Ruti Gafni

Time Management: Procrastination Tendency in Individual and Collaborative Tasks

Procrastination is the tendency to postpone an activity under ones control to the last possible minute, or even not to perform it at all. This study examines procrastination regarding completion of various parts of a task, each of which has a different deadline. Whereas from an attention economy perspective it may be better to complete all the parts at the earliest deadline, the human tendency to procrastinate results in a delay of the parts that have a later deadline. Data was collected at an online discussion board about the behavior of 120 MBA students. Their assignment included an individual part with a specific deadline for each student and a collaborative part that the students had to complete by the end of the semester. The findings suggest that usually students tended to perform their individual task on time, even when the assignment was voluntary. However, the collaborative part of the assignment was delayed to the last three weeks of the semester when the assignment was compulsory and was not completed at all when it was voluntary. The paper discusses the implications of the findings regarding effective time management of collaborative tasks in online environments.

Quality Metrics for PDA-based M-Learning Information Systems

PDA-based information systems are suitable for m-learning, enabling ubiquitous and idle-time utilization. However, the use of small devices and mobile systems requires special quality attention in order to get the desired benefits. This article examines the quality problems resulting from the characteristics of these systems, proposes some metrics to measure their quality and some practical implications for the designers and developers of PDA-based systems, including technical, implementation and content issues.

To Social Login or Not Login? Exploring Factors Affecting the Decision

In the last few years Social Login was introduced, as a solution for the need to remember a large quantity of user ids composed of username and password to connect Websites. Social Login offers an easy connection to various Websites, providing the visitors the option to register or sign-in using any of their preferred social network accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and other. This research examines the factors that affect user registration through Social Login, and the readiness to use Social Login. Using a questionnaire which was responded by 101 Internet users, where 86 of them were already aware of the Social Login option, five major factors were found: Privacy, Security, Familiarity, Convenience and Ease of use. Privacy and Security were found as inhibitor factors, while Familiarity and Convenience were found as encouragers. Ease of use was not found as a predictive factor.

The Value of Collaborative E-Learning: Compulsory versus Optional Online Forum Assignments

Online forum assignments are one of the main tools for collaborative learning. This study examines the impact of compulsory submission on the effectiveness of forum assignments. It compares the grades of 120 MBA students who studied an advanced elective course in a blended distance learning university during the years 2005-2009. Some students were required to participate in a forum assignment and their submissions were graded, whereas other students were similarly asked to participate in a forum assignment but their work was not graded. The findings suggest that the benefits of optional forum assignments are marginal, whereas compulsory forum assignments may improve student performance. The main theoretical contribution of this study is the indication that although the students had a task-oriented attitude and were not engaged in social interaction with regard to the forum assignment, compulsory posting of the assignment on the discussion board, improved their performance. Practically, the findings suggest that publishing student assignments on a course website may improve assignments’ quality and therefore enhance student performance, even if there is no further collaboration or social interaction. This finding is important since creating meaningful collaboration in online environments requires considerable instructors’ efforts in moderating the discussion.

Crowdsourcing as a business model: Extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in user-generated content websites

Purpose The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate extrinsic motivations that may affect adding or acknowledging user-generated content (UGC) on business websites, which are based on voluntary crowdsourcing. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model of extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in UGC-based websites was developed, suggesting reciprocity, awareness of rewards and prestige as main extrinsic motivations for adding content. The model was examined via an online survey of users of three websites that varied in the attributes of knowledge shared and reward type: The Traveler (tangible rewards), Stack Overflow (virtual rewards) and Waze (virtual rewards). Findings Importance of extrinsic motivations varied among websites, as it may be affected by attributes of the knowledge shared. Reciprocity positively affected recommending the website, and adding content affected acknowledging content. Research limitations/implications Investigating extrinsic motivations is important because websites may take actions that affect them. Further research is required to reveal the potential of voluntary crowdsourcing in business contexts addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, prosumption and open innovation. Practical implications When reciprocity is a major aspect of a UGC website, badges and similar mechanisms may serve as a main extrinsic motivation to share knowledge. Originality/value The novel empirically validated model provides theoretical and practical insights for designing mechanisms for increasing extrinsic motivation for knowledge sharing according to specific characteristics of UGC websites.

Daily Deals Websites: Mostly but not all about Location

This study examined the main factors that affect purchasing of coupons on daily deals Websites. The study included a survey of attitudes toward pictures, trust in suppliers, and trust in the intermediary, and also examined exposure to coupons, as recalled by visitors of the Website. A/B testing analyzed 34 offered deals, and compared the actual purchased coupons when the offer was positioned relatively high, and when it was located lower. The findings suggested authentic pictures of the deal are the most important. A negative correlation between perceived trust in suppliers and trust in the intermediary indicated that intermediary good reputation is valuable and may enable deals with unknown suppliers. Offers located among the first 10 deals received the highest exposure, and when the offer was displayed higher, significantly more coupons were purchased.

The U-Curve of E-Learning: Course Website and Online Video Use in Blended and Distance Learning.

