Educational Resources as Digital Products

Abstract. In the paper educational resources are treated as regular digital products. The problem of the production, distribution and sale is addressed, especially concentrating on the production effort, cost and price. An original method of estimating development effort of e-learning resources is described and experimental results are presented. The paper presents also two extensions of the existing structure and implementation of learning objects. The structure of a learning object, although flexible, focuses on reuse, which is insufficient for independent learning. Therefore the first extension is the concept of a teaching object that contains all parts of the educational process, from knowledge presentation, through examples and exercises to final examinations. A teaching object is proposed as an independent subject of sale. Addition of data access methods to learning objects is the second proposed extension that creates a learning component. A model of learning object distribution based on Web services and learning components is proposed

Apps Developed by Academics

In the days of the digital Wild West, developers from all backgrounds have joined in the gold rush trying to profit from the almost unbridled spending of well-to-do parents on educational products. In 2016, the Apple App Store had over 80,000 educational apps. The proliferation of educational apps has happened at a furious pace and more apps are being introduced constantly. Although apps are labeled as educational, they are not held to any science-based standards or subject to any certification (Hirsch-Pasek, et al. 2015). With the boom in new apps introduced every year, there is simply not enough time, money, or resources available to evaluate each app as it enters the market. As a result, “educational” apps are largely unregulated and untested. As a result, app users are misled and are spending money on products which are not actually educational. The real experts – researchers, teachers and educational specialists – need to take over the driver seat in this important and evolving realm of educational apps with the developers playing the supporting role instead of the leading role. With increasingly lowered cost and ease of development to produce an app, academics who do not have vast financial resources or substantial technical knowledge are able to create truly impactful, pedagogically-based apps either by themselves or outsourcing to development services. Although technology promises to be transformative, educational content must remain the main thrust of any educational mobile app development and not technology. Educational apps need to have the experts involved. It is time that education is put back in its rightful, central position. Keywords: educational apps, ICT, tablet computers, educational content, mobile technology, app developmen

Return on Investment: New Strategies for Marketing Digital Resources to Academic Faculty and Students From Three Perspectives: Publisher, Collection Development, and Research Services

Game‐changing strategies for marketing digital resources to end users are crucial for establishing return on investment in this period of reduced library collection budgets and challenging resource prices. When expensive digital resources are purchased by academic libraries, there needs to be a marketing plan in place for getting these resources into the hands of end users as quickly as possible. One strategy for success is a marketing collaboration between the publisher and the academic library. The Profera, Arthur, Tierney 2014 Charleston Conference presentation on this topic focused on the success achieved at the University of Central Florida Libraries where such a collaboration included experts from Taylor & Francis working closely with the Head of Acquisitions & Collection Services and the Head of Research Services. Together they sponsored a digital resources educational workshop that included presentations by faculty, librarians, and Taylor & Francis representatives and reached out to end users as well as librarians from several Florida institutions. The UCF Libraries has also partnered with publishers to promote resources through various events sponsored by publishers and aimed at librarians and faculty from UCF and surrounding institutions. The presenters covered innovative strategies for marketing digital resources including hosting vendor presentations and trainings in library classrooms or at academic faculty workshops and hosting webinars and presentations. With the focus on marketing to end users, the presenters concentrated on ways that academic faculty and librarians have been included in training and outreach related to new products or major enhancements to existing library resources

Leisure Is Hard Work: Digital Practices and Future Competencies

Part of the Volume on Youth, Identity, and Digital Media This chapter is based on two claims, namely that digital media are fundamental in nurturing human competencies for the future and that children's leisured media practices are critical catalysts in that process. These claims are documented by results from a recent case study on children's content creation of digital animation. Based on these results, the chapter discusses some of the fundamental challenges posed to educational institutions if they are to nurture future-directed competences for all pupils. These challenges include pupils' understanding of knowledge, their attitudes to learning resources and contexts of use, and the distribution of power relations. Like 300 million other kids around the globe, every Dane under the age of 20 knows that the protagonist of The Little Mermaid is Ariel, a fiesty redhead who manages to shape her fate and fortune. This fact is noteworthy only because Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the author of the orignal fairy tale, composed a tragic tale of loss and redemption. The narrative and experiential discrepancies raise fundamental questions about the ways in which global and local media products frame children's everyday culture and the ways in which media operate as identity markers in a variety of sociocultural contexts. Moreover, Disney's figures, like many other media elements, are routinely appropriated by children in their own, increasingly digitized, media productions, from simple drawings to blogs, screen dumps, and home pages. These practices raise important issues about the role played by digital forms of media production for children vis a vis the more conventional and widespread forms of media reception

