Teaching effective communication through e-Learning

To meet the needs of a globalized world, a university curriculum needs to address theoretical and practical skills which emphasise versatility, adaptability and flexibility for a more creative workforce, adaptive in knowledge and well-equipped with a range of skills to actively contribute to the new economy. These skills include people management, problem analysis, communication skills, as well as technical skills for presentation, aspects of delivery and modes of enquiry. The greatest challenge faced by SIM University (UniSIM), Singapore’s only university for working adults, is how to respond innovatively to the demand for new and dynamic skills competencies,lifelong learning and e-technologies. In recognition of this demand, UniSIM employs an eclectic pedagogical approach in delivering its courses such as the university core module entitled Effective Communication which uses the “blended learning” model, defined as "the effective combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of learning" (Procter, 2003). This paper examines the development process of this course and its blended learning approach which combines modern technology using interactive learning on e-platforms such as Blackboard with traditional methods using textbooks, face-to-face lectures and tutorials to enable working adults to optimize their learning experience at the tertiary level

Designing, developing and implementing a software tool for scenario based learning

The pedagogical value of problem-based and inquiry-based learning activities has led to increased use of this approach in many courses. While scenarios or case studies were initially presented to learners as text-based material, the development of modern software technology provides the opportunity to deliver scenarios as e-learning modules, providing learners with a more accessible and engaging learning experience. Scenario Based Learning - interactive (SBLi) has been specifically developed to provide teachers and trainers with a generic tool that enables them to easily build interactive, multimedia scenarios without requiring programming skills. The software consists of a builder and player application, for constructing and playing scenarios from hard drives or from a CD/DVD, and a server-based player and manager, for deploying scenarios on the web, either for public use or for restricted and managed use in specific courses. This paper describes the history of SBLi, its design and operational features, how SBLi is being used to achieve innovative and effective learning experiences, and the practical issues that need to be addressed in supporting and sustaining e-learning software such as SBLi

Breaking Barriers in Teaching and Learning

Foreword — Richard Badenhausen Introduction Breaking Barriers with Significant Student Learning Chapter One: Using Student-Generated Questions to Promote Learning — Barbara J. Millis Chapter Two: Innovative Discussion-Based Pedagogy — Leslie G. Kaplan Chapter Three: The Importance of the First-Semester Experience: Learning Communities and Clustered Classes — Susan E. Dinan Chapter Four: Linking Honors Courses: A New Approach to Defining Honors Pedagogy —Dahliani Reynolds, Meg Case, and Becky L. Spritz Breaking Barriers with Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence Chapter Five: Honors Components in Honors Faculty Development — Hanne ten Berge and Rob van der Vaart Chapter Six: Building and Enhancing Honors Programs through Faculty Learning Communities —Milton D. Cox Chapter Seven: The Honors Professional Development Portfolio: Claiming the Value of Honors for Improvement, Tenure, and Promotion — John Zubizarreta Chapter Eight: Teaching for Learning in Honors Courses: Identifying and Implementing Effective Educational Practices — Todd D. Zakrajsek and Janina Tosic Course Designs and Case Studies in Honors Teaching Chapter Nine: Constructing an Honors Composition Course to Support a Research-Based Honors Curriculum —Annmarie Guzy Chapter Ten: Growing Pains in Honors Education: Two Courses Designed to Build Community —Matthew Carey Jordan Chapter Eleven: HON 315: Perspectives on Twentieth-Century American Identity — Ken R. Mulliken Chapter Twelve: Bending Time and Space: Three Approaches for Breaking Barriers in the Honors Classroom — James Ford Afterword — Reading to Improve Teaching and Learning — John Zubizarreta Selected Book Resources / About the Authors / About the NCHC Monograph Serie

E-Learning In Continuous Professional Development Across The Globe. An experience in Water Engineering

