bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preparing Undergraduate Students for IT Certification
Authors: Al-Rawi Akram , Bouslama Faouzi , Lansari Azzedine
Published: October 2017

Current demand for Information System (IS) graduates requires that they master specific technical skills needed by industry and government institutions. Revising the IS curriculum to keep it up to date while meeting demands of the Information Technology (IT) labor market continues to be a challenging task. In order to graduate students that are competitive, post-secondary educational institutions must adopt a new methodology where IT certification is an integral part of the IS curriculum. The IEEE and ACM recognize the importance of IT certification and provide its members with over 800 online courses that lead to various IT certificates. The selection of the appropriate IT certificate for integration into the IS curriculum is a complex task as it entails a thorough knowledge of the curriculum and the certificate objectives. The goal of this paper is to propose a selection of IT certificates which can be readily integrated into the IS curriculum. Three potential certification tracks for the purpose of this study are identified: Networking, Programming, and IT hardware and software. A list of vendors and non-vendors IT certificates and their exam requirements is developed, and the IS courses which can lead to the listed IT certificates are identified. This identification is based on matching specific course objectives with the IT certificate and the timeline needed for the certificate completion. The selection of the IT certificates for each track is optimized to facilitate both student learning and the completion of the certificate. Integrating IT certification in computing curricula makes IS programs more attractive to students. Moreover, the acquisition of IT certification is a valued asset for graduates seeking employment or advancement in the computing field.
Oracle Database Workload Performance Measurement and Tuning Toolkit
Authors: Peck Lee Sai , Zildzic Dzemal
Published: October 2017

Database tuning practice is mainly conducted as a consequence of user’s complaints on the performance. There is a need for a reactive monitoring and tuning tool enabling a real-time overview of the main resource consumers in order to detect and solve performance bottlenecks. With an assessment of the Oracle’s high-availability database, in terms of the main architectural components and their impact on performance, we have developed a Java tool for the efficient and resource-effective tuning of Oracle databases. Our tool, called Workload Performance Monitoring and Tuning (WPMT), enables proactive and reactive database tuning. By combining today’s best monitoring and tuning practices with our metrics management, we have designed a unique approach to illustrate the efficiency of the Oracle database memory segments responsible for handling the workload. This approach consists of developing database memory delta charts, illustrating the efficiency of memory initialization parameters versus component’s workload performance.
Enroute to Managed Learning Environment: A Case Study Of Lyallpur Khalsa College Jalandhar India
Authors: Singh Baldev
Published: October 2017

Managed Learning Environment (MLE) uses technology to enhance and make more effective the network of relationships between learners, teachers and organizers of learning, through integrated support for richer communications and activities”. Educational institutions are faced with the challenge of setting up of a hi-tech infrastructure and preparing a new generation of teachers to effectively use the new learning technology based tools in their teaching practices. For managed learning teacher education programmes, managed learning environment requires the acquisition of new resources, expertise and careful planning. The Managed Learning Environment enables any student or teacher to collaborate with educators, evaluate academic performance and access learning resources at any time to achieve their educational objectives. This paper also highlights the adequate implementation of MLE at Lyallpur Khalsa College.
Cheating or ‘Collaborative Work’: Does it Pay?
Authors: Naude Elsa , Horne Tertia
Published: October 2017

Being a distance education institution, our current infrastructure does not allow group or collaborative work on undergraduate level. Although students are allowed to work together and assist each other, each student is required to submit individual attempts for assignments and/or projects. Assignments that are so similar that we could not accept them as individual attempts are considered cheating. According to the literature, cheating in assignments and projects is a problem in educational institutions at all levels. Students often use ingenious ways to disguise dishonesty. It is not always possible to determine the extent of the problem due to the inability to identify all instances, especially in modules with large student numbers. We investigated this problem in a second-level computing module. The examination results of students suspected of cheating were analysed and compared with the results of the rest of the students (the control group). This was done for 2004 and 2005. In this paper we report on our findings in this regard.
Information Systems Field at the Forks: Relish Diversity or Perish
Authors: Travica Bob
Published: October 2017

This article discusses the relationship between the informing science and information view of organization. Both approaches are described, similarities and differences between them demonstrated, and the contribution of the latter to the former discussed.
The Emergence of Modern Biotechnology in China
Authors: Lakhan Shaheen
Published: October 2017

Science and technology of Republican China (1912-1949) often replicated the West in all hierarchies. However, in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared the nation the People's Republic of China, it had assumed Soviet pseudo-science, namely neo-Lamarckian and anti-Mendelian Lysenkoism, which led to intense propaganda campaigns that victimized intellectuals and natural scientists. Not until the 1956 Double Hundred Campaign had China engaging in meaningful exploration into modern genetics with advancements of Morgan. The CCP encouraged discussions on the impact of Lysenkoism which cultivated guidelines to move science forward. However, Mao ended the campaign by asserting the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957) that reinstated the persecution of intellectuals, for he believed they did not contribute to his socialist ethos of the working people. The Great Leap Forward (1958-1959), an idealist and unrealistic attempt to rapidly industrialize the nation, and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a grand attempt to rid China of the "technological elite," extended China's lost years to a staggering two decades. Post-Mao China rapidly revived its science and technology frontier with specialized sciences: agricultural biotechnology, major genomic ventures, modernizing Traditional Chinese Medicine, and stem-cell research. Major revisions to the country’s patent laws increased international interest in China’s resources. However, bioethical and technical standards still need to be implemented and locally and nationally monitored if China’s scientific advances are to be globally accepted and commercialized.
Workflows without Engines: Modeling for Today’s Heterogeneous Information Systems
Authors: Costa Cristina , da Cunha Paulo
Published: October 2017

Workflow modeling has been able to handle requirements down to the point where the specification gets executed on a specialized engine. Present day information systems, however, pose new challenges. Data and decision logic are spread out across a collection of heterogeneous applications of different ages, provided by various vendors, supported on diverse technologies. “Running” a business workflow thus means orchestrating several applications that were not designed to work together. Middleware and other technological solutions can be used to engineer coordination and communication between the systems, but, at a higher level, modeling techniques must be adjusted so that their inputs and deliverables fit this new “engineless” execution environment. We describe an approach we have used to bring together generic information systems design and workflow-specific concerns to produce an architecture that easily maps into today’s heterogeneous scenarios. Special care has been taken to ensure that end-users are able to contribute throughout the process.
Task Complexity and Informing Science: A Synthesis
Authors: Gill Grandon , Hicks Richard
Published: October 2017

Task complexity is a construct widely used in the behavioral sciences to explore and predict the relationship between task characteristics and information processing. Because the creation and use of IT in the performance of tasks is a central area of informing science (IS) research, it follows that better understanding of task complexity should be of great potential benefit to IS researchers and practitioners. Unfortunately, applying task complexity to IS is difficult because no complete, consistent definition exists. Furthermore, the most commonly adopted definition, objective task complexity, tends to be of limited use in situations where discretion or learning is present, or where information technology (IT) is available to assist the task performer. These limitations prove to be severe in many common IS situations. The paper presents a literature review identifying thirteen distinct definitions of task complexity, then synthesizes these into a new five-class framework, referred to as the Comprehensive Task Complexity Classes (CTCC). It then shows the potential relevance of the CTCC to IS, focusing on different ways it could be applied throughout a hypothetical information systems lifecycle. In the course of doing so, the paper also illustrates how the interaction between different classes of task complexity can serve as a rich source of questions for future investigations.
Socio-Technical Theory and Knowledge Construction: Towards New Pedagogical Paradigms?
Authors: Cartelli Antonio
Published: October 2017

After a short introduction on socio-technical theory, the experiences the author made in the planning and carrying out of web sites and information systems for research and teaching are reported. The results from those experiences are analyzed with a special attention to knowledge development at three different levels: individuals, communities, and organizations (society), and the author’s hypotheses for the explanation of the observed phenomena are discussed. The most relevant results on the effects of ICT on knowledge can be summarized as follows: a) they can improve knowledge construction and induce meaningful learning in students, while contributing in building communities of learners (CoLs) and communities of practice (CoPs), b) they can induce new models for knowledge construction and evolution in special communities and learning organizations, and c) they can contribute in hypothesizing new teaching paradigms (or new pedagogical paradigms more generally). At last a revision of the well known scheme synthesizing the socio-technical approach to organization description (as regards knowledge construction and evolution) is reported and it is applied to the special case of a master course for teachers. The explanation of the effects that the new scheme has on the hypothesized three levels and on the structure of MIS (Management Information System) follows.
Intelligent System for Information Security Management: Architecture and Design Issues
Authors: Hentea Mariana
Published: October 2017

