eLearning lecturer workload: Working smarter or working harder?

Lecturers who move into the online learning environment often discover that the workload involved not only changes, but can be overwhelming as they cope with using digital technologies. Questions arise, given the dissatisfaction of lecturers with lowering morale and increasing workload, whether future expansion of this teaching component in tertiary institutions is sustainable. The challenge facing lecturers now, and in the future, is about learning workload management strategies which effectively manage the workload they encounter in the online learning environment. This paper describes a case study (which is a work-in-progress) examining the perceptions of online workload cf. face-to-face teaching of lecturers who are experienced in e-teaching. As well, it identifies strategies the lecturers have developed or adopted to manage this element of their workload

Effects of gestational age at birth on cognitive performance : a function of cognitive workload demands

Objective: Cognitive deficits have been inconsistently described for late or moderately preterm children but are consistently found in very preterm children. This study investigates the association between cognitive workload demands of tasks and cognitive performance in relation to gestational age at birth. Methods: Data were collected as part of a prospective geographically defined whole-population study of neonatal at-risk children in Southern Bavaria. At 8;5 years, n = 1326 children (gestation range: 23–41 weeks) were assessed with the K-ABC and a Mathematics Test. Results: Cognitive scores of preterm children decreased as cognitive workload demands of tasks increased. The relationship between gestation and task workload was curvilinear and more pronounced the higher the cognitive workload: GA2 (quadratic term) on low cognitive workload: R2 = .02, p<0.001; moderate cognitive workload: R2 = .09, p<0.001; and high cognitive workload tasks: R2 = .14, p<0.001. Specifically, disproportionally lower scores were found for very (<32 weeks gestation) and moderately (32–33 weeks gestation) preterm children the higher the cognitive workload of the tasks. Early biological factors such as gestation and neonatal complications explained more of the variance in high (12.5%) compared with moderate (8.1%) and low cognitive workload tasks (1.7%). Conclusions: The cognitive workload model may help to explain variations of findings on the relationship of gestational age with cognitive performance in the literature. The findings have implications for routine cognitive follow-up, educational intervention, and basic research into neuro-plasticity and brain reorganization after preterm birth

The effect of real workloads and stochastic workloads on the performance of allocation and scheduling algorithms in 2D mesh multicomputers

The performance of the existing non-contiguous processor allocation strategies has been traditionally carried out by means of simulation based on a stochastic workload model to generate a stream of incoming jobs. To validate the performance of the existing algorithms, there has been a need to evaluate the algorithms' performance based on a real workload trace. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of several well-known processor allocation and job scheduling strategies based on a real workload trace and compare the results against those obtained from using a stochastic workload. Our results reveal that the conclusions reached on the relative performance merits of the allocation strategies when a real workload trace is used are in general compatible with those obtained when a stochastic workload is used

A L\'evy input fluid queue with input and workload regulation

We consider a queuing model with the workload evolving between consecutive i.i.d.\ exponential timers $\{e_q^{(i)}\}_{i=1,2,...}$ according to a spectrally positive L\'evy process $Y_i(t)$ that is reflected at zero, and where the environment $i$ equals 0 or 1. When the exponential clock $e_q^{(i)}$ ends, the workload, as well as the L\'evy input process, are modified; this modification may depend on the current value of the workload, the maximum and the minimum workload observed during the previous cycle, and the environment $i$ of the L\'evy input process itself during the previous cycle. We analyse the steady-state workload distribution for this model. The main theme of the analysis is the systematic application of non-trivial functionals, derived within the framework of fluctuation theory of L\'evy processes, to workload and queuing models

Smart driving assistance systems : designing and evaluating ecological and conventional displays

In-vehicle information systems have been shown to increase driver workload and cause distraction; both are causal factors for accidents. This simulator study evaluates the impact that two designs for a smart driving aid and scenario complexity has on workload, distraction and driving performance. Results showed that real-time delivery of smart driving information did not increase driver workload or adversely affect driver distraction, while having the effect of decreasing mean driving speed in both the simple and complex driving scenarios. Important differences were also highlighted between conventional and ecologically designed smart driving interfaces with respect to subjective workload and peripheral detection

A Novel Workload Allocation Strategy for Batch Jobs

The distribution of computational tasks across a diverse set of geographically distributed heterogeneous resources is a critical issue in the realisation of true computational grids. Conventionally, workload allocation algorithms are divided into static and dynamic approaches. Whilst dynamic approaches frequently outperform static schemes, they usually require the collection and processing of detailed system information at frequent intervals - a task that can be both time consuming and unreliable in the real-world. This paper introduces a novel workload allocation algorithm for optimally distributing the workload produced by the arrival of batches of jobs. Results show that, for the arrival of batches of jobs, this workload allocation algorithm outperforms other commonly used algorithms in the static case. A hybrid scheduling approach (using this workload allocation algorithm), where information about the speed of computational resources is inferred from previously completed jobs, is then introduced and the efficiency of this approach demonstrated using a real world computational grid. These results are compared to the same workload allocation algorithm used in the static case and it can be seen that this hybrid approach comprehensively outperforms the static approach

Age differences in perceived workload across a short vigil

The main objective of this research was to investigate age differences in the perceived workload associated with the performance of a demanding, high event rate, vigilance task. Younger participants (n=26) aged 16 to 35 years (M=27.8) and older participants (n=24) aged 45 to 65 years (M=52.2) completed perceived workload scales (NASA-TLX) following a brief practice session (pretest) on the vigilance task, and then again following a test session (posttest) lasting nine minutes. In relation to the vigilance task, a statistically significant performance decrement was identified, but there was no evidence that performance differed according to age in respect to that decrement. However, a dissociation was found in relation to the perceived workload ratings: while no age differences were found in vigilance performance, the workload ratings revealed older participants to perceive a significantly greater increase in workload from pretest to posttest. These findings are considered theoretically in relation to the demands placed upon attentional resources, and their implications for both laboratory-based vigilance research, and workplace systems monitoring situations, are discussed

Promoting positive gender outcomes in higher education through active workload management

The Higher Education Funding Council funded report 'Promoting Positive Gender Outcomes in HE Through Active Workload Management' includes HEI case study interviews, surveys and workload data analysis to investigate the disparity between the genders in their careers. For example in 2010 although women made up 43% of the academic workforce when looking at the Professorial role only 18.7% were women. The report, through the field work and data analysis, uncovers a range of quite subtle factors that appear to be working together to create this imbalance and includes recommendations for better practice in workload allocation