Accounting Information System Courses: Developing a Hybrid Syllabus in the Era of Digitization

Technology is becoming a major pillar in many professions. It plays a critical role in developing and enhancing the quality and accuracy of tasks. Because the formal education system is the first place where future employees are educated, it is very important to ensure that educational institutions offer continuously updated technology-related courses that cover a wide range of new and emerging topics. This research has two objectives. First, it explores the validity of the claim that AIS education is of low quality in the Middle East, as stated in some studies. This is conducted through highlighting the status quo for AIS courses in Arab countries within the Middle East by focusing on a representative case study. This part of the work was conducted through a thorough exploration of the universities’ websites and by distributing and analyzing a survey for faculty members in a number of universities. Second, the research performs a deep analysis to develop new, up-to-date, aligned objectives, contents, resources, and assignments in order to create a new, comprehensive syllabus in the higher-education sector that will serve stakeholders from universities to accounting communities. The output of this research identified suitable learning objectives based on current literature and faculty responses. This was followed by designing new course content and assessment tools that are aligned with learner- and competency-centered approache

Electronic Collaboration Across Cultures in a Web-based Project for English Writing Instruction

The paper highlights the importance of experimentation and an innovative approach to English language writing instruction with the help of information communication technology (ICT or IT). First, it describes the local situation of English language teaching at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Then, it summarizes the development of IT proficiency and student-led collaborative learning groups at CUHK. Third, it reports on an International Web-based writing project involving six collaborating schools in different parts of the world including China, the United States, Indonesia, and Hong Kong in the year 1999-2000. In the report, the author-presenter will share with the audience a new ELT course development titled "English Online: Writing on the Web." He will explain the course objectives, the background of participating classes, the Web Course Tools (WebCT), the design of the project, the evaluation of course effectiveness and the outcome of the new curricular initiative. Finally, the paper presents a summary of a practical guide to electronic collaboration and some of the lessons the writer has learnt in five years\u27 experience of participant-observation in English teaching practice using the Web

Perspectives on Case-based Multimedia Web Projects in Science

This article discusses the merits of case-based learning in an interactive online environment. Researchers used both qualitative and quantitative research over a 2-year period to examine the learning that occurred in a high school context when students were engaged in a case-based multimedia project. Part of the Case It! project, students played both the role of laboratory technician performing and presenting research as well as professionals using the information in their practice. Students were required to use three types of simulation software developed exclusively for the Case It! project. Results were measured using both pre- and post-tests, artifacts students created such as Web posters, records of Internet conferences, and interviews from both the students and the teacher involved in this project. Researches found the online format of the lesson fostered a higher level of questioning and problem solving skills, as well as extended explanations and discussions of ethics in science. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

An investigation into the perspectives of providers and learners on MOOC accessibility

An effective open eLearning environment should consider the target learner’s abilities, learning goals, where learning takes place, and which specific device(s) the learner uses. MOOC platforms struggle to take these factors into account and typically are not accessible, inhibiting access to environments that are intended to be open to all. A series of research initiatives are described that are intended to benefit MOOC providers in achieving greater accessibility and disabled learners to improve their lifelong learning and re-skilling. In this paper, we first outline the rationale, the research questions, and the methodology. The research approach includes interviews, online surveys and a MOOC accessibility audit; we also include factors such the risk management of the research programme and ethical considerations when conducting research with vulnerable learners. Preliminary results are presented from interviews with providers and experts and from analysis of surveys of learners. Finally, we outline the future research opportunities. This paper is framed within the context of the Doctoral Consortium organised at the TEEM'17 conference

Students’ Perception of Vodcast and Podcast as Instructional Material

The study was conducted to examine students’ perception of vodcast and podcast as instructional material. The study employed a survey research design. The total sample size for the study was two hundred and twenty-five (225) respondents. Data was analyzed and presented using mean statistic and standard deviation. Hypothesis for the study was analyzed using t-test with a p≤0.05 level of significance. Students in the study to a low extent (=1.97) agreed that vodcast and podcast increase productivity, promote creativity and facilitate academic learning. Respondents are of the view that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka postgraduate program is not yet advanced enough to use vodcast and podcast technologies for teaching students (=2.88). Unavailability of technologies had a significant influence on barriers that hinder students from using vodcast and podcast. Based on the findings and conclusion, it is recommended among others, that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka organize a capacity building workshop hinged on the use of top-notch technology for 21st century education; that departments in the university should motivate lecturers to employ technological tools in teaching through incentives as these will encourage every lecturer to key into the move

A Methodology to Assist Faculty in Developing Successful Approaches for Achieving Learner Centered Information Systems Curriculum Outcomes: Team Based Methods

All industries face the interrelated challenges of indentifying and training the critical skills needed to be successful in the workplace. Specifically of interest to the information systems field is that any newly trained IS professional has to be equipped to solve increasingly difficult problems with great confidence and competence. In this paper we present the case for IS curriculum implementations (Landry 2008) based on the transformational learner centered methodologies (Saulnier 2008). With this approach, student learners take responsibility for their education and are accountable for the outcomes based on a continuous feedback and self adjustment of goal. We present a methodology for learner centered outcome development by using a template approach developed within a quality process improvement environment. This approach utilizes an existing model curriculum in developing the learner centered attributes. Examples for implementing the approach utilizing team based behaviors are provided

Transforming pedagogy using mobile Web 2.0

Blogs, wikis, podcasting, and a host of free, easy to use Web 2.0 social software provide opportunities for creating social constructivist learning environments focusing on student-centred learning and end-user content creation and sharing. Building on this foundation, mobile Web 2.0 has emerged as a viable teaching and learning tool, facilitating engaging learning environments that bridge multiple contexts. Today’s dual 3G and wifi-enabled smartphones provide a ubiquitous connection to mobile Web 2.0 social software and the ability to view, create, edit, upload, and share user generated Web 2.0 content. This article outlines how a Product Design course has moved from a traditional face-to-face, studio-based learning environment to one using mobile Web 2.0 technologies to enhance and engage students in a social constructivist learning paradigm. Keywords: m-learning; Web 2.0; pedagogy 2.0; social constructivism; product desig

Towards Ethical Design Features for Pedagogical Conversational Agents

Pedagogical Conversational Agents (PCAs) offer the potential to increase educational equity worldwide by making learning accessible to all as a service for good, often enabled by artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, there are ethical challenges to the design and use of PCAs that hinder the achievement of individual and social goals. However, in addition to a multitude of directives on the ethical design of information systems, concrete resulting design features for PCAs still fall short in scientific literature. Furthermore, a human-centered ethical discussion that integrates future users’ involvement in ethical PCA design is scarce to find. Based on a co-creation process embedded in Design Science Research with a total of 40 students, we derive requirements and concrete features for ethically responsible PCAs and reflect them along with the OECD principles for trustworthy AI. Initial conceptual prototypes visualize exemplary instantiations