Building Mobile Learning Capacity in Higher Education:E-books and iPads

The growing popularity of e-books, e-book readers and tablet devices is forcing a reappraisal of the various functions of ‘the book’ in education. Furthermore, e-books are becoming a more salient element in the ecology of mobile learning, as new devices make reading a more comfortable and sociable experience. We report on the results of an 18-month project (2010-12) undertaken as part of The Open University’s Building Mobile Learning Capacity initiative. The project introduced a group of Associate Lecturers to interactive e-books produced by the university and to the iPads® on which they could be accessed. The proliferation of increasingly interactive e-books and e-book collections calls for an examination of their evolving pedagogical purposes; an important aim of the project was therefore to enable this group to form ideas of how these resources could be incorporated in distance education and professional development of academic staff/faculty. The project used surveys, focus group meetings, online forum postings, blog posts and wikis to enable participants to record their experiences and ideas. One project output has been the identification of a spiral of six key use case areas for e-books. In particular, the categories ‘situational reading’, ‘collaborative/group learning’ and ‘e-book production’ inspired a collaboratively designed group activity for a face-to-face outdoor tutorial, which was trialled and is described in this paper. The experience has relevance for the design of blended learning as well as for mobile learning activities in many other settings

An Interactive, graphical typeface identification system

Most, if not all, published type identification books suffer from serious drawbacks which make them difficult to use by both typographic novices and professionals. Few effective computerized programs exist to simplify the identification of typefaces. The purpose of this project is to create an effective, visually attractive, interactive and easy-to-use model of a type identification system, which, if successful, will be fully developed. This is accomplished by combining the graphics and interactivity of the World Wide Web with the database management capabilities of modern database products. The user is given a series of questions regarding readily observable structural characteristics of the unknown typeface, such as whether the bar of the e slopes or is horizontal. The identification is based on the user\u27s answers. By using the World Wide Web, the prototype typeface identification system can be provided as a service to the design and desktop publishing community, relieving users from hours of frustration manually searching typeface identification books

Effect of adapted phonic faces story books on phonological skills of children with severe expressive language disorders

Although No Child Left Behind (2001) encourages the inclusion of all children within the regular curriculum, children with severe speech and physical disabilities rarely are provided with the literacy education provided to grade-level peers. This study taught alphabetic skills to three children with severe speech and physical impairments in the context of traditional alphabet books versus Phonic Faces Storybooks. Both storybooks were converted into e-books using Microsoft Office PowerPoint (Microsoft Office, 2003) and accessed using a single rocking lever switch. Two graphemes were selected based on incorrect responses from the pretest administration of the The Phonological Awareness Test (Roberson & Salter, 1997). The three subjects were exposed to the target graphemes using an ABAB design where the treatment conditions were reversed following the second baseline period. Five probes assessing phonological and grapheme awareness skills for targeted graphemes were administered following each baseline and intervention session. Results revealed greater improvements on letter/sound identification, sound to letter identification, identification of letter names, and identification of location of letters and sounds in all word positions words for all three subjects during the Phonic Faces Storybook phases. Improvement was also seen in the pre and posttest scores on seven subtests (rhyming, deletion, substitution, isolation, segmentation, blending and graphemes) of The Phonological Awareness Test (Roberson & Salter, 1997) and on word recognition, and silent and oral reading on the Informal Reading Inventory (Burns & Roe, 2006). Anecdotal evidence also demonstrated eagerness to work on the computer, preference for Phonic Faces e-books vs. alphabet books, and an increase in speech production (imitation of speech sounds). Limitations of the study, which include a small number of subjects and use of a small number of sounds need to be addressed in future research studies

An application of activity theory to the “problem of e-books”

