Virtual Communities ‘Group Discussions’: An Australian Teaching and Learning Perspective

This paper provides an Australian perspective on teaching and learning using virtual communities, mainly ‘e.g. group discussions’. Understanding the increased importance of technology, Curtin Business School (CBS) has undertaken to improve and enhance teaching and learning facilities aimed at students enrolled for degrees via various modes i.e. internal, external and fully online. Currently, CBS uses the Blackboard Course Management Software (Blackboard) to provide course materials to students, which allows the development of virtual communities ‘e.g. group discussions’. Using this software, the aim is to enhance students’ teaching and learning abilities. This is principally achieved through either replacing traditional teaching amenities at CBS by technologically advanced medium, or allowing both media to work side by side aiming at the enhancement of students’ learning experience. The Blackboard software has various approaches in assisting students interacting and sharing their knowledge and ideas with students, and simultaneously with teaching staff through virtual communities ‘e.g. group discussions.’Group Discussions forums have provided various benefits to students and lectures providing teaching staff the chance to examine their students’ work using this interface. Students’ online work includes their interactions (i.e. student/student) and provides the teaching staff the opportunity to monitor students’ progress. This paper outlines the benefits, challenges, impacts and implications of using group discussions from two teaching staff at two different schools at CBS of Curtin University. The university uses this approach in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses, both internal, external, and fully online providing ideas that might be applied to further enhance the strength of this medium. However, this paper focuses mainly on undergraduate discussion boards, with one concentrating on a mixed approach (i.e. face-to-face and virtual), while the other (being external mode) was only through the use of Blackboard

Cloud Computing and Sustainability: An Australian Public Sector Perspective

Businesses are compelled to shift their organizations’ strategies to focus on sustainable growth. The recent summits in Copenhagen and Cancun have alerted businesses of their corporate social and environmental responsibilities. This require a shift in mindset that it is no longer the economic and financial stability that will drive an organization’s success but the longevity and sustainability of any organizations are also heavily dependent on their social and environmental outlook. An organization may no longer be sustainable if their social and environmental approach is de-coupled from the organization’s strategies. A way forward might be through the application of ethical management integrated with a full understanding of the agile and innovative technological solutions. This paper provides findings from a survey of the Australian public sector organizations of the awareness of cloud computing technology and the attitudes toward this innovative business solution. Two hundred and forty responses were received from the public sector organizations in Australia. The findings reveal that cloud computing technology is an important trend, and it can be concluded that it is extremely important for business leaders in their entirety, not just the IT managers, to understand the great potential that cloud computing technology has to offer

Green IT and Sustainable Development Strategies: An Australian experience

This paper reports on the development and facilitation of an intensive postgraduate unit (IS6) at Curtin University. IS6 aimed at enhancing Information Systems students’ appreciation and awareness of their industry’s impact on the environment, and their ultimate responsibility towards their communities and society. Throughout the seminars, students were keen to demonstrate awareness and sensitivity to the importance of sustainable development and business strategies in such a crucial time for people, planet and profits. Indeed, students were able to display an understanding of the fundamentals of Green IT, applying conceptual tools and frameworks to critically analyze and apply business decision-making practices and policies, translating theories, concepts and analytical techniques learnt into practice.The paper reports on quantitative and qualitative data collected throughout the semester from eighteen students, the diverse assessment methods applied, the three written journals, students’ individual oral presentations including peer-evaluation and report writing of an IT Sustainable Strategy. This comes in addition to the feedback provided through informal channels and more importantly through ‘eVALUate’, a feedback system adapted by Curtin University. The preliminary outcome, though limited to Australian higher education, yet reveals a shift in the students’ mindsets towards appreciation of the big picture, thus moving from merely concentrating on their software and hardware development into establishing the link between their specific industry and the society and environment

Does 'MP3' audio feedback enhance students' learning skills?: An international case study

