Interactive Communication Systems and Technologies for Effective E-Learning

Interactive communication systems and technologies are big motivation for e-learning nowadays. This chapter is dedicated for studying the effect of e-learning worldwide. The state of Kuwait is considered as a special case for this study. Two research methods have been used in this study. One method uses a questionnaire for an input of 104 students to study their level of acceptance and their attitudes towards e-learning. Other method has been set to collect interviews with 21 instructors who are involved in e-learning at undergraduate and graduate levels. The participants among students and instructors have been randomly chosen from different Kuwait institutions. A detailed analysis of the input has triggered the best practices to change the people's behavior towards e-learning and find a possible solution to bridge the gap between system makers and the users.

How to Integrate Emotions in Dialogues With Pedagogic Conversational Agents to Teach Programming to Children

Pedagogic conversational agents are interactive systems that allow students to dialogue with them about a certain domain to learn. PCAs have been used in multiple domains from pre-primary education to university, in roles such as teacher, student, or companion. In this chapter, Alcody, a PCA to teach programming to children, is enhanced with a new proposal to manage emotions in the dialogue with students. The goal is that when children are learning to program, Alcody can help them with the emotions associated to the learning. Six emotions have been integrated into Alcody: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and disgust. A description of how a PCA to teach programming can modify its face and verbal expressions according to the emotion detected in the student. This is given for any other researcher that would like to incorporate emotions in dialogues between PCAs and students.

A Pricing Model to Optimize Transmission Strategies for Mobile Devices

The simultaneous multiple data transmission can improve the use of the network. Unlike existing solutions in the literature, in this chapter, the authors propose a solution to the network resource allocation problem under the selfish behavior of mobile device with multiple connections to several available network interfaces simultaneously, to resolve the conflict of interest in network. They analyze the impact of interactions between users based on two conflicting factors (i.e., throughput and monetary cost). Also, a diverse set of user service types is taken into consideration, which makes the proposed approach suitable for an integrated service network. Analytical and numerical results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach, which show that the non-cooperative game has an equilibrium point that depends on all parameters of the system, and they show that this situation between mobile devices is much more beneficial in terms of the performance of mobiles, cost, and the data transfer rate.

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Social Media Use and Relationships Inside and Outside the Higher Education Classroom

This study examined student and faculty perceptions of social media use inside and outside the classroom. Three hundred and ninety-six students and fifty faculty members at a regional university campus in the south central United States voluntarily completed an online survey soliciting quantitative and qualitative data about their perceptions of social media use. Results revealed important findings highlighting similarities, differences, and insights among student and faculty perceptions of social media use in the classroom, their views about whether social media use constitutes a distraction, and how each group views social media relationships in and out of the classroom. These findings are quite consistent with prior and emerging research about social media use and have implications for how institutions of higher education can explore meaningful ways of incorporating social media in the classroom with the goal of strengthening teaching and learning.

“It's a Lot Like Ending Up on the Losing Side of a Relationship”

Academic interest in parasocial relationships has increased dramatically in the past decade. A subset of this broader topic concerns the relationships between sports fans and a host of athletes, coaches, and teams. An overwhelming majority of those studies examine fan reactions following a singular event rather than over an extended period of time. This chapter unpacks the ways in which college basketball fans reacted to the departure of a beloved coach over a period of nine years. Relevant reader comments were analyzed thematically and coded by an expressed grief state using the Kubler-Ross model. The term “parasocial divorce” is introduced to describe the depth of parasocial relationships for highly motivated fans. The findings reveal how fans can come to loathe a particular persona, and the conditions under which that parasocial relationship may be rehabilitated.

Searching for Answers to Hybrid Approaches in Communication and Learning Environments

This examination focuses on hybrid approaches and highlights two in particular: blended learning and the hybrid shift. Blended learning can support online and face-to-face (F2F) students equally by providing similar learning experiences. Incorporating synchronicity is recommended as a way to address the limitations of asynchronous learning resident in the proposed hybrid approach. Synchronicity is connecting two or more people in related educational events at the same time. Another approach, the “hybrid shift,” features faculty design content and structure with a focus on being thoughtful, engaging, and intentional in promoting learning, effective collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills. George Santayana said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is relevant in that social media grew, in part, out of a need to overcome communication limitations of geographical distance and time. This examination looks closely at hybrid approaches and offers some answers for educational implications.

Online Self-Presentation Strategies Among Social Networking Sites' Users in the United Arab Emirates

This study explored the strategies of self-presentation (ingratiation, supplication, and enhancement) among United Arab Emirates users (n=230) of popular social networking sites (SNS). The size of social networks, degree of network connectivity, and perceptions of self-presentation success were examined. The results indicated a significant positive correlation between the frequency of SNS use and ingratiation and enhancement strategies. Greater diversity of online friends among the respondents was positively associated with the perception of online self-presentation success. Males and females differed in the size of the online social network they interacted with, diversity of online friends, and preferred self-presentation strategies. However, no significant gender differences were found in the levels of network connectivity and perceptions of self-presentation success.

Decision Choice Optimization With Genetic Algorithm in Communication Networks

Optimization is an essential tool in the field of decision support. In this chapter, the authors study an inverse problem applied in the telecommunication networks. Indeed, in the telecommunication networks, service providers have subscription offers to customers. Since competition is strong in this sector, most of these advertising offerings, totally or partially ambiguous, are prepared to attract the attention of consumers. For this reason, customers face problems in making decisions about the choice of the operators that gives them a better report price/QoS. Mathematical modeling of this decision support problem led to the resolution of an inverse problem. More precisely, the inverse problem is to find the function of the QoS real knowing the QoS theoretical or advertising. This model will help customers who seek to know the degree of sincerity of their operators, and it is an opportunity for operators who want to maintain their resources so that they gain the trust of customers.

Strategic Interaction Among Content Providers in Sponsored Content Markets

The data-sponsored scheme allows the content provider to cover parts of the network subscription fees for end-users. As sponsored data gains traction in the industry, it is important to understand its implications. This work considers content providers (CP) choice of how much content to sponsor and the implications for end-users and CPs. In particular, the authors model the interactions of CPs as a non-cooperative game in terms of pricing, the credibility of content, and the amount of sponsored content. Additionally, they have proved through a detailed analysis of the existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium. Based on the game properties, they implement a learning scheme using best-response dynamics that allows CPs to learn their strategies in a fast, accurate, yet completely distributed fashion. Extensive simulations provide attractive insights on how the sponsoring content may increase the CPs payoff.

A Technological Solution for Communication With Deaf Students in the Institutions of Kuwait

The deaf category represents a significant class at the global level, and it is therefore necessary to pay attention to the provision of prominent educational programs and services to help them achieve self-realization and full integration into society. This study seeks to propose a new translation system for deaf students in faculties, universities, and higher institutes in Kuwait. It can help deaf students to obtain better educational services and improve their communications with their hearing students and teachers in the State of Kuwait. Let us call such a system a video relay service (VRS); it can also be adopted in institutions in other parts of the world. The overall research goal is to propose a new translation system that can help students obtain better educational services and improve their communication with their hearing peers and teachers in the State of Kuwait. This chapter proposes a new translation system for deaf students;, a detailed study and methodology of the targeted research has been explained with all its essential elements.