E-Learning, E-Education, and Online Training

The success of eLearning depends on the broad availability of educational materials that provide a high-quality delivery of high-quality content. One approach for high-quality delivery is to rely on a computer animated instructor avatar that not only speaks, but that also gestures to elucidate novel concepts and to convey an engaging personality that captures and maintains the learners’ focus. The traditional approach of manual key frame animation does not scale, as it requires a substantial time investment as well as artistic talent. We have developed a system that allows animating an instructor avatar quickly and without the prerequisite of artistic talent through a text script. In this paper we quantify the speed/quality tradeoff made by our scripted animation by comparison to manual animation.

This paper discusses the status and diversity of needs for building a centralized e-learning repository system for Saudi Universities. The study is based on surveys that were distributed to faculty members in various Saudi Universities. The purpose is to provide an analytical overview of the current needs for a unified e-learning repository system among Saudi Universities for sharing learning objects and materials. Moreover, the primary aim of the study is to give an evaluation of the needs of faculty members by gathering facts about the current demands and future adoption among Saudi Universities. To achieve this, the services needed by each part in the universities were analyzed.

An attempt was made to determine the level of lecturers’ attitude to social network media, the factor which is paramount to accessibility and usability need of the learners in Open and Distance Learning (ODL). A multi-stage, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 80 lecturers that constituted the study sample. Fifty of these lecturers came from single mode University while, the remaining 30 were from dual mode university. The instrument used for data collection was adapted from an eclectic integration of previous instruments developed by some researchers, with a reliability coefficient of 0.75 using test-retest method. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the research Questions. The hypotheses formulated were analyzed with t-test and Analysis of variance. It was discovered that the general attitudes of lecturers towards social network media were positive. It was therefore recommended that awareness programme that promote attitude towards social network media should be organized, for ODL lecturers to further increase their interest in their participation in good accessibility and usability exercise in ODL. Also, ODL lecturers should be given training that is e-learning oriented in social network media through, workshop and conferences to further improve their contribution to accessibility and usability needs of the learners.

The Diplomatic Institute (ISDI) - the structure of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dedicated to internal training of the personnel – has started several experiments in the field of online learning. Tools such as Blogs, online learning modules, webinars and Netvibes have been developed and have contributed to enrich the training offer of the Institute. This paper illustrates the challenges that this small structure has faced and the results that have been accomplished so far. It also shares seven lessons learned from this experience.

This paper describes the theoretical framework and in-progress implementation of the Collaborative Identification, Retrieval, and Classification Learning Environment (CIRCLE). CIRCLE uses recent research findings in collaboration, constructivism, mobile development, and retrieval learning to develop a multi-user tool for the identification and classification of real world objects. CIRCLE supports group efforts at taxonomy building by providing a framework for data gathering in the field and scientific hypothesizing and debate in a virtual laboratory. Future plans include a pilot usability study and classroom experiments to determine the effectiveness of the approach towards learning the identification of rocks and minerals (in a geology lab), weeds (in a weed identification course), and animals (in an ecology class).

Back pain in children and adolescents is quite common, so developing preventive strategies for back pain is highly desirable. This article describes a planned school-based postural education project (PoSE) to promote healthy behaviors among middle school students and their families and to moderate postural diseases. As first step, we evaluated which aspects of postural behaviors were integrated in children’s lifestyle through a questionnaire. Then, the educational program consisted of interactive lessons on back posture and good principles both in class and at home. The strength of the participatory approach used in this study lies in the contribution to empowerment social change.

As the use of technology increased in educational settings, both availability and viability of online learning opportunities increased substantially. Research indicates that more and more institutions of higher learning are increasing online course offerings as a way to increase enrollment in formerly closed settings. Indeed, the use of online learning has paved the way for global connections in a once closed world. However, as a way of promoting the use of online technologies outside of the class environment, Ashford University has begun to promote sustainability efforts through their student Sociology Club. In this case, the use of a social networking site to connect faculty and students in an experiential learning environment was designed to help educate students while, at the same time, prompting community-based action no matter how geographic boundaries separated participants.