Feedback in higher education, via either traditional or technology approaches, is essential to promote students' skills and knowledge. This study aims to assess students’ responses to the lecturer’s ‘MP3’ audio feedback in four postgraduate units in Australia and Portugal. Two methods are used to provide feedback to the students: traditional and audio ‘MP3’ feedback. The former tracks via a Microsoft word application system, giving academics the chance to include comments regarding what went wrong, and how things might be improved in terms of the topic, structure, layout, style, referencing, grammar and syntax, and proofreading requirements embedded within the assessment. The ‘MP3’ approach, on the other hand, recodes the feedback message using the free software ‘Audacity’. This ‘MP3’ contains a personalized message highlighting the good and bad points, and provides suggestions for improving the final submission. This study provides empirical evidence based on three sources: informal and formal student feedback, and an online survey. The 184 students who participated in the study appeared to be pleased and quite satisfied with the ‘MP3’ audio assessment feedback approach as their learning outcomes and their writing, research, listening, and technology skills were enhanced

The impact of Cloud Computing and organizational sustainability

When economic times get tough, businesses worldwide are compelled to review their organizational expenses and priorities and to strategically consider how best to save. Traditionally, Information Technology (IT) department is one area that would be affected negatively in the review. To better serve the organization and clients and for business to continue to increase productivity, it is important to understand which technology investments might allow for cost reduction and efficient use of resources. Continuing to fund these strategic technologies during an economic downturn is vital to organizations. It is predicted that in coming years IT resources will only be available online. More and more organizations are looking at operating smarter businesses by investigating technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization and green IT to find ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies. 'Cloud computing' is one recent phenomenon which is predominantly driven by industry recognition of the triple bottom line making sustainability their focus. This is also driven by industry needs that may have the ability to transform the workplace, with a focus on capital expenditure, infrastructure, applications, usage, mobility, and cost structure.The attraction of cloud computing is obvious with noticeable freedom from managing and hosting applications, platforms, and infrastructure. Though advantages of cloud computing are countless, cloud computing is still in its infancy and has disadvantages such as security, privacy, reliability, physical location of data and the unavailability of service due to crashes or bugs in providers' storages; the consequences of which are merely unknown. These disadvantages might be tackled through the proper introduction, training and implementation of codes of ethics as guiding principle to those involved in the usage of cloud computing in business. This paper provides a brief literature review of cloud computing, followed by an analysis of the cloud-computing environment using the PESTEL framework. The future implications and limitations of adopting cloud computing as an effective ecofriendly strategy to reduce carbon footprint are also discussed in the paper. This paper concludes with a recommendation to guide researchers to further examine this phenomenon

Human Computer Interaction and Usability in the new Participative Methodology for Marketing Websites

Technological devices and information and communications technology (ICT) have become the new tactic for communication, collaboration, and the exchange of knowledge and innovation between organizations and users. These devices include websites, system and application software, and mobile and portable devices. Nevertheless, it has been noted that these devices, including websites, still lack important functionalities and utilities, i.e. Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and usability. HCI and usability are essential in any device to allow the user to complete his/her task(s) in less time and with high-quality performance. The absence of HCI and usability aspects in technology devices and ICT will lead users to become frustrated and dissatisfied, and their loyalty will be reduced. A new coherent methodology called the New Participative Methodology for Marketing Websites (NPMMW) was developed to prevent this problem. The HCI and usability aspects are combined in the design stage, in the NPMMW, to increase user acceptance of the website, and to reduce users’ dissatisfaction. This study employment an online survey (N=210) from an Australian information technology industry that allowed the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The study provided theoretically and practical significance contribution; that HCI and usability integration in the NPMMW would enhance users’ acceptance, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty, and would minimize users’ frustration and aggravation, likewise; the NPMMW methodology will assist designers and users to create an effective website that meet the requirements of users and designers. Finally, an overview of the NPMMW methodology is provided, together with proposals for further research