The limitations of each security technology combined with the growth of cyber attacks impact the efficiency of information security management and increase the activities to be performed by network administrators and security staff. Therefore, there is a need for the increase of automated auditing and intelligent reporting mechanisms for the cyber trust. Intelligent systems are emerging computing systems based on intelligent techniques that support continuous monitoring and controlling plant activities. Intelligence improves an individual’s ability to make better decisions. This paper presents a proposed architecture of an Intelligent System for Information Security Management (ISISM). The objective of this system is to improve security management processes such as monitoring, controlling, and decision making with an effect size that is higher than an expert in security by providing mechanisms to enhance the active construction of knowledge about threats, policies, procedures, and risks. We focus on requirements and design issues for the basic components of the intelligent system.
Framing the Corporate Security Problem: The Ecology of Security
Authors: Skovira Robert
Published: October 2017

Security and information systems are intertwined. The costs of secure systems are in the billions of dollars. In the digital world, security vulnerabilities and threats work contrary to the security goals of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information systems. The essay describes a view of organizations and their policies, network systems, operating systems, software applications, information, and people joined interactively and dependently in an environment. The paper presents an ecological conception of security.
The Need for and Contents of a Course in Forensic Information Systems & Computer Science at the University of Cape Town
Authors: Stander Adrie , Johnston Kevin
Published: October 2017

This paper aims to investigate the need for and contents of a course in forensic Information Systems and Computer Science at UCT. In order to do this, the reader is introduced to computer crime and shown how the forensic process of identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing, and documenting computer data supposedly used in crimes committed using computers is helping in investigating and solving these types of crime. An actual forensic approach known as the End-to-End Digital Investigation is also discussed.
Information Technology Team Projects in Higher Education: An International Viewpoint
Authors: Lynch Kathy , Heinze Aleksej , Scott Elsje
Published: October 2017

It is common to find final or near final year undergraduate Information Technology students undertaking a substantial development project; a project where the students have the opportunity to be fully involved in the analysis, design, and development of an information technology service or product. This involvement has been catalyzed and prepared for during their previous studies where the students have been told and shown how to develop similar systems. It is the belief that only through this ‘real’ project do they get the chance to experience something similar to what is expected of them when they embark on their chosen profession; that is, as an information technology professional. The high value of ‘near real life’ educational experience is recognized by many universities across the globe. The aim of this paper is to present examples from three countries - Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa, of the delivery of these team, capstone or industrial experience projects; their curricula and management processes. Academics from institutions in each of the countries share experiences, challenges and pitfalls encountered during the delivery of these information technology projects within their institutions. An overview of each institution’s strategies is provided and highlights specific issues such as the selection of projects, allocation of teams to projects, legal requirements, assessment methods, challenges and benefits.
A Model of Introducing e-Learning System at Vocational College for Business Secretaries
Authors: Kastelic Marko , Loncaric Tea
Published: October 2017

In this paper the background, the context and the main challenges of introducing e-leaming at vocational college for business secretaries will be examined. The presented data were gathered from surveys considering all phases of experimental project that took place in the academic year 2005/06 at vocational college Leila in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This article begins with a brief description of circumstances that influenced the research of implementing new technologies in teaching and learning processes. What follows is a general introduction into the field of e-learning and e-learning environments. The main part of this article describes the whole process of integrating e-education into the program for business secretaries. The final part of the article summarizes the work so far and gives some suggestions for the future.
Study of Information Systems Hierarchy of Needs Actualization and the Impact of End User Perceived Needs on User
Authors: Ochs II William
Published: October 2017

The research problem that this study will address is the limited CRM success of Web-based customer support systems. The first goal of this research will be to develop the Information Systems Hierarchy of Needs Actualization (ISHNA) framework based on Maslow’s general theory of Hierarchy of Needs. The second goal of this research will be to empirically assess and validate the End User Perceived Information System Needs (EUPISN) construct. The third goal of this research will be to empirically assess and validate the relationship between User Information Satisfaction (UIS) and the EUPISN construct. Existent within all mankind are psychological needs that all individuals are driven to meet. UIS has a broad framework of literature available within the Information Systems (IS) realm. The UIS literature has both breadth and depth, in that it has been widely covered and studied since the early days of the IS field. Behaviorist theory and psychological factors are referenced and recognized within UIS and subsequent theory. In fact, UIS also takes into account that psychological factors are integrated into the IS discipline. The implications of the existence of ordered needs that individuals are impelled to meet; either consciously or subconsciously, may be far reaching into the Information Systems domain, and as such, should be studied. This dissertation will establish a framework for the IS needs hierarchy, creating an initial understanding of the relationship between the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs and the IS needs theory; and will further demonstrate relational impacts between the ordered needs. A web-based survey of system users at AmeriCold Logistics will be utilized in this study to empirically assess and validate these relationships.
On the Relationship between Warranty and the Risk of Information Asymmetry
Authors: Christozov Dimitar , Chukova Stefanka , Mateev Plamen
Published: October 2017

