Fuzzy cognitive map modelling the adoption of educational software in schools

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis focuses on modelling factors in the adoption of educational software in schools based on the perceptions of key stakeholders. Findings indicate educational software adoption in UK secondary schools is unsatisfactory. Given the potential of educational software to affect the learning process; the government's emphasis on developing software content for learning purposes and the concern that scarce resources in schools are wasted on software that is inappropriately used or not used at all, there is a need to ensure the successful take-up of educational software. This study aims to provide schools the means to facilitate better management of resources and achieve greater utilisation of educational software. The study in recognising the importance of stakeholders in any technological adoption considers modelling educational software adoption in schools, based on key stakeholders' perceptions. Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), considered extensions of cognitive maps used for modelling complex chains of casual relationships, are used as a modelling approach in this study. A mixed methods research approach is adopted. Participants, include students; a range of teachers; ICTCoordinators and ICT-Technicians, drawn from three UK secondary schools. The resulting FCM model offers a visual medium providing insight into the factors required in the take-up of educational software. Some factors identified include the availability and accessibility to IT facilities and equipment; the availability of educational software; software ability to satisfy learning requirements and to meet curriculum requirements. The model provides the means to identify factors which have a greater impact on educational software adoption, so scarce resources can be directed accordingly. As a holistic model it provides insight into the context of educational software adoption in schools. As a dynamic model it allows the opportunity to explore `what-if possibilities relating to policy and investment options. The model can act as a guide for planners, decision-makers and software developers

Fuzzy cognitive map modelling the adoption of educational software in schools

This thesis focuses on modelling factors in the adoption of educational software in schools based on the perceptions of key stakeholders. Findings indicate educational software adoption in UK secondary schools is unsatisfactory. Given the potential of educational software to affect the learning process; the government's emphasis on developing software content for learning purposes and the concern that scarce resources in schools are wasted on software that is inappropriately used or not used at all, there is a need to ensure the successful take-up of educational software. This study aims to provide schools the means to facilitate better management of resources and achieve greater utilisation of educational software. The study in recognising the importance of stakeholders in any technological adoption considers modelling educational software adoption in schools, based on key stakeholders' perceptions. Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), considered extensions of cognitive maps used for modelling complex chains of casual relationships, are used as a modelling approach in this study. A mixed methods research approach is adopted. Participants, include students; a range of teachers; ICTCoordinators and ICT-Technicians, drawn from three UK secondary schools. The resulting FCM model offers a visual medium providing insight into the factors required in the take-up of educational software. Some factors identified include the availability and accessibility to IT facilities and equipment; the availability of educational software; software ability to satisfy learning requirements and to meet curriculum requirements. The model provides the means to identify factors which have a greater impact on educational software adoption, so scarce resources can be directed accordingly. As a holistic model it provides insight into the context of educational software adoption in schools. As a dynamic model it allows the opportunity to explore `what-if possibilities relating to policy and investment options. The model can act as a guide for planners, decision-makers and software developers.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Application of fuzzy simulation for evaluating enterprise application integration in healthcare organisations

Healthcare organisations have focused on the latest technological innovations to overcome their organisational and clinical problems. The information systems were not developed in a cordinated way but evolved as autonomous and hetrogeneous systems. Thus, the integration of these systems represents one of the most urgent priorities of healthcare organisations that allow the whole organisation to meet the increasing clinical, organisational and managerial needs. Recently, technological developments have emerged in the area of integration technology such as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). This provides significant benefits to organisations to overcome the integration problem. This work therefore evaluates the adoption of EAI in healthcare organisations. In doing so, Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) simulation is used to demonstrate the causal inter-relationships between the EAI adoption factors. FCM simulation provides insights into better understanding about interdependencies of the factors that influence EAI adoption in healthcare organisations

Family of 2-simplex cognitive tools and their application for decision-making and its justifications

Urgency of application and development of cognitive graphic tools for usage in intelligent systems of data analysis, decision making and its justifications is given. Cognitive graphic tool "2-simplex prism" and examples of its usage are presented. Specificity of program realization of cognitive graphics tools invariant to problem areas is described. Most significant results are given and discussed. Future investigations are connected with usage of new approach to rendering, cross-platform realization, cognitive features improving and expanding of n-simplex family.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, conferenc

Learning design – making practice explicit

New technologies have immense potential for learning, but the sheer variety possible also creates challenges for learners in terms of navigating through an increasingly complex digital landscape and for teachers in terms of how to design and support learning interventions. How can learners and teachers make informed decisions about what technologies to use in the design and support of learning activities? This presentation will consider this question and present a new methodology for design – 'learning design', which aims to shift the creation and support of learning from what has traditionally been an implicit, belief-based practice to one that is explicit and design based. Learning design research at the Open University, UK has included the development of a set of conceptual design views, a tool for visualising designs (CompendiumLD) and a social networking site, for sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs (Cloudworks). An overview of this work will be provided, along with a discussion of the perceived benefits of this new approach to educational design

On Modeling the Quality of Nutrition for Healthy Ageing Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Modelling dietary intake of older adults can prevent nutritional deficiencies and diet-related diseases, improving their quality of life. Towards such direction, a Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM)-based modelling approach that models the interdependencies between the factors that affect the Quality of Nutrition (QoN) is presented here. The proposed FCM-QoN model uses a FCM with seven input-one output concepts, i.e., five food groups of the UK Eatwell Plate, Water (H2O), and older adult’s Emotional State (EmoS), outputting the QoN. The weights incorporated in the FCM structure were drawn from an experts’ panel, via a Fuzzy Logic-based knowledge representation process. Using various levels of analysis (causalities, static/feedback cycles), the role of EmoS and H2O in the QoN was identified, along with the one of Fruits/Vegetables and Protein affecting the sustainability of effective food combinations. In general, the FCM-QoN approach has the potential to explore different dietary scenarios, helping health professionals to promote healthy ageing and providing prognostic simulations for diseases effect (such as Parkinson’s) on dietary habits, as used in the H2020 i-Prognosis project (www.i-prognosis.eu)

Developing a diagnostic heuristic for integrated sugarcane supply and processing systems.

