Fassil Nebebe

Determination of economic production–shipment policy for a single-vendor–single-buyer system

Abstract This paper considers the problem of determining economic production and shipment policy of a product supplied by a vendor to a single buyer. The objective is to minimise the total joint annual costs incurred by the vendor and the buyer.

Viability of the "Technology Acceptance Model" in Multimedia Learning Environments: A Comparative Study

In recent years, more and more higher education institutions have interests of integrating internetbased technologies in the classroom as part of the learning environment. Compared to studies on other information technologies, users’ behavior towards this type of systems, however, has not been assessed and understood thoroughly. In order to get more experience about human behaviors on multimedia learning environment, we conducted a comparative study consisting of 362 students, which is almost three times the sample size of the previous study, participating to test the theoretical model. Results suggest that TAM is a solid theoretical model where its validity can extend to the multimedia and e-learning context. The study provides a more intensive view of the multimedia learning system users and is an important step towards a better understanding of the user behavior on the system and a multimedia acceptance model.

Knowledge Management Systems Development: Theory and Practice

The intricate crafting of online educational systems lie within three principal activities: Design of the system, implementation, and proper post-implementation assessment. There is not enough knowledge or experience in all regards. Efficient execution of these three major activities necessitates the use of design and pedagogical models to achieve cost and time efficiency, as well as high pedagogical quality. Models represent a structured approach to analysis and promote quantifiable feedback that can be monitored. Components of an online educational system would benefit from a design process. Similarly, utilization of the online educational system would benefit from a structured approach to design, implementation, and student’s assessment. Following the technology adoption theory, understanding individual’s behavior towards technology usage would focus on instrumental beliefs driving intentions. However, this may not be the case with online educational systems because the context and setup is significantly different from previous technology adoption studies. Therefore, the implementation of an online educational system should be designed based on established pedagogical principles, and once developed the assessment of students’ behavior should be monitored using management information systems methodology. In this paper, we present the design of an online education system, and the experience of the students using the system. A survey methodology approach is followed and assessment results are discussed. The technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior were used to identify significant constructs as antecedents to intentions. Scale validation for both models indicates that the operational measures have acceptable psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis supports both models. Structural equation analysis provides evidence for the superiority of the theory of planned behavior in explaining students’ behavior towards educational online systems. Limitation, implications, design recommendations, and suggestions for future research are then discussed.

The Challenge of Motivation in e-Learning: Role of Anxiety

Anxiety, an emotional state, in elearning affects student’s performance beyond the technophobic state, due to the fact that there is more at stake in elearning. These anxieties not only occur with the online course content interaction, but also in terms of productivity, learning risk, social relationships, and overall well-being. In this study, we select intrinsic motivation as an outcome that is influenced by challenge and mediated by anxiety. 565 students participated in this study showing significant influence of challenge and anxiety on intrinsic motivation. However, anxiety did not mediate the influence of challenge on intrinsic motivation. The results were discussed and recommendations for future research are presented.

Understanding the Role of Personality Traits on Beliefs in Online Learning

In an educational setting, the use of online learning tools impacts student’s performance. Attitudes and perceived usefulness play an important role in predicting students’ decision to use these learning tools. A students’ attitude towards the use of online learning tools is impacted by his/her perception of usefulness of the tools. In this study, we investigate the mediating effects of personality traits (computer playfulness and perceived personal innovativeness) and cognitive traits (enjoyment) on the perceived usefulness – attitudes relationship. The study includes ninety five participants. A survey was conducted after using the learning tool for one semester. Assessment of the psychometric properties of the scales proved acceptable and confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed hypotheses. Analysis of results demonstrate that cognitive traits while using the learning tool significantly mediate the impact of perceived usefulness on attitudes, while personality traits do not. Implications to designers and managers point towards game-based learning systems. Limitations and suggestions for future research are provided.

