Vanessa Chang

E-Learning Ecosystem (ELES) - A Holistic Approach for the Development of more Effective Learning Environment for Small-and-Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

As e-learning and technologies advanced significantly, practitioners and academics must find new ways to make the most of this rapid development. In the past, research development in this area was mainly focused solely on technological aspects and more recently, on e-learning and technologies for individualized learning. Much work has been done in this area to enhance e-learning systems. In this research, we proposed that an ecological and holistic approach is required for an improved learning environment. To do this, the concept of ecosystem will be explained, followed by a rationalization of this application to learning and e-learning. A definition to learning ecosystem (LES) is provided and this generalized definition is further applied to the e-learning ecosystem (ELES). Hereafter an identification and examination of the e-learning ecosystem will be presented in detail. Finally, an application of the e-learning ecosystem in small-and-medium sized organisations (SMEs) will be discussed. Prior to this, an overview on the usage of e-learning in SMEs will also be given. We conclude by highlighting the need to emphasize on the ecological and holistic approach for the development of more effective learning environments.

Attrition in MOOC: Lessons Learned from Drop-Out Students

Despite the popularity of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), recent studies have found that completion rates are low with some reported to be significantly lower than 10%. The low retention and completion rates are major concerns for educators and institutions. This paper investigates motivations for enrolling in a MOOC on the topic of ‘e-learning’ and discusses reasons for the attrition rates during the course. A survey of 134 students who had not completed the MOOC reveals that only 22% of the students had intended to complete the MOOC but was unable to due to various factors including academic and personal reasons. A big majority of the students indicated that changes in their job, insufficient time, difficulty with the subject matter and unchallenging activities are some of the reasons for the drop-out.

Ecosystem-based Theoretical Models for Learning in Environments of the 21st Century

Members of our modern society are faced with fast and ever-changing political, social, economical, technological and environmental situations. Consequently, it is expected that members of the society keep pace with these variable situations, and be able to adapt their skills and expertise. Thus, modern ICT-based learning approaches are required and E-Learning 2.0 is a promising and interesting approach in this context. Although there is an increasing interest in the E-learning 2.0 topic, there is a lack of concrete and sufficient models. In this paper we explore how the notion of ecosystems and existing ecosystem-based models for learning are applicable for E-learning 2.0 approaches.

Evaluation of collaborative learning settings in 3D virtual worlds

Virtual 3D worlds are gaining popularity among the general population and the virtual world environment is widely used particularly by the younger generations as a knowledge and social tool. In recent years, universities have conducted experiments with the use of virtual 3D worlds for teaching and learning. Virtual 3D worlds are no longer just for the stereotypical geek. By 2011 it is estimated that about 80% of active Internet users will have an â??avatar

MOOC in Latin America: Implementation and Lessons Learned

A critical review on MOOCs is provided in this paper. A discussion on the different types of MOOCs and the design of a MOOC learning experience in South America forms the basis of this paper. The MOOC presented utilized cloud-based tools for deployment of the learning activities. Findings on usability, emotional and motivation aspects from 143 participants who had completed the MOOC course are discussed in this paper. Restrictions to pre-selected cloud-based tools and communication channels as well as guidance provided to the participants revealed positive learners’ attitudes on usability, emotional and motivation aspects.

Governance for E-learning ecosystem

Governance has emerged as an important issue for organisations across the world. Governance is the combined activities of developing and managing cohesive and consistent policies, processes and decisions right for a given area of responsibility. For an e-learning ecosystem to work effectively, it is essential that we have the right regulatory, technological and social conditions. This paper discusses a framework to support the successful implementation of an e-learning system includes (1) organisational decision making structures, (2) processes which include operational and technical supports, and (3) communications and relational mechanisms. Six characteristics and dimensions of Darkingpsilas digital ecosystem governance were used to enhance the framework. E-learning information security governance is also discussed in the paper. The underlying goals for adopting e-learning governance practices are improvement of business performance and conformance to regulations. This paper discusses governance for e-learning ecosystems within the digital business ecosystems(DBE).

