title: Challenges for e-learning for university instructors in Taiwan

authors: Wang, Su-Chen

subjects: e-learning

abstract: Blended courses that include both face-to-face and e-learning have been offered  in many universities in Taiwan but very little research has been undertaken on instructor  perspectives of the challenges they faced in their e-learning teaching. This paper explores the challenges faced by university instructors in a national research-based university in Taiwan. An interpretive paradigm utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods was adopted. The paper outlines the findings from 27 e-learning instructors in in-depth interviews and 55 of 69 e-learning instructors who responded to this open-ended question in the questionnaire. Instructors noted they faced pedagogical, personal, and technological challenges. The findings suggested instructors needed to adopt different pedagogical approaches to work with new media in developing their e-learning courses so new curriculum design, new teaching methods, new ways of assessment, and new interaction approaches were needed. The instructors faced personal challenges in time management and role change if they needed to provide course materials online and respond in time. Instructors noted they also encountered four categories of technological challenges: easy access to necessary computer equipment, technical skills to access computer technology and the e-learning system, technical skills for communication, and the quality of e-learning computer facilities and technology. University administrators interested in solving the issue of the under-use of e-learning would be wise to recognize the challenges instructors face and to provide the necessary policy and practical support to help overcome these challenges if they wish to promote the use of e-learning as a part of the blended delivery of courses.

text: Challenges for e-learning for university instructors in Taiwan Blended courses that include both face-to-face and e-learning have been offered  in many universities in Taiwan but very little research has been undertaken on instructor  perspectives of the challenges they faced in their e-learning teaching. This paper explores the challenges faced by university instructors in a national research-based university in Taiwan. An interpretive paradigm utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods was adopted. The paper outlines the findings from 27 e-learning instructors in in-depth interviews and 55 of 69 e-learning instructors who responded to this open-ended question in the questionnaire. Instructors noted they faced pedagogical, personal, and technological challenges. The findings suggested instructors needed to adopt different pedagogical approaches to work with new media in developing their e-learning courses so new curriculum design, new teaching methods, new ways of assessment, and new interaction approaches were needed. The instructors faced personal challenges in time management and role change if they needed to provide course materials online and respond in time. Instructors noted they also encountered four categories of technological challenges: easy access to necessary computer equipment, technical skills to access computer technology and the e-learning system, technical skills for communication, and the quality of e-learning computer facilities and technology. University administrators interested in solving the issue of the under-use of e-learning would be wise to recognize the challenges instructors face and to provide the necessary policy and practical support to help overcome these challenges if they wish to promote the use of e-learning as a part of the blended delivery of courses.

year: 2008

title: Activity-based measurement extending attribute-based measurement of learning organisations

authors: Wilkinson, Gustav Brent

subjects: Learning organisation

abstract: This thesis describes the development and testing of the Learning Organisation Quick Scan (LOQS), an activity-based methodology, incorporating qualitative elements, that extends previous attribute-based quantitative attempts at measurement.

This research study offers a number of contributions to new knowledge, the principal one being the development of a qualitative methodology for measuring the extent to which an organisation can be classified as a learning organisation. Previous quantitative methods of measurement used attributes of a learning organisation as the framework for measurement. Attributes alone were found to be insufficient to function as a framework for assessing an organisation qualitatively and, as a result, the attributes of a learning organisation were broken down further into activities that a learning organisation could be expected to engage in. These activities represent an additional contribution to new knowledge and are the enabling mechanisms by which organisations can be measured. Furthermore, LOQS activities not only allow an organisation to see how well it measures up against the learning organisation ideal, but the methodology also has the potential for providing a prescriptive direction for change, simply by reflecting upon the LOQS activities it does not engage in. 

In short, the LOQS starts on a Monday and finishes on a Friday. It is fast. During this time, data collection, data analysis and data presentation are all completed. The outputs are graphed and are presented in a format that is easy to understand and can lead to further action if the participant organisation so chooses.

The development of the LOQS was achieved through a multiple iterative case study methodology, a process very similar to prototyping in software engineering whereby an initial prototype is designed and tested (in a first case). Reflections from this first case, combined with feedback from the executive team of the first participant organisation, led to modifications of the prototype which was then tested in a second case. This process was repeated in a third iteration. Saturation was reached and the final prototype was deemed ready for a fourth iteration, which was the final test. This fourth test confirmed the prototype as a working methodology. This method of development is presented as an additional contribution.

In the process of developing the LOQS, two further findings emerged, one being the discovery of two additional attributes of a learning organisation not previously mentioned in the literature, the second being the grouping of the learning organisation attributes and activities into four dimensions. These dimensions enabled scores to be plotted and presented back to the organisation in a fashion that proved easy to understand. These additional attributes along with their activities are offered as a further contribution to new knowledge.

Measuring four organisations as learning organisations within the same industry sector has never before been attempted. Testing the prototype LOQS with four participant organisations led to discoveries about those organisations and as they all came from the same industry sector, new insights into the industry became possible, leading to the discovery of characteristics of this industry sector. These characteristics are presented as the final contribution from this research study.

text: Activity-based measurement extending attribute-based measurement of learning organisations This thesis describes the development and testing of the Learning Organisation Quick Scan (LOQS), an activity-based methodology, incorporating qualitative elements, that extends previous attribute-based quantitative attempts at measurement.

This research study offers a number of contributions to new knowledge, the principal one being the development of a qualitative methodology for measuring the extent to which an organisation can be classified as a learning organisation. Previous quantitative methods of measurement used attributes of a learning organisation as the framework for measurement. Attributes alone were found to be insufficient to function as a framework for assessing an organisation qualitatively and, as a result, the attributes of a learning organisation were broken down further into activities that a learning organisation could be expected to engage in. These activities represent an additional contribution to new knowledge and are the enabling mechanisms by which organisations can be measured. Furthermore, LOQS activities not only allow an organisation to see how well it measures up against the learning organisation ideal, but the methodology also has the potential for providing a prescriptive direction for change, simply by reflecting upon the LOQS activities it does not engage in. 