[EN] Based on our wide experience in continuous professional development (CPD) through traditional activities and hands-on experience on several commonly used Learning Management Systems, we have integrated both concepts and developed a simple, yet effective e-learning approach to help professionals in the water field to fill the gap between their sometimes not updated background and the new features that characterize the water field in the present days. We argue that this task can make use of the same approach that is essential to the knowledge discovery process, to which the e-learning process boils down to. In this contribution we present the work performed at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, within the Multidisciplinary Team of Fluid Modelling, on web systems to support technology enhanced learning specifically addressed to professionals in the Water field. Our approach hinges on the joint use of the online as well as the offline characteristics of the e-learning proces s and puts to work together in a synergic way both traditional and technology-based learning know-how. As a result, a number of distance courses have been produced that are used for Engineering CPD across the globe, since many professionals worldwide, mainly from Spanish speaking countries, have followed our courses. We present the evolution of our system and the results obtained from testing and evaluating the prototype during the last three years. We have identified issues significant to users in order to better manage the system and changes required to adapt our system to organizational processes and context. Feedback received from trainees indicates both the validity of our approach and the feasibility of implementing e-learning materials to contribute to CPD in the water field in particular and in any field in general, since the methodology herein presented can be exported in a straightforward manner.This work has been performed under the support of the projects Investigación Interdisciplinar nº 5706 (UPV) and DPI2004-04430 of the Dirección General de Investigación del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) and FEDER funds.Izquierdo Sebastián, J.; López Jiménez, PA.; Fuertes-Miquel, VS.; Izquierdo Sebastián, FJ. (2018). E-Learning In Continuous Professional Development Across The Globe. An experience in Water Engineering. WEBIST. 3:383-390. https://doi.org/10.5220/0001269803830390S383390

E-Business Application Development with Java Technology and Oracle: The Fortune Invest Inc. Case

Due to the popularity of E-business applications, Web-based database application development has become an important topic in the information systems curriculum. There is a need to explore ways to teach such a topic effectively. This paper presents a teaching case on the development of an e-business application for Fortune Invest Inc. using Java server technology with Java Database Connectivity to Oracle databases. The teaching case has the following features: 1) complete coverage of the fundamentals of e-business application development. 2) systematic integration of the knowledge in database design, implementation, programming languages, networking, Web development and system analysis. 3) script execution independent of any platforms. 4) accessible web sites on the Internet with sample code provided. The teaching case was tested in upper division CIS courses in three academic quarters during the past two years at California State University, Los Angeles. The teaching approach emphasizes learning by doing in order to motivate the student and to produce an effective learning outcome. The paper is accompanied by comprehensive teaching notes as well as executable programming scripts

M-learning in the middle east: The case of Bahrain

The introduction of e-learning in higher education has brought radical changes in the way undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are designed and delivered. University students now have access to their courses anytime, anywhere, which makes e-learning and m-learning popular and fashionable among university students globally. Nevertheless, instructors are now challenged, as they have to adopt new pedagogies in learning and teaching. This chapter explores the adoption of m-learning at universities in the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as the relevant current developments and challenges related to the major stakeholders (educators and students) in higher education. It mainly investigates the educators' views and perceptions of m-learning, as well as its future potential in higher education. Most of the educators use m-learning tools to some limited extent, and there is still opportunity to reach full integration with curriculum and the blended learning approach. Further, it is proposed that professional development should be provided to instructors to enable them to use the available new technologies in an appropriate and effective way

An Investigation Into Students\u27 Experiences On E-Learning

E-learning refers to the way people communicate and learn electronically which has only recently emerged as a key source of competitive advantage in the information society. With the development of the Information and Communication Technologies, E-Learning is argued to become a new, effective learning method and environment besides class-room learning. Although still an emerging field, many researchers suggest that it offers many benefits that are radically different from a conventional classroom-based learning environment and can still generate result for students. It could be providing independent learning programme for internal students, external students, distant students, and training purpose. However, it is also revealed in literature that E-Learning has been used more indirectly as a tool for organising study courses and educational programmes. The questions such as “can E-Learning be made as a learning strategy” and “can E-Learning replace classroom-based modes of learning and teaching” remain unanswered. This research intends to explore various aspects with regards to how and to what extent E-Learning have been used to improve teaching and learning activities in the University of Bolton as a case study. The study also intends to verify the main findings from the literature review via employing a case study approach and hence make comparisons between the national trends of E-Learning usage and the chosen case. Here presents the outcome from the first step of this study

