technology. With the constant evolution of new technology as well as the increased speed of information retrieval, we often take for granted the “just-in-time” aspect of this process. Just-in-time training, or preferably just-in-time learning, has altered the training and preparation of workers in industry, and currently has educational implications in all fields. The technological advances have made it possible to match specific knowledge and skills with the worker or learner, literally, when and where they need it. An example from industry is the worker whose line shuts down because of a mechanical problem. Within seconds, she/he is consulting with someone half way around the world who already has all the technical data about the system breakdown on his/her computer. A few seconds later through live video, he/she demonstrates to the worker how to fix the problem.
K-12 Schools and Online Learning
Authors: Dorniden Anita
Published: May 2011

Alternative options to the traditional school setting abound and threaten the survival of some school districts. These alternatives include, but are not limited to, home schooling, charter schools, alternative learning centers, post-secondary options, and online learning. Schools are already addressing this concern by offering their own ALC programs, advanced placement or accelerated courses, independent study courses, or ITV (interactive television) courses. Some schools have created their own online courses to supplement traditional classrooms. Many other school districts are considering offering online courses. Before school districts commit to such a course of action, there are questions to be answered. Is online learning an appropriate delivery method for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade? Should traditional schools offer some of their courses online? If they do enter the online arena, how do they make the program a success?
Laptops and Teacher Transformation
Authors: Kitchenham Andrew
Published: May 2011

Since the first 1:1 laptop program was introduced in 1989 at the Ladies’ Methodist College in Australia (Johnstone, 2003), there have been numerous studies conducted on the benefits of 1:1 computing with school-aged children. Bebell (2005), Fadel and Lemke (2006), Livingstone (2006), and Russell, Bebell, and Higgins (2004) have all reported on increases in student achievement especially in writing, analysis, and research while Stevenson (1999) has noted improvement in standardized test scores. In fewer than twenty years, 1:1 computing programs have thrived in North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. The clear benefits to the students using laptops have been well documented to the extent that the professional literature demonstrates myriad advantages to using laptops in the classroom. As this study will show, there has been little discussion in the professional literature on how using laptops in the classroom affects the teachers. To this end, this chapter will outline my research findings with 12 laptops teachers who are transformed through technology. For the purposes of this chapter, I will define 1:1 computing classrooms as learning environments where every person in the classroom has a laptop computer with wireless Internet and printer capabilities for at least fifty percent of the day.
Minorities and the Online University
Authors: Enger Kathy
Published: May 2011

Throughout the literature on higher education, it has been shown that few minorities complete an undergraduate degree; even fewer complete master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees (American Society for Higher Education, 2005; Jackson, & Moore, 2006; McClellan, Tippeconnic Fox, M. J., & Lowe, 2005; Sequist, 2005; Shabazz, A., 2004; Tierney, 1992; Ward, 2006). Many reasons for lack of participation exist, particularly in areas of acculturation (Ibarra, 2001). College and university environments often represent a homogenous environment that results in cultural gaps between the minority student and the institution. Campuses that follow in this tradition often create a conflict for students between their specific ethnic and cultural values and the dominant values of academe (Hall, 1993). The roots of the modern American university can be traced to the great German universities of the late 1800s (Rudolph, 1990). The online university provides a bridge between academe and students from diverse cultures.
A Model for Global Distance Education Projects
Authors: Beacham Cindy
Published: May 2011

Globalization of education has become a major focus of many universities and programs over the past several years. Providing international experiences for students is a commitment institutions have made to help students embrace diversity more fully, and prepare more completely for current professional expectations (National On-Campus Report, 2004). Many organizations define international educational experiences as “study abroad” activities, and concentrate on recruiting students for exchange and travel-based programs. This approach, however, is beginning to change (Knight, 2004). Given the current uncertainty in many international settings, students and families are sometimes reluctant to commit to an abroad travel experience. Finances also factor into many student’s decisions about travel. Costs of higher education have risen substantially, and an overwhelming number of students are financing their education through loans requiring repayment upon graduation. Adding a semester or summer abroad to that debt is sometimes unmanageable for students. As a result, some schools are exploring different methods of providing international exposure without requiring students to travel (OECD, 2004). One such method is to create a collaborative experience modeled on an educational design charrette. This activity is typically faculty-driven, and requires that student groups solve a given problem in a limited amount of time and present their solution. For the purposes of a global experience, student teams are composed of diverse students, and the problem would be addressed through digital means. This paper provides a model for such an alternative global experience that can be used in conjunction with, or to replace a travel-based abroad experience.