Inquiry-based instruction has become a hallmark of science education and increasingly of integrated content areas, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Because inquiry-based instruction very clearly contains surface, deep, and implicit structures as well as engages students to think and act like scientists,…

Cloud computing is gaining popularity in higher education settings, but the costs and benefits of this tool have gone largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that lead to technology adoption in a higher education setting. Specifically, we examined a range of predictors and outcomes relating to the acceptance of a…

Cloud computing is increasingly popular in education. Cloud computing is "the delivery of computer services from vast warehouses of shared machines that enables companies and individuals to cut costs by handing over the running of their email, customer databases or accounting software to someone else, and then accessing it over the internet."…

"Cloud computing" refers to the use of computing resources on the Internet instead of on individual personal computers. The field is expanding and has significant potential value for educators. This is discussed with a focus on four main functions: file storage, file synchronization, document creation, and collaboration--each of which…

This paper reviews the research on the disruptive and transformative potential of newly-emerging cloud-based pedagogies. It takes into consideration the extent to which Cloud Computing can be leveraged to disseminate and scale web-based applications within and across learning contexts. It examines ideas from current literature in Web 2.0- and…

This paper provides a Microsoft .NET framework application that makes browsing the Internet in a shared computer environment convenient and secure. One simply opens the program, then points and clicks to both open Internet Explorer and have it move directly to the selected address. Addresses do not need to be manually entered or copied and pasted…

As news outlets create headlines such as "A Cloud & A Prayer," "The Cloud Is the Computer," and "Leveraging Clouds to Make You More Efficient," many readers have been left with cloud confusion. Many definitions exist for cloud computing, and a uniform definition is hard to find. In its most basic form, cloud…

This article is based on the premise that face-to-face training can be augmented with cloud-based technology tools, to potentially extend viable training supports as higher education staff and faculty implement new content/skills in their jobs and classrooms. There are significant benefits to harnessing cloud-based tools that can facilitate both…

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce an enterprise-wide Web 2.0 learning support platform--SNAP, developed at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Pointing to the evolution of the social web, the paper discusses the potential for the development of e-learning platforms that employ constructivist, connectivist,…

Today, at the end of 2007, there are evident consolidations in wireless, storage, and virtualization and the path forward seems clearer now than previously. Trends from last year continue strongly, particularly Web 2.0 and the shift to user-driven environments and Internet sites where significant data and video processing is available to those…

Many of the information security appliances, devices, and techniques currently in use are designed to keep unwanted users and Internet traffic away from important information assets by denying unauthorized access to servers, databases, networks, storage media, and other underlying technology resources. These approaches employ firewalls, intrusion…

E-learning leads to evolutions in the way of designing a course. Diffused through the web, the course content cannot be the direct transcription of a face to face course content. A course can be seen as an organization in which different actors are involved. These actors produce documents, information and knowledge that they often share. We…