Nowadays the product warranty is considered to be a valuable attribute of the product. It is a tool to enforce the competing power of the producer on the market place. There are two types of problems the product warranty addresses. Firstly, warranty deals with the malfunctioning of the product and, secondly, it addresses the information asymmetry, i.e., the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the features and qualities of the product. The second aspect is of great importance in the light of indirect business communication, as in e-commerce. The aim of this paper is quantifying the risk of misunderstanding caused by information asymmetry and defining an appropriate product warranty policy, which depends on this risk.
Technology Use, Technology Views: Anticipating ICT Use for Beginning Physical and Health Education Teachers
Authors: Lockyer Lori , Patterson John
Published: October 2017

In Australia, the national initiative known as Learning in an Online World, focuses school jurisdictions across the country meet the challenge of achieving the national vision of all schools “... confidently using ICT in their everyday practices to improve learning, teaching and administration” (MCEETYA, 2005, p. 3). One strategy in reaching this goal is the effective preparation of pre-service teachers to use and integrate technology in their teaching and learning practices. This article reports on a research study that aimed to explore the issue preparation for use of technology in teaching by understanding the current and anticipated technology usage for Australian health and physical education pre-service teachers.
Strategic Knowledge of Computer Applications: The Key to Efficient Computer Use
Authors: Marsh Cecille
Published: October 2017

There are many initiatives to train people in using Information and Communication Technology but several international studies have shown that despite adequate computing experience, many users do not make efficient use of computer applications. This may be caused by a lack of strategic knowledge that is difficult to acquire just by knowing how to use commands. Research by Bhavnani and others indicates that the efficient use of computers requires task decomposition strategies that exploit the capabilities offered by computer applications, and they maintain that these general strategies can in fact be built into an instructional framework. The researcher replicated Bhavnani’s work with technologically disadvantaged South African tertiary students in order to ascertain whether the instructional framework was effective for students with very different backgrounds, and also to ascertain whether it was sufficiently robust to be successfully implemented at a distance from the original designers. Transfer of strategic knowledge across computer applications was also investigated. An experimental research design was followed with experimental and control groups of Engineering students. The results showed that several of the students could be taught to recognize and exploit strategic knowledge. It is also apparent that the command instruction given to the control group was not sufficient for them to acquire such strategic knowledge. The results also indicated some transfer of strategic knowledge across the applications.
Concept Maps as a Learning Assessment Tool
Authors: La Vecchia Loredana , Pedroni Marco
Published: October 2017

Over recent decades, the process of teaching/leaming has become ever more complex. The increasing school population, and the advent of new IT applications and of networking, together with the requirement for continuous training, have comprehensively overturned the simplistic approach to the process that had previously been pursued. As a result, the evaluation of the process has also been overhauled - having once been a selective practice, it is now considered to be an activity that generates quality in teaching. However, it appears that the tools used to carry out evaluations have been lagging behind in terms of innovation. In an effort to close this gap, the authors here offer a study of the possibility of using closed tests that can be analysed in terms of rigorous algorithms, are replicable through automated software and use the concept map structure in a variety of ways.
Uniting Idaho: A Small Newspaper Serves Hispanic Populations in Distributed Rural Areas
Authors: Robinson Beachboard Martine
Published: October 2017

Print-media needs of Hispanics in non-metropolitan areas of America are often overlooked. One newspaper editor in Idaho found Hispanics to be invisible in her small community and its newspaper, except in crime reports. So she began publishing the bilingual Idaho Unido. This study addresses the publisher’s business model and motivation for publication. It is based on two research streams: theories of the press from Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm in 1956 through McQuail in 2005 and cultural maintenance perspectives. The Idaho Unido story represents a revelatory case, demonstrating the power of a motivated individual to essentially subvert the dominant media paradigm by creating a successful, independent publication specifically intended to serve the information, entertainment and cultural-identity needs of a small, marginalized population living in widely distributed rural areas.
Sharing Tacit Knowledge: A Case Study in the Australian Film Industry
Authors: Alony Irit , Whymark Greg , Jones Michael
Published: October 2017