The “problem of e-books” is defined as the difficulty improving the adoption rates of e-books by students. The adoption rates of e-books for academic use remain low, and research into the reasons for this have resulted in inconclusive findings. Factors such as student perception, and variations in experimental methodology and technology, contribute to difficulties in generalising findings and establishing conclusive causes for this problem. To better understand the causal factors for low adoption rates and the student's experience with ereaders and digital text, an investigation was conducted by the lead researcher as a student enrolled in a postgraduate course. The experiment was designed using e-book and digital text documents on an ereader for academic study and the results analysed with the framework of Activity Theory. This methodology allowed exploration of the problem within the authentic experience of a student to examine the effects of this social environment on ereader and e-book use. Analysis of the work domain was conducted and a comparative assessment of the observed effect of using the digital documents on an ereader compared with the paper book. Findings show that attempts to apply self-regulation and metacognitive learning techniques within the activity using the ereader were abandoned due to breakdowns in operations, and that this resulted in a perceived lower quality of achievement. The effect on the processes used by the student were extreme and were observed to be highly dependent on the student's use of specific learning strategies. The experimental methodology employed in this investigation enabled identification of the role of the social environment in the use of course documents on an ereader for academic study. The functionality of the ereader was such an extremely poor fit with the observed academic processes that a redesign approach for ereader and e-book technology is proposed as a solution to the low adoption rates of e-books

Full text e-book collection on Terrorism in Google Books

Purpose The main purpose of the present study is to identify the fulltext e-books in Google Books on Terrorism in general and 9/11 in particular. Design/methodology/approach The Google Book archive was searched using two search terms- Terrorism and 9/11 in advanced search mode. All the hits (results) were retrieved and their bibliographical details were recorded to complete the present study. Findings The results reveal that the total number of fulltext books available in Google Books was 130 mostly written after 9/11 and dealing with political, business, economical, technological and religious aspects of terrorism. The findings also depict that the majority of the books are published by the DIANE Publishing, Darby USA and the prominent authors are corporate bodies of the United States like the US Government Accountability Office and the US House of Representatives. Research limitations/implications The study included only Google Book archive and the other archives/repositories should also be included in future studies. Practical implications The study is very helpful for worldwide social scientists especially political scientists, sociologists, lawyers, psychologists and media specialists conducting research on Terrorism and library and information professionals serving these scholars. Originality/value The study is original research highlighting the role of library and information managers in information discovery and identification on Terrorism

Security of Citizens of Bangladesh through Digitalization: A Review

The security of the citizens of Bangladesh through digitalisation is an important issue in the current context In this case digitization facilities especially e-policing will also play a role in online based i e cyber criminal identification Citizens get digital benefits related to the safety of citizens regarding online GDs lost passports certificates bank check-books night guard emergency flights or domestic help Since apocalyptic initiatives involve issues such as national databases such as case docket management crime statistics crime intelligence geo-policing and motor vehicle clearing certificates and GIS mobile crime mapping it contributes significantly to crime reduction in any country including Banglades

Books Fit for a King: The Presentation Copies of Martin Bucer's De regno Christi (London, British Library, Royal MS. 8 B. VII) and Johannes Sturm's De periodis (Cambridge, Trinity College, II.12.21 and London, British Library, C.24.e.5)

This article discusses the presentation copies of two sixteenth-century works, Martin Bucer’s De regno Christi and Johannes Sturm’s De periodis, both of which were sent in fine copies by Bucer to John Cheke in 1550. The covering letter that accompanied these books survives today at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, whilst the presentation copy of De regno Christi intended for King Edward VI is British Library, Royal MS. 8 B. VII. The circumstances surrounding these books, their production and transmission can be reconstructed in unusual and intriguing detail. This article presents several new and important discoveries, including the identification of the two presentation copies of Sturm’s De periodis mentioned by Bucer in his letter (today London, British Library, C.24.e.5 and Cambridge, Trinity College, II.12.21), as well as the tentative attribution of the binding of Royal MS. 8 B. VII to Bucer’s collaborator, the Strasbourg-based printer Remigius Guidon. An in-depth analysis of these artefacts and their codicological features confirms that TCC II.12.21 was intended for Edward VI, whereas BL C.24.e.5 can be identified, for the first time, as a book designed for and received by Princess Elizabeth. The dynamics governing the production and exchange of presentation copies between the Edwardian court and the Protestant reformers serve to paint a sharply focused picture of Bucer’s activities around 1550, that is, at a key moment of religious change in England

