How Do Teachers and Students Perceive The Utility of Blackboard as a Distance Learning Platform? (Case Study from Taibah University, Saudi Arabia)

This research explores the role of Knowledge Management within the education field with a specific focus on the use of Learning Management Systems in the Distance Learning (e-learning) process. The aim of this study is to thoroughly examine how teachers and students perceive the utility of the Blackboard system as a distance learning platform. To achieve this, the study conducted qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaire surveys with the teachers and students of Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Questions in both data collection tools were geared towards gaining insight about how these two groups of Blackboard users view its usefulness as a distance learning tool. The results of the research revealed that Blackboard is viewed as a positive influence on distance learning, and that students view this application as an opportunity to avoid traditional, classroom learning activities. Also, the research discovered that teachers generally have a positive viewpoint about Blackboard, and believe it makes teaching a lot easier. Nevertheless, few issues were also mentioned by both groups of users, particularly the challenge of slow internet connections and difficulty of creating exams (teachers) or accessing and completing exams in a time-effective manner (students). To address these challenges, and any other as well, this research recommended that universities or learning institutions that decide to adopt LMS systems such as Blackboard for distance learning have to conduct a thorough analysis of their current structure, and determine how this new method of teaching/learning can be integrated into existing learning activities in a seamless manner. A thorough investigation will aid in forestalling any future challenges such as poor internet connections, as the school would have implemented measures to ensure this does not occur

Quality strategies: what are French universities looking for?

Using steps transposed from corporate quality strategies, French universities have entered a new stage of their modernization, illustrative of the current of New Public Management. These strategies, destined to combine missions of excellence and the transformation of thousands of young people into graduates, will be studied here with regard to different horizons which they suggest for French higher education. In change for the last 40 years, called into question over its costs, its production, and its management, university is at the crossroads of autonomy, clientelism and professionalisation. Our system of higher education must now combine savings, realignment, local governorship, partnerships and a geographical distribution of training opportunities, within the new European arena of degrees. However, it suffers from several handicaps (at once fiscal, legislative, administrative and social) aggravated by a specifically French fracture: how then can the quality strategies put in place, bring about the efficiency coveted by higher education ? This higher education system demonstrates several innovations and have begun to make surveys of the employability levels of its graduates. Thus, benchmarking is available on the condition that the criteria and indicators of the performance comparison are reached by consensus, and that's not the case: is it political arbitration (that rules over university as a public service) or market arbitration which determines the value of degrees? calibration and measurement could not be the same: who decides? which path opens to university to come out this dilemma?efficiency, French higher education, Lisbon strategy, NMP, quality, standards.

Responding to the vision of the information society: first steps towards a national virtual university.

Executive Summary 1. There is confusion, both in academic circles and the public more generally, about the definition of a virtual university. Hence in considering such an option, it is worth looking more fundamentally at the contexts for higher education, and the functions of a National Virtual University equipped to meet the needs of the 21st Century. 2. The increase in the use of ICT has caused a radical increase in demand for higher education globally, and increased access to higher education via the use of ICT. New suppliers in the form of private and corporate universities, now compete with universities in their home countries, and increasingly, overseas. 3. Although demands for higher education are growing rapidly, analysis of the new and changing demands on universities at local, national and international levels, within an increasingly global knowledge market, indicates that the role of a National Virtual University will be much broader than that of an existing university. Moreover, a NVU will need to successfully compete in an environment which is growing in competitiveness and complexity as corporate universities start to operate, but will have to do so with greater efficiency and lower funding. 4. The socio-economic environment in Finland is characterised by an internationally high (and growing) involvement with information and communication technologies in all spheres of life. Within this fast developing Information Society, there is a high need for increasing skills levels and retraining, especially with respect to ICT. However, like elsewhere in Europe, the use of technology for collaborative teaching in Universities and for promoting joint research with industry, is comparatively underexploited, although the existing higher education platform, provides a useful structure which could adapt to, and benefit from, the establishment of a National Virtual University. 5. The rationale for incorporating the use of new technologies in higher education by building a National Virtual University is well-established. Such a development would require a quantum leap in the design and development of a new learning method. However, in addition to educational benefits, the NVU would aid the creation of a knowledge based economy, the promotion of social cohesion, the protection of the existing Finnish university system, and the preservation of national language and culture. 6. The experience of previous virtual university ventures in the USA demonstrates that collaborative ventures, based on existing providers and reliant on reengineering of existing teaching and learning practices, are unlikely to be successful, even where they are well financed. A National Virtual University can be constructed with varying degrees of functionality, but where it covers all ranges of university activities (teaching, research and technology transfer), and is well-linked to the local community, the cost of development will be high but the returns on expenditure will be greatest. 7. A project of this size, complexity, cost and importance will only succeed in maximising its potential as a collaborative venture, if it involves all stakeholder groups in discussing its form, as consensus on the form of the NVU will be critical in ensuring the success of its implementation