Usability testing methods on e-learning environment

At the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) in the Institute of Applied Pedagogy and Psychology (APPI) we started to use Moodle open source course management system in 2006. Formerly we served the curricula by using workbooks, multimedia CD-s, course-books, but due to the fast change of curricula it was a hard task to keep the hard copy of learning materials up-to-date. Later students could download learning materials with the help of using Internet, they could resort to the help of tutors instead of visiting the lessons. Blended-learning method is one of the most effective form from a number of our full-time gradual courses. Today we are using Moodle 1.9 version to support learning and training activities. Nowadays, we use questionnaires to evaluate users´ satisfaction. These deliverances take an important place in the development of the content and appearance of our e-courses and curricula. We implement web usage mining as an appropriate tool for uncovering those parts of the user activiti es that cannot be told by the user personally. With the analysis of the collected web server log files we can track users´ actions and by identifying typical student behaviour and matching these data with the given grades, successful learning strategies can be identified. Our first results show that qualitative and quantitative approach should be used parallel and with the help of data mining methods we can reveal more insights about the quality and usability of e-learning systems as we could before

Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching Approach by the Design of a Computer Assisted ESP Course: Analysis of Results

Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching is an effective approach widely recognized among scientists and teachers which involves learners in authentic environment and communication and helps develop communicative competence of non-native speakers studying English for specific purposes (ESP). With the increase of Computer Assisted Language Learning teachers are constantly facing challenges to combine information technology with the Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching approach, and to develop and design relevant communicative activities which result in non-native speakers' of English improvement in communicative competence. The attempt to integrate computer assisted language environments and professionally oriented communicative language teaching results in the development of E-learning ESP courses in the Modular Object Oriented Developmental Learning Environment, based on the module "Electric systems and networks". The subjects of the study were sixty students, including students from Vietnam and the Czech Republic studying ESP at the Institute of Power Engineering of Tomsk Polytechnic University. The data was collected over a period of two years from the results of students' performance and a questionnaire survey concerning feedback on students' communicative language activities conducted during the course. The results indicate variations in the attitude of students from different countries to the developed communication activities. As the students state, however, the e-learning ESP course provides communicative situations similar to real ones and gives an opportunity to use the acquired knowledge in practical, professional, and research activity

Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching Approach by the Design of a Computer Assisted ESP Course: Analysis of Results

Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching is an effective approach widely recognized among scientists and teachers which involves learners in authentic environment and communication and helps develop communicative competence of non-native speakers studying English for specific purposes (ESP). With the increase of Computer Assisted Language Learning teachers are constantly facing challenges to combine information technology with the Professionally-Oriented Communicative Language Teaching approach, and to develop and design relevant communicative activities which result in non-native speakers' of English improvement in communicative competence. The attempt to integrate computer assisted language environments and professionally oriented communicative language teaching results in the development of E-learning ESP courses in the Modular Object Oriented Developmental Learning Environment, based on the module "Electric systems and networks". The subjects of the study were sixty students, including students from Vietnam and the Czech Republic studying ESP at the Institute of Power Engineering of Tomsk Polytechnic University. The data was collected over a period of two years from the results of students' performance and a questionnaire survey concerning feedback on students' communicative language activities conducted during the course. The results indicate variations in the attitude of students from different countries to the developed communication activities. As the students state, however, the e-learning ESP course provides communicative situations similar to real ones and gives an opportunity to use the acquired knowledge in practical, professional, and research activity