Application of Distance Learning to Interactive Seminar Instruction in Orthodontic Residency Programs

A series of experiments involving 3 orthodontic departments has shown that distance learning can be acceptable to residents and effective in teaching concepts that are fundamental to orthodontic practice. The improvement from pre- to post-test scores after observing a sequence of distance seminars was similar to direct instruction. Orthodontic residents rated the educational experiences very positively. Live participation in seminars via video conferencing was preferred to live observation or later observation of a recording, but observation provided similar improvement in test scores. The acceptability of the distance seminars appeared to be influenced by the instructor's personality and teaching style in facilitating interaction, the seminar subject, the residents' comfort level in dealing with this technology, and the sequence for interaction vs observation. Further development of recorded seminars with live follow-up discussions has the potential to supplement instruction in graduate orthodontic programs and help with the impending shortage of experienced fulltime orthodontic faculty

Low Cost Video For Distance Education

A distance education system has been designed for Nova Southeastern University (NSU) . The design was based on emerging low cost video technology. The report presented the design and summarizes existing distance education efforts and technologies. The design supported multimedia electronic classrooms, and enabled students to participate in multimedia classes using standard telephone networks. Results were presented in three areas: management, courseware, and, systems. In the area of management, the report recommended that the University separately establish, fund, and staff the distance education project. Supporting rationale was included. In the area of courseware, the importance of quality courseware was highlighted. It was found that the development of distance education courseware was difficult; nevertheless, quality courseware was the key to a successful distance education program. In the area of systems, component level designs were presented for a student system, a university host, and a support system. Networks connecting the systems were addressed. The student system was based on widely available multimedia systems. The host system supported up to sixteen participants in a single class. The support system was designed for the development of courseware and the support of future projects in distance education. The report included supporting Proof of Principle demonstrations. These demonstrations showed that low cost video systems had utility at speeds as low as 7. 2 kbps. They also showed that high quality student images were not crucial to the system. The report included three alternate implementation strategies. The initial capability could be operational in 1997. A multi-session, 2000 user system was projected for early in the next century

A systematic approach for the analysis, design and implementation of Telecommunications-Supported Training (TST) systems

The objetive of the present thesis is to develop and test out a systematic approach to the analysis, design and implementation of Telecommunications-Supported Training (TST) systems. The Literature Review offers a set of approaches to similar problems in the field of Information Systems. Several other disciplines have also been considered: Psychology of Human Factors, Organizational and Innovation Theory, and applied research being currently carried out under the EU DELTA Programme. A global User-Centred Model of TST has been developed, based on the wellestablished principles of Systems Engineering and Soft Systems Methodology. The theoretical basis for this model is the concept of TST Architecture, conceived as a functional arrangement of technical components which are introduced in order to improve the performance of the actors involved in the system. The other key aspect is the design of a set of Adoption Strategies, aiming for the creation of the necessary conditions to achieve user acceptance of the technologies implemented. Following these principles, the ADAM (Architectural Design and Adoption Model) systematic approach is developed. It is structured in five stages: Context Analysis, System Analysis, System Design, System Implementation and System Maintenance. Each stage is structured into steps and activities, described in terms of key points, outcomes, deliverables, and roles involved. The ADAM approach has been tested out in its twofold dimension of analyzing already implemented TST systems and designing new ones. The first case discusses the application of ADAM to the EU Multimedia TeleSchool (MTS) TST system. The test is completed by discussing the design and implementation, performed by the author, of a TST system at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. The results confirm the usefulness of ADAM both for practitioners and researchers in the field. Also, the TST model is extended as regards the components of acceptance and adoption, and their impact on the introduction of technologies in organizations

The application of computer technology in South African distance education.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, 1996.The advent of on-line Computer-Assisted Instruction and Computer Mediated Communication may improve instruction and communication in distance education in South African universities. On-line Computer-Assisted Instruction in distance education makes the reinforcement of knowledge both systematic and immediate. With instructional media such printed text, audio-cassettes, radio and television broadcasts the student at a distance is an isolated and passive recipient of knowledge. On-line Computer-Assisted Instruction supported by Computer Mediated Communication for interaction and feedback could close the gaps in time and distance between the teacher and the student in distance education. The current network capabilities of the computer makes it possible for such a student to interact with peers and lecturers before, during and after instructional episodes. Computer Mediated Communication can facilitate the use of electronic messaging such as Electronic Mail, Internet Relay Chat, List Servers, Multi-User Domains and Bulletin Board Services for interactions and feedback. This thesis investigates whether instruction and communication in South African universities with a distance education option can be improved using on-line Computer-Assisted Instruction and Computer Mediated Communication respectively. The thesis also makes proposals for their implementation in South Africa by analysing the applications of computer technology in degree awarding distance education institutions in some developed and developing countries that use on-line Computer-Assisted Instruction and Computer Mediated Communication

Energy-efficient wireless communication

In this chapter we present an energy-efficient highly adaptive network interface architecture and a novel data link layer protocol for wireless networks that provides Quality of Service (QoS) support for diverse traffic types. Due to the dynamic nature of wireless networks, adaptations in bandwidth scheduling and error control are necessary to achieve energy efficiency and an acceptable quality of service. In our approach we apply adaptability through all layers of the protocol stack, and provide feedback to the applications. In this way the applications can adapt the data streams, and the network protocols can adapt the communication parameters

Designing Open and Distance Learning for Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A toolkit for educators and planners

Everyone remembers a good teacher. Good teachers are the key to educational expansion and improvement. In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to expand the number of primary and secondary teachers. In all African countries, there is an equally important need to improve the quality of teaching. To achieve this, it is clear that new approaches to teacher education are essential. Existing institutions of teacher education will continue to play an important role, but, alone, they will not meet the goals of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. It is fortunate that, just as the twin needs to improve the quantity and quality of teachers become imperative, so new forms of education and training are becoming available. The world is witnessing a revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs), which can offer training and support of a type and at a cost hitherto impossible to consider, and thus, must be fully explored given the scale and urgency of demand. In doing so, however, it will be necessary to build on existing and well-tested strategies, including the best models of open and distance learning. This toolkit is the third in a series of recent publications by the Africa Region Human Development Department of the World Bank to share knowledge and experience on how distance education and ICTs can support education in Sub-Saharan Africa. It emphasizes the rigorous process by which new forms of distance-education programs for teacher education can be planned and implemented. The best models of established programs are considered along with the potential for incorporating, as the means become available, new modes of communication. Most forms of teacher education, particularly those concerned with qualification upgrading and ongoing professional development, will have to be based in schools. The authors demonstrate how school-based programs, appropriately resourced and supported, have the potential not only to raise significantly the number and quality of teachers, but also to improve classroom practice and school organization, generally. The guidance and advice, which is drawn from many years of experience in design and implementation, and embraces a range of case studies from across the region, will be of considerable value to those preparing new policies and programs of teacher education and to those seeking to improve existing programs

Interoperability of wireless communication technologies in hybrid networks: Evaluation of end-to-end interoperability issues and quality of service requirements

