WebQuest is one of the popular technology integration strategies in school environment. This study is conducted to overcome existing problems for both teachers and students in higher education by bringing dynamism to existing approach. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to design, develop, implement the new approach of the WebQuest, and assess the experiences of the participants that they encounter in the dynamic WebQuest environment. The participants of this study were the students of two undergraduate courses offered by the Secondary Science and Math Education Department (SSME) and Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department (CEIT) of a private university. Seventy undergraduate students participated in this study. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative measures in order to develop explanatory thoughts about the WebQuest site, projects and perceptions towards the process and the project. The findings of this study showed that participants favored the WebQuest site and the project, which is dynamically created. Furthermore, they offered valuable suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the system.

There is a lack of studies on the current status of the use of on-demand learning in organizations and factors that may accelerate or hold back the acceptance and implementation of on-demand learning in organizations. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the adoption of on-demand learning in organizations in the United States. More specifically, this research was conducted to answer the following questions: 1) Are training professionals familiar with the concept of on demand learning? 2) What are the most commonly practiced on-demand learning applications in organizations? 3) What are the most commonly used on-demand learning devices? 4) Which subject areas are appropriate for applying on-demand learning? 5) What factors explain and predict the adoption of on-demand learning? 6) Does organizational nature (non-profit vs. for-profit) have an impact on the adoption of on-demand learning? 7) Does economic sector have an impact on the adoption of on-demand learning? 8) Does organizational size have an impact on the adoption of on-demand learning? and 9) Does training budget have an impact on the adoption of on-demand learning? Study results indicated that although many factors influence the adoption of on-demand learning in organizations, compatibility and top management support were the most significant determinants in general. The training budget was a moderator for the adoption of on-demand learning and it amplified the effects of top management support and organizational centralization on the adoption process. The adoption of on-demand learning among small organizations, non-profit organizations, or organizations with relatively small training budgets, was primarily determined by available organizational resources, such as technical infrastructure, financial resources for experimental innovations, professional development opportunities, and investment on training and development. But among for-profit organizations or large organizations (i.e., 1,000 employees and over), the adoption of on-demand learning was primarily determined by its compatibility with organizations and organizational openness. Moreover, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, costs, and customer demand were not significant determinants in this study. In short, organizational factors had a greater explanatory power than innovative, environmental, or individual variables. Recommendations were proposed for future studies.

