Effective Online Learning - Both a Utilization of Technology and Methods

The authors have used modeling techniques to gain understanding of causes and relationships in online learning environments. The cases that the modeling relates to have their origin in the large Norwegian research project NettLæR, which runs online courses on various topics and levels. The modeling work seems to indicate that good learning models from earlier learning research may still be of relevance, but the conditions to make them work, and the context they operate in, are more limited and more critical than before.

Preparation for E-Learning

University students require considerable computer literacy to enter and then succeed at their studies. Many courses, whether technology focused or not, are using advanced Web technology to deliver digital content via e-learning. This chapter explores the changing nature of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy of university students and explores whether gender and age factors affect student’s ICT literacy and Web usage. The primary focus of this chapter is to ascertain if transition or freshman students are prepared for the e-learning regimes they will encounter in higher education. Main findings show that there is a significant difference in how females and males use the Web and first-year (transition) students come to university with advanced ICT and Web literacy.

A Framework for the Development of an Accredited Web-Based Computer Information Systems Degree

The Web-based delivery of online IS baccalaureate programs is a recent innovation. While IS researchers have identified a number of key factors related to the effective online delivery of individual courses, little empirical evidence exists to suggest “best practices” in the development and delivery of a complete four-year IS online degree program. This chapter examines and synthesizes IS education criteria from two sources: the Computer Sciences Accreditation Commission, which recently established criteria for accrediting programs in information systems, and the Regional Accrediting Commissions, which issued guidelines for the evaluation of electronically offered degree and certificate programs. The result is a set of guidelines that act as a framework for the development of online baccalaureate programs in computer information systems that addresses both IS and online accreditation requirements.

An Overview of Virtual University Studies

This chapter provides an overview of virtual university studies pertaining to issues, concepts and trends. Although numerous papers, reports and booklets are published with respect to that, there is still lack of an overview of virtual universities. In this chapter, the author tries to draw basic directions of the virtual university studies and developments. These basic directions grasp virtual universities’ issues, concepts and trends in general, model, definition and basic characteristics of virtual universities in particular. The author goes on giving some educational and financial features of future higher education. It is discussed that virtual universities and distance learning are currently lacking in some areas that need to be paid attention to in the future. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for the future designers of virtual universities and distance learning programs.

Learning to Analyze Unstructured Systems Using Forster's A Passage to India

The chapter seeks to promote use of literary works as a teaching resource for management information systems (MIS) courses. It does so by using a novel written by E.M. Forster to illustrate what may be done. The use of such a resource to supplement MIS teaching can help students’ communication skills and raise their awareness of cultural diversity in the global village. The main focus in this chapter, however, is to provide a way for instructors to impress upon students the need to be aware of the great number of managerial decisions that cannot be made using boiler-plate recipes. Managers who make decisions often must deal with unstructured situations involving non-recurring and non-routine issues. Such situations do not fit established models and conceptual frameworks; consequently, managers have to rely on their expertise in dealing with them. The education of MIS analysts and managers needs to include such awareness so they will be better prepared to deal with a world where the only constant is change. The chapter starts by discussing the various benefits that can result from using literary works in systems analysis courses. Works such as A Passage to India combine elements associated with both case studies and experiential learning. This makes literary works potentially a very useful resource for MIS curricula even though such an idea may seem unconventional. Even though MIS educators do not use literary works, other curricula aimed at various professions, such as medicine and law, are using them as a teaching resource. After discussing the potential benefits of this untapped resource, the chapter provides a synopsis of the novel. It then discusses the specific relevance of Forster’s novel for MIS and suggests ways of using it in systems analysis context.

Cognitive Styles, Metacognition and the Design of E-Learning Environments

This chapter considers the use of cognitive styles and metacognitive skills in the design and development of e-learning environments. Participants involved in a unit in Human Computer Interaction used the results of a Riding’s Cognitive Styles Analysis to assist in the design and development of Web-based Individual Learning Environments (ILEs). Student reflections and cognitive styles results are considered in terms of their impact on the design process. They are also used to consider participants’ metacognitive awareness of their own cognitive and learning styles. It is suggested that the use of cognitive styles in this manner will produce interfaces and environments more suited to the learning requirements of each individual. In addition, the process of reflecting on and using the style results will help develop more metacognitively aware learners. The individual environment and metacognitive awareness are both desirable elements for a student-centered learning system for successfully participating in virtual education.

Current Issues and Trends of Internet-Based Education in the Philippines

The Philippines is one of many developing countries that has begun using the Internet to establish closer communication with entities abroad. Some educational institutions have begun engaging in Internet-based distance education to provide accessible, anytime, anywhere education. These ventures have focused on the tertiary level and post-graduate level of education. The quality of the Internet education that they provide has shown them to be at par with western institutions. However, in the primary and secondary levels of education, the situation is one of a large disparity between the levels of education provided by public and private schools of the nation. Many public educational facilities are located in remote areas where they do not even have electricity, telephone facilities, let alone Internet access. Due to lack of funding, the government has been forced to focus first on providing these schools with the most basic of amenities. Aside from these efforts, the government has also begun to provide ICT facilities to chosen schools that meet the basic requirements for ICT to function. The chapter discusses each of these major points in detail.

Quality Assurance Issues for a Web-Based Degree in Motor Disability Assessment

The growth of credit-bearing distance learning offerings and enrollments at accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities has been astonishing in the last few years. This growth raises the demand for reliable information about quality. According to Kess et al. (2002), quality in education should not be forced into one single definition, but rather a collection of smaller elements, processes, which contribute to education quality in different dimensions. These elements, when chained together, constitute the overall quality in training, and the improvement of quality is achieved through simultaneous action on all these levels. Furthermore, accreditation and quality assessment in education should not be considered as separate systems. They are an integral part of the continuous quality improvement context on the road to total quality. In this chapter we will discuss the approach adopted for ensuring the quality of the MODASPECTRA (MOtor Disability Assessment SPEcialists’ TRAining) Web-based degree: a research and technology development project funded by the European Union. More in detail, the procedures enacted for ensuring the quality of contents and the quality of the software tools developed, and of their documentation, will be discussed.

Group Support Systems and the Removal of Barriers to Creative Idea Generation within Small Groups

This chapter explores the use of group support systems (GSSs) with anonymous interaction capability as a means of enhancing creativity in small groups by inhibiting normative influence. GSS anonymity provides an environment in which social cues (e.g., social presence, status, gender, seniority) are masked, thus ensuring merit-based evaluation of ideas and equalizing participation rates. The central argument of this chapter is that anonymity-featured GSSs inhibit the exertion of normative influence on lower-status, junior, shy or female members and thereby removes barriers to creative idea generation. The author applies this argument to organizational small task-oriented groups, focus groups and classrooms, where GSSs have the potential for encouraging all participants to propose creative ideas by allowing all participants an equal voice.

Identifying Key Factors of Motivation to Share and Re-Use Pedagogical Documents

Lots of efforts (ARIADNE, Dublin Core, IMS, eBioMED.ch, IEEE-LTSC, CEN-CENELEC, Medline Mesh tree, SCORM, etc.) have been invested in defining a proper indexation schema, resulting in an appropriate descriptor or header for describing pedagogical documents. The difficulty stems from the following paradox: the header should be as detailed as possible to get, when querying the knowledge pool, an adequate set of documents, and as light as possible to make sure that indexation will be performed. So whatever the international standard might be, it will achieve its aim of fostering share-and-reuse only if the majority of the involved persons accept to use it! The question therefore is: “How do you convince an author to index a document?” To try and answer this question, we are investigating the key factors of motivation for an author.