In short, the LOQS starts on a Monday and finishes on a Friday. It is fast. During this time, data collection, data analysis and data presentation are all completed. The outputs are graphed and are presented in a format that is easy to understand and can lead to further action if the participant organisation so chooses.

The development of the LOQS was achieved through a multiple iterative case study methodology, a process very similar to prototyping in software engineering whereby an initial prototype is designed and tested (in a first case). Reflections from this first case, combined with feedback from the executive team of the first participant organisation, led to modifications of the prototype which was then tested in a second case. This process was repeated in a third iteration. Saturation was reached and the final prototype was deemed ready for a fourth iteration, which was the final test. This fourth test confirmed the prototype as a working methodology. This method of development is presented as an additional contribution.

In the process of developing the LOQS, two further findings emerged, one being the discovery of two additional attributes of a learning organisation not previously mentioned in the literature, the second being the grouping of the learning organisation attributes and activities into four dimensions. These dimensions enabled scores to be plotted and presented back to the organisation in a fashion that proved easy to understand. These additional attributes along with their activities are offered as a further contribution to new knowledge.

Measuring four organisations as learning organisations within the same industry sector has never before been attempted. Testing the prototype LOQS with four participant organisations led to discoveries about those organisations and as they all came from the same industry sector, new insights into the industry became possible, leading to the discovery of characteristics of this industry sector. These characteristics are presented as the final contribution from this research study.

year: 2013

title: Tephras and New Zealand archaeology

authors: Lowe, David J.

subjects: tephrochronology

abstract: Establishing an accurate date for earliest Polynesian settlement in New Zealand is essential for understanding patterns of settlement and associated environmental impacts, and the processes and rates of cultural change in Eastern Polynesia. Tephra deposits from five volcanic centres, together with exotic sea-rafted pumice, provide isochronous constraints on the timing of earliest settlement and human impacts in northern New Zealand. A local basaltic tephra from Rangitoto Island (Auckland) and locally distributed andesitic tephras from Egmont volcano directly date human occupation to c. AD 1400–1450. Distal andesitic tephras (Tufa Trig Formation) from Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro volcanic centre, help constrain the timing of earliest anthropogenic deforestation signals in Hawke's Bay. Sea-rafted Loisels Pumice(s), although of uncertain stratigraphic reliability in places, overlies cultural remains that can be no younger than c. AD 1350 along the east coast, North Island. The regionally extensive rhyolitic Kaharoa Tephra, which erupted from Okataina volcano between c. AD  1300–1390, is the critical “settlement layer” datum for dating prehistory in the North Island: no human artefacts are recorded beneath it and the earliest inferred environmental impacts by humans are dated to c. AD  1280, just prior to its deposition. This maximum date matches the earliest radiocarbon dates derived for both settlement and human impacts from archaeological and natural sites (c. AD 1250), and implies that the onset of deforestation was essentially contemporaneous with initial settlement.
The widespread rhyolitic Taupo Tephra, which erupted from Taupo volcano c. AD 200, provides an isochronous benchmark well before earliest settlement. The tephra may coincide approximately with a putative earlier transient contact in New Zealand based on Pacific rat-bone (Rattus exulans) dates. More precise calendrical dates on the tephras—via dendrochronology or ice-core records or other dating methods—would help refine assessment of the timing of earliest settlement, while extending the distributional range of critical tephra layers, through application of crypto-tephra analysis, could lead to a greater understanding of settlement patterns.

text: Tephras and New Zealand archaeology Establishing an accurate date for earliest Polynesian settlement in New Zealand is essential for understanding patterns of settlement and associated environmental impacts, and the processes and rates of cultural change in Eastern Polynesia. Tephra deposits from five volcanic centres, together with exotic sea-rafted pumice, provide isochronous constraints on the timing of earliest settlement and human impacts in northern New Zealand. A local basaltic tephra from Rangitoto Island (Auckland) and locally distributed andesitic tephras from Egmont volcano directly date human occupation to c. AD 1400–1450. Distal andesitic tephras (Tufa Trig Formation) from Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro volcanic centre, help constrain the timing of earliest anthropogenic deforestation signals in Hawke's Bay. Sea-rafted Loisels Pumice(s), although of uncertain stratigraphic reliability in places, overlies cultural remains that can be no younger than c. AD 1350 along the east coast, North Island. The regionally extensive rhyolitic Kaharoa Tephra, which erupted from Okataina volcano between c. AD  1300–1390, is the critical “settlement layer” datum for dating prehistory in the North Island: no human artefacts are recorded beneath it and the earliest inferred environmental impacts by humans are dated to c. AD  1280, just prior to its deposition. This maximum date matches the earliest radiocarbon dates derived for both settlement and human impacts from archaeological and natural sites (c. AD 1250), and implies that the onset of deforestation was essentially contemporaneous with initial settlement.
The widespread rhyolitic Taupo Tephra, which erupted from Taupo volcano c. AD 200, provides an isochronous benchmark well before earliest settlement. The tephra may coincide approximately with a putative earlier transient contact in New Zealand based on Pacific rat-bone (Rattus exulans) dates. More precise calendrical dates on the tephras—via dendrochronology or ice-core records or other dating methods—would help refine assessment of the timing of earliest settlement, while extending the distributional range of critical tephra layers, through application of crypto-tephra analysis, could lead to a greater understanding of settlement patterns.

year: 2000