Adopting Moodle:Case Studies in the Diffusion of Innovation

This joint research paper among five part-time English teachers at Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen University, hereafter called Kyoai University, represents a focused practical application of Action Research based on CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) in the classroom and syllabus. This research builds upon the history and development of CALL at the University, including previous research based on student perceptions of CALL (Deadman, 2014) and teacher’s perceptions and evaluations of multimedia technologies (Mason, 2014). The paper details and investigates how CALL is adopted amongst the teachers in this study, through the existent software Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Two of the members of this group have used Moodle, whereas the three other part-time teachers have had limited exposure and experience using it. The aim of this research group is to peer-teach each other in a community of practice, in order that our own technology skills increase, ultimately transferring this to better learning experiences for the students. The paper will use teachers experience, observations and planning to detail the purposefulness of technology in the curriculum; the teacher’s own perceptions of the technology; the subsequent selection, planning and design of appropriate class-specific Moodle applications; and each teacher’s initial evaluations of Moodle as they begin to construct their own Moodle accounts for various classes.　A general　e-mail was sent to all Japanese part-time teachers who would be interested in jointly partaking in a research paper, based on the above considerations. As such, the members of this research paper are equal in membership and responsibility for the research, as per the ethical considerations of practitioner research (Hammersley, M., Gomm, R., and Woods, P., 2003)

Benefits, Limitations and Best Practices of Online Coursework…Should Accounting Programs Jump on Board?

The evolution of online teaching has evolved as quickly and vivaciously as the adoption of the World Wide Web. While there were and are skeptics, research shows that not only is online learning more convenient and makes educational available anytime and anywhere, it has the potential, in some cases, to be an improved tool for educating. To ensure maximized learning outcomes, and to experience the blessing and not the curse of online coursework, it is critical that universities embrace it wholeheartedly and follow online pedagogical best practices in developing and executing online courses. In addition, there are some courses where special forethought should be made to ensure online learning is effective. Courses that are more computational necessitate this consideration. This document serves to provide strategies and best practices on how to obtain excellence and maximized outcomes from online education. It examines research to date and outlines: the benefits and challenges of online learning, strategies and best practices for online educating, and considerations for online accounting coursework

Computer-based materials: a study of learner autonomy and strategies

This paper reports on a study which examines the extent to which specified cognitive, social, and metacognitive strategies, are used by language students when working with computer-based materials (CBMs), in self-study contexts outside of the language classroom; particularly in a self-access centre (SAC). Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews and snap-shot observations from English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students enrolled on a summer course at a British Higher Education Institution (HEI). The data identify the frequency with which students use a SAC and the value they attach to computers for language learning. The data then examine the types of strategies students use and the extent to which learner autonomy is being fostered. The vast majority of participants were found to have positive attitudes towards computer-based material (CBMs) and language learning despite frequent use of L1, furthermore they were found to use cognitive strategies and to apply metacognitive awareness in their use of such CBMs. Students believed CBMs assisted with learning and demonstrated conscious applications of a range of strategies while learning in an electronic environment. However, the study also found that less than half the students used social strategies in the target language and this raises a number of issues

Context-adaptive learning designs by using semantic web services

IMS Learning Design (IMS-LD) is a promising technology aimed at supporting learning processes. IMS-LD packages contain the learning process metadata as well as the learning resources. However, the allocation of resources - whether data or services - within the learning design is done manually at design-time on the basis of the subjective appraisals of a learning designer. Since the actual learning context is known at runtime only, IMS-LD applications cannot adapt to a specific context or learner. Therefore, the reusability is limited and high development costs have to be taken into account to support a variety of contexts. To overcome these issues, we propose a highly dynamic approach based on Semantic Web Services (SWS) technology. Our aim is moving from the current data- and metadata-based to a context-adaptive service-orientated paradigm We introduce semantic descriptions of a learning process in terms of user objectives (learning goals) to abstract from any specific metadata standards and used learning resources. At runtime, learning goals are accomplished by automatically selecting and invoking the services that fit the actual user needs and process contexts. As a result, we obtain a dynamic adaptation to different contexts at runtime. Semantic mappings from our standard-independent process models will enable the automatic development of versatile, reusable IMS-LD applications as well as the reusability across multiple metadata standards. To illustrate our approach, we describe a prototype application based on our principles