Identification of attributes for evaluating the content of e-government websites: a systematic literature review

In the last twenty years, e-government has become a strong complement to traditional public services. This study involved a systematic literature review to select studies enabling the identification of the attributes used to evaluate how content is delivered to users. The search strategy was limited to four databases to cover egovernment multidisciplinary areas. The sources of information used were books, book chapters, conference papers, and articles in peer-reviewed journals, written in English or Portuguese, and which subjects included e-government research, published since 2000. The PRISMA statement has guided the research methodology. The lack of explanation of the role of the attributes found in the studies and the diversified terminology used, can be pointed as the main limitations of the study. On the other hand, since the interpretation was based on author past experiences and convictions, there may be a bias in the understanding of the less clear attributes with consequences on their description and the interpretation of similarities among attributes. The research resulted in the identification of 139 attributes, from which 56 are considered main attributes, and 83 similar attributes. Attributes such as quality, interface, content, information, user experience, usability, and accessibility appear as the most relevantinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A List of 267 French Texts in Tours: A Hub for Reading in the Vernacular

This article analyses the late fifteenth-century booklist on folios 78r to 82v of Manuscript français 2912 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, listing over 267 books in French. A close study of the material aspects of the document itself and of the texts listed in the inventory has allowed for a new dating of the booklist, to shortly after 1494, and for a fairly reliable hypothesis concerning the owner of the books: a bookseller specialising in second-hand books in French. The geographical indication in the booklist, «In Tours in front of the hôtel [town house] of monseigneur de Dunois», can be located in the town on the basis of historical maps: in the Grand Rue (now the rue Colbert) against the southern wall of the church of Saint-Julien or next to its southern and main entrance. Comparison with other book producers and booksellers in Paris and in Flanders shows that this is a typical location. The names and locations of booksellers and artisans active in the production of books in Tours as contained in the notarial archives of the town have unfortunately not permitted an identification of the bookseller, although the printer Simon Pourcelet had his printing workshop and bookshop nearby. Documented lending activities of booksellers in Flanders and the open character of other late medieval libraries and book collections show that this remarkably rich collection of literary, historical, pragmatic, and religious books in French was most likely an open access hub for reading in the vernacular in the bustling heart of late medieval Tours.L’articolo analizza un elenco tardoquattrocentesco di libri, riportato sui folii 78r-82v del Manuscript français 2912 conservato presso la Bibliothèque nationale de France a Parigi, in cui sono elencati oltre 267 libri in francese. Uno studio puntuale degli aspetti materiali del documento e dei testi in esso elencati ha permesso di stabilire, come nuova datazione dell’elenco di libri, un periodo di poco seguente al 1494, così come è stato possibile proporre un’ipotesi piuttosto attendibile relativamente al suo proprietario: un venditore di libri specializzato in testi in francese di seconda mano. L’indicazione geografica riportata nell’elenco, «A Tours davanti all’hôtel [casa cittadina] del monseigneur de Dunois» individuata nella città sulla base delle mappe storiche: si trovava nella Grand Rue (ora rue Colbert) contro le mura meridionali della chiesa di Saint-Julien, o di fianco alla sua entrata principale, quella meridionale. Un confronto con altri produttori e venditori di libri a Parigi e nelle Fiandre evidenzia come questa sia una collocazione tipica. Il nome e la posizione spaziale dei rivenditori e degli artigiani attivi nella produzione di libri a Tours, contenuti negli archivi notarili della città, sfortunatamente non hanno permesso di identificare il venditore di libri in questione, nonostante lo stampatore Simon Pourcelet avesse la sua stamperia e il suo negozio nelle vicinanze. L’attività di prestito dei venditori di libri fiamminghi e l’aspetto ‘aperto’ delle altre biblioteche medievali e delle collezioni di libri dimostrano che questa collezione, particolarmente ricca di opere in francese di tema letterario, storico, pragmatico e religioso, fu probabilmente un luogo di libero accesso per la lettura vernacolare nel cuore pulsante della Tours bassomedievale