This paper explores tacit knowledge sharing. This case demonstrates the significance of knowledge sharing to organizational performance, by exploring the contribution of tacit knowledge sharing to the success of projects in the Australian Film Industry (AFI). The differences between knowledge sharing, collaboration and communication, and their interrelations are addressed. We also explore the concepts of knowledge, information, and data. In the interchanges reported here the knowledge shared is almost entirely tacit, and the “raw” data and information do not exist without the context that makes them knowledge. The paper includes the identification of many factors affecting knowledge sharing, not all of which have been identified by previous researchers. This research contributes to a better understanding of tacit knowledge and how that knowledge is shared. This in turn contributes to a better understanding of how knowledge management can be supported in a modern organization, where often the technology is used in ways not well understood by system managers and software developers. A better understanding can lead to better ICT design and support of knowledge sharing both within and across organizations.
Using an Outcome-Based Information Technology Curriculum and an E-Learning Platform to Facilitate Student Learning
Authors: Lansari Azzedine , Tubaishat Abdallah , Al-Rawi Akram
Published: October 2017

A recently established university in the United Arab Emirates has shifted from an input-based teaching model to an outcome-based learning model. The outcome based academic model is new in the Gulf region and is designed to allow students and faculty members to work together to foster learning. This model is a dramatic departure from the traditional input model where students in the Gulf have learned to mainly accept and retain information. Using the university’s learning outcomes model, the College of Information Technology (CIT) has identified five learning outcomes and used them to develop its curriculum. All learning outcomes are integrated into all CIT courses. All students own a laptop and have wired and wireless access to various university resources such as the library, Blackboard, IT labs and the Internet. Currently, the CIT is moving to a web-based learning environment. Under this environment, the outcome-based academic model requires faculty members to shift their efforts from teaching or lecturing to facilitating student learning. CIT faculty are reshaping their course contents and refocusing their courses to clearly show all the steps needed to learn various concepts and skills as well as how students can achieve a particular learning outcome. This study proposes an outcome-based IT curriculum for delivery in an e-learning environment. Such an environment is ideal for female students who prefer to have limited interaction with male faculty and who typically need more time to understand IT concepts in English. It is anticipated that this e-learning environment will facilitate the delivery of course content and also improve the discussion and communication between students and faculty.
The Educational Potential of Modified Video Games
Authors: Moshirnia Andrew
Published: October 2017

As the popularity of video game playing has increased, educators have sought to co-opt video games as an instructional tool. However, educational games have made little impact in either the commercial market place or the average game player’s home library. The modification, or modding, of video games using in-game editors may be used by instructors to introduce educational content to professionally designed video games. This paper examines the effectiveness of a modified video game, Civilization IV, in improving the comprehension and retention of historical knowledge of 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. Students exposed to the modified video game significantly improved their immediate recall of knowledge level history items. Students expressed interest in future educational game playing and felt that they had a better understanding of application level history items. While these results are encouraging, the small sample size of this experiment prevents generalization and necessitates further study.
Learning Object Educational Narrative Approach (LOENA): Using Narratives for Dynamic Sequencing of Learning Objects
Authors: Mustaro Pollyana , Silveira Ismar
Published: October 2017

Learning objects-based architectures often allows the creation of coarse-granular learning resources by aggregating learning objects retrieved mainly from well-structured public repositories. Nonetheless, the learning resource building process is not exactly trivial, since proper selecting and sequencing strategies must be applied in order to make it useful for learning purposes, as well as to make it fit in pedagogical goals previously established. This paper shows LOENA (Learning Object Educational Narrative Approach), an architecture built over a theoretical basis that uses narrative-driven hypertext patterns to properly structure the sequencing of learning objects, providing a ready-to-use, pluggable way to implement learning paths in some teaching-learning context.
Informing as a Discipline: An Initial Proposal
Authors: Gackowski Zbigniew
Published: October 2017

This paper presents an inquiry and a proposal of a structured way of thinking about informing as a separate field of scientific inquiry and practical endeavors and possibly a separate academic discipline. Informing is the science and art of practical endeavors to increase its effectiveness and efficiency; it is an interdisciplinary applied science with some components of universal validity, which according to Biglan (1979) mark pure science. It is a field with a defined model, a fundamental research question, a point of reference, a framework, observation points, and a way of measuring results. It has fundamental concepts, basic distinctions, a universal taxonomy of informing factors and their qualities, universal quality requirements, and priorities of research. It lacks, however, a clear division into sub-areas. To attain the status of a separate academic discipline, it needs further elaboration of sub-areas and a curriculum model that specifies competencies, an introductory course, prerequisite courses, and laboratories. This is an initial position paper written mainly from the operations management and decision sciences viewpoint with the purpose of eliciting challenge, critique, discussion, and suggestions for expansions in order to gradually develop a mutual consensus among those dealing with informing.
A Generic Agent Framework to Support the Various Software Project Management Processes
Authors: Nienaber Rita , Barnard Andries
Published: October 2017

