Understanding learner acceptance of learning objects: The roles of learning object characteristics and individual differences

Many organisations and institutions have integrated learning objects into their e-learning systems to make the instructional resources more efficient. Like any other information systems, this trend has made user acceptance of learning objects an increasingly critical issue as a high level of learner satisfaction and acceptance reflects that the users are more willing to continue to use the technology. In this study, an extended version of technology acceptance model (TAM) with two external variables (learning object characteristics and individual differences) was developed to investigate the underlying factors and causal relationships in predicting learners' acceptance of learning objects. This study called for the respondents to progress through two phases of learning object participation: introduction and direct-use experience to investigate the students' perceptions in terms of usefulness and ease of use while utilising learning objects. The findings show that both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are determinants of behavioural intention to use learning objects. Learning object characteristics influence both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of learning objects; individual differences appear to have no influence upon intention to use learning objects.     

Global learning partnerships in the Café: peer feedback as a formative assessment tool for animation students

This paper reports on a global learning partnership using the Café: the collaborative application for education as an e-learning environment within the Facebook framework, for first-year animation students at the University of South Australia (USA) in Australia and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “The Café” has been designed based on five principles of user interface design – visibility, usability, relevance, accessibility, and interactivity – and aims to provide institutions with an established, structured, and dedicated e-learning environment that meets the needs of modern-day tertiary students and teaching staff. From July to November in 2013, 71 students participated within the e-learning environment. Students submitted work-in-progress imagery related to major assignments, and provided feedback and critiques to their local and global peers. A post-semester survey provided students with the opportunity to critically reflect on the learning experience. The results are discussed in light of the use of peer feedback as a formative assessment tool.     

Virtual university–a vehicle for development,cooperation and internationalisation in teaching and learning

The paper discusses the approaches of virtual university strategies and developments in Europe. The discussion is partly based on the work done in the Activity 5 in the EU Thematic Network E4 and partly to the experiences gained through the activities of EUNITE virtual university network of six European universities. Based on our experience we see, that e-learning and virtual university approach can be used for renewal of teaching and learning, both on and off campus. Just three years ago, universities seemed mainly to aim only to develop on campus teaching and learning through ICT. Lately, the use of e-learning as a tool for international cooperation and for virtual mobility (Virtual Erasmus) has started to develop through the activities of the European Union e-learning programmes and through the activities of some European university networks, like EUNITE. To promote virtual universities and e-learning, commitment and actions at all levels from EU to individual institutions are needed.     

Designing E-learning environments for flexible activity and instruction

The contributions to this issue share a focus on design of e-learning environments. Instructional designers stand at very early stages of knowledge in this area, but with great potential for growth and progress. This commentary offers an activity-based perspective on e-learning environments, resulting in a flexible stance toward instructional strategies, artifact design, emergent activity, and learning outcomes. This same flexibility should be evident as we in the field appropriate theories from other disciplines and develop some of our own. I support the contributors' call for more design research specifically addressing challenging problems of practice encountered by design practitioners.     

Student attitudes to blogs: a case study of reflective and collaborative learning

The aim of this study is to evaluate the capacity of an e-learning tool (blog) to facilitate reflection among students as part of collaborative group learning. The paper provides insights into student attitudes towards blogs as an interactive and reflective learning tool. Additionally, the study highlights the differences between domestic and international student attitudes towards reflection as part of collaborative learning in groups. The results indicate that international students consistently viewed the use of e-learning tools more positively than domestic students. For educators, the results provide direction in terms of enhancements to assessment tasks incorporating e-learning, including the professional development of staff to address the rapidly changing learning environment.     

Students’ evaluations of the use of e-learning in a collaborative project between two South African universities

Online learning is increasingly being used in Higher Education, with a number of advantages to online learning being identified. One of these advantages is the suggestion that online learning provides for equality of opportunity. This article reports on students’ evaluations of the use of e-learning in a collaborative project between two South African universities. The results highlighted both positive and negative evaluations of the use of e-learning. The positive aspects identified were that e-learning provided for ease of communication between parties, and easy access to information and learning material. Negative aspects identified were that it presented some technical challenges; online communication was disjointed; there was unequal access to computers between students from the two universities; students felt that more face-to-face interaction is needed. The issue of unequal access to computers and the internet is highlighted as a crucial issue for e-learning in the South African context, and for the fostering of a democratising educational discourse.     

