Hypermedia as medium

Claims and rebuttals that hypermedia (the associative, nonlinear interconnection of multimedia materials) is a fundamentally innovative means of thinking and communicating are described. This representational architecture has many advantages that make it a major advance over other media; however, it also has several intrinsic problems that severly limits its effectiveness as a medium. These advantages and limits in applications are discussed

The role of unit evaluation, learning and culture dimensions related to student cognitive style in hypermedia learning

Recent developments in learning technologies such as hypermedia are\ud becoming widespread and offer significant contributions to improving the delivery\ud of learning and teaching materials. A key factor in the development of hypermedia\ud learning systems is cognitive style (CS) as it relates to users‟ information\ud processing habits, representing individual users‟ typical modes of perceiving,\ud thinking, remembering and problem solving.\ud \ud \ud \ud \ud A total of 97 students from Australian (45) and Malaysian (52) universities\ud participated in a survey. Five types of predictor variables were investigated with\ud the CS: (i) three learning dimensions; (ii) five culture dimensions; (iii) evaluation\ud of units; (iv) demographics of students; and (v) country in which students studied.\ud Both multiple regression models and tree-based regression were used to analyse\ud the direct effect of the five types of predictor variables, and the interactions within\ud each type of predictor variable. When comparing both models, tree-based\ud regression outperformed the generalized linear model in this study. The research\ud findings indicate that unit evaluation is the primary variable to determine students‟\ud CS. A secondary variable is learning dimension and, among the three dimensions,\ud only nonlinear learning and learner control dimensions have an effect on students‟\ud CS. The last variable is culture and, among the five culture dimensions, only\ud power distance, long term orientation, and individualism have effects on students‟\ud CS. Neither demographics nor country have an effect on students‟ CS.\ud These overall findings suggest that traditional unit evaluation, students‟\ud preference for learning dimensions (such as linear vs non-linear), level of learner\ud control and culture orientation must be taken into consideration in order to enrich\ud students‟ quality of education. This enrichment includes motivating students to\ud acquire subject matter through individualized instruction when designing,\ud developing and delivering educational resources

Flexibility and Interaction at a Distance: A Mixed-Model Environment For Language Learning

This article reports on the process of design and development of two language courses for university students at beginning levels of competence. Following a preliminary experience in a low-tech environment for distance language learning and teaching, and a thorough review of the available literature, we identified two major challenges that would need to be addressed in our design: (1) a necessity to build sufficient flexibility into the materials to cater to a variety of learners' styles, interests and skill levels, therefore sustaining learners' motivation; and (2) a need to design materials that would present the necessary requisites of authenticity and interactivity identified in the examined literature, in spite of the reduced opportunities for face-to-face communication. In response to these considerations, we designed and developed learning materials and tasks to be distributed on CD-ROM, complemented by a WebCT component for added interactivity and task authenticity. Although only part of the original design was implemented, and further research is needed to assess the impact of our environment on learning outcomes, the results of preliminary evaluations are encouraging

A Longitudinal Study on the Effect of Hypermedia on Learning Dimensions, Culture and Teaching Evaluation

Earlier studies have found the effectiveness of hypermedia systems as learning tools heavily depend on their compatibility with the cognitive processes by which students perceive, understand and learn from complex information\ud sources. Hence, a learner’s cognitive style plays a significant role in determining how much is learned from a hypermedia learning system. A longitudinal study of Australian and Malaysian students was conducted over two semesters in 2008. Five types of predictor variables were investigated with cognitive style: (i) learning dimensions (nonlinear learning, learner control, multiple tools); (ii)\ud culture dimensions (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, long/short term orientation); (iii) evaluation of units; (iv) student demographics; and (v) country in which students studied. This study uses both multiple linear regression and linear mixed effects to model the relationships among the variables. The results from this study support the findings of a cross-sectional study conducted by Lee et al. (2010); in particular, the predictor variables are significant to determine students’ cognitive style

Evaluation of social personalized adaptive E-Learning environments : end-user point of view

The use of adaptations, along with the social affordances of collaboration and networking, carries a great potential for improving e-learning experiences. However, the review of the previous work indicates current e-learning systems have only marginally explored the integration of social features and adaptation techniques. The overall aim of this research, therefore, is to address this gap by evaluating a system developed to foster social personalized adaptive e-learning experiences. We have developed our first prototype system, Topolor, based on the concepts of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia and Social E-Learning. We have also conducted an experimental case study for the evaluation of the prototype system from different perspectives. The results show a considerably high satisfaction of the end users. This paper reports the evaluation results from end user point of view, and generalizes our method to a component-based evaluation framework