The Role of IT Governance in the Evolution of Organizations in the Digital Economy: Cases in Australian Higher Education

In recent years, IT governance has become a key concern issue for senior IT decision makers across various industries. When appropriately implemented, IT governance can play the role of a central nervous system effectively ensuring the well being of the organizational system. The health of the organizational system ultimately contributes to the health of the distributed business ecosystem in which the organization co-exists with other organizations. The underlying goals for adopting formal IT governance practices are improvement of business performance and conformance with regulations. This exploratory study examined how IT governance is implemented in four Australian institutions of higher education through a number of IT governance structures, processes, and relational mechanisms. This paper discusses the importance of these practices as these institutions increasingly compete and collaborate with each other, various government agencies and other research institutions in the digital economy.

Towards greater flexibility in the learning ecosystem – promises and obstacles of service composition for learning environments

Todays knowledge society of the 21st century requires a flexible learning environment which is capable to adapt according to teaching and learning objectives, students’ profiles and preferences for information and communication technologies and services. To combine tasks and context dependent services to a tailored ad-hoc learning environment, service orchestration and choreography are promising and interesting concepts. In this paper, backed by an ecosystem-based conceptual architecture, SOAP-based and lightweight Web service technologies for service composition, will be reviewed, and the promises and challenges for both approaches will be discussed. Based on these findings our motivation for a light-weight web services composition is given and a first approach is outlined which builds on the combination of machine-readable service description, mechanism of tool-assisted mashup creation and standardizes languages for service composition.

The impact of Cloud Computing and organizational sustainability

When economic times get tough, businesses worldwide are compel to review their organizational expenses and priorities and to strategically consider how best to save. Traditionally, Information Technology (IT) department is one area that would be affected negatively in the review. To better serve the organization and clients and for business to continue to increase productivity, it is important to understand which technology investments might allow for cost reduction and efficient use of resources. Continuing to fund these strategic technologies during an economic downturn is vital to organizations. It is predicted that in coming years IT resources will only be available online. More and more organizations are looking at operating smarter businesses by investigating technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization and green IT to find ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies. ‘Cloud computing’ is one recent phenomenon which is predominantly driven by industry recognition of the triple bottom line making sustainability their focus. This is also driven by industry needs that may have the ability to transform the work place, with a focus on capital expenditure, infrastructure, applications, usage, mobility, and cost structure. The attraction of cloud computing is obvious with noticeable freedom from managing and hosting applications, platforms, and infrastructure. Though advantages of cloud computing are countless, cloud computing is still in its infancy and has disadvantages such as security, privacy, reliability, physical location of data and the unavailability of service due to crashes or bugs in providers’ storages; the consequences of which are merely unknown. These disadvantages might be tackled through the proper introduction, training and implementation of codes of ethics as guiding principle to those involved in the usage of cloud computing in business. This paper provides a brief literature review of cloud computing, followed by an analysis of the cloud-computing environment using the PESTEL framework. The future implications and limitations of adopting cloud computing as an effective ecofriendly strategy to reduce carbon footprint are also discussed in the paper. This paper concludes with a recommendation to guide researchers to further examine this phenomenon.

Teaching Business Process Concepts Using Enterprise Systems in a Globalized Context

There is significant growth in global business operations and ERP systems are deemed as important applications in order to unify and improve fragmented and globalised markets. These systems are complex and students struggle to grasp not only the underlying business concepts but also the technology involved. This paper describes the design and implementation of teaching materials for a multinational cross-company collaboration assignment using a commercial ERP system. It includes elements of i) integrated business processes, ii) globalization and iii) experiential learning in Masters courses at two universities - one in Australia and the other in Norway. We discuss the lessons learned from the pilot study including the development of an evaluation tool, inter-university student communication, evaluation of the learning outcome, and the benefits of the cross-country business role play exercise.