Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how researchers from four large Canadian distance education or dual mode institutions conducted a survey aiming to describe the use of and interest in social software and Web 2.0 applications by distance education students and to measure their interest in collaborating with peers.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the use of specifically-developed, inquiry-based learning materials for Computing and Forensic Computing students. Small applications have been developed which require investigation in order to de-bug code, analyse data issues and discover "illegal" behaviour. The applications are based…

Purpose: To overcome the high manual effort of assessments for teaching personnel, e-assessment systems are used to assess students using information systems (IS). The purpose of this paper is to propose an extension of EASy, a system for e-assessment of exercises that require higher-order cognitive skills. The latest module allows assessing…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the usability of a remote learning system in its initial development phase, using a quantitative usability evaluation method through Markov models. Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted for an exploratory study. The data of interest of the research correspond to the possible accesses of users…

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the perspectives of students, teachers, and parents in using Web 2.0 technologies. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on the focus group interview data collected from two groups of students, two groups of teachers, and one group of parents in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Findings:…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a user interface for web lectures for engaging with other users while working with video based learning content. The application allows its users to ask questions about the content and to get answers from those users that currently online are more familiar with it. The filtering is based on the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the usability (effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction) of e-feedback interfaces. The experiment compares a traditional visual approach with a multimodal approach in order to determine the impact of multimodal metaphors upon the user's understanding, reasoning and engagement with the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences between 99 Finnish primary and secondary teachers in their frequency and nature of information and communication technology (ICT) use, levels of ICT implementation, functional uses and perceived values about educational use of ICT. Design/methodology/approach: The data were…

Purpose: In their 2007 article, "Miranda in the brave new world: learning in a Web 2.0 millennium", Barnes and Tynan tell the story of an imaginary British student who uses technology seamlessly to stay connected almost 24 x 7 with friends, peers and teachers in a global learning environment. Whether she is representative of the majority of…

Purpose: Social navigation is an emerging trend for navigation in hypermedia. With social navigation, users can be guided through large volumes of learning content by cues which integrate the browsing history of past users. Earlier papers have shown that social navigation is suitable for navigation not only in classic hypermedia but also in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of usability and learnability in learning management systems (LMS) by considering the experiences of information and communications technology (ICT) experts and non-experts in using the LMS of an open-distance university. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses task-based…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and demonstrate an evidence-based scenario design framework for assessment-based computer games. Design/methodology/approach: The evidence-based scenario design framework is presented and demonstrated by using BELLA, a new assessment-based gaming environment aimed at supporting student learning of…

Purpose: The course management system (CMS), as an evolving tool and innovation, is increasingly used to promote the quality, efficiency and flexibility of teaching and learning in higher education. This paper aims to examine students' experiences of CMSs across faculties at a comprehensive university in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach:…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an example of how the synergy of different competences in students' teams, out-of-the-box thinking style and various motivation factors in a culturally diverse learning environment is the foundation for knowledge construction, driven by the idea generation process and co-creation--the so-called…

Purpose: The automated teller machine (ATM) has become an integral part of our society. However, using the ATM can often be a frustrating experience as people frequently reinsert cards to conduct multiple transactions. This has led to the research question of whether ATM menus are designed in an optimal manner. This paper aims to address the…