A cross impact methodology for the assessment of US telecommunications system with application to fiber optics development, volume 1

A cross impact model of the U.S. telecommunications system was developed. It was necessary to prepare forecasts of the major segments of the telecommunications system, such as satellites, telephone, TV, CATV, radio broadcasting, etc. In addition, forecasts were prepared of the traffic generated by a variety of new or expanded services, such as electronic check clearing and point of sale electronic funds transfer. Finally, the interactions among the forecasts were estimated (the cross impact). Both the forecasts and the cross impacts were used as inputs to the cross impact model, which could then be used to stimulate the future growth of the entire U.S. telecommunications system. By varying the inputs, technology changes or policy decisions with regard to any segment of the system could be evaluated in the context of the remainder of the system. To illustrate the operation of the model, a specific study was made of the deployment of fiber optics throughout the telecommunications system

The impact of computer usage on scholarly communication amongst academic social scientists

The study aims to see whether there are differences in the nature and patterns of computer usage for communicating research between disciplines in the social sciences in Brazil and, if so, whether they can be related to factors which can affect the process of communication. The theory embedded in the research model states that pressures that accompany the introduction of information technologies into a university environment are significant factors in the use of such technologies. These pressures produce differences in the communication process itself. Furthermore, there may also be a relationship between individual factors and the use of IT for communication. The research data were collected via a survey using two instruments. Firstly, mailed questionnaires were sent to 760 academic researchers in sociology and economics in Brazil, working in post-graduate programmes. A response rate of 64.1 percent was achieved. Secondly, 36 interviews were carried out with a sample of the most productive researchers in the two subjects studied. The interview sample included both respondents and non-respondents to the questionnaire. A small sample of 11 British academic researchers was included in the interview survey, in order to allow comparisons and see whether Brazilian academics lag behind IT front-runners. Data collected revealed that there is an impact of computer usage on the scholarly communication process, especially in terms of informal communication. Such an impact can be related to changes in the social interactions that underlie knowledge creation among researchers, and also relates to differences in patterns and processes of computer usage between the chosen disciplines. Formal communication has experienced a gradually growing impact by electronic media on the well-established print environment, with the likely co-existence of the two media for some time to come. The results obtained showed that Brazilian researchers do not lag behind the British ones. Not many differences, but most similarities were found between economists and sociologists in both Brazil and the UK

THE STATUS AND CONDITION OF NEW JERSEY'S FOOD RETAIL INDUSTRY: GROCERY STORES, SUPERMARKETS, AND OTHER FOOD STORES

Agribusiness,

Rough Road to Market: Institutional Barriers to Innovations in Africa

Translating R&D and inventive efforts into a market product is characterized by significant financial skills, and the ability to overcome technical and instititonal barriers. Research into and translation of new technologies such as biotechnology products to the market requires even greater resources. This paper aims to understand the key factors that foster or hinder the complex process of translating R&D efforts into innovative products. Different pathways exist in developed countries such as firm-level efforts, the use of IPs, the spin-off of new firms that develop new products, or a mixture of these. Developing countries differ substantially in the kinds of instruments they use because of their considerably weaker institutional environment and for this reason our framework takes a systemic and institutional perspective. The paper comtributes to this issue by examining systemic institutional barriers to commercializing biotechnology in a develping context within a systems of innovation framework.research and development, biotechnology, commercialization, innovation, Africa, learning, institution building

