Educators are seeking ways to better engage their students including the use of collaborative virtual learning environments (CVLEs). Some virtual worlds can serve as CVLEs as the advent of Second Life has created particular interest within the education community. Second Life, however, was not initially designed to facilitate education alone. I propose that as a CVLE, Second Life may be failing educators' expectations of its initial, ongoing, and future use as a system for supporting education. In order to determine how Second Life may be failing educators, I conducted a case study with a group of university-level educators that examined their reasons for and against adopting Second Life as a CVLE, the affordances they explored, the barriers they encountered, and how these affordances and barriers affected student learning and the participant's future use of Second Life and future virtual worlds in education. I then compare their use of Second Life to that of traditional groupware systems. As a result, I propose and detail the development of a rich integrated development environment, application programming interface, more flexible privacy policy, and more robust community tools for educators based on these comparisons.

There is a common acceptance that online technologies have the capacity to transform the way we learn. It appears the call for alternative modes of learning and the effective integration of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) into the regular classroom is no longer peripheral. There is sound evidence that increasingly teachers and schools are embracing the technologies available to them. This study examines the merits, barriers and issues associated with the employment of online technologies in the teaching and learning of second and foreign languages. Data is sourced from the views and opinions of five participants from a ‘brick and mortar’ school, three participants from a virtual school and the perspectives from two outside experts. The findings reveal participants show an overall satisfaction with the usefulness of online technologies. Compatible with the literature, the study shows that there are systemic factors undermining the efforts of individuals to fully utilise the technologies available to them. The overarching epistemology of this research is congruent with an Ecological model. This approach allows for a multi-level perspective of the complexity and disambiguation ICT has thrust upon educators and learners. This paper concludes with a positive view of the usefulness of online technologies and reaffirms what many researchers are claiming; most schools are only at the beginning of their ICT journey.

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This study is positioned within a specific South African context where many learners not only lack access to resources but are considered underprepared and therefore are seen as academically disadvantaged. Research findings presented here centre on learning theories within the social constructivist paradigm, make use of a developmental research methodology and use a number of different research instruments. The main objective of this study was to investigate the use of virtual learning environments, constructed as educational adventure games, as viable learning tools and to determine the influence of game play on skill development and overcoming learning difficulties. More specifically two educational games, Zadarh and ãKhozi developed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, were used to investigate the use of technology in classrooms that included underprepared and academically disadvantaged learners. Zadarh was designed to challenge learner misconceptions related to photosynthesis and photorespiration and was used to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of games to overcome these misconceptions. ãKhozi was used to introduce learners to issues related to HIV/Aids and to evaluate the use of such tools to develop skills. However, It was first necessary to develop an instrument, based on the Persona Outlining Model (POM), to evaluate and measure skills. The POM uses a number of interfaces (literacy, communication and visualization skills) and properties (age, gender and socio-economic background) to describe a typical learner, or game player. The instrument based on these interfaces and properties was used to evaluate the skills of young South Africans from Buhlebemfundo, Qhakaza and Tholokuhle schools and two universities, namely, University of Zululand [UniZulu] and University of KwaZulu-Natal [UKZN]), all from the region of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The majority of the sampled learners appear to lack appropriate visualisation, logical, mathematical, reading and writing skills and results suggest that poor performance may be associated with a low household income and poor English language skills. While participants (Buhlebemfundo, Qhakaza and Tholokuhle schools, and UniZulu and UKZN university students) who played Zadarh individually solved game problems, they still held many of the misconceptions. Further investigation revealed that when participants were unable to solve a problem they learnt by rote the solution to the problem. Playing Zadarh in groups and allowing participants to ask for clarification of assessment instrument questions showed that many participants developed a deeper understanding on the relationships between photosynthesis and respiration. Participants from Qhakaza were asked to play ãKhozi in flexible groups whichchanged from session to session. Using the previously developed skills assessment instrument showed improve visual, literacy and communication skills. Results strongly suggest that only through dialogue can misconceptions be overcome and that learning is a social activity as proposed by Vygotsky over 80 years ago. More specifically research presented here supports Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, the role of play in development and the need for written language skills. The new art form of digital games when conceived as microworlds can play an important role in education if games support co-operation between players, peers and mentors, allow for exploration through play and support the development of reading and writing skills. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