On-line education is a form of distance education” [8] and is usually defined as “An educational system in which the learner is autonomous and separated from his teacher by space and time, so that communication is by print, electronic, or other non-human medium” [12]. So - basic intent of e-learning is a moral good - making education available to those who have been deprived of it because location or expense or other circumstance is the main reason of on-line education. If ethical risks and vulnerabilities have to be acknowledged and to be addressed in the process, mainly eliminating the deepest reasons, legal issues have to be managed creating a best practice in order to protect both trainers and learners. In this way, legal risk management [16] is an innovative methodological approach aimed to integrated legal critical’s management to prevent, or to minimize, the occurrence of legal risks associated with them.

This paper presents guidelines and tips from the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) creation process at Georgetown University’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). Topics address the initial planning phase; core elements for MOOC design; the overall instructional design process; the video planning and production process; documentation; copyright; and quality assurance. This paper is meant to provide general guidelines and points to consider but is not intended as a complete guide for MOOC creation.

The paper reports a study that investigated the effect of egocentric versus exocentric view in an educational animation whose goal was to teach undergraduate students the various tasks that a construction manager performs in the field. Specifically, the study aimed to determine the effect of perspective view on students’ subject learning and preference. Findings show that while students have a preference on perspective view, the perspective view does not have a significant effect on students’ learning outcomes.

A case study on qualitative exploration of the EU Digital Competence framework within Healthcare Education; it investigates one of the eight lifelong learning key-competences required for managers, doctors, nurses and other health-related professionals. The research was conducted in a Higher Education Institutional setting through semi-structured interviews according to the hermeneutic methodologies allowing for a dialectic approach; it aims at gaining a better understanding of the digital skills which are considered as the most generic and transferable skills, and the training needs of healthcare professionals. The results, defined by 22 themes, express the participants’ experiences, knowledge and level of comprehension of the subject. The research reveals that the DIGICOMP framework is applicable as a generic framework for professional practice. The interview data indicate highly individualised digital competence characteristics and behaviours of the participants.

We are in the midst of an information revolution, in which emerging technologies are creating new products and services that are redefining many aspects of our lives. The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the educational context has allowed leading researchers and practitioners to find new ways of performing learning processes. It is evident that students are naturally attracted by activities that incorporate technology. In this work we propose an innovative competition-based educational format, known as “TIWE Linguistico,” that exploits a Mixed Reality (MR) environment in order to encourage the learning of English as a foreign language. The “TIWE Linguistico” has been used experimentally in an Italian high school and the benefits obtained have been validated by exploiting the FEE (Features Extractions) method.

The VITAL Project is an interdisciplinary project that uses teams of students from multiple courses in a single semester to investigate a health-related topic, propose programs or therapies to ameliorate the health issue and deliver a presentation at a virtual three-day health conference held in Second Life. The purpose of VITAL is to provide opportunities for the students to gain a better understanding of the multifactorial nature of many public and individual health issues, as well as exposing them to technologies that enable them to virtually collaborate. The teams are composed of students from each of the four courses participating in VITAL in a given semester so that the content area of each course is represented on a given team. All team activities, such as meetings and presentation practice, are conducted on the department’s island in Second Life.

This paper proposes the use of serious games as a tool to enhance collective intelligence of undergraduate and graduate students. The use of games in teaching, at different levels of education, has been widely discussed by researchers [1]. The development of social skills of individuals in a group is related to the performance of the collective intelligence of the group manifested through the shared and collaborative development of intellectual tasks [2]. Guess the Score GS, is a serious game implemented by means of an online tool, created to foster the development, interaction, collaboration and engagement of students with the educational activity. The game has been designed with the intention of facilitating the development of individual’s social skills in a group in order to promote education of collective intelligence. The first part of this article is devoted to the presentation of the fields of knowledge which may be involved in collective intelligence education. The second part presents GS game in the context of a model-based learning to promote collective intelligence. In the final part the results of the implementation are discussed. This paper concludes that the design of learning activities using serious games as a support tool in education, increased social skills and improves student performance groups, therefore the development collective intelligence.

