On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of content components in the current distance education technology specifications, this paper puts forward an Open Content Object model for the Web-based learning content by extending the Sharable Content Object (SCO) of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) which was established by the…

The growing availability of online journal literature and the license agreements that make such literature useable in an academic environment present educators opportunities for using journal articles in online teaching. The use of online journal articles avoids logistical challenges associated with the use of printed copies of journal articles,…

In this article, the author talks about an internal content management system that they have created at Calvin College. It is a hybrid of CMS and intranet that organizes Web site content and a variety of internal tools to help librarians complete their daily tasks. Hobbes is a Web-based tool that uses Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts written…

In this article we describe an approach to the design of learning objects (LOs) suitable to support learning in complex domains. We briefly discuss, from an educational point of view, the methodological choices underlying the design of LOs to be used as didactical materials in a distributed Web-based environment, presently under development,…

Is the use of an online course delivery format, when compared with the more traditional face-to-face format, good or bad in the context of university education? Those who subscribe to the no-significant-difference perspective argue that online delivery is good, because it allows students with time and geographic distance constraints to obtain the…

This paper provides an overview on the current state of art in the field of Distance learning for mobile users. It mentions a large range of technologies, services and approaches that may be used to bring distance learning to mobile internet users. These technologies are supposed to considerably increase innovative e-learning solutions for the…

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of participation in online education on the life satisfaction of the older adult. Life satisfaction was assessed by scores obtained using questions the from Nuegarten, Havighurst, and Tobin (1961) Life Satisfaction Index-A (LSI-A). Other data was obtained using demographic and procedural…

Purpose: This paper seeks to discuss the Leadership, Academic and Student Ownership and Readiness (LASO) model for enterprise-wide technological transformation in higher education developed by the writer as part of his PhD research. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses a comparative analysis of three case studies of the implementation of…

Purpose: This paper seeks to discuss the characteristics that shape a model to manage eLearning in a large, predominantly campus-based university. It focuses on how such a model can provide a sustainable approach to supporting eLearning for more than 40,000 students while still managing basic quality assurance for the University executive and the…

The increasingly common term "online education" includes distance education as well as traditional courses with online components. The success of online education suggests that most institutions can serve more students, offer unique programs, and better serve working adults. This article discusses why more students consider online education. Keys…

The idea of "information commitments" refers to both learners' online searching strategies and the evaluative standards that students use to assess the accuracy and usefulness of information in web-based learning environments. Based upon the results of a pioneering and qualitative study on information commitments, this study aimed to develop an…

A topic that currently is receiving a great deal of attention by educators is the nature and use of WebQuests--computer-based activities that guide student learning through use of the World Wide Web (Sharp 2004). Despite their popularity, questions remain about the effectiveness with which WebQuests are being used with students. This article…

In this article we present a structured set of Design Patterns (DPs) that deals with tracking students while they solve problem in specific domains such as programming or mathematics. Our collection of 17 DPs yields a three step approach: First step: to collect and analyze information on each student for each exercise; Second step: to build a…

A personalized e-learning framework based on a user-interactive question-answering (QA) system is proposed, in which a user-modeling approach is used to capture personal information of students and a personalized answer extraction algorithm is proposed for personalized automatic answering. In our approach, a topic ontology (or concept hierarchy)…

This article presents systems that use speech technology, to emulate the one-on-one interaction a student can get from a virtual instructor. A web-based learning tool, the Learn IN Context (LINC+) system, designed and used in a real mixed-mode learning context for a computer (C++ language) programming course taught at the Université de Moncton…