International Journal of E-Learning and Educational Technologies in the Digital Media

Number Vol-1,No-1, 2014

1-15
Transferring e-Learning Quality Management Practices into Face-to-Face Pedagogy

Authors: Mohamed Bettaz, Isam Al-Fuqaha, Mhamed Mosteghanemi, Mohamed Miloudi

Abstract

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Number of views: 703

This article reflects on the informative experiences collated by the authors throughout their participation in various international e-Learning projects, coordinated by UNESCO and supported by the European Commission, and also in projects supported by various governmental and/or private academic institutions. In a previous work, they proposed an approach showing how to reverse-engineer many of the knowledge practiced by the e-Learning community to reflect positively on the quality management of face-to-face pedagogy. Concretely, the previous work was devoted to quality management issues related to curriculum design, content, organization, review and assessment. The objective of this article is to address the remaining aspects of academic provision such as student guidance and support, learning resources, and quality management and enhancement. The authors acted as project leaders, pedagogical and technical experts, as well as researchers and/or e-Learning material developers and/or tutors. The article emanated from the fact that most of the pedagogical activities throughout the world, mainly in developing countries, are still conducted through the face-to-face approach, and that the quality management of the face-to-face type of pedagogy in such countries is still a challenging issue.

16-31
A Measurement Model Based on Usability Metrics for Mobile Learning User Interface for Children

Authors: Rabail Tahir, Fahim Arif

Abstract

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Number of views: 610

Mobile technology is becoming an integral learning tool for children. The Interface of mobile educational applications (apps) should be usable and compatible with the cognitive skills of children in order to provide an effective learning experience. Usability is a key quality attributes to measure the usefulness of application; therefore evaluating usability is a vital task. With the rapid advancement of mobile technology, usability of educational apps for children gains attention of modern researchers. This paper focuses on providing a measurement model for evaluating the interface of mobile educational apps designed for children .The paper attempts to review the existing interface design guidelines and consequently develop a measurement model. The model serves as basis for comprehensive usability evaluation consisting of guidelines, usability characteristics, goals (interface design criteria), questions, usability metrics (objective and subjective) and two evaluation instruments (task list and satisfaction questionnaire).To ensure the effectiveness and reliability of the model, it was validated by applying the proposed metrics and evaluation instruments in a usability study conducted on two android educational apps for children. Results gathered from usability testing proved that the Model is applicable for evaluation of mobile educational apps for children.

32-49
Improving Learning Throughput in E-learning using Interactive-Cognitive Based Assessment

Authors: Melvin Ballera, Ismail Ateya Lukandu,Abdalla Radwan

Abstract

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Number of views: 642

An e-learning website is not sufficient to fully attain the results of online education. There also is a need to align the educational objectives into the design of the assessment to improve and develop cognition, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Previous studies have explored the potentials of the assessment models but few ventured into their implementation. Others only proposed and introduced conceptual frameworks. The implementation of these proposals, however, revealed that the question type in the assessment phase neglected to align their questionnaire formats into a cognitive schema. At present, the standard multiple-choice question is the most frequently used of the question type of e-learning assessments. However, if this type is the only format adopted by e-learning developers, then the potentially rich and embedded assessment of the computer platform will be given up. This paper focuses on the design of assessment questions, which is created and guided by the hierarchical Bloom cognitive taxonomy and by utilizing rich media formats. Results conducted for eighteen weeks show a dramatic increase in the academic performance of the students. Likewise, digital transcripts converted from the collected perceptions after training undergoes sentiment analysis have correlated with the student improved academic throughput.

50-60
Transfer of Ncomputing Technology in Education Sectors – The Economy Context

Authors: Renatus Michael

Abstract

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Number of views: 579

In the recent years Ncomputing Technology has proved to be one of the key costs saving approach in educational sectors. This attracts some interests of analyzing to which extent these devices bring cost relief to the users and stakeholders who deploy Ncomputing in secondary schools. This research performs analysis by comparing the deployment costs of desktop computers with the costs to deploy Ncomputing in the Computer Labs. This research also explores the cost implications for deploying each of the Ncomputing devices while comparing with the cost of deploying desktop c computers. The analyisis goes further by observing the economic impact of each of the Ncomputing devices and explore their relationships in terms of costs when compared to the desktop computers’ implementation. The findings show that, generally, Ncomputing has a significant cost relief by more than 53% when deployed on a single Computer Lab of 40 students when compared to deploying desktop computers. Furthermore, Ncomputing M300 seem to be the cheapest option with up to 74% cost saving while the least option found to be U170. In this paper, recommendations from the key vendors and opinions of local users of Ncomputing are also presented. Finally, we have discussed several factors that limits Ncomputing adoption in secondary schools.

61-67
Building a Platform that makes Online Learning “Anti-Ubiquitous”

Authors: Noriki Amano

Abstract

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Number of views: 669

In this study, we propose a method of building a platform that makes learning contents on the Web “Anti-Ubiquitous”; resolving the problem of halting study that ubiquity causes in web-based learning (WBL) and making WBL more effective and beneficial. The Anti-Ubiquitous concept which is opposite to the ubiquitous learning concept, adds constraints to a location and time. Anti-Ubiquitous learning increases the awareness and concentration level of students and promotes effective and substantive learning. However, it is inefficient for each teacher to create Anti-Ubiquitous learning content from scratch. Therefore, our platform aims to make existing online learning content Anti-Ubiquitous. Currently, because so much high-quality learning content such as Open Course Ware and Massive Open Online Course already exists on the Web, the significance of our approach is immense.