E-Learning and sustainability in higher education: An international case study

The learning management systems (LMS) facility has become an essential tool in teaching and learning processes for higher education, since this tool assists students and lecturers to interact, communicate, collaborate, and corporate, and this can lead to cultivating and improving students’ communication skills. Currently, the majority of universities nationally and internationally are using LMS (Blackboard and Moodle) for uploading unit materials, including assessment tasks. This study will assess LMS from a different angle by examining lecturers’ and students’ attitudes to it as a means of submitting assessment tasks with the traditional method. Using the LMS facility for the submission of assessment tasks can assist students as well lecturers to reduce the amount of materials being used (such as paper) and preserve resources; moreover, the cost of binding and delivery will be reduced or eliminated since all submissions are made automatically. This study provides an answer to the question “Do assessment tasks submissions made via learning management systems (LMS) and email increase sustainability awareness among Information Systems students in Portugal and Australia?"The answer was obtained through informal student feedback (N=63) containing quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicated that a win-win situation is created since lecturers are delighted that e-learning sustainability principles are being successfully promoted in their teaching and learning approaches, since all communications between students are established via email, blackboard and Moodle forums. Furthermore, the research study confirmed that the uploading of assessment tasks via LMS and email facilities is easier, inexpensive, convenient and less time-consuming compared with the traditional methods of submission and feedback. In addition, this method is more sustainable (as fewer materials are used), practical and cheaper, as these principles are aligned with those of the Sustainability and E-learning (SeL) Model

Development and evaluation of a methodology for developing websites

This research focuses on the development of a new methodology for creating effective websites, especially those used for marketing. It was found that existing methodologies were missing some key stages - user participation and “real interaction” (i.e. monitoring of user interaction with a prototype site). This has led to users being frustrated and lacking loyalty to the website. There is great potential for combining aspects of methodologies from different disciplines; however, these need to be integrated in a coherent way. To address these problems, a new integrated methodology was developed in this research. The new methodology was created from basic concepts derived from: lifecycle models; Information Systems development methodologies; methodologies with explicit human factors aspects; websites methodologies; marketing methodologies; and additional techniques such as task analysis and detailed website design and implementation. After studying the lifecycle model, the researcher identified four key principles, which were the foundation of the research: user participation; iteration; usability and “real interaction”. The way in which these four principles were incorporated in each methodology was evaluated in order to choose the strongest stages to utilize in the new combined methodology. After reviewing techniques for methodology integration, a new draft methodology was produced. To assess the new methodology, two research phases were used - interviews and a questionnaire. In the former phase, the researcher interviewed representatives from nine website development companies in Western Australia to discuss their current methodologies and compared these with the new methodology.Most of the industry participants were pleased with the structure of the new methodology, as most agreed that it incorporates the necessary requirements to develop a successful website. The interviews generated some recommendations for revisions to the methodology, which assisted the researcher to improve the new methodology. In the latter phase, an online questionnaire was completed by a total of website industry participant andInformation Systems Professionals, in order to assess the revised methodology. Results from the interviews and questionnaire supported the research hypothesis – i.e. that the new integrated methodology can provide a more effective way of developing websites, utilizing the four key principles. This thesis points to the need for further research, including the development of a website describing the new methodology. This website will incorporate a software tool to facilitate selection of particular stages, steps and techniques from theintegrated methodology to produce a tailored methodology for any specific project, thereby implementing the concept of “contingency”

Social networking for web-based communities

In the 21st century, a new technology was introduced to facilitate communication, collaboration, and interaction between individuals and businesses. This technology is called social networking; this technology is now part of Internet commodities like email, browsing and blogging. From the 20th century until now, the internet has shaped the way organisations, academics and health sectors to interact, communicate, connect, and exchange knowledge around the world. Social networking can reduce enterprises cost, increase profit, and assist to develop new communication forms between consumers, stakeholders, vendors, suppliers, universities and health departments. However, this technology can create new challenges for education and its governance and management. Social networking is considered to be as a precursor to the new ways of 3D virtual presence that will gradually supplant the telephone and video conferencing and finally even diminish the face-to-face communication. This article examines these opportunities, challenges, and threats of social networking in organisation, education and healthcare sectors