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The application and evaluation of adaptive hypermedia techniques in Web‐based medical education
Get PDFThis article discusses the design issues involved in delivering Web‐based learning materials. An existing application in the medical domain ‐ JointZone ‐ is used to illustrate how personalization and an interactive environment can be incorporated into Web‐based learning. This work applies the combination of an adaptive hypermedia, situated‐learning approach and hypermedia linking concepts to facilitate online learning. A usability study was carried out on the work described and an evaluation was undertaken to measure the effect of personalization on various learning factors. The evaluation outcome was analysed subjectively and objectively. The results proved to be contradictory but, nevertheless, the work gives new insights into the use of technology to support learning
The evolving landscape of learning technology
Get PDFThis paper provides an overview of the current and emerging issues in learning technology research, concentrating on structural issues such as infrastructure, policy and organizational context. It updates the vision of technology outlined by Squires’ (1999) concept of peripatetic electronic teachers (PETs) where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide an enabling medium to allow teachers to act as freelance agents in a virtual world and reflects to what extent this vision has been realized The paper begins with a survey of some of the key areas of ICT development and provides a contextualizing framework for the area in terms of external agendas and policy drivers. It then focuses upon learning technology developments which have occurred in the last five years in the UK and offers a number of alternative taxonomies to describe this. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues which arise from this work
A program to help students of life sciences prepare a research protocol
Get PDFThis paper describes a Web‐based program that has been written in JavaScript to help honours‐level students to design a protocol for their research project. It consists of several screens which contain text‐input boxes and options, that students can select to determine what statistical test is appropriate. On each page students can obtain information concerning the particular step in the procedure for defining the research protocol. Some links to useful pages on the Internet are also provided. After the student has navigated the screens, the program writes a protocol outline, depending on the information entered by the student. The program was introduced to fourth‐stage students of Nutrition and Dietetics at the beginning of the Research Project module. Students were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire containing attitude statements after they had discussed the protocol with their supervisors. Students generally rated the usefulness of the Internet links highly and considered the program to be user‐friendly, clearly laid out and visually appealing. Most students agreed that the program helped to clarify what is needed for the protocol, provoked them to think of aspects of the project, the importance of which they might have failed to realize early enough, and helped them to ask appropriate questions of their supervisors
Reviews
Get PDFA. Barker and F. Manji, Writing for Change ‐ An Interactive Guide to Effective Writing, Writing for Science, Writing for Advocacy, CD‐ROM and Users Guide, Fahama/International Development Research Centre, Oxford, 2000. ISBN: 0–9536–9021–0, no price given. Softback (28 pages) and CD‐ROM
Intuitive expertise in ICT graduate supervision
Get PDFIntuitive expertise in the application of advanced interdisciplinary facilitation is the subject of this personal reflection on the graduate supervisory style of Professor David Squires in computers in education. This single‐case reflective study examines the characteristics of effective supervision observed during masters and doctoral supervision at King's College in the years 1990–9. Interdisciplinarity in ICT graduate studies particularly requires a fluency of supervisory expertise in enabling supervisees to combine multiple complex perspectives from a number of fields of knowledge. Intuitive combinatory aspects of supervision are highlighted in this reflection on the role carried out by an academic expert in facilitating student success. This is examined from a perspective incorporating affective as well as intellectual elements, informed by characteristics identified in professional sports and performing arts coaching/mentoring. Key characteristics comprising a model of intuitive expertise in ICT graduate supervision were outlined. The resultant portrait aims to complement existing literature on graduate supervision, with reference to the field of ICTI computers in education relating to student hypermedia composition
Inclusion and online learning opportunities: Designing for accessibility
Get PDFHigher education institutions worldwide are adopting flexible learning methods and online technologies which increase the potential for widening the learning community to include people for whom participation may previously have been difficult or impossible. The development of courseware that is accessible, flexible and informative can benefit not only people with special needs, but such courseware provides a better educational experience for all students
How accurately do instructors judge students’ attitudes online? A measurement of expectations and level of satisfaction with an Online Information Systems masters program
Get PDFIn order to run a successful educational program, instructors as well as staff members must constantly review and adapt to the expectations, concerns, demographics and satisfaction level of their student consumers. This study was conducted in order to examine these issues in an online educational setting. First, interviews were given to the program instructors in order to determine their opinions about the students’ expectations and satisfaction levels. This information was then used to create a student survey that assessed the students’ expectations and level of satisfaction. These two sets of results were then compared This comparison revealed that the online instructors did have a good grasp of the online students’ expectations, concerns, demographics and satisfaction level. The only areas where the instructors’ concepts of student views were slightly less accurate was student concerns and student feelings about the program administration, where the instructors overestimated the level of concern the students had about successfully returning to the learning environment and underestimated the students’ satisfaction with the program's administration. This leads us to conclude that, even with the added online factor, instructors strongly understand student expectations, satisfaction levels, demographics and concerns
Understanding the development of teaching and learning resources: A review
Get PDFThis paper is a literature review of research concerned with the production of learning resources in higher education (HE). It forms part of a larger research project in progress
Does the mode of delivery affect mathematics examination results?
Get PDFAt present most examinations are delivered on paper but there is a growing trend in many subjects to deliver some or part of these examinations by computer. It is therefore important to know whether there are any differences in the results obtained by candidates sitting examinations taken by computer compared with those obtained by candidates sitting conventional examinations using pen and paper. The purpose of this article is to describe the outcome of a pilot study designed to∗ investigate possible causes of any differences in results from the use of different modes of delivery in a mathematics examination. One outcome of this study was that the process of translating examination questions into a format required for use on the computer (but keeping this as a pen and paper test) can have a significant effect on examination results. However, the main conclusion is that changing the medium only has no effect on the results in mathematics examinations