Imagine downloading a new software application and not having to worry about licensing, finding dollars in the budget, or incurring additional maintenance costs. Imagine finding a Web design tool in the public domain--free for use. Imagine major universities that provide online courses with no strings attached. Imagine online textbooks without a…

Senior citizens are comparatively vulnerable in accessing learning opportunities offered on the Internet due to usability problems in current web design. In an effort to build a senior-friendly learning web as a part of the Life-long Learning Network in Shanghai, usability studies of two websites currently available to Shanghai senior citizens…

Recommender systems aim to support users in their decision-making process while interacting with large information spaces and recommend items of interest to users based on preferences they have expressed, either explicitly or implicitly. Recommender systems are increasingly used with product and service selection over the Internet. Although…

Assuring e-learning quality is of interest worldwide. This paper introduces the methods of e-learning courseware quality assurance (a quality certification system) adopted by the eLQSC (e-Learning Quality Service Centre) in Taiwan. A sequential/explanatory design with a mixed methodology was used to gather research data and conduct data analyses.…

Serious games have a great potential for training and educating people in novel and engaging ways. However, little empirical research has been done on the effectiveness of serious games, and although early findings do point to a moderately positive direction, even less is known about why some games succeed in effectively educating while others do…

This study discusses and presents various strategies employed by novice programmers concerning exception handling. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: we provide an analysis tool to measure the level of assimilation of exception handling mechanism; we present and analyse strategies to handle exceptions; we present and analyse…

Library staff members should ultimately base their purchasing choices on the mission statements of their employing institutions. Fortunately, library mission statements have much in common. Undoubtedly, for example, all libraries have a goal that includes "serve the information needs of the community," because on some level, all libraries are…

IMS Learning Design is a specification to capture the orchestration taking place in a learning scenario. This paper presents an extension called Generic Service Integration. This paradigm allows a bidirectional communication between the course engine in charge of the orchestration and conventional Web 2.0 tools. This communication allows the…

Much of our critical infrastructure is controlled by large software systems whose participants are distributed across the Internet. As our dependence on these critical systems continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important that they meet strict availability and performance requirements, even in the face of malicious attacks, including those…

The transfer of tacit knowledge, one of the most important issues in the knowledge sharing context, needs a multi-dimensional perception in its process. Information technology's (IT) supporting role has already been addressed in the process of tacit knowledge transfer. However, IT has its own characteristics, and in turn, may have dissimilar…

Digital storytelling embraces the art of traditional storytelling and reconfigures it using modern digital mediums. More specifically, "Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component." There are a…

This study seeks to design and facilitate active reading among secondary school students with an online annotation tool--Diigo. Two classes of different academic performance levels were recruited to examine their annotation behavior and perceptions of Diigo. We wanted to determine whether the two classes differed in how they used Diigo; how they…

In the information age, students must learn to navigate and evaluate an expanding network of information. Highly effective teachers model this process of information analysis and knowledge acquisition by continually learning through collaboration, professional development, and studying pedagogical techniques and best practices. Many teachers have…

Developments in computer and information technologies continue to give opportunities for designing advanced E-learning systems while entailing objective and technical evaluation methodologies. Design and development of E-learning systems require time-consuming and labor-intensive processes; therefore any decision about these systems and their…

This paper evaluates the impact of Lexia Reading software on the progress of children experiencing reading difficulties in four Northern Ireland Schools. The program is designed to raise reading standards through a phonics-based approach to learning to read. A key feature of the software is the use of an "assessment without testing"…