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Hybrid Networks employing wireless communication technologies have nowadays brought closer the vision of communication “anywhere, any time with anyone”. Such communication technologies consist of various standards, protocols, architectures, characteristics, models, devices, modulation and coding techniques. All these different technologies naturally may share some common characteristics, but there are also many important differences. New advances in these technologies are emerging very rapidly, with the advent of new models, characteristics, protocols and architectures. This rapid evolution imposes many challenges and issues to be addressed, and of particular importance are the interoperability issues of the following wireless technologies: Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) IEEE802.11, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) IEEE 802.16, Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC), Digital Video Broadcasting of Satellite (DVB-S/DVB-S2), and Digital Video Broadcasting Return Channel through Satellite (DVB-RCS). Due to the differences amongst wireless technologies, these technologies do not generally interoperate easily with each other because of various interoperability and Quality of Service (QoS) issues. The aim of this study is to assess and investigate end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements, such as bandwidth, delays, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput, TCP performance, UDP performance, unicast and multicast services and availability, on hybrid wireless communication networks (employing both satellite broadband and terrestrial wireless technologies). The thesis provides an introduction to wireless communication technologies followed by a review of previous research studies on Hybrid Networks (both satellite and terrestrial wireless technologies, particularly Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, and SCPC). Previous studies have discussed Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC and 3G technologies and their standards as well as their properties and characteristics, such as operating frequency, bandwidth, data rate, basic configuration, coverage, power, interference, social issues, security problems, physical and MAC layer design and development issues. Although some previous studies provide valuable contributions to this area of research, they are limited to link layer characteristics, TCP performance, delay, bandwidth, capacity, data rate, and throughput. None of the studies cover all aspects of end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements; such as bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, link performance, TCP and UDP performance, unicast and multicast performance, at end-to-end level, on Hybrid wireless networks. Interoperability issues are discussed in detail and a comparison of the different technologies and protocols was done using appropriate testing tools, assessing various performance measures including: bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput and availability testing. The standards, protocol suite/ models and architectures for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC, alongside with different platforms and applications, are discussed and compared. Using a robust approach, which includes a new testing methodology and a generic test plan, the testing was conducted using various realistic test scenarios on real networks, comprising variable numbers and types of nodes. The data, traces, packets, and files were captured from various live scenarios and sites. The test results were analysed in order to measure and compare the characteristics of wireless technologies, devices, protocols and applications. The motivation of this research is to study all the end-to-end interoperability issues and Quality of Service requirements for rapidly growing Hybrid Networks in a comprehensive and systematic way. The significance of this research is that it is based on a comprehensive and systematic investigation of issues and facts, instead of hypothetical ideas/scenarios or simulations, which informed the design of a test methodology for empirical data gathering by real network testing, suitable for the measurement of hybrid network single-link or end-to-end issues using proven test tools. This systematic investigation of the issues encompasses an extensive series of tests measuring delay, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth, throughput, availability, performance of audio and video session, multicast and unicast performance, and stress testing. This testing covers most common test scenarios in hybrid networks and gives recommendations in achieving good end-to-end interoperability and QoS in hybrid networks. Contributions of study include the identification of gaps in the research, a description of interoperability issues, a comparison of most common test tools, the development of a generic test plan, a new testing process and methodology, analysis and network design recommendations for end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements. This covers the complete cycle of this research. It is found that UDP is more suitable for hybrid wireless network as compared to TCP, particularly for the demanding applications considered, since TCP presents significant problems for multimedia and live traffic which requires strict QoS requirements on delay, jitter, packet loss and bandwidth. The main bottleneck for satellite communication is the delay of approximately 600 to 680 ms due to the long distance factor (and the finite speed of light) when communicating over geostationary satellites. The delay and packet loss can be controlled using various methods, such as traffic classification, traffic prioritization, congestion control, buffer management, using delay compensator, protocol compensator, developing automatic request technique, flow scheduling, and bandwidth allocation

Third international workshop on Authoring of adaptive and adaptable educational hypermedia (A3EH), Amsterdam, 18-22 July, 2005

The A3EH follows a successful series of workshops on Adaptive and Adaptable Educational Hypermedia. This workshop focuses on models, design and authoring of AEH, on assessment of AEH, conversion between AEH and evaluation of AEH. The workshop has paper presentations, poster session and panel discussions

GeNeMe ´99 - Virtuelle Organisation und Neue Medien 1999: Workshop GeNeMe99 - Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien: TU Dresden, 28./29.10.1999

Aus dem Vorwort: 'Wir freuen uns, mit dem Band GeNeMe99 die Beiträge des zweiten Workshops zu GeNeMe - Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien - präsentieren zu können. Damit erfüllt sich zumindest im Ansatz die mit der GeNeMe98 verbundene Absicht, eine Arbeits und Veranstaltungslinie zu begründen. Treffend aktuell reflektiert folgende dpa-Meldung zum diesjährigen 'European IT Forum' in Paris vom 13. September des Jahres die Herausforderungen an Forschung und Praxis zur Verwirklichung des GeNeMe-Trends. Europa wird nach Einschätzung von Analysten in den nächsten Jahren im elektronischen Handel über das Internet kräftig aufholen. Damit könne Europa zum größten zusammenhängenden Markt im E-Commerce werden. Um im Wettbewerb bestehen zu können, müßten die Unternehmen aber ihre gesamte Firmenstruktur auf die elektronische Zukunft ausrichten. Das gelte auch für Unternehmen außerhalb der Technologie-Branche.:A. EINFÜHRUNG 1 Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien - Quality of Service aus der Sicht von Nutzer, Betreiber und Service Provider 1 Dr.-Ing. habil. W. Pretzsch, Dipl.-Inform. D. Neumann B. AUSGEWÄHLTE ANSÄTZE ZUR ENTWICKLUNG UND TECHNOLOGIE VON VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 25 B. 1. Gruppenorientiertes Requirement Engineering auf der Basis von Lotus Notes 25 Prof. Dr. R Liskowsky, Dipl.-Ing. R Pjater, Dipl.-Inf. H. Steher B.2. Die technische Infrastruktur zur Teilnahme von unternehmen an Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien 49 M. Ecks, M. Senft Prof. Dr. J. Raasch B. 3. Context modeling of agile software and a context-based approach to support virtual enterprises 73 Dipl.-Inform. Duy-TuanNguyen, Dr. V. Do B. 4. Stabilität und Sicherheit im Web - Der Test webbasierter Anwendungen 89 Dr. R Schröder C. REFERENZMODELLE UND ARCHITEKTUREN VON GEMEINSCHAFTEN IN NEUEN MEDIEN 109 C. l. Ein Referenzmodell für virtuelle Unternehmen 109 Dipl.-Inform. (FH) J. Homann, Dipl.-Inform. D. Neumann C.2. Ein Referenzmodell fü r Gemeinschaften und Medien - Case Study Amazon.com 125 Dr. U. Lechner, Prof. Dr. B. Schmid, Dr. P. Schubert, Dipl. Inform. M. Klose, Stud. oec. O. Miler VIII C.3. Formalisierung und Architektur von Medien und ihren Gemeinschaften 151 Dr. U. Lechner, Prof. Dr. B. Schmid, Dipl. Inform. M. Klose CA. Analyse und Bewertung von wirtschaftsrelevanten Internet-Auftritten Mittelständischer Unternehemen in den neuen Bundesländern 181 Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf. E. Kosilek D. KOMMUNIKATION IN VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 197 D. 1. Das Potential von Virtual Communities auf Basis von Distributed Virtual Environments für Kundengewinnung und -Bindung 197 J. Templin, Dipl.-Inform. R. Dachselt D.2. Der Einsatz von Desktop-VR für E-Commerce-Anwendungen - Konzepte für dreidimensionale Produktpräsentationen 213 Dipl.-Inform. R. Dachselt D. 3. Die 3D Community als ein Frontend für internetbasierte Anlagenmanagementsysteme 233 Dr.-Ing. K. Richter E. LERNEN IN VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 255 E. 1. Ein Web-basierter Compuiergraphik-Kurs im Baukastensysten 255 F. Hanisch, Dr. R. Klein, Prof. Dr. W. Straßer E.2. Integration von Telelearning- und Teleworking-Applikationen 271 Dipl.-Inform. I. Braun, Dipl.-Inform. K. Franze, Dipl.-Inform. R. HEss, Dipl.-Inform. O. Neumann, Prof. Dr. A. Schill E.3. Ein Dokumentmodell für Kursdokumente in Webbasierten Virtuellen Lernumgebungen 291 Prof. Dr. K. Meißner, Dipl.-Inform. F. Wehner E.4. Die Net Academy als Medium für die Learning Community eines Masterprogramms an der Universität St. Gallen 307 S. Seufert, P. Schubert E.5. Das Project Net Academy 329 Dipl.-Kffr. D. Wittig E.6. „Distributed Learning“ unter Lotus Notes - ein Erfahrungsbericht 351 W. Schröter IX F. FACHÜBERGREIFENDE ASPEKTE 371 F. 1. Information Systems for Managing Second Order Dynamics of Organizations 371 Dr. F. Wierda F.2. E-commerce und seine Marktplätze 385 M. Skrzypek F.3. Unternehmensübergreifendes Workflow-Management als Instrument zur Unterstützung von Lieferketten (SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT) 393 Dipl.-Inform. M. Halatchev, Dipl.-Phys., Dipl-SWTE. Közle G. ANSCHRIFTEN DER AUTOREN 409 H. HINWEIS AUF DIE SPONSOREN 41