TLAD 2011 Proceedings:9th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the ninth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2011), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2011 - the 28th British National Conference on Databases. TLAD 2011 is held on the 11th July at Manchester University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, databases and the cloud, and novel uses of technology in teaching and assessment. It is expected that these papers will stimulate discussion at the workshop itself and beyond. This year, the focus on providing a forum for discussion is enhanced through a panel discussion on assessment in database modules, with David Nelson (of the University of Sunderland), Al Monger (of Southampton Solent University) and Charles Boisvert (of Sheffield Hallam University) as the expert panel

TLAD 2011 Proceedings:9th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the ninth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2011), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2011 - the 28th British National Conference on Databases. TLAD 2011 is held on the 11th July at Manchester University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, databases and the cloud, and novel uses of technology in teaching and assessment. It is expected that these papers will stimulate discussion at the workshop itself and beyond. This year, the focus on providing a forum for discussion is enhanced through a panel discussion on assessment in database modules, with David Nelson (of the University of Sunderland), Al Monger (of Southampton Solent University) and Charles Boisvert (of Sheffield Hallam University) as the expert panel

Engagement in cloud-supported collaborative learning and student knowledge construction:a modeling study

Many universities, especially in low-income countries, have considered the potential of cloud-supported collaborative learning in planning and managing students’ learning experiences. This is because cloud tools can offer students the necessary skills for collaboration with one another and improving communication between all users. This study examined how cloud tools can help students engage in reflective thinking, knowledge sharing, cognitive engagement, and cognitive presence experiences. The impact of these experiences on students’ functional intellectual ability to construct knowledge was also examined. A quantitative questionnaire was used to collect data from 150 postgraduate students. A reflective–formative hierarchical model was developed to explain students' knowledge construction in the cloud environment. The findings revealed a positive influence of cognitive engagement, knowledge sharing, and reflective thinking on students’ knowledge construction. Outcomes from this study can help decision makers, researchers, and academicians to understand the potential of using cloud-supported collaborative tools in developing individuals’ knowledge construction.</p

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Considering the Community of Inquiry Framework in Online Engineering Education – A Literature Review

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate online learning experiences. Following calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments, this semi-systematic literature review summarizes and synthesizes CoI’s application in online engineering education, to provide a base for informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context. Based on 22 reviewed articles, we show that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. However, compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. Accordingly, we suggest several directions for improvement and further research

Considering the Community of Inquiry Framework in Online Engineering Education

This Research Full Paper presents a semi-systematic literature review of the application of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in online engineering education. In a generally undertheorized field, the CoI framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate learning experiences in online learning environments. However, despite excellent contributions in both these areas, there is a concern about the effect of the disciplinary context and there are calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments. We observe that no study to date has tried to summarize and synthesize CoI’s application in engineering education, making informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context difficult. This review aims to contribute to closing this gap. Based on the reviewed articles, we conclude that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education, but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. Due to the relatively limited number of CoI-based studies in online engineering education, we conclude that more research of CoI is needed in the field, especially in specific learning contexts. Compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. We suggest several directions for improvement and further research both in order to foster CoI’s theoretical development as well as to provide practical guidance for the design of engineering specific learning environments based on reliable and valid research

Considering the Community of Inquiry Framework in Online Engineering Education

This Research Full Paper presents a semi-systematic literature review of the application of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in online engineering education. In a generally undertheorized field, the CoI framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate learning experiences in online learning environments. However, despite excellent contributions in both these areas, there is a concern about the effect of the disciplinary context and there are calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments. We observe that no study to date has tried to summarize and synthesize CoI’s application in engineering education, making informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context difficult. This review aims to contribute to closing this gap. Based on the reviewed articles, we conclude that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education, but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. Due to the relatively limited number of CoI-based studies in online engineering education, we conclude that more research of CoI is needed in the field, especially in specific learning contexts. Compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. We suggest several directions for improvement and further research both in order to foster CoI’s theoretical development as well as to provide practical guidance for the design of engineering specific learning environments based on reliable and valid research