Transferring new dynamic capabilities to SMEs: the role of ONERA – the French Aerospace LabTM in promoting asymmetries management

The technology transfer process between a public laboratory and a company has been the subject of many publications and has been widely discussed in economic theory. This paper highlights several newly identified asymmetries occurring between the different agents taking part in the process, dealing specifically with the aerospace and defense sectors in France. These specificities concern the characteristics, capabilities and competencies (the ‘capacities') of French SMEs and public research laboratories. The theoretical corpus of the article draws partly upon the analyses of ‘dynamic and interactive capabilities' (and competencies), and for the rest upon empirical sources, being based on the recent experience of one of the most dynamic Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in France: the case of ONERA (the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research) and its dyadic relations with the SMEs. In such a cooperative, interactive innovation process, we will argue that certain collaborative tools or practices emerge, aimed at reducing information asymmetries or acting as compensation mechanisms for other types of asymmetries between the partners at a microeconomic level; especially in France where there is a gap between the public R&D laboratories and the SMEs in terms of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). Some of these compensation mechanisms, particularly those related to the knowledge economy, could be adapted and reshaped for agents engaged in R&D and innovation in various other sectors, perhaps inducing positive amplification effects on innovation behavior, and thereby on economic growth at the macroeconomic level within the “national innovation system”. This research work initiated by the author further to his economic research works on “innovation actors' asymmetries” (Paun, F., 2009) and “hybridizing tendency of the innovation approaches” (Paun, F., 2010) is based on the empirical study about eighty SMEs partners of ONERA coordinated by Florin Paun as Deputy Director in charge with Industrial Innovation at ONERA in order to better understand the barriers perceived inside this relationship and with the aim to envisage systemic solutions for accelerating innovation. A specific questionnaire has been developed by Florin Paun and more then forty interviews have been thus conducted with scientists and industrial representatives involved in direct collaborations linked to technology or knowledge transfer.French SMEs, technology transfer, information asymmetries, dynamic capabilities, innovation systems