Despite various research efforts originating from both academia and industry, software projects have a high rate of failure, more specific, software projects often do not comply with the traditional standard measurements of success, namely time, cost and requirements specification. Thus, there is a need for new methods and measures to support the software project management process. Globalisation and advances in computing technologies has changed the software project management environment. Currently software projects are developed and deployed in distributed, pervasive and collaborative environments and traditional project management methods cannot, and do not, address the added complexities inherent to this environment. In this paper the utilisation of stationary and mobile software agents is investigated as a potential tool to assist with the improvement of software project management processes. In particular we propose and discuss a software agent framework to support software project management. Although still in its initial phases, this research shows promise of significant results in enabling software developers to meet market expectations, and produce projects on time, within budget and to users’ satisfaction.
Evaluating ICT Provision in Selected Communities in South Africa
Authors: Ngcobo Patience , Herselman Marlien
Published: October 2017

The main focus of this paper is to evaluate the provision of ICT in three rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) in South Africa to determine how the needs of these communities can be addressed. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were applied to address this focus. Results are compared and recommendations are presented that may best meet the needs of the rural communities.
Criteria for the Evaluation of Business Process Simulation Tools
Authors: Bosilj-Vuksic Vesna , Ceric Vlatko , Hlupic Vlatka
Published: October 2017

This paper focuses on a process of simulation software packages selection in the context of business process change projects. The paper presents discrete event simulation, its relation to business process modelling and examples of its practical applications in business process change projects. Features of business process simulation tools are examined, the most important simulation features are identified and the criteria for their evaluation are defined. The guidelines that could help managers in the selection of business process simulation tools are proposed. The discussion addresses the limitations of the proposed guidelines. Finally, based on the conducted research and the evaluation criteria defined within the guidelines, some directions for the further improvement of business process simulation tools are given.
Improving Information Security Risk Analysis Practices for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Research
Authors: Beachboard John , Cole Alma , Mellor Mike , Hernandez Steve , Aytes Kregg , Massad Nelson
Published: October 2017

Despite the availability of numerous methods and publications concerning the proper conduct of information security risk analyses, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face serious organizational challenges managing the deployment and use of these tools and methods to assist them in selecting and implementing security safeguards to prevent IS security compromises. This paper builds a case for and then outlines a possible approach and a multi-faceted research agenda for developing an “open development” strategy to address recognized deficiencies in the area of risk analysis to include developing: a multi-level risk assessment methodology and set of decision heuristics designed to minimize the intellectual effort required to conduct SME infrastructure level risk assessments, a set of decision heuristics to assist in the quantification of organizational costs, financial as well as non-financial, a knowledge base of probability estimates associated with specified classes of threats for use in the application of the aforementioned methodology and automated tool(s) capable of supporting the execution of the aforementioned methodology and heuristics.
Panel Discussion: Preparing for Undergraduate Information Technology Program Accreditation
Authors: Koohang Alex , Riley Liz , Spiers Richard , Floyd Kevin , Santiago Julie , David Alicia , Glore Payton
Published: October 2017

This panel will inform the audience about an undergraduate IT program's preparation and process for ABET accreditation. The School of Information Technology at Macon State College is seeking accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET). ABET accredits academic programs that prepare graduates for entry into the following professional disciplines: 1) applied science, 2) computing, 3) engineering, and 4) technology. (http://www.abet.org). Specifically, the panel will discuss three themes essential in preparing the IT program for ABET accreditation. They are: 1) program educational objectives, 2) program outcome, and 3) program continuous improvement.
Evaluation of Learning Objects from the User's Perspective: The Case of the EURIDICE Service
Authors: Maceviciute Elena , D. Wilson Thomas
Published: October 2017

We describe a project to evaluate an image database within an educational context. The partners in the EURIDICE project were educational institutions in a number of countries, together with other agencies and one commercial partner. Input to the database was provided by the commercial partner, a public library, and state archives. Evaluation was guided through a workshop in which all institutions participated to ensure comparability of data across the Project. Specific attention was paid to the needs of sight impaired students. The results indicated that the image database was considered to be of value for teaching and learning, but required further work to make it a fully viable system. In particular, the scope of the database needed to be expanded and the retrieval mechanisms improved.
Web Based Data Capture for Clinical Research
Authors: Smith Stephen , Sambasivam Samuel
Published: October 2017