This paper reports how a new e-learning system for Arabic language supports the beginners of non-Arabic speakers in identifying each Arabic letter in a word and reading/pronouncing Arabic script. In Arabic, letters forming a word are connected to each other. Each Arabic letter has three different figures according to its position in a word (beginning, middle or end). Users’ studies were conducted with 77 examinees in Japan to find which one is preferable for identifying letters of two alternatives: coloring letters or separating letters with spaces. Results showed that colored alternative is preferable. We are developing an e-learning system that incorporates the coloring way and our right-to-left phonetic to support learners in identifying and reading/pronouncing Arabic script by themselves.

This position paper presents work in progress (within the first year) of the doctoral research into adoption of social collaborative e-learning in higher education. The research coins three concepts which intersect to form the fourth, social collaborative e-learning. These concepts are: informal learning, social networking and learning management. This paper explores the conceptual and theoretical role of informal learning practices in building social collaborative e-learning environment. Specifically the paper will:

The paper concentrates on how strategies can be used to promote social collaborative e-learning within a higher education context. The desk-based research method was used in this research leading to the development of a framework for informal learning proposed in this paper.

With the world wide acceptance of virtual educational technologies, it has been shown that they play a vital role in the scientific arena. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the role of Biotechnology virtual laboratories in integrating student’s learning ability and introducing it as an effective instructional tool in biotechnology courses. A post-usage survey was conducted among the users and included questions about perceptions of virtual laboratories, its role in virtualization of sophisticated instruments. The survey suggested virtual labs usage enhanced autonomous and guided educational methods. Comparing groups on usage of virtual labs against a control (traditional lab), our studies suggest improved performance in students using virtual labs. Usage analysis and surveys indicated that biotechnology virtual labs are significant elements in adaptive learning process in blended classroom environment.

Learners can experience content disorientation in web based learning modules. The security injection modules developed by Towson University have increased students’ secure coding awareness and ability to apply secure coding principles, but feedback from instructors indicate that students tend to skim or skip the module contents and proceed directly to the laboratory assignment. In this paper, we describe the factors that cause cognitive overload in hypertext readers and address the pertinent issues and describe the process we used to enhance the effectiveness of the modules. Security Injections 2.0 incorporates principles of segmentation - breaking large module content into smaller sections and presenting each section one at a time, dialoguing - answering questions and receiving corrective or explanatory feedback, and controlling - reading and learning content at learners own pace. Segmentation, dialoguing, and controlling engage learners and retain concepts. Pilot study results indicate 77 % of the students scored above 70 % in concept retention assessment.

This article aims to confront how e-learning models have evolved over time from the characteristics of the web 1.0 to those of 2.0 looking briefly at the CMS, LMS, LCMS and PLE platforms and how it is essential to carefully first consider the constructivist pedagogical theories so as to comprehend the present situation, as well as that of the forthcoming future.

This paper is a practical account of the experience of collaboration between two international partners – one in Europe and the other in the United States. This collaboration experience is a lens through which the authors outline the origin, design and implementation of an inter-university teaching experience. The processes, strengths and difficulties are outlined and the rationale for utilising a virtual world is given, along with the participants’ perspectives of the experience. No institutional changes or formal agreements were needed.

The same course was validated and accredited by each institution and designed to address the requirements of each with the responsibility for participant progress and assessment remaining with the home institution. The paper discusses issues of coordination and makes recommendations for developing similar collaborations.

The Smart e-Learning System (SeLS) should be designed and developed as a smart student-centered biotechnical system with certain features of smart systems (sensing, transmission, big data processing, activation of actuators) and levels of “smartness” (adaptation, sensing, inferring, learning, anticipation, self-organization). In order to provide higher efficiency of learning process in general, and, SeLS, in particular, SeLS should use multiple parameters of student psychophysiological state.