Bridging the digital divide with off-line e-learning

Abstract

This paper explores a proposal for an off-line e-learning platform that will provide a bridge for digitally unconnected students and educators to join the contemporary information and communications technology (ICT) intensive world. Individual remote and unconnected learners face a chicken and egg problem for engagement with contemporary e-learning offerings. Without connectivity, remote learners have no way of engaging with now common ICT intensified learning materials that are intended to teach them how to engage in an ICT intensive world! The paper takes systems approach to developing a solution that will fit into the world we have, and not one we wish we had in terms of infrastructure, economics and skills available in remote and developing regions. Digital learning courses are placed onto a portable e-learning environment that is not reliant on a constant network connection to function but retains interactivity, analytics and the ability to synchronise data with an educational institution when a connection is found.     

Problem-based learning effectiveness on micro-blog and blog for students: a case study

Problem-based learning (PBL) is regarded as an effective learning strategy to enhance cognition not only in traditional learning but also in e-learning. In e-learning settings, blogs and micro-blogs can plausibly provide a platform to conduct PBL. Recently, most studies on blogs and micro-blogs have respectively probed satisfaction and learning effectiveness. However, little effort has been made to explore their effectiveness on learning. Therefore, this study explored an application of a PBL approach on a micro-blog and blog by seventh-grade students taking an information ethics course; in particular, the effect of a micro-blog and blog on student learning with different learning achievement levels. Moreover, results showed that the micro-blog had more effect on PBL for low achievement students compared to the blog. This study suggests that using a micro-blog for PBL is more appropriate for the sake of maximizing learning effectiveness, if generally considering students with different learning achievement levels.     

E-learning in Chinese higher education: the view from inside

Despite the upsurge in interest in e-learning (or online learning) in Chinese higher education, little is known about the ways in which lecturers design and run their online courses, or about how they perceive e-learning. This paper reports the results of interviews with higher education teachers in China working in conventional, campus-based universities, concerning their conceptions and beliefs of e-learning. The interviews were analysed from a grounded theory perspective that gave rise to seven emerging themes, namely: the ‘centrality of the lecture’, ‘online cooperative learning’, ‘network learning’, ‘student learning’, ‘lecture plus online work’, ‘infrastructure and access’ and ‘professional development’. Discussion of these emerging themes helps us understand the ways in which these teachers think about e-learning and teaching, the beliefs they hold about their ‘e’ practice, the ways in which they implement e-learning, the problems they face in incorporating e-learning into their courses and the ways in which they perceive e-learners. This provides a fascinating and unique insight into e-learning in Chinese higher education. Evidence shows that it is a complex area with many influences, some of which can be attributed to social, cultural and Confucian-heritage factors. It is concluded that, despite enthusiasm by some for innovating e-learning, the dominance of traditional teaching methods in China suggest that the conditions for mainstreaming e-learning in the near future are not strong.     

Development and evaluation of an e-learning course for deaf and hard of hearing based on the advanced Adapted Pedagogical Index method

Web-based and adapted e-learning materials provide alternative methods of learning to those used in a traditional classroom. Within the study described in this article, deaf and hard of hearing people used an adaptive e-learning environment to improve their computer literacy. This environment included streaming video with sign language interpreter video and subtitles. The courses were based on the learning management system Moodle, which also includes sign language streaming videos and subtitles. A different approach is required when adapting e-learning courses for the deaf and hard of hearing: new guidelines must be developed concerning the loading and display of video material. This is shown in the example of the e-learning course, ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). The usability of the e-learning course is analyzed and confirmed using two methods: first, the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) evaluation method, and second, the Adapted Pedagogical Index (AdaPI), which was developed as part of this study, and gives an index to measure the pedagogical effectiveness of e-learning courses adapted for people with disabilities. With 116 participants, of whom 22 are deaf or hard of hearing, the e-learning course for the target group has been found suitable and appropriate according to both evaluation methods.     