Electronic Data Capture (EDC) is increasingly being used in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries to gather research data worldwide from doctors, hospitals and universities participating in clinical trials. In this highly regulated environment, all systems and software must be thoroughly tested and validated, a task that is burdensome in terms of time and cost. Starting with database structures that are designed to be copied easily, this paper proposes a simple framework that allows for rapid development and minimal testing. The framework includes tools for building modules, for copying modules from one trial to the next, and tools to validate that the modules are the same as modules that have been fully tested previously. A proof-of-concept prototype has been built to demonstrate certain tools and techniques that can be used when designing and building a simplified EDC interface.
Impact of Motivation on Intentions in Online Learning: Canada vs China
Authors: Saade Raafat , Tan Weiwei , Nebebe Fassil
Published: October 2017

This study is one of the few empirical studies to examine students’ acceptance of a web-based learning system (WLS). By incorporating intrinsic motivator into the technology acceptance model, our model attempts to explain students’ behavioral intention in using the system from a motivational perspective. Unlike most studies using subjects from developed countries, this study aims to extend knowledge by examining WLS adoption and usage behavior in a developing country (China) and then compares with findings of the same examination using Canadian subjects. The results show that both perceived usefulness and enjoyment have significant impact on students’ intention to use WLS in two groups. However, in contrast to Chinese subjects, Canadian subjects do not think ease of use has impact on their intention to use WLS. Implications of this study are important for both researchers and practitioners, especially for institutions of higher education, planning to adopt WLS in the two countries.
Lean Supply Chains JIT and Cellular Manufacturing - The Human Side
Authors: Alony Irit , Jones Michael
Published: October 2017

Lean manufacturing has been widely adopted by many production companies. Apart from the operational difficulty associated with conversion from a traditional, functional based operation, adoption of Lean manufacturing involves significant organizational transformations. It requires formation of work teams, comprised of multi-skilled workers. The work teams are preferably self directed and need to continuously improve performance and production processes. Such changes can be challenging for organizations. This paper reviews studies of human related and organizational factors in the context of Lean manufacturing, and identifies gaps in research in this area. The paper presents the principles of lean manufacturing, the organizational shifts required, and presents studies relevant to each of these shifts. The paper concludes with implications for practitioners and suggestions for further studies.
Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Educational Cases in Computer Science: An Exploration
Authors: Koppelman Herman
Published: October 2017

The concept of pedagogical content knowledge has been explored in the context of several disciplines, such as mathematics, medicine and chemistry. In this paper the concept is explored and applied to the subject matter of computer science, in particular to the subdomain of building UML class diagrams. It is argued that the identification and analysis of problems that students experience with important concepts should be at the heart of pedagogical content knowledge in this subdomain, as well as the description of pedagogically rich exercises for tackling those problems. For two examples, relevant pedagogical content knowledge is identified and represented in the form of educational cases.
The Conceptual Model of a Web Learning Portal for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Authors: Olszak Celina , Ziemba Ewa
Published: October 2017

The article aims at presenting a Web learning portal that allows for improving employees’ competencies in implementation of the Internet related technologies in business. Such a portal is dedicated to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The starting point for considerations is in suggesting initiatives that are necessary to undertake in the SME sector in the context of the knowledge based economy. Particular attention is paid to improving employees’ competencies. Then SME needs related to improving knowledge and skills required to use the Internet in business are presented. In the context of the needs in question, a model of a Web learning portal dedicated to SMEs is suggested.
The Pentagonal E-Portfolio Model for Selecting Adopting Building and Implementing an E-Portfolio
Authors: Buzzetto-More Nicole , Alade Ayodele
Published: October 2017

Electronic portfolios are a student-centered outcomes-based assessment regime involving learners in the gathering, selection, and organization of artifacts synthesized into a compilation purposed to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and/or achievements supported by reflections that articulate the relevance, credibility, and meaning of the artifacts being presented. Electronic portfolios have been found to be a valid way to document student progress, encourage student involvement in assessment, showcase student work samples, promote students professionally, and provide a method of student learning outcomes and curriculum evaluation. However, electronic portfolio adoption represents a sizable commitment that is influenced by a number of variables and that requires foresight as well as a thoughtful strategy. This paper presents a model for selecting, designing, and implementing an electronic portfolio project and illustrates its application through the presentation of a detailed case study of a successfully implemented and ongoing electronic portfolio project used as a comprehensive assessment measure to determine degree mastery in the Department of Business, Management, and Accounting at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The model introduced in this paper is known as the Pentagonal E-Portfolio Model, named such for its five levels: 1) Level 1 - Identification of Needs; 2) Level 2 - Determination, Assessment, & Budgeting; 3) Level 3 - System Selection and Strategic Planning; 4) Level 4 - Development; and 5) Level 5 - Implementation and Continuation.
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Authors: Allan Johnston Kevin , Benvenuti Susan
Published: October 2017

