The evolution of transformative communication patterns in 1-to-1 computing classrooms

This research explores the evolution of communication patterns in 1-to-1 classrooms of teachers who vary in their years of experience teaching in these computer-rich classrooms. The context for this study was classroom observations and teacher interviews in 7 Milwaukee public schools during the spring of 2010 where teachers were implementing a 1-to-1 computer program in which every student was given a laptop. The researcher used an explanatory mixed-methods design in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The researcher compared data collected through classroom observations and teacher interviews from 5 teachers in the first year of the program and 6 teachers who had been in the program for 2 or more years. The overall findings suggested a shift from more traditional forms of instruction toward constructivist teaching styles when comparing the 2 groups. The researcher compared classroom organization, technology use, communication patterns, and student identity in the 2 groups of teachers. Teachers with more experience in the 1-to-1 program structured instruction to allow students to work in small groups more often. They also used technology as a tool more often to mediate communication. The research also revealed that when students have ubiquitous access to real-time formative assessments, new forms of student-centered communication patterns occurred. Another finding was that student identity often changes in 1-to-1 computing environments from a passive role to taking on more responsibility, acting as experts, and becoming more engaged in their own learning. Ongoing professional development was found to be an important factor in helping teachers evolve their teaching practices. These positive findings suggest that communication patterns in 1-to-1 classrooms do evolve toward more transformational forms of communication over time

Contextualisation of instructional time utilising mobile social networks for learning efficiency: a participatory action research study for technical vocational education and training learners in South Africa

Despite the fact that some studies have shown a connection between learning efficiency and instructional time, there is lack of research that has been carried out within the Technical Vocational Education and Training sector with a particular focus on National Certificate Vocational programmes. To fill this gap, the current study utilised WhatsApp, an instance of a Mobile Social Network, in extending instructional time beyond the normal lecturing timetables with the objective of improving learning efficiency for NCV learners studying Computer Programming as a subject. To achieve the objective, a pragmatic approach was adopted in carrying out a participatory action research project. Qualitative data and quantitative data were collected concurrently in three phases using semi-structured interviews, questionnaire and documents. Thematic analyses and statistical analyses were applied to the data collected from five colleges in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The findings of the study highlighted multiple issues: Firstly, awareness of instructional time phenomena was very minimal from the lecturers and the learners. Secondly, there were no formal interventions in place to recover or extend instructional time beyond the traditional college boundaries. In overall, the implementation of WhatsApp was well-supported at the five locations. However, statistical results from the five locations after implementation of the intervention were mixed. Results indicated an overall pass rate of 69.2% (n=54) of the total number of learners (N=78) who sat for the final examination. While pass rates at each of the other four locations was above 50%, the pass rate of the fifth location was considerably low (37%). The study generated three contributions to knowledge: practical, theoretical and methodological. Firstly, through the study, practical interventions were generated to assist learners outside the classes. Secondly, the thesis generated propositions from data and an integrated Mobile Social Network framework was developed which is expected to be a useful course of action for lecturers who want to improve learning efficiency through extending instructional time. A key methodological contribution has been the application of mixed methods choices in the collection, analyses of data and interpretation of results

Social Networking, the Writing Process, and Cooperative Learning: A Three-Strategy Approach Helping Developmental Students and First-Year Composition Students Prewrite

Students in developmental writing courses and first-year composition coursesstruggle with thewriting process. Individual instructional strategieshave been insufficient to engage these students or build their self-confidences for further writing courses. The purpose of thisstudy was to understand how students perceive a combination of three strategies,social networking, the writing process, and cooperative learning may help students to be successfulwith the prewriting phase of the writing process. The three research questions were (1) what are students\u27 perceptions of a social networking tool; (2) how do students perceive asocial networking tool influences prewriting in cooperative groups; and(3) how do cooperative groups work together to prewrite? A combination of strategies together with a high level of student engagement may help to increase student success in developmental writingand first-year composition courses. Nine students across four sections of writing courses agreed to participate inthis qualitative inquiry. Data werecollected from semi-structured interviews, social networking posts, observations, and a researcher-made handout, and data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three themesemerged:Students perceivedusefulness related to using a social netowrking tool, their behaviors, and positive results.Group interaction refleceted students\u27positive interdependnece,individual accountability, group processing, social skills, andface-to-face interaction.Finally,knowledge representation was evident as it encapsulated the participants\u27 views on making their thinking visible and sharing ideas. A discussion of the research questions integrated these findings.Students perceived a social networking tool to be valuable, beneficial to helping them learn, and an achive for their ideas. Students perceiveda social networking tool to influence prewriting in cooperative groups by generating ideas,representing their contributions, andcommunications with groupmembers. Finally, the participants\u27 perceptions and observations revealedthat working together in cooperative groups to prewrite reflected the five elementsof cooperation. Implications for practice with writing instructions, limitations of the current study, and implications for further research about timeframes, participants, and challenges are provided

