This paper first reviews applications of multimedia in engineering education, especially in laboratory learning. It then illustrates a model and accreditation criteria adopted for developing a specific set of nanotechnology laboratory courseware and reports the design-based research approach used in designing and developing the e-learning…

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) uses a Blackboard course management system (CMS) to support faculty and students. To supplement the CMS, the university created a custom "Check My Activity" (CMA) self-service feedback tool for students. In addition to comparing their online course activity against a class average,…

Because the transition to a knowledge-based economy requires an educated workforce, colleges and universities have made retention of students--particularly those who are academically underprepared--an institutional priority. College completion leads to economic and social advancement for students and is also critical to the nation's economic and…

This case study examined the educational software evaluation processes of pre-service teachers who attended either expertise-based training (XBT) or traditional training in conjunction with a Software-Evaluation checklist. Forty-three mathematics teacher candidates and three experts participated in the study. All participants evaluated educational…

In this article, we set out to assess QuADEM (Quality Assessment of Digital Educational Material), one of the latest methods for evaluating online language learning courseware. What is special about QuADEM is that the evaluation is based on observing the actual usage of the online courseware and that, from a checklist of 12 different components,…

A review is undertaken of what different commentators have written about the evaluation of educational courseware in higher education. Speculation is made on the reasons for the lack of such evaluations. The role of checklists for evaluating online courseware is discussed despite the acknowledged limitations. Checklists have been developed at…

A case is made in this paper for using checklists and contextbound evaluations of online learning materials in higher education. Contextbound evaluations complement traditional forms of evaluation of educational courseware, such as checklists. Contextbound approaches are useful for indicating the pedagogical quality of online learning materials…