It is widely accepted that assessment determines learning: what is learnt, how the learning takes place, the extent to which the learning is retained, and the extent to which that learning can be further developed or applied (Biggs, 2003; Boud, Cohen, & Sampson, 1999; Entwistle & Entwistle, 1997; Rowntree, 1992). This paper examines an assessment intervention undertaken independently by two South African Universities in their first year Information Systems Courses, aimed at improving both the learning of content and the development of academic and career skills, within the constraints of curriculum, large classes and under-preparedness of students. Departing from a similar concept, the two universities designed and implemented the assessment tasks independently, with each experiencing different successes and challenges. Representing a first cycle in an Action Research study, the underlying rationale behind the interventions is presented, together with a detailed analysis of the two case studies and their shared lessons learned from the experience.
ICT Adoption and the Digital Divide in Serbia: Factors and Policy Implications
Authors: Kovacic Zlatko , Vukmirovic Dragan
Published: October 2017

This paper explores factors such as socio-demographics, income and wealth and e-skills that may influence the adoption of the ICTs at the individual level. We examine to what extent these factors contribute to the digital divide between different social groups in Serbia. We use the panel data from the survey “ICT usage in Republic of Serbia” in 2006 and 2007, covering over 3000 individuals/households, to perform a quantitative analysis of the digital divide and ICT adoption. Based on a classification tree and a logistic regression model, a profile of the typical ICT adopter and non-adopter is identified. The empirical results show the following: (i) the digital divide between age group 55-74 and those younger that 55 slightly increased in 2007 in case of regular Internet use; (ii) at the individual level the ICT adoption (use of PC, Internet and mobile phones) in Serbia is mainly influenced by the income and wealth of an individual, its computer and Internet skills and age; (iii) this result is quite robust across the methodological approaches used; and (iv) the classification tree approach is preferable since it gives the same predictive accuracy as the logistic regression with a more parsimonious model. The policy implications of these results are discussed.
Mobile Phones and Children: An Australian Perspective
Authors: Weerakkody Niranjala
Published: October 2017

Mobile phones in Australia record one of the world’s highest rates of ownership among children under 18. This paper examines issues of mobile phones and Australian children and the various discourses (systematic frames) used in discussing their effects. These are the optimistic (gains); pessimistic (losses, costs or harms); pluralistic (technology per se is neutral but how it is used matters); historical development (importance and skills learnt); futuristic predictions (promises and dangers); current uses (connectivity, convergence and interactivity); and techno-realist view (as a mixed blessing). Taking the Justification View of Technology that sees technological adoption as a gamble and borrowing from Joshua Meyrowitz, it examines how mobile phones have eroded parental power over how, when, where and with whom their children communicate, while at the same time, becoming a ‘digital leash’ for parents to re-establish their control and an ‘umbilical cord’ of children to remain connected with parents at all times.
Internet Self-Efficacy and Visual Search Strategies: The Use of Eye Tracking Technology in the Development of Web-Based Learning Resources
Authors: Eachus Peter , Cassidy Simon , Norgate Sarah , Marrow Lynne , Greene Leah
Published: October 2017

Higher Education is increasingly relying on e-leaming as a means of providing students with teaching and learning resources. Almost inevitably, this means that students interact with these learning resources through the medium of the computer screen. Although there have been significant advances in the design and implementation of on-line resources, exactly how students interact with these resources is a relatively new field of research. In this study, students were asked to interact with three types of virtual learning environment, i.e. BlackBoard, IngentaConnect and Wikipedia, while their eye movements were scanned and recorded using a Tobii 1750 eye tracking system. The data gathered was analysed dynamically, statistically, and graphically in order to identify search patterns and “hot spots” within the online information source. The data was also correlated with a measure of Internet self-efficacy, the Web User Self-Efficacy scale (WUSE). Preliminary findings suggest that qualitative data obtained in this type of study may prove more useful than quantitative data.