Next generation network environments in Europe — The significance of the EU as a policy actor

The relatively new topic of Next Generation Networks (NGN) is one which is ascending rapidly communications policy agendas in Europe and beyond. How these networks might be created and, beyond that, how they might function in a sustained and broadly useful manner, and the implications of this, are issues which crystallise a raft of often complex policy concerns that have emerged, for at least a decade, in historically distant though increasingly connected quarters of electronic network communications. This article breaks new ground in the analysis of the emerging role of the EU by exploring EU NGN policy from a convergence infrastructural and content perspective. Whilst at this stage, despite new ‘policy packaging’, the EU's NGN policy activity is resonant of past telecommunications and audiovisual policies, the article contends that there are key areas where the EU can exercise considerable policy leverage through utilising a combination of formal legal and soft governance capacities. This has a greater chance of materialising how the more transnational NGN networks and services become.     

Multimodal biomedical image indexing and retrieval using descriptive text and global feature mapping

The images found within biomedical articles are sources of essential information useful for a variety of tasks. Due to the rapid growth of biomedical knowledge, image retrieval systems are increasingly becoming necessary tools for quickly accessing the most relevant images from the literature for a given information need. Unfortunately, article text can be a poor substitute for image content, limiting the effectiveness of existing text-based retrieval methods. Additionally, the use of visual similarity by content-based retrieval methods as the sole indicator of image relevance is problematic since the importance of an image can depend on its context rather than its appearance. For biomedical image retrieval, multimodal approaches are often desirable. We describe in this work a practical multimodal solution for indexing and retrieving the images contained in biomedical articles. Recognizing the importance of text in determining image relevance, our method combines a predominately text-based image representation with a limited amount of visual information, in the form of quantized content-based visual features, through a process called global feature mapping. The resulting multimodal image surrogates are easily indexed and searched using existing text-based retrieval systems. Our experimental results demonstrate that our multimodal strategy significantly improves upon the retrieval accuracy of existing approaches. In addition, unlike many retrieval methods that utilize content-based visual features, the response time of our approach is negligible, making it suitable for use with large collections.     

Illusions of consensus: New South Wales stakeholders' constructions of the identity of history

This article analyses the relationships between the perspectives of stakeholders involved in the development of the 1998 New South Wales Stages 4–5 history syllabus. It examined four key issues that emerged in the debates about history education during the review and found that stakeholders' views diverged significantly on three of these issues. While loose coalitions formed around particular issues, stakeholders provided different rationales for their positions, and coalitions re-formed on other debates. The analysis highlights the divergence between stakeholders and between the Commonwealth and state governments and stakeholders on the desirable content and goals of history education. The findings indicate that consultation might not produce consensus, and that even the appearance of consensus can be grounded in substantively and philosophically different premises. In practical terms, the findings suggest that if the purpose of consultation as a method of curriculum development is to produce a syllabus that reflects the diverse perspectives held by stakeholders, then the syllabus structure needs to make provision for content options as well as common core areas of study.     

Motivating learners in open and distance learning: do we need a new theory of learner support?

This paper calls for a new theory of learner support in distance learning based on recent findings in the fields of learning and motivational psychology. It surveys some current learning motivation theories and proposes that models drawn from the relatively new field of Positive Psychology, such as the ‘Strengths Approach’, together with Dweck’s Self Theory and Anderson’s insistence on proactive support, could be developed into a ‘Proactive Motivational Support’ theory. Such a theory might enable distance educators to support learners more successfully than existing models of learning skills development and remedial support. The paper then reports on further findings from experiments (one previously described in Open Learning), using these approaches in the UK Open University. These findings confirm the previous results, showing significant increases in retention that, in the context of the Open University’s funding arrangements, appear to be at least self‐financing.     

Asynchronous access to conventional course delivery: a pilot project

This study describes a technological pilot project providing 160 graduate students with asynchronous access to the ongoing proceedings of a lecture‐based course. Exactly half of the students spoke the language of instruction, English, as a second language (ESL). While the asynchronous video‐on‐demand service proved popular overall, ESL students were markedly heavier users of the system and reported most enthusiastically on its benefits. Asynchronous access was valued as much for empowering the learner with control of the lecture as it was for the issue of convenience. Furthermore, the medium of video capture was found to create an impression of intimacy simultaneously cleansed of environmental distractions, an experience not necessarily consistent with live attendance. These findings became the foundation of a course distribution system now providing lectures to over 1,500 undergraduates each semester, yet many of the observed benefits remain to be confirmed by future research.     

Improving the process of education: Total quality management for the college classroom

This article's purpose is to improve the effectiveness of classroom teaching by proposing a specific program for continuous improvement toward instructional excellence. Total quality management (TQM) is a systematic approach which utilizes four main elements: quality defined by the customer, top leadership responsibility for quality improvement, increased quality through systematic analysis of work processes, and quality improvement by continuous effort conducted throughout the organization. A strategy for continuous classroom improvement is developed through an examination of various definitions of quality and a comparative analysis of dimensions of quality, service quality, and effective teaching which aims to inspire and give direction.James P. Gilbert is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at The University of Georgia. He received his MBA from Western Illinois University and Ph.D. from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research interests include: total quality management methods, service management systems, and Japanese management techniques. Kay Keck is Director of Graduate Programs at The University of Georgia and teaches the first-year marketing course for MBA students. She obtained an MBA from the University of Kansas, and Ph.D. in Management Science from The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests center around sales management, services marketing, and applications of TQM in both sales and higher education. Ronald D. Simpson is Director of the Office of Instructional Development at The University of Georgia, where he also is professor of Higher Education and Science Education. He holds degrees from The University of Tennessee and The University of Georgia.