Investigating the enabling role of Web 2.0 technology for interactive e-learning in Australian and Sri Lankan higher education

Interactions are at the heart of e-learning as they enable learners to actively develop knowledge, acquire skills and develop the sense of belonging and satisfaction. Much attention is paid on developing interactive e-learning systems for facilitating active interactions between learners and learning resources, instructors and peer learners. Numerous technologies such as simulation technology and Web 2.0 technology are used to facilitate interactive e-learning to date. Those technologies support learners to interact with learning resources, instructors and peer learners to different extents. To facilitate interactive e-learning, it is important for educators and e-learning developers to understand how well technologies as above support interactions in e-learning. Web 2.0 technology has become popular around the world recently due to their ease of use, portability and high availability. Much research has been done on how Web 2.0 technology could be used for interactive e-learning. Existing research, however, has several limitations. For example, a majority of research has investigated how a specific Web 2.0 tool supports a specific kind of interactions in e-learning such as learner-learner interaction. Furthermore, much of existing research on Web 2.0 based interactive e-learning is conducted in developed countries. Whether Web 2.0 technology supports interactive e-learning in developing countries in a similar manner to developed countries, or whether developing countries could learn lessons from developed countries on using Web 2.0 technology for interactive e-learning are, therefore, not clear. This research aims to investigate the enabling role of Web 2.0 technology for interactive e-learning in higher education in Australia, a developed country and Sri Lanka, a developing country. To meet this aim, a quantitative research approach is adopted. Following this research approach, a conceptual framework on Web 2.0 based interactive e-learning developed based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, is validated using the survey data collected from learners in universities in Australia and Sri Lanka. The validation of the conceptual framework reveals that Web 2.0 technology supports the three major types of interactions in learning, namely, learner-learning resources, learner-instructor and learner-learner interactions in both Australia and Sri Lanka to a great extent. Furthermore, no significant differences are found on how Web 2.0 technology supports interactive e-learning in the above countries. The implication of these findings is that Web 2.0 tools could be used to improve the interactivity of e-learning. Another implication of this research is that new and more interactive e-learning systems can be developed by using Web 2.0 technology, in particular, for the purposes of managing learning resources, managing personal knowledge, delivering instructional support and collaborating in order to improve the effectiveness of e-learning. From a practical perspective, this study presents an in-depth investigation of how Web 2.0 technology can be used for improving the interactivity of e-learning in Australia and Sri Lanka. It also provides specific guidelines for developing interactive e-learning environments using Web 2.0 technology. From a theoretical perspective, this research finds that Web 2.0 technology could be used in developing countries and developed countries to improve the three major interactions in e-learning

Exploring the public value of eGovernment: An empirical study from Sri Lanka

E-government has become popular in Sri Lanka with the implementation of various e-government initiatives. The public value of these e-government initiatives, however, is not clear due to a lack of rigorous assessment so far on the performance of such e-government initiatives. This paper presents an empirical study in evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka within a conceptual framework developed based on a comprehensive review of existing literature. The study shows that the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka is far from satisfactory exemplified by the lack of e-transaction services and the low uptake of available e-government initiatives

A conceptual framework for evaluating the public value of e-Government: A case study from Sri Lanka

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for evaluating the public value of e-government from the perspective of citizens. Four dimensions of public value creation through e-government are considered including delivery of public service, achievement of outcomes, development of trust, and effectiveness of public organizations. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework, a case study of evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka is conducted. The results show that the proposed framework is effective in assessing the public value of e-government and pinpointing the areas for improvements in e-government

A citizen-oriented approach for evaluating the performance of e-government in Sri Lanka

This paper presents an empirical study of the performance of e-government in Sri Lanka from the perspective of citizens within a public value based conceptual framework. The delivery of quality public services, the effectiveness of public organizations, and the achievement of socially desirable outcomes through e-government are considered using the data from several national surveys. The study reveals that e-government in Sri Lanka has not been able to create satisfactory levels of public value due to the weaknesses in both the supply and demand sides of e-government including poor web presence of government, lack of e-services, poor information infrastructure, low information technology readiness of citizens, and low up-take of e-government initiatives. It suggests that the government can improve the public value of e-government by accelerating the development of e-services projects, developing the information and communication technology infrastructure, and taking necessary steps to enhance citizens' information technology readiness

Testing and validating a conceptual framework for evaluating the public value of e-government using structural equation modelling

This paper develops and validates a conceptual framework for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka. The delivery of public services and the efficiency and effectiveness of public organizations are considered based on a comprehensive literature review. Structural equation modelling is used on the survey data collected in Sri Lanka for testing and validating the proposed framework. The study shows that the delivery of quality information, delivery of online services, user orientation of public information and services, efficiency and responsiveness of public organizations, and contributions of public organizations to the environmental sustainability are the critical attributes for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka

A public value based empirical analysis of e-government in Sri Lanka

Tremendous investment and significant advances have been made in e-government in Sri Lanka. However, rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of such e-government investment is lacking. This paper presents an empirical study of the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka with respect to delivery of public service, achievement of outcomes, and development of trust. The study shows that the e-government in Sri Lanka has made important breakthroughs in promoting the awareness of e-government with the development of various government websites for facilitating information dissemination. The overall performance of e-government in Sri Lanka, however, is far from satisfactory due to the lack of etransactions services and the low uptake for available e-government initiatives

A Thematic Analysis of the Critical Factors for Evaluating the Public Value of e-Government

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A revised framework for evaluating the public value of e-government

The concept of public value is becoming increasingly popular as the modern driver for the development of electronic government worldwide. As a result, adequately evaluating the public value of e-government becomes critical, exemplified by the development of several frameworks in this regard. These frameworks, however, suffer from various shortcomings for effectively evaluating the public value of e-government. This paper presents a revised framework for evaluating the public value of e-government based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. Structural equation modelling is used for empirically testing and validating the proposed framework based on the survey data collected in Sri Lanka. The study shows that quality of information, e-services, user-orientation of information and services, efficiency and openness of public organizations, equity, self-development of citizens, trust, and contributions of public organizations to the environmental sustainability are the important public values in e-government

Measuring the pubic value of e-government: A case study

Purpose - This paper aims to present a case study on the public value of the e-Sri Lanka program. Four major dimensions of public value creation through e-government including the delivery of public services, the achievement of outcomes, the development of trust, and the effectiveness of public organizations are considered in evaluating the performance of the e-Sri Lanka program. The progress of e-Sri Lanka program is evaluated, and the potential areas for improvement in the development of e-government in Sri Lanka are identified

Developments of e-government in Sri Lanka: Opportunities and challenges

This chapter investigates the status of e-Government development, explores the opportunities created for citizens and government, and identifies the challenges for an effective implementation of e-Government in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that the dissemination of public information online, the provision of call centre services, and the establishment of tele-centres in rural areas have generally improved the wellbeing of citizens. It further shows that the development of information and communication technology infrastructure and the taking of the human resource capacity building initiative in public organizations have had a positive impact on the performance of public organizations. The study, however, reveals that the continuous development of e-Government in Sri Lanka is troubled by the uneven access of rural citizens to e-Government services, the low e-Readiness of citizens, the delay in implementing major e-Government projects, and the insufficient funding for successfully implementing all the e-Government initiatives