Procrastination is a common challenge for students. While course Websites and online video lectures enable studying anytime, anywhere, and expand learning opportunities, their availability may increase procrastination by making it easier for students to defer until tomorrow. This research used Google Analytics to examine temporal use patterns of course Websites, with an emphasis on online video lectures. We analyzed pageview data of 8,977 students enrolled in two compulsory undergraduate courses, one of which is offered exclusively fully online, and three elective courses, one for undergraduates, and two for master of business administration (MBA) students, over a period of two years. Our findings showed a significant u-curve of e-learning for all courses, during all the examined semesters, for courses’ homepage views, as well as for their main video page. We evaluated the depth of the mid-semester decline in e-learning and generally found no significant differences among courses, or over time. However, the relative decline in access to the main video page of undergraduates enrolled in compulsory courses was significantly larger than that of undergraduate and MBA students in elective courses, thus, suggesting that procrastination of video views was slightly higher in compulsory courses. The implications of the findings are discussed.

CAPTCHA: Impact on User Experience of Users with Learning Disabilities.

CAPTCHA is one of the most common solutions to check if the user trying to enter a Website is a real person or an automated piece of software. This challenge-response test, implemented in many Internet Websites, emphasizes the gaps between accessibility and security on the Internet, as it poses an obstacle for the learning-impaired in the reading and comprehension of what is presented in the test. Various types of CAPTCHA tests have been developed in order to address accessibility and security issues. The objective of this study is to investigate how the differences between various CAPTCHA tests affect user experience among populations with and without learning disabilities. A questionnaire accompanied by experiencing five different tests was administered to 212 users, 60 of them with learning disabilities. Response rates for each test and levels of success were collected automatically. Findings suggest that users with learning disabilities have more difficulties in solving the tests, especially those with distorted texts, have more negative attitudes towards the CAPTCHA tests, but the response time has no statistical difference from users without learning disabilities. These insights can help to develop and implement solutions suitable for many users and especially for population with learning disabilities.

Evolving Consumption Patterns of Various Information Media via Handheld Mobile Devices

Introduction Websites provide information through various media, like text, video, and audio. The majority of this information was designed for being consumed via desktop devices, i.e., personal computers, and laptops, as well as notebooks, although to a lesser extent. The evolution of mobile technology, particularly the emergence of smartphones and tablets, enabled ubiquitous access to the Internet in order to consume information. In recent years, the use of mobile phones has been extended from voice calls to interactive services and information provided in diverse formats. According to Duggan and Rainie (2012), at least 85% of American adults owned a mobile phone during the years 2009-2012. However, in 2009, only 25% of them used the mobile phone to access the Internet, while in 2012, 56% of them did so. By the beginning of 2014, 90% of American adults had a cell phone, while 58% of them had a smartphone. (Pew Research Center, 2014). Worldwide, the number of people owning a smartphone is increasing. Although it may seem difficult to use the mobile interface, customers are adopting this channel to get information. Surveys indicate that smartphone users learn how to use the applications of these devices and gradually adopt more applications (Smith, 2012). In order to improve information consumption, as well as information dissemination, there is a need to examine which information formats are more effective when accessed through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Handheld mobile devices face obstacles due to their size, e.g., tiny screens, resolution, small keyboards, and connectivity limits (Barnes & Huff, 2003; Gafni, 2008). If they are not satisfactorily taken care of by information providers, some of these factors may impair implementation success. To enable consumers to access information through handheld mobile devices in an appropriate manner, the information provider has to develop a suitable interface, technically adapted to the characteristics of mobile devices and to different operating systems of smartphones and tablets. These interfaces need to be specially designed to fit mobile screens due to different usage modes, such as touch screens (Parsons, 2007). For mobile devices, each information format requires specific development in order to make it accessible, as well as to cope with the informing challenge (Cohen, 2009; Gill & Bhattacherjee, 2007, 2009) and deliver the information effectively. The purpose of this study is to examine diverse information media in order to identify those formats that are most suitable for consumption via handheld mobile devices. The novelty of this research is that it takes the perspective of the users and measures their preferences objectively by analyzing actual data of their relative use of handheld mobile devices and desktop devices for consumption of information presented in various formats. Furthermore, until the development of smartphones and similar devices, it was assumed that due to their size constraint mobile devices were most suitable for parsimonious information formats (Barnes & Huff, 2003), preferably short text. Prior research indicated that incongruent display of information designed for other devices may impair its value, e.g., by negatively influencing critical reading (Eshet-Alkalai, & Geri, 2010). However, it seems that the current handheld mobile devices may be appropriate for consumption of rich formats of information, such as video and audio, but may be less convenient for reading lengthy texts (Gafni & Geri, 2013a). This study focuses on mobile learning (m-learning) and examines consumption of information in various formats by students via desktop and handheld mobile devices. M-learning contexts were chosen, rather than a commercial setting, since in a learning environment the interests of information providers (i.e., the instructors) are in accord with those of the information consumers (i. …