Investigation of delay jitter of heterogeneous traffic in broadband networks

Scope and Methodology of Study: A critical challenge for both wired and wireless networking vendors and carrier companies is to be able to accurately estimate the quality of service (QoS) that will be provided based on the network architecture, router/switch topology, and protocol applied. As a result, this thesis focuses on the theoretical analysis of QoS parameters in term of inter-arrival jitter in differentiated services networks by deploying analytic/mathematical modeling technique and queueing theory, where the analytic model is expressed in terms of a set of equations that can be solved to yield the desired delay jitter parameter. In wireless networks with homogeneous traffic, the effects on the delay jitter in reference to the priority control scheme of the ARQ traffic for the two cases of: 1) the ARQ traffic has a priority over the original transmission traffic; and 2) the ARQ traffic has no priority over the original transmission traffic are evaluated. In wired broadband networks with heterogeneous traffic, the jitter analysis is conducted and the algorithm to control its effect is also developed.Findings and Conclusions: First, the results show that high priority packets always maintain the minimum inter-arrival jitter, which will not be affected even in heavy load situation. Second, the Gaussian traffic modeling is applied using the MVA approach to conduct the queue length analysis, and then the jitter analysis in heterogeneous broadband networks is investigated. While for wireless networks with homogeneous traffic, binomial distribution is used to conduct the queue length analysis, which is sufficient and relatively easy compared to heterogeneous traffic. Third, develop a service discipline called the tagged stream adaptive distortion-reducing peak output-rate enforcing to control and avoid the delay jitter increases without bound in heterogeneous broadband networks. Finally, through the analysis provided, the differential services, was proved not only viable, but also effective to control delay jitter. The analytic models that serve as guidelines to assist network system designers in controlling the QoS requested by customer in term of delay jitter

Design and Development of a Framework for Traffic Management in a Global Manufacturing Enterprise: The American Standard Case Study

Managed Bandwidth Services (MBSs) use Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees to effectively control traffic flows and reduce network delay. In the past, the provision of MBS in a global manufacturing enterprise was a difficult task for network administrators. However, advances in recently emerging technologies, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS), Integrated Services (IntServ), Differentiated Services (DiffServ), and Constraint-based Routing (CBR), hold promise to make MBS implementation more manageable. QoS technologies, such as DiffServ and IntServ, offer the benefits of better application performance and delivery of reliable network service. As a consequence of network traffic loads, packet congestion and latency increases still exist and must be addressed by enterprises that intend to support an MBS solution. In this investigation, the author addressed an issue that is faced by many large manufacturing enterprises, i.e., the addition of latency and congestion sensitive traffic such as Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) to networks with limited bandwidth. The goal of this research was to provide global manufacturing enterprises with a model for bandwidth management in their offices and plants. This model was based on findings from a case study of traffic management at American Standard Companies

A Software Engineered Voice-Enabled Job Recruitment Portal System

The inability of job seekers to get timely job information regarding the status of the application submitted via conventional job portal system which is usually dependent on accessibility to the Internet has made so many job applicants to lose their placements. Worse still, the epileptic services offered by Internet Service Providers and the poor infrastructures in most developing countries have greatly hindered the expected benefits from Internet usage. These have led to cases of online vacancies notifications unattended to simply because a job seeker is neither aware nor has access to the Internet. With an increasing patronage of mobile phones, a self-service job vacancy notification with audio functionality or an automated job vacancy notification to all qualified job seekers through mobile phones will simply provide a solution to these challenges. In this paper, we present a Voice-enabled Job Recruitment Portal (JRP) System. The system is accessed through two interfaces – the voice user’s interface (VUI) and web interface. The VUI was developed using VoiceXML and the web interface using PHP, and both interfaces integrated with Apache and MySQL as the middleware and back-end component respectively. The JRP proposed in this paper takes the hassle of job hunting from job seekers, provides job status information in real-time to the job seeker and offers other benefits such as, cost, effectiveness, speed, accuracy, ease of documentation, convenience and better logistics to the employer in seeking the right candidate for a job

Analysing usability and security issues in design and development of information systems

Recent technological advancements and the global economic challenges have meant that, individuals and businesses are constantly seeking new ways to exploit Information Systems (IS) and in manners that not only enhance user experiences and/or improve business processes and productivity, but also protect the individual‟s privacy and business assets for competitive advantage. Therefore, Information Systems need to be designed and developed to meet these challenges and/or other objectives. This thesis will delve primarily into the history of IS as a basis for establishing where the problem(s) lie or emanate from. It will focus on critically analysing existing Information Systems, and investigating the conflicting issues of usability and security, from an Information Systems Design and Development perspective by analysing various approaches. An in-depth review of literature and critical analysis of requirements necessary for the design and development of a usable and secure Information System will be carried out and will form the intellectual framework for this research. The premise therefore, is to look for a balanced approach or appropriate trade-off framework for designing usable-secure systems. The research will conclude with a discussion on how an envisaged conceptual framework or model can be developed based on certain influential factors, and how the framework can be experimentally evaluated, and to suggest areas for further improvement or future research