From Isolation to Collaboration:A WWW based Collaborative Review System

Decisions to accept or reject manuscripts when referees have polarized opinions about the worth of a manuscript entreat the scientific community to devise means that discourage the use of subjective criteria and increase the level of inter-referee agreement. This paper describes a decision model and a system that not only provides a means to improve the inter-referee agreement, but also includes mechanisms for curtailing often noted group process losses. It is argued that the World Wide Web based Distributed Group Support System allows opportunities for implementing and experimenting with various communication and decision structures that have significant ramifications for the peer review process

Electronic Journals in Business Schools: Legitimacy, Acceptance, and Use

This research provides insight into perceptions regarding electronic journals: a technological innovation in academia. Acceptance of electronic journals among business school faculty has two hurdles to overcome: technological and, more challenging, garnering legitimacy within the academic community. A survey targeted at business school faculty in the United States was conducted investigating faculty perceptions about the acceptance of electronic journals in their academic discipline. The findings suggest that at the time of publication, electronic publications were seen as less desirable than paper counterparts for tenure and review. However, it appears that electronic counterparts of existing journals would maintain their legitimacy from a promotion and tenure perspective, suggesting that the perceived legitimacy of the journal is the critical hurdle to overcome

Adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Teaching and Learning Environment in Jordanian Higher Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an important role in modern institutions by facilitating and improving the teaching and learning process to be in line with the information technology age. Jordan, as one of the developing countries, highly values the importance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their role in achieving an economic prosperity through the development of human resources. Unfortunately, the adoption and usage of ICT in teaching and learning process is quite low among the academic staff in the public HEIs in Jordan. The main purpose of this study is to examine the potential prominent factors related to the adoption and usage of ICT in Jordanian HEIs among the academicians. The study provides an understanding on the ICT usage by applying the Diffusion of Innovation theory, Theory of Planned Behavior and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior. A self-administered survey was conducted on 500 academic staff selected from public HEIs in Jordan. A total of 415 participants (83%) responded to the questionnaires. The findings showed that subjective norms, attitude towards technology, and perceived behavioral control positively affected the behavioral intention to use ICT in HEIs among academicians. The study provides recommendations to the higher education leaders and policy makers towards promoting a successful adoption and diffusion of technologies in the future. Besides, it offers a clear description about the adoption in the field of educational technologies in the context of developing countries and the Arab world in particular

Towards the generalisation of a case-based aiding system to facilitate the understanding of ethical and professional issues in computing

Modern computers endow users of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) with immense power. The speed of the computing revolution has enabled the novel implementation of ICT before consideration of consequent ethical issues can be made. There is now a demand by society that students, ICT novices, and professionals should be aware of the social, legal, and professional issues associated with ubiquitous use of computers. This thesis describes the development of an Internet-based tool that may be used to raise students' awareness of the ethical implications of ICT. It investigates the application, meaning, and scope of computer ethics. Theoretical foundations are developed for the construction of the tool that will classify, store, and retrieve a suitable analogous case from a collection of realworld, ethically analysed ICT case studies. These are used for comparison with ethically dubious events that may be experienced by students. The model draws upon the theoretical aspects of mechanisms for the modification of users' ethical perception. This research is novel in linking these theories to ethical understanding and case retrieval. Little information is available upon the retrieval of documents addressing ethical issues. The classification and retrieval of material using an ethical framework has some commonality with legal retrieval. Similarities are investigated, and concepts are adapted for the retrieval of ethical documents. The differences that arise present challenges for new research. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) retrieval techniques is not acceptable to meet the pedagogic aims of the retrieval tool. A model is developed, avoiding the use of AI in the reasoning process, requiring the student to consider and evaluate the ethical issues raised. The model is tested and evaluated. The research suggests that non-AI paradigms may be used for retrieval of ethical cases, and that areas for future investigation and development exist