Indicadores de qualidade para a avaliação de webquest : algumas recomendações

A avaliação de produtos multimídia tem sido alvo da atenção crescente de inúmeros autores que criaram grelhas de análise para a avaliação da qualidade dos referidos recursos. Uma WebQuest é um documento multimídia digital e, como tal, na sua avaliação, devem ser considerados os atributos que determinam a avaliação de qualidade de um site educativo em geral. Por isso sistematizou-se um conjunto de indicadores de qualidade para a avaliação de uma WebQuest.The evaluation of multimedia products has been the subject of increasing attention of many authors who have created grids of analysis for assessing the quality of those resources. A WebQuest is a digital multimedia document and as such, in its evaluation should be considered the attributes that determine the quality evaluation of an educational website in general. So is a systematized set of quality indicators to evaluate a WebQuest

Recommendations of Quality to Assessment of WebQuests

A avaliação de produtos multimédia tem sido alvo da atenção crescente de inúmeros autores que criaram grelhas de análise para a avaliação da qualidade dos referidos recursos. Uma WebQuest é um documento multimédia digital e, como tal, na sua avaliação, devem ser considerados os atributos que determinam a avaliação de qualidade de um site educativo em geral. Por isso sistematizou-se um conjunto de indicadores de qualidade para a avaliação de uma WebQuest.The evaluation of multimedia products has been the subject of increasing attention of many authors who have created grids of analysis for assessing the quality of those resources. A WebQuest is a digital multimedia document and as such, in its evaluation should be considered the attributes that determine the quality evaluation of an educational website in general. So is a systematized set of quality indicators to evaluate a WebQues

Pengembangan Media Dan Bahan Ajar Digital Jenjang Sekolah Dasar Untuk Pemerolehan Literasi Dasar Anak Anak Indonesia Non Dokumen Di Malaysia

Education for children of Indonesian citizens (WNI) who do not have residence documents in Malaysia is a critical issue that needs attention by the government. Children of Indonesian citizens who do not have legal educational documents are constrained from obtaining their rights to education in Malaysia. One form of attention given by the government is to provide educational services for all citizens, including Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia through the Rumah Kita program and Indonesian learning studios in Malaysia. And based on information, the number of non-formal educators is still limited, both in terms of qualifications and competence. This research was conducted with the aim of developing digital media and teaching materials oriented to gamification and learning independence for non-document Indonesian children in Malaysia. The research method used is Design and Development (D&D) using the ADDIE model. At the development stage, the Multimedia Prototype learning media has feasibility that is validated by experts. This research was conducted by producing a reference digital learning resource for the fulfillment of non-documentary basic literacy of Indonesian children in Malaysia. The subjects for assessing media and learning resources were three expert lecturers consisting of elementary school literacy experts, media experts, and elementary school learning content experts. In this paper, researchers will reveal the level of feasibility of media and digital learning resources for non-documented Indonesian children in Malaysia. The three experts who were the subject of the evaluation of the products developed in general stated that these digital media and learning resources were appropriate and good for use in fulfilling the basic literacy of non-document Indonesian children in Malaysia, but there needed to be a forum in the form of a website that would be used as a form of well-administered learning resource center for each media and teaching materials

The American Girl Retail Experience

The American Girl brand is characterized by its ability to promote identity development in young girls through play and educational experiences. Due to the accessibility of smart-devices (e.g. mobile and web based technologies) and the frequency of their use, recent trends in toy designs have shown an increase in digital/technology features. Taking this into consideration, American Girl has continuously emphasized doll-centric products and experiences that also satisfy consumer’s digital interests. American Girl’s interactive digital resources include: the entire American Girl website which features a wide selection of Games, Apps, activities, e-cards, the InnerStar University (i.e., an interactive world for My American Girl Dolls and their owners that provides girls with games, advice and new friends) as well as information about how to plan a trip to your local retail store. Again, the inherent theme in each of these digital activities is the doll. American Girl uses doll-centric activities in retail stores to promote the “American Girl” experience. For this project we examined all aspects of the American Girl Retail Experience ranging from making reservations to planning parties, events, and excursions. Our approach to developing this proposal came from observations of the American Girl Place in Chicago, Illinois and the American Girl Store in Orlando, Florida. We also conducted a review of digital resources such as the American Girl website, 2013 Mattel Annual Report, press releases, videos, and Apps available in the iTunes store. The American Girl website provided us with information about all of the current in-store experiences (e.g. book reading, craft making, cookie decorating, hair styling and more) as well as the current list of products and respective pricing. These details strongly influenced the development of our design. Our proposal examined the user experience from the perspective of the performing arts. The proposal outlines the performing arts experience which suggests the need for a performance stage and describes the activities and events that go along with the stage

Curriculum online: final report

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned NatCen and the University of Bristol to conduct a four-year evaluation of curriculum online, beginning in 2002. This is the final evaluation report for the programme, reviewing outcomes from the research