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine the way students use mobile phones and web-based learning environment, the development of professional skills during on-the-job learning, and the way the use of learning technologies and the development of professional skills change during the study. The theoretical framework of the study was built around a social cognitive theory of learning, and design research was used as a research method. The study was carried out in a vocational college of Oulu during 2005–2006. A research data consists of interviews of altogether twenty (20) students, data which originated from the use of learning technology, and notes of the researcher. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that mobile phone’s call and message functions were used chiefly for maintaining interaction between the students during the periods of on-the-job learning. Mobile phone’s photograph and video functions were used for describing work, work environments and work-related events, and for describing objects and devices of the work. The students used web-based learning environment mainly for writing learning diaries. The students formed four (4) different user groups depending on how they used learning technology. The user groups formed were active users of communication functions, the active users of photograph and video functions, average users of technology, and passive users of technology. The use of mobile phones and web-based learning environment supports students’ social interaction, memory, and information processing, factors which all enhance learning. Photographs the students took during their on-the-job learning periods captured information which they could utilize later if necessary. The students reported that during their on-the-job learning period they had learned basic knowledge and skills relevant to their work, gained routines and certainty, acquired situation-specific operational skills and wider, more profound knowledge. As to the development of professional skills, the learning of wider and more profound knowledge underwent the most marked changes. Those who were the active users of message functions reported having acquired the widest and most profound knowledge. The use of teaching technology can be said to increase the sociability of on-the-job learning as well as the possibilities of tutoring. Demand for self-direction in learning, and autonomy of reflection also decline at the same time. In particular, the active and versatile use of teaching technology improves the conceptual understanding of a work, and the formation of situational-specific information. It also helps to form more comprehensive understanding of the work. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on jäsentää työssäoppimista oppimismenetelmänä ja tutkia opetusteknologian käyttöä työssäoppimisessa. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin oppilaiden matkapuhelimen ja verkko-oppimisympäristön käyttöä ja ammattitaidon kehittymistä teknologiatuetussa työssäoppimisessa sekä opetusteknologian käytön ja ammattitaidon kehittymisen muuttumista tutkimuksen aikana. Tutkimuksen oppimisteoreettisena perustana on sosiokognitiivinen oppiminen ja tutkimusmenetelmänä design-tutkimus. Tutkimus toteutettiin Oulun seudun ammattiopistossa vuosina 2005–2006. Tutkimusaineistona on kahdenkymmenen ammatillisen perustutkinto-opiskelijan haastatteluaineisto, opetusteknologian käytössä syntynyt aineisto sekä tutkijan muistiinpanot. Aineisto analysoitiin kvalitatiivisella sisällönanalyysillä. Tulosten mukaan oppilaat käyttivät matkapuhelimen puhelu- ja viestitoimintoja pääasiassa oppilaiden välisen vuorovaikutuksen ylläpitämiseen. Kuvaustoimintoja he käyttivät töiden ja tapahtumien sekä työkohteiden, -välineiden ja -ympäristön kuvaamiseen. Verkko-oppimisympäristöä oppilaat käyttivät pääasiassa päiväkirjojen kirjoittamiseen. Matkapuhelimen ja verkko-oppimisympäristön käyttö muuttui tutkimuksen aikana aktiivisemmaksi ja monipuolisemmaksi. Opetusteknologian käytön perusteella oppilaista muodostui neljä käyttäjäryhmää. Ne ovat viestitoimintojen aktiivikäyttäjät, kuvaustoimintojen aktiivikäyttäjät, teknologian keskivertokäyttäjät ja teknologian passiivikäyttäjät. Matkapuhelimen ja verkko-oppimisympäristön käyttöön sisältyviä oppimista tukevia tekijöitä olivat vuorovaikutuksen, muistitoimintojen ja tiedon prosessoinnin tukeminen. Oppilaiden työssäoppimisjaksolla ottamiin valokuviin tallentui myös tietoa, jota oppilaat pystyivät tarvittaessa myöhemmin hyödyntämään. Oppilaat kokivat oppineensa työssäoppimisjaksollaan työssä tarvittavia perustietoja ja -taitoja, rutiinia ja varmuutta, tilannekohtaisia toimintataitoja sekä aiempaa syvällisempää ja laajempaa tietoa. Ammattitaidon kehittymisessä tapahtui muutoksia tutkimuksen aikana eniten aiempaa syvällisemmän ja laajemman tiedon oppimisessa. Sen sijaan työssä tarvittavien perustietojen ja -taitojen oppimisessa ei tapahtunut muutoksia. Syvällisimmät ja laajimmat tiedot ilmaisivat oppineensa viestitoimintojen aktiivikäyttäjät. Tulosten perusteella opetusteknologian käyttö lisää työssäoppimisen sosiaalisuutta ja ohjausmahdollisuuksia erityisesti tilanteissa, joissa oppilaat tekevät työtä yksin ilman ohjaajan jatkuvaa läsnäoloa. Samalla oppimisen itseohjautuvuuden ja itsenäisen reflektion vaatimus pienenee. Opetusteknologian aktiivinen ja monipuolinen käyttö parantaa erityisesti opittavien töiden käsitteellistä ymmärtämistä, tilannesidonnaisen tiedon luomista sekä kokonaisuuksien muodostumista.

Professional development courses that focus on increasing knowledge and improving skill sets are an integral part of a medical imager's career. This study was a qualitative formative evaluation with purposeful sampling of participants in a professional development webinar course offered to medical imaging professionals in 35 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The goal of this study was to aid the agency with identifying areas in which the efficacy of the program implementation and delivery could improve. The conceptual framework model, interest-problem-based learning (INTEREST-PBL) model, and Malcolm Knowles's theory on adult learning were used to ground this project. The research questions focused on the effectiveness of the implementation of the webinars, and the identification of areas of strengths and weaknesses. Data were collected from 7 participants using semi structured interviews and online questionnaires and was analyzed through coding and thematic analysis. Findings suggested that the absence of a formative evaluation during the early stages of implementation and deployment had an impact on the efficacy of the webinar courses. Differentiated learning strategies with clearly defined goals as well as a mechanism for immediate and continued feedback need to be inserted into the webinar design. This study contributes to social change by postulating the use of an evaluation model and pedagogical tools that can assess educational programs for medical imagers that integrate global health policies, technical standards training, and the coordination and collaboration of healthcare partnerships, thus, improving their performance in the delivery of medical imaging examinations while increasing access to quality radiological examinations.

yes / This project investigated the extent to which e-portfolio tools can be applied to final year engineering projects with a view to supporting the experience from the perspective of supervisor and student respectively. E-portfolio tools allow students to generate, store and share evidence, minute meetings and record reflections as well as helping them to develop generic professional engineering skills. The research methodology combined qualitative and quantitative techniques. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with eight supervisors and online questionnaires completed by 13 supervisors and 31 students provided the basis for the research. Training on the university¿s e-portfolio tool was provided for 19 members of staff, while a seminar introducing the project to the final year cohort was attended by 33 students. To conclude, an e-portfolio application was made available to students. / Royal Academy of Engineering, The Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, National HE STEM Programme Engineering

Learning technologies in computer science education have been most closely associated with teaching of programming, including automatic assessment of programming exercises. However, when it comes to teaching computer science content and concepts, learning technologies have not been heavily used. Perhaps the best known application today is Algorithm Visualization (AV), of which there are hundreds of examples. AVs tend to focus on presenting the procedural aspects of how a given algorithm works, rather than more conceptual content. There are also new electronic textbooks (eTextbooks) that incorporate the ability to edit and execute program examples. For many traditional courses, a longstanding problem is lack of sufficient practice exercises with feedback to the student. Automated assessment provides a way to increase the number of exercises on which students can receive feedback. Interactive eTextbooks have the potential to make it easy for instructors to introduce both visualizations and practice exercises into their courses. OpenDSA is an interactive eTextbook for data structures and algorithms (DSA) courses. It integrates tutorial content with AVs and automatically assessed interactive exercises. Since Spring 2013, OpenDSA has been regularly used to teach a fundamental data structures and algorithms course (CS2), and also a more advanced data structures, algorithms, and analysis course (CS3) at various institutions of higher education. In this thesis, I report on findings from early adoption of the OpenDSA system. I describe how OpenDSA's design addresses obstacles in the use of AV systems. I identify a wide variety of use for OpenDSA in the classroom. I found that instructors used OpenDSA exercises as graded assignments in all the courses where it was used. Some instructors assigned an OpenDSA assignment before lectures and started spending more time teaching higher-level concepts. OpenDSA also supported implementing a ``flipped classroom'' by some instructors. I found that students are enthusiastic about OpenDSA and voluntarily used the AVs embedded within OpenDSA. Students found OpenDSA beneficial and expressed a preference for a class format that included using OpenDSA as part of the assigned graded work. The relationship between OpenDSA and students' performance was inconclusive, but I found that students with higher grades tend to complete more exercises. / Ph. D.

