Out there and in here: design for blended scientific inquiry learning

One of the benefits of mobile technologies is to combine ‘the digital’ (e.g., data, information, photos) with ‘field’ experiences in novel ways that are contextualized by people’s current located activities. However, often cost, mobility disabilities and time exclude students from engaging in such peripatetic experiences. The Out There and In Here project, is exploring a combination of mobile and tabletop technologies in support for collaborative learning. A system is being developed for synchronous collaboration between geology students in the field and peers at an indoor location. The overarching goal of this research is to develop technologies that support people working together in a suitable manner for their locations. There are two OTIH project research threads. The first deals with disabled learner access issues: these complex issues are being reviewed in subsequent evaluations and publications. This paper will deal with issues of technology supported learning design for remote and co-located science learners. Several stakeholder evaluations and two field trials have reviewed two research questions: 1. What will enhance the learning experience for those in the field and laboratory? 2. How can learning trajectories and appropriate technologies be designed to support equitable co-located and remote learning collaboration? This paper focuses on describing the iterative linked development of technologies and scientific inquiry pedagogy. Two stages within the research project are presented. The 1st stage details several pilot studies over 3 years with 21 student participants in synchronous collaborations with traditional technology and pedagogical models. Findings revealed that this was an engaging and useful experience although issues of equity in collaboration needed further research. The 2nd stage, in this project, has been to evaluate data from over 25 stakeholders (academics, learning and technology designers) to develop pervasive ambient technological solutions supporting orchestration of mixed levels of pedagogy (i.e. abstract synthesis to specific investigation). Middleware between tabletop ‘surface’ technologies and mobile devices are being designed with Microsoft and OOKL (a mobile software company) to support these developments. Initial findings reveal issues around equity, ownership and professional identity

Touch Screen Avatar English Learning System For University Students Learning Simplicity

This paper discusses on touch screen avatar for an English language learning application system. The system would be a combination of avatar as Animated Pedagogical Agent (APA) and a touch screen application that adapt the up to date gesture-based computing which is found as having potential to change the way how we learn as it could reduce the amount of Information Communication Technology (ICT) devices used during teaching and learning process. The key here is interaction between university students and touch screen avatar intelligent application system as well as learning resources that could be learned anytime anywhere twenty four hours in seven days 24/7 based on their study time preference where they could learn at their own comfort out of the tradition. The students would be provided with a learning tool that could help them learn interactively with the current trend which they might be interested with based on their own personalization. Apart from that, their performance shall be monitored from a distance and evaluated to avoid disturbing their learning process from working smoothly and getting rid of feeling of being controlled. Thus, the students are expected to have lower affective filter level that may enhance the way they learn unconsciously. Keywords: Gesture-Based Computing, Avatar, Portable Learning Tool, Interactivity, Language Learnin

Landscape Study in Wireless and Mobile Learning in the post-16 sector

In the post-16 sector (further and higher education, and adult and community learning) there is a need to understand how wireless and mobile technologies can contribute to improving the student experience of learning, and help institutions fulfil their missions in an age of incomparably fast technological change. In the context of this interest and growing need, a Landscape Study project was commissioned by JISC through the Innovation strand of the JISC e-Learning Programme in 2004-5. Our project aims were to take a birds-eye view of developments and practice in the UK and internationally, and to communicate our findings to a broad and varied audience. The Summary report is accompanied by 3 associated reports on 'Current Uses', 'Potential Uses' and 'Strategic Aspects'. (The four reports are available in one single document here.

Reliable Authentication Method by Using Cellular Phones in Web Based Training

Articles are the intellectual property of the author. The Creative Commons copyright permits copy or dissemination for education or non-profit purposes so long as author and title of the article are included with title, volume, number and URL for the Journal.Institutions of higher education that offer credits through distance learning using web based training (WBT) have increased recently. In these situations, an authentication model using the IDpassword pair is generally used. However, this authentication model cannot prevent “identity theft” effectively. We propose a new authentication method that solves this problem by using cellular phones as an authentication token. The authentication accuracy is expected to be improved by combining the ID-password pair with the subscriber ID of cellular phones. We realized a prototype system and prepared a questionnaire in order to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method, and as a result, we demonstrated the effectiveness and realizability of our method.ArticleInternational Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. 3(12):35-45 (2006)journal articl