User/tutor optimal learning path in e-learning using comprehensive neuro-fuzzy approach

Internet evolution has affected all industrial, commercial, and especially learning activities in the new context of e-learning. Due to cost, time, or flexibility e-learning has been adopted by participators as an alternative training method. By development of computer-based devices and new methods of teaching, e-learning has emerged. The effectiveness of such programs is dependent on powerful learning management systems. In this paper, a neuro-fuzzy approach is proposed based on an evolutionary technique to obtain an optimal learning path for both instructor and learner. The neuro-fuzzy synergy allows the diagnostic model to imitate instructor in diagnosing learners’ characteristics, and equips the intelligent learning environment with reasoning capabilities. These reasoning capabilities can be used to drive pedagogical decisions based on the learning style of the learner. The neuro-fuzzy implementation helps to encode both structured and non-structured knowledge for the instructor. On the other hand, for learners, the neural network approach has been applied to make personalized curriculum profile based on individual learner requirements in a fuzzy environment.     

Formalization and implementation of Eliminating and Optimizing Selection (EOS) approach

The main challenge of e-learning systems is to provide different courses to different students with different learning abilities. Such systems must also be efficient and adaptive. However, adaptivity can be accomplished by improving the ability to select dynamically an appropriate learning object for a specific learner. a framework for individualized learning object selection, called Eliminating and Optimizing Selection (EOS) was proposed by Liu and Greer (2004). In this paper, the EOS framework is further analyzed, implemented and experimented. As a result, a formalization for this framework has been suggested. The computational results of this approach have been compared to the selection results done by other specialists. Comparisons have shown its superiority in terms of producing more optimized selection of learning objects. Moreover, this approach has demonstrated its competitiveness in terms of the selected sequences of learning objects for different learners with different needs.     

基于数据挖掘的教师网络学习行为分析与研究

随着网络通信技术和现代学习理论的发展,网络学习已经成为人类学习和终身教育不可或缺的学习方式,也是教师专业发展学习的重要途径之一。本研究立足教师网络学习实践,在对教师网络学习行为特征、表现形式和学习过程等进行分析的基础上,引入数据挖掘技术对教师网络学习过程进行数据挖掘,设计了教师网络学习行为模型,最后对教师网络学习行为进行案例分析。     

网络课程的交互设计及其实现

本文指出了网络课程交互设计的四个关键要素--学习内容、学习支持、教学策略以及教与学活动,并对这四个要素交互设计的要点、构成和方法进行了研究.依据这一理论,我们开发了53个网络课程的交互设计模板,构建了网络课程交互模板库,为目标导向网络课程写作工具的实现奠定了基础.     

Personalized e-learning environment for bioinformatics

In recent years, the pervasive use of computers and the Internet has created an unprecedented environment for e-learning. However, the rapid expansion in the number of disparate information sources and variety of data available affects e-learning significantly. Nonetheless, there has been a growing awareness that courseware should automatically adjust to the profiles of individual learners. Over the past few years, much effort has been expended to enable personalization for e-learning by semantic web techniques. Although the semantic web offers a theoretical framework for flexibility and interoperability in e-learning resources, there is no consensus ontology that can be used to describe learning profiles directly for personal e-learning environments. This means that their actual applications are as yet unknown. Positing that ontologies actually provide viable solutions for knowledge management, in this article, we present a three-module architecture for a personalized e-learning environment for bioinformatics. The architecture facilitates a personalized e-material recommender that does item-based collaborative filtering (CF) + adapted vector space model (VSM), explicit and implicit scoring, and a concept of tasks focused on rating literature for the e-learner. Meanwhile, the knowledge discovery process can be tailored to acquiring knowledge for professional requirements. Validation for our architecture is provided by a case study for biological institutions. The experimental results show that our architecture is helpful for professional requirements, improving recommendation quality, and satisfying users.     