With the emergence of cloud computing, computing resources (i.e., networks, servers, storage, applications, etc.) are provisioned as metered on-demand services over net- works, and can be rapidly allocated and released with minimal management effort. In the cloud computing paradigm, the virtual machine (VM) is one of the most com- monly used resource units in which business services are encapsulated. VM schedul- ing optimization, i.e., finding optimal placement schemes for VMs and reconfigu- rations according to the changing conditions, becomes challenging issues for cloud infrastructure providers and their customers. The thesis investigates the VM scheduling problem in two scenarios: (i) single- cloud environments where VMs are scheduled within a cloud aiming at improving criteria such as load balancing, carbon footprint, utilization, and revenue, and (ii) multi-cloud scenarios where a cloud user (which could be the owner of the VMs or a cloud infrastructure provider) schedules VMs across multiple cloud providers, target- ing optimization for investment cost, service availability, etc. For single-cloud scenar- ios, taking load balancing as the objective, an approach to optimal VM placement for predictable and time-constrained peak loads is presented. In addition, we also present a set of heuristic methods based on fundamental management actions (namely, sus- pend and resume physical machines, VM migration, and suspend and resume VMs), continuously optimizing the profit for the cloud infrastructure provider regardless of the predictability of the workload. For multi-cloud scenarios, we identify key re- quirements for service deployment in a range of common cloud scenarios (including private clouds, bursted clouds, federated clouds, multi-clouds, and cloud brokering), and present a general architecture to meet these requirements. Based on this architec- ture, a set of placement algorithms tuned for cost optimization under dynamic pricing schemes are evaluated. By explicitly specifying service structure, component relation- ships, and placement constraints, a mechanism is introduced to enable service owners the ability to influence placement. In addition, we also study how dynamic cloud scheduling using VM migration can be modeled using a linear integer programming approach. The primary contribution of this thesis is the development and evaluation of al- gorithms (ranging from combinatorial optimization formulations to simple heuristic algorithms) for VM scheduling in cloud infrastructures. In addition to scientific pub- lications, this work also contributes software tools (in the OPTIMIS project funded by the European Commissions Seventh Framework Programme) that demonstrate the feasibility and characteristics of the approaches presented. / I datormoln tillhandahålls datorresurser (dvs., nätverk, servrar, lagring, applikationer, etc.) som tjänster åtkomliga via Internet. Resurserna, som t.ex. virtuella maskiner (VMs), kan snabbt och enkelt allokeras och frigöras alltefter behov. De potentiellt snabba förändringarna i hur många och hur stora VMs som behövs leder till utmanade schedulerings- och konfigureringsproblem. Scheduleringsproblemen uppstår både för infrastrukturleverantörer som behöver välja vilka servrar olika VMs ska placeras på inom ett moln och deras kunder som behöver välja vilka moln VMs ska placeras på. Avhandlingen fokuserar på VM-scheduleringsproblem i dessa två scenarier, dvs (i) enskilda moln där VMs ska scheduleras för att optimera lastbalans, energiåtgång, resursnyttjande och ekonomi och (ii) situationer där en molnanvändare ska välja ett eller flera moln för att placera VMs för att optimera t.ex. kostnad, prestanda och tillgänglighet för den applikation som nyttjar resurserna. För det förstnämnda scenar- iot presenterar avhandlingen en scheduleringsmetod som utifrån förutsägbara belast- ningsvariationer optimerar lastbalansen mellan de fysiska datorresurserna. Därtill pre- senteras en uppsättning heuristiska metoder, baserade på fundamentala resurshanter- ingsåtgärder, fö att kontinuerligt optimera den ekonomiska vinsten för en molnlever- antör, utan krav på lastvariationernas förutsägbarhet. För fallet med flera moln identifierar vi viktiga krav för hur resurshanteringstjänster ska konstrueras för att fungera väl i en rad konceptuellt olika fler-moln-scenarier. Utifrån dessa krav definierar vi också en generell arkitektur som kan anpassas till dessa scenarier. Baserat pp vår arkitektur utvecklar och utvärderar vi en uppsättning algoritmer för VM-schedulering avsedda att minimera kostnader för användning av molninfrastruktur med dynamisk prissättning. Användaren ges genom ny funktionalitet möjlighet att explicit specificera relationer mellan de VMs som allokeras och andra bivillkor för hur de ska placeras. Vi demonstrerar också hur linjär heltals- programmering kan användas för att optimera detta scheduleringsproblem. Avhandlingens främsta bidrag är utveckling och utvärdering av nya metoder för VM-schedulering i datormoln, med lösningar som inkluderar såväl kombinatorisk op- timering som heuristiska metoder. Utöver vetenskapliga publikationer bidrar arbetet även med programvaror för VM-schedulering, utvecklade inom ramen för projektet OPTIMIS som finansierats av EU-kommissionens sjunde ramprogram. metoder för VM-schedulering i datormoln, med lösningar som inkluderar såväl kombinatorisk op- timering som heuristiska metoder. Utöver vetenskapliga publikationer bidrar arbetet även med programvaror för VM-schedulering, utvecklade inom ramen för projektet OPTIMIS som finansierats av EU-kommissionens sjunde ramprogram.

Management of Collaborative Networked Organizations faces various challenges in terms of decision-making. Particularly, in complex and multi-player environments, like healthcare, it is not easy to find the roots of low performance processes, and unmet goals. This research provides a framework, as well as associated techniques to analyze the value network, identify problematic actors, and consequently, find the best possible solution to change them. The proposed framework consists of two main components: Analyzing the value network, and Multi-Criteria Decision Making. To analyze the value network of a collaborative environment, in addition to the existing techniques, four complementary components are introduced: Actors’ value interchanges matrix, Value Gantt chart, Identifying problematic actors flowchart, and Actors’ ease of substitution table. Employing these hybrid analyses, decision makers gain a better understanding of the bottlenecks in the value network, current conditions and contributions of the involved actors, and the consequences of considering various alternatives. Then, by applying one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making methods, and based on pre-defined criteria, possible alternatives are analyzed and outlined. As a proof of concept and validation of the proposed methods, we reviewed a scenario of patient flow and wait times in healthcare. We derive the value network for collaborative processes in a hospital, specify the roles’ of actors, identify the bottlenecks, then rank the solutions, and suggest possible changes to improve the performance of the collaborative environment.

In this project, the perception of distance and the degree of immersion in a game, with two different visualisation techniques, have been evaluated. A bicycle simulator was used, and the game has been tested in a non-immersive virtual reality, by projecting the game on a screen, and using an immersive virtual reality by Oculus Rift. The study provides a preliminary investigation that focuses on how humans can perceive the distance, an overview of the term immersion and how to quantify this component.Regarding the study of the perception of distance, to subjects who have tested the game has been asked their perceptions of distance with respect to a given object. The immersion was studied and evaluated using a questionnaire given to each subject.The results showed an underestimation of distance in both the visualisation of the game, precisely a greater underestimation respect to real distance when the screen was used was found.The degree of immersion did not detect large differences between the two visualisation techniques.

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A thematic analysis was conducted in order to reveal and identify central themes composing the motivational aspects of the popular Let’s Play media phenomenon. Nine informants with various connections to Let’s Plays were interviewed online through the use of a 17-item interview survey developed by the researcher. A total of five major recurring themes were discovered relating to the informants’ motivational reasons for making and viewing Let’s Plays as part of their spare time activities. Based on these discoveries, it can be assumed that the Let’s Play phenomenon contributes to modern-day need fulfillment relating to online socialization, entertainment, technological competence, commercialization and interpersonal relations between the media audience and the media personalities they follow. It was concluded that the Let’s Play phenomenon, and the communities contained within it, holds potential for the future development of videogame industry as a whole as well as being an interesting new arena for media research in general. Implications for further research within the field of Let’s Plays are therefore made in order to ensure the possibility of expanding the scientific knowledge surrounding this media phenomenon.