Doctoral Degrees. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Innovation is a valuable asset that gives supply chains a competitive edge. Moreover, the adoption of innovative research recommendations in agricultural value chains and integrated sugarcane supply and processing systems (ISSPS) in particular has been relatively slow when compared with other industries such as electronics and automotive. The slow adoption is attributed to the complex, multidimensional nature of ISSPS and the perceived lack of a holistic approach when dealing with certain issues. Most of the interventions into ISSPS often view the system as characterised by tame problems hence, the widespread application of traditional operations research approaches. Integrated sugarcane supply and processing systems are, nonetheless, also characterised by wicked problems. Interventions into such contexts should therefore, embrace tame and/or wicked issues. Systemic approaches are important and have in the past identified several system-scale opportunities within ISSPS. Such interventions are multidisciplinary and employ a range of methodologies spanning across paradigms. The large number of methodologies available, however, makes choosing the right method or a combination thereof difficult. In this context, a novel overarching diagnostic heuristic for ISSPS was developed in this research. The heuristic will be used todiagnose relatively small, but pertinent ISSPS constraints and opportunities. The heuristic includes a causal model that determines and ranks linkages between the many domains that govern integrated agricultural supply and processing systems (IASPS) viz. biophysical, collaboration, culture, economics, environment, future strategy, information sharing, political forces, and structures. Furthermore, a diagnostic toolkit based on the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was developed. The toolkit comprises a diagnostic criteria and a suite of systemic tools. The toolkit, in addition, determines thesuitability of each tool to diagnose any of the IASPS domains. Overall, the diagnostic criteria include accessibility, interactiveness, transparency, iterativeness, feedback, cause-and-effect logic, and time delays. The tools considered for the toolkit were current reality trees, fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), network analysis approaches, rich pictures (RP), stock and flow diagrams, cause and effect diagrams (CEDs), and causal loop diagrams (CLDs). Results from the causal model indicate that collaboration, structure and information sharing had a high direct leverage over the other domains as these were associated with a larger number of linkages. Collaboration and structure further provided dynamic leverage as these were also part of feedback loops. Political forces and the culture domain in contrast, provided lowleverage as these domains were only directly linked to collaboration. It was further revealed that each tool provides a different facet to complexity hence, the need for methodological pluralism. All the tools except RP could be applied, to a certain extent, across both appreciation and analysis criteria. Rich pictures do not have causal analysis capabilities viz. cause-and-effect logic, time delays and feedback. Stock and flow diagrams and CLDs conversely, met all criteria. All the diagnostic tools in the toolkit could be used across all the system domains except for FCMs. Fuzzy cognitive maps are explicitly subjective and their contribution lies outside the objective world. Caution should therefore be practiced when FCMs areapplied within the biophysical domain. The heuristic is only an aid to decision making. The decision to select a tool or a combination thereof remains with the user(s). Even though the heuristic was demonstrated at Mhlume sugarcane milling area, it is recommended that other areas be considered for future research. The heuristic itself should continuously be updated with criteria, tools and other domain dimensions

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Modelling socio-ecological systems: Implementation of an advanced Fuzzy Cognitive Map framework for policy development for addressing complex real-life challenges

This study implements a novel Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) framework for addressing large complex socio-ecological problems. These are characterized as qualitative, dominated by uncertainty, human involvement with different and vague perceptions/expectations, and complex systems dynamics due to feedback relations. The FCM framework provides a participatory soft computing approach to develop consensus solutions. We demonstrate its implementation in a case study: a national-scale acute water scarcity crisis. The model has eight steps starting from collecting data from stakeholders in the form of FCMs (bi-directional graphs) represented by nodes and imprecise connections. All subsequent steps operate within a new fuzzy 2-tuple framework that overcomes previous FCM limitations through advanced processing methods, where large FCMs are fuzzified and analyzed, condensed, and aggregated using graph-theoretic measures. FCMs are simulated as Auto-Associative Neural Networks (AANN) to assess policy solutions to address the problem. In this study, very large cognitive maps were developed through interviews capturing perceptions of five different stakeholder groups taking into consideration the causes, consequences and challenges of the acute water scarcity problem in Jordan. The complex FCMs containing 186 variables comprehensively covered all aspects of water scarcity. FCMs were condensed into smaller maps in two levels. They were also combined into five stakeholder group FCMs and one whole system FCM (total 123 FCMs). AANN simulations of policy scenarios were conducted on the whole system FCM, first at the most condensed level and then moved top-down through the next two levels of granularity to explore potential solutions. These were ranked by a novel fuzzy Appropriateness criterion to provide a number of high level and effective strategies to mitigate the water crisis

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse