Social aspects associated with modern distance learning programmes

The repositioning of the distance learning as a mode of course delivery is largely backed up by the recent advancements in communication technologies. It is widely visible that the modern Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools are being predominantly used within these distance learning environments. Primarily these Computer Mediated Communication tools were often developed with the priority given to address the structural and management issues visible within Distance Learning environments. However, the focus of any teaching or learning mechanism, distance or otherwise, needs to be able to facilitate the learner’s actual learning process. Within traditional learning and teaching environments, social aspects of a classroom setting (e.g. guidance and support, body language, feedback, interactions with other learners etc.,) are regarded as important learning facilities in addition to the traditional audio and visual communication facilities. However, these social aspects have not received adequate consideration in existing distance learning tools and have initiated a very limited number of discussions within the Distance Learning literature. Further, with specific to construction education, these social aspects may become more desired as the subjects are of a more diversified nature in terms of technological, environmental and management oriented. This paper therefore investigates the case of a DL setting within a construction school in the Higher Education (HE) sector of the UK to identify the extent to which the current Computer Mediated distant learning tools address the wider aspects of supporting a classroom situation during its operation so that appropriate improvements can be made in utilising these tools to deliver construction related distance learning courses

Inter-organizational collaboration among health and social care: TRT©, a transactional approach

Inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) supported by information and communication technologies (ICTs) faces challenges on many fronts in 21st century England as well as globally. Between the somewhat desirable ideal of 'joined up' systems providing efficient services to customers and clients on one side of the continuum, and the costs and risk factors associated with integrating data or constructing large databases on the other side, a fundamental tension exists. This paper addresses this issue in two parts. Firstly, it argues that there is a way forward for information sharing among heterogeneous organizations which does not involve the integration of systems, interoperability, joined up recordkeeping, database linkage, or construction of yet another large database. Transactions in Real Time© (TRT©), the transaction by transaction information sharing approach, satisfies all the requirements of each collaborating organization for information sharing. Secondly, this paper briefly considers the future of IOC among health and social care and possible pathways forward through this uncertain area. The health and social care information sharing transaction is often unique among the particular transaction situation, and the micro and macro environments

Towards an aspect weaving BPEL engine

This position paper proposes the use of dynamic aspects and the visitor design pattern to obtain a highly configurable and extensible BPEL engine. Using these two techniques, the core of this infrastructural software can be customised to meet new requirements and add features such as debugging, execution monitoring, or changing to another Web Service selection policy. Additionally, it can easily be extended to cope with customer-specific BPEL extensions. We propose the use of dynamic aspects not only on the engine itself but also on the workflow in order to tackle the problems of Web Service hot deployment and hot fixes to long running processes. In this way, composing aWeb Service "on-the-fly" means weaving its choreography interface into the workflow

The 4s web-marketing mix model

This paper reviews the criticism on the 4Ps Marketing Mix framework, the most popular tool of traditional marketing management, and categorizes the main objections of using the model as the foundation of physical marketing. It argues that applying the traditional approach, based on the 4Ps paradigm, is also a poor choice in the case of virtual marketing and identifies two main limitations of the framework in online environments: the drastically diminished role of the Ps and the lack of any strategic elements in the model. Next to identifying the critical factors of the Web marketing, the paper argues that the basis for successful E-Commerce is the full integration of the virtual activities into the company’s physical strategy, marketing plan and organisational processes. The four S elements of the Web-Marketing Mix framework present a sound and functional conceptual basis for designing, developing and commercialising Business-to-Consumer online projects. The model was originally developed for educational purposes and has been tested and refined by means of field projects; two of them are presented as case studies in the paper.\ud \u

Cultivating Teachers When the School Doors Are Shut: Two Teacher-Educators Reflect on Supervision, Instruction, Change and Opportunity During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Seven weeks into our Spring 2020 semester, the Covid-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc on the world. The pandemic caused immediate shutdowns to schools and universities fundamentally changing how we plan for, teach, guide, and work with students. This paper explores how two first-year Assistant Professors navigated the challenges we faced and the learning opportunities we embraced while continuing our work as teacher educators amid a pandemic-induced shutdown. We employed collective self-study to examine our experiences while transitioning to remote learning with pre-service teachers using Moore\u27s (2012, 1993, 1989) transactional distance theory as an analytical framework to review our work as teachers in an online setting. We found that educators need to be open to continuous enhancements of instructional practices, there is a need to develop ways to equalize positions between the instructor and students, and we need to be conscious of opportunities students have to demonstrate creativity in their work. As part of this review, we developed and used a Four R\u27s Professional Inquiry Model (Recognition, Reflection, Reaction, Results) based on Moore\u27s work to help make meaning of our findings and recommendations for other practitioners

Distance learning of foreign languages

doi: 10.1017/S0261444806003727This article provides a critical overview of the field of distance language learning, challenging the way in which the field is often narrowly conceptualised as the development of technology-mediated language learning opportunities. Early sections focus on issues of concept and definition and both theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on the field. Emphasis is placed on evident shifts from a concern with structural and organisational issues to a focus on transactional issues associated with teaching/learning opportunities within emerging paradigms for distance language learning. The next section reviews choices and challenges in incorporating technology into distance language learning environments, foregrounding decisions about technology made in particular sociocultural contexts, the contribution of ‘low-end’ technologies and research directions in developing new learning spaces and in using online technologies. The investigation of learner contributions to distance language learning is an important avenue of enquiry in the field, given the preoccupation with technology and virtual learning environments, and this is the subject of section six. The two final sections identify future research directions and provide a series of conclusions about research and practice in distance language learning as technology-mediated interactions increasingly come to influence the way we think about the processes of language learning and teaching

Private Transactions in Public Places: An Exploration of the Impact of the Computer Environment on Public Transactional Web Site Use

Organizations and governments continue to advance toward using electronic means to interact with their customers. However, the use of this medium presents an access-to-service issue for people across the digital divide who do not have private Internet access from their homes. Publicly-available computers connected to the Internet are an important and expanding source of Internet access for consumers. Still, we do not know if people are willing to engage in e-commerce transactions in such environments. We expand the Facilitating Conditions construct of Triandis\u27 (1980) modified theory of reasoned action to develop a model of transactional Web site use in public environments that incorporates the physical and virtual computer environments associated with publicly accessible computers, moderated by the individual\u27s need for privacy. The model was tested in public libraries, and the results indicate that the virtual and physical facilitating conditions of a public computer are determinants of e-commerce use in a public environment, and the user\u27s need for privacy moderates these relationships