Instructional Design and Quality

Quality in e-learning should be measured from three perspectives: technology, pedagogy, and management and administration. This paper examines the pedagogical and methodological perspective, specifically in the work developed by the professors of the course “East Asian Geography”, a compulsory course of the Programme of East Asian Studies. The authors consider that the teaching and learning methodology applied to the UOC model has reached the proper level of quality when students are satisfied, follow the courses and not drop out, and perform appropriately. In that sense, satisfaction, permanence, and academic performance are the three levels of measurement of the quality of the each course and program, as well as the UOC model in general. On the basis of the data obtained and results of the first two years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, in terms of performance and satisfaction of the students in the course “East Asian Geography”, is considered for revision and improvement. This process has two phases. In the first one, during 2005-2008, the authors focus on the instructional design process and the conceptualization of the course plan with new activities; in the second, from 2009 to present, the authors examine the design and diversification of course materials and e-learning activities.

Green Computing

Information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in both business and individuals’ private lives. It is also consuming ever greater amounts of energy; therefore, it is a significant source of CO2 emissions. Thus, environmental and energy conservation issues have gained attention in recent years. The reality of rising energy costs and their impact on international affairs coupled with the increased concern over the global warming climate crisis and other environmental issues have shifted the social and economic consciousness of modern society. This paper discusses different aspects of green computing and its impact in India.

Cultural Pluralism in the Context of the Knowledge Society Ecosystem

With Huntington’s warning of a “clash of civilizations” following the end of the cold war, “cultural pluralism” has become important for enhancing world peace and supporting development. In this paper, cultural pluralism is viewed as a “knowledge society” problem, where intercultural knowledge is produced, disseminated and used within an ecosystem of mutual understanding and respect. The authors present key cultural pluralisms efforts, providing an overall picture of the issues involved. These efforts include: the 2001 United Nations (UN) resolution on dialogue among civilizations; the 2001 UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declaration on cultural diversity; the 2005 Rabat conference on dialogue among cultures and civilizations; and the 2008 Madrid world conference on dialogue. In the second part of this paper, cultural pluralism issues are restructured according to the knowledge society ecosystem framework, where they are organized according to the five STOPE domains: strategy, technology, organization, people and the environment, and where they interact with the intercultural knowledge activities. The resulting cultural pluralism ecosystem framework is useful as a tool for organizing and interrelating future studies on the subject and promoting peace and development.

Exploring the Effects of a Mindfulness Program for Students of Secondary School

This study analyzes the effects of a mindfulness program on a group of students in the first year of Compulsory Secondary Education from three public schools. A total of 61 students participated. A group comparison design (randomized controlled trial) with pretest-posttest measurement was used on an experimental and a control group. The statistical analyses show a significant improvement of academic performance, as well as an increase in all self-concept dimensions and a significant decrease in anxiety states and traits. These results are in agreement with other studies that have found mindfulness programmes to be effective in the educative system. The importance of mindfulness techniques in the educative system is also discussed.

A Pattern of Reference to Insure Organizational Learning Process

In this paper, referring to the Model for General Knowledge Management within the Enterprise (MGKME), the author emphasizes two of the operating elements of this model, which are essential to insure the organizational learning process that leads to the appropriate use of concepts, methods, and tools of innovative technology: “Ad hoc Infrastructures” and “Organizational Learning Processes”. Nonaka’s SECI models and the Japanese concept of Ba underlie these two elements. The author discusses a case in which the “Semi-opened Infrastructure Model” (SopIM) was implemented to deploy artificial intelligence and knowledge-based systems within a large industrial company.

Delivering Educational Games to Mobile Devices

A new generation of students is accustomed to daily use of mobile devices, and educating them in the proper way is a complicated task. Video games are an ideal tool for communicating with students, and finding the right combination of using mobile devices with educational games is important for educating them. This paper describes a novel approach to educational game defining and interpretation. Application of a model-driven approach to educational game interpretation enables the use of the same game on different devices and platforms. The authors enable the interpretation of an educational game on any mobile device. These games take learning outside the classroom and provide a fun and interesting way of learning anytime, anywhere. The authors use an adventure game as an example using this methodology.

Scaffolding Pedagogical Planning and the Design of Learning Activities

This paper examines pedagogical planning as a means to foster the introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) tools into classroom practice. The authors illustrate IAMEL, an ICT-enhanced system aimed at supporting teachers in the process of designing, structuring and planning educational activities. Pedagogical planning, which is a traditional school practice, is meant as the description of a learning situation aimed at the acquisition of a precise body of knowledge through the specification of roles, activities, educational theories and methods. ICT-enhanced pedagogical planning offers significant added value to the intended scope: (1) helps teachers fully express their didactical ideas and finalize the educational approaches and methods to be adopted (2) supports the sharing of practice among teachers and communities of teachers (3) fosters “a posteriori” reflections on the planned educational experience, once implemented in real school settings.

Multiple Solitudes

In this paper, the authors examine the potential and the reality of pan-Canadian digital curriculum policy access in the current web-enabled global landscape. The authors discuss theory related to the affordances offered by digital technologies for the sharing of research and policy, as well as theory relative to knowledge mobilization and communities of practice, both of which support collaboration and consultation for informed policy development. The authors present their findings from two investigations to test digital access to curriculum policies across Canada’s provinces and territories through their Ministry of Education websites. Through this analysis, the authors provide evidence of the current affordances and barriers related to digital access to curriculum policies and offer suggestions to facilitate knowledge mobilization around curricular responses to child and adolescent health issues.

Ethical Competences in Accounting Higher Education

The integration of the Spanish University System into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) introduces, among other aspects, competency-based learning (MECD, 2003). For a discipline like accounting this context implies the challenge of introducing ethics into accounting education, since ethical values have been included as a fundamental part of the generic competencies that graduates are required. The following study analyzes, in the light of the importance that academics and professionals give to ethical competences, to which extent universities have committed with ethics, considering the information provided in their respective websites relating their first cycle degrees. The outcomes obtained show the little presence of ethical competencies in the information published in the websites of the offered courses.

Cataloguing and Searching Musical Sound Recordings in an Ontology-Based Information System

Although a lot of information is available worldwide, getting the right piece of information is challenging. In addition, integrating information from different sources is still very complicated. To make the different information systems to interoperate, it is necessary to provide common knowledge structures. Ontologies have been developed for making the semantics of a domain explicit. However, using such formal structures is not straightforward and their benefits are not clear to the users. The work presented in this paper explores the use of an ontology for musical sound recordings in order to allow cataloguing and searching for such information. Therefore it investigates how the knowledge society can benefit from ontologies, with focus on the culture, more specifically the music domain. Some possible benefits and pitfalls are also described and a case study shows an evaluation of the proposed approach by users of this domain.