Openness to Experience: An HCI Experiment

Today’s market continues to introduce many and different information communications technologies. As a result, end users are faced with a variety of interfaces which they need to learn and use in a short period of time. The motivation to learn a new interface is subject to many variables most importantly is level of computer competencies, and openness to experience. The aim of this study was to explore end-users’ overall computer competencies, competencies using software with graphical interfaces and openness to experiencing new software interfaces. In a controlled experiment, participants were asked to perform five tasks using an image editing icon based interface software for the first time. We identify possible personality trait construct in modeling better interfaces.

Characterising Computer Experience and Anxieties Differences Between Middle Eastern and Western Students in eLearning

Computer anxiety especially in first-year university students is common and continues to be a significant issue as it manifests itself in a number of negative emotions with significant detrimental impact to students. This is especially true in the context where students use computers for course work – online learning. Research work addressing the effect of computer/Internet experience on anxiety as it differs across cultures is relatively scarce. In this study, we investigate online learning anxiety and how it is impacted by computer and the internet experience, across two cultures – Middle Eastern and Westen. A survey methodology approach was used for the capture of data and analysis. We found that Anxiety using computers for learning still exists in today’s time across both cultures, however the type of anxiety differs between them. At the same time computer/Internet experience was found to impact anxiety in English student group while amount of computer usage was found to influence anxiety in the ME group. Conclusions, limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.

eLearningCampus: A Decade of Lessons Learned

The elearning paradigm continues to gain momentum, and there are no signs of slowing down. From a research standpoint, little has been done to anchor elearning in theory. The scarce elearning theoretical work comes short in its utility. The large amount of empirical work shows little insight and contribution to enhancing the theory. Most of the research is descriptive. Following an action research methodology, a group of professors teaching quantitative and qualitative courses have transformed them into online courses. Over the last decade, we have experimented, reflected and then experimented again numerous times, pushing the envelope of elearning theory, empirical work, design, implementation and experience at various levels of management, content, quizzes, exams, peer to peer, student support, and departmental support. Our attempts continue to focus on uniting theory, assessment, and practice into an adaptable and efficient elearning environment. To that effect, we share our elearning journey over that last 10 years spanning technologies, teachers, administration, governance, students, teaching assistance, funding, policies, successes, failures, and of course learning. In our account, we hope to inspire theoreticians and practitioners, to persist on breaking elearning barriers.

Assessment of an Online Education System – Comparing Two Theoretical Models

The intricate construction of online educational systems lies within three principal activities: Design, implementation and proper post-implementation assessment. There is not enough knowledge or experience in those regards. Efficient execution of these three major activities necessitates the use of design and pedagogical models to achieve cost and time efficiency, as well as high pedagogical quality. Utilization of online educational systems would benefit from a structured approach to design, implementation, and student’s assessment. In this paper, we present the design of an online education system and its implementation, and we analyze student’s behavior towards the system using the theory of planned behavior and the technology acceptance model. A survey methodology approach was followed. The partial least squares method was used for the assessment of the results discussed. Structural equation analysis provides evidence for the superiority of the theory of planned behavior in explaining student’s behavior towards online educational systems. Limitation, implications, design recommendations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Monte Carlo Approximations of the Quantiles of a Sample Statistic

We consider in this article the problem of numerically approximating the quantiles of a sample statistic for a given population, a problem of interest in many applications, such as bootstrap confidence intervals. The proposed Monte Carlo method can be routinely applied to handle complex problems that lack analytical results. Furthermore, the method yields estimates of the quantiles of a sample statistic of any sample size though Monte Carlo simulations for only two optimally selected sample sizes are needed. An analysis of the Monte Carlo design is performed to obtain the optimal choices of these two sample sizes and the number of simulated samples required for each sample size. Theoretical results are presented for the bias and variance of the numerical method proposed. The results developed are illustrated via simulation studies for the classical problem of estimating a bivariate linear structural relationship. It is seen that the size of the simulated samples used in the Monte Carlo method does not have to be very large and the method provides a better approximation to quantiles than those based on an asymptotic normal theory for skewed sampling distributions.