Rosa Michaelson

The Web in education

The Web has spurred our imagination as to how education could be radically transformed and enhanced through the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). While there have been many significant innovations and successes over the last decade there have also been many unrealised aims. Beliefs in technology-driven change for education have been countered by shortcomings in technological understanding by educationalists and in turn by shortcomings in the understanding of educational theories and learning concepts by technologists. The use of the Web in education has revealed issues such as the distinction between formal and informal learning; the packaging and formatting of learning materials for online distribution and use; the management of learning materials and processes in virtual and managed learning environments; solutions offered by the semantic Web; and how the quality of experience in interactive learning environments relates to the quality of the Internet infrastructure. A comparison between the performance of early and current Web technologies from a user perspective is given for an interactive learning environment which has been in use for over a decade. Client, server, network and protocol components which contribute to the quality of experience for the end user are presented and analysed. In summary, this paper examines the use of the Web in education to date and looks forward to new challenges and aspirations such as MOOCs (massively online open coursewares) and the immersive 3D Web as the basis for the next generation of learning environments.

Evaluating FINESSE: a case-study in group-based CAL

Abstract The FINESSE project (Finance Education in a Scalable Software Environment) 1 addresses problems associated with the teaching of finance courses in the UK Higher Education sector by constructing a networked, computer-based portfolio management game. The FINESSE consortium consists of finance lecturers at the Universities of Dundee, Strathclyde, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Glasgow Caledonian University, and members of the Computer Sciences division at the University of St Andrews. Subject-specific resources were developed to exploit access to real-time stock-market data thereby allowing students to explore portfolio management strategies in a new and exciting way. This paper focuses on the need for a mix of methods when evaluating a CAL project, and on the desirability of including evaluation as part of the design stage and of the development process. We describe the various approaches employed to evaluate different aspects of FINESSE throughout the first 2 years of its use, and present the results of a student questionnaire.

The architecture of a framework for building distributed learning environment

Distributed learning environments (DLEs) are being cited as solutions to the ambitious political goals of better education, wider access and lower costs. The paper outlines the architecture of the TAGS framework (C. Allison et al., 2000) for building DLEs. The main features that the architecture facilitates are strong support for group work, anytime/anywhere access, the input of real world data, event monitoring facilities, authentication, authorisation and protection, and the controlling of delay between user actions and system responses. These features have required the development of an expanded view of quality of service (QoS) parameters. The architecture has been refined over a number of years as the result of collaborative development between users and programmers. In particular, we have found that the bringing together of systems programmers, computer science researchers and subject-specific educationalists has allowed needs to be identified and addressed effectively. We believe that TAGS makes it possible for educationalists to easily build DLEs that meet their needs.

A Possible Economic Rationale for Straight-Line Depreciation

Straight-line depreciation (SL) appears to be a crude procedure that is unsupported by economic logic. Nevertheless, internationally, it is the most widely used method of allocating the costs of fixed assets to accounting periods by way of depreciation charges. Many authors attribute its use to its simplicity. That justification may be deemed to be insufficient, since ideally SL should provide accounting figures with economic meaning under known assumptions. Such meaning might be defined by reference to the net present value (NPV) calculus, which is recommended in the literature of financial management for the evaluation of economic flows associated with the acquisition of fixed assets. After briefly considering economic depreciation alternatives discussed in the literature, this article selects the Ladelle/Brief/Grinyer Earned Economic Income (EEI) calculus as a theoretical model for the examination of SL depreciation. EEI provides signals which are consistent with those given by NPV and can satisfy the accounting constraint that one should recognize realised profits only. The article employs mathematics and deterministic computer simulation to explore some circumstances in which SL provides figures which approximate to the net investment charges using the EEI calculus. It shows that there are many patterns of declining annual benefits from ownership for which SL provides an approximation to EEI net charges that could be considered to be adequate. Consequently SL often provides more economically interpretable information, and consequently is more defensible, than is typically assumed in the literature relating to accounting.

A Grid Based Open Framework for Technology Enhanced Learning

There is a strong need for a genuinely open framework for technology enhanced learning in order to foster progress and take-up in this field. A particular problem with most ldquoe-learningrdquo support products is that they assume and encourage a model of learning which is centred on content management and information transfer - mainly because this is easily achieved through simple use of the Web. In contrast to this convenience-driven approach to e-learning development, and in order to support learning as knowledge construction, a means of distributed resource sharing is required. This moves the emphasis from content production and consumption towards interactivity and engagement. Hence the idea of using the Grid - an existing and moderately mature resource sharing framework. This paper reports on experiences with a Grid-based approach to creating a technology enhanced learning framework in the context of a European project.

Is Agile the Answer? The Case of UK Universal Credit

In 2010 the UK government responded to a catalogue of failing large-scale IT projects by cancelling most of them. In 2011 they announced the Universal Credit (UC) project, described as “the biggest single change to the system of benefits and tax credits since 1945, affecting some 6 million households and 19 million people”. UC will integrate a number of legacy databases with the Real Time Information (RTI) system, administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and due to complete by October 2013. The coupling of these two large-scale IT projects will affect millions of UK citizens; it is crucial that both complete successfully and on time. Government has responded to criticisms by stating that the use of Agile methods will solve the failures of the past. This paper critically assesses the adoption of Agile methods for software development, project management and procurement in the case of Universal Credit.