Searching for the role of emotions in e-learning

This special issue of Learning and Instruction examines the role of emotions in academic learning, with a special focus on emotions in computer-supported academic learning (or e-learning). Three central research challenges concerning emotion in e-learning are: identification (e.g., what are the key emotions in e-learning?), measurement (e.g., how can we tell how strongly a learner is experiencing each key emotion during e-learning?), and explanation (e.g., what are the causes and consequences of the learner's emotional state during learning?). A useful goal of research on emotions in e-learning is to test an affective-cognitive model of e-learning with links among an e-learning episode, the learner's emotional reaction during learning, the learner's cognitive processing during learning, and the learning outcome.     

Challenging hierarchies: The impact of e-learning

New developments in e-learning and increasinglysophisticated learning technologies arebeginning to make a major impact in U.K.universities. It is clear that universitiesneed to change to accommodate the impact oftechnology on learning. Communicationtechnologies that are free from time or placeconstraints provide new challenges touniversities on how they should be organised. The paper reflects on the university's strategicplanning process and outlines the developmentprocess of an e-learning initiative. Examplesof the emergent change agenda are identifiedand finally possibilities for futuredevelopment are explored. It isclear that the impact of e-learning willrequire universities to re-think fundamentallytheir thinking and therefore their strategiesin a whole range of areas. There hasbeen much focus on technological advancementbut much less on how technology impacts onstrategic planning. This paper addresses thisgap in the literature by examining oneuniversity's strategic responses to thischallenge of e-learning. The learning attachedto this case study could be used to help otheruniversities respond to the change agendabrought about by e-learning.     

Learning materials recommendation using good learners’ ratings and content-based filtering

The enormity of the amount of learning materials in e-learning has led to the difficulty of locating suitable learning materials for a particular learning topic, creating the need for recommendation tools within a learning context. In this paper, we aim to address this need by proposing a novel e-learning recommender system framework that is based on two conceptual foundations—peer learning and social learning theories that encourage students to cooperate and learn among themselves. Our proposed framework works on the idea of recommending learning materials with a similar content and indicating the quality of learning materials based on good learners’ ratings. A comprehensive set of experiments were conducted to measure the system accuracy and its impact on learner’s performance. The obtained results show that the proposed e-learning recommender system has a significant improvement in the post-test of about 12.16% with the effect size of 0.6 and 13.11% with the effect size of 0.53 when compared to the e-learning with a content-based recommender system and the e-learning without a recommender system, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed recommender system performed better in terms of having a small rating deviation and a higher precision as compared to e-learning with a content-based recommender system.     

Learning Objects Based Framework for Self-Adaptive Learning

How learners can build their own knowledge, which is precisely tailored to their needs and background? This is precisely the question to which this paper attempts to answer by providing a framework for a flexible object-based e-learning environment. The paper recognizes that the general learner modeling alternative is an intractable problem. However, it suggests learning objects construct used as building blocks to root out individual learning deficiencies. The paper also provides an algorithm to construct individual learning routes that are adjusted to learners' profile as well as an open implementation to accommodate the integration of various learning sources.     

Isolation and distinctiveness in the design of e-learning systems influence user preferences

When faced with excessive detail in an online environment, typical users have difficulty processing all the elements of representation. This in turn creates cognitive overload, which narrows the user's focus to a few select items. In the context of e-learning, we translated this aspect as the learner's demand for a system that facilitates the retrieval of learning content – one in which the representation is easy to read and understand. We hypothesized that the representation of content in an e-learning system's design is an important antecedent for learner preferences. The aspects of isolation and distinctiveness were incorporated into the design of e-learning representation as an attempt to promote student cognition. Following its development, the model was empirically validated by conducting a survey of 300 university students. We found that isolation and distinctiveness in the design elements appeared to facilitate the ability of students to read and remember online learning content. This in turn was found to drive user preferences for using e-learning systems. The findings provide designers with managerial insights for enticing learners to continue using e-learning systems.