User-centred design of flexible hypermedia for a mobile guide: Reflections on the hyperaudio experience

A user-centred design approach involves end-users from the very beginning. Considering users at the early stages compels designers to think in terms of utility and usability and helps develop the system on what is actually needed. This paper discusses the case of HyperAudio, a context-sensitive adaptive and mobile guide to museums developed in the late 90s. User requirements were collected via a survey to understand visitors’ profiles and visit styles in Natural Science museums. The knowledge acquired supported the specification of system requirements, helping defining user model, data structure and adaptive behaviour of the system. User requirements guided the design decisions on what could be implemented by using simple adaptable triggers and what instead needed more sophisticated adaptive techniques, a fundamental choice when all the computation must be done on a PDA. Graphical and interactive environments for developing and testing complex adaptive systems are discussed as a further step towards an iterative design that considers the user interaction a central point. The paper discusses how such an environment allows designers and developers to experiment with different system’s behaviours and to widely test it under realistic conditions by simulation of the actual context evolving over time. The understanding gained in HyperAudio is then considered in the perspective of the developments that followed that first experience: our findings seem still valid despite the passed time

"Revolution? What Revolution?" Successes and limits of computing technologies in philosophy and religion

Computing technologies like other technological innovations in the modern West are inevitably introduced with the rhetoric of "revolution". Especially during the 1980s (the PC revolution) and 1990s (the Internet and Web revolutions), enthusiasts insistently celebrated radical changes— changes ostensibly inevitable and certainly as radical as those brought about by the invention of the printing press, if not the discovery of fire.\ud These enthusiasms now seem very "1990s�—in part as the revolution stumbled with the dot.com failures and the devastating impacts of 9/11. Moreover, as I will sketch out below, the patterns of diffusion and impact in philosophy and religion show both tremendous success, as certain revolutionary promises are indeed kept—as well as (sometimes spectacular) failures. Perhaps we use revolutionary rhetoric less frequently because the revolution has indeed succeeded: computing technologies, and many of the powers and potentials they bring us as scholars and religionists have become so ubiquitous and normal that they no longer seem "revolutionary at all. At the same time, many of the early hopes and promises instantiated in such specific projects as Artificial Intelligence and anticipations of virtual religious communities only have been dashed against the apparently intractable limits of even these most remarkable technologies. While these failures are usually forgotten they leave in their wake a clearer sense of what these new technologies can, and cannot do

Reviews

Brian Clegg, Mining The Internet — Information Gathering and Research on the Net, Kogan Page: London, 1999. ISBN: 0–7494–3025–7. Paperback, 147 pages, £9.99

Factors shaping the evolution of electronic documentation systems

The main goal is to prepare the space station technical and managerial structure for likely changes in the creation, capture, transfer, and utilization of knowledge. By anticipating advances, the design of Space Station Project (SSP) information systems can be tailored to facilitate a progression of increasingly sophisticated strategies as the space station evolves. Future generations of advanced information systems will use increases in power to deliver environmentally meaningful, contextually targeted, interconnected data (knowledge). The concept of a Knowledge Base Management System is emerging when the problem is focused on how information systems can perform such a conversion of raw data. Such a system would include traditional management functions for large space databases. Added artificial intelligence features might encompass co-existing knowledge representation schemes; effective control structures for deductive, plausible, and inductive reasoning; means for knowledge acquisition, refinement, and validation; explanation facilities; and dynamic human intervention. The major areas covered include: alternative knowledge representation approaches; advanced user interface capabilities; computer-supported cooperative work; the evolution of information system hardware; standardization, compatibility, and connectivity; and organizational impacts of information intensive environments

Review on learning orientations

The need has arises towards the consideration of individual difference to let learners engage in and responsible for their own learning, retain information longer, apply the knowledge more effectively, have positive attitudes towards the subject, have more interest in learning materials, score higher and have high intrinsic motivation level. As regard to the importance of individual differences, Martinez (2000) has grounded a new theory, which is Intentional Learning Theory that covered individual aspects of cognitive, intention, social and emotion. This theory hypothesizes that the fundamental of understanding how individual learns, interact with an environment, performs, engages in learning, experiences learning, and assimilate and accommodate the new knowledge is by understanding individual’s fundamental emotions and intentions about how to use learning, why it is important, when the suitable time, and how it can accomplish personal goals and change. The intent of this theory is to focus on emotions and intentions of an individual regarding why, when and how learning goals are organized, processed, and achieved. In conclusion, Learning Orientations introduced by this theory describes the disposition of an individual in approaching, managing and achieving their learning intentionally and differently from others