Cloud based E-Learning is one of the booming technologies in IT field which brings powerful e-learning products with the help of cloud power. Cloud technology has numerous advantages over the existing traditional E-Learning systems but at the same time, security is a major concern in cloud based e-learning. So security measures are unavoidable to prevent the loss of users’ valuable data from the security vulnerabilities. Cloud based e-learning products also need to satisfy the security needs of customers and overcome various security threats which attack valuable data stored in cloud servers.So the study investigates various security issues involved in cloud based e-learning technology with an aim to suggest solutions in the form of security measures and security management standards. These will help to overcome the security threats in cloud based e-learning technology. To achieve our thesis aim, we used theoretical and empirical studies. Empirical study is made through the information gathered through various cloud based e-learning solution vendors websites. And the theoretical study is made through the text analysis on various research articles related to our subject areas. And finally the constant comparative method is used to compare the empirical findings with the facts discovered from our theoretical findings. These analysis and research studies are leads to find various security issues in cloud based e-learning technology. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

This research study investigated the professional development of teachers as they integrate learning technologies into classroom practice. In particular, the study was concerned with the specific role of the learning technology coordinator in this professional development process. The views of classroom teachers were sought concerning factors in their professional development which they found useful together with the relevance of the role of the learning technology coordinator. So too, the views of the learning technology coordinators and principals were sought regarding effective professional development as teachers integrate learning technologies into classroom practice. Two processes were used to ascertain these views. Focus groups and interviews were conducted at the LaTTiCE (Learning and Teaching Technologies in Catholic Education) and Navigator schools. The Navigator and LaTTiCE school were specially funded pilot schools for the integration of learning technologies into classrooms. These technology rich schools provided detailed data from a specific group of people. A survey was also sent to randomly selected primary schools in Melbourne to see if similar responses would be gained from the general population of schools less privileged in terms of learning technologies and the associated professional development. Analysis of this data led to some important insights related to the professional development of teachers as they integrate learning technologies into classroom practice and to the specific role of the learning technology coordinator in this process. This study found that the main reason why teachers integrated learning technologies into classroom practice was to benefit their students and to improve their own skill levels. The important factors in the professional development of teachers integrating technology were that it was collaborative, embedded in practice, ongoing over time, had the support of the principal and was supported by a learning technology coordinator. This study focused on the role of the learning technology coordinator and found that the most important aspect of this role was related to the professional development of teachers and the coordination of the school’s technology program. These findings led to recommendations that priority be given to funding at a system level for a school based learning technology coordinator to be appointed in each primary school and that principals provide for this coordinator to focus on the professional development of teachers integrating technology into classroom practice.

Gemeinsamer Workshop von Universitaetsrechenzentrum und Professur Rechnernetze und verteilte Systeme (Fakultaet fuer Informatik) der TU Chemnitz. Workshop-Thema: Infrastruktur der ¨Digitalen Universitaet¨ Der Vortrag führt in den in Entwicklung befindlichen Standard IEEE1484 ein. Die Standardisierung im Bereich computer- und netzgestützter Kurse ist Voraussetzung für Datenaustausch und Verbreitung.

This systematic review paper reviews instructional strategies for online developmental mathematics courses offered at post-secondary institutions. Adaptive learning technology was thoroughly reviewed as an intervention strategy. Success rates and other data from studies are compared to draw conclusions about the most effective instructional strategies for teaching online developmental mathematics. The following databases were used to examine literature in the subject area: Elton B. Stephens Co. (EBSCOhost), Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), ProQuest, Wiley - Blackwell Publishers, Journal Storage (JSTOR), and Gale Cengage Learning. These databases were selected from the NovaCat Online Library system via the Nova Southeastern University website. The documents reviewed in this research paper were used as data to give a diverse, concise quantitative and qualitative discussion of results for the comparison of the studies. The implications of this study may be useful to students, faculty, administrators, researchers, etc. The results of this systematic review showed adaptive learning technology’s assistive nature in course design and implementation. Strategies and course design were critical to the outcome of each study reviewed that incorporated adaptive learning technology. Further research is suggested to identify specific combinations of methodologies for most success completion rates of developmental mathematics courses offered at post-secondary institutions.