Higher education systems and industrial innovation : January 1998 to 31 May 2001

Co-ordinator of project SESI : Eric Verdier - LEST (France). Partners : Alice Lam - CBS (United Kingdom) ; Christoph Buechtemann – CRIS (Germany) ; Helena Lopes - DINAMIA (Portugal) ; Lorenz Lassnigg - IHS (Austria) ; Jean-Michel Plassard - LIRHE (France)132 p.The objective of the research was to gather empirical evidence about efficient ways of organising the linkages and interfaces between higher education institutions (including research units) and private sector firms in order to spur industrial innovation. One of the project's principal aims was to combine two dimensions which are often considered separately : firstly, the construction of the competences and the professionalities of the actors involved in innovation, and, secondly, transfers of knowledge from higher education to firms and vice versa. Five European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Portugal, UK) were selected in order to provide, at least by way of an initial hypothesis, national systems that were sufficiently disparate from the point of view of the resources "offered" to companies, be it in terms of institutions, organisations or actors. It was essential to include the United States. Indeed, the relations between higher education and companies which have evolved in that country are undoubtedly an international point of reference Three sectors were chosen in each country as being representative of the new challenges emerging for the relationship between higher education and industry in key sectors where generic technologies are tending to develop, albeit in different ways. The investigations within more than 40 firms form the empirical basis of this project. The main results could be summarized as follows :1.The type of skills and competence profiles required of R&D workers are now more demanding in multiple dimensions, particularly in the combination of technical disciplinary expertise with a broad range of business, management and social skills. Emerging evidence suggests that firms are developing 'extended internal labour markets' (EILMs ) through closer links with key universities. The social networks embedded in such EILMs facilitate training and rapid transmission of evolving (uncodified) knowledge. 2. The sample of multinational firms we have selected enables us to take stock of the moves towards industrial rationalization taken by firms seeking to develop their technological globalization strategies by exploiting a diversity of cognitive resources. Preparation for the recruitment and integration of young graduates play crucial roles in the absorption of knowledge. 3. We found six coherent types of science industry relations that we describe precisely. These results further confirm the criticality of research agendas compatibility, favouring two different ways of collaborating associating an industrial partner and an academic one. 4. The analysis identifies four main types of intermediate actors : those actors who are the medium for an economic relationship between the firm and the HERS; the "gatekeepers", who work for a firm or a HERS ; the hybrid actors have been through the process of aligning the practices, rules and values of their "home" system (industry or academia) with those of their partner ; those who are involved in the trilateral network but are independent or on the road to being independent of the partners. 5. Labour-market entry of graduates is one of the factors which allows us to introduce all the signalling/human capital/network problematics and relate it to the emergence of an new form of labour market which combines the mechanisms of the internal and external markets. In spite of this diversity of practices, however, we maintain the hypothesis that it is possible to identify dominant forms of these relations which differ from one country to another. 6. Nevertheless the report insists on the increasing human capital mobility in high tech sectors and supply some evidence of an emerging European innovation systems. 7. Considering a US-Germany comparison, we infer that in IPR matters, German public research institutes – representative of the European continental situation - are facing a dilemma: they need to provide more pre-development type services for industry, involving stricter IPR claims from corporate partners and they also need to retain IPR in core areas of expertise in order to prevent a "bleeding out" and remain a partner for industry in the future.Finally the report provides different policy formulations and recommendations. We underline that for firms, the main objective is to resolve the problems posed by the transition from knowledge to competences. With an OLM of PhD level, the firms, especially very small ones, enable to have easier access to a suitably trained workforce. By promoting the circulation of knowledge, these markets help to reduce the previous conceptual gaps and to promote the creation of greater absorptive capacities at firms, as well as sustaining the spirit of mutual trust and reciprocity in which these networks were founded.At the national level, the lessons learned by public policy makers will be dealt with them in the generalfollowing order :- The United Kingdom, where the policies and regulations are typically market oriented is undergoing a process of specialization.- In France and Germany, where the relations between Science and Industry are facing fairly similar challenges, the scenario tends to alternated between radical change and a process of accommodation.- Austria and Portugal, which have rather different technological and industrial structures, but are both facing the special challenge of adapting the small scale national systems of innovation to the European Union and world-wide competition in general

The role of institutional leaderships in the SAPO Campus’ adoption process

SAPO Campus (SC) is a web 2.0 service platform, whose aim is to promote collaboration, communication and sharing practices in institutional settings, specifically in educational contexts. Since 2012, a group of schools has promoted the institutional adoption of SC. Taking into account the fact that this is an intentional process as institutions support the platform’s adoption, a study was carried out in order to identify the involvement strategies used by principals and school leaders when adopting this technology. Based on a literature review, which included several studies dealing with involvement strategies and how they connect to institutional leadership, an interview was designed not only to understand the strategies used throughout each adoption process, but also their effectiveness. Our research approach also valued the issues related with the continuous and sustainable use of the SAPO Campus platform in terms of the strategies designed and implemented by the schools’ principals. The content of these interviews was then analysed, making it possible to establish that, overall, the general outcomes are aligned with the results found on previous research, even though it was possible to identify other strategies used throughout the technology adoption process.SAPO Campus (SC) is a web 2.0 service platform, whose aim is to promote collaboration, communication and sharing practices in institutional settings, specifically in educational contexts. Since 2012, a group of schools has promoted the institutional adoption of SC. Taking into account the fact that this is an intentional process as institutions support the platform’s adoption, a study was carried out in order to identify the involvement strategies used by principals and school leaders when adopting this technology. Based on a literature review, which included several studies dealing with involvement strategies and how they connect to institutional leadership, an interview was designed not only to understand the strategies used throughout each adoption process, but also their effectiveness. Our research approach also valued the issues related with the continuous and sustainable use of the SAPO Campus platform in terms of the strategies designed and implemented by the schools’ principals. The content of these interviews was then analysed, making it possible to establish that, overall, the general outcomes are aligned with the results found on previous research, even though it was possible to identify other strategies used throughout the technology adoption process.