Pervasive Pedagogy: Collaborative Cloud-Based Composing Using Google Drive

Cloud-based services designed for educational use, like Google Apps for Education (GAFE), afford deeply collaborative activities across multiple applications. Through primary research, the authors discovered that cloud-based technologies such as GAFE and Google Drive afford new opportunities for collaborative cross-platform composing and student engagement. These affordances require new pedagogies to transform these potentialities into practice, as well as a reexamination of contemporary theory of computers and composition. The authors’ journey implementing Google Drive as a composing and communication environment required continually remediating content, relationships, practices, and their own identities as they interacted with students in the cloud. This chapter addresses how GAFE and Google Drive engage students in the composition classroom, redefine and transform pedagogical and curricular concepts, and improve students’ experience and learning

Development of a Framework for Collaborative Healthcare Services Delivery

Patients require treatment and care that work, good relationship with practitioner, provision of information, and remaining in control of treatment. Patients need to be empowered to live healthy lifestyles through promotion and the delivery of health information. Seventy-five percentages of Nigeria’s estimated 166million population at 2.87% annual growth rate in 2012 live in rural and underserved areas lacking equitable access to both ICT services and healthcare due to poverty and inadequate health care facilities. A shortage of almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, and support workers worldwide is most severe in the poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where they are most needed to direct and guide everyone who becomes ill on the correct use of medications. This is compounded by high illiteracy level, poverty and inadequate Health Care Facilities and personnel. Self-medication offers a way out as people begin to sense the positive benefits of multiplying their options in healthcare. Because of the constraints of distance, costs, and availability of providers (doctors and nurses) in specific areas of medical specialties, the model of treating patients in the general hospital is losing its lustre in favour of dedicated clinics dispersed in the community and remote care in the home. The deterioration of the patient-provider relationship, the overutilization of technology, and the inability of the medical system to adequately treat chronic disease have contributed to rising interest in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Communication is critical to ensuring delivery of the best possible patient-oriented healthcare among all providers towards achieving equitable access to healthcare. Exchanging information and building communication channels are critical ingredients of biomedical education and research. Today, the patient and the physician should not be alone anywhere in the world as long as here is some form of acceptable technology present. Seamless transmission of medical information through the internet enables teleconsultation of doctors from one corner of the world possible. This paper presents a collaborative framework connecting providers directly to patients for healthcare services delivery in response to the dire need for a framework which would facilitate the development of a national fibre optic backbone infrastructure that ensures high bandwidth availability, universal access, encouragement for private operators to roll out the infrastructure and use of existing government structure as platforms for extending ICT to rural and urban communities. The presented framework facilitates healthcare institutions collaborate and share their resources to provide comprehensive, high-quality and accessible healthcare at an affordable cost. Keywords: Collaboration; Communication; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Healthcare delivery; Teleconsultatio

Mobile learning – a new paradigm shift in distance education?

During recent years, many distance teaching as well as residential institutions have started to experiment with mobile learning through pilot projects as part of their e-learning and technology enhanced learning environments. Mobile learning should not be regarded as a medium for distance learning. However, because of the similar affordances of distance learning technologies and online and mobile learning, the established field of distance education can provide valuable insight into strategies, approaches and practical experiences with regard to the conception and organization of this new medium for learning. Distance teaching institutions have a long history and much experience with media-based instruction. This affords them an advantage in the development and application of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching and learning. Student support systems have existed in traditional distance education for decades. ICTs – especially mobile devices – open up new paths for learning support and opportunities to reach a wider audience for (higher) education. However, will mobile learning bring about a paradigm shift in distance education? Or is it perhaps a new generation of distance education? Does it afford new opportunities for teaching and learning in terms of access and flexibility? This paper reports on an international survey that was conducted amongst distance educators in order to explore these questions

The antecedents of e-learning adoption within Italian corporate universities: A comparative case study

The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in business education appears to be influenced by a number of organizational issues, such as culture and technological sophistication. However, extant research has had very little to say about the antecedents that shape the adoption and diffusion of ICT across companies. In order to shed light on the phenomenon under investigation, this paper presents a comparative case study between five Italian companies that have instituted a corporate university. By distinguishing companies in typical cases and deviant cases with regard to the extensive use of e-learning technologies, our findings provide some useful insights about the antecedents that make companies more or less prone to employ the new frontiers of technology in their CUs