Preliminary investigations reveal that some academic staff find it difficult to adapt use of e-learning facilities for delivery academic duties which could lead to job ineffectiveness. The study, investigated the extent to which e-learning facilities availability, usability and adaptability predict job effectiveness among academic staff of…

Purpose: The growing use of internet-based learning (IBL) platforms in institutions of higher education is producing profound changes in the traditional teaching learning process worldwide. This paper aims to identify and understand the ways in which higher education institutions draw benefits by the use of such means, synthesizing the literature…

Depending on the evolving technological possibilities, distance and online education applications have gradually gained more significance in the education system. Regarding the issues, such as advancements in the server services, disc capacity, cloud computing opportunities resulting from the increase in the number of the broadband internet users,…

The benefits of course-management software (CMS) will not be realized if it is underused. The authors investigated one possible barrier to CMS use, students' perceptions of using CMS. After taking a course requiring a group research project, college students reported their perceptions of the use of CMS for the course. Overall, students did not…

The past century has seen spectacular gains in the breadth and depth of medical knowledge, but the potential of these gains has been hampered by a slow system of disseminating knowledge. Over the course of medical education numerous technologies and methods have been used to deliver continuing medical education (CME) to health care professionals…

Over the past decade, a small revolution has taken place at some of the world's leading universities, as they have started to provide free access to undergraduate course materials--including syllabi, assignments, and lectures--to anyone with an Internet connection. Yale offers high-quality audio and video recordings of a careful selection of…

The internationally recognized "NMC Horizon Report" series and regional "NMC Technology Outlooks" are part of the NMC Horizon Project, a comprehensive research venture established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years in education around the globe. This volume, the "NMC…

This project gathered information on the important components and features of distance education courseware identified by faculty teaching in the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance. Respondents indicated that they were most interested in features that helped with course management, allowed them to update and post course materials…

The faculty of biochemistry established an integrated teaching strategy for biotechnology specialty students, by intermeshing the case-study method, web-assistant teaching, and improved lecture format with a brief content and multimedia courseware. Teaching practice showed that the integrated teaching strategy could retain the best features of…

There is no shortage of online learning platforms available today. Whether it is Blackboard (www.blackboard.com), Desire2Learn (www.desire2learn.com), Sakai (www.sakaiproject.org), Moodle (www.moodle.org), Angel Learning (www.angellearning.com), Datatel (projected to be a CMS player in Q4 2008; www.datatel.com, or another product, chances are that…

The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) was conceived by ministers at their triennial Conference of Commonwealth Ministers of Education in 2000. The Commonwealth of Learning was asked to investigate possible models, and presented a proposal to ministers at their next conference in 2003. The concept of a virtual…

Though open educational resources (OER) promise to transform the conditions for teaching and learning worldwide, there are many barriers to the full realization of this vision. Among other things, much of what is currently considered "free and open" is legally, technically, and/or culturally incompatible. Herein, the authors give a brief history…

Describes the role of the instructional designer in working with professors to translate their traditional courses and favorite teaching techniques into an online format. Examples are from the World Campus program, which pairs instructional designers at various institutions (such as Pennsylvania State University) with faculty members. (DB)

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are increasingly used by Higher Education Institutions to manage and enhance teaching and learning, and research. Discussion, chat, scheduling, and other collaboration tools make VLEs especially useful systems for designing and managing complex group projects